Whee!

Brian and I had a great meeting with the Arisia DivHeads last night. The group had some great ideas as to how the local popular media fan groups could have more involvement with the convention, and bring in some new programming that hasn't been seen before. They all have my e-mail address now so I'm expecting to be bombarded :).

After getting groceries we headed home, and Brian (who can never contain himself at times like this) gave me my birthday presents a couple of days early. Its dorky and all, but he bought me the Mac FamilyTree software so that I can start organizing my ancestry research. DORK! Its neat in that you can store information, photos and such and I think even prepare books for printing. I'm going to try and not let it take over, because I know the more you dig the more you find and the more you need to dig. I may take some time on my next Friday off (flex time) and check out the National Archives office on the other side of town.

He also bought me the http://www.domiknitrix.com/ and http://naughtyneedlesknitting.com/ books. A lot of the stuff is a bit advanced for me, but he figured that I had flipped through them a few times at bookstores and that I should probably own them. Not that he's biased or anything! ;) I need to get myself to a yarn store soon to pick up some supplies. I've started that sweater but the translation of the pattern from German to English has lost something and I'm stuck, having knit only about 1" of fabric. I have a feeling its going to take me years to complete it, so I'd like some small easier projects to mix in there.

Sweet Spot

I forgot to mention that my co-workers did the birthday thing for me yesterday too (we had a staff meeting scheduled anyway, so it worked). We all put $5 a month into a 'Sunshine Fund' and each person gets a breakfast or dessert, their request. They all signed a card for me that they had taped a picture of Princess Leia into (I told them it was the wrong Leia - I don't have the ESB Hoth outfit!). :)

I had asked for a cake from Sweet Spot in Melrose http://www.chowhound.com/topics/414536 which has turned into my favorite bakery. I wanted one with REAL frosting, I'm not a huge fan of the whipped cream stuff. They picked out a 2-layer yellow cake with white frosting that had a hard chocolate ganache shell on the top, and was covered in chocolate dipped strawberries. Damn! The 12 of us ate half of it yesterday and will probably finish it today.

If you're in the Boston Metro-North area and need a bakery, definitely check them out. The woman that owns the yarn shop next-door (Sit N Knit) is also very nice, and that's where I bought those awesome stitch markers that completely close (a lot like plastic safety pins).