Just got home after a 6am flight. Need to shove a bowl of cereal in my mouth, shower and shave. I’d love to get to work before 10.

More later. Suffice to say, it was fabulous.

Wow. What an overwhelming display of encouragement! And, my-my, how devious some of you are.

Luckily, my work is such that I can honestly share with them what I’ll be doing. I told my new supervisor that I’m playing hooky to go see “O” and he just smiled.

I’m not going for the entire three nights, nor will I be seeing “Le Reve.” It’s going to be a quickie flight out tonight, hotel with B and C, crash at the lead clown’s place on Wednesday and catch a 6am flight home in time for work on Thursday.

What I’ll be seeing is their first dress rehearsal since they returned from vacation. B just spoke with Bill May, her childhood friend, and we’re planning on catching drinks with him afterwards.

I’m so excited, I don’t know what I’ll bring to knit! Thank you, all, for your prodding and support.

What do you do when your best friend and her fiance are asking you to play hooky to run away to Vegas for a few days? What do you do if they are offering you the chance to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O” for free and see Le Reve for half-price? What do you do if it’s going to cost under $300 for airfare and hotel for three nights? And, what if this was all instigated by the fact that they have not one, but two friends who are in the cast of “O,” one of whom is arguably one the best synchronized swimmers ever, male or female?

Now, keep in mind, you and this best friend are both synchronized swimmers and water is the medium and stage of both shows. It’s true that you’ve already had the pleasure of seeing “O,” but your friend hasn’t and you’d love to share the magic of that show with someone who devoted her childhood to the sport and now is exploring it in her art. Oh, don’t forget that you did a couple of months playing aerialist (rope) at Trapeze Arts circus school. Basically, it’s been your dream to be a performer since you were a child and, ever since you saw it, you’ve wanted to see the backstage and inner-workings of this Cirque du Soleil show.

Sadly, I think my sense of work responsibility and fiscal wisdom will win out. I hope this isn’t a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I don’t write in the next three days, you can find me in Vegas.

If only every day were like this Sunday. It wasn’t silent and gray. Although the temperature hovered in the low-50’s (that’s freezing in NorCal), today was a pretty perfect end to the weekend. I was planning on impressing y’all with my step-by-step photos of the bread, but I figured I’ve scared enough readers away with yesterday’s bathtub antics. Besides, if you want to know how great it is, come on over, I’ll cook you some or try the recipie for yourself. It’s absurd something that easy could be that delicious.

Speaking of tubby, my gut feels even bigger than it looked soaking in the bath—now that it’s full of my first home-baked bread. The simplicity and tastiness of that recipe have ruined commercial bread forever. It may have also ruined the world of artisinal bread now that I can make $6 boules in my own kitchen. I foresee a whole world of baking in my future. Heck, I own a SilPat now! I’ve never had a sweet tooth, so cookies, cakes and pies are lost on me. The savory is my friend. Gimme some starch and I’ll be yours. The only thing more dangerous than this little bit of carbohydrate cooking cuisine would be if I owned my own FryDaddy.

We enjoyed the bread with some hearty pea soup (did you know vegan could taste so good?). Don’t be silly, of course it was also cooked from scratch. (I recommend red wine vinegar AND toasted sesame oil as condiments). With Janie snoring next to me on the couch, Mr. Man eating kielbasa (not vegan), and the TV telling us that Walmart is bad for America (thank you, Frontline from 2004), I can’t imagine anything better…

…unless I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. Just five more days until a week’s break.

You’d think with a title like that, I’d be posting about my dog. Alas, I’m not. We did give Ms. Janie Sparkles a bath last night, her first in a few weeks. Tonight, I decided to indulge in a bath of my own for the first time in this place. Why did I wait over a year and a half to try out the tub?

I’m rocking the babushka in case my Mom is reading. If you wander over to flickr.com, you’ll see a more provocative photo, but not that provocative!

What’s better than knitting by candlelight in a bath while listening to Cast On? (Feel better, Brenda!) The relaxing was followed by a home-cooked meal that contained not one, not two, but three veggies from the organic CSA box from a local farm. Baked potatoes, brocolli, and my famous 5-minute beets (shredded beets tossed in melted butter, covered after 1/4 of water to steam for 5 minutes, salt, pepper and a glob of sour cream or yogurt).

Tomorrow, I’ll be baking the dough that’s chilling over by the warmish radiator. Maybe some pea soup to accompany the bread?

It’s been a while since I’ve done a gratuitous dog posting, so here’s a little photo documentary of Janie Sparkles’ day at the beach with the handsome Bibby. No matter how gray and cold it may be where you are, I hope these pictures from two weeks ago brighten your day.

I keep finding myself staying up past my perceived bedtime reading up on the Interwebs and finally slamming out a few words here. I promise that I will write earlier in the day tomorrow. While I can’t promise scintillating, I will try for something meatier in knitting content.

In the meantime, go read Eric’s blog. My very dear friend, fellow runner and yogini, dietitian (yes, it’s spelled with two “t’s”), and co-worker Tara has been writing about her new adventue as a mother (and daddy Aaron writes, too). Little Eric arrived very eary (only 26 weeks and a few days). After three months in the hospital, he’s gone home and is doing FABULOUSLY!

I’ve laughed, I’ve cried and I’ve smiled at the videos, reading how Eric has progressed. His is my mom’s favorite blog. As someone whos worked in NICU, she’s been explaining to me what’s going on and how positive things have been. He’s a tough little cookie and I can’t wait to meet him in person! I owe Mommy and Daddy some of my famous Mac & Cheese (via Martha). I’m sure the little guy could use some knitted goods. Let me know your favorite baby yarns and/or any little guy patterns. Heck, if you want to knit something yourself, I’ll pass it along!

I don’t read a lot of food blogs, so I understand how I missed the latest buzz. My next-door neighbor came swung by tonight and mentioned the No-Knead Bread recipe from Jim Lahey’s column in the 11/18 New York Times (free registration required). She showed me the video on nytimes.com and I was ready to run out and buy some instant yeast.

It’s all over the Interwebs. Coincidentally, said neighbor (who has two French bulldogs) read all about it at Becks & Posh. She (of B&P) happens to be friends with the one food blogger I read, who happens to be one of the Nor Cal contacts for FBRN where we got our Frenchie, Ms. Janie Sparkles.

The neighbor will be baking her third batch of the bread this weekend to share with us, but I may try my hand at this simplest, and hopefully tastiest, recipes ever. I’m not a cookie or dessert baking kind of guy, but perhaps I can start rocking a savory holiday tradition of my own!

Let’s get baked. If you have tried or do try the recipe, let me know.

…but it still feels like Tuesday for me. I could run around the corner for Trannyshack, if I was so inclined. But I’m not.

I just got home from a cocktail holiday party for one of my work’s online agencies. It was held at the same place as our holiday party last week. I’m not typically a cocktail kind of guy, but I enjoyed an evening of conversation with the fella who’s my new boss who just happens to be friends with one of the founding partners at this interactive design firm.

There’s not much more to say, other than I’m waiting with baited breath to hear how Scout’s KG shoot went today. I believe it was the last episode of the seasons 7 & 8 shoot. I got an email from my fabulous producer Sonya today saying she’s leaving on Friday, as her freelance gig is up. If you ever need a diligent, kind and efficient producer, contact me and I’ll get you her info… she was incredible!

Sleep tight!

A big, huge THANK YOU to Scout. (Wish her Good Luck on her KG shoot tomorrow afternoon!) The yarn she made for me arrived today… well, it arrived at my desk. I think it came late Friday or over the weekend, but since work wasn’t open, I didn’t get it until this morning. I’ve already posted her photo and will post my own when I get it balled up. There were a few other new things in her package: one notion, one car decoration and some smelly samples that I look forward to using.

However, a less tangible new thing, and something that will take up infinitely more time in my life is Threadless.com. I’ve known about this crowd-sourcing, online t-shirt design community and even considered buying pieces. However, there was a story on NPR this morning, then an email from the VP of Marketing, so I decided to poke around and create an account.

I am hooked. I could spend hours trolling this webby/nerd/hipster zeitgeist. The kids these days. In my infinite spare time, I imagine trying my hand at a design or two. I haven’t seen much knitting imagery, and God knows we’re what’s happening, right?

What could make Threadless better? They’re having a $10/shirt sale right now. Seriously. It’s on until Thursday at 11am CST. Get your (cheap) inexpensive holiday shopping on!