After being awake for the last 23+ hours, I don’t have much to offer than this cheese spaetzle from the Munich airport sports bar that pales in comparison to the American recreation that I eat at our local East German restaurant.

We woke up at 6am Paris time to be on the metro by 7:30 for the airport and our 11:35 flight home via the above lunch stop. The highlight of that three-hour layover was seeing Kris who’s planted a tiny little marathon seed in my head (but there remains the mystery of the sore foot).

The long flight back to San Francisco was made shorter by knitting and movies. I couldn’t have thought of better films to ease the transition back to reality and underline the Paris part of our honeymoon.

• First up, Coco Avant Chanel. A French language biopic with everyone’s favorite mignone, Audrey Tatou, aka Amélie. What’s Frencher than that?
• Next, Julie & Julia. Given that so much of my trip was food-centered and driven by blogger recommendations, this was a visual delicasy, even for this vegaquarian.
• Lastly, The Time Traveler’s Wife which was nowhere near as good as the book. Knowing the intensity of the love story from the original source, I sobbed nonetheless.

There was still more time for films, but neither The Soloist and The Taking of Pelham 123 speak to our time there, although I’d love to hear cello in Paris ans we did ride the subway—but that’s a bit of a stretch.

One thing we’ve talked about to keep this trip alive is weekly Paris movies. Not quite the same sentiment, but I’m thinking La Femme Nikita and Diva. Do you have any Frenchie favorites?

It’s closing in on 4pm on our last day in Paris. This time tomorrow we’ll be leaving Munich after a three-hour layover. Hopefully, we’ll have spent an hour or so of airport visiting with Kris, Fräulein Bockstark Knits and Victor, Herr Elemmaciltur.

After debating between being responsible and packing or heading down to the Seine and getting ice cream, we finally settled on having a beer in a café on rue Bretagne near the apartment. Ice cream wasn’t my first choice anyway, but before the hate email comes in, Berthillon is closed on Monday and Tuesdays. This beer (Belgian?) is a nice chill way to end a chilly week here.

Travelling always make me hungry for more on one hand, and appreciate what I have on the other. It goes without saying that I’m missing Janie Sparkles something fierce. You may be surprised that I’m eager to get back to work. Granted, I’ve only spent four days on the job there, so I don’t have anything I want to avoid! It’s all exciting and new. (Leaving Clif Bar & Company after nine years will have to be a post for another day.)

I’m hoping to hang onto some of my memories of wanderlust by learning how to cook some of the great food I’ve enjoyed here. There are also many a design kicking around my head that will need to be knit one day. Plus, I never give San Francisco its due, or perhaps I’m too set in my ways for my own good, and there’s plenty of city exploration and gems to find (and write about?). Why not be a tourists chez nous? Maybe I’ll even look up some Alliance Française events! (Sois gentil!)

It’s sad to end a trip, but so exciting to return home to the familiar. That’s why we call it home, eh? Refreshed, inspired, grateful, and alive. You can’t ask for anything more.

ETA: I finished writing this at 17:25, for full disclosure.

Just a little scribble from Paris, from our honeymoon (one year ex post facto). It’s been a wonderful trip of wandering, eating, happy happen-stance and only-in-Paris moments. If you follow me on Twitter or Flickr, I’ve been trying to share a taste of the trip. It’s like we’re all gay-married together!

I want to acknowledge and thank two bloggers (whom I’ve never met) who’ve been invaluable with their food recommendations that have made this trip perhaps the best of my life.

• David Lebovitz – we were given his book a few months ago, but spare reading time hasn’t existed for me for quite a while… You can bet your bottom dollar, Lil’ Orphan Annie, that I’ll be picking it up when I’m back in the states!
• 101 Cookbooks – Heidi is the wife of a guy I barely knew in high school, but always looked up to. We’ve threatened to catch up since the summer, but haven’t made it happen yet. She’s also an award-winning cookbook author on whom many foodie friends have culinary crushes.

If you’re ever planning on going to Paris, do check them out. Your tummy will not be disappointed! As writers and people creating great work around their passions, they’re rather inspirational as well.

à bientôt, mes amis!

Sitting up past midnight at Sean’s apartment in Boston. I’m knitting away on a secret project that really needs to be done before Saturday at Rhinebeck.

I decided to try the WordPress iPhone app to see if the line break issues are fixed. Perhaps some more posts should this guy go up without a hitch.

Cross your fingers (or needles, which I should be using instead of typing)!

ETA: nope, still need to put in HTML paragraph breaks. Any favorite iPhone wordpress-compatible iPhone apps?

Skipping a Sock Summit soliloquy to mention two knitting (and real-life!) friends and their canine companions and a knitter’s daughter’s kitty.

Tuck, an adorable French Bulldog that belongs to Dr. Mel, aka Cabezalana is facing huge medical bills. He’s just a little guy with an adorable face (did you look at those toofs?) and you can help out by buying Tuck swag at Zazzle. (I bought two mugs, because, in addition to Janie Sparkles and Mr. Man, I wouldn’t mind waking up to Tuck’s mug on my mug in the morning.)

The other news is the tragic loss of Harriet, Yarn-a-go-go’s furry friend. As Rachael puts it,

There are pets that we cuddle and love, and then there are the Truly-Special Where-Did-You-Come-From-You-Crazy-Wonderful-Thing-You animals.

Lastly, one of my first internet friends (from USENET and and UNIX rave chatrooms in 1992), Leah also had to put her cat named Lint down.

Sorry for the heavy post. Life has its up’s and down’s.

Let’s create some more up’s—please go show ’em both your love… and love the four-footed friends in your life!

Where have I been for so long?

There’s no one simple answer, but suffice to say, preparing to teach at Sock Summit has been getting the attention of my fiber focus for the past many months. You heard about that, eh?

If you follow me on twitter I’m sure you’ve seen little tidbits about it over the past week or so…

It’s now over and I’m home. In lieu of attempting to capture the wonder and merriment of it all, I leave you with a video of the World Record attempt for the largest group of knitters knitting simultaneously. It’s nice to see a few fellas were caught on film, too!

(I think we got it!)

Pardon the repeated image, but here we are again.

I’m still married, but the California Supreme Court upheld the legality of Prop. 8. What joy is there in that fact when a popular vote can deny people equal rights under the law?

As of today, I have special rights. As one of the 18,000 Californians who were legally married between June and November 2008, our marriage remains valid under state law.

But I never wanted special rights. I just want equal rights. For everyone.

From Rachael Yarn-a-go-go’s post:

You know what? I would bet that most of us would give up our legal marriages RIGHT NOW in order to get rights for all.

Amen, sister.

Golly goodness me! I’m out of practice on this thing. I just lost a pretty darn good post because I couldn’t save the draft in this iPhone app. Apparently, my real life is keeping me away from posting here as often as I’d like to. Between work, design fun and general living, it’s been très busy chez hizKNITS.

I don’t even know where I left off. There were a few mini half-posts about the fun had in Austin at SxSWi and at BMFA’s Sock Camp with mom. Much more was had than written, but that will remain the fodder of conversation, not blog.

Here in the present, I took the red-eye from SFO to O’Hare, landing at 4:48 am and have over four hours to kill at the airport. There’s plenty of knitting I could be doing (class samples, afghan square, notes for Sock Summit classes) but I’m in a sleep-deprived daze, checking Twitter and trying to type this after enjoying a surprisingly non-offensive breakfast at Chili’s. (I recommend the breakfast tacos – vegetarian and not greasy.)

I’m on my way to the second Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat just north of Albany, NY. I don’t know how Joe and Tex could improve on last year’s magic, but I’m sure they will. We’re the only group at Easton Mountain this time, there are more guys, it’s one day longer, group field trips and a slumber party. I gotta make this one count since I can’t make the west coast MFKR over Labor Day weekend in WA.

This time last year, I had no idea how great the weekend would be. I also didn’t expect to gain a new best friend / evil twin in Sean (sorry no link, but he’s in the sidebar and you can google Sean’s Soapbox). As a result of MSKR I, it’s been a year of new friends, much laughter, a trip to baby-got-Rhinebeck, a visit from the Great White North, MFKR and countless inspirations.

Although I’m not taking off for two weeks in Berlin after the retreat, I’m still looking forward to the afterglow and the memories of every stripe yet to be made. Like Sock Camp, this one weekend could carry me for an entire year. I don’t spend hardly enough time socializing in the online knitting world so I love getting it done in person.

BTW – I’m going to be in Madison, WI June 1-3 for work if any midwesterners are reading. Recomendations are encouraged!

Something to enjoy until I write up the joys of this year’s Sock Camp.

Arrived here in Port Ludlow, WA, a few hours outside of Seattle. Long day of getting up too early and now heading to bed too late.

Great people, both new and returning campers. Much gratitude to Tina, the Sockateers and teachers for creating this annual madcap event. Yarn was bought. More news to come.

Sleep and the wilted foam pad that’s masquerading as “a futon” are calling my name.