take me out to the ball game

I'm a big fan of baseball.  The Giant's calendar is downloaded onto my phone for the season already.  It give me an alarm 10 minutes before the game starts.  Last year, I'm pretty sure I watched nearly all 162 games.  Yep, I'm an addict.  It's just good TV to have on while you are being productive, making dinner, sewing, etc. Plus there aren't a lot of commercials.  I hate commercials.  Take the Olympics on prime time for example, it was basically 4+ hours of Chevy and Coke commercials with a few triple toe loops or slaloms and then back to more ads.  I wasn't a fan to the point where I didn't watch too much of the Olympics.

I digress.  This post has nothing to do with the Giants or the Olympics, I just needed to get onto my soap box for a bit.

My friend asked for a custom baby gift for her new nephew with a baseball theme.  I wasn't sure what I'd find that wasn't team specific in the fabric department but I'm so happy with how it turned out. I'm definitely going to be making more for the shop like this.  I know I say this all the time, but this might be my most favorite thing I've made yet.  I mean really, how perfect is this for a spring baby?  So cute, I just had to share.

I'm in the process of getting quite a few new things uploaded into the shop.  Check it out!

[52nd & Barkley]

oh, hi!

Seriously, where did September go?  My apologies for losing my way to the blog. Luckily, I'm here now, and hopeful that October will have more action than September. It is our golden wedding anniversary this coming weekend, so I am sure that will prompt a good bottle of wine, some seafood and a trip down memory lane and some blog-worthy documenting. But until then, here's a review of September, in picture form.

Mike went to bed early one night, Barkley wanted to join him. She started playing the springy door stop like a guitar until I came over to check on her.  And then I had to tear her away to ensure that she didn't wake up Mike. However, I'm pretty sure nothing can wake up that man, so really, I am not sure why I told her to stop.

The Twins were in town - sadly, we didn't recognize a single person on the team. I think it's official, we can't quite call ourselves Twins fans.  We can however call ourselves fans of Star Wars night. You wouldn't believe the amount of people  - young and old - that came dressed in their favorite Star Wars character.  The game was boring, but the people watching was stupendous.

I started selling women's accessories on 52nd & Barkley! First up on my new adventure, jersey knit infinity scarves. They have been a huge hit...and I might have wanted to keep all of them for myself they are just. so. cozy!

Quick trip to Napa over Labor Day weekend turned into a seriously awesome wine frig restocking. 39 bottles came home with us. Sadly for you (not us) we brought home 2 cases of the Castello di Amorosa Cab, which means the wine blogging might be a little dead, but fear not, we are enjoying it immensely. Especially on favorite TV night of the week, Sunday night on HBO did not disappoint in September, our two favorite shows (Newsroom and Boardwalk Empire) were on back to back. Yahoo!

Weekend golfing with Mike. Some of the world's worst golf I have ever played, but besides giving up after 14 holes, we had a great time hanging out together and getting sun burned. {opps}

We've got a turkey hunter in the family. Do you see 3 turkeys without-a-care-in-the-world to the top right of Barkley?  Fast forward about 20 seconds after I took this picture, Barkley and I ran like crazy fools and spooked these turkeys into the hills. I know, I know, that might not have been the nicest thing to three turkeys, but man, you should have seen Barkers, she was loving it! And I have to admit, so was  I. {simple pleasures} 

buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks

**Mike and I are big fans of baseball.  Clearly, you can tell our excitement of being in the presence of the 2010 Giants World Series trophy (that we did not touch, but really really wanted to - there were people just outside of the camera's view that were ensuring that we did not even come close.)   In 2010 when the Giants were in the World Series, I sat about 3 inches away from the television as they won the National League Championship game to get into the World Series.  I was pretty excited, like I could not sit still or contain my excitement as my in laws sat by themselves waiting to eat dinner...I have priorities people...baseball championship watching, and then you feed your guests.  Some people might think that's backwards.  I do not.  You also haven't met my in laws.  I kid.

** I wrote the above portion of this post just after the Giants had clinched a playoff spot.   Little did I know then, that the Giants would be in the World Series!

Again on Monday night, I tried to remain busy throughout the entire game so as to not sit 3 inches away from the tv - our tv has gotten bigger since 2010 - I can sit a few more inches away now :).  The good news is that we didn't have any company over, the dog was fed as were Mike and I, and we won.

WE WON! In the middle of a monsoon, we won.  I sure hope that the World Series is as great of a series as the National League Championship, whatever happens, I'm jumping-off-the-walls-excited that we made it!

hot dogs and hair cuts

From the title of this post, you might think I'm going to talk about the final weekend of summer or the start of back to school season.  Well, you'd be wrong. You see I've come to realize that there is a strange coincidence with my behavior when eating a hot dog and getting a hair cut.  

Let me list the likenesses:

1. Both experiences happen very rarely (one hot dog is typically consumed once per year at a baseball game, while hair cuts might happen twice per year)

2. When deciding if I should eat a hot dog or get a hair cut - you may not talk to me, rationalize with me or do anything of the sort. 

3. "the quicker the better" is the motto between the time it takes to decide to eat said hot dog or cut off my hair and the actual event.

4. I'll probably most likely regret both decisions for at least a week, maybe more.

So now you can understand that yes indeed, these two life events (yes, they are considered life events, as they are that traumatizing, but must be done.) 

Let the record show that I have yet to attend a baseball game (Go Giants!) this year, however it will happen, but AT & T park does give me a wide array of things other than hot dogs to eat (garlic fries - yum!) so it is tempting to stray from the hot dog, however from what you've read above, you can see how much I do love  that one hot dog per year, so I'd have to guess I'll still digest one yet in 2012.  

On the hair cut front, I have had 2 hair cuts in 2012. Both times I cut off at least 5 inches.  I think I've maxed out this opportunity until at least 2014.  At which point, I'm sure I'll ask myself, WHY? Why did you decide without consulting anyone (other than Pinterest) to chop off your hair? 

Right now, I'm sure my mom is saying, "AnnE, your hair doesn't look that short to me."  To which I would reply - do you see it in a pony tail??? Nope.  Isn't long enough, which was the exact reason that I got my hair cut. DUH! Darn the idea of thinking that I wouldn't ever want it in a pony tail! 

The straight hair version makes me look so eerily similar to my sister that I spooked Mike quite a few times the day that I got my hair cut.  The curly hair version is what you typically see, since I have zero, zilch, zip ability to straighten my own hair.  Pretty sure I wasn't born with those muscles...or maybe it's just that I'm impatient. (Probably the latter.) 

Outdoor Baseball can't be beat

[this is Randy Johnson. look at that form! it was pretty funny to watch the pitchers bat - since I've been a Twins fan forever and they don't do that sort of thing. Although the Brewer's pitcher really showed him up in the next inning when he hit a 3 run home run.]

[this isn't where we sat but we took a walk around the stadium to check it out and thought this was a pretty sweet view. It's quite a bit chillier in the outfield. We saw people in down puffy jackets.]

[close up of the coca-cola bottle from our seats]



[view from our seats - what you don't see here is there is a flat screen tv hanging from the overhang above that is nicer than our tv at home.]


[on our way into the park]

[just 2 brave souls in the water]

All in all, we are now officially Giants Fans! What a great stadium. We'll be back.