Travel, wishlist, and budget, AKA "Where the hell did January go?"

My January flew by--how about yours?

That is me and my wee-est friend, Joe. He likes watching the Muppet Show and bowling, and delights in motorized vehicles. Matchbox cars rock his world. He thinks I'm cool, which is pretty great, cause he has taste.

I went to Eugene over MLKing weekend to visit my best friend Erin, her husband Stu, and little
man J. We had lots of fun: playing Wii games (it's all about the bowling for the small dude), shoe shopping for a tot (Dragonfly tennis shoes?!? Why don't they sell them in my size?), surviving The Maul (trying on bras and Euporia truffles--the first necessitates the second).

Saturday night Joe went to daycare movie night and we headed out for Thai food.

Well, mostly Thai food. Erin hovers protectively over the giant bowl of booze. It was comprised of rum, rum, fruit juice, rum, fresh fruit, and rum, and the little thing in the center was on fire when it came to our table. I turned into a rummy drink vampire:

Then we went to Barnes and Noble, where I ruthlessly flirted with the cute book boy who was a Terry Pratchett and Christopher Moore fan, and then we were all tired and went home. By 9:30. Other big excitement that weekend: having raclette for the first time (yum!) and yarn tourism in Eugene. So I know I claimed to be on a "no yarn" thing for 2008, but tourism yarn doesn't count as much. Because it's a souvenir that I happen to be able to knit with, and it has to be something I can't get at any of my eight LYS-es, and I was in Oregon which has NO STATE SALES TAX....Are you sold yet?

Got this lovely stuff at The Knit Shop:

Yes, it's Malabrigo laceweight, and yes, technically I can get that here. But not in this color. ;) The Knit Shop has a wall of wool and a wall and row plus of cotton and cotton blends. Definitely a good place to go if you like knitting with cotton. Prices were comparable to Seattle.

At Soft Horizons Fibre, I picked up two skeins of Plymoth Happy Feet and some Brittany DPNs, size 2.5--neither of which I can get locally:

So it was a great trip, I got to spend loads of time just chatting and BSing with my best friend, and that's about all you can ask for.

The January budget update: I managed to stay mostly within my budget! I spent a little more than I had intended, but did not hemorrhage money like I usually do, I paid all of my bills on time or better, AND I resisted several purchases that I would not have previously.

Last but not least, because I can never think of what I want for my birthday/Christmas when asked I've decided to add my wishlist to the blog to keep track (for those of you who care).

My current wishlist:
Panini grill (this one looks pretty fab)
Raclette set (like this spiffy number)
Blocking board (the bigger the better)
Sock blockers (hoping my dad could maybe make some for me)