There and back again, a PAP's tale

Wherein I do not acquire a magic ring but do score some awesome yarn and cupcakes.

So today I got up at 5:15am. Left the house at 6:15. It's been a while since I've gone anywhere that early and other than getting up at 4:30am for the very rare dawn fishing excursion, I generally got paid for getting up that early.

I had to leave early because there is an obstacle between me and Austin...other than the 200 miles of freeway. The Mixmaster. The Mixmaster isn't that bad if you know what lane you need to be in, and I do. It isn't that bad if it isn't rush hour. So I had to beat the worst part of the rush hour crunch to the Mixmaster and I hit it at 6:35. Lots of traffic, but it was moving, and the rest of the drive down was rather boring. The police were out en force. I set my cruise control and followed the speed limits (mostly). By 9:30, I was looking for a parking space in downtown Austin.

I found a good one, on Congress Street, right in front of the capitol. (We have a pretty capitol building, don't we?)

Walked over to the Sec. of State office on Brazos, signed in, got to the correct office, and discovered no wait! Happy dance. I sat right down and got my apostilles. I also got the psychologist letters and licenses apostilled because I got those two weeks ago.

I then walked back to Congress and since I had Yahoo'd a Fed Ex/Kinko's on Congress at 6am, and roughly determined it was south of the capitol and north of the river, I decided to walk down and not lose my parking space. It was a longer walk than I had figured, from 11th down to 4th street, but it was a gorgeous day, sunny and windy, and it felt good to get some exercise. I've been even more sedentary than usual since the surgery.

By the time I got to Kinko's, my California-based agency was open and I had to wait for my dossier consultant to call me back, which took a little bit, but I got the address to send the docs to and once that was done, I walked back to the car.

It was now 11:30. The walking and waiting and Fed Exing took longer than I planned. I'm walking faster now, but if I walk a lot or get tired, I get a limp because I feel kinda weird, still, on the right side. Left side: fine. Right side: somebody did some cutting in there. I hope that feeling goes away eventually.

I was determined to at least hit Hill Country Weavers, which is in an old house down Congress, so I drove down there and spent longer than I should have picking out some new yarn. That store is stuffed full of yarny goodness. I was really taken with a pretty scarf made out of the Alchemy Bamboo (the blue yarn). This yarn was in the front room where they keep the expensive stuff. (I passed on the $200+/skein camel/silk blend. Can you imagine?) The photo does not do the colors and sheen of the Alchemy justice.

I also decided to try out some Panda Silk, which is bamboo, wool, and silk.

As I headed to the counter too check out, I passed back through the room by the door and came across something I've never seen before. Araucania Ruca. Yarn made from sugar cane. Yeah, I had to read that a few times. It is super soft and slightly shimmery and how could I pass on sugar cane yarn? The hardest part is it was all in pastels and I am not normally attracted to pastels, but I found a very pretty colorway.

I thought I was home free, but there is was, stuffed in the corner of the first room...Enchante. I think, perhaps, that Kristina knit with this once. It is silk and laceweight and I don't know why I am all about the shimmer today, but I am. This colorway is freaking gorgeous and I now have 329 yards to figure out something to do with.

Then I hit the cupcake trailer. The one parked across the street from the yarn store. Is Austin heaven, or what?

I got three...one of which disappeared immediately after this photo was taken at a Sonic north of Austin (the one on the left...red velvet with cream cheese frosting). C can choose which one he wants. He is at a basketball game with a friend and isn't home yet. I'm starving and need to eat something soon. I'm trying to resist the cupcakes since I told myself earlier he could choose first.

So all this yarn shopping and cupcake buying and eating had me running late coming home because again, the Mixmaster is not a friendly place during rush hour. My goal at 6am this morning was to hit the Mixmaster by 3pm, but I cruised through at 3:30 and it wasn't bad. I was grateful I wasn't on the other side of the highway, though. Between the regular crush and the construction at the Commerce exit, those folks were screwed.

I got an invite today to Facebook from a guy I haven't seen since my college days...a really great guy that I went to junior and high school with for a while. (John Clawson, Mom.) So I bit the bullet and joined. Like I need another time suck. But there it is...I caved. I don't know how active I'll be, but I'm there....I like Ravelry better, though.