First things first: my new knitting bag has been making me really happy.

You can never go wrong with circle trees.

So I was cleaning out a drawer earlier this week when I came across the receipt from the night I bought my first knitting supplies at Michaels. It was one year ago this Sunday.

I purchased a “Learn to Knit” kit which included two pairs of shorter-than-normal knitting needles along with a booklet of extremely unhelpful instructions. I also bought some hideously awful yarn. I knew it was awful, but I was bound and determined to knit THAT NIGHT. Let’s just say one of my selections was an acrylic mohair in a pale blue…

So I rushed home, cancelled my plans for that evening (it was a Friday night…. seriously, bound and determined), and set to work. I can’t say I actually knit that night. Given the ridiculous diagrams in my instructional booklet, I was probably just knotting yarn. Perhaps a curse word or two crossed my lips (is there really any doubt?) I can’t imagine the acrylic mohair helped the situation in the least.

Strange to think that it’s only been a year. So many things have changed. Strange to think I could have just as easily never really gotten around to learning how. Or stopped when I realized how much money it was going to end up costing me (um, yeah…). But I’m so very glad I kept at it. The frustrations when things have gone badly only add to the satisfaction when a project finally works out in the end.

Today Robyn came down for yarn shopping and I purchased the yarn for my next project. Future skirt:

Robyn also helped me go jeans shopping, for which I’m eternally grateful. (My favorite pair died out a while ago, and I’ve been wearing stepchild pairs for way too long.) Robyn kept me from having a total meltdown until we finally found “the one”. I have to say… toward the end there I was all the sudden willing to pay whatever it took to get an ever-loving pair of jeans that fit me correctly. Obscene amounts. Too ashamed to even put down the number that came out of my mouth as my “final threshold.” Luckily, it never came to that. God bless Citizens of Humanity.

Last weekend was Amelia’s princess-themed 2nd birthday party.

Brushing Pop’s hair. No joke, she’s cute.

Princess dresses were worn, cupcakes were eaten, sparkly pink gifts were opened. A glorious time.

Lark changed several times during the course of the three hour party. I adore that. I wonder if anyone would notice if I did that at the party tonight? Part of me wants to try it now just because… well, look at her.

1. Currently available for purchase at Target:

A girl can dream.

2. Confounding results in a recently published UC Berkeley study:

Rap Music Glorifying Drug Use

TUESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) — Rap music is glamorizing drug use, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who found a sixfold increase in drug references in songs over the past two decades.

“Positive portrayals of drug use have increased over time, and drug references increased overall,” study author Denise Herd, associate dean of students at the School of Public Health, said in a prepared statement.

She and her colleagues analyzed 341 lyrics from the most popular rap songs between 1979 and 1997. During that time, references to drugs increased sixfold, and there was an increase in songs featuring positive attitudes toward drugs and the consequences of drug use, and an increase in references of drug use to signify glamour, wealth and sociability.

Of the 38 most popular rap songs between 1979 and 1984, only four (11 percent) contained drug references. By the late 1980s, that increased to 19 percent and by 1993, to 69 percent.

These findings indicate “a shift from cautionary songs, such as those that emphasized the dangers of cocaine and crack, to songs that glorify the use of marijuana and other drugs as part of a desirable hip-hop lifestyle,” Herd said. “This is alarming, because young children are exposed to these messages. I don’t think this is a story we as a society want them to absorb.”

“Rap music is like CNN for black teens. But much of what is discussed in rap is in code. The kids understand, but parents don’t,” said Herd, who recommended parents monitor their children’s music and learn about the terms used in popular songs.

Earlier research by Herd found that alcohol use is increasingly glorified in rap music.

I think this Denise Herd is onto something…

Oh, and I’m seriously considering having the statement “Rap music is like CNN for black teens” tattooed somewhere on my body.

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