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Here's something nice: a series of 4 videos for EF International Language Centers, all nicely scored, with nice typographic treatments, and meant to make you fall in love with learning a language. I think it's good to know some other language; most of us know token words and phrases here and there, and those who usually learn more do it in higher education or through independent study. (Or are fortunate enough to be married to or are around non-English speakers all the time and learn, by default.)

In the course of traveling in Europe I picked up smatterings of Dutch, Catalan, Spanish, Italian, Slovenian, Greek, and Turkish (not European, but just barely). I knew enough German, and I was comfortable with my French. I would like to learn more, and I would like to be able to practice it, but geography prevents me from retaining it too much. A pity, eh? Wish the old countries were a little closer, don't we!

Enjoy the videos!

Live the language - Paris from EF Intl. Language Centers on Vimeo.

Live the language - Barcelona from EF Intl. Language Centers on Vimeo.

Live the language - London from EF Intl. Language Centers on Vimeo.

Live the language - Beijing from EF Intl. Language Centers on Vimeo.

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Some weeks ago, Holly of Knitted Thoughts gave me a Stylish Blog Award. Thank you, Holly! Yummy Yarn, stylish? Who'd've thought?

One of the prerequisites to this award is sharing seven things about myself, and to make this more specific, I made it seven stylistic things:

1. My wardrobe is primarily California casual (jeans, soft tee, flats, gold hoops) but when working onsite I tend to wear all black. It makes matching in the dark easy!
2. I try to onsight my routes and boulder problems, as much as possible.
3. I adore mid-century modern furniture. My best find was a coffee table abandoned on the sidewalk. Score!
4. This may stem from years of presenting to clients, leading creative teams, and giving and receiving constructive criticism. And why I've been called an enabler. It's a good rule to follow: One catches more flies with honey than with vinegar.
5. Louise Fili, Rebeca Mendez, Paul Rand, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Erik Spiekermann, Gael Towey, and Massimo Vignelli.
6. I like the Impressionist and Renaissance artists over the contemporary ones. But I make an exception for Anselm Kiefer.
7. Electronica and classical music rotate continuously on my iTunes. With the odd Britney Spears song (yes, just like you)!

On to knitting. Here's my current project at 5, then 9 repeats of pattern. It's calming knitting, something to help wind the day down. This past week was quite busy!

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It also helps that I know Antalya like the back of my hand. Every stitch, every short row turn, every loop picked up, all executed from memory. All that remains is grafting, and I'll probably wait until Shannon has finished the knitting part on hers; then we can have ourselves a little grafting par-tay!

I also signed up for Twist Collective's February Finish Fest, because I do need a little prodding with my knits. While I have an endless list of projects lined up in the coming months, a bit of reminding and egging on by the group should help, hopefully, with finishing the ones already on my needles. Care to join?