St. Louis-bound...

With barely a week behind my Florida trip, I'm gearing up for The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling in St. Louis this weekend. I have never been to St. Louis before, nor have I been to a knitting retreat before. Should be great fun! I'll be taking classes with three incredible knit designers: Cookie A., Wendy Johnson and Anne Hanson. How cool is that?! I'm giddy just thinking about being in the presence of their knitterly awesomeness! I'll also get to enjoy shopping in person at The Loopy Ewe and hang with a bunch of other cool knitters, all without having to stop and make dinner or do laundry! I soooo cannot wait! 

Lots to do between now and the airport on Thursday...not sure I'll be around much between now and then. I'll be sure to post a recap of the weekend once I return, though! Promise! :)

What I Did on My Easter Vacation...

Photo-heavy post...ye be warned...

Easter in Florida...there are worse things, lemme tell ya!

So...we went to the beach...

...this is as much sun-bathing as my hubby does, but at least he wasn't twitching. Much. ;) (He's just not a beach guy.)

We went out to eat (a lot) and had really good seafood...here's my mom and me...

...for the record, we are freezing our collective arses off in this picture! We were out on the deck of the restaurant, and it was freakin' windy, and we were in the shade! But, good fish and a few rum and cokes and you're willing to put up with a little hypothermia!

We went and walked beneath the pier at Fort Clinch, always a lovely time, and managed to get a reasonable family picture that will serve as proof that we actually took a family vacation that included all four of us...


Fort Clinch is an excellent place to find really nice shells. I happened upon a lovely conch shell and went to pick it up, only to have it try to pick back at me...

Ooops! So sorry! Didn't know you were in there!

Scared the bejeebers out of me! (I put him back!)

And of course, there was knitting. On the way down, I finished this afghan square for the swap I'm in (just two more squares to make! I did start the next one, but no picture of that yet)...I am so loving the mitred square. It is awesome!


I also got over half of this pencil pouch done on the way down, and I finished it on the ride home...

It's a WendyKnits pattern that I knit for the April Spring Fling KAL (the pouches are being donated to HELPSudan).

Took along some Regia bamboo that has been in my stash for some time and started a new sock, totally winging the pattern, which admittedly doesn't show up that well in the colored yarn, but I think it will look cool on a solid or semi-solid sock at some point. Still, gives it some nice texture, as the bamboo yarn is really very smooth and soft.

Most excitedly, I finished up my Lemongrass bolero...


I'm sooooo happy with how it turned out!The Aurucania Pomaire was a great yarn for it, and it will make a nice little spring-into-summer sweater. Here's how it looks closed with a shawl pin...


Lastly, on Easter evening, after dinner, we walked the beach for a while. The girlie was being silly, jumping over the waves, and I was trying to capture her in mid-air. And then THIS happened...


Whoops!!! Salt water + electronic devices = not good. :( On the up side, I was impressed that it took exactly one year for either of my kids to destroy their phones. (They got them for Easter last year.)

Home!

We're baaaaaack! Just got home earlier this evening, and as always, no matter how nice a trip has been, it is always wonderful to come home. 

I've got more to say -- with pictures -- but not tonight. Stay tuned!

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to pop in with some Easter greetings before the day was over. So, hope you're enjoying your day of chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and time with family and/or friends. :)

We're still in Florida...it's our last day. (Sad!) It's been a nice trip...very laid back, no big rush to do anything, which is nice. I woke up with a cold the first morning we were here (blah!), and while I've felt sort of under the weather most of the time until today, it hasn't been so bad that I haven't been able to enjoy our visit. 

We've been to the beach every day except today (though I'm hoping for an after-dinner drive to walk on the beach and say goodbye to the Atlantic), and we've spent lots of time together, playing games (my mom and step-dad are total Wii fanatics, so the kids have been having fun doing that with them!), eating out (shrimp salald! fresh fish! mmm!), and laughing. And of course I've been knitting (more on that -- with pictures -- once I get home) and reading...I started and finished the first of Charlaine Harris' vampire series, Dead Until Dark. OMG! What a fun book! I can't wait to read the next one (which neither of the local bookstores here have in stock, darn it!). 

Ok...almost time for dinner...my step-dad's famous baby back ribs and potato salad. Does it get any better?

Happy Easter! :)

Florida minus one...

There is SNOW on the ground today. SNOW. It is April 7th, people! Granted, it is Pittsburgh and it is not unheard of for there to be snow on Easter in April here in the 'burgh. When the kids were little, it used to make dressing the kids in their cute Easter shorts and sundresses a bit difficult without covering the cuteness with snow gear. We had the same problem with cute Halloween costumes some years, too. October to April, snow is possible. It's nuts.

Anyway...snow. 

Did I mention we leave for Florida tomorrow? Thank GOD!

I'm actually feeling rather ahead of the game for this trip. The packing is mostly done. I still need to gather knitting projects, but that's the fun part of packing. I need to do some tidying around the house, and I'm planning to go to the gym tonight since I'll miss for a whole week. (I skipped last night...besides feeling overly tired from a poor night's sleep the night before, it was SNOWING, and I couldn't bring myself to go out in it.) And with any luck, I'll get to bed early so we can be on the road at ungodly o'clock.

Sunshine and warmth...here I come! :)

 

One more good thing...

...ok, maybe it's a stupid thing, but it seriously makes me laugh like an idiot every time I see it. I love this commercial. No idea why. 

I watch it, quote it in a really bad Scottish accent, and then walk around smacking my family members with my knitting needles while yelling the word "dipsitck!", just for the effect. Try it. It's great fun. ;)

Five Minute Friday: Good things...again...

It's Friday, and one aspect of my life is still in big, giant suck mode, and it is threatening to consume me. I do not want to give in to that. So! Instead, I thought I'd resurrect Five Minute Friday, which I haven't done in eons. Today's topic will be: Good-things-to-think-about-in-order-to-try-and-stop-obsessing-about-that-which-I-have-no-control-over. 

Or maybe just Good Things would be a more manageable title? Here we go!

1. Regardless of how unbelievably hard or sad or unmanageable life seems at any given time, I know that God is God, and I always trust him to work things out according to his good purpose. He's never let me down.

2. Five days until Florida. YES!!!

3. It is raining like crazy today, but that just means it is not snowing and spring is here.

4. Tonight is a martial arts night, so I can go kick, punch and throw willing subjects to the ground.

5. My WIP list is at an all-time low...only six items! Awesome!

6. Only 20 days until Spring Fling and my trip to St. Louis for a long weekend of knitting goodness.

7. My grandson turns four next week...love that little boy so very much. :)

8. I have three children I love more than life itself...they are always a blessing to me, no matter what is going on in their lives. (No one said parenting would be easy, right?)

9. I have a husband who is more loving and patient than I deserve and who probably should have been mentioned before #9 on this list.

10. There are seemingly a bazillion day lilies springing up green leaves in my flower bed...can't wait to see how many blooms I get this year.

11. I'm almost 30 pounds lighter than I was last year at this time, and I feel so good!

12. I'm learning to spin beautiful yarn, and it makes me so happy to do so.

13. I have friends who I know I can always count on...another immeasurable blessing.

14. No matter what else, there is always hope.

See? I feel better for doing that!

I hope you all have some good things going on in your Friday. :)