Happy Holidays!

I have been one lucky girl!  I was off for 9 days straight.  Had a wonderful Christmas.  Spent tons of time with family and friends!

Let's talk vacation.  I actually had off 9 straight days.  At first, I was like, "what will I do with all that time off?"  I managed to fill it with absolutely no problems!  It flew by and here I am, back at work.  Well, at least for half a day.  The days were filled with friends and family.  I think out of those 9, I only had 1 day to myself and that was yesterday, Sunday.  But I have to say, that I actually slept this vacation.  Every night I managed to sleep the entire night through.  For those who know me, you know that I really sleep one night through!  So the best gift this Christmas?  It was the sleep!

My parents, grandparents and Santa went over board on the gifts for me.  I received a ton of kitchen organization things, like containers and shelves, so I can get my kitchen organized.  I received at least a dozen movies from my most wanted list. A much bigger crock pot than I had (I already cooked my first meal in it).  My two younger cousins thought it would be funny to send me a bottle of wine (my sister also got one) and a wine glass to go with it. To them it may have been funny, for me?  It was appreciated.  One can never have enough wine! I also received this super cute LSU watch:

There were numerous dinners to be had with friends.  Two new restaurants were discovered.  One of which was Texas de Brazil.  Yes, it is a chain.  Yes, it serves mostly meat.  But it was good, to my surprise.  Especially since I am not one to eat a lot of meat.  But mostly the company was good!  My mom, my sister, Jenny, her mom and I all had a great meal together. One could simply eat off of the salad bar there are so many things on it!

Very little stitching was done.  I did make some progress on a Snow White I am doing for my youngest niece.  But that was just yesterday since I haven't really had anytime at home.  No stitching gifts were received but I did go to Jo-Ann's yesterday to get some floss for a new project I am going to buy and start in the new year (sale currently going on, 4 skeins for $1.00, plus I had a 15% off my entire purchase coupon, couldn't beat that!).  HAED is currently having a sale and I want to get the following design to do for my bedroom (I've got a peacock theme going on in my bedroom these days, mostly it is the colors!):

I typically do write out my New Year's resolutions and reflect back on the ones that I had chosen for this year.  I'm not going to reflect back this year, because I had many numerous lessons occur that I, hopefully, have finally learned and need not repeat! I will sit down to do resolutions, tomorrow? 

But for now, I need to get some work done, then off to a basketball game, followed by the LSU bowl game, then midnight with some very good friends. 

Happy New Year's!

Reflections

This past year has been a pretty tough one.  It had loads of ups and downs.  All of which has made me a better person. 

I've had some personal defeats; losing friends, losing my mind (lol); but out of all of that, I am a stronger person.  Recently I have been a by stander in my best friends divorce.  That's been a tough one.  I don't want to choose sides but I feel that ultimately I will have to, but I am trying my best to not.  I recently lost a person who I thought was a friend.  Turned out, he wasn't (I can be a very bad judge of character!).

But on the other hand, I have amazing friends who have recently come out of the woodwork, literally, to support me.  My co-worker/team mate in the office has become like a sister to me (as evidenced by the fact that in addition to the 40 hours a week we work together, we typically also do things on the weekend and her kids (ages 4 & 2) can recognize my car in random parking lots if we run into each other).  I've been going to therapy to deal with depression and anxiety issues and am feeling so much better!  My  job is going better than ever.  Even completed my annual review with only a few hiccups and received a raise! 

2013 is already looking to be a good year.  The negative has been removed from my life and, hopefully, there is only good to come!  I will be busy with 6 different conventions next year.  There is Bayou Country Superfest.  Vacations (I hope to make it home to see my grandparents and a trip to Disney???).  Mardi Gras.  And I am sure much, much, much more.  Oh, yikes, my 20th reunion is in 2013.  Hmmm, will have to think about that one! 

Color Run

What fun! Today we did the Color Run in New Orleans. It was about 3 miles around the lakeside of UNO.

We saw lots of tutus. Men, women, and children. There were even a few men in suits. That was a little weird.

The color that was thrown on runners wasn't really a paint. It was like dyed powder. There were color stations that you ran through that were manned by volunteers who threw the color on you.

Not sure I would do it again but it was worth doing once!!

I am excited to wear my pretty blue wig again however at Mardi Gras!

Tested, tasted, approved

Busy weekend but good.

I had off Friday and took that opportunity to clean out my closet, sort through my sweaters, put up my summer shoes and bring out the cold weather shoes.

Went to the home opener of the LSU men's basketball game. We have a new coach so I wanted to see what he was doing with the team. Luckily we won. The real test of course will be when SEC play starts.

Picked up all the materials to make my sister a Christmas wreath. Unconventional colors she asked for. So, pink, turquoise, and light green it is! I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Made a batch of cinnamon pecans. It was my test batch for potential gifts this holiday season. So far so good. They are cooling down now but the one I tasted was pretty yummy!

Also made a batch of mini blueberry muffins. Michaels had a clearance on mini muffin baking cups so I picked up a couple of packs. These I thought were cute!

I've been working on Life Force. Almost finished page 3. Hope to finish that page soon.

It was a good weekend in football for us. LSU won. Saints won. And Bama? Well Bama rolled over. The only sad part is that the SEC's dominance in the national championship may be over.

Is it really November already?

I cannot believe that it is already November.  How the time is flying!  And I'm not sure I mean that in a good way! Pretty soon Thanksgiving will be here, then Christmas!  Just last week was Halloween.  

We had a good time this Halloween dressing up at the office and then a neighborhood block party where we took my friend Jenny's boys trick or treating.  We were actually having decent weather for a change so it was an all around pleasant evening.

Me and Jenny, the pumpkin (later she had a costume change and was a witch)

Me and the boys, Marine and SpiderMan

I've been working on decorating my bedroom.  I'm enjoying this time.  I didn't think I would but taking the time to think each new item that I want to add to the room has been fun.  I've gotten a new duvet cover, a new throw to match that Duke can sleep on so he doesn't mess up the new duvet cover, and some art work.  The art work was just hung up this past weekend.  Now I just want to get one more piece of complementary art for another wall in the room.

I find myself having a fascination with peacocks these days.

I've been working on Life Force lately.  Hoping to have page 3 done soon.  I don't have an updated picture on it though.  I think I will wait till page 3 is done. I did get two new patterns this weekend.  The first was a freebie (and I can't remember which website I got it from) fractal that can be made into a bookmark.  Depending on how long it takes to stitch up, this could be a good idea for a gift or two this Christmas.  

I am loving the colors in this one!

The second one was from HAED.  I just couldn't pass up the 50% off sale.  I think this one will be a good gift for my oldest niece.  This is Mini Snow White and Alice. 

 

 I tried out a new recipe this weekend.  Cinnamon sugar pretzels.  I'm not sure how I feel about them.  I tried a few but I feel like they are missing something.  I brought them to work to get some opinions.  I'd like to get them "perfected" as they too would be a great idea for Christmas gifts.  I already usually make chocolate covered pretzels but wanted to add something new to the mix.  I also have another recipe to try, crock pot cinnamon sugar almonds (or pecans or whatever nut you want to try).  I may try that one this upcoming weekend. 

Well, today starts 4 weeks of shortened work weeks.  I have so much time to take off between now and the end of the year, I am off every Friday for the rest of this month and then I am off for a week at Christmas.  I'm hoping to get all of my "holiday cleaning" done with these extra Fridays off, shopping completed and holiday decorating done!  I've already have in the planning process two new Christmas wreaths to be made. There just never seems to be enough time to do everything I want!

Halloween and other projects!

Fall is in the air!! Finally cooler weather has moved its way South.

Yesterday I made a pot of chili and the crock pot was going all day with apple pie oatmeal (which by the way was super easy and came out super yummy).

I've also been working on a few crafty projects.

I took some left over remnants from a Halloween wreath and made a pretty centerpiece.

 

My friend Stacy saw the other wreaths I had recently made for myself and my sister and expressed an interest in one.  With her birthday being October 10, I "whipped" one up for her.  Her husband was in town this past weekend so I was able to send it back with him. 

 

I have been working on Life Force.  I almost finished with page 2.  In fact, I hope to finish page 2 this week.  Despite others trying to make plans for me.....Jenny....I think that I will be able to get some stitching done this weekend.  The LSU game is at 11 am on Saturday, not sure yet if I will be watching it live though.  I may have to record it and watch later since there are lots of festivals and such going on this weekend.

Weekend with my little man

This post is only a few weeks past due. It did occur in the month of September so it is only fitting that I get it posted on the last day of September! 

I was lucky enough to get my nephew for one night and day. So we packed it in! We watched the movie Hop. Cute movie but really didn't need to see that the Easter Bunny poops jelly beans. :/

We took a trip to New Orleans to the aquarium. I hadn't been there in forever. He had a choice between there and the zoo. So aquarium it was. He didn't appear to enjoy himself but from what his parents said, he had an awesome time. Sigh, 10 year old boys. We then went to Plum Street sno balls. Yummy! It comes in Chinese takeout boxes. Too cute! Then dinner at Izzo's followed by dessert at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. 

It is so rare that I get to have time with him alone. We usually have his two sisters or at least one of them with us. 

Small craft project I bought for him to do. Color Spider Man. 

Evacuation Vacation

Ok, so I am about a week late on posting this.  Story of my life these days.  I'm behind on most things. 

For Labor Day weekend I was to go to Austin to see my sister.  She is always complaining that I don't come out to see her and I had some extra vacation time so I thought this would be a good time.  Hurricane Isaac had other ideas so I ended up going a few days early and with Duke in tow. 

The original plan was to leave after work on Thursday evening and stay through Monday.  I ended up leaving mid-morning Tuesday and staying till Monday.  Which worked out great because it seemed that my place lost power for several days.  However, I did have to bring Duke with me, cause I was not going to leave him behind being boarded at the vet's.  Luckily though, he behaved very well with my sister's dog, Augie.

As my sister still had to work those first few days, I spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning my sister's apartment as she was still recovering from an emergency appendectomy she had had about two weeks prior.  I did her grocery shopping and picked up around the place.  I did go on a few walks, but not many because it is nothing but hills around there and well, I come from the flat lands of Louisiana.  A hill for us is an ant hill! One afternoon was spent at the fabulous pool her apartment complex  has.  And the rest of the time was spent shopping with my sister.  I got some great deals at the outlets and even managed to snag a new Coach purse and matching wallet. Love, love, love! 

I had made an LSU wreath for my sister but she also wanted a Halloween wreath.  So while there I managed to hit several  Hobby Lobby and Michaels stores to get the necessary materials to make her a Halloween wreath.  What Lisa wants, Lisa gets. This isn't a great picture but it was the best I could do with the lighting I had.

Upon my return home, I had to deal with all the food in the refrigerator that had spoiled.  Ugh!!  Who knew milk could have that many layers and get that lumpy.  Gross!  But this happens at least once a year so it was the annual cleaning of the refrigerator.  I just finished cleaning the freezer this weekend. 

 

 

I've been working on Life Force, when I have time.  Usually at night when I should be sleeping.  My  insomnia is kicking up something awful these days!  But at least I am being productive!  I am currently working on page 2.  I hope to finish it quickly but while there are some big blocks of colors, there is also a lot of confetti. This is actually an old update.  There is so much  more of it done than this.  I just haven't taken any  new photos! 

 

Fall is turning into a very busy time!  I have 2 board meetings, a convention, birthday parties, visits with friends.  I'm so busy trying to make sure that everything gets done and that everyone else is happy, I am feeling very overwhelmed these days.  I really need to learn to step back and let go of somethings before my insomnia really gets too bad! Easier said than done!

 

My New Creative Outlet

So Jenny, my co-worker, got the great idea to have a girls night out of wreath making.  Of course, this is a Pinterest inspired event!!!  Football season is just around the corner (literally, it starts next weekend), so we gathered together to show our local hometown college support by making wreaths for our doors!  The first picture is a collage of the 4 wreaths we made.  They came out great, in my opinion!  The wine could have been an inspiration! LOL!

This second picture is the one that I made and have finally hung on my door!  I had to go purchase an actual wreath hanger as before I was just using random nails that had been left from previous tenants in the apartment. A nail wasn't quite long enough, nor did I think it could support it.  The wreath isn't really that heavy but, boy is it HUGE!!!

This wreath below is the one that I did for my younger sister.  She, of course, after seeing mine, wanted one for herself.  In fact, I've already been instructed that she wants a Halloween, Christmas and Mardi Gras wreaths.  :/  I guess I'll be busy!!!  I am visiting her next weekend so I told her that we are going to go shopping for some of those wreaths and get them made while I am there!  They are too big and fragile to think about shipping!

I think that my sister's came out better than mine.  But isn't that always the case?  The first is an experiment and as you make more, you get the execution and concepts refined.  I can't wait to work on another one.  Just not sure what the theme will be!

A Finish and a Start

 

Recently I started a new HAED project.  This is Life Force. This picture was taken last weekend and I already have made significant more progress on it since then!  In fact, I am almost done with page 1, off the top of my head I believe that there are over 30 pages in this pattern.  90 different colors. This time around I am putting grid lines on the fabric.  This is really helping me with the confetti stitching.  Typically I just wing it.  But the grid lines are making it go so much faster!

 

 Here is what the final product will look like:

Here is Dragon Knot 2 in all its glory!  Finally back from the LNS all framed and matted. I think it came out great.  I currently have it hanging in my bedroom till my friend comes to visit in October to claim it in person!

It was a long road to getting this project finished and framed. 

 

 I've also been working on some other projects that I have not yet taken pictures of.  My friends and I have been delving into the world of mesh wreaths.  I will upload our creations for my next post.  I've also been busy getting all of my stash in order. 

Life has just been really busy these days!

Brothers of the Sun Tour…

Friday night I wen to see the Brothers of the Sun Tour in New Orleans at the Super Dome. It was fantastic! The line up included Jake Owen, Grace Potter, Tm McGraw and Kenny Chesney. All of them were great, except Grace Potter, in my opinion. She just didn't fit in with the rest of the line up. We were initially leary of seeing Tim McGraw again because we saw him last year at the Bayou Country Superfest and he was rather, dull and boring. Ok, we will admit, it might have been us who were suffering from heat stroke by the time he came on, but we were in definite agreement, he was awesome this time around! He had a much better song selection! Kenny Chesney is like the freaking Energizer Bunny! He is all over the place. It is amazing that he can run around like that on the stage AND sing live at the same time.

Jenny and I

Jenny and her mom, Diane

Jenny was making the most of our girls night out!

After the concert I stayed at Jenny's mom's house on the couch.  That's always fun!  I have to admit, her couch is actually quite comfortable, whether sober or drunk!  The fun part is when the kids wake up in the morning at 6:30 am!!!  All I remember is that at one point early in the morning, the youngest managed to escape from his play pen and wonder into the living room to wake me up.  Then I recall every light in the living room coming on early, early because Jenny's husband forgot I was on the couch and was getting ready to head out to drill.  Then when the boys finally got up, I woke up to "Shhhh, don't wake her" being said over and over again!  Ahh kids!





My morning wake up call, Connor

For breakfast we headed to the brand new Panera.  Yay!  We finally have one in the area!  Ok, while this was in New Orleans, we will be getting one sometime soon in Baton Rouge!  So, till then, we can go to the Metairie store!  

Jenny and I at Panera enjoying our iced coffees

Huge Finish!!

Oh my gosh!! After 4 years and 5 months, Dragon Knot 2 is finally finished!!

Pattern purchased February 2008. Finished July 29, 2012.

1 over 1 on 25 count lugana fabric. 50 different colors. Final size 12 inches by 12 inches.

Next weekend I will take it to a LNS in New Orleans to have it framed.

Summer fun

I have been enjoying summer so much already!! I've been spending time at the lakes by the university every chance I can when it is sunny to get in a walk. It is a total of 4 miles around the lake.



One of the veiws along my walk.



One of the roads along my walk that is bordered by large trees providing plenty of shade!



I've spent so much time outside so far that I have actually been asked if I've been going to the tanning bed because I actually look tan!! That made me laugh. I am so white I glow in the dark!!

I was thinking this morning, as I was walking around the lake, how I had so far managed to stay on my two feet. See, I have been known to trip over air. I thought it and it happened. Tripped over air!! Or my own 2 feet, depending on how you view it. I was lucky. Nothing, once again, was hurt. Just bruising. Even managed to not bust open my knees! But it hurt!!

It was a steamy hot weekend! I did go to the pool on Saturday. It was so hot that my knees were sweating!!

My sister sent me this the other day. Normally it is so right on but I have to admit now that Jo-Ann's is open I have an alternative place to shop on Sundays!!

I have finished another page on Dragon Knot. I contemplated taking another progress picture but decided to wait til it is done as I only have less than a page to complete! I am very excited to complete this project!

I can't wait for the next 4 days to pass!! In 4 days, barring any hurricanes, I will be on a plane headed to see my family! I've already started to pack. I'm already overwhelmed with the packing! I haven't taken a vacation for more than a weekend in a long time!! Not sure what to pack! I'm sure I'll overpack!