snowpocalypse 2009

So we got the big snow in maryland over the weekend. woo, I have not seen snow like this since i was a kid. It was awesome! As an adult I was not so excited to get out in it as I was when I was a kid.

In the midst of it all on Saturday, my bf decided he would WALK to a friends house and its not exactly close on foot....and in the middle of a snowstorm...yea, he went by himself.

Sunday was the day for digging out and we also went for a walk around town and stopped to visit my parents who live a couple blocks down the street from us. We live in town, but not on main roads so our roads are pretty hazardous, and since so many cars have now driven over it, there isn't much point for the crews to plow now.

Our holiday season also isn't exactly going as expected this year either. Last week we dropped off bf's car at the service garage to get one of his tires checked for a leak, but instead got the news that there is so much work needed on the car, its not worth what it would take to fix it and it is pretty unsafe to drive. So, we are down to one car right now. We spent yesterday digging that one car out in the morning before our walk, but thankfully, last night one of our neighbors 0ffered to have his father in law plow the rest of the snow away for us with his tractor so that was a very nice and unexpected save.

I sent bf off this morning to work, I decided to stay home since I had the opportunity with my job being on liberal leave today. Plus, I figured it would be safe for him to just go straight to work and not have to worry about dropping me off and driving around near my office downtown cause it has to be a mess. I wont be able to do much without a car, but I am broke til payday anway so its not like i would have gone anywhere anyway! It's nice to have a day at home alone to lounge around and work on some projects and do some cleanup.

Here are some pics from our snow weekend!

imma blog slacker

so sue me.... imma blog slacker...i like this whole blog thing, though i know there are few and far between that really give a crap about what ive got to say, but it sure is fun. plus, i feel like i should contribute considering the other blogs i like to stalk, i should give back.

and i give up on the whole capitalization and correct punctuation stuff tonight. its my freakin blog, ill be white trash if i want to!

so what have i been up to? do you even care? well i dont care if you do or not, this is my blog and ill blog if i want to!

oh a few things, mostly feeling the time pass way faster than im ready for. i got too much goin on, ya know!?!

in september i was invited to partake in the awesomeness that is U2 with my good friend, jessica. we had quite the girls night and even though i didnt get home until 330 in the am on a work night, i really did plan on going to work the next day....it just didnt happen.

yes, yes bono is my husband.....

i just love this picture. the concert was at fedex field, which is the stadium where the washington redskins play. ive never seen a show like it. all the tiny lights are actually peoples cell phones, it was an amazing experience.

bf and i also made an appearance at fed ex field the following weekend for a skins game. free tickets must never be turned down....especially club level tickets.


one of my cousins got married a couple weekends ago, i forgot my dang camera. i was extremely disappointed because bf and i so rarely dress up and look fancy but i made sure to grab a couple pics when we got home.

i have naturally curly hair so i made sure to use this special occasion to get a haircut in the morning and then i straightened my hair for the wedding. it looks SO good and i was so happy because it had been raining all day so i was paranoid about my locks getting damp, but luckily we had an umbrella handy in the car.


thats pretty much it in my world. earlier this year, i won a four night stay at an all inclusive resort in jamaica off the radio. so, we are trying to figure out when we are gonna go this coming winter and dealing with getting everything together to get our passports. ive also got a couple crafty projects going on, im current stitching on mirabilia's petal fairy and knitting my first pair of socks using yarn i got from knit picks. i got the book and learned how to do two socks on one circular needle so we shall see how they turn out.

peace out...for now!!

Vacation Pictures!!

Beachtime Silliness

Margaritaville

Yummy!!





BF glad to be out of the car after arriving



Beach Chillin'

Thats all for now. More to come from Ripleys Aquarium and the Jimmy Buffett concert.

Back and not loving it....

Well we are back from our vacation, we have actually been home for a week now. But, it was back to work and back to life, so it was all busy busy busy!

We had an amazing time on vacation. There were days of overcast skies, but we didnt let that get us down. We relaxed on the beach, took long afternoon naps, and took in some sites. One evening in rained so after after dinner we went to the movies. BF, of course, wanted to see Halloween 2, and there wasn't anything I absolutely had to see so I took one for the team and agreed to see it (and cringed the whole way through it). In return, I get to drag him to something he does not want to see. I'm trying to decide between Fame and The Princess and the Frog.....LOL.

Friday, we left good ole' South Carolina and headed back north to Maryland, with a stop in Virginia. Of course, I just happened to find the hotel in Fairfax that was right down the street from Fair Oaks Mall which just happened to have a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. I convince BF we had enough funds to finance a meal at the restaurant and off we went. OMCF....o my cheesecake factory!! Totally worth it, and in the end it really didn't cost anymore than a typical meal when we go out and we got to take the cheesecake back to our hotel to enjoy later when we were not so stuffed from our dinners.

Saturday we slept in a bit and then we were up and running getting ready to go see Jimmy Buffett at Nissan Pavilion. For our first Buffett experience, we had a amazing time!

Sunday, we arrived home and after unpacking the car and sitting on the couch suddenly felt like we hadn't been on vacation at all. More like a very vivid dream!

No worries, pictures to come!

It's almost that time!

Time for my vacation!! I am so ready to pack my crap and get in the car for the drive down to Myrtle Beach with my boyfriend. This summer has been crazy busy and flying by fast! While everyone else has done and gone on their vacations we have patiently waited for our time to come, and it's almost here! I am ready to sit in the sand and play in the ocean! I am ready for my free waffle breakfasts at the hotel. I am ready to sit on my ass all day and do nothing. I am ready for the car ride in which i will sit and knit socks while watching episodes of Grey's Anatomy and movies like Knocked Up and Twilight on my Ipod. I am soooo ready.

Of course, before we leave...soo much to do! This weekend we have a friend's daughters birthday party and bf's mom is away for alil trip of her own so we are checking on grandparents and dog and house. I can check one item off my list and that is getting my car serviced before we leave..a painful $200 spent, but its worth not having the worry of being stranded 10 hours from home.

I haven't been stitching much lately. It's so friggin hot in my house, I can't stand to sit on the couch long enough to get anything done. I did knit a sock though. One sock. My first sock. That will probably never have a mate. But, I knit a sock. I learned a new skill. I got so excited I ordered a circular needle and some sock yarn from Knit Picks. So with my circular needle, I can learn to knit TWO socks at one time, therefore skipping that whole bit with all the guilt where I knit one sock who never meets its sole mate.

Speaking of the heat. It's hot, y'all. Hot in my house. At first I was all "oh, its not so bad" but ya know, it's gettin' old. Really old. We have the ac unit up in the bedroom, but I really don't feel like spending all my free time holed up in my bedroom when I have a whole house to lay around in. So yea, it's hot...and when it's hot, nothing gets done, nothing. So my house is a disaster. I start to clean it, and then I get hot, and then I take a break...and then I see they are showing a marathon of America's Next Top Model on Oxygen, and well, what was I doing? BUT, I refuse to leave and go on vacation and come back to such a mess. So the next couple weeks/weekends will be a flurry of activity and packing and cleaning and laundry. Maybe with some stitching and ANTM in between....not to mention Real Housewives of Atlanta (crap I missed it last night!), Project Runway, Hell's Kitchen, Top Chef........

Where have I been?!?!?!

Well, its been awhile since I posted. Not much to write about....but mostly no internet access at my house at this time. I've been stitching away and finished a few things, and started more than a few.

BF and I are doing great. Tonight we are actually going on a weeknight date night, going to dinner and seeing the new Harry Potter movie, I'm really excited!!

A friend of ours has recently put up a pool at her house for the enjoyment of her family and hangers on friends (me)....I decided I needed a day off recently to unwind and chill on my own. That day is this Friday and I will be spending the day doing some general household duties but probably spending the majority of it in my friends pool....floating on a blow up raft with a cold drink in my hand and the sun on my skin.

No pics to post as I am posting from work and only upload pics on my laptop at home. Hopefully soon in the future I can get some one here showing my projects and the fun times I've been having away from the blog.

pics and updates

A couple weeks ago my friend sean came in to visit from arizona. my friend jessica thought she'd have alittle get together with dinner and wine....quite an experience.....

The following sunday we had a bit of snow in the area so i got to enjoy the day off work on monday which was quite nice. DBF stayed home with me so we enjoyed a day together of hookie and sitting on the couch chillin out....

Lizzie Kate Halloween Double Flips

In Progress : 03/01/2009

Today, dbf worked some overtime and then came home and took a nap. While he was sleeping i went out to the library and rented a couple videos. for the evening, he went out with some guys from work while i enjoyed some more quiet time here at home, gave me a chance to finish up the first of the six double flips

Lizzie Kate Halloween Double Flips

First Six Finished : 03/07/2009

Now the only thing to do for that project is to wait for the last six designs in the pice to be released, hopefully soon! I'm still working on Iris by Mirabilia, but took a break from her because I realized I was missing a color so I couldn't touch her. I was able to pick up the missing thread at Michaels, but am still avoiding her. I think next I will work on "bayside bungalows" by Country Cottage Needleworks. It's the cutest design and though a bit on the pricey side, it came with all of the Crescent Color threads and buttons so all I had to do to complete the kit was buy the fabric.

Bayside Bungalows

Country Cottage Needleworks & Crescent Colors

32 ct. Parchment Jobelan

Began: 03/07/2009

Here's some pics!!

Valentine's Day 2009

Lizzie Kate Halloween Flip Its

Began: 02/21/2009

Iris
In Progress: 02/17/2009



Iris

In Progress: 02/24/209

I'm a Pirate!!

So for the last couple months I have been wearing my glass, I ran out of contact lenses just before christmas and didn't have the time or money to worry about ordering new ones until last week when i ordered more. well, the order came yesterday and well lets just say, its not going to well. I put them in this morning before work and on the way in while my DBF was driving i kept telling him that something was weird, i couldnt see right. well, long story short, after much fiddling and checking, i realized that the website i had ordered from had sent me the incorrect prescription for my right eye. party my fault, partly theirs. when i had placed the ordered i had misread part of my prescription and selected the wrong axis, but they are supposed to verify the information with my eye doctor so they should have caught the mistake and fixed it. so i sent a quick email asking what i should do, praying i wouldnt have to shell out another 40 bucks for another box of lenses and try to figure out what to do with the useless ones i couldnt use sitting at home. two minutes later i heard back and (thank god) they are sending me the correct lenses at no charge with expedited shipping, and also sending prepaid postage so i can send the unused, in correct lenses back to them. so thats a load off there, but today i have to sit at work with the wrong lense in my right eye, that will teach me not to carry my glasses with me from now on.

on the stitching front, I've been quite busy. I am cruising along on Iris, unfortunately I have been remiss in posting updated photos, but I will get it in gear soon, promise! i also started working on the lizzie kate boo flip its in the hopes that i will have them done and framed by halloween to hang up.....you'd think with Halloween being six months away this could be accomplished, we shall see.

valentines day, bf and i went to Medieval times! talk about a good time!! we had so much fun. i have been a couple times but he had never seen the show so it was exciting. when we were in myrtle beach on vacation last year we had gone to the dixie stampede show and it was very cheesy. the food at medieval times was excellent and the drinks yummy!!

Pics coming soon!! Pirate Peace out!!

Late night finish!!

So I got home and sat myself down, determined to finish beading Tigerlily. It's quite a tedious and time consuming task, but I finally got done.

And here is the picture I also took of finished Peppermint lane.

Now on to the next project!! Most likely I will begin working on Mirabilia's Iris Pixie Couture. Yay for a finish!!

Where is it?

So we (us here in maryland) were supposed to get snow all last night and all day today. but nooo, it stopped around 9 or so last night. I was sooo looking forward to a nice snow day at home, i think last wednesdays call out/liberal leave spoiled me. I would give ANYTHING to work a job with a compressed/flex work week. It's been discussed here at my office but still not happening yet.

BF and i stayed home sunday and watched the big game. i made dinner and worked on the beading for tigerlily, almost done!!

I'm totally bummed sitting at work, i want to be home snuggled on my couch with my stitching.

Progress (with pictures!)

I've been working the last couple weeks on Peppermint Lane and Tigerlily. I actually finished Peppermint Lane about, mmm, two weeks ago?.....But I don't have a finished picture, cause well, I been lazy.

This is the most recent

Peppermint Lane

Country Cottage Needleworks

In progress 01/07/2009

Since I finished Peppermint Lane, I've been focusing on getting Tigerlily done. Im 90% there, just have to finish backstitching and beading. I'm thinking since BF is working this weekend and I will be home and carless, I will have plenty of time to get it done.

Tigerlily

Mirabilia

In Progress 01/02/2009

Tigerlily

Mirabilia

In Progress 01/25/2009

Well that's about all for today. We had some bad weather here in Maryland earlier this week. Snowed Tuesday and icey on Wednesday. Tuesday, we went to work, but Wednesday we both stayed home. Today is Friday and I am ooooh so glad. I am very tired and ready for my sleep days. As of right now, the only exciting thing we have got going on is checking some tickets that we bought earlier this month to see if we won a most awesome prize package. It's a raffle at a club that BF belongs to, the prize is a 56" flat panel tv, a nintendo wii, and guitar hero III package. WANT!!

A bit of draggin here

I am a bit tired today. Bf and I have been carpooling in the morning for a week now. He drives in the morning and then I drive home at night. I kind of like having the company in the car and I like getting to work and not having to rush into my day. I get to my office an hour before I need to so I can sit and drink my coffee, listen to the radio and read a bit. I've thought about taking some stitching/knitting/crochet with me, but I feel that that small hour in the morning would just fly by to quickly and when the time came I would not want to put it down.

As in the previous post, my stitching has mostly been on Peppermint Lane by country cottage needleworks. I am 90% done the stitch and think I will make it into a flatfold. There is a top and bottom border in the pattern but I dont think I will put it on, but instead will cut it kind of close and use something fancy to go around the edges of the flat fold.

I should have just gone ahead and finished the stitch last night when we got home. Instead I got a birthday (belated) surprise in the mail from my friend Heather who lives in New York. Inside was the cutest lil caddy to hold yarn and such and two skeins of lovely purple naturally caron yarn. It is a wonderful bamboo and acylic/cotton blend, very soft and squishy, just the way I like it. Not sure what it will become but for now I just like holding it! So with the yarn surprise I became a bit adventurous and decided to tackle entrelac. I found some wonderful/simple instructions online and two skeins of vanna's choice yarn (pink and brown). As is the case with all knitting I have tried since I began in October, it was way easier than I thought it would be. I had to look up a couple of the stitches online, but also used another awesome website by googling "knitting help". I was able to get three passes of entrelac done and like very much how it is turning out. It's a bit chunky and messy since I am just learning but I think it will smooth out as I go along and get more comfortable with the technique.

Tomorrow night I am hanging with one of my best gfs at her house. She got a wii fit for christmas so we will prolly be making fools of ourselves with that, especially with all the drink we seem to imbibe when we spend time together.......should be a good time!!

Bf is working tonight so I'm planning on getting in some more stitching/entrelac!!

Raining and Pouring

Well weather wise today it is neither raining or pouring, its more like one of those life things.

The week after christmas, BF and I got in his car to go somewhere and we were all set to go, puts the key into the ignition and it wont turn. you ever have your steering wheel lock up on you and the key wont turn in the ignition and you kinda gotta jiggle it or have some big muscles to move that mother?!?! well yea, it wasnt that convenient or easy with his car. luckily i had taken off work pretty much the week of new years so he could take my car to work until we got it to the mechanic. got it to the mechanic that friday and a few days later he calls to tell us that the ignition needs to be replaced and it will cost upwards of a total of $1000!!! unbelievable.....

now, before i get tons of comments about second opinions and blah blah blah, like EVERYONE that we know, i have to vent some frustrations here....this is why i have a blog :). apparently my bf and i are too stupid to figure out this whole car situation. everyone we have told/who has asked us about the car thing has something to say, "get a second opinion" "your mechanic is skamming you" "hes trying to make money off of you" "wow, your getting screwed" "look for recalls" "call your insurance company". all kinds of direction as to what we should do about the car and the cost of getting it fix. i see to be getting most of the flak about it from people because i am a woman and apparently am to stupid to find out information for myself concerning necessary repairs and costs of said repairs. um, yes, HELLO, i am not an imbecile. i consider my to be fairly book smart, and have some of my own brand of common sense. If i dont know about something or need more information i have this thing that i can look up information on, its called the internet. yea, i got that, and OMG i know how to use it!! My bf also seems to get the same treatment, because yes he is a dude, but (lucky of me) he isnt all that into cars and their innerworkings. concerning the mechanic, yes he is a ma and pa garage in our small town, BUT my bfs family has been taking all of their cars to this man for at least a decade and he is a good person. when i spoke to him on the phone and he told me how much the repairs would cost, he did nothing but apologize about the situation we found ourselves in and i can tell you that the prices we are paying are all for PARTS, not his labor, and trust me, i have looked up ever single one of these parts and their prices. he has made several calls to toyota on our behalf to find out information about the car and service on the repair. several of our friends has said we should call a junk yard and get the parts. i have spoken with our mechanic and done my own research, besides having a low opinion of getting parts from a JUNKYARD. because of the repair that is necessary on the car, its pretty much impossible to use used parts. because of the electrical/computer crap involved in repairing/replacing the ignition, getting used parts/using used parts would be impossible. the ignition in the car has to be completely replaced, which means new keys and new programming and all kinds of crap. plus, to me, its in the junkyard for a reason, leave it there. the last thing we need is to get "spare" parts, spend the money to get it fixed and then have the same situation 6 months down the road. this is one area where going used is just going to cause us more trouble. the only time i believe in going to the junk yard and when your repair is purely cosmetic, such as a mirror or a light (as i did with a car i previously owned when my headlight got smashed in by some idiot).

so after spending a day stressing about the cost of the car repair, bf and i have pretty much let it be. its one of those things that happens and we just have to deal, its life and shit happens, and usually when you really cant afford for it to happen. so we have been juggling schedules and working around getting each other back and forth to work. at first a neighbor was taking bf to work and then i was picking him up when i got off work. he has to be at work at 645 am and i dont have to be at work until 8am. last week and today we tried something a bit different and i got up early and rode with him to his job and then came to my office and killed time before i actually had to start working. mostly i just sat at my desk and drank my coffee while reading a book. at the job where i work there is no option for overtime so no way am i going to do any actual work before im supposed to! LOL. hopefully in a couple more weeks we will have enough saved up to get the car fixed and everything back to normal. it has been nice though riding home from work with bf, we talk about our day and whats for dinner and listen to music.

stitching wise, ive spent the majority of the last week or two working on peppermint lane by country cottage needleworks, and will prolly finish it up tonight. i think this design i will finish into a flat fold. this way i can display it on a table in the living room and then put it away after the winter as it seems to be a more wintery design. new mirabilie (venetian opulence) and new lizzie kate patterns have come out, and i want them....so hopefully i will have some extra money set aside for some stashing. my LNS, the stitching post is having a superbowl sale so i think after that sale i will go on a pattern diet. its been good though, as until the after christmas sale i hadnt gotten any real stash since july!

happy stitching!