actually blogging on a weekday

I've noticed that I seem to be blogging on the weekends only - and by that time, it's hard to remember all the events of the week, or it could be that my week just isn't that exciting!



This weekend i know is going to be a bit crazy- in a good way! My hometown-old school-longtime friend Susie & her family are traveling down from the 'ville for a visit! I'm super excited :) I haven't seen them since Christmas (which I know wasn't that long ago...) but they're the first friends that have come to see us in our new 'digs'.



She's got 3 little ones, so I spent the weekend cleaning, and will tonight and tomorrow as well to ensure things are put up and away from their little hands. I wish I was a fast enough knitter to make all 3 of them a little toy, but that's outside my abilities.



I'm hoping the weather holds out and hear there is a nice Flower/Azalea festival going on not far from here over the weekend. And of course there's always the beach! But I don't' know if it'll be quite warm enough for that - I hope so though - Mike's been craving the beach, and I always think the more the merrier on the beach. I mean - a game of Boccie is great fun with Mike, but sometimes it's nice to have a team rather than 2 ppl playing!



I'm sure after the weekend there will be plenty to post and lots of pictures of cute little faces! (I can't wait to see the little cuties!!!). Hmmm.. maybe if I knit them really really reeeaaallly small things?

getting organized

Ok! Found my phone charger - charged, found camera battery and charger - charged! Took pictures of hat, elephant, and stash - uploaded! Found new pattern - printed out, and started! I'm on a roll! It's amazing what you can find/do when you start cleaning ;)

My friends from the 'ville are coming to visit - Susie & Mark and their 3 kids, next week, so I'm trying to get thing organized for their visit, and make sure things are put up and away. Plus it being spring - we needed to do some spring cleaning as well.

Here are those pictures I was talking about:

Mike and I at the Biltmore House:



His finished hat, on his head and mine:



The finished Blue Elephante:



It feels nice to finish things. Now I'm working on this hat with the same Malabrigo I used on my Evangelines. I've started the brim and it's coming along swimmingly!

wanting to live at the Biltmore

This weekend Mike and I headed to Ashville to see the Biltmore Estate - I knew very little about it, but Mike had been studying it in some of his classes at school, and since it was his spring break, we took to weekend to go and visit his brother & family as well.

The place is huge! and beautiful and really amazing. We took the "behind the scenes" tour, and I think what amazed me the most was the forethought and planning that went into the house as it was designed and built. Everything was thought through so well, you wonder if they're done the same today.

It was really nice to get away and see some family too. Mike's niece and nephew live about an hour away and so we spent some time with them - just hanging out and relaxing. This year is the "Tamburro Christmas" meaning we're all supposed to get together, but as both of my brothers are pregnant, (yup both - Carlo's on his 2nd and Alex his 1st - both due about the same time too!) I'm guessing it might be a bit more difficult to get together with family this year, so I like being able to get together when we can. Plus, it's even nicer when you don't have the holiday stresses added to it.

Speaking of babies, my friend who is the recipient of the blue Elephante had her baby boy Orin Gabriel on March 16th, just a few minutes shy of St. Patty's day! Luckily, I was able to finish his ears and he's all ready. Unfortunately I've been having charger issues (in other words - misplacing them) and can't pull up the pictures. I think that's one of the things that holds me back sometimes from blogging, is I can't find my camera/battery/charger or don't have a picture of the thing I'm talking about, and want to wait until I do. Perhaps I'm being too picky.

I was also finally able to finish Mike's hat on the ride up, but the only shot I have of it (due to same camera issues as before) is before I bound off to make sure it fit right - but I still think it looks cute:



Not sure what I'm going to start on next, but I've got a couple of things in mind. Right not, my knitting mojo's been stalled trying to finish the last two projects just right, so I'm hoping something pretty straightforward will help me get it back.

celebrating Lent

I had a post all written out about what I was giving up for Lent and why and I realized that in doing so, I was not really following the things I'd like to do for Lent itself. Funny eh? To sum it up, more reflection and thanks, less expectation and self-indulgence.

Things have been going along smoothly lately, and I think that's part of the reason my blog has been quieter recently. There just hasn't been that much going on. Mike and I have had a few social events for his school - His visiting professor from England is headed back home this week - I know Mike will miss him. I only met him and his wife (both lovely people) a handful of times, but he's been teaching the plaster students at the school for the past 8 weeks, and had a wealth of knowledge to offer. So we've had 'beers at the pub' a few times, 'a going-away dinner' and a few other related events to keep us busy.

We're getting used to the SleepNumber, although it's still tough to stick to a setting, (its so fun to play with it though!) but I think we're finding our groove. Partially because I'm just so tired when I go to bed that it makes it easy to just keep it at whatever setting it was at the night before. I've been working out more the past few weeks - there's a friend from work who's been joining me (or saying she will and then bailing at the last minute so I'm already there) so that's been helping a lot with motivating me to go. I've been doing more yoga/Pilate's than the cardio, but try to fit in a cardio or weight class at least once a week.

There is another friend who is supposed to 'run the bridge' with me (or at least attempt to walk/slowly jog it at first) sometime after work, and I've been a slacker on calling her on it, but I'm tempted to this week, depending on the weather. (YOU know who you are, and YOU'VE been warned!! I know you read my blog there girly!!! :) We all need a nudge now and again eh? I shouldn't push too hard - I haven't done it yet so who am I to talk right?

A while back, I won a contest on this blog, and was told my prize would be coming in the mail a bit late, and promptly forgot all about it. Well, it came the other day and is just beautiful!! There were 2 skeins of Brown Sheep's Handpainted Originals, and 5 simply gorgeous stitch markers - I love them! The website doesn't do the yarn justice -so here are some pictures, but they really don't capture the lovely colors either:







Knitting wise, I'm almost finished with the baby gift as I've been calling it, and I've decide to post some pictures because I don't think the recipients mother really reads my blog very often. I'm still stuck on the ears - I made them once, and they were too small, and not the right shape. I think I've finally fiddled around and found a shape I like, but I can't get the color to work out right with the color changes without it looking really weird. After a bit I'm just going to give up and stick the ears on there, but in the meantime, I will give you a few pictures:

Here he is without any ears:

and here

and from the top (which i think is so cute!)


And here are his first set of ears which Mike said made him look more like a bear than an elephant:


I kinda agree. So I've been working on another pair and then he'll be done! The baby's due in April so I'm not sure if I should send him on, or bring him with me when I go to visit. We'll see.

I'm also working on a hat for Mike. He drew me a picture:



and I've chosen this hat pattern for the basic idea (here for you Ravelry folks), and making a few adjustments. I'm not doing the actual patterning on it and changing some of the garter stitch to stockinette,and adding some stripes to it. So far he likes it, and that's with me only ripping it out maybe.... 3 times due to my own knitting mishaps. Once I cast on too many stitches making it too bit, another time, the striping wasn't working out the way I liked it, and the third, I was trying to match what I did the first time and couldn't get it. But now I think I'm on a role. It talks me a bit to get going sometimes.

But overall, it's all good. Right now, life is all good. And that's something I'm going to try to actively remind myself - that it's not that way for everyone, and so, I need to continually count my blessings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.Thank you, thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou....