enjoying her hubby's company

that's right - Mike is home!! yeah :)

Mike came home last week, a bit early, to help out his school (they're moving their shop locations), prepare for his upcoming semester, and to help us get the house baby-ready. There seems like so much to do!

First step is to get the 'spare bedroom' or my office turned into the baby room. This means disassembling the desk and finding a place for my stash of things, as well as deciding what will fit and what we'll need in that room. We don't really get to decorate much since we rent - just lots of consolidating and moving. Fun fun. Good fun.

I finished a cute pair of booties that I really like:
Mike helped me model them - teehee!



And am dong pretty well getting through a crocheted cap for one of my nieces, I hope it fits her, as I think it's going to be a bit small on my head, but we'll see. My SIL's are both due next month and I'm trying to get a few things done for them too. Other than that - general cleaning and whatnot - lots to do, and never enough time. So it goes in the land of pregnancy eh?

This weekend we did get to go to the beach and spend some down time together which was nice. It's good to have Mike home. In a couple of weeks I'm going to head down to Louisville to visit friends and family and am thinking about taking a trip to Chicago to do the same. We'll see how it all goes.

back in Charleston

I made it back to Charleston from visiting Mike, and only had one little snafu/meltdown along the way. On the trip home, my flight was delayed from NY to Atlanta, and therefore caused my flight to Charleston to be canceled. I was stuck in Atlanta for the night, no luggage (still on the plane to Charleston) missing mike, tired, pregnant and really just wanting to be home.
Between the short trip from the airport to the hotel that night, (in which I managed in my distress to get on the wrong shuttle) I lost my phone. I had left it on one of the shuttles and was devastated. I spent then next few hours trying to track it down and left the next day resigned to the fact that I had lost yet another phone. My late flight home and lack of communication gave me about 20 minutes to change and get back to the office to finish out the day with a round of meetings. The bright light at the end of the day was a voice-mail on my phone from Mike:
"I hope you haven't bought a new phone already, someone called - they found your phone and are sending it back to you"
YEAH!! Wow. My faith in humanity was restored. Turns out, I had been trying the wrong hotel shuttle-buses, and in the meantime, a very kind and responsible attendant at a Comfort Inn, took the time to turn my phone off (to conserve the battery) because she felt it was too late to call when the phone was turned in, wait till morning, look up "home" in my phone and contact Mike to find and address to send the phone to. She shipped it out to me next-day. Wow. You just don't find customer service like that any more. Especially since I didn't even stay at that hotel!!
It's one of those things that really wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time, but I'm very thankful it turned out the way it did.
With my final arrival being on a Monday, it threw my week off a bit, but made it go by a little faster. I spent most of it cleaning and catching up on my rest and laundry. I even managed to post a prego picture of myself :



I feel like I look bigger than I actually am in this picture, but it depends on where the baby is, what time of day it is and what I"m wearing actually.

While in NY, I got to spend a day with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. It was great to see them, and we realized I hadn't been to the house in over 10 years! They had been out to see us for weddings and other various events, but I hadn't physically been to the house in a long time. It made me feel a bit better to know I wasn't crazy when I drove by the house because they had changed the siding from dark brown shaggy shingles to white aluminum siding... 5 years prior!
Here's a picture of the family - complete with Uncle Ed's 'new hair':


And all the 'girls' tried on the headband I made for Sabrina:

, ,
It was really really good to see them all, and a great way to end my trip to NY.
Now. Just to get Mike home...

on the Brooklyn Bridge

Last night Mike and I went for an evening stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge - it was really pretty. I took some pictures, but I don't have my computer with me, and won't be able to get them uploaded till next week when I get home. To tell you the truth, I don't think many came out very well.

On our way, we did see Neil Diamond! He was being interviewed by the one of the local stations about his upcoming show or something. We decided not to ask him for his autograph, and just walked quietly behind him, trying to think of more than 2-3 songs that we know of his. I think had it been someone different, I might have asked for a picture or autograph, but both Mike and I agreed that we weren't big enough fans or that star-struck to do so.

On the way to the bridge I had my knitting with me and saw another woman crocheting at top - she asked me how hard it was to learn how to knit, and we had a short mini-lesson/discussion before we had to hop off and switch trains. That's the 4th person I've shown how to knit lately. On the way here, in the airport, I showed two guys while waiting for our delayed flight - they picked it up pretty fast, and it really helped pass the time. The 3rd guy was sitting beside me on the flight and was from India, and said he'd have to tell his mom that he knew how now. It was fun and silly. I wasn't expecting to show them, therefore the yarn I had wasn't the best for beginners, so I was impressed by how quickly they all picked it up. I'll have to put some easy yarn to start with in my carry-on for the trip home.

I head home on Sunday, with a trip to visit my aunt and cousins in between. Then 3 more weeks before Mike will be done with his internship. He's enjoying it, and learning a lot, but he's ready to be done and head back to the comforts of home. He's blogging about it here, but hasn't been keeping up with it as readily with me here distracting him.

So far I have finished a pair of booties, the baby sweater except for the seaming (blah) and am halfway through a headband for my cousin. I did get a 'gift' of yarn that Mike got me to start a shawl - it's some pretty alpaca that I have just the project for!

spending time with her hubby!

Yesterday was my first full day with Mike in NY since I was here 6 weeks ago - it was so great to see him again!!! I flew in Thursday night, and thanks to delays, didn't get in till 12:30 - and went straight to bed.

Yesterday we started the day by doing a little shopping, and running a few errands, then we stopped a place called the Havana Outpost for lunch. That place was great - they are the only solar powered restaurant in NY, and recycle the rainwater from their gutters for their bathrooms and such. It was a really cute/cool place. We had some uniquely-seasoned corn (Parmesan, butter- or maybe mayo red pepper and lime) and sandwiches that hit the spot perfectly.

Then we headed to prospect park, and after a leisurely walk, took a really nice long nap on the grass in the park. It was very relaxing and wonderful just to sit, and sleep, and not too have to be anywhere or do anything but we could just... be. I think it was exactly what Mike and I needed - a day of no agenda.

After the park we took a stroll around Park Slope and wandered into a bunch of cute little stores and shops before settling down to dinner at a little Italian restaurant that had a duo playing guitar and upright bass providing some pleasant background music.

Had only I been hungry enough for desert - but by that time I was worn out and we headed home for bed. It was really a perfect day. ahh...