Lazy Weekend....

So this past weekend was a lazy one.  No plans.  No where to go.  Nothing to do.  No one to see.  This was mostly because of Bonnie, the storm that wasn't.  I never even saw a drop of rain.  Thanks Bonnie!

Reading Suggestion:
I read a lot but I'm not one to say "Hey, you should read this book."  I'm going to make an exception.  I just recently finished "In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir" by Neil White.  This is the author's tale of spending a year in a federal prison that was located in America's last leper colony in Carville, LA.  This book is not one I would have typically read since it doesn't have werewolves, vampires or witches in it.  But it really was a good book.  I suggest, especially for those who are from Louisiana, to read this book.  And if you happen to be in the Baton Rouge area, the author will be at LSU on Thursday evening and at the Jones Creek Library on Friday.

Stitching:
Since I had nothing to do this weekend and I really did manage to avoid doing chores, I was able to get quite a bit done on my new project, Passione Ricamo's Welcome Fairy. This is going fast, but as someone pointed out in a comment, anything seems fast after working on a HAED!!!  This is very true!

Last week's start:

This week's progress:

My Cup Runneth Over....

Boy, I sure do hope I am not jinxing myself!!!  Life has been good this week.  I love my sister dearly, but, geez, she was sucking the life out of me!!!  And money too!!!  LOL!  Ok, she has me wrapped around her little finger, I cave to all her demands! Anyway....

On to the good news of the past week. 

I have officially booked my vacation for August!  My friend, Jill, and I are headed back to the Caribe!!!  I was able to get a great rate on a 2 bedroom condo and we are headed there for a few days of R-E-L-A-X-A-T-I-O-N!!!  Cannot wait!!! It has been so long since I've been on a trip with no familial obligations or work obligations. Until we leave, I am on a STRICT budget.  Money has never flowed freely from my wallet but I am going on this trip NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

Recently received an email from my BFF, a doctor in Houston.  She is due to have her 3rd baby girl in November.  Very exciting!!!  She will have her hands full!  In October, Zoe will be 2, then the new baby in November, and the oldest, Eden, will be 4 in December.  Hmmm, I wonder if she planned that!?  Going to make it difficult to make all 3 birthdays.  I only made one last year which was an improvement over all previous years of not making any birthdays!!!  But now 3?  Will make scheduling interesting. Anyway, the down pour of babies continues!

I've been spending some time out on my balcony lately.  Our weather has been good AND bad.  But when it is good, it is so beautiful out!!!  These are some pics I've taken on those "good" days! Duke and I like to sit on the balcony and read.  Ok, I read and he watches all the many, many, many black feral cats that hang out in the courtyard.

Some stitching updates.  Below is the latest update on Dragon Knot 2.  I spent a good portion of the past week working on it. 

This is the full picture:

This is a close up of the section I've been working on:

I've also started a new project on Sunday. The Passione Ricamo design that I had mentioned in a previous post that I was going to do for my friend Stacy.  I finally started it on Sunday evening.  I have to admit it is a very easy stitch and I'm thinking that it may not take me "years" to finish!!

Ok, I have a big week ahead of me.  There are tons of work to be done and today started off with a 4 hour meeting.  Tomorrow is going to start with another 4 hour meeting and Wednesday is starting with a 2 hour meeting.  That's 10 hours of time I am not at my desk.  While I enjoy being away from my desk, my to do list is getting longer and longer!!!!  Which may be a good thing though as I do need some OT!!!!

Hope everyone has a great week!!!

A Good Summertime Weekend

This month I am enjoying my Friday afternoons off!  The company has graced us with an early quitting time of 2 pm on Fridays in July.  Not sure of the reason, but it is a nice treat!!!  It makes a world of difference getting off 2 hours early!!!  Makes the weekend feel almost a whole day longer!!!

I had an awesome time Friday night.  Went to dinner with an old friend and it was nice to talk over good mexican food and great margaritas!!  We then headed to hear a a friend of mine, Boxx, do an acoustic jam with a friend of his.  They did great! (Ok, so I'm just a teeny tiny bit biased!)  We enjoyed some good music and nice, cold, delicious daiquiris!  We must do this again soon!

Saturday morning, upon waking and verifying that the sun was out (weather predicted 50% chance of rain), I put on my swim suit and headed to the pool.  I swam laps for 30 minutes and then laid out for an hour.  I wouldn't say that I am trying to tan because, to be frank, that just isn't possible.  I am very fair.  I typically go from white to red back to white!  If I spend a LOT of time out in the sun, I might get a touch of a peachy color, but that takes a lot of time!!!  So let's just say, I am white and no longer ghostly white!!!  :)

Upon returning to the apartment, I just wasn't ready to shower and put on "real clothes".  So I sat on the balcony reading a book for an additional hour until it started to get really cloudy and thunder rumbling.  The rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch watching Harry Potter movies (are you groaning out loud Jill?) and stitching!!!!  It was a great afternoon to do that because it stormed the rest of the day!!!!

Despite all the rain of Saturday afternoon and night, Sunday was a beautiful sunny morning.  So once again, I put on my bathing suit and headed to the pool.  I did laps again for 30 minutes and then laid out for about an hour.  I love the drowsy feeling that comes over you after you've been swimming and being in the sun!  The rest of the day was filled with getting ready for the work week and stitching.  I'm glad that I went swimming in the morning though.  It didn't rain in the afternoon as it did on Saturday BUT it did get blazing hot!!!

Here's an update on Dragon Knot.  The nights or days that I do stitch, I've been stitching on this project.  I love seeing the progress on it and plus I want to finish it!!!  I feel like I've been working on it forever!!!

Before: 06/30/2010

Now: 07/11/2010

In addition, I took the time to start kitting up a project that I picked out for my friend Stacy.  She has been bugging me for years to do one for her.  She has loved all the ones I have done for her children, Marly and Parker, and has wanted one for herself.  So I picked this Passione Ricamo design for her.

Speaking of Passione Ricamo designs.  Has anyone visited their site before?  They have absolutely beautiful designs and a bunch of freebie designs to download.  Check them out!!! http://www.passionericamo.eu/

This is just a pic of my puppy, Duke!!  He wanted to get in on the action as I was taking an updated picture of my stitching:

Little bit of everything....

My sister is officially back at home in Austin.  Today she had her doctor's appointment.  She is healing well.  Still at least another month before she can begin trying to walk on her ankle but she has been cleared to start driving (crazy, huh?  Drive before walk) and can go back to work on Monday.  She is very excited about going back to work.  I told her she was "sick"!!  LOL!!  Mom will be returning home at the end of this week.  My sister really can get along much better now and my mom has lined up my sister's friends to help her when she needs it. 

I'll admit it.  I'm worried about her.  She is the baby after all!!!  But she is 30 years old and needs to take charge of her life.  But I do miss her.  Now that she isn't around, I have way too much time on my hands to think!  Think = trouble!!!! 

Well, the maternity leave merry-go-round at work has begun!!!  The first of 3 women to leave on maternity leave has gone out.  She actually has gone out about 3 weeks early.  She was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and was already 3 cm dilated at her doctor's visit yesterday.  In fact, as I write this we are all waiting to get a text as to what she has had as they induced her this morning and were predicting a baby around 6 pm. 

And to go along with the baby theme (it seems to have been raining babies around here lately!), I have another finish.  This one is for my BFF Jason's new little boy.  I'm a tiny bit late on a gift as he is already just over a month old but there's been a lot going on!!!  I've really enjoyed stitching these bibs!!  They are so quick and make great gifts!!! I plan on stitching at least 2 more of this over the next few weeks/months.

(Aren't the frogs adorable?)

I am still working on all my other projects.  The 2 baby quilts.  The HAED Dragon Knot.  I've also been "itching" to start a new project.  I still have that biscornu kit that I purchased that I am still very frightened to do.  Finishing, other than framing, is not one of my strong points.

Summer time is flying by.  I'm hoping to fit in a short vacation to the beach at the end of August or early September.  With all of the maternity leaves occurring this year, I see lots of OT in my future.  Makes me feel tired already but it means extra money and that is a good thing.  I hit 5 years with the company in September which means I will have 3 weeks of vacation next year.  Awesome!!!  I already have 2 trips in mind.  Well, one isn't really a trip since it is to New Orleans which is less than an hour away!  But it will be for Mardi Gras.  I am hoping that my cousin from Boulder will be able to come in and experience Mardi Gras for the very first time!!!  Then another trip in April to see my cousins in Ohio.  There is a wedding and that seems to be a good time as any to go.  I also see many trips to Mississippi in my future.  My nieces and nephew are moving there, just south of Memphis.  That would be only the reason I'd go to Mississippi other than for football games. 

Cleaning seemed to be a common theme last holiday weekend.  I went through my closet and drawers and cleaned out a bag of clothes and a bag of purses.  I kept all of my Coach purses of course!!! One of my co-workers also cleaned this weekend and found a file of cross stitch patterns.  Louisiana themed.  She doesn't stitch.  LOL!!  She remember getting them but doesn't know what for.  So she gave them to me.  I'll have to see what to do with them. 

It's been raining all week.  I really hope that it stops for the weekend.  I'd like to get out in the sun and continue building on the small amount of color I do have!!! 

4th of July Weekend

It was great to have an extended weekend!  Although I am not one for big events or parties, I still enjoyed my time off and the holiday.

The weekend started on Friday with the movie Eclipse!!!  Of the movies that have been released so far for this series, Twilight, I bleive that this has been the best one.  The actors seemed to be more "natural" (I'm not talking Oscar caliber, just better), the lighting, the makeup, everything about it seems to finally have been tweaked to perfection. Looking forward to seeing how they do the last book into 2 movies. 

Also saw the Harry Potter trailer on the big screen!  Can not wait for that!!!  My co-worker and I already have plans to go see that on November 19th!!!  Then the final installment in July 2011!!!  I know, I can be such a nerd at times!

Spent Saturday with my sister.  We had lunch at a great italian restaurant and then we went shopping.  Not too many shops though.  She was on her crutches, and while she can now put a little bit of weight on her foot, it still wears her out.  We went to Apple to check out the new iPhone.  Sis was scoping it out for her company as she works for a rival cell phone company.  Then off to Sephora where my sister spent an hour just looking at things.  I'm not that into make up but whatever makes Sis happy.  Then we went to Mango's where we got some mango daiquiris (yummy).  Then dinner with the parents.  Mexican.  Need I say more? 

In my opinion, any day that you start off by putting on a bathing suit is a good day!!!  Sunday, Independence Day, started that way.  After making some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, I headed out to the pool.  I love going to the pool in the morning because there are no kids around.  Not that I don't like kids, but I love the peace and quiet of laying out by the pool.  And for a change, the water was actually cold in the pool so it was nice and refreshing when one got in!!!

The afternoon of the 4th was spent with mi familia.  Little sister was having a mini-crisis and was begging me to come over.  So off I went with a six pack of Bud with lime and Duke.  :)  Good times.  We spent the afternoon relaxing, drinking and chatting.  Enjoyed a great dinner my dad prepared for us.  Then proceeded to paint my sister's toe nails.  Yes, I spoil and indulge her a lot. But it isn't often she is home for me to do that. 

We also said our goodbyes. My mom is bringing my sister home to Austin.  She has a doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  She is hoping they give her clearance to start trying to drive and then she can get back to work.  She is begging to get back to work.  But I think she just wants to be in her own home again.  Which I can't really blame her.  Also, the quicker she can start driving again, the sooner my mom will come home. 

It was actually very quiet in my apartment complex this holiday weekend.  Many people must have gone away.  There was no one at the pool over the weekend and very few "get togethers".  And since fireworks are illegal in our parish, it was VERY quiet once it got dark enough to do fireworks.  I heard a few "pops" but nothing very loud and Duke never once whined or barked. 

Monday has been spent cleaning and doing laundry!!!  Getting ready for the new, short work week!  Hope to get a lot done this week.  The boss is on his annual vacation so I hope to make some progress on cleaning off the desk!  Fingers crossed!!!  Thankfully it rained most of the day so the pool wasn't calling my name too loudly to come play instead of clean.  Really shouldn't go out in the sun today anyway as I can feel the "heat" coming off my back where I got a "touch" of sun yesterday!  :)

I did do some stitching.  I hope to have a finish to show very soon.  And some progress on Dragon Knot.  It is coming along nicely.  Just might get it finished this year.  Which is good, I am itching to start a new BIG project but feel guilty doing so when I have so many others that are "in progress". 

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!  Looking forward to seeing Box play at French Quarter Daiquiries on Friday night!!!  Good friends, good music, good drinks!!!  Sounds like a blast to me!!!