Good Bye 2008

Well what a year. With the down turn in the market forcing me to close my firm; to getting to spend sometime just discovering what I want to do; to being able to spend time with family; to going to Mexico; and to getting to knit my little heart out, 2008 has been a good year despite the ups and downs.

New Year's always makes me a bit sad as I sometimes feel like I have "wasted" time and have not accomplished all I have wanted. However, this year, although I did not get done all I wanted to do, I don't feel as sad as I know we are setting out great plans for 2009. One thing we have promised to do is to Do Something New Every Day. I'll post them.

I will be hitting the job trail on Monday, Jan. 5 at full force. Look out legal world.... I am BACK. I am also going to work on getting our condo cleaned out. I can't believe we have been here for 7 years. For our long time friends who know us to move every 2 years this is a HUGE accomplishment.

But staying somewhere for any length of time you being to squirrel away things in places you did not know you could store stuff. Then, suddenly, the seams on the condo are stretching like those skinny jeans you try to put on but you know you are just 10 lbs to heavy to wear. I have sooooo much "stuff" to get rid of. We are hoping to sell some through consignment shops. I have some art, very collectible art, that I am going to take to Christie's or Sotheby's to have auctioned. Unless you would like to buy direct from me pieces by Orlando Rafael Quevedo or Guido Borelli. Craft items for stamping and scrapbooking are going as well as toys I had for the nieces and nephews when they were small.

I'll keep you all posted on the BIG sale when we have one.

Adam and I wish all of you a very inspiring 2009 and as we are going to do this next year... Try Something New Every Day.

Happy 2009

Merry Couple of Days After Christmas

Okay so December gets a bit wild for all of us. For me even though I am between jobs right now, I still seemed to have more to do than time allowed. Maybe it was the fact I turned 40. Adam threw a party and we had a great time with friends and the surprise visit from my mom.

I am going by the philosphy that life begins at 40. I figure I have 60 more years and I am going to do some fun and fascinating things. Maybe I'll try skydiving... yeah, right, not that extreme.

I knitted like a crazy woman this fall for the holidays but it was fun. Owen finally got a sweater from Auntie D - although at 9 his reaction was "Great... clothing (picture eyes rolling and that disappointed look that the cool Aunt did not get him a Wii game)". Well at least it wasn't a pink bunny suit complete with feet. I knitted 2 things for each of my nieces and nephews. Emma got a hat and mittens, Owen a sweater and hat, Olivia socks and a hat and Braeden a sarf and hat. The hats were the "hot" item the kids loved. I'll post a photo. Olivia, I believe has yet to take hers off.

We enjoyed a week in Michigan visiting with family but as usual it seems so crazy and hectic we barely have time to relax and just enjoy each other. Especially when you factor in that 4 of us have birthdays in December t00. Mine is December 13, Olivia's is the 20th, Adam the 21st and my brother-in-law Shone's is the 27th. It is a month of parties and holidays for us.

We arrived back in Connecticut and we are getting ready for a GREAT 2009.

December Already

Wow, time flies. It is December, we have the decorations out and now I am planning my baking. Without a job at the moment, I am going to take some time this holiday season to bake some goodies. My family loves the peanut brittle and toffee. I am making extra batches of those.

I am also taking time this year to "weed out" my Holiday decorating items. We have soooooo many and soooo little space. I did not think we had that much stuff. Some we are giving to goodwill and others I am going to put on E-Bay or hold until we have the biggest of tag sales in the Spring.

Wishing everyone all the time they need in December and I'll post my baking forays and of course pictures of the finished holiday knitting.

Contest at ChooChooKnits.blogspot.com

My new friend Karen has a great knitting blog and "general" things about life. I met Karen in a crazy knitting contest called Sock Wars. We both learned a lot about certain knitters in that contest but the best part was we ended up becoming great friends. Since we hit it off so well and had hit some bumps in Sock Wars, we knittted socks for each other. We both love knitting and have amazingly so far only communicated via e-mail and ravelry.com.

Check out Karen's blog and enter the contest.... You just have to let her know what it is you are secretly addicted to. If you are like me and love knitting you know it has be buying yarn, yarn and more yarn.

Choo, Choo...... have fun. And I'll post a picture soon of the socks Karen made for me.

Happy Thanksgiving

We put up our tree and are busy cooking the turkey and all the fixin's. We miss being with our family. Sometimes it can be a bit lonely in Connecticut without all the family. They are all gathered around the table in Michigan and I know they are having fun. We are very thankful for our family and cherish the time we get to spend with them. We are looking forward to Christmas and getting to see all their smiling faces.

Christmas Knitting

So, I have started the Christmas knitting. I know my nieces and nephews won't be reading the blog so I can reveal my holiday knitting for this year. First, I am making socks for them, at least the girls. I have been on a sock making kick so I have yarn left to make some smaller sizes. I love the Yankee Knitter pattern.

The big project is the Quidditch sweater for Owen. It is coming along fine. I just have to finish the sleeves and then seam it all together. I hope to have that done this week. (Although I am perplexed as to why my gauge is correct re: width but the height is a little too tall - I am always seeking to understand the mechanics of knitting better) I am making the sweater found in the Charmed Knits book. It contains other Harry Potter inspired knitting too. Great for kids and adults who love the Harry Potter series.

Go to A Stitch in Time in Bethel CT to get all the supplies to make these items. I post pics when I complete the projects.

California and Mexico - We started again

Okay so we had to start over again. This time, I'll try to keep more up to date.

We just had a fabulous trip to California and Mexico. We had dinner the first night in California at our favorite restaurant in San Pedro - Whale & Ale. Here is photo of Dora and Rob Klopfstein the piano player. Even after being gone for 6 years all our friends were still at our favorite watering hole. http://www.whaleandale.com We highly recommend that if you are in the LA area you go to this restaurant. Just tell Andrew, the owner... Adam and Dora from Connecticut sent you.

We just got back from our 2nd trip to Mexico. We love the ports we visited on the cruise last year so we did it again. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Here are a few photos.