1.29.2012

Knits

Clearly my whole attempt at a 365 project failed miserably. I think I lasted about a week, haha. Oh well - since most of my time is spent at the office, not too many terribly exciting things to take pictures of.

I did finally get around to organizing my knitting - unfinished projects, supplies, etc. - and have some pics for you. First, I have 2 unfinished sweaters for myself. The black one is this funky Teva Durham pattern with these random honeycomb cable patches throughout. The tweedy one will be an open cardigan by Jo Sharp. I'm determined to finish them both (they're more than halfway done!) by spring.

Also, I finally finished my cashmere scarf. Waaaaay back when Purl moved to their new digs, my sweetie won this in the raffle (of course we both entered and of course he won - thankfully, purple is more my color than his!). It's worth over $100 and is SO COZY!

Where has January gone?! Eeesh. Work has been busy, busy, busy and last weekend my sweetie and I headed to check out wedding venues. We think we found the place and have decided to wait until Summer 2013 - plenty of time to plan and make it awesome. :-)

Have a good week!!!

1.09.2012

29

When I was little, I always asked my parents to sneak into my room the night before my birthday and leave my presents next to my bed so that when I woke up, I'd see the pretty wrapped boxes right away.

But I grew out of that (but it was definitely fun). Now my presents come in other forms - sweet doggie kisses when I come in my apartment door, nice messages from friends, and my sweetie who will soon be meeting me at a lovely little restaurant for a quiet birthday dinner, just the 2 of us. All day today, this day that is my 29th birthday and marks the start of my 30 year (whoa!), I've been reflecting on how happy and lucky I am. It's important to mark milestones this way, I think.

I plan on ushering in this 30th year by doing a 365 (366!) photo project. We'll see how long it lasts but I'll try, probably mostly using my iPhone.

And it begins with sparkly tights, and black patent pumps...

1.08.2012

More celebrating

Who wants to clean the kitchen, work on finances, or do laundry? Not me. Which is why I've been poking around on Pinterest, figuring out what to bake myself for my birthday (ahem, tomorrow!), and doing other unproductive things. Our sweet friends came over so we could finally give them their wedding quilt (which I finished about 5 months after they got married...oh well) and of course that got me in the mood to sew. Life has been really hectic since Thanksgiving so I'm not even sure which projects I'd dive back into. And of course, I could always start a new one...

But back to Pinterest for a second - I love it! For those of you who haven't checked it out, it's like a virtual bulletin board (actually many bulletin boards - divided up however you'd like). I love it particularly for wedding ideas (wee!), crafty inspiration, and recipes. You can follow me here! Check out some of my picks below:



With practically spring-like weather here, I'm off to walk Louie with another Westie friend. The cleaning will just have to wait.

1.02.2012

The year ahead

I think that this photo is sort of a microcosm of the year ahead for me. Focusing on crafting, eating well, and planning my wedding! Weee!

It's back to work tomorrow and back to reality. It's my birthday a week from today so the all the fun that comes with the holidays always spills over a bit into January for me each year and keeps the post-holiday blues away just a bit longer. No big birthday plans since it was quite and eventful holiday season, except eating out with my sweetie here. Yum!

1.01.2012

Happy New Year!

I always look forward to a new year. I mean, who doesn't? I rang in 2012 with my sweetie (and for those of you who missed it, MY FIANCE!), my future brother-in-law (whoa!) and his GF. We spent the day on the National Mall. With spring-like temps, it didn't feel like December 31st but definitely a great way to round out one of the craziest year's I've ever had. One of the highlights from yesterday was visiting the new MLK Jr. Memorial. It's gorgeous! A few pics from the day - it was fun to play tourist, as now that I've lived in DC for a sum total of 2.5 years (split), I realized I don't have that many pictures of this place. Sad, considering who my neighbors are!...

No explanation needed - though it's usual occupants are in Hawaii right now!

Washington Monument
Part of the Korean War Memorial

The MLK Jr. Memorial
Check out my Flickr stream for some more pics of a few of the quotes from the memorial.

I feel like I have so much to say about this year. At the start 2011, I was feeling very unsure of where I was going. I had been underemployed for a year and was heading down to DC to explore job opportunities. Fast forward to today and I'm happily employed in a job I enjoy, living with my sweetie (and Louie!), planning for a busy exciting year including a wedding! I made new friends, read interesting books, continued to grow as a quilter, and started working on living a healthier lifestyle (which, let's be honest, took a backseat for the past 2 weeks but is getting full attention again starting tomorrow). I definitely like to set goals in a new year (call them resolutions or whatever) but this year I'm keeping it simple: stay healthy, stay happy, spend time with loved ones, and keep life in perspective. Last year I proved to myself that I'm strong, can persevere through difficult times, and am creative beyond my own expectations. I hope to have yet another year filled with fun, surprises, and progress. I finished 12 quilts this year and read 24 books. Below is a mosaic of all my quilts from 2011.This year:
- Make more quilts!
- Learn to sew clothes
- Get back into knitting more frequently
- Run a 10K
- GET HITCHED!

Happy 2012 everyone! I plan to try to be in this space more often. Hope to see you around here. :-)