Idyllic Chick

Wow. That was quite a vacation. One of those where you come back fully rested, yet thoroughly exhausted. It was *so* great to see friends and family. That is what our vacation is about every year. We usually do a con or a getaway for just C&me, but the drive to WV and back in May is all about sharing time (And food, and beer) with our loved ones.

I didn't take many pictures (The ones that I did are on my Flickr page. Celena, the piano is dusty, but I think her personality shines through that! There are also pics of the rocking chair that my dad made for me. The flash photos show the real color of the WV native cherry wood that he used, and the semi-blurry non-flash pics show off the workmanship of the piece.), but here are some things that happened on our vacation:

-I moved my Twittering to web/desktop only, as I was ~1000 messages over my limit of 1500 last month.
-We started shopping for a new camera.
-I completed the front and back of Chrissi's Weasley sweater, along with half of a sock and most of a dishtowel. Those probably won't go up on The Rav until later this week.
-Chris drove 2150 miles while I knitted away.
-We went to the park with the nieces and nephews and I helped them fly a kite. In the sun.
-My brother announced his upcoming marriage.
-We visited yarn stores in Savannah, Ellicott City (x2), and Fairmont, WV.
-My parents got their first DVD player.
-We hung out on Kelly and Robbie's beautiful porch in North Carolina.
-We hung out on Mike and Angie's lovely porch, also in North Carolina.
-We hung out on Will and Trish's cool porch in South Carolina.
-We hung out on the porch of my childhood in West Virginia.
-We wondered why we don't have a porch.
-Oh yeah. Florida.
-Chris' grandfather died. =(
-But we did get to see lots of Chris' family that he hasn't met for years.
-We convinced the Morrills to buy Guitar Hero.
-Someone won my contest! But I'm not saying who yet.
-I gained four pounds.

Today I will return to work as normal, refreshed and invigorated, and missing my peeps very much. But Twittering less.

Labels: Travel

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, people. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. It's supposed to get down to 43 degrees tonight, but with 77 degree days, who can complain?

Being Tuesday means that it's my day off. I have a huge list of things to do today in preparation for leaving on vacation this weekend. I'm happy to do them, because each thing that gets crossed off the list gets me one step closer to our drive north. I'm really quite excited. C&I make this trip every year before Mother's Day weekend, and we both love it. He drives, I knit, we geek out on some Harry Potter on the iPod. We'll be visiting lots of friends and family along the way this year. It's a lovely time, I assure you.

Right now, I'm just looking forward to a lovely day hanging out with the dogs and casually doing things to make off of my list. There will surely be some knitting in there, and I'll have to see what kind of crappy movies are on TV. I hope your day goes as well as mine is!

p.s. Watch this space for my 500th post contest! With prizes!

Labels: Travel

So I got off work a little early yesterday (Thank you Lorena!), and headed to Charlie and Marcy and Jack and Finn and Unborn Child's house to hang with the in-laws for a bit. As always, good clean fun. Hanging and eating and having a drink. One of the Jax-in-laws asked us to go ahead and join them at the beach that night instead of waiting to leave on Monday. I was only confused for a couple of hours due to the change in plans! =) C&I packed up enough toys and clothes to stay in Jax for weeks. We made it here, had (another) drink, and went to Ragtime for dinner. More drinks (Can you sense the continuing holiday tradition here?) and great food, then home for (Guess what!) drinks and Wii, driving by a couple of decorated houses along the way.

Slept like a rock last night, and the drinking has begun again with Bailey's and coffee. Bagels soon, and some Wii. And knitting! Lots of knitting on hand today. And baking. Yes, baking. I'm going to bake cookies for my brother-in-law for x-mas. That's how much I like him! Lorena sent me a recipe for bacon chocolate chip cookies that I think he'll adore. Gotta wrap up a few gifties, and we'll be well on our way to a happy x-mas week-ish. I hope you all have a lovely holiday!

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

My cousin* brought 'Pineapple Casserole' to our family's annual Mother's Day gathering this year. "Pineapple casserole?' I queried. "What's in it?" I crossed my fingers in hope as she uttered the sweet spell of those magic words, "This sounds really weird, but I swear it's delicious..."

My sistahs, if you are true believers you know what she said next. "It's pineapple, and Ritz crackers..." Then I joined her as we said in unison, "A stick of butter, a handful of sugar, and cheddar cheese!" I nearly cried, People, and I am not exaggerating when I say that. I wept for my fortune in having a woman this cool as a voluntary member of my twisted little family, and I wept for the leftovers that are reheating in my toaster oven as I write this.

I raise a drink to the SPQs in my life!

*Not my actual cousin. My cousin's wife. But we all love her enough to count her as bonefide family!

Labels: Travel, Yummy in my Tummy

We're close to home! We've been lucky and hit no road closures on I-95 nor I-10. I can't wait to see my puppies!

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Labels: Travel

Chrissi can you see this?!

Labels: Travel

Heading the other direction now. Just drove through a mountain and I don't think we're in WV anymore.

Labels: Travel

Jealous? :->

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

In Grantsville, MD, just west of Cumberland, is the Hilltop Fruit Market. Half of the store is stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables. The entire other half of the store is full of penny candy. Well, $3.19 per pound candy. It's the most amazing sight to see it all lined up in a row. We got things we'd never heard of before such as Hershey's dark chocolate stuffed with truffle filling. I guess in won't be dieting again for a few weeks!

Labels: Travel

Almost home! *Wonderful* yarn store and now we're on our way to the penny candy store.

Labels: Travel

And a few rows into the second sock.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

Yes, those are Lantern Moons, not Brittneys. Thanks Lorena. You can read labels much better than I can! But I'll still give Brittneys the title of the Porsche of needles, because these LMs are like a fucking Bentley. Smooth and fast and beautiful and luxurious. I bought them because using only four needles on the Widdershins heel was pretty tight. I wanted to work the next sock with five needles so I splurged in order to try wood. I'm so glad I did! I love these needles and I'll set them on fire before I allow anyone to steal them! Minemineallmine! They've got me rocking on these socks. I just finished the heel on the second one. Looks like nothing but sock knitting for me on this vacation. Maybe I'll try to work on the Hot Tamale skirt while at my parents' this weekend and save the rest of the sock for mobile knitting on the car trip home.

Labels: Travel

Lunch and the second sock. Cool Irish pub, but they think that a snakebite is made with Guiness and Yuengling. Weirdos.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel, Yummy in my Tummy

Outside DC. Driving. No knitting.

Labels: Travel

Just passed the VA state line. Only a few inches left to go on Katie's sock.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

The sushi is not mine. The heel is. Well, it's mine until I give it to Katie.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel, Yummy in my Tummy

Ready to turn the heel! Yes, there is Bailey's in that coffee. Vacation. Duh. :-D

Labels: Boozing it up, Knitta please, Travel, Yummy in my Tummy

At least the mis-spelling is with the spirit of the word.

Labels: Travel

I forgot to take my phone with me to the wedding last night so you get no pictures. But here are items of note:
-The train of the bride's dress was so long (How long was it?!) when the maid of honor was adjusting it she looked like she was flapping a white sheet while making up a bed.
-Considering the bride is the daughter of the Commissioner of Agriculture and the groom is a cop, that was probably the most 'secure' wedding since the Kennedy's.
-When Mary asked me if Chris and I polka I replied, 'No, but we've been listening to a lot of Weird Al Yankovic lately.'

Labels: Travel

Oh *I'm* not driving. Chris is driving. I'm riding. And knitting! I forgot to bring the instructions for the Widdershins heel (It's really a magical heel. No picking up stitches at all! I recommend that you go knit one right away.) so I used Chris' phone to find it on Knitty.com and emailed it to my phone. I love technology!

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

On the way to Tallahassee. The toe of the first sock for Katie is done. Trekking XXL in color 149. Listening to 1984 (the audiobook, not the Van Halen album) and enjoying the ride.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

May all of your days be circus days!

Labels: Travel

Why are all of my travel photos full of drinkies?

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

All this and he juggles too!

Labels: Travel

Ain't life grand?

Labels: Boozing it up, Knitta please, Travel

Tallahassee yarn store graffiti!

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

I love circus weekend! C&I will be leaving in a couple of hours to make our annual trip to Tallahassee for Homeshow Weekend. So much fun! Circus and Mexican food and beers and parties and circus and friends and fun! I'll send lots of photos to the blog, so watch this space to see all the fun we're having. Have a good weekend everyone!

Labels: Travel

This one is for... Well, if it's for you you'll know it. ;-)

Labels: Travel

Mind the bird!

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Labels: Travel

I spilled my beer talking about the Farrah Fawcett hair.

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Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

Beaufitul! :hic: I mean beautiful!

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

Still having fun!

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

Hic!

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

Churchill's rocks my fish & chips world!

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel, Yummy in my Tummy

We have arrived! OMG our B&B is sooo cool! The photos online bring out teh tacky, but it's a beautiful house. I can't wait to get back there and knit. Already hit the yarn store. More on that upon our return.

Labels: Boozing it up, Travel

So I thought about offering to drive to Savannah, but then I realized... THE KNITTING! Can't stop the knitting, Mal.

Labels: Knitta please, Travel

In just a couple of hours C&I will be off to Savannah for the weekend. C's dad, Dave, lives there, and it's always fun to go visit. Dave has lived there for quite a while, and has many friends, most of them in the pub business. It's so relaxing to walk around the parks, stop for a beer and a bite, then walk around a little more. I'll definitely be checking out a yarn shop or two, and will try to remember to blog from the road. I hope the weather holds out for us.

Savannah is a hot spot for St. Patrick's Day. Apparently it kind of turns into a New-Orleans-at-Mardi-Gras type of town for the weekend, what with no laws against open container alcoholic beverages. Chris' dad lives on the second story of an old house at the edge of Forsyth Park. His balcony overlooks the parade route, so we'll have prime seats the whole weekend long.

We'll be staying at Park Avenue Manor , across the park from Dave. It looks like a great mix of historic and tacky. Perfect for me! I can't wait to knit for a bit in the little garden, and in the sitting room. Free sherry and brownies are provided! I don't think I've drank sherry before, but I would venture to guess that they won't have the free sherry policy once I've stayed there for two nights!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Labels: Travel

Labels: Travel

WV
Flights fine
Bosleys pregnant happy
Jasmine beautiful
Mom demented
Dad coping
Christmas Jax family love happy
IPOD!!!!! Monitor, compressor
NYE Haldeclan fun
JaxII
Relax

Labels: Travel