Back in the real world

I guess after nine days of laying on the beach, snorkeling and drinking Pina Coladas, one has to return to the real world. Maui was incredible! Beautiful beaches, clear blue water and fabulous fruity cocktails with pineapple and umbrellas! A lot of snorkeling was accomplished on the trip, but sadly, no knitting. So I guess it's good to be back in someways. Instead of boring you with all 100-plus pics of the week, here are a few of my favorites!


A Hawaiian rainbow

Shelly & I learning how to hula dance

The main Hula dancer signals the beginning the Luau (he later picked me out of the audiance for a hula....good thing I learned earlier in the evening)!

We saw lots of giant sea turtles on a boat trip. I also saw a big one up close and personal while snorkeling a few days later! No camera with me though.

Aloha!

• Beach bag - check
• Beach towel - check
• Magazines - check
• Library book - check
• Hawaii tour book - check
• Hat - check
• Snorkel gear - check
• SPF 50 - check (please stop laughing Rebecca)
• Knitting project (Irish Hiking Scarf that's been in the back of the closet for months) - check
  I'm ready for Hawaii! Aloha!

Blogs & old friends

The thing that I love about blogs is that everyone seems to be doing them! Recently two dear friends of mine started blogs. These friends, April and Sara and I have been friends for a very long time. We casually knew each other in high school (we went to rival schools but knew each other through a church youth group that I sporadically went to). But during freshman orientation, July 1993 at the University of Idaho, as my mom and I got of the car in the University Inn parking lot, who pulls right up next to us with their moms, April and Sara. And that is where we truly became friends. Through out our years at the University of Idaho, we became close friends; time spent studying, going to the movies, shopping, eating dinners and just hanging out together. We all remained friends after graduation and moving to Boise and getting "real" jobs. Over the years our lives have gone in different directions. April is married and has two beautiful little girls. Sara was busy dedicating her time to her students, and then to her husband Shawn a few years ago. Now they just moved thousands of miles away from friends and family to the D.C. area so Sara can go to graduate school. I'm in Seattle, planning my wedding and working for another t.v. station. I think it's funny how our lives have taken all these different turns for us, and even though we don't talk very often, see each other even less, with our blogs, it's like we're still gossiping in the dorms. So check out their blogs (they are both new to the blogging world): Shawn & Sara's Moving Adventure and Idaho Girls

In another flashback moment, Sara found this old picture on line at the UI. This is me (in the Idaho sweatshirt) and my roommates Liz and Renee and Liz's boyfriend Jason. We were posed for a picture advertising for the oh' so spacious and glamorous dorm rooms of the Wallace Complex. That pink rug still cracks me up. I wanted to buy a rug and my roomie Liz said get any color but pink. I was annoyed with her, so I came home with the pink rug. Ah, the good ol' days of Wallace Complex Houston Hall!

Goodbye ol' friend

I've attached the sleeves the to baby bolero and I have to say, I'm not really loving this sweater. I don't think it's that cute. I look at it and all I can see are the mistakes! After consulting with Rebecca - who also made this sweater - she said she didn't like hers either until she did the finishing edging. Apparently that is key. I've decided to put the sweater away until after I get back from Hawaii and then finish the edging. I'm thinking the time apart and the edging will help with the love process between me and the sweater. If the love still isn't there, it doesn't really matter because I'll just get a cute onsie and a toy, stick it in a box and ship it off to the baby mama. She and baby-to-be will love it!


In other knitting news, a few have asked to see the knitting bag that was doused with tea. It looks alright from the picture (I tried to spruce it up for its last showing) but the inside fabric is hard and crusty in places and I'm afraid some of the tea leaked through the lining to the depths of the bag that I can't reach to clean. So alas, this cute pink knitting bag will be retired to the bag heaven of great bags who've lived past their prime. We had a good knitting journey together. Through good projects and projects that well, lets just say, will remain between me and the bag. So long old friend, I'll miss you.

P.S. If you think I'm crazy for my attachment to a bag, check out what Rebecca did to a tree!

A near knitting disaster

Today started out like any summer Sunday here in Seattle. It was beautiful, sunny with a cool breeze coming off the lake. Matt was very excited because today is the first full Sunday of Football Season. At 10 a.m. he was all ready for a day of football. I was in the kitchen when it happened. I heard a crash, then Matt yelling my name. I ran into the t.v. room to see his full glass of ice tea on the floor. I just looked at the spill when he looked at me and very quietly said, "It's in your knitting bag." I ran over to my bag which was sitting next to the table, and there, on top of the bag, is the cream baby bolero from One Skein that I'm almost finished with. I had been working on it last night and instead of sticking it back in the big Ziplock I normally keep it in, I just tossed it on top. I picked it up and could feel the wet ice tea on the project and in the skein of yarn. I ran into the kitchen where I gently began blotting the ice tea off the sweater. Matt was in mass clean up mode as I quietly worked at getting the potentially staining liquid out of my beautiful sweater. He quickly mopped up the rug and then began bringing the rest of the contents of my knitting bag into the kitchen. I had been so preoccupied with the baby sweater, I forgot about the rest of the knitting: my pink tank sweater that has gone untouched since the many baby announcements, my bag of knitting needles, several knitting shop flyers of upcoming sales (luckily those got most of the tea). Once the bag was emptied, Matt brought it into the kitchen where he turned it upside down over the sink and tea just poured out. I just stood there and stared at the large puddle of tea that had acquired in the depths of my bag. Matt felt so horrible about the ordeal and I was just so quiet (I was trying to remain calm and I think that freaked him out)! After I blotted the baby sweater to death, I set it aside to asses the rest of the damage. The pink tank was fine. The Ziplock baggie was open, but none of the tea got in. Tea got in the needle bag, but after dumping them all out and wiping everything, no harm was done. The knitting bag however, is gone. It's not the type you can wash or rinse out. I tried, but I think the lingering scent will always be there. I just can't put my beautiful yarns in it anymore. I do believe the baby sweater will be ok. I'm hoping I won't find any lingering tea stains as I continue to work through the skein.
On another disturbing note, I was telling this story to a good friend of ours when she confessed up to this little tale: Last weekend when I was in Boise, Matt has some friends over after a night out on the town. He had gone to bed while his friends continued to drink at our place. Apparently one of his friends (who I have never met) spilled their vodka drink in my knitting bag (luckily, all the projects were in a different bag and in Idaho with me, but there was still the needle bag in there). My dear friend (thank God she was there), even though she was a little toasted, knew the importance of the knitting bag, ran into the kitchen to get a towel. As she did that, she hit her toe on the corner of the wall and broke her toe. That is a good friend. I'm now moving the knitting bag - although when Matt's friends come over for drinks, I normally move the knitting because I knew something like this would eventually happen from one of his friends. Moral of the story folks, always keep projects in Ziplock baggies and make sure they are closed!

Cascade, Idaho

The Lake Cascade boat dock just across the way from our place. The water is a bit low this late in the season.

This Labor Day weekend, I went back to Cascade, Idaho where my family has a place just off the lake. My grandparents owned the property for years and years and I remember going up there nearly every summer growing up. It's not fancy, it's not big, but to me, it's just perfect. I used to go there to play. Now years, later, I still go there to play and to recharge my batteries! It was a fun weekend, just my mom, dad, sister and myself! I sat out on the deck, soaked up some sun, read books, knitted, went for walks and our cousins Holly and Trena treated us to a boat ride in Lake Cascade! We drank margaritas as we cruised around to check out the big ol' "cabins" around the lake. Lindsay even tried water skiing for the first time! She did pretty good and almost made it up a time or two! Being the good sis, that I am, I promised her those pics wouldn't end up on the blog!
It was sunny and warm, but the smoke from forest fires in the area made it a bit hazy and smokey. All in all, it was the perfect summer weekend. I wish it hadn't taken me two years to get back up there since the move, but it certainly won't take me two years to get back there!
I snapped this photo from the drive home along HWY 55 along the Payette River. The haze in the picture is smoke from wildland forest fires in southern Idaho.


Even Hailey enjoyed some serious R & R, taking in the view as she relaxed on my mom's hat.