I'm an engineer with an irresistable drive to be crafty... knitting, sewing, papercraft, photography, jewelry-making, you name it, I've probably tried it! - Email Me -
I have a few things planned for the blog, including a quilt label how-to, the long-promised baby blankie tutorial, and what I've been doing on my new toy, but for now, I'll be gone again for a little while. We're heading up to the big wilderness of Alaska for 10 days! Exploring, hiking, kayaking, flightseeing... We're so excited. I'll be back at the beginning of August with tons of pictures - and maybe even some progress on my big granny square.
After all my time in Northern California, I'd never been to the wine country. We traveled there this past weekend for a wedding and had an amazing time! The weather was perfect and the hills are still green and so gorgeous.
Backdrop for the gorgeous wedding ceremony.
We had to make the hour drive to my favorite coastal town, Bodega Bay.
Happy Sunday! I hope those in the States had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was full of family and food (so much food) followed by a few relaxing days at home. Perfect! Our little trip west was also great. We did a few days in Vegas...
Then headed to the Hoover Dam.
And did an awesome 6 mile hike to the Colorado River through a neat little ravine.
We also spent two days at the Grand Canyon but I haven't even gotten to those pictures yet! You could say I was a little picture crazy on this trip. It was a wonderful trip but it's great to be home.
Earlier today I was in Virginia (don't you love airplanes?) and I got to hang out for a few hours with Pete's brother and his family. In Texas we don't really have leaves that change color and fall from the trees, so we can't do this:
And then this:
I remember doing this as a kid! If I hadn't been looking at a three hour plane in the same clothes, I would have been diving in after them!
I had such a fantastic time in San Francisco last weekend, but surprisingly my camera stayed in my bag for most of my visit!
We spent several hours walking on the beach, numbing our feet to the freezing Pacific Ocean. (Above.) And we had a fantastic view from our hotel. (Below.)
Sunday we ran the Nike Women's Marathon (well, I ran the half marathon) which was a fantastic race, topped off by a finisher's award of a Tiffany necklace presented on a silver platter by a San Francisco fire fighter in a tuxedo. They sure know how to make girls happy!
Next up: Why I'm right to be so reluctant to cut into my nice fabric...
52 Nights Update - Night 26 - This is really just to help me remember what week I'm on - Monday was a cheater day since we were hanging out with friends all day in Chicago!
So, funny story... We have been planning for weeks to head to Chicago this evening. My cousin was going to get us at the airport, and asked to confirm our flight details. I went in to copy/paste from my reservation, and our flight is tomorrow! I booked the flight on the wrong day!
There are so many ways this mistake could have been worse - we could have found out about it later, the flight could have been a day earlier and we'd missed it, etc. But I still feel pretty dumb, and sad to miss out on a day up north!
I'm already getting over it, and am excited to head out *tomorrow*, on our real flight. And browsing flickr for cool pictures of Chicago just makes me more excited! It will be quiet around here for a few days, but I'll be back with lots of pictures and some projects to share next week!
We're back from our trip south! We had a fantastic trip, it was amazing and beautiful, and to top it all off we got upgraded to 1st class on the way home!
Is anyone else having trouble seeing photos on flickr? Only about half of mine are showing up, and I can't see everyone else's either...
I actually got home almost a week ago but arrived home to broken internet, so posting may be sporadic for a little while... They're supposed to fix it tomorrow, but they've said that before! I have a ton to share (not just vacation photos!) so I'll be back as soon as I can!
Thank you so much for all the blankie love!! I really am so happy with it. Luckily I don't have to wait too long to find out if my new niece/nephew loves it too.
Sorry for the slight absence! Much shorter than you've put up with in the past, of course. I went down to the Los Angeles area for a few days for my cousin's wedding. It was gorgeous - overlooking the ocean at sunset, perfect weather... They couldn't have asked for a better setting!
The bridesmaids all loved their necklaces. For once it occurred to me to take a picture of the gift recipients!
Otherwise I didn't take very many pictures - I think I photo'd myself out in England!
I'm sure you're all sick of seeing pictures from my work travels. But I found this really cool flickr gadget and didn't want to lose it, so here are all the "flickr worthy" pictures I took - keep in mind this is only 44 of the 400 pictures I printed for my photo album at home... Yes, I'm crazy. Enjoy!
I did finish necklace #2, and as soon as I'm home early enough for good light I'll take some pictures! It's quite different from #1...
Though the silence around here might indicate otherwise, I am still around... And even crafting! Or thinking about it, anyway... I'm almost done with the Scottie bookmark, I have some fabric that might be right for a very special baby quilt, and I've been spending a lot of time with family.
I've also been sitting at this computer a lot, sorting through all my pictures from England!!
A lot of them are ending up on flickr. I just can't believe some of the beautiful places I got to visit.
So I'm sorry if I'm quiet these days! I'll be around, I promise...
I'm back home, and so glad to be here! It's taking me longer to adjust to certain things - the time zone, driving on the right side of the road - than last time. A side effect of so much time away, I suppose!
My last day as a tourist in the UK I headed up to Warwick Castle. It was fantastic!
The castle is huge, and has quite a few interesting exhibits and demonstrations. The grounds are gorgeous, too, with a rose garden, river, and peacock garden.
You can climb to the top of one of the castle towers, and the view from that high is amazing!
I definitely enjoyed myself, but I could tell I was losing my enthusiasm for being a tourist... It was so nice to finally get home!
Saturday I got up bright and early to start a 200 mile tour of four castles southeast of London. It turned out to be one of my favorite days so far!
First I headed to Scotney Castle, only recently opened to the public. It would be easy to never realize a little gem like this sits hidden in the English countryside.
My next stop was Bodiam Castle, straight out of a fairytale with its moat and perfect castle towers.
Hever Castle came next, and the grounds around this castle were some of the best I've seen. Many people seemed to pay the low garden access fee in order to bring picnics and sit in the gorgeous parks and let their kids play in the fun garden mazes.
Finally I stopped at Hampton Court Palace. If I hadn't already been to Hever Castle these would have been my favorite gardens, but something about Hever just seemed more intimate, Hampton was so formal. Still beautiful, of course!
There will be larger versions of these pictures and many more showing up on flickr when I'm home again with my beloved Photoshop, and I have more pictures from Sunday I hope to get up this week! I even have a work in progress to share - you didn't think I could make it five weeks without any crafting, did you??
Wow. Hi there! It's been a little while. I'm surprised I remembered my blogger log in! How are you?
I'm still over in the UK, working long days but enjoying my weekends. My first weekend over here I stayed near my hotel, relaxing and reading my book in the sun in a park by the river. It was fantastic! The next weekend I visited some friends in Newmarket, near Cambridge. We went to the horse races and walked through Cambridge - unfortunately the sun had abandoned us and we had to carry umbrellas the whole time, so my pictures are few.
Last weekend might be my favorite so far. We took a quick hop up to Edinburgh and spent two days exploring the castle and surroundings. Of course my camera got the most use in the botanic gardens; I've found I have a definite draw to nature pictures!
Last night we had a celebration dinner since we successfully prepared for our first review, at a wonderful restaurant in the Oakley Court hotel. The meal was good but the setting was even better! We ate our dessert on the terrace by the river and everyone had a wonderful time.
This weekend I'm going to explore a few more places in England, then after one more week (making a total of five this trip) I'll finally get to come home. For three weeks. Before heading back for one last business trip...
On my Friday trip into London, I got off the Underground at Oxford Circus specifically to stop at Liberty of London. And I am so glad I did! First, I just loved the whole store, and if I ever win the lottery I'm skipping Harrod's and buying my new wardrobe at Liberty.
Then I made it to the fabric level!
Everything was displayed so well, and there wasn't a single print I didn't like.
Isn't this a wonderful way to organize small items? Beautiful glass containers with a simple binder clip holding on the label... I may have to adapt this in my craft room! And I loved the button display:
I didn't actually buy anything this time - I suffered a little bit of sticker shock, and couldn't bring myself to shell out that kind of money when my treasured fabric usually just sits on the shelf looking pretty. Maybe next time I won't be able to resist!
