Squee!!

I am uber-excited for this to have arrived in my mailbox:

 

Technorati Tags: knitting

It might sound strange to get so excited for some yarn, but this is a certain type of yarn.  I saw this pattern quite some time ago and loved the hearts in the pattern.  I considered other yarns, different colorways, but none would do besides the specific yarn in the picture. It was no longer available considering it was an over a year old limited colorway.  That is why I am ever so thankful for that wonderful sight called Ravlery.  Oh, ravelry and your search tool to find yarn that you so desperately want.  I so very much love you.

I have no plans to use this yarn up right away or to even try to tackle the sock pattern, as I have never done them before.  I do have a plan though to safely put this yarn in a ziploc bag and admire it often and wait till I am ready to tackle the ever so daunting sock knitting.

Colors of a Peacock

Technorati Tags: Knitting

 

 

I am quite proud of this knitting that I have accomplished.  I was drawn to the colors in one of my local yarn shops.  Reminds me of a peacock actually.  The pattern is the Eze Beret & Shawlette found here and here.  I used Madelinetosh tosh merino in Envy.  I LOVE this yarn and it works up so beautifully.  Hmmm… Downton is on and more knitting is to be done.   I will have to see you soon!

Honesty

That is what this place is for, right?  A place where I can write things that I haven’t even told my closest friends. 

My husband is getting ready to lose his job sometime in the next week. 

I am a stay at home mom/student  so this definitely is not the best of times to be losing a job.  I struggle to stay strong in my faith knowing the inevitable is yet to come.  I know that there are so many benefits to this but it is quite an uneasy feeling and I do not like it.  I know it is petty but I am have no desire to menu plan and figure out how to cut as many corners at the grocery store or to make sure if I drive the thirty minutes into the city, I need to get everything in that trip to save gas from taking another unnecessary trip.  I am just rambling… but I am scared.  Simply put:

Just scared.

A Weekend In Pictures

 

 

Spring fever has hit after a day of 60 degree weather.  Flowers at a local market were begging to be bought.  The outdoors were begging us to come outside and breathe in its fresh air.  All of the books for my new year resolution were bought and gathered.  A cup of hot cocoa waiting to be devoured.  A favorite book read many, many, many times.  What a great weekend it was!

Another resolution? Already?!

It is still early enough in the year to make some resolutions, is it not?  Well two days ago, I quickly decided that I needed to add another resolution to my list.

Read a classic.  Or four.  It is my plan to read four classics this year.  I normally would rephrase that statement in my mind as to read at LEAST four classics.  However, this year I am giving myself actual doable goals and I am so far keeping them!  I decided I would break the year up into four quarters: Jan-Mar, Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Nov.  I know…. that was such a hard decision to make.  In that picture above (showcasing the original to our 1920s built house well worn hardwood floors) shows the first two books on my list.  I am starting with Pride & Prejudice.  I LOVE the movie featuring Keira Knightley and I love other Jane Austen movies, but I have never read one of her books completely before!  Sad, but true.  So for the first quarter of the year I am giving myself three months to read Pride and Prejudice.  I will be reading The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird after that.  For that last quarter of the year, I am stumped.  I can think of so many other classics that will fit the bill, but which one should I chose?  Should I jump onto the Les Miserable train or go with a book by Charles Dickens?  A Russian great like Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy or maybe l should head to Dublin and drink a Guinness with James Joyce.  Maybe I should circle right back to the Good ‘ole US and read The Great Awakening by Kate Chopin.  My point in my ramblings, I think, is that there are so many classics to chose from and I don’t have to decide right away.  I have nine months to do that!

What would you recommend?

A New Year’s Day Walk

My mom asked if we were going to do the luminary walk.  I quickly responded with something along the lines of I don’t have a clue what you are talking about mom.  So I did a little research and found that Chain O’Lakes State Park in Albion, Indiana was hosting a Luminary Walk.  This would be a part of an initiative called First Day Hikes across the country.  Thankfully the state park closest to me was participating in this awesome event.  Our naturalist was very pregnant and knew it would be hard to get people out of their beds in the morning so she put together a casual half mile walk (which we did twice) for the evening.  This then turned into a luminary walk and it was beautiful!!  It was a great way to start the new year!

 

Hey, That’s Me!

For some odd reason our camera has turned to taking grainy photos… and we can not figure it out.  Anyway, I realized that I have no picture of myself on this blog so a person doesn’t have an idea who is writing it.  The reason being: I don’t like having my picture taken.  At least since I have gotten too big, but there it is and that’s me with Eric and Elizabeth at my moms on Christmas.  I also figured, maybe I should say a few things about myself.  I don’t want to reveal too much, because then what else would there be to write about.  I will, however, share these tidbits:  I love photography, knitting (there probably will be a bit of that on here I suspect), sewing, cooking and baking, reading (like LOVE), collecting books, and Downton Abbey (yes, I am one of those people).  So, Hello!  That’s me up there, the face behind this yellow pretty place!!

The Year of the Journal

I have deemed this year the year of the journal!  Sounds like a great plan, doesn’t it?  Well I had the idea just yesterday and it sounded like a great idea to keep track of the  goals and wishes I had for this upcoming year.  I used to keep a journal, but I thought I grew out of it.  Then I thought I didn’t know what I was to write about in one.  Now that I am older, with slight bit (an extremely slight bit) more wisdom, I realize it can be about whatever I would like it to be.  I am struggling in so many areas of my life that I really would like to improve upon this year.  I normally make resolutions that I know for sure I can keep, or at least half of them, but this year I want to make a change and I want to go bold.  I am making resolutions for myself of inner change that can help grow outer change.  Learn to love myself.  Grow a deeper connection to God (Yes I am Christian but I hardly consider myself pushy about the subject).  Quite simply I want, as well as need, to be the person that I want my Elizabeth to be.  She will be molded by what I do, not what I say.

So it was in this great soul-searching need that just under a week ago I went into a Christian bookstore to look for a devotional.  I do not frequent these places often and have never done a devotional before, but something pulled me to the cover of the book (not the one above).  I admit that great advertising can truly work on me, but I believe that I needed this book to make me slow down and take some time on myself.  It all just kind of “fell into place.”  I am only four days into the devotional, and it’s already hitting some nails on the head for me.  I felt the urge of newness and change yesterday.  I went to the closest store that I knew I could find a journal and brought him and have it seated right next to this computer, where it is begging me to open it to start this new year fresh.  This year I will journal and keep track of all of my highs and lows in this book above.  I will make this year rock, even amongst any hardships that are bound to happen.  I am, for once, so excited for this new year!  So to all,

                                                                                  Happy New Year!!!!