Purl

one of the gifts my a got me was a gift certificate to the sewing lounge in burbank for some sewing lessons!

of course, i think its a good idea to check out a fabric store on our holiday!

here is some of the fabric i bought.

it's from purl soho in nyc.

my good friend k was kind enough to take hubby to an art gallery while i shopped. a good deal later, here was some of the stuff i ran away with!

i love the honeycomb with the bee. it's a heavy canvas fabric.

birds, butterflies and owls.

and the full stash.

so amazing! wheeeee!

i also dragged my dear to the lion brand yarn studio. it's beautiful inside. stunning. i was so good not to buy anything (yarn diet) and had already spent a good month's worth of allowance on the fabric above anyway. but sooo tempting

sadly it was time to go. we had to get back to nj for dinner with friends

and after being dragged around nyc from fabric store to yarn store, holding a large bag of very heavy fabric all day, i think hubby was done.

love makes you do crazy things.

happy new years eve!!

Anniversaries got me thinking....

first               paper

second          cotton

third              leather (really??)

fourth            fruit and flowers (awwww)

fifth               wood

sixth              sugar/iron

seventh         wool

eighth            bronze

ninth              copper/pottery

tenth              tin

eleventh        steel

twelfth           silk and linen

thirteenth      lace

fourteenth     ivory

fifteenth        crystal

twentieth      china

twenty-fifth  silver

thirtieth        pearl

thirty-fifth    coral

fortieth         ruby

forty-fifth     sapphire

fiftieth          gold

fifty-fifth      emerald

sixtieth        diamond (sweet)

gardening update

want to first wish my hubby a happy first wedding anniversary! one year ago today we had an all day/all night party. a classy elegant outdoor garden ceremony, a beautiful reception, perfect weather, men in kilts, a bagpipe, scottish dancing, loved ones... it was amazing. thanks to all that shared with us in that day and thanks to my hubby who pushes me to be a better person every day.

for three weeks, my parents in law came to visit. and let it be said, they are serious gardeners.

there is new grass growing on the front lawn.

there is a more defined grass line in the back.

there are plants that are being trained to hug the fence and cover wires, fence and give us privacy.

and last weekend, alistair and i were fortunate enough to get a patio furniture set for our one year anniversary as a gift. and we can't just have a patio set with little look at, so we also bought some plants/trees, beautiful living things to plant around the garden.

here is one of the plants dad cooper and hubby planted ... beautiful

we bought this gorgeous tree called a hong kong orchid tree. it has the most beautiful leaves (looks like butterfly wings) and the flowers are supposed to be lovely as well.

when we were ready to plant it, this is what we found in the area:

a fun tree stump! 

the best laid plans....

here is a photo of the orchid tree

this is a japanese blueberry bush/tree. i loved the leaves and the dark green colors. when the leaves fall off, they are a brilliant red.

in other news

the lemon tree has not lost all of its leaves after being planted, thanks to my father in law. it's doing well and there is still a lemon growing on it. hopefully we'll get some fruit next season!

and the orange tree has grown it's leaves again! hooray! 

we suspect that the nursery thought we were over watering it when we were underwatering it. but it's doing well now. Go little orange tree Go!

and herb garden is going strong.

Podcast obsession

yes, you read the right

i'm really into history. (when i was growing up, i wanted to be an archeologiest or palentologist as many of my friends did after we saw indiana jones and jurassic park) 

but seriously i do enjoy learning about history and sociology

so i'm totally addicted to the podcast "stuff you missed in history class" by howstuffworks.com

they vary in time (up to twenty five minutes long) and have a full range of interesting topics from the 1916 shark attacks on the jersey shore (close to my heart) to "who were the other two men on the ride with paul revere" anyway, i suggest you check it out. it makes my gym time go a lot faster.

i'm also listening to "money girl's quick and dirty tips for a richer life" which is a fun eight min. podcast dealing with everything from budgeting to 401ks. i have read numerous financial books over the past few years, so a lot of this is old hat to me but i find it very helpful to listen in anyway because it helps keep me focuses on it. 

Also, "stuff mom never told you" is pretty good too, though i like "stuff you missed in history class" more.

"grammar girl's quick and dirty tips for better writing" is also a very good podcast. sometimes it's nice to brush up on your grammar. they are not long, at the most ten minutes, and grammar girl isn't preachy.  and it's got a good theme song.

happy listening!

mini break- palm springs

it was 10 degrees cooler than 'normal'

so it only hit 105 degrees F during the day!

above is our hotel which was lovely.  it's a small hotel with only twelve rooms or so and adults are preferred so no screaming children!

friday night we went for chinese food at Wangs in the Desert (yup)

apparently friday night happy hour is THE place to be if you are a gay man in palm springs. it was awesome.  

i did get a couple of funny looks though, as i was one of three girls in the restaurant that evening. (and maybe they were checking out my husband as well)

below is palm springs main area at night

we ate some really good thin crust pizza at Matchbox, and sat on their balcony overlooking the main street

our days were filled with sunbathing and swimming. each room had a kitchenette so we were able to make our own breakfasts and lunches.

and at night, we watched movies in our room and went night swimming. here is the hotel at night... beautiful!

we had a wonderful time. but glad to be home!

bunny days

sometimes i wish my bunny could talk, though i may not like what he has to say

what would he, a close observer into my life, would say about me? my bad habits? my good deeds? and those things that i do on autopilot that don't give me a second thought? 

a message from the mayor of edgartown to YOU (that's right! YOU!)

eat more veggies. 

it's healthy and will make you feel better

take time out for yourself. sometimes you have to hide from the world for a little while to regroup and think about what you really want from life.

take care of yourself and get plenty of rest. 

there will be challenges. you must face them and overcome! don't doubt yourself!

and treat yourself. those orange lips are from a very delish carrot!

have a fun day. there are so many things you could be doing. what is it you really want to do?

vaca

my parents were visiting for a week.

it has been three years since they came out last and we had a lot of fun

it's always sort of odd to have them out at first, like a dream where they're suddenly there but you're not used to seeing them there

but then they stay a day and suddenly, it's normal to have them around 

so it's extra sad when they leave

we went to santa barbara for a couple of days

visited the mission (the sunflowers below were on the mission property)

and went to the santa barbara zoo (where i fed the giraffes)

dad also was kind enough to install some extra exterior lighting outside

and we spent a day at disneyland (finding nemo ride was cute, but the best is still indiana jones)

ate some good food 

and they were very excited to eat at in n out burger for the first time

let's hope they come back sooner than 3 years

princess time

my friends c and d wanted adventure

romance

and knights

so where did we go over the weekend?

that's right

we got dressed up and dragged ourselves down to orange county to go to

medieval times

it was awesome

we had fun fruity drinks

food you have to eat with your fingers

and real knights!

yellow! yellow! yellow!

serious fun! i know i know, seems... silly

but we had great fun!

below is a movie of our knight!

another month on her way

the beginning of july is upon us with june almost gone

it's summer time 

a time of hope and sunshine

small steps will be great leaps later 

this month, the challenges are

saving money on yarn (i have plenty of yarn. really. i do.)

saving money on books (exception is the house of mystery and buffy monthly comics, they don't count. so there.)

do not rent movies - only netflix

be positive, mindful and healthy

challenge myself at the gym three times a week

these aren't big changes. just little ones. one at a time. 

gardening

i do not pretend to know how to garden

i usually kill my plants, even cactus and bamboo

but so far...

hoorah! still going strong!

in fact, i took a handful, or two, of greens and fed them to mr. edgar, who enjoyed them.

so i was pretty confident when i wanted to do another two flower beds.

the lonely, empty flower beds...

and now...

and happily, i finally got my fruit tree...

blood orange tree.

hopefully it thrives

also, baked some chocolate chip cookies today.

they're good... not as good as my mom's (even though we use the same recipe) but isn't that always the way?

sigh

hubby is making our second meal in the slow cooker! and i am off to read for a while and get ready for work tomorrow