Weekending

So a fun filled weekend despite the less than cheerful weather!  Getting caught up on blogs-I have to set a timer so I don't forget there are other things to do.

Kim and I met up at the Smith Plantation to see an open hearth cooking demonstration.  The daffodils were glorious throughout the property.

Clarissa and Misha did a great job explaining how cooks used an open fire and what slave life was like in this area of Georgia.

The house on the Smith property was very different than the other founding fathers of Roswell as were the occupants.  Very serious, non-frivilous non non-sense kinda people.  The house was occupied by its owners when I was a kid so it was neat to finally go inside and learn more about the family.

Sunday afternoon was a matinee at the Stage Door Players- Last Night of Ballyhoo with Polly, Ron and Kare.  This play was set in the Buckhead [north Atlanta] area during the late 1930s. It was quite entertaining, but also has some poignant moments as it dealt with the discrimination amongst the Jewish sects in Atlanta.  The performance was excellent and is based on play by Alfred Uhry who also wrote Driving Miss Daisy.  This was followed by dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Novo Cucino-such a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening.

Looking forward to more family time next weekend when my Mom comes to stay for a few days and we'll be getting together with some of my cousins and 2 of my dad's sisters.  Happy Monday y'all.

December Daily- Wrap up 23, 24 and 25

We had a lovely family brunch at Mary's to start the day off right. The last photo is from our girls lunch on the 26th which really wrapped up the holiday weekend nicely.  I'm glad I have her blog to link to as I think that's the only time I have a photo of me show up!  It was so much fun watching Charlie talk about his tree cutter and blower, and while Sam didn't have much to say he definitely had lots of smiles to share. Much later in the day I had a serious raving for a Coca-cola-I no idea why, so off Andrew and I went with the dogs to the convenience store around the corner, but since it was so dark I decided to let Sophie wear on of my neon workout shirts so cars would see her.   Motorist in our area never pay attention to pedestrians.  She was not amused!
 

Christmas Eve we spent a few hours with my Mom.  Similar to what we did last year we took heavy hors d'oeuvres for lunch this year's menu included:  baked brie with cranberry jam, stuffed mushrooms, veggies and hummus, smoked trout dip, stuffed potatoes, shrimp cocktail, bacon wrapped scallops, bloody mary's, mimosas, and Moscow mules.  It was all delicious and we had a very nice visit.  We had dinner reservations at Maggiano's and I'm glad we had a decent lunch as the restaurant was overbooked for the evening and we had to wait more than 30 minutes past our reservation to be seated.

Christmas Day was just the 3 of us, and it was nice to have no plans to go anywhere or get dressed up.  Yoga pants and a t-shirt was the outfit du jour!  I knit Andrew a Clemson themed hat since when he returns to Maryland its going to be coooold!  This will help keep him warm when he walks Cocoa and traveling to and from the train station.  Maybe it will serve as a good luck charm that they'll go [and win] the National Championship again.  There was more delicious food for brunch and dinner- glazed ham, french toast casserole and snacks from Christmas Eve [and Maggiano's leftovers!].

I'd had my fill of football, so I cast on the Lilly Rose dress for my co-workers soon-to-be-born second daughter, and watched a few episodes of Season 2 of The Crown.   I've never struggled so much with a baby gift, but everything turned out too big or wasn't what I was hoping for.  I don't know why I didn't do this pattern to start with as it is such a cute/quick knit.  I am finally on the road to success with this one.  I also queue a ton of stuff on Ravelry, and my rationale was to purposely use the patterns I've bought [or printed] over the last few years, but manage to forget I have at the ready.  My goal this year is to knit from my stash and the patterns I've already purchased.  I plan to document my FOs a bit better this year.

The girl's lunch at Bistro VG on the 26th was so delightful, as always, and now all the out of towners are back home, but it was so nice to have everyone together.  I guess that means it's time to wrap up 2017 and focus on 2018.  I have some goals in mind that are achievable, and holding myself accountable to posting about them is at the top of the list.  I have a few more days off before I have to go back to work.  Today is a much needed hair appointment and I hope to get my Mom's quilt closer to being finished.  Yesterday I got together with Joyce and Brenda, and we've scheduled our next sewing day in the hotel lobby.  This will be our 3rd year, and I'm glad we've managed to continue to get together despite the fact that 2 of us have moved!  Friday will involve a trip to Acworth to help my Mom get her lease renewal documents submitted, and I hope to be home early enough to get Sophie out for an extra long walk.  It looks like the weather here will be dry but very cold which I can manage.  I want to get outside as much as I can before we have really yucky weather.  Here's to a productive few days-I hope!

December Daily 17 & 18- The Theatre and Holiday Greetings

It's hard to believe that there is one more week before Christmas-where DID the time go?!  Yesterday Polly and Mary joined us for the last showing of Christmas in Sweet Apple at the Stage Door Players.  It was delightful and we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Novo Cucino.

 I'm always amazed at how well their stage sets look.  This is from the second act.

 Mary took this photo of us for our Christmas card-love how it turned out.  Managed to get our cards ordered this afternoon.

More cards in the mail today, and that means I needed to get a little creative with displaying them.  I think this is going to work. 

December Daily- 9 & 10

Once the snow stopped on Saturday Steve, Sophie and I ventured to the park to check the sidewalks and roads.  Surprisingly most of our area was clear, or at least well on its way.  After lunch we went to the grocery store in the off change the roads became icy overnight which is what usually happens. At the park Steve took photos of my new hat Reindeer Games which I finished on Wednesday and immediately blocked.  I love it and am glad I'll get to enjoy it for this year~it is also warm and cozy.

 I think the snow makes the perfect backdrop for my hat photos!

 On Sunday morning when I was walking Sophie I came across these 2 cute snowmen that have managed to survive the warming temperatures.  The ice and snow are melting at a low, but steady rate.  There were some areas with ice, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

 Today we gathered at Mary's for a cookie exchange and the baking of Lebukuehen.  So many goodies to enjoy this year~shortbread, 2 kinds of toffee, candy cane, pastry bon bons, cheddar cookies, French Christmas cookies, spritz, cranberry bars [maybe] and orange spice cookies.  So much homemade goodness.  I'm planning to put together a care package for Andrew to send later this week. 

The next few days are going to be crazy busy-preparing and executing the annual office pot luck, book club dinner, a trip to Acworth to take my Mom to an appointment, and gathering at Karen's for cocktails before going to the theatre to see White Christmas.  By the end of the week I should know who my new boss is going to be-the suspense!  The weekend will include brunch at the leasing office and Stage Door Players with Steve, Mary and Polly to see  Christmas at Sweet Apple followed by dinner-can't wait, but also must remember to take photos!  So much to look forward to with some wonderful people.

3 on Thursday| Puppies, a Picnic and Presents

Andrew and I had plans to see my Mom today, so we combined the visit with a trip to the lab for blood work, a stop at the drug store, and a picnic.  Her apartment complex has a rule about visiting dogs, so we have to make other arrangements for her to visit with Sophie and Cocoa.  There is a nice park nearby with a pavilion.

I couldn't convince Andrew to be in the picture, so he played photographer.  I made a egg-cheese casserole and a cranberry orange breakfast bread for us, and we also stopped at Starbucks since I had only 1/2 a cup of coffee, and Mom and Andrew hadn't gotten that far!  We had a nice long visit before we take her back to her place, and Andrew and I head home.

So my 3 things on Thursday are:

1.  Puppies that get to ride in the car [one of Cocoa's favorite things] and a visit with their Nana-there was no way to get 2 dogs and my Mom photographed at the same time!
2.  Picnics-the temperature was fantastic a lovely 70 degrees and no bugs!  The only thing missing were mimosas, but I had to go to work later in the day.
3.  Presents- we brought back some goodies from Alaska which Mom really liked.  I had fun picking out socks, earrings, and a moose bobble head [among other things].

It might seem like a lot of work, but these 2 were very happy to see each other, and really-isn't that what it's all about anyway?!

Alaska 2017- a brief overview

We've been back from our trip for a week now, and I finally feel like I'm caught up.  Catching up at work was easy compared to recovering from jet lag, laundry, house cleaning, errands, etc.  I'm going to do several posts about our trip.  It was fantastic on so many levels and for so many reasons.  For now I'll leave you with a few photos.

A glacier-not sure which one it is, but we saw so many both from a distance and surprisingly up close.

Spectacular views and so many water falls- it was easy to see the path the water cuts through the glacier/mountain.  I had no idea that Alaska was sooooo green!

There was some wildlife-in case you were wondering; whales do not pose for photos!

Views from above-yea, I boarded a 9 seater Otter and spent an hour literally gliding through the mountains near Mt. Denali.  We weren't able to land on Ruby Glacier because of the crevices, and the cloud cover prevented us from being able to see all of Mt. Denali.  Even though it was a shorter trip, and we didn't get the full experience it's one I won't forget.

On the return trip of our final train ride that went to Grandview I played around with my camera and I got some pretty good photos of the sunset.

Something I never expected to see was all the flowers and color- more of that to come.  Below is a native plant/flower- fire weed.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse into Alaska.  Stay tuned  . . .

Weekending

I love a weekend where there seems to be enough time to get caught up on stuff, like blog reading [fun], knitting [fun], laundry [not fun], grocery shopping [sometimes fun], etc.

As well as real fun stuff.  We picked my Mom up on Sunday for lunch at the King George Tavern, a local pub we've been to several times.  After a leisurely lunch headed off to enjoy a matinee performance of Death by Design put on by the Stage Door Players, our local community theatre.  We've enjoyed several plays put on by this group and this year we got season tickets.  The play was  so much fun, and Mom had a really good time.

It worked out that she was able to stayed over night with us, her first time to our apartment, and spending time with Sophie who was thrilled to see her Nana.  We ordered Italian for dinner, and settled in to watch the first episode of the season of The Walking Dead. Monday morning we were up early and headed back to Acworth for physical therapy and then me to work.  I managed to finish my Superbowl LI shawl this weekend, I was working on the last bit of cast-off while Mom was in PT, and I hope to have it blocked by the end of the week.   Next up is a 3 day weekend, and I'm hoping to not go far from home, and get LOTS done.  We'll see . . .

Five on Friday

1.  Making great progress on my BINGO card.  I currently have 2 audio-books, 2 book-books and 1 e-book going. Still waiting on 2 more books from the library.  One of these is an e-book that I didn't finish.  I'm looking forward to doing a review of this when I'm done.  So many of these are new authors for me.

2.  Looking forward to birthday dinner tonight with Andrew and Steve at Carbonara Trattoria.  Brunch on Sunday at Ra Sushi, and gathering with my best girls for knitting and quilting before the end of the month.

3.  Andrew and I will be doing a food expedition tomorrow in the Buford Highway and Chamblee area.  I'm sure I'll be taking photos and Andrew will be sampling goodies and playing Pokemon-Go. It's the little things right?!

4.  Getting geared up to take on more responsibilities at work.  Nothing that is new to me, but has not been included in my job duties.

5.  Creating a list of projects that I want to complete over the Labor Day weekend, hoping it won't be all work and no play.  There are somethings I'd like to knock out before Thanksgiving.

Around here

Other than it being hot as all get out- there's been a lot of fun stuff

Sunday we had family over to celebrate Andrew heading off to Clemson University for graduate school.  So proud of him and know he's going to do great.  It will be strange having a child living out of state, but he won't be that far way.

Sophie and Andrew's dog Cocoa did great with all the extra people around.  Even Charlie seemed okay with them.  Sophie taking a snooze under the table.  She and Cocoa seem to be tolerating each other fairly well, but I think Sophie will be glad when Cocoa leaves with Andrew!

Hanging up artwork-we didn't do this at the last apartment, so I'm pleased that this is happening now. Makes it feel a bit more home-y AND we now have a table and chairs!

Having Andrew at home also means having his mess, and I am totally okay with this, and I have to admit some of that is mine too!  The other day we went for Happy Hour snacks and then I drove around so Andrew could play Pokemon-GO.  Believe it or not this was a lot of fun-kinda like a scavenger hunt.  I remember the boys playing with Pokemon cards when they younger.  It gave Andrew and I time together, and I also got to explore parts of Dunwoody-win-win in my book.

Finally got a Macbook!  This is the Pro, and boy do I have a learning curve!  I went back and forth about which MB would be the best for me, and I think I made the right decision.  I got input from a lot of MB users.  I am looking forward to taking a class or 2 at the local Apple store..

Sophie being Sophie-I think sometimes she wishes I wouldn't get up quite so early!

Other happenings include making serious progress on my BINGO card.  I have just a few more squares to finish, and I'm going to give myself through September to get everything read.  I have been making full use of the App Overdrive-where has this thing been?!  Looking forward to brunch at Ra where Paula works on Sunday, then birthday knitting next weekend and meeting up with my quilting girls the next week.  Making plans for projects and goals for the fall-hopefully there will be a weekend get away before the holidays come along!

Weekending

This weekend we went to Statesboro to scatter some of PJ's ashes. We've put it off for a while, and it was just time.  I haven't posted anything about PJ's passing on the blog, but Mary did a great job here and here. Eight months later and it is still very difficult.   Since Andrew will be leaving Statesboro soon, and heading to Clemson for graduate school it seemed an appropriate time.  PJ's girlfriend joined us and there were lots of memories and tears shared.  I took a few photos knowing this would probably be the last time we are in the area.  One place we visited was where PJ started Brainiacs Studios.  He dreamed of bringing creative minds and talent together.  We found out at his funeral that he also provided shelter to many people with no place to go.  This place was so peaceful, and I understand why PJ loved it here.

We headed to the campus of Georgia Southern University where PJ earned degrees in International Trade and French.  Where this tree is located is an area known as sweetheart circle-supposedly it looks like a heart from the sky.  I thought this oak tree was a good place to leave a little of PJ behind.  We also headed over to the foreign language department.  Charlotte commented that the whole campus was PJ's favorite place to be, and it was hard to pick just one or two that were special..

While Saturday was pretty draining emotionally and physically-over 8 hours in the car and it was sooooo hot.  We always joked that Statesboro hot was way different than any other hot.
On a different note Sunday was pretty jam packed with stuff- laundry, cooking, a fresh pedicure-manicure and getting caught up with general stuff.  I got out early on Sunday for a bike ride.  I'm managing about 16 miles on city streets in about 90 minutes.  My goal is to do that in about an hour by fall-we'll see.  This is one of my stops-yes that is the I-285 bypass, and yes I may just be a bit crazy!  This kind of cycling certainly keeps me on my toes-and alert!

 I worked on  my blocks on the go for quilts on the grow-the new hexagon, and I am trying to get caught up on these.  I meet up with Brenda and Joyce in a couple weeks.  There are sooo many steps, and it's all hand stitched!

There was also long walks with Sophie along Dunwoody Trail.  This is one of the things we love most about living in this area-so far anyway.

The trip to Statesboro gave me a lot of knitting time too.  I'm about 1/2 finished with a baby blanket for a co-worker's new baby.  I even managed to make some headway on my summer BINGO reading too.  I am looking forward to a couple weekends that are dedicated to bikes rides [both dyas], knitting, reading, dinner out with friends, and a show at our local theater.  Hope your weekend was everything you wanted.

Weekend full of fun

Finally a prompt that I could easily blog about, and hopefully there will be more posts since I'm not dividing my time between our now sold house and our apartment.  I love long weekends and try to balance it with fun stuff and projects .  Here's how I spent my time.

10.  2 very long walks with Sophie
  9.  Eating and drinking on the balcony, along with some people watching!

 8.  Fabric shopping and lunch with Mary-so much fun, and I was inspired to come home and try to get my fabric sorted and into better storage than moving boxes!
  7.  2-25 mile bike rides with Steve-I would have gone on a 3rd, but my tosh was hurting too bad!

 6.  Mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough
 5.  Went grocery and gift shopping with Steve, something we haven't done in AGES!

 4.  Watched TV-college football and Get Shorty-love this movie and read the book back in May which was equally enjoyable.

 3.  Celebrated a special birthday for a special girl with special people-Happy 21st Paula
 2.  There was some knitting and reading
 1.  Slept in just a little bit on Saturday and Sunday

Hope your Labor Day weekend was full of things that make you smile-mine sure did!

Another Memory-filled Memorial Weekend

This week's prompt from Carole is very easy.  My husband's family have been gathering on Memorial Weekend for a loooong time-close to 20 years-maybe?!  In the beginning all the grandkids were pretty small, toddler through elementary aged.  Now we've got all adult kids and a wee one who was with us for his first Memorial Weekend get together.  For the first few years we stayed at Calloway Gardens and then we began staying at the chalet's at Dillard-both in Georgia.  This year we were at a new place Big Canoe (Jasper, GA).  Everyone as able to attend even the 2 nieces who live out of state.  While the location has changed the great times together have not.  Here's some what we did -

10.  Wine and and special cocktails were drunk along with eating some fabulous food.
  9.  Knitting-lots!  Of course, I brought way more than I'd every hope to finish.

8.  Celebrated a special birthday-Steve's Big 50!

7.  Play time with Charlie-you can just see his head near the table.  Such a sweet boy.

6.  There was some pool AND ping pong

5.  Time spent with the folks-although there isn't an individual group photo there were plenty taken, and I think if all share them everyone will be represented. 

4.  Reading-I started Get Shorty, but didn't make as much progress as I've had liked.
3.  Played games-I mostly stuck to the easy dice games like Zilch and Yahtzee so I could knit and not think too much.
2.  Big Canoe Bingo which my Sister in law created for us.  I got at least 1 Bingo and had I done a little yoga I would have had more!
1.  Talked and laughed-ALOT.

This weekend is always a special time for us, and we hope it continues for a very, very long time.