Weekend-slight setback

I had lots of plans for the weekend, but due to an encounter with a mandolin I'm finding typing, knitting, taking a shower a bit difficult, and everything else that requires my right ring finger.  I know  slowing down can be a good thing, but I wish there had been a less painful way to make that happen.  I'm not even sure how I'm going to dry my hair in the morning.

By Sunday evening I managed to get everything done including a bit of knitting.  Steve and I were able to check out a couple park areas on Saturday after our visit to after hours care for stitches.  We have a couple options to propose to the Guild board for WWKIP Day, so I hope to have the set by the end of the week.  We also explored an area of Atlanta that we've got on our short list for where we'd like to live.

The finger is doing fine and I'll spare you all the gory details.  I will say that compared to the last time I had stitches in my finger the way they numb the area to be stitched now is waaaay better than it used to be-- modern medicine is a great thing.  I hope you didn't experience too many set backs this weekend.

Fly by Friday

So apparently the key to getting all of my "standing hours" is to spend time with the binding machine.  I told the guys at work this was a medieval torture device that was part of the pit of misery [dilly-dilly- if you know the Bud light commercials!].  I had my 12 hours before 2:00 and typically it's at least 5:00 before this is accomplished!  I'm soooo loving my Apple Watch-it really keeps me on track and organized.

It's been a bit fast and furious at work with a final audit of 2017 enforcement activity, preparing for a training session I'm conducting on Monday afternoon, and our first every Board meeting on the road on Monday.  There has been lots to do and I was thrilled that by the end of the day everything was packed and ready to go for Monday's 9:30 am departure time to Columbia, SC.  I think the crazy will continue until mid-June when we submit all of our annual reports and budget.  Just in time for summer-y cocktails on the deck!

This week I also had our monthly Atlanta Knitting Guild Board meeting, and I'm in charge of coordinating the World Wide Knit in Public Day for our area on June 9th.   Steve and I are going to check out a park that is probably going to be the site for this event, as well as, the general area as an option for when we look at houses more seriously towards the end of the year.

Thankfully I met up with Mary's Monday knitting group for a while on as there would have been no knitting at all this week.  I'm hoping to do some this weekend, and definitely while I'm on my road trip.  Luckily I don't have to drive, so I'm hoping to make serious headway on Beckett, and if this weekend pans out, I hope to swatch and cast on at least another sweater before we head out-we'll see. 

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be great, so it'll be top down when we venture out to the park, and Sunday is supposed to be really yucky.  It should be a good time to get some knitting, swatching and packing done.  I hope the week has flown by and there is some downtime coming your way.

Five on Friday

Five things I'm looking forward to:

1. I booked my flight to DC to visit Andrew in March and for the first time ever I had enough frequent flyer miles to pay for my ticket.

2.  In the photo above is my order of Coast for 2 sweaters I plan to knit- I'll use the dark brown for Michigan by Amy Miller and the sea-foam and off white for Balise by Marie Greene.  Mary was kind enough to organize the order.  The upper left is what Mary will use for her Balise and Deena will use the upper right.

3.  A 3 day weekend, and I'd better enjoy it because work is gonna get CA-RAZY over the next few weeks.  With a new director wanting to put his own "stamp" on things I expect there will be lots of revisions and changes to the 2 reports that I have to put together.

4.  Just a couple things on my to do list this weekend, so I'm hoping for LOTS of knitting and maybe starting on Steve's Alaska wall hanging, or at least reading through the instructions.

5. Catching up on the Olympics; especially the figure skating.

The weather is supposed to be kinda yucky, so I'm glad that I won't have to be out in it except tomorrow when I get my hair done.  I hope the weekend finds you having a chance to do all the things that you  love.

Weekending-Good eats

The weekend started with an early departure from work on Friday; Sophie had a grooming appointment and then she hung out at the office for a couple hours.  It was definitely a top down day, and we took the long way home.  Saturday was the day to get things done-inside.  The weather was soo yucky.  I had several "administrative" things that have been on my to do list for a while.  One important task was  to renew my passport before it expired.   I also wanted to clean the apartment, and do laundry so that Sunday could be my "play" day.  I managed to get everything ticked off before bedtime on Saturday- yea!

A couple weeks ago I went through both of my Deb Perelman aka Smitten Kitchen cookbooks and marked the recipes I wanted to try.  This weekend featured 3 of recipes all winners.

Saturday featured the seared halibut and gazpacho salsa with tomato vinaigrette from her first cookbook The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  I substituted cod for the halibut, and did not make the salsa.  We had this with steamed asparagus and cacio e pepe potatoes anna which is a SK recipe from her newest book Smitten Kitchen Everyday.  Both of these were delicious.  Next time I do the fish I think I'll use halibut and make the salsa, but probably not the vinaigrette.  The recipe makes a lot and now I don't know what to do with the leftover dressing.

Sunday night we had the Chicken and Rice, street cart style from the Everyday book.  I used brown rice because that's what I had on hand, and I didn't have yogurt to make the sauce.   This dish was just okay, but on Monday I got the naan bread and the yogurt so I could serve the dish the way the recipe was intended.  What a difference it made having all the components.  I'd make this again, but add make it more red pepper so it'd be a bit more spicy.  That makes 3 down and about 30 more to go!  I haven't even begun to tag my Everyday Korean book, but think I'll get on that before the Olympics are over.  What's cookin' with you?!

Unraveled Wednesday

I'm going to try and give this Unraveled Wednesday thing a shot.  Fortunately I haven't had to unravel anything recently.  I have finished Taproot, but will wait until I've made my adjustments before posting a photo.  Currently I'm working on Beckett by Marie Greene, I'm knitting this with Rowan Finest which is a combination of extra fine merino, cashmere and royal alpaca in the colorway Happy.  It is soooo soft, I can't wait to see how this turns out.  I got this I think for 45% off at Cast on Cottage so a total win for me!  I've been taking photos at work because the light there seems to show the true color.

I recently finished a Gather hat for myself.  I'm on a quest to finish up my worsted weight yarn, and I thought I had enough to finish this hat with the russet color, but had to substitute a bit .  I'm totally okay with having a bit of black at the top. 

 I'm almost done with another Conversationalist hat using more leftover Berroco Vintage.  I made 2 baby sweaters from these yarns for die-hard Packer Fans.  I may have enough to put a small pom pom on top.  I think I'm going to be set for hats for a while.  I have a pair of mittens I've been trying to finish for quite some time, so I think that will be working on that when I'm not knitting on Beckett.  I'm thinking any other hats I make will go into a charity box to give away in the fall.

Finally, here's my most recent Smitten Kitchen recipe- Farro and Tomatoes.  I had farro for the first time at our Guild pot luck and it was delicious.  This recipe from SK was equally delicious.  I will definitely be trying more Farro recipes. 

Keep on keeping on

I wanted to be careful how I titled this post.  I was tempted to use- end of an era, moving on, the next phase, etc.  Each one alluded that something might be wrong, but I can assure you all is well here. Sophie is taking her last photo in our 2004 Tahoe AKA The Tank!  Yep, we sold it this weekend to one of Steve's colleagues for her 17 year old son. He was very pleased and I am happy that it's going to someone who will appreciate it.  The timing was perfect.  He already has plans for fixing some of the body work, and taking care of some of the repairs that need to be made.  She has also been re-christened Big Bad*** Beth!  

The 150,000 miles on this vehicle represents lots of memories, sing along's in the car, hauling baseball and soccer equipment, moving boxes and lots of friends!  I'm hoping she will keep on keeping on for Max.  Honestly, there's a part of me that's going to miss this ride!

January highlights

This post started out as "Weekending" themed, then 2 weekends went by, and then it was going to be a Three on Thursday, then that went by, so now that it's February it'll be some highlights from January.  We'll start with an Amaryllis update.  These photos were taken the weekend of the 20th when Steve was in DC visiting with Andrew.  This has been so much fun, and right now I have a couple blooms ready to open and there are some that have begun to droop.

Saturday afternoon featured a cookbook signing at Vino Venue which was fun, but not quite what I expected.  I had hoped for more discussion about paring food and wine, but it was still great to support a local business and author, and I actually had a nice chat with 2 young ladies who were at the table with me.  This is becoming a pattern for me-- interacting with strangers at events I'm attending solo which is probably a very good thing-right?!

On Sunday, I treated myself to lunch out at Seasons 52.  I had a gift card so that justified ordering a cocktail.  This the Bourbon Blackberry Bramble.  Yum!

The day was so nice I decided to drive home with the top down.  We'd had snow/ice just 3 days prior.  The weather in Atlanta has been something else. 

Other highlights of my solo weekend included knitting and embroidery while watching endless hours of Midsomer Murders.   I love the scenery, and I find the bad acting hilarious.  I finished Taproot, a hat for myself using leftover bits, and I swatched for my next sweater.  The embroidery piece I started is a simple piece that has the image stamped on so I'm just filling in the lines.  There was also a good bit of reading-Celine by Peter Heller for Book Club and I started The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny.  

After my solo weekend the next weekend included my regular meet up with Brenda and I continued to work on this piece and it's nearly done.  Brenda never fails to inspire me and provide feedback on what I'm working on including knitting.  She gave me some very helpful suggestions on adjusting my Taproot and I think I'll be happier with the fit.  We enjoyed a nice lunch before we headed in opposite directions.

Follow up photo of the Amaryllis

On Sunday Steve and I went to see the next play put on by the Stage Door Players and we were a little disappointed in the script and plot---It just didn't seem to connect.  Afterwards we went to a restaurant 57th Fighter Group that has been around for decades, and it was such a neat experience.  We were able to watch a few planes land while we ate. 

That's pretty much it for my January aside from my work trip to Vegas.  Getting into a groove with my new boss which came on the heels of a 3 day weekend followed by 2 days of office closure due to ice/snow.  February will feature a visit to the hair salon, an outing with my mother in law, and a work trip to Columbia SC.  I don't think I'll have the energy for anything else!

What I'm really looking forward to is April because I will have 2 extended weekend trips, one to Beaufort SC with my mother in law, Mary and Karen and I managed to get into the this knitting retreat hosted by Ann Budd.  I'll be taking a class with some great teachers and I'm really looking forward to Savannah in the springtime.