Coming to a close- 2017

2017 was filled with lots of good stuff, happy memories, time with family and lots of laughs.  I'm looking forward to much of the same in 2018, but I'll wait until tomorrow to post about my goals for the new year.  One of the things that will help me immensely with my fitness goals is my Christmas gift from Steve.  It didn't get delivered until late Tuesday afternoon and I have to say I LOVE it.  I was surprised at how easy it was to set up, and each day since Thursday I've met all 3 daily goals.

I did have Minnie Mouse as my watch face to begin with, but the Activity face is much easier to keep track of my progress through out the day.  It was fun tapping the watch and have her say the time.

I hope 2017 was a good year for you and that 2018 will be prosperous, full of peace and blessings.

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-December 21 and 22 Bits and Pieces

I got this handmade card from friends from our church.  Wendy does such a lovely job.  The Santa figurine was painted by a friend of my Mom's a long time ago.  I thought they looked nice together along with a vase of flowers I got yesterday in white's and red which I couldn't quite get in the photo without including the kitchen sink!  The fresh flowers and poinsettias make everything look very festive.

 I've been on a Louise Penny kick, I just finished these 2 books and started A Trick of the Light.  I accidentally read Bury Your Dead before The Brutal Telling, but it didn't spoil the story for me.  I still like to hear how Gamache solves the crime.  I'm really beginning to dislike Peter Morrow.

Today I was at my mother in law's house helping her unpack and this is the wrapper from my after lunch treat.  Too bad today was not a good day for putting the top down.

December Daily-December 20: Sending Holiday Greetings

I got the first batch of Christmas letters in today's mail.  I have about another 25 or so to mail address and mail.  I'll also be sending a special Christmas card that will go to family and close friends.  I am officially on vacation until January 2.  All the gifts are purchased and wrapped and I even managed to knit Andrew a Clemson-themed hat what has been blocked and wrapped.  My menus have been planned now I've just got to get the groceries bought and food prep done.  Let the holidays begin!

December Daily-December 19- packages all tied up with string

All the gifts that have been bought are now wrapped and "under" our tree.  Just a couple more things to buy and then I'm done!  Tis the season . . .

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 12-16-Catching up

This week has been my busiest so far this month, and when I moved my calendar marker to next week, I was a bit giddy to see that my calendar is almost note free!  Thursday will be the start of my vacation until the end of the year.  I have things planned with friends and family, getting my hair done, but I'm also hoping that I'll get some knitting done and some "winter" cleaning.

Our annual holiday pot luck at my office was on Tuesday,  I had fully intended to take a photo once all the food was on the tables and got very sidetracked.  My desk is to the left of the table in the foreground.  Yes, this space is big enough to have food, including desserts, for over 100 people!  Thanks to the great folks I work with it was another success with just enough leftovers for to be enjoyed the rest of the week.  It was a very busy day from when I arrived at 7 until I left at 4.  However, there was no rest for the weary as my Book Club pot luck was later that evening, but on a much smaller scale!  The food there was delicious and the company outstanding.  No photo from that dinner, but the hostess had a lovely home all ready for Christmas. 

Early Wednesday morning was a routine appointment for my Mom at another Wellstar facility which had "soliders" at the door that were different from these and this ginormous tree!  My Mom posed for scale and I'm sure it had to be at least 15' tall.  My Mom loves Christmas decorations and she ooh'd and ahh'd at the wreaths and lights.   I took her back to place then had to head to work where things were still recovering from the previous day's festivities.  Our annual lunch was also a retirement party for my boss of 12 years, and I've very sad to see him retire.  Wednesday was also the day set for interviews for his replacement.  I have to say it was very hard to concentrate on anything with comings and goings of the candidates as my desk sits very close to the conference room. 

Luckily, I was able to leave work early as I was meeting my Mother in Law, Mary and Karen to see White Christmas on the big screen.  This is the second time I've gotten to see it at the theatre and I have to say I love seeing Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen dance and twirl- boy does she have moves and a great set of legs!  It was great, and of course the company really makes these experiences even more memorable. 

 Thursday I made a trip to Target to pick up some gift bags, battery operated lights for our little tree and other things.  I love that I have a Target nearby so it's easy to take care of these quick errands and I don't have to spend my weekends fighting the traffic and crowds.

 Friday night, and ahhhh finally a chance to relax.  Unfortunately, I managed to pull a muscle in my neck and shoulder.  Not sure exactly how that happened, but may have something to do with all the activity earlier this week.  The heating pad helps, but I have had a hard time sleeping because of the pain and not being able to find a comfortable position.  I had a nice long phone conversation with Andrew and he seems to have settled in with is job and new apartment.  He's hoping to be able to come home for Christmas provided he can work remotely from Georgia.  Fingers crossed-it would be nice to have him home.

 Saturday morning, a bit of devotion/quiet time, indoor cycling, and brunch at our leasing office [which was very very good].  The rest of the day was spent cleaning the apartment, grocery shopping, getting caught up on blog reading, a bit of knitting, and other things that have been waiting for me to have time to address.

 A lovely morning for a walk.

 And a benchmark for the Operation Amaryllis Watch.  My Mother in law gave this to me last Sunday at our cookie exchange and I forgot to take a photo.  It has certainly made progress since Sunday.  I'll do my best to show updates. 

I hope you are able to take time out to enjoy and savor the holidays.  I'm looking forward to some more baking, wrapping gifts, and knitting.  Hopefully I won't sprain any more muscles!