Aloha from Waikiki!!

I’m having an AMAZING time with my friends in Hawai’i. So much so that we’ve decided to come back again next year! I’m not going to take the time to post details right now, but I thought I would share a few favorite pics. Mahalo and enjoy!

View from the lanai at our condo:

International Market Place and surrounding area:

Picking out pearl settings at The Pearl Factory with the help of Cousin Grant (left) and Cousin Wayne (right):

Result of our efforts:

Paradise Cove Luau:

Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve: (place we went snorkeling)

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll write up more details after I get back home on Sunday.

Up, up and away ….

in my beautiful, my beautiful …. balloon! I had an AMAZING experience yesterday! My friend who is visiting surprised me with a sunrise hot air balloon ride over wine country in Temecula, CA. It was awesome!! Here are a couple of pics taken during the ride. As always, you can click on each photo for a larger view.

Wilson Creek Winery

If you want to see all of the pics, you can view them here.

I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to update my blog much over the next week. I’m leaving tomorrow for vacation in Hawaii with Terri and Tracy. I can update my blog from my iPhone, so I might try to at least post a couple of updates, but there probably won’t be anything substantial until after I get back.

So, until next time …

*Gulp*

Well, I did it. I broke down and ordered a wetsuit today. I’m already dreading trying it on when it arrives, but I just keep reminding myself that really no one looks good in a wetsuit. Well, ok, so maybe fitness models and elite triathletes look good in wetsuits, but pretty much no one else does.

Since I live in southern California, I opted for a spring suit instead of a full suit. I ordered an O’Neill Reactor suit (part of their multi-sport line) from Becker Surfboards. I pretty much decided on the spring suit for a few different reasons:

1. It should provide plenty of warmth for the waters here.
2. It was more affordable than a full suit.
3. It should fit better since I had to order a men’s suit.

Yeah, that third item was the most depressing. For anyone who cares to know, it’s pretty much impossible to find a women’s triathlon wetsuit if you are a plus size. Even though I’ve lost over 75 pounds, I’m still very much a plus size and there just isn’t much to be found out there in my size as far as tri gear goes.

My friend Nick flew back home yesterday. We had a great time while he was here. The trip to Palm Springs & Joshua Tree was amazing! As feared, when we took the aerial tram up on to Mount San Jacinto, we did face temps around 30°F and falling snow. We didn’t let it deter us though as we still went out and had a nice hike for just over an hour. Here are a couple of pics (click on each for a larger view):

Snow … in May?! WTF?!?!?

Me at the mountain station of the tram (8516′ elevation)

I came from Detroit to southern California for THIS?!

Tram up to the mountain (definitely click this one to see it full size)

After enjoying a day in the snow, the next day we headed into the desert at Joshua Tree National Park. The temperatures there was definitely far below the norm as well. Normal high temperatures for this time of the year is in the low to mid-90’s F. It was in the 60’s most of the day, but did dip down into the upper 50’s at one point when we went up to Keys View (5185′ elevation). Here are a few pics from that day:

Joshua Tree Welcome Center

Beaver Tail Cactus in Bloom

Forest of Joshua Trees

Self-Portrait of Nick Chilling Out

Hiking on the Lost Horse Mine Trail

Well, I guess that’s enough for now. I really need to head off to bed since it’s back to work full-time tomorrow. After working part-time the past couple of weeks while Nick was here, working a full week again is going to be a rude reality check.

Until next time …

Greetings from Palm Springs

My friend Nick and I arrived safely in Palm Springs after driving through a horrific thunderstorm in Moreno Valley. We heard later there was apparently a tornado that went through not long after us, so we’re really thankful we didn’t caught up in that!

Our plan for tomorrow is to take the aerial tram up to the top of Mount San Jacinto. Imagine my surprise when we got out here and found out there’s still SNOW up there and the forecasted high for tomorrow is only 40°F. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! I’m not sure I brought warm enough clothing for those conditions!

The hotel we’re staying at doesn’t offer free WiFi, but I managed to locate a signal out on the balcony. So, after having gone to one of my favorite vegan restaurants for dinner, I’m now sitting here on our balcony enjoying all the hub-bub from an English pub on the street below and doing a lot of people watching on a very pleasant spring-like evening. Nick is inside doing a bit of cross-stitching while I finish this post. After that, we’re planning to play a bit of Gin Rummy or Canasta. Life is good.

Until next time …

I’m hooooome ….

I had a WONDERFUL time on the cruise, but it’s good to be back home, too. I might actually get some stitching done now. I think I may have gotten in about a total of an hour of stitching the whole 8 days we were gone.

I do have photos uploaded into my online photo album. I’m still working on captions and descriptions, but the photos are there if you want to take a peek. I’ll post an update once I have all the descriptions finished. For now, here’s the link:

Cruise Photos

Happy stitching!

Chocolat

I had a great time at the Elegant Stitch Chocolat retreat. Chocolate was definitely the theme of the weekend. Jackie du Plessis is a wonderful teacher and Lois spoiled us rotten. She gave us each a pair of little scissors with a fob, an awl, a beautiful handmade fabric-covered box which contained some Thread Heaven and some handmade waxers, and a beautiful sterling silver Kiss necklace.

Jackie’s Chocolat class piece is just amazing! I’ve been having a wonderful time stitching on it the past few days. Here is a pic of what it will all look like when I have it completed … one of these years.

Since my last update, I also finished up a Halloween exchange on the USEBB. Terry stitched the Boo scissor pocket from The Drawn Thread for me. She even edged the whole thing in beads! It’s really beautiful. I got several compliments on it this weekend at the retreat.

I stitched a witchy pinkeep for Goldie. It’s from the new Pumpkin Patch chart from The Prairie Schooler. I used some black antique German matte glass head pins that I got from Merry Cox last year.

I also finished up the last two square for the Prairie Schooler exchange I was in on the PS board. There were only 4 of us in the exchange, so we decided to each stitch a square for the other 3 participants. We started in August and mailed out a square each month ending up earlier this month. Here are the 3 squares I sent and the 3 squares I received:

Sent:

For Sandy	For Christina	For Barbara

Received:

From Barbara	From Christina	From Sandy

That’s it for now. I’ll try to post some WIP pictures next time. Happy Stitching!

Stitcher’s Retreat Update

I have been woefully remiss in updating my blog lately. It’s been a combination of being out of town for the retreat and dealing with everything for my surgery coming up on Thursday (April 12). I’m not sure how soon I’ll make an entry after my surgery, so I did at least want to get in an update about the retreat beforehand.

I had a BLAST at the retreat. I went there not knowing anyone but felt right at ease immediately. I had a wonderful roomie and we hit it off right away. Her name was Beth and she lives in Louisville, so we had that whole girls raised in the south connection. Here’s a pic of us taken on our last day:

As we got checked in to the retreat, we received a goodie bag. Once I got up to the room, I checked it out and was amazed at all of the cool stuff in it! One of the highlights, for me, was Eliza Jane’s Needlekeep from Brightneedle. This is a piece that I’ve drooled over in the past, so I was so excited to see we got it on the goodie bag. We also got a skein of the new Weeks color that is coming out in June. It’s called Guacamole and is a beautiful color! There was also an adorable bunny chart (how perfect for me! ) called Bunny Love from Trail Creek Farm. There were also lots of freebie charts and some chocolate. Here’s a pic of the goodie bag. I realize it’s difficult to see what everything is, but there was so much stuff in it that it was hard to get it all into one photo.

While at the retreat, I had my main 3-hour class with Ann Pettit and Liz Knudsen of Brightneedle. The class piece is called Sakura and is just beautiful. Here’s a pic of the kit:

I really enjoyed their class. Ann is a great teacher and Liz is just so much fun. I couldn’t believe just HOW quickly the 3 hours went by! It seemed like no sooner than the class started that it was time to wrap things up.

I also took an optional 2-hour class from Amy Bruecken and Koneta Hurlstone of Sisters & Best Friends. Wow, talk about a FUN class … those ladies are a hoot! The piece for that class was called Stitcher’s Chicken which was a complimentary piece to the Stitcher’s Sheep kit they had for the people who took their 3-hour main class. I liked the chicken so much that I ended up buying the sheep kit in the shop since I wasn’t in their main class. Here are pics of those:

There was some discussion during the class that they should do more in this series. I really hope they do. I would love to see a cow and pig in this design series, too.

Our last morning there consisted of three 50-minute round robin classes. In addition to round robin classes from Brightneedle and Sisters & Best Friends, we also had the pleasure of having a class done by Charland Gavin of Charland Designs. She had been there for the whole retreat and had her gorgeous silver available for sale in the market. The round robin was the only class that she taught during the retreat. Here are pics of the round robin pieces. The first piece is from Brightneedle, the next is from Sisters & Best Friends, and the last is Charland’s piece.

I did pick up a few other items at the retreat market. I don’t have pictures of those, but I can give links to some of them that are available for purchase. Some of the Brightneedle kits I bought were from their Private Reserve line which is available for purchase only for retreat participants, so I don’t have photos of those. A couple of these are for gifts … wonder where they’ll end up?

Brightneedle Christmas House
Brightneedle Small Samplings
Brightneedle Quaker Season pincushion (private reserve)
Brightneedle Made for Each Other needlebook (private reserve)
Brightneedle Lake Country Spring (private reserve)
Sisters & Best Friends Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
Sisters & Best Friends Count Your Blessings
Heart in Hand Courage
Heart in Hand Peace
Heart in Hand Easter Sampler
Heart in Hand Commemorative Heart kit (exclusive)

In addition to everything already mentioned, we all received 3 door prizes throughout the course of the retreat. We got a 10th anniversary retreat t-shirt. We also got some cool freebies from the teachers, too. Here’s what I got:

Door prizes:

A pre-made tea cup cozy with stitchable insert
2 small punchneedle kits and a 3 punchneedle set (1 strand, 3 strand, and 6 strand)
A wool applique bunny purse kit (again, perfect for me )

Freebies:

Small mesh bag, logo self-stick note pad, and logo scissor sheath (Brightneedle)
Itty Bitty Pear Doll chart (Sisters)
Spring Bunny chart (Sisters)
Winter Sheep chart (Sisters)
Olde World Ornaments chart (Sisters)

I also won a special prize from the ladies at Sisters. They had a contest in one of their classes for the person with the most scissors with them. Another lady and I had 4 pairs each with us, so we both won a prize. Here’s what I got in that package:

Bad Maid
Little Boys chart
Little Girls chart
Have A Cow chart & mini tote bag

Since I’m not a mom, I gave the Bad Maid, Little Boys, and Little Girls charts to a couple of very nice ladies I met from Fond du Lac, WI. I had several of my meals with them and they were such nice ladies.

I do have a lot more pictures from the retreat, but I won’t post them all here. If you would like to see them, they are in my online photo albums. Here is a direct link to the retreat album:

2007 Stitcher’s Retreat

There was one other highlight of the retreat. I got to meet Michele from Washington who is one of my buddies from the Shepherd’s Bush BB. The funny part was that we didn’t even realize we “knew” one another until after the retreat was completely over. We were having lunch together with a couple of other stitcher’s after all the formal activities had ended and she finally made the connection of who I was. It was too funny. I noticed on her blog that she’s already signed up for next year as well, so it’ll be fun getting to see her again at next year’s retreat.

I had such a great time at the retreat, that I went on and signed up for next year’s while I was there and gave the organizer my deposit check. The retreat next year will be held in early May at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The scheduled teachers are Maureen Appleton of The Heart’s Content, Sam Sarah Design Studio, and Chessie & Me. I’ve signed up to take the Maureen Appleton class.

Ok, I have clearly rambled enough for one day. I hope everyone is has a wonderful Easter and gets in some quality stitching time. Happy stitching!

Vacation

I’m baaaaack….

I had a fabulous vacation! It sucked having to come home and go back to work, but such is the life of being a grown-up, I suppose. The vacation was just what I needed to clear my head and renew my spirit. I spent my time in a lakehouse cottage in rural northeast Indiana with wonderful friends. Here are a few pics:

As you can probably tell from the last 2 pics, we went apple picking in an orchard. I really have to thank my friends for being willing to go. One of the items on my 101 Things list was to pick apples in an orchard, so that’s another one I can mark off now.

I had actually lost my stitching motivation over the past several weeks. Even though I did very little stitching while on vacation, I think just having the down time helped me find my desire to stitch again. I should have some updated stitching pics to post in the next few days.

Happy stitching!