Vacation Time!!

sunscreen - check!
bikinis - check!
sunglasses - check!
chick-lit beach reading - check!
sundresses & flip flops - check!
bag of yarn - check!

8 hours and counting until we head out on our road trip for a week on the beach!

Here's a taste of where we'll be relaxing....If I don't get a chance to post photos throughout the week, I'll be sure to share a few when we're pack!

Have a great week everyone!!

The best thing about a road trip?

When Jonathan drives so I can crochet!
Happy Memorial Day weekend!

ALERT!!! Rule Breaker Ahead!

I don’t really know how many “rules” there are in crocheting (other than having clean hands, but even that is just in good taste for the long term care of your hand made craft.)  You don’t have to use the yarn a pattern calls for, the size hook can vary depending on how tightly you crochet, you don’t even have to follow the pattern 100%.  You can even following these types of pattern “rules” and end up with something that looks NOTHING like the picture on the pattern! 

So why, you ask, am I this big rule breaker?

Well, I can’t for the life of me ever finish a project before moving on to the next!!  I seem to consistently do everything 96% of the way – like doing laundry, folding everything, and then leaving it all sitting in the living room instead of putting it away.  The hard work’s all done at that point – why quit so close to the finish line?

Okay…so weaving in ends is the worst part of finishing a crocheted project (similar to finding the motivation to do laundry) but I finished my Seaside Stripe blanket back on April 28^th….yes, LAST MONTH, but I still haven’t had the patience taken the time to sit down and weave in my ends!  I actually used the blanket with tails flowing for 2 nights that weekend while watching TV – wouldn’t it have been easier to spend an hour finishing it and just be able to ENJOY the first blanket I’ve ever kept for myself?

Nope.  Instead I’ve done this in the past 9 days

Beachy Waves I’m calling it

I found the BEACHY yarn during a trip to JoAnn’s – it’s part of the Red Heart with Love line and I fell in LOVE with the shades of Beachy as soon as it caught my eye on the shelf.  The reminder of the yarn came from my stash (Vanna’s Choice in Linen for the “sand”, and regular ‘ole Red Heart for the “waves” and tan…I guess darker sand).  It’s growing on me as it gets bigger, Jonathan (a.k.a. my color consultant) thinks it looks really great so I’m taking his word on it until it’s bigger, and I too can see the beauty he’s already found in my Beachy Waves.

Someday soon I’ll finish my Seaside Stripe, and this guy…from JANUARY

Summer Va-ca!

While I am not fortunate enough to get a Spring, Summer, or Winter break at this stage of my life (seriously, to those who want to complain that they’re breaks are over, be thankful that you have them – some of us are stuck working all 12 months!), Jonathan and I do always try to find a week during the summer to get out of town!  DC has what can only be described as an oppressively humid Summer so time on the beach is ALWAYS welcome!  We’ve spent many weeks in Southern Florida in August over the years, and have checked temperature daily – typically about 10 degrees cooler on the beach thanks to the lovely breeze off the Gulf….not to mention spending the day in a biniki and flip flops is totally acceptable!

Our first vacation together in FMB - back in August of 2005!!!

I’m happy to report that this year’s trip is quickly approaching – by this time next month I will hopefully be sitting on the beach with a biiiiiig cocktail in my hand.  Nothing better in my book!

View from downstairs

Ft. Myer’s Beach – HERE WE COME!  I am so looking forward to 8 ½ days, 8 nights on the beach with the sweetest guy I know.  Spending our days enjoying Estero, Sanibel and Capitva Islands, mid-day  naps, the foods of SOB, Doc Ford’s, and the Mucky Duck to name a few, and the gorgeous sunsets over Sanibel Island. 

I love enjoying the gorgeous sunsets from the sandbar!

The entire summer and remainder of 2012 is going to go sailing by on me at this point. 

“Why?”, you may ask?  Well –

1. Prior to May 18^th – pack up my cube and files at work in preparation for an office move
2. May 18^th – day off from work to travel down to Stafford, VA for a family wedding
3. May 20^th – Mount VernonSpring Wine Festival and Sunset Tour with friends
4. Memorial Day weekend – drive home Friday 5/25 at 2 p.m. when my office closes, spend a little time with my family (that I haven’t seen since Christmas), drive both the convertible and Jeep back to MD on Monday 5/28
5. Work May 29^th-May 31^st
6. Leave after work on May 31^st for Ft. Myers Beach, FL – see ya’ll on June 11^th!
7. July 20^th – day off from work to head home to celebrate the wedding of a couple of good friends
8. August 3^rd – IDINA MENZEL at Wolf Trap to start the celebration weekend of 1 year of Wedded Bliss (How can it already almost be a year ago that we got married?!?!?!)
9. August 23^rd-August 27^th – trip to CNY to spend a long weekend with my Mom and Dad
10. September 1^st – beginning of my “black out” period for any time out of the office through the end of the year!

See?  Now, add in the fact that this is likely our last summer in the region, and I think we’re going to be very busy!