I am definitely feeling better - yesterday wasn't bad, we stayed in and watched movies/tv shows all day. I didn't do much stitching but I did work on Leanne's quilt block 5 a little bit - I've got another backlog with that now that blocks 6 and 7 have both arrived and are waiting for me :)

Today starts another family filled weekend. My sister and I are taking my cousin to go see Eragon and then stay at my uncle's for the night. Sunday the rest of the family arrives to celebrate family christmas and then new years. Monday I come home and hopefully get to do some sewing!

I played with my new camera a bit, printed a picture using my new printer and it came out great. I hope to take some more pictures this weekend, and I have my memory card now so I can fit over a 1000 pictures on my camera :)
Now I must get things squared away before we leave in 40 minutes!

Out sick...

I got no sleep last night - I kept thinking "maybe i should take nyquil now - but then i won't be able to get up in the morning". Finally at 7am I took some dayquil and went right to sleep for a few hours. I'm going to stay in bed most of the day, maybe make my way to the livingroom if my head stops pounding but for now I like the quiet dark of the bedroom.

I did manage last night to order some things I needed off of ebay after we went shopping. We finished up our christmas shopping (we do family christmas this coming weekend). And I'm saving my amazon gift cards until after family christmas. I don't know if there will be stitching today - that takes some concentration my head might not have (i can't even remember what i was going to write a few minutes ago). But I'm sure I'll post tomorrow if i do find some time to stitch.

I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas. Unfortunately most of my family was sick over christmas and friday night I started coming down with a cold that started as a migraine - not the best way to start my life engaged :) It was a great weekend though (despite being sick).

Friday after the morning surprise (see post below), we had a wonderful day, I had a lot of phone calls to make and then we went and saw "The Holiday" which was wonderfully romantic. After a little shopping I came home with a serious migraine though and took a 2 hour nap.

The rest of the weekend was holiday stuff with family (all very excited about the engagement). We had a wonderful christmas. My mom got me a new digital camera for christmas - I can't wait to post some photos with that thing, i haven't gotten it hooked up to my laptop yet though but soon I promise!

All in all it was a joyous few days despite pretty much everyone being sick or recovering from being sick. Today is really bad for me, i'm very congested and dizzy. Hopefully the dizziness will go away before I lift today.

No stitching updates - haven't touched anything in a while. I have to figure out what I'm doing about a class this spring and that will determine how much stitching happens in the next few months - I'm sure I'll write more about that later :)

The biggest day...
So the problem I've been having all day is how to give this news... in phone calls, in emails ... I don't know how to begin. So I'll give a little story:


When I was in 7th grade I got a crush on a boy - he was the popular boy - I was the geek (geek exemplified). This crush continued, he even knew about it at one point (how embarrassing that was!) - note to crushers everywhere - "Secret Admirer" birthday signs taped to lockers are probably not anonymous in 7th grade :)

Anyway - I went pretty much un-noticed through school by said boy - until one day - senior year of high school when I got very noticed.

Well we started dating - in february of 2000 (senior year). We went to colleges close to each other (and close to home), after graduating college in 2004 we decided to move to Boston where I got a job and he could go to law school. So we officially moved in together in August of 2004.

And here we are - Going on almost 7 years together - and now ...

We're ENGAGED :)

Oh and it was so sweet - it happened at 8:30 this morning and I couldn't be any happier. My family is so excited and I can't wait to see them all this weekend and next to celebrate (I had many a conversation with a squealing aunt this morning :) and my sister was so surprised - it was great!)

There's plenty more to write but I want to keep this post special so I'll close up for now and fill in more about the day later in the weekend or so.
Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Oh I really hope I'm not getting sick now - I'm having an allergy attack - this never happens anymore... sneezing, itchy eyes. I just took a benadryl so hopefully that will help a bit so I can drive to stitch but that will make me drowsy too. I just hope it's only allergies and not the beginnings of a cold (nasty colds have been going around the office for weeks!) Of course now i Have 5 days off and that would be when i get sick wouldn't it!

I completely forgot - no stitching last night. My cousin had a band concert that we went to. We did get home by 9 and I could have stitched but I folded laundry and watched a movie instead (A lot like love).

So today is my friday - my last work day before 5 days off! And tonight is stitch with my friends - perfect! Tomorrow is some shopping, wrapping and sewing so that saturday I have nothing that I "have" to do. Saturday I'll do some baking and packing and cooking our diet meals, then it's off to NY to see family for a few days... I can't wait!

I'm actually thinking we might try to get to a movie friday night or something, I really want to see "Holiday" and friday night might be a good time - we never go to the movies - it's so expensive and in general we prefer to buy the dvd but twice a year is okay :)

Alright - now to work so the day will pass faster and the holiday will start sooner ;)

No stitch last night - but it was a good night. My mom arrived shortly after I got home from work and we headed over to pick up my brother at MIT. Then we came back and they headed back to NY.

So by 8:15 I was in my warm bed watching House and waiting for my last meal. I didn't pull out my stitching, just a little tired and it was nice to just watch tv. For the second episode I ate my meal and then went to bed.

Tonight I hope to work on Leanne's quilt. Since my ornaments are machine done and not stitched this year I can't bring them with me so I figured I'd bring both my embroidery and Celtic Banner to my uncles and choose one to do tonight. Tomorrow at lunch I'm hoping to finally work on Peaceful Silhouette a bit and bring that to stitch as well tomorrow night.

And no work friday!!! All though it's filling up quick, there's a lot to do that day including finishing these 3 ornaments to wrap up, wrap gifts, head to walmart for some basics and do some grocery shopping... oh I love the holidays :)

A wonderful night and even better morning. I've been feeling so good this week - this diet/exercise is great!

Last night I got home kind of late (7:30) no problem though, I baked up some corn bread to bring to work and then got to work on my ornaments. I stitched 2 of the 4 together and one of them I finished completely - stuffing, cording and everything, then I wrapped it for my aunt. I completely forgot to take a picture.

I won't have time to work on these again until friday but I figure I can piece the other two friday and then finish all 3 and wrap them up for stocking gifts for my sister and mom. Then I have my little dragon to finish if I have matching fabric. So friday will be a finishing and wrapping day since it appears most of my gifts will arrive friday.

And now that i've done my run I'm going to work from home for a bit this morning (baking some more corn bread right now) and then head in for the lunch time smorgasborg - there will be turkey chili so I'm going to join in the festivities one more time (i also joined on the day i brought food in).

So now it's back to work work work so I can get through this day and get home - my mom is coming out here to pick up my brother so I'll be seeing her for a bit tonight!

Finally!
Seriously me remembering to post this is nuts. but here it is - Celtic Banner with the alphabet finished. There won't be a full picture of this until I'm done since I'm using scroll rods so I'm trying to keep the running WIP pics on the sidebar.

What a great weekend. Friday night I babysat my cousins, we had a good time, I was up until 2am talking with my uncle - that's just insane! Saturday we went to walmart and got oil and then changed the oil on both of our cars (my uncle has all the tools to make it go quicker so we take advantage of our visits every 3500 miles :))

We headed home around 2pm I think and the idea was we'd go shopping - well first we had to run, then eat, and finally around 6:30 I think we headed out shopping. But we did all the shopping - I got the 2 kids done I had to get done (the other 3 I don't see until after christmas so I'll shop the week after) then I went to Joann's and finished up shopping for everyone on my list. So by 9:30 when we got home and unpacked we then settled in to watch Scrubs and I finished the border on celtic banner up there so i could take a picture :)

Sunday was great - I did my weigh in (see other blog for details) and then it was a christmas day - I made gift baskets, I wrapped the gifts I have (still waiting on most!), made christmas cookies (yummy) and did my christmas cards (mailed out this morning). Then after cooking our food for the week (after a yummy chili dinner!) - I started on some ornaments that I'm going to make for gifts. I had picked up some xmas fabric at joanns and I'm going with a simple star type design, I got all the cutting done for 4 ornaments. Tonight I hope to piece and finish 1 which I can give to my aunt wednesday then I have friday to finish the other 3 (one for my sister, one for my mom and the third is for a friend in CA if it comes out to my taste).

Going to be a busy week - but when isn't it. I'm closely watching my amazon purchases (for some reason some haven't even shipped yet and I ordered last monday!) The rest are being shipped (picked up) today and supposedly all will arrive by the 23rd - oh they better or I'm going to be doing a lot of last minute saturday shopping and making big complaints to amazon!

I had a great stitch night - and got some stitching done too! It was a quiet one which I very much needed, a quiet evening where I could stitch, browse charts (I bought 2) and just relax. Plus I got to see my friends' little one (she's a little over 1) and she's adorable, I've only seen her a few times so I thought it was great to spend a little time with her before her daddy picked her up.

So I did finish the alphabet finally - the Z was so easy it was great! I promise a picture is coming this weekend. I just want to finish the border on the right - it will take about 5 minutes and then I'll do a picture. Then the banner will get put aside a bit while I try to frantically stitch 2 ornaments for family members and make some quilted ones maybe - i think I have too much on my plate but we'll see! I do have next friday off to stitch maybe so this weekend I will try to get some quilted ones done.

I regretfully think the website will get put off until the weekend after christmas. I have the friday before new years off and I think that will be the day I focus on it. I will email her this weekend to let her know (the owner) but that will relieve some stress so I can focus on gifts this weekend and in the evenings this coming week!

OH NO christmas cards - I still have to do those! That will be my priority saturday and sunday and they'll go out monday - that might be enough time.. gulp! I'm not making them this year - I just couldn't do that - but I have some adorable ones from 2 years ago that I bought and didn't use plus I'll be hitting Joann's on Saturday (tomorrow i guess) and getting wrapping paper and more cards. Oh this will be a christmasy weekend!

Resist - i must resist - the cookies have arrived --- oh man!!! Sunday ..sunday .. i will make cookies on sunday and eat as many as I want.. must resist!

Anyway - last night was a late night - I had a work dinner from 6-8 so I didn't get home until almost 9, did my usual pick up around the house, unpacking from my aunts and then settled in with my book to read a bit. Of course going out to dinner - even though I stayed close to my diet the steak was cooked with something and my stomach did not like it - so it was a stomach ache night but not a setback diet wise at least.

Tonight is stitch night - I hope to work on Celtic Banner some more. If I can ever get that stupid y and z done I will take another progress pic to share.. ugg!!! I hope to spend a whole 2 hours at stitch if I get there on time this week.

I can't wait for christmas - I splurged a little with my shopping yesterday and got a great gift for my bf, now I can't wait to give it to him (it has to arrive first though so that's helpful in holding off) :) I do need to finish up my shopping this weekend and start wrapping too, hopefully some more packages will arrive shortly - I should go check their tracking numbers!

Finally a few stitches - I finished the mini block 5 (center block) of block 5 of Leanne's Quilt. This is the words. I still have a lot of embroidery and some applique left on this block though - it's a little crazy.

I have a few gifts I need to make this weekend so I think I'm going to put away Leanne's Quilt for the month and try to make some gifts. I stay at my aunt and uncle's house every year so I want to make my aunt a little something - like a quilted ornament or something. I will try to do this this weekend between shopping and working on the website... this is getting a little nutty!

Still listening to Eragon - I'm listening while I lift or run which is nice since my car ride is taken up by JD Robb audiobooks (I'm listening currently to the 5th in the series i think). As for actually reading - I started Princes of Ireland - didn't get very far but it's starting to come back to me (i read this a long time ago). I'm looking forward to starting to read a little each night if I can. Got to get this in before my class in January starts!

So tonight is a little open - I have a work dinner and then maybe I can go through my sewing room and pick out some gifts to start whipping out - I still have high hopes that I can stitch some ornaments - they will have to be very simple ones - for my mom and sister and make them next week... yikes!

Finally a picture :)


And this was taken with my cell phone because I completely forgot last night- but i figured out how to send the picture to an online site and save it off onto my computer. So that works. This is the progress I've made on block 5 of Leanne's Quilt. I will hopefully work on this some more tonight at my uncle's house.

Last night I spent some much needed time online doing some christmas shopping. I'm in much better shape and mostly have kids to buy for now - which I enjoy doing at toy stores and the like so hopefully this weekend I'll hit a few stores. Oh and I have some Joann's shopping to do for a select few and then I have to get a few more things for my bf .. I think I know what I'll get but I have to find it.

Now I can't wait to wrap the gifts - I have to make tags still but I have some fun easy ones to make so maybe wednesday night I'll make some tags and start my christmas cards (i know - getting late for that but soon ...)
Now i'm hungry and good reason since it's time for my next meal!

I really am still here.. just busy - what else is new. I really do promise a picture is coming soon, i completely forgot to take it last week though, hopefully tonight.

I haven't stitched in a few days - friday night was busy, worked late, went to a holiday party. Saturday I spent some time with a friend just chatting and trying to help fix a printer. Then we went to my sister's down in CT for the night and spent the day sunday with them. (Cheat day) - went out to lunch - and we got new cell phones!! We both got the new chocolate- - mine's GREEN. I love it. Not sure how to use it completely and I won't put music on it probably since I have my ipod but it's so cool looking and it was free. I think I need to make a little carry case for it though because I'm worried about scratching it - much more so than my old one :)

Well with no stitching going on I don't have much to update - but hopefully I'll get to stitch this week. I have some serious christmas shopping to get to though.. ug!!!

Hehehe .. I'm in maryland right now - taking a quick lunch break (meal 3 for me). This day is throwing my diet a bit off but i think I can squeeze it all in okay - that shake today at 3 is not tempting but I must :)

Anyway - I pieced block 5 last night!!! I was disappointed - this is the second time that there wasn't enough fabric in the kit, i had to improvise a little (again) and I will be writing a letter to the quilt shop with the fabric that was missing - plus I ran out of one of the DMC colors (no big deal for me since I have them all and just pulled it from my stash) but I will let them know for others .. especially since I'm stitching with only 2 strands and the instructions say to use 3.

So I started the embroidery on the plane while listening to Eragon, actually airport and plane since I was an hour and a half early for my flight - won't be the case tonight since I'll be squeezing any possible working minute out of the day today but then I have a flight home (more stitching) and tomorrow even with a lot of work to do I'm taking it easy - not stressing!

Anyway - a little impromptu blogging during my lunch break :) Back to the grind.

Ah to stitch! I got one hour of stitching on Celtic Banner last night while GG was on. I worked on the border. I did not piece block 5 of Leanne's Quilt but it's ready (set up my sewing area in the diningroom again) and I will piece it tonight now that I will be home tonight.

I have a lot on my plate tonight - with laundry (if we can gather enough quarters to do a load or two), packing for the day thursday, getting my ipod ready, sewing the block and tracing it so it's ready for embroidery etc... All in the maybe 3 hours i will have. Then I have to get up at 5:15 tomorrow morning!!! Yikes.

I promise there will be pictures soon - it's been so long. I will not be blogging tomorrow but friday I will post a picture of my block 5 progress! And it's time to start some ornament stitching I realized! I may try to pack one of those for the airplane, I generally like to do 3 a year (one for me, one for my sister and one for my mom) and put them in our stockings. I have 1 stitched (for me) and now I have to stitch 2 more and make all 3!

And it's over - the final that is - wow was that tough. Really tough and long! But I got out of there, got home and de-stressed by starting Eragon again. I think I'm going to do Eragon as an audio book but I needed to actually read last night so I started it.

Tonight i have big plans - first when I get home I want to piece block 5, should be quick, I think it's a simple piecing, mostly embroidery (it's the center block for Leanne's Quilt). Then I'll gather all that together and get it ready to pack for Thursday... then I will spend the rest of the evening stitching Celtic Banner while watching my shows (tuesday is the only night i have shows - gilmore girls and House - i wonder if they're new this week).

Tomorrow I'll get to maybe stitch a little - but mostly pack, thursday I'll stitch on the plane and in the airport. Friday I have plans with a friend, so maybe there will be stitching. And saturday - oh saturday - completely undecided at this point :)

Now to get a little more christmas shopping done at lunch time today! Oh I'm so glad my class is over - only 6 more to go - 3 years :)

ACK! This travel thing is more than I thought... last minute travel for one day - no big deal right??? I planned it for a non-lifting day so I can get up early and run before I leave - that solves issue #1.

BUT - food - okay I can still pack all my food for the day - no liquids - but thursday is easy - 2 sandwiches (one turkey, one chicken salad), chicken and brown rice, green pepper and celery and my shake and meal bar - looks good, i'll pack all that easily and buy water at the airport after security so I should be good. Okay issue #2 solved.

Stitching! (#3) - What am I going to stitch??? Celtic Banner is just too big to lug around - so is Peaceful Silhouette! Those are my majors right now... If i could get Leanne's Block 5 pieced Tuesday night I could bring that (embroidery), or I can scrounge my floss together for my DD Wisdom Dragon WIP - poor little neglected guy. I'm leaning towards embroidery since I don't have to follow a pattern but that means I need to piece it tuesday night.

And the last issue - I still don't know what time I'm flying there and back - it's a day trip but I have no idea how early I have to get up and run yet... ugg!

Final today - i swear there will be stitching updates more after today :) What a boring life it is with all this work and studying :) I did study most of yesterday - I gave in at night though and read for pleasure - finishing DragonDrums the 3rd of the harper trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. My bf started Eragon, it's slow he says - i loved it last year, i'm going to re-read it now before I go see the movie, but i may do it as an audio book - undecided - audio book means i can stitch though :)

So reading went well, i love finishing books. Besides Eragon i'm not sure what i'm going to start next, i'm leaning towards Princes of Ireland...I have Rebels of Ireland but I don't remember Princes so I want to re-read that first.

I just got back from lifting - happy to be back on my diet but more on my other blog :)

Hah - completely forgot to blog yesterday and completely unknown - i'm blogging on a saturday! I guess I really don't want to go study yet today :)

I did go to stitch thursday and worked on the border of celtic banner a bit - didn't stay long, I managed to go home and study a bit. Last night I worked late and then studied before just falling asleep.

Today is going well, I went for my run, went to spend some time with friends and now I'm home, spent some time with my bf and now i'm going to go study as much as I can to lighten the load for tomorrow -- after monday i'm done for a while!!!

My diet is still going well.. going to go update that and tomorrow is my cheat day - i can't wait :) I'm feeling really great!

December Goals:

1) Finish alphabet (and 2 ornaments next to y/z) on Celtic Banner
2) Piece and finish block 5 of leanne's quilt
3) stitch 2 ornaments
4) make all 3 ornaments
5) Work on peaceful silhouette tues/thurs at work (lunch time)
6) Make crafty gifts if time allows (gift tags/cards/bookmarks...)