A whole lot of Merry

Oh my gosh, where did the days go? I didn't mean to be away from this space for so long, i swear. It seems we soaked in this seasons joy and the days just passed us by. While i wasn't here i was off soaking in a bit of this and that along with enjoying...

~ the clicking sounds of my needles
~ our warm fireplace, thankful for all the wood the music man has been cutting
~ Christmas lights



~ Christmas parties with friends
~ hot coffee, nothing new but the smell and the warm cup against my hands on these cold mornings have been wonderful.
~ time with family, we had "the bug" visit a few times this month
~ loving when everyone is home at the same time, it really is the best!
~ the quiet at the end of the day.
~ Wearing the heck out of my comfy wool slippers, which everyone else in the house now has a pair to enjoy too.

~ food, did i mention that I've baked,

ate,

cooked, ate, ate, ate and then

ate some more? Seriously i cannot believe how much food i have "enjoyed" this month.

The brown dog and i are off on a walk as soon as i hit the publish button but before i go...


I hope you had a wonderful holiday and wish you all a happy and healthy New Year that it is filled with peace, love and lots of fun adventures. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone and seeing your amazing creative talents throughout the year.

XXOO
Jen

Hello December, the count down has officially begun...

I can hardly believe you are here! It seemed like yesterday we were just beginning a new year, excited for all the possibilities it brought. Looking back now eleven months later we have had many changes mostly good and many adventures.

I am looking forward to this month of celebrations and am hopeful that my knitting, crafting and baking projects will get done in time. If not that's okay too, i know all will be fine, (yet another lesson learned ha). I've learned to stay no when needed and to keep things simple to ensure happiness and peace during this busy and fun time.



How about you, i would love to hear what crafting you are doing these days?

sending love

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser



I wanted to take a quick minute in between kitchen preparations to send you some love and wishes for a happy and yummy Turkey day! I hope your day is filled with good food, good company and pants that have a stretchable waistband.

day 3 a heavy picture post

Oh my gosh today we spent hours walking around Central Park and it was gorgeous! We have been here a few days now but today is the first time I've seen any dirt, grass or tree's to speak of. The city is all cement, high rise buildings and is visited daily by 5 million people! The park is huge and had some much needed elbow room. The colors are amazing.







We ate lunch at the famous Boat House restaurant and



visited Strawberry Fields, John Lennon's memorial.



We were told the park is 6 1/2 miles around and we walked about all of it. At sunset we took a quick tour bus ride over to Time Square, seriously check out all the people and traffic...



This picture encapsulates our trip so far, it really is something to expeirence the lights, noise and movement of this city.



From here we walked to Rockefeller square and finished the night in Hell's Kitchen in an Italian Restaurant that was SO good, finally some good Italian food, yay.



Day 3 and we are having a blast! We have seen so much and still have much to see. I am thankful for great friends who are fun travel buddies and i know i mentioned this before but really good map readers too, haha. With there skills I am sure we will hit every tourist spot and see everything this city has to offer before we head back home.

day 2

Today we jumped on a ferry boat and visited Liberty and Ellis Islands. Where again the views were amazing. This shot is off the back of the boat looking towards the city we just left.





It was really cold and windy out on the water, no worries though...
I was prepared and happily wore some of my hand knits that rarely see the light of day in So Cal.





The trees on the islands were so pretty and lucky us they were sharing their fall colors. They really were fun to photograph. The history was interesting too, especially at Ellis. We spent hours today walking around, amazed at the harsh history and determination for freedom the people who came through there.

We've been riding the rails around the city too and have yet to take cab. Thankfully people are nice and our buddies are good map readers. There is an entire busy and noisy underground city where you can always hear the buzz of the rail and get a breeze as the train enters the tunnels.

We finished the day with a wonderful dinner at a Spanish restaurant where we enjoyed Top pas, this was a first for me and they were Delicious!

What a view!

The music man and I are off and enjoying our Fall adventure in this incredible place of non stop movement. There is a constant buzzing of people, cars and machinery that seem to go 24/7. The lights are bright, the food is amazing and the views are incredible.



Day one we visited the Empire State Building and looked down on the Chrysler Building and the entire city.



What a view this was, incredible. Of course we visited the Italian Neighborhood and had a snack. With full bellies we went to Ground Zero



and visited St Paul's Church. What a beautiful building this is and such a comfort for those who live here.

Okay off to get some rest and ready ourselves for day two.

Hello November

I know I've said it before but i really love this time of year. The weather has cooled and has been down right cold for So Cal anyways. We have had a couple days of rain with a few more expected over the next week. The night temps have been in the mid 30's and are expected to continue for a while.



Our heater runs on propane in the new house which is 3X's more expensive then natural gas so we have been enjoying the fireplace instead. No complains here, there's something really special about this room of our home that brings out family time. Whether its playing a game, reading a book, knitting or watching something on the TV there is something wonderful about these shorter days and cold nights i am really loving right now.



I even cranked out a pair of warm woollies aka Nolas Slippers for my cold tootsies while watching football Sunday. This is a super simple and quick knit, you can check out the pattern here.

I'll be heading out soon on a Fall adventure and am looking forward to sharing some pics when i get back. Wishing you all a wonderful and cozy week ahead.

the lake

Last weekend we made a quick trip to the lake to check on our place. I was looking forward to some quiet time and sitting on the porch, knitting and watching the world go by for a bit. I packed up my knitting and we hit the road.

We arrived to some hot weather, temps were in the high 90's. So i left my knitting in the bag and went with the dogs to the water instead.

Of course the music man and i took a cooler with a couple beers and re enacted the Corona commercial.

We drove out to a remote cove where the weather and many years eroded the side of the hill, check out how the roots of this bush are not even in the soil.

Driving back in we saw this little guy standing at the side of the road. This area of the lake has wild donkey's and depending on the time of year we often see them out and about.

While no progress was made on my knitting we enjoyed the warm weather and slowness that a hot day brings.

a slice of real life

This week was ugly. Work has been overwhelming and stressful, laundry is backed up, bills that need to be paid, and my Jeep is still not running. Ugly.

I was all ready to throw myself a pity party when i remembered to stop, breath and look at my life's blessings instead of problems, like my work. I have a job crazy or not when so many others don't. Backed up laundry and bills to pay means a house full of people i love. I don't know about you but sometimes when life gets a bit crazy i find its easy for negativity to turn little things into mountains. If i just stop and flip the problem into what it really is i feel so much better.

So after my pep talk i moved on with the week by casting on for new scarf, completed more testing for work, spent time catching up with my Bug, playing in the dirt and looking forward to the weekend.


Here's Monkey with proof blue raspberry slurpees and being silly are oh SO good!

Falling for Fall

For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. ~Edwin Way Teale



This week I spent some extra time with my camera in hopes of capturing a little bit of this beautiful seasons offerings.

I visited a local farm and pumpkin patch.

Look at these beautiful herbs, i love the little chalkboard signs but i really love where these herbs are growing...


So fun right, love the creativity of this!


I found some rust and a piece of American history to. If only this truck could talk i bet it would have some great stories to tell. I wonder where these wheels have been.

This week I've casted on for another pair of fingerless mitts, booked airfare for an amazing Fall trip and celebrated Miss Monkey, who turned another year older.

a quick get away

Last weekend we snuck out with family for a weekend camping trip to the beach. Just in time time too, the weather was gorgeous. We had such a good time with everyone, even our Bug made it down.

I was up early and caught the sunrise, something i rarely witness. I love the light and reflection on the water in this shot. It was so peaceful and quiet with only the lapping sound of the water and an occasional duck honking.

We didn't do this but...

we did do this

and this. Here's bug taking his cousin for a cruise. My sister and i tried paddle boarding and it was a blast. A whole body work out for sure but really fun too.

We enjoyed good company and this beautiful sunset

and finished our day with a campfire, smores and a sing along. My family and i have a thing for Jim Croce, every time we get together we dance, sign and turn up his songs loud. As long as i can remember we've done this and now our kids are taking part, so fun.

We're home now and are experiencing fall like weather. Cool days with a passing shower or two for the rest of the week and I am loving it! I made Pasta Fagioli with Ciabatta last night and have a 10 bean veggie soup on the stove for tonight. My knitting needles are calling and i might even break out a sweater later tonight. Oh how i love this time of year!

Happy Tuesday, i hope you're having some fall weather in your neck of the woods too.

an unexpected day

I don't drive very much these days since i get to work from home. My Jeep's been broken down for a while so on the rare occasion i have to go somewhere i just grab another one of our vehicles.

With the music man out of town and Monkey busy with work and school i found myself needing to rent a car so i could drive down south the other day. The work i do requires us to pass federally mandated testing per state and renewed annually and it was my time to get it done. Monkey was going to drop me off at the rental place after her work when don't ya know it on her way home to get me her car broke down.

Now that her car was down and out for the rest of the day she decided to spend the afternoon with me. We finally made it to the rental car place thanks to there pick up option and drove south. After i took my test we drove over here,



walked the neighborhood and

had lunch at trattoria fantastica and enjoyed the best Caprese salad, the cheese was crazy good.

Before we left we stopped in here and grabbed some fresh raviolis and of course the that yummy cheese to share with the music man at home.

I'm thankful for life's little unexpected turns because this time and like most times it works into an adventure otherwise not taken.

Yes i passed my test, whoohoo!

Gratitude and a new scarf

Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown

I swore several years ago i would slow down, keep my priorities and give thanks everyday for my many blessing and for the most part i do pretty good until the last couple of month that is. This summer my work became very busy and i found myself falling into a place i swore I'd never go back to. Thankfully having a crummy back does have its advantages i guess in that it doesn't allow me to spend to much time there.

You know the place where you spend all of your time at work. The place where you find you have no time for anything and when you do find a few minutes of your own your to dang tired and unmotivated to anything. Yep that place. I don't know about you but i find when i lose focus and stop appreciating the little things in my "every days" i tend to see things more negativly. Seeing this quote today was a great reminder and just what i needed. My life is so good and i really have no complaints.

The air is changing and the warm days here have given way to cool nights. I am really enjoying this time as we transition from summer to fall. The creative juices are starting to flow and since i have backed down my working hours a bit i have had time to knit again at the end of the day.

Here are the three way scarf pics i promised a few weeks ago and the out takes.

Love the pattern and it was easy peasy to knit up


not sure waht happened, its not easy taking a pic of yourself haha


Well hello there


I mostly have been wearing it this way and love it, so soft.


and finally... Ta Da

Wishing you a wonderful day!
Hugs
Jen