rafael?!?!?!

Ok, so this isn't my favorite ninja turtle and yes, I did have a favorite one. This is apparently one of the many snapping turtles that pass through my friends' (Becca & John) backyard. I was over at their place Saturday with Becca and her bridesmaids before we went out for her bachelorette party. While we were getting ready to head out for Becca's evening of torture, we saw this guy attempting to pass by unnoticed. I just couldn't resist going out and snapping (groan) a pic of him.

a little something to brighten your day

Now that it's nasty and gray outside, I thought I would share a few of the pictures I took in the gardens around our apartment earlier this week when it was less damp and dreary.

The Rhododendrons in front of our building.
















A closeup of the shrubs. I love how closeups taken from underneath give plants a really neat glow!
















One of the leaves on our multiple ginormous hostas planted 3 years ago. I just adore a plant that thrives on neglect :)





















Now, of course I forget what this one is and the little cheat skewers that came with them are gone. But I just love their color and how they look like wildflowers in our side garden. EDIT: Mom has informed me that this plant is called dianthus or more commonly "pinks." Thanks mom!

our new napkin holder

Isn't she such a helper? The whole couch was free... and she made a bee line for the napkins. Figures!

It's been a pretty relaxing weekend. Yesterday I turned the heel on my first sock and it actually looks pretty good. I was really happy about it because I was able to follow the directions and it came out fine. I was worried I would have to go to the store to get help after getting stuck. I'm currently working on the decrease of the gusset and soon will be back to the easy knitting of the foot section.

In between knitting sessions and general housework I had a play date with my friend's son last night and we went grocery shopping for our little bbq for a handful of friends we are having over tomorrow. That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pics tomorrow when folks are over. I wish everyone a wonderful Memorial Day!

another Friday approaches

May is passing far to quickly... It's already the 21st and I haven't posted since the 11th! Ok, so my work and social life have both been pretty busy lately. But I haven't even been sending out many tweets and that's just silly. Think about it, I haven't had time to type 140 characters or less? A few times a day? Ridiculous I know, especially since I'm sure all my followers are mourning the loss of my witty comments of life, the universe and everything. My twitter even updates my facebook for me, so I don't have to do both... so the ultimate in social laziness has occured!

Anyway, I really just wanted to post a quick hello and tell my blog buddies and other various media followers that I haven't forgotten you and nothing of note has happened to me other than being so busy I became slightly anti-social. Until the next post, tweet or update!

Some recent finished projects

So, I've been just doing little projects lately since I haven't seemed to have the attention span for anyhting more in depth. I've finish a few little things in the past few weeks I thought I would share. All of them were made using Lily's Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn since I decided it is now warm and I don't want to deal with wool.











I made this Basketweave headband to keep my hair out of my face when I'm driving with the window open. My new haricut, cute though it is, seems to blow into my eyes every time there is any wind. I actually made two of these, the other one with a variagated pink and white yarn. They are cute, but for some reason headbands in general do not like my head and seem to slide right off no matter what I do. These have that flaw as well, though by no fault of their own. I think my head is shaped funny. Pattern on Ravelry: Basketweave Headband












I made these swiffer covers for my Mom for Mother's day. Silly yes, but I wanted to make something she could use around the house. I bought her a new swiffer to match! I got this pattern from a flyer when I was buying yarn in Michaels, but you can also get it on the Lily website: Duster Cover












I just finished this little coin purse today. I didn't use a pattern so this is my first attempt at creating anything that was improvised. It actually doesn't look quite as good IRL as it does in the pic, but hey, it holds my change and none falls out. Pretty good for a first try. I'll have to work on refining the design more later. Once I do that I'll post a pattern.

A Day with Mom

This year, for my Mom's birthday I decided to shirk the traditional and instead gave her the gift of a coupon. Yes, yes, I hear it now... "that's so lame," or "...so, you couldn't pick out a real present?" I must protest, I personally think that spendng time with someone you care about is better than almost any present. This coupon was good for one free mother/daughter day to anywhere she wants.
















So, Mom picked Friday and went from there. We decided the itinerary would include a trip to our favorite craft store (where they were having their 5th anniversary sale), breakfast at Paul's Diner (a family favorite right next door to the craft store), a trip to the Johnson & Wales Culinary Museum, Lunch at Fire & Ice and a quick trip to another craft store we had been wanting to check out in RI.

Needless to say we were both pretty tired at the end of the day... Here are a few neat pictures we took at the museum:





















I inadvertently asked Mom to pose in the incredibly short face hole... we think it was meant for kids... oops!





















One of the many amazing examples of pastillage, which is "a sugar-based dough used for decorating and creating decorations for pastry, showpiece work and decorative molded forms."
















The sign from Moody's Diner (or a replica of it, I didn't catch the placard to see) which is in Waldoboro, ME. My family often talk about Moody's. You can check out the diner and it's history here.
















An old scale... yeah, that's pretty much it, but i thought it looked neat up close.
















A closeup of a milling machine, probably used to crunch up all sorts of yummy things.

this is what happens when Brian works late...

I decide that I haven't had a dessert in way too long and I get takeout from Olive Garden. Most people would think that I got my dinner there too, but no. No... I made dinner at home after picking up the dessert, which by the way is my favorite and called Torta Di Chocolate. Is is basically a molten flourless chocolate cake with zabaglione (see wikipedia for definition) and fresh strawberries on the side.
















The folks at the takeout counter were even nice enough leave it unheated so I could make it fresh at home when I was ready. Oh, and in case you are wondering, it isn't that horrible for you. I can eat it realitvey guilt free on weight watchers as long as I plan ahead. I <3 you Olive Garden

surprise metamorphosis

When Brian went out to grill out lunch today, we noticed this:
















A caterpillar must have gotten stuck between the glass and the screen of our slider door long enough to have it change into a butterfly. Neat huh? After, I flashed my camera at him a few times, we set him free and he fluttered off into the woods.