Wedding Wednesday!!

So, If you haven't listened to the podcast yet and were wondering what I was talking about last week about my wedding. There is a new NCAA bowl game in St. Pete at Tropicana Field. The story is here. So, the date of this Bowl game is Dec 2oth. The date of my wedding is Dec 20th. Our reception is at a bar across the street from Tropicana field. You get the problem. At first I thought that we were going to have to move the day or the reception, which I didn't want to do. I finally heard from the owner and he said he would work with us and put us upstairs away from the crowd and we'd still be able to have our reception there. He just said that we would have to take care of parking. We are having an early wedding and we should be getting to the bar before the crowd starts but I've been thinking about hiring some college or high school kids to shuttle people from their hotels to the reception site so they don't have to worry about parking and driving. We'll see how that goes. So, all is well in wedding planning.

I've started narrowing down the bridesmaid dresses. I just need to go "look" at them and make sure most will be happy. I think that I've found them though.

I have a florist that I need to go talk to. My friend used them for their wedding so I think I'm going to go with them but I just need to make sure they can work with us and what we need to do. There will not be a lot of flowers at the reception site because ummm it's a bar. :) I still need to get the bouquets and the boutonnières figured out. I think most our decorations at the bar will be either baseballs or candles. We haven't finalized our center pieces yet. I keep saying "we have time." but eventual the we have time will run out. :)

Well...a quick Thankful Tuesday on Wednesday. I'm having a rough day with a student in my class and I'm VERY thankful that I will not have to have him in my class ever again. I'm not sure what is wrong with today's young but I was NEVER this disrespectful to my peers or teachers. I have mixed emotions of that I won't be influencing our young anymore and that is a good thing and a bad thing. I'm glad because I'm SICK of kids who don't know how to be respectful and I'm sad because I will miss those who are great. Like my knitting group. I've already talked about trying to get together with them.

My life is going to be changing in less than a week and I'm excited and nervous about that. I'm not really sure what to think about it.

Well...hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Knitting!!!

New Episode!!

I just uploaded a new episode of Barknknit Podcast. If you ever wondered what Special K sounded like or how he feels about my knitting and dogs, I'd recommend you listen to the new episode. I sit him down and interview him. We both had a great time. Check it out.

PS....I'm knitting away on my Bellatrix socks but need to be knitting my test knit. :)

Happy Knitting!!

Dogs on Thursday and tthe Rippin truth.

Yeah, for Dogs on Thursday!! I'm glad it's Thursday because that means tomorrow if FRIDAY!! Yeah!! Here are some cute pictures of the pups. First one is Jackjack on the way back from Knitting on Sunday. He sure was tired and cute. :)This is Abby with a new toy her daddy brought home. :) She likes it.
The pups are doing well and Abby's skin is much better since we know what she's allergic to.

Ok..now the Rippin Truth. I picked up my wedding shawl to work on this week and I figured out that I was making a mistake every row. The last stitch on every row I was knitting into the back of the loop instead of just knitting it. This created a little loose edging. Here's a picture of the edging. If you look at the left part it's nice and tight but then the right gets loosey goosey.
Here's a picture from the front. It looks ok but not great.
At first I was like I think I can live with it....but you know that if it's not perfect or as perfect as I can get it then I feel I just have to fix it. This is the shawl for my wedding a very important day in my life and people will be taking a TON of pictures of me. I just couldn't live with my mistake. Special K and several friends thought I was crazy to rip back 35 rows of knitting that's over 100 stitches each. But to me I just had to. I have until Dec to finish so here's what the shawl looks like now...

I thought about skeining up the yarn and washing it and getting the kinks out but really...I don't want to frog the whole thing so I'm just knitting away. I'm no longer intimidated by the lace pattern so it will be a faster knit for me. I'm hoping to put a dent in it before June. :)

Well..hope everyone is having a great day. Dinner last night was wonderful...they sang me "Cumpleanos Feliz" and I got some free FLAN! YUMMO!! The view and the company was even better. Special K and I had a great time and I'm really glad we went out for my birthday!!

Happy Knitting and DOT!!

Happy Birthday to me and Wedding Wednesday!

Ok...so it's my 28th birthday today. I've gotten a lot of birthday wishes through email, txt, facebook and ravelry. Thank you everyone!!

I also got this great email from SonnyandShear.com with a code for 20% off all their yarn in stock!! Now what more could I have asked for. So, I took some of the money that I had received for my birthday and bought some yarn!! I bought two skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy...one of my FAVORITE sock yarns!! I'm not actually using it for socks though but I can't tell you what I am knitting because it's a surprise for someone who reads my blog. I wanted to get more but I figured my budget could only budge a little. I'm excited to get this yarn because I can't wait to start this project.

Well....my birthday has been nice so far. I got a card from my niece Surfer girl and she was so cute!! She said "It is your first birthday as a knitter." I thought that was great!! She's a knitter too so she knows!! :) Her and my sister also gave me a shirt which I had designed but because of a mistake in ordering I ended up having to give mine away. They had an extra so they gave it to me. I'm happy because I really liked the design. It was for our Paws on Parade team.

Tonight, Special K and I are going out to dinner at a nice restaurant. I'm super excited!! Sangria and Special K and again what more can I ask for!!

For our wedding Wednesday post I'll just that some interesting things have come up but I can't share them yet. I'm going to figure it out and then I'll share. All the details need to be figured out before we start the invitations...which needs to be soon.

Hope all is good!! HAPPY KNITTING!!!

Thankful Tuesday

The weekend came and went too quickly!! Jackjack and Abigail got to go to knitting group on Sunday to a Tea Shop. Everyone seemed to like them and they LOVED to be there. I'm glad I took them. Abby is such a lover. That was fun but my allergies started killing me and it started to rain so we had to head home. Special K was golfing with his dad, friend, and step-mom so I watched P.S. I love you. Have you seen this movie?? It's sad but it's wonderful. It's the kind of story that moved me and I wasn't feeling good so it was nice.

I forgot to mention Saturday's little festivities with my family was fun!! Special K's dad and step-mom came and Special K and his dad were very competitive. We played ping-pong and pool. I beat both Special K and his dad at pool. Hold up..I beat Special K twice and he won the last game. :) They also played Basketball and it was funny to watch.

Monday was another day and I was surprisingly in a good mood all day but got kind of grumpy at the end of the day. I'm a little stressed about a bunch of stuff but just need to get through it.

Tomorrow I turn 28. I still can't believe I'm already 28. Sometimes I barely feel 20 and sometimes I feel like I'm 35. :) I guess it just depends. I'm really glad though that I'm not 18 anymore. I've learned a lot in the last 10 years since high school.

I guess this weeks Thankful Tuesday is a big thanks for the people who have come in my life and some have stayed and some taught me something and gone their own way. I am thankful for everyone of them for effecting me in a small way or a big way. You really never know how long or short someone will be in your life or how big or small an impact they will have. Life is short and you have to learn to be happy with yourself and grow as you may. Learning from mistakes is one of the hardest lessons you have to learn but it's important.

"Be Bold and mighty forces will come to your aid" This is a quote from the mom in Almost Famous. She says it to the lead singer when she's yelling at him about her son. I love this quote for some reason. I feel it's saying to live your life boldly and you will be fine. What do you think?

I also figured I'd share my favorite poem which is

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I love this poem. In the decisions we make it life and the roads we take it's always a tough decision between two. I tend to not take the easiest road but always try to make my decision with all the gusto I can. I could go on and on about this poem but that's all I have time for.

I hope you have a great day! Be thankful for everything that God gives us and all that we can.

Happy Knitting!!

TGIF!!!

It's friday!! YEAH!! How exciting that it's already friday!! Well, we had our first softball game last night and we won! I didn't play as well as I can but I'm a little rusty. I played 2nd base and was a little afraid of the ball...I shuffled my feet. During this little shuffle I got my toe hit with a grounder. NOT FUN but the pain went away quickly. My batting wasn't that great. Took me four times up at bat to finally "WATCH" the ball hit the bat. I'm usually a pretty good hitter. :) Well, I had fun and realized I really need to get into shape!! My team mates didn't forget to ask where my knitting was...and guess what it was right there in the dugout. heheh

Well, this weekend we are celebrating all the May birthday's in the family. My niece Surfer Girl, nephew Crazy Boy, and me!! Mine is on the 21st. Well, since it's my birthday and if any of my family is looking for something to get me...I figured I'd slyly mention it to them here. :) hehe....so...family if you are looking for something to get me....a gift cert from SonnyandShear.com would be greatly appreciated. :) Is that sly enough?? hehehe

Well...I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll try to take some pictures at the beach and share with you the fun!!

Happy Knitting and TGIF!!!

Dogs on Thursday!!

While Paula from DOT is away, I'm covering for her over there. Go check it out and if you haven't already join out group!! It's fun. All you have to do is post about your dogs on Thursday.

I just got back from the Key's yesterday and I'm pretty exhausted. It was nice to sleep in my own bed and take a shower in my own shower. But back to the dogs. It's been GREAT to see them. They were so excited that mommy was home. I love them for it. I know I was missed by them and Special K. I'm probably not going on any more trips for a while so they won't have to miss me much. Well...here are some pictures of them in the backyard. They love to be out there and I'd love to get a doggie door but for now that's not in the budget....some day though.

I love how Jackjack stays on the path. :) He's good like that. Abby is so pretty next to the tree. :)

Happy Dogs on Thursday!!

Thankful Tuesday and Wedding Wednesday!!

So, Our last day at Sea Camp was so much fun. We went on 2 boat trips and enjoyed the wonderful weather. I brought my sock with me and got some knitting done while the instructor lectured before we went snorkeling. Check me out!! :)We saw some amazing stuff during our boat trips, such as a shark or two, some rainbow Parrot Fish, which me and my snorkel buddy chased around for a while...and we caught a Moray Eel. While we were snorkeling on the soft coral a student in my group picked up a conch shell and thought it was empty but little did we know that this awesome Brown Spotted Moray Eel was inside. Our instructor Adam managed to get him to come out of the shell but he was not too happy about that and he slimmed out of the bucket and was on the boat and we all SCREAMED and jumped on the benches of the flattop boat. It was funny afterwards, when he managed to get the Eel back into the water. :) Adam was calm the whole time and we got some great video of it. I learned that when eels bite they never let go and you have to kill it to get it off. I'm really glad no one got bit because it was a pretty eel.

The kids and chaperons had a great time and we ended the trip with a bonfire last night, with songs, marshmallows, and some stories. We cleaned up and heading out on time this morning. We should be getting back to St. Pete around 5ish. This driver speeds!! I do think it's pretty awesome that I'm blogging from the bus. We watch 3 spiderman's on the way down and so far we've seen Transformers and are currently watching Monster's Inc.

Thankful Tuesday, I just want to thank God for the beautiful world we live in and all the creatures he has created for us. We need to spend more time conserving out environment for our ancestors. Did you know that humans kill 200,000,000(yes that's MILLIONS) sharks a year and there are a reported average of 75 shark attacks a year and an average of 10 a year that die from shark wounds. And just for your knowledge a shark attack is defined as any time a shark touches a human. Is that amazing or what?? It's amazing when you think of how we effect the world. A saying that I liked during the trip was "Don't leave anything but a footprint." That is a great way to say don't litter and such. I thank God every day for the breath we breathe and the sites we see. Nature is so amazing and beautiful and we owe it all to God. I just hope that we learn to conserve and that our children's children still get to see what he made.


For Wedding Wednesday, I don't have much. I have not been up to much planning with everything that is going on. I guess I'll have to make it up to you guys next week. :)

Well, I'm going to get back to my knitting and rest a bit. I hope everyone is well..

Happy Knitting and Traveling!!

Quick Post from the Keys!

Hey, I hope everyone is doing well. We made it safely to Big Pine Key yesterday. Sea Camp has been a blast so far. Only trouble was last night was very hot and I had trouble sleeping. Today was full of fun in the sun. Tomorrow is going to be even better with two boat trips to the coral reefs!! Just hope the wind dies down so we can head out on the flat top boats. The kids are doing good and I'm enjoying the free time to knit. I've got a TON of knitting done. I brought three projects with me to work on...so I don't get bored with one. :) I brought the Malabrigo hat that I'm knitting for Surfer Girl, the 9-5 socks that I'm redoing, and my Bellatrix socks for May's Sockdown and my person may socks. So...I've got tons to work on and my ipod is full of great podcasts. I listened to them and rotated my knitting the whole 8 hrs it took to get down here. :) I plan to do the same on the way back. I've only been knitting my socks while I've been here because I don't mind if a couple sand particles sneak into my sock. I can wash that easier than I can wash the malabrigo hat.

I think my Bellatrix socks are coming along nicely. I didn't use the 0s for the leg. The ribbing was pretty tight so I figured the gauge would be fine with the 1s. They fit snug but they are good!! I think they are pretty!!


Well...I hope everyone is good. I'm glad this is my last trip for a while because I do miss my time with Special K and my puppies. I haven't had a lot of time with them in the last couple weeks. I'm excited to get my life in order and start a new job soon.

Well, our night wade is about to start so gotta go! Happy Knitting!!

Dogs on Thursday, full of pictures!

Today is going to be a quick post. I was pretty busy today and now I'm getting ready to babysit for some girls. I have them until Saturday. Just wanted to share some cute pictures of my babies before I got. Hope you enjoy!He wouldn't hold it in his mouth so he let me put it on his head. hehehe.
That is her baby!! She loves to carry stuffed animals around.
Nap time!!

Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Dogs on Thursday!!

Wedding Wednesday!!

I'm on a roll!! Wedding Wednesday!!

For this weeks WW post, I wanted to share my save the dates. Now that I'm pretty sure that everyone has gotten one. I think a couple local friends and a cousin or two that I don't have their addresses are the only ones left to give these to.

My sister Cristina is the designer and producer of my awesome save the dates. :) She is amazing!! She is the one who thought that making coasters would be a great idea. Her and her husband did an awesome job. I've waited to put a link to her blog because I wanted the save the dates to be a surprise for some of my family members who read my blog. What do you think??


(if you click on the picture it will take you to her blog which she shows more pictures of my coasters and a video of them being made. If you stop by her blog, don't forget to tell her how awesome her work is!! PS..I stole the picture from her blog...she is my sister so it should be ok.)

I love love love them. I think they are so pretty. We haven't done a lot of wedding planning lately but we've been talking about budgets and money for the wedding so that is a good thing. :) I'm hoping to meet with the lady from the sports bar soon. I have to go out of town again next week...I've been working on getting out of it but was told today that I couldn't. I know I'll have a good time and I'll have plenty of knitting time.

Well, I posted a new podcast last night and I think it was good. I chitchat a lot lately. :) And I think we finally got our air conditioning back. Last night was better but it was still hot and I get grumpy in the heat. I got a lot of knitting done last night. I worked on my Log Cabin Blanket and my bellatrix socks. I'll show you more progress later this week.

Hope you are all doing well.

Happy Knitting!!!

Thankful Tuesday

Look at me...I'm back to posting my weekly posts!! Yeah for me!! Ok...enough about that.


Today I'm thankful for my co-workers. I know that I am leaving this job and I don't always have that many nice things to say about it but I love my co-workers. In the middle school, it's all woman and we all get along really well considering all the hormones and mood swings we have. We have become a tight group and I will miss them all. I have spent at least three years working with most of them and some are new but they are nice and have become my friends. They are supportive and I will miss them for that. We all eat lunch together pretty much every day and only really get about 20 minutes to talk while we eat our food and watch the cafeteria. This year a treat that we started was each teacher makes lunch for everyone once a week. It's usually Thursday but with the crazy trips and schedules we've been on it's been just once a week. It's nice to see what others cook and get ideas for our own meals. I have grown close to my co-workers and will miss seeing them every day. They have been my ray of light this year, during a very tough year at work. I've decided this week that I have less than a month left and I have to be as positive as I can and end here on a good note. It hasn't always been bad and I think the hardest part this year was my mental sanity but I've learned so much here that I'm glad that I had this opportunity.

I know that I'm a good teacher at heart and I'm glad that I taught for 3 years but I am ready to work in an environment where kids are not the center of my day. I'm ready to not have to discipline middle schoolers and listen to the he said she saids of the drama of middle school life. I'm ready to have an actual lunch time where I can eat without feeling rushed. Oh...goodness I digress. :) I am thankful for my co-workers who I will miss.

Knitting news:

I frogged the Dog Bone Blanket and cast on last night for the Log Cabin Blanket which is going really quick. I love mindless knitting sometimes. :)








I also cast on for my May Sockdown socks, the Bellatrix socks by Gigi Silva. I'm using the Shibuiknits Sock yarn in Spectrum and doing them two at a time. :)





I recorded an episode of my podcast last night but my computer wouldn't let me edit and upload so I spent time cleaning up my computer. I'll upload tonight.

If you haven't been getting any updates on your blog readers, I'm really sorry. I think I fixed the problem and I hope that it says fixed.

Well...Happy Thankful Tuesday!!

Reversai Socks finally DONE!!! and a case of startitis.

I finished the Reversai Socks for Sock Madness Round 2. YEAH!! These socks are great but they take forever because of all the purling. They are reversible and very comfortable. For my first time doing 2-at-a time socks these were probably not the socks to do it with. I do plan on trying 2-at-a time again but I like the quick results from doing them one a time.

What do you think?? Do you like them?? Special K's feet are so pretty too. hehehe
So...after I finished I wanted to go right to the Bellatrix socks but I need to figure out what size needles to use which I think I've decided to use size 1s for the cuff and 0s for the pattern. We'll see how it goes. I really don't want to swatch. Well..instead of going straight for casting on those socks, I decided to work on my 9-5 socks. OK, I tried them on again and they are really too tight. The pattern calls for 72 sts on size 1s and I was using my 1s for the Reversai socks so I decided to try the pattern on 60 sts on size 2s. I saw that another person had tried this and it worked for her so I just jumped in and did all that knitting in DC and love the pattern but I knew all along it was kind of tight. Well...I was just going to keep working but when I got back and tried it on yesterday I was really unhappy with how tight it is.

My final decision, which I came to with some regret was to frog it and start over. Special K loves to frog my work so he helped me frog the sock and I rolled it all into a ball. Now my question is...Do I wash and dry the sock yarn that I used or do I just knit it up?? I pulled out the other ball of yarn and cast on with that but when I finish I'm going to need to other ball. So, I need some suggestions. What do you do??

So, once I cast on for that, I still want to cast on for the Bellatrix socks. AGAIN I don't want to swatch. I know horrible...but I'm going to just cast on and see what happens.

Another thing is that I don't think I want to finish the Dog Bone Blanket. I'm really unhappy with the pattern and I just think I like the Log Cabin Blanket pattern better. So, I'm thinking of frogging that as well and casting on for the Log Cabin tonight.

I seem to be in a very bad case of startitis. I just want to cast on everything!! I think it will be ok. I might do the Bellatrix socks 2-at-a time so that will be something different.

I'm hoping to get a chance to podcast...as you can tell I seem to be pretty wordy lately! hehehe

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!! Happy Knitting!!!

Financial Budgets

Anyone else on a budget?? My friend Sheryl has been helping me figure out how to get out of debt, save money for my wedding and future, and still survive. She's helped me make a budget. We talked a couple weeks ago and I was telling her all about my finances and talking about the fact that I will have two paychecks this summer. Which is wonderful but I really want it to go to something not just be spent....So, essentially I need a plan. She looked over all my bills and created a budget and a time-line for paying back all my bills. I've wracked up a TON of medical bills with the accident over Thanksgiving and my toe surgery so I need to start paying them all off. One of the things I've decided is that I need to stick to this budget if I'm going to have any hope. We met this morning and talked all about the budget and what I have to do to get started. I'm not sure Special K is going to like my budget but I guess he'll get used to it...I know it's going to take me a bit.

It's never fun talking finances but I think it's one of the most important conversations to have. I guess we are just going to have to work all this out. As the plan goes with no major emergencies happening I'm going to be able to pay half my debt by the end of the year. This is exciting and I can't wait.

I think one big thing will be limiting my yarn/fiber related purchases and staying out of swaps, which I love but I think it might be important. My goal is to only purchase yarn that has a specific purpose and to use my stash as much as possible. I think that might work. I'm still young and the big plans for my future are going to need me staying in financial control. Those words "financial control" are two simple words but have a HUGE meaning.

Well..I hope this break in the knitting/life talk and discussion of money doesn't bother anyone but I just felt like getting it off my chest.

A little about what's going on with me. I've spent a couple hours working on getting some of the dust out of my house. With two big dogs, it is never ending. I also plan on working on my Dog Bone Blanket for my friends baby shower gift. I found out it's next week...not sure I'll be done by then but I need to work on it. I was kind of thinking I don't want to give it to her. A friend at my knit group made a Log Cabin blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting and I really liked it and I think one in two shades of pink would be perfect but that means I'd have to cast on TODAY and finish it in a week. I also want to finish my reversai socks, work on the 9-5 socks, and cast on the Bellatrix socks for the May Sockdown. :) Loads to do and not sure where to start. I guess I'm going to watch some Gilmore girls and finish the toes on the reversai socks while I think what to do about the baby blanket.

Well...thanks for reading and hope everyone is having a great day!!

Dogs on Thursday and update.

I've spent the week recovering from my trips last week. I had a great weekend in St. Augustine with Special K. I enjoyed golfing and already plan to go again. :) Who would have thought?? I also liked St. Augustine a lot to. The old town part was fun and had good restaurants.

Well, to start out on Friday I ordered a cake from Publix. I asked them to rush the order and the size I wanted was the one that they give free for kids 1 yr old birthday. When I asked the lady assumed that Special K was 1 yr old and I let her believe that. :) At least I got her to put "Happy Birthday Kenny" on it instead of Happy First Birthday. hehee I did manage to fit 24 candles on it. Yes, Special K is 24 now. I'm a tad older than that if you're wondering....a couple years. So, here's his cake that we had in the hotel room in St. Augustine, FL. (I guess I should say that I paid $5 for the cake...she rushed the order because I think she thought he was 1yrs old. To get the small cake free you have to order a regular size cake and it comes with it.)
Here he is blowing out the candles. He's so cute. :)
On Saturday we headed to the World Golf Hall of Fame and I actually had a great time. I snapped a picture of Special K standing on the replica of the old bridge at St. Andrews in Scotland. I learned a lot about golf that day.
This is an awesome picture from the top of the tower that holds all the trophies.
We got to see an IMAX movie and play putt putt on a nice 18 hole course there. It's not like a normal putt putt place it actually has golf greens and the flags come out of the whole like they would at an actual golf course. I played well but still loss to Special K. That night, Special K's dad and step mom met up with us and we went to dinner. The following day we played an actual round of golf at an actual golf course. :) I say it that way because it's my first time playing a round of golf. I can't tell you my score because I really just had fun. If I had a good shot of the tee then I played it, otherwise I picked it up and placed it where I wanted. I had a great time. The course was hard though and I may say that the boys had their work cut out for them.

Well...our trip was fun and I'm glad that Special K had such a great birthday weekend. Now, I just have to figure out what I want to do for mine. :) It's coming up soon. 20 days from today I'll be turning 28. hehehe. Told you I was a tad older than Special K.

Well...since today is Dogs on Thursday I figured I should add a picture of my pups. They are doing well and we haven't officially started our walking in the morning but the plan is there and hope to start soon. Here's a picture of when I took them to a local swim spot to check it out. We decided not to go there because I felt the water was too stagnant but they enjoyed the nice walk in the park.
They sure are cute and they have a great stay when there are no other dogs around. :)

Hope everyone is doing well. I hope to get back on blogging more regularly but with all these trips and getting ready for my new job, I haven't had as much time as I'd like.

Happy Dogs on Thursday!!