Knitted Bracelet!

How fun is this idea?!!?
And it took just one day... not even a whole day.
I love bracelets so this was a perfect way to keep me motivated!




I've also finished the back and the front left of my sweater! Just have the right front and the sleeves now! Woohoo!

Happy Dance...

Sometimes I wind up posting the same thing on this blog and on my Furrie Fotographie blog. Not too often but once in awhile. I guess I figure that you (that's a collective you) don't read both blogs. But maybe you do...
Anyway...
My happy dance is for this:

and this:


Yippee!!

ps...
New hair! I got bangs...
Photo taken by cell phone... not edited at all. Pardon it's darkness...

Galinda... with a Guh.

I saw WICKED!!
Wednesday I tried for tickets via the lottery again since my name wasn't drawn from the basket on Tuesday. This time Chris met me up there and put his name in as well... twice the chance.
And of course, HIS name was drawn.
He probably won't let me forget that for awhile...
: )

The show, although long, is fantastic! If you have a chance to see it, you should!
And I found out, while waiting in line to put my name in the lottery, that there is a third book in the series! I had no idea. I don't know how I missed that!
So guess who bought it yesterday?

Tomorrow morning I have a shoot with a Chinese Crested named Cupcake. I'm so excited!! I can't wait to meet her!

Wicked... and... Bruises... and Knitting. Oh My!

So my poor little body is all sore and bruised. I'm not entirely sure where the bruises on my arms came from... I must be getting old. Or maybe I need to eat more bananas. Don't they help with bruising?
The bruises all about my knees are from this weekend. I had a shoot with two very sweet labs. And when I have shoots, I like to get down on their level with the camera... and sometimes that means "walking" about on my knees. Not always... sometimes I shoot "from the hip" without looking through the viewfinder. But those can be hit or miss... so sometimes I get a bit bruised. Expecially when we are inside on wood floors!
Totally worth it though... I've been working on the photos and there are lots of cute ones that I really hope their pawrents like! You can see the sneak peek over at the Furrie Fotographie blog if you are interested.

Wicked is in town!! I want to see it soooooo bad!! I have read it, of course. And I have read the sequel, Son of a Witch. Chris got me the soundtrack from the musical last year too. My problem is that if I am going to pay a bunch of money to see a show, I want good seats. Even if that means paying a little bit more. Unfortunately, Wicked tickets (the good seats) are over $130!! EACH!
However...
I read in last friday's paper that they are doing a lottery. People will have the opportunity, 2 1/2 hours before each show, to put their name in a drawing. Ten names will be chosen and they can buy up to two tickets for $25 each!! And... this is the best part... they are the GOOD SEATS!
So I'm going today. And I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Because I can't justify spending $130+ on a ticket when we just got the house and there are so many things that need to be done.
I'll let you know if I get in! : )

And last... for the few of you who might be interested in my knitting stuff... I'm working on a sweater!

Mine is green though... and it might not look quite so "holey" because the photo is crochet and I'm knitting. But it's my first garment!
Yippee!

Updates

a little at a time...
I moved last week!! We closed late Monday afternoon and moved the same day. I was also sick sick sick. It wasn't fun... not only could I not breathe, but I lost my voice as well!
But then my sister came to visit Thursday. She was down in Orlando for work so I drove to pick her up; we even made a quick(ish)stop at IKEA. I'll get into more detail about the house and my sister's visit later.
First, an update on a couple knitted items!
I made another bib for little Katie who is due in May. This was the sequel to the pink bib:

Do you like the horsie button? I got it in the same package as the pig button... and there is a lion (which I need to save for my sister) and an elephant. Oh, and the dreaded giraffe.
I wasn't sure about the green color but then one of the girls in my knitting group said it would be perfect when the baby is eating peas!! : )

And what's this?

Hmmm... what could that knitted thing be??

OH! It's THING TWO!!
And I did end up making it a scarf... a wide scarf... but it only took two skeins of yarn. Since it's cotton, it's super soft too!
I wasn't going to post this next photo but then I thought Katie might get a kick outta my shirt. Not baby Katie who received the bib! Adult Katie!


I gave it to Joni. She lives in a suburb of Kansas City so I figured she would get much more use out of it than me...
Yes, she's outside in the sun wearing a short sleeve tee... but it's March and we're in Florida... and I wanted some photos!


Then I got her to work it... show us you love the scarf, Joni!



And a final close up.

I finished my mouse... except for his tail. I've been lazy about taking pictures of it though. If I'd been smart I would have gotten a couple while I was talking the scarf shots. Apparently I'm not smart...

And now I'm tired so I'll have to continue posting later about the house and such... : )

Fingers Crossed... Prayerfully.

So we really need to close on our house this week.
Why?
Because we have to be out of our apartment on Monday the 23rd... a week from today! And, no, we can't change it... believe me, I've asked. But they have already rented the apartment to someone else. I do so hope that the someone else gets a bird feeder. I don't want all the birdies to wonder what happened to their lovely food.

Please think of us this week! Send me good vibes!!
I don't wanna be homeless...
Plus my sister is coming to visit on the 26th...
Yay!

The week in review...

This has been one crazy week!
First I want to show you the baby bib that I finished knitting! It is technically Thing Three... and it came out well IMO. It was very quick to make... it only took slow knitting beginner me a week!
I made sure to pick a machine washable yarn (who wants to hand wash a bib with food all over it??) and I found the cutest little button. The bib itself is adjustable since I made three button holes. : )




Monday, which was a Federal holiday so I had the day off, I went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic with a friend. On a side note, loved the movie... and have read the entire series of books! So anyway, totally unexpectedly, we got a call from the bank. They accepted the offer we put on a HOUSE! We are going to have a HOUSE! Look how cute it is:

AND it has a nice sized backyard for the dogs to run and play in! There is no house on one side of it because there is a preserve easement where they are not allowed to build so there are lots of trees! Yay!! We are supposed to close on March 9th... *fingers crossed*

And last, I started my new job.
I had been working for the National Park Service for almost four years but now I work for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. I'm still doing a lot of the same things but I get paid more and it's much closer to home. It was very hard for me to say goodbye to all my fabulous co-workers at Timucuan Preserve but I hope to make as many good friends at the new job too.
Now I have to figure out what to wear every morning... no more uniform!

ps. For those who checked out our Valentine's Day gift, Clementine has settled in quite nicely. Uni was pretty angry at first about the idea of another cat in the house and she spent the first few days staring and hissing and even swatting at her once in awhile. Now they have become buddies. They chase each other and wrestle and run through the cat tube we have in the living room. We have even caught them sleeping next to each other on the couch multiple times. Hooray!
Yes... I live in a zoo. All the more reason to be excited about the house!!

Happy V-Day!

Want to see what Chris and I got each other? Click here!

ps. I finished knitting a baby bib! I'll take photos of it tomorrow before I give it to it's new home... : )
Now I'm working on a little knitted mousie!

Updates on the Things...

I finished Thing One! Last Wednesday, at the knitting meetup, Brenda showed me how to seam and make i-cord! My little GPS bag is so cute! And quite useful...
Here are some photos. As usual, they were taken with my phone. I've really become quite lazy lately. At least I pulled out the real camera this weekend... there was an otter in my pond! Woohoo! : )
Anyway, I digress.
Here they are for real:





And Thing Two? I finished a whole skein of yarn already and started a second... it's getting really long. I think I might just make it a regular scarf. I know I mentioned the Bainbridge scarf in my last post but then I realized that my scarf is way too wide...
Ah well... it's good practice! I've gotten to where I can watch tv and knit. As long as I don't care too much about the show...

Knitting group is meeting again tonight! Can't wait! I tried to teach myself to purl but I think that every once in awhile I do something weird so I end up with crossed yarn on my needle. Hmmm...

I'm dying to start on a toy. I got a book and there is a stripey snake that I might be able to do once I learn a couple more things... like purl and... increasing!
Will keep you up to date.

ps. Next blog post I'll write more about this... but I got a new job!

thing two!

Yes, yes I took them with my cell phone again. It's faster than pulling out the big camera, taking the photos, uploading them, photoshopping them, and then putting them up here. So you get slightly crappier photos... but faster!

I'm not entirely sure what thing two is going to be... I was thinking scarf, but good grief, it takes forever! I've been knitting this since Thursday night! Of course it took me a year to cast on because I couldn't really remember how and book photos aren't always the best...

I actually saw this awhile back. I think I got to it from Myriam's page... what I would give to knit like her! But my thought is I might do my own version of that scarf. Obviously mine isn't a tube... but I'm thinking that I might wrap it around my neck and put a button on it. That way it can be shorter than a true scarf but still keep my neck warm and be cute!

Think it'll work?

thing one and thing two

At last! The photos I promised of my fun needles!
Here they are shown with thing one in it's early stages. I actually went to the knitting meetup on Wednesday this week and finished most of it... and learned how to bind off! So now it's off the needles! Weeeee!
Next I'm going to fold it in half and learn to seam the sides. Then one of the fabulous women from the knitting group gave me the perfect toggle button which I am going to add along with perhaps an i-cord loop for a closure. What is it going to be?? A bag for my Magellan GPS!! Perfect! I actually get to make something I NEED out of my first ever knitting thing!




And now I have started thing two. I haven't taken any photos yet but I'm now the proud owner of TWO pairs of needles and FOUR skiens of yarn! Woohoo!

Knitting is addicting...

My knitted "thing"

Katie called her first knitting project a thing and I like that... because first knitting projects definitely resemble "things".
I took a couple photos with my real camera this weekend but I haven't put them on the computer yet. I did take a photo last night with my phone though so I thought I'd share my thing!

Sorry about the quality of the photo... remember it's with my phone. And I'm sure it doesn't help that there is a bunch of plant junk around it too.
But I'm moving right along! I only do a few rows at a time because my hands start to hurt... my mom thinks that this will help strengthen them. I think I'm just gripping the needles too much. My first few rows were crazy tight! Don't worry though... I've loosened up!
: )

I'm going to another knitting meetup tonight! Yay!

k-nitting

I'm going to learn to KNIT!
I joined a knitting meetup group and tomorrow will be my first event with them. Yay!

Yesterday after work my friend Rhonda and I went to a local yarn store, Knit Witz, and got supplies. I got the CUTEST set of needles with little white bears on them. I'll have to take a picture to show you. I'm thinking that hopefully liking my needles will encourage me to use them more!
But the best part about going to Knit Witz rather than a chain hobby store was seeing the examples of knitted stuff... well, that and the personal help we got so we would know the best kind of yarn and size of needle for beginners.
I now know what I want to knit next!
One of the bears from Clare Garland’s new book Knitted Bears. The owner had one there that she had knitted and when we oooohed and ahhhhed over it, she showed us the book! OH EM GEE! Love it!!!!
AND I discovered a knitter's blog who knitted a Shaun the Sheep!!!

I'm getting very excited about knitted stuffed animals now... I wonder how long it will take me before I'm able to do something like that though. I want to do it NOW! : )

Anyway, so someday you might see some photos of knitting stuff from me! Weeeeee!

Baseball and Karaoke?

Just a quick note...
I don't shoot people!
I shoot animals...
So keep that in mind if you happen upon my website and you happen to click on "Online Ordering" and then just randomly decide to look at the only non-furrie related event listed there.

I have been roped into shooting high school baseball boys... not playing baseball... but singing karaoke. It's a fundraiser and my boss at the park has a son on the team.
I hope it stays light enough for the photos this afternoon.
And I hope that the photos come out well.
And I hope I don't freeze my tushy off because today of all days is when it has finally decided to be cold out. It's 58 out there!!!
I'm nervous.

Tis the Season!

Okay... so it's not really the season for sunflowers. But my sister and I made sunflower cupcakes from my Hello Cupcake book anyway. I suppose we could have made the penguins or something else wintery but these were what my sister wanted to make. They were fun! And Chris' coworkers at the fire station loved them so I guess they were tasty as well!








Just thought I'd share the cupcake fabulousness with you!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Crafty Me

So I learned how to wrap a shoebox! I'm totally loving it! What a clever way to make a neat storage box... or wrap a gift!
This was my first one... and I had to make a matching porcupine bow too!




I've now made a few more since this one... even one with paw print paper that I thought I could use for Furrie Fotographie stuff! Now I'm running out of shoe boxes... guess I'll have to buy more shoes!! ; )

I totally want

to do THIS!

I have a hard time imagining myself in my dress at the beach... probably partly because I'm not a beach goer... and partly because I don't really want to ruin my dress. But I would love to go to a fair or... oooh... a PETTING ZOO (!!!!) before I send my fabulous poofy dress off to be cleaned and boxed away forever.
It'll have to wait though. All my moola is going towards our new house right now. Noooo... don't get overly excited. We don't have it yet. But we did find one we really want. Keep your fingers crossed for us. It'll be up to 90 days before we hear...

I posted this in my other blog

but I wanted to put it here too!!!

Some of you may (or may not) know that I got married in May.
And some of you may (or may not) know that we had our fabulous reception at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens at night!
Well...
I was just interviewed by Heidi of Truly Engaging!! You can read all about my flowers and plants HERE!
Heidi was super nice and I'm so excited that she deemed my story deserving of an entire blog post! If you are engaged or just like to read about decorations and gifts and things of that sort, her blog is definitely the place to go!
And because I can't post without a photo... here is one of my favorite shots of Chris, taken by the fabulous Scarlett Lillian.


And my fun cake/cake topper. The topper was handmade by Debbie Garrity who really listened to what I wanted! I'd totally recommend her too!


Thanks for letting me be all giddy! : )

Not much time to write...

but I had to stop in and annouce:
WE ARE LOOKING FOR A HOUSE!!!

Woohoo!
I was pre-approved for a mortgage... which I never thought possible! So now we are mostly looking online and plan to do a bit more driving about this weekend. Last night we drove through a couple neighborhoods but it gets dark so early now. Hate daylight savings time... I don't care if it's light in the mornings; I'd rather have it light in the evenings! When I'm actually not cooped up at work!!

Anyway... yippee!!!

Halloween at work

Last week we had our all employee meeting at work... and since it's Halloween, we had a theme!
I bought some spider web and put it up all over the room... on the pictures, in the windows, doorways, even on the ceiling! We also put up lights. Skeleton lights! And various other Halloween-y decorations. : )
For the day of the gathering, Rhonda made this Jello brain and heart. And I made punch. I just wish we'd had some dry ice!

I made four dozen cupcakes and brought them in "naked" so people could decorate their own. I also got white frosting and some food coloring so there were lots of spooky colors to choose from:

Here are some of the cupcakes I made... I went a little overboard with the photos of the same cupcakes!







We didn't quite finish all the cupcakes so I decorated the few that were left so they wouldn't dry out.


It was nice to do something fun for the party. I also got little pails and filled them with candy for each person... and made placecards with spooky pictures and bloody font! Weeee!
I don't really entertain at my place because it is too small and we have three dogs and a cat now... but I do love putting together all the little details!