Dainty Kitty

It's Finished!

My first sock!  Pardon the L O U S Y photo but it is ten o'clock after all.  I finished it up with a shaky kitchener stitch just as House was ending (it was a tearjerker - and, Kim, doesn't the next episode look awesome?).  I know I should cast the second one on asap but I really want to finish my Hep Cat from the Doherty book (if I can remember where I left off on the his head).  But it will get done - I can't wait to wear my new socks! 

Now That I'm Back at Work....

Now that I'm back at work I'm finding that I'm overflowing with things to blog about.  I just want to go home and take a photo of the giant bare space above my couch because my mom and I are rearranging the living room tomorrow and I'm finally going to start filling that space (I've lived in my apartment for nearly two years and have never hung a thing there - I wanted a giant mirror or an old door but never came across either [or spent much time looking for that matter]).   

I also want to take a picture of the tiny painting I found that a thrift store on Sunday for ninety-nine cents.  It won't go over the couch but I already know where I'm going to put it.    It makes me so sad to see someone's artwork on the shelves of a thrift store (even though it's good for me).  Whoever painted this one actually went to the trouble to have it framed at Hobby Lobby. 

I finally want to post about my trip, too. 

But that'll have to wait.  I'm going to Cafe Therapy downtown to meet up with some fellow knitters tonight after work.  Finally! A group that meets somewhere where alcohol is served!  Although, I'm to the toes of my first sock so maybe I should stick with one glass of shiraz...

Until then - isn't this ribbon pinecone cute?  Now that fall is finally coming to Ohio, I might spend an afternoon making some of these to put on Christmas packages. 

Side note because I'm pretty excited about the sudden change in the weather: we're going to Fulton Farm this weekend.  Hayrides!  Pumpkins!  Apple cider!  Oh my!

Vacation Lag - A Bit of Whining

Gah, I can't believe I'm physically and emotionally depressed over being home and having to return to work tomorrow.  We're supposed to go to a birthday party for friends of ours (the husband and wife - they share the same birthday - with the brilliant little boys) at six-thirty and the idea of going just about brings me to tears.  I just got off the phone with Jake who - after I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to do something before hand - finally said he would just pick me up at six.  He let me off the hook for the whole thing but I'd be a pretty terrible girlfriend if I didn't go with him, I think. 

On any other day I'd probably want to go - I mean, it's a dessert party for Pete's sake, with a yet to be seen array of delectable sweets.  Not today, though.  I mustered up just enough oomph to shower and run out to Joann's with my Columbus Day 50% off coupon to pick up a crochet book I wanted then I was back on the couch, alternately napping with Mina and reading The Gates of the Alamo.  I think Jake was surprised to see me reading a western.  I'm a sucker for a western/romance with a lot of war and such thrown in.  I can't read straight romance but if there's dust and horses and Native Americans...I'm all about it.  Lonesome Dove is one of my absolute favorite books. 

I digress.  I feel like I should get off my rump and meet him out for coffee or something to kick start the evening.  It's amazingly hot outside, though, and the idea of drinking coffee, even in an air conditioned shop, doesn't really appeal.  Or maybe I should take myself out to dinner - I'll need a solid base for all that sugar, after all.  I could go for a tall beer and some chicken wings but really don't want to go alone because reading at a Buffalo Wild Wings is just silly.  I could play trivia, though...or I could just call Jake and tell him to come over early....

Regardless, I really do have to go back to work tomorrow.  Meh.

Home Again

I have lots of pictures to post and things to say but every time I start, even though I think about it bit by bit, I get overwhelmed. 

It was certainly the vacation I needed.  By Friday night I was ready to be home...but not ready to leave.   I don't think I found all of the answers I was looking for but I do think I found a few and came across other things I hadn't thought of at all.  Anyway, tomorrow - views, books, seafood and yarn stores.

For now - my feet.   Just because I liked the way the waves rushed over and around them. 

I Heart Nashville

I could have ended my vacation after our night in Nashville - I had that much fun!  After walking up and down Broadway, devouring a pulled pork sandwich topped with slaw and a slurping a locally brewed beer called Yazoo Pale Ale, we stopped in a little honky tonk called Robert's Western World.  We were trying to pick a place and the band was playing one of my favorite songs, "Kawliga" (click to hear about that poor old wooden head [sidenote:  my granny had a Boxcar Willie album and I asked her to play this song so many times you could probably tell exactly where the song was located on the album]) so we went inside.  What a great little bar!  I mean, really, how can you go wrong with a bar that sells fried bologna sandwiches and a bag of chips for three-fifty?  Add a Miller High Life (two bucks before six and only a two-fifty after six) and you've got a first class meal (I used to love my granny's fried bologna sandwiches, too)!

Anyway, the music was great, we drank MHL all night (which cracks me up), my mom got a little drunk (that's rare) and I danced all night with a sweet redneck from West Virginia named Ray.  He made my one night in Nashville so much fun (and the guy sitting next to us had a boy crush on him [and even bought him a shot at one point] because he looked like the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Now I know how to two step...I think.  Anyway, a night in Nashville is not the time to break in a new pair of shoes...and if I could dance like that every night I'd be stick skinny.

Here are some photos I swiped from their website (believe it or not I didn't carry my camera downtown - I could have kicked myself) - Riley was our super cute waitress and The Don Kelley Band was playing that night.  Oh, and we sat right in front of those boots.