Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Finally updated with pictures and socks!

Just to prove I have been accomplishing some knitting lately, I got the camera out to take photos. I finished this one sock (Yarn Harlot basic sock pattern, Opal Harry and Ron yarn) I've been working my way through the first season of Bones on Netflix and this has been the perfect project for that. I love watching the pattern develop but the stitching is simple. The other one is on the needles and should be done by the end of next weekend.Embossed leaves pattern in Sanguine Gryphon Bugga (don't remember the color) I started these a year ago for a Bugga challenge on Ravelry and got sidetracked with Rowan knitting. I didn't really like the pattern when I knit the first sock and had trouble motivating myself to knit the second. I took it to Iowa with me and finished the second sock. Decided I like the pattern better now and like the yarn a lot.
I finally finished the #1 Husband socks, and I think my Guitar Guy will be happy with them. I used Shelridge Farms Heather Charcoal which knits in to a pretty heavy weight sock. Nice yarn but these are definitely winter socks in Arizona. We'll put them away until the air is a tad cooler here.

I hate working with pictures in Blogger and never can seem to get them in the right order without losing them and having to start over, so you get them in the order loaded :-) If anyone has insights to share on easily moving photos around please share!

Nicole graduated from nursing school in May and had her pinning ceremony on May 13th. This is the happy graduate with me, Guitar Guy and Nicole's boyfriend Pat (who you may remember from the great office redecorate of last summer)

This is Nicole receiving her nursing pin from one of the professors. Since she chose not to walk at her high school graduation and probably will not do ASU when she graduates there, this was the ceremony for all of us to celebrate her accomplishments!
This is me speaking at Nicole's pinning ceremony. I was so honored to have the chance and made it through with minimal emotional choke ups and no tears Rowan's first birthday party at a local park. He had a great time but wouldn't get off of the blanket and walk on the grass. He had his own little island :-)
Opening presents required some guidance from the experienced kid but Rowan quickly got in the swing of things. The big hit of the day was a ride on truck!

It has been a whirlwind month and I didn't even include handing out diplomas at high school graduation, attending Project Graduation that night or facilitating a round table discussion for local nonprofits. Guitar Guy and I were fortunate to stay the whole weekend after pinning and enjoy the graduation barbecues.

While in Des Moines I got sucked back in to the Fairyland Facebook game by Nicole and Alex. Since I am a compulsive and competitive game player, I shamefully admit to letting it suck up vast amounts of time in the last 10 days. Now that the holiday weekend is over, I have to get back to more mundane things like laundry and work.

I'm not entirely sure what happened in the last month, other than that I went on vacation and never quite came back to the real world. I had a lot of trouble reconnecting to my regular routine and just sort of crashed. I feel foolish whining about my brain feeling overloaded when some of you function in that state most of the time, but that is the reality. After 2 years spent re-inventing myself, learning about running a business, plunging head first in to social media promotion for two businesses and attending way too many committee meetings, my brain needed to reboot.

I didn't realize how much I had disconnected until I started reading your blogs and realized what I had missed. This summer my goal is to regroup, plan and try to restore some balance in my life. What helps you find balance in your life? Any advice?

2 comments:

Donna Lee said...

Congratulations to Nicole!!! A new nurse joins the ranks (or will soon). I feel your pride (and tears) all the way over here.

Balance is a tough one. I try very hard to leave work at work and make some time for myself at the end of the day. Most days I succeed.

roxie said...

I find a lot of it boils down to auto-pilot. If I had to decide every step of the day, I'd lock up and die. And a well-established routine gives you something to get a change from when you need one. You have had interesting times. You need time to digest and process.