walk on water

I had hook in hand this past week, I read and cleaned and got loads done as well!

My Sister found a cute little bracelet idea on Pinterest and I thought I would give it a go, failed at it....but gave it a go nonetheless.  It failed because of the bulkiness of the yarn I chose.  I am going to revise and revisit with a much thinner yarn and I think it should work on better....watch this space!

failed idea

Summertime here in California means cherry season and I do love me some juicy cherries, so does my daughter and I have to be careful they don't disappear from the frig before I get any!

a reason I love summer

A freezer full of Otter Pops helps during the Summer as well, really frozen flavored water...what more can one person need on a hot Summer day?

another reason I love Summer

Saturday morning wake up with Katlyn gone means that my dogs are a bit needier then normal, Kid especially!

morning doggy time

So I started on a market bag that Joann's is doing a CAL on.  Fairly simple even though I haven't gotten too far yet. 

something new

round 2

I had to run out Saturday to pick up dog food and figured since I was out I would pop by the used book store and get #2 of my Fever series.  $3 is a great deal and it's even a real book! 

a real book

Of course I ended up not reading my new book or finishing up my market bag because I got distracted by my new Kindle Fire that I got on Saturday late afternoon.  My birthday present from Alysha and Brooke!  Christopher called me late afternoon on Saturday with Alysha in the background asking me silly questions like my zip code and the name on my drivers license??  Weird things and then Chris tells me to call him when I get an email from Best Buy?  OK....I get the email saying my order is ready for pick up and I head out to the store.  I hand the guy at the desk and email and he goes off and brings back my new Kindle!  Yikes!  So bloody happy, way fancier then I was going to get for myself too! It's awesome and so pretty so I HAVE to make a case for it right away so it stays all pretty.

my new love!

Whip up a very simple moss stitch case and locate some buttons for it and since I really couldn't leave it all plain I added some cherries just to give it some swag! 

working on a case for my new love

All done and I am so pleased with the cherries, but I dislike the buttons with the cherries so I will be replacing them with some white ones this evening!  My Mother wants one now with a duck on it...now I have to figure out a duck!

a finished case

So pretty productive, read tons of book this past week and plan on reading ton more this upcoming week on my new Kindle!  I will also be finishing the market bag as well.  Cheers!

Listening to: Outside In The Rain by Tommy Shaw

dream on

Not really a quick update since I have a ton of pictures, but it will have to do.  I managed to get 1 whole picture in of a crocheted item, yep 1...woo-hoo!  It was a busy week and didn't get much hooking time in, but spent lots of time with Brooke.

Last weeks bracelet, I love the button and had to use it

So Santa Rosa roadtrip Wednesday after work, Katlyn did all of the driving and I read and paid for the gas! Got in at midnight and Brooke was already asleep in my bed.  She woke me up at 5:18 in the morning to tell me that it was her actually birthday and I wished her a Happy Birthday and we went back to sleep!  Gotta love a 5 year old and her priorities!

Some early morning presents

She wanted to go to the zoo for her birthday and who are we to argue with the birthday girl! Off to San Francisco to visit the animals!  I have much better and less fuzzy pictures from my camera, these are all from my phone so the quality is hit and miss!

Off  to the zoo!

Zoo time with the girl and Christopher!

the penguins were awesome!

Chris was a spider :)

Cheesy girl while waiting for lunch.

the ride home!

Birthday dinner at Applebee's (Brooke's choice) before she had her swim lesson.  See a very busy day!

Birthday Princess

Friday was a bit less hectic, though we did manage to squeeze in a movie and order the birthday girls cake while ogling firemen and did the shopping for Saturday's bbq at the house!  Made Taco Salad for Friday's dinner and just the girls hanging out having some tasty drinks in fun glasses!

Tiki drink!

There is a Balloon festival yearly in Windsor which is where Alysha and Brooke live and the balloons launch at the park right behind the house, so I was up at 6 am with my coffee and camera enjoying the balloons rising over the backyard fence!  It was pretty cool and I took tons of pictures.  Again these are just phone shots so not fabulous quality but there you go!

I love it!

my view from the table

Katlyn joined us very late into the morning and missed most of the balloons but she didn't care much anyway.  They played on the trampoline and gave me some fabulous girly shots!

My girls being adorable!

Saturday was party day and the party was at a place filled with bouncy things and slides and rock climbing walls, basically a place for kids to run wild!

Gearing up for the rock wall

there she goes!

of course Christopher had to do it too!

Birthday girl had her own seat!

We packed up and hit the road on Sunday morning while Brooke and Chris were playing Monopoly

new game

Stopped by to say goodbye to Brandon and you know he likes to be silly!  Steven gave him goggles and he put them on!

silly boy

Chris & Brooke showed up while we were doing the goodbyes

So always a fun time in NorCal with the kids!  The weather was great and there was cake...just perfect!  Now it's the work week again and back to the normal day to day.  I did read 6 books last week and have 1.5 done so far for this week.  Maybe I should start a book blog!  Naw...just kidding, I don't have time for that!  I think there maybe pool time this weekend though as it's supposed to be a hot one, which means me, a floaty and a book...sounds like paradise!

Listening to: Never Too Late by Three Days Grace

empty

Bracelet making has turned out to be a bit addicting.  I make them when I fancy a matching accessory for work, I make them for friends and family and I make them just because I have a pretty button to use!

This yarn matched my Monday outfit perfectly!

Didn't have a royal blue in cotton yarn so I dug through my thread and found the right color blue and used thread and a thin cotton yarn I had on hand.  She was pleased.

Katlyn asked for a blue and white one

Barbara's birthday bracelet

Christina's requested turquoise bracelet

Made 3 others that I didn't get photos of, I was at a party after all and there was a wee bit of drinking involved.

Up next is some food shots...just because.  My Son always laughs at everyone taking pictures of what they are eating and posting on instagram, so I do it to amuse him mostly.  Tri-tip salad on Thursday and Quinoa salad on Friday.

Lunch on Thursday

Dinner on Friday

yarn play on saturday

Katlyn got an award

Friday's drink of choice

Saturday's drink

Read a few books this past week as well.  Sylvia Day's newest came out of Tuesday and my Mom preordered it in Kindle format so I picked up her extra Kindle afterwork and started reading.  Of course on Tuesday I realized I was reading a total of 3 books and by Wednesday I had upped that count to 4...yes all at the same time!  Sooooo, I finished some of them up.  Well I finished up 3 of the 4 for Wednesday, started 3 others in there and got a total of 6 books read last week.  Not a bad week, my wish list on Amazon just keeps growing instead of getting smaller though!  So many books to be read!  Can't wait for my up next to read books by Cherise Sinclair, should be hot, hot, hot!  Heading up to Santa Rosa midweek for Brooke's birthday so I will be able to read while Katlyn drives!  Gotta make a couple of bracelets for girls up there too! Should be a busy week ahead for me!

Listening to: 12th of Never by Bodycast

don't act like an angel

Another week has come and gone....here is a pretty boring update of sorts.  Katlyn asked me to make her a wrist band as worn by one of the characters in One Piece.  Easy enough, just 5 stripes in blue and white.

Started for Katlyn

working the last stripe

Coffee is my closest friend in the morning!  Really have no reason to take the picture, it doesn't show much but my coffee is hanging out with me....see friends!

getting ready 

Friday afternoon at the office and I decided I needed a new desktop background....hmmm what better way to go!

my desk before going home

Grocery shopping on Friday on the way home from work.  Easy enough, had a list got what I needed and then got home.  Now I live up 2 flights of stairs...that makes me a fan of NOT going back a forth hauling things inside, so I do what any normal person would do in the same situation....I gather all of the bags and haul them up in one go.  Bags hang on my wrist and I really haven't had an issue with this method previously BUT for some reason this time the bags left a mark...actually several marks and a bruise.  These photos was taken Saturday, yikes.

So Friday night dinner consisted of BLT's, Mike's Hard Lemonade and Otter Pops...fancy in my house dontcha know!

yumminess!

Saturday Katlyn and I headed to a used bookstore that we have often passed by and decided we needed to visit!  Packed full of books, sadly I only found one author that I have on my Amazon wish list but one is better then zero and I saved a couple of bucks buying it there in paperback instead of Amazon in Kindle edition, so not a bad thing.  Plus that makes room for more to add to my wish list.....now to get an actually Kindle!  I currently read my books with the Kindle app on my phone or on the Cloud Reader on my computer so it hasn't deterred me from reading Kindle books by not having a Kindle.   

Bookstore shot

It was a hot one on Saturday so after our trip to the bookstore and the market we decided to head to my Sister's pool for a bit of floating and reading....yeah baby, good times!

My new book!

Now you would think that during the heat I wouldn't be making a giant pot of chicken soup...you would think that but you would be wrong.  For some silly reason my Daughter loves chicken soup when it's hot outside, weirdo that she is and the supermarket was very accommodating by having whole chickens on sale this week!   Grabbed a couple of them and Sunday made a pot of soup!  Happy Daughter!

time to start chopping

So that's my fantastic weekend update...that and I got a boys phone number too.  Haha, that amuses me to no end, especially when I have my Daughter telling me to call him and laughing at me for being so socially awkward!  I do love my kids and their ability to make fun of me and love me for my craziness!

I called....

Listening to:  And The Cradle Will Rock by Van Halen