Tulip Meets Daffodil

Our Merry Christmas

Last Christmas, the hubby and I decided to spend the night in DC. With Patrick of course. (Pet-friendly hotels rock!)

This Christmas we decided to continue the tradition. We had a lovely stay at the Hotel Monaco, in the Penn Quarter of DC.

It was a wonderful hotel, (the building is actually the original General Post Office and Tariff Building, constructed in 1839). The room was comfortable, the service impeccable, and all three of us (Patrick included) had a great time at the wine hour on Christmas Eve. (We met a very nice dog named Fred and his family.)

The hotel:

The lobby:

We had a nice dinner Christmas Eve dinner at McCormick & Schmick's, and then walked to the White House.

On Christmas Day we grabbed some Starbuck's, then walked around the Capitol and Botanical Gardens.

Here is the Capitol... you can see they are already setting up for the inauguration.

Then - home for presents! This is Patrick with his hoard of gifts:

It was a wonderfully exhausting couple of days!

Granny Square a Week : Week Five

Adding to my granny stash! Love a pile of grannies!

Here's my week five square. Two things to note... (1) I'm going to need more yarn. (Always!) But yes, seriously... I need more colors and more yarn in general. (LOVE my Rowan Handknit Cotton!) It's expensive though... so I'm trying to use some self-control and only order a few skeins at a time.

And (2) I'm finding that with each granny, I'm developing my master granny square pattern. 2 chains in the corners or 3? Start with a magic circle or not? I think that by the time this blanket is done, I will have mastered the granny square! Hopefully... :)

I really do like the color combo of this square...

On to week six... ♥

The Year in Crochet

One of my goals this year was to continue to crochet regularly, and I'm happy to say I think I accomplished that. Of course, I could have done better, but isn't that always the case? Looking back on my projects throughout the year, I actually thought I did more! But overall I suppose I'm happy. I'm a lot more confident about my skills, and tackling new projects. And I made my first hat! (Actually, I've made two this month, but haven't posted about them yet...)

Here's 2012. In crochet.

♥

The Year in Blooms

I missed my one-year "blogiversary" on Dec 12th. My blog is one year old! I'm still very glad I started it... it's been a great place for me to be creative - even though I wish I had put more time into it. (Work has to come first and, well, sometimes I am just lazy and/or the worst procrastinator in the world!)

2013, here I come.

I did want to mark the end of the year though. Here's my first mosaic, titled "Blooms of 2012"!

I hope in 2013 to show off more blooms I've actually grown myself (however, I'll also take a healthy bunch of Virginia tulips from Whole Foods any day of the week as well!)

Granny Square a Week : Week Four

Aw, shucks. And darn. And OMG - has it really been four weeks since my last post?

Ugh.

All I can say is sorry and thank you to the people who actually read this blog. I will do better! Promise. Pinky swear.

And I will try not to obsess and feel regretful, but I am obviously behind on my "Granny Square a Week!" goal. (See - this is why I didn't give myself a gosh-darn daily goal!) Sometimes, I suppose, life gets in the way.

It's really, really been a good, fulfilling four weeks though. Work has been busy, but that is not always a bad thing - I am feeling very good about my job these days and, more importantly, I think I am *doing* a good job. Yay for me. (pat on back)

And I've spent some quality time with friends and family, drank wine, read books and watched some mindless reality TV. I saw Ina Garten, the amazing and wonderful Barefoot Contessa. (It's true! I have a signed book!) And of course, given Patrick the dog lots of walks... (despite the cold temps here in Virginia these days.)

So (drumroll please) - here is my fourth week of granny square love (even though I suppose it's more like eight? since I missed the past three? whatever! this will stay fun, darnit!)

 

And even though I actually haven't, literally, *made* a granny square in three weeks or so... it doesn't mean that I haven't *thought* about them! I actually have all the yarn for this project in a pile on my coffee table. So I stare at these lovely skeins often. They are beautiful, but I really do think that I need more colors. More. Yarn.

I will try to muster up the self-control to wait until after the holidays, however. Let my Amex card rest a bit first.

♥