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Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2009 //
1

Are you having a good day?  It is beautiful out with no wind. 

David and I decided to take a drive towards Clinton to a) bring my wedding gown back to the bridal store to be cleaned and b) to go to the outlet and have the store where he bought a belt to take off the alarm lock thing.  We bought the belt awhile ago but he couldn’t use it because the lady who checked us out forgot to take off the lock thingy.

We stopped at a diner to have breakfast on the way there.  And on the way back, we stopped at a used/rare bookstore that I’ve seen everytime I drove to Clinton.  I found this book:

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They don’t have much of craft section, but I’m glad I looked anyways. :)

When we got home, there was a package waiting for me, and in it contained these:

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My cocoa swap package!!!  Look at Wilbur!!!  Isn’t he cute?  I love the wings.  And you can’t read the cocoa, but it says “Chili and Spice”!  Can’t wait to get some milk and try it!  Of course I already opened the chocolate and started indulging :) .  Also included in the package are DP Needle Tube for me to store the DPNs, a skein of Malabrigo in Purple Magic, and a beautiful mug.

Thank you riizu!

So our plan is going to a hibachi dinner tonight.  And then maybe to a movie.  Any of you have plans??

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Categories exchange, Holiday

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2008 //
1

Were you on the nice or naughty list???

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We’ve gotten lots of cards from friends and family.  I love getting Christmas cards.  I think they mean more than any material things.  It’s the thoughts and time people put into that really counts in my book.

So besides the cards, I purchased the three VK Stitchionary books for myself when VK had a 60% off on selected books!  SIXTY PERCENT OFF!  So each book was only about 12 dollars.  THEN!  If you are a VK mag subscriber, there is a tiny code on the bottom of the magazine, and it gives you another 30% off!!!!!  With shipping, I ended up paying 30 bucks for them!

I also purchased a new lunch bag for myself:

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I know, buying myself a lunch bag for Christmas does sound lame.  But it has become apparent that I needed one badly at my new job.  I got it from buildny.com under a friend’s recommendation.  Absolutely LOVE it!  It’s made with neoprene and it has lots of room.  I think it’s rather stylish for a lunch bag, don’t you think?

The same day the lunch bag came, we also gotten this in the mail:

img_0084Harry and David’s gift box from Dad and Sher!  I always heard awesome things about them but have never tried it or gotten one before.  The pears were SO GOOD!  David has been munching on the cheese.  YUM.  They also had send us a card along with some Hanukka gelt and a Visa gift card, which we plan on spending on new year’s eve.  (More on that later!)

David’s mom came down before the big snow storm and stayed with us.  She gave us a Simpson Beach Towel (David loves the Simpsons) and this for our new house:

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A finch feeder!  We have a big yard now, but the new yard will be big as well, and I think it would be a nice addition.  (I also wants a green house, but I’ll work on that later)

Our realtor Mel, who is more like a friend than just a realtor to us, gave me this:

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I’ve been admiring her similar necklace for quite awhile now and she got me one!  It was very sweet of her and I love it!

And I also gotten this from my best friend Itchy:

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I think she made it!  And it’s in my favorite color! :)  I also gotten another package from her via Keys.  I’ve been looking for chemical free face and body care for awhile now and she’s been using Keys and loves them.  She sent me some trial size items to try out.  I started using them last night and can’t say I know much yet since I’m so new at it.  But it smells natural and nice though! :)  And there is no added scents, all scents are from the ingredients that made up the lotion or wash.

One last thing we’ve gotten, which isn’t exactly for Christmas, but it’s good:

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RUM CAKE!!!!  In this case, SIX rum cakes! :)  It has 6 different flavors – golden original, chocolate, pineapple, coconut, banana, and keylime.  I already chowed down the chocolate one…  SO GOOD!  See, they went on a cruise to celebrate their 2 year wedding anniversary and we dog sit their dog, who is Mick’s best friend.  When they returned, they brought back rum cakes for us!  Well, more like for me :P

So I guess we were on the nice list.  I hope you all are on the nice list as well.

Merry Christmas.

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Categories Family, friends, Holiday

Christmas Eve Update

December 24, 2008 //
2

Well, it’s been a little while since I posted.  Since then, I’ve been to an awesome party at Peaceful Knitter‘s:

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I’m sure we entertained Peaceful Knitter and her sweetie’s non-knitting friends.

There was also a huge snow storn since then.  I think we got 8 inches here.  And I didn’t take any pictures.  I don’t know why.

And I made some progress on the sweater:

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I finished both front and back and actually made some progress on the sleeves as well.  I probably could have finished the sweater by now, but then I was distracted by making a couple of balls:

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Both are for my new work friends, with one for a yankee swap, which was a hot item to go.  After the swap, one of my coworker really liked and hence the second one was made.

Well, time to go finish that sweater.   Happy Holidays!!!

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Categories friends, Holiday

An Olde England Seasonal Celebration

December 7, 2008 //
1

The holiday season to me is always the gathering of friends and family.  The parties that get us all together to celebrate the year past and welcoming the new year coming.   So when nottus and her husband M invited us to join them for an olde England sasonal celebration, I couldn’t say no.  (I only because David has to work so he couldn’t go.) 

Archiknist and I arrived promptly at 7 and was welcomed with the beautiful smell of mince pie and mulled wine.  And shortly after, CinderOla and her husband J, Sunflowerfairy and her husband D, editorgrrl, SheShootSheepShot and her husband D, QueenofSalvages, BabyBeth, and KnittingEwe arrived.  Everyone tried the mince pie, which I’ve never had and was surprised with the filling (It was YUM!).  BabyBeth brought some figgy pudding, which was also yum.  M and I both agreed that it reminds us of carrot cake except with the fig seeds.

nuttos took some picture while we are busy stuffing our faces and play Apples to Apples.  If you never heard or played it before, you are missing out.  I find the game extremely hilarious and fun.  Everyone had a good time and most of us didn’t leave till 1:30am!!!  

A good time was had by all at this olde English Seasonal Celebration!  And hopefully you had a good time this weekend as well.

Tags
Categories friends, Holiday

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 29, 2008 //
1

To all your family and friends.

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That is our lovely honey brined smoked turkey.  We’ve made this turkey ever since my brother moved here in 2004.  We saw it on Good Eats from foodnetwork and just couldn’t resist to light smoking flavor of the hickory.  Plus!  It frees up our oven!  How sweet is that!?

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CostumeChick and Evad came to our shingdig since they couldn’t go home for the holidays this year due to work.

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David’s mom came too :)  And our friend K & M showed up around dessert time to hang out, but I forgot to take a picture of them while they are there.

And from the picture, you can see our lovely dinner.  Here is the menu and links of recipes:

 

  • Sausage and Herb Stuffing (I made gluten free corn bread and used that instead of regular bread.  Also, I skipped the dried cranberries since David doesn’t like it.  But I bet it’s good if you put it in!)
  • Holiday Spiced Sweet Potatoes (This is such a yummy twist of the regular sweet potatoes!!  I used Trader Joe’s Organic sugar instead of brown sugar since that’s all I have on hand.  But I bet you can use Demerara sugar and it’s just as good.)
  • Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (I made this up – I used buttermilk instead of regular milk and it turned out awesome.)
  • Cranberry Sauce (I made this for the past two years and I can’t say anything bad about it.  The only thing is that I don’t know what to do with the leftovers!  I’ll have to look up that this year!)
  • Green Beans with Pancetta and Shallots (This is a good quick sautee.  Although I think with all the confusions, I forgot to put the shallots.  Opps :P )
  • Roasted Broccoli: Barefoot Contessa Style (I don’t actually have the cookbook.  I saw this on Amature Gourmet’s blog and couldn’t resist but make it for the Thanksgiving dinner.  It is SO GOOD.  I made the Amature Gourmet’s version though.)
  • Chinese Sweet Rice Stuffing (I can’t begin to tell you how to make this since my brother whipped it up.  My grandmother always made this for Thanksgiving at home and we both love it so much we have to have it.  Good thing my brother knows how!)
  • Mulled Apple Cider (I was going to make this.  But I found mulled cider spice bags in the supermarket that included everything in the recipe and all I had to do is drop the spice bags in with the gallon of cider and put them in the slow cooker…  yeah… it was easy AND good!)

 

And CostumeChick made a killer gluten free pumpkin pie that was sweetened with honey.  SO YUMMY.  And yes, we got a ton of leftovers!!!  What have we done with the leftovers?  Hmmm…  Let’s see…

 

  • Holiday Spiced Sweet Potatoes –> Sweet Potato Pancakes (1 egg, 1 cup of rice flour, 1/2 cup of sweet rice flour, mix well and form pancake shape on your griddle or big flat pan with butter!  Oh, you can use all purpose flour isntead of the above gluten free options)
  • Sausage and Herb Stuffing –> We reheated this in the oven and heat up the Trader Joe’s Creamy Corn and Roasted Pepper soup and eat them together for lunch.
  • Turkey –> Part of the meat will probably go into a Turkey Shepards Pie with the leftover potatoes.  The bones will make Turkey Stocks.  Turkey Stocks will probably turn into Wild Rice Soup, which usually use chopped ham, but I think we’ll use leftover turkey this time to try it out.
  • Green Beans and Broccoli –>  They will probably stay as side for another meal, maybe steak or pork chops!

 

So if you have ANY ideas what to do with leftoever cranberry sauce, let me know!  Maybe a dessert of some sort?

Oh, and see what I found in the supermarket?

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That is damn good.  I still need to try the Sugar Cookie Eggnog!  The pumpkin one is great (I tried it last year!)

Now that we are done talking about food, which seem to be happening a lot lately, we should talk about the highly anticipated SHOPPING.

Everyone knows black friday supposedly has the best deal EVER for the whole year.  It marks the beginning of the Holiday Season and the start of holiday shopping.  I go every year, although I don’t stay up all night and go to the midnight sale.  This year, I needed some winter skirts and pants for the new job (which I found and got) and of course, Coach.

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Meet my new Coach purse.  Isn’t it pretty? :)

So yeah…  That’s all I got so far.  Oh!  And I finished the market bags for Schaefer, but I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it out.  I finished it this morning at 11am and I wanted to make sure it gets mailed with the mail wagon today instead of Monday so I rushed it into my mailbox with Clip-n-Ship, which by the way, is the best service EVER invented!  I’m still in my PJs and I mailed the box to Schaefer!

So now I’m off to ponder which project to start next…  Hmm…  Central Park Hoodies? Rogue? Olive Branch Hoodie? Celtic Icon? Sage Cardigan?  Oh the agony of choosing…  Only if we have more time in a day!

Tags
Categories Family, Food, friends, good finds, Holiday

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2008 //
3

To you, and you, and you, and you :)

Isn’t the flower gorgeous? One of my co-worker is leaving the company at the end of this month, so for Valentine’s Day, he gave every female co-worker a single yellow rose for the friendship he made while working at Schick.

I want to give this yellow rose to all of you, my readers, for the friendship we made in this virtual world.

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Categories Holiday

Spiderwick Chronicles and More

February 13, 2008 //
5

Have you seen this trailer yet? The Spiderwick Chronicles is a no-miss movie. My yoga instructor had some of the free screening post cards and gave them out during class yesterday. A free movie that David and I wanted to see since I’ve seen the preview? Why not?! We actually used this as our opportunity to celebrate our Valentine’s Week. Yes, we celebrate it the whole week, and it was David’s idea. :)

The movie was great and the acting was excellent as well. The twin brothers were played by the same actor but he would have you fooled to think there really are two people acting there.

If you like The Chronicles of Narnia, then you would like this movie as well. I’ve never read the books, so I couldn’t compare and tell you any differences, but both David and I really enjoyed this movie.

Speaking of Chronicles of Narnia, the second one is coming out later this year. Can’t wait.

So in other news, I think the package fairy must know that I like getting packages, so she has one sent to me today – From my best friend Itchy. Itchy lives in Hawaii and we haven’t seen each other for over a year now. Hopefully she is moving back to the mainland soon so we can see each other more often.

She sent me a box of tea native of Hawaii, a handmade beeswax candle coconut scent in a coconut shell, a pair of mother of pearl earrings, a Vera Bradley eyeglasses case, and a handmade note of course! :) My Itchy is very crafty! Thanks girlie!

So I think I jinxed us from the previous post about snow – we got one last night, but when I got out this morning, all we got was slush!!!

It poured the whole day so now we have absolutely no snow on the ground. If I didn’t take a picture, you probably wouldn’t believe me either. And this weather only prompted a nice cup of hot cocoa -

It’s the Candy Cane Hot Cocoa mix from InsanKnitty along with her homemade marshmallows in my new mug and spoon/stir from one of my auditors. YUM. I think I won the best drink of the day contest at work if there was one – on content AND mug! Even my boss was impressed.

And lastly, check out Anphoe‘s new outfit!

I took the pictures while at work. Isn’t she adorable? It makes me want to make it for myself! :)
Tags
Categories Food, friends, Holiday, Movie

"Merry, Happy Birthday, Year."

January 1, 2008 //
6

“I think I covered it all!” Said David as he slowly walk down the hallway at midnight to go to bed – as he put it – “Way passed my bed time!”

The dinner was fantastic last night and we didn’t wait too long, which was good. I had the Victoria Crown Fillet with the horseradish crust and baked sweet potato was my side. I also tired their Sangria and it was delicious! :) We went home and watched some HGTV until 11:30 and then watched the Dick Clark’s Rocking 2008 show. I was glad to see him back, not to say that I’m a personal fan or anything, but just to see him healthy enough to host another year of the ball drop show in NYC is a very nice start of the new year.

On the way home from dinner last night, we stopped by to see the Fantasy of Lights. It was their last night of showing. Here are some of the displays:


The welcome tunnel


The lighthouse


The carousel


The deer crossing us overhead


Little village


Giant wreath

This morning I woke up and made pancakes, and worked some more on the Honeycomb. Here is the progress:

And since I was taking pictures, I took one with the new organization in the cubby hole:

So inspired by my fellow knitter friends, here is a summary of what I’ve done in the knitting world in 2007:

Falling Leaves – my Summer of Socks 2007 KAL, first sock KAL, first pair of socks using magic cast on toe up technique, first pair of toe up socks and first 2 socks in 2 circulars needles. For those folks who don’t know what that means, it just means I made two socks at the same times using two needles.

Swan Lake (MS3) – my first lace project, ever! my first stole, first beaded knitwear, first mystery knit along.

Cabled Pullover – my first sweater that required seaming. All pieces have cables all the way through and I learned how to cable without the cable needles. Best trick ever!

Petrol and Petrol Modfied – Vests for my dad. These didn’t really take that long, but they sure did feel like they took forever because of the forever stockinette stitches. They did however earned me Harmony :) .

Hemlock Ring Blanket – It is a gorgeous blanket, despite the fact I had a lot of problem with the yarn, but I got my money back, so no complaints. My mom absolutely loved it. She took it home the day after it was completed.

Petal Dishcloth – my first dishcloth ever. It is a cute and super fast pattern. Made it with wool and my Christmas Swap partner is using it as a doily for her candle that I got her.

Diamond Spires Shawl – Second shawl, but using a DK weight yarn. This was a model knit for Schaefer Yarn. Loooove the yarn. First model knit for Schaefer Yarn.

Baby Cable Rib Neckwarmer/Headband – I knitted this in under TWO hours! Fastest knit ever! I made this for my new German friend who I got to know through the Christmas Swap. She had sent me a beautiful package for Christmas and I in term returned the favor.

Christmas Ornaments – I made a grand total of 18 of them!!! And I got Anphoe, JennM and Knelley all hooked on making them!

Vine – It was a super fast knit and my second pair of mitts. They were a very fast knit and was for my future SIL.

Knitted Tees – I knitted three of those for Farmhouse Yarns. It was the first model knitting I’ve done and first top down knitted shirt I’ve made. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them, nor blog about them for some reason. Oh well. Carol said she’ll get them back before June so maybe I’ll get some pictures then and I can put it on my Ravelry.

Phew~ there you have it. My knitted items for 2007. My other knitting accomplishments in 2007 includes:

  1. I joined Ravelry.
  2. I started going to Thursday SnB, which I wish I’ve done earlier. The ladies I sit and knit with are amazing. I’m grateful for having them as my friends. My Wednesday buddies, don’t worry, you are still my friends – without you guys, I would have just rot in my own apartment! ;) (According to the Yale’s Daily, I started going to SnB because I had no friends…)
  3. I got a Yarn Wall!
  4. I joined my first ever swap, got burned, but my second swap was wonderful. Through the swap, I have now three new friends – Irene, Andrea and Robin.
  5. I had multiple projects on WIP at the same time!!!!
  6. I started a KAL (Knit Along). Although I haven’t yet started the project yet…
  7. I organized my knitting pattern into sleeves and put them all in a binder.
  8. I received a swift as birthday present so I never had to ask David to help again… hmmm… I think I just figure out why he got me a swift…

I’m sure I forgot some but that’s all I can think of now. Besides the above, I also started following some food blogs, mainly on gluten free recipes and am very inspired by it. I also made a wedding webpage and planned most of the wedding, pick out the bridesmaid dress, sent out the save the date, and started a registry.

For 2008, here are some of the things I would like to accomplish:

  1. Finish all the wedding knitting on time.
  2. Reduce 20% of my stash by making more projects.
  3. Finish Irish Hiking Scarf.
  4. Finish Secret of the Stole I.
  5. Finish Aspen Top Down Sweater.
  6. Continue to model knit with Schaefer – although I really need to manage it so I don’t overwhelm myself.
  7. Start Autumn Rose Pullover – Fair Isle here I come!
  8. Felt something. May it be clogs or bags.
  9. Learn to spin if we move and have more room.
  10. Learn to dye if we move and have more room.

Well I think that’s a lot to do already! I better get cracking!!! Besides the knitting goals, here are some of my other goals for 2008:

  1. Be nice. Not to say I’m not nice, but sometimes I’m not, especially when I am losing my patience, which leads to no. 2
  2. Be patient.
  3. Complete all wedding details by mid-August. We’ll see how this one goes…
  4. Experiment with gluten free cakes – maybe I can make the wedding cupcakes?? Or at least have the recipes to do it? We tired Baby Cakes at NYC, they were good, but we weren’t completely thrilled with them.
  5. Spend more time on my business. I know I can do it, but it’s the motivation part of it… Knitting? Work? hmmm which one to pick?

I’m sure I have more, but this is what I got so far. If i remember more, I’ll sure to add them into the list.

Have a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Superb New Year.

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Categories Holiday

My Version of Christmas 2007

December 28, 2007 //
2

So much had happened during these past few days it’s hard to figure out where to start! So I guess I’ll start where I left off.

Lots of presents for Colin were wrapped by mom. As we put up the Christmas tree, we realized the main branch of the tree was missing!!! Now where do you get a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve???? But we made due and found this at Lowes:

And look what’s hanging on the tree!

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas eve since David and I were leaving at noon on Christmas Day. Colin really wanted to open the presents but somehow we convinced him to open it on Christmas morning.

Needless to say, he woke up super early on Christmas Day. Terry made Waffles on his new George Foreman Grill. It was very very good and easy to clean! Unlike the older ones, this one has removable plates that you can put them in the dishwashers and actually wash them!

After the breakfast, Colin was finally able to open his presents:

And he opened the big one last:

David and I bought him the Smart Cycle and a game to go with it. He loves it and he asked to play with it three times that day!

We left after all the presents were opened. On the way home, after much discussion (maybe 2 seconds), we decided to take the detour up to Niagara Falls. And here are some of the pictures I snapped while I was there:


The upper rapids


The other side of American Falls


The Horseshoe Falls


We trying to get the picture with the fall


David trying to throw one of the ice sticks that fell off from the railing


All the ice!


A squirrel posing for the picture

We left the park and decided to go to the Casino next to the park and play some Keno. As you can recall, the last time we played it, we won $150!!! But what do you know, they DIDN’T have Keno!! So we walked around and sat down at the Wheel of Fortune penny slots. We had no clue what we were doing, but all of the sudden the bonus round came up during one of the hits and we spin and it stopped at 10000 on the wheel! We looked at each other, and the screen was lit up blinking at us – we had just won $100!!!! But the waitress lady won’t let me take a picture, so we took the ticket out and ran outside to get a shot of it before we cashed it:

We had $3.85 left from the $10 we put in. We left happy and $93.85 up, totally paid for the hotel room the night before and then some.

The rest of the drive home was very uneventful, which was a good thing. While driving through, we went pass a town name Deposit, NY. I commented: What the hell is in Deposit? Why would you name a town that anyways? Plus I was bored because it was dark so I couldn’t knit, and there was no radio station for the past 15 minutes…

We got home, sort through the mail and got a piece of mail from the Good Sam Club. Guess where it came from?

Deposit, NY.

’nuff said.

On the knitting front, I finished Vine and gave them to my future SIL Page. Here is the detail:

Pattern – Vine by Iris G. on MagKnits
Yarn Called For – 1 ball elann.com Peruvian Baby Silk in #5420 seashell pink
Yarn Used – 0.5 skeins of Jaeger Alpaca in Brown
Needles – Option size 1
Gauge – 7 sts per inch
Knit – December 22, 2007 to December 23, 2007
Modifications – Reverse row 46 and 47 so there are two knitted row between like the rest of the pattern.

Page likes the gloves. One bad thing about the dark color, the pattern hardly shows. If I were to make it again, which I most likely will, I’ll make it in lighter colors to show up the vine pattern.

I am currently making the Honeycomb Socks for Schaefer Yarn. I heard back from Laura and had made some adjustment. Then the engineer in me figured out something else and I had gotten approval from Laura to make the change. I’ll be submitting the changes to Laura at the end so she can modify the pattern.

Well, I should probably go knit that now…

Happy New Year to all!

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Categories Holiday, Travel

Detour

December 25, 2007 //
1

We left Muskegon today around noon. Yes, we left on Christmas Day, but that’s just something we would do. While we were driving, we calculated that we wouldn’t make it home tonight and decided that instead of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, we will drive back up to Niagara Falls and find a hotel near by. The trouble is – most of the hotels don’t take pets! We finally found a Days Inn and the lady in the front desk was very nice, according to her, we didn’t have a dog. :P More pictures and stories to come when we get home.

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Tags
Categories critters, Holiday, Travel
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