I'm back... I think...

Goodness gracious it's been awhile, eh? 

If you're still following along.... bless your heart

The last few months in a very small nut shell...

Holidays full of fabulous family visits.
My sweet Nana, who taught me to knit, passed away to be with her love.

Website goes down for awhile.

Re-kindle old friendship. (in "paris")

New full time job, yay!

Which means new wake up and after school schedule for Lu and me.

Old roommate moved out.

New Roommate moved in. (yay)

Some knitting.

Some cleaning.

Some cooking.

Some card playing.

Some cuddling with my almost 7year old. 

Order a birthday cake.

(Liv's bday is feb. 2nd!)

Website goes back up.

2011 is definitely at a new pace. 

But I'm so fabulously happy!

More to come: current knits, pictures, and as always - my random rants as they choose to spew out. 

ick.

Remember this post from march?
Well I'm back to waking up with that face. Hopefully it passes faster than last time. 

And to all of you...
drink lots of water and vitamin C.
I don't want to see you with pictures like this!

Stay well!

tree couch.

Livi's been playing with the fairies in our tree.

 What little wonders did you find today?

It's a beautiful outside... prefect really. Sunny, happy, cool fall day. Ahhhhh. Content. I hope you feel the same way today.

Thank you,

to all you knitters who purchased my latest patterns. I can't wait to see pictures of your versions. This time of year always inspires me to knit more... you too?

I hear the chickens in my neighbors yard laying eggs... that reminds me... i need to go make myself some breakfast. ta ta

*i went outside to take pictures of the fall leaves and found this couch in the tree. so flipp'n cute!*

oops.

I got stir crazy yesterday.


and hair color was on sale for 5.99.




pro: my hair is one color.... aka, the same color as my roots.

con: not sure i like it and with summer around the corner it's going to fade like a bitch.


oh well.

special moments.

There are special moments in time.


Moments that remind you that you have everything you need.


Moments that make the shadowed times feel brighter.





Lulu and I went to the park Monday.

And she was one of those moments.





She is almost

Always

those moments.





I love you my sweet daughter. More than anything in the whole world.

scarcth, scratch, scratch.

yes this is a long post... humor me. It was one of those mornings.

Did you all know that I live in a house with my aunt? Well I do. She is downstairs in her cute 2 bedroom suit and I am upstairs. It has been a great experience so far and this month marks our one year roommate anniversary.

I bet you won't guess what our anniversary present was.

You never will...

(unless you scrolled down. And if you did you should feel ashamed of yourself. Are you one of those freaks that reads the last page of your book before you start it too? sad.)

Ok... i digress...

Here we go.

Michele woke to scratching at her window in the front window well. So she did what most tired people on there day off would do.



She put in her ear plugs.



But that little thing did not oblige.

Thing: "hello Michele. I know you want to sleep. But NO. I want you to save me! NOW!"

scratch. scratch. scratch. scratch.

Michele: "no"

Thing: scratch.

Michele: "no"

Thing: scratch.

Thing: SCRAAAAAAATTTTCH!

Michele: OK! OK! FINE!


So she came upstairs to find me where I always am at 9:30 am. On my computer. She told me that there was a creature scratching at her window and that it must be stuck in the window well.

(shivers to my spine and screeching noises came from me like never before... think final episode of Modern Family.)





Well she was right. It was a terrified little baby possum.



So to make a short story long...


we called our neighbor. (He has been trying to catch a mole that has been digging up his garden and I figured he would know what to do. or at least not be terrified by a poor scared baby possum.)

I was right. He brought his moral support, his adorable wife, and they quickly swooped it up using gloves and an old towel. Next thing I know it was scurrying off into the bushes.



And this was all before 10:30am this morning.



And did it require 3 mugs of coffee?
maybe not.



But did I drink them anyway?



Yes. Yes I did.


THE END

momma.

olivia and i are beside ourselves!!

my mom...

...arrives T O D A Y and i haven't seen her for 9 months!



WHAT?!




yep 9. whole. months.

Don't even get me started about how long it's been since i've seen my dad, sis & bro in law.


BUT!!!....


taking baby steps
cause today is mom day! YAY!!!!!

or "yaya" day if you're Lu.


ps. hope all you lovely lady's had a special mom's day. Mine was lovely.

*pic above is my mom and dad. Aren't they so cute... and still in love too. *smile*

time travel.

I don't read books much.

I love me a magazine folks.

but books, they just don't hold my interst the way a couple knitting needles and some fabulous yarn and a good movie (all at at the same time) does.




But I actually DID read The time Travelers Wife. I LOVED it! Beautiful story. And then last night I watched the movie. And it is true what they say... the book is better.

But all in all they followed the story line pretty stink'n well. And I thought Rachel McAdams was fabulous in it.

Heck YES you can eat'm!

Olivia and I wish you an Easter Hunt full of...

sassy beautiful smiling children...

hidden jeweled toned treasures...

loads and loads of kisses and hugs...

and child like wonder

over all the small things...

yes, my dear Lu...

after all the totally awesome,
i can't believe how fun eggs could be,
why didn't anyone tell me,
this freaking rocks...
dying fun...

you can even EAT them!!

bubblicious.

If it wasn't for my dear mother
Easter would have hopped right by us.

And I wouldn't have realized it until my next run to Fred Meyer...
when I trip over the clearance table...

of 50% off candy and neon plastic grass.

A package arrived yesterday from my mom
filled to the brim with holiday goodness.

Thank you mom... we loved everything, especially the bubbles!

I'm so glad I have you to remind me

of the little things that make holidays so special.

this week's stuff.

Parking stuff.
I did not realize that meeter maids had super powers. Seriously i was in and out in 5 minutes and got back to my car with no sign of life but a $40 parking ticket. (yes... $40.)
Are they invisible or just Really Really fast?



Life stuff.
Missing my family more than i have the capability to express in words.
(I was not gifted with story telling like my mom and sister. So I take pictures.)



Job stuff.
Freelance work and job hunting. Keeping busy on my portfolio so I can keep up with the ABUNDANCE of other Portland graphic design job hunters.



Nourishment stuff.
Grocery shopping. LOVE TO COOK.
HATE, Hate, HHHAAATTTEE grocery shopping.



Money stuff.
Paying bills that I wish I had the guts to flush down the toilet.


Which lead me to remember the days I had lots of that
cash stuff
and spent it like I was flushing it down the toilet.
So glad I have learned that lesson (among others)... and SO looking forward to my 30's...
I'm a much wiser Rachel now!



Kid stuff.
Picked sick Lu up from school early yesterday.
Night consisted of up-chucking kiddo,
then laundry (of coarse),
cuddling with kiddo,
and list making in hopes of catching up on things today.




Which reminds me...
clean toilet.



Knitting stuff.
It's slow going but happy to have progress on my current project.




Store stuff.
Updating my store with some hats very soon. One of my favorite things about living in Oregon... I get to stretch out my hat and scarf wearing till June and then swap them to evening camping attire till fall hits. It's the little things.




Dream stuff.
Trying to remember to keep my dreams big. To not let myself get discouraged.


"go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
live the life you have imagined."
- henry david thoreau

This is my favorite quote that I keep on my resume, refrigerator, computer desk....

...better add it to my bathroom.

wine, receipts and more whine.

Anyone remember the Seinfeld episode with George Costanza's wallet? (episode link)

If so, you will get why my boyfriend called my purse the Costanza purse.

him: "You never know when you're going to need a receipt from 7 months ago."


me: "I know. right? It's true. Here I am looking for this receipt and chances are I'm going to find it! Isn't that comforting!"


him: "I was joking. You're cute."

me: "oh."

poor bubbles.

i felt like bubbles tank looks today.

but then the sun came out...

and i cleaned the tank...

...so, now i'm feeling not so murky.

and no gold fish harmed due to dirty poo water.

smile search.

So i'm having a bit of a gloomy day. Not a ton of smiles rolling off the old face today, as you can see.



But when I came across mistybliss's picture of her daughter on flickr it cracked my grumpy mug. Thought I'd share... in case you needed a slap in the face smile too.

Originally uploaded by mistybliss

Happy Tuesday.


Happy spring break, if that's your thing this week.... it is for my Lu.


Happy knitting if you're in to that. I've been working on an oldie but a goodie the past few days.


Happy snapping if that tickles your pickle.


Happy crafting if that's what floats your boat.


ta ta

been virtual house lusting.

had my coffee & breakfast with livi here.

my new vacation home. (need this one)

my "i have a maid and am never messy" home? (love this one, but not practical for me AT ALL.)
can't you just see family night around that hovering fire place though? sigh.



after a long day of house hunting i decided to take my honey out to eat and dancing.

in this



then I heard this


back to the real world.
time to cook dinner now.

ugh.

I thought I was doing better. I mean yesterday was 10X better than Tuesday. But I was wrong. Today my nose, head, eyes, and even my jaw HATE me! See the wrinkles in my forehead... I'm in pain! And for the record Tylenol... you suck. Your "Sinus Pain" version does nothing to ease my agony.

****whine*****

OK. enough of that.

Here is the red scarf I was talking about yesterday. It's also cascade 220. I think it's going to add a nice cheery pop to my wardrobe. So even if I am not cheery and I feel like ripping my head off... no one will know because I will have on a red beautiful cheerful scarf that says... hey, look... life is great and I love my nose and head and eyes and.... who am I kidding? You'll still know. Because I'll be the crazy lady in the grocery isle with the fabulous red scarf on flipping herself off.

cough, cough.

No! Back up! Don't get too close... I wouldn't want you catching our bugs over here. Olivia started antibiotics for ear infections in both ears. First ear infection she has ever had... pretty good run for a 6 year old. I too am miserable... although I do not have an ear infection. Don't know what I've got going on... but it ain't fun y'all!!!

Hope everyone else is having a fabulous healthy Monday... cheers!

Best kid EVER!

** momma gushing follows... just a warning!

Yesterday I was up early, first one up to start the day. While I was in the shower miss Lu woke up and decided that she wanted to help me out... (I started a new job yesterday) So she cleaned up her room, some things in my room and made our beds. When I hopped out of the shower she couldn't wait to tell me what she had done. She gave me a big hug and said, "mom I wanted to help you cause I want you to have a good first day." I think my heart exploded all over her cute little face. What a doll!

ps. so Olivia pulled on this blue wound up scarf last night. They were not necessarily intended for kids... but I think it looks adorable on her! (cell phone pics)

family time and laundry...

Well,

I thought I was going to have time this weekend to finish my shop update. I had mentioned to a few curious people that Monday was the day to look for the new items... specifically the crocheted necklaces but unfortunately that ain't gonna happen yo!

Soon though!

While you're here check out this link at Ready Made. Fun idea, right?!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Today was especially sunny here and it was a nice surprise.

Project #8

Angel Food Birthday Cake.... so good I couldn't get a picture of it before it was all gone! I think that's a good sign though!