Just Like The Jeffersons

We're movin' on up! Maybe not to a deeeelux apartment in the sky, but to a deeelux 2 bedroom town house right down the street from work! I've spent the last 11 years schlepping aprox. 15 miles to work, this in NJ is major pain in the ass.  There are perfect days, where it takes me just 25 or so minutes to complete this task.  Then, there are days where, well, not so much.  Should anything even drizzle fall from the sky, my commute is now up to at least 50 minutes, sometimes well over an hour.  I'm looking forward to switching that up to a 1.4 mile one way commute! Rich will make out even better in this deal, as he currently has a 50 mile one way commute.  Oh and YES we are going to be moving in together... this for me is HUGE people, HUGE! After the former jerk face boyfriend, I vowed that unless I could see myself with a person forever, I would be perfectly content to live by myself.  We spent this past weekend shopping for new furnishings for our future abode, and after a long trip to Ikea, we found some things that Rich liked enough to want to call his own :) So the count down has begun, this is the very last week ever that I'll be making the commute from this place to work, and I can NOT wait!

Holy Guacamole!

The days are slipping by so quickly this summer, I have no idea where the last few months have even gone!  Mind you it's been so miserably hot and humid this summer, I won't at all mind the cool, crisp fall weather once it finally arrives, but wow, times does indeed fly. So much has been happening, work (as usual, a 4 letter word), working on my business, spending time with Rich, and family and friends, planning our vacation (my first in 9 years), planning our move, whew! I feel like I haven't had any time to just sit and be.

With all the said, this past weekend was wonderful.  Rich's 40th Birthday was on Thursday 8/26. We had a lovely dinner out and just enjoyed spending time together. I made him a Fornicating Deer hat (that I have to re-work because the stranded knitting is a bit snug) and he was happy as a clam!  Over the weekend, we celebrated with his family, spend the whole day together, playing with the kids, eating homemade baked ziti and sampling delicious cakes for dessert.  One of these was a white cake with lemon mousse, then there was another that was red velvet cake and both a caramel and black sesame mousse.  We took the younger boys fishing at a small pond near Rich's house.  They did a great job and were so proud of all of the sun fish that they each caught.  Rich is so wonderful with these kids, you can clearly see how much they both adore him as well, it's all terribly sweet to witness.

The next few weeks are going to be equally as hectic, if not more.  The count down to vacation has begun.  Four more days of work for me after today then I'm off from work for 9 glorious days!  This will be a busy week however, as I have dyeing and tagging of yarn and fiber to get done to bring up to Jesh for NJS&W she's been kind enough to offer to be the pimp for Plays Well With Colors that weekend.  We have a Labor Day weekend BBQ planned with Rich's family, then I'll be packing for our trip to Portland, OR (YAY!!!!!) Once we're back from Portland, the following weekend, we've got to find an apartment, and from there on out I'll be packing and planning and repainting my apartment. The good news is that Rich has decided that he's okay with living very close to work, so our commute times will be next to nothing, that will save us both a fair amount of money in gas each month. I have a few places close by in mind to check out.  I'm SOOOO excited to get this move over with, and start the next chapter of our life together. 

Pulling Up Roots

There have been a lot of things on my mind as of late, of course one would think that I'd take a few moments here and there to write about them.  Of course then, one would be wrong. As with many things in my life, these thoughts come and go, the ones that tend to stick around often get jotted down in my journal, or on a random scrap of paper here and there until something comes of it. The idea of pulling up my roots has been one of these ideas that has been in for forefront of my mind the last few weeks. I have lived most of my life in NJ, actually the majority of my life has been lived within 10 miles of where I grew up, though I've moved plenty of times.  I've said for a very long time that I want out of NJ, for good, and while this hasn't changed, I'm almost feeling a little sad about the possibility of it.  Rich and I are making the big move in the fall to moving in together! Yes this is huge news for me, after the 6 years with Craig debacle, and living alone for almost 8 years now, moving in with someone and sharing my space is pretty flippin' big. With that being said, we're moving out of the area that I've lived in for most of my life.  We'll still be in NJ for the time being, but will be about an hour or so north of where I'm used to. For the first time, I'm beginning to feel like I won't have a "home" to go back to once I branch out into the rest of this big world.  Since I've been back in NJ most of my best friends have moved out of the state, my family is either moved away or passed away, except for my mother, but I haven't had contact with her for close to 15 years, but that in itself is a story for another day. So I would aside from friends have no "people" to come back here to. Living in a new place, I will have to start fresh, in some ways this is a good thing, but in others, I'm going to have to find new places and things. I'll have to find where the nearest big box stores are, yarn shops, movie theaters, where I can get the best pizza in town.  I'm sure you'll agree, all very important points to contemplate! 

Feeling the Disconnect

I'm feeling very disconnected from a lot these days, people, places, things. I'm hoping very much that this passes soon and that things can get back to normal, before they end up irreparably broken.

For Anyone Who Entered the Contest

Please check your email, I've sent out discount codes for any orders from either of my etsy shops that is good to use for the next 12 months. Please contact me if you have not received yours.

And We Have a Winner!

I'm pleased to announce that Plays Well With Colors is up and running and open for business. Please stop in and check out my grand opening month specials that will run the entire month of May.

My dear sweet and loyal companion Kinsey (isn't she CUTE!) Helped me to pick a winner from the Name That Colorway contest. I wrote out all of the entries on slips of paper, balled them up and tossed them on the floor in front of her and the first one she touched was declared the winner! Thanks to all of you who entered, I'll be contacting you shortly with the discount code that you will be able to use in either of my etsy shops for the next 12 months!

The winner of 4 luscious ounces (115 grams) of beautiful hand dyed Falkland roving isssssssss..

littlelib!!!!

Yay!! Ruth!! I'll be sending out your Sweetgrass Roving to you in a few days!

In the meantime, I've been working all day and need to get some housework done. So I'm off to tend to that. My next post will be from or just after Maryland Sheep and Wool! I'm so excited to be going this year!!

Holy FIBERISTA Batman!

I am absolutely loving the video casts that Heather of Highland Handmades is doing on her blog The Fiberista Files. I am all for supporting other Indie dyers and artisans who are working daily to do the same things that I'm working on. Together we can make the world a soft, fluffy, more colorful place to be! Please take a few minutes to check her out!