Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year!
A time for reflection... and new beginnings.

Wishing you the best in 2012
xx
Nicky

Recycle Reuse Rejoyce

As I find myself with some extra time, I am enjoying a bit of thrift shopping. There are some good things to find in the midst... if you have the time to pick through the "junk". For me it's like treasure hunting. Searching, searching, searching to find someone's trash that makes up my treasure.

The loot from this trip to Goodwill consists of (1) Abercrombie & Fitch shirt, XL for my husband, that looks like it was never worn, The Tenth House, a novel about Tarot in England during the 1800s, a trinket box, a brass colander that I intend to plant Ivy in this spring, and a very colorful plate that I just couldn't resist.

Re-Purposing is fun!

Lots of Catching Up to Do!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Whew... A lot has happened since the last time I checked in. First and foremost, I have officially graduated from Aurora University!! December 15th was my very last day of classes. I now hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Yay for me! I am 39 years old, and like I always say...better late than never :)

After I finished school I thought it was going to be so great to do whatever I wanted. But I found myself anxious, almost pacing the floor. What? Free time... What am I supposed to do with that?

Christmas kept me busy... like way busy. I finally finished my "Shaker" afghan I started back in July, which was intended as Christmas gift for my Dad, at 1 o'clock on Christmas eve. School kinda got in the way of crocheting. But, talk about pressure... I worked on it with fury crocheting 6 skeins in three days. That is not my style of crocheting. I didn't enjoy it, it became work. Now, its on to the next one, my no rhyme, no reason stripey afghan. Maybe I'll finish that one before Grad school starts... but I doubt it.

I would like to leave you with this relaxing image of hot cocoa... Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Suzi

Happy Birthday to You!

This week we had a Birthday... meet my sister Sue. Our families are often sooo busy that we don't have a whole lot of time to get together and have some fun. But, today is not the case. Bill, Sue's husband, and I were able to keep our mouths shut and surprise Sue for her Birthday. At 6.30 at night our family showed up at her door with a cake, a fun craft, and some presents for her on her birthday! Kind of like a kiddie birthday, but for an adult :)

Above is the craft table. I thought, in efforts to get into the Christmas spirit, we should have a snowman theme. I was at Target and luckily they had a winter craft that comes in a box! Everything you need to make 20 snowmen all in one awesome kit. I love it. We laughed a lot trying to assemble our snowmen. Below is my new Facebook profile pic for the winter.

Have a look at our family below...

All in all, it was one fun day!

xoxo
Nicky

One a Day WIP-3

Hello everyone... Here is my "One-A-Day" update for those of you who have been following along. My stripey blanket won this week. I have completed 8 rows - Whoot! Whoot! This is my 3rd post, but actually week 4... I missed a week in there somewhere. You can follow the crochet clan along at Gingerbread Girl's Tuesday Tallies post on her blog.

I was so happy to read your comments last Tuesday about having multiple projects going. It makes me feel much more normal and less scatter-brained knowing that others subscribe to my ways of working. I just love being apart of this group. It's wonderful to take a sneak-peek at all the other wonderful projects that are going on too. Well done ladies!

My post is going to be short and sweet today as I have way too many pages to read before class tomorrow. But not too short to say that I hope you all had a great, and spooky, Halloween yesterday. We sure did. CJ counted 199 pieces of candy in his trick-or-treat bag. And Kelsey topped the 200 mark. Oh, how the dentists must love Halloween.

This week I have learned a new stitch... the popcorn stitch. It's really quite simple, just 5 double crochets in the same hole, and the pull them together. A real tutorial can be found here. I like the little bit of random texture it adds.

I got a bit carried away with the size. I haven't actually taken the time to measure it but... I think that when I'm done it will no longer be a cozy throw, but an all out coverlet for my bed. It's going to take months to finish!! I'm not sure about the Navy?? I have to look at it a while before I continue. It isn't supposed to match anything but... maybe it is?? Any thoughts? Is it too much? I'm on the edge.

xx
Nicky

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Helllloo my friends... hope your weekend is relaxing and joyful. I have been doing a bit of crochet, actually I've been able to complete several rows of my stripey afghan that I started last week, which is awesome, but what I really want to share with you is my experience at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a chaperone for my Kelsey's band field trip. I am not sophisticated enough to be a regular attendee at the symphony. In all actuality I would feel terribly out of place if I went there not with a group, but I was good with leading a bunch of kids! It was a long 2 hour trip into the city... on a yellow school bus, of which, I'm pretty sure there isn't an ounce of suspension on it.

We live in the suburbs, not totally farm like, but nothing like city living. It was entirely way to busy for my liking. Or maybe I am just getting older. Hmmmm. Below is the entrance to the orchestra hall. And the scads of people!

But the performance was awesome! Because it was close to Halloween, the production had a spooky theme. The orchestra members were dressed as zombies, and the music was from the movie The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

The Maestro was great. The sounds were amazing. All-in-all is was an excellent experience. I would even have to say the it was worth the 4 hours it took for us to get there and back!

Happy Halloween,
xx Nicky

I Love Technology

Technologically speaking, some days are better than others. And today is a good day. As I sit here in the Phillips Library of Aurora University, wishing that I was partaking in a crafty endeavor, I can at least blog about it on my laptop. Not only can I write about it, but I can read about it too. I am collecting quite a list of favorite blogs, and you can browse them too if you like.

I only have 7 weeks left at AU until I graduate. I can almost taste it! Then off to grad school to become a librarian. By the summer of 2014 I will have a job that I have been wishing for for a long time... but really, who's counting?

But for now, we are reading James Joyce - A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man for class. I'm not really getting into it, but then again I'm only on page 21?!? 39 pages to go before class... must read! Can you see that I get easily distracted?? And I procrastinate? Must read.

Enjoy your day,

xx Nicky