Overdo mention....

And now that I'm getting all caught up with life again...I just have to show you all a picture of the FAB gift Karen sent me! This was the last round of the Snail Mail Swap, and the theme was fall colors.

Ribbons, stickers and scrapbooking goodies will keep me busy at play time! I LOVED the stamp and have used it all ready. The CHOW cooking magazine is ever fun. And I am in love with the paint by numbers kit! We saw them on our NYC trip at the wonderful Kates Paperie in SoHo...and I exclaimed to one of the girls..."HEY that's what Karen sent me!"

THANKS you multi~talented Sweetie Pants you!

xoxoxoxox

posted by: sweetpeas at October 26, 2005 12:46 | link | comments (3) |
bloggy presents

Finished Tank

Summer in the City

I know it's fall...but I'm still psyched to have finished this tank. HEY, I can wear it under a blazer. It's the first piece I have made that is not a hat, scarf or pocketbook!

I got the pattern from this easy~peasy to follow book.

I used "Summer Tweed" by ROWAN. Its 70 silk / 30 cotton...and it's scrumptious!

 The only thing I found is that it runs a bit big....I followed the pattern for a medium and it's a bit big around the middle and bottom. (I have tucked the access in back for the picture.) BUT, I'm thinking of crocheting ties, attatching them to the sides under the arms, and tying them behind me, kinda' gypsy style....since it's fairly soft and flowy. (is FLOWY a word??)

ANYHOO...I know some of my knitting friends would be mighty proud!

Drop me a line and let me know what your knitting project is this fall!

********************

*UPDATE*

I just went to Rachel's site (the above mentioned knitting friend) to let her know I finally finished this tank and found that she and her best friend are trying to earn some extra $$$$ through their shared online shop, Zephyr. The reason? So Sarah can come visit Rachel on her birthday. Any purchase of  a set of ADORABLE handmade Stitch Markers will go towards the "GET SARAH TO ME IN A JET PLANE" FUND.

What would life be like without a best friend?

I of course purchased 2 sets as Christamas gifts! My FIRST official Christmas Pressies! AND...did I mention that  some of those stitch markers can be personalized? How cool is that??

Go visit...you know you want to!

posted by: sweetpeas at October 21, 2005 11:17 | link | comments (8) |
knitting away the time

Rockin' the Big Apple

Rockin' the Big Apple may create images of 7 girls doing belly shots across some dirty bar with a bunch of unknown frat boys at 4:00 am in Greenwich Village. I certainly would never want to give anyone that impression.

We were however serenaded in Central Park by a bunch of frat boys sporting just their swim trunks. But I'll get to that later.

I started my trip at 4:00 am, driving the 50 minute trip through dark, deer infested backroads to the airport. (Jon really drove...I was still asleep). Getting this very early start gave me a jump on the weekend, landing me at Dawn's in Queens by 9:00 am. And lucky me! She treated me to a fab breakfast in her warm and inviting apartment. While she cooked we chatted and got to know eachother better....I felt like I was visiting an old friend! Tom woke up just in time to chow some food and head to work! Nice meetin' you Tom!! (he's a sweetie truly).

From there Dawn and I dragged my luggage from Queens to our hotel in Manhatten. (now dubbed the Hotel Zombie)....really, the staff were like ZOMBIES! ANYHOO....once we threw my luggage into a locker, we were free to hit the streets! We shopped, tried on clothes & met her wonderful friend Mary at Dawn's place of work. I'd love to mention the name, but I'm not sure if Dawn wants every "El Creepo" in Manhatten looking her up! It was ultra hip and yummy to boot! And we ate and ate and ate....seriously.

We met Hope at the train station later that day...HURRAY....we're finally meeting Hope and she's just as cute in person as she is on her blog!! We popped into O'Reilleys on 31rst (our first stop of many) until we got the call...the girls were at the hotel.

Let the games begin.

There was the rest of the crew waiting in the hotel lobby...and I'm sure there was just a second of a pause before the squealing and laughing began to irritate the other lodgers. We took it up to the rooms. After everyone finished freshening up, we walked back over to O'Reilleys and sat at what soon would become "Our Table".

The next day we hit SoHo. I could definetly spend an entire week in SoHo exploring! Shops and restaurants galore, street vendors and picture taking apportunities on every corner. I bought bangles, teas, a cool top and a big flower turquoise ring. I found a cool pocketbook. We all bought artwork from an artist named Michael Pinkston. (Giao....can you say HMMMMPH?) Yvonne and I bought the same pair of shoes at American Eagle Outfitters. Leslie and I bought the same cool top...but in different colors....this was not a planned thing, great minds really do think alike! Three girls headed back to the hotel to take a break and to drop off bags, so that left myself, Hope and Kathleen free to really get into picture taking mode.

SOHO ART

FLOWER MARKET

We all went to grab a bite to eat....argghhhh...can't remember the name of the place. The food was great, but I'm not so sure about the entertainment. We had a skinny drunk guy from the bar who was putting on quite a show for us. He kept on insisting we take his picture. Kathleen and I were enjoing a glass of the house chardonnay, and I couldn't decided if I wanted to drink it or throw it over my shoulder at him. I decided to drink it of course...why waste a good glass of wine?

I discovered that I have a new love. It's called Anthropologie. We don't have an Anthropologie store in Maine...thank god...I'd be broke all of the time if we did.

The next day we met Dawn in Central Park at Country Homes "Get Creative NYC".  WHAT FUN! Hope had a free manicure, while Dawn got a foot massage. Kathleen and I walked up to one of my favorite authors Maryjane Butters and introduced ourselves. What a lovely lady...so warm and sweet! (I even got a hug!) I felt like grabbing Kathleen's arm as we were walking away and twirling her around! (yes...I am extremely dorky I know). We had a wonderful time there...there was too much going on to mention, but I can tell you I'd go to another one in a heartbeat. There was something there for everyone, including the kiddies. We also loved our tote bags filled with goodies given to us by Country Home. THANKS!

DISPLAY AT THE "GET CREATIVE NYC" EVENT

From there we walked through some of Central Park. We saw Ethan Hawke carrying a sleeping child in his arms! Lots of giggling and chasing going on there. (I hope he didn't notice!) We had a bunch of Frat Boy Wannabees serendaing us wearing nothing but their very tight swim trunks. They wanted money so they could buy clothes. I gave 'em a buck. We visited Strawberry Fields and the Alice in Wonderland sculpture where Giao and Kathleen posed with all of the kids.

GO ASK ALICE

Later that night we headed to Little Italy and had a sidewalk dinner. Leslie, Kathleen and I shared a bottle of wine. I think it put us in the right kind of mind set to walk through some of China Town. Leslie and Kathleen bought the most adorable handbags, which I now regret not picking one up.

AND THEN...can you believe the next day was time for Giao, Leslie and Kathleen to leave?? ALL READY?? But the most amazing thing is that I realize as I read over this post, I didn't even touch on everything we did! MAN! We really crammed it all in! It was sad to see the girls off!

But that still left Yvonne, Hope and myself to hook up with Dawn at the Medieval Festival in Tyron Park. What a lovely day that turned out to be! Music, food and vendors kept us gawking and taking pictures. Stawberry beer kept us smiling.

From there we kind of went full circle. We headed back to the Hotel Zombie to send Yvonne in a taxi to the airport. (waving until we could not see her anymore, just like in the movies.) Dawn, Hope and I headed to Hell's Kitchen for  a WONDERFUL dinner. (DAWN: can you leave the name of the place in the comments...yet another one that I didn't write down). It was delicious, and we had some good old fashion girlfriend banter. We walked through Times Square, and I thought, this is it, the end of our exciting weekend. Tomorrow morning I go home....and I'm glad.

I missed Big Daddy and the pets tremendously. I know all of the girls missed their families...(ESPECIALLY Leslie). When all is said and done, the one thing that we all have in common is that we are all so truly happy with our mates, pets, kids. We are all such FAMILY Gals you know?

And now we are all good friends in real life.

Love you all!

Hope ~ Leslie ~ Kathleen ~ Dawn ~ Yvonne ~ Giao

posted by: sweetpeas at October 10, 2005 12:25 | link | comments (14) |