Back in the Saddle

What a whirlwind of weeks. After my last post, I prepared to head out for my "Finally People Can Safely Label Me As Certifiable" road trip. It was around 740 miles one way and we played this song a lot. This very much provided the perfect theme song to our trip.


Our first stop was in Louisville, Kentucky to visit my brother and his family. Much fun was had by all. The big day was spent at the pumpkin farm where I had to do some fancy illusion tricks to get my son to forget about his very large pumpkin and opt for a small gourd instead. Ava, as usual, loved everything.


Second stop was in Nashville, Tennessee to visit my brother-in-law and his wife. How cool of an aunt and uncle are they? My kids arrived there to presents and playing and lots of fun. Ava started crawling at my brother's house and perfected her technique here. She also perfected her pulling up and cruising technique. (Oh well, no time like the present, right?)



We spent some wonderful play time at the dragon park where the kids got to stretch their legs and run around and play. For October, this afternoon was very warm and Chandler requested to have his shirt off - which I granted.



Third stop was to an undisclosed location south of Nashville to visit friend, Jackamo and her family. Jack and I have been friends since college and haven't seen each other in three years. She's NEVER met my kids! Sad, I know. This was the main point of my whole road trip. We always email each other and sometimes will call to chat, and our conversations always ended in a You really need to come and visit me, on both sides, knowing that was an empty request but asking it anyway to show our affection for each other and the desire to see each other again.

Jack and I had a conversation like this in September and I thought about it and had a sort of awakening. Why not go visit? My husband was about to embark on a ten day quest to find the big one on October 1st, my kids were still in diapers but on a very easy schedule (i.e. good naps and no bathroom stops). Well, Chandler is in the midst of potty training but only demands to be changed if he goes #2. So ... why not?

It was so good to hang out with Jack and her family. They were very gracious and the best hosts. I enjoyed MANY cups of tea as Jack is an excellent tea brewer and has a lot of fun teas that don't necessarily come from the grocery store aisle next to the instant coffee. (See her recommendations on the sidebar of this blog.) Of course, each cup of tea was accompanied by a shortbread or carb-y/sugar-y concoction of some sort. VERY yummy.


The kiddos were off-schedule and tired and cranky sometimes, but were SUPER troopers for being ages one and two. It was so much fun just to pack up and go. I have always had an "I Can Do" attitude which has sort of gotten me into trouble in the past (note to self: never assume - especially when using the parental car). I never want to just say "I wish I could" and never actually do. So, when I felt that I was in a good spot ... I did. I definitely don't want to say years from now, that I wish I visited my friends more often.


Finally, we traveled back up to Lexington, Kentucky to stay the night with my other brother and his wife in their new home. They've only been married two weeks and are still trying to settle into their new home and they were the most gracious hosts. They picked up an extra box of crackers (I had finally run out on our journey) set up an extra pack and play and had everything ready for us.


By this time, we were exhausted but Chandler still had tons of fun in the park and he is totally in love with Aunt Katie so time with her was the best. He, Kyle and Katie spent Saturday morning at the local park while Ava and I ate and re-packed the car for our final leg home.


We finally made it after 7 days of traveling and we had so much fun. There was a lot of excitement when we finally pulled in our driveway and Ava squealed at the sight of Daddy and touched his nose.

I would do it again. Not any time soon but I would do it again for the fun, the experience and to keep my friendships going. Does that inspire you? Shall I quote that NIKE commercial that won't go away? Okay, I won't.


I did do some knitting while I was at Jackamo's house believe it or not. While we caught up in the evenings, I made two of these washcloths for her boys. I'm telling you, if you haven't tried them, you really should. They are so easy to whip out after you get the hang of the loop stitch and so cute as a gift. So yes, some crafting was still going on. Jackamo is an expert a this apron and hopefully she'll post an official picture of it someday.

Whew! I came home to the arrival of my new Knit Picks Shine Worsted yarn - a whole bag of it! I am now finishing up an earflap hat for Channy and will start on some sweaters for the kids after that. Will keep you posted.

In the meantime...

Stay on the path.

Happy Apron Day

So, I've been waiting to share this apron with you since it was supposed to be a surprise for my swap partner. But it's posted on her blog now so I think it's okay that I share!


This apron was so much fun to make and turned out so great that my husband questioned whether or not I could let it go. But I was completely fine mailing it out to my swap-ee because I KNEW that I was getting an equally fun, if not better, apron in the mail from my swap-er.



Oh, and in other news: I joined Facebook.


I can't believe it did that - since it is yet another complete time-suck (Ravelry members will know what I mean) but I'm excited about it and am finding old school chums that I'm hoping to reconnect with. Especially the ones from grade school - I can't believe I found them!

On the path... (on too many paths?)

Time Travel

I received the best package in the mail! It was truly bittersweet as the package came from one of my best friends, Anne Marie (AMK - pronounced "Aym-kuh"). AMK and I met in college; I was a transfer and we were both sophomores at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She was the very first real friend I made there and is pretty much the reason why I didn't go running back north during my first semester.

Back to the story: years ago, before I got married, our group of friends from Samford (mostly the girls I roomed with and that circle of friends) converged from all over the US to get together in Cincinnati (my home at the time). We had so much fun together we vowed to do it again. But, as you know, kids and jobs and other commitments got in the way. And in some cases, our bellies.

This summer, everyone decided that they should get together again - at our alma mater in Birmingham. Sadly, I couldn't work out a way to go; coming from Michigan down to Samford for one weekend driving just wouldn't work. It would take me almost a weekend to just get there. Flying didn't work either as my accumulated miles wouldn't get me a ticket that weekend. So, I am sad to say that I was the only one M.I.A. that weekend (Aug 1-2).

Being the good friend that she is, AMK got me some coffee from our fave coffee shop in college: O'Henry's. O'Henry's was the place where AMK learned to love coffee and where we would go for the best lattes and cappuccinos and a little live music. Sigh. She called and said that she wanted to get me a little souvenir from the trip. So, my plan is to brew some O'Henry's coffee, put on some 80s and 90s tunes and page through my photo albums...

While I do that, here is a little biography about my friendship with AMK (and the rest of the Bodacious Babes of Suite B ... and friends).

Anne Marie and I met at Samford during my very first semester there. We were in a dance troupe after failing to get into any of the other groups we auditioned for, we ended up being the two least enthusiastic dancers in the troupe. Well, it was something to do anyway...


NO! It wasn't THAT kind of dancing. Would you believe that this was our normal university attire? No? Well, we also participated in some campus singing/dancing competitions that required us to dress up in some clearly questionable outfits. Firey genie-like backup singer (me) meets 80s hair cave woman (AMK). Nice!

We quickly found out that we lived in the same dorm and would hang out on Sundays and watch movies in each other's room and usually take long Sunday naps. That is one thing that we both got so excited about on Sunday, crawling back into our jammies after lunch and snoozing for hours. Bliss...

The very next year, we became roommates and lived in this dorm:



His name was Ralph. Yep. We lived in a dorm with the word RALPH carved over the entryway. Nothing else. Just Ralph. Seriously.

We had some pretty fun suitemates in that dorm. It started out with Maggie and Jodi and then turned into Jodi and Christy. To round out the group, we had TaniaandChristy (yes, they were best friends, always together and thus, one name back in those days). TaniaandChristy (now, Tania and Christy) would have movie nights in their room and later, at their apartment, they would throw the best Halloween parties with good food and fun games.

Here is everyone (except Christy the suitemate - where are you Christy?)


Incidentally, Maggie is a very talented gal who, in this picture, is balancing that picture frame on her head to entertain us while we wait to be seated.

Oh, here's a picture with Christy the suite mate:


AMK and I were so close (and still are) that we would sometimes pose as one another at parties. I went as Anne Marie to her Sociology party when she couldn't make it that year. I wasn't a Sociology major nor was I a member of the Sociology club. But I went anyway, pouf-ing up my hair and donning her signature Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt. No one could even tell.

Here we are on our first day of our senior year. We decided to do "First day of school" pics like we did through grade school.


Can you tell which one I am? I think the red cast gives me away. ;)

We vowed to be roommates again after college, picking a place on the map and just up and moving there. We planned on living and working together and having fun as single girls in a big city. But AMK changed all that by getting married; couldn't be helped. So AMK became AMKT (for Trammell), but I couldn't get used to adding the T sound to the end of Aym-kuh. Hard enough.

I was the maid of honor at her wedding and it was so beautiful! She was the matron of honor at my wedding. We just had our babies two weeks apart last summer and I have yet to see Cooper, but when I do, he's in trouble! I'm going to smother him with kisses and hugs.

I am so sad that I missed the girls' weekend, but I plan on being there next time...

On the path...

I AM...

Take the Quiz here!

I mean, honestly, why does everyone act so silly?

She is the reason why I started reading all things Austen! Thanks, Troye, for sharing this on your blog.

On the path...

A Good Weekend

Did you have a good weekend? I had work to do but somehow, it just didn't get done. There was too much fun to be had with the family (and the kids didn't want to go to sleep at night!).

We had fun exploring the Children's Garden on the Michigan State campus and getting very dirty in the process. Well, what's fun without dirt, right?


We also stumbled upon the preparations for an outdoor wedding - someone had a beautiful wedding day! I only wish we could have stayed long enough to spy the bride.

I hope you had a great weekend too...

On the path.

Honored

Wow - what a surprise to wake up this morning and find I've been given an award! Em, over at Em and the Gang, handed out an award to some bloggers and I was on her list - I made the list! Thanks, Em. You are such a great virtual friend.

Isn't that how it is here in blog-land? Em and I are virtual friends because we live so far apart (Her NC to my MI), which is too bad, really because I feel like we could be actual friends too. She's a super-mommy that is super crafty and creative as well. She not only went through the first round of the Quilt-A-Long but is now well-embroiled into Round II (the star quilt), doing summer lessons with her kids, traveling with her family, crafting as always, and finding time to blog as well as trying to pass legislation on allowing backyard chickens in her home town!

Check out her ETG blog as well as her new Chicken blog. It will make you want to have some in your back yard...

On the path.