Chapel Hill Road Trip

I’ve been a bad blogger but I tend to be one of those people that has like a routine and so it doesn’t make for interesting news though. However, I did go to Chapel Hill yesterday to meet a famous knitter/blogger/author named Franklin Habit. His blog was one of the first blogs that I started reading when I started blogging back in the day. Anyways, like a few weeks ago he mentioned he was interested in coming out to the area to do a signing/class and one of the yarn stores in Chapel Hill made arrangements to host a lecture/book signing and then their sister store in Raleigh is hosting his photography & knitting class today.
So, on Thursday, H & I decided to go and we both love Franklin’s work and thought it would a big adventure to go to Chapel Hill because neither one of us has ever been there before.
Basically, on Friday night I basically worked on the Lap Blanket from the Vanna’s Choice afghan book. It’s two shades of blue and one shade of linen that is a big granny square with a shell stitch border and I finished round 18 out of 30 yesterday and I’m almost out of one of the colors of blue so I need to get more after I go to KIP today.
Then Saturday morning, I made my usual trips to Whole Foods & the library and then I met a representative from Project Linus to drop off the baby afghans I had finished and the yarn donations. It is kind of freeing to be rid of all that old stash yarn. Then I came back to the apartment and worked on the afghan while I waited for H to get off work at the library.
So H made it to the apartment and we left straight for Chapel Hill because we kind of wanted to explore a little before the reading. I think after our trip, we are kicking ourselves for not having more time to spend in Chapel Hill & for not going to Chapel Hill before. It was seriously so easy to get to and we didn’t even get lost trying to get to the yarn store, which is next to this HUGE Whole Foods which is like super wal-mart sized and way larger than the one in Cary or Raleigh. They had King cakes for sale and I am regretting not purchasing one because they looked like a slice of heaven. In the same shopping center we also went to an organic living store called Twig, a PTA thrift shop and there is a Popsicle store (that sells little popsicles in all kinds of flavors).
Then it was finally time for the reading and the yarn store was packed. Franklin read essays from his book and did a Q&A and he showed us the red lace shawl that he had just recently finished and it is so beautiful! After he was finished speaking, then everyone lined up to have their books signed and H & I waited until the line got smaller. H & I both had our books signed and posed for pictures with Franklin. He is so nice and he has the most gorgeous penmanship. After the reading, H & I were starving, so we drove around until we found a place to eat that didn’t have like a super long wait and ended up eating at Red Robin and then we made it back home.
I was so wired when we got back from Chapel Hill that I ended up staying up late reading The Women by T.C. Boyle and Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Hearts, Yarn and Taxes

Happy V-day or Single Awareness Day, whichever you celebrate.
Yesterday, hell froze over and I took a half-day of vacation to drive down to the Queen City to see my parents. I needed help from my mom to assemble the Linus blankies and I needed daddy to do my taxes. yes, I am an accountant and no I do not do my my own taxes. I have THREE STATE RETURNS and one federal this year and my dad has many years of experience in filing multiple state returns. Allegedly, I am getting a federal return. Hopefully, i don't have to pay in too much to the states.
So far, Mom and I have assembled two afghans and we are almost done with two more. The sweet pea one is going to take longer because of all the little squares, so it probably won't be finished this weekend. We made a lot of progress while watching Nights in Rodanthe on DVD. Mom had bought it earlier in the week which was cool because that movie hadn't come up in my queue yet on Netflix. I love the soundtrack and the book and now I am fighting the urge to buy it on DVD. I might have to break down and buy it tomorrow.
I am really excited because I found a couple of lesportsac cosmetic bags for 5.99 each at TJ Maxx and normally they are like $18 a piece!
Mostly this has been a lounge weekend, but that fits my work hard, play hard lifestyle.

So Damn Lucky

Today I came home from work and my friend A & her daughter L had sent me a $20 Starbucks gift card Christmas. I almost did the million dollar dance at the mail hut. Anything Starbucks is always greatly appreciated by me.
I did finish the blocks for the Sweet Pea afghan while I was hanging out at BN with H & T. I have over 50% of the ends woven in on the blocks. I’ve been weaving in ends while watching episodes of Flight of the Conchords (I am the Supafan!) or watching my Netflix dvds. I should be receiving Round three of Netflix DVDs starting tomorrow.
I had a really exciting weekend. I kicked it off Friday night with game night at G’s apartment. She has a cute puppy and HBO and we all had so much fun hanging out and playing games, I don’t think I have laughed so hard in a long time.
Saturday, I spent the majority of the day working on the Sweet Pea afghan and I watched more Doctor Who episodes and a documentary on the life of Harvey Milk.
Sunday, I hung out at BN with T & H. We ended up going out to eat at On the Border and seeing the movie Coraline which I really liked even though I have not read the Neil Gaiman book yet (on my to read list). I might have gasped when a knitting scene or a piece of knitwear would appear.
It has been in the upper 60s and low 70s all weekend/week and I am loving the fact that I can turn the heat off and not wear a jacket to work.