Nicole the Knitting Goddess

It's Getting Hot in Here!

We're having issues here at the casa.  Our air conditioner stopped cooling a couple of days ago.   Michael cleaned out the condensation line, but the house was still not cooling.   Luckily our house stays really cool and the temperature has not gotten above 80 degrees, which I can handle.  Mainly I've handled the heat by running around in short-shorts and eating ice cream.   Short-shorts and ice cream are possibly two things that should not go together, but I figure that it won't show for a couple of weeks.

Super luckily our entire house is still under warranty.  Right now the general warranty man is here and looking at everything.   It turns out that our air conditioner has frozen(???) and the ice is melting and dripping down into our downstairs ceiling.  So now we have the air conditioner man coming out, drying people coming out (???) and ceiling people coming out.

The only upside to this is that Michael is home all day to deal with it.   It's extra nice because I still am not feeling well and had a bit of a fainting incident.   This way he can take care of me!

Something Chocolate and the baby blanket look almost identical to last week's WIP shoot, just longer.   I am almost done with the baby blanket (just 4 more rows to go!) and I think that I will start knitting my gift for my Swap Softly pal.  I plan on knitting Tums the Hippo and if I have time, an Elefante.

Here's how far I've gotten on my Elfine sock.   I think that I'm going to make these shorty socks (inspired by the hotness).   I think that they're going to be pretty freaking cute.

A Few of my Favorite Things

I'm having a lazy day.   It's been kinda dreary outside and I have horrible stomach cramps (although I'm not sure why, they're not due for another 2 weeks!).   But I do feel in a post-y mood so I went around the house and took some pictures of my favorite material things.

This is the "kitten couch".   It is a smaller version of our couch (it's called a chair and a half).   The cats love this couch and that's mainly where they stay.   The Morrison Homes blanket helps keep their fur off of the fabric.

Of course, you all recognize a crockpot.   Right now it's cooking up some yummy chilli.   I love the way that the house smells even though I am craving corn muffins like no one's business!

I have really dry skin and if my hands get too dry they'll snag fine yarns such a the silk for my Clementine.   My mom gave me this really fantastic smelling hand lotion in my stocking for Christmas.   It smells lightly of honey.

Of course, beauty products remind me of my tub.   I love love love our tub and it's jets.  I soak just about nightly and another nice thing about our tub is that it's roomy enough for two.   :)

Another thing I love is getting mail!   I do all of my bills online so when I receive mail it's usually a nice card or present or something I bought online.   The card with the m on it is from my grandmother, Mary Kay.   Isn't it cute?

I bought this tart burner from Yankee Candle a couple of weekends ago and I love it.   It goes well with our living room and the new tarts we got (autumn harvest or something like that) smell delicious!

Morningstar corndogs!   I love corndogs, but hate the idea of beef hotdogs.  These are really good and one of my favorite protein snackys.

Ikea baskets that we store underneath our end and coffee table.  I love just being able to throw my knitting in there knowing that it is hidden from the cats, creating less clutter, and is right where I'll need it tomorrow!

And last,but not least, our fridge.   Sure, I like the size and the cute bins and the freezer suction and water/ice.   But what I like the most about our fridge is that I smile every time I pass it.   I love seeing our cruise stuff up there, along with our passport pictures that we just had taken.   Also there are several family and friend photos on our fridge.   And a cute Hello Kitty dressed as a fish in a casserole magnet.

Florals, yarn, and a new skill!

On Saturday we had a lot of fun.   We saw The Dark Knight, had Kobe, and went yarn shopping!

I picked up 4 skeins of Misti Alpaca in cream to make a scarf for Michael's sister and also a cute sheep measuring tape.

We also went to Sip N Knit and grabbed a skein of Katia Jamica in browns that Michael loves and Andes 100% Wool of the Andes that was on sale.   I have no idea what I'm going to do with either of them.

On Sunday we went to Park Ave for brunch at 310 Park South (yummy peach mimosas!) and to look around Casa Feliz (update on the wedding blog).  Michael took some really cute flower pictures.

And today I started a new skill: Magic Loop!  Yay!!!!  I started the Elfine socks in Knitpicks Gloss.  Magic Loop is super easy so far!

FO Friday: One Skein Shawl

Pattern: One Skein Shawl

Yarn: Artyarns Rhapsody Glitter.   Best yarn EVER.

I would definitely make this again, same yarn different colorway.  I'm really glad that I followed everyone's advice and lightly blocked it.

Let's Talk about Knitting...

It's been a little while since this blog talked about knitting (quick subject change: wedding blog update!), but I haven't stopped knitting!

The Clementine Shawlette

The Clementine Shawlette is almost complete.   I have a little yarn left, but I think it'll make it.  It's a bit smaller than I thought it would be, but I'm sure it'll block out a bit.   Especially since the yarn is a little bunched in the pattern.  The shawlette is composed of 2 matching pieces that are then kitchenered together. 

Something Chocolate

I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn to finish my Something Chocolate, I'm almost to the last skein and I still need to finish the skirt, collar, and button band.  I've just reached the part in the skirt where I am increasing from a K2, P2 rib to a K2, P3 rib.   In an inch I will increase to a K2, P4 rib.  I think that it will be a really nice cardigan for the fall.  I just need to find a cool button!   Maybe a tarnished silver button?

Knitted Baby Chevron Afghan

This is coming along rather nicely.   I wish I had chosen another yarn though.   The boucle-ness of the Bernat Baby Coordinates takes away from the pattern definition.  But it is unbelievably soft and washable, so it's getting the job done.  I have used a little more than 1/2 a skein and I bought two.   The blanket is over 60% complete so I'm thinking that I will have a bit of yarn leftover so maybe I will make a matching sweater or maybe a wee hat.   Maybe both.

What's Next?

• Elfine's Socks - I'm planning on these being my first pair of magic loop socks!
• Ripple Hand Towel - in my quest to use less paper towels!
• Marigold Socks - possibly a Christmas gift
• Utopia Cable Hat - in leftover Louet Riverstone.   To keep me warm in Sedona this New Year's!
• Tie One On - in the gorgeous Louet KidLin that Michael brought me.   He has another hair appointment this weekend.  Yay!

3 Day Carribean Cruise Trip Report: Day 3!

We slept in a bit on our 3rd day, it was our day at Disney's private island: Castaway Cay!!!!!! We had another yummy breakfast and then made our way down to Deck 1 so we could disembark the boat.

The day was already hot and neither of us are big beach fans (maybe because I've lived so close to it almost my entire life?) so our goal was to take a look around Castaway Cay, buy a Christmas ornament, and find Marge's Barges so that we would know where to go at 1:30 for our glass-bottom boat tour. We got a cute Castaway Cay ornament, toddled around and took some pictures. After awhile we were roasting so we decided to head back to the boat for some lunch.

In front of our ship is the Flying Dutchman that they used while filming the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

We decided to hit the ship for lunch. While I grabbed our lunches (salad and fruit from for me, chicken fingers and fries for Michael) Michael went up to the top deck to get some pictures of the amazingly clear water and Castaway Cay.  The island is separated into 2 beaches: a family beach and an adults only beach.  There are lots of activities including parasailing, snorkeling, those gigantic water bike things, and waverunners.  There's also a souvenir store, a bar area, and 2 lunch places (1 per beach).

Where we ate lunch

We finished up our food and headed for the glass-bottom boat tour that we signed up for.   The glass at the bottom of the boat was pretty cloudy and scratched up.   We had better luck looking over the side of the boat.

We were given handfuls of oats to throw for the fish. Man, did the fish love those oats!!!!! They were swimming over each other and fighting for them! Michael found an "underwater" setting on our camera and got some great shots.

Fish fight!!!!!!!

One of my favorite pics from this trip.

After the boat tour we went back to the ship and lounged around.   We then watched the ship pull away from Castaway Cay.  With snacks and a drink of course.   It was nice to just sit and watch the water go by.   We definitely plan on doing more of that on the next cruise!

Bandaids made with blister medication really work!

I really wasn't feeling very well and I realize now that I'd gotten seriously dehydrated. Normally I keep glasses of water nearby and sip throughout the day, but I had completely forgotten to drink ANY water since we'd been on the cruise. I hadn't had very much to drink at all.

We stayed up on Deck 9 for awhile, just relaxing and enjoying the breeze. Tonight was formal night and we'd promised our parents pictures of us all dressed up. We dragged ourselves back to our room and got ready.  After we took the formal pictures (I wish I had some to show, but we don't have a scanner.) we watched the water some more until it was time for dinner.

Dinner was in Animators Palette, which is the ship's animated restaurant.   The decor of the room is black and white.   And the art on the walls is black and white.   Then, slowly throughout dinner the art (all disney art of course) turns to color.  Oh, and parts of the room turn to color too.   I wish I would've taken pictures, I will next time.   The pillars are paintbrushes and they are so cute.   Even our waiters were dressed in black and white, but were wearing colored vests by the time we were done!   At the end of the dinner there is an animated show!   Very cool.   The food here was also our favorite and was cutely presented.   My fillet was presented like a ship with scallops as smokestacks.   And our Chocolate Peanutbutter Pie was served on a painter's palette with dipping sauces where the paint would go.   Very fun!!!!!

After dinner we had to rush and get our bags into the hallway.   They were picked up at 11 pm.  We were exhausted and went to bed.   I have never slept as well as I did on the cruise!

So this ends our trip report.  We've really decided to make travel a big part of our lives.   At the end of December we will be going to Arizona to visit family and to see Sedona.  And we have our next Disney cruise to the Western Caribbean at the end of February.  I'm so excited about these upcoming trips and I hope that we'll be taking smaller trips in between our big trips!

Thanks for reading about our wonderful vacation!

Yay weekend!!!!

So, as soon as I started thinking positively on Thursday (like Knitting Knutty suggested!) things turned around pretty drastically!

Some weekend highlights:

• The IRS sent us a notice that they owe US money for once.   Hooray!!!!  That should help out with some of the wedding payments that are coming up!
• I introduced some friends this weekend and it sounds like they'll be able to help each other out with some problems they both have.   I love it when everyone can get together and help each other out!
• We spent the 4th of July at my future in-laws and had a BBQ!   There was badminton and yummy food!
• We went to the Maitland Farmer's Market this weekend and got some great veggies.   We also got an apple covered in caramel and heath bar crumbles.  Yummy!!!!
• I talked to my father.   Things went ok, I suppose.   I disagree with some of the things that he said but we've patched things up.   The best thing to do is to reset my expectations and move on.
• We went to Michael's (the craft store) to pick up some yarn for a baby blanket for my friend Jamaica.   She is due in early August and I'm not sure what she's having.  So I've decided to do a soft yellow blanket using Bernat Baby Coordinates.   The yarn is really soft!
• Wedding Blog update!!!!!

Yummy fresh strawberries and cream.

The beginnings of the Baby Chevron Afghan.

Blissful Hell Week

I haven't done too much knitting this week, but I've made some progress!!!!!

Roza's socks.  I'm procrastinating on kitchenering  the toe.   I have no idea why I do that with every single sock.  Maybe I don't want the fun to end.

Clementine Shawlette.   It's paunchy in some places.  I'm hoping that this gets resolved with blocking.

My Something Chocolate.   So far my raglan is looking good!

Have a great 4th of July everyone!!!!

3 Day Carribean Cruise Trip Report: Day 2, Part 2!

Ok... so we have just gotten to Wavebands where we are checking in to go on our Atlantis excursion. There are about 20 other people waiting in the room. Just as the clock struck 1:15 pm (the time on our excursion tickets) they told us to start queuing up for an Atlantis bracelet and a goofy sticker so that we could enter the Atlantis aquarium and they would know that we were with Disney.

After everyone was braceleted and stickered we followed our excursion coordinator down to the 1st deck and disembarked the boat. He then led us through the "Welcome to Nassau" craft building (but not through the shopping area, they opened a door for us!) and onto a bus. Our bus driver took us through a quick tour of the island. We had thought about booking the Island Tour when we first made our reservations but I'm glad we didn't. I'm pretty sure that this was the same thing.  Michael was impressed with the innovative people who had made their backyards into a makeshift dump.

We arrived at Atlantis safe and sound and eager to see sealife! They broke the bus into 2 tour groups. Our guide (it's an Atlantis guide, not a Disney guide) led us through the Atlantis mall and into the Atlantis casino. We got some pretty cool Chiluly glass sculpture pictures.

Here are some pictures of Atlantis...

We were then led into the aquarium! It was a really neat experience, especially if you ignore their "atlantis was discovered here" story. I do wish that we would have gone through on our own however, because going with a group was a lot of waiting on everyone to be able to take pictures. We saw several sea tanks that included:

Spooky lobsters

Ginormous groupers

Exotic jellyfishes

Eels... yuck!

12-foot Manta Rays

The tour was a bit longer than we would've liked so we ended up skipping out early.   Besides, I had a spa appointment to make!

We left Atlantis to find a Disney bus just waiting for us outside the door! It was full pretty quickly and we headed back to the ship. We were fascinated by the driving in Nassau. It was crazy!!!  And I saw several toddlers without car seats.  It's just not something I'm used to.

We dropped my camera off in the room, took some Dramamine, Michael grabbed his DS and we headed up to deck 9. I had scheduled a pampering package that included a back massage, scalp massage, foot massage, a facial, an hour in the sauna and Rainforest room, and strawberries and champagne!

One of the spa assistants led me into the locker room where I changed out of my comfy spa dress into a thin white waffle robe. I was very uncomfortable because the robe was slightly see-through so I hurried to my spa room. It reminded me of a doctors office with the cabinets and a table to lay on. There was a window that looked onto one of the decks, but the shades were down (thank goodness!) I was told to take off my robe and crawl underneath the cover on the table and lay on my tummy.

The back massage was heaven! I was asked if the pressure was comfortable for me a couple of times but it was just right! I love facials so that was a treat. It was nice to completely unwind. My appointment started at 4:30 and the ship started to leave port at 5. I could really feel the movement of the ship. Michael said that he could see the land dipping above and below the window (I think he was right outside the spa). But I was laying down so I felt fine.

Before my spa treatment I was asked to fill out a survey and one of the questions was "what is your biggest problem area?". I was honest and said my tummy. After my spa treatment was done my massagist left to let me get re-robed and to grab a detox program that she swore would "change your life and make your tummy nice and firm". I became really quesy and had a horrible headache. She came back and I tried to be polite and stay through the sales pitch. However after a few minutes I was surprised when my body decided it was going to "detoxify" itself!  It was undeniably gross.

She was very sweet and practically carried me back to my clothes. They told me I could come back another time for my sauna hour and I headed to Michael. As soon as he saw me he knew something was wrong. We headed straight to the room where I took a nap and unfortunately missed the show that night. Next time I'll take dramamine every 24 hours! I thought that since we would be in port most of the time I'd be ok. Here we are looking pitiful.

After my nap I felt loads better so we got dressed for dinner. Tonight was dinner at the french restaurant Triton's. We took a walk down to deck 4 and headed to the photo place to see how the pictures they kept taking of us everywhere were turning out. Of course, on the way there we passed by the cruise reservation desk. Michael said why don't we just see what the cost is of a 7-night cruise.

We sat down and spoke to the nicest, least pushy woman alive. She simply found a western Carribean cruise for the month that we wanted, wrote the price on a form with her extension number on it, and let us go.

We walked around deck 4 and did that awkward thing where you want to say "I WANT THIS!!!!!" but feel like you have to talk about the logical side of things because this is not just my decision. Eventually (2 minutes into the convo) we both blurted out with that we really really want to do another cruise and that Michael loves the cruise more than anything.  He is now obsessed with cruising.   I am not kidding.

We returned to the reservation desk 5 minutes after we'd left it and booked a 7-night Western for February 21, 2009!!!!!!!! And the best part is that even with the fuel surplus it only cost us $200 more than what we paid for our 3 night!!!!!!!!!!! We booked another inside room.   We figured February would be gorgeous weather.  Our western Carribean cruise includes Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Castaway Cay (Disney's island).

We were in fantastic moods. We had booked our next cruise at a phenominal rate and we kept seeing little ones dressed as pirates.  Life couldn't get better.

Oh, but it could.   It was time for dinner and then the Pirates in the Carribean party!!!!!!!!

Dinner was yummy and we couldn't finish it all.  And afterwards it was party time with a pirate buffet and fireworks!   Disney is the only cruise line allowed to do fireworks at sea.

We decided to head to Deck 10 to catch the fireworks.

Apparently I'm a happy pirate.

We sat on a bench located above the adult pool. It allowed for perfect fireworks watching. The adult area was very quiet and uncrowded. Especially compared to the party at the Goofy pool!

Deserted adult pool

Because everyone's at the party!!!!!!!

We tried out the "fireworks" setting on my new camera.   It worked out pretty well I think.

I had been chatting with our fireworks neighbors and they mentioned that it was a full moon. Of course we had to go check it out. It was very romantic.

Our Engagement Story

Ok... so Michael didn't ask me to marry him on the cruise.  He asked me to marry him on Friday night.

I'd had a really stressful Friday at work.  Michael had the day off so he offered to cook dinner.   And he cooked the most fantastic dinner ever!  We had steak, lobster tail, and shrimp kabobs all with a delicious asian-inspired butter sauce.

Before I could get up to help putting away the dinner dishes Michael came over with dessert.  He said "This is a very special cake.   It's the Will You Marry Me cake?" and the cake had a fork sticking out of it with my ring!!!!!!!!!

Of course I cried and said yes and then there was a lot of mushy-ness.

So that's how Michael proposed.   It was very wonderful and perfectly us!

Our dinner where our parents met went really well.  We had balsamic bbq chicken, hot crash potatoes, salad, bread, chips and dip, and strawberry shortcake for desert.  We ended up using every single dish we have!  We also did a slideshow of our cruise on our ginormous TV which everyone really enjoyed.

So now this will become a knitting/travel/wedding blog.  I've decided to jump into planning quickly before I start to resent it!  Michael's mother will be a big help since his sister was married last October.  We have a tentative date of October 3, 2009 so our wedding is a ways off.

Yesterday we visited Dubsdread Banquet Hall (which we both really liked) and next week we'll be visiting The Courtyard at Lake Lucerne and maybe Casa Feliz.  We're both really excited and keep calling each other fiance'!   Ha!!!!!!

Thanks for all your congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!