Five years is a long time...

Hi there! It's been a really long time, I know, but there's been a lot going on. If anyone is still reading this blog, I can imagine that you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've been busy being a mom and a wife and working. I've changed jobs and gone to endless soccer matches, golf practice, and fencing classes. I've helped my husband run his business and I've been spending time with friends and family. I've been moving my mom into a nursing home and selling my parent's house (which gutted me). Then a global pandemic hit and life came to halt. The person I once was has disappeared and the person who is left is an introverted, quiet person whose circle of people is very small, and that makes me very happy. One thing that hasn't left my life has been knitting. Sadly, I don't have finished object pictures. Most of my knits have been for my kiddo, and Christmas presents for family and coworkers. I've enjoyed knitting every single one of them. I'm getting ready to knit up this pretty yarn into a pair of socks... This is Knit Picks Imagination Frog Prince. I have two skeins.

Are you looking at the weird black mark on my super-old Sony Viao laptop (let me tell you this laptop has served me better than any other laptop in the world) at the beginning of remote learning, my sweet little boy thought something was on the screen and picked at the screen until this black hole developed. It's not so bad...and I know the day will come that I'll need a new laptop, but I just can't let this one go. I love it so! 

Anyway - my life in a sleepy southern town is focused on loving my family, helping people through my work, and knitting up the most hygge, cozy life that I can have. I love feeling cozy. I think this is why I love knitting so much. I love the feel of the yarn, I like seeing the work develop and I love delivering the piece to someone because every piece has been knit with love. 

It's a Saturday, and we're starting to plan out our day. I love weekends in our small North Carolina town. I love running into friends while shopping around town, I love how quiet the neighborhood is - I love getting together with friends to share stories and complain about the complexities of raising our children. It's lovely.

There are a lot of things that I miss about living in New York, but these little things about a southern life can be so fulfilling.

Hi. Um... how do I say I'm sorry for waiting another few years to make a post on a blog no one is reading any longer? How about a top ten list?

10. I've got a four year old who's demanding of all of my time.
9. I've got a husband and a four year old who like clean clothes.
8. They also seem found of eating.
7. And sleeping - that one's for me, I love sleeping.
6. I've been reading a lot in my free time.
5. Just started a new job this year - full time! Yay!
4. Boy, top ten lists get really hard to commit to.
3. Maybe that was my problem, I'm not great at commitment...
2. Did I mention that I have a four year old now? I feel like that counts for two.
1. The knitting has been spotty for all of the above reasons.

Well, after nearly five years, we're still in North Carolina. Small town southern living is a constant surprise to this Yankee. The rules, steeped in hundreds of years of tradition, seem to change from day-to-day around here. Regardless, this small southern town has charmed me, and we're pretty happy here. On owning a business: if you're about to take the plunge and own a business let me give you this sage advice: everything is going to take twice as long as you think it will!

I hope to get back to more regular blogging and I'm not so worried that no one is reading this... it's for me!

What do you say when you've taken a three year break from blogging? Heeeyyy...anyone out there? I have a pretty good excuse...'cause, ya know, everything in my whole world has changed.

I am a different person than who I was in 2010. Here's a short recap:

Chris and I were very happy in New York, but in 2011 things got...interesting. My job had taken a turn with a management problem and I was increasingly unhappy working there. In January I started to feel sick. I was off - exhausted and cranky all of the time. It turns out that I was pregnant (I told you, a lot has happened). Things began to unravel more and more at work and with impending arrival of our bundle of joy we knew that we were going to have to make a pretty drastic change in our lives. We knew that moving to be near one of our families was the best choice.

On September 29th our dear baby boy came into the world (12 days early) and we were smitten from the moment we saw him. So at the end of 2011 we decided to buy a wine and beer shop in North Carolina (I told you...crazy) and get out of the cycle of working for someone and to start working for ourselves. It was the right choice.

Though it was hard to say goodbye to New York, we packed up ourselves, the baby and of course, our first baby - Sadie dog and headed south (in a snow storm).

We opened the shop in the beginning of February and haven't looked back. We've made some dear new friends in our new town and though we're still adjusting to the new pace and the new temperatures, we're thrilled with it all.

I'd like to get back to blogging. Knitting took a bit of a back burner to the baby (though I knit some cute things for him before he was born). Our boy will be 2 this September; how did it all go so quickly?

It's good to be back - I hope someone's still out there; I'm ready to get it all back online!

For now, this is all the news that's fit to knit.

Dud

I'm just back from Naples, FL for a work conference and I've come to realize (yet again) that mama's not a jet setter anymore. When I took my first job in New York City (almost ten years ago now), I loved running off to the Caribbean for work and staying in hotel suites with free room service and then I got married and I didn't want to travel anymore and then we got our dog Sadie and now I really don't enjoy travel and I'm just guessing that if we decide to have a baby that I'll complete my slow cycle of agoraphobia and never leave the house again. I'm kidding; but not. It's another beast entirely to leave on a trip with the husband and the dog - EUPHORIA! I love that! I would love to take a little trip, just the three of us and sit on a deck overlooking a lake and nap and read and probably drink wine. Life is good.

I got C. XM radio as a birthday present in July and since my darling husband is the only person (I've totally confirmed this) reading this blog, I feel that I can state publicly to you and only you (this means you), Mr. C. that I think I got you a dud of a gift and I'm giving you a do-over.

I clearly love the XM radio and you clearly like the XM radio. So here's my proposition: I'll get you an iPad for our anniversary next month, but it'll really be for your birthday, but we'll say it's for our anniversary so that we don't have to tell anyone that I got you a dud birthday present. Whaaddya think?

This is all the news that's fit to knit.

Happy Birthday!

We are celebrating my dear, sweet, amazing husband's birthday today. Happy Birthday C.!

I am so glad you were born all of those years ago today so that you could grow up and marry me and we could share this happy life. More than that I am so happy that you are in the world - you make so many people happy and we're all better because you are in our lives. You're kind and honest and funny and talented and the best guy I know.

It's all about my sweetie today - so this is all the news that's fit to knit.

Calm after some storms

It's a beautiful day today after several days of storms here in the Hudson Valley. I'm so thankful for a day like today and am feeling like I can make all kinds of good things happen. I have a lot of work ahead of me and it all starts in about twenty minutes. There's loads of work and I'm so thankful for that; though it is interfering with my personal life at times.

Tomorrow is C.'s birthday and I'm looking forward to celebrating another year of the best husband on earth. We had a quiet weekend (where I procured a gift for him) and watched mother nature's rage via thunderstorm. We never lost power here (thank goodness!).

I don't have a lot to report, I've been working a ton, knitting very little and hanging in there. I've been buried in books the last few days (I read three between last Saturday and this Friday) and we made a trip to Barnes and Noble yesterday. I mentioned in earlier posts that I'm working on changing my life. Changing your life is hard work and I've hung onto a lot of guilt and damage over the years. Forgiving yourself and others takes some doing, but when you let it go you feel so much better. I don't know that anyone can see the difference in me, but I feel it in myself and that's really the most important thing.

For now, this is all the news that's fit to knit.