Crochet Content

Just wanted to post a little creativity:

I made this for my co-workers dog. I modified a pattern I found online. Pretty cute huh?

I colored all around him so as not to show her boyfriend's legs in the pic.



I will post again soon with pics of our baby room. We have painted and put the baby bed together! And, some more crochet content coming soon.

Summer Break! (Warning: Lots of Pics!)

Summer is finally here which means that my educator husband is on break. So, we took a little break together this week. We had a blast. We went to Laughlin, NV for 3 nights and it was totally worth the trip. This is the beginning of the hottest time of the year for the desert, so our room was super duper cheap. At first I thought it might be too hot to really enjoy, with temperatures reaching 114 degrees! But I was wrong.

Laughlin is a like a gentler, quieter Vegas. Casinos on the river and great buffets in all of them. They don't have the big name shows, so if thats what you are looking for, you would have to go to Vegas. But hey, if you are big fans of these guys:



They were headlining there this week.

But, I digress,

My dh and I were just looking to relax and unwind, and we did. The road trip is about a 4.5 hour drive from Southern California and we enjoyed the ride. We stopped at Bob's big boy and had some all American food for lunch and took advantage of a photo op:








Then we gassed up the rental and continued our journey:




In Laughlin, the casinos are on the Colorado River. Its gorgeous during the night and in the daylight:






It was very hot, but we were either in our room, in the casinos, or in the pool. ( yes i got in the pool! Actually put on a swimming suit and got in the pool! I was so proud of myself. But that tells you how hot it was. it was the only way to be outside in the daylight.no picture of me in a suit though!)

You can shuttle between the casinos on water taxis. That was a treat within itself. The breeze was cooler on the water. Check out my dress, I made it myself from my own pattern! Its super simple, super flawed and totally what I needed for the hot weather. I am going to Arizona at the end of this month for a church conference and plan to make another one for that trip.

Water Taxi:





View as Water Taxi leaves our hotel:



Us on the water taxi:





This one is not the greatest, but you can sort of see how cute the dress was. Or at least, I thought it was cute. :)

The little tiny seemingly man-made beach at Harrah's



On the beach at night at Harrah's, our hotel/casino:



Overall, we had a wonderful time, we did not lose very much money, about $20.00. But my dh played in a poker tournament and won $140.00, so we came out ahead. IT was a lot of fun and I highly recommend visiting Laughlin. Its like a baby Vegas, with a more sedate crowd and no one trying to sell you a timeshare or handing you flyers for houses of ill-repute. And, I got some crocheting done on the road trip, pix to follow!

Ciao!

Crocheting, Studying and Beading

Well, today, I will turn in the last of 5 papers for this class. yahoooo! I will now be focusing on studying for the objective exam. I passed the pretest by 1 point. It was designed to help you pinpoint your week areas so you can focus your studying. I hope to be ready by August 1, or maybe sooner. I must say that I am really enjoying the program. I am wondering why I did not do this a long time ago.

Anyway, since i finished my paper a tad early, I was able to get in some beading and crochet. Check it out:






I got the pattern for the slippers from epatterns. This was an easy project and I finished them in about a week. They were a huge hit at the party. The ladies at the party told me I should sell them! I actually am doing a holiday craft sale in October, so I will be whipping up a few more of these to put in the sale.


On the feet of the recipient:



She loved them!



Well, I have a tiny bit of time on my hands, so While I am doing laundry, I better get some crocheting done. Or, maybe a little sunday afternoon snooze instead?!

WWKIPD and Jewelry Creations and Grad School

This year, my guild got together to celebrate Worldwide Knit in Public Day. We divided ourselves between 3 locations. One of my great friends and I went to Del Amo Mall to knit with the ladies. Would you believe, that we got "broken up by the mall security!?! One of the girls in the group had contacted the mall last month to make sure that it would be okay for us to meet. Well, the guy in charge never returned any of her 3 phone calls. Apparently there was some paperwork that we needed to complete prior to meeting there. But, since he never called her back, we were not able to do that. But all was not lost. We simply had to sit on the mall benches and refrain from using our own chairs, and take down all of our little signs. So, even though we had to spread out, we still had fun. And we even had a few people stop and ask questions and knit a bit with us. We all brought extra needles in yard just for that purpose. We passed out some info re our guild so I think overall, we did our part in raising knitting awareness in southern CA!

Check us out:





I have been knitting and crocheting. No pictures though because I have not had a lot of progress. I have, however, been making lots of jewelry! Check out my handmade bling!







The first necklace is a reworking of one pictured here before. That one was one of my first efforts and I did not crimp it well, so it broke. I like the reincarnated version better.

Grad school is going well. I have been studying hard and getting good grades. Its exciting because I have not been in school in a while so I was not sure if my brain was going to get into the swing of things. But things are going so well that my academic adviser thinks I might want to think about accelerating my pace. Its a self-paced program so you can go as fast or as slowly as you choose. But I am still going to take my time so that I can really learn the info. I am enjoying though.


Its almost time to start the adoption process again. Please pray for my family. We are so nervous about putting ourselves out there again, but we are moving ahead and trusting God to take care of us through this process.

In other news, my dh received his formal offer on his new position as Assistant principal! We are super excited!

Grad School and Update on me

Well, grad school is going well. I turned in my first assignment: A 3 page paper on situational leadership. I was stressing because I have not been in school in 20 YEARS! And even when I was in college, my major was fairly technical and so I might have written one paper in 4 years. I was going crazy and then my husband helped me. He gave me some great advice and I was able to finish my assignment and turn it in on time. And guess what? I passed!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. On a scale of 1-4 I received a 3.27. So, on to the next assigment: a 5-7 page paper on the Path-Goal theory of situational leadership. If I did not mention it before, you can probably guess from the subjects I am studying that I am pursuing an MBA. I was worried at first. But its been interesting so far. My biggest challenge I think will be the accounting class. That one worries me a bit. But overall, I think I will enjoy the whole thing. I also realize that now is the right time for this. I used to beat myself up about not doing this a long time ago. But I realize now that school is more interesting because of my real world experience. I think I will be a much better student this time around.

Also, I had a little health scare recently. I have been undergoing tons of testing over the last several months due to an overactive parathyroid gland. In the process of all that testing, they found nodules on my thyroid. So, I had to have a biopsy. I had it last thursday and heard from the doctor today that I am fine and that the nodules are benign! Very very relieved!!!!!

Today was a day full of good news!

Adoption update: We will be jumping back in at the end of June so keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully we will be parents by the end of the summer!!!!!

Oh, more great news. I don't know if I had mentioned that my husband is a teacher. He has been pursuing his masters in administration and will finish that this year. Well, guess what? He will be the assistant principle in the fall!!!!!!! I am so proud of him and happy that he is advancing in his career.

I have been crocheting and beading. I need to take some pics and post them next time.

Talk back soon! GOTTA STUDY!

Another Post So Soon!

Hi,

I have finished my orientation for my MBA program. They give you 2 weeks to get it done, but most people get it done quickly so that they can get started with the actual classes. Tomorrow, I speak with my mentor and schedule all of my classes. I feel so supported already. I am a little nervous though. I read one of the message boards and two of the current students are having a hard time passing one of the exams! I am trying not focus on that though. Just gonna take it one day at a time.

Anyway, my real studying will start after tomorrow night. So today, I finished making this:







It turned out okay. Now, I am going to make some matching earrings.

I got the big beads from a bead fair last weekend. They had so many beautiful things. I was on a budget so I just picked up a few beads that I have not seen elsewhere, like the yellow ones in this piece. I also bought a gorgeous fused glass pendant that I am planning to make a necklace for.


Still working on the granny square throw for my sister in law. Hopefully I can get it done in between my study times.

School Started Today!

I started today. The first course is just an orientation to the program. Its really cool so far. But the hard stuff has not started. I think I am going to like the online education thing. Its cool because you have mentor who will be with you until graduation. And, you have your fellow students that you interact with online. I have my first phonecall scheduled with my mentor tomorrow. I think that I am going to feel more supported in this program than I ever felt while pursuing my undergraduate degree at a traditional brick and mortar school, back in the dark ages! : ) Just kidding. I will keep you guys posted on this program. If its as good as I think it will be, I would definately recommend anyone who is interested!

TTFN!