OMG....Birthday Explosion!

Since I'm sooo tired from this whirlwind of a birthday weekend, I can only post in choppy sentences...hopefully, they will be semi-coherent.

WHY I AM SO LUCKY

1. On my birthday, my hubby watched the kids so I could go to yoga class, made me a fresh (and yummy) salad with his own two hands (!!!) and helped the kids to make me No Pudge Brownies (only 2 points each!) for my birthday cake. As well as supervising over handmade cards and craziness.








Tim got me a iPhone charger for my car and made me my own personalized Magic card -from the card game:



And Ben got me the most surprising and FANTASTIC gift - a Fairy Barbie Doll with a matching card that says, "Happy Birthday from Fairytopia!" or something like that. (If anyone has Barbie patterns that they'd want to share with me, send them ASAP! LOL!) P.S. I named her "Honey".



2. My sister and parents came over to celebrate my birthday and brought lots of yummies, gifts of pretty clothes and gift cards and played with the kids all day. My sister, Kim, bought me a gift that I can enjoy for many months - a box FULL of Lush beauty products (which I drool over) - a solid perfume, a lip balm, a soap and a bath bar. YUMMMMM! (and made me a card....using crayons...so cute) I was surprised when my godfather and his wife came over to visit, too, and it was so great to see him since we hadn't seen each other for at least 6 years. Everyone went in the pool, had pizza and just had a super time.



3. This may sound ridiculous, but I was extremely touched and excited when I received a huge number of Happy Birthday wishes from friends on Ravelry and Facebook - whenever I'd check my email, I had more messages from friends -new and old. It made me feel very loved and special on my birthday.

4. And last, but definitely NOT least, my thoughtful and generous friends celebrated my birthday (as well as Caroline's) on Friday night at work where I was given cake (delicious homemade pink cake with jam made lovingly by Jackie) and a monstrous amount of awesome gifts. Shown here simply, but cannot be thoroughly explained on how fantastic they are when given in a huge lot in one night. (eeee!)

- Jackie's gift of a gift card to Homegoods (my favorite place to shop!) Yay!!!


-Hilary's gift of a crocheted cupcake (0 points!) and the BEST Maple chicken in the world. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. You are the BEST, Hil!!!


- Julie got me 2 cones of the luscious Zephyr to make the christening gown and the most adorable tiny crochet keychain with my name on it (Jules, I screamed when I got your package!)


- Three books that I've REALLY wanted - Lora got me the Journal Bliss (I cannot wait to get started using those journal tips!), Karen got me the Vintage Baby Knits (with a pattern for a christening gown that I HAVE to make!), and Marion got me a Book Lust journal because she knows that I'm a book slut and must have this. LOL!


- Maureen gave me two skeins of Cascade Pastaza for the Otto bear!


- GiGi gifted me with 2 skeins of Katia Mississippi 3 in gray and pink for the Mouse from Ysolda's book...and helped me pick out the colors...she's so good at that ;)


- Donna and Christina gave me 2 beautiful Sereknity rovings that I wanted - so perfect!


- Laurin gifted me with a Mary Kay bag full of pedicure items and a bag of Gummy Maggots (very silly, but yummy)...


I'm in shock because I've been told that I have 3 more gifts coming...OMG...it's a birthday gift explosion!!! W-H-O-A.

Every year, I am more and more grateful for all of the wonderful, thoughtful and caring people in my life. This year, they (you!) WOW-ED me and made me appreciate how lucky I am even more. Thank you, friends!!!

BIG HUGS!!!!

P.S. Many thank you notes/emails on the way shortly....I'm just catching up with normal life today!

P.P.S. I also got this yarn for THIS pattern:



P.P.P.S. I also have details about 2 FOs that I need to blog about...but I'm falling asleep here. So, if you're dying to see them sooner, go HERE and then HERE. Like 'em??

Meeting Ysolda!

I had the utmost luck yesterday when Yarn and Fiber hosted the amazing young Scottish designer, Ysolda Teague, at the store while I was working. Woo-hoo!!!!



As soon as I could get Ben on the bus, I raced over to the store, just in time to get the almost last copy of her new book, Whimsical Little Knits. It's the cutest little book and chock full of adorable (like the designer), fun and easy to knit patterns. I poured over the book last night and searched through my yarn stash for all yarns that I could use for her patterns. (If only I could STOP starting new things...ugh!)



I found at least 3 sets of yarns for 3 separate projects from her book. I decided to start one last night...the Grown Up Booties pattern. I'm using Lopi in a vibrant fushia and hope to finish one of those slippers tonight at knitting group.



Here is a less-than-attractive picture of me with Ysolda...(why do I have that expression? what's up with my hair???) It was the highlight of my week to meet her...and to try on her beautifully designed berets/hats and squeeze those toys. (All of which I want to make, by the way)



Other things I've been up to:

1. Finished the back of a sweater for myself (FOR ME!!!) - the October Frost cardigan by Lisa Lloyd from the wonderful book, A Fine Fleece. Would love to make everything from that book!! I've used Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran in a pretty purplish dark pink (you can't tell how pretty the color is from this picture).



2. Finished the Baby Yoda Sweater today (well, sewing it up today - hoping to bring it to knitting tonight all fancied up). It wasn't as quick as I thought it would be to knit, but that might be because I was using a cotton blend yarn. Though, the Rowan All Seasons cotton is pretty awesome for a cotton yarn....it's very close to, if not identical, to the Lion Brand Cotton Ease. I think Rowan has better colors, though. There's also lots of sewing up to this small sweater, which I tend to cringe over. The pattern is very nicely designed and written - so I would definitely recommend it for those of you who love to knit baby sweaters and don't mind the sewing up.



Do you like it so far...in pieces? LOL!



Finally, an update on my weight loss (for those of you that I haven't bored already....he he)....I'm almost up to 70 pounds lost, but the amount per week is sadly slowing down now that I'm closer to my goal and I'm desperately trying to make the 75 pounds soon. I'm exercising like a madwoman, so it's not that. Ian thinks I should eat more and my WW leader has suggested eating more protein since I'm doing so much exercise and weight training. Hmmm....we'll see.

Other things I've tried to boost myself up for weight loss:

-Lots of water
-Changing up my foods every week
-Less carbs/snacks and more fruit and veggies
-More Yoga and Aerobics, plus weight training
-And, of course, knitting a lot in my spare time. (Must be burning some calories during that time, right???)

Any other suggestions?

Ian and I went to a wedding/renewal-vow ceremony last weekend and I found a great dress. Jackie helped me to pick out my shoes and I think it all worked out well. What do you think?



Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend - it's my 36th Bday on Saturday, so I'm planning on having some F-U-N!!!