Happy Tuesday Folks!

I've been forced to contemplate my laziness after trolling all your lovely little blogs this week. Yes, I have finally made some progress on my LK* WIP.... but this is not what I'm referring to when I'm talking about my laziness. Nope! I'm actually making progress on that - but more on that later. In fact my laziness is embodied in these little critters:

Yup, those are all my ORTS hanging out on the arm of my stitching chair. Would you like to know how OLD those ORTS are?... [oh the shame....] going on 4 months old!!!! I am beginning to seriously doubt whether they'll make it to my TUSAL jar at all (which I haven't added to in ages...). 

What are some of my other lazy habits you might ask? Well, perhaps it's that shirt that just doesn't seem to make the hamper once it's on my ottoman in my room, or the coat that doesn't get hung up, or perhaps the half full glass of water that doesn't make it to the dishwasher for a day or two. I am by no means a dirty person, but the effort it takes to pick up that one piece of clothing or clean up that glass of water is enough to make me put off putting them where they belong for a day or two (or three.... MORE SHAME!). But I make myself feel better by knowing that EVERYONE (yes you!) have their own lazy little habits.  Or at least I like to think you do. So please feel free to share your own lazy secret in the comments section below! Make me feel better haha :) 

On a more proactive note - I was a busy bee over the weekend! 

Saturday afternoon I went to Winefest with the beau... 4 hours later and a few dollars lighter (well maybe a little more than a few) I arrived home somehow sober, despite my best  efforts, and with 6 new bottles of wine in tow... to be devoured at some point in the future. 

Ohhhhh but the day was not over yet! The boyfriend and I then began brewing our next concoction of beer. Being ever seasonal, it was a Spiced Pumpkin Porter Ale! Clad in PJs, hair sticking out every which way, and long wooden spoon in hand, I boiled and toiled for what seemed like hours... you could probably draw a comparison to your stereotypical witchy crone standing over their cauldron and you would not be far off the truth. 

Of course, a night spent in the kitchen would not be complete without a last minute run to the grocery store (with 5 minutes to spare I might add!). Yet for some reason, completely unknown to me, I loved EVERY second. Yup - crazy person sitting right here :) In all seriousness though, I seriously cannot wait to try this ale out! While everything else stank, the spices smell delish! I'm not what you call a beer drinker... And, despite what this post may lead you to believe, drinking is not an everyday occurrence!!! Just want to put that out there ;)

Sunday, thankfully less hectic, was my stitching day! I haven't had one of these in a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. I stitched stitched stitched to my hearts content, absorbing any halloween/creepy movie that fell into my lap. An awesome day! Polished off an exchange piece and even put in a few stitches in my LK* Mystery Sampler. Here's my progress so far:

Thats all for now!

Have a great week!

Melissa

Happy Tuesday Folks!

No stitchy news today - rather a final update on my sophomore year of veggie gardening! 

Here's where we were at in June:

June 2012 - The Start

Seeds just in the ground and squash's just planted. Oh and let's not forget the gate! Bunny proofing at its best and a lesson learned from the year previous where NOTHING survived the onslaught of slugs and bunnies. 

By July, the garden was in fully swing. My beans had started to climb the teepee I had put together. The carrots, onions, radishes were starting to make an appearance. And those pumpkins... well let's just say they began to over run their bed in August.  

July 2012

And now, here we are in October! We've had to fight off a few slugs and rescue baby squashes from the brink of death, but I can safely say we did it! 

Over the last couple of weeks the boyfriend and I have been in full Fall Harvest mode, and yesterday we dug up most of what was left. 

October 2012

One lone Butternut squash left to ripen. You could certainly call this one a late bloomer!

I have to say - the garden looks in rough shape right now doesn't it? WELL, there's a good reason for this! After our experience with lack of proper nutrients in the soil (this is what almost killed our squashes) the boyfriend did LOTS of reading up on this problem. Nope gardening is not as easy as putting seed to soil folks. A delicate balance must be struck between 3 different kinds of nutrients for a garden - and especially veggies - to grow successfully. 

The boyfriend, being the pro-active type, got his wheelbarrow, shovel and gloves together and started preparing the soil for next year. While a lot of soil preping can be done in the spring, it's also beneficial to let the nutrients hang out in the soil over the winter in addition to doing some spring preping. Yup - he's a keener and that's why I love him :)  

Hard at work :)

And yes! I got my hands dirty too!!! Literally :)

And here are the fruit of our labour (or veggies hehe).

Baby carrots just from the garden!

Butternut Squash

Pumpkins! Currently out on the front step but I took them in just for this picture. We did have 3 but the boyfriend made fresh pumpkin pie the other night and one had to be sacrificed!!!!

The perfect stem? Why YES - I think it is :) Love it!

Before and After a wash. Surprising to see how vibrant the washed ones are! 

Believe it or not, there's still more carrots left in the garden. Hoping that they'll grow just a bit more before the frost gets at them. 

Its been a very rewarding experience creating a vegetable garden. I love being able to grab an onion or a zucchini when the mood strikes me. And FRESH veg is simply to die for, over the comparatively old veg in the grocery store. I hate it when I have to go digging through boxes upon boxes of strawberries just to find a package that doesn't look too bruised or mouldy! Yes this happens... just the other day in fact... ANYWAY I digress. 

For someone who LOVES being in the kitchen, this has been a dream.  I'm so looking forward to next year - plans have already begun! Perhaps a greenhouse is the next step :)

But for now, I'll settle for some down time and will plop my butt in my favourite stitching chair tonight and take in some Halloween movies with the boyfriend. Sounds like an evening made in heaven to me :)

Have a great week everyone!

Melissa

Whew! Well that went fast! I can't say I'm fully recovered from my trip to NYC... who knew that I'd need to go back to work to get some reprieve from a vacation???? So much walking - not sure my feet will ever been the same. That said, it was a fabulous vacation! The sights and sounds of a city as big as NYC are just amazing.

Here's a little snipit of some my trip:

It was so great to catch up with some of my old friends. Since we all moved away from our homes to do the same Masters program in Italy, our classmates really became our family away from home - if you know what I mean. Miss them already hehe :)

In stitchy news I won Anne's 2nd blogoversary giveaway over at Doll's Musings while I was gone! Such a surprise and SOOOOOO excited :) I'm trolling 123stitch's website as we speak looking for something to suck up the gift certificate hehe. THANKS ANNE!!!!!

In other stitchy news, my needle has laid dormant for quite some time now and I'm hoping to get back at it soon, maybe tomorrow!!! I'm looking forward to completing an exchange piece I've been working hard on, a gift for a friend, AND part 3 of Lizze Kate's Halloween Mystery Sampler (soooooo much fun).  Yup lots to do and many more projects lined up too.

Anyway dearies that's all from me for now!!!

I hope everyone has a great week :) 

Ciao!

Melissa

Happy Monday!

I am finally recouping from the flu I had alllllllll last week and am now in the process of PACKING!!!

Were might I be headed you ask? Well if the title of this post hasn't already given it away (as I'm sure it has) then this will... 

NYC, the Big Apple, the Big City! No matter what you call it the glitz and glam of New York City is calling MY name. Broadway, Time Square, Lady Liberty, Central Park. YIKES!!!! I'm sooooo beyond excited. I'm meeting up with some of my most treasured friends from my University days. Of the 25+ of us who did my program, I would say there are no more than 2 or 3 living in the same country. So when my friend contacted me and asked me to go, it didn't take much for me to say yes. Airfare to NYC from my little Rock in the ocean is far less expensive than heading to Europe and NYC has been on my Bucket List for ages. Add that to being able to meet up with my old friends and the offer became practically irresistible. 

So this my friends will likely be my last post before my trip. I'll be back next week to update you all on all that is NYC! With plenty of pictures too :)

Arrivederci mi amici!

Melissa

Happy Wednesday Folks!

I've now officially completed PART 2 of the Lizzie Kate Halloween Mystery Sampler!!!

I'm so loving this chart. All the colours make it so fun to stitch. I haven't attached any of the beads or charms just yet - waiting on part 3 for that. Hope to see it soon in the mail box that's for sure.

In fact, my favourite colours in this chart are the oranges. The variegated floss is such a joy to work with and I just LOVE seeing the floss change colour as I stitch. The oranges are the best being so warm and juicy (for the lack of a better word).

So to keep me going I'm going to stitch up my Fall exchange piece while waiting on Part 3. Lots of orange guaranteed!

Orange also is starting to make an appearance in the garden now too - after being somewhat ravaged by the hurricane last week... my poor peas didn't make it and I had to rip them up yesterday much to my disappointment. 

Very fall festive isn't it? I know I know... what about that splash of green in the last picture there???? Welllll they're Carrots!!! They're still only baby sized right now - which might not be a good thing - BUT... they're orange ;)

And before I go, your shot of Leia for the day... she was one hyper puppy this morning!!!

Ciao for now and Happy Stitching,

Melissa