Well, although I wanted to leave at 3pm, it didn't happen. It was an up and down day with a retirement party and several people I like leaving the company.

The best part of my day, was without fail, my Secret Pal 10 package...
There's some wonderful smelling Jasmine soap, some Jasmine scented potpourri salts. She made me one of Wendy Bernard's Dream Swatch's out of Bamboozled. It's very yummy. Then there was the chocolate, which you'll note is opened... I know, I know, get to the yarn... There are two skeins of Knitpicks Panache (alpacka, silk and cashmere OH MY!!) in a lovely plummy color. 3 skeins of Panda Cotton (which I've barely been able to restrain myself from purchasing because I want to try it so bad) and a skein of Knitpicks Shimmer in Happy Dance. Also, a Bee measuring tape, which is very cute and the most beautiful cloisonne Stitch markers. Whoo Hoo!! Thank you Secret Pal!!!

Other than that, there will be big news at Shoes and Yarn in the very near future, but that's not completely worked out, so I'll let you know later.

Number 1 best way to spend a weekend...holding a two week old baby!! Woo Hoo! Went to see my nephew in DC. He's beautiful. I'm in love. I miss him and It's only been 4 days since I saw him. I think I spent practically 24 hours holding him over the course of a day and a half. He's not going to be spoiled a bit...I can just tell.

I also spent time in St. Louis. I flew from DC to St. Louis since I had to be there for some business meetings. My neice is also cute, but not in the cuddly little baby way anymore, but in the precocious little girl way. She's fun.

Number #1 thing to come home to...
My books finally came and I can send off my final Secret Pal package. Stephanie's book is for me. I also ordered a book for father's day and a book for my secret pal. I also got 3 sweaters I ordered from Talbots and, coincidentally???, matching Koigu I ordered from the Patterworks sale. I have 2 more skeins of koigu coming, but they're backordered. And I also have another package coming because there was a note in my mail box that they left it with the apartment complex because it was too big to fit (Secret Pal package??? I hope so!!) Unfortunately, I didn't get home until after 8:30 this evening and tomorrow night I have a recruiting event I have to attend that won't be over until late. So, I'll leave early on Friday to make it by the time the office closes to get it. Can't wait for Friday. Have so much work going on and some other stuff that could be a big life change for me. So we'll see how it goes...

Hello all. Another busy day at the ranch. I'm ready for the weekend when I'm going to get a chance to see my new nephew!!!! Of course, before that time...which will be approximately 3pm on Friday... I have lots of work to do.

So, I'm going to leave you with this cool personality test...Imagini

So, I've officially finished 3 repeats of the lace patter on the surplice top. I think I'm going to have to do a couple of extra repeats to make it a bit longer?
Here's a close up of what the lace looks like.
Notice my SUPER COOL stitch markers that Carmen made me... Yes, they're shoes. She totally rocks. This pattern was easily memorize and it's going very quickly. Loving it so far.

The highlight of my day...I got to talk to my nephew. I don't think at 1 week he has a full grasp of the phone. I got a whimper and then a scream...which is marginally better than my neice who either doesn't want to talk to me (in that haughty 2.5 year old way) or gets on the phone and won't say anything...

Other than that I had a nice calm day by myself, did a little laundry, took a nap, knitted some on my Nashua Surplice top. I'm into my second lace repeat on the front panel and it's looking good. Still mulling over my decision, but I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to pursue the opportunity further to see more about what it's going to be like at least.

So, my 3rd and last Secret Pal 10 package is ready to be sent except for a book I ordered which has gotten lost in the mail. Let me correct that not lost. Apparently the package the books were in (My father's Father's Day gift was in the same package and suffered the same fate) came open and the book are AWOL. Ughhh!!! Of course, since I did all the legwork to figure out what happened to the package, Overstock.com, now has to go through the "verification" process. I said, just call Sharon at this number and make it quicker, but OH NO, they have to go through their official mumbo jumbo. Ugghhh!!! So as a result. No book for Secret Pal package. No Father's Day gift. That totally sucks.

I didn't do much today. I ran some errands this morning and got my oil changed. Took a nap this afternoon. Did a little spinning this evening and have been doing a lot of thinking. I thought that I had everything figured out after a couple of months of indecision and an opportunity kind of landed in my lap on Friday that warrants serious consideration. I'm really thinking of pursuing it because it would be what's best for me, but it will also cut off some avenues for me at a later date and so it requires a lot of thought before I go forward.

I could talk about my long, long day, but instead I'm going to focus on the positive today. This....
became this...
Tonight. I totally love it. It makes me happy. I'm doing better. It's becoming more uniform in size for the most part. Still some parts with overtwist. But all in all, it's looking better. Yeah me.

In case you're wondering, I have not plyed the purple yarn. I was so excited to try the new roving that I wound it on a TP roll. I need a sufficient length of time to figure out the plying and 8pm on a Wednesday after a 10 hours of meetings wasn't it. I'm free this weekend, so I'll probably try then.

In other news, got my ticket for my trip to Cincinnati in July to see Beth. I told her when she moved if she got tickets to see Jimmy Buffett I would be there. I'm there on July 26th. Yeah us! We (Carmen, Suzie, Beth and I) got our flights and hotel to Stitches Midwest. We'll be staying at the Hyatt if there are any other knitters out there who want to hook up. We went to hook up with some other knitters at the Hyatt last year, but there was some kind of hippy convention and some old guy was making a six year old sing "Hey Jude" in the lobby and we were so out of there. The only thing left is to purchase flights to DC to see my nephew, planning is in the works.

Ugghhh! The sunburn still hurts. Bad. I had a gaggle full of interns in for the first day today and I kept calling "bathroom/drink" breaks, which were really code for Gwen was going to walk back to her desk and apply aloe with lidocaine to her sunburnt neck before she goes insane breaks. Who knew getting burnt in a 2 inch strip from behind your ear to the crook in your neck hurt so bad...

I did not go to the gym tonight because, quite frankly after the day I had, I didn't really want to be around any more people. So Leslie Poundstone and I did the 20 minute "Walk away the Pounds" workout. Leslie and I lost quite a bit of weight several years ago when I would do it every day. Sadly, I can almost recite the workout with her to this day. Alas, the workout got boring, so I've gone a different route and am working out at the gym. Since I have this new dedication to exercise and I skipped the gym, it was an okay substitute. Certainly better than sitting in front of the TV.

After Leslie and I had our fun, I will admit after the workout, I did sit in front of the TV and knit. I started a new project. The Nashua Surplice Top. So far, I've got about an inch of the garter stitch at the bottom, so nothing really to show. I'm doing it in the Nashua June in color 003. So far I'm totally loving knitting with it. I heart it. So, as soon as I've got some of the lace work to show, I'll post it.

4 more days until Friday. Two entire days of meetings on Weds and Thurs. Here's hoping I can hang in there...

I'm exhausted and sunburnt. Sadly, going back to work next week might actually be less exhausting then my weekend.

First off, I forgot my camera. Yes, Gwen sucks. The morning started very early... We had a whole day in honor of Worldwide Knit in Public day. We started in the morning at Knit Wit in Olathe, KS. We love, love, love this shop, but it's in Olathe and ummm, well at least when I'm driving...a bit of a problem to find. Yes, I passed the highway exit and then went the wrong way and it was a series of wrong turns. But, although Johanna was slightly car sick, we finally made it. I looked around, but managed not to buy anything for myself (still feeling guilty from the Patternworks Koigu order) and settled for living vicariously and buying Carmen Trekking that she wanted.

We then went to the Overland Park Farmers Market and sat on the steps and knitted for awhile. From there, we went to the Greek Festival where we were joined by Joanna's husband Gary and his cousin Scott. The quickly abandoned us when it was clear we were headed to more yarn stores... Chickens! :-)

We headed out for Cottage Fibers in their new location where I indulged myself and bought some roving to continue my attempts to spin on the drop spindle. These are not quite so pink, but more jewel tones.
And this, which the shop owner playfully referred to as Crayola colored.
I'm going to have fun spinning with it. I just need to find time so ply what is currently on the spindle....

After that we went to Urban Arts and Crafts where I drooled over hobbies that I didn't have and lusted after the Queensland Tweed yarn. Joanna bought some cotton to make her mom some birthday washcloths and we were off for a much needed break at Latte Land where we rested and knit some more.

We topped off the day with dinner at everyone's favorite restaurant Blue Koi (if you're ever in Kansas City, a must stop!) and more coffee & knitting at Latte Land with the aforementioned Gary and Scott. All in all a fun, but tiring day.

So this morning, we gathered back together for Stitch and Pitch at Kauffman stadium. About all I can say about the day is the Royals beat down the Phillies. Our bags for Stitch and Pitch were sadly disappointing. My friend Beth raved about what they got in Cincinnati and in KC, we got some novelty yarn (yuck) and some size 19 needles. A little disappointing after Beth's rave review. It was hot and to match the weird line of sunburn from yesterday where I missed part of the V-neck of my shirt with sunscreen, I now have a spot on my shoulder, my ears and the sides of my neck...which I weirdly seemed to miss with sunscreen. Ouch!

There was knitting through the weekend. Below is my sock for my sockapalooza pal which I'm turning the heel on.

It's using the Shimmer Sock pattern from Magknits and the Watermelon Tourmaline colorway of STR. From the World's Ugliest sock last week to a thing of beauty. Yeah!

To finish off my weekend, I cam home and wrote performance reviews for my staff. Now I'm about ready to drop into bed and sleep.

So, since I've worked so hard today, I thought I'd take off early and leave work at 3pm and run some errands... You can already see the problem... Yep, I left the office at 5:45pm. Ugghh!!!! Another totally frustrating day at the grindstone.

But, today's story has a happy ending!!! I got a very special call this evening. I'm an aunt again!!!!! My brother and his wife had a little boy this evening...although I'm not sure you can call 8lbs 8oz little. He was born at 10:08 this evening!!! I'm so excited. It's all I can do to restrain myself from hopping a plane to see him. Unfortunately, the next three weeks are the most busy time for me at work and since I want to spend at least 2 full days loving on the new baby, I'm going to have to wait at least 3 weeks. So, I'll be working towards planning a trip and then I'll have something to get me through the next few weeks at work. I'm so excited. I can't wait to see him.

Tomorrow is Worldwide Knit in Public day, so the girls and I have decided to honor this auspicious holiday by visiting 3 yarn stores, a farmer's market, a greek festival and our favorite restaurant. Yeah...we're going to get up early and go all day. Along the way, we'll knit in places. At the farmers market they have live music. Perfect knitting opportunity. At the greek festival while we're too full to even stand upright. You're getting the picture here right??? I'll try to remember my camera so I can photoraph our day. Then on Sunday, we're all going to Stitch & Pitch at the KC Royals Game. Woo Hoo! A baby and a knitty weekend. Just what I needed.

Work, work, work, work and more work. Makes Gwen a very dull girl. Still taking more work to the gym with me. Worked so well the first night I did it again. Who knew reading boring work stuff while riding boring exercize bike would make 20 minutes go by faster??? I tried to read while on the elliptical machine, but I almost fell off, so I gave that up as hazardous to my health.

I'm kind of in a knitting slump. I can't decide what to knit next and everything I start I end up ripping out. I guess I just haven't found "The Next Big Project" to work on. I think I'm going to restart the Krista Tee this weekend. I think I figure out what I was doing wrong and it was very boneheaded thing to do. I followed the patter even though I was converting it to in the round. So, when it said to knit, I knit...even on a row where I should have purled. This moment of clarity came during a conference call today...

Well, hopefully life gets more interesting soon...

All I seem to do is work lately. I worked all Sunday afternoon. I hit a new low today when I had my EA bind up some of the paperwork in my "to read" pile into a book so I could take it with me to the gym and read it while sitting on the exercize bike. It was, quite frankly, either that or work until 8pm, whereby I would be too tired to go to the gym. So, I'm sure the whole crowd of people at the gym were wondering why in the world is she reading that...

So I finally got home at 8pm. Made a sandwich and sat down in front of the TV to relax and elevate my knee which is sore and what did I see on tv tonight. Yes, Hell's Kitchen is back!!!! I love this show. Gordon Ramsey is awesome. I aspire one day to eat in Hell's Kitchen. And tonight's show was fabulous!!! I think it was one of the best I've seen so far. I was laughing out loud. "Hell's Bitches" I totally loved it. I thought I was going to fall off the couch when he said that. It totally made my day.

I worked 15 hours yesterday. Yes, that's 15 hours on a Friday. Yuck. I got home at 11:30 last night and just went to bed. Yesterday really sucked.

Today, though, today was Saturday. I did get up early. I ran some errands and got some Starbucks. Knitted a little and then met my friend Joanna for lunch and a walk through the local farmers market. I got yummy watermelon and lettuce. I was going to make a salad for dinner, but it turns out, the watermelon made a perfect dinner. :-) We also had a yummy lunch in spite of the fact that we were disappointed because they were out of the Chocolate Sugar cookes. :-(

I knitting news, I began test knitting two pairs of socks for my Sockapalooza 4 pal. The first are jaywalkers in Opal.
I'm kind of liking these and this may be it...

...because these are quite possibly the ugliest socks in the world...
Tropicana pattern not working here. Lots of pooling. It's just not working. This is STR in Watermelon Tourmaline. You think having watermelon for dinner before starting the socks would have been a good omen, but obviously not. So, they will be frogged.