Obsess Much?

Okay, I know I promised like a week ago to catch up my blog on all that has been happening lately, but I guess I must've lied....

I do have a good reason for neglecting this promise and it's name is Sage Remedy Top. I cast on last Thursday and wove in the last end yesterday. I think it's definitely a new record for completing an entire sweater for me, but it was definitely a fun knit with the feather and fan lace inserts! These pictures are really bad, but it's nighttime and the light kinda sucks. I'll try and get a better photo tomorrow.

But, I do owe some stories, don't I?

Ravelry Meet-Up

A couple of months ago, I met Asappa on Ravelry when she posted on the New Orleans Forum that she would be visiting New Orleans in August and was wondering about the local yarn shops. I wrote her back and after a little communication, we decided that I would take her up to the Northshore for a special viewing of a yarn shop that is owned by the lovely, Pam, who I met in Atlanta at the Stitches conference, but had yet to check out her shop, McNeedles.

The day we selected to meet up, Bean and I went to her hotel and picked her up. She was a real sweet person and even came with gifts, which included a handknit kitty for Bean! After a yummy lunch at Johnny's po-boys in the Quarter, we headed out to the shop. It's about a 45 minute drive and I was a little nervous about taking a road trip with a random stranger. I shouldn't have, Asappa was lovely and we chit-chatted the entire way.

Upon locating the store, Pam came hobbling out to greet us. Poor thing came and opened the store specially for us while recovering from knee surgery! And I'm so glad she did! Her store had a great selection and I bought a ton of yarn! She also has an online store, so you should definitely go and check it out.

Meeting up with a complete stranger is not something I would normally do, and neither would she, but I'm so glad I decided to step out of my normal comfort zone this once to meet a new friend and find a great new source for fibery goodness!

VEGAS!!!

A couple of days after meeting up with Asappa, I headed out to Vegas on a girls' trip. This was only my second time leaving Bean for any amount of time (the other was my trip to Atlanta) and it was the first time that I had left her with Hubby in charge!

The trip was so much fun! We had five of us staying in a two bedroom suite at the Palms. Drinking began early, with us starting on the plane out there around 8:30 in the morning. The flight was a blast and the flight attendant was even mixing shots for us! (He also only charged us about 1/5 of what the drinks should have actually cost!)

When we got to our hotel, we quickly ordered room service and then headed off to the pool. It was super-windy that day and ours was the only pool in Vegas that hadn't been shut down. I will admit, it was a little wild to see white caps on a pool! The drinking continued until it was time to get ready for dinner, which was over at a sushi place at the Bellagio. The food was good, (I tried kobe beef) but certainly not plentiful. After dinner, we headed to one of the bars at the Bellagio, but by 10:30 I was struggling to stay awake! 15 hours of drinking will do that to me! So I headed back to our hotel, with two of the other girls, who shortly after that woke me up to let me know they were going back out! More power to 'em, I needed sleep!

The next morning I was up way before everyone else, so I took advantage of the gym at the hotel and got myself some breakfast. By the time I made it back and was showered, some of the others were up and we relaxed until it was time to head down to the spa. Did Imention that Hubby was the most wonderful man in the world? Well, he is! When we checked into our room, a bell hop showed up shortly thereafter bearing gifts from Hubby which included a bottle of champagne, flowers and spa treatments for each of us! I think all of the girls were in love with my husband after we were done at the spa! I got a massage and facial and felt pretty much like putty when they were done.

That afternoon, the rest of the girls headed back to the pool but I took a nap and relaxed (knit) until dinner time. I like taking it a little bit easier than most of my friends on vacation. That night we ate at Simon in our hotel and it was DELICIOUS! The topper on the meal was when they brought out a giant plate of cotton candy for dessert. I love me some spun sugar! After dinner we had planned on heading out to a nightclub at the Wynn, my friend Matt had gotten us on the guest list, but we were all feeling a bit lazy and decided to just hang out at the casino. Once again, I was the first one back in the room, but I did manage to last until about 2:00am. I have no idea what time the rest made it back.

We slept in the next morning, but headed down to the main pool at the Palms for the afternoon. One of the girls managed to talk the pool host into dropping the drink minimum for a cabana (usually about $1000) so we rented one and spent the whole afternoon lounging, drinking mango daquiris, and eating lobster rolls! That's my idea of vacation!

That night we planned on meeting up with some other girls that one of my friends knows. We grabbed a quick dinner and headed over to the Hard Rock to meet up with them. We were totally hooked up that night with a limo, VIP at Tao, and bottle service at the table. I don't even want to know what our tab looked like that night! We had a ton of fun and stayed out until about 3:30, which normally wouldn't be too big a deal, but given the fact that we had to get up at 6:30 the next morning to head to the airport, it was maybe a bit too late!

All in all, I had a great time. The women I went with were so much fun and I loved the restaurants, pool and spa. But even though I had fun at the nightclub and casino, I don't think I'm going to head back to Vegas any time soon. I'm trying to steer the next girls' trip toward a beach resort...

I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to find when I returned home, but I was pleased to see that the house was clean, the child well-cared for, and I was very missed! I do love getting lots of hugs from my two favorite people!

So, now that this post has gotten excessively long, I am going to succumb to my burning desire to start swatching for Sylvi and continue catching up on my blogging tomorrow.

Oh, Alice asked me a question on my last post: Alice, we are heading to Disney on November 5 - 11. Wish we were going to be there when you guys are, but we decided to overlap the trip with a friend's wedding.