signs of summer

-BBQs almost every night
-kids biking and playing in our neighborhood
-through hikers on the appalachian trail coming through town
-smell of sunscreen mixed with bug goop on little kids
-breaking out either the pastis or the limoncello (never both, what are you crazy?)
-black fly bites GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

happy birthday to me

this will be my birthday present to me from me.

not only is it a cool vintage coat in a becoming shade of "avocado green", it's from my husband's family's former business, livingston bros, started by his great grandfather and two great uncles in 1876. i'm excited to own a piece of family history to (hopefully) save for the girls if they like that kind of thing when they are older...

renewed knitting interest

i'm still working on the scarf mentioned below, but am starting to get some energy for finishing pairs of socks. i got the new sock yarn for the blue moon fiber arts sock club and i'm liking it a lot more than the first installment. it's got a lot of happy colors in it. i put my self on a yarn diet at the beginning of the year, so the sock club yarn should be the only new yarn i get for a while. should be.

so...will try to finish one, maybe 2 pairs of socks this week and if i do, my reward will be...start a new pair? i'm not quite sure.

oh, and the weather? RAIN. again. but ti's supposed to be nice next weekend-i'd love to celebrate my birthday outside!

random bits

-i'm obsessing about buying a really nice camera. i love photography but feel like i've lost my eye since getting out of the habit of taking pictures at the drop of a hat. i resisted the digital revolution for a while, always packing the digital and film cameras when we went on vacation, but now i haven't touched my trusty old nikon slr film camera for at least a year, if not more. and i'm fully entrenched in digital pictures. it probably helps that we got a new kick ass mac to view the pics on. anyhow-i'm considering a digital slr purchase sometime before the end of the year (or better yet, end of the month with birthday money!) and contemplating making portrait picture taking a part-time gig when the girls go to elementary school.

-so yeah, back there a few posts? looking back it's obvious to me that i was at a low point and my struggle with what started out as post-partum depression is definitely not over. my doctor recommended that i take meds for at least another year because i had some seasonal blues over the winter. it may turn out that i need to take them for longer, only the future can tell. i just have to remember to be really aware of my body and mind and make sure to take care of them so i don't dip quite so much. sometimes that's hard to remember when i'm also taking care of the girls, brian, the house, etc, etc, etc...

-still working on the scarf for the time being, and not looking at the pairs of unfinished socks. i am feeling that maybe i'll try to finish a pair or two that i started for other folks in the next week or so so i can get them off my to do list.

-it's pretty much supposed to rain all damn weekend (in our area, up to 4 inchs by sunday morning). hopefully, we'll just chill and not go stir crazy. make a fire in the fireplace, make some popcorn, weatch movies, knit (me only, obviously), read and other cozy activities. i'm supposed to do a 7 mile run on sunday...i may just settle for 4-5 wet miles.

most hilarious spam subject line i've received in a long time

The Hottest Soccer Moms on Earth NAKED

much better now!

hmmm...so that last post? kinda not good, huh?

i did start a new knitting project and did it because it makes me happy. fun to work with the colorway i got and so on. it's the melody scarf from morehouse merino and i'm just doing it for myself in my own sweet time. good thing about it is that it's really nothing fancy so i can do a little here, a little here. don't have to consult charts or anything. i still have a lot of projects in progress, but i'm just not going to worry about them.

i sent the girls to "school" today in an effort to spend a little time at home BY MYSELF (they normally don't go on mondays). it doesn't happen very frequently and i feel like i can get so much more done without interruptions! so today, a little computer work, a little house cleaning and a little relaxing-maybe a long hike/walk with the dog.

the weather this weekend was gorgeous. we spent a TON of time outside in the sunshine and the girls both fell asleep as soon as their little sweet heads hit the pillows last night. we had dinner with friends both nights, spent most of yesterday at brian's brother's house and then played with the neighborhood folks. a very gratifying two days.