Curated By Shelley

What a fantastic week! As our DREAM cruise gets closer (35 days til we fly down, and 37 til we board the Disney Dream) I have been getting more and more excited. But also a little sad since I didn't have the next trip planned. Mom has Allure of the Seas booked for later this year...so she still had something in the works. Then on Sunday I get a text from mom "Want to go on the Fantasy with the Nelsons on 4/21/12?" Um...HECK yeah! See, our Dream cruise is only 4 nights. The shortest Disney cruise we've done (shortest any cruise for that matter). Being a new ship, we've really been struggling with having so little time on the new (40% larger) Disney Dream. We'd also been kind of talking with our friends from our Magic 2008 cruise about needing to all do a 7 day together on the Fantasy in 2012. So, I promptly messaged them about our potential plans. This was Sunday. Mom and I talked more Monday. We were both swamped this week..so she said she'd call member s...

So, one of my goals for 2011 was to have less projects going on at one time. Which also means to finish up some works in process. This weekend I wrapped up TWO works in process. One, newer, and one that I've been working on for a couple of years. Item 1, is my Ruth's Entrelac Butterfly Shawl (ravelry.com log in required to see that). This I've been wanting to do since I first saw the pattern this summer. I finally cast on over break, and finished knitting it on Jan 9. This past weekend I washed and blocked it. And I wore it Monday! My second...well...that is a gift so I can't post it until its been received by its new owner...but its something I started working on a couple of years ago not knowing for sure who it was intended for. It came out better than I could have imagined. And I think most importantly...despite finishing two items up this weekend...I didn't cast on anything new yet! usually I cast on as SOOOOOON as I finish something! In the words of London ...

My dear friend Darlene recently said goodbye to her beloved dog, Zeus. So many people don't understand how much love our pets bring into our lives, and how hard it is to let them go. We should all be as lucky as Darlene to have a friend like Zeus in our lives, for however long it might be. Zeus my doggie, my son, my bestfriend, rest in Peace! By Darlene Zeusywoo came in to our lives in the summer of 1999. We went to see him & my hubby put him in my arms. That was it Zeus put his paws around my neck & his head on my shoulder Keith said we’ll take him it’s a done deal. We choose to get a second puppy to keep my Louie (Rottweiler ) active. It worked for about a year as Lou died the next summer. Zeus was my dogs a girls best friend. He was my alarm clock in the morning. He was my companion when hubby & daughter were out. We had an exercise schedule me in the morning with help with my sit ups LOL. Then his walks after I got home from work. Then relaxing watching tv together ...

I was guest blogger over at yarn-love this week and talked about my 2011 knitting goals. Thought since I need to stay accountable to these goals someplace I'd post over here too! 1. Lace - Like for REAL, not a lacy pattern in worsted weight yarn. One of the very first skeins of yarn I bought at yarn-love back in 2008 was a beautiful skein of Claudia Hand Painted Silk Laceweight. I remember fondly petting it on multiple visits. Staring at it from the table on a couple of First Fridays. Finally I broke down and bought it. I had no project in mind, and did search some on Ravelry looking for inspiration..but never came upon a project I wanted to do. I've also started to incorporate lace stitch patterns in my work. I love lace panels on socks to help keep me interested in what I'm doing. And love doing fingering weight shawls. But in setting goals for myself for this year, I've decided I finally need to knit up this gorgeous skein of yarn in a true laceweight project. 2. ...

Had to use that line with one of my business partners today. See, we sponsored and incentive contest in 2010 for them where they could earn a chance to go on a cruise in April. As part of getting us reps excited, there are a few chances for some of us to go as well. Looks like all my business partners qualified....but not looking good for me. One of them asked me today when I told him it looked like he would win, if I got to go as well. When I said no he said "that sucks" (this is a VP mind you, I love the people I get to work with). I told him "You know me, I roll with the punches. Guess I'll just have to be happy with my 9 day Walt Disney World and Disney Dream Cruise coming up". Sure I had to pay for that one. And I have to take vacation time for that one (I wouldn't have for the work cruise). But.....the Disney Dream will be filled with all my Disney friends, and the work cruise would be filled with LOTS of business partners (hence why we don't have ...