New York City

 Last weekend Richard and I went to NYC to get away for a bit and see our baby boy. The first night we walked from 54th down 10th to 23rd. We hit the High Line at about 33rd and walked the rest of the way there. I took the picture on the left from the High Line. It was a nice night for a walk.

 

 On Friday, we went to the Lower East side to walk around. We visited the gift shop of the Tenement Museum and just wandered the streets where we saw this Restaurant to the right with our baby girl's name. We then walked to Soho to meet Zachary and his room mate Gio for some lunch and shopping.

 We checked out the Fluevog Store, the shoes my friend Mary loves sooooooo much. They are her signature shoes. The store was great.

 This clothing store had a great window display of antique sewing machines. It was not the best lighting for a picture but I took one anyway.

 We hit a really cool store called Pearl River where they had this great fabric. We also got Zachary fun hanging lights for his apartment and a great bag for Hana. I loved it!

 Later that evening after Zachary and Gio left us to head back to Brooklyn, Richard and I found the Purl Soho store. It was a fun little shop of fabric and yarn, but the yarn was so high I didn't feel I could buy any and the fabric, well........I do sell fabric so I can't bring myself to buy any elsewhere unless its fabulous. I guess I didn't see any that was fabulous.

On Saturday morning, we went to Brooklyn to see Zachary's apartment. We got doughnuts from Dough that were killer! then we went to the Ft. Greene  Brooklyn Flea just blocks from Z's apartment where we ate great street food and bought fun stuff. Next we went to the Dekalb Market. It was such a fun day. Here you can see my boy at the subway station waiting for his train going the opposite direction from ours. I actually teared up watching him ride away.

Sunday we got up and went out walking to Central Park. We stopped for breakfast at the Moonrock diner on 57th on our way to the park. Then into the park for a walk and a sit in the sun. I had to snap a shot of Richard looking so happy in the park.









Look at this Hawk sitting on the fence in the park. Incredible, just sitting there looking around. I got much closer and took a little video of the hawk looking back and forth. It was sooooo cool.


That's the end of NYC November 2011! 

An update

Hi folks,
It has been awhile since I have posted here. Life has been flying by in a flurry of colors.
Most recently I just got back from International Quilt Market in Houston where I go every October to see what is going on in my fabric world. I say lots of my fabric buddies, found new fabric to buy and found lots of new book and patterns.
Now I am back home trying to recover from a week of being sick and going right into the market trip, with poor sleeping nights and poor eating meals. We have already gotten in some new patterns and a box of Kaff Fassett's quilts to display in the shop. Next I have to organize getting those quilts hung in the shop. I don't think that will happen until Monday.
That's all for today. I will try to post sooner, rather than later, next time.

Making more progress

On the progress front......
I am still going to CrossFit Decatur at least four days a week, some weeks five. I have noticed more muscle and a little less flab, yay!
I have almost finished my first scarf that I posted about on this blog months ago and have gotten about 6 inches going on my second one, which is a harder pattern so I keep having to wait for help fixing little mistakes I make.
I am working my way through a hand applique block for our Paideia fall BBQ raffle quilt.
We are working very hard at the shop to get ready for a our booth at the East Cobb quilt show next weekend.
Lot's going on!

Progress coming along

So... on the progress front, I have finished the little baby quilt I was working on, and was asked to do another one, which I am hoping is not going to turn into another and another. I have put aside my first knitting project because it is too hot in my house to knit with fuzzy wool, I have started a second knitting project with less fuzzy wool, so maybe I will be able to work on it while it is hot. I got a quilt back from Regina that is ready to put the binding on so I will need to get the binding made and on it, hopefully before we go to the beach so I can be working on it while there.
As, for exercise, I made it through another week of four days and CrossFit and two days at pilates. My knees were killing me last night but seem better today. Tomorrow we have planned a bike ride and swimming. We will see if that comes to pass.
As for family stuff.....my baby girl came back from her second big summer trip yesterday, went right off to a sleepover and is in bed asleep now at 9pm.
Baby boy should be coming home this week to go to the beach with us. I hope that all works out. He is busy this week painting a mural for work and then playing tour guide to his friend who is visiting him up there.
So proud of my kids and of myself for sticking with things. Now to get work caught up from spending so much time away this summer. That will be the next step in my progress.

the exercise progress

So, I am finished with two weeks of Crossfit Decatur.
I did make it in that Friday and had to do 5 rounds of 20 air squats with 5 rounds of 10 wight lifting bars with 25lbs on it (cannot remember what those are called).
The whole weekend after that it hurt to walk up and down the stairs at home, the shop and the braves game Saturday night, as well as, sitting on the potty. UGH!
Last week, I decided I can only do three days at CrossFit and then stick to my two days at pilates every week. So, last week I went Monday and Tuesday to CrossFit because baby girl had yearly check up on Wednesday morning and then Thursday pilates and Friday CrossFit. After Tuesday's workout, my arms hurt the rest of the week and are still a little funky today, but, I did it. I actually ran about 2 miles on Friday and walked about 800 meters with two rounds of 50 sit-ups in between 1 mile, 800 meters, and 1 mile. I hate tto run, but I did it.
Today I decided I could do 25 sit-ups after some major stretching to try to loosen things up for CrossFit tomorrow morning.
We will see how week three goes. I'll let you know at the end of the week.

Latest Progress for me

Well, it is not quilting, sewing or knitting. It is exercise. I decided that I would join CrossFit Decatur this week and for some reason decided the day to jump in was one of the hottest days of the year so far, Tuesday and the same day I also had a pilates appointment in the afternoon. Soooooo........I have now exercised three times in the last 36 hours and am in soooooo much pain when I move, it is incredible. The process part of this is that I committed to going to CrossFit 50 times (already paid for) and five days a week.....Agh! Since I find that I usually feel worse two days after a workout, not the next day, I am thinking when I go back on Friday morning, after another pilates tomorrow afternoon, I am not sure how in the world I am going to make it through whatever He**ish workout they have planned for me. I am very nervous and worried.

I am doing it though because this is one of the processes I am choosing to take part in right now and I have to stick with it.

I decided to visit my friend Patty's blog tonight because I have not been there in quite some time, and saw a pledge button on her blog. I clicked on the button and ended up at Rossie Blog where decided to take the pledge, too.

I, Sarah Phillips, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear.   I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.  

So, to begin sharing about my process, I have put up two photos. The first one on the left is a quilt I am working on for someone else who wants a baby quilt. I am being nice and making it even though it is not my cup of tea.


The second photo is my knitting I started two weeks ago. This project is for me. It will be a long wide scarf for me to cover my head and ears with when I am walking outside in winter. My ears hurt in the cold, so I love to keep them covered. I am enjoying making this scarf because it is fun colors and a nice texture and my friend Sahar taught me finally to knit loosely so my hands do not hurt when I knit. 
It's even fun to go out to the local Irish pub to hear music, drink beer and knit.



I am also in the process of making a coverlet for my bed with a Heather Bailey fabric but I have put that aside for the moment because I need to carefully cut the fabric to match the print and I just haven't had it in me to fussy cut 108 inches of fabric twice. I'll get to it soon!

Happy Wednesday!

What a Saturday!

This morning I went off with a group of friends to a knit shop because they all knit and told me I have to knit with them even though I don't knit. It was overwhelming but fun. I guess I am going to start knitting. I have yarn now for three projects that I cannot mention because two of them are gifts. Hopefully I will get them made.

Then after a yummy lunch at Community BBQ with my hubby and rushed to work to get ready for the book signing Rashida Coleman-Hale was doing this afternoon She is an amazingly creative person and soooooo nice. 

What a busy afternoon at the shop with the Rashida book signing, a group of women visiting from Tallahassee Florida and then a group from the Atlanta Chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild at the shop for a class this evening. So nice to see so many happy, knitters, sewers and quilters today!

To top that off, when I pulled into my driveway I saw this beautiful rainbow. I had to get my hubby out front to see how pretty and bright it was. My iphone picture does not do it justice.


Then inside for dinner finally. We had a mega-salad, as my hubby likes to call it.  Mixed baby greens, carrots, cucumber, beets, strawberries, bacon, boiled egg, avocado and balsamic and olive oil. Yum!

Yay, it's Friday!

Yay, it is Friday and I am home where I really love to be. I love my little house in my little neighborhood in my little city of Decatur. It has everything I need including my work, my friends, my favorite restaurants (except a few are just over the line into Atlanta), shopping (love Squash Blossom), the Decatur local food market on Wednesdays and Saturdays for fresh veggies, oh, and I almost forgot, the little veggies garden my neighbor planted between our houses. Lot's of yellow squash which I love! Look at our beautiful squash blossom here.
The only thing missing right now are my kids and my hubby, but I guess I have to get used to my life without my son close by, my nubby will be home shortly and my baby girl will be home next Thursday. I will be really happy to see her!
My new friend Rashida came into the shop today and I got to the two of her three kids I had not met before. they are all totally adorable. I wanted to hold Matthew so badly but you know when it's too soon to be grabbing up a mama's boy. He did give me plenty of smiles today though. What a nice addition to my day!
I also got to see my friend Alice today and several of our other regular customers. It was a busy day at the shop today, which is a good thing always.

Birthdays!

June is full of birthdays in my world.
Both Richard's grandmother Era and my grandfather Burton, who are deceased, had birthdays in June and does Richard's grandfather Robert, whose birthday we celebrated a week ago.
Then my friend Mari's daughter's bday was the 13th, friend Ivy's the 15th, nephew Griffin's the 16th, my hubby Richard's was yesterday (as was my friend Mary Lou) and then today was Mari's son's bday and my wonderful Friend Anita's.
We had a nice dinner out Wahoo last night for Richard  and then today I had lunch with Anita and our friend Mary at Farm Burger and then I was lucky enough to have dinner with Anita too, at Sundown on Cheshire Bridge.  I am glad I could be with Anita to celebrate her birthday.
Happy Birthday to all whose birthdays are near by!

Summer 2011

Well, I haven't been on here for 3 months so let's see if I can get back to it more frequently.

We made it through shop hop back at the end of March. We had so much fun those four crazy days. Then a week later, Hana, Richard and I went off to California for Hana's spring break. We spent the first night with my mom in Mountain view and had a nice evening. Hana had to go to the See's candy store to buy a box of candy for her friend Lizzie and family, who she was going to see the next day. On Sunday We headed onto "the city" to take Hana to meet her friend Lizzie. We were early so drove Hana to see where her dad used to live in the lower Haight and then went up Haight and stopped for coffee. Next we met Lizzie and family in San Francisco at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen for brunch. Yum, yum! After food with friends, Richard and I left Hana with Lizzie and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge towards Mendocino.
Once over the bridge we had to stop in Santa Rosa at the Russian River Brewery for a pint (and picked up a few extra bottles for our evening) and stopped at two wineries, Breggo (the best bottle of wine came from here) and Navarro, in the Anderson valley on our way to the Andiron Inn and Cottages which is an absolutely charming place to stop for the night.
On Monday morning we started our day with a 5 mile hike into Van Damme State Park before breakfast and then went for coffee and a pastry in Mendocino and a little shopping, we headed to the  Glass beach (used to be the town dump) near Ft. Bragg and then into Ft. Bragg for lunch and a pint at the North Coast Brewery. After lunch we had plenty of energy for tackling the lost coast highway and the Avenue of the Giants. We stopped off in Legget to drive through the Drive-Thru Tree and then stopped later to hike in the Founder's Grove nature trail (seen in the picure to the right). It was amazingly beautiful! From there, we headed further north to Arcata where we had a little house rented for two nights.

Our first morning in Arcata we found a great breakfast place, and headed out to the Manila Dunes for a hike to the Ocean which was just amazing. Then we headed south to Eureka where we found a neat little fabric shop, Eureka Fabrics, and then to the Lost Coast Brewery for another pint (my favorite beer of the trip) and lunch. After lunch it was back to Arcata for an afternoon hike in the Arcata Community Forrest, which was the most amazing place I have ever seen. I enjoyed the redwoods there more than any of the others we saw! If you do the California north coast make it to the Arcata Community Forrest! That evening we ate dinner at Hey Juan Burritos where Andrew Kahn told us we had to go if it was still there, which it was all these years later.
On Wednesday we headed south in the first really drizzly weather we had, which was perfect because we were driving and not hiking. We cut over to the Tomales Bay via some beautiful dairy hills and then ended up in Stinson Beach for the night with a walk on the beach and a good seafood dinner.
Thursday morning we drove into "the city" with no problems and went into Japan Town to get Hana from Lizzie's family. Once we had Hana, we went for a nice breakfast in the Castro and then headed to Haight for some good shopping for Hana, where she hit pay dirt on the skinny people clothing. We made it down to Mountain View in the afternoon where we had a nice home-cooked meal with my mother.
Friday we took Hana to see Stanford, where her Grandparents went to college and then to the Oasis (where her grandparents and great grand-father used to go for burgers and to watch football) for a burger for lunch. After lunch it was wandering in downtown Palo Alto.
What a great spring break we had!
Since that spring break trip, Richard has been to Ghana, I went to Salt Lake City, Hana turned 15, both kids finished school, Richard, Hana and I went to Tallahassee to see family, Zachary came home for a visit, Hana got her learner's permit and left for Ireland (seen getting ready to leave to the right) on the 14th of June where she will be until the 30th, Zachary went back to Brooklyn and his new life without us, Richard had a birthday (today) and then will be heading off to Africa on Saturday if their Malaria branch budget gets finalized for the next year before then, which is not looking promising.
All of that thrown in to regular life.
No wonder life seems like it's been so crazy and gone by so fast again!
Happy summer folks!

Updates

Baby boy got into the Industrial Design program at Pratt! He found out today and was quite excited I think. Now he will be working toward a BID degree instead of the BA degree. It will be hard work but so far he has managed. I am so excited for him!

And, baby girl is doing well in 9th grade. She seems to be getting better grades in the last few weeks which is nice for her.

Now for the next few weeks of shop hop craziness!