Vacation with Jill

Jill and I had a wonderful time at Myrtle Beach. Well, so did Dave, Mickey and Garrett, but Jill and I had more fun. At least WE think so.

This is a view of the beach from Pier 14.

Here is Jill and all the boys hitting the waves. I walked along a few times letting the waves flow over my feet, but I avoid actually getting into the ocean. There are sharks, jelly fish, stingrays and those little fish that look like rocks that can poison a person. Garrett and Mickey went fishing off of Pier 14 and saw people catch a small shark and a stingray. That just goes to prove my point, land is better.

Jill and I took a walk on the wild side and got our hair braided. I got the cornrows and Jill got one threaded braid. Ok, I went a little wilder than her with the hair, but SHE is the one who got a tattoo.

She wanted one of an angel but the man didn't have one. She had to improvise, that's what we do on vacation, so she got one that says "angel" in Chinese. It's supposed to last for 30-45 days but she had to keep getting it "touched up". It may be gone by now.

Her braid will last longer than mine, though. Hers will last about two months and my braids should last about one. My family likes my braids, except Nick requested that I wear a hat when I took him to school this morning and had to go with him to the office. He said the guys might not think it's cool. I told him he could be wrong. They might think it's hot. He didn't seem to think that was a better situation. So, I put on my Ohio State ball cap and in we went. He wasn't in trouble I just had to fill out a form. I might also add, being the proud mom that I am, that he held both doors open so mom could go in first. Such a gentleman.

This is a beautiful Myrtle Beach sunrise. Jill and I were up at 4:30am to go hunting for seashells. Yes, 4:30am. Mickey and Garrett were out the morning before at 6am and found some gorgeous conk shells. They said that there were people out before them who found even better ones. Jill and I wanted some for ourselves so there we were, out in the sand with our plastic bags, and ready to go. Well, in case you did not know this, I will let you know. It is still dark at 4:30am. It is hard to see the beach and even harder to see sea shells by the seashore. We eventually gave up and Jill went back to bed. I did stay out long enough to get a few good pics and then I was off to breakfast at the Pancake House. We did find a few pretty shells later on in the mid-afternoon. You know, when "normal" people are up and at the beach.

We took a cab to Broadway on the Beach. This is the whole crew enjoying the day. We wanted a picture of all of us so I asked a very nice lady (one who didn't look like she could outrun all of us and take my camera home with her). She took the picture. (she actually had to take a couple because she was blind in one eye, yes, I found the ONE person in the whole place to take our photo who was blind in one eye.) I think it turned out quite nicely.

Part of the vacation was a steak dinner for Garrett that Jill had promised him. We ate at Landry's. The waiter brought his cake with a candle and five forks. He enjoyed the steak very much and we all enjoyed the cake.

The flight both ways wasn't too bad. I'm not very fond of airplanes. They defy the law of gravity, like bumblebees. I'm not afraid to die, mine you, but I'm not at all a fan of pain or the intense fear of plummeting to the sky towards the ground. The day after we arrived at the Yachtsman we saw a story on the news of an airplane that was hit by lightening, fell to the ground and split in two. Let's just walk home from the beach?

Jill did very well on her part. It was a bittersweet vacation. She usually went on this vacation with Larry. She had fun most of the time but there were a few teary moments remembering him. She did say that if he had been there she probably wouldn't have gotten the braid or tattoo. It's good for her to take some baby steps outside of the box.

We both stitched a bit in the evenings when the fun of the day was over, but neither of us finished anything.

Now, vacation is over and it's back to life. Phoebe went back to work today after having her tonsils taken out a week and a half ago. She's doing really well. She said it just feels like a sore throat now. The girls are back to daycare. They enjoyed the time off as much as she did but I think they missed playing with all of their little friends. And, I'm back. Dirty dishes, floors and clothes await me. The fam did a pretty good job of keeping things in order while I was gone but they are glad I'm back to take things over again.

I have a list of my own of things to do as well. One of which is work on the gifts for the TANA Promise Pieces and create a great gift for the TANA Christmas party. The theme is "white". I have an idea for what I want to do and have already started on it. I need to finish the finishing and hope it looks as good in reality as it did in my head. I will have to let you know.

Hardanger Card of the Month

I haven't stitched anything hardanger for quite awhile. Since the Hardy Girls haven't been meeting since last year I guess I didn't have any motivation. That, and the fact that I have about a millions things on my stitching to do list. (No one knows what I'm talking about, do you?)

Jill called me one day because she had just received her Nordic Needle catalog and found their Hardanger Card of the Month Club. She is the one who first introduced me to hardanger a few years ago. She signed up and I decided to wait to see if I liked hers before I committed myself to another new project. She had January and February at one of our TANA meetings. I fell in love with them. They work up very quickly and are absolutely beautiful. The cards match the floss color and each month there is a different fiber. Each month I will receive a new card and project. It reminds me of the mystery sampler that Del and I did a few years back. I have no idea what each month's pattern will look like until it comes in the mail. I love good surprises.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

Another ongoing project is our trip around the world that Liz is taking us on for our monthly classes. March and April classes are Brazilian Embroidery. This was so much fun to do. I love the bullion knots. The cast on bullion knots remind me of needle tatting so it's fun as well. I had done bullion knots in the past but always got them knotted or too loose. I think these turned out quite well if I do say so myself.

Most of you will know what I'm talking about when we think of pieces we've worked on and have the memories that go with them. Not just the memories of learning new techniques or the amount of time we spent working on them. Most of us can remember what we were doing in our lives when we were stitching some particular pieces. The memory that I will have with this piece is working on it at the hospital while I sat with Jill while Larry was in the hospital. Becky came over during her lunch hour (or two) and stitched on hers.

Jill is such a very dear friend. I have so many wonderful memories with her but this is a difficult time. I hope that I can be there for her and give her the strength that she will need to keep her life going when his passes.

Bedridden stitching

I had that stomach thing that was going around. I thought it would pass me by. I was the last one in the fam to get it. I tried to make the best of it so I spent nearly two days in bed watching movies (The Mist and The Grudge), playing Sims Castaway and of course, stitching. I finished another LK Boxer...Autumn.

I also finished the hardanger angel for Jill to put on our TANA tree. She hasn't seen it yet so I hope she likes it. I modified the pattern a bit. The dress was supposed to have more stitching with picots and such but I had the heart button that Jill had given me originally and it fit perfectly! It would look better sewn to a background fabric but I've not done that before and can't think up anything exciting. Maybe she'll like it just the way it is or can give me some ideas.