52 Weeks of Happy-Week 52

It's hard to believe it's the last full week of 2013.  All in all, I was pretty successful with keeping up with my weekly blogging of happy moments and it was a really effective way to keep focused on good things throughout what was a crazy year.  Here are my final photos for 2013.

I was extremely happy to get home and have my own coffee in my own mug in my own kitchen after being gone for a week.  Not to mention sleeping in my own bed.  This made me VERY happy!

We got hit with icy weather at the beginning of the week but luckily it was not bad for us.  I was very happy about that.  Unfortunately, those farther north were hit really hard and it has taken quite a very long time for power to be restored.  I snapped this photo on the grounds at work. 

I was very happy to spend Christmas with my family.  My nieces started us off with mustaches which mad us all laugh.  It was a wonderful holiday as usual with the usual shenanigans and shared laughter. 

My BIL - featured in 2 of the photos above - made this phenomenal cinnamon rolls from a Guy Fieri cookbook and they were just out of this world delicious.  I was very happy to partake and "know" that anything eaten on Christmas day has no calories.  LOL

We had some winter sunshine today and I was happy to take a walk with my furry friend.  They are forecasting more snow Sunday into Monday and fiercely cold temps by the end of the week so I was sure to try and get my vitamin D while it was relatively comfortable outside.

And I was happy to visit the library today to pick up some winter reading.  Given that the weather is going to be wintery, it will be great to have some good books to focus on while it's stormy outside.

Merry Christmas & 52 Weeks of Happy-Week 51

Merry Christmas all!  I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday surrounded by friends and family.

Last week I went on a cruise with one of my sisters and this is a photo of the Christmas tree in the port area of Cozumel.  It was lovely both during the day and fully lit at night.  Sorry my photo doesn't accurately capture it - I'm blaming it on the iPhone and not the photographer!  LOL

As you might imagine, my 52 Weeks of Happy photos for last week were cruise related. 

We were forecasted to get 8-12 inches of snow over the weekend and I was really afraid I wouldn't be able to make it to the airport in Boston in time to make my flight.  I was lucky to get a hotel reservation near the airport Saturday evening and this is a photo of my comfy hotel room once I finally arrived.  I was very happy to be within 5 minutes of the airport and that the weather was a little better in MA than in ME.

This happy moment was sitting on the outdoor deck with my first cruise cocktail waiting for departure.

This is a photo of the first towel animal created for our cabin by the cruise staff.  It was on my sisters bed which freaked her out a bit which made me happy!  I was glad it wasn't on mine.  There's something a little creepy about finding this in your room.   

Our first port of call was Key West and I was thrilled to be able to go to the Kino Sandal factory and replace a pair of my favorite sandals.  If you ever go to Key West, search out this little mom & pop factory as they make the most comfortable and inexpensive sandals.  My feet are now very happy!

And we had lunch at Sloppy Joe's which is such a touristy thing to do but the conch fritters and the cocktails were delish!

This was my first cruise and I'm still formulating my opinion as to whether or not I would do one again.  It made me very happy to spend time with my older sister in a relaxed, fun, WARM atmosphere!

52 Weeks of Happy-Week 50

It's been a bitterly cold week here and it doesn't look like there will be any relief any time soon so this week's post is focused on very seasonal things that made me happy this week.

Finding new winter boots that are both warm and stylish.  I'm loving this purple color!

Supporting a local singing group through the purchase of a holiday wreath.  It looked quite festive with a dusting of cold snow one morning this week.

Finally dining at a restaurant I've been wanting to try and sharing a great meal with 3 wonderful ladies.
Sorry the photo is so bad.  This was a yummy house cured salmon appetizer.

Remembering to look for egg nog at the grocery store and capping off the evenings with a tasty seasonal libation.  I love egg nog!

Hope you had a great week full of happy events.  It seems this time of year, it's harder to focus on the happy with so much stress and chaos going on around us. 

Christmas @ HRH Update

It's been a while since I posted a photo of my work on Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow.  I took this piece with me to NH over Thanksgiving and made some great progress and I've continued to work on it here and there as time allows.

I worked a little farther on the tree while watching The Voice last night but I'm too tired tonight to do any more work on it.  I'm hoping to keep making progress on this through the end of the month.

Plum Street's Mary's Sampler Progress

I was stitching along with many of you out there on my version of Paulette Stewart's Mary's Sampler.  It was such a nice thing for her to do and I love the little piece.  I chose to stitch version one and I'm slowly making progress on the border. 

I put this down for a bit and just picked it up again this weekend.  I'm going to focus on it this evening and hopefully get it finished.

I also need to do some blog hopping to see how everyone else's sampler turned out.

TUSAL and 52 Weeks of Happy - Week 49

Hello again!  As you may have noticed, I've not been around much the last few weeks.  I've been in a bit of a funk as far as having anything to do with the computer and so I've stayed away.

I wanted to extend my thanks for all of the kind comments I received from my IHSW progress.  I really appreciate friends stopping by and commenting especially considering how bad I've been about doing the same.

Here is my TUSAL update for November stitching.  I put in quite bit of stitching on Christmas@HRH so there were quite a few ends added during the month.  And I've also been working on Plum Street's Mary's Sampler.

As for my 52 Weeks of Happy blogging, I kept forgetting to take photos of things so I didn't have anything to share!  This week I was a bit better so here goes:

My work team had a holiday get together that was also to say goodby to some team members leaving us this month.  We gathered for dinner at a local restaurant and it was beautifully decorated for the season.  My poor photos don't do justice to the beauty of the decorations.

We also had a Yankee swap and I took home my first swap win which included a bottle of wine and some wonderful Lindt chocolates.

Next up may seem like a funny "happy thing" but it is my garage.  I've lived in the Northeast for almost 14 years now and this is the first winter where I've had a garage.  I have to say it's absolutely wonderful not to have to scrape off the car in the mornings and it's never quite as cold to get into as it would be if it had sat outside all night.  I'm loving having a garage.

And finally this morning, we had a little snow on the ground.  It's been remarkably warm for November and December and this is the first of the white stuff to really sit on the ground around my house.

 Thankfully, the sun was finally out today after a gloomy week so there was a lot of thawing as well!  That always makes me happy.

I'm amazed at how few weeks there are left to 2013.  I hope you had lots of happy things in your week and that the coming week will be filled with even more!

IHSW Results

Yesterday was a cool, cloudy November day so I did not feel guilty focusing on stitching instead of house cleaning.  I made some great progress.

Sorry about the next stretch bit.... Think if it as a little bit of computer yoga!

I got caught up on Plum Street Sampler's Mary's Sampler - here is a close up of the two motifs for week 8 - the crown on the upper left and the cross on the right.

But what I'm most pleased about is completing block 7 of C@HRH and even starting block 8.

I hope that you made some great progress if you were hermiting this weekend!

It's time to be a hermit-IHSW!

It's an IHSW and I do hope to participate quite a bit this weekend.  I do have to go to Portland to spend a few hours with one of my nieces but around that, I should have time to make some progress on my Mary's Sampler and Christmas@HRH piece.

I have been managing to keep up fairly well with Mary's Sampler although I have yet to complete this week's part.  I chose green and gold for the little shepherd and am fairly pleased with how it looks.

 I have pretty much given up on following the color chart and just picking what I think works for the overall design as I stitch each motif.  I plan to have part 7 completed by the end of IHSW.

And I do hope I can either finish or come really, really close to finishing up this block of C@HRH.  I'm itching to move on to a new block!

Hope you are hermiting along with me this weekend.  I'm going to try really hard to get around to all my fellow hermits to check out progress.  It's always so inspiring and fun to see all the different things people are working on!

52 Weeks of Happy-Week 45 and October TUSAL

I'm late in posting my photos for the 45th week of the year and my October TUSAL so I'm going to knock them out in a single post this week.

First my October TUSAL.  The focus in October was mostly my C@HRH piece but there's some color in there from Mary's Sampler and PS All Hallow's Eve as well.  It's getting pretty full!  Not many more TUSAL posts left for 2013!

And now for the few things I captured from week 45 of 52 Weeks of Happy.

Attending a really fun event to benefit the Maine Children's Cancer Program.  For a small town, it has a great heart and steps up to the plate to contribute to good causes!

Starting my Christmas shopping and shopping local at the same time.  A friend and I went to a great craft fair and I got at least 5 people marked off my list - YEAH!

Starting a new crochet project which is expanding my skills and letting me work with some wonderful Quince & Co. yarn which is spun just up the road a little ways.  I love working with their yarn.  My first crochet project that's not cotton!

Plum Street's Mary's Sampler Progress

I have been managing to keep up with my progress on Plum Street's Mary's Sampler.  Here it is after last week's chart.  I have downloaded part 6 and hope to get cracking on the shepherd before the next part comes out this Sunday.

Right now I'm back working on my Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow piece, trying to finish up block 8.

52 Weeks of Happy-Week 44

With November here, there are not that many more weeks left in the year.  Here are my happy things for week 44.

Finding a new website (thanks to my sister) that has deserts with the Weight Watcher points calculated for me.  These are Pumpkin Nut muffins and they were delicious!

Getting out the crock pot for fall and filling the house with the wonderful smell of cooking.  I love it!

Starting back on a running plan.  And finding that I can actually do it with the dog and not get one or both of us killed!  He seems to really be liking it.  I'm using a Couch to 5K app and have just completed week 3.  I'm not sure if he will hang in there until we get to the 3.1 miles but I'm going to see.

Picking up the last fruit share for the season and getting some extra goodies - some apple cider donuts and a new calendar.

 An unseasonably warm start to November - this was my dash thermometer on Friday night!  And this is a photo taken at the farm on the ridge where I get my fruit share.  It was a lovely, lovely day.

I hope your week was filled with happy and that you're ready to start another!

Final Giveaway Winners

I put 5 names into a bowl to pull the two winners of the last two kits I had for my October giveaway.  Thanks to everyone who entered the drawings - I wish I could send a kit to each of you!

I don't have the patience tonight to figure out how to get these to load right so you'll have to get a little neck stretch!  Tessa gets the lady bug kit, very fitting given her blog name and Bev will get the love pincusion. 

Ladies, lease email me your mailing address and I will get your kits out to you this week!