Oh Danny Boy

“…the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountain side”

Ireland. We are all going to Ireland to maybe visit castles, ancient ruins, cliffs that drop off into the sea, medieval ruins, rolling green glens, and sites around Dublin. We are starting to research some potential places to visit, the examples above are just a sampling of what has been thrown out there. A side trip to Scotland will probably also fit into our plans. I am really excited for all of us to go to Ireland, travel as a family, and to experience how a Guinness should taste in its home country.

On the crafty front, I am still working on the quilt that is being made from the 12 blocks that I made last year in my block of the month class. I am about 2/3 of the way done quilting it, and then have to put it together. I decided to not do an elaborate quilting pattern, and do very little free motion quilting, which looks great once you get the hang of it, but can be very time consuming. Even without the free motion quilting, it is taking a long time, so I am glad that I have opted for a simple approach, as I think it will get done this way. I also worked on a little embroidery project for my mom for her birthday. And since I couldn’t decide (insert embarassed face), it was a little late in getting there. But I found that I love varigated embroidery thread, what a cool invention. The rest of this week, and probably into the weekend will be dedicated to the block of the month quilt (and of course the Oscars).

Speaking of the Oscars, I haven’t seen most of the films nominated. The only best picture movie that I’ve seen is Finding Neverland (which we saw way back on Thanksgiving), and really enjoyed that. This weekend, with my sinus headache, I watched Door in the Floor. Loved it. Of course maybe because it was adapted from the first 1/3 of a John Irving novel (and he speaks in the bonus features…bonus!). But I thought it was great. Working on reading my way through the Magellan book on loan from Andrew. It is better than it sounds at first! Really.

Enjoy the last days of February, hope the sun comes out soon wherever you are!

Valentine

Happy Valentines Day! As you can see by the photos, Tim and I celebrated by going to the zoo on Sunday. Why not? We celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going to Sea World. Actually it has been rainy here for over two weeks, and yesterday was bright and sunny and just the perfect temperature, we just had to get out. Had a great time too. Tonight (being a school night and all) we will whip up some jambalaya (my favorite, thanks Dad!) and just chill.

Saturday Tim and I went to the Eyes Wide Open exhibit at St. Mary’s University. It was really interesting and moving. There are boots for every service person killed in Iraq, and additional shoes symbolizing the Iraqi fatalities as well. The space where they had the boots seemed so empty, but then you think of full grown people in those boots and how crowded it would be…it breaks my heart. There was also interesting facts posted up about the United States and Iraq that were pretty eye opening. I am really glad that we went. After the exhibit we went to watch the St. Mary’s Rattler Men play basketball. The head coach is retiring after almost 30 years of coaching, they won so that was fun. We also had to see the fab slide show during half time that Tim spent so much time perfecting.

Still quilting, trying my hand at making little stuffed creatures, and reading. The book list should be up to date at this point. And Tim is busy installing new toilets!

The fun never ends…