51. Read 6 books written by women

This is a book I stole from my mum, who stole it from my sister, who stole it from one of her friends. Notice this book was stolen from a number of people, none of which seemed to mind. It's an epic,-spanning-multiple-generations-and-continents wannabe book. But didn't quite make it.

If anybody wants to steal it, my back is turned.
I don't mind, honest....

51. Read 6 novels written by women

At the airport on the way to visit my family, I found myself with an extra few hours due to my flight being delayed. I ate a bit, I browsed the shops, I knit some, I browsed a bit more, ate a bit more, knit a bit more, and then I really got bored and went shopping! While browsing the book store, I found Margaret Atwood's latest - The Year of the Flood. No longer belonging to a library, I've not been able to find books I want on Amazon, then reserve them at my local library and devour them a month or so later from the library. I try not to buy "reading" books as I only read them once and so find them a waste of money. But hey, here I am, stuck in an airport, about to board a 7 hour flight, and here's the book I've been amazon-ing for ages, in my hands. What's a girl to do?

So yeah, I devoured it on my holiday, and then continued to devour it when I got home. It delivered. I loved it!

93.Go to a yarn show

TTC Knit-a-long 2010 - see HERE

61. Visit home

I cannot believe I was lucky enough to go home for a visit for the second time in a year!! The initial plan was for my family to come visit me here, but what with the whole "We're moving, we're not moving, we are moving, but not sure when, or where to...." thing, it was just easier, (and far cheaper!!), for me to go home and visit them. So yay, lucky me!
There was a house move and inevitable unpacking (I'm a pro by now!). There was a vacation within a vacation where me, mum, sis and nephews went to stay in a cottage in the country, by the seaside. There were two family BBQs for my two different families.
There was no death (except for a cat I never met, and a friend of a friend who I never knew) and no hospital visits, so I'm thinking the Going Home Curse has been lifted... Or at least getting more distant...
Anyway, some gratuitous UK shots:

78. Go to the movies once a month for a year, alone if I have to!

I really, really wanted to go see Inception as soon as it came out in the cinema at the beginning of the summer. Every time I saw a trailer for it, I closed my eyes in case it gave too much away. But time just didn't allow for us to get there and the movie came and went, I had to accept that I would have to settle for watching it on BluRay as soon as it came out.

But last night, we had "date night" courtesy of me not having to work at the last minute, and a "free visit to the cinema" voucher courtesy one of my students. Now what with it being Halloween weekend, I was expecting nothing but crappy horror flicks, but there it was, showing on screen 22 INCEPTION.

And it was so good, (despite the snores from the elderly gentleman sitting next to me,) and as soon as it was over, I thought "I can't wait to watch this again!" I LOVED it! Nothing like a bit of Leonardo DiCaprio and an exciting, twisting, futuristic plot to make my night!

78. Go to the movies once a month for a year, alone if I have to!

Sometime in May, me and D foolishly went to watch the terrible Robin Hood remake. I wouldn't recommend it. To anyone. Ever....

93. Go to a yarn show

This was my first ever show - the first of many I really, really hope!!
For much, much more detail of the yarns I bought, see here!

82. Go on a road trip

Me, Alana and techquilter, and her latest Wee One went on a road trip to TO for the infamous Knitter's Frolic.

I often find myself going on long drives with my SO and the pup, but don't think of them as Road Trips. In my mind (and I'm not a native North American speaker, so excuse me if I have this wrong), a Road Trip is
a Long Drive,
taken with friends,
to some destination,
but the adventure is in the journey itself.

Not that the final destination wasn't just the greatest thing EVER, but the journey there would have been fun enough on its own. The atmosphere in the car was kind of like Christmas Eve - the anticipation! the excitement! the giddiness! And just to hang out with good friends is a super novelty for me.

Oh, to be that carefree and light, with nothing weighing down on my shoulders.
Truly a wonderful journey...

86. Watch a play at a theatre (!)

This was part of the best weekend - EVER!!!
I met the MIL and cousin-in-law in TO to see the musical Mamma Mia.
It was a Saturday matinee, so there was a LOT of kids, which was very strange for me. Especially given the storyline of the show - mother slept with many men, so didn't know who got her preggers, so said child invites men to her wedding to figure out who is her father. Anyways.....
It was no West End (London) quality musical, but it was lots of fun and one element of a FANTASTIC weekend, which included a yarn show and the openning of the cottage.

86. Watch a play at a theatre (!)

As a birthday surprise, I have tickets to go see Mamma Mia in Toronto with the MIL and cousin in law at the beginning of May.
Although the movie wasn't so good, can't wait for the show as there the actors will be able to sing and dance properly!!!!
So excited!!!

Mamma mia, here we go again......!

78. Go to the movies once a month for a year, alone if I have to!

Technically speaking, this was seen in April, but was part of the last week of March, so I'm slipping in as a March movie!!

I really, really wanted to love this movie, but I just didn't....

This movie bugs me, as it doesn't quite make as much sense as it could.... Maybe if I watch it again, I'll catch something that I missed and it'll all fall into place. Or maybe the story line's just not quite as good as it has the potential to be......

59. nice hair - cut every 2 months for a year (1/6), style it when I wash it (0/21)

I just got my hair cut for the first time in over a year! Right now, it looks great.
But how will it look after I've washed it, dried it and tried to style it? Not like this, that's for sure - it has been straightened to within an inch of its life! Not a look I'm going to be sporting very often!!

Oh, and I have found a great hairdresser in the city I live in. Must mean we'll be on the move before long!!!

22. bedside tables

Here's a wee picture of our makeshift bedside tables! It's an empty moving box covered in an old curtain. It may not be perfect, but it's better than a pile of junk on the floor!

10. sunday dinner

We have a roast dinner every sunday now.
Once the weather's nicer and we're at the cottage, this may be swapped for BBQ, but since we moved to Kingston it's been roast dinner on Sundays!!
This is great familt tradition time for us!

5. pay off UK debt, (0/?00)

Done!!!

1. Get Job

I am now the owner of a full time job!
Start Monday afternoon!
Very excited for this great new start!

51. Read 6 novels written by Women (2/6)

I have just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Borrowed from the Lenders' Library at my LYS.

The entire book was a collection of letters and telegrams between a writer, her friends in London and Scotland, and the members of the Society in Guernsey. It was largely about the occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2, and a bit of a love story.


It's a short, easy read, an interesting format and I recommend it.

92. Go see the owls at Owl Woods

(So, this is one I added, not on the original list)

When my friend told me about this magical island near-by, where owls go for the winter, where it's possible to go watch them, in abundance, in the wild, I felt compelled to go. I did research on the internet, got detailed directions, sparked D's interest, waited for good weather, on the weekend, when D was home, and the stars aligned for us to go on Valentine's Day / our anniversary / Family Day weekend. What perfect timing is that!

We got the ferry to the island, which broke the ice on its way over.



We drove around the island, totally enchanted, fantasizing about camping on the island. No, having a cottage on the island. No, having a bachelor pad downtown, but our "real" house on the island. Complete with bed and breakfast. For divers. No, for knitters. No, for yoga and meditation. No, not a bed and breakfast, a yurt community! And not a downtown pad, a boat and a motorbike for commuting into town!!!

We missed out turning, and drove round some more before finding this mystical wood. It wasn't very busy, which was good, but once we got in the woods we just wandered around aimlessly. How are we supposed to find these owls? Other people find them, then we just go where the people are, and look at the owls......
No people, no owls.....
We wandered some more.....
Saw some.... other birds.....
Wandered some more......



Saw lots of "owls" in the distance, but when we looked through the monocular, they actually ended up being the end of a broken tree limb / top of a post / can't even see what I was looking at now.....
Wandered some more......
Started giggling....
Wandered some more.....
Wondered if we were ever going to any owls.
Wandered some more.....



Wondered how many owls we'd walked by that were laughing at us because we hadn't seen them.
Wandered some more....
Bumped into very helpful birdwatcher man, who asked us if we wanted to see an owl. We followed him into the bush, and he pointed to this tree, while whispering instructions to D.



Where's the owl? And then I saw it! See:



So, we crouched and watched this cute little owl, which was RIGHT THERE, right in front of us, so close, in the wild and everything, just opening an eye and looking at us, looking at him.

It was great!

78. Go to the movies once a month for a year, alone if I have to! (3/12)

We saw it in 3D! With glasses and everything!
So, so very cool! It was amazing! How did they make it look so real?
LOVED it!

(Storyline is nothing earth-shattering, just your regular blockbuster-movie-type storyline.)

35. pap

Nuff said

78. Go to the movies once a month for a year, alone if I have to! (2/12)

January 26th, 2010
Me and Jen,

Up In The Air



Who doesn't love a movie with George Clooney in it?!?
Is it a chick flick? Is it not? It's a toughy. It does have a few chick-flick-y moments in it, but ultimately, I think not.
This movie was so funny! I was laughing nearly all the way through it. Often in parts where no one else was laughing. So maybe it was just me that found it so amusing....
The storyline was original and clever, the dialogue hilarious!!, the characters were very likable. Dare I say lovable? There was a variety of moods expressed, from warm and fuzzy, to desperate and dire.

I. Loved. It.

3. Explore craft fair

These are some vintage pillowcase aprons I've made to sell at the annual craft fair at our cottage. (Awaiting ties.)
I figure I have 7 months to make stuff to sell. I have many, many ideas of things I want to make, but will start small and easy until my sewing skills develop.

44. sewing (machine), one me thing

After the success of the cushions, I decided I'd break into sewing clothes. From scratch. Running before I can walk? Yes, I think so!

Here's the pattern I bought for $1.99




I decided to do a practice run, so made the dress out of a flat sheet from Value Village.

It seems like the sheet was the perfect fabric for the pattern. Only thing is, I was going for a cool, summer dress and instead got an old granny's nightdress.



NOT nice! I hope to make something a little more flattering next time......

(More details here.)

43. sewing (machine), make one house thing, 21. cushions for sofa

So, I have finally finished all 5 cushion covers, and have filled them.
Here's my final cushion extravaganza!!

Flat and lifeless.....


Filled with love!!!


For more info, see here.

52. 3 non fiction books on different subjects (1/3)

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah was a soldier in Sierra Leone - at just 12 years of age. This is his story, in his words, of how a child can loose his childhood.

When you forget that this is a true story, it's a good book. But then you remember that these things actually happened, in real life, to this boy, and to every other person he tells about in the book. It's shocking, for sure. It reminded me of the movie Blood Diamond, only this time it was real.

I remember at university in the Demography and Sample Surveys class, there was a table with the average life expectancy for different countries. A quick scan found that the lowest life expectancy was for males living in Sierra Leone. It was only in the 20's, a good 10 years lower than that of a female living in Sierra Leone. Our professor told us it was due to the civil war, and then we quickly moved on to learning equations...
Well, now I know how the life expectancy could be so short.

91. New Family Tradition - New Year's Day Walk

When I was at Uni, a group of us spent one New Year's Eve at a friend's family home. We went out, danced the night away, had a fantastic night, then all went back to L's house and crashed in the piano room in the not-so-early hours of the morning.
Next thing we know, at some crazy time the following morning, we were being woken up and and corralled out the door for the Annual New Year's Morning Walk. It was a tough job to get us all awake, dressed, standing of our own free will, but soon enough there was a bunch of very hungover 20 year olds, going for a bracing walk very early on New Year's Day.
When we returned to the family home, we were feeling great, hangovers gone, with a hearty appetite for a Full English Fry Up! What a great start to the year!
So this New Year, as part of my recent quest to find Family Traditions for me and D to do together, we introduced The New Year's Day Walk.
We got up at a reasonable hour, got dressed, grabbed the dog and hit a local walking trail we'd seen. We blew out the cobwebs and remnants of the Old Year, to make way for the fresh and the hope of the New Year. And when we returned to our family home, we were feeling great, hangovers gone, with a hearty appetite for a Full English Fry Up! It was, indeed, a great start to the year!

43. sewing (machine), make one house thing, 21. Cushions for sofa

I obviously was a very good girl in 2009, because I got a sewing machine for Christmas!! I know!
I've wanted one for forever, and on Christmas day there was card from D under the tree with a VERY cryptic clue inside, about a gift he was picking up for me on Boxing Day morning. Needless to say it drove me crazy all day - what was it?
But when I came downstairs Boxing Day morning, there was a wonderful, beautiful sewing machine that was mine, all mine!!

I quickly made 2 blankets for my 2 nephews. Then I moved onto a cushion cover!! Of my own design! I couldn't believe how easy it was, compared to the B*****d Blanket,



so I set about designing another cushion cover, made a template and cut out and pressed pieces for 4 more. I have sewn 2 together so far, the other 2 to follow shortly. Here they are on the chair, with the bag whose seams had split, that I fixed on my New Best Friend.



What do you think?
Cushion cover 2: Front, back, detail.
Cushion cover 3: Front, back, detail














Not bad, eh!
All 5 cushion covers came from a package of 6 x 1/2 yard cottons. I think maybe they were starched, too, as they crisped up nicely whenever I pressed them.