Mylene Lacroix – Page 18

May 1, 2013September 11, 2013

Tuesday

I know today is Wednesday. But, yesterday was Tuesday and this post is about yesterday. 🙂

I spent a wonderful day at home. I caught up on my episodes of Game of Thrones, worked on the monster truck (grrrr – I swear this is worse than the Dr. Who scarf) and when the rain stopped and the wetness was gone, I sat outside. For a long time. I listened to the birds. I almost got a picture of a really pretty woodpecker. I just sat for a long time, looking and smelling. Is that strange? The smelling part? I love the way it smells in the country – like wood, and rain, and fresh grass… and sometimes a little whiff of manure. Hihi.

I did yoga on the deck for the first time. I started doing yoga in November – it’s a little chilly here in November to be outside in tights and a tank to do stretchy things. But yesterday… was perfect. I loved that every time I looked up, I saw the peak of the house against the bright blue of the sky and the puffy white clouds. Then, when I did my warrior, I was starting out at the fresh green grass or the new buds on the trees. I felt a sense of giddy in the pit of my stomach. PEACE perhaps?

Then my sister came to spend the night. We sat on the deck and ate chicken, cherry tomatoes and pineapple. We talked about the last four+ months we’ve been apart. Then, after waiting what felt like an eternity, I got to see the pictures of her travels through the US and Italy. (Damn, I should have saved some to my computer so you could have seen how breathtaking it is in the mountains of California and the coast of Italy!) Seriously!! Her pictures made me want to sell everything and just travel. It’s a dream I know… Maybe. Someday.

She brought back Limoncello from Positano.

If you’re a girl, chances are you’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun. If you’re a girl who’s even close to being as sappy as I am, it’s one of your favourite movies. You would then remember that Positano is where Frances’ lover, Marcello, lives and that the view is beyond breathtaking.

We had some. Very tasty.

We stayed up way too late chatting. Then went to bed and chatted some more. We’re sisters… we sleep in the same bed… maybe it makes us feel like we’re little girls again. I love it.

We got up at 5:00 am and did yoga together as the sun came up. Then she went off to work and I’m sipping some coffee, wondering what to do with my day.

I might work on my monster truck (ugh) and relax so that I can have a long nap before my night shift tonight.

Oh! I wanted to pass on this really awesome website/blog about Paleo eating. It’s called The Food Lovers Kitchen. I’ve only had a chance to spend a few hours on this site. I LOVE IT! They have a tone of recipes and they are simple, easy and don’t require all these strange ingredients I can’t find at my local grocery store (major points for the latter). Check it out.

What else….? I think that’s it.

Except that I’m really happy my sister’s home. 🙂

April 28, 2013April 28, 2013

Sisters

Last weekend, Steve and I went to visit his parents. They live in a really small town just past Sturgeon Falls, Ontario (which has a population of just under 6,000 and they have a yarn shop!!!). It was more than I was expecting. I was totally neverous about meet the whole family but they are warm and welcoming – I should have known they would be.

The weekend was full of crafting. I was in hea-ven.

Oh, and we ate so much good food that when I put my uniform pants on for work Monday night, they were a little on the snug side. Damn!

I ended up making this basket for Steve’s mom. It was really easy. I wish I could remember the yarn though. I’m usually so good at keeping track of these things. I’m totally blaming it on the cheesecake!

Christine also helped me make this little bag for my new MacBook Air. We had a great time planning this one out. I had no clue what I was doing (which is why I needed her help) but look what we ended up with. I’m pretty excited!

Sunday was my favorite day of ALL! We met up with the family, who were all at one sister’s house and the ladies laid out a quilt-in-progress. How exciting! I have never seen this process and had been so looking forward to it.

I thought I had a large family. Not so much. I must have met a few dozen new people last weekend. I was honestly tempted to just make everyone name tags. Hahaha. BUT, I remembered all the sisters. Why? Because they all hugged me and because they showed me how they do this:

LOOK! I’M QUILTING!!! I didn’t do a great job, but I think I might need to make my own quilt now. I’ll start small.

The BEST thing about the whole day is watching these 6 sisters working together. I have one sister and I love her to death. Imagine having 5?! That’s a lot of love.

Before Steve and I hit the road, I got that last shot of all the girls (except June cause she was busy running around the house for something or another) sitting around getting ready to start quilting. Maybe next time, I’ll get to stay a little longer and see the finished product (less the binding).

I had to… This BUG is just sooooooooo cool.

When I got home, my new St. Blaise combs were waiting for me. It pains me to say that I have not yet had a chance to use them. I also haven’t had a chance to spin since the workshop two weekends ago. 🙁

On Thursday, I headed to the Montreal airport to pick up my sister, her husband and his parents. They were coming back from having spent 5 weeks in Italy! How awesome is that?! It was nice to see everyone but it was really great to give my sister a big squeeze. We managed to speak pretty regularly while she was there but it’s not like seeing her smile and laughing out loud together.

When I did groceries last night after work, they had tulips near the cash. They made me smile, so I picked up a bunch.

I finished these little pieces (well, the hat) this morning. I can’t wait to see them on an actual baby.

Back to my monster truck. I’m not liking the monster truck. The pattern is very well written and all. And, it’s going to be really special for Patrick – he’s 4 years old and asks “Did you make me a monster truck?” every time I see him. But, it’s taking me forever. It seems all the pices of the body of the truck went smoothly – then I got to the wheels. Those babies are taking me about 10 hours each. As if!?! I just want to get it done. Then I’ll work on Tina’s socks and hopefully have them finished for her birthday and the end of May. Then I’ll finish the Tess D’Ubervilles Shawl I started back in February.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

April 15, 2013April 15, 2013

I Seriously Love Fiber!

I know that sounds strange to most people but… if you spin, you know what I’m talking about.

This past weekend was full of learning. Our spinning guild set up a workshop given by Robin Russo. She came in from Vermont to teach us. Honestly, I don’t know how she knows all she knows. It’s just amazing. I totally went on line and tried to creep her but all I found was a short Youtube video put up by Interweave. Dudes, she’s got a video with Interweave and she was teaching us. I think that’s so cool. When I asked her the following day if she had a website, or a blog or something, she said no – that she likes to keep a low profile. Admirable.

http://youtu.be/vXzL_gY-YN8

So, day 1 was all about carding wool. I have a carder. I’ve used it once and I wasn’t really keen on the result I got. So, I never used it again. The carder was practically given to me so I didn’t feel badly that it was collecting dust in my basement. Until Thursday.

I’m very pleased with the bats I made. Almost Etsy worthy! Hahaha.

I think day 2 was my fave – COMBS!

I love combs. I especially love the English combs (the ones with the most tines) but they’re a little out of my price range for now. So, guess what Bonnie? I’m going to be spending more time at your place. 😉

And, finally to wrap things up, day 3 was intermediate spinning. I think I was pretty smug going into the second part of our exercises – long draw. I do long draw all the time. But, when you’re using fine fiber, it’s not so easy. I managed, barely, to make some samples that were worthy of my “workbook”.

I had to stop on my way home. It was warm-ish and the snow looked like it was glowing.

My car got soooo dirty driving through all the back roads! I kinda like it.

Robin was all kinds of awesome. Again, I’m in awe of how much she knows. I can only aspire to someday be as knowledgeable as her. Actually, I would be satisfied with knowing maybe 50% of what she knows. She came very well prepared. We had binders for the fiber preparation portion of the workshop and another binder for the intermediate spinning workshop.

And she’s really a sweet lady. I got a hug. 🙂

We have such a wonderful group of ladies in our guild. I feel fortunate to know all of them. I’m the baby (that doesn’t happen often anymore) and I just love and appreciate all their knowledge and experience. I’m a lucky girl.

It’s been a wonderful weekend in more ways than one. Firstly, I booked the weekend off so, I’ve been off now for 5 days and I’m still off tomorrow. The workshop was eye-opening. I also spent some time at the range yesterday with Steve. He’s a great teacher. Not too tough, not too soft. My aim is getting better… when I’m standing still. Sigh. When the ground is dry, I’ll be able to move around and practice shooting on the move and hopefully be ready for some competitions this summer.

This morning, I went to my first Bigram Yoga class EVER. It was interesting, hard and fun all at the same time. It’s pretty hot in that room. I honestly saw stars a few times. Before the class started, the instructor told me that my goal for my first class was to stay IN the class. I managed that AND managed all the poses with surprising ease. I was thrilled when a lady in the class came to be as she was leaving and told me what a great job I had done. Yay! Made me feel good.

Now, I’m cleaning. Then, I’m going shopping for a lamp, some yoga shorts and maybe some yarn. Depends how much I can get crammed into an afternoon. We might hit the range again today. Then maybe the climbing gym. I see a good sleep in my near future.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

March 31, 2013

Published Another

Remember that mustard cowl from my last post? Well, I decided to publish the pattern on Ravelry. This one is for free. I can’t charge money for writing down a few lines so I could remember what I did. I just figured I could put it in a pattern form so that everyone could have access to it.

~Too Easy Cowl~

Go download it!