Happy Real Birthday, Kara!!

 I still remember how in a hurry you were when you were born!!

 And Will was so excited when we got you home!!

 And you're the cutest girl on this earth I've ever seen!!

Happy Birthday to my Kara and my Maggi dog too!!

Kara's Birthday tomorrow...

 While in Carmel, we also celebrated Kara's birthday a bit early...we went to one of our favorite restaurants called Turtle Bay and had some yummy and spicy food!

 That's Ben with Kara...he's got a good sense of funny.  We had a lot of fun.

 Kara finally got her cupcakes scarves!!!  I think she liked them...

 Although they look good enough to eat, uh, you're suppose to wear them...

 My beautiful girl is now a young woman...I sure can't believe how quickly the years go and not too long ago, she was born in such a hurry!!

 I hope my girl has a very happy birthday on her real birthday tomorrow!!

Kara's looking at a crochet book with all sorts of wearable food...what shall mom make for me next??  I guess we will see!!!

Beautiful Carmel

 Our 24th Anniversary and Kara's birthday were celebrated in Carmel last weekend...the weather was glorious and much warmer than predicted which made going to the doggy beach heavenly.  Maggi our almost ten year old beagle had never been to the beach before, but she had a fun time and we had fun watching her reactions!

 She was not too keen about the water, but found it quite amusing to be walking on the sand and being around so many other dogs.

 Frank had fun also as he carried the towels in case Maggi got cold from being wet, but it was so sunny and warm as she strolled along the beach and dried up.

 Her first taste of beach life!!  I don't know about this, she says!!

 But Maggi had a great day...even met another Beagle dog and they looked at each other as if they knew one another...it was so cute!

 We had a work out too walking along the beach...I wish we could do this everyday!

 When we got back to our hotel, they had the patio fire place burning for their wine tasting hour...our timing was pretty good!

 Maggi, on the other hand, was sacked out from her super beach walk...tired, happy puppy!

 The sunset was beautiful as we sat sipping our wine from our little balcony...totally glowing!!

The weekend went so fast!  I hope we can go back to Carmel again soon!!

One finished Cupcake deserves another...

 I finished putting the beading on to the pink and white cupcake scarf...looks very pretty!

 I hope a certain birthday girl will be very happy with it!

 Next scarf will be chocolate with strawberry frosting!!

 Chocolate "sprinkle" beads for this one...

Looks good enough to eat!!!

Progress on Cupcake Scarf...

 I'm having a good time creating this cupcake scarf...it's progressing very well!

 I also added some cute mini pom poms...soon I'll add the beading too...

 I plan on crocheting some "chocolate" cupcakes as well as some "red velvet" cupcakes...should be fun!

Stitching for the New Year...

 I always make it a point to start a new project on New Year's Day, so I decided it was about time I go back to doing some cross stitch and selected Quaker Faith Hope Love by Midnight Stitching. http://midnightstitching.wordpress.com/

 I'm using The Gentle Arts Sampler Threads in Oatmeal, Freedom, and Cranberry.  The Quaker Faith is done with the blue Freedom color on a more natural fabric than the pattern called for, but I am liking the contrast and think the colours will pop more especially when I get to the white Oatmeal colour in the Quaker Hope which will be the next motif I stitch.

 As you can see, Maggi the beagle dog enjoys it when her mommy stitches as she relaxes nearby.

 My second project is a cute Cupcake scarf I'm crocheting.  It's coming along quickly, and can't wait to add some embellishments.  I purchased some pretty czech glass beads of many colors which I think will resemble sprinkles and mini pompoms for the cherries!

If you would like this pattern, it can be purchased here: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1104536

So I hope these projects give me the kick start I need to move on to bigger projects.  I really want to get over my fear of knitting my alpaca sweater.  I think I've become more experienced as a knitter, so we shall see!!  And I don't want to ignore my other love of stitching again!

Happy New Year 2011!!

 We're very hopeful that 2011 will be a great year and better than the one before.  Maggi is hopeful that she'll get more treats this year...but her mommy knows better and will continue to give her a healthy diet so she doesn't get a sore stomach or gain weight again...

 New beginnings for my son Peter who brought over his new girlfriend Catherine to meet us.  I cooked a yummy Chicken Curry Stew over rice which warmed us all on a cold winter night.

 Frank is hopeful that a new job is in his future that is closer to home and that he'll be happy with...

 And I'm hopeful also that I may find satisfying work and learn to be more expertise with my new Canon PowerShot XS30IS camera...easier to take pictures of myself with the swivel LCD screen!

And the poor cooped up kitties are hopeful that their mommy Kara arrives soon to pick them up and take them home to freedom!!

Happy New Year to all...here's hoping each year gets better and better...