Good morning!

Can you believe that it is the last day of February!? I know it's the shortest day of the month, but I really think it was super speedy this year. It has been a really wonderful month filled with special events, favorite memories, and a lot of quality time with loved ones.

As March rolls in, I know I will find myself daydreaming about spring and summer more and more. It's the beginning of the end of the school year for me. It's the time that I realize we only have a few more months remaining. I'm really looking forward to March!

Most of all, I am so excited to start the Indie Business 3.0 Workshop with LA, Lisa, and Jill!

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I am so excited to build my perspective and grow my business and direction. It's exactly what I have been needing for a long time and I am so excited that it is almost here!

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I am also excited because I am shipping a huge assortment of inventory to New York City for the Streetwise Partners fundraiser! I'm looking forward to the feedback from event staff and guests about my product and new packaging!

The other thing I cannot wait to get started on is a crocheted bedspread I am making for our bedroom! This was the main inspiration behind my trip to Hobby Lobby last weekend. I'm thinking something along these lines in browns, greens, blues, and plums.

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What are you looking forward to this week?

xo,

Liz

Ahh! Shop Update!

I am so excited!

My good friend, Karla, from Addie Pie in the Sky, allowed me to borrow her dressform for the weekend. It was so great having it at my show yesterday, but also to snap a few fresh photos of my inventory for the shop and some upcoming advertisement! It was so sweet of her to help me out!

Here are a few peeks into our latest shop update

(which you should totally check out here)!

What's your favorite item in the shop?

Maybe your comments will inspire a giveaway this week ;)

xo,

Liz

Crocheted Inspiration: Hodge Podge!

So much has been inspiring me in crochet land that I just wanted to share it ALL with you today! I hope you enjoy!

A little yarnbombing...

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This crocheted Chinese lantern is drool-worthy

What a great spring look:

I'm not sure how to feel about these... what are your thoughts?

Hmm... to be perfectly honest, they sort of remind me of con queso dip haha!

Anyway, are you ready to go grab your hooks & yarn yet?

I am so incredibly inspired right now I just want to sit and stitch all day every day!

Happy Sunday!

Liz

The weekend in progress...

Hey you!

It has been a pretty busy few days over here as I have been wrapping up grades for my students this marking period and have been preparing for the Indie Artist Celebration and the Streetwise Partners fundraiser (info in the side bar-->).

Needless to say, there has been A LOT of crocheting going on. If you follow us on Twitter, you know that, for sure! Here's a little look at the weekend so far, via cell phone photos!

Yesterday, Cory and I did not carpool to work (we usually do at least 4 out of 5 work days), so I could head to PA to go to Hobby Lobby for a few odds and ends. I'm fortunate that the school I teach at is right in the middle of home and Hobby Lobby, so it's a quick "after work" trip.

I headed out of town right after the school day ended, found a newly opened Sonic upon the drive, treated myself to an unhealthy fastfood dinner, and made my way to the meca that is Hobby Lobby!

I spent most of the evening stitching up the final details on products (sewing in labels, attaching metal affixes, etc.)

Today, I spent the day in a gorgeous antique shop in Frederick, Maryland. I had a great day networking and drooling all over the local, handmade, handspun yarns. This is what my nook looked like (just an fyi: I really kicked myself for leaving my dSLR at home. I really need to start dragging it with me EVERYWHERE I go, but first, I need to buy a sleeve for it so it can be protected in my purse. Alas, all my Driod photos have a weird blue tint. You'll get the idea, though.)

Tonight, after the Indie show, Cory and I ate at our favorite organic spot, the Orchird, but mid-meal we both felt really conjested and sorta sick. So we're home taking it easy tonight by watching season 5 of Will & Grace and being couch potatoes!

Tomorrow, I am driving to Baltimore to get my mother from the airport and then we are going to a charity event called the Potter's Bowl where we will munch on delicious soups in beautiful handcrafted bowls!

It has been a productive weekend, to say the least ;)

xo,
Liz

better late than never...

 I was going through my photos from this month and realized I never posted little peaks into our actual Valentine's celebration.

This is shot of what I wore out to Brewer's Art for dinner. Sorry for the camera-strap-showing-hotel-mirror-self-photo.

Alas... I was wearing a silver beaded shirt from Forever 21 (last year), a thrifted plum pencil skirt, pink tights from Target, and Nine West black boots. It was a sassy and super comfortable outfit for date night!

Cory gave me (aside from a lovely weekend out of town) this beautiful necklace I had been ooh-ing and ahh-ing over at The Muse. Beautiful blend of corals and metal! I love it!

 And this is my signature on the handmade card I prepared for Cory using those NPR Valentines I told you about.

I can't believe my eyes...

I keep looking over to my left and am amazed when I see a giant storage container FULL of inventory and product. I have been crocheting my little fingers off for 2 major events that are taking place within the next 2 weeks.

The first is the Indie Artist Celebration this Saturday in downtown Frederick, Maryland. Our local yarn shop, Eleganza Yarns, is hosting the shindig with loads of local artists. If you're in the shopping or visiting mood from 12-5 on Saturday, stop by The Loft at Antique Imports on East Street (*it's right across the street from Eleganza).

The other big event I haven't talked much about, so here we go. A friend of a friend works for Ralph Lauren head quarters in NYC and when she purchased a few products for me a few months ago, I told her she should wear it every day to the office so Ralph designs a crochet line. Even though she hasn't been able to hook me up with Ralph, the friend took my idea to heart and mentioned me when she was put in charge of designing the VIP ticket bags for a NYC charity event.  Streetwise Partners, a non-profit that assists low-income, struggling people to find work, build skills, and network, is hosting an annual fundraiser on March 10th for hundreds of people!  I am so lucky to have my product be included in over 200 gift bags for those who bought VIP tickets! Hooray!

Needless to say, my fingers a little stiff. I still have a lot to work on for the fundraiser, but I plan on shipping an assortment of items out to support such an awesome charity.

In other yarny news, I just stumbled upon Lilley Sitches blog post from today... dedicated to all the fiber art included in London's Fashion Week! oh.em.gee. Check these out!

They just make want to keep on stitchin' forever!

Ahhh...

leading up to a snowday...

It's snowing here... so calm and peaceful.

Since I doubt we have school tomorrow, I am staying up late and crocheting my little heart out. I have made a few really cute headbands that I will post pictures of tomorrow (probably). None of the new product will be added to the shop until my show is over this coming weekend.

Speaking of... if you're in Maryland and are looking for something to break your cabin fever this weekend, come visit me at Eleganza Yarn's Indie Artist Celebration. Even if you aren't a yarn person, there will be so many people to visit and products to ooh and ahh over! I will be there from 12-5!

xo,
Liz

The truth...

I have been re-watching older seasons of Mad Men as I have been trying to get some of my friends from work into it. While I know it's really difficult to pick out a favorite episode or scene, I think I have finally figured it out. Although season 4 is my favorite season, by far, I do think that Season 2 episode 6 is one of the best. In this episode Paul Kinsey presents the idea that every woman wants to be either a Marilyn or a Jackie. the firm whips up this incredible advertisement to pitch to the Playtex team:

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When I think about modern celebrities and lifestyle, I don't think we have moved very far from women "wanting" (and I use that term very loosely) to be a Jackie or a Marilyn. Personally, I am more of a Jackie than a Marilyn. In personality and dress, I am much more conservative. Do you think we have modern stand-ins for Jackie or Marilyn? Who would they be?

So... Are we still living as Jackie or Marilyn?

Agree or Disagree?

Presidents Day weekend... 75 degrees with a chance of snow?!

It has been a low-key weekend in my world. Friday night, after a really stressful work week, I met up with a few colleagues from a different school at a local dive bar and enjoyed a brief happy hour. It was the perfect way to unwind after such a crazy week. Plus, it was 75 degrees outside so we just wanted an excuse to sit outside on a patio somewhere! On our way home, Cory and I decided that we were in no hurry to be home for the night, so we fed the cats and headed back out to run some quick errands (craft store for me, shoe store for him). We realized it was nearing 8 pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we started to pay attention to our surroundings as we were driving through town. We stumbled upon a little strip mall we had never paid much attention to and noticed there was a Greek restaurant, Greek Aroma! GREEK FOOD! Of course, we stopped and enjoyed amazingly delicious food. I had the Chicken Souvlaki sandwich and Cory had the Gryo. Ah-mazing! In fact, 2 days later, I was tempted to go back and have it again for lunch! This what I had...YUM!

(photo from their website)

Saturday morning I decided I need to get a lot of crocheting accomplished so I refined a pattern I had for fingerless gloves. I wanted to make a spring-friendly driving glove in brighter colors, so I worked on that for most of the morning (photos soon), until Cory decided that I was going with him down to Arlington for the afternoon to visit our friend who is home from Afghanistan. Our friend was a Major in the Army for years, but recently ended his last contract and signed with a defense contractor for the gov't. He's still flying planes and doing the exact same job,  but isn't away from home for as long. He's essentially over there for 3 months or so, comes home and has 2 months off. We hadn't seen him since he left in the fall, so we wanted to hangout and catch up.  It was actually really nice to get out of town for a bit, hangout with some like-minded people, eat some good bbq, and relax. The boys didn't even mind if I crocheted the entire time! Hooray!

Yesterday was a lot of bone-deep relaxation. Lots of quiet time, errands, crocheting. All was well. Cory and I even made a late-night run to Target to get snacks for the evening and I bought a new purse and coat, woo! (Since we only have 1 television in our house, and it is downtsairs, we have this thing where we will drag the mattress downstairs and sleep infront of the tv. It only happens every few months, but it is so fun! It's sort of like building an adult fort!)

Today, it is significantly colder, the sky is overcast and white, which tells me we're going to be getting some snow. It's crazy! 75 degrees one day, 2 days later: snow! What?!

I plan on staying indoors today (seeing as how I left my winter coat at school, because I was blinded by the beautiful weather outdoors on Friday). Flip hasn't really left me alone, so I will certainly have a cat near by. Plus, I realized all 9 seasons of Scrubs is available on Netflix streaming! YES!

While I thought we were on the brink of this....

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It looks like we're really going to be doing this...

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Keep warm!

xo,

Liz

Chic Statement Scarf Class Review!

Last Sunday, my close friend and fellow "hooker", Karla, and I taught an entry level crochet class trhrough The Muse. The final product? A chic statement scarf!

We had 16 people attend our class on a beautiful spring-like Sunday afternoon at Kevin and Margaret Hluch's gorgeous studio in Frederick. (You may remember that part of my bachelorette party was hosted at this studio!)

We joined together, enjoyed a few glasses of wine, learned how to crochet, and had some beautiful final products. Here are a few photos from The Muse's blog post about the class!

You can also read Chrissy Gemmill's review of the class and see more photos at her blog!

Hooray for new crocheters!

This weekend...

What I'm up to this weekend (just incase things are a little quiet around here...)

Housework

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A lot (to infinity!) of crocheting for next weekend's Indie Artist Celebration (see sidebar calendar -->).

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Uploading tons of photos on to my laptop, and I am nearly 99% positive that Flip will position himself like this throughout the entire process.

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Lots of coffee and sweet drinks to keep me awake!

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Tagging and taking inventory of all my stock for the show and for a fundraiser I'm participating in up in NYC in March (more info on that later...)

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Hopefully going for a few walks to people watch and snap a few pretty pictures.

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What are you up to this weekend?

xo,
Liz

What I Need to Get Rid of...

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Hey, beautiful readers.

Your supportive comments have been so sweet and thoughtful. I know rough weeks happen in everyone's life, but I do feel a little extra special to have so many kind words directed in my way.

After another dramatic day, I decided to sit on my front porch for about 2 hours and just listen to nature. It was awesome. I then grabbed some yarn, and silently sat and crocheted. It was even more awesome! I finally got some quiet time! (Cory was out playing frisbee with some town folk.) Once he returned, we went out for a late sushi dinner and ate very slowly. The slow, relaxed pace of the evening has been just what the doctor ordered.  Hooray!

I was scrolling through my Reader earlier today and I skimmed over a blog post (that I can't seem to find right now!) that discussed the idea of instead of making "To Do" Lists why not make a list of all things you want to "Get Rid Of"? It was pretty much exactly what I needed to see. All evenign I have been thinking about what I need to get rid of, and while some of them are private, I thought I would share a few.

What I Need to Get Rid of this weekend:

-old clothes

-clutter in the bedroom

-books we no longer read

-my anxiety/fears about work

What I Need to Get Rid of within the next week:

-a whole lot of yarn (ridding of it by turning it into beautiful projects & creations!)

-winter decorations around the house

-unread books that glare at me from my nightstand (just read them already!)

-ambiguous plans to visit friends (just plan it!)

I like this format for list making. I think it actually helps me focus. It's like learning backwards. I love it.

Here's to you, dear readers, for helping me keep my sanity!

Big hug :)

Liz

What's crazy...

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After processing my thoughts last night about the importance of silence (scroll down), I had one of the worst days in my professional career today.

I was informed of our scores from the state-mandated High School Assessment that my students took in January.

And the worst of them all: one of the students in my homeroom is preparing to lose her mother within moments. The mother suffered from a stroke a day or two ago and the doctors have placed her on life support until the family can make the neccessary arrangements.

It is a sad day.

I am in need of major quiet time and I am so thankful for supportive friends and a wonderful husband to just sort of took it easy on me today. I really appreciate the support. Alas, I'm going to take the rest of the night off and just sort of sit around a be an emotional bum. I will hopefully be back with something much more inspiring and happy tomorrow or Friday!

xo,

Liz