No knitting

I started to knit a sweater before I went to Hawaii. I had nothing in mind so I began to knit a white top-down cardigan using Caron's Simply soft. I worked on it just a little bit on the way to Hawaii and when riding around Maui. I am working on finishing the body but have had no desire to pick it up lately. I will have to finish it so I can start a sweater that I want to make for a friend of Alison's who is adopting a newborn baby girl in 5 months.
I wanted to share some Avi pix with you. If you go here you can see them too, but I just had to put a few up here:

Alison is telling us that this is Avi's second hiking trip.


The (free) pattern for this hat and scrarf can be found at: http://www.fortheloveofyarn.com
You'll just have to bear with me...I am SO in love with him. Can't wait to see him when my mom and I fly up to Atlanta in mid-February.

On The Road Again!

A few days after returning from Hawaii I was off and running again. Thursday I flew to San Jose, CA to attend the CA Kindergarten Conference in Santa Clara. I was really excited, not having been back to CA since I was less than 2 yrs old (I was born in LA) except for stops in the LA and SF airports. Unfortunately, it was SOOOO cold (Gov. Arnold declared a state of emergency due to the cold spell). So I brought my NJ jacket and scarf with me. I had a lovely room at the Hilton across from the conference center. The first night I had dinner with an old friend (not old in age, old as in....we were friends when we were really little....ages 5 - 9, when we lived in the same building. Though I had spoken to Bruce two or three times in the past, I had not seen him since I was 12. I was supposed to go to his house for dinner and meet his family, but due to his mother-in-law's severe illness, his wife was preoccupied, so he came and took me to dinner. We had such a fun time, talking and reminiscing for over 3 1/2 hours. He is SUCH a nice person. We vowed to keep up our friendship. I am really looking forward to one day meeting his wife and kids. AND...he is a first time grandfather to a 7 month little girl! Hey Avi...didja hear that? Think you might like an "older woman?"

The conference was pretty good, although there were one or two sessions that I could have presented myself. On Sunday night I got to go into San Francisco. I viewed the Golden Gate Bridge from the lookout center

went to Ghiardeli Square (just walked around), Fisherman's Wharf (saw/heard the seals), and ate at Scoma's, a really good restaurant there...

Before leaving Frisco, I bought the cutest pair of silk pajamas for Avi. I really prefer NOT to get things that advertise where they are from, but I knew that these would easily be known as having been gotten in San Francisco. I just couldn't resist them. They are navy blue, and have a dragon on them. Alison was born in the year of the Dragon, so I thought it was perfect:

Monday I was heading home. I knew the weather in Dallas had been really bad the day before, and I was making a connecting flight there. I found out that with the delays in San Jose due to plans arriving from Dallas, I would not make my connection. American Airlines was really nice and switched me to Delta, going thru Atlanta. I had to wait several hours,thankfully in my hotel room, before the flight. But unfortunately, while I had 2 hours in Atlanta, I could not see Alison, Michael and Avi as it was a little late when I got there and Avi had just fallen asleep, the weather was bad...no need for them to schlep out. I got into Palm Beach at midnight, home, unpacked (of course) and in bed at 1:30 AM...up at 5:30 for work. Can't wait to catch up on mysleep.

A Few More Pix

Hawaii is the RAINBOW STATE....isn't this one pretty. We could see it from our balconey in Maui.
Out to dinner in Kauai....how about that hat?

Roosters everywhere! They woke us up EVERY morning in Kauai...and they don't just crow once, ya know!

Hi -Remember Me?

Back from Hawaii. Maui was nice. We saw two movies...Night in the Museum and The Pursuit of Happyness. We did some shopping...Gerry had to get things for Avi, of course (and who am I to stop him?). One evening we went to a Laui, which was nice, but not as good as the one we saw twice before on Maui at the Mariott (it's no longer there).
The day before we left we went to the Maui Ocean Center - Aquarium. It was really nice but once you've been to the aquarium in Atlanta, GA, nothing is as good. That night we went to our favorite sushi restaurant. This is their second one, opened just north of Kahana, where we stayed. It was great. Here is what we got for Avi - the Red Dirt Shirt, sunglasses outfit and yellow shirt were actually purchased on Kauai:
"On Sept.11,1992 the flooding of hurricane Iniki damaged so many shirts at Paradise Sportswear, a small island screenprint company, that they were on the verge of financial ruin. To save the shirts and the company, they developed a dirt dying process that has grown into a worldwide brand known as Original Red Dirt Shirts. Every dirt shirt is dyed with 100% pure Hawaiian red dirt." I had to wash this shirt alone 2x (I washed it 3x) to make sure that when washed again it would not run.

Aww, I just HAD to get the typical "Someone Who Loves Me" shirt

I was buying this outfit for Avi's newest friend, Sam...now how could I NOT get it for Avi, too? How about those sunglasses?

This was what Gerry bought for Avi (besides the Red Dirt Shirt)!

Bought in Kauai at Hilo Hattie's, a tourist "MUST."

Next we flew to Kauai. We stayed in a condo that I rented on line. What I failed to think of was: Is there an elevator to the apt. on the 2nd floor? Uh - NO! So we lugged our HEAVY luggage up when we got there and down when we left. The condo was one room with a king bed, couch, chairs, on the side was the kitchen table and full kitchen (small but all appliances), and around the back of the apt (but still within it) was the bathroom. It suited our needs. Gerry needed to rest a lot since he was still taking his shots, but we got to another movie (The Good Shepard), found the mall with Macy's (I got some good buys there on New Year's Day), drove to Hanalei for breakfast, again went to Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific), sat on the beach New Year's Eve directly under amazing fireworks (a tradition in Hawaii), took a catamaran sunset cruise (yeah....don't think I'll do that again, at least, not without taking Dramamine....the swells were 15 - 25 feet. I just think of it and things in front of me start to sway). We finally got to see lots of whales on that cruise. We ate at some really nice restaurants in Poipou, Kauai, where we stayed. On our last day there I went horseback riding. It was soooo nice, riding by the beach, up small hills and over various types of ground.

The trip back was L-O-N-G and exhausting. We were up at 7 AM Friday, flew to Honolulu, a 2 1/2 hour layover, then 8 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta (too early in the morning for Alison and the baby to come by), then home. We got home at 11 AM Saturday. Gerry had to take his shot and after a short time he went to bed. I HAD to unpack everything first. Then I checked the mail, my e-mail, too. I tried to sleep but after an hour lying in bed awake, I got up. Before I knew it I had to get ready to go to my friend Lily's annual holiday party at 7. Gerry couldn't make it, so it was Mom, my son Adam and I. It was so much fun. Lily and her husband Pete honored me as their oldest (as in, how many years of friendship) friend and presented me with a framed copy of the poem Friendship by Kahlil Gabran. Needless to say, I was a walking zombie on Sunday but still managed to do laundry and food shopping. All in all, it was a good vacation, but I am DONE with Hawaii...I wanna go someplace else!