March Madness at Lion Brand Studio!

Last weekend I took a little trip to the big apple with my sweet friend, Karla. We had been planning this trip for months (before Thanksgiving!) and were really excited to celebrate her 30th birthday out of town. Of course, this trip was really awesome for us both because it was the first time all our best friends were together in the same place! As you can imagine, it took us a few hours to get beyond the fact that we were all together in the most glamorous city in the country. We spent the weekend shopping in Union Square, going to Momofuku Ssam Bar for an amazing family-style dinner (so good!), and dancing the weekend away. It was just the right amount of fun that I needed.

Now, you guys know me pretty well, so you know that if I'm going to be in NYC, I am definitely going to Lion Brand Studio. Cory and I were in no rush to leave on Sunday, so Lisa and I walked down to LBS (yes, she lives within walking distance... I know!) for a quick visit. NYC was pretty beautiful last weekend as the trees were covered in blooms. For the first time ever, I could honestly say that NYC smelled fresh. How many times do you hear that? lol

The studio was set up perfectly for spring and for March Madness! I get that giddy inspiration feeling every time I walk up to the door!

The most amazing part of the studio this time around, to be honest, was the front window. The Art of Yarn--so perfect and full of talent! I wish there weren't such a glare on the window, but I tried my best!

Look closely, even the frame on the Van Gogh piece is stitched! Incredible!

During the entire month of March Hometown USA yarn was on sale for 15% off. I have been stitching up some new hats for my shop, so I decided to try out the pattern in that yarn. Fortunately, I was also able to pick up a new Interweave Crochet magazine and a few yarny accessories I've been needing. Since it's always one of my last stops in NYC, the way home is always pretty productive for me in the car as I am full of inspiration! I'm happy to say Hometown USA worked quite nicely with the hat pattern I tried (more on that later)!  

I'm so glad Lisa took an hour or two to visit the shop and pick up some new supplies. I am really inspired and get back into crocheting on a regular basis again. Recently, I've been really obsessed with crocheting new hats. I don't know why? Maybe it's the unpredictability of the weather in Maryland recently? Hmm.

What has been inspiring you?

Roadtrip Must Haves

As you're reading this, I'm waking up in New York City! Hooray! 

I'm not only visiting my BFF Lisa, but I am also bringing together lots of different parts of my little world. Right now, I'm in the middle of a weekend trip to celebrate the 30th birthday of my former co-worker and beloved friend, Karla! I'm so excited to FINALLY be going on this trip as we have been planning it since BEFORE Thanksgiving! I cannot even believe it! 

Other former co-workers and beloved friends, Moira and Ryan, are also attending the trip and I am just over joyed to be hanging out with them again. I miss my old department more than I could even find the words to express. That department means the world to me and they are special, special people. Having an ENTIRE weekend to hang out and explore NYC is going to be... incredible.

Anywho! These are my road trip essentials. A comfortable outfit is imperative for any long car ride, but to me, the most comfortable is skinny jeans and a loose tee with shoes that can slip on and off easily. I just bought the blue shoes (19.99 from Target) and wore them to work on Thursday. They are so comfortable and I got a million compliments on them! I'm planning on pairing them with a pair of strawberry red skinny jeans and a grey top for the trip (the ones above are from Anthro). I'm a big fan of gummies (any kind), but Sweedish Fish are my favorite by far. Pair those with that and a good book (I'm currently reading Shop Girl) and I'm set!

I hope you have a really great weekend! I'll be back next week with a full review of our super-fun-omg-Karla's30-bff-weekend-getaway! What are you doing this weekend?

xo,

Ending 2011 (photo heavy)

Last year...er... 2010, Cory and I rang in the new year surrounded by family and friends at his sister's wedding. It was so much fun that we knew we wanted to do something equally as enjoyable this year, too. Since we take 3 days to celebrate Christmas (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Day-After-Christmas), our Christmas break was limited to just a week. We headed down to Reston, Virginia to hang out with our friends Rich and Beth for our annual mix swap and Anthro shopping trip. Since it's been so unusually warm in the mid-Atlantic region, the boys were actually able to put their new golfing gear to use and hit the links! Crazy! Meanwhile, Beth and I hung out and ran errands. We had a lovely dinner with Beth's family and played games as well. 

After making it home around midnight on Wednesday night, we decided to take it easy on Thursday by eating a yummy pancake breakfast, taking care of a sick kitty, solidifying our New Years plans, listening to last bit of Christmas music, reading books, and cleaning the house. I put up the new curtains I picked up at World Market with Beth (I LOVE the pop of color they bring to our mix-match living room) and ran a few last minute errands around town with Cory. We treated ourselves to a slice of pizza from a local pizza shop that we adore and hit the sheets early for a full night's rest.

 (those are sneaks of a new crochet project I'm working on!)

Friday morning we woke early, cleaned out our closet and packed for a New Year's trip to New York City! So fun! No, we didn't hit up Time's Square; instead we headed out to Queens to bring in 2012 with a small group of friends. Before the ball dropped, though, Lisa and I decided to go thrifting in her new neighborhood, Gramercy. My oh my, there was a lot of wonderful thrifting. I scored an entire outfit for $30, which made me crazy happy. There was so much furniture I had my eye on, too. We also got a mani/pedi together... a typical Liz & Lisa thing to do whenever we're around one another :) 

We also went to a few neighborhood spots to check out their Christmas attire... like Rolf pub that was so incredibly over the top, I couldn't even focus! CRAZY!

We also went to Molly's, that had a less distracting, more-able-to-focus atmosphere. ha!

For dinner on New Year's Eve, we wanted it to just be the 4 of us in their apartment, so Lisa and I decided use the pasta maker Cory and I gifted her and Kevin (for housewarming in September) and make a home-cooked Italian meal full of pasta, meatballs, and garlic bread! We had so much fun figuring out how to use the pasta maker. I felt like it was the perfect gift for such a lovely Italian couple :)

We headed to Queens around 9 p.m. and had a great time playing the best card game ever, Cards Against Humanity. It is so much fun and totally inappropriate!  I only have a few cell phone shots from the night, but I know there are a ton of photos floating around.. so once my friends post them, I'll share them with you.

How did you put an end to 2011?

Weekend Musings

Life is so funny. I'm the kind of person who can get really wound up in whatever I'm working on and need a friendly reminder that sometimes, life just isn't that serious.

(fyi: the photos used in this post were taken with my droid phone)

This past weekend my best friend, Lisa, came to visit from New York City. It's always a treat to have her here; she hasn't been since our wedding last July. She even treated us to a cupcake themed housewarming gift including yummy Magnolia Bakery cupcakes fresh from NYC! Yes! We had a lovely weekend together despite the humidity and insane heat. We visited the pool, went antiquing and thrifting, and had a few drinks at my favorite local bar.

And of course, we ended our night Saturday with a dinner at Nido's (my fav Italian joint in town) and hulu action back home with a few bottles of wine. Pretty perfect, if you ask me.

Today, we woke slowly and left for brunch before taking Lisa back to Baltimore to catch her bus. As we were heading toward brunch, Cory and I were reviewing the itinerary for his upcoming work conference in Rehoboth, Delaware. Something puzzled me... we weren't supposed to check in until Monday? Hm. Okay, we could just find a place to crash tonight, not a big deal. We have loads of friends and family in the area. Because something just didn't feel right, I looked up the conference on my phone and realized that the conference doesn't actually begin until... Tuesday! Which is why our county wasn't providing room and board this evening. Silly, silly. So we're all packed up and have the housesitter all set...

with no where to go! lol

Unfortunately, Cory is really suffering with a head cold, so we decided to take Lisa to Baltimore and head back home. Our compromise was that we would go see the new Harry Potter and take it easy at home tonight. I'm happy to say my husband is currently asleep at 9:30pm.. which is exactly where he needs to be in order to get better before this conference!

So, we'll head out early tomorrow, probably spend some time roaming the Delaware beaches and taking it easy. I'll be at the beach all week while he's at the conference... or going around the Ocean City boardwalk taking photos ;).

Have you had a moment when life just made you giggle a little?

xo, Liz

HI!

(source: Claremont McKenna College)

Hey there!

I'm bouncing in to give a quick 'what up' to all of you!

 I had a fun weekend in NYC with the bff and husband (post about that later) and have already finished reading Tina Fey's  new book (book review coming soon).

Right now, I'm getting ready to crash in bed with the new Vogue and wake up to attend a college visit with my honors class! woo!

Here's what you have to look forward to this week:

-aforementioned Bossypants review.

-NYC recap

-how I prep for big shows (I have my next big show coming up in about 1.5 weeks!)

-Easter happenings w/the fam

-Books I picked up at the Strand in NYC (loads... L.O.A.D.S).

-my ode to the iced caramel latte (for real)

I'll be back, I swear. Wooooooooooooo!

NO SLEEP 'TIL BROOKLYN!

I'm just popping in for a little update!

1) I'm alive! I went back to work Thursday and today and have still managed to crochet quite a bit in the evenings.

2) I only have 17 items to crochet and throw on the tip top of a fully jam-packed box to ship to NYC tomorrow!

3) As I was tagging each item with the message I prepared for the Taste of Success event, I fell in love with each item over and over again.

4) I am having a lot of fun (albeit CRAZY) preparing this order. It's a really great challenge and I have learned A LOT business wise as a result!

I'll be back to regular blogging (with photos) this weekend!

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!

(source)

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

Oh what a mess + Guest Bloggers!

I just walked into my house and found this (times 50) all around my house. Flip and Ralphie must have had a yarntastic day while Cory and I were hard at work.

My cats love yarn. It is a struggle for me to keep my yarn organized (as I often buy it in bulk when it is on sale), but the cats certainly don't help!

(source)

So long story short, I have a gigantic mess to clean up and throw away. It's not the end of the world, but it did make me feel like I was still at work. I feel like unrolling all my balls of yarn is something some of my high schoolers would do just to mess with me. Ha! You know how those pesky teenagers are!

And now onto an announcement:

I was approached with an incredible business opportunity to work with a charity in NYC for a benefit they hold each year. As a result, I am going to be very busy crocheting 200 pieces before March 5th (yikes!), plus preparing for my February 26th and March 26th craft shows! BIG YIKES.

If you are a blogger, a crafter, or just a pretty cool person and would like to be a Guest Blogger on Donna's Decembers starting March 1st,

please email me at

donnasdecembers(at)gmail(dot)com

for more details!

Guest blogging is a GREAT way to advance readership and get your name out there to blog readers who stop by my neck of the woods :)

Can't wait to hear from you!

Liz

It is chilly.

(source)

Next weekend Cory and I are inviting a bunch of friends up to go out and see an amazing band from western Maryland, Cotton Jones, play at our favorite bar (Cafe Nola). It should be a really great night (and if you're interested, Blood Red Sentimental Blues is my fav song).

Since we're saving all our energy, monies, and excitement for next weekend, we decided to keep this weekend pretty low key. I spent most of today crocheting a cute item for my spring collection and learning how to tie a bowtie (it's part of the project...) and Cory spent most of his Saturday at the library (where he likes to go and read). Tonight we decided to go to a local Italian spot for a cheapo dinner (about $20 total for both of us) and it was delicious! Lots of fun.

On our walk down to il Porto, we realized that it is really stinking cold here in Maryland! I promptly checked the weather as soon as we returned home: 12 degrees! YIKES! So cold!

So tonight we've already made cups of tea, have loaded our laps with blankets, and have our Bon Iver Pandora station playing. I'm curling up with some yarn and Ralphie. Flip is patiently sitting on the stool waiting for Cory to acknowledge him. It's a nice little night in after a delicious dinner out.

This week we decided that we needed to pay tribute to a tradition we remember our parents having when we were little: watching Saturday Night Live. Now, do not be fooled, we are well aware that SNL may never revert back to it's hay days in the 90s, but we can hope. So, tonight we're going to read, relax, drink our tea, and then cheer on the youngest comics on the tube as they attempt to make us chuckle.

These are my favorite Saturdays!

Lion Brand Studio

Gosh, I love Lion Brand yarn. I know I talk about it a lot, but their studio in NYC is awesome. Here are a few pictures from my visit this past weekend!

So beautiful.

xo,

Liz