still in champaign.....illinois

after being here nearly three weeks, charlie and i are getting ready to pack up and say goodbye to champaign. we have really enjoyed some of the local spots in town, we love eating at local joints when we travel. if you ever find yourself in central illinios please be sure to visit the following: papa del's (who are rumored to ship frozen pizzas to hugh hefner), seven saints (famous for a delicious assortment of sliders), and carmon's (an authentic french cafe with painfully awkward staff). there was a total of something between 8-10 inches of snow throughout our stay here, which made it obvious why jimmy johns has made such a hit as a delivery service. who wants to scrape their car and shovel their drive way when all they have to do is order over the phone (or even online) and have a freshly made sandwich delivered to their house in just minutes? tonight i sat in a jimmy johns and watched one staff stand at the door with a sandwich and nearly throw it out the door to the driver as he arrived from his last delivery. they really do have "freakishly fast" service. get ready waco!


everyone keeps asking me "what do you do all day?" its a little embarrassing to say "i knit", but im getting over it. these three weeks have allowed me to slow down, learn a new skill, and just breath. i know its not totally fair since charlie is off working hard 10+ hour days, but i mean, i just turned 30, isnt about time i got a sabbatical? im not confident my knitting business will sky rocket immediately (since it is forecasted to reach 70+ degrees in waco next week). but i do see myself working on building an inventory and being ready for next fall. here are some more previews of projects.

i made this cowl with 100% organic cotton

this is a cabled cowl made from baby alpaca wool

my first "mobius" cowl-a single sided circle with an infinite half twist

i do need to work on my photography skills. capturing self portraits and really showing the true character of each project isnt my strong suit. later this week - hats! hope to post pics of the first two i have finished soon. love you all.

the traveling cake

one year and ten days ago charlie and i had the most wonderful wedding that could have existed (to us at least). we were so blessed to have so many friends and family there-thank you if you were able to make it! we also hope you remember eating some of our wedding cake. charlie had a "guinness" cake (that he didnt even get to eat) and i had a triple tier cake. the bottom layer was strawberry and the middle layer was some sort of orange rum cream or something. i dont really remember, but i do remember them being awesome. but of course we saved the top for ourselves. it was mint chocolate. yuuummmyyy!!


after the wedding my maid of honor, lindsey, took possession of the cake and it lived in the freezer in my old basement for a few months. then when she moved out, instead of chucking it away, she packed it up and took it to live in her parents house for a few months. THEN the boyds decided to take a summer trip to florida and of course lindsey wanted to hang out so she brought it to panama city. when we left, we packed up our two dogs and "frozen" cake and made the trek back to texas. lo and behold where did we decided to be during our anniversary? florida. so we packed it up and drove it BACK to florida. i calculate roughly 2038 miles that poor cake survived on top of multiple freezing/thawing episodes. and still came out amazing! i wouldnt recommend fifteen layers of aluminum foil (steph and linds you did a great job) as the best means of preservation. but i do recommend partaking in this tradition-it was super fun.

champaign (illinois)

charlie and i finally arrived in champaign, il a couple of days ago for him to start training for his new position at jimmy john's. the "deep freeze 2011" spent all of its time destroying the south while we drove through clear skies all the way from nashville. it did however start snowing last night and has continued to snow all day today. charlie and larry spend their days in classrooms and training kitchens while i figure out what to do with all of this free time. let me tell you, i haven't gotten bored yet! of course it has only been a couple of days, but i find all sorts of random tasks to fill my time. since we are new to town some of those tasks include finding a bank, post office, gym, grocery store, etc. but once all of those bases have been covered i find myself cataloging holiday photos, compiling all the wedding invitation addresses into one master address book folder, researching knitting projects,etc. fortunately charlie is just as excited as i am about my knitting endeavors. here are some samples of projects i have finished.


of course nearly everyone got a scarf or cowl (those are the circular scarfs that i promise are the next big thing) for christmas. but not only that, my obsessively knitting fingers got a lot of other people excited too! some people just needed a nudge to pick up the habit again but others i helped teach from the ground up. i do hope to get a number of projects going and start a little side business to sell what i've been working on. so if you like something you see ask me about buying one for yourself or a friend.



whoever is reading this: we miss you! whether you are in florida, georgia, texas or anywhere in between-we are not with you and that makes us sad. but if you are passing through champaign stop by our extended stay hotel and ill make you dinner in our micro kitchen.