Christmas Mice

For my nephew's Christmas present and for the 3rd birthday of a little girl I used to nanny I made little stuffed mice. It was my first toy project and it was lots of fun! I know they will be given proper names by the children they belong to, but I call them Felix and Felicity.

Here are the pieces, all ready to be assembled.

Felicity

Felix

Felicity wanted to see the snow.

Of course Felix did too, and it's a bit chilly on the windowsill, so he put on his scarf.

Friends Forever

Then they tried to get into my Christmas chocolate, but I stopped them just in time!

I sure hope they make the little ones smile as much as I did!

thankful

A few things I'm thankful for all mixed up and in random order.

I'm thankful to be in Belfast.

I'm thankful for skype.

I'm thankful for new additions to the family, especially this little guy.

I'm thankful for Turkey soup!

I'm thankful for pretty Christmas/Thanksgiving bunting.
I'm thankful for winter sunshine and chrysanthemums.
I'm thankful for apple cinnamon candles.
I'm thankful that I learned how to knit this year.

I'm thankful for a lovely little early Christmas present for myself in the way of a knitting kit from Ysolda.

I'm thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with wonderful friends!
I'm thankful for friends, new and old.
I'm thankful for candles, and autumn leaves.
I'm thankful my first turkey was a success.

I'm thankful for my plaid flannel dress.

I'm thankful for cranberry sauce.

I'm thankful for Jesus and his love and care for me.

I'm thankful for movies and books and music.

I'm thankful for facebook.

I'm thankful for snow.

I'm thankful for sunsets.

I'm thankful for poetry.

I'm thankful that being thankful makes me feel so happy.

cleaning out my phone...

I'm switching back over to my UK phone today, so here's a few pics and videos I saved from my US phone:

Will likes his head covered when he sleeps...

Ben's Chili Bowl!

Emily, Luke, and Flower

We fed "Flower" a lot, but we're not exactly sure if she's a girl...

Alternate name if she turns out to be a boy, "Blue"

Graduation!

Will's Birthday!!!

april

April was a huge month for our family! It was bookended by new beginnings. First, on April 3rd, my sister Emily married the love-of-her-life, Calvin. It was a beautiful spring day full of joy.

And love.

And dancing.

Then on April 26th, three days before his due-date, William Reid Strite entered the world.

He is beautiful and wonderful and sleepy.

I love him.

Other than that I've been working like crazy. Slowly getting a bit of a tan from all the playing-outside I get to do as part of my "job." I've been knitting and throwing like crazy too. Pictures to come in a separate post. And I've been greatly enjoying the Euro prayer initiative, pictures on a related project I've been working on to come as well.

May is going to be another big month with bookend trips out of state. The first pretty close to home to see Lacy graduate from college in Tennessee and the second to celebrate my Grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary and visit friends in the mid-west.

(Still waiting to hear about college and thus have made no further plans for the fall.)

a sort of kind of update

These are things I'm bad at doing when I live in the States and have a full time job: keeping up with all my friends who live here, there, and everywhere (and I mean that quite literally) and blogging. Also exercising, not eating too much sugar, and getting enough sleep. I'm sorry, I keep trying to be better about these things, and keep trying, and keep trying.

Anyway, here's a little update on the last few weeks:

* I think I mentioned that I've taken up knitting since being home. I L-O-V-E it! I've ordered a Boye Needle Master kit on ebay and it should arrive sometime next week. This is an interchangeable circular needle set which means I have (virtually) everything I could ever need to make anything I could ever want. (yeah!) And I finished my first project, a baby blanket for my soon-to-be-born nephew, Will. Here it is:

Incidentally, the bed spread it's laid out on was made by my grandmother. I couldn't post pictures of it before in case my sister read my blog and the surprise was spoiled.

*I love, love, LOVED the Olympics. Everything except I was a little disappointed by the closing ceremonies. But the opening ones were great! The competitions were great. The rivalries, the records set, the North American's showing in the medal counts. I really sort of wish that when I was young and we discovered that my ankles weren't strong enough to jump that I wouldn't have given up figure skating entirely, but would have switched to ice dancing...

* Had a baby shower for my sister yesterday. So much fun, and she got lots of great gifts! (Hence me being able to post pictures of the blanket.)

*Loving LOST, Grey's, and The Office these days. Had such a busy week that I missed each of them and just finished catching up. Only 10 more episodes of LOST. Pam and Jim have their baby. Andy finally asked Erin out! And Grey's feels like the good old days, with a healthy, happy Meredith which I like!

* Dreaming and wishing for Belfast... can't wait for the end of the summer.

* Plotting and planning and hoping for a trip to Iowa, Chicago, and Michigan in May/June... Watch this space.

*Went to see Young Victoria today with my sis, enjoyed it! Everyone else in the theatre was over 50 and the comments we overheard were hilarious. Best one right as the credits rolled: "Now that is a love story."

*Favorite quote from the baby episode of The Office: "You've gotta let the cookies cool before you pop them in your mouth." -Michael as Kevin leans in for a kiss (from Erin).

*Didn't realize The Last Station was out already, gotta see it! It's about the last few years of Tolstoy's life as this year marks the 100th anniversary of his death.

Guess that's all the big stuff. Wedding in 27 days, baby a few weeks after that!

a long one

I usually try to keep my posts short and sweet but this one, well I have a feeling it's going to be a doozy! This is an update on the last month-and-a-half of my life... with pictures!

So, I went to Wales for Christmas. I had such a lovely time with my friend Beth and her family and our friends Frances and Alana! There was snow and ice on the ground when I arrived but it all melted before Christmas. We watched movies and read and talked and cooked and ate and went for walks and enjoyed being together. It was fantastic! This is Beth, Frances, and Alana on a walk around the estuary near Beth's house.

On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) we went to the Gower Peninsula where we admired the beautiful South Wales coast, got caught in a rain storm, and climbed up and down cliffs. Lovely!
I spent New Years with friends from Guildford and 24-7 at some cabins in the New Forest near Southampton. We shared a meal together and shared stories and sang a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight before sending a lantern off to the heavens with our hopes and dreams for 2010. Then we all went back in side and I played my first game of poker ever. Also, I won!

From Southampton I went to London to visit my lovely friend Kirstin. She got engaged over Christmas and I'm the maid of honor so we spent most of our time flipping through wedding magazines and laughing and trying on wedding dresses. (Well, Kirstin did and I took pictures.) We managed to squeeze in plenty of (mostly window) shopping and a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, we had a lovely engagement celebration dinner where I, at 27 and for the first time in my life, got drunk. (But don't tell my mom.) Not too drunk, I could still walk (slowly, in 3" heels!) and didn't have a hangover (having nursed a glass of water all night, and I don't think I forgot anything that happened. No, I remember all to well that all I could manage to do was laugh and say, "I am horribly drunk!" (Quoting the woman in the wheelchair on Notting Hill.) It started snowing while we were eating and all through our walk home and through the night.
It snowed so much that the airports were closed and I couldn't get home. I didn't mind as all the alcohol and rich food had made my stomach a bit angry at me. I did finally get back to Belfast two days, an hour long taxi ride, a night in Southampton, four cancelled flights, and a bus ride from Dublin later! Ireland was so beautiful covered in snow!

After all of that I only had three and a half days left in Northern Ireland. They were filled with a party, lunches and coffees with friends, packing, farewell dinners, roommate banter, and lots of packing. Oh, also a trip to Belvior (that's pronounced beaver, don't ask me why) Forest Park and some packing. This is a view of the Belfast hills from the Park.
And me, taken by Helen, watching Sam and his nephews playing in the snow. (Look at that little double chin... too much lovely holiday food!)
I got back to Charlotte on January 12th. My layover in JFK was extended from 3 to 6+ hours so I managed to read the entirety of Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Perfect sort of book for that situation! Since being home I've taken up knitting and I'm loving it! I've also learned how to drive a stick shift (aka manual transmission for you Brits). (That's three new things I've learned to do this year: play poker, knit, and drive stick. Four if you count learning how to be drunk, but we won't talk about that anymore!)

This is my tested and tried method for learning how to drive stick:

1) move to a foreign country and give your lovely car to your sister.

2) return to your country of origin when said sister is out of state at university. (Having your brother leave his (horrid) car at home while he is also out of state at university is key here.)

3) receive one lesson from your dad, equal parts helpful and bewildering.

4) clean the car.

5) do some research online and print instructions from several different "how to" websites

6) make a few CDs

7) take car, CDs, and instructions to a (mostly) empty parking lot and practice starting from a complete stop until you can do it (most of the time) without stalling. Then take a spin around the neighborhood.

8) After an hour or two, or when you feel confident, take a trip up the road to Target.

And that is how I learned to drive stick. Hand brake starts were learned in an emergency situation involving a sloped parking space. Also, renaming the car helps. Naming things aids in attachment, that's why farmers don't name animals they will later slaughter. I named the car Alphonso as it reminds me of a sleazy Italian.

I've returned to my former life of nannying and enjoying the convenience of life in the States and planning and plotting how to return to Ireland.

Been giving a lot of thought to story and how to make my life into the kind of story I want it to tell. (Inspiration on this topic having come from Don Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, The Brother's Bloom, and most recently Beth Moore's Bible study on Esther and Adri.) I found out today that the course I was interested in in Belfast is already full for the coming academic year. So the knocking continues. The big question at the minute is, do I stick with the "where" or the "what?"

So, I guess that's it.

Oh, wait, one more thing... On Tuesday I went with my sister and brother-in-law to her ultrasound appointment and we got to see baby Will! He was so cute! They (unexpectedly) did a 3D ultrasound and we got to see him waving and playing with his feet and covering his face so we couldn't get a good picture and pouting when the technician jiggled Laura's stomach so he would move his hands. Absolutely adorable!!! Can't wait to meet the little guy in real life!

So, besides the fact that I am so totally excited about this final season of LOST (especially after the premiere on Tuesday!!!), I think that really is it!

it's a boy!

Here he is:

William Reid Strite

Cutest little boy in the whole, wide world!

Due on April 29th, 2010