Sassy Gina-D

More Goodies!!!

Hallllooo everybody! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was pretty good...until I went to move my car yesterday and discovered that I have NO BACK WINDOW!!!!  Long story short, last Wednesday, some truck hit the car behind me, knocked off their side view mirror, and it flew into my back window. Nice, eh? THEY WILL PAY!  It's a good thing I don't drive to work right now or I'd be SCREWED!  I have no luck with cars!

On a happier note, my friends Patricia and Matt got engaged last weekend! Yeah! Congratulations guys! (As if they'll read this...but whatevs!)

Also, I got a belated birthday gift last week from Shannon over at Ruby Rox Designs...what a sweetie! She sent me this adorable wallet...I love it! And on the same day, I got these stitch markers from the t-rrific Catherine...aren't they adorable?!?!  She, by the way, also won the faux Louis purse prize from last week! I will get that out in the mail this week...I swear!

Lastly, this is the last package I got from my SP5 Erica a couple weeks ago that I was telling you about (I know...a little late with the picture!). The candles smell so yummy and she is so talented with her card making! The yarn is gorgeous...I have NO idea what I'm going to make with it! It's kind of yummy for a scarf though! And I've already marked the pages in the Fall Vogue that I want to make...when ever I find the spare time!  HAHA!  I just had to show you a close-up of those cute little stitch markers! Cute, huh?

And to end this post, Gizmo wanted me to pass on the message to Stop and Smell the Flowers! What a good boy!

Take Care Peeps!

T-U-R-T-L-E Power!

My second post in one night?!?!  WHAT!!! I just wanted to share with you my fun weekend in NYC over Labor Day Weekend!

My mom and brother (JJ) came to see me, and we did the full tourist thing in NYC! We did a bus tour, Times Square, Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, a ride on a rickshaw, Rockefeller Center, Radio City, Ground Zero, Wall Street/downtown, the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island boat tour, 3 hours in Central Park (and only saw 1/4 of it all!), ate lots of good food, and wore through our shoes! Wooo...I'm tired just thinking about it!

In Times Square, one of our stops was at the huge Toys R Us...so many toys! JJ was officially named one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja..er..Turtles! Here's his press photo.

Here's the three of us on top of the Empire State Building...and let me tell you, we waited almost 3 hours to get up there, so we took as many pictures as we possibly could!

After that extravaganza, we headed towards the Village and Soho. My mom bought me this pretty necklace and bracelet from a Feng Shui expert in the Village. She told me that jade is worn by women in Asia to enhance beauty, and jade is also known to be lucky and to have anti-aging properties. Oooohhh! Then we went to Marie Belle in Soho...for those of you who haven't eaten chocolate or tasted hot chocolate from Marie Belle, I recommend you order some now! It is the BEST chocolate I've ever tasted in my LIFE! And then we were off to Chinatown where JJ bought a Rolex in Chinatown (I wonder if it's an original?).

Since JJ is an official Turtle now, we went to Radio City so he could see the new sewer he will be living in. His sewer is slightly to the left of where we took the picture. Classy, eh?

That pretty much wrapped up Saturday...but don't you think that's enough?

On Sunday, we started out at Ground Zero, which overwhelms me every time I see it. It was a very emotional experience. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost someone on that horrible day 4 years ago. What I don't understand is, who will want to work in the even taller Freedom Tower (1776 feet high) once it is built? But anyway, JJ took this picture of the cross that still stands there.

From there, we walked through the Wall Street/Downtown area, and posed with the famous Bull...

Then we walked to Battery Park and once we saw the 2+ hour line, decided against the tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. But we got LUCKY(It must have been the Jade)! We stumbled on a tour boat that would take us around the 2 islands (instead of going onto the actual islands, we just heard about the history) so we did it! Here's a great picture of Mom and JJ in front of the Statue (do you feel like you are watching a vacation slide show yet?)

AND THEN we walked around and around and around Central Park. Well, actually, we didn't even get that far before it turned dark and our feet were killing us! We started in the Southeast corner, and made it to the Mall at the end of Literary Walk, saw Alice in Wonderland, the small Boat Pond, the Castle (which was closed, but there was a guy there with a telescope so we got to see Venus and Mars...random, eh?), the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater (closed), and last but not least the dedication to Paul Lennon in Strawberry Fields...isn't it cool? It was dark by that point, so it was difficult to get a good picture, but JJ did a good job. Someone had decorated it with strawberries and red roses. Our tour of Central Park took 3+ hours and we literally only saw 1/4 of the Park! Crazy, huh? If you don't believe it's that large, look at the map here.

I told you so!

It was a great way to spend my birthday on Sunday! We had a lot of fun! On Monday we were going to go to The Today Show and then Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, but decided to stay home and sleep in instead! That was a lot of walking! Oh well...next time I guess!

So Much to Say!!!

It's been so long I don't even know where to start!!  I have a renewed dedication to my blog and knitting...it just hit me that if I want to get gifts knitted before Christmas, I better start now! Time will tell if I actually get it all done!  HAHA!

I have so many pictures to show you! If you make it all the way to the end of the post, there's a bonus for you! (oooohhhh!! aaahhhh!!)

Let me start with my Secret Pal...I really love all the gifts Erica sent to me, and I want her to know how much I appreciate it all! Her first package had to sit at the post office for quite a while, but when I finally was able to pick it up, this is what I found:

Some red Alpaca yarn, 2 awesome Yankee candles and a beautiful candle holder, At Knits End (what a fantastic book!!), and a beautiful homemade card! I love it all Erica!  The second gift she sent to me is just as wonderful...I will be posting a picture this week! One of the things in this second package was some adorable stitch markers with a cute tin box with my name on it. This is a picture from Erica's blog...she got some of her own :)

I have been "secret palling" Annie in Australia! I've had so much fun getting to know her, her family, and her dog Ruby (her blog's name sake)! I forgot to take pictures of the stuff I sent to her, so you can check out the packages on her site. My favorite was the bag I sent to her for her knitting...I added some iron-on patches and I think it turned out really cute if I do say so myself :) I've really enjoyed my experience with SP5, but I think I'm going to sit the next one out. I will be on the lookout for SP7 though!

Thank you to everyone that sent me e-cards for my birthday last week and all of the cute e-cards from RAOKers!! I always love hearing from new people...especially when I'm turning the old, ripe age of 29! Agh!!!  29!!!!!!!!!!  Ugh!!!

  I also received this wonderful RAOK from Lu who registered this book at Book Crossing. How cool is that??  I can't wait to set the book free and see where else it will land! But not until after I read it of course!!

AND look what Julie sent to me...This makes me want to learn how to do Origami. No joke! I was at the book store the other day and almost bought an origami book. I ended up buying a kit for pper quilling instead. Who knows when I will start that new hobby. Julie sent the crane in the cutest envelope made out of a magazine page...that I will definitely be making soon!

And now onto the Stitch Marker Swap! Look at the three fabulous sets I've gotten so far! These are from Sheryl (I don't think she has a blog) and 2 mysterious swappers.  If you are responsible for sending these gorgeous markers to me, please identify yourself so I can properly thank you :)  ALSO, Leah sent me the adorable glass sheep stitch markers...I love it! Thank you to everyone!

   

                                                                  

These are some of the beads that I sent out to my Pals. I purchased the clay beads on eBay (talk about addiction!!!)...I wish I had the talent and patience to make beads like this!! My favorites are the Eggs & Bacon and duckie...aren't they adorable??

                                                                                                                                 

The second-to-last thing I have for this post (I have another entire post for you tonight still!!) are the blankeys I'm making for Preemie Project. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Laura is fantastic! She has a chapter in Iowa, and a couple volunteers have also opened a chapter in Michigan. If you'd like to donate your knits (or other items), visit the homepage for more details. Since it takes me so long to knit, I decided to make fleece blankeys instead. I'm making a few Care Bear blankeys for the itty bitty girls and a few Yellow Ducky blankeys for the itty bitty boys. AND I'm making a few Halloween blankeys too :)

Now for your bonus! I bought this "Louis Vuitton" purse in Chinatown back in December and it never made it to the person I was supposed to give it to.  It really isn't my style, but I know someone out there would really like to have a faux-Vuitton...so, if you are interested in getting your hands on this lovely purse for FREE (!!!) just be the first person to let me know! COOL!