Portland, Oregon

ok ok sorry i have been so lazy but this whole working-5-days-a-week thing is hard to get use to again.... oh and BTW this will be a bit picture heavy

so after having a fantastic time in Texas and a spectacular experience in the Dallas Airport we headed off to my home town. PORTLAND!!! Woot woot!

I was so excited to get home and even better was that my dad was waiting for us as we walked out of the airport. I turned into a little kid again as I ran up to him to get a big bear hug. We arrived pretty late at night so he took us straight home where we promptly fell asleep after exciting hello's to my mom.

The day after our arrival we did something so exciting. Something that I took for granted when I was younger and living in the States. We went to Safeway and Costco! I know!!! It was so much fun.

In Safeway we went up and down every isle and oooed and awwed over all the exciting things like red onions that are bigger than a golf ball and darker in color than watered down pink lemonade. There we giant cucumbers and rice mixes in al flavors. There was an entire isle dedicated to cereal and another to salad dressings. There was all kinds of milk and sour cream. You should have seen all the yogurt flavors. They even had blackberry my very favorite!!! It was fantastic!!

Then in Costco we wandered around looking at the bargain packaging of dish soap and tortilla chips then looked at all the reduced price books (that would make them nearly half the price of the same book here) and oooh the packages of socks!!! We even got a jumbo size bottle of vitamins. Then on our way out I got a hotdog and a coke for a dollar fifty! $1.50!!! Why cant we get hotdogs made with beef out here that are that good. Seriously. I know they exist and I want them. Now! So tasty.

The next day we headed over to my dad's where a bunch of family had come over and we had a proper barbeque. We had barbecued chicken with pasta salad and fruit. YUM! It was great to see all the family as it's been sooooo long! All the kids grew loads while I have been away.... Apparently kids grow whether you are there or not. Go figure.

Monday was Knitting Bee Day! My all time favorite LYS... Need I say more?
Dream in Color Smooshy in Pansy Golightly - Used this for my very first pair of socks (stay tuned)

Plymouth Yarn Dye For Me Happy Feet will be for my first Kool-Aid dyeing attempt. And my brother came to town from Oakland to hang out with us while we were in town

Tuesday it was off to the Oregon Coast where we had lunch watching the surf break and then headed to the Tillamook Cheese Factory . Then we headed over to one of my favorite places, the outlet mall! Oh that was good times... although for some reason my husband wasn't as excited as I by this last stop.

On the following day Mom, husband and I headed downtown to my all time favorite bookstore, Powells and we roamed around there. All I can say is that it's a good thing we had luggage that was already full otherwise I could have bought hundreds of books. Hundreds I tell you! Then we headed over to Knit Purl.
Fleece Artist Woolie Silk. I just couldn't resist these colors! The pic doesn't do them justice

Artyarns Regal Silk

The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering which I used for the Knot Hat - more on that later

My sister came to town as well! It was so much fun to see everyone and hang out. We (sis, brother, hubby & I) went and wandered all around downtown again. I just can't get enough of that place. We ended up at a little cafe that has fantasic juices and get this: Sheesha! Hahaha!

Finally after more days of lounging around, eating and chatting with all my family ooooh and there was shopping. Lots and lots of shopping we headed over to (drum roll please) Twisted!!!! They carry Blue Moon Fiber Arts and I had been itching to get there the entire trip.

Look at all that yarny goodness!!! I got four skeins of BMFA Socks That Rock in different weights (if you are interested in colors and weights you can check out my stash on Ravelry) and I got another skein of Smooshy and the Monarch on the end in Green & Yellow.... My schools colors. How could I pass that up!?!? I'm going to knit socks that represent the Ducks! Woot woot!

Overall the trip was great. I got to see everyone. The weather was fantastic and I went to all my favorite hangouts. It was just so nice to be home. It made me realize just how much I miss my family. I think it's a feeling I try to surpress a lot because when you live on the other side of the world there isn't a whole lot you can do about home sickness so you just try not to think about it. But to be home, seeing everyone, talking to everyone whenever we wanted, just made me realize how much I miss everyone... How much I miss home.

I think I'll go cuddle some of my new yarn to cheer my self up now....

comin' clean

Ok ok I am sure you have noticed that I'm just not posting as much as I use to and I'm feeling guilty. I feel I owe you an explanation. I mean you are my small group of readers that checks in with me nearly every day just to see what I have to say and lately all I have done is let you down. You loyally check in only to see the same posts for days on end sitting at the top of the page.

There are a few factors that are going into this that I would like to share with you in order to clear the air.

I'm just not that witty - Some people's blogs are so interesting. They can write daily about nearly anything and you are always glued to the screen wanting to learn more. But me even when cool things happen I either don't think to write about them or I cant write about them cause they are work related and like you would want to hear about work anyways.

I'm just not that interesting - Honestly I don't have a lot going on. At least not lately. Nope, all I do is knit, work, sleep. That about covers it.

My work is INSANE right now - I am doing ridiculous amounts of PowerPoint. PowerPoint is taking over my life. In fact I'm starting to think that I need a PowerPoint help group so that when I go on vacation next month I will know how to fill up my spare time in the absence of PowerPoint.

I'm working on some unbloggable (is that a word?) things right now - I have some top secret knitting projects going on that I can't share with you. At least not yet. I have shared some gifts intended for others already but the rest I want to keep as a surprise for the recipients so you are just going to have to wait. After that the only bloggable project I'm working on is my February Lady Sweater and seriously how many times can you listen to me moan about the lace and all. Yep figured you were getting kinda bored with that one so I'm saving the update for when I finish it. Someday. If ever. Sigh.

So there you have it. My list of excuses as to why I'm not posting very much right now. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't know what to say. But have no fear. I see a lot of exciting things happening in the near future and that should help with the lull in activity here at DuckAbroad.

Thank you for your patience : )