East Bay Garden Gallery

This morning my dad called me and asked me to come down to his gallery, a flower was in bloom and he wanted a couple of pictures of it so he could paint it. So since I was there I took several shots of his gallery to try and convince him to put up a website just to show his gallery, no online sales or anything, but he seems uninterested. So since he won't let me do that I'll just share the pics here ;-)


my dad, the artist & owner of East Bay Garden Gallery


the red flower in the courtyard he wanted a pic of


back of the gallery, in the garden


back & side of the garden


gate that leads to garden behind the gallery


inside of the gallery


another inside view


and yet another inside view ;)


last one!

Magnolia Gardens, Charleston SC

We have been on vacation for 1 week now and enjoying every minute of bright sunshine down here in good ol South Carolina. There really is nothing like the fresh air and constant sun like it is here in Charleston. It never ceases to amaze me just how much brighter and clearer everything is here.

We've done a few things here and there this past week but today was a big day for us. One of the owners of Magnolia Gardens, Drayton Hastie, visited my dad's art gallery (East Bay Garden Gallery, just north of the Battery) a few weeks back. He fell in love with my dad's style and invited him to photograph the plantation and paint it in pictures for their gift shop. Today we did just that, so here are a few highlights from our trip, sorry I can't reveal all as they may very well be painted and hanging in the gallery soon ;-)


Mr Egret standing guard near the famous bridge


random bench surrounded by azelia's which grow abundantly in these parts


this mysterious lady was hidden off the beaten path, such a shame as she is stunning!


The man on the left with the young girl is my father, the artist Hampton Brand and my daughter Rory, they are watching an alligator float along the water.


my curious Pixie transfixed on yet another alligator


one of the many ponds on the Plantation


all of the kids taking a break from all of the walking


the petting zoo was one of the kids favorite spots


this guy really loved my gal!


this is the back of the plantation home, the front faces the Ashley River and is near impossible to get a picture of


this bridge has been painted and photographed by many artists


I just love this photo


another of the kids, just having fun


After a long day I am ready to go sit down, watch Dancing with the Stars and knit with my Wollmeise :D

Global Warming

Well, more like Global Cooling if you are in the PNW. But as promised I finished my Global Warming top, knit in Yarn Chef sock yarn, one of my favorite not yet hit the big time Indie Dyers



This was a really fast and easy knit, very few modifications made to it. And yeah I know the pic is crappy, just like our weather. And based on weather reports it doesn't look like there will be another half decent day until the day we fly out to go to SC, but that means I'll have ample opp for much better pics once we are there! And hopefully pics were I don't have to chop my head off ;)

On the home front note, I got to talk to the husband as the boat is on a port call. It's nice to hear from him but makes me miss him so much more. Thankfully this deployment will soon be over and should be the last one for at least 2 years, maybe more. Also did some more cleaning and packing for the trip. Oh how fun all of the clothes from the garage smell! Oops and I forgot to put them in the dryer, better go do that now so they don't sit overnight and get more smelly!

Dreary Days

They are so common here in WA and after two years one might think I'd have gotten used to them. I still get all gloomy and unmotivated and just want to sit in my PJ's rather than actually doing the responsible things I have to do. Days like this make me miss my husband. Ok I miss him every day regardless but at least on days like this I could just call him and say Hey honey can you grab some sugar, bread & cat litter on your way home.

Speaking of husband, our anniversary was two days ago and guess who forgot? ME! I was in bed settling down for the evening when an email came in. It was the most heartfelt, sincere, sweetest, heart wrenching emails ever. My husband is a man of few words and rarely are they sappy love letter type words. My heart lifted, I cried, and then I felt like a big asshat for forgetting our 9yr anniversary. I have forgiven myself, I do have a lot on my plate these days.

On that plate? I leave WA in 4 days to go home to SC for a month weeeeeeeee! I am so excited to be going home. I can't wait to walk downtown Charleston, go sit on the battery and drink frozen lemonade (it doesn't stay frozen more than a second!), and go play at the beach. I know it won't be a cure all but being home is a soul renewal and I will feel so much better after I get in to the warm sunshine and sand that is home.

In knitting news I am cranking out a bunch of items. I recently finished These Bintje socks for a friend


and knee highs for myself


I am also working on this pair of knee highs (and one other not pictured)


these are made from my most favorite striping sock yarn Goth Socks, which can be found on Etsy Right Here.

I am also almost done with a short sleeved sweater top for myself. I should hopefully have photos tomorrow as all I need to do today are the sleeves and yoke.

Say it!

Pixie (my 4yo) likes to randomly talk about whatever. Today we are discussing the weather and if it's cold or not. It's snowing, of course it's cold. Pixie says to me "it's not cold to me" I just mumble mmmhmmm. To which she responds with "say why". . . ignoring her she presses harder "SAY IT!" I humor here and say why? Her answer "because" so I say "because why?" and she says "BECAUSE I SAY SO NOW DON'T ASK ME AGAIN!"

Cracked my shit right up, man I love that girl.

Nothing Witty Here

I feel like my brain was sucked out today between the whining, the fighting and the snarking. I got to sit down and do this pay period's budget woohoo! Don't we all just loooove that! I also had a freak out this morning when not only could I not find my flight ticket confirmation email, I also could not find my car rental confirmation email. And then to make it worse I couldn't remember which discount place I reserved the car rental and purchased the plane tickets, and of course neither were from the same company. Lucky for me my brain turned back on for 5 minutes and told me to look in my bank statement for the airline charge.

As for the car, well since I hadn't yet paid for it I had no trail to follow so I began random internet searches for low cost car rentals, bada bing bada boom I found it! Whew! Then I gathered up my POA, all the kids BC's, printed out the itinerary, car rental confirmation, and a coupon for extended parking at the airport.

With all of that is it any wonder I hardly got any knitting done today? I had planned to be done with this pair of socks so I could start April fresh with new projects. However I have failed and I am ok with that! Tomorrow will be lacking in the kniting as well as it is grocery shopping day!

Thursday I head up to Seattle to meet an online bud, A who is flying up from CA as well as meetng 2 other local girls L, whom I only know online, and S who I know online and have met in person. Looks to be a fun day of playing at Weaving Works yarn shop and then heading off to the coffee shops. I don't know which part of the day is better, meeting my friends or having the very first shipment of the GothSocks Dead Poets hand delivered!