Where Am I?

Let’s see . . . where have I been? Well, most recently I’ve been scrambling for a last-minute prom dress. No, not for me silly. For Grace. The good news is that she’s got a date but the bad news is that it cost me $20 in overnight shipping. And I mean that in the nicest, happiest-mom sort of way.

She has beautiful taste though–see her selection? It’s a vintage 1950s dress from Etsy that will fit her perfectly (sigh . . . to have a figure that size again) and will go great with her strawberry-blond locks.

I’ve also been reading like crazy. A few books on ancient history (go ahead and ask me about the Sumerians–I’m all over it) then True Grit (loved the movie) and The Eagle of the Ninth (ditto) and now I’m working on a biography of Napoleon by Paul Johnson. If you’re ever into history Paul Johnson is the way to go–I’m just hoping he gets his biography on Socrates finished before he . . . uh . . . shuffles off this mortal coil (he’s about 105 I think).

The snow is showing signs that it may not be a permanent fixture so everyone is in good spirits. We ran up to the cabin during spring break last week to check out the snowmaching and enjoy the sunshine and got a bonus in a gorgeous display of the northern lights.

And I’ve been knitting. Finished this Rosebud cardigan from Berroco’s free pattern stash and started on this adorable Carli ribbed cardigan from Cocoknits (which has the most beautiful sweater patterns). Love how you can adjust the button hole to different places, including no button then belt it.

Oh, and I’ve been consuming very large quantities of hot chocolate. Lots. Here are some new recipes that I’ve been meaning to try for the stuff:

Thick Hot Chocolate (i.e. “fondue for breakfast”)
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Or maybe I’ll try baking:
Brownies in a Crockpot
Lemon Curd in the Microwave
Or Vanilla Pear Jam (doesn’t that just sound amazing?)

The other thing I’m toying with is this quilt-block pattern creator where you can upload a photo and turn it into a quilt block pattern. I’ve uploaded a bunch of photos from our India trip last year (I’ve been feeling nostalgic as the anniversary of the trip has approached–we left a year ago today) and think that making a quilt top from the pixelated photos would be pretty darn cool. Whose with me?