Californa Trip

Earlier this month I had a trip out to California to pick up my "new" sports utility vehicle that I purchased from my parents. It is nice to have my own car again. DH and I shared his SUV for over year after my car died a slow death from which it could not be saved. SUVs are gas guzzlers and I wish I could afford a better car for the environment but beggars can't be choosers... and being a graduate student I am definitely not in a position to afford a different vehicle. Also, the SUVs are easier on my bad knees to drive and get in and out of.
Persian Pen Name travelled with me. Thank heavens for that. It over a 24 hour drive (no stops) from my parents place in California to where I live in Texas, with almost half of the drive in Texas. We stayed at a family friends' home in Arizona on the way back to Texas. It was great to see them after almost a decade. PPN got to experience night time in the desert, which is absolutely beautiful. Tucson has an law against "light pollution" thus you can see a ton of stars from a back porch. The wind was blowing slightly, the temperature had dropped to where you almost need a sweater, and the patio was radiating heat from its exposure to the sun keeping the bare toes warm.
I also got to hear magic words that all sewing impaired stitchers love to hear. "I would be happy to sew your stitching into pillows if you need me too" and "sure I can sew up a stocking for you". One of the family friends, who sews beautifully, volunteered to help me finish some of my projects. I am ever so grateful!!!

I was a very good stashaholic while in California. I am on my own Project Challenge but in addition I had also put myself on the celibate/abstinence wagon challenge from the Wagon BB ( http://thewagon.yuku.com/bthewagon ). My trip to California was my stash buying exception for the celibate/abstinence challenge. This made for fun stash money calculations because I am on two challenges and only some of the material was exempt. The charts I purchased for myself came out of Chirstmas money. The charts are purchased using gift money so I would not violate the Project Challenge are: Treetop Sampler by TW, Britty Puppy Christmas Stocking, and Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts. Of course I can't buy any supplies for these projects until next year unless I spend gift money. I got I'll Make My Own Happy Ending by Dragon Dreams as a gift for a fellow sticher, Dragon Hatchling by Dracolair for baby gifts (need to experiment with other more gender neutral colors), and Feather Friends by Brittercup for my BF's wedding gift. The friend who got married over two years and who I promised a stitched gift to before the wedding. (she is the one with me in the shark cage) Yeah...I am a slacker! the fibers you see go with the Feather Friends. I also picked up a piece of pale pink fabric for the I love my Bird portion of Feather Friends (finished the stiching will post pic soon), a piec of purple fabric for ? (I just liked the color), some 32 count lambswool linen, and piece of blue handyed fabric again for ? project. So overall I was a very good stash junkie. Now I just hope that I don't give into any cravings during this next year!

On to the most exciting part of the trip...drumroll...I got to meet stichers while out in California. TKDchick was in San Diego very briefly and so was I. Yippeee!!! That is one stitcher I had never thought I would get a chance to meet due to the whole living in two different countries thing. I also got to meet some of the California stitchers at the zoo. Now the San Diego Zoo is one of my favorite places to go. My parents used to take me there all the time when I was growing up. It was one of the key inspirations for my interest in critters and science. I am a zoologist, thanks in great part to the zoo. I was totally thrilled that I got to go to one of my all time favorite places with stitchers! I got to meet Branch52 and JillJinCa and hang out with them at the zoo along with TKDchick and Persian Pen Name. It was soo totally awesome! What could be better than a day filled with critters and stitchers? I enjoyed listening to Branch52 and Persian Pen Name discuss their mutual obsession with sheepies. Jill took her son to the zoo. It is so much fun watching a child at the zoo. They run everywhere and want to see everything...such beautiful thing to observe. I consider myself lucky that I got meet those fellow stitchers.

I took Persian Pen Name to the Stephen Birch Aquarium located on the University of California, San Deigo's campus. Say hi to the Sea Star! My Best Friend went with us. She is a total fish (and bird) freak. Her husband is the founder and owner of a sucessful aquarium business in San Diego. So we learned lots of fish stuff from her.

This weekend I am having a get together at my home in Texas. I get to meet more stitchers! This is a month for meeting people. I am stoked. For years I felt very isolated with my hobby and then I discovered the Bulletin Boards and have gotten to interact with lots of great people. The stiching/crafting community is full of so many nice and kind hearted people. They have really spoiled me. I have a hard time hanging out on non-stitching BB now due to all the nastiness, immaturity, and cruelty that isn't really present on the stitching boards (yes there are good non stitching BBs out there but permit me my sweeping generalizations). So kudos to y'all.
Egads. I almost forgot about Bernardo, the Stash Devil. He is a stuffed Tasmanian Devil that I picked up at the zoo. Observe as he watches over the stash haul!