Thursday, June 21, 2007

100 things about me

I have seen this on numerous blogs and I always find it fascinating.
1.I have taught kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.
2.I am a Reading Specialist and have taught grades K through 5.
3. I am going to teach 3rd grade in the fall.
4. I was a graphic designer for 3 years.
5. I played field hockey in college and high school.
6. I studied abroad in London my junior year in college.
7. I worked at Premier Magazine across from the Foster's sign in Piccadilly.
8. I have travelled to France, Spain, Belgium, and Ireland.
9. My husband is from a really small town in Ireland.
10. I have never met my father in law in Ireland.
11. I was born on St. Nicholas Day.
12. I love basil and mozzarella sandwiches.
13. I learned to knit when I was 7 by a neighbor on Cape Cod. I made a scarf. Typical.
14. I have spent every summer of my life on Cape Cod.
15. My best memory of the Cape was taking walks on the beach at 6 in the morning with my dad and brother. Eating chocolate donuts and chocolate milk.
16. I have a little brother that is a somewhat famous artist in New York.
17. My brother was on MTV a few weeks ago for an art contest.
18. My husband and I got engaged after being together for two weeks. Crazy I know but it worked for us.
19. On some important documents my name is Jill-Ann and some first name Jill middle name Ann
20. I love summer vacation.
21. I love working 185 days a year.
22. I won a fishing derby when I was young.
23. I tried out for tennis in high school and I didn't make the team.
24. I went to Catholic School for 12 years. Torture!
25. I burned my uniform on the last day of school.
26. I live in Juicy Couture sweatsuits.
27. I dyed my hair dark brown for a change last year after being blond my whole life.
28. My confirmation name is Naomi.
29. My initials before I was married were JANE now they are JANB.
30. I had a serious crush growing up on Mark Walburg. I live right near the house he grew up in.
31. Bobby Brown went to the school I currently teach at.
32. I went on a cruise once and will NEVER go again. I was soooo sick.
33. My mom is one of my best friends.
34. I have made about 20 open Nantucket baskets and 4 Nantucket basket purses.
35. I collect jadeite.
36. I have china for 18.
37. My favorite color is blue.
38. I love sailing.
39. I wish I didn't enjoy candy as much as I do.
40. My favorite summer foods are steamers, lobster and oysters.
41. My favorite winter foods are stews, corned beef and cabbage, and lasagna.
42. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.
43. Last year I dressed up as Little Miss Muffet.
44. I own a tee shirt that says "Free Paris"
45. Provincetown is one of my favorite places to shop. Great jeans, Juicy, shoes, etc.
46. I was married in a chapel in Vegas. Elvis was not there!
47. My husband's family flew from Ireland to Las Vegas for our wedding.
48. I love living near the ocean.
49. My school has an ocean view. (only in the winter)
50. I drive a jeep. I love Jeeps.
51. I love Magners Cider in a pint glass with ice.
52. My first job was on a farm picking strawberries. I earned $100 and have never come close to working as hard as on the farm in my whole life.
53. I scooped ice cream on the cape.
54. I worked at Christine's waittressing. "Oh what a night as Christine's" It is closed.
55. I won a dance contest at Jason's in Dennisport.
56. I had a fake ID from Connecticut until I turned 21.
57. I love Irish chocolate. Roses, Buttons, etc.
58. I try really hard to restrain from biting my nails.
59. I hate to write and clam up whenever asked to write something. Hopefully this blog will help me.
60. I live in "Southie"
61. I love Ireland and hope to live in a little cottage by the sea when I am old.
62. I am a nervous wreck about traveling to Ireland and meeting all of my husband's childhood friends.
63. I am going to Turks and Cacaos for Christmas this year.
64. Knitting relaxes me.
65. I always order a medium regular from Dunkin Donuts.
66. I love to cook. especially soups.
67. I enrolled in a Master's degree program during one of the worst times in my life and it was one of the best things I have ever done.
68. My best friend was in the Miss America pageant. I was always so envious. She is now a reported on tv.
69. I didn't really want to be a teacher when I was little. I wanted to be an art director.
70. I was a vegetarian for 2 years. I fell off the wagon on Thanksgiving. Turkey is so yummy.
71. I love the Red Sox.
72. I despise the Yankee's
73. I can't sleep with any lights on.
74. I would love to move to the west coast someday.
75. I am always get nervous when I visit a new yarn shop for the first time.
76. I tried snowboarding and determined that I am a failure.
77. I hate spinach and zucchini.
78. I used to love going to summer camp as a kid.
79. I went to one in New Hampshire and Cape Cod.
80. I have a shell necklace made by someone on Niihau, an island off the coast of Kauai.
81. My wedding band is the russian wedding band from Cartier. My husband has the same one.
82. I read the Yarn Harlot regularly.
83. I met the Yarn Harlot once in Grafton, MA.
84. I have 5 LYS that I frequent. They are all less than 10 miles from my house.
85. I have gone skiing in Canada and almost every mountain in New England.
86. I taught skiing lessons in high school.
87. I pieced a quilt by hand but haven't finished quilting the top.
88. I love swimming in the ocean.
89. I got the chicken pox in 8th grade.
90. My husband has the most adorable irish brogue.
91. I slept with two snoopies for my whole life.
92. I have the cutest black pomerianian named "tucket"
93. I want another dog and I will name it "vegas" or "vineyard"
95. My dog has been with me during the hardest years of my adult life.
96. At one point in my life I moved 6 times in two years.
97. I love where I live now and finally feel settled.
98. I am so blessed that my parents have always been there for me and supported me through all of the adversity I have faced in my young adult life.
99. I can't wait to be a mom. Maybe sometime in the next year or two.
100. I don't know what I would have done without knitting. I probably wouldn't have any fingernails left.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

From this...to this!

Here is my felted entrelac tote before taking a dip in Mr. Washy.


And here it is after the quick dip.

The pictures were taken in two totally different settings with different cameras so the colors do seem a bit different. I will take a better one later with the same camera as the first picture later today. I love how the bag turned out. I brought it to school today to show it off to some of my students for "show and tell". They were impressed...I hope my tote exchange pal is too. Only one more half day of school left and I'm off for the summer. Bring on the knitting.

If my pal doesn't like it as a tote she can always wear it as a hat on a bad hair day! The model is a fellow teacher who secretly wants to be a reggae singer.

Update- I am not planning to line this tote because the inside is so pretty. It looks just as nice as the outside. This pattern was SOOOO easy to follow and so quick to knit.
Start date: June 10
Felt date: June 17
Dry: June 18

Thursday, June 14, 2007

The dishcloths have arrived!

I came home from work last night and my dishcloth package was in the mailbox! I was so excited. I have been somewhat patiently waiting and checking the mail every day. When I opened it up I was so surprised not only had my pal knit me a dishcloth but two dishcloths and a little scrubbie. The best part about this....she designed the patterns herself. It took me a few minutes to discover her true identity. I found you! Thank you so much abigail. The dishcloths are the perfect color and they match my kitchen perfectly. My husband was looking at them and going on and on about how clever the little tribbles were. Abigail also made me a Pinwheel dishcloth and a 4Corners dishcloth. She included the patterns with my dishcloths and some yummy soap. I can't wait to try out a tribble! Abigail- thank you, thank you, thank you. You are a VERY talented knitter! I hope you don't mind that I am using your fantastic photo. I would LOVE to be in Arizona right now.

I am such a lucky dishclothexchange recipient. I can't wait for the next round! Thanks again Abigail!

Friday, June 8, 2007

A few wedding pictures and yarn updates

Well I have a few updates. I made this yesterday. It is for my Dishcloth swap pal. I finished it to today at lunch but it still needs to be blocked. I am sending out my package tomorrow. I hope she likes all the goodies I have collected. I still need to buy some chocolate and Boston Baked Beans candies. She does not live anywhere near Boston so I thought it might be a clever addition. It was a really fun pattern and I will definitely be making more in the future. When I came home from work my knitpicks yarn was waiting for me. Yippee! My hubby and one of his friends debated on opening the package but when they read the label they realized it was yarn and decided against it. Good choice. Here is another terrible camera phone picture of the yarn. It looks much better in person.
I can't wait to start knitting. I am definitely putting this bag on a list of totes for me.


Here are a few wedding pictures taken at our reception by one of the hotel photographers. They were taken at the Wynn in Las Vegas.
I have been married for 8 months and one day today!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

I have the perfect second dishcloth for my pal. Here it is. It comes from knitlist. I have some great yellow yarn. I am going to make it tonight. My dishcloth pal is going to be so spoiled.
twosticksandyarn --
[noun]:

A brand of soylent green breakfast cereal

'How" will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Monday, June 4, 2007

Juicy Sweatsuit and PATIENCE

Well... haven't posted in a while. Haven't been knitting all that much either. I have completed my dishcloth and bought goodies for my pal! Going to mail my package this week. I hope my pal likes the dishcloth and goodies. The gorgeous yarn I bought for my sock pal became very tangled and I had to spend nearly three nights untangling it. I think I need an award for patience. After I finished I celebrated with a glass of wine. I am going cast on this evening on my socks. I also ordered the most gorgeous yarn and pattern for my International Tote pal. This is the bag I am making. I totally want one for myself. I found the pattern here. As for the weekend I had a great time. My hubby, one of our close friends and I went to Cape Cod. The weather was not the greatest so we drove down to P-town to shop. I bought the cutest Juicy sweatsuit and flip flops. It's called Grace Kelly and it is Kelly green.


Well I was tagged by Shannon for the seven things "meme" so here goes.
1. My favorite food of all time is/are nachos. I could eat them every day for the rest of my life. I like them covered with everything. Every time I go out I want to order them. I really try to limit myself but it is tough.

2. I love going to the Red Sox sneaking up to the seats right behind 1st base. I know it's wrong but it is so much fun. I have had legitimate tickets in that section but think it's more fun to sneak up there.

3. I want to move away from Boston sometime in the next 2 years. Possibly to California.

4. I played field hockey for 7 years (high school through college) and quit my senior year of college. I regret it to this day.

5. I married my husband in Little Church of the West in Las Vegas. It was the absolute best wedding. There were only 12 people present and it was perfect. We are going to Turks and Cacaos on our honeymoon this Christmas.


6. Summer vacation is one of the best things about my profession. I know people may think that that is a horrible thing to say but seriously if I had to teach for more than 185 days I might have to retire 22.5 years early.

7. If I could I would wear sweatsuits from Juicy Couture every day of my life. They are comfy and sexy. What more could a girl ask for.



The rules, copy/pasted from my tagger's blog:"Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog."