She's BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Firstly, thanks to all of you for your kind wishes and congrats below! It felt so nice to be able to share it with you all. I often have fun hatty things that I want to share...but unless they're already for sale I have to keep it...under...wraps.

Hello all from China! The 29.5 hour trip was a raging success and I pulled into my hotel at 9am this fine Thursday morning. (9pm Wed night NYC time!)

What a CRAAAZY few weeks!!!

Thanks to Kathy for the BEAUTFUL Jewelry you made!
I've already gotten compliments on it!!!




Thanks to Sedie for the RAOK lunch coupon!! How'd you know there's one right by my office!



Thanks to Dmitri (the BF) who has helped to keep me sane these past weeks! SMOOCH!

I've been super busy...So, let's now go back... for a quick (quick as possible) recap!
...I just KNOW I'll miss something!

Tuesday, May 3...Sweet Charity on Broadway!!!
What FUN!!! Enjoyed this with some gal pals (Linda, Morgan and a new pal Danielle!) Well worth the seeing! Go Go Go! It's just gotten 3 Tony Noms -- Best Musical Revival, Best Actress (Ms. Applegate) and Best Choreography (Wayne Cilento.)
I think Christina Applegate did a great job! Especially considering that she's nursing a recently broken foot! For the record we had seats in the upstairs and they were decent! I think that BroadwayBox may still have a discount code for tickets.


Wed/Thurs May 4-5 -- A Whirlwind night in Edgefield, South Carolina
I flew down to SC to have a daylong meeting with Linda, the art director of my catalog. I tell ya, if you are in need of a graphic designer/art director for a project...she rocks! :-)
It was so nice to go to her neck of the woods for a change (we always have her come up to NYC) and to meet the pooch and kitties that I'd previously only seen on computer screen.
And the HOUSE -- amazing! This photo doesn't do the gardens or the jungle porch justice!
I was also very very happy to meet the gaggle of gals Linda has told me so much about! Ladies...Thanks for welcoming me with open arms and for making me laugh all night! I don't think I've ever heard so many proper uses of the word "kin"! Don't make me put my baby down...You just WAIT until I come back for another Tee-Niny time!!!

Thurs/Friday I spent wrapping up all of the loose ends in the office and Friday night was finished by taking a vendor (and her husband) from Italy out to dinner at Thalia. The food was decent and the atmosphere nice...but the music -- AWFUL! Firstly I must be getting old...because that music was too damned loud! At those prices I'd think they'd want their guests to be able to converse with out yelling. Secondly -- at one point a new song was put on that was Metal - yes, as in Heavy Metal -- and it forced my vendors husband to thrust hid hands over his ears and duck for cover. Although it sounds like it could have been humorous...it wasn't. Poor guy!

Saturday.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
After a 2-glass-of-Prosecco brunch with Morgan in our hood, I wandered down to the farmers market in Union Square to pick out the flowers for my garden. Yeah! They were delivered at 8:30pm that night -- Another thing I adore about NYC...you can get just about anything delivered! That was all followed by seeing Crash. A disturbing film for sure.

Sunday and the long awaited "One Night Cruise to No Where" on the Norwegian Dawn...
OK - - so it was cancelled because the boat was still in Florida due to weather delays. Hmph.
So - rather than wallow, we gathered up our cruise couple (DeJay and Matt) and spent the afternoon in Sunny NYC at Dive 75 with cocktails and board games. A warning to you all - I play a MEAN Scattagories!

Monday - After breakfasting with our company I dove into planting...
It's at this point that I should let you in on my frequent eyes bigger than stomach routine...well it applies to yarn and plants equally well. The phrases "what was I high on" and "I can't believe I used to be able to squat like this all day in the garden without my back hurting" came to mind more than a couple of times. BUT...
This was the halfway mark...at this photo I'd already planted 1/2 of the plants...the ENTIRE deck that is visible in this photo had originally been covered.
But - not to be undone or outdone by my own self...voila --- done. Even the mints were cut back! Veggies, herbs and flowers planted...and hopefully growing like I know they can as I sit here and type. I've a housefull coming for Mem Day Weekend and I'd love it if they've all grown a bit! (So equal parts of rain and sunshine Mother Nature - OK?)

Tuesday both of my Secret Pal final packages were mailed... Sorry ladies - they aren't elegantly packaged...it was either ship 'em or wrap 'em and hold for two more weeks... I chose ship 'em!

A few final things... in no particular order
1. Justine & Dani -- I 'll get to the memes you ladies left me ASAP.
2. BackTack gals --- yeah! Thanks for my assignees! I'm hunting up some fun fabrics/trims here in China!
3. I've offered the assistant position to someone! Keep the fingers crossed it all works out!
4. KNITTING: I finished another pair of baby socks on the flights here. I'll tell you about the crazy Spanish woman and the 6 year old boy tomorrow!

back to work I go!!!