I are off to Time to play catch-up
(and tell you about my new family members!)

Whoa-nelly there's a whole LOT that's happened in these two weeks! I'll try to go in order -- but do forgive me if I jump around a bit!

First - my deepest sympathies with all of you in London -- the news awoke me while I was away on my vacation. I am thankful to ahve just finally heard from the last on my list of friends who have checked in as being A-OK.

Now to the lighter stuff!
The last week of June I spent in San Diego doing a PA/trunk show -- then I returned home to wrap things up at the office before my vacation. Yep - I decided to take a week off.
Sadly, my new assistant has taken a turn towards some ill health and is no longer working with me. I'm hoping that she'll be well in August to rejoin the team...otherwise I'll be back to looking for an assistant (not something I look forward to!)
The trunk show went well. The Village Hat shop is a well-oiled machine I tell you! I received a call from my PR agent on Friday of my vacation telling me to hustle back out to San Diego for July 21st (Thurs.) for an interview on NBC. Yeah!!!

More on that as it unfolds. As I was leaving I got an email from my Secret Pal that my first package was on it's way! Yeah (keep reading to see what it is -- it's AWSOME!) The funny thing is that I'd mailed out my first SP5 gift to my pal that same day!
When I got home I was greated by this: A lovely R.A.O.K from Catherine Kerth -- Who is LONG OVERDUE for a BIG THANK YOU!!!!! A Yummy ball of Dante by Berrocco!!! I'm looking into some fun ideas for it!! Thanks Again!!!!


I then went to the office to greet the growing pile waiting for my on my desk,
only to be surprised by the mailman with THIS: AMAZING LOOT from my BackTack Pal - Stacy in San Diego! Go check out her blog! She's got some great links! She made me this beautiful tote bag with floral applique, a smaller project pouch, and lots of goodies!!! (A fuzzy donkey PEZ keychain which I've used to make a sufficient ass out of myself, Burt's Bee's Lip Balm and hald balm, a FUN Tape Measure, an amazing pin cushion with scissors, chocolates, a portable keychain sewing kit, and buttons! Phew!)

Worked wrapped up -- busy - but it always is ...
I hopped in the car to head out of town to visit some of my college friends for the annual Forth of July Feista Weekend. A good time was had by all for sure! I'm really glad that DeJay and Matty G decided to hop in the car and join us on Sunday after all!


Here we see Kimberli in her natural habitat...the only one in the full shade of the trees, by the pool...in a hat...knitting up Mom's Christmas socks! (Note the use of the newly gifted Backtack bag and pouch! Thanks Stacy (It's fetched many a compliment and then they get to hear how I got it!!) I've been using the bag and/or pouch EVERY DAY! It's a perfect size to transport thing on the subway for a few minutes of gettin' my knit-on!

From my friends (Beth and Gene -- thanks for being such amazing hosts AS ALWAYS!!!) house I went north to The Wentworth --- I had bought another auctioned package from LuxuryLink.com -- again - it did not fail to be FABULOUS!!!
The first night my Mom and Dad joined us (see photo left!) Wow -- Mom's now lost 44lbs! (That's more than 3 stone!!!) GO Momma! And Dad has Lost 37 lbs (which I think is his goal weight) -- GO Dad!!!
The package included a 5 course dinner and full breakfast EVERY DAY for 3 days! WOW! This also meant by day we had to do some walking (shopping) and/or hiking to work off the dinners!! Delicious! Did I mention relaxing??? I finished knitting the socks for Mom while at the Wentworth...just a bit of finishing to do! Yeah - 1st Xmas gift nearly done!

From there we ambled down to my parent's house (the house I grew up in). On the way we stopped by the town I went to high school in for a Pizza at the Greek restaurant I had worked at. Sadly it has recently been sold -- and it's quite as good as it had been -- but it was still good! Next, on to visit my dear friend Deb and her family for an all-to-short visit, then on with the tour of my childhood haunts! Finally landing at my childhood home in time for a YUMMY dinner made by my parents. Upon arriving we were greeted by two ADORABLE -- AMAZING kittens that had landed on my parents doorstep the Saturday prior. They were looking for homes... and...well... they found one - TOGETHER! I decided to take them both! Thus I introduce Coco (left)and Chanel (right). They are nearly twins -- they look exactly the same save for the white tip on Chanel's tail. Neither myself nor anyone who saw these kittens on our way to NYC had ever seen such color on a cat! The ride back from NH to NYC was fun - included a stop over at my brothers home where I got to see my Brother, Sister-in-law and Niece (I haven't seen enough of them lately!) We got to find out that the boys were old enough to be neutured (after they sprayed at DeJay's dog who was ALREADY scared to death of cats!)

Monday was a FULL day -- between bringing the boys to be neutered (where I found out that they are a Burmese mix - but mostly Burmese!! WOW!) and begining the process of kitten-proofing... I also had to go BACK to WORK! (Neeeeeed to take more vacations!!!) As all good things have it -- The mailman happened to visit me on Monday afternoon bringing me my first SP5 package!!! Ooooooh it's from Australia!! How COOL eh? The package contained a beautiful knitting needle holder and a wonderful cooking/entertaining magazine -- donna hay. I wonder what a subscription to this mag would cost? It's beautifully done!
As you can see I've begun to fill it (with the needles that were lying around my Living Room -- picking up the kitty hazards!) Thanks Secret Pal!!

Tonight it's dinner with Morgan and Dmitri, some more kitty-hazard proofing and then perhaps...

THE MEETING OF THE KITTIES!
Loco - resident 11yr old 27lb siamese --- he's been sniffing under the bathroom door after the kittens...but only seems phased when all of the humans are in the bathroom with the kittens and he's all alone on the other side of the door. Of course then we go to see him and we get loving like you see to the left! Thank goodness I've got a big-wide couch!! He's a BIG MOOSH! I'll keep you posted on the kitty-ness! NOTE: This photo was taken JUST before the meeting of the kitties...

I have finished the dress for my niece -- but will save THAT for FO Friday!! Cheers all!
PS -- I bought a portable hard drive and will be taking the Singapore photos from both computers so that I can FINALLY post them. I just need another 5 hours in my day!