No, I haven't died or been in a coma
I've just been taking a break from blogging.
I had a lot more to say when we started Cinnamon Patrol... wait, I still have lots to say. I guess the difference is that now, I say it to people I know in person, or via email. And between work, travel and knitting, things have been fairly busy.
David's done a good job of keeping you up to date with the travelling part of our lives, so there's no need for me to recap.
Family-wise, it's been a bit up and down this year. I have a new niece, who is super-cute and has great big chops (just like her dad did), which is great. Less great was my maternal grandmother dying, even though she was ready to. I managed to make it for the funeral week in Florida, where I caught up with relatives I hadn't seen in a very long time, plus my parents. Oh, and I warmed up after a very cold & wet year in Ireland. (And I discovered the delight that is Wildly Cherry M&Ms... The subject of yet another post perhaps.)
On the work front, I'm working hard. The job is a juicy one, and the colleagues are generally great, as are the bosses. However, the distance & time zone issues are definitely wearing me down. I visited the office in Vancovuer in May this year, and am negotiating hard for a second trip every year. I'm a one-woman band on the marketing front for 2 companies, which is fun but also keeps me pretty busy.
On the knitting front, I've managed some baby-related items, socks for David, and a few as-yet-unfinished items for myself. I've mad a conscious effort not to buy any yarn this year unless I really love it and have a project in mind - mostly because my yarn boxes are very full already. I discovered that one of my colleagues not only knits, but also dyes yarns (check her amazing yarn out here), and have converted a friend in Dublin to knitting, thanks in part to her boyfriend living far away, and a small medical incident (hers, not mine, and she's fine).
Otherwise, I've been reading a lot - whatever I can get my hands on, including a few disappointing reads (to be discussed later), cooking a bit (we *can* survive on M&S alone, but it is not necessarily good for the planet or our budget), and hanging.
My most exciting news is that I am experimenting with some plants and have created my own little inner-city (ok, well, Smithfield-centric) very-smallholding. I bought organic cherry tomato, aubergine (eggplant) and capsicum (bell pepper) plants, and while there were some initial... teething issues (mites! whitefly! spidermites! oh my!), we seem to be on the right track now. The aubergine and capsicum, victims to the above-mentioned nasties, were doused in bug killer, and as such are no longer organic. They live outside, are largely neglected, and seem to be thriving nonetheless.
My cherry tomato plant though... Ahhh George. George was spared the mites-and-bugs, and thus remains blissfully organic. He gets a lot of love and attention - daily spritzing with water, encouraging chat about how clever and strong and tall he is - and is now over 5ft 2in as a result. (I know this because he is taller than me now.) And in spite of a decided lack of flies or bees to pollinate the flowers, yesterday I discovered six (!!!!) baby tomatoes on him. They'll be horrendously late-season, but organic cherry tomatoes nonetheless.
And last, but decidedly not least, I find myself on the cusp of turning 30. In response, I've made a concerted effort to try to eat more healthily (though there are other reasons for that too, which I'll blog about later), and started to go to the gym (several posts' worth all on their own). I've also expressed interest in expensive antique jewellery (hi, David!), which is decidedly less painful and boring than the gym and eating lots of veggies.
While David seems to have settled into 30 fairly easily after a brief panic, I haven't started panicking yet, so I suspect I'll be doing that after the fact. Cross your fingers that I'll be too lazy to bother. I still haven't figured out how I'd like to mark my 30th - any and all suggestions for appropriate ways of marking my passage into moderate-amounts-of-adult-like-behaviour are welcome - please leave a comment!
And with that - which is much longer than intended, and IMHO more than makes up for my months of not-blogging, I'll leave you to it.
I had a lot more to say when we started Cinnamon Patrol... wait, I still have lots to say. I guess the difference is that now, I say it to people I know in person, or via email. And between work, travel and knitting, things have been fairly busy.
David's done a good job of keeping you up to date with the travelling part of our lives, so there's no need for me to recap.
Family-wise, it's been a bit up and down this year. I have a new niece, who is super-cute and has great big chops (just like her dad did), which is great. Less great was my maternal grandmother dying, even though she was ready to. I managed to make it for the funeral week in Florida, where I caught up with relatives I hadn't seen in a very long time, plus my parents. Oh, and I warmed up after a very cold & wet year in Ireland. (And I discovered the delight that is Wildly Cherry M&Ms... The subject of yet another post perhaps.)
On the work front, I'm working hard. The job is a juicy one, and the colleagues are generally great, as are the bosses. However, the distance & time zone issues are definitely wearing me down. I visited the office in Vancovuer in May this year, and am negotiating hard for a second trip every year. I'm a one-woman band on the marketing front for 2 companies, which is fun but also keeps me pretty busy.
On the knitting front, I've managed some baby-related items, socks for David, and a few as-yet-unfinished items for myself. I've mad a conscious effort not to buy any yarn this year unless I really love it and have a project in mind - mostly because my yarn boxes are very full already. I discovered that one of my colleagues not only knits, but also dyes yarns (check her amazing yarn out here), and have converted a friend in Dublin to knitting, thanks in part to her boyfriend living far away, and a small medical incident (hers, not mine, and she's fine).
Otherwise, I've been reading a lot - whatever I can get my hands on, including a few disappointing reads (to be discussed later), cooking a bit (we *can* survive on M&S alone, but it is not necessarily good for the planet or our budget), and hanging.
My most exciting news is that I am experimenting with some plants and have created my own little inner-city (ok, well, Smithfield-centric) very-smallholding. I bought organic cherry tomato, aubergine (eggplant) and capsicum (bell pepper) plants, and while there were some initial... teething issues (mites! whitefly! spidermites! oh my!), we seem to be on the right track now. The aubergine and capsicum, victims to the above-mentioned nasties, were doused in bug killer, and as such are no longer organic. They live outside, are largely neglected, and seem to be thriving nonetheless.
My cherry tomato plant though... Ahhh George. George was spared the mites-and-bugs, and thus remains blissfully organic. He gets a lot of love and attention - daily spritzing with water, encouraging chat about how clever and strong and tall he is - and is now over 5ft 2in as a result. (I know this because he is taller than me now.) And in spite of a decided lack of flies or bees to pollinate the flowers, yesterday I discovered six (!!!!) baby tomatoes on him. They'll be horrendously late-season, but organic cherry tomatoes nonetheless.
And last, but decidedly not least, I find myself on the cusp of turning 30. In response, I've made a concerted effort to try to eat more healthily (though there are other reasons for that too, which I'll blog about later), and started to go to the gym (several posts' worth all on their own). I've also expressed interest in expensive antique jewellery (hi, David!), which is decidedly less painful and boring than the gym and eating lots of veggies.
While David seems to have settled into 30 fairly easily after a brief panic, I haven't started panicking yet, so I suspect I'll be doing that after the fact. Cross your fingers that I'll be too lazy to bother. I still haven't figured out how I'd like to mark my 30th - any and all suggestions for appropriate ways of marking my passage into moderate-amounts-of-adult-like-behaviour are welcome - please leave a comment!
And with that - which is much longer than intended, and IMHO more than makes up for my months of not-blogging, I'll leave you to it.
Hey Laura, Great to see you back in blogland!
About time.