Releasing My Inner Geek!

Tonight my Mum and I went to Star Wars in concert and had an absolute blast!!!! I think I secretly had this stupid grin the whole time the show was on, it was fantastic! I had to keep reminding myself that this was a live orchestra in front of us and not the soundtrack. They were absolutely flawless!

Well things aren't going well in Weight Watchers world. This morning, when I stepped on the scale I had to step off and get on again. I saw a number on the scale I thought I wouldn't see again. Somehow over the last week I've gained 2.5lbs to add onto the 1.5lbs I gained the week before!!!!! Argh this is a never ending battle! I understand the 1.5 gain after retreat, but this week's just doesn't make sense! I ate well all week, and was fairly active. I'm going to blame it on fluid retention, stress, this past weekend's physical (I'm still sore), and I'm wondering if deep tissue massage will cause you to retain fluids as well? (I had a massage last night) Do my excuses sound good to you? So besides tonight's fantastic Indian meal out where I avoided anything in a cream sauce I will watch what I eat all week and hopefully I'll drop back down next week. As you can all see my struggle is never ending!

Photo Hunt "Protect"

This is one of the many statutes at Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica, an absolutely stunning church, and worth the admission fee! I think this personifies protection perfectly.

I'm still pretty sore today from this weekend's physical test, I went into TKD tonight to practice my self defence skit with Todd, Jason and Peter.

Getting Closer to "Normal"

Or what I'd like to call normal for my life! My evenings of furious studying between work and Taekwon-Do are over. On Saturday I did my written and physical tests for my 3rd degree black belt in Taekwon-Do. I just have one more portion left of the testing process, the technical test which is on November 29th. I don't have my marks back on my written test, but I know I didn't ace it! Right away the first question (10 questions, 1.5 hours!) was something I hadn't memorized, but reviewed. Argh! What are the elements of self-defense... I know I forgot at least one of the elements. The other question that threw me for a loop was list 4 of the elements of the Instructor's responsibilities of the Instructor/Student Relationship. Argh! Again I had reviewed it but didn't memorize it! I also handed in my essay on Saturday.

The physical portion wasn't bad, I made the quotas for skipping, sit-ups, and push-ups. Then I had to run 24 laps of the track (10K) and I completed that in 74 minutes. I was a little disappointed to find that no one came out to run with us on Saturday, usually when there's black belt testing a few people will show up out of support. It was only Danielle and I on the track, but I have to thank Peter for coming out to help administer the test, and Murray as well... he was a sweetie and stuck it out to the end and encouraged me the whole time. Also a big thank you to Danielle and her parents who hung out until I was done my run. Danielle had only 8/9 laps to do I had 24, so they didn't need to stay the whole time, but they did and I really appreciate it!

So today I am one sore girl!

I've napped and I've stitched today! Here's the progress on the projects I've got on the go right now.

Tour Des Marques

Michael Powell - Mini Cottages 6

I'll be spending most of my evenings this week at the dojang practicing my patterns and step sparring for the technical testing on Sunday!

Knowledge & Needles Fall Retreat 2009

This weekend is one of a select few weekends I look forward to every year! Its the Knowledge & Needles annual fall retreat at the Timberhouse in Brighton, Ontario. I was quite anxious to hit the road on Friday and get down to the B&B and see my friends! As usual we had a blast this weekend with friends, stitching, fun and too much food!

Throughout Friday afternoon my stitching friends slowly trickled in up through the dinner hour as we were able to get away from the real world. I decided that this weekend I would completely unplug, my laptop stayed home, and my cell phone stayed in my room on the 3rd floor. I'm not the only one who felt the same way! Bonnie did the same, Nurse Sharon (we have 2 Sharon's in our group and we identify them by their professions) actually handed her keys and cell phone to Ann with strict instructions to keep them until Sunday.

Sheila and Ann

Friday night we had a fantastic pot-luck dinner, with enough food to feed a massive army! Once everyone was there and settled in the great room I revealed my surprise... you know all those monograms I had stitched? Well I did one for each person at the retreat! They were VERY well received!

After this, Kathy was finally given back her Lighthouse RR that we had been secretly shuffling between each other over the last year. She had no idea who had it, and how it was looking! Kathy is just in love with it!

Saturday is always a treat, as mid afternoon we head out for lunch this year it was to Chateaux Butthead. Actually we head over to Ann's house where each year Dan prepares a fantastic lunch for us! This year Dan (Butthead #2) was assisted by sous chef Bruce (Butthead #1) and dessert expert Lucy.

Sylvia impatiently waiting for lunch!

Lunch was : Garlic bread (my piece didn't make it to the table), pork chops in a mushroom cream sauce, potatoes, mushrooms and asparagus, carrots, and Cesar salad.

Dessert was : Cheesecake topped with caramel and Toblerone chunks.

After lunch we all filed into Ann's shop, I don't know if I've ever seen it so full! After lunch and shopping it was back to the Timberhouse and ... stitching!!!!!!!!!!

We were visited by a fox in the afternoon, he was quite bold.

Nan stitching away

Saturday night we had so much fun, with a few door prizes courtesy of Knowledge & Needles. Then we had a blast with our ornament exchange (a suggestion I made last year), which was a resounding success! We've all agreed to do another one next year.

Nan received a special ornament from Adriana (my favourite 93-year-old stitcher). Isn't it fantastic?

The best reaction of the night goes to Judie!

Sharon was just amazed by the ornament she got from Claire stitched on 40ct (which later that evening Beatrice just had to try stitching on)

Here's Bernie with my ornament, Teresa Wentzler's Intermediate White Work Ornament.

I received this cute ornament from Rebecca

Barb brought in a wee tree for us to all show off the ornaments we received.

Marie-Paule and Joyce

It was fantastic to see : Liquor Store Sharon (she used to manage an LCBO franchise), meet her sister Debby, Joyce, Claire, Marie-Paule, Bonnie, Kathy (briefly), Beatrice, Judie, Anne, Nan, Nurse Sharon, Wendy, Ann (hostess extraordinaire), Bernie, Rebecca, Sylvia, Barb, and Sheila! Some of you I won't see again until the spring and I'll miss you!

Rebecca and Bonnie

All too soon, it was early Sunday afternoon and it was time to head home!!!!!!! This is probably one of my last stitchy weekends for 2009, if the weather continues to be good you never know I might be running the 401 again to visit with one of my stitchy friends and you'll be the first to hear all about it!

Well its the count down to the big event! My 3rd Degree Black Belt testing in Taekwon-Do. This Saturday is the first portion of the testing process. First I have an 8 page essay to hand in about my Teakwon-Do journey as a Woman. Then I'll be sitting down with 60 minutes to write a 10 question test. This is followed by a physical test. I have to do 250 push-ups, sit-ups, 6 minutes of skipping, this is followed by a 10KM run. On November 29th will be my technical test.

I'll be spending every free moment this week studying all my theory!

Received a Lovely Giveaway!

Last month I won the giveaway at Mylene's blog, she sent me this GORGEOUS floss tag (my first). Its got a lovely black cat on it, reminds me of Hunter! As you can see from this picture I've already put the floss tag to good use!

Can you believe, I've finished two more monograms (yup getting a little tired of these)? These are for the ladies at work this Christmas.

Red Threads Letter "C"

c2002 Rosewood Manor

Stitched on : 28ct Ivory Jasmine

Stitched with : Six Strand Sweets Wintergreen

Red Threads Letter "S"

c2002 Rosewood Manor

Stitched on : 28ct Ivory Jasmine

Stitched with : Six Strand Sweets Mint Julep

I finally got my hands on a copy of the JCS Ornament Issue. Is it just me? I have to say I'm very disappointed with the selection this year. There's not one ornament in there that I had to drop everything and stitch. Almost every year there's been something I just HAVE to stitch, not this year. Its not only the JCS Ornament Issue that isn't jumping out at me most of the new designs out there don't either. Am I jaded? Do I have too much stash? Or is it just the current trends that don't do it for me? Who knows. I can assure you I'm saving a fortune not having to run out and buy the latest charts.

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me! I'm hoping to squeeze in some time to stitch, and some time to study.

Dustin' Off The Devil's Horns!

My luck showed up yesterday afternoon, and some last minute tickets were released for last night's Metallica concert! When tickets first went on sale, Todd wasn't interested in going (we first saw them back in the late 90's) but then he heard Lamb of God was one of the opening act and he changed his mind! Of course by that time the show was sold out. This turned out to be a little bit of a early Christmas present for Todd. We had a great time at the show ... except we were wayyyyyy up high! I'm becoming quite the concert snob, I love being in the lower level seats or on the floor. There's just so much more energy the closer you get to the stage!

The opening acts were Volbeat and Lamb of God, here's Lamb of God in action... see the HUGE stage???

Of course with Metallica there has to be lasers...

Rockin' tunes... with heart rumbling base!

... and Pyro!

None of the opening acts were able to fill that huge stage the way Metallica did. Despite the big stage, and 8 microphones... not once did it seem like a big empty space!

I have been trying to stitch when I can... I've finished up two of three ornaments I need for my various exchanges for the Christmas season. I've got one more to do, but I haven't had the time to pick out the pattern, let alone pull supplies out of my stash!

Good news, I dropped 1.5lbs yesterday! The trick for this week will be to keep them off, its only Wednesday and its already been a challenge to eat proper meals. Last night due to time constraints Todd treated me to McDonald's, delicious, salty, goodness LOL! I just need to keep making smart choices the rest of the week, and be active!

A Big Change!

This is me last weekend... (with Judie)

This is me this weekend... (not the best picture but you get the point) As usual Todd doesn't like it... he has something against short hair.