happy valentine's day

This is what my wonderful husband brought home yesterday.  Aren't they lovely?  The fragrance is intoxicating and is already filling the living room.  I always tell Rob, I'll take flowers any day of the year, but I hate for him to pay the outrageous Valentine's dDay prices.  So usually he gets me chocolate or some other special treat.  But yesterday he couldn't resist these stargazer lilies because he knew how much I love their fragrance.  (And it helps bring spring a little early for us to enjoy inside).

The children came home with treats and cards from their friends in school, we enjoyed a quiet family dinner at home, some special Valentine's presents sent in the mail from Grama, and then a movie after the children went to bed.  Later today we're going to a local Japanese steak house to have our Valentine's dinner date.  I hope you're enjoying some special time with the special people in your life, too. 

blessings and happiness,

Athena

a good start

Yesterday after taking the children to school, I had a few brief errands to run, one of which was a trip to a local chocolate shop.  Well,  I don't know about you, but leaving a chocolate shop empty-handed is like leaving a yarn shop empty-handed -- not happening. 

So as a treat to myself (I rarely buy nice chocolate for myself) I bought a few truffles to enjoy at home.  As I cast on my new sweater, I sat back and relaxed and enjoyed a little peace and a little piece of chocolate.  I think it was a good way to start.   :)

Rob's due back from a trip later today, so I'm doing laundry and tidying things up a bit, but I'm definitely going to squeeze in some more time for knitting.  What are you making time for today?

blessings and happiness,

Athena

new yarn

Many things in life bring me great joy, and one of them is new yarn.  There's nothing quite like having a day to myself to go to my favorite yarn shop and indulge in new yarn.  You may recall I've had a sweater pattern that I've been wanting to make and just hadn't found the perfect yarn for.  So yesterday my good friend Madeline from Knit1WeaveToo helped me pick the perfect one. 

This is Cascade Yarn's Lana d'Oro -- and the name says it all -- wool of gold.  It's 50% wool, 50% alpaca (my favorite fiber!).  It's amazingly soft, and not too expensive.  I haven't cast on yet, and still need to do my gauge swatches, but I'm really looking forward to getting started. 

I chose kind of a loden green because it's kind of nuetral without being beige or grey, and I think it will look good with purple (which I wear a lot of).  It's tweedy, so hopefully that will prevent me from getting bored after 1,775 yards of knitting.  (I don't know about you, but knitting with a variegated or textured yarn always keeps me from getting bored with a project before it's done.  I'd go mad if I had to knit the whole thing with a completely monochromatic yarn!)

Although it's cold outside, it's quiet and warm inside (praise God) -- a hot cup of tea and it will be the perfect day to sit down and knit.  What are you creating today?

blessings and happiness,

Athena

art room

First off, I have to say the close up pictures are the little things that make me happy, but the wider angle shots are the ones that tell the whole story.  So I'll preface the tour by telling you that our new house is a two story craftsman style house in a new neighborhood.  It's a brand new house, but it feels old because of some the features built into it.  (I love old houses, Rob not-so-much.  So this is a good compromise for us.)

My art room is actually in the basement, which is a walk-out that we plan to finish.  So for now my room is unfinished so you'll have to pardon the exposed wall studs, insulation and concrete walls.  But what I do love is that I have a great window and door that let in lots of light and lead out to the patio and backyard.  In fact, this was the view out back 2 days ago.  We had just gotten another round of snow and the trees looked beautiful. 

So I hope you enjoy this tour of a little bit of my new world. 

If I could, I'd invite you over for a cup of tea.  We could chat about blogland, our art, our families, the weather, maybe a favorite book...  But I guess this is the next best thing.  So thanks for stopping by and as always, I wish you...

blessings and happiness,

Athena

fresh start

I know it seems lame, but one of my favorite rooms in the new house (besides my art room) is the laundry room.  In our other house, the laundry room was very utilitarian.  You walked through it on the way from the garage to the kitchen and it had a wall of very sturdy wood shelves Rob built that became home to all sorts of things from pancake griddles to life jackets to paint.  So my old laundry room did not give me much of a chance to make it look cute or pretty.  And it definitely didn't motivate me to want to go get the laundry done!

So in this house it's been a blessing to have a little more "privacy" to make things pretty.  :)

It's funny how having a room that makes you feel happy or special makes you enjoy even doing your chores a little more. 

This little window makes me happy because the cafe curtains are actually kitchen towels that were hand-embroidered by my grandmother.  So it makes me feel like a little piece of history is here with me.  I never met her so the vintage linens I have of hers are very dear to me.

Even the vintage Dubl Handl washboard was used by my other grandmother.  Can you imagine what they would think of our modern washing machines and how easy our chores are today?

Thank God we don't have to do it this way any more.  I never realized it, but even my favorite apron pays homage to the laundresses of old. 

So as I begin with a fresh start looking forward to the future, I carry on thankful for my past and the little vintage pieces of it that surround me.  Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to vintage and antique things -- they're comforting and reassuring -- just the way I imagine my grandmothers would have been.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

home sweet home

Oh, how I've missed being here.  How I've missed blogland and my little piece of it.  I can not begin to tell you how happy I am to be back. 

I will give you the cliff notes version of the last month.  Moving has been a LOOOOONNGGG and sometimes agonizing process, and it came with a few unexpected complications:  internet service interruptions, computer viruses, more internet service interruptions and now finally (hopefully) no more problems.

We are finally and happily moved into our new home.  We are mostly settled and unpacked.  I have my new art room/studio up and running (mostly) and am anxious to share it with you. 

I am soooo ready to get back to life as usual and start getting creative again.  The little sock I was knitting off and on was the only creative outlet I've had.  I can't wait to get back to making art and being creative in a new space. 

Despite the cold and snow and ice of winter having a firm grip on us right now, I look forward with hope to new days ahead.  New days of journaling, knitting, sewing, reading, and whatever else I put my hand to.  I look forward to spring -- not just the season, but a spring of new ideas, and new works to come.

Being away from any kind of creative inspiration for so long seems to have temporarily zapped my creative vibe, but not for long.  I can't wait to jump head first into inspiration, like my favorite blogs, favorite magazines, an awesome book I got for Christmas, an awaiting sewing project, maybe even a new art journal page or two. 

Thankfully, I knew blogland would be waiting for me.  I knew no matter how long it took for me to get my act together and our computer to get its act together, you would still be here -- out there, somewhere in blogland -- just waiting for me to come home.

blessings and happiness,

Athena

... finally!

Oh, my gosh!  Ok, short version of the story as to why I haven't posted in soooo long:  internet connection problems.  Yuk.  So I'll spare you all the details, but basically, I haven't been able to get online since well before Christmas.  So, pleeease forgive my absence.  I haven't completely solved the problem, but at least I can post for now. 

Even now I'm having difficulty uploading pictures.   Ugggh! 

Well, I can tell you we had a blessed Christmas visiting my family in Louisville.  I hope you had a good Christmas, too.  We ushered in the new year quietly at home.  And other than Christmas, we have spent every waking moment of the last month preparing for our move into the new house.  The garage is full of boxes ready to be loaded into the POD storage container.  Rob got rid of a lot of unused, unwanted furniture and baby things via craig'slist.  I've taken tons of stuff to GoodWill. 

AND....

 We officially closed on the house today.  Yipppeeee! 

So with key in hand, Rob and I will go to the house tomorrow while the kiddos are in school to clean and hang a few curtains so we can have a little privacy at night.  Then after school I know the children will want to go straight to the new house so they can enjoy being there too. 

I am beyond excited about the house and already have a picture in my mind of how I want each room to look.  I'm pretty sure my art room will be one of the last things to get put together, but that's ok.  I can't wait to share more pictures.  It may be a while though, because Rob is flying this weekend. So we won't even be able to do any big moving til next week.  Not to mention my goofy computer troubles.  Maybe that will all magically go away when we move the computer to the new house. 

We can only hope!

Well,  I hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying the fresh feeling of hope and opportunity that a new year brings. 

blessings and happiness,

Athena