Fun with Anne and Sara

Today I got together with longtime friends, Anne and Sara..We all went to high school together..Anne now lives in Virginia, Sara in Kent and me..well..Shelton, but you all knew that..

Here we are at Jared's picking out my new wedding ring..My Mom left me my Grandmother's ring, so I'm using the diamond from that.

Here is the ring I'm getting..I'm excited..I have Reg's blessing to make this change. I am thinking of having a pendant made with my original diamond to give to Tillie when she is older..I'm not sure yet what I'll do..
From Jared's we drove up to Kent to where Sara gets pedicures and she treated us all to pedicures..It was fun!! It should be added that this year all 3 of us turned 50..So, this was an especially fun visit..
Our pretty toes!!
From pedicures we wandered the shops at Kent Station and ended up at Dukes for a drink and some hors d' oerves..
We headed back to Lakewood..that's where Reg visited with Anne's husband Steve..they can talk for hours. Emily and Tillie went to Chuckee Cheese with Anne's kids..(kids..they're 26, 24, 20, etc....)

It was a wonderful visit!!

Duke's New Family

Here is Duke's new family..2 kids and a large fenced yard! Perfect for a puppy!!

It doesn't take much to excite me...

Today we took out the gross shower doors and put in a new curved rod and shower curtain..It's pretty cool..it's a little bit long..Reg didn't take into account that it would hang just a bit longer because of the hangers..but, I think it looks cool!

Ooohhh....the curved rod..
Another view..One other problem is that it's much darker in the shower now..I'm not sure that can be fixed..I also scrubbed the ceiling..we have a mold problem and later down the line we will probably tear out everything and start over..but for now we'll see how long my mold scrubbing will last!!

Puppy Update

Most of you know that last month we got a new puppy..His name is Duke..Here he is on October 28th...

a few weeks later..
Sleeping on his back...However...

after 3 weeks, I decided that Duke was a lot more than I bargained for. We found him a new home with 2 kids and a fenced yard. So, yesterday Duke went to his new home..Many thanks to Elisabeth Cooper who helped me find the home..they are friends of hers..Duke will be much better off..Thank you Reg for supporting me in this decision..it was much harder for him..

Shop Hop part 2

This is our shop here in Shelton..I may be a bit biased, but of the 12 I visited..this is the best!! I picked up my material here after Chehalis and Centralia..

On Oct. 31, my friend Doras went with me to my last two stops. They were in Aberdeen and Ocean Shores. We had a great time..I did forget the camera though, darn it!! This quilt project will be for the new year..I have plenty to do for now..including a top secret project!!

Shop Hopping

Two weeks ago I visited my sister in Salem. On the way home I started my journey on my very first Shop Hop. This was the SW Washington Shop Hop. There was a list of 12 shops between Vancouver and Shelton. At each shop you get a free piece of fabric and directions for one of the 12 squares. Since this was my rookie Shop Hop, I was learning along the way..like I needed to purchase more fabric for the squares..so, I started doing at later stores.

This first store was in Vancouver. I combined this stop with lunch with our good friends, Glenn and Cindy! (Miss you guys!)
Inside the Vancouver shop they had a quilting room. There were 2 huge quilting machines, all computerized..It can be quite hi-tech..maybe that's why I haven't finished any quilts yet..this is daunting..granted..the home quilter usually doesn't have all this fancy stuff.. Here is the shop in Battleground. This shop was on the owner's property. I had to maneuver around the chickens in the yard!

My next stop up I-5 was in Longview. Not only did this shop have sewing and vacuum, it had a whole kitchen section..It was pretty cool..

Traveling just a few miles north, the next stop was Castle Rock. I've never been to Castle Rock and it's a cute little town.

After heading a bit further north, I turned east and went to Morton. That was the hardest drive, only because it was 3o miles off of I-5..but, it was a beautiful drive and had a beautiful view of Mt. Saint Helens!

As the hour was getting late, I wasn't able to get to Chehalis or Centralia on Friday, so I continued up to Tumwater..It was opened until 6:30....this shop is not too far from my house so it's another place to learn..

On Saturday, Oct. 25th, I headed to Emily's candle party and spent the night. She and I went to church the next day and on my way home, I detoured to do some more "hopping." This shop is in Yelm...I should say that both days were wonderfully sunny..I couldn't have asked for better driving weather.

From Yelm I went down a back highway to Chehalis and Centralia. I went through the town of Rainier..I wondered where that town was. We have friends there, so that was fun to see. This is the Chehalis shop..once again, I had never been in the downtown part of Chehalis. Only stops right off of I-5. I think that's been one of the neatest thing of this journey..

Here is the Centralia shop. Now this was fun..the shop?? No, the 2 guys in there planning their next quilt. Not that guys can't quilt, but I hadn't seen it before..they were brothers..one did the sewing and piecing and such and the other did the grunt work..the cutting!

More to come on the next post..