Daytona 500

The Daytona 500 finally managed to be run, it was only delayed a day and a half because of rain in Florida.  But it turned out to be quite the exciting race.  Juan Pablo Montoya had a car problem that resulted in him crashing into a jet dryer during a caution.  He was fine but there was quite the fire when the umpteen gallons of jet fuel in the truck exploded and it looked like the track was going up in smoke.  There was almost a two hour delay as the track workers had to first put the fire out, then clean the jet fuel, etc up and repair the track.  Who knew Tide was great for cleaning race tracks as well as clothes! 

Matt Kenseth won and Dale Junior was second.  Would have preferred the results to be the other way around but Junior did have a good race for a change.  Maybe this will be the season when he finally finds his way back to Victory Lane.  Hey, its the start of the season, I'm allowed to be optimistic!

I also finished Garden of Love by Citrouille's Designs.  Its the February kit for the 2012 Year of Smalls blog.  I ordered it from the recommended shop, Inspired Needle and was very happy with the service.  When I'm ordering from US shops, its always a good sign if I can get my order within two weeks of actually placing the order.  Will definitely be ordering from Inspired Needle again. :)

Arizona

Finished Little House Needleworks 'Jessie Bell' last night.  Never been to Arizona, unless you count a few miles driving to and from Vegas and Salt Lake City LOL, and usually don't like samplers but this design is adorable.  Love the colors and it stitched up super quick. Love when that happens!

The qualifying races to set the field for the Daytona 500 was yesterday so that gave me some extra stitching time.  Thank goodness Tony Stewart won one of them.  Matt Kenseth was the other winner and Dale Junior didn't do too badly, yay!

My latest obsession

Keith Urban's new video for 'For You' from the movie 'Act of Valor'.  I love it!!!  It actually makes me want to go see the movie and definitely led to multiple viewings of the video hehehe.  I usually dislike Keith's inevitable performance videos.  I've always liked his video for You'll Think Of Me the best because he actually acted in it rather than simply singing and playing the guitar with the band.  But I like this newest video.  Alot. 

Hmmm, time to watch it again!  And later.............. the Gatorade Duels are on (qualifying for Sunday's Daytona 500!) Yay!

One Love Nest done!

Finished Love Nest by Country Cottage Needleworks.  After I got through sorting out threads and fabrics for all my latest stash additions, I couldn't resist starting this design first.  Turned out just as adorable once I got it stitched up as it was when I first saw it!  Love the colors.

Now I just have to decide if I want to frame it, or possibly sew it into a pillow.  Decisions, decisions.....  they're neverending!

Crescent Park

Went with Denny to Crescent Park so she could toss the ball around for Mac for a little while.  Still can't get over how very little snow we've had so far this winter. I think we're all still expecting a big snowstorm one of these days.

Done!

 Another cross stitch finished!  Little House Needleworks '12 Days of Christmas'.  I really didn't think I'd wind up sticking with this one long enough to actually finish it but I'm really glad I did.  It turned out even cuter stitched up than it did when I saw the pattern.  It also turned out much larger than I expected.  Its on a mystery piece of 28 ct and its definitely the biggest design I've stitched this year dimension wise.

I've also succumbed to the EOS craze and finally managed to find a couple here after checking out several drug stores and Wal Mart.  The red is Summer Fruit and the green is Honeysuckle Honeydew.  Love the shape of them and they work pretty well too!  I think they'd be a cute addition to an Easter Basket!  (not even Valentine's Day yet and I'm already thinking about Easter - talk about rushing the seasons eh!)

Stash!

Whoo hoooo!  Got my order from Down Sunshine Lane that I got with my birthday $$$.  As usual it came within two weeks of ordering, love that the service is so reliable.  Now I need to figure out which one to do first!  Tough decision but I'm leaning toward Love Nest by Country Cottage Needleworks, fell in love with that design the minute I saw it!

The Forks

 Since it looked like it was a nice day out today, I decided to venture out to finally take some photos at The Forks. The sky might have been nice and blue but the wind was more than a little cold and it was really icy all around the site as well.  I was actually a little surprised that they hadn't put more sand down on the sidewalks but considering there's a lot of skating trails all around, I guess most people don't have to worry about slipping and sliding.




Didn't go down onto the Riverwalk but there were a few brave souls out skating.  I was only at the river's edge for about fifteen minutes and that was long enough to get C-O-L-D.  Brr!

Wandered around Johnson's Terminal and The Forks Marketplace to warm up, but didn't find anything to buy.   Picked the right day to go as far as crowds matter, there weren't a lot of people around, in fact most of the store clerks looked downright bored.

Was disappointed that I didn't spot more of the warming huts for the skaters.  This one was closest and I could see a couple of others down on the ice but the rest of them must be situated all along the skating path.

Frosty's Back

 More hoar frost this morning but this time with a brilliant blue sky as the backdrop.  Amazing how much nicer the frost covered branches look against blue rather than grey.  Ran out and took a few pics