Getting this party started....

Hello!

It's been a while since I posted last. I'm going to try to post more often now. Things have been pretty rocky trying to adjust to my new lifestyle and get things up and running for myself. We've also been traveling quite often. Things are great now. :) I'm starting to feel really great about things.

Our trip to California was EXCELLENT. We crammed a ton of stuff into one week!! We visited with Bryan's relatives in Napa, checked out the town, as well as the surrounding towns of Sonoma, Petaluma, and Sebastopol. We drove through San Fransisco on our way from the airport and walked on the Golden Gate Bridge. We briefly checked out a winery before deciding that the 4th of July weekend was a really bad time to do that. lol We drove up the coastal highway all the way to Crescent City up by the border of Oregon! Along the way we stopped to check out all the towns in Humboldt County, we drove the Avenue of the Giants and got out to explore and climb on fallen redwoods, we stopped at Bodega Bay for an AMAZING seafood dinner and some salt water taffy, stopped at a reservation to get some smoked salmon (WOW!! Can't wait to taste that again!!!), and we went to the Trees of Mystery in Klamath, CA and rode the skytram through the tops of the redwoods! .....WHEW! What a crazy week! It was awesome. I can't wait to go there again in a couple weeks. Of course this time will just be for a few days. You can check out our pictures from the trip at http://rockymountaintrudy.myphotoalbum.com

I've also got my teaching studio up and running now with a small handful of students, and I'm adding more students every week, so that's good. I'm knitting and designing and waiting for more money to come my way so I can buy a ton of yarn to make more awesome things!! :) I'm designing a sweater that will be made out of Malabrigo Silky Merino. SOO pretty and shiny and soft. :) And I'm going to make the Mystic Earth stole (finally) out of Dream In Color Baby in the color Tea Party (a rich brown shade).... For now, I'm working on my Waving Lace socks, and waiting impatiently for the Peacock Feather Shawl pattern to get to me in the mail so I can make it with my Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace in a bright red color. Woohoo! :)

On another exciting note, I'm starting to write. And this time I think it's the start of something more permanent for me. The other day I had this great idea for a book, and I decided to make a short story out of it first. Kind of like a synopsis. Something I've never done before. And I think that will really help me so that I don't start keep on starting a big long book, getting a few chapters in and not know where to go from there in the storyline, and giving up. If I know the whole story already, then the book length version is simply expanding on that original story. So yeah! I'll let you know how it goes. :) Ever since I was 7, I've wanted to be an author. And that is the one longing that has always been there and never changed or left. I'm going to start following it, damnit!

Well, I'm going to get going now. I have a hot date with some great books next door at Barnes & Noble. :-P ........I like this lifestyle. hahaha.... Oh, oh!! And also I'm going through the background check process to become a volunteer at Crittenton Children's Center, a place for traumatized children. They have a dire need for tutors, so I'm going to be tutoring some young children in math and other subjects. Yay!!

Have a great sunny day!
~Trudy~