Because I'm so tired from the weekend, here's just a few pictures from Sunday's Nascar race at Infineon Raceway. The weather was perfect and we had a really good time. Unfortunately I got sun burned really bad on my chest, neck, shoulders and feet! Ouch. But other then that it was really fun.

The baseball game was awesome! The weather was perfect, our seats were amazing and our team won! The weather was warm but the seats were in the shade and true to Sacramento weather the breeze coming in from the delta kept it nice and cool at the ball park. Our seats were in the fifth room right behind home plate and in line with the first base line on the home side. Considering that the seats were given to us free we wouldn't have complained if the seats were in the nose bleed section, but these seats couldn't be beat! We had a great view of the park and could even see the tower bridge and part of down town. The view of the sky line was beautiful. And to top off the evening the River Cats won against the Salt Lake City Bee's 9 to 4.

River Cats #5 up to bat in the 8th inning.

Hubby and I, having a great time.

The view from our seats included home plate, right field and the Tower Bridge in the distance.

Another view from our seats. We were practically on the field!

Hubbs and I both got a kick outta this sign. There were a lot off balls that came over the back stop but no bats!

There was some knitting at the game but the action was too good to get much done. My birthday gift for my mom is coming along. I had planned to make this scarf for her that I'd fallen in love with and thought would look really great on her, but I ended up starting a 3rd Weekend Lace Wrap. The other scarfs directions were just not clear and I couldn't get the hang of it after several tries. Honestly, I'm not really thrilled about doing a third one but I'm sure that my mom will love it. I chose a really pretty sea foam green yarn that is a bamboo blend.

Tomorrow Hubbs and I have some errands to do and then we're packing to head off to my moms. We're spending the night at her house in the Napa Valley and then on Sunday morning we're off to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma to see the Nascar Race! I'm pretty excited because I haven't been to a race in at least 10 years and the last one was pretty exciting. The race starts at noon so there's no telling what time we'll be back home. Mom is going to keep the dogs for us and bring them back on Wednesday next week, but we'll be home on Sunday night.

If I didn't have a meeting on Monday at work, I'd take the day off to recover from all the weekend fun! I hope that your Fathers Day weekend is awesome!

I'd like to introduce my good friend and model, Scarlet. She's a very nice lady, doesn't say much but is willing to model anything I want and never complains about how long I'm taking or that the flash hurts her eyes. Here she's wearing my old Scarlet O'Hara costume, hence her name.

Today I have her modeling my latest creation, a shawl. This is the second shawl that I've made from the same pattern but this one is for my sister-in-law's birthday. Her birthday isn't until November but I'm trying to get a jump on getting all my gifts done in advance so that I'm not stress out come December.

Pattern: Weekender Lace Wrap

Yarn: Gloss Sock Yarn by KnitPicks

Start: 06/02/09

Finished: 06/19/09

I really like this shawl and would like to have one for myself. I'm hoping that once the gifts are all done for the year, I'll finally have some time to do some knitting for myself. Funny how that happens...I end up knitting all the time for other people (same with sewing) and end up with nothing for myself. I wonder if that happens to other people or if it's just me?!

I had also cast on last weekend a scarf for my mother-in-law's birthday. Her birthday is also in November but again, I'm trying to get it all done in advance. I finished knitting the scarf this morning and now it's in my spare room, ticking off Miss Kitty. Because I'm using the guest bed to block the scarf, she can't sit on the end in front of the window anymore. Even kitties think that wet wool feels icky!

Pattern: Lace Trimmed Scarf by Katherine Hunt

Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style in Hollyberry by KnitPicks

Started: 06/13/09

Finished: Currently being blocked, the will graft on the lace at the ends.

Now, I'm off to cast on for a scarf for my mom. I picked out some lovely aqua colored yarn that I'm sure she's going to love. Her birthday is not until October but I'm sure I'll have it done in time. After that I only have a couple more birthday gifts before I can start on Christmas! Ugh, I don't even want to think about Christmas. Maybe someday I can learn to just buy gifts for people.

Last weekend was a pretty quiet weekend at home. There was some knitting and there was a bit of sewing but not much excitement. The shawl for my sister-in-law is still in the blocking position as we speak and I really need to pull the pins and get it photographed. Then I can put it in a bag with her name on it and I'm done with her birthday. The scarf for Mother-in-law is almost done too and I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow so that I can cast on for a scarf for my mom for her birthday.

The color is off in the picture. It's more cranberry in real life.

My weekend sewing project ended up as a new knitting bag for me but started out as a trip to the fabric store to look for fabric for a Christmas gift for my in-laws. I was looking for some Ford themed fabric to make lap mats for them but ended up with some really cool Alexander Henry fabric for me. My old knitting bag (not that it was old) was pink and while I love pink I wanted something a bit more "edgy". When you ride a Harley to work and walk in covered in head to toe leather, you need something that's a bit more...biker. Plus I thought the fabric was really cool!New knitting bag already stuffed with knitting.

This weekend looks like it's going to be a lot more exciting then last weekend. I'm getting off work early today to pick Hubbs up from his work. He's been on call for the last week and has had a company truck, so he needs a ride home from work. And I'm more then happy to leave an hour and a half early to get him. Friday is my regular day off, Hubbs called this morning to tell me that he got free tickets to the River Cat's game! We were just talking about getting tickets last night! Guess it was meant to be.

We were talking about going to the Grass Valley Blue Grass Festival but since our washing machine died last week and it cost us $300 to get it fixed, we decided that we'd better not spend the $40/person to go to the festival. Bummer, I was really looking forward to going. But not all is lost. My mom called this morning and offered free tickets to see Nascar on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma! I've been before but Hubbs has never been to a race. I'm pretty stoked. As far as I can tell we'll be sitting some where above the pit area. I'm going to be sure to charge up the battery on my camera! I'm going to be going for some long distance pictures of my boy, Jeff Gordan.

It's going to be a busy weekend but I can't wait!!!

Finally! Some completed knitting. I know this started out as a knitting blog and has morphed into some knitting, some gardening and some general life. But the knitting is back. It's not that I haven't been knitting, I have. It's just taken me more time to complete projects because I've been working on some bigger stuff.

I've been working on a shawl for my Stepmom for her birthday next month. I finally finished it today including blocking.

Pattern: Weekender Lace Wripa by Lisa Dykstra
Yarn: Knit Picks gloss in Woodland Sage
Start date: 04/26/2009 Finished: 06/13/2009

I'm currently blocking the same shawl in black for my Sister-in-Laws Birthday. This pattern was so easy to memorize I want to make a third one for myself. But I'm currently on a roll for birthday projects and I cast on a scarf for my Mother-in-law's birthday. Thankfully her birthday isn't until November so I have plenty of time to get it done. However, I also have a sister and a mother with up coming birthdays. Some times I wish that I didn't have a thing about buying gifts and could just go to the store and buy them something. But handmade gifts are just some much more personal.

For Mother-in-law's Birthday:

Pattern: Lace Trimmed Scarf by Katherine Hunt, Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Hollyberry, Started: 06/13/2009

Soon as the blocking is finished on the second shawl for my Sister-in-law, I'll be sure to post pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get the one for my Stepmom in the mail this week. I still haven't sent her her mothers day card and I need to get my dad's fathers day card in the mail to him too. So much to do and so few days to get it all done.

I love my cowboy (girl) boots. I have too many pairs to count and none are the same. But these, these are my favorites. I bought them to be worn under my wedding dress just a little over three years ago. It was really fun to be hiding them under my huge dress with just a few friends and family in on the joke. Plus I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a pair of shoes that I would only wear once and cowboy boots can be worn all the time.

I got my first pair of boots when I was 16. My mom gave them to me as a birthday gift. I still have them. They're classics. All black American made leather with silver heel plates. They're broke down with wear and every time I slip them on it's like wearing my slippers to the grocery store. I wore those boots for every important event in my life. I wore them to the funeral when I 2nd dad (my mom's second husband) died, I wore them to my high school graduation and I was wearing them the day that I met my husband.

I think I was even wearing them the night he proposed but I can't be sure, it was all such a blur. But when it came time for my wedding I knew that the old boots weren't going to be able to cut it for such a special occasion. At that point they were almost 15 years old and the leather was starting to crack. They just weren't up to the job. I spent months trying to decide if I was going to wear them or buy something new. I searched high and low for new boots and couldn't find anything. I'd finally decided that I was going to wear them anyway when Hubbs and I went boot shopping for him for the wedding. I was just wandering the aisles of the store when I came across the soft black leather with green and blue stitching. I was in love so fast that the $300 price tag didn't even bother me. I've never spent $300 on shoes before! Shoot, the most expensive pair of shoes I owned at that time couldn't have cost me more then $40! But as soon as I slipped my feet into those boots...I knew I was home. I think my mother-in-law was totally shocked when I pulled up my gown to show off the boots at the wedding but being the type of woman she is, she loved it. And so did I.

So here's to all the boots that came before and to all that boots that are still to come! May you be on my feet for all the important events to come!

My garden is finally starting to go gang busters. What a difference a couple of months makes. Unfortunately the weather is still unseasonable cold here so not everything is where it would normally be this time of year, but we're still making progress.

Full View of the garden

The carrots are up and looking good.

We got tomatoes but they're all still green. I'm already looking forward to vine ripened goodness in my salads!

The pumpkins are already getting huge! We much have 10 or 12 about this size already.

The zinnias are starting to get ready to bloom and I can't wait. Nothing says summer like a big bunch of them on my kitchen table.

The lettuce is doing great! I even got my first harvest last night. My salad was really good today, full of the pride of doing it myself.

The sunflowers are just starting to open.

Looks live even my mini lemon tree is getting into the act. I got this tree over three years ago and it has never had fruit. Fingers crossed that this is it's year!

I don't have any knitting to update you on. There has been knitting, don't get me wrong but I haven't taken any pictures. I'm about half way through the shawl I've been working on for my sister-in-law and I finished the one for my stepmom. I haven't blocked the finished one yet but am planning on doing that this weekend. Hubbs and I have no plans for a change so other then taking care of a couple of errands, I'm planning on hanging around the house, knitting, gardening and just being lazy.

Last weekend was a whirlwind of activities for both Hubbs and I. He went off with a group of friends from work and they rode Harley's down to the Yosemite area and had a bit of a boys weekend. Read that as "No Girls Allowed". Poor Hubbs, he didn't even make it out of town when his bike broke down. Thankfully it was a cheap fix and he was able to do it himself, but because the group was waiting on him he ended up taking my bike for the weekend. My poor baby was God knows where with God knows what kinda people! lol. When Hubbs got home on Sunday, I met him in the garage. I started looking over my bike as soon as he got it turned off, didn't even say hello and then asked him if she was ok! lol I gotta tease the man! After all he was riding a bike that has a personalized plate on it that makes it clear it's a woman's bike!

I went home to see my family. It's not something I really ever get to do and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. I spent most of the morning driving there with the doggies and as soon as I arrived it was back in the car. My mom wanted me to go down to her job and meet all her friends and then off we went to Calistoga to my grandmothers friends yarn shop. The shop, Calistoga Yarns is very tiny and part of the ladies home but very warm and friendly. I spent most of the day hanging around with Granny and then we met up with my sister and her boyfriend for dinner. My Cousin also met us for dinner and we ate fish and chips at the Silverado Brewery. The food was really good even if they were lacking in customer service. All and all it was a good trip.

I'd like you to meet my newest work mate. Mr. Baby Birdy is new to our unit and until recently was working on projects like growing feathers and learning to fly! Let's all give Mr. Birdy a warm OneDroppedStitch welcome!!

This baby bird just learned to fly from his nest in the tree outside my window to the ledge. He peeps and peeps until the momma shows up and feeds him. So far he's only able to fly from the nest to the window ledge and then back to the nest but I think within the next few days he'll flying free in the clouds! But what a cutie he is!

Hubbs and I took the chance last Saturday to head up to the Sierra's to do a little off roading. Our truck is currently for sale and it looks like we might have a shot of selling it. I don't really want to get rid of it but it's really Hubs' truck and his hobby, so I don't want to say to much about it. But we did have a great time on Saturday. We took our dogs with us for the first time and they had so much fun that they didn't move after we got home and barely moved at all on Sunday.

The view over the lake to the snow covered mountains was just so pretty.

Who's a happy dog?!!!

The waterfalls were just georgeous

The plants were amazing with their colors all decked out for spring

Looks like every one was having fun!

Living in California definatly has its advantages. The whole area we were in is National Forest land and open to the public for no fee. Even though it's June and summer here in the valley, the Sierras are still in spring mode. The streams were rushing and there were water falls everywhere. Plants were putting on their best spring faces and since there was hardly anyone up there, it felt like it was all for us.