Category Archives: Vacation

Trips!

Needed a change

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but I guess if you come here at all regular, you could tell.  I was tired of all the white on that old template.  To bland and bright.  I am not a bright person at the moment (too fat and tooooo pregnant!). This is much more pleasing.  For now anyway.

In other news; hubby comes home tonight!  Yay!  I slept last night – thanks to my friend Benadryl!  Yay!  And I started another book.  I’m a moron.  But, and there is always a but, isn’t there?  But I have been wanting to read the next book in Rick Riordian’s Percy Jackson series since I bought it, so I just had to peek!  Next thing I knew I’d read 50 pages!  Such great, light entertainment.  Plus it’s hard to concentrate with the hubby gone.  I miss him too much.

stone2no2.jpgThe kiddo is going to Fairystone State Park today.  That is a fairystone.  It’s a fun place with a (very cold) lake to swim in, ride paddle boats, and stuff.  And there is also a pretty cool story behind the place:

Fairy Stone State Park, the largest of Virginia’s six original state parks, is home to its namesake “fairy stones.” These rare mineral crosses and the park’s scenic beauty, rich history and ample recreational opportunities make it a local and regional favorite. The 4,537 acres that make up the park were donated by Junius B. Fishburn, former owner of the Roanoke Times, in 1933. The Civilian Conservation Corps originally created the park, its lake and many structures still in use there.

The Legend of the Fairy Stone: Many hundreds of years before Chief Powhatan’s reign, fairies were dancing around a spring of water, playing with naiads and wood nymphs, when an elfin messenger arrived from a city far away. He brought news of the death of Christ. When these creatures of the forest heard the story of the crucifixion, they wept. As their tears fell upon the earth, they crystallized to form beautiful crosses.

For many years people held these little crosses in superstitious awe, firm in the belief that they protected the wearer against witchcraft, sickness, accidents and disaster. Fairy stones are staurolite, a combination of silica, iron and aluminum. Staurolite crystallizes at 60 or 90 degree angles, hence the stone’s cross-like structure. Found only in rocks once subjected to great heat and pressure, the mineral was formed long, long ago, during the rise of the Appalachian Mountains. The stones are most commonly shaped like St. Andrew’s cross, an “X,” but “T” shaped Roman crosses and square Maltese crosses are the most sought-after.

The rare staurolite stones are found elsewhere but not in such abundance as at Fairy Stone State Park. For more information, please visit www.stonecrossmountain.com.

How cool that they are a natural occurance in nature!   How I hate that I have to work today!  I wanna go too!!!

Beachiness

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So, I guess you can tell, I went to the beach last week.  We had a great time.  Well, except for the first day.  We arrived a little before Tropical Storm Barry did.  As you can see above, the water was pretty rough and the sky dark.  And, lucky us, we camped!  That camper rocked all night long in the wind, and not in a good way either 😉

After that first day though, it was wonderful.  We got lots of sun, lots of sand in places you don’t really want it, and I got lots of reading done.  I completed 3 books and read more than half of another one, which I finished once I got home.  It was SO great!

I read:

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordian which was fantastic. 
The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason which was an awesome beach read!  Can’t wait to read the next one!
Iris, Messenger by Sarah Deming for Estella
And started Julie & Julie: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell, which I finished after I got home.  I seriously like butt-crazy loved this!

And, as you can tell, Ellie had a ball.  As soon as she hit the beach she was running.  She wore herself out everyday.  It was wonderful for her. 

We ate a lot of great food.  Brunch at The House of Blues (where the kiddo ate 2 heaping plates of fruit.  Child loves watermelon!).  Seafood at Joe’s Crab Shack.  Pizza at Ultimate California Pizza where we got some really…different…pizzas.  Yummy yummy!

And I got a ton of great pictures 🙂  Here’s another!

Going to the beach!

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Okay, so.  Here is what I’ve decided (as of this minute) to take to read.

The Terror by Dan Simmons
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell (a mooch that arrived just in time!!!)
The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan (made the mistake of starting this during my lunch yesterday.  I’m hooked!)
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales ed by Chris Baldick
Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott (for Estella)

Speaking of Estella, the big huge June issue is up now.  Go check it out!

And see you all next Friday.  Have a fabulous week everyone!

Beach Reading

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beach.jpgIt’s that time of year again. The time to decide just which books get to come with me to the beach this year. This year will be a little different. Since I’m pregnant and as big as a house, I will probably be doing a lot more sitting and reading than usual. No running in the surf this year for me!  Plus we will be driving probably 5 hours (or more).  I’m looking at lots of reading time.  Yay!  So I’m thinking of taking 4 books. But which ones to take?!?! It is such an agonizing decision! (My husband thinks I’m nuts.) Here are the top 10 books I’m considering. Any input? 

  1. The Terror by Dan Simmons
  2. The Naming by Alison Croggon
  3. The Dark Mirror by Juliet Marillier
  4. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl (Continuing my renewed love affair with foodie books)
  5. The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales by Chris Baldick (recent mooch. Looks SO good!)
  6. Stuffed: Adventures of a Restuarant Family by Patricia Volk (another foodie book)
  7. Thirsty by M.T. Anderson
  8. The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt (have had it for-EVAH!)
  9. The Burning Time by Robin Morgan
  10. Blue Latitudes by Tony Horowitz (travel lit, sounds good for a beach trip!)

And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if none of these made the trip with me! LOL

And don’t forget, the all new Estella’s Revenge hits the net tomorrow! It’s a great issue! Be sure to come by, read, and maybe throw out a comment or two!

PS: Hubby at interview as I type this.  All parts crossed people!!!

Mountain trip!

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Finally, a minute to talk about this past weekend!  Work has been insane since I returned. I came back to a pile of stuff undone and mistakes to fix.  See, this is why I so rarely take a week off!  And I’m doing it again in December!  Argh!

So, anyway, the moutains were gorgeous.  It didn’t snow, which I was kinda hoping for.  Actually it was in the 60s and one day it hit 70.  November in the Blue Ridge Mountains should NOT be in the 70s.  Just so you know.  Ellie caught her first fish. Actually she caught 3, they were rainbow trout, and she was SO proud of herself.  Of course, her papa did most of the work and we cheated and took her to a trout farm, but so what!  She was SO happy!  And so very cute.

I tried to get some good pictures of her for our Christmas card, but she couldn’t be still.  Or she was making a face.  Everything I got is in shadow.  I hope I can fix it.  See:

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We got lots of Christmas shopping done; we are almost through!  As I figured, I didn’t get to read much. But I did get to do a lot of knitting on the drive back.  I finished a scarf for my 3-year-old niece, who was dying for me to make her one.  And I started another for a Christmas present.  See:

This one is my niece’s.  She loved it.

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And this is for a friend.  I love the colors so much! 

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I’m afraid the knitting is going to cut into my reading time.  I really hoped to get 60 books in this year, so hopefully I can get at least 3 more books in.  The Crimson Petal is SO huge though!  I am almost halfway through it though.  Yet, I picked up Oracle Night by Paul Auster Monday at the library and glanced at it last night.  I just had to see what Andi is so in love with.  I’m hooked.  Wow, does this guy have a way with words!  I now have 3 books going, here’s hoping I can finish them all!