Tampa Tattoofest

I'm back at work after a great weekend. Robbie and I drove up to the Tampa Tattoofest. I've gone for the last three years and it's always a good time. We left Friday morning and stopped at an alligator farm in the Everglades, hit an antique mall, had lunch at the Sebring Diner (best food we'd eaten in a long time ... if you ever pass it, stop in and eat!!), went to an outside iron work gallery somewhere near Brandon (also awesome), stopped in for coffee at Starbuck's, bought a couple shirts at Harley Davidson of Brandon, spent two hours in Target and finally got to our hotel.

Saturday we cruised around the Tattoo Convention and hotel all day until it was time for us both to get tattooed. Robbie filled in an empty spot near his neck with a really nice water flower and I got orange blossoms tattooed on my arm. It starts at the top of my shoulder and goes about halfway down my arm. It's not finished yet, but so far it looks awesome! I love it! After getting tattooed we were starving so we went for late night french toast at the local Village Inn ... went back to the hotel, watched a show about the girl who went missing in Aruba and went to bed.

Sunday we took a very leisurely drive back home. We stopped at Barnes and Noble for coffee and bagels and shopped around for a little while. Got back on the road and about 20 minutes later I realized I didn't have my backpack with me. So, in a frenzy I called Barnes and Noble ... sure enough I had left it in the cafe and we had to turn around and drive all the way back!! Robbie wasn't pleased, but handled it well. This is the typical type of situation that would have sent us into a brawl months ago, but doesn't now (after all our therapy ... lol). We stopped for boiled peanuts at a little place somewhere in Okeechobee called J and S Fish Camp. There were a lot of bikes there and it was really nice. We sat outside by the water, had a beer and enjoyed our boiled peanuts. They were damn good!! We proceeded down the road through parts of Florida I didn't even think existed anymore. There was lots and lots and lots of land and open spaces. It was really beautiful and reminded me of how it must have been when my parents moved down to Florida in the 60's. I loved it!! At one point we got lost on a detour on 441 where it ended into Pahokee. No offense to anyone who may be from Pahokee, but it looked pretty rough there. We turned around as quickly as we could and got the hell out of there. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful and I got a lot of knitting done. I'm working on a beautiful wrap for my sister. It's made from Rowan Summer Tweed and I can't wait to finish it. It feels really nice and has an awesome drape. We got to Robbie's house, unpacked everything and watched The Soprano's. To me the show is a little bit lame this season but Robbie's really into it and it gives me the opportunity to do even more knitting, which is a good thing.

So now I'm back ... back to the daily routine of working, knitting, cleaning my house, running, spending time with Robbie and my son, etc. Doesn't sound like much, but I'm happy.

Also, Robbie and I started watching Lost last night. I ordered the DVD's from Netflix. We watched two episodes so far and it is SO good. I can't wait to watch the next one. Also, we got Cirque Du Soleil tickets for Apri 22nd. We're going with my mom and my sister ... should be fun. Idol sort of sucked last night. I didn't think anyone was that great although I basically like Taylor and Elliott regardless of what they sing or how they perform because they're just great no matter what.

I Feel Like a New Person!!

Well, I did it. I've been thinking about chopping off my hair for a long time. I'm 43 years old and my hair has been at least below my shoulders for probably 41 of those years. At times it was down to my waist, at one point it was touching the crack of my butt, and most recently it was down to my bra strap. I was reading the Pixiestikz weblog and kept noticing how cute Heather's haircut was. I found myself going to her weblog daily just to check out her cool haircut. I pondered and pondered, and made myself nervous with the thought of it ... but I was also getting strangely excited about the thought of being able to do all sorts of fun things with my hair like put wax in it and make it really piecey and play around with little barrettes, etc. Anyway, when I was just on the verge of making the decision I read Mimi's weblog, Skulls N' Bats, and lo and behold she had just cut her hair really short and was talking about how good it felt. That was it. I was convinced that it was some sort of sign. I made an appointment and went last Saturday and cut it all off. I LOVE it!! I'm still adjusting to not being able to just brush it and put it in a ponytail, but it looks really hip and fun and I'm so glad I just did it!! When I get a picture of the new "do", I'll post it.

Finally ... a picture!!

I am definitely a newbie to the blogging stuff ... I learned tonight how to post a picture. So this is a picture of me from when I went to Aruba with my boyfriend in January. I plan on posting more pictures of my knitting, my animals, etc. now that I know how. Yep, that's me!!

A Resolution Not Kept

I had to laugh when I just read my post from January 3rd ... "One of my New Years resolutions is to be better about posting to my blog." Well, I see how well I've stuck with that!! I've literally posted only one time each month in 2006!! And the sad thing is that Robbie (my boyfriend) gave me an awesome camera for Christmas. I could be posting all my cool pictures from Aruba, pictures of the things I've knit, pictures of the dogs, the cat, the iguana, the son.

I'm very inspired by other people's blogs, especially the knitting blogs. All the girls are SO cool and have such interesting blogs. In fact it causes me trouble at work because sometimes I get so into reading them that I have a hard time pulling myself away. I really need to learn more about how you add all the neat links, etc. to the blog to make it more interesting. Mine is definitely boring at this point, but I will make it better.