Extravayarnza

My big resolution this year is to have a project for the book on the needles at all times. I'm already so excited about getting knitting. I've got notes, sketches, yarn choices, & sizing decisions all piled up from this year.
As I was getting together for the first project I realized I needed one new notebook to keep all the details from each project... stuff like a label from the sample yarn, needle sizes, final sketches, pattern notes. All that really deserves to be all together.
So, I went to my Journal shelf to see which ones were still available. This Blog is the only Journal I've ever been able to really keep. Most of my Journals have a few entries in them... then I just forget or loose interest. I do have several special Journals that I never used just for that fact. I hated the thought of wasting them.
What I found really surprised me. A Journal completely empty except for the inside front cover & the first page. The first page was a list of important French phrases, the inside cover was a gold mine.

This is the itinerary from my Trip to Europe in May 2003. I had thought that this information was lost. This trip was so important for me. I loved Belgium, Amsterdam, and Southern France. Of all the places I've ever visited I never felt like I belonged anywhere more than Amsterdam & Orange, France. There was just so much culture, history, and amazing people. I couldn't find any pictures from my time in Northern Europe (we were using lots of video at that point of the trip & I only recently found out that the tape wasn't lost in the carjacking like I thought. I hope I can get a copy of it all soon)

However I wish to share a few photos from Southern France.

The views from the mountain that overlooked Orange were amazing. I love this photo from the park on the mountain.

Probably most of you have never heard of Orange. It's claim to fame is the Theatre Antique.

This is the oldest Roman theatre still in use. The acoustics are amazing. Plus they pretty much let you wander all over the theatre. Beyond that it's a small French town in wine country.

From there we traveled down to Cannes & Monaco. The view along the coast was simply breath taking.

While there we pretended we were important hanging around the Film Festival (around as in outside the fence, I did get a t-shirt...). We relaxed on the beach, we shopped, I had the best meal of my life, we detoured to Monte Carlo for an evening, and then the ladies spent the day at the Oceanographic Institute. We saw all sorts of cool fish, coral, and assorted sea life.

(I love this last photo! Stone fish rock)

My big regret in going through my photos is my lack to pictures of people, namely myself & my fellow travelers. We did take some group photos our last day in Antwerp, but apparently not on my camera. Those plans of swapping photos with everyone in the group never seem to work out.

This is closest thing I found to a photo of myself from the trip.

The sad thing is that this is one of my favorite pictures of myself. I'm a well worn, comfortable pair of chucks. I think it's fitting. When that pair of chucks died I saved the patches off the side so I'd never forget all the places we went together.

So, I'm honored to use this journal for my book. I'm also finding it quite inspiring. My original 'reward' for when the book makes it to print was to get myself a new laptop. My father has decided that would be a better thing to have for the writing of the book, rather than later, so he's getting me an iBook (or whatever they're called now) that's capable of running all my design software.

This journal has inspired me to shot for a new reward. A trip. Maybe back to Europe, maybe to Hawaii, maybe to where ever strikes my fancy at the time, but it has to be a real vacation. It has to be beyond comfortable driving distance (i.e. Toronto or Chicago isn't far enough), and it has to be with someone I love (family or other).

So off I go, to boldly design where few designers have gone before. With only my mantra of wearable, durable, and attractive to guide me. Bonne Nuit!