Extravayarnza

This is a gratuitous (wow that word threw me for a loop on spelling) posting just to show off my new haircut. Considering that my previous cut was self inflicted I'm quite bubbly and froody (bonus points for knowing what froody is) about my new style.


It was done by an aveeda institute student & I think she did a great job! Now I just need to get it parted just so & styled just right tomorrow morning...

I'm preparing for a scary busy bit of time. I'm leaving tomorrow morning with my brother & my dogs to drive 12 hours to visit my mum. I've never been to South Carolina, so this should be a fun trip!
After I get back I get to breath for a couple of weeks (while waiting for Rachel to have her baby). Then it's off to TNNA and then a few days back to prepare for Louisa Harding to come to the shop!!!!

The very next day is WWKIP day and I'm co-hosting a Lansing/East Lansing event with Woven Art.

Yips!

The rest of the summer is no easier...

So, I'm packing/cleaning/preparing to leave my shop all by it's self for the first time (in the hands of totally awesome employees, but I'll be so far away...)

I managed to finish the knitting on a very cute little project. I'm knitting a couple of Louisa Harding patterns to celebrate her coming to the shop June 13th.
I used her new summer silk yarn, Mulberry...

and knit a lace purse from Knitting Little Luxuries

The knitting is now all finished, I just need to sew up the silk lining when I get back from Mom's.
I should be able to blog while I'm away, so hope to see you all soon!

Hi y'all!
We've all arrived in South Carolina and are having a positively pleasant time. I'll be back here in a day or two, but I wanted to let you know I've started a photo set on Flickr for the trip. Click on either of the photos below to go there & see what's been going on.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day~

By the time I get photos all edited and uploaded I keep ended up sitting here past midnight wanted to get down every little thing that happened in the day & equally wanting to fall over in bed.

Mother's Day was all about family. We drove up to Flat Rock, NC to meet up with my Aunt & Uncle at the resort where my Mum & Stan were married this winter. I rarely get to see my Aunt Nancy & to see here twice in as many months was really wonderful. I know my mom loves living so close to her sister. The brunch we went to was quite nice and we had a very energetic server. I managed to forget my camera, but we drove up there with an amazing fog coating the mountains and it was quite an amazing site.

Later in the day I met a good chunk of Stan's family. Gosh people in these parts are friendly. I had the most delightful time & although it will take me a bit more time to learn names and so forth I feel really happy to have made to first meeting.

Monday was all about touring Greenville and shopping. We headed over to Downtown's Main Street and set about finding the Mice on Main.

We found 5 of 8 little mice sculptures. I love these sorts of projects. I need to get to Ann Arbor at some point to find the fairy doors.

For me the most important shop to go to on Main was Mast General Store. They have a neatest collection of outdoor cloths, shoes, hiking supplies, and old fashion candy and toys. I knew on this trip I wanted to find a good pair of hiking shoes. I ended up finding out that I walk really unusually (I'm 1 in 100. Apparently walking mainly on the outside back of your heel is weird...) and that I'm a little hard to fit in a shoe. Luckily I found a great sneaker style hiking boot from The North Face. They're grey & green and fit my feet really well. My heel completely slipped out of so many of the shoes. I really wanted lower boots since they're for summer and I'm usually in MI where it's flat and ankle support isn't as big of an issue. I really love the shoes I ended up with!
I also found a super cute purse there. Lots of pockets, zippers, and magnets. Plus it's purple.
After shopping we had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant right on the falls.
They we went across Liberty Bridge and explored Falls Park.



Later we explored Cleveland Park, went on a much too long adventure in finding a pet shop (mom's single Red Cloud needed some fishy friends), and finally went home for a break.
I barely had time to get the arch supports fitted into my new hiking shoes then it was back out the door with Stan and the dogs to head over to Paris Mountain State Park.
We planned on a shorter 2 mile fairly easy hike (since I had new shoes that hadn't been broken in yet and had spent most of the day walking). We got to the turn around point and decided to go a bit further. By the time we were done we had hiked 4 miles and had gained (and lost again) 700 feet in elevation (most of that over about a 1 mile section of steep difficult trail). It turns out we hiked the most difficult trail in the park.

I marked our route in red. It was beautiful. I think if I lived here I'd do that hike every week.
Now I'm back to mom's, sunburnt and tired, and I think I'll take some much earned rest.

Tuesday we went on a proper hike with Mum. We had water, snacks, sunscreen, maps, and all those sorts of things. Our goal was Raven Cliff Falls in Ceasars Head State Park. The weather was perfect & the full canopy shaded us from most of the sunlight.

On our way into the park we stopped at the visitors center & took in the view of Table Rock Mountain.

The trail we chose lead to a viewing platform and was about 4.5 miles round trip. Now, I walk that far most days in Lansing without too much ado. However Lansing is flat, very flat. This hike wasn't nearly as difficult as the one I had gone on the night before, but parts were still quite steep.

I ended up sleeping the whole way home & most of the evening... 2 days of mountain hiking is quite a lot for a flatlander!

Luckily this time I brought my camera. I've posted a few of my favorite shots from the day. More photos & captions can been seen on flickr by clicking any of the photos.