Simple Moments

Do you ever have to remind yourself to just slow down?

To enjoy the simple moments?

Like a simple walk on the beach.

Aaah, I wish I was back there.

And There Was Light

Anyone who knows me, knows I love lighthouses. So I was very excited to learn that the St. George Lighthouse had been restored and moved from it's at one time home on Little St. George Island to St. George Island.

It's not one of the tallest lighthouses, but it is quite charming with it's wooden steps that lead up to the light.

Here's a little bit from St. George Light.Org.

Cape St. George Light

The Cape St. George Light was reconstructed at the center of St. George Island after its tragic collapse on October 21, 2005. Remnants of the historic structure were salvaged and volunteers cleaned old mortar off more than 22,000 original bricks which were used in the reconstruction. With extensive community support and public and private funding, the lighthouse was completed in November of 2008. The lighthouse was originally built at the west end of what is now Little St. George Island in 1833, and was rebuilt on Cape St. George in 1848 and 1852.

The little muesum displays photos of the lighthouse just before and after it's collapse. Very sad that it'd fallen into such disrepair. The locals made attempts to save the lighthouse, but without actually moving it, (which is a huge engineering undertaking, just take a look at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.) they couldn't prevent it from falling into the ocean.

However, I must say, they did an amazing job restoring this beauty.

This lighthouse was decommissioned some years ago, but it is still open for visitors. The Keepers house is still in the process of being refurbished so it isn't open yet. But it should be opened soon. If you are in the area, you really can't miss the lighthouse. It's the first thing you see as you arrive on the island.

Itty Bitty Learning Experience

I'll post some more vacation photos tomorrow. But for today I wanted to discuss something else.

I've talked a little bit about my teaching myself how to crochet. This has been an ongoing thing for some time. I would get so far as to chain some but then that was it. I had no idea where to take it from there. And reading a pattern... Forget about it!


But not too long ago that Determination Bug jumpped up and bit me. I pulled out the hook and yarn and decided I was going to learn to crochet dog gone it!

That is when I sat down and worked up my "I Did It My Way Crochet Scarf". Just in time for the weather to turn hot. And I do mean hot. Mother Nature totally skipped Spring, and I don't think that was very nice of her.

But I digress.

After I completed my scarf, I decided I needed to jump right into another project. One that was a little more challenging, yet not too challenging. Hey, I'm still a beginner and not crazy!

So I searched Ravelry for a pattern. This time I decided I needed a pattern because, Hey, I'm still a beginner and not crazy! :) That's how I found the pattern for the Dot's Little Ditty Bag. After reading the pattern and looking at the helpful notes on Raverly, I decided to try the bag out. So I went for it.

It was after I'd been crocheting for a while that I realized that I was only crocheting through the top lop and that was probably not the correct way to be crocheting the bag. But by doing this, the bag was coming together with a little bit of flare. A raised spiral all the way up the bag. Only it was on the inside of the bag. So I just flipped the little ditty inside out and viola!

I like this personal touch.

One other thing I encountered was difficulty in marking my beginning stitch. So I ended up having to count the stitches. I think this was me being a dork though.

Once I finished this bag, I decided to try my hand at this pattern again. Yet this time I did quite a few alterations to the pattern. Hey, I might be a beginner, but I guess I really am that crazy. :P

One day soon, I'll post those pictures. That bag was quite the learning experience as well.

A Liesurely Time

This is a photo taken from the top deck of the beach house we stayed in on vacation. I took this photo one morning, after we'd been there for a few days. I like the relaxed feel of the shot. Unfortunately, I was way too lazy to actually get up early enough to make it for a 'great' sunrise photo. But this one didn't turn out all that terrible.

I'm not sure if I mentioned where we actually went on vacation so I'll rectify that now. We left Sunday June 6th and heading down south to St. George Island near Apalachicola Bay Florida; what has become known as Florida's 'Forgotten Coast'. It is a very nice, quiet, non touristy trapy, location along Florida's Gulf coast. Let me just say that while we were there the beaches were beautiful. No would guess that the experts were predicting that in a few short weeks they would have to close down the beaches because of the BP oil spill. Or that when we left we could see the boats along the bay placing the booms in the water in attempts to protect their shoreline. It is very sad and makes me very angry. But I will not go into that right now. It's not the time.

But the sea turtles were starting their nesting season, which is always awesome, and the dolphins were frolicking in the surf. What a sheer delight. One was so close you could see it doing flips in the surf as a wave would break.

Me and C$ don't usually take trips where we are not on the move constantly. From sun up till sun down moving. So it was nice to spend this week in one location where we could just kick back and not have to be anywhere. And Baby Girl loved it! She had such a fun time playing in the water and the sand. All in all, we had an absolutely wonderful time.

I'll post some more photos soon. But for now, I'm going to call it and wrap this post up.

Happy Father's Day!

I am working on a back from vacation post, with a series of vacation photos (I hope), that'll be posting soon. But for now I have to jump in and say Happy Father's Day to my wonderfully hubby, my dad and all the other father's out there.

Back from Vacation

I'm back from vacation and it was heavenly. No deadlines. Didn't have to be anywhere or do anything for a whole week! Ahhh.... Just relaxation at it's finest.

As soon as I have a chance I'll go through some photos and post them.

But for now, I must get things back in order and ready to start a new work week tomorrow.