Finished the Headband with a Twist and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been a busy week at work. It snowed a lot yesterday and now there is a nice white blanket of snow on the ground. I am happy to say I am feeling better this week. Around the time I wrote last week's post, I was working through emotions about the end of holidays, and my wedding plans changing yet again. I really appreciated your kind words and support. I think we are a very open community and share our lives here. I like to share the highs and also some of the lows here. We all have great times and also struggles, and it is nice to have a place we feel safe to share with others. This week I am happier and positive about the future. There is so much to be excited about this year and I look forward to making many more great memories this year.

I have finished knitting the Headband with a Twist by Mirella Moments. I really enjoyed knitting this project again. It was a fun and quick first knitting project of the year.  I am looking forward to wearing it outside on my walks around the neighborhood. My next project is actually a secret project that I will share once it is gifted to my sister. I look forward to sharing the finished project with you all. In the meantime I will knit some other smaller projects to share.

I used Lion Brand Heartland yarn in the colorway "Carlsbad Caverns". I loved working with this soft yarn. The bright blue color was so happy and fun to knit with. I knitted it using 3.5 mm circular needles. Please see more notes on Ravelry.

I am finally trying out cross stitching! I have seen many knitters also pick up the cross stitching hobby. I saw this "I can't adult today" cross stitch from Michaels and I had to get it. I can't wait to give it a try. I haven't started the kit yet, but I will probably pick it up sometime this week now that I am done the headband, and looking for my next project to keep me busy.

I am finished reading Home Body by Rupi Kaur. It is a lovely collection of poetry and I enjoyed how some were so relatable. I like how there are some that are short and some are longer and made me reflect on their messages. It was nice reading them before bed, and I am sure I will be picking it up here and there just to read a couple poems before bed going forward.  I think I will also re-read her other book I own called The Sun and Her Flowers, I really enjoyed reading that one too.

I am still reading Didn't see that coming by Rachel Hollis. I am liking this book, because she is discussing into dealing with issues in our lives that happen and are a shock. I can relate during this pandemic and think it has been helpful to read.

 I am still currently reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I am enjoying reading it, and it makes me reflect a lot of my career aspirations, and where I see myself progressing in my career going forward. Lately I have been challenging myself to think of my career goals and aspirations. I am trying to work on developing my strengths at work, and also thinking of ways I would like to improve this year in my role. I work as an office administrator, and enjoy the independence in my role and also working with others as part of the team. 

Photo source

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday. 

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope that you are all having a good week. I can't believe it is the final week of January it just flew by! Take care.

Have a great day!

Long Winter with Covid

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. How has 2021 been going for you? I feel like this month has being going by so fast. For a lot of this month, I have been feeling a bit different and down. I have been trying to find motivation and looking forward to more hopefully positive times. I think with the holidays come and gone, it has been a bit difficult. With Covid still keeping us all indoors and at home most of the time, it is a long and bleak winter. I am trying to keep busy with reading and knitting and other hobbies to keep my spirits up. I also really enjoy posting here and I look forward to also visiting your blogs each week. Blogging and this community has made this time more bearable. My family facetime chats have also been helpful to connect with them. I really miss seeing them in person and hanging out like we used to. 

This week, I have been knitting the headband with a twist by Mirella moments. I love this pattern because it is easy once you get the hang of it. I like to knit while watching shows and it is relaxing knitting this one. It is exactly what I need right now. I look forward to being done soon and to wear on my social distanced walks outside.

In reading, I have been reading Home Body by Rupi Kaur. I like reading her poems before bed and they are reflective. I have also been reading Didn't see that Coming by Rachel Hollis. I like it so far, and think it helps reading a book like this during these uncertain times because we all didn't see Covid coming, and I definitely had no idea it would last this long.  I also have Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg on Overdrive and I read it on my phone. I think it will be very inspiring and give me some good tips. I hope to make some good progress on these in the next week and start some new reads for next week.

I also just wanted to give you a quick update on my wedding plans. We have decided to postpone yet again. This process has been very disappointing and sad that we have to keep moving our wedding date. We keep moving it to a hopefully better time, and then it isn't better but worse. We moved it from October to March. Now in Toronto, we are in an emergency state and a required to stay at home. We don't have curfew or anything like that yet. Liam and I are only going out for necessities like groceries. So, our venue would not be open once March came along. Now we have moved the wedding again to July. We really hope that July 2021 is the month that we get married. I hope that by then, most people are vaccinated and we are heading in the right direction. The photo below was taken at my virtual bridal show in October 2020 when we thought we would be getting married later that month, and then we postponed 20 days later. I really appreciate the support that you have given me during this time it means a lot. I also feel bad for other bride and grooms going through the same thing right now. 

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. Hope your week is going well and I am happy we are in the middle of the week now. I am happy that the inauguration day went well today and Biden is the new president. I look forward to a more positive future for the US with Biden.  

Take care and stay safe!

Knitting and Reading On

 Hello Friends, 

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with getting back to the regular routine and back to work after the holidays, getting my condo furnished, and working on my knitting project, and reading books as usual. 

I am working on knitting the headband with a twist pattern by Mirella Moments. Her video tutorial on YouTube is very helpful to knit along with. I have made this once before and loved how it turned out. I am looking forward to wearing the headband when out for walks around the neighborhood. 

I finished reading Beach Read by Emily Henry. It was such a good book and lived up to all of the hype. I am glad I gave it a read after seeing it everywhere last year. I have been reading it off and on since last September. I am currently reading Home Body by Rupi Kaur which is a lovely collection of poems and thoughts. It is always a joy reading through her poems before I go to bed. I have also been reading Didn't See That Coming by Rachel Hollis which is a good book to be reading to deal with feelings brought by Covid-19 affecting my wedding plans. I also started reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg as my book for working on my professional development. I hope to learn some things from her experiences she shares in her book. I feel like I have a million books on the go right now, but it keeps things interesting.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. In Toronto, the Covid-19 situation is continuing to get worse and we are staying home and only going out for essentials as recommended. It has been going on for so long and I keep reading about all of people dying in long term care homes. It is such a sad situation in the homes, and hopefully we can get a handle on this soon now that the vaccine is here.

Stay safe!

Getting Back into Routine, Knitting, and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been a slow start to the New Year, getting back into work routines and trying to get back to and start healthier habits. One I have been focusing on trying to improve is getting to bed earlier. This one is so hard for me because I like to stay up later at night, but also like to rise early around 7:30 am. I woke up today and did a yoga routine. It is the first time while being in our new condo that I have done an exercise in the morning before work. It was nice to get back into that routine.

For knitting, I am finally getting back into it and I have casted on Headband with a Twist pattern by Mirella Moments on Ravelry. I am using the Lion Brand heartland yarn in the colorway Carlsbad Caverns. I have knitted this project before and knitted it in white for my sister. Blog post on that project is here if you want to see how it looks when completed.

I am currently reading Beach Read by Emily Henry. It is such a good book, and I am enjoying the storyline. It has become so much more enjoyable to read as I continued on. I really love the depth to the characters, and how they help each other to work through their difficult pasts together. I am also reading the book Didn't See That Coming by Rachel Hollis. It seems like a guidebook to getting over big life events that are difficult. So far, Rachel has included the news of her divorce from her husband. She is tying in her own past hurdles as well and her current ones. I look forward to reading more.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! How is your New Year going? I am feeling a bit tired and trying to motivate myself lately. I always find it a bit hard after the holidays, because I look forward to Christmas so much, and then it is over. I really loved posting for Blogmas and enjoyed it so much. Thank you for joining me for those posts. In 2020, we especially needed a little bit of Christmas in our lives to feel comfort and joy. I hope that you are doing well if you are feeling this way too and giving yourself some grace during this time. 

Have a good day!

Happy New Year!

 Hello Friends,

I hope you had a good start to 2021. It was a nice New Year's Eve here with Liam. We had some buffalo chicken bites, a caesar salad, and some hors d'oeuvres for dinner. Then we watched Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. It was a lot different this year without the large crowds and the people were standing in their zones to keep distance. It was nice that they invited the health care workers to this event to honor them. Our night was really nice and calm and a good end to a crazy year and nice start to the new Year. We had champagne at midnight and we called my family. The photo below is taken last night after midnight which I shared on my Instagram. A sleepy, but happy photo to start the New Year.

This morning, I was motivated to create a habit tracker to start the year based on what I read from Atomic Habits by James Clear. I am excited to start tracking my habits daily and do all the things I want to do daily even if for only 2 minutes each day. I just used Microsoft word and made a spread sheet with my habits listed with the numbers for days and the months at the top I can circle each month. Please see my layout below to create your own.

I saw this photo from IKEA leaning against the wall in our second bedroom as inspiration for the New Year. I love this quote it is my favourite. It motivates me to go for what I want even it is does seem impossible or a big goal. I hope that it motivates you too!

We can do it!

I haven't shared much in the way of knitting lately! I purchased this lovely yarn last year, and I will be knitting a project using it soon. It is Heartland yarn by Lion Brand in the colorway Carlsbad Caverns. I will have to visit Ravelry for some inspiration today. What will your first knitting or crochet project be for 2021?