A few weeks ago, I blogged about knitting. In the spirit of closure, I wanted to post my finished product. Here is the laptop bag:















I have also completed a few other projects but have not had a chance to photograph them. I finished the weekend bag made of that delicious brown yarn. I also dashed off a hat & scarf for CityBaby (children's projects go real fast since they are so small). I'm trying to get a picture of him modeling them, hence the delay there. I am working on a lavender angora scarf for myself and a few scarves as gifts. I also have a cool project on its way, which I'll blog about later. As you can see, I've been hitting the sticks, hard.

Life's a Beach and Then it's Fall

Apparently, when you live in the South on the coast, you vacation at the beach in the Fall, a term I use loosely. The instruction manual clearly mandates that you avoid the beach all summer thereby avoiding the heat, humidity and annoying beach crowds. (I need to work on embracing tourism.) I use the term fall loosely because Fall in the lowcountry makes it debut the end of November, if we're lucky and makes it exit around mid-December. Then we have "Winter", another loose term, which picks up where Fall left off and leaves end of February. That's Charleston weather 101. So, here we are, last week of September, at the beach. Guess what? It's delightful. I don't have to contend with crowds or my Jew-fro (humidity has significantly decreased) or fight with CityCrab over the internal temperature. CityBaby has quickly become accustomed to beach in the morning and pool in the afternoon and I have found my inner relaxation button and turned it on. Plus, I am now a skinnygirl sangria expert. It's so light & refreshing, you can drink it all day.

Clean Slate

In the Jewish religion, we just welcomed our new year, 5771. This was after a week of holidays where we reflect, apologize, confront our sins and repent. No easy task. This has always been my favorite holiday, oddly enough. I have very good childhood memories of my family celebrating and being together, and these continue today as I create them for my son. I also like the fact that Judaism encourages you to atone for every sin in a group setting so that no one is singled out for any one thing. It's our own version of "Don't ask, don't tell." I like the idea of doing it in one fell swoop. I believe it was Jon Stewart who commented that even in religion, we pay wholesale. OK, it was funnier in person. I also like the idea of having a mid-year new year, where we can make resolutions that get us through to the secular new year. Low bar, if you catch my drift. In any event, I feel refreshed and renewed and ready to face 5771.

Konflicted

As an avid reader, I am conflicted about the new wave of e-readers that have recently hit the market. First and foremost, I am conflicted as to whether I should even get one. I love books. I love looking at the author's picture, reading their biography, which I often flip to at several points throughout any book. I like being able to flip back in the story and refresh, if I have to. And I like the way they look on my shelves. I grew up surrounded by books. Literally. Piled in floor to ceiling bookshelves. Plus, as a recent library convert, I'm not so sure I want to go back to buying books. Citycrab has pointed out endless times that online content is cheaper than written content but it's not purely economical with me. I did some research thinking that might help me get over my issues. The information was overwhelming. I even paid for a monthly Consumer Report online membership. (Side note: you can join for $5.99 for a month. Totally worth it, IMO.) Kindle, Nook, E-reader, iPad and various other models. I remain konflicted. And, overwhelmed, too.