FINALLY! Last weekend :)

Good Lord! Today was hectic. . . it always seems to be that way when you have a definite time things HAVE to be done. It just so happens to be the end of the Fiscal Year. . . and I am on vacation tomorrow, which means EVERYTHING has to be done today. . .umm, yeah, that stinks. So I've finally signed off working, with a promise to check back in at 9PM, then I'm OUTTA HERE! Technically not outta here until tomorrow at 6AM, but whatever.

SO, Last weekend in Charlottesville was AWESOME (I apologize for being a total loser and taking no pictures)! We headed out Friday when Jake got home from work. Thankfully we didn't hit any traffic save for ~2miles of construction on 295 around Richmond, so we made the trip in just over two hours. We made it to the hotel and actually had a room (which was suspect. . . the UVA/GaTech game was Saturday and finding a room was HARD!). We met up with our friends who were camping for dinner before the show and then made our way to the venue for the Avett Brothers. The venue wasn't great, and the opening act STUNK (sorry Chitlin - - - is it ironic that I can find no web reference to this girl?). The show was pretty good, though. Apparently marginal, as told by people who'd seen them multiple times, but it was our first show. After, we went to a bar downtown. It was fun to be in a college town again, but unfortunately made me feel pretty old.

Saturday was beautiful, weather wise. We thought it would be cool, but it was like 80 degrees. We started off exploring downtown Charlottesville. They have a great Farmers Market that we wandered through. We bought beets, which are my favorite fresh veggie! Then we meandered a few blocks from the Farmers Market to the downtown mall, which isn't a mall really, it's 5 or 6 blocks of pedestrian only traffic filled with shops and restaurants. There was a knitting store :) Jake is so fabulous about wandering thru yarn with me. (I think he secretly likes it. . . he touches a lot of it!). The store was The Needle Lady. It was nice, but very overpriced, so I didn't buy anything.

Then came the fun. . . WINE TASTING! There are lots of wineries in the central part of VA. We visited 3. .. First Colony, Kluge and Jefferson Vineyards. We enjoyed it thoroughly, and really only had 3 wines of all the tastings we didn't like. We came home with 6 new bottles, very restrained if you ask me!! Our last stop was my favorite. . . and totally unexpected. . . an APPLE ORCHARD!! Living up North, fall apple picking is always my absolute favorite thing to do! Fresh apples, cider and cider donuts. . . YUM!! It's somehow not QUITE the same experience in 80 degree weather and all green leaves, but I guess you can't totally replicate New England or Michigan in Virginia and I was happy just to be at an orchard at all.

We drove home when it got dark, though I wish we had decided to stay two nights. Boarding the dogs gets expensive quick, though, so we needed to pick them up Sunday morning. When we got home, I had a package. . yay! I won a contest a while back on this blog and my prize arrived. It's called 'tequila sunrise' superwash merino (and it came in the coffee mug). I have no idea what I'll make with it, as it's only 90 yds. It's a good thing I don't have my heart set on it, though, as this is what the yarn looked like after Jimmy Ray got his paws on it! Oops! He didn't hurt it, except for getting it covered in dog hair and it's now nicely rewound and in a safe place.

On the knitting front, I have been doing nothing except my scarf for Red Scarf. I originally thought the due date was Oct 1, I've relaxed a bit now that I double checked and it's actually October 15. The pattern is My so called scarf. I HATE it! I like the look, but it is SOOOOO SLOW moving. I have only 10 inches left (one more red block) and I can't WAIT to get it off the needles!

So, now I'm off to pack. I'm making a 'surprise' trip to Kansas City. My dad doesn't know I'm coming to his 50th birthday party. I'm more worried about packing enough knitting, since my dad and step family are Mormon. There will be no alcohol, coffee, soda... really no vices at all to distract me. . . so I shall knit! Plus, I have long layovers on both my flights out and home.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!! Send good thoughts my way (there is a reason I need something to distract me while I'm there. . . but I won't go into it here!)

See you Monday, when I announce my contest winner. . . final chance to enter is Sunday!