where's lauren these days?

I can't tell you the last time I've posted something on here.  I just clicked on the "new blog post" without really even looking.  So hello again to my few viewers, thanks for stopping by.  It's been a busy few weeks moving things, traveling back and forth to finish packing our house and getting it ready to put on the market.  It's been a few weeks that I've taken a bit of a break from creating.  I think I'm ready to go back.  Here's what I was up to:

I've been getting to know the neighbors.   Where we lived before, sure, there was a bit of wildlife here and there.  But nothing like what I get to see from my living room window now.  Our little apartment faces a courtyard, and there are some beautiful creatures I’ve spotted.  Blue jays, ducks, and quite possibly our favorite – squirrels.  The squirrels at our home in the city are brown colored and incredibly skittish.  Rightfully so, since they seemed to enjoy housing themselves in our attics, and getting chased and boarded out from time to time.  They enjoyed stealing all of the birdseed I would put out, and when I finally bought a squirrel resistant bird feeder, can you guess what they did?  Yep, they broke it by sending it crashing to the ground and breaking.  They won every game of “eat the birds’ food”.  However, up here, the squirrels are a little bit different.  They really don’t seem so destructive.  They are very friendly and inquisitive, exploring very close to our place and situating themselves on our patio from time to time.  They are such a beautiful grey color, too.  I’m afraid I fell in love with one little girl squirrel in particular.  I started tossing her a few almonds here and there.  Now we have a small following of squirrels in the evenings.  Instead of being annoyed by them like in the past, I am delighted!  These little creatures are fascinating, and our little Hazy friends thinks so, too.  There ya go, a whole paragraph about squirrels.  Bet you never expected to hear that on a “crafty” blog, eh?
I've also been chatting it up with the neighbors.  This community is so wonderful... I may never want to leave.

I've been taking in the sights and sounds on my daily walks.  I am so fortunate to live close enough to walk to work.  Something about that just makes my heart so happy.  Something about this old Ford makes my heart happy, too.

I've been setting milestones.  One of our old jalopies turned the 200K mark.  We were stoked, and documented the event.  See my husband throwing up the deuces in honor.  This is just outside of Bristow on Route 66.  Ah…. I love this open road.

I've been eating healthy.  For once.  More on that later, but I’ve got to tell you, stuffed peppers made with quinoa wins in my book any day.

I've been seeing new things.  Weird things.  I simply heart the oddities of this life.  That’s what makes it fun, right?  This is a little stop on Route 66 near Chandler, the Shoe Tree Trading Post (or what used to be a trading post).  Throwing a pair of shoes in the tree equals luck.  We’ve been saving some of our pairs.  I’ll document that a little later on.

So you can see, I've taken a break from creating for a bit.  I've missed it.  My hands are literally itching to get back into it, and I'm ready!  Stay tuned for a finished blanket (what!), some of my new favorite yarn, and cute Christmas ideas for my lovely friends and family.

Love life!