Yes I am still alive and BLESSED! Thought I would share the most recent, biggiest and most exciting news in my life,since my last post last year, to those who still come by to see if the blog dust has been wiped off ;op.

I am now MARRIED! :) Now, don't even ask me about the knitting LOL. See our wedding story and pics below. Hope all is well and yarny with each of you!! Until next time!

Bride:
Stacey Michelle Richards, 35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Groom:
Christopher Kerry Henderson, 42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hometown of the Bride:
Racine, WI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hometown of the Groom:
Huntersville, NC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wedding Date:
4/1/2011
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wedding Location:
We had a courthouse wedding in Charlotte, NC!
---------------------------------------

Occupation of the Bride:
Nonprofit Professional
---------------------------------------

Occupation of the Groom:
Independent Contractor
---------------------------------------

Alma Mater of the Bride:
Johnson C. Smith University
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alma Mater of the Groom:
North Mecklenburg High School
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How they met:
‘Chris and I met nine months ago on a rainy Friday night in August, 2010, at our church singles bowling event,’ Stacey said. ‘We were on the same bowling team.

We really did not take any special note of one another until the end of the evening, when I mentioned needing to get up early to go running. Chris immediately piped up and said he was a runner too and wanted to meet up with me.

We quickly began getting to know each other during our predawn runs each week, and he kept asking me out until one day I decided to give him, and love, a try. We started courting one another within a month.’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment they realized they wanted to be a couple for life:
‘There really isn’t an exact moment we can pinpoint that we decided to be together for a lifetime. The more we learned about each other the more we realized we were made for each other.

Soon after we ran our first race together back in October 2010, a half marathon (13.1 miles), and went on a trip to visit my family, we were certain that we had won each other's hearts!

Chris describes our relationship best. He says we are “a match made in heaven reunited on earth.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Proposal:
‘When we both decided to enter into a courtship, with the specific intent to be married, we discussed it many times and we prayed continuously that we were making the right decision.

During these discussions we not only talked about how marriage would be for us, but what kind of wedding we would like to have, and before we knew it we were planning a wedding … without a formal proposal.

It was all so natural we just flowed right into it! I always joke that Chris got off easy!’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Wedding:
‘When selecting our wedding date, we really took a look at the dates and the significance of them. We wanted it to be meaningful.

We selected the 1st of the month because the number one means GODhead, unity and undivided. We both love the month of April since both of our birthdays are in this month and our favorite season is spring. Yes, April 1st, April Fools Day!

This meant we would have just a little over a month to plan the wedding! We thought, 'How appropriate to celebrate our wedding on April Fool's Day, since no one would believe that we got married so quickly.' It fit us perfectly!

The week leading up to the wedding was rainy and we were concerned the actual day would be gloomy, but that afternoon the sun came out and it was simply beautiful.

The trees and flowers were blooming and it was the perfect cool spring temperature.

We were surprised and delighted to see how many couples were getting married on April Fools Day at the courthouse, and as each couple came out there was a wave of cheers that gave an element of fun and excitement.

We selected royal purple as our accent color for the wedding. I had a vintage look in a unique ivory dress, birdcage veil and royal purple shoes to add flare.

We had a small wedding cake celebration afterwards that gave us an opportunity to exchange our intimate and personal vows with each other and express our love in front of our close family and friends. Chris’ mother made the wedding cake which added a special touch to the day.

Some of our guests were oblivious to the ‘special announcement’ we were about to make, which added to the April Fools Day surprise.

Guests had the option to complete a “Love Note” sharing any wedding sentiments or marriage advice to us. This was a unique twist and expansion on the guestbook, as the ribboned cards were later slipped into the extra pages to be remembered.

It was just what we wanted for our wedding day. To be effortless, meaningful and filled with joy!’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Honeymoon:
‘We took a couple of mini weekend getaways in our wedding month, all of which were centered around the mountains. We visited Biltmore Estates during the Festival of Flowers and got some quality quiet time at a private mountain home. It was a wonderful way of enjoying our wedding bliss!’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Their Plans:
‘Our personal backgrounds made us realize why we were brought together. We know that through a ministry in GOD, we are to help others overcome the obstacles we have been through. We compliment each other in that Chris is a visionary and I am an organizer.

As we plan to work together in ministry, we also look forward to starting a family soon.’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advice to Others:
‘Make your wedding your own personal statement, and know it is not based on man’s approval but GOD’s approval.

We highly recommend 50 kisses a day (Seriously, it works.) And to always keep GODas your first love, coming together in prayer daily.’

I have been wanting to post some of my favorite things for awhile now. You know a little peek at some things I am feelin' from time to time.

So instead of O.prah's favorite things you will get Crimson Purl's favorite things! :o)

Lets begin!

First up is my all time default perfume scent

D.onna K.aren Cashmere MIST special edition without the alcohol. I can't find this one anymore. They still make DK Cashmere but not this edition. As I bought it years ago and sparingly use it, while switching out with the regular Cashmere scent and other favorite perfumes that I enjoy.

This is a light clean scent which I normally gravitate to in my perfumes. Nothing too heavy.

I absolutely LUV LUV LUV F.red H.ammond

He is my all time favorite gospel musician. He is the praise & worship king! And I always have one of his CDs somewhere in one of my players. If there is ever any doubt what to get me...something "new" or his very "old" (b/c I never got any of those) music.

All of his CDs are my favorite but if I had to pic just one it would be Somethin' 'Bout Love. That is a must listen!

He is awesome in concert and comes here every year for our J.oyfest on Memorial Day weekend. I hate I missed him.

When I sit down to do my own nails. I don't like to wait forever for them to dry

That S.ally H.ansen Insta-Dri is the bomb!! And of course I like my O.P.I. polish too! Must be light colors for my fingers as anything dark makes my already old looking hands look ancient! ;op

Now my b.ody i.ndulgence is

T.he B.ody S.hop's Coconut scrub and body butter. It feels sooooooo good on my body. I have really dry skin (e.zcema) and this was definitely made for me in mind!! The scrub doesn't irritate me at all and using the combo together really makes my body feel like butta! And I love the scent! Not too strong with a hint of sweetness ;o) I keep the mini one in my purse for my extra dry hands.

I am also in luv with this water

Mainly because it is not bottled toilet water! Haha! (A.quafina broke my heart man!!). I typically get these mini bottles because they are easy to carry around.

Now don't get me twisted - I will fill them right back up with some D.iamond S.prings LOL Then I will pop open a new one for the next day. You can get them in a six pack and it averages out to about $1 a bottle. I get mine cheaper at T.rader J.oe's!! ;o)

I really do try and be a good gurl and use my own bottle water but....this is just more convenient!! ;op

And lately I have been trying to feed my mind & spirit more regularly with

I feel like this is my best self-help book and I need to pick it up more often. This one is my fav B.ible out of all the ones I have b/c it has all my notes in it from years and years and years.

Despite it being all busted up. I really need to look into how I can salvage the bind on it and get a new cover.

Well that is all for now! Have a fantastic weekend!! :oD

First, I must say Thank You to everyone who took the time to let me know why you started to blog and how it may have evolved in its purpose over time for you.

And I was also happy to hear from lurkers and bloggers who normally don't come on out and comment Yah!!!

I figured since I asked you all that question I should answer it too! ;o) And had intended to do just that from the beginning!

I too felt lonely in my knitting world and was searching for others that shared the same enthusiasm as I did for knitting.

I lurked for a long time as well on other knit blogs that gave me inspiration to say "Hey! I want to knit like that one day"!
And at the time I was reading only a handful ;o) that has soooo changed now! Haha!

I wanted to start a blog, but was hesitant for a couple of reasons.

I had started a personal blog before (you won't be able to find it now) and couldn't keep up with it! So I was concerned about my faithfulness to this blog. As you can see that is not a problem! ;op LOL It may take a long time for me to reveal my true feelings, but you can't get me to stop talking about knitting!

Also, not having a digital camera made me hesitate in getting a blog going too.
Even though nice pictures (that you could actually decipher!) really are not required in having a blog, I knew it would definitely help since I was going to afterall blog about my knitting! Haha!

Since this was pre-Ravelry era, I originally started to blog primarily so I could keep track of my knitted projects. And that is still true today despite the wonderful Ravelry tool.

I like writing out in-depth project notes so if I ever wanted to come back to that particular project I could remember what the heck I did! ;op
Also, it is my hope to help others who may have the same questions or challenges I had with the project.

Since I like it when others provide details on their projects too, I figure I should do the same thing! Kind of like a 'pay it forward' thing ;o)

BUT I swear blogging has truly helped me in keeping my knitting mojo. I am positive I would not have cranked out as many F.O. if it wasn't for the 'accountability' factor and everyone's encouragement!!

I also was pleasantly pleased that my very own personal small 'knitter' community started forming!
Despite all the swaps (formal/informal - big/small), I love the fact that I can talk/commiserate with and bounce/share ideas with my knitting buds!
I just heart y'all!! :oD

My intent for my blog has changed some since I started and I now use it as a tiny outlet to express myself. As you all know I only share a tadbit! ;op Haha! Which in the beginning I normally would not have done that.

What I have come to realize is that I just needed another outlet that has been nothing but a positive experience and helped my creativity.

So no matter how often I do it, what I talk about, or how long my posts are I am glad that I am bloggin' for ME!
But I must say it is very nice when you come around too! ;o)

Until next blog time!

It has been a little while since I've done a blogstalking entry and decided that it will be done my way from now on! ;o)

I have been in a slight frenzy about making sure my yarn does not get eaten up by dreaded m.o.t.h.s Shhhhhhh!

Or any other critter whose sole purpose and intent is to destroy my fiber!!! Ugh!

So I have begun to individually bag my yarn up and getting moth packets to put in my larger storage bins (all of two). And I refuse to get anymore than that, hence my yarn fasting! ;o)

This week I did dine on some (as my girl Nik would say) "gourmet" eggplant parmesanIt was frozen!! Haha!!Alright! Alright!! It doesn't look exactly like the box, but it was wonderful!! Can't beat 3 servings for $7 bucks! :o) Gotta luv some Super W.ally W.orld!

I did start on a mini knit that has been stalled for about two weeks now.

As there is just one problem.....

Um yeah...I refuse to buy more yarn! Haha! So it will be ripped back and try it again with another idea.

I also have been in a shedding/cleaning mode. And started with my mountain of laundry

Don't get excited...that is the "cute" pile! ;op Can't show ya all my biz!! LOL

Well just checkin' in with y'all! Until next blog time

I felt the love all day long for my birthday!!

Every blue moon....I may get out, have a good time, look at some eye candy and shake a tail feather or two ;op
This was one of those far and few in between moments!

CIAA is a yearly event that has been going on for 63 years!! It is a collegiate tournament of historically black colleges women and men basketball competitions.

This tournament has been in Charlotte for 3 years now and grossed an estimate of $27 million last year for our local economy!
Which is no surprise why the Queen City wanted it again for another 3 years and got it!

I took part in the festivities of course! ;op And believe it or not I actually went to a basketball game! Haha!


May I also add that my alma mater JCSU men's basketball team WON this year's CIAA tournament!! Yah Baby!!! :o)

This has been a sad & rough week for me emotionally. My aunt passed away and it was so unexpected. It shook our family. For those who don't know I was basically raised by all 6 of my aunts in some capacity. Having one of them leave here eternally was something I hadn't experienced yet, since the tragic death of my mother. And signaled for me a reality that I have been avoiding....the 'what happens when so & so.....' thoughts.

Going to the funeral this weekend provided good closure for me (it was a sad celebration...if that makes any sense?) and a mini family reunion you wish never had to happen under those circumstances.

Everyone be blessed and go tell the ones you love, just how much you really do love them - no matter how hard it could be or what may be going on. For our time here is only as long as a blink of an eye.

Since I can't locate my baby book at the moment (now I am concerned), this is the oldest pic of me I could muster upOf course it had to be the classic baby sprawl picture that every parent made their child under the age of 12 months take! LOL I was 5 months in the pic above :o)

And the whole point of doing this Blogstalking Series is to reveal a little more about myself. I decided to share a few more stills with you all as a bonus (no meme Cas!).

Since the holidays just passed and all...here is one of my favorite childhood picturesYep I look real happy there huh? Haha! It appears as if I wanted to jump off of S.antas lap! lol That is my brother rockin' his plaid pants! ROTFL! I was 2 years old in that photo.

Here is a pic of my little P.ochonatas (my niece) that I talk about from time to time. Being the pretty little princess she is and all.And even though it will be almost 70 degrees here today (crazy funky weather!) it is surely cold with lots of snow in W.isconsin (where I am originally from and grew up)!
Come on! Every child had to eat some good ole snow!!! :o) Ha! You haven't lived if you haven't tried it! :oD

I typically blog about knitting 98% of the time, after all that was my whole purpose and intent on starting this blog!

And every now and then I will slip in the other 2% things about me ;o)

Well since I really do not care for memes or tags

I figured I would try out Blogstalking!! :oD

I have seen it float around for some time now, mainly on two blogs that I read often CPurl and Sweet Knittilicious (go check them out!)

And I thought how fun that would be! I checked into it and the rules are really simple! Vote on an assignment, post it up when you can or you can sit out if you want to - no pressure, join anytime! Heck I can do that! Plus the assignments have been really fun!

So I signed up for Knitty Blogstalking 2: The Re-awakening!! and will be catching up on my post assignments over time! :oD

Lets start with the 1st one:

~ Who Am I? ~

~ 1st and foremost I believe and try to live as a Christian woman. I really can't deny how God's hand has always been over my life. And I love worshipping online while I knit!! :oD

~ I am a sister to my only sibling (my older brother) who has now made me a proud auntie to my 4 year old niece (fondly called Little Miss Pocahontas Haha!).

~ I am a motherless daughter. Our mother passed away tragically when I was only 5 years old.

~ I am a woman of service. I not only have a passion and give of my time for youth (remember I used to be a Girl Scout leader!), but I also intentionally work in the nonprofit field that supports kids. And I am active in a very large service organization called D.elta S.igma T.heta Sorority.

~ I am a "people connector". I love getting like-minded people together (whether it is friends, groups, organizations, etc) and seeing how we all can learn, benefit, and have a good time with each other!

~ I am hermit!! :o) As much as I am "Ms. Social Butterfly" and like to be out and about interacting with others, I also need and require time to just be alone to power back up for later. I will go into my own 'cocoon' and will not talk to anyone or go out for longer than "normal" periods of time according to others.

Well there you have it! A 2% window view about me for now! :op

I is tired.....yep :op

I went out of town this weekend to visit a girlfriend and had a really nice time! :o)

We hung out, caught up on each other's lives since our last frequent telephone convo, laughed, watched some movies, and ate some good food (I do need to mention that she is from New Orleans and made some slammin' jambalaya!).

My gurl treated her sistah (literally and figuratively) in so many ways very well!

This short getaway even got me to break out the needles to knit! (Yep I pulled Lillian out of the bag again)

Not to mention the little incentive of getting my nails done! :op

I now have Perfect 10s :o)

*sings* Shawty U a 10...a 10!! :op LOL Some of y'all will get that! :oD

Well while I was visiting Raleigh, NC I of course had to stop and check out the LYS.
Sidebar: Please excuse & ignore the haphazard colors of diluted red and my green shirt mixed together in this pic. This color combo has never matched but has taken on a fashion life trend of its own!! ;op LOL!!! (that was for you Michelle! HAHA). Erica do you see my cute casual clutch?! I did match it up with my gold shoes. :oD Too bad they didn't make the pic! But it was Oooh so cute together!! *Shawty U a 10....a 10* Hahaha!

Anyway, my visit was very short (all of about 10 minutes) but not sweet. Now y'all know this was going somewhere!

Why you ask? Mmmh I walked in this very small shop, as a visitor, and was not greeted. Mmmh no worries...it is busy - after all it is right in the middle of a Saturday afternoon (cashier happily bagging people up).

Then I heard a woman asking a few people did they need help with anything....except for me. Again...mmh I am sure I was just overlooked. Literally! In fact, she walked past me and said "Excuse Me" (and not in the most nice way IMO).

Right after that....I left! No worries, I did come to visit looking to spend some money but I won't ever be back! LOL

Now mind you I did call literally 2 minutes before I set foot in there to say I was visiting and wanted to clarify directions. They were nice over the phone, and in fact I had ordered some patterns from them a few months earlier (i.e. Sugar 'N Spice) and they were very helpful and sweet then. So I was really excited about the visit!

But unfortunately didn't leave impressed. Maybe they were just having an "off" day...*shrugs* who knows...I won't be finding out either! LOL And didn't feel like wasting my energy to bring it to their attention. There are other fish I would rather fry - if you know what I mean.

Here is what the shop looked like on the inside (very tiny - that is the exact size except for the check-out counter not pictured on my right side). Ironically there is no one in the shot b/c it slowed down just that fast!

Interesting enough as I was leaving out and snapped this pic the cashier made sure to bid me farewell and said come back again! HA! Yeah right!

Well, all of this got me to thinking about how folks treat their visitors - in any scenario/circumstance (i.e. work, home, knit clubs, etc.)

Even if you know who your visitors are OR you don't - Do you treat everyone the same??

I saw this on my new swap buddy's blog Janet a.k.a. Twisted Knitter (just learning more about her). And thought this was a Fun Friday post!

Y'all know I love red! So why not! :oD

You Are Apple Red

You're never one to take life too seriously, and because of it, you're a ton of fun. And although you have a great sense of humor, you are never superficial. Deep and caring, you do like to get to the core of people - to understand them well. However, any probing you do is light hearted and fun, sometimes causing people to misjudge you.

There has been a little secret that I have been keeping from all of you.

Yep, it is time to fess up.

I have another silent hobby that I don’t really expose to others anymore.
I actually used to be head over heels in creating handmade greeting cards! :o) I was a “Stampin Up” girl! Yes, I was a crafty somebody before the knitting took over me! :op

It really has been a long time since I have been actively involved in this hobby. Over 8 years ago one of my girlfriends hooked me into it and we would have all night stamping sessions and go to various Stampin Up parties together. That feels like eons ago! I really enjoyed it!!

Sadly, my girlfriend moved out of state and things had not been right since then! LOL I still kept up with my stamping for a little while but without the camaraderie of my girlfriend I slowly let the hobby go.
Folks who knew me when I used to do the cards still ask me from time to time if I am still making them! Especially, once they hear about me knitting now.

I recently took pics of some of the cards I saved from years ago that I wanted to keep as samples. Honestly I really was just a novice at all of the stampin’. I have seen people make mini masterpieces with these cards!
Here is some of my work:

Like knitting you only wanted to give out those “especially-made-for-you-one-of-a-kind-cards” out to someone who would appreciate it!! :o)

Well stamping and scrapping have come a long way since I started out 8 years ago! There are so many new gadgets and now you can do it digitally!! Wow!! There are scrapping and stamping blogs everywhere and a new lingo I don’t even understand!! :oD With all of that….I am still not really interested in getting back into the hobby! HA!

However, I did dust off the cobwebs of my stampin’ supplies and sent out a couple of cards recently. You know every now and then it will just “hit me” :op

I really was inspired pull everything down (literally) after I discovered my Red Color Swap Pal - Channon stamps/scraps herself! So I thought to myself she would be someone that would be pleased about my little creation and understand what it took to make it! After all she is a crafter herself! For all of those who wanted to see her reveal red package you can click here. She got it and loved it!

I even went out to my local box chain store, H.obby L.obby – the HL to some of y’all :o) and purchased some layout paper and facing along with a new stamp!! I did discover I needed new rubber stamp markers since they all dried up on me! But I am not worrying about investing in that again at this time :op I was surprised to discover my stamping ink pads still had color left in them! Ha! I was motivated enough to check in with the nearest Stampin’ Up consultant and may sign up for a party soon…..we will see!

It was so weird!! I forgot all the little tidbits on how to orient my paper on the cutting board and all the magic measurements! Also, with my old stampin’ buddy we would share our resources and I remembered she had a lot of the embellishments I would use like the embossing items! Shish!
I am NOT going out to buy this stuff for an ‘every blue moon when the wolf howls’ moment when I decided to stamp! LOL :oD

Well when I got started in the process I got excited again and was so proud of my little creations (I made a twin of course)!! Here is the card I made for Channon with my new stamp and papers



It felt good to go thru the process again of making the cards. I missed doing it and I really missed my stampin’ buddy. I will need to give her and ring and even slip a card to her in the mail ;o) Sadly she doesn’t stamp anymore either….sigh

Let me just make this announcement now! Loud & clear that I will NOT be picking this back up as a full-time hobby. :oD I just like playing with all of those things from time to time!

Knitting is my main hobby and I will say I actually like it better for a few reasons. In knitting your projects for the most part are very portable. One of the things I hated about stampin/scrappin is lugging all of your stuff from place to place/house to house with others. A minor irritation, but you definitely can’t wait in line to stamp/scrap or how about while you drive! :op Haha! Just kidding! Y’all know what I mean! You can’t take it on the plane with you or short car trips to a quick vacation spot. It just ain’t happening! All that organizing, cutting, and cleaning up makes this craft not the easiest “take-along”. I love that you can do that with knitting!!

The other big difference between stamping cards (not scrap booking) and knitting is that it can be much more disposable. With stamping cards you make them and they will more than likely go in a box somewhere or to my horror ultimately end up in the trash. With knitting it typically is a useful and wearable item that someone would feel more compelled to use or at least keep! And that makes me sleep a little better! Hahaha! :o)
Besides I enjoy the thrill of fondly yarn and picking out patterns for my next creation and watching it slowly grow on my needles (yeah I take my sweet ole time! LOL). And there is no way this crafter over here can maintain two hobbies! Knitting takes up enough of my budget!!! :op Sorry, the paper and ink can’t be cutting in on my yarn and book splurges! :oD

Okay this post turned out to be much longer than I anticipated!

If you have read every word of my ramblings up to this point and can read this fine print I am so proud of you and know that you are a truly my blogger friend! :oD

Until next blog time!

Day 1 was actually a dreary (overcast with light rain here and there) and cool day (70s) so we were definitely not thinking about swimsuits! All of the indoor activities ended up being perfect even though we still ventured down by the ocean.

Day 2 was muuuuch better and ended up hot/sunny with me having a slight sunburn and resulting in me turning at least 3 shades darker! LOL But by then I was over the whole beach thing. It was much busier on this day. Folks every.where!

Plus, when I did get up to "dip" my toes in the water this little 2 year old boy about two feet away from me hurls pink projectile into the ocean!!! EWWWWWWW I was d.o.n.e and promptly went back to sit on my beach towel!! (I kinda felt bad for him, but then was still disgusted!).

Well I gotta show y'all one more thing I saw on my trip at the Ripley's museum:

CLICK HERE for a larger pic

Can you believe that!! No extra-marital sex or homosexuality!! Next to none! Zelch! And wardrobes of them!

What really got me was the very LAST sentence!! COME ON!!! You GOTTA be kidding me!!!

Wow! Is all I could say and snapped the picture! Hahaha! :oD