On the road

Well life is travelling at a fast pace and now waiting in the koru lounge for departure on our adventure. Another 24 hours and Stephanie and I will be in the wintery streets of Canterbury nearly.  I have been trying to finish various stitched christmas gifts this week and so far have completed Mum's, Marilyn's (this was its own story as it started with cutting the embroidery the wrong size), Toni's and Gemma's birthday present. This did not take too long and I managed to even get it to her before her departure. 
Every night it seems for the past three weeks have been booked with at least one event and sometimes even two!
Monday night was the last official night class and we went for a class outing to mum's to see all her Christmas trees. The house looked lovely and I was most impressed with all the decorations and the memories. This year I have up the wire tree only and will put on the couple of new ones. Not a lot of creativity has been done with new balls as only one design has been crafted and no pattern written at all.

The day started fairly well with a good wake up and got the washing on. Just as I was going to hang it out thought it looked like rain so put it in dryer. Had four hours at school and everyone took a little longer than it should but all our excess weetbix and milk has been donated. Lunch was entertaining with Layla and Quinn. Picked up at 4 ish by terry and mum and literally dropped at airport. Relaxed in lounge at New Plymouth then boarded and didn't depart. Everyone off, engines on and off, bags off, engines on, engines off, bags on and we reboarded. Finally after a long while we started to taxi and it was a nervous wait. Once off the ground my thought was that if we had to make a crash landing it would be in Auckland so I would be a step closer to international. 

Finally made it to the lounge where a welcome drink was waiting - see adventures of Diane and Stephanie's blog for photos and all updates over the next month. 

Merry Christmas  to all and have a safe, enjoyable new year.  

Finished items for February

This month has been good as I have finished two projects for embroidery and completed two swaps again. This time I have taken photos of them so I hope that they reach their recipients in the northern hemisphere.

Latvian Mat, Finally finished (in the Buddhist style) but not yet dated.

This was a class that our guild ran with Anne Brocas. The colours were a random selection that Maree had on her table and I quite liked. This mat has been around the world once and to California once also. Nearly did not get finished as I lost the threads when I came home in January.

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My blue christmas decoration for swap-bot. I loved my first one which was a star but this one was fun to stitch also.

ATC Swap #6. This was stitched and beaded. lots of fun. my next one also has christmas words as these are the selvedges that I have at the moment.

The wine road

First stop Gary Farrell which is a boutique winery using grapes from other vineyards. Nice Pinot noir but only purchased a cheese board made of marble.

Second stop was Moshin's which mum and Mj had tried a bottle of before while dining at a restaurant in guernville. This had really nice vin Gris and Pinot noir which we bought a bottle for Ewan. Julia our host at this winery was most informative and the best thing they had a quilt display. It was fabulous fabric art.

Third stop was porter creek and greeted by Doug ? Who was putting up the winter lights. Joe our inside host was chatty and informative about the vineyards that some of their grapes came from and also about grapes and the history in general. This was our biggest purchase with bottles to take home to NZ as well as a couple for the cellar in the house.

Driving along MJ told us that she had been this way with Marilyn and they had stopped at Matrix. When they were here in September the gardens were under renovation, but things had progressed albeit not far we thought. They had a great fountain and bones for excellent garden beds. The lady here was uninspiring and we only bought two bottles, one for me and one for Ewan to have. By this time we decided that four wineries was enough and .lunch was the next order of business.

Driving into Healdsburg we found the Town Square quite easily and three hour free parking. We tried the Healdsburg Bar and Grill for lunch. Nice menu and I chose the falafel which was delicious served with lots of lettuce and great sauce. For starters we had deep fried bacon which was interesting. 

More to come as bed time now and have packed ready for trip back to sf.

Las Vegas day one

an adventure from start to finish today as Alex drove us past san Bruno on the way to the airport, we arrived and checked in then found out our plane delayed due to mechanical faults. Better to check. To read more of these adventures go to auntie steffies blog 
After dinner Stephanie and I did a walk around to find out where we need to be in the morning at 6.30 am. Sure is a busy town and so much different from 1988 when the casinos were cheek by jowl and you walked under the store fronts down the street. Lots more lights, characters in the street and people around now. Amazing sights seen everywhere.

Guess where we went?

Day 2 Sightseeing

After a very late to bed time we woke at 8 and were down at breakfast at 9. Ewan arrived to drive us home to get ready for the day. He requested a paper which I had dutifully got for him. Back at the house, party girl Erin, was up so time for coffee, print ticket to Vegas and depart for day two of sightseeing. First destination was the real crookedest street which is not Lombard. Vermont street in protrero hill is really windy. Next along to look around the mission district, going past Fitzgerald's and then down to AT&T park. We stopped and took pictures of the park and the views of the bay then onto the embarcadero and down to Coit tower. Coit Tower was closed for New Years but we had time to walk around and photograph Erin. Back down the hill and through Chinatown, plus some of town. 

Mj suggested that we try the Rotunda restaurant in Newman Marcus for lunch but after four escalators we discovered that were only taking bookings. Still had a nice look at the designer clothes. Next stop was to try Roy's but they were closed. Another drive through Chinatown and we found a place called little szcheuen for lunch. Great choice with pot stickers and five spice beef roll for starters and then mu-shu pork, honey walnut chicken and prawn and pumpkin with chowmein and fried rice for mains. A lovely lunch.

Next stop was Lombard street but queues were so long Mj dropped us off and we walked up the hill and down the street. The traffic was constant. I know it is a holiday but this would be the worst place to live.

Down to fishermans wharf but parking was atrocious so our courteous driver dropped us off and we wandered from the square along to pier 39. Went into the mechanical arcade and some photo booth photos later we left. The crowds were amazing and lots of families obviously out for the day. We got to pier 39 and decided to start shopping so I got some Swarovski and chocolate, then Erin shouted Stephanie and I an ice cream from Dreyers. Was yummy with a chocolate dipped cone and birthday cake ice cream. Picked up by MJ we the. Drove up to union street to have aloof at the shops and onto the haight ashbury area. By this time it was dark and we came home. An early night beckons as we are off to Las Vegas in the morning.