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Marriage: The first year.

I absolutely love the way she sleeps. :)

When people tell you the first year of marriage is not a walk in the park, believe them. I rushed into this whole relationship and it has definitely been quite an eventful ride. We moved in together only after a couple months, married before a year and then instantly became pregnant with a precious baby girl. Sometimes I wish I would've taken things a lot slower. There's so many things you don't see until you live together, until you become his wife. All those little things that drive you crazy, you didn't realize that he's one of those guys who does all those things! But at the end of the day, no matter how crazy it drives you, he's still your love. I have to say, if it weren't for the grace of God, we wouldn't have been able to stand each other at all. So I must say, God is good!

After you've ignored all your Aunties' advice that's when you realize they were right and you have so much to learn. That you don't know everything. So ladies, when the older women in your family give you advice, take it and remember it. Your life will be so much easier and drama-free!

I have this Aunt who just loves to talk, so she lectures anyone and everyone nearby. You don't even have to be related to her, lol! She gives you quite an earful but definitely speaks out of love. She wants the best and you're too busy thinking you know it all. My mom was never around so I guess with that I always thought, she's not my mom. Who is she to talk to me this way? Eh, dumb move grasshopper! She is now one of my favorite aunties. Everytime I'm in town I'll try to visit her and get some good home cooked chinese food while I'm there.

Now let's move on to the more important topic, baby update!
She did it, she said her first word two days ago, Sunday morning. "Mama." I'm so proud of her especially since she's only three months old. Also, another great milestone, when I say Ohhhh, she says it too. And speaks her jibberish when I speak to her. She's such a smart baby! Thank God! I was hoping she would be! Below is a video of my baby girl speaking to me.

I'm just about ready to run out and buy all of the Baby Einstein videos!

I found this pattern. Fell in love with it and decided to try it out! I loveee this scarf/cowl. One of my favorite pieces.

Since I had my little munchkin I have absolutely no time to knit. =\ I have a very demanding two month old and the whole apartment to clean. I should be grateful we don't have a house yet but the storage would do wonders. Our issue is we just don't have much storage here! There's no pantry, barely enough cabinets and cupboards in the kitchen. We just have too much stuff!



My birthday passed and here's what Hubby got me. :] Well more like he's been asking me for weeks what I wanted and I finally decided like two weeks past my birthday, lol. I'm terrible when it comes to decisions and making up my mind. These are the Anne Michlle by Journee from Target. Definitely a steal! Only $34.99! You can't beat those for a pair this cute! These fit true to size since they run a little large. Honestly I'm thinking about trying to persuade Hubby to buy these in grey for my anniversary present! I love them that much!



And now I will end with some chubby cuteness. :)

I finally did it!

I finally figured out how to crochet! I'm so excited! Hopefully this new love doesn't take over my knitting. Lol. I think I'm going to start with a simple heart, then granny square, then who knows? I might end up with a huge afghan of granny squares lol.

Baking addiction...

Hubby bought me a cupcake/muffin pan. And I have not stopped baking since I got it. A dozen cupcakes disappear before the day is through. When it comes to sweets, his family is huge on sweets and so it's no surprise that atleast half are gone before I wake up from my nap. And since I'm pregnant and my family are huge on sweets as well, it's no surprise that I help him finish everything, lol.

I remember when I was in high school, one of my younger cousins learned how to make Red Velvet Cake while she was in Georgia visiting family. Although, she was given a family recipe, I guess she must have skipped a step or forgotten something. Plus baking, you must be very precise with measurements, so that could also be a factor.

Being a huge food fan, I love watching cooking shows, and pretty much shows about food. Food Network recently aired "Cupcake Wars" and I've been addicted ever since. And almost every single baker on that show claims to have THE BEST Red Velvet Cupcakes.

So, I decide to try it out, although I wish I knew to get the big bottle of red food coloring! And they came out amazing! I took a recipe from simplyrecipes and compared it to Paula Deen's. We all know she is famous for anything to do with food, especially sweet treats! Paula uses oil instead of butter and simply recipes uses butter instead of oil. From past experiences I know that oil makes a very moist cake. So I decide to mix butter and oil, so the outcome would be a moist yet melt in your mouth sturdy cupcake, instead of an oily disaster. No offense Paula!



Here's my take on red velvet with smooth, delicious cream cheese frosting.

Big news ...!

I'm pregnant! :D 5 weeks and some days and this little sucker is making me gag at some terrible smells. Thank God for no morning sickness, or just yet atleast. Well, it's time to get cracking on some knitwork for the little booger growing in my tummy.


You can barely see but there's a very faint line there too. Two positives yay!

Bubba's afraid of laying on me or sleeping with his hand on my belly lol. So cute that he's overprotective about the growing fetus in me. It's wonderful to have such a loving man.

Updates ...

As of March 5, 2010 I was officially married to the love of my life. :) A few days later I found this wonderful job. Waitress and all of the above at two chinese restaurants. Keeps me busy, happy and fed. :) I'm not knitting very much these days because I work basically everyday.

Life is kinda wonderful apart from the non-knitting and apartment searching. Booooo! But I have my wonderful bubbas so I am very content.

First day

...today was my first day of work. I've been unemployed for practically the last 6 months or so. And I did awesome! Definitely impressed my boss. :) And one of my co-workers is also an avid knitter. Well she does mostly crochet now but she does knit here and there. I will master the art of crochet one of these days... Even if it takes me forever!! :)

First lace scarf !

I've relocated with my Bubs. Unfortunately he is out of a job and I was already unemployed. Thankfully his godfather took us in until we can get back on our feet. So nice to have family! So 3 days of constant packing, cleaning and moving and unpacking. I'm a tired little bee, but that doesn't keep me from knitting. Of course not! I'm one of those girls who keeps a skein or two of yarn and a small pouch of knitting tools in my purse. Constantly knitting everywhere I go. So here's what I started...



I finally decided to try a lace pattern and I'm loving the outcome. :) I have got to get ahold of more yarn soon because I'm almost out of my Sugar'n Cream. Boo!! =( I absolutely loveee this yarn! It's so soft and smooth.



I'm almost done. Will post more pictures upon completion. Since I had other things to do, I was not able to finish in the two days like I normally do. Rawrrr, but since I'm almost out of yarn, this definitely satisfied my obsession for the time being. I guess I'll have to do something with my baby bouncle. So irritating to knit with but absolutely soft when completed. Rawrrr!

New pattern

Possibly my next project Branching Out.

White Chocolate covered Strawberry Rosemary Scones

Absolutely delicious! Giada's strawberry and rosemary scones but instead of her glaze, I used white chocolate. I didn't have any non-holiday related cookie cutters or strawberry jam. I used a cute little snowman and a small piece of fresh strawberry on top of each. Definitely something I will be making again and again.

Completed at 12:05 AM!

I'm finally done, yay! And I absolutely loveee it!

Alone

I guess I have to get used to spending special occasions alone, such as Valentine's Day and Anniversaries... Well, atleast I have my knitting, right?

Birthday strawberries :)

Happy 9 months for me and my Babe. <3



Babe and I went to the grocery store and we didn't have enough for everything we got so Babe decided on his own to take out MY strawberries. =( I was so sad! So I said, it's your cigarettes, that's why we don't have enough! And so the cashier stuck the big box of strawberries in a bag and said "Happy Birthday!" :D I was so happy! I guess since she knew I was too broke to do anything for my birthday, I could atleast have my strawberries. She's such a sweetie!



I spent almost all night knitting. I couldn't sleep because I wanted to finish or atleast get close to it. Just 3.5 panels to go and I'm done. Yay! And it matches one of my favorite 3/4 sleeve sweaters from Target. :D It's so nice when you happen to have something that matches what you're knitting. I would probably wear it with almost everything anyway but still. It's nice. :)

Addicted much?

You know you're addicted to knitting when you keep atleast 2 skeins of yarn in your purse along with a small pouch which contains knitting tools.



My purse. :) I absolutely love days like these. Babe works with his Dad and since he's in construction and is constantly on the move, I'm able to tag along in the truck. I bring a bag/backpack with snacks, books, lots of yarn, knitting tools and, of course, my ipod! While Babe works, I get to start on books just sitting on the shelf or complete knitting projects just sitting on needles. It's nice to have that little bit more quality time together. Every little bit counts. :) And fortunately for us, we can never spend too much time together. Absolute bliss. <3



Dinnertime. :) We haven't had very much food in the fridge for the past few weeks since business is pretty slow and checks seem to disappear in the mail. So having meat in my dinner is quite a luxury tonight. Instead of spaghetti noodles, I used these small twisted noodles. My spaghetti sauce smells like deliciously seasoned spaghetti sauce since I love to melt mild cheddar in it. (Sometimes half mozzarella cheese if on hand.) Just garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and a little chopped parsley. And when I do remember to make garlic bread, I'm in heaven. So spaghetti and grape soda for me tonight. Yum!



Let's not forget dessert. No matter how full or bloated I get, I will always have room for dessert! Babe did a great job choosing ice cream. He always gets his Pecan Praline or something close to it if it's not on sale. Caramel Caribou was this week's choice. And boy was it delicious! Delicious choclate bits and Denali Caramel infused in Toffee ice cream. And of course, my cold mocha coffee. :) Which will be put aside while I knit through the night. I'm excited about completing my scarf!



The scarf is pretty close to completion. I should finish tonight or tomorrow morning. It's turning out beautifully. My first attempt at adding colors. Normally I would purchase yarn which is already dyed in different colors. This time I decided to go for a crisp green and cream combo and I absolutely adore it! This time, the scarf is for me. I guess this is my late birthday present to myself. :)

Youtube Video

I finally decided to make a video of my current february completed and in-progress knits. I love this video-making program, it's fun! :)

Song: I don't wanna wait - Playbreezy ft. Sokhary
This is the song that's always stuck in my head, loveee it!

Starts off with:
1. Birthday yarn
2. Cloverleaf eyelet scarf in progress to completion
3. Cable border (still on hold)
4. Striped eyelet scarf (cream & green still knitting)



Enjoy! Love, domesticjenne.

Striped scarf

I absolutely love the contrast of these colors. Plus they look so good together!

Lonely Valentine's Night

It's 7:02 PM on Valentine's Day and I'm spending it knitting alone at home. Either I have a problem or I'm just that lonely?

First attempt at knitting with the cable needle

I bought this cable needle quite a few months ago and the first actual attempt, I failed terribly. So I decided to try again but on a small project, cable border for a blanket. It went so smooth! And I was completely fascinated with the outcome too!
So I've decided to create a scarf out of it. I finished a whole ball of yarn with just that one long piece. I'm not sure if I want an eyelet design for the middle panel or the cable for the middle panel. We'll see soon. :) Here's a few pictures, enjoy!

Christa's Scarf

Here's the completed scarf hanging in her closet. :) That makes me so happy. And she wore it the next day to work. And a co-worker of hers wanted to copy my work, lol. I guess I did better than I thought. I'm actually tempted to make one for myself but in green. I forgot to ask Christa to model it for me, so I did with headless shots, lol. I think this was the hardest pattern I've done so far and I conquered it! As a beginner knitter, it's definitely a big accomplishment!

So here are the other pictures modeling my beautiful knit-work. :)