life's a little more simple here

Well, we're back in Athens and getting settled in. I'm mentally preparing myself to start back up to work on Monday (yuck - where has this summer gone??!), and Jake's hopped back on the job search train. Our trip was amazing - I'd never been to Vermont, so it was really fun to explore. Vermont is so different - hardly any big box stores (we only saw one wal-mart), lots of local restaurants as opposed to chain and fast food, and in almost every restaurant we ate, we found fresh, local ingredients. A bumper sticker we saw summed it up quite nicely: "Vermont - life's a little more simple here".

And the scenery....well, let's just say I could easily move there next week. It's just beautiful.

We enjoyed a week of relaxing, hiking and exploring the state. We took a day trip down to see the Green Mountain Spinnery - it was so cool!

We stopped by a wildflower farm - it was just amazing! So quiet, peaceful and beautiful.

We took a gondela ride up to the top of the mountain so that we could hike down and enjoy the beautiful scenery surrounding us - it was truly breathtaking.

And we took a day trip to Burlington, which is now my favorite town.

You can see the rest of my pictures on my flickr page!

As far as my knitting is going, I have a fun and exciting project that's going to be revealed in the next few days, so make sure to check back! I have lots of other things I'm working on that aren't ready to be talked about here yet, so there's plenty more to come!

a brief absence

I do, however, have an excuse for this one rather than just saying "I've been busy" or something like that. We've been on vacation!! We've been in Killington, Vermont for the past week with Jake's parents, and it's been so amazing! I'll share more tomorrow or Monday when we're back in Athens and I've got some pictures to post, but for now I'll share my latest FO:

me, with 8 inches less hair, a new shawl and surrounded by wild flowers

That's right. I jumped on the bandwagon and knitted the Haruni Shawl by Emily Ross (My ravelry link here). It was my first time knitting with Malabrigo yarn, and now I understand what all the fuss is about. It's incredible. And that word doesn't even do it justice. It's like knitting with clouds. But softer. 

And now I'm obsessed.