Back To The Grind (long post ahead!)

Oh my goodness, what an amazing and wonderful weekend John and I had down at Virginia Beach!  It was amazing – totally relaxing – with great food, a wine fest, new yarn, sushi, and the most amazing hotel room with a breathtaking view of the ocean. ( And I want to apologize for my grammar and such now – it’s very late, and I have to stay up to get back on my work schedule.)

We decided to stay near the pier, which really was my idea so we could be close to one of our favorite restaurants, The Raven.  I splurged on the hotel room when I booked it, so we could stay at The Boardwalk, a very posh 5 star resort hotel.  And believe me, it was worth every penny.  The staff were amazing – everyone was so helpful and kind.  Especially when the fire alarm went off about ten minutes after we checked into out room and opened a bottle of champagne.  No joke … and we were on the 10th floor.   So instead of waiting for Va Beach’s finest to give us the okay to go back inside, we walked down to the Raven.  And my hair is so nasty in this picture, but it’s a picture of John and me!

It was really warm in there, and we were on our third beers.  So, we went back to the room and … well, we had a great time that night.    Sadly, the sun came into the bedroom at full force at 6am on Saturday, which woke us both up way earlier than I thought was right.  We drove down to The Jewish Mother for breakfast!!!  I love the food there – always so good and so much!  Then, of course … we headed to the yarn store.  I’d wanted to visit a different one than last time (Ewe Knit Kits), so we ended up at The Knitting Corner.  What amazing yarn and even more wonderful ladies there that we met.  Sue, the owner, was very helpful and I even got a 5 % discount for being on Ravelry!  We were talking and I told her about Warm Up Winchester, and she quickly ran behind the counter and came back with two hats for me!

And here’s a great picture of Sue, holding a yarn bouquet!  What a sweet lady!  I highly recommend visiting the shop if you head down that way.

Of course, I can never go to a new yarn store and walk away empty handed!

I picked up a copy of the new Harmony Guides ‘Cables & Arans’, and from the left … Araucania Nature Wool in a beautiful pink with slight variegation, Khroma DK in ‘Blood Orange’ (amazingly soft and the dark orange color is sublime), and the real spoil for me … my ultimate splurge … Frog Tree Hill Alpaca Handpaints!  This yarn is TO DIE FOR!  I picked it up and put it back several times, telling myself that spending nearly $40 on one skein of sock yarn was too much, but I need to learn to really treat myself every once in a while.  Besides, John had no objections!

After the yarn adventure, we headed back to the hotel to drop everything off, and then went down to 17th St to have Old Time Photos taken!!!  Now, I do realize that they say copyright on the back, but I really don’t think anyone is going to hunt me down, not after what I paid for the package deal.  John had never done this before, and we both had a blast.  The folks who work there really love their job and it shows!

Next up we walked down to the Neptune Beach Wine Festival.  Soooo many people, but it was nice to taste some new things, and the wine was only $10 a bottle!  You had to drink it on sight … so two bottles, some cheese and bread later, we huffed it back to the hotel for a nap.  By the way – if you are interested … here are some of the wines we tried that we really liked.

• Jibe Pinot Noir – from New Zealand … amazing – light but woodsy.
• Marcus James Riesling – from Australia …. dry – just the way I like it!
• Twisted River Gewurztraminer – from Germany – off dry and fruity – very delicious!

We headed out for sushi that night, took the trolley to the shops at The Hilton, grabbed a couple more beers at the hotel bar, and then headed to bed.  In the morning, severely grumpy and in need of food, we had breakfast and headed back to Winchester.  Oh man … it was so hard to come back.  Everything this weekend was perfect and it was so hard to leave it.

Have a great week everyone!  I leave you with this.