Category: Travel

2025-Charleston, SC (40th Anniversary)

1.16: Ready for takeoff

Vicki9 Comments

Well, almost ready… laundry is done but I haven’t packed yet!

In less than 24 hours, Rusty & I will be winging our way to Charleston, SC, for a long weekend away. We’re checked in & complimentary upgrade seats are secured. Kate’s taking us to O’Hare later today and we’re staying at the O’Hare Hilton tonight (with a runway view, of course)… because I booked a pretty early flight.

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We’re celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary on the 20th — in my view, the only important thing happening that day!

Prior to that, I have some very loose plans that include lunch on Friday at Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop and a grocery stop at a new-to-me grocery chain called Harris Teeter on our way to our Kiawah Island Airbnb. Once we arrive there, Kiawah Beachwalker Park is a definite must, and possibly an evening run over to Freshfields Village… or maybe that’ll be on one of the other days.

The weather forecast has improved a bit since I started keeping tabs… it might still rain a little on Saturday, but I think we’re going to head over to Beaufort for the Oyster Festival! On the way, we’ll be making stops at Shoolbred Family Cemetery, the Old Sheldon Church Ruins (at the recommendation of my local LYS owner), and whatever else catches our eye.

On Sunday, we’ll head back to Charleston proper for a couple of art gallery/museum visits. City Gallery and The Gibbes Museum of Art are on the list. I’m very excited about the Children of Indigo exhibit at City Gallery. I also want to stop by Rainbow Row. If we visit Fort Sumter, it’ll happen on this day. I’ve made reservations at FortyEight Wine Bar & Kitchen at Freshfields Village for Sunday night — it’s the tail end of Charleston Restaurant Week! That’ll count as our anniversary dinner because…

On Monday, we plan to lay low & relax. Maybe I’ll get some knitting done. (Right now, I have at least four projects packed — a variety of WIPs & stuff that’s not even on the needles yet.) (WHAT?????)

Of course, it’s all subject to change & whimsy.

Tuesday is travel day and, oh boy… there’s SNOW in the forecast! Charleston could see 4″!! Our flight is a little later in the day, so we’ll have plenty of time to leisurely make our way to the airport.

2024-Amsterdam (& Taylor Swift) · NaBloPoMo 2024 (Dec)

12.27

Vicki5 Comments

Our Christmas tree will be up for a little while yet… there are still gifts to exchange with Ann & fam, and that will likely happen on New Year’s Eve.

Since I last mentioned our tree, there have been some decor additions — a dozen or so candy canes, a gigantic bow from someone’s gift, and this:

I saw this idea on IG or somewhere and had everything needed to make it! It’s a plain glass ball filled with some of the Swiftie friendship bracelets that I still have, using the strap from the concert wristband as the hanger.

Ann gave me her wristbands, too, thinking that the girls might like them… but I kept them! I told her to bring her bracelets, and she’ll be making one, too. It’s perfect!

2024-Amsterdam (& Taylor Swift) · NaBloPoMo 2024 (Dec)

12.15

Vicki5 Comments

Our tree has been up for a couple of weeks now, brightening our lives with only the lights.

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It has finally been decorated! I bought this ornament in Amsterdam when Annie & I took the Heineken tour in July. I forgot that I brought it out when actually decorating the tree was still being considered. Ali found it the other night & voila! Decorated!

Cheers!!

Travel · WHP - Winter Happiness Plan

A quick trip to the Twin Cities

Vicki4 Comments

Gregory Alan Isakov has topped my end-of-year Spotify “Wrapped” lists more than once, so when I learned that he’d be at the Excel Center in Saint Paul the first weekend in November tickets were soon acquired. (This is my favorite album.)

It wasn’t until later that we discovered he wasn’t the headliner!

The main act was Nathanial Rateliff & The Nightsweats! They’ve never landed on my “Wrapped” lists, but they do show up on my playlists often enough… and they put on a very enjoyable show!

The concert happened to be on a Saturday night — the weekend before my birthday — and by a stroke of luck, even though it wasn’t a “vacation weekend,” I did have Friday off, so it wasn’t even quite as quick a trip as it might have been.

Kate treated me to birthday dinner on Friday night at Chloe by Vincent… oo la la! I can’t remember the last time I was at a French restaurant, and it was amazing — the food was excellent, service was terrific.

Our hotel was in Minneapolis, so on Saturday, we made our way to Saint Paul via some book stores, coffee shops, thrift shops, an antique shop, and a yarn store!

THE YARNERY was celebrating their grand opening in their new location! I’ve been following all along on IG, but somehow missed that detail. What a lovely shop — each of those alcoves is dedicated to a particular weight of yarn, which is really nice. And there’s so much more — kits, samples galore, and lots of room for community.

We found a couple of new places to eat/drink* and we’ll definitely return! Well, lunch was a return visit… to Lake & Irving. We stopped at Estelle for before-dinner drinks (will stay for dinner next time). Dinner was at due foccacceria… those foccaccia sandwiches were HUGE!

Little (or big) trips are a deliberate part of the Winter Happiness Plan (and, likely, for the How I’m Going To Make It Through the Next Four Years Plan). Eagle River counts. Minneapolis-Saint Paul counts. Dyeing Day with Ali counts. There’s a #whirlwindarttripwithkate (& probably Kai) coming up in a few weeks. Charleston in January. Chicago with the kids (& maybe Ali) in February. Perhaps a hunker-down (& knit) trip to the North Shore in March.

And I just read that Gregory Alan Isakov is going to be (headlining) at Red Rocks next summer… that’s a bucket list venue! We’ll see.

*For various reasons and by choice, alcohol consumption has been limited since the beginning of the month, and I’m happy to report that not only are NA/AF options more plentiful everywhere, they can also be amazing (Estelle, especially, made some very fine cocktails).

#whirlwindarttripwithkate · 2022-Jetsetter Birthday Trip to London · Travel

Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern

Vicki7 Comments

Kaffe on my mind! This is going to be a wordless post except to say this is from the exhibit Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern at London’s Fashion+Textile Museum, which I visited on Nov. 1, 2022 (and never blogged about). We did a lot of other things on that short trip, but this was the main thing… and a little overwhelming! The photos are mostly all “gallery style,” so click to make big & scroll through, if you’d like… the use of color & technique is incredible.

It wasn’t all quilts…

…besides clothing, there was also a lot of needlepoint (the worst lighting in that area, so no photos).

There was a VERY interesting look at the process of producing patterns in different colorways.

Thanks for the indulgence. I know this type of thing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but this reformed “Neutral Girl” just can’t get enough color & pattern these days!