They Call the Wind Mariah

Hey everybody!! Remember me? This is Kristy. Resident neglectful blogger over here at Ok! What Next? I’ve missed ya’ll so much!!! And I’m sorry to have been so negligent in my blogging duties. The new job has really kept me on my toes. Overwhelmed me, even, for a while there. I’ve never taken over a job from someone who’d left involuntarily. It was the fair isles of job changes. So many loose ends to deal with, I would hardly see where to begin. And beyond that, I’ve had to completely reprogram myself to this going to work at 7:00 a.m. stuff.

So, in the midst of the chaos, I went out of town. We left on Saturday for a little trip. Guess where we went…

Here’s a hint.















And another one.















And another one.















Nothing?















How about this one?















Or this one…















Yep!














I’ve been in Vegas for 5 days. The HP had a convention to go to and I got to tag along. Back in September, well before I went to work at my new job, we had arranged for me to go with him. Now that we work at the same place, I got to go along on this trip AND I got to call it work. It was great. We had such a good time and it was nice to relax and be away for a few days. (This was my first visit to Sin City. The pictures I’d seen and the stories I’d heard didn’t tell half the story. It really is so big and so bright and so . . . Vegas.)

(In case you care, those flamingos and the waterfall are both from the "wildlife refuge" located at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino. The hills are as seen from the approach road leading up to McCarren airport. Following those: the front view of New York New York, the entrance to Caesar's Palace (where we stayed) and the fabulous and fascinating Luxor Hotel & Casino. Oh, and of course, the good old Welcome to Las Vegas sign.)

It has just been pretty much a crazy, busy, frantic whirlwind ever since before Christmas. I took some knitting along on the trip but I didn’t really accomplish anything. That’s ok. I still need to get my little pattern tidied up so I can try to finalize that project. Do I still have volunteers out there willing to be test knitters?

I’ve been trying to catch up with everyone. Even though it seems I am the worst offender, it gave me a little peace of mind to see that I was not the only one to have been distracted over the last month or so. I’ve been reading off and on. Thank you so much to those of you who’ve stopped by while I’ve been absentee. Is there something screwy going on with typepad? I’ve noticed I haven’t been able to look at some of the usual blogs and that’s been troubling. Help me catch up - is there any major news I've missed or overlooked? Stephanie, are you still back in SC temporarily? Amanda, how's the apartment? KnitOneLondon Kristy - where are the pictures of the Banff??? Rhett, how's work? Meaghan...where are you? I haven't been able to access your blog lately. Susan, any exciting spinning news? And the rest of you - how are things?

Tonight we are watching Beyond the Sea with Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth. It is a movie about Bobby Darin. The HP is a huge fan of Bobby Darin and all of his contemporaries. I'm not sure how we missed this one. I do know, though, that I should be in bed. We didn't get home until late last night and had to be back at work today. I'm going on 4 hours of sleep. Earlier I watched 9 to 5 and slogging through the Christmas and Vegas pictures. Some movies never grow old. And the new camera is just dreamy. Soon I’ll have knitting pictures to show you, too. (What do ya'll think of the pictures? A vast improvement over the cell phone photos, huh?? Soon I will have edited my travel pictures enough to show you the dead rat scarf I saw a lady wearing at the airport Saturday. eek)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your 2006 is shaping up to be the latest and greatest of years. How are you? Drop me a line and say hi. I’ve really and truly missed you all. I’ve got two packages in my car that I’ve been supposed to mail off since…umm, since before Christmas. Hi Margene. Hi Cara. Oops. They will get in the mail. I mean it.

Ahh....it feels good to get it all out. All of those words got built up and now I've poured them out. Whew! I feel better!!! : )


Have I ever told ya’ll about Katy? Katy is my twin sister. She sent me the above picture in an email earlier today. The email was titled "The Saddest Email You've Ever Seen". Next Wednesday is Katy's birthday.