New Hobbies And The Woe They Bring

I have a somewhat compulsive habit of starting new projects and trying new hobbies every couple of months or so. While this practice has been pretty enjoyable for the most part (minus the frustration of figuring out these new projects), it has the downside of leading to even more projects. My little projects provide a nice break from reading, even if they are pretty slow-going since they are strictly post-studying projects. Currently, I have taken up knitting, but toting my yarn around in a plastic bag just doesn't look good or provide much storage. So my new project to accommodate my knitting is this cute knitting bag. It's an Amy Butler pattern that I made out of my favorite Michael Miller fabric. Isn't it lovely?


It turned out great, but it was more work than I was expecting. At least it will provide a nice temporary home for my knitting projects. Here's a sweater and a hat I made:


Next I'm going to knit some reusable pads for my Swiffer (a truly indispensable cleaning tool in an apartment with all-tile floors). For my next funny hobby I've decided to try my hand at, Garrett is getting me Photoshop for Valentine's. Hopefully that hobby goes as well as this one has so far.

Happy New Year!

Our New Year's was pretty uneventful since Garrett had to work, but I can't complain about the great year that we had. I decided to steal a cute idea from another blog that I read, so here's a list of the first sentence from the first post of every month in 2008:

January: Back to studying, back to the job search and back to no more free time.

February: You can tell it's almost Spring when there are plenty of baby showers to go to.

March: I'm going to Costa Rica!

April: As I'm sure all of you have guessed, Garrett and I are smack dab in the middle of finals.

May: Garrett graduated last Friday!!!

June: ¡Hola!

July: I’ve never been to Hawaii…but I’m already convinced that Manuel Antonio is one of the best places in the world to spend a vacation.

August: I know you are all eagerly awaiting news of what Mom and I have been up to in Costa Rica.

September: Hi everybody!

October: We had so much fun hanging out with Heather and Jim, Jenny and Aaron, and cute little Jason at Jim's family cabin last weekend.

November: Please forgive the super late Halloween photos!

December: This was the view from outside our apartment on Monday.

It's so strange to look over the posts from the last year. A lot of great things happened in our lives, like Garrett's graduation and my trip to Costa Rica. Even the fun little things like our trip to Arches and Garrett's first time at Timpanogos Cave are so great to look back on, but a lot of the posts also show that as much as our lives change, they also stay the same. Last January I was doing the same thing I'll be doing this January, trying to figure out what to do with the summer. And one other constant is being busy, busy busy!

For 2009, we are really looking forward to all the surprises the new year has in store, but also hoping that things don't change too much. We love our cozy apartment in the Village, being so close to family, and even the challenge of busy schedules to keep us on our toes. We wish you all the best for 2009, and hope that you continue to enjoy some of the best of 2008. Happy New Year!