Blonde Chicken Boutique » travel

Summer Manifesto – West Coast Edition

Tara — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:12:30 +0000

Each season I make a little list of the pleasures I want to soak in. I call them manifestos, but they’re really just love letters to the season. These seasonal lists are my own little things-to-do-before-the-moment-passes.
I hope to keep listing these, every Thursday, as a reminder to soak it in over the weekend (and as a mid-week cheer-up).

This next week is going to be packed with summery travely adventury goodness.

I want fully enjoy (and document with lots of photos):

Travelling by train, plane and Seattle’s great bus system (all with my new wheel).
Staying with my college roomates,
Having lunch (and running errands – she’s so sweet!) with Eileen.
Selling yarn, meeting knitters and having a great time at Urban Craft Uprising.
Exploring Portland and hitting every donut, coffee, and yarn stores I can.
Having dinner at Cairene’s with a bunch of lovely fellow small-biz owners/friends.
Going on my first real train trip, from Portland allll the way down to my dad’s house in Oceanside. It’s a 36-ish hour ride and we are SO excited!
Relaxing with my family at the beach, in the backyard and at the best farmer’s market EVER.

Summer Vacation – Day 6

Tara — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:13:10 +0000

This week I’m on vacation on the lovely shore of Emerald Isle. But because I love my work, the Boutique is still open with new yarns everyday and I’m still talking to customers via email. So I’m away but still checking in. Each day I’ll be posting a few pictures from the vacation, especially the yarny inspiration.

Today I recovered from a super-mild case of sun poisoning (ugh) by laying around inside: Marathon Scrabble games and piecing a quilt.

Summer Vacation – Day 5

Tara — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:44:34 +0000

My Birthday!
We did it all today: beach-swimming, yarn shopping, flower-sniffing, go-kart-driving, eating on the pier.

What I did on my Summer Vacation – Day 1

Tara — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:23:49 +0000

Today (Saturday) we got up early and drove the 8 hours to the coast of North Carolina. We stopped at a…colorful fruit stand, unpacked in our gorgeous beach house and hit the beach

View from the living room

Beach
house at sunset

Maryland Sheep & Wool 2009

Tara — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:09:21 +0000

Each year, for the last 3 years my mom and I have loaded my car with knitting projects, magazines, and coffee and driven to Maryland Sheep & Wool. The first year, we drove from Ohio – a 12 hour drive! This year, it was a much shorter trip, just 5-6 hours (depending on how many times we stop for coffee!)

We left Friday morning, drove to Frederick, MD (note to self: you must stop at Zazzy’z because there is not another coffee shop until Staunton).

Frederick’s an adorable town with a nice little downtown with lots of boutiques (like The Muse), restaurants and ice cream.

We met up with Mia and meandered around town.

I don’t eat seafood but my mom loves crabs, so we had dinner at May’s – endless crabs for Mom, a fantastically broiled chicken for me.

Saturday dawned rainy and dreary but I leapt out of bed, excited or the festival! Maryland Sheep & Wool is one of the largest festivals of its kind and frankly, it’s overwhelming. I decided a head of time NOT to try to see it all! The same vendors come every year, so I’ve seen them before. I wanted to spend more time in the barns, talking with the farms, watching the sheep dogs and learning about breeds. Somehow, in years past, I’ve managed to completely miss the Breed Barn, where they have a sheep or two of nearly every breed, along with information about the breed! I am, more than ever, smitten with Jacobs

and Corriedales:

After the breed barn, I scoured the fleece sale and ran into the darling Liz of Hobbledehoy. It was fun to pore over the fleeces with her!

I ended up buying two fleeces and leaving them with Ohio Valley Fiber Mill for processing. I’m excited about my first milling experience!

I’m sad I missed Abby, Lauren, Cosette and Guido and his party! Part of the blame is the weather’s while some of it is my innate shyness; when Amy (of Knitty) walked by, I just completely froze!

But sheep and yarn cheer up anything!

After the festival, we rested and then hit downtown Baltimore. We strolled around the adorable Little Italy neighborhood, ate a pizza at Isabella’s and walked to the Harbor.

I wish I had more pictures of everything, but the rainy-ness continued throughout. So you’ll just have to take my word: a fabulous time and well-worth the drive!