And The Winner Is....

The Relay took place this weekend. What an exhiliarting, emotional, and exhausting 24 hours. We walked and remember loved ones lost, honored survivors, and gave hope to those still fighting the battle. The weather was nice. It was hot, but the event was held on a park by a river which gave us some nice breeze to keep it comfortable. The team I was on was 3rd in fund-raising. Great job for our first effort. We were in 1st place going into the event Friday evening, but after all donations were tallied, slipped to 3rd. The teams in 1st and 2nd position are schools that have hundreds of families to solicit funds from. We are a team of 10 who did it on our own. Both 1st and 2nd place finishers recognized that in us and we enjoyed the friendly competition when met at the Relay.Coincidentally, our tent sites were set up all next to each other. With help from the proceeds from this raffle, I was able to achieve 2nd place in individual overall fund-raising. I, too, slipped from my #1 slot going into it Friday, but am very pleased with the results. Now, for the lucky winner announcement. There were 93 entries to the raffle.
When I shook up the hat, one entry fell out....and that belonged to:

In case you can't see that....the winner is Ann Maire W. (AnnieBanannie)! Congratulations, Annie, your gorgeous yarn will go out to you soon.
This was fun, and I appreciated all the generous donations. But, the real winner in all of this was The American Cancer Society. The proceed for the Relay to date are $83,797.00. I learned where a lot of proceeds from Relay are directed towards. Someday, there will be a cure.

Win This Yarn!

Thanks everyone for your generous donations. The Relay was a huge success. The winner has been chosen, and the raffle is closed.

On June 5 & 6 I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. We all know people who are battling this horrible disease, and remember others who have lost their battle. Donations from fundraisers such as Relay for Life help support the fight against cancer. Someday there will be a cure. I've set a lofty goal for myself, and came up with an idea. I am going to have a drawing for 3 beautiful skeins of yarn: The Sanguine Gryphon's Bugga! in Ackmon Blue, Sundara Sock in Wine, and Handmaiden SeaSilk in Trillium. If you would like a chance to win this yarn (a $92 value), for each $10 donation you make on my page, you will get 2 entries into the drawing. If you do make a donation, please leave a comment here to let me know, with a way to contact you should you be the lucky winner. I will pick a winner in a random draw after the Relay. Thank you in advance for helping me achieve my goal, and GOOD LUCK!
My Donation Page

Hurricane Bill Visits the Jersey Shore

Bay Head NJ--a beach picture and a Saturday Sky!














Not so much of a threat, but Hurricane Bill closed the beaches to swimmers this weekend.

Three?

Is it a blogiversary if a blog is nearly abandoned? I've been AWOL again. My poor neglected blog is 3 years old today. I admit it, I've lost interest. I might get back to it, I might not. I don't think I have anything interesting to contribute, you know? Life goes on. But I am around. I'm knitting. I'm stashing yarn. I'm working (not loving it but...). I've found new like-minded friends at the LYS and I'm very happy with that. My health is same, nothing's changed. Reggae is good too! Still full of cattitude, that will never change. He came into my life 11 years ago this past Saturday, and it seems like yesterday. I haven't been to visit but a few of my blog-friends blogs, so I hope you all are well.
Last year, I ran a super-duper contest for my 2nd blogiversary, but I won't be doing that this year. One of the winners last year complained openly on her blog about her prize taking a long time to get to her...and damn, I spent time picking out good prizes for everyone, so boo on that.
Anyway....Happy 3 to me and my blog.
Hugs to you all!

Spring Has Sprung...

The birds are chirping. The grass is trying to green up. Trees are trying to bud out. But damn! The temps are quite chilly to start out this first week of spring! Monday it didn't rise out of the mid-30's, today it's in the low 40's. Will it ever warm up?

I caught these crocus in a flower bed around one of my oaks on my way in to the house last night. It's rare I get to see them bloom before the squirrels munch them down, so I had to get a quick shot. Excuse the leaf debris, Mr. Lawn Guy hasn't begun the spring clean up yet.

Happy Spring!

Devil Eyes in the Cozy!

Reggae has been spending some nap time in a cozy I got him when he was just a wee kitten. He is quite fickle about his sleeping spots at times. Right now he is sacked out on the sofa, since he spent all night last night, and probably most of the day, fixated at the sliding glass door on a black cat who thinks she belongs on the deck. Reggae was not happy with the intruder!
Happy Whiskers on Wednesday!

Then...And Now

I am back from the Keys. What a difference a day (and 1,500 miles) makes!

I left this:

And came home to this:

I could not believe the snowstorm I'd been waiting for all winter happened while I was away. I didn't get my "snow day" off from work to enjoy it happening from home, but I sure was glad I was where I was.

I had a great time, just beaching, relaxing, shopping, dining, and knitting. The weather was sunny most of the time, but cooler on the last two days than I'd have liked. I did not get to go into the ocean because it was a little too windy and the water was kind of chilly and murky from the turtle grass, but I did have my feet in the water. I'm going back in May (hopefully) when the weather will probably be too warm!

I'll try to get more pictures up over the weekend, but I'll leave you with a "Saturday Sky" picture from last week, taken at the Westin Pier at Sunset during Dominique's Cat Show. I love watching those cats preform, and try to get there each time I visit to hear Dominique's immortal words "hurry up, take your time..."