Daniel Update, Birthdays, Dinners, and Project Spectrum

Family and Friends, here is the latest on Daniel. He stays very busy. He is healthy and in good spirits. He has been able to email with a little more frequency, so that makes me very happy. He can access the blog, so he may be able to post some pictures up on it soon. You all will know as soon as I do if he does. He has not gotten any snail mail yet because the weather has not allowed for any helicopters to come in. There is no certain amount of days for the mail to get to him. He will hopefully get the first delivery to him this Saturday. If he can't post any pictures, but sends them to me instead, you can guarantee I will post them.

Well, after my parents left on Thursday the activity level did not slow right away. I had Amaya, Jo and her sons over for dinner and a movie on Friday. We didn't end up watching a full movie because the ladies were getting colds and the boys were getting restless with Daniel's and I's house. :) No game systems and no TV channels...pretty boring, except for Meli. They all left pretty early and I spent the rest of the evening knitting.

Saturday we went out for another friend's birthday party. We went to this yummy restaurant in Honolulu, Buco di Beppo. Daniel and I went there before Christmas with 3 other couples. Well, this time there was a party of 13 and lots of good food. I was designated food orderer and check sorter. I don't know what made me the "lucky" person...Amaya and I worked out the check together and here we are tucking away some of the money.

After dinner we hit a club, yes I said a club. The birthday girl wanted to dance the night away. Amaya and I were a bit uneasy about going, but we were going to give a try for the B-day girl. We got there and the husbands that were there were very helpful and protective. They did not dance at all so it was just us ladies on the dance floor. It is more fun that way anyways...
Yeah we were trying to ignore the love-birds in the background too... Sorry, I couldn't cut them out of the picture easily with out cutting out Amaya. The order: Amaya, Heather (birthday lady), Jo and me.
The club DJ played good music, ranging from classic Michael Jackson to Moby to Usher and Fity Cent. Ha! It was fun.

Sunday was Sunday School in the morning, church service then home to sleep all afternoon. It had been a late night.

Sunday evening, I went over to Amaya's to make cookies for the husbands. She has the "Neiman Marcus" cookie recipe. Supposedly the recipe was taken and released to the public a few years ago, anyways, they turned out pretty gosh darn good. I took pictures because the M&Ms we used reminded me of Project Spectrum. If you don't know what it is check out my sister's blog: http://www.lollygirl.com/blog Bascially, she was inspired by all things hand-made and all things with color. She has created this project for the sake of enjoying both of these things. She has set aside months with specific colors and is encouraging people to create items, whatever they may be, in that color scheme. March is red and pink. I decided to strike both out with the cookies. Of course I got on board with the project and I have other things planned for the actual month of March as well as now. I can't wait until March! The cookies turned out yummy with chunks of M&Ms and macadamia nuts. We mailed them off on Monday along with other goodies to our hubbies. Hopefully they make it by Valentine's Day.

Monday came and went with house cleaning, gardening, and reading on another Clive Cussler novel.

Today I mowed and hung out with Jen for a while this afternoon, finally playing a game of Sudoku. I vowed to not start playing because my mother is addicted to the game. I can see why. It is a lot of fun. I am already a crossword addict. I don't need another monkey on my back. We did a crossword together then moved onto the Sudoku game. Good stuff.

Tonight I had Michele and Reagan over for dinner. They are both wives whose husbands are with Daniel. Both work and stay very busy so I needed to have them over. I decided it was time for me to make my own fresh bread so I found a yummy recipe for fococcia bread and planned an italian meal around it. The bread turned out well. I was proud so I took a picture. (I am addicted to our digital camera.) I made Chicken Tetrazzini and Reagan brought a tasty salad and Michele brought these wonderful turtle brownies. Dinner was great. The main dish was named after a great opera singer, so of course I had the opera playing strong tonight. I would have had it on anyways. Although, I have been listening to Chris Tomlin's Arriving twice everyday. Thanks Daddy!

I have been knitting on a sash/belt. I am just practicing my stitches. I bought some ribbon yarn at Ben Franklin's before Christmas on clearance. I have enjoyed working with it even though it is more difficult to get used to compared to wool or another kind of blend. I have another project already planned and I am in search of more patterns for gifts. I am enjoying knitting even though I am not as passionate about it as my sister. I do find it calming and very satisfying now that I am getting past the beginning stages. I am still a very new knitter, but I am past the basic learning of stitches, thankfully. Here is my sash. I look forward to wearing it out and about after I am finished.

Well, I am going to close this post. I am heading to bed. Reading in bed is my new evening practice. It is a peaceful way to drift off to slumberland. Funny to think Daniel is probably going to lunch around now...Hopefully, he is taking a break for lunch.

Night night!