A Weekend at Home

After two whirlwind weekends, I finally was able to stay home this weekend and get a lot on my to-do list ticked off, as well as visit with friends that I haven't hung out with in awhile.  Don't get me wrong- I love heading off for a weekend of outdoor awesomeness, but it was time to get a few things done in my own place. :)
On Friday night, my friend Alex and I did a Disney-and-Crafting night while the weather outside stayed crappy.  She worked on her sewing projects, and I (finally) pulled out the project I'm excited to finally finish up.  Before I knew what had happened, Robin Hood and Alice in Wonderland later...

There were deer frolicking all over the front sections of the vest!  I'm pretty happy with how far it came in one night.  Two more pairs of deer down, only one to go...
Seeing so much progress makes me want to just keep going, so hopefully the back fair isle, the button band, and the arm bands go quickly.  I want to finish this puppy soon- maybe even in time to bring it down to my brother in two weeks for his birthday??  Hmmm... interesting new deadline...
On Saturday, Duluth graced us with gorgeous weather, so I dumped the housework and spent time with my awesome friend Amanda!

She's back in town fresh from a summer as a kayak guide in Alaska, and she's moving to Washington D.C. next, so doing some climbing, late lunch, and even meeting up for late night dancing and drinks was pretty much required.  I'm not as young as a I used to be, though, and had to down a couple more cups of coffee than usual this morning.  Not that I minded... :)
The rest of my weekend was a little less picture-worthy, minus a couple of highlights.  I did a lot of grading, super-cleaned the house (since it's been mildly ignored since probably August), choreographed some dance, drank a lot of coffee, and plotted out some long-term projects.
I did have time to finish the second (of either four or five) repeats on the Onward Shawl:

and this evening, in between grading grammar worksheets, I even managed to bake some Pumpkin-Chocolate swirled bread (link goes to the recipe)!

(Pre-oven, after I swirled the chocolate batter with the pumpkin batter, getting all Betty Crocker with the cutlery)
I just pulled it out of the oven, and the house smells delicious.  Taste test pending. :)
Tonight will be finishing my grading and maybe some knitting and a movie.  It's been nice to be a bit of a homebody this weekend.  I finally feel caught up in a lot of the things I've felt overwhelmed about, so here's hoping that not only my posts become a little more frequent (sorry about that), but I stay caught up on everything.
::snortingbacklaughing::
Sorry, I forgot myself for a second there. :)