winter wonderland

it's june. i'm in NJ. i have snow on my street. the end.

speaking of greener

Hey everyone....
I know it has been a while. 'Tis the way my life has been lately.

A few updates:
1. My Green Card has been approved. :) I will be leaving for NJ very soon now.
2. I finally finished the February Lady Sweater last week. Will be posting some snaps shortly.

Sorry this is short.

work in progress

As promised, here is my sweater so far.

I've been working on it quite a bit these past few days with the hopes of finishing it by the end of next week. I'm just too anxious and want to wear it already. After so many visits to PassionKnit, I'm finally getting the hang of it.

I had another disastrous day of cake-baking but my sweater definitely lifted my spirits.

Oh, and some more good news. I recently found out that I have been scheduled for an interview to get my Green Card at the end of May. So, it looks like I will be back in NJ by the beginning of June. I was stoked to hear the great news but saddened by the idea of leaving Toronto. Of course, my long hiatus has come to an end. However, I hope to continue my new interests and share them with you alongside my new endeavours in NJ.

plum-ish-ness

I found this colour at the local yarn store, PassionKnit, a few days ago. Debbie Bliss, Rialto Aran, 100% Merino wool.

I needed a good colour to inspire me to take that leap and endeavour into a new realm of knitting. I've had my eye on the February Lady Sweater by Flint Knits. I started working on it last night (will post some snaps soon). I'm having so much fun. I love it. Can't wait to see the end product.

Anyway, if anyone can suggest some great beginner patterns, please pass them my way.

Anxiously knitting.....

pink lulu

Today is my best friend, Deepa's, birthday. To celebrate, we went to her (and my) favourite restaurant Vegetarian Haven. It's food with character, really!

I called the owner to ask if I could bake a cake and bring it in. She was fine it, as long as it was vegan (which isn't too far-fetched for me, considering I'm halfway there as a lacto-vegetarian). However, I thought I'd be ambitious and make it not only vegan, but also organic. Well, fortunately I don't have a picture of that disaster. The cake completely stuck to the pan even though it was greased.

My second attempt was much better with my mother around for emotional support. There's something about my mother's presence that always improves the quality of my experiments in the kitchen. She doesn't really do much, but having her around has always been the missing ingredient that successfully completes the product.

I was super excited with the outcome of my cake, pink lulu. Apart from being a Yoga instructor, Deepa is a huge fan of Lululemon apparel. So it was only suitable to make her a Lulu cake in her favourite colour. Although, I can't take credit for the idea - that goes to my brother-in-law.
Overall, it was a great evening - one of great company, warm memories, laughing until our stomachs hurt, and amazing food.

First Timer

My story is long-winded and complicated.

First of all, my name is Amy but not really; phonetically, it's pronounced Uh-me or kind of like friend in French - Ami. (See! I told you it's complicated.)

To give you the no-frills version of it, I'm on a leave of absence, waiting for my Green Card so I can move to New Jersey (where my husband currently resides) from Toronto. I've been in this job-less, in-between two lives situation for about five months now. Initially, I had a hard time dealing with the pause in my life but I have recently come to embrace my time-off by exploring a "hodge podge" of interests.

Over the past few months, I've gotten into rock-climbing (right now I'm climbing 5.9 walls),

knitting,

and cake decorating.

Next month, I plan to join the Running Room and take up acrylic painting. I'll keep you posted.

I decided to start a blog to share my new found interests and creations with my friends and anyone else who's interested.

I'd love all the feedback and tips I can get on blogging.