Yesterday was a lost day. Lost due to a stomach bug that had me caught in it’s clutches for the entire day.

I moved from various spots in an attempt to get comfortable but it just didn’t happen.

The couch. The bed. The couch again.

Dale kept suggesting I sit up but when I sat up I was dizzy.

So I moaned. A lot. Dale said moaning was useless but I disagree. It helped.

What really helped, though, was 10 hours straight sleep. I feel like myself again today – hooray.

I could ill afford to miss a day of work this week since I’m on vacation next week but it will all get done some how.

And I’m extremely grateful that this didn’t hit me while traveling.

The weather is warmer, the days are longer and the call to be outside is strong! Here are Ten Things I Like To Do Outside.

1. Read. Has to be a real book or my Kindle, though, because the iPad just doesn’t function well in bright sunlight.
2. Knit. This goes without saying, doesn’t it?
3. Spin. Only if it’s not too windy or I wind up with fluff all over the yard.
4. Walk and Run. So much better outside than on the dreadmill at the gym.
5. Have cocktails. We did this Saturday with friends and it was awesome.
6. Eat. Everything tastes better outside, right? I love dining al fresco.
7. Take pictures. Natural light is my favorite and I really enjoy walking outdoors with my camera.
8. Ride my pretty, pretty cruiser bike. I’m really looking forward to being stronger after all the spinning classes I have taken this winter.
9. Have a fire in the firepit. How come when the fire is inside and in our woodstove it’s work but outside it’s a party?
10. Swing in a hammock. You can bet I will be doing this as much as possible next week.

And those are my 10 things I like to do outside. If you wrote a post for today please click the button below to add your link. As always, if you want to sign up for the Ten on Tuesday email then please click here.

We have a flat screen TV on the wall in our bedroom. However, we hardly ever watch TV in the bedroom. Now, if this were up to me this TV would get regular use as I truly enjoying snuggling in bed and watching TV. Dale, though? Not so much. He’s a couch sitter when it comes to watching TV. And so, the TV in the bedroom only gets used on rare occasions. Late night football games. The Academy Awards. When one of us is sick.

In the interest of making our bedroom prettier, I decided to cover up that rarely used TV with a canvas print of one of my photos from summer vacation.

This print is just the right size for the TV and the wooden bar at the top catches perfectly on the TV. Sure, you can see a tiny strip of the TV below the print but mostly – it’s gone. And I’d much rather look at that picture of a beach umbrella than a black TV screen.

Pretty clever, eh?

Roses just aren’t my thing. I much prefer tulips or gerbera daisies or daffodils. But when my brother-in-law stops by on Sunday morning to bring me a rose that my husband brought home from a band job on Saturday night and then forgot to take out of the truck . . . well. it’s worthy of a photo. Especially when it’s as lovely as this one.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

I am absolutely and utterly in love with my new Sweet Dreams Shawl.

It is knit in Madeline Tosh Merino Light so it’s verrrrry verrrrrrrrry soft. And the neutral grey color is awesome – full of depth and richness. It’s a single and I was a little worried about that but it worked out just fine.

The pattern is fantastic. It’s well written and the charts are easy to follow and I truly enjoyed knitting this. I finished in less than 2 weeks time I enjoyed it so much.

I adore the beads. Can you believe I wasn’t going to bead this originally? I’m so glad I decided to do the extra work because they really make a huge difference.

I think they make the edges and points like like icicles. And to be perfectly clear – I only like icicles on shawls.

I know you all like modeled shots but the light was so pretty the other day after work and I just couldn’t resist snapping these photos of the shawl draped on my deck railing.

Photos after work in golden light with a beautiful shawl? Spring must be finally here!