Island in the Sun

It was a trip of a lifetime!!!!!! Chip and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in Barbados! We had an A.MAZ.ING time! The highlight of our trip was finding this desserted beach. I have been to Barbados many times when I was younger with my family and we came here. It was on my wishlist that I could find it and bring Chip. I asked a bunch of Bajans (the locals) and no one had heard of it. Well...that didn't deter me....we rented a car one day ( and I have to say Chip did a GREAT job of driving on the opposite side of the road on the crazy, skinny roads!) and I got us right to it. It was literally the prettiest place on earth with THE BLUEST water.

This picture was taken from the top of the cliff looking down.....absolutely no one or nothing there.

There is a very narrow staircase cut out of the coral cliff that takes you down to the beach and this is a view of the burned out old sugar cane plantation house up above overlooking the beach.

I will always treasure this in my heart.

We stopped at one of the 1,200 rum shoppes on the tiny island to have a rest  :)   ....and then continued on to Bathsheba....a breaktaking beach further up the coast.

We took a tour of the Mt. Gay rum factory on it's actual 310th birthday! They have been producing rum on the island since 1703.

Here's a view of the beach from our resort. I could never get tired of it.

We enjoyed dinners out, the steel drum bands, limbo and even karaoke one night! I got him a backgammon game for Christmas to bring along and we played everyday. We didn't have our cell phones or watch t.v. once.

And how about this sunset from our balcony every night?

It was just the most perfect week....The hardest decisions every day were which bathing suit to wear? Beach or pool? Rum punch or rum runner?????? I'm already dreaming of going back.......ahhhhhhh.

Coffee Mug Cozy

Who wouldn't love to have a cozy for their coffee mug?? I finally whipped one up for myself....I made these as a little treat for my Soul Sisters for Christmas this past year. They take next to no yarn....perfect to use up some extras in your stash. I had seen several different ones on Pinterest....But I ended up combining a few of them and making my own pattern.

If you'd like to make one yourself keep reading:

materials:

a little bit of worsted yarn

size 6 needles

cable hook

2 buttons

Cast on 56 stitches with size 6 needles. Knit 2, then purl two at the beginning of every row. Work a 4 stitch cable, then knit 2 until there are 4 stitches left in the row. Purl 2, then knit 2. On the wrong side you knit the first and last 4 stitches of every row. Continue for 16 rows then bind off. Work a buttonhole on row 4 and row 14. Sew the buttons on the opposite end. You're done. These literally take just a few hours. Get knitting :)