February 28, 2011 by debi.

Puerto Vallarta was absolutely beautiful over the last few weeks.  I was going to try to blog from there, but the internet connection at my house was not strong enough to upload pictures.  It was very chilly for the first 5 days that I was there.  My mom and I had to sleep with the windows closed, under lots of covers, and wore sweaters most of the day.  Mid afternoon was warm enough to go without a sweater, and that was about it.  It warmed up the day my mom left. 

We had a really relaxing time; we read, watched movies, ate out, had picnics on the bed watching movies, and walked on the beach. I am posting some pictures of the water, because I encountered something that I have only read about and seen in movies, a red tide.  It is an algal bloom, a type of algae, which is often phytoplankton.  It apparently can come in many colors, but this looked purple when you looked out at the water.  It was not really affecting my end of the beach, but down by the Four Seasons, the water in the waves looked almost black.  There were dead fish and sea snakes all down the beach as we took our walk the first day.  It was really interesting to see.  So here is the first picture of the red tide at Playa Careyeros.

You can see it as an area that is a reddish purple color.  My neighbor told me that it had been there for a couple of days, and that it was moving south, so it was heading around the end of our little bay on the Pacific towards Punta de Mita. You can also see it in this second picture.

Our house is next to a cliff, and this is where I took the pictures of the red tide from.  It is interesting, because as you can see below, there are hand tiled stairs going up the side of this cliff.  I have no idea who put these stairs on the hill, but whoever it was was an artist in his or her own right.  They are beautiful, almost like a mosaic.  All different tiles, different colors, different shapes and  sizes, broken pieces and whole pieces it is such a beautiful piece of art in the middle of nowhere.  It is amazing to see, and I think most people take it for granted when they walk on it.  I do not think that they think about the time, energy, and creativity that was put into these stairs.

These are just a few of the tiles up there.  I have more that I will post later.  It is an amazing thing to see.

The two days after my mom left, and before everyone else arrived,  were nice.  I went to the fabric store in Mezcales, and bought oil cloth and fabric to make sundresses with.  I spent a whole day making a dress and a bag for the pool with the fabric that I bought.  I bought extra fabric to make oil cloth bags and sundresses for the website.

I also spent time reading, and read a new magazine called Life: Beautiful, which is absolutely beautiful.  It is a spiritual, bible based magazine.  I read an article about making journals.  It was a really wonderful idea.  I made the first one last week and gave it away as a gift.  I am also going to make more and put them for sale on the website.  The first one that I did I stamped Faith on it, and put a card inside with Heb. 11:1 on it.  It was really fun to make, and was a great gift to give.  I will post pictures of the next ones this week. 

I have also been working on some new hand knit scarves.  I am finishing the edging on the first one, it is a new “Faith” scarf, and I am working on a really special one in white with red fun fur letters.  It is “Forgiven”, white for purity, and red for the blood of Jesus.  It is really special to me, and I am happy that God gave me the ability and creativity to make them, and this blog. 

So today I am thankful to God for all of the things that he is showing me and doing with my life.  Today, I am thankful.

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February 8, 2011 by debi.

Today was another cold winter day.  It started snowing sometime in the middle of the night, and has continued on and off all day.  The temperature has been hovering somewhere around 0 degrees all day long.  My dogs do not even want to go out in this weather.

This is a picture that I took of my deck.  I was trying to get one of the lake, which is frozen over, but it was too hard to do tonight.  It was definitely to cold to go out to take the picture.  Especially since I am in my slippers. 

I worked on my website most of the day, and finished putting the last of the inventory on my website for now.  I will still need to take pictures of additional items, but that will wait until I get back from Mexico. 

I can’t wait to get to my little house down there.  A new garden has been put in near the kitchen since I was there in December.  I am excited to see what has been done.  I always love the bouganvilla and the cupa de oro’s that grow over the roof of our kitchen.  It is always so pretty when the flowers are blooming.

This is our little house Casitas de las Palmas.  It is such an escape, especially after the last two weeks.  It has been freezing here.  Our neighbors were saying that it is cold down there, but I think it will seem tropical after the -19 degrees below zero last week.  I will have lots of time with my mom.  I will be able to spend time reading and studying the bible, and I will be able to knit and watch all of the movies that I have been recording for down there.  Here is a picture of the bouganvilla growing against the kitchen roof.

Life is pretty simple down there.  We do not have regular tv, we watch movies on the dvd player.  There is no phone, we finally have a plan on our cell phones that we can use down there.  We used to use skype, but the internet is pretty irregular at our house, so that was not always reliable. It is small, and if the whole family is there, the kids sometimes will sleep in the tents, but we love it.  It is our own little piece of paradise, for which I am very greatful.

I will be checking in from down there towards the end of the week. Thank you for checking in, and keep reading.

Here is a link to a new item I added to Dreams by Debi today. Please take a look.

http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/hand-knit-shrug-multi-purples-p-90.html

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February 7, 2011 by debi.

Egypt is an amazing country, and it is as varied as its people.  Sometimes I think that people just see the beauty in big things, and forget to look past at everyday things, to find beauty.  We all know the pyramids, the sphinx, a cruise on the Nile, and a mosque are going to be spectacular, but below you will find some things that are also spectacular in an ordinary way.

When we entered the Mosque of Mohammad the rugs on the floor were beautiful, but the lights hanging overhead were beyond spectacular.  At one time it was only lite by candles, it must have been magnificent.

We see children everywhere, but sometimes they become invisible.  Especially in a country where there is so much poverty.  This little boy was with his mom, watching people eating in a restaurant.  They were waiting outside of a gift store that we were taken to, and she was begging for money.  I saw such despair in her eyes, such hopelessness, but  I also saw a woman with dignity.  She was beautiful, and so was her son.  Beautiful in a different way, but beauty all the same.

 I also took a picture of this woman below.  She was so elegant.  She was covered in the Muslim way, but showing her face.  She was so pretty, and refreshing.  It was hot outside that day, and dirty, and the rest of us were sweating, but not this woman.  She looked calm, cool, and totally unruffled. Ahh, but to look so good, when you are feeling really hot, and to do it with lots of clothing on.  I, of course, was wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt, tennis shoes, and a hat, and was really not looking half as glamorous as this woman.

Cairo was an interesting city, full of opposites, high rises, palaces, hotels, and restaurants, all extravagant, beautiful, and expensive, and so much poverty.  It makes the poor in Mexico look rich.  I am happy that we got there before all of the rioting started.  It helps me to understand what is going on there today.

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February 6, 2011 by debi.

Since it is so cold today I am posting some links to www.dreamsbydebi.com  with suggestions for something warm to buy and wear this week.  Thanks for taking a look, hope that you find some  great wardrobe additions.

http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/wool-hand-knit-shawl-p-84.html?osCsid=254d45771bd84ba1a3feeefdb040986d

http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/fuschas-purples-hand-crocheted-p-48.html?osCsid=86926e2aabb5c154bfc281795355c22a

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February 6, 2011 by debi.

Today the city is blanketed in snow.  It is absolutely beautiful looking out my window at the snow covered frozen lake.  A day to rest and relax with my wonderful husband. I am making wings and hot dogs and italian sausages in crescent rolls for the superbowl.  Maybe we will light the fire today.

 This week I leave for the house in Mexico.  It will be in the 70’s, sunny, and beautiful.  I will get to spend a wonderful weekend with my mom, and then David and the office will come join me.  I then get to be pampered at an all inclusive hotel for 5 days.  Sounds good to me.  Especially since we are getting another Arctic Front this week, and we will be below -0 again this week.

The picture that has been posted was taken at Tino’s Maricso’s in El Anclote.  It is the town at the bottom of Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico.

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February 3, 2011 by debi.

It is amazing what life brings our way, what new things we learn along the way, and how we use all of it in our lives.

So far I have made two websites, and then hired someone to make the 3rd.  I had to learn to write html and php, and also had to learn mysql. When I hired people to make me a nice pretty website that has all of the bells and whistles, I thought I might not have to use that stuff anymore.  That is not the case.  I have still had to try to figure this stuff out, but there is a rainbow after every storm.  God has promised that.

So now for the rainbow.  I am 52 years old, and was able to learn all of that on my own.  I fixed the last thing that needed fixing behind the scenes yesterday.  Most of my keywords bring my website up on google, on the first page.  Which means I can now focus on the fun part of having my own business, designing.

God gave me many gifts, for which I am forever greatful.  One is that I love to design, knit, paint, crochet, take pictures, and see beauty in everyday mundane things.  I am posting a picture of a skirt that I saw on a woman in Turkey.  You will only see part of it because it is the pattern on the fabric that I loved so much.  It is a simple picture, and the pattern is in black and white.  Absolutely beautiful.  If there is one thing that I really enjoy about this world, it is sharing beautiful things with other people. 

I have also been adding new inventory to my website, and I would love you to see this really fun hat, that I made out of a yarn called Ozark Handspun.  Here is the link to the page of the hat on my website.  Please check it out, and I would love to hear from you.

http://www.dreamsbydebi.com/wwwdreamsbydebicomgreenhandspunhandknitp77html-p-77.html

Check back tomorrow for more pictures, and fun tidbits of information.

And if you are reading this. Thank You!!!

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February 2, 2011 by debi.

The last year and a half have been really busy for me.  I am finally getting back to work on my website, adding lots of new inventory. 

In some ways it seems like time has flown by, and in others it seems to have gone slowly.  Our family is doing well, two kids live in the same town, and are safe and good. One kid, a marine, is also safe and back from Afghanistan. 

We have so many changes in our lives as we grown older.  Kids are now grown and no longer living at home.  Not a sad thing as long as they are doing well.  As a couple we get to spend more time together which a great thing.  We now have we time, which is something we have not ever really had.

 Which now leads me to our adventures.  We travel a lot, most of it being for family, but this fall we took a cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean.  It was exciting, beautiful, and best of all romantic.  Slowly over the next few weeks, I will start posting some of the pictures that I took, and telling stories about the trip.

I am also adding new items to the website everyday, which is also exciting.

 Check back to see the pictures of Rome, Capri, Ephusus, Rhodos, Alexandria, Cairo

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