So, an exciting weekend was had by all!  So much to write about... the cotillion was fun!  Bekah was glowing, and everyone at my table was very nice.  It was great to spend an evening with family getting dressed up, dancing, and watching Bek be charming and adorable.  She was pretty much enchanted with the entire cotillion experience- the etiquette classes, dance lessons, luncheons and teas, and of course the great big party at the end.  So much fun!  On Sunday, we were all pretty exhausted and hung out around the house all day.  The day before I had gone with my cousins Bek and Pheobe, my mother, and my cousin TJ's girlfriend to Yarn Expressions, a really lovely yarn store in Huntsville.  They had a great selection of yarns- from Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride to this ridiculously soft Mongolian cashmere, beautiful Koigu (even solid Koigu!) and they even had Jaeger Extrafine Merino DK (so, Julia, if you are ever in Huntsville...).  It is a really large, bright, clean and well-organized space, and the staff there was quite friendly.  I picked up a couple of back issues of Interweave Knits and got Bek and Phoebe some yarn and needles.  So Sunday we spent our in-between-nap times knitting.  That was a relaxing day... except my mother, unfortunately, threw out her back- we actually had to take her to the emergency room around 6:45 Monday morning.  She is OK- but had to stay in Huntsville an extra day, get an IV drip of pain-killers and prescription for more, and has been ordered not to do any lifting- even dishes- for a month.  Honestly, being told she couldn't do housework practically brought more fear into her eyes than the possibility that she might have a compression fracture.  She likes things in their place, to say the least.  She was cracking me up in the hospital, asking me to take pictures of her with her IV's in.  Yikes.

After coming home from the ER, it was pretty much time for me to leave Huntsville and fly back to LA.  It was great to come home!  Jacob picked me up and we made our way back home in rush hour traffic.  I was exhausted- I had just enough energy  left to check the mail... and I got my sockapalooza package!  YAY!  I checked the return address right away, looking for clues- my Socka Pal and I have been exchanging emails, and I have been wondering who she is cuz she has seemed so darn cool this whole time.  At one point she had said, "I know two people that know you," so I assumed she lived in California.   But when I saw a Georgia postmark, I knew that one of the people she and I knew in common was Mary-Jessica, who I met at Knit Cafe during a visit she made to LA.  Turns out, my pal was the fabulous Jenny of High Energy Knits!  She rocks!  I opened my package, and out came the most beautiful socks- I fondled them for quite a while before putting them on- pastel Koigu, single ribbed front with a lace pattern running down the entire back (all the way down the heel flap!) and a very pretty star toe.  They fit me so well- they have not come off my feet since 8 pm last night, and I'm a little sad I have to get ready for work soon and take them off.  Of course I had to have a little photo shoot this morning- check out these amazing socks:

business in the front...

party in the back!

Jenny, I love them!  Thank you so much for taking the time to make these gorgeous socks for me!  I promise to wear them often and with lots of love!  And thank you, Alison, for organizing this whole fantastic exchange!  I already can't wait for Sockapalooza 2...