Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Friends, Crafts, and a Mystery!

Today is a super fun day, because I have so much I get to show all of you! Let's start with an extra special blessing I received at the very beginning of my last vacation:

That's right! I got to meet our very own Casey from Writing for Christ!!!

Casey came and spent a couple of days with me and my family at a home we rented in Sunriver, Oregon. We had such a blast! It was almost unreal--getting to meet a dear friend I had known online for over a year in person!! I even got to have lunch with her family one day, which was a real treat, as well. Casey is a beautiful person inside and out, and I consider myself very blessed indeed to call her my friend!

Here's us at the park! We put together a picnic lunch and bicycled to the park, sat on the grass, and talked forever! ;) Loved it!

Of course, we had to get a picture of us together with books! ;) Forget snail mail when you can swap books in person!!

We packed a lot of wonderful memories into one weekend. Casey's friendship, as well as the friendships of all my dear blogging friends, are blessings I'll be forever grateful for!

Also, while I was on vacation, I finished this:

The hummingbird counted cross-stitch piece for my grandma is complete!

For those of you who attended Camp Humility 2011 here on the blog, you might recall me showing you this piece as a work-in-progress during our craft time. Well, my grandma and I spent some time cross-stitching together during our vacation. So my "hummingbirds" didn't turn out to be a complete surprise after all, but we had fun working on cross-stitching together, and the memories were even better than the surprise!

My sister was sweet enough to take a picture of me with my completed project!

As for the mystery? The mystery is what the schedule will be like for "Mystery Week." ;)

First, here are the results of the "Mystery Week Poll":

Do you enjoy reading mysteries? 19 votes
  • 14 Yes, very much!
  • 5 Once in a while.
  • 1 Nope.
(Amber's Note: Good to know!)

Do you watch the PBS Masterpiece Mystery season? 19 votes
  • 2 Yes, I love it!
  • 6 Sometimes.
  • 7 No.
  • 5 What's PBS Masterpiece?
(Amber's Note: Oh, dear! Ya'll are missing out! I do hope this upcoming week might help some of you discover the wonders of PBS Masterpiece. Remember, you can watch some of these shows online for free for a limited time!) ;)

Which of these books would you be interested in discussing this week? 21 votes
  • 9 Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  • 6 Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
  • 7 A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Which of these movies would you be interested in discussing this week? 18 votes
  • 7 PBS Masterpiece: Sherlock, A Study in Pink (2010)
  • 4 PBS Masterpiece: Poirot, Hallowe'en Party (2011)
  • 5 PBS Masterpiece: Miss Marple, The Pale Horse (2011)
  • 1 PBS Masterpiece: Zen, Vendetta (2011)
  • 2 Other (Inspector Lewis, and a voter noting that they hadn't seen PBS Masterpiece)
~ ~ ~

Thank you to all of you who voted! So, here's the game plan for "Mystery Week" (July 18th-22nd):
  • Monday: Special Book/Author Feature (Who's the author? Well, it's a mystery that you'll have to solve by checking in on Monday!)
  • Tuesday: Miss Marple, "The Pale Horse" (Movie review and discussion)
  • Wednesday: Death on the Nile (Book review and discussion)
  • Thursday: Sherlock Double Feature--Review/discussion of the 2010 episode "A Study in Pink" and the book A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Friday: Murder on the Orient Express (Book review and discussion)
  • Saturday: I might throw in a review of "Hallowe'en Party" or "Vendetta" if I find time!
~ ~ ~

"Mystery Week" is no longer a mystery! I hope that this overview helps you--now you can get a start on reading these books and/or watching these movies that we'll be discussing.

Yesterday I should have included a link to the PBS Masterpiece website, and I should have let you know that some of the movies I listed are available to watch online for free! So, here's that info in case you're interested:
  • You can watch "Hallowe'en Party" (Poirot) now through August 2nd, "The Pale Horse" (Miss Marple) now through August 10th, and "Vendetta" (Zen) starting Monday, July 18th, online! (As you can see from the schedule above, we'll be discussing "The Pale Horse" on Tuesday, so you can watch it online before then!)
I know this is a lot to take in, so please feel free to share any and all thoughts (or questions!) on Mystery Week, crafts, blogging friends, or whatever! ;)

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I just saw on Casey's blog that the two of you got to meet - that is wonderful! Looks like you had a blast!

Your cross-stitch project is lovely. Congrats on finishing it! And your Mystery Week schedule looks fantastic!

Casey said...

Ruth is right, that cross stitch is lovely!

Ohh, I'm lovin' this picture sharing. :)

And I need to say just one more time that meeting you was nothing short of absolutely fantastic!! I do believe it will be the highlight of my summer. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Ruth,

Oh, it was most definitely wonderful AND a blast! ;D Casey is such a kind, sweet person, and we made a lot of great memories together!!

Thank you for the compliment on my cross-stitch project (yours is looking fabulous, BTW!), and so glad to hear you like the Mystery Week schedule!!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Casey,

Aw, thank you! :)

And me, too!! I really like those pictures you posted (I'm sorry I didn't post more!).

Oh, Casey, I so, so agree!! It was a privilege to meet you, my friend, and definitely a highlight of the summer! :D If it's the Lord's will, I hope it won't be too long before we have more pictures to share. :)

~Amber

Casey said...

I completely agree! :-))

Joy Tamsin David said...

You girls look like you had so much fun! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Now I wonder which romance loving reader and writer could have possibly been the only person to choose "nope" in your poll. LOL.

I will be watching Mystery week very closely, maybe you'll reform me. :)

Sara said...

This is so cute! It looks like you girls had a fun time. And how cool to meet an online friend in person. :)

Amanda Stanley said...

AMBER!!! I feel like it's been a million years since I've commented on your blog! OH how I've missed it!!! I'm finally home, hopefully for good since my papa is doing much better, praise the Lord! It will take some time but he is on the road to recovery and will hopefully have no more setbacks. Thank you again, my friend, from the bottom of my heart for all your prayers for him, me and my whole family. Your intercession helped to bring the strength and peace of God upon my family and for that I am ever grateful :)

Casey is SO lucky that she got to meet you!!! AND you are SO lucky that you got to meet Casey!!! :) You girls looks so cute in those pics and I'm so happy you got to make that connection with each other and made fun memories!! I am a mite jealous but prayerfully I'll get to meet you both someday, too!! :)

And, nice job on that cross-stitch, girl!! Is there anything you can't do?? ;)

It's good to be back!! Talk to you soon, my friend!!

Blessings,
Amanda

P.S.- When you get a chance go check out my currently reading on my GR page... :D

Amber Holcomb said...

Casey,

:D

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Joy,

Oh, yes--for sure! :)

As for your vote--LOL! Somebody had to vote negatively, right? ;) Well, I do so hope I can reform you, as I love PBS Masterpiece, and I'm excited to read some mysteries! Feel free to join in the discussions even if you don't watch the movies or read the books--although maybe you'll want to sometime... ;)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Sara,

Thank you! :) We definitely had fun--and Casey is just as wonderful in person as she is online, perhaps even more so if that's possible! ;)

It was a great blessing to meet her, and so special to finally meet one of my blogging friends!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Amanda,

So good to see you back here, my friend!!! I've missed you!!!

I'm so glad to hear your grandpa is doing better! I'll continue to keep all of you in prayer. :) God is so good to be with us through all things!

And I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures! Believe me, I hope we get to meet in person someday, as well!! You are such a joy to know online and through letters, that I can't imagine how great it would be to meet you in person! Casey and I talked about how much we value your friendship and your encouragement. :)

Hahaha, there's a lot I can't do, believe me! But I appreciate the compliment! :) It was fun to finish the cross-stitch piece on vacation with my grandma. :)

So good to have you back!!!

~Amber

P.S. Already have, and I left a comment, too! ;)

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

It seems like all of my blogger friends are getting to met each other! I think that is soooo awesome! I just love to share my books with my cousin so I know how much fun it is to swap in person!" Youre cross-stitch is so pretty Amber! It's nice to finish a project and have it turn out wonderfully after so much work is put into it isn't it? Looking forward to mystery week!

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

It certainly is fun to swap books in person! :) And I would love to meet you someday, Renee--you've been such an amazing friend to me!! Thank you!!

And thank you for the compliment! It's very nice to finish a project and not have messed it up too bad or anything. ;) Some of my "lazy daisy" stitches weren't the greatest as I wasn't really familiar with that stitch, but you can't tell from the picture, right? ;)

Glad you're looking forward to Mystery Week, 'cause I am, too!! :D

~Amber