Now I know perl and purl!

My knitting instructor had to go Russia this week, so I am attempting to teach myself the second knitting stitch, the purl stitch. I got yarn in a color called Rose Camo, and it looks like a rose garden all mixed up. It is also the softest yarn they had, I love it!


I started with 26 stitches, and somehow ended up with a hole (bottom, to the right of center) and 27, but it's good practice!

Ben's scarf is coming along nicely! His is made using just knit stitch, but I like the wavy pattern it gets.


His is very soft and fuzzy too. I spent most of my time this weekend trying to figure out how to purl, so haven't gotten much further on his, but I'll do more of it this week.

The Kitten, keeping with her reputation as a strange cat, pretty much ignores the yarn but is fascinated with the knitting needles.

Wedding Updates!

My dress is in! I had too many dreams where I was walking down the aisle wearing a bathrobe, or jeans, or my high school prom dress because I never picked out a wedding dress, so I ordered it possibly a bit early. But it's getting the bustle put in and I will get to take it home soon! Now I just have to figure out where to keep it in my apartment, and how and when to get it to Jersey.

My shoes are also in! They are incredibly awesome and I have to restrain myself from not wearing them all the time, I love them so much. I wore them when I tried on my dress and it is the perfect length with them on!

My brideswomen have picked out their dresses! I wanted them to be comfortable and feel attractive in their dresses, so I gave them a color and asked them to pick out whatever dress they liked. They ended up all liking the same dress, and it looks awesome on all of them!

We also (finally finally finally) have a wedding ceremony location! We will be married at the General Greene Pavilion in Washington Crossing Park, next to beautiful old trees and a green grassy field. Unless it rains, in which case we will be married in the Riverside Ballroom in the Inn at Lambertville Station, next to the rain falling on the Delaware. Unless something terrible happens to the Inn, in which case we will be married at the courthouse. Always have two backups, my father always says!

Because even if it rains and the food is terrible and the music sucks and my centerpieces are uninspiring and the cake falls off the table and people have to wait in line to use the bathroom, as long as we end up married at the end of the night, I will be happy. That is the goal, I have it written across the top of my wedding spreadsheets so I won't forget it.

The frost is on the pumpkins...

...if by "frost" you mean 91 degree heat and "pumpkins" you mean the complete LACK of any sort of pumpkins whatsoever. Or apples, or anything else generally evocative of Fall in any way.

I went to North Carolina last weekend, and it was a wonderful trip. We drank apple cider and incredible peach cider and got lost in a huge corn maze and got pumpkins, it was a very nice way to enter October, which generally means Fall in most places.

Not Texas, though. It's definitely not Fall here. No pumpkins, no leaves turning, not even any apple cider in the grocery stores. The 91 degree heat and the humidity which makes it feel like 101 degrees (seriously) mean it might as well be July here, and you'd never know it wasn't by looking around.

I miss Fall. I miss apple cider and cool, crisp days with the vivid blue skies you only see in October in the north, and leaves falling and crunching under your feet as you walk along in your jacket, hands in your pockets and nose getting cold as you breathe the cool air. I miss the inexplicable smell of leaves burning even though no one burns them anymore. I miss the spooky feeling of being outside at night in October, an electric feeling no other nights have. I miss the nights cool enough to need an electric blanket, and the cats attracted like magnets to the warmth. I miss needing flannel sheets on the bed and extra afghans which hold me safe as I sleep.

Stepping outside into the wet-sock weather of a humid Houston is just no replacement.

We have a wedding posse!

We finally got to officially ask everyone we wanted to stand up with us at our wedding, and they all said yes!

My brideswomen (I don't like the "maids" in bridesmaids, all of mine are grown women and that sounds so undignified to me) are my sisters and B's sister. When we thought about our wedding party, my sisters sprang to mind immediately, they are my best friends. I'm very excited to be getting a new sister out of the deal, also, and I can't wait for them to all meet!

B's groomsmen are his best friend from high school, a very great guy, his best friend from college whom I'm excited to finally meet after hearing so much about, and my sister's husband! B said that he was so welcoming and accepting of him as a new member of our apparently somewhat intimidating-to-new-people family he would love for him to stand up with him when he becomes an official member. He's so sweet! That must be why I'm marrying him :)

Our ringbearer will be my nephew and our flower girl my niece. They will be both be so adorable no one will be able to stand it! And my mom is going to hand-make the flower girl dress! Isn't that awesome?

Altogether they are our wedding posse, and they rock!

Cute email story

From a weddingbee.com post:

This story is TOO cute not to share with every woman I "know"...

Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said: "THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?"

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern: Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins, stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barren Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.

Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?

They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they do not have kids either.
Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy a treat with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a have an ice tea with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "Good gosh, look how smart I am."

Wedding planning

Is all I can think about! Apparently most people start planning their wedding when they're about 3, but I never planned to get married, so I'm making up for all that time now. I'm trying to spread out my excited wedding talk over several people, so no one gets so bored with it they break a window jumping out to escape it, but it's difficult.

The planning is going well, though! I have the reception site booked, the photographer booked, the pastor booked, the save-the-dates ordered, an appointment with my dressmaker, and my shoes bought! I'm deciding between a few outdoor sites for the actual wedding ceremony if the weather is nice, if it's not we'll have it in the reception hall.

We still need a DJ, to pick a place for the ceremony, and flowers! I'm basically planning a huge party, and it will be so much fun!

Well, hopefully. I want everyone to have fun, but either way, as long as we end up married at the end of it, it will be perfect!

He's back!

My future husband is back on the continent! Yay! 3 weeks is a long time to be apart, especially if you were only engaged 2 weeks beforehand. But he's back now!

He got in on Saturday right on time at 4 pm. His parents were on the same flight, and since they had to pretty much exit the airport to get through customs and had a 4 hour layover, I picked them all up and we went out to a lengthy dinner. It was very nice to see them and they had a very nice trip, it sounded like. They told me all about where they went and how London was, which was very cool.

His sister had taken another flight home, through Chicago, but unfortunately the airline lost some of her luggage! Hopefully she'll get it back quickly. That's very annoying, especially if she had souvenirs from her semester in France packed in there.

After dinner we said goodbye to his parents and went home. I managed to keep him awake until about 10 pm, to try to get him readjusted to Central Time. It's so nice to see him again, we texted each other while he was in England but weren't able to talk on the phone, and I missed his voice and smell and hugs so much. I'm so glad he had a nice vacation and enjoyed spending time with his family, but I'm glad he missed me too.

He said he even missed the Kitten, though I'm not entirely sure she missed him. She ran under the bed when she first saw him, but was quickly convinced that he had all kinds of new things for her to sniff every inch of.

And he brought me back toffee! Toffee from everywhere he went! It's awesome! I had no idea there was so much variety in toffee, and it's all delicious. One of the toffees is in a gorgeous blue square tin, and another is in a red phone booth tin that converts to a coin bank when emptied!

Busy weekend

I spent the weekend in New Jersey so that I could see my family and friends close to my birthday, show everyone my beautiful ring, and visit some wedding locations.

I got in late Friday night and celebrated at Wawa, one of the North-east things I miss in the South. Saturday my wonderful sister drove me all over South Jersey, so I bought her lunch and a pretty shirt. We saw two really nice wedding places, and I took lots of pictures to show my future husband. Saturday night my dad brought home cheesesteaks and we watched some shows he'd recorded and wanted to show me. It was very nice to be able to hang out with him and my mom when she got home from a cousin's wedding.

My parents' cat Frenzy, who had been passed through both of my sisters before adopting my parents, had lost a lot of weight over the last few months and was getting very rickety. She was never particularly social, though she always liked to keep an eye on what we were doing, but lately she'd become extremely clingy. She climbed into my lap for what was probably the first time ever Friday night, and spent most of Saturday night curled up with either me or my dad. By Sunday morning her back legs weren't working and she was crying out. None of us could stand to see her suffer, so my parents brought her to an emergency care vet to ease her way out.

She was sweet to Steph and the Kitten and a brat to just about everyone else for most of her life, and I never thought I would cry as much as I did for her. She was about 15, elderly for a cat, and she had a good life being spoiled by us. There's not much else you could ask for, I guess. I'm glad I got to say goodbye, and I'll miss the fuzzy thing.

So after all that, we comforted the dog who was very confused and wanted to lick everyone to make them feel better. I drove the tractor around the yard and moved compost, which was awesome and very good for taking my mind of things. Then after a late lunch with Steph, it was time for my birthday party.

It was a very nice party, I got to see most of my family and a lot of my friends. Everyone admired the new patio and deck my dad's been working on and the delicious kielbasa and meatballs my mom made, and had yummy cake. This would be about the time for my 10-year High School reunion, so I had my own instead, with people I was actually interested in keeping touch with. Steph made me an awesome ceramic wedding picture frame which I showed off to everyone, too! It was so nice to see everyone and catch up, and everyone seemed very excited about the wedding! There was much love, and it was awesome.

The weekend went by too quickly, as they always do when I'm home. Very early Monday morning I got up and saw my mom off to work before Rapid Rover picked me up to send me back to my real life.

Engagement story, the long version

Ben and I celebrate the day we went on our first date every month, on the 12th. Usually we dress up and go out to dinner somewhere special, but sometimes we stay home and make dinner there. It's not too important what we do, we just do something together and don't let any distractions in. This month he asked if I'd like to go to Galveston and have a bonfire on the beach, which we haven't done since Hurricane Ike.

This sounded like an awesome idea to me! We packed up his mini grill, my set of lawnchairs my sister gave to me for my birthday last year, some food, some drinks and some sunscreen and drove down.

After searching several beaches, we found one that was clear and deserted and had convenient bushes nearby to make up for the lack of restrooms. We unpacked the lawnchairs and started the grill and poured the drinks.


The grill went out, blown out by the wind. We started it again, and it went out again. And again. And again. But after repositioning the car to block the wind and using nearly an entire bottle of lighter fluid, we had hot coals! The night before, I'd wrapped chopped chicken, red and green peppers, onions, mushrooms and lots of italian salad dressing up in foil packets. Somewhat nervous that the coals wouldn't stay hot and we'd have to eat at Taco Bell, we threw them on the grill and ate deviled eggs while we waited. And waited.

Roughly a million years later and after dark had fallen, we opened a packet and I cut into the chicken. It was cooked! It worked! Ben laughed at how wide my eyes got when I realized it had worked, I had really thought we'd have to end our day at a fast-food joint.

As we ate chicken and then delicious s'mores, the stars came out, much brighter than you can see in Houston. It was getting late and we still had a long drive home, so we packed up the car and got ready. Unwilling to leave, though, we held each other close and admired the beautiful view.

All of a sudden he went down on one knee and said,

You're everything I want.
You're everything I need.
(My full name),
Will you marry me?

By the time he got the last words out we were both shaking and crying and laughing at the same time, and I was hugging him so tightly I could barely say yes!


But I got the words out! Eventually we calmed down enough that he could actually put the ring on my finger. We stood there a while longer, admiring the ring and telling each other how much we loved each other, and looking at the stars.

The stars which are thousands of light years away, so the light we saw had been traveling through empty space for thousands of years just to fall down to Earth on that night, the night we were engaged to be married. I thought that was very awesome.

Eeeee!

21 months ago tonight Ben and I went on our first date. Tonight we went on another, to Galveston Beach. We sat in lawnchairs and drank screwdrivers and grilled dinner and s'mores for dessert. We stayed until the stars came out, then cleaned up and prepared to leave. As we stood looking at the stars, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I said yes!