R is for...

Rings!

Wedding rings, to be specific.

Hey, I haven't been married even a year yet - I'm allowed to have a sappy newlywed post! :)

As I explained in P, I didn't get an engagement ring, so the only ring I wear is my wedding ring. The rings themselves are extra special, because they were my parent's rings before ours. Of course, Mom always tells me that it's not really the ring Dad wore at their wedding - it's actually his third. Apparently he lost 2 doing work in the engine room while on deployment in the Indian Ocean. Yes, the Indian Ocean both times - seems to be littered with our family's wedding rings :) She seems to fuss most that it happened not once, but twice.

The shot above was taken on New Year's Eve (hence the sparkling cider) just a few days after we were married. We were relaxing in the hot tub at the beach house where we were staying. I just liked how shiny the silver cups and gold rings looked with the water and the candle light. :)

P is for...

Pearls!

I'm a little unusual. I didn't get an engagement ring when Zach proposed. Or any time after that. I got pearls instead, a necklace and a bracelet. And I love them!

I actually didn't want a ring. Really, I wanted a kayak, but I think he wanted something more romantic, more traditional. ;) We had a conversation several months before he proposed (I honestly wasn't even think marriage at that point, so no attempts to say I was being subtle!) Talking about jewelry, I mentioned I didn't like diamonds, and really didn't like rings that much in general. Plain bands are fine, but not ones with stones. They never fit right on my fingers, so they end up spinning on my finger and I end up fiddling with them non-stop, or just not wearing them at all. And for stones, I really prefer "natural" jewelry - jade, semi-precious stones, pearls (especially peacock or grey ones), and so one. I like gemstones, I think they're pretty; they just aren't really my style.

Also, I'm an active, hands-on, hands-in-everything sort of person. I used to work in an environmental consulting company and was often in the woods for my job, muddy up my arms halfway to my elbows. And I still work in a very hands-in-everything sort of job. I hike, I cave, I swim, I do karate. And the thought of wearing jewelry everyday that was worth (in practical terms) several car payments or several months rent honestly made me nervous! I think I'd have ended up paranoid about losing it, had he gotten a 'regular' piece of engagement jewelry for me. I'd probably have just never worn it, and then what's the point of having spent all that money for something I'd never wear?

So Zach came up with the pearls idea all on his own. They're peacock colored freshwater pearls, so there all sorts of different hues in them. I love how they match so many different tops I have. Mom was actually surprised when he proposed - she knew about the pearls, but hadn't realized that there would be a question attached to them. She knew I was a little unusual with the wedding stuff, but hadn't realized I would be that nontraditional. :) I love them. I don't wear them all the time, obviously, but I do wear them a good bit (definitely every time I dress up). Certainly wear them much more than I'd ever have worn a ring! :)

PS - P is also for Penguins, but that goes without saying, right? ;)

Speaking of wedding pictures...

I never showed you all how I Do turned out! Shame on me! I've a few pictures here, both from the house, when I finally unpinned it post-blocking, and from the wedding day itself, to see it in the right setting and all :)

I really like how it turned out, honestly. The cotton took FOREVER to dry during blocking (it was very rainy and humid outside, so that didn't help - probably not a problem I'll be having with my blocking in a couple months!) The shots at the house were from when it had finally dried and I could try it on. Then just weaving in the ends, and it was all done!

I wore it the whole day. It was just enough cover on my arms to keep the chill off. Just what I needed! And it went well with the dress, too. The dress itself it so simple, that the lacy shrug was just enough laciness. A nice balance. If the dress had been too busy, beading or lace or ruffles or something, it wouldn't have worked so nicely with the shrug.

The lace pattern was a little obnoxious at times, just being such a long repeat, and that P3tog was awkward sometimes. I was faster, I noticed on the second half of the sweater, so I guess eventually the pattern started getting into my hands. Just took a bit longer than some of the simpler stitch work I've done before. And I worried for the longest time during the knitting that it would turn out weird - I dont have enough experience with lace yet to be able to 'read' it unblocked. It just looks weird and limp and lumpy until it is blocked. But it all turned out! Overall, I think I might make it again, if someone asked me to, or I might make it again for me in a different yarn and a different lace pattern. Shouldn't be too difficult to work it in another 12 st lace pattern, maybe Feather and Fan, and all the shaping would be the same. We'll see if there's ever the call for it!

Woohoo! Wedding pictures are HERE!

I am still sorting through and labeling and all, but the pictures from the photographer have arrived!

Yay! (everyone run around like Kermit in the Muppet Show!) Yaaay!

Once I get them all sorted and incorporated with the family pics and posted to my flickr account, I'll let you all know again, but for right now, this is just a preview.

Don't we clean up well? :)

Kickin' off 2008 RIGHT!

Remember a few days ago, my to-do list included shopping for a dress for a 5K? Well, today was that 5K. The Hair of the Dog 5K here in VB.

The Hair of the Dog is just in its second year, but Zach and I have run it both years and there have been great turn-outs both years. It's a lot of fun! The best part is the Formalwear division of the race. The idea is "come in what you wore to the party last night." So a lot of people raid their closets for those old prom dresses, or hit up the thrift stores for that gaudy 80s homecoming dress, and throw 'em on over running shorts and a sports bra and there's much silliness to be had. There's a lot of people people too who said "well, I didn't go out last night, but I still want to run in 'what I wore last night'" and ran in flannel (or other printed) jammies. Last year they dubbed themselves The Pajama Mamas.

I sweet-talked Zach into running it in the Formalwear division last year, after we'd just gotten engaged, and this year we just had to run it again as newlyweds. Mom ran it too, with her running buddy. They joined the ranks of the Pajama Mamas, and Zach and I dressed up in formalwear again.

Zach just wore dress clothes. I found a white dress at the thrift store, and just had to cut it along a side vent to make it open enough to run in. We added a ribbon from my flowers to my headband to give me something white in my hair. I even carried one of my leftover bridesmaids' boquets! Yes, I did carry for the whole 3.1 miles! :) We added signs to ourselves too. Bride, Groom, and Mother of the Bride (we should have made one for Ms. D too - "I'm with the wedding party" or some such). We got a lot of 'congratulations' along the course, and they made an announcement for us during the awards ceremony! Fun way to start things off! It was the first time we've done anything as a married couple with any group of people other than family :)

For times, Zach and I both felt out of shape, but considering how much else has been taking up our time the past month, I'm not surprised. I think I've run about 4 times since Thanksgiving. Wedding planning takes up a lot of time! Who'd'a thought? At any rate, I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I was. At least, my time wasn't too far off my usual time (actually pretty close); I just felt more out of shape than usual for running that distance in that time. Well, it'll give me something to work on in 2008, right? What would a New Year's be without resolutions?

Tiny post, big ones to come...

Yeah, so it's 3 in the morning and I can't sleep. I had about 3 hrs sleep and now can't get back to sleep. (Plenty of sleep for anyone, right?) So I'm playing on the computer, and figured I'd add a note here too. Beats staring at the ceiling in the dark.

So, in 12 hrs, it'll be all over and we'll be relaxing at the reception. Or taking more pictures. Seems to happen a lot at weddings.

At least that's the plan. So why can't I sleep??? Bah!

T-minus 14 hours....

Well, I've been going non-stop since ..... too long. What day is today again?

At least, I think everything is ready for tomorrow. Big day and all! We're doing a lot ourselves for the wedding. Trying to keep it small and simple and non-bankrupting. And I'm really proud of how things are coming together. Granted the lack of sleep has been frustrating, but there was so much we couldn't do until these last few days. Decorations and food and such - stuff that wouldn't last otherwise.

Here are a few things we've put together all on our own that I'm really proud of:

The Guests' Welcome Bags.

Directions, maps, information about the area, some snacks, tea, little things. Just basic white bags with green stamped decorations and silver accents. Anne had a lot of fun with the decorations ("coloring!"). Then stuffed with some green paper and tied with silver and white ribbon. She did a great job on those bags!

And her final product:

The Guest Book

Just a basic wire-bound scrapbook from Michael's. On the front page of the book I pasted in a extra copy of our invitation. On the pages inside I pasted in pictures of the two of us together, or from things we've done together. Made a neat photo album, with a lot of empty spaces on the pages for people to sign. Will be put out on the table with a handful of silver pens for people to sign the pages. Looks really neat now, and it'll look even better when everyone signs!




And before you start fussing about how I should be sleeping now....well I'm gonna try soon. Kinda dead on my feet right now, just too keyed up to sleep. Stupid nerves!

God bless you, Sandi Wiseheart!

I've finished I Do!!!! And it fits! Well, it's off the needles at least. Tomorrow will involve much blocking and weaving in of ends and then it will be truly done! I'll post pictures then, but I have to announce that it is OFF THE NEEDLES!!

So, thank you to Sandi and Knitting Daily, and the instructions on seaming without Kitchener (using a 3rd needle, instead of sewing the grafted seam together). I have to say that was SO much easier for me! Maybe it was being left-handed (I already know I knit oddly), but Kitchener just wouldn't work for me. I kept twisting stitches or having them come out purl instead of knit, as they should have been. Stupid stitches - what do they know? With the 3rd needle method, it just flew along. All I had to worry about was stitches slipping off unneccessarily, but I'd been dealing with that the whole project - slippy cotton yarn on metal needles will do that to ya.'

So, yes - big, busy day planned tomorrow. Besides the extensive blocking and end-weaving for I Do, there is much wedding business now that Christmas is past. We have favors to assemble, I have to finish putting together the guestbook, we have guest-room bags to put together, cookies to bake, I have to finish my bridesmaids' gifts, pick up a dress for the 5K on New Years (more on that later!) and if Zach gets in town in time, we have to run down to the courthouse and get a marriage license (minor detail, right?)

So, yes, I must get some rest for the full day tomorrow, but I just had to share - I finished I Do!

A nap, a nap...

My Kingdom for a nap...

Such as my kingdom is, at any rate.

I swear, I haven't slept well since December started, maybe 3 or 4 good nights in the past week and a half. I honestly didn't think I was that stressed about the wedding coming up, but I've been having weird, unsettling, often wedding-related dreams recently. I feel so stupid that I'm getting so stressed out about it, especially since my conscious self doesn't seem to be as stressed. I can go through the day alright, and then head to bed, and proceed to wake up 2 or 3 or 4 times in the night.

It's like in The Princess Bride:
"It was ten days 'till the wedding. The king still lived, but Buttercup's nightmares were becoming steadily worse...."

I guess everyone has pre-wedding stress, jitters, nerves, edginess, jumpiness, cold feet, anxiety, tension, whatever you want to call it...

Except I'm not marrying Humperdink, having abandoned true love! I'm just too busy and stressed to sleep well, and it's making me sick and grumpy.... Bah!

Besides, I do know better than to get involved with a Sicilian when death is on the line!

Woohoo! Halfway!

Yay! I finished the first half of my I Do shrug! I'm on that giddy FO (or half-way FO) high right now! Whee!!

Here's how it looks at the moment. I'm very excited about this, but looking at the pictures, it seems so .... I dunno.... Unblocked lace is so unimpressive...

Still! I'm excited about it, because I can see the lace pattern when I gently pull at the fabric, so I know it'll open up like it's supposed to once it's blocked. Makes me happy. :)

So, I'm now halfway through the shrug! Yay! And it's now less than a month til the wedding! ('scuse me while I panic for a moment!!)

Only 3 weeks? Still plenty of time to finish the other half!

That's what I'm telling myself, at least. I don't have Christmas knitting this year; I've got wedding knitting instead. That gives me 3 whole more days to do it!

I just have to be very conscientious about tying myself to my needles every evening for the next three week and those miles of lace will just FLY by...

riiight....


Anyway, I was talking to my mom about wedding stuff and nerves and such, and asked her "When does the panicked feeling go away?"

Her helpful response?
"Probably January 1st" (my wedding is Dec 29th!)

But enough for now - must continue with the knitting!

And the countdown truly ramps up

Thanksgiving weekend was good, including seeing lots of family, both mine and Zach's (fiance's). Lots of food, lots of family, lots of driving. Typical Thanksgiving all-around.

The weekend also involved much wedding planning and arranging, which was
a) good, since it's very hard to plan a wedding in an area 7 hrs away from where you live, so you have to take advantage of those weekends you actually are home, and
b) nervewracking, as it reminds you that it's only approximately 1 month until the big day.

But, we were so very productive!
Food - check, meeting with minister - check, decorations - sorta check, music - check, photographer - check...
Cake and marriage license remain unchecked, since the places we needed to go were closed for the holidays.

Am getting very frustrated with the marriage license requirements. I understand the license needing to be from the state where we are going to get married. Obviously we can't pick up a licence here in SC to get married back home in VA. But at the same time, it is very difficult for us both to get to a courthouse office on a week day, in person, to pick up the license. He's in the Army, so since we got engaged last December, we weren't even in the same time zone until mid-September. It's hard enough getting together on weekends in the same state, let alone in another state on a weekday. It's very frustrating that one of us can't come by with a notarized letter or something to pick it up. Now it looks like we won't be able to pick up the license until the week of the wedding, which is a little too close to the deadline for my comfort (even for the procrastinator in me!). I'd just think with such large military areas in VA with the DC area and Hampton Roads and all, there'd be easier ways for it to get done.

But I ramble. The important thing is, that it's finally all coming together, we've been able to keep family in check and it won't end up being an overwhelmingly big to-do (neither Zach nor I are big party people). And really, as long as we're married by the end of the day, it's all good!

(Only 32 days to go!!)