Mawiage

"Mawiage is what bwings us togevver, today!"

It's official!! Kathy is fully hitched to her love of nine years (!!), Nick. They're a freaking adorable couple, I'll have you know. Oh, and Hi! I'm the guest blogger, and not Kathy, lest you think she's suddenly gone all third person on you. Kathy is unable to be here herself right now because the lucky girl is up in the northern wilds, probably sitting on the front porch of her cabin, alternately knitting & snorgling with her sweetie. Honeymoons are great.

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous--held at a lovely lodge right on the edge of a lake that I'd never heard of, in the middle of some really beautiful rolling hills on the border of Wisconsin. I've never actually been up that way, and it's just lovely up there! Kathy grew up in that area, from what I hear, and she's a lucky little critter for it. The weather was wonderful too--big, puffy storm clouds that looked stunning on the horizon, made for really good lighting (y'know, the whole dark sky background + sun = everything's beautiful effect), and only sprinkled for a minute or two. My husband has a thing about taking a picture of the sky on important days...I've got photos of the weather/sky from each boy's birth, and honestly, it's pretty sweet. Kathy's wedding sky is beautiful... There would be a picture here of a pretty sky over the lake, but unfortunately, Blogger has pms again, and won't let me post any. I will try again in a while, but oy! I have this problem on my own blog a lot, and it drives me batshit.

Anyway, it really was a great evening. Kathy & Nick both got all verklempt up at the altar, which was really very sweet. The ceremony was beautiful, as was Kathy...and I'd post pictures to show y'all that, but no, the blog gods curse me daily. My sons also had a wonderful time...Eldest Boy is apparently a dancing fool, and kept the bride occupied for a good long time. I was really touched by that...Kathy took a big part of her time at her own wedding reception to make sure a seven year old boy was happy, and oh my, was he ever thrilled!! Thank you, Kathy, for making my little guy feel so very special.

Speaking of little guys, my herd has awoken & is requesting food, so I must be off for now...but I'll try to come back later & make those pictures post!

Oh yeah, and

CONGRATULATIONS, KATHY & NICK!!! Y'all make a lovely couple. :)

I'll Be His Missus

The Random
Tomorrow I get married.

I'm getting nervous about walking in and having people look at me and having to walk up an aisle.

Ack! Married! I can't believe it!

Have I packed everything? I have no idea. I think so. Should I pack my yoga mat, or will I not use it? Maybe tomorrow morning? I'll put it in the pile of stuff to go.

Married! Married!! Wow.

The Business
Okay, so I won't be posting until August, probably. The Lovely Heather is going to post a few things while I'm gone on my honeymoon (!!!! I get a honeymoon!), so say hello and give a wave when you see things up here.

Have a great week, y'all!
(Because Southern is also a mindset)

The Nature Photo

Don't Stop Till You Get Enough

Our wedding reception playlist is looking like a middle-school dance. We have a lot of Billy Joel, some Def Leppard, Don Henly, Roxette, Lita Ford, Nelson ("I can't live without yooour love and affection!"), Kenny Loggins, Motley Crue, The Bangles, and ABBA. And of course, Lou Gramm (you've probably never heard of him... the one-hit-wonder syndrome and all, but his one song "Midnight Blue" is amazing and I lurve it).

Right now I'm going back and adding a bunch of songs to our playlist that Nick took out because "you can't dance to these" or "this is just too ridiculous, Kathy." Songs like MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" (the original non-Korn version) because these are songs that shaped, well, my middle school dance experience and therefore my first experience of anything even remotely resembling dating and romance. Of course it was all awkward and the girls were all taller than the boys, and the boys wouldn't ask us to dance because they were nervous and we had a completely nerdy teacher who walked around and made sure we weren't dancing too closely (which didn't even cross our minds in sixth grade because we were concentrating on not stepping on each others' feet and not looking directly at each other), and it was just so nerve-wracking that I'm sure the hormones bubbled up to the surface just from the stress of it all. But it was dancing and I love dancing, and now I have a deep-seated affection for all things late 80's and early 90's, and he can't take away my "Angel is a Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band, dammit! Not on my wedding day, because I have now mastered the art of dancing with a boy, and talking to a boy, and looking like I'm having a good time. And I want to enjoy the middle-school music while dancing, which will be a first.

I am also procrastinating.

I have to write some parts of the ceremony still, then email it to the pastor. I also have to pack for the honeymoon (I like to start early, so I can change my mind a billion times), which includes the knitting bag. What to bring to knit? Something mindless. Like the beginning of a sock. Except, not a sock based on this swatch:


It's sock yarn on size 0 needles. My gague is 11.5 sts = 1 inch. Yes, eleven-and-a-half stitches to one inch. It's complete madness. I would have to cast on like 120 stitches to fit it around my leg.

(with a US 4 for reference)

Think I'm maybe a little bit stressed?

Oh, and we found out who sent the mysterious response card. It's a close relative's half-brother, his insane wife, her brother, two daughters & a grandchild. The invitation was for two.

Today's Nature Picture...



Ah heck, have three...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I don't have any new pictures of my Mom, so here are some lovely ferns I saw on my regular walking/running loop. My Mom likes ferns. My Mom also likes organization, tiger lilies, raspberries, punctuality, pretty dresses, and smooching my Dad.

Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you.

Secret

My post-wedding knitting is all set up.



But I can't tell you what these are all about, because it's a secret.



Let's see... we've got alpaca, merino, and Cascade 220. This will be the best wedding-recovery ever.

In other secret news, the bachelorette party was Saturday. Some pictures may make it to the blog, most won't. What happens amongst the party stays amongst the party.

Amongst. What a great word.

In other not-so-secret news, I get married in 5 days. This is the week where--I have been told--I only do things that contribute to relaxation and beauty. Ha!

(Pardon my complete incoherence this week, along with my total lack of social graces--I owe lots of you emails and/or blog comments. I'm sorry for the incommunicado-ness, and can only chalk it up to wedding-type insanity. I hope to regain my wits after the honeymoon.)

And now, to distract you from my brainless mumblings, a nature photo.

Happy Birthday, Husband-to-be!

Today, my Beloved turns twenty-eight. Twenty-eight! Hooray!

He kept forgetting that today is his birthday (mostly because today is the bachelor/bachelorette party day). Plus that whole wedding thing.


He doesn't mind that I totally blanked on the physical card, and I'm tickled that I get to post about him, with pictures of him, on his birthday (instead of a card).



He sometimes wears a beard. I like it.
He also likes the outdoors, and is camping this weekend with his guys (yes, this horrible, humid, heat-index-of-100+ weekend).


I like to make him laugh with my silliness.

Happy birthday, Nick. I'm going to marry you in a week!

All the love in the whole world,
Kathy

Unexpected

My brain has gone numb these last few days. Consequently, posts are going to be in list form from now until August (most likely). This is a list of things that made me go "Hmmm." Like the song. Which I now have stuck in my head. Damn.

1. I am missing one 7" size 4 (US) pink aluminum dpn and a black satin corset. Both objects were placed in fairly secure locations, either in closets or in the knitting box; they weren't running about willy-nilly. Where the heck are they? Are they together? Is someone macgyvering some weird sexy knitting device?

2. My Beloved said to me tonight: "Speaking of wisdom, I was reading "Redbook" today..." Words that I never in life expected to hear from any man.

3. The thought that my wedding approaches on swift ninja feet is starting to really flip me out. It's in 10 days, and I keep saying things like "Oh, we'll take care of that the week before the wedding" and that's next week. Good lord.

4. I talked to (or rather emailed) my good friend in the Navy, who says that hailing a ship is a lot like trying to pick up someone in a bar. "What's your name? What's your sign? Where have you been? Where are you going? What kind of junk do you have in your trunk?" Despite these scintillating near-hook-ups, he's kind of bored. Sadly, The Navy won't let him come home for my wedding. Even if we ask nicely.

5. It may be a sign of my newfound maturity (let us all contemplate that statement with a collective "Ha!") that I have stopped biting my fingernails.

This shocks everyone I know, including myself. I've always been a nail biter, then a few weeks ago I just decided to have pretty nails for the wedding, and I stopped. Wow. Simple. Now the long nails get in the way of everything and I can't wait to chew off bits of my hands after the wedding.

6. Oddly, the thought of getting married is more serious and almost scary lately. Weird, because we've been together for 9 years and have lived together for one year. I don't know.

7. I have to figure out how to put on eyeshadow in the next 10 days. Does anyone have advice as to where to put the colors? I have this vague notion that the lighter shades should be right under your eyebrow, but that could be a whacked-out tip from an eight-year-old Seventeen magazine and I don't want to look crazy on my wedding day. Really, anyone with ideas?

The obligatory nature picture, which will distract you from the awful lack-of-content in today's post. I hope.

Happy Birthday, Maribeth!

This is Maribeth, my youngest sister. Today is her birthday and she is TWENTY years old.

Maribeth is the happiest girl I know. She has been ridiculously happy since babyhood (which seems not very long ago at all), and she brightens up the lives of everyone around her.

Maribeth is a nursing student and CNA, which is an excellent occupation for a bubbly smiling person.

Maribeth is "just nice" according to my almost-mother-in-law, who likes her very much.

Maribeth is beautiful, cheerful, loving, and a joy to behold. She makes my day when she calls me, and I love her tons and tons.

Happy birthday, and welcome to non-teenager-hood.

Love,
Eldest Sister

Dear Miss Manners

How should one decipher the following card, sent in response to a wedding invitation?



Do we assume that ...
(a) we sent this invitaiton to math geeks, and this is their way of telling us that no one is coming (0 x 6 = 0)?
(b) the recipients are too shy to include their names?
(c) names on response cards are just not done any longer, that we were terribly gauche in asking for names in the first place, and that the fault lies with us?

Please advise, Miss Manners. My wedding is in two weeks and I am up to my ears in planning, in making lists, and in panic attacks. And if the proper way to handle name-less response cards is to assume that the fault is mine, I need time to properly word the suicide note.

Numbers, Camping, and Sock Progress

I went camping over the long weekend (Sunday to Tuesday is a weird weekend, but it works for me) and came home to insane blog stats:


(clicky-clicky for big)
Behold the power of the Harlot, who mentioned me on Monday. One thousand seven hundred seventeen page loads for my wee little blog. I about fell out of my chair onto my mosquito bites from the shock.

So, let me extend the hand of welcome to everyone who is new. Hello! I hope you have enjoyed browsing the pattern post and I hope you enjoy making fruit hats for babies, if that is your aim. My blog is normally a little more organized, but my mind is in ten different directions just now and I've let the housework go a little. Just move those wedding books aside if you'd like to sit down. In about a month or so everything will be cleaned right up, so bear with me in the interim, if you would. Thank you.

Camping is way fun when it's camping that takes you away from wedding planning. We went to Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin with some friends, and the drive up was blissfully un-traffic-y and included such vistas as:


Windmills! These lovely things are set up along the very rural highway and turn wind into power, which is a beautiful sight. There are some along I-39 in Illinois as well (some folks think they're ugly and don't want them around. What's uglier--windmills or a poisoned planet unfit to support life? That's what I thought.)

The first night of camping was full of celebratory drinks and interpretive dance around the fire, as our good friends Jeremy & Beth got engaged the day before we got there. The second day began slowly, but turned into a 10-mile hike for some of us. That was amazing and difficult and bug-filled and fun.

The puppy on Margaret's lap is Cash, and he belongs to Jeremy. He hiked at least 18 miles, what with all the running ahead to scout out the terrain and running back to do a head count of his people every 20 minutes. He was great fun to have around, and extremely calm when we had to dig a tick out of his groin area. Good dog.

I also brought the sock camping, and it enjoyed itself. Even when the huge raging 10-minute storm came up (which took us by surprise. We thought it was 20-50 miles away it was in reality a mere 5 minutes from torrential downpour. In our defense, it was a very fast-moving storm.) the sock took everything in stride and remained calm. I have begun the heel flap.

Progress continues to be made, and confidence continues to expand. I may start on that lovely Koigu over the honeymoon. Or not.

A parting shot of a charming little fern encountered on the epic hike, for my Mom, who loves ferns.