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The other day I was perusing the internet looking for inspiration, and I came across this dress at White House | Black Market:
 It's part of their wedding collection, though with only two dresses, it's hardly a collection.
Isn’t it gorgeous? Try to avoid looking at the model’s face – it totally looks like it was cut-and-pasted on there. Focus on the dress.
To be sure, I love my wedding dress, and it was perfect and exactly what I wanted. It was inspired by a designer gown I saw in a magazine (Reem Acra, 2007 Spring Collection, totally not anywhere on the internet anymore). Here are the sketches I sent  :
 Wasn't I nice to clearly label them?  In drawings, gravity has no meaning. I know, I know. You’re impressed by my mad drawing skills. That aside, it got me this wonderful dress:
 Those are Grant's chubby little legs there, when he was not yet one year old!
 Wow - I had not noticed my hair before. Huh. I'm sure it looked fine in person.
Pretty true to my sketches, don’t you think? had to make it up! I got tons of compliments on it too (though when you’re the bride, you generally receive compliments all day long). Definitely not a dress I’d sell or part with. (Also, because of the design, I could lose or gain 20 pounds and it would still fit. Most brides cannot say that.)
That said, had I seen the first dress, I might have had other ideas. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of the bust part, but the skirt is fabulous. Maybe I would have hated it three years ago. Who knows.
I realize this was a completely random rambling, but I saw the picture and wanted to share it with someone, and who better than with my captive blog audience!
I’ll leave you with the picture again, to spur your imagination.
Lovely.
- Cold fried chicken — the best food to take on a picnic.
- Summer showed up early this year.
- I adore my flip flops.
- To love someone is to share your chocolate with them.
- Something I like to do while camping is to go on a long hike.
- When I crave food, it’s usually chocolate. Is there any other answer?
- And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to dinner? (I don’t know what we’re having, but I don’t have any plans for tonight other than homework, so it’s the only thing I could think of), tomorrow my plans include gardening, cleaning and getting the house ready for guests and Sunday, I want to revel in the joy that is a three-day weekend!
Courtesy of Friday Fill-Ins
- Rice cakes and granola, and the work they do to stop that “hunger” feeling.
- Three day weekends (followed by a three day work week!).
- Time spent with friends (and, conveniently, ice cream).
- Class last night was good, and thought-provoking.
- New iPhone apps!
- Plants/seeds are in the ground. Not all of them, but enough for me to feel good about the end of May being here.
- Ice – it makes most drinks so much better!
- Fake nails, because the current state of my nails is definitely not bridesmaid (ahem, maid matron of honor) worthy.
- The new cap for my Nalgene. It’s everything I’ve been looking for (in a Nalgene cap, that is).
- Finally figuring out exactly what I want for end tables (sofa tables?) in the living room. (No, I haven’t technically found them, but I know what they look like, theoretically.)
- Our lilac bushes are blooming, and we even have a few daylily blooms (it should be noted that I don’t actually like the daylilies, but it’s nice to see them blooming rather than just being large lumps of leaves).
- Comfortable shoes. Most of the ones I own are not (comfort being defined as not painful to walk more than a mile in), hence most of the ones I own do not get worn. But those that are comfortable, they’re fabulous.
- The phrase, “I can wait until you’re ready.” I don’t think it matters what the context is – it’s always lovely to hear.
- That feeling of “here are all the things I want to get done this weekend,” even if you know full well that most will remain undone. The bliss of the potential.
- Both of my thumbnails are peeling so bad that I can’t actually trim or file them short enough to stop the breakage. I wore fakes all last week, but you’re only supposed to leave them on for 7 days. They were really nice while I had them – didn’t have to worry about breaking a nail. I think they’ll make an appearance at the upcoming wedding. (Seriously, you can see the tip of my thumb above my nail, and it still has a break in the middle. Oh, and I have strengthening [clear] polish on. There’s nothing more I can do.)
- My bank has fewer requirements on passwords than my work network. Guess which one is more annoying.
- I haven’t bought any fabric in over six weeks, and I’m totally cool with that.
- There are two mostly finished items of clothing languishing near my sewing machine. I know I shouldn’t start a new project until finishing at least one of them, so I just haven’t sewn anything. (That makes sense, right?)
- I really, really need to get curtains made for the bedroom, because the patio door faces south and gets tons of sun during the day. I think the extra two layers of fabric will make a huge difference. But, I have never made lined curtains, and I’m kind of afraid of them. I have a book with step-by-step directions, and still… unmade. Perhaps I should try to work on that at least a little bit this week.
- It was so hot here yesterday that it broke records!
- So it makes perfect sense that yesterday there was an unannounced detour for my bus route that meant I had to walk 10 minutes from the drop-off to my car at 5 pm (when it was the hottest).
- I think my handwriting would look much nicer if I wrote slower.
- My signature is frequently missing one of the Ls or part of the Y.
- This weekend, I got about 1/2 of our garden planted. It was entirely anti-climatic, so I don’t have any pictures to share. Really, you’re not missing anything.
- What’s left? All of the squash varieties, plus the peas and Brussels sprouts, whose packages tell me not to plant them until later in the summer.
- My hammock is still not up. I decided it was important to get our sprinkler system set up before the hammock (since it would just get in the way). We got set up on Sunday, only to realize that one of our hoses needs to be replaced.
- There are several hours worth (at least) of weeding to do in our yard and gardens, and I really don’t feel motivated to do that.
- Did I tell you that our new neighbor has his own tree-something business?
- Bet you didn’t know that when I said that, what I really meant was, our new neighbor uses a chainsaw or bobcat in the driveway less than 10 feet from our bedroom during most of the waking hours.
- I didn’t know that’s what that meant either, when he told us.
- The driveway (the one closest to us – the house actually has two driveways and two garages) looks like he cut down a whole forest. I laughed when I saw it on Sunday (I had to look over the fence while I was up on the ladder cleaning out the gutter – I couldn’t resist after the hours and hours of chainsawing).
- Surprisingly, the chainsaw and bobcat aren’t that annoying. What was annoying? The horrible music he blasted last night while I was trying to do my homework.
- You know me and my tolerance for noises that I don’t have control over. Don’t worry – I didn’t become that neighbor who yells “turn it down!” but I contemplated it.
- Sometimes things need to percolate for a while. For example, our living room, which I’m finally getting a feel for. Another example? I just figured out yesterday what the perfect quilt for our bed is. And it’s easy. It just took several months of percolation to get to that point.
- Sugar-Free Jell-O is awesome, especially as jigglers. The only problem? I can totally taste the extra salt, and it kind of turns me off. I keep trying to tell that part of my tongue to stop paying attention.
- What’s not awesome? Yellow celery. Blech.
- I have one friend from college who isn’t pregnant or already a mom. OK, two, but the second one is engaged to be married and doesn’t count (because none of my college friends would have gotten pregnant outside of wedlock).
- One. Oh, and one cousin who isn’t pregnant or doesn’t have kids.
- Seems that everyone is having babies.
- I, on the other hand, am not having babies.
- Seriously. My biological clock? Totally not ticking.
- I might take bets on how many times I will be asked “when are you going to have kids?” at the upcoming wedding. My guess is at least a few.
- There is angel food cake sitting outside my office. I really, really want some.
Tell me something random in the comments!
Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
Salads
Shrimp
- Spicy Grilled Shrimp | The Kitchn – Grilled shrimp (well, all shrimp really) is a great low-calorie protein. I love it on the grill, though I haven’t tried it spicy yet.
- garlic shrimp pasta | simmer down! – OK, if you switch out the pasta with a whole-grain variety, or just eat less of it, I think you’re good here. No cream sauce to clog your arteries.
Soup
Other
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
What’s that you say? You’re having difficulty getting enough chocolate into your diet? Never fear, I have collected some recipes to help you get through this trying dietary dilemma.
Some basics:
Taking cake to the next level:
Feeling nutty? Hazelnutty?
A bit more sophisticated:
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
This past week was the annual city-wide garage sale here. It was Thursday through Saturday, and I was only able to go out on Saturday. I knew there wouldn’t be much left (except for the few places that only were “open” on Saturday), but I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. I wasn’t really looking for anything, or at least I didn’t think I’d find what I was looking for (matching side tables for the sofa, the perfect dining room table – neither are easy to come by it seems).
Saturday morning, we went over to the farmer’s market (which is only open Saturday mornings when I would rather be sleeping, but I digress). I got some cucumbers and a bunch of asparagus; we also got some havarti cheese from the local dairy (they had a stand there), and then some fresh sourdough bread from the Breadsmith (and I do mean fresh – like baked just hours earlier fresh). We also bought a few plants (rosemary, lavender, and cilantro).
After stopping at Home Depot, we went home, and I got into my car to go to at least one sale: a church sale. Specifically, the Evangelical Covenant Church here that I’ve been meaning to check out. We drove by once and it was super cute, and didn’t make me hyperventilate or anything. (Seriously, I’ve had some very strong reactions to churches on occasion – having had the experiences I did while working in them, it’s completely understandable, though I admit a little strange.)
The sale was priceless, and they only asked for a donation. Genius on their part, since I gave them more than they would have charged for the items I got. Sadly, it was a really small sale (just one room and part of a hallway). I will still give them a chance as a church to try out, even though it was mostly old ladies. Sometimes those are the only people available to staff such things.
 I found this cute tablecloth. Red really isn't my color, but I couldn't resist its embroidery.
 Close-up of some of the embroidery. Darling, no?
The tablecloth is stained a bit, so I’m going to see what I can do about that. Nothing terribly big or dark, but it would be nice if it wasn’t stained. Wherever shall I put it?
 I also found a nice stack of vintage sheets (I didn't take all of them, just a few) and pillowcases, and "Through the Gates of Splendor" by Jim Elliot. I've been meaning to read that book (since I only know the short version of the story, as told by his wife), and this is a nice, old copy of the book. Also, I found it charming that it has "Evangelical Covenant Church" stamped on the edge. I grabbed the copy that didn't have a library code written on the spine. It's in pretty good shape considering its age.
Though I wasn’t feeling terribly motivated to go to any other sales (though I’d done my research and figured out which ones had the most potential), I was sad when it started raining. Poured, actually, shortly after I arrived at the church. So instead of going to any other sales, I went home, and we had lunch. Turkey and havarti sandwiches on sourdough, with cucumbers. Yum!
I will have to continue keeping a watch on Craigslist for what I’m looking for. If I ever find side tables, I can get rid of the coffee table that I don’t like (it kind of came with the house), and pull the couch away from the wall a bit. I think that will help the “flow” or feeling of the room dramatically. So would a rug, but I have yet to find one I’m willing to pay rug prices for (rugs are expensive!). Paint, some artwork on the wall behind the sofa… I might figure out what to do with that room yet!
When the first set of beads I ordered had come in, and they didn’t even come close to coordinating with my shawl, I promptly ordered more. And now I can’t decide. I’m talking about my jewelry for ‘s wedding. The other girls’ sets are already done. (See here and here.)
So, I’m letting you decide giving you the chance to provide your opinion.
This was very hard to photograph, so I have quite a few for you to look at. I know that colors on monitors can vary widely from real life, but I figured that if they were in the same picture, or at least photographed in the same conditions at the same time, they were at least OK relative to each other.
White background:
 At the top, you can see the shawl that I'm talking about. It's a turquoise-y jersey. Below you see all seven sets that I'm considering (I will try to not sway you towards the one(s) I like).
 Close-up of the first four. Note that the ones on the far right are not laying correctly, but I couldn't get them to sit upright. They're not as white as they appear in the picture, but they are pretty pale.
 Close-up of the other three.
Colored background:
 All seven on the shawl itself.
 Close-up of the first four.
 Close-up of the remaining three.
And now, some artsy shots for you. I was hoping to be able to show more of the detail of the beads so you could make an educated decision.
 Better?
 Or maybe this view is helpful?
 How about this one? It was really hard to photograph that third one. Even without flash (and it wasn't terribly bright outside), the mother-of-pearl reflected way more light than anything else. You get a truer view of the color in the photos on the white background.
 Trying to show you the details of these little beads.
So, there you have it. Since it won’t take much time to make up, I’ll let you make comments through Friday, and then I’ll create over the weekend and share with you next week. (I can’t do a proper poll, as all of the free sites to create those are blocked here. We’ll have to do it old-school. Well, as old-school as blogging and digital photos can be.) Remember, we’re looking at doing a necklace with three in a row, followed by the pendant, just like the other five sets. Earrings are more free-form, and styling will depend on which beads are ultimately chosen.
Once more, just for reference. You can refer to them by name, designation, or by number (left to right, one through seven).
So… what are your thoughts?
Lately, my inner child wants to eat lots of yummy (bad for you) foods at a time that will most likely ruin my appetite for the upcoming meal. I have to tell her to be quiet (sometimes I shove a rice cake in her mouth, and that seems to hold her off a bit).
But if you feel like indulging your inner child, here are some recipes for you
- Nesquik Cake | Palachinka – Nesquik reminds me of my childhood, and the 80s. Not that I consumed much Nesquik – not a huge fan actually. This recipe isn’t so much a Nesquik cake as it is a cake dusted with Nesquik, but it sure is pretty!
- S’mores Cupcakes | Living Eventfully – If you find yourself unable to go camping this summer (perhaps you’ve waited to long and can’t find an open campsite, or your camping supplies have gone MIA, or you insist on sleeping in a real bed – whatever), make some of these up and reminisce in a distinctly sleeping-on-a-mattress, living-with-air-conditioning way.
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
- Old men neighbors never fails to make me smile. My neighborhood has quite a few, and they are delightful. There’s the one who’s always walking his dog as I come home from work, the one who was mowing his lawn yesterday (I swear the lawn mower weighed more than he did), the one who likes to bend over (from the waist) to garden (butt facing the street, of course), and the one who walks around shirtless (he’s not old, but should definitely not be going shirtless, and probably could use a bigger support bra than I will ever require).
- I’m looking forward to wedding. Two weeks to go!
- The white noise of my [totally not allowed] space heater (that is under my desk) is what I’m listening to right now. It’s been quite cold in the office lately. I don’t think there’s been a single day this week when I haven’t had to run the space heater at least once.
- Potato salad must have potatoes in it! I’ve never met a potato salad I liked, so I don’t really have strong opinions on style/ingredients.
- Teeccino with 1/2 hazelnut Coffeemate, 1/2 Sweet Italian Cream Coffeemate was the best thing I ate today. It’s early. The only other thing I’ve had is Carnation Instant Breakfast – dark chocolate, which I’m not a huge fan of (but after a year of milk chocolate, I thought I’d give myself a 2-week break of “something different”).
- Today was boring. Or, at least, I expect it will be. It’s a Friday. The phones don’t ring much, lots of people are out of the office this week, and my only project involves a database that keeps breaking on me (so I’ve been avoiding it).
- And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep (it has not been a good sleep week for me), tomorrow my plans include going to the Richfield Farmer’s Market, checking out garage sales as part of the city-wide garage sale, digging around in the garden, getting some plants in the ground, and hopefully setting up my hammock* and Sunday, I want to finish a project (pick one, any one)!
Via Friday Fill-Ins
*I really wanted to get my hammock up this week, so I decided I had to get the dining room table cleared (of the Christmas decorations that were still hanging out there waiting to go into storage – yes, I’m aware that it’s mid-May) and get all the plants from  ‘s grandma into the ground. Those have both been done since Tuesday, but I have not yet set up the hammock. I wasn’t feeling it on Wednesday, and last night we took the time to measure and chart out the garden area (with graph paper and a tape measure), and that was the extent of my gardening. It should get up this weekend though. It needs to be up before next Thursday, when I have more reading homework to do.
Some things I’ve bookmarked recently:
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
 and I are planning to host a brunch for family the day after ‘s wedding. Conveniently, I have several recipes bookmarked in my “brunch” folder. Of course, we’ll be making cinnamon rolls (because I have a fabulous recipe that we both love), and there should probably be fruit salad (it is June). I’m really tempted to make Prize Coffee Cake, but there are some good coffee cake recipes below that I’d like to try. Sometimes it’s good to try something new, even if you know the new can’t possibly be better than the usual.
What do you serve at brunch? (Or, perhaps more appropriately, what would you like to eat at brunch?)
Waffles
Pancakes
Coffee Cakes
Muffins, Biscuits, and other Breads
Cereals
Miscellaneous
via Google Reader (Shared Items)
…but I’m sorry to report that life is kind of boring at the moment. The summer semester started last week and my class seems like it will be good (and will allow me to have some fun this summer too, since it doesn’t seem to be too intense). Saturday, we helped move most of ‘s fiance’s stuff to her house. I may have been a bit bossy, but someone needed to make sure everything fit into the truck, and then make sure it got out of the truck at the other end and into the house. If you ever need help moving, and I don’t mind, but we have one word of advice: stickers. (The men who were helping would have said “beer,” but that’s not always the most helpful thing.)
Sunday was spent doing yard work. Early in the day (OK, 10:30) I attempted to get a bunch of things planted, but ran into some problems. One, it was hot, and I was having a hard time staying motivated, outside all alone (somehow, yard work in the heat is much more bearable when others are suffering with you). And, two, I couldn’t actually plant any of the edibles, because it was clear our soil needed some additives before going any further.
I did get about half of the non-edibles planted (free from ‘s grandma this year) before I ran out of places to put them and called it quits. After lunch, we worked together to get the yard in better shape. He went ahead of me with the Weed Hound (seriously, if you have dandelion issues, you need one of these, because they work very well), pulling up all the dandelions he could find. I followed with the lawn mower, which took significantly less time, so I took several breaks to do some weeding of my own (in the gardens). Halfway through the big stretch of front lawn, I offered to take over, and brought out the edge trimmer and cleaned things up a bit (since we used it… once last year, things were looking a bit scraggly). He finished up the front, and then I finished up the mowing, and then our lawn again looked presentable. For about 12 hours. Our oak trees laugh at us, I think, and try to come up with ways to mar the work we’ve done. Monday morning there were quite a few branches down in the yard – not dead branches per se, but ones with big green leaves on them. See? They’re laughing.
I also started on summer homework. Right now we’re reading a memoir on Hmong immigration, and it’s quite good, but it is taking me a really long time to read (much longer than I expected, anyway, considering it’s written in fairly simple English and is in a narrative format). I hope to be done by Friday.
I had hoped to do so much more with my weekend, like finish up my night stand, but alas, it was not meant to be. did get a new cable run for our new television antenna (which is so much more serious than our old one – it’s mounted from the ceiling in the garage!), which has been wonderful – no more skippy, jumpy recordings! The new antenna means that my office is no longer reception central, and my folding table can actually be folded up against the wall. That is, if I clean off the top of it and all the boxes under it. Ha! Let’s all laugh about that together for a moment. I don’t have a picture to show you, but it’s definitely a humorous thought.
We also installed a new light fixture in my office – it’s the old one from ‘s office, and a huge improvement. It is the same light fixture that is all over the house, so it’s nothing special, but at least both light bulbs work (the old one would burn out one of the bulbs after about 15 minutes of use, so I’d been working with one 60-watter for the past year). Let there be light!
There was also some cleaning in an attempt to curtail the ant situation, but in the end, what was most effective was the poison. I haven’t seen a live ant in days – just dead bodies here and there. (Gross, I know, but true.)
I have made a bit of jewelry, but no pictures. And I “fixed/improved” the couch yesterday (got rid of one of the sets of cushions, which makes it a much more normal couch – an easy fix since we’re not buying a new couch any time soon). I’m hoping to find two end tables for the couch – I keep watching Craigslist, and the city-wide garage sale is this Thursday through Saturday, so maybe something will show up. I’d really like to get rid of the coffee table, but we can’t be completely table-less (that’s just a recipe for mess).
Pretty boring stuff, I know. “It’s boring, but it’s part of my life.” (Anchorman)
- What is absolutely the best cookie you’ve ever had? I’m a huge fan of Super-Sized Ginger Chewies from Big Fat Cookies by Eleanor Klivans (the cookie book I talk about all the time – it has every recipe you will ever need except for chocolate chip cookies*). I have made them as gifts, given the recipe out to others, and just adore it. Yum!
- What is a cookie you really don’t care for? Oatmeal Raisin. Anything with raisins, actually. (Yes, I know earlier I said I was eating raisins. Raisins aren’t bad. Baked raisins are bad. There is a difference.)
- What are some other cookies you are rather fond of? Girl Scout Samoas, Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip, snickerdoodles, and shortbread cookies. I love shortbread. It’s all that butter; can’t go wrong with butter.
- Grocery-store cookies are, of course, never as good as anything that comes out of someone’s kitchen, but what’s a packaged cookie that’s still pretty good? As mentioned in #3, Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip. Yes, they’re technically not that good, but they stay chewy forever! And chewy is good.
- In general, do you think cookies should be chewy and gooey, or should they be crispy and crunchy? Definitely chewy, though perhaps not gooey. Crunchy is also OK (like nuts in the cookie), but I like them to overall be chewy. Crispy I’m not so much a fan of.
*Yes, there are in fact several chocolate chip cookie recipes in this book. I have tried two of them and they massively failed. Like, unuseable, uneatable, never have I had a cookie be so awful failed. So I don’t recommend those. But all the other recipes in it that I’ve tried have been perfect and delicious!
Do you know how long I could talk about cookies? Especially baking cookies? It’s a good thing there were five (and only five) guiding questions. Otherwise, we might still be here tomorrow. 
It has been rainy and grey (and cold!) all week here in Minnesota. We’re actually happy about that, seeing as how last weekend we put down a ton of grass seed and need the water badly. (No sprouts yet, but it’s still very early.) However, today the sun has come out, no more rain is predicted, and it’s actually supposed to get up to 80° by next Thursday (as opposed to 50s and lower this week).
This is good news for Saturday, as we are helping out with a move, and it is NOT fun moving in the rain. I would know. I moved into my apartment in Michigan in pouring rain. It was so bad that we had two people outside (with the truck backed up as close as we could get it to the patio door without getting into trouble) and two inside, so that we wouldn’t track muddy water all over the carpeting. Yech. I don’t have pictures to share with you, because that was long before digital cameras became a part of my life (it was, after all, June 2000).
 I actually took this last Sunday while Prince Charming was mowing, but I could have easily snapped it this morning on my way to work. It's one of our white oaks (the one in the driveway*), and it's looking quite healthy and strong in this picture (it is, technically, but it has a ton of dead branches that need to be cut off). Last night we went out to dinner for ‘s birthday (Ruby Tuesday, quite tasty, and I look forward to going back and having the lobster mac & cheese – doesn’t that sound fabulous, especially with a steak and mashed potatoes?), and when we came home, after hooking up our new antenna, we relaxed in front of the television for the rest of the night. That was nice.  was especially happy, as she got cuddly lap time ( , on the other hand, was feeling grumpy and didn’t partake in any lap). At one point looked over and saw her like this, and took a picture for me.
 I think she probably looked cuter before I moved slightly to grab my iPhone, but you get the idea. just the one little paw next to her face. Perhaps she's blocking her view of the television.
*Yes, there is a tree in our driveway. Originally our house had a one car garage, and there was a tree right next to the driveway (barely inches away). When it was expanded to a two-car garage, only part of the driveway was expanded to accommodate two cars (the part by the garage, logically), and the bottom portion (with the tree) was left alone. So the driveway is a single car width from the street to the tree, and then it expands to double. Maybe I should just show you a picture.
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thankful
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, a warning – this is a banana desert, but it’s combined with toffee. Is toffee OK with you? I have a hard time keeping all the different caramel-like things straight.
