Man. This whole getting-married thing is kinda cutting into my knitting time.
Got the location, photographer, and all attendants secured. (Each of us has five - absurd for a small wedding, maybe, but we love our friends and want them all by our sides.) I'm keeping copious notes so as not to confuse myself, and setting up a website (well, really a blog) for us. We're keeping the invite list small (for us, anyway) as the location's max capacity is 80. I'd probably have a hard time filling 80 seats myself, but both sides of Travis' family are very large, and all of them live in within a 50-mile radius. So it's a challenge.
I know I said I'd skip the wedding talk, but seriously, you're gonna love where this goes. We thought about who we are and what we represent and what we'd like our wedding to represent. We're fun, independent-minded, and kinda goofy. We live in a house built in 1920 and hate subdivisions where everything looks the same. We refuse to shop at Wal-Mart. When going on vacations, we like to stay at small, independently-owned places and eat at small, independently-owned restaurants. So would a Papyrus-invitations, hotel-ballroom-reception, mass-produced-candles-as-favors wedding be true to who we are? No way.
I found an artist on Etsy who does hand silk-screened invitations. I found a beautiful B&B for the ceremony. My jewelry, and hopefully that for my bridesmaids? One of my new favorite Etsy artists. Favors? Some of our favorite little things - Gudonya has agreed to make me small Floap soaps, and I'm going to talk to a talented friend about making a slew of those chocolates she does that we like so much. (She's gonna have to love me a LOT to be willing to do that....but I'm hoping....and willing to beg.)
It really means a lot to me, as a fiber artist and big fan of the little guy, to have as much of this as possible come from artists and little guys. No matter what happens on the day, we're going to be so proud of this wedding and the people who put so much into it. I'm already just totally psyched about the fact that when I'm 80, I'll be able to open an album and point to an invitation and say, "Heather designed those for us and printed them herself." I'll be able to hand my daughter a necklace and say, "Emily sketched and made this for me by hand and I wore it when I married your father." I think it's just incredibly special to have things made especially for us that someone put their own precious time into, and it's such an honor to have talented individuals accept my requests for their time and artistic talent.
Spectacular bonus: it's also a good way to keep the costs down....in a strange paradox, keeping it personal seems to be cheaper than keeping it corporate. Go figure.
Today was such an AWESOME DAY!!! Last night I managed a really great FO. It's simple but fun and I love it. (Gotta keep you waiting for the pictures...but I've hinted at it before.) This morning we headed off to the mall and knocked out some details - setting up registries, that kind of thing. (Yes, corporations are less preferable - but if you want accessibility and faboo kitchen gadgets, you're kind of limited.) I got to have my beloved grilled vegetable salad for lunch, and I splurged on a few new sassy Chanel nail polishes - which it turns out are (say the following in a snotty-brat Paris voice) only, like, THE hottest new things right now and are, like, only sold out EVERYWHERE. Whatever, I just thought they were pretty.
I'm sort of proud of myself, really. Every once in a while I accidentally end up being trendy and cutting-edge. Don't worry, I ruin it immediately by pulling out a sock and knitting at lunch.
But it wasn't just a great cool fun day! No, it was a great cool fun day with FLAIR!
Dude, a surprise from Rosi G.! I love opening my post office box and finding a little key inside that means, "You've got mail! The good kind!" It's even better when it's surprise good mail! (You know, the kind you didn't order online and pay for.) She sent soaps (handmade, my favorite!!!) and a sock-blocker keychain with instructions to make a tiny little sock (which will be a great gift....for ME!) and wool yarn that my sad crappy picture does absolutely no justice to but which is fabulous and kind of like Trekking and destined to be great socks. (It doesn't matter what kind of yarn I pick up lately, all I see is socks. I think I'm getting tunnel vision....and I like it!)
Big ol' hugs and thanks, Rosi! You're way-super-awesome!
Last little bit of eye candy before I'm back to sock knitting. (What's that you say? Christmas is over? Ha!!! Not until I say it is!) Earlier this week, a coworker sneaked her Christmas puppy into the office to show her off. We tried to keep it quiet for a little while, but damned if she wasn't too cute for secrets - after a few minutes, we wound up in one of our larger open spaces with pretty much everyone in the office cooing over her. She was the CUTEST little thing.
Yeah, it was probably a big-time no-no. But deep down, we're all a sucker for puppies.
Happy new year!!! I think I'll make sure I'm snuggled up to Travis and knitting at midnight. That seems like a good way to spend a year.
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