Universal Miscommunication?

Usually the universe and I communicate well. It nudges me, seemingly at random. But if the nudge, glimpse or mention comes from several disparate places within a short period of time I pay attention. [sometimes it can be a push]

I do realize a convincing argument can be made for my subconscious nudging me, after picking up various barely noticed information and processing it then spitting out ideas and/or solutions. But it's my brain so I call it talking to the Universe.

I had the strongest feeling that I could get some much needed shopping done last night for cheap. That totally worked out. I found some high quality, low cost pants that I really needed. Very pleased.

I also thought I was being nudge about that book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. I had heard mention of it from several completely unrelated places so I did what I normally do and reserved it at the Library. I am not a big book buyer anymore. I had another nudge and remembered I had a Barnes&Noble gift card, so while I was out shopping I picked it up, I even had exactly the right amount on the card. I thought it was meant to be.

I read the first 4 chapters last night and I pretty much have a resounding 'mmph' response. First I was not unaware that actual hands on time for making bread is extremely low. Especially when you have a kitchen aid with a dough hook. This is the 'big' secret of the book, that and the fact that they get it down to 5 minutes.

I was slightly put off by the rather tv commercial type of sales pitch in the text. Or was I imagining it? After all I have already bought the book [presumably]. I remembered how bread is actually not something I need to eat daily. I thought my beloved pets in the fridge [sour dough starter] got kind of dissed by the authors as being "so much work".  I don't like to use white flour.

Basically I am not impressed but perhaps I will feel differently after reading more. I can't think why the universe would have steered me toward this book. Surely some silly astrology thing that I totally don't believe in doesn't effect universal communications? Could it?

Moving on, it's much warmer and we are going skiing tomorrow. The stew is made and it's flavors are mingling for tomorrow night. I found golden beets to roast for the salad. We managed to figure out how to get the funky leaves in the table yet again. I cleaned the forks. All systems are go for a great Saturday. I hope everyone else will have a great weekend as well.

lessons learned

-if you use the small amount of blogging time you have for 2 days on trying to get pictures to post correctly you won't get to posting at all.

-and you won't have pictures up either.

-when your yoga teacher asks 'what shall we work on today?' and you answer 'shoulders', your shoulders are probably going to hurt like the dickens the next day.

-you can always find something to talk about in therapy.

-when mercury is in retrograde you can ask 3 different people the same question and no one will remember the answer you need until after hours of troubleshooting in which you figure it out for yourself, you then mention the answer to them and they will all say 'oh yes I knew that, didn't I tell you?'

-you'll be proud of yourself for going back into files 4 years old and finding the answer but will also want to strangle the people who could have saved you all that time.

-you will be proud of yourself for not strangling anyone.

-it is not cyber stalking if you are involved in a yarn/knit swap and you are just trying to figure out what your swappee would like.

-if you have 3 or 4 things you would like to knit in the next month or so and you aren't a fast knitter it probably will not happen.

-especially if you have spinning you really need to get done during the same time.

-sending anonymous questions through elfster is entertaining, reaching outside your comfort zone to make something you normally never would must be character building.

-the barber of seville is Rossini not Mozart.

-visiting family is usually not a vacation no matter how fun.

-but a clean house can make life seem more flowing and full of ease.

-it is best to remember to order your sweetie's V day gift before it is too late.

-spending time with oneself is a good priority to have, up there with exercising and getting plenty of sleep.

-harry potter books are great to read aloud but it's a shame there are only seven of them.

-most people at your dinner party are so delighted that someone is cooking for them that they won't be too picky about other stuff.

-lists can make your random blog thoughts easier to get down.

Mall shock

It's really cold again. The high yesterday was +1 F and it was hard to get moving. I had a reason to go to the mall and I thought I could combine the shopping with several circuits around the mall for exercise.

It was so crowded. Since retail buying is supposed to be down I am assuming most people were there to find a place to get out of the weather. I completely understand that. After 2 circuits and some quick shopping I was so surfeited with people I was ready to retch. These are the times that remind me that in truth I am an introvert.

Before I went slowly insane I did finally buy a date book for 2009. I couldn't find a date book I really liked but it when things are 75% off it's pretty easy for me to settle for $4.00.

I also went to Williams-Sonoma where I have gift cards up the whazoo. Some are left over from my bridal shower. I actually had a few items I wanted and needed. A tart pan, a pastry brush and pastry scraper. [where did my first pastry scraper go?] I also bought a melon baller, something I never planned on owning until I read weeks ago how Deb at smittenkitchen uses hers to remove cores from apple halves. I hate coring apples, I had a gift card so ... I hope it works. [is the term 'core apples' or 'de-core apples'? I am drawing a blank]

This means apple tart and homemade cinnamon ice cream for dessert at this week's dinner party is a go. Beef Burgundy with potatoes or noodles. Roasted beet salad and probably something on crostini for starters.

Other notable events yesterday; I got pictures via email of our new great niece. She is adorable with such dark eyes for such a new baby. Now I want to actually post a picture and I can't get it to work.

Also Carolyn and I went to the Corner Table to celebrate the day we met 5 years ago. If you live in the area, save up and treat yourself some special occasion. It's a small chef owned place so get reservations.

The meal was fabulous. The gnocchi is sublime. The best I have had outside of Italy. It is so light I expect it to float off of the plate. The spinach salad special with breast of duck shavings yummy. Her fettucine carbonara special and my lamb ragout were wonderful for a freezing cold winter night and went great with my glass of Boroli. Carolyn loved her chocolate bread pudding, and they happily accommodated her 'no alcohol' request and replaced the bourbon creme anglais with a cream cheese sauce she said was great. My parsnip honey cake was so luscious and not too sweet for this no sugar eater. I realize I could go on and on about this meal, but I will stop now. And now I am hungry just from writing the above.

Sounds like next weekend will be a bit warmer which means cross country skiing. I look forward to that. ECD tonight, I will brave the cold.

Singing, me?

Pretty happy today
Of course I don't agree with Obama on everything, but then I don't agree with my best friend or my partner on everything either. I can totally live with that.

The actual watching of live TV and seeing 2 cabins ate up Tuesday. Work and a killer headache took up all of Wednesday. Another week is whooshing by.

One of the cabins is a possible. The other, well we didn't want it, and the realtor refused to consider us ever moving across from the 'home from deliverance'. Nice to know he has limits as to how far he'll go to make a sale.

Today is work from home day because one of the cars needs a new serpentine belt [we hope]. Mercury retrograde, that silly thing none of us believes in, strikes again. I did do my qi gong this morning and finally sometime this afternoon my headache went away. I also rode the stationary bike for 20+ minutes.

I now realize that if one watches an episode of '3rd Rock from the Sun' while biking those minutes will whiz by. How great is netflix? I have had it for at least 6 years now and I don't even care about the tv signal going digital. I'll see what I want eventually and I am probably one of the few americans who owns a tv but did not see one political ad in 2008.

Now there is a new years' resolution I would make: "I will not watch any political ads this year". Maybe, someday, I'll tell you all how I never saw a trailer for any of the LOTR movies. Which I just did, hmmm not that interesting. I have never seen the Godfather, any of the LOTR movies [although I have read the books at least 60 times] or the movie Titanic. Yep, not as interesting as it sounded in my head. Oh well. I can chalk it up to my quest for transparency.

Off to eat vegetable lentil soup. And perhaps a trip to the co op to buy milk and such with my sweetie when she gets back with the car. I'm hoping everyone is having a great week.

Blissful Monday, again

Here it is Monday and I am feeling very cheery. Second Monday in a row. Huh. It is a company holiday for me but I still have 9 reviews to do so I am clueless as to why I am happy. I will just enjoy the cheeriness.

Some random babbling [burbling?] rapidly approaching or
'How I keep from thinking about reviews and cabin buying'.

I really enjoyed dancing last night. I go to Tapestry for most of my dancing needs which if you are in the Minneapolis area you should totally check out. My favorite is English Country Dancing and has been for about 20 years off and on. If you have ever seen a british movie based on a Jane Asten book with dancing then you have seen English Country Dancing.

ECD is an exercise I enjoy and it is fairly gentle for someone shortly after back surgery. I proved this twice myself in the past. We had a large crowd with a lot of new people in too small a room last night but fun was had.

The annual Playford ball which is the first Saturday of March is rapidly approaching so there will be a good crowd all winter long. I need to find myself a new fan for it.

We are planning our next dinner party for January 31. If you haven't been invited and you know us offline please don't take offense. We love all our friends, some we haven't seen since the wedding, and are sending out invites to one small party after another. We do want to see you all but since we can only fit 6 guests around the DR table it is going to take awhile

This will be our third dinner party. We talked about doing this for years but we only started last October and we are feeling proud of ourselves and having a blast.

Since it is January and pretty frigid out I am thinking beef stew w/wine for the main course. If we have a vegetarian in the group, I will make it with mushrooms instead of beef. For dessert apple tart with cinnamon ice cream. Because we want to play with our new ice cream maker. More menu choices need to be added and decisions like should the stew be server with noodles or dumplings will need to be decided.

Progress is being made on Katrina's sweater I am working on the border for the body curently.

This is like a comfort post. All happy making and as you can see totally unrelated to writing up reviews for work. [which must get done today] Whew.

xcounty 2

Skiing fun was had today. I was pretty nervous, this was only my second time cross country skiing in my life. My first time was in 1988. Yep, I think I waited long enough.

We woke up today and I wasn't hungry. I called the weather line and it was 21 degrees. I used my smelling salts until the room stopped spinning. I suggested going out and working up an appetite for breakfast. So we did and I have that proud feeling for stepping out of my comfort zone.

It was pretty awesome half hour of fun in the snow. This is a big skiing town. There was one Dad pulling 2 kids behind him on a sled while skiing. There was one woman there with her two 80+ pound dogs on leashes. Would it be easier or harder to have the dogs pulling you I wonder?

Some gaiters for my ankles would probably be helpful. I am a bit sore. I didn't fall. [yet] I certainly want to do more of it. And the weather sounds like it will cooperate this week.

My cabin stuff is getting better. One of the cabins we really liked online, well the price just came down to our approved amount, could be kismet. So we are going to try to see it this week. I have never house shopped so extensively on the Internet before, it's funny to think we may drive up there and see something we immediately hate that is not visible in the pictures. It's also scary to think that we may be buying a lake cabin. Very surreal, challenging, lovely, scary, awe inspiring and more.

something's going on around here

But I am not sure what. I am bothered by the fact that it is review time at work. Not only do I have to do my 'self' review but nine 'peer' reviews. Do most major companies do reviews this way now? It seems so.

I admit I am not crazy about this. I have been doing it for 1o+ years and I am not a supervisor. I suppose I am very skeptical about the usefulness of the whole process and when you are as busy as I am at work it's hard to not feel resentful about stuff that takes up time that you don't really have. As it is I will probably spend a good chunk of the weekend writing these reviews.


Distraction is certainly needed, sometimes living in the moment is sucky, you know, when it's a rather cruddy moment.

How about:
It's 3 degrees F, above zero. 3 above! It's like a heat wave.

How about something frivolous like seasonal colours? I have always been fascinated with various types of color work. It's one of my favorite things to play with and I know I approach many things like knitting through colour. I am a 'Deep Autumn' or maybe a 'Deep Winter'. I really don't know much.


Ok, I give up. The truth is I am just bummed and it's over a rather silly thing. I had an amount in mind that I was willing to pay for a lake cabin. Let's call this amount X. The mortgage payment from this amount I felt would be really reasonable especially at today's interest rates. Carolyn's comfort amount was half again higher. X + [x/2] but she was willing to come down closer to my comfort level. We assumed that the amount I would "pre approve" for would be more like 2X due to great job and great credit score.

I heard today, it's not 2X. The amount we got pre-approved for is right around X. But am I happy, relieved? No. I feel kind of ashamed that the bank didn't want to give me more. I feel 'less than' and uncomfortable. sigh

Although the mathy geekiness is helping. Better tomorrow I am hoping.

what happened to Tuesday?

Really. I mean I wasn't sick or anything. Granted work is fiendishly busy and yoga started up after the holiday break but what happened to the day?

I try to be aware of my life as I am living it. Ok sure this is a huge goal which I fail at all the time, but yesterday just seemed to slip by. huh. I hope this doesn't mean that I am possessed by Voldemort or anything.

Yoga was excellent. [It always seems that way afterwards, funny huh?] Of course when I was trying to sink into warrior II and my one leg was shaking so hard, well it's probably a good thing no one asked me 'should I try yoga' during that time.

It may have something to do with the extreme cold interfering with normal brain function as I know it. Please note I am not whining about the -6 F high we are expecting today. No one is forcing me to live in MN, and I do like winter. Also my trusty volvo is still starting so that's excellent. It is weird though to put on 2 shirts, a sweater, lined wool pants and long underwear to go work in an office. It sounds like 20's are coming this weekend so hopefully the xcountry skiing will happen.

I guess there is stuff on my mind. We are thinking about buying a cabin up north. I am feeling conflicted and it's taking up lots of mental real estate right now.

Pro:
I love spending time on water. I love going someplace quiet and alone to re energize.
I lived on a farm for 4 years and there is stuff I love about the country.
Who was it who said 'buy real estate, they aren't making any more of it'?
This is a buyer's market for sure. I feel confident it is a good investment.
There are lots of good buys within 80 miles.
All weather cabins can be used all year round.

Cons:
What if it is noisy there when I want quiet and peace?
There are frequently concerts and such on the weekends that I love to do in the city.
Can we still garden successfully if we are away a lot in the summer?
I am from Pittsburgh, I did not grow up where weekend lake cabins were the norm, how much would we actually use it?
I'm not clear about all the various monetary costs to cabin life. Could be tons I am not aware of...
I lived on a farm for 4 years and there is stuff I hate about the country.

The few people I know who have a cabin grew up with one. I wish I knew someone who didn't grow up with one but has one now. Surely there must be a forum somewhere for this?

I hope everyone is a toasty as they need to be. Misspelled toasty as 'toady' at first. Feel free to be toady if you want!

happy to be here, randomly

I am so happy to blog today but I just seem to have a scatter of thoughts and happenings to share. Warning: entertainment value seems iffy.

-It looks like a snow globe outside. It is quite beautiful. I am grateful to be working from home today, although I will need to venture out to get gas at lunchtime.
-The full moon in cancer was incredible this weekend. So big, so bright, blue and white, with huge sharp shadows. I hope you got to see it where you were.
-I am hopeful that the upcoming weekend will warm up a bit so that I can do some cross country skiing. I am really bad at it. This is not false modesty.
-I still don't have a datebook for 2009. The likelihood that I will double book myself or forget something vital soon is increasing exponentially.
-The appraisal on Friday went great and we got the results today. Not only is it 10K over what we need for refinancing but it's up from the 2002 purchase price. It is quite a relief.
-Some knitting on Goddaughter's sweater got done. I am knitting the classic colourway for her. I love it as much as great nephew's [jewel colourway] and it will be equally hard to give it up when it is done.
-My dearest border collie Cervyn is with me for a long winter visit. She is 14 and is like one of the senior citizens who amazes you by still running marathons. Her eyes are getting clearer and she is very deaf. It true that I have a favorite among my animals, thank goodness this does not traumatize pets like it would children.
-All of the animals have been hitting the most adorable poses. Soon there will be pictures I feel sure. [where are those batteries?]
-We made time for an actual date this weekend and we went to a 'new to us' Japanese restaurant. Obento-ya is fabulous. We were sitting there full from a wonderful meal and my wife said "I can't wait to come here again". We didn't even try the sushi yet and we both love sushi though not when it is freezing outside it seems.
-We are starting our planning and invites for our next dinner party 1/30. Now comes the musing over what to cook.
-I got a letter from my mum who called me an xmas angel. I have it in writing. It's always lovely to be appreciated and I feel so lucky to still have my parents. I wish they didn't live so far.
-I am still cell phone less. I was so hopeful it would turn up. What was it about 2008 that made me lose cell phones?
-Whole wheat sour dough maple pecan rolls are yummy though the recipe needs tweaked.
-Back on sleep schedule and actually sleep is happening. So wonderful.
-It's a pretty cozy day, I'm going to roast a chicken and do some qi gong at break time.

Here's wishing a cozy day to all who would enjoy it.

dreary Thursday

It's been a dreary day with a lot of mishaps and then blogger ate today's post before posting.

which led to "you should redo that post" thoughts.

Well you know my motto this week, so no redo. I'll just wish everyone ease. I'll respectfully suggest you hug your sweetie or pet or pillow and try to think just one happy or grateful thought.

Here's mine: we are great aunts again! This time it is a niece so now we have a set. I am happy about that.

it's fun to go to the YMCA -ok not really

Actually I go to the YWCA which does not have a catchy song to get all of our toes a'tapping but is also a very fun place to be.

Luckily I have a Y buddy. She is one awesome and amazingly fit woman. Last night I so did not want to go to the Y. Only the fact that I was meeting her there got me to drag my butt out the door and to the Y. Why does it sometimes seem easier to come through for our friends then it does for ourselves? We don't even exercise together the whole time. Why is it so hard to take those 15 extra minutes to do my qi gong in the morning. Something I love...

I want to be the healthiest possible me. Between my back [2 surgeries], depression and well, my being human, it would be optimal if I exercised every day. Minnesota is not the easiest place to exercise in the winter if there is lots of snow and ice and you are trying to guard your body from a fall. Of course even when the weather is perfect I rarely manage to move enough for anything near optimum health.

But on a winter evening, after a trying day at work I managed to get some good stuff done for me all in the name of not letting a friend down. One more reason to be so thankful for friends.

My Y buddy is also the bluntest woman I have ever met and it can be delightful. Especially if she compliments you because you know she really means it. She complimented my eye makeup and said [twice] how pretty I looked. It was lovely to hear and also to have my eye shadow love validated.

made up

We delay this important post about make up.

yes, the flowers in the picture on the top of the blog are from the wedding and no I can't believe I am about to blog about make up either.

ok now.
I admit I am somewhat of a girly girl. [I can hear my best-est friend laughing hysterically with a lot of other people]
Ok, yes the last purchase I made was a black velvet skirt but that is not the point. Not so much with the butch though I do keep my wallet in my back pocket, ok well not when wearing a black velvet skirt but...moving on.

I wear make up occasionally. I have been encouraged over the years by oldest friend and my dad to put a little more on.

Has your Dad ever encouraged you to put some lipstick on? Really? Don't Dads usually tell you to "take all that paint off your face"? Of course he was a hairdresser for years, he usually comments positively on my hair.

Basically I have used it when I felt like it, and recently it's been almost everyday.
Right now I am doing it for a few reasons:

-I am having sleep issues, and the circles under my eyes, mostly genetic, have their own circles
-I visited with my parents over xmas, and I tend to 'make up' around them. hmm
-it does help me feel more up, and I can use that right now
-secret main reason I am about to reveal to this blog below

I love this eye shadow. I have never before enjoyed eye shadow all that much. But I love this company [they recycle jars!] and I love their eye shadow. I want to eat it sometimes. Especially Milan and Nile. Ok why do I not see 'Nile' on any of the eyeshadow pages? Did they just make it for the special Rivers collection?! bummer. It's the prettiest pine green with gold and I am actually feeling a bit panicky when I think about how I can probably never buy it again.

Huh. Oh well all the more reason to enjoy it every time I use it. Which I do. I even find myself wondering after dressing 'can I get away with plum or green eyeshadow with that?'

Someday I will do more with pictures but not today. I don't think I could capture the colour anyway.

The linings of Pitch Black Clouds

So this economic things bites. There how is that for understatement? Since I am decades away from retirement eligibility I don't even look at my 401K statements anymore. It's the same reason why I don't watch sad, intense movies right now -- I really don't need any downers when I feel like I am finally gaining ground again on a positive attitude.

But the shiny lining for us is that we are getting the house refinanced, which is a great thing all by itself. Even better from my point of view is that it is inspiring us to clean and sort areas of our large house that haven't been done in months. Like my office. ahem.
I should take pictures.
oops, there is a should, now I'll have to think about if I even want to take pictures and all, because the motto for this week is 'down with shoulds!'

Then even more better my wife is throwing stuff away!
[I hope you are not here for good grammar]
I love to declutter and throw stuff away and I may love it even more when she does it. Hard to tell, either way though it is excellent.

Our home is so clean, partly due to the people we hired before the appraisal. But who cares? It's a blast to have everything all clean and fresh all at once. I resisted hiring at first then I remembered what a huge mental lift it gives me and the result is I feel terrific. shallow perhaps, but terrific. Oh well, Flylady would understand.

I hope everyone finds a silver or gold lame or sparkly lavender lining to any dark clouds overhead.

Nuthorns

Nut horns yes. a term that only my close friends and family will certainly recognize, others may. In my head [and the title] it's always one word.

First though I noticed a typo from yesterday:
-how happy I am the Obama will be president soon
This made me giggle so much that I couldn't bear to change it.

...back to Nut horns, which is the name my family uses for those cookies which are crescent rolls of barely sweetened yeasted dough with a walnut egg white filling. I know there are several other names for them like 'walnut horn cookies', 'kiffles' from the PA Dutch. When I glanced at the various recipes online I did not see one like my family's which came from some magazine and is dated April 7 1953. This recipe takes 6 cups of flour, a 'cake' of yeast and 2 cups of shortening.
If you are thinking this makes an insane amount of cookies you are right.

[Does yeast get sold by the cake anymore? I remember it that way when I was a child but now I buy it bulk from the co-op so I have no idea]

Nut horns are those not sweet cookies that most children, including myself at a tender age, did not care for and that all adults seem to love. I remember my mother making them I guess every year of my life. She does roll them in powder sugar to make them sweeter for those in the family who still prefer they should be sweeter. I have made them at least a dozen times in my adult life though I change the recipe a lot.

It's against my religion to use shortening apparently.
For a long time I made them with a friend who was allergic to walnuts so we used pecans.
I have made them with maple or agave syrup instead of sugar.
I have made them with ww pastry flour.
Considering the rate they are gobbled up these variations work fine.

This year though my mother is 39 which is her way of saying she is 82 and she just moved homes 3 days before xmas. No one was surprised that she did not have time to make cookies. [Of course no one knows but Dad that in 2006 I also did 90% of her baking for her. Just between us m'dears.]
Before we traveled for the holiday I did my annual ponder of the question: What do you give two wonderful sisters who basically have everything and love to receive presents?

Every year my mother has answered this question for herself by baking them nut horns which they love but do not have the time to make for themselves. I believe it is the kind of present they hide somewhere so that don't have to share them. My brain leaped, it pounced. My mum wouldn't be baking this year and so I could do it! For my sisters! It would be a relief for mum, my sisters would get presents and I would have answered the question for another year.

So I did. I brought white sugar, powder sugar and white flour into the house and used them. I paid a ridiculous price for palm oil shortening because I just could not buy Crisco. I took forever to roll out dough with my lovely marble rolling pin and made dozens of cookies and all the taste testers said they were yummy.

My one sister called so happy after she received them. She had figured out that mum wouldn't be baking and had felt down about that tradition going away. She loved them. --
She thought they could be sweeter. I adore my sissy so you know what honey? next year they will be! Just for you.

The ratio of dough to filling never comes out one to one with this recipe. So I froze the excess filling and stirred up a half batch of ww dough and baked up the rest yesterday. They are excellent. As is traditional in our family I had a bit of dough leftover with no nut filling left. These became apricot horns with the handy jam in the fridge if only mum weren't in CA she would love them.

away with shoulds

My steady avoiding of a 'should' kept me from blogging for over a year. You know those shoulds I bet, even though yours are probably different from mine.

"you should really offer to help wrap presents" "you really should let that feeling go" and so on.

My blog should: 'you can't stop in the middle of honeymoon posts! you should finish them'.
Finally I admit publicly I can't write anymore about the past because my memory is not that good.

the briefest recap of what I do remember:

We had a wonderful, wonderful honeymoon in Victoria. We had a fabulous Canadian wedding, where previously unknown friends of friends made our second wedding fabulous, full of heart felt yumminess and were witnesses. Getting married outside, signing the legal document, getting the certificate in the mail, all of it awesome. Butchart gardens are amazing, see them if you can. Fog delays planes. Virginia we wear the hats in the winter, and Dorothy we use and love the pewter spoon for parties.
hey wait I minute I found a partially written post with a few details about honeymoon Friday:
I think this was the morning I actually managed to sleep later than 6 am. It was pretty nice. Breakfast I think was french toast which was good but far too sweet for me since I don't eat sugar. Luckily we had cheese and nuts in the fridge in our kitchen.
We left after breakfast to hit the local shopping center. I wanted to pick up a few things for the wedding and my sweetie did a load or two of laundry. Those bikes were so great for using around Victoria. I bought some red roses and tied myself up a bouquet and we got dressed. The weather was fabulous, sunny and warm, we were so happy we would be able to get married outside in the garden right near our patio.
In some ways this was the wedding we wanted. We didn't need to take guests into consideration. I can certainly see the attraction of eloping or having tiny weddings with just a few people. We filled out the paperwork on the license ahead of time. That was pretty cool too. I wore a simple dress it was ivory [again] which really surprised me. My sweetie decided to wear just black pants, white shirt and her black silk blazer, a totally different look from the wedding at home.

If you are wondering about getting married I say go for it!
anyway back to 2009.

I guess really I don't miss being engaged. I actually had to stop typing and think about it.
I love, love, love being married. Now we have 2 anniversaries to celebrate, heck 3 since we also celebrate the day we met. I still love my rings though occasionally I forget to wear them.

In the upcoming days I hope to blog about [though not all in one day I hope]
--what I am currently knitting
--learning to spin with a spindle instead of wheel
--becoming a great aunt in 2008
--letting go of fear
--how happy I am the Obama will be president soon
--elderly parents and loving them
--enjoying your crazy family
--yoga and qi gong
--how not to avoid journalling
--extreme self care
--making art
--traditional whole food cooking
and who knows what else