Weekend Update

Trying the mobile-blogging function tonight, as we are cooling our heels (figuratively) at a bookstore after a busy but productive! weekend.

After I spent yesterday with our Flower Maiden, EJ and I spent today hitting a bunch of thrift stores near where I work. Well, 4 of the 7 were closed on Sunday; one we couldn't find at all; and at two we got a good haul of plates, knives, and sheets. Still looking for the elusive orange sheets...I don't think they exist!

The entire weekend haul count:
* 14 dinner plates
* 23 cake plates
* 7 forks, 24 knives (knives are ::so:: easy to find!)
* 13 sheets

We're doing so good with the thrifting I think we will beat my June deadline for all the tableware and linens; now I just have to get CRAFTING! Made a list, and there are 17 individual projects to get done (not including all the stationery stuff). Yikes!

Edited: on desktop because mobile blogging won't let me correct grammar and spelling (???)

Supply Stashing

This is the fairly boring post; the one where I say we have been doing lots and lots of little things (buying thread; buying endless amounts of flatware and dishes; trying to find things that are orange), but nothing major (i.e., no site, no photographer, no clothing). So far it's stacks and stacks of stuff:

and the *potential* for craftiness, but so far no crafts have been produced. I'm planning on taking care of some of that this weekend, I have plans with our Flower Maiden to hang out and at least 'talk' wedding stuff, most likely work on some centerpiece parts as well.

It's a mixture of excitement, nerves, and why-are-piles-of-stuff-in-my-way feelings around here. EJ's off at Faire for the next two months, but we're going thriftscoring out in that area tomorrow; and he's going to take some time off from Faire to help me finalize the site decision (once it stops snowing and existing snow melts). Hopefully buy this time next week I will have some more stuff to show off!

Followers! And Comments!

Just a quick check in cuz I was *alerted* by a Minion that we had comments (!) that were waiting to post...T H R E E! comments! So exciting to see there is love out there for us (yeah, you know you love us!)

And! Also! Followers! Heh - Misha you are our follower. We always knew that about you!

I'll check back in in a little bit after I do some more shopping and take some in-progress pics to post...lots of little stuff has been going on, sadly nothing really major at this point so it will make for some fairly boring blog-fodder.

Our Familly Sword

So for those of you who haven't heard about this part yet, one of the things that we're going to do at the wedding is make our vows on our family sword. That's very vinkingish. The only problem with this fun idea, neither of us has a sword worthy of such an honor. There are two ways to go when facing a problem like this. One is to buy a better sword than the one you already have (or just get a sword for the first time) and be happy with the idea that thousands of other people have carbon copies of your wedding sword. That's not how Nessa and I roll.


So we started looking at option two, witch is to have one made for us. A unique piece that no one else can claim they have. Believe it or not, that rout is very expensive. No joke, one of the sword makers I spoke to said that he has a 2yr wait list and his swords average out around two thousand bucks. Nice guy, good at what he does, just out of our range. I knew this going in mind you, but it was still a bit deflating when I started talking to sword makers. I was hoping to find a new maker who was still trying to get his name out there in the market. Sadly though, there are more knife makers like that than there are sword makers. By the time a guy starts making swords he already has a reputation. And reputations come with waiting lists and price tags.

So I've taken to the idea of blending the two paths into a third and just as fun, new option.

Customize the crap out of a production model!

The over all goal will be the same, a unique sword that we can say is OURS. But with the added bonus of being less than 2 Gs.

I'll keep you all up to speed as this Frankenstein labor of love starts to come together.

Our "Colors"

It is a good thing that I spent some time with FMIL this weekend. I wasn't 'feeling' the wedding blog and had planned to have EJ write a post this week. But he's sick in bed, so you're stuck with me. 'Mom' mentioned that "People are starting to ask me about your colors, like living room, kitchen, etc." so I figure I can put a bit about our home decor, in case people are going to get a jump on shopping for us. My dad asked about wedding gifts, and in a couple months EJ and I will be registering...some places (haven't decided exactly where yet, but one will most likely carry a lot of kitchen stuff).

So, the colors we decorate with, by room:
Kitchen

I was originally inspired by the pots&pans fabric (featured on the right in the picture); mostly blues, and I've thrown in yellow (because it's bright and cheery! and I enjoy cooking, and the kitchen makes me happy!) with a smattering of light green, but not too much. In the pic are 3 potholders I've made, as well as a hanging dishcloth (the multi blue-green-yellow yarn is all over our kitchen, probably the best indicator of the colors I like to use in there).

I have a (royal?) blue KitchenAid mixer Dad got me for christmas a few years ago; and I pretty much built my kitchen colors around that. Our dishes are white, and blue+white patterned (but we're thinking of changing that, maybe keeping some of the dishware we're collecting for the reception and mixing that in). EJ has a huge set of clear blue glass dishes and bowls and stuff...but most of it has been packed since we met (!) so I don't know what most of it looks like. The stuff we do use of his fits well into the blue palette.
Living Room

 

These two items: a crocheted blanket I made for EJ, and a handworked piece of pottery we bought at the Ren Faire a few years back, are the best representation of how we *want* to decorate the living room. We're talking denim blues, amber (orangey-brown), although the one area rug we could find that we could afford is black-brown-tan, but it fits in OK. Most of our furniture is now dark-ish wood; the couch is tan with a floral print, but I really hope to someday recover it with denim. I'm afraid it's going to fall apart before that happens, though. Right now the living room just looks like a bunch of stuff thrown together; but denim + amber + dark wood is where we are headed.

Bedroom

I have a stripey tray (white + stripes) that I based our bedroom colors off of...but I can't locate the tray right now so here is a scrap afghan I crocheted from yarns that match the colors on the tray. I have a quilt top I've pieced with the same colors, it is navy blue and sky blue with accents of the other colors (purples, oranges, greens, gold, yellow, some browns, magenta, pinky-purples) but although I know *exactly* where that is, I refuse to dig for it today. My original plan was to go girly-colors with it, then I met EJ and we moved in together and I figured he would not so much appreciate a girly bedroom. So I use the stripe colors as accents, with the blue dominant. Bedroom walls are painted a cafe au lait color, same as in our old place and we agreed we like this color permanently in the bedroom. The wood furniture we have is currently light wood. 

Bathroom: is easy. Green! Our bathroom is too small for me to get a decent picture of it, and I'm not in the mood to pull out the towels and vanity stuff to take a picture, but rest assured that pretty much any shade of green fits in. It is my favorite color (why did I not use this in a main living area? I do not know, but I didn't), and I found a vanity set clearanced at Mervyn's about 15 years ago, and the bathroom has been green ever since. EJ and I spent one after-christmas sale period running around trying to find two sets of towels from Target in complimentary shades of a sagey-green; we went to FIVE different stores to compile a complete set...and then the towels fell apart and faded all weird in about 3 washings. We still use them, and we *refuse* to get rid of them because we Spent. So. Much. Time. looking for them, but we have both agreed that at some point we will have new towels, possibly ones that don't fall apart so quickly.

So hopefully this helps anyone out with planning, or if they're curious, or what have you. We both *really* like handmade things, so anything that anyone makes for us (I'm looking at YOU, 'Mom', and YOU, Misha!) is especially treasured; and of course the whole medieval/Viking vibe is present in stuff we own.

In other wedding news, 'Mom' and I went craft-shopping this weekend and I picked up some more fabric, and added a few more addresses to our guest list, but that's about it. We're going to the Highland Festival next weekend and will pick up some fabric for EJ's outfit, so that is something to look forward to!

One Month Down...

One more thing we have accomplished so far:

The basis for our guest book. (mug not included in the planning, use, or archiving of said book) This has the added benefit of providing one additional responsibility for a Minion, but I am pretty sure s/he will be overjoyed with their responsibilities (seriously - I'm playing to my Minions' strengths).

Just don't ask me about the guest list, StDs, venue, or photographer right now...eep!

And then there was cake!!!

So as part of my job of handling the cake is making and eating cake. Tough job. We've decided what the top layer of cake will be and the shape it will be. That part was easy. We're using my spice cake recipe, since it's Nessa's fave. But since my mom is going to be the one actually making the cake I made the hike over to her pad (literaly I walked there) and gave her my recipe. Then for the fun and flavor of it all I took over part of her kitchen  and then we made a test run cake.

This was done for two reasons. First, so that when it come time for mom to make THE CAKE it will not be an entirely new recipe for her. And second, so we can eat it. Duh!

And since mom is a fantastic cook and baker in her own right, there was realy nothing to do in the demo/teaching department. About the only thing that was a point of interest was to find out how thick the batter is at the end. Aside from that, there was no real purpose other than we wanted to eat some cake.

Speaking of eating cake, we did, and it tasted good. Even grandma likes it. And Gran is a little picky these days as to what she likes. So I guess the top layer of the cake is Gran tested and Nessa approved. Off to a good start in my book. Now onto the next 17 layers!

Or was that 7?

Or maybe just 4?

Well, on to the NEXT layer! How's that? Yeah, that works.