Land of A Thousand Dances

I can't even begin to tell you how tired I am today. I wanted to stay home from work so bad. Irv was hitting himself in the head this morning for not taking the day off. I didn't take it off because I am trying to hang on to my vacation days to take a real vacation this summer. He didn't take off because he didn't think he would need it! HA!

I feel like I was hit by a semi. Every once in a while I will move a certain way and something grabs and hurts. It takes me a moment to realize that it's hurting because I danced up a storm and used muscles that you don't use sitting on your rear end all day! Here is me sticking my tongue out at Matt because he wouldn't stop taking pictures of me on the dance floor...and yes, I am barefoot. I had already changed into my little silver flip flops, but you can't dance in flip flops, so those came off too!

The dull head ache is because I haven't recovered from the noise level. When I would go into the bathroom at the reception and close the door, the quiet was so sweet. I made many trips to the bathroom and to the little dressing room just to give my ears a much needed break.

The raspy voice is because I did nothing but talk from 5:00 a.m. on Friday until about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. It felt like I never stopped...that isn't all that unusual for me, except during the rehearsal dinner, the bar and the reception....you had to talk loud in order to be heard. My throat is a mess. Oh, and I LOVE music, so I also did a lot of singing...when I was dancing and when I wasn't. I have a terrible voice, but no one could hear me anyway so it was awesome!

One of the funniest parts of the night Saturday was when Chris's frat brothers "forced" him to do his "Pinocchio Dance". (Peer pressure never ends). Tresa had heard about it but had never seen it. Not sure how it evolved, but I imagine Chris and his frat boys were over served at some point during their college tenure and Chris did this ridiculous dance....the guys were probably rolling on the floor laughing, and now it's performed at every gathering...including the wedding.

They sat Chris in a chair and then each frat guy did what seemed to be his own rendition of the "Pinocchio Dance" . They moved awkwardly around in a big circle with a very serious look on their face. When one guy was done, the next guy stepped in and did his little performance. The crowd roared! After the guys were all done, it was Chris's turn. He did a little stretching first (you can see his family behind him cheering him on...they have seen his "dance" many times) and then he started. It's really hard to describe the "moves" of the dance...just a lot of bending and leg lifting....it just really reminded me of the courtship of some bird species! The last picture is Chris from the back, but what makes me laugh is the guys all cheering and photos being snapped. What an event!

Michael was standing next to me laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. He said it was so typical of the kind of thing you did in college.

I could see Tresa chuckling....even though she had swore there would be no "Pinocchio Dancing" at the wedding.

Then came the frat guy that did the Greek Oompah dance......but that's a story for a different day!

The Whirlwind Weekend

Well....Matt missed his flight! He was standing at the "Closed" Frontier Air Line ticket counter 25 minutes before his flight was going to take off. He could see his gate at the tiny airport and all of the happy people that were getting ready to board HIS plane, and no one would do anything to help him get his boarding pass and get on the plane...not people at the other ticket counters, not security...no one.

So, he watched everyone board his plane and fly off to Denver where he should have been going. To make a VERY long story short...he had to pay $370 to get on another flight to Denver and then on to Chicago. He missed the rehearsal dinner, but made it to the bar we went to afterwards. It was a long day for him and a very costly mistake for someone that works two jobs to pay his bills. He was so upset with himself. He isn't sure where rent money will be coming from this month, but he made it to the wedding and that's all that mattered at the time.

The wedding was awesome. Everything about it was fabulous. The ceremony, the facility, the flowers, the food, family, the music, the fun and the friends. We had a fantastic time, as did everyone else.

Tresa looked lovely. The necklace I made her looked super....it did come apart twice during the reception...thank goodness it made it through the ceremony...and so much for the jeweler I had tighten everything up for me!

The guys all looked wonderful. The food was so good and the flowers just took your breath away. The Drake Hotel was great. We had a wonderful view of the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores across the street! Bern, Michael and I managed to take a peek in a few of the stores...including Tiffany's. What fun!

I've posted some snapshots that were taken over the course of the weekend. I will have the professional ones in a week or so. Get this, their photographer isn't a wedding photographer...he is a fashion photographer, but when people have their wedding at the facility which he owns, he will do their photography if they want at a great price and just gives them all of the photos on a CD to have printed as they choose! He had taken 200 pictures before the ceremony even started! I can't imagine how many he took over the course of the evening. He was such a great guy.

I am glad I am just writing and not having to talk because my voice is gone from all of the loud talking and loud singing!! I do feel like I was hit by a Semi though...and I don't drink. I think it was using all of those muscles dancing that I wouldn't otherwise use!

Enjoy the pictures and I'll post more as I get them! You will notice a lot of pictures of Matt. We always try to get as many as we can when he is home since he is only here once or twice a year.

The photos are: Irv and Matt (2 non-tie wearing guys) trying desperately to tie those ties before the ceremony, a table in the entryway of the venue. The florist did an unreal job. Those are leaves wrapped around the tall candle holders....the seating for the ceremony, the bagpiper that greeted the arriving guests outside...he also played during the processional, Tresa...with her eyes closed (ready to cry) and her dad, Chris and Tresa giving a thank you speech at the reception, the first dance as Mr. and Mrs., yours truly and Irv, Matt and Michael, Matt and Michael's wife Bernadette, Irv, me and my little sister Kay from South Carolina and Matt and Tresa.

Off and Running.....

I got up at 5:00 this morning so I would have plenty of time to pack and pick up the house before we leave for the wedding weekend.



I was a little surprised that Matt had not called me yet. He needed to be on the road very early to drive the 2.5 hours to the airport in Grand Junction. He normally calls me when he's on the road. I decided to call him and when he didn't answer, the first thing I said to Irv is, "I hope he didn't oversleep."

About 20 minutes later my phone rang....it was Matt...he overslept!!! My phone call woke him up. Now he was in the car and driving like a mad man to get to the airport so he didn't miss his flight! If he misses that flight, he will miss his connecting flight in Denver. Great way to start the day!

We have been on the phone, checking Mapquest and checking to see if his flight is on time. Tresa is having anxiety attacks fearing that he might miss the wedding, and here I am just smiling and chuckling because that's just the way things seem to happen in our family, and you know what....everything always works out just fine.

So, after he got stopped by the cops for doing 6 mph over the School Speed Zone speed. limit...which he didn't even see....he was back on his way with a warning to slow down...Matt normally doesn't speed. He's a very cautious driver...very layed back and easy going.

He SHOULD make his flight barring any other unforeseen circumstances...keep your fingers crossed. Then he has 40 minutes to get from Gate A66 to Gate A24 at Denver International Airport...the furthest gate possible!

He just called now and said he has a bloody nose! At least he was laughing. He also said when he was trying to fly out the door after oversleeping by not just minutes, but hours....his roommate who has never, ever, ever parked in the driveway...was parked behind him this morning!

Oh, he did comment that he has no idea if he has everything he is supposed to have. There was no time to double check. He said he can see the bag for his suit in the back of the car with 2 hangers sticking out of the top...he just can't remember if he hung the suit on the hangers when he got home from the fancy benefit dinner he was at last night. Lots of champagne he said, which could be the reason he overslept! :)

I am still laughing! Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I know ours is going to be awesome. If I can find a computer tomorrow, I just might pop in to say hello. If not, I'll be back some time on Sunday!

Thanks for all of your good wishes!

Got An Opinion?

This is going to be short and sweet because I am trying to get my things together for the weekend. For those of you that are new to my blog...my daughter is getting married Saturday! We are headed into the city at about 11:30 tomorrow morning. We are all so excited. It's going to be such a great weekend. My sister is already at the hotel downtown. She got in last night, and Matt will be in at about 3:00 tomorrow. Nails get done at 2:00 and dinner is at 6:30. Saturday, we have the whole day to play because pictures aren't until 4:30 with the wedding ceremony at 7:00 p.m. I will post pictures next week!

Okay, my wonderful blog friends, I need your opinions. I am planning to start making throw pillows for MyOtherShop soon. I am very undecided on color, size and shape....I know what I like, but that isn't necessarily what others would like.

Do you use throw pillows on your couches and/or beds?

Just out of curiosity....what are your favorite colors? Do you like prints? Solids? Funky? Simple? Embellishments? Removable covers? Lacy? Rugged? Big? Small? Square? Rectangular? Round? See, there is so much to think about.

I'm sure every person will have a different opinion, but that's the fun of it. What do you like?

I haven't made a pillow for quite a few years, but I am really into the fabric thing ever since I bought some for the coasters and light switch covers. Now I just feel like sewing again.

So, tell me...what do you like?

More Stuff

Well, the wedding countdown has definitely started along with the weather watching. My South Carolina sister was already complaining that it's only going to be in the 40's. I told her to suck it up. I'm happy with 40's.....it could be below zero!

I made a few more purchases over the weekend....found a really cute little purse....even though I HATE purses...dumbest thing there is...who the heck needs to carry around their life in a bag every day? Come on ladies, really! I plan to do a post on this another day. Anyway, I did find a cute little silver one for $13 on sale.

Also found a bra that doesn't show with my dress...I bought a push up bra...but I quickly realized that you must have something for it to PUSH UP in order for it to really work like the picture on the tag! HA!

Bought some make up....another thing I don't use too much of, but I thought I would "girl up" for the big event! I usually only wear powder, a little natural shadow and mascara. I bought some foundation and blush and tried it out today. Not bad.

The big purchase.....Flexees...the generic Spanx. I don't have a lot of large "rolls" but the ones I do have definitely showed in my dress.....I just didn't want to spend the money...but I sucked it up and bought one in order to suck it in and I will say, it does make the dress look better. UGH!

Still can't find inexpensive little silver slip ons though...I may just grab some silver flip flops. I'm hoping to get through a good portion of the evening in my three inch heels, but my back might have a different plan. I would be perfectly comfortable bare foot, but that probably isn't appropriate for the mother of the bride.

I also want to apologize to the wonderful people that have bestowed blog awards on me over the past couple of weeks. I regret that I won't be able to do them the right way this week, but I do want to acknowledge the kind and thoughtful people that sent the awards my way.

I received two Lemonade awards...one from Beholden-to-Nature and one from Rachelluciejewelrydesigns. I also received a Proximidade Award from Softpencil. Please check out their blogs. They are all wonderful. Thanks so much for the honor. I will try next week to pass on the awards to some of my favorite blogs....and I have many. I can't believe how many awesome people I have met through blogging. Never expected it and it's wonderful.

Well, it's time to continue gathering things that go in my suitcase for Friday, so far I have two organic chapsticks packed that I bought for the boys!

Weddings, Zits and Broken Nails

I noticed last week that my finger nails were all the same length. How on earth did that happen? I have bad nails and even though I'm not a girly girl, I do at times suffer from the dreaded "Nail envy". I see these women with these lovely nails all filed so perfectly, shiny, polished and healthy looking...cuticles all pushed back. You know the ones I'm talking about...maybe you are one of "those women".

I look down at my hands and wish I could bring back the wearing of gloves! My cuticles are dry, jagged and I'm constantly nibbling at them. I tug and pull until I tear the little sucker right up to my first knuckle, then they bleed, then they heal and then we start the same game all over again. My nails are short, never the same length and are full of ridges. (I know that means I'm lacking something, I've just not figured out what yet.)

I use to wear clear polish all the time and sometimes colors, but I discontinued using it because I am working at not putting chemicals on my body if I can help it. I even stopped coloring my hair about 2 years ago. Really! Right now it is a lovely grayish-blondish color.

So, I noticed that my nails and cuticles are looking almost presentable...that made me start to wonder what the odds are that they will still look like that for the wedding in two weeks. My guess is somewhere between slim and none. It would be nice, but not very likely.

Sunday I was working on my new tile coasters and light switch covers...both require lots of glue and the constant use of your fingers to smooth and press and stick the fabric down. Over the course of the day, I had to have washed my hands at least 30 times...no lie!

When I washed them for the last time, I finally had all of glue off my hands, but my poor nails were stark white, caked with layers of yukky kind of dried glue! I was able to get it all off with nail polish remover, but the day had taken quite a toll on my nails. They were super soft and not lookin' very good.

I think the Goddess of Nice Nails is with me right now because the next day, they all seemed pretty happy once again and that made me happy but still wondering how long my good fortune will last.

Then I looked in the mirror and noticed this little red spot on the side of my nose...OMG NO...not a ZIT in the making!!! NOT FOR THE WEDDING!!

Out came the alcohol and my super duper stop the zit in it's tracks treatment has begun!!! Where the hell is that Goddess of the Clear Complexion when you need her?

Girls Night Out

Well last night was Tresa's Girls Night Out. We had a wonderful time. We met at the greatest little restaurant called Think Cafe on Western Avenue in Chicago. The food and service were awesome. We passed on dessert at Think Cafe because we were headed to Webster's Wine Bar on Webstern. They have some fantastic desserts there. Bernadette and I had the bread pudding and it was unbelievable. Tresa had the flourless chocolate cake and it looked and smelled amazing! After everyone's fill of wine and dessert, Bern and I headed for home. I was the designated driver...in fact, I am always the designated driver because I don't drink! It was a wonderful evening.

The guys on the other hand started their party way too early and were already feeling it by 7:00. They went out for dinner and then to Second City. My understanding is that many of them crashed at Tresa and Chris's condo when they dragged themselves in at 5:30 this morning. Silly boys!



As long as I am on the wedding thing again today, I wanted to share another very old photo with you. This was taken at my oldest sister's first wedding :) back in about 1955. I love it because it is one of the only photos that include some of my aunts and uncles and cousins. My parents are on the left. Don't you love my mom's hat? Next to my mom is her mom and her mom's boyfriend of many, many years. The young man in the front row on the right is my brother, Jack and then my sister Karen is the junior bridesmaid on the right and that is yours truly on the left. Take a look at my feet! Think I was bored? My hair was not curly back then...my guess would be "spoolies". Remember those?

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone!

Ping! Beep!

Normally by this time of the evening I am getting ready to "close up shop". Not tonight though...I just finished listing a couple of my new light switch plates and a really cute wood bunny in MyOtherShop. I really don't like some of the pictures so I will be redoing them, but for now they will have to do. My computer was doing not so nice things tonight so listing took forever.

Well, today was a crazy day. I was at work and the e-mails were flying fast and furious with wedding this and wedding that. It seems that the Conrad and the Allerton are out and we all got rooms at the amazing Drake Hotel for $95 a night. That beats the $195 a night we were paying at the Conrad! That was the first flurry of activity.

Then Matt sent out an e-mail to the five of us to fill us in on what he has been up to.

Now once someone sends a mass e-mail like that, my computer starting going "ping, ping, ping" because everyone that received the e-mail has to respond and of course they "reply all" so we all get their response. Mind you that I am at work when all of this pinging is happening. Add that pinging the work pings and it starts to sound like a little orchestra.

I try not to send too many personal e-mails when I am at work, but with the wedding only a couple of weeks away there seems to be a bit more lately.

Next I sent my sister a text to let her know that we got a great rate at the Drake in case she wanted to change hotels. Now in addition to the pinging computer signaling my incoming e-mails, my phone starts beeping to let me know I have a text, and then another and another as my sister tries to decide if she should change hotels.

Ping, beep, ping, beep....I finally put my phone on "meeting" mode so it would stop pinging, and by the afternoon the e-mails settled down to just an occasional e-mail from the lovely little bride to be. Could I print their vows on some white cardstock, do I still have the address labels in my computer, do I know if my niece's girls are coming to the wedding yet......

I am having so much fun with all of this! Ping! Beep! Talk to you tomorrow!

Quick Necklace Update

I forgot to tell you that Tresa had asked me to accompany her to her wedding dress fitting yesterday. Of course, I accepted the invitation. It seems that the brand of dress she bought needs to be almost completely taken apart in order to take it in, but the seamstress is doing a wonderful job and it looks great....and I am happy to say that the necklace I made her looks awesome with her dress! the only thing I need to do is remove a few links because it's a little bit too long.

If you remember, she was concerned about the copper necklace with her gold shoes....no problem at all. She was with all of her girlfriends last night, and asked them about mixing metals. They all agreed that it isn't like it use to be and it's fine to mix metals and metallic. So, what do I know?

Anyway, she will be wearing the necklace. I'll take the links out this week and then take it to a jeweler to have them give it the once over and make sure it isn't going to come apart during the wedding....since I have never made any jewelry before.

Woo hoo!

Memories

Tresa had reserved a small block of rooms at a really nice hotel in the city for the wedding in case anyone needed one. As it turned out, none of the out of town guests needed the rooms, so the only people that reserved rooms there was our immediate family.

Since Tresa made the arrangements, the hotel rates have actually come down...including the rates at a really old hotel that Tresa happens to like. Yesterday she e-mailed me and asked if we would mind if she switched our hotel to the Allerton on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. She said it would be cheaper than the original hotel. I said, "Whatever makes you happy. This is your day." It doesn't matter to me where we stay. All that matters is that her wedding is everything she wants it to be.

When she said the Allerton, the name stuck in my head and I immediately knew why. No, I didn't have a wild fling at the Allerton, but Irv and I did attend the Cary-Grove High School Senior Prom there almost 40 years ago in 1969!

The following is taken from the hotel's website:

"The Allerton's rich history began in the roaring twenties when it opened as a residential "club hotel." One of the first high-rises on Michigan Avenue, its beautiful Northern Italian Renaissance architecture stood in contrast to the existing Georgian and Tudor Revival cityscape.

By the 1940's, when the famous Tip Top Tap sign was first illuminated, the hotel was known around town as one of the most exciting social hot spots. It gained nationwide attention during the 1950's when Don McNeil broadcast a popular radio program from the 23rd floor lounge. Famous Hollywood legends like Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Ginger Rogers, and James Stewart were featured guests.

In June of 1998 the City of Chicago designated The Allerton as an historic landmark and a $60 million renovation project was launched."

I don't remember a lot about our prom, but Irv and I had been dating for a little over a year by then. I remember shopping for my dress and thinking it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I got my shoes dyed and my hair done...top that off with some lovely white elbow length gloves and all I can say is.....geez where did we get those clothes?

The theme of the prom was "Camelot" and the decorations if I recall were all castle-like. I had my first taste of caviar that night and my last taste of caviar! That's about all I remember....heck, that was an eternity ago...I'm lucky I can remember what I had for breakfast this morning!

Did your school have a prom? Did you go? What was your dress like? Was it as stunning as mine?

A Day To Play!

I am off work today for President's Day, but still got up at 5:00 a.m.! Lots to do today.

The shower yesterday that Chris's family had for him and Tresa was very nice. Good food, cute decorations and they got so many wonderful gifts. I gave her the necklace I made for her to wear at the wedding (per her request) and she loves it. We do have one "little" concern though and that is the fact that I make it with copper because she said she liked the antique look, not thinking that the shoes she bought are gold! We spent a lot of time discussing it and decided that she will try everything on for her fitting Saturday and see how it looks. She said that you can't even see her shoes, but I think she is just trying to be nice and not hurt my feelings. I will not be hurt if she can't wear it, but upset that I didn't even give her shoes a thought when I made it. I found the stones and they looked amazing with the copper and I went with it. Well, live and learn. I'll let you know what happens.

I got so much stuff done this weekend it was wonderful. I am making some new items for MyOtherShop and making some new cards for FourDogDay. Everything is going well and I should be listing a lot of things this week once I get them all photographed....maybe today. I made another "planter"...this one would be so cute in a kitchen. It has little food signs on it! I roughed it up so it has a well worn appearance.

I'm also playing around with wood letters. Not sure if I want to get into those or not, but I did the word LOVE using scrapbook paper. Not sure what I want to provide people with to hang them yet, but maybe I will include magnets and some poster tack and they can do what they like.

I also finished a great full size outdoor birdhouse...like my little decorative ones, but this one is waterproofed for outdoor use. Irv is going to put the eyelets on it today so I can add some rope or wire for hanging. I can't wait to get it listed! Before you know it the birds will be back and looking for new homes!

Well, that is it for today. I am waiting for the hardware store to open so I can go get some glossy, waterproof varnish for my new project! I might have those listed this week as well! I just might get to page two of listings in MyOtherShop yet!!

Enjoy your day everyone....and we will chat again soon!

Exhausted

I got up at 5:00 a.m. today and got ready to hop on the 7:08 train to the city. The train ride was uneventful except for the man in front of me that kept picking his teeth with his fingernail, the elderly gentleman next to me that kept blowing his nose and the guy in back of me that kept coughing on me! UGH!

Tresa picked me up at the station in the city and we went and had an awesome breakfast at a charming vegetarian restaurant called Victory's Banner. It was so cool to look at a menu with no meat on it! I had "Satisfaction-Promise", which was scrambled eggs with spinach, pesto, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese served with potatoes and the most delicious whole grain bread I think I have ever had! Yum!

From there we headed to The Paper Source to look for a couple of little things Tresa needed for the shower next week. Talk about a neat store! I could have spent hours in there! Then we headed to the reception venue to meet with the florist, the caterer and the photographer. The wedding ceremony and reception are being held at Prairie Productions in Chicago. It's a photo studio with amazing natural lighting. I wish I could take my etsy pictures there. Tresa's wedding is in the evening, so the light doesn't matter but the place is so cool. It has a warehouse look to it, but most of the inside is white, because we all know that white backgrounds make for lovely photos....don't we?

The florist brought some of his ideas with him and let me tell you I was blown away. Tresa is allergic to flowers except for orchids and tulips. He created some of the most unique and exciting arrangements I've ever seen using greenery and a few flowers! It is going to look gorgeous. He even made her a sample bouquet to see if she liked it. He's a really neat guy that has actually done some work for Oprah, so that's kind of fun.

The caterer is wonderful. Anything Tresa and Chris have asked for she tries to make happen for them. She really is working hard to make sure that their special day is just that. She works for Jewell Events Catering. If the food is anything close to what the service has been so far, it's going to be perfect!

The photographer is the owner of the studio. He is also really great. Everyone just walked around the studio and went over location of tables and bars, the DJ and ceremony set up. It all went really well.

Tresa and I headed to the mall then. We both needed a few things. She didn't have much luck, but I found some great jeans at the Gap (of course) and a darling sweater and cute top at Anthropologie. I love that store, but can only afford to shop in the sale room there! We made a couple of other stops and I even bought some L'Oreal lotion that gives you a little bit of a tan. I thought I would try it now and see how it works. If it turns me orange....I will be going to the wedding with white legs and oh well.

We got back to our house much later than we anticipated. Michael came by for a visit and we just ordered take out from Chilis. I definitely got my walking in today and all I want to do is eat, get in my jammies and chill out for the rest of the night!

Oh....it was 50 degrees here today! It's the middle of winter! We were all thinking how perfect a day this would have been for a wedding! We'll be keeping our fingers crossed that we are blessed with a day like this next month!

Wedding 1972 style

Okay, I admit it. I have "wedding on the brain" right now. Tresa e-mailed me their vows and I sat at my computer crying as I read them. Are you kidding me? If I am crying sitting all by myself in my workshop in front of my computer in my sweats and t-shirt...can you tell me what I am going to do when my little girl and her wonderful guy are reciting those vows at the wedding?

Are you married? What kind of wedding did you have? If you aren't married yet, what kind of wedding would you like if you do get married?

Irv and I got married in 1972. We were 20 years old. I'm not sure how I would have felt if any of my kids had said they were getting married at the age of 20, but things were a little different back in my day. Most of the girls didn't go to college. We got jobs, lived at home, got married and started our families. It was definitely the right thing for me. It was all I ever wanted. I came from a fairly large family where there were always kids around. I loved kids and I couldn't wait to have my own.

Our wedding was at the beautiful Catholic church in town. I converted to Irv's faith since I really didn't practice one of my own. It required classes. We also had to take classes to make sure we knew what married life would be like and what was expected of us by the church...and that was to be good Catholics and to have lots of little baby Catholics. (I feel a religion blog coming on...maybe tomorrow)

Our wedding was the traditional Catholic church wedding with mass. We had a pretty good sized bridal party and wow the girls had the greatest dresses and hats! Yes, hats!!! I found the dresses in a bridal magazine and had to call the company to find out where we could get them. I thought that was so cool.

My dress.....very virginal. Every square inch of my tiny little body was covered with fabric, from half way up my neck, down to my fingertips and down to my toes! I had a long veil and felt like a Princess....a very covered Princess. The dress was definitely me!

The girl's dresses covered them as well. It was a good thing I had selected empire waist dresses for them because both of my sister's were pregnant for my wedding. One was almost 5 months and the other was a very large 6 months! My sister-in-law that was not in the wedding was also 6 months pregnant. Talk about a fertile family!

We thought our reception was just the best. It was at this remodeled barn that belonged to the Knights of Columbus. We ate dinner downstairs...yummy family style with chicken and beef, mashed potatoes, some kind of vegetable, a salad and rolls. Hey, it was 1972 and that was the popular option at that time. We could have selected a buffet! Our cake was beautiful including the lovely plastic "topper"!

After dinner we went upstairs for dancing. Yes, we did the traditional tossing of the bouquet and garter, but we also had to do this thing where I wore this little satin apron that one of Irv's little Polish Aunts made. It had all these little tiny plastic babies hanging from it and a pocket. Men paid to dance with me and the money went in the little apron. Not sure of the significance of the babies, but it must have had something to do with keeping the family name going! With money and babies, what more would we need! HA!

Besides the fact that it was the hottest day of the year and the air conditioning went out for a while, it was a nice wedding with lots of family and friends. It started us on our way to what is now a 36 year marriage.

I'm sure I will continue to have "wedding on the brain" until after the wedding, so please bear with me. Just wait until Tresa or Bernadette gets pregnant and I have "baby on the brain"!

I Love Days Off

(Don't forget to leave your comment for an entry into my very first Giveaway. Click here for the post with the rules!)

I took the day off today because I had a doctor appointment for my annual physical with my internist. They called at 6:50 a.m. to let me know that the doctor had an emergency and they needed to reschedule my appointment. So, I rescheduled the appointment for Monday because I am off for President's Day.

No longer needing to head over to the doctor, I looked at my "to do" list and did a little rearranging. I spent a little time on Twitter and in the etsy forms and then got to work on some new decoupage things I'm making for MyOtherShop.

Did I ever tell you how much I love days off? I live for the day that I can retire and be home every day to do whatever it is that I feel like doing. Since that isn't in the cards for quite some time for me....I try to make really good use of my days off from the other job.

I worked in my shop for a while and then went to run a few errands. That included a stop at the Bead Boss in town to scope out some possible ideas for Tresa's wedding necklace, and a stop at the craft store to do the same thing. While I was there I sent Tresa a text to ask her a few questions to try to help narrow down the necklace possibilities. Sparkly? Green? Gold? Chain? Beads? Pearls? Pendant? Stone? We narrowed it down to green, gold, chain or beads and pendant. Still haven't bought anything yet.

When I got home I hit the workshop again and took some photos and got some things ready to list. I ended up having a really productive day. I listed a photo in FourDogDay. It's a friend of Matt's hiking up the side of a mountain with his snowboard. The view is awesome!

I also managed to get some descent photos of a little purple floral trinket box and a really fun photo frame I had finished a few days ago. I got them both listed and they even got some immediate views. That was encouraging. I also finished another little bird house and another cute picture frame. I am having so much fun with the stuff for MyOtherShop. I love the painting and cutting paper and gluing and sanding and making things look old when they really aren't.

I thought I would make cards and tags and bookmarks forever because I really enjoyed it, but I love the messiness of decoupage. So even though my day off didn't start out as planned, I was able to grab that extra time and make good use of it. I really feel like I have found what I am meant to be doing.

How about you? If you have an etsy shop, are you making what you have always made, or did you start out doing something else and change course along the way? I would love to hear about it.

Wedding Shower Progress

Okay, I busted my little you know what today. I started this morning working on some items for MyOtherShop, then I changed gears and started working on the menu for my daughter's wedding shower in two weeks, then I went back to more decoupage, then I went back to the menus, then I finished the menus (woo hoo), then I spent some time on the etsy forums and twitter, then I worked on the favors for the shower, then I started on the place cards for the shower, then I printed the little thank yous that go on the favors for the shower, then I worked on the place cards again, then I ate dinner and now I am blogging during commercials of the season premier of 24!! So, how was your day?

I talked to my daughter tonight and I made her promise me that she won't visit my blog at any time over the next two weeks so that I can share some of the things we are doing with you. She promised. Now, I would like to believe her, but Tresa is NOT really good with secrets. If she knows I am writing and posting pictures about the shower, she is going to want to peek. Hopefully she won't. I want everything to be a surprise and for heaven's sake....she's 34 years old. I hope she can refrain from looking!

My daughter-in-law Bernadette, my son, Michael and I went on a hunt yesterday for paper and ribbon for the menus and the place cards. What a nightmare it turned out to be. Tresa's color is a medium green with a few brown accents. I bought little kraft paper jewelry boxes on etsy to put the favors (keyrings I am making) in. They are so cute.

Well, we were going to do the menus and place cards in the same color and add some green ribbon. Oh no, not a chance. Couldn't find the card stock in that color. They had one sheet at one of the stores. Didn't want to wait for them to order. Been there, done that. Won't do it again. We looked at every color cardstock they had. If we found one we like,d we couldn't find ribbon. If we found a kick butt ribbon, we couldn't find cardstock.

Our mistake was going into this with a vision of what we wanted. Sometimes I think it's better to start projects without any idea of what you want to do so you don't go nuts when you can't find what you have your heart set on.

So, we finally decided on green, and we found some...not enough, but Michael went up front and they called around for him and a couple of the other stores had some so we were in luck. Poor Michael, I felt so bad for him. Bernadette and I are really picky....let me repeat that....really picky....when it comes to stuff like this. It took us forever to come to any decision. All the while, he was trying to be so patient. He did a really nice job considering we were in the craft stores for a good couple of hours.

Now all we needed was the ribbon. We looked and looked and looked. We would find one we loved, but of course it didn't come in our color. At long last, we found ribbon. I don't think either of us are entirely in love with it but it's cute and it matches the paper.

I'm not done with it all yet, but I did complete some of each thing I'm making so I could share them with you. I'll show you some of the keyrings another day.

Now it is time to sit myself down in front of the t.v. which I almost never do, but 24 isn't a program that you can watch while doing other things. So, off I go to vegetate for a couple of hours.

The Making Of A Jewelry Maker

About a month ago, my daughter, Tresa asked me if I would make her a necklace for her to wear for her wedding in March. I was so honored that she would ask me to do that, because I am not a jewelry maker. Yes, I've taken old jewelry apart and used the beads to make keyrings or earrings, but I don't really make jewelry.

See my kids think I can make anything, and normally if you show me something I am able to recreate it....but her wedding necklace?

I told Tresa last week that I needed to know what length she wanted the necklace to be, so she put on her wedding dress and tried on some of her necklaces. She decided that 16" would be perfect, and one of her necklace styles looked kind of cool with it. I had her UPS the necklace to me so I could see it and it arrived today. The following are our e-mails from this afternoon.

ME: "Got the necklace!! Would you like the "chain" to be little beads and then a large pendant hanging?? Not beads like these, but little glass ones? I've never made a necklace like that, but I'm sure I can figure it out, or do you want a chain?"

TRESA: "Hmmm...I don't know...surprise me."

ME: "Good Lord and what if you don't like it. Nothing like a little pressure here!"

TRESA: "Well, I love the one I sent you , so that should help you. I just think it will be more special and fun if it is something you make for me with some of your creativeness. THANKS!!!!"

And that was the end of our necklace conversation. Okay, now I am a really good sport and I've told you before that I don't get stressed about things, and I am not really stressed about making this necklace BUT do you realize how important this necklace is? Do you know how many people are going to see this necklace? I mean this necklace is going to be in all of her photos! What if she doesn't like it? What if it breaks? Ahhhhhh!

Deep breath.....deep breath......deep breath

Okay, I'm better now. I have a sketch of what I think I want to do and tomorrow I am going on a hunt for "parts". I know I want some little glass beads with a little bigger glass bead every so often, and then I want a rectangular "something" hanging from it. I need the plastic threadlike stuff to make it with and a clasp of some kind. I've been looking at those clasps...how the heck do you attach those things?

I'm sure all of you jewelry makers are either cringing or laughing hysterically right now. If any of you have any words of wisdom, I would love to hear them. If you have any little insider tips that you can give me about what I should be sure to do and what I should be sure not to do....I'm listening.

Over the next month I need everyone to send me positive jewelry making vibes while I work on this masterpiece. I am going to need all of the help I can get!

Busy, Busy , Busy

I am in the process of filling MyOtherShop with cool stuff, I'm revamping FourDogDay, my daughter's wedding is in a little over two months, the shower is in 2 weeks, I need something to wear to two showers, the girl party and the rehearsal dinner and haven't bought a thing yet, my new diet is awful, I still need to get my dress altered and we are going to get 8 inches of snow tomorrow which means it will take me forever to get home. Am I stressed? Of course not! What's the point? It won't get anything done any faster and it isn't going to stop the snow.

The biggest thing for me right now outside of etsy is the shower. We want it to be really nice for Tresa, so my daughter-in-law, Bernadette and I are hard at work. Today we decided on the menu and the wines, figured out the place cards, and Saturday we are going to shop for the paper for the menus, the ribbon for the favor boxes, and the things we need for the centerpieces. I wish I could show you stuff and tell you what we are doing, but Tresa reads my blog and we aren't sharing any of the shower details with her. I'll take lots of pictures though and post them after the shower.

Once the shower is done, the next thing in line is finding clothes for the other events, shoes for the wedding and getting my dress altered. The dress is royal blue and I want silver shoes. I kind of like these, but I'm thinking I might want a higher heal....although I am not a high heel person and I will probably break my neck in them!

Well, I have turnips in the oven (Ugh) and squash in the steamer (Yuk). I might have a veggie burger with it (Boring). This diet is the pits...but tomorrow I am treating myself to an egg and cheese croissant from Dunkin' Donuts and my chai latte from Starbucks. I've done really good this week and I deserve a reward! Yum! Can't wait!