18 and counting

 We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on Monday. Not a lot of celebration with a teenager in the house, but we gave it our best.
A couple of good steaks, perfectly done, artichokes, beautifully roasted potatoes, champagne, chocolates.
We spent some time wandering through a few antique shops during the day; doing nothing really, but looking for a couple of items on my current ‘want  list’: an aluminum cake safe/carrier, or one like mom used to have; some silk-screened everyday drinking glasses, just the ‘perfect’ cookie jar . I did find an old knitting basket that I can recover to keep a project in for a song. 

I made my sweetie a new pair of pj’s that he was needing, and a couple of pillows for our bed:   and this one        
This drafted version of Love is so pretty, without being too fussy.
Well enough that I just might make a couple to put up on etsy, since the company that I got it from encourages people to make and sell things with their designs. Now that I think about it, everything that I’ve embroidered in the past year has come from Urban Threads.

I’m happy with the fact that I can download a design (sometimes free, no less! ) and pull out the linen, the pillows and stitch it out, and put it all together without leaving the house. That must be why I have the huge stash of fabric. Actually, I don’t have many options since I live somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so it works out well.  

But I digress; my husband is living proof that sometime it takes more than once to get it right. Here’s to another 18 years.

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one more

A few more beads, finish up the hem, a final pressing. Should I wear the hat ?- I don’t wear hats!
Are the cheesecakes all set to go? What about the flowers?
 The boys clothes, are they pressed and ready – hurry, we can’t be late.
There’s still so much to do.
Nervous – no – I’ve done this before. ha.
But This One’s a keeper.
Sixteen years, as of yesterday. Hopefully sixteen more. 

I was surprised by yesterday’s livejournal ‘writers block’ question – "  What quality do you think is most important in a significant other?" Pretty timely.
I would have to say that it’s a tossup between compassionate, and honest. Though honesty without compassion can be brutal, so, I think that makes compassion the winner. Lucky for me that my s.o. is just that person.  Me, I’m working on it.

We went to Astoria on Friday night, for an evening of music, poetry, and storytelling. It was the big night of the 12th annual Fisher Poets Gathering. Pretty entertaining,  good food, great company. 

A peek back at our wedding day:
 so young!
      
    

     

  

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Milestone

 Yesterday Richard and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary.  And as of this summer we will have been together for eighteen years. Wow.  And, I still love / like / love him. Its nice.
My plan was to take a day trip to Mount Saint Helens, but a couple things foiled that. On Wednesday Richard got a 24 hour bug. Then yesterday, the weather defied all of the predictions ( there was a forecast for only partly cloudy ) and it was foggy and rainy until late afternoon. Not a good day to take a sightseeing trip. So, the first clear day next week, we’ll take the drive.  We did go out to one of the couple decent restaurants in the area and had a quiet dinner.

Today I am driving to Seattle, as tomorrow I’m going to SewExpo with my mom and sister. It should be a long day of walking, looking and a lot of fun.  There are classes and workshops throughout the weekend there, but I was too late to register for any of the ones that looked interesting. Next year.  
I spent a day or so earlier in the week doing some sewing – I made some vests for my sister who just got a job as a wine steward. It was satisfying to start and finish a project so quickly.  And odd to think that it was the first real sewing that I’ve done in quite a while. A far cry from all of the alterations that seemed to have become the norm.  It did emphisise the fact that I miss my big cutting table that I left behind. Hopefully, Richard will get the new one made soon, as I’ll need a big space to do the curtains, as well as several other projects on the list. 

The to-do list for this house just keeps growing. Its a puzzle in itself to try to figure out the order of what needs to happen in which order. All of that is for another day ( or year ).

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