Month: May 2007

Rehearsal Dinner

Kevin and his parents took care of the rehearsal dinner, which was exceptional. We had it at Stellina’s in Watertown, and they provided a private room, amazing food, and excellent service. I loved having that many important people in one room — and then the details of the setting made it truly an evening to remember. 🙂

While we were milling, everyone’s cameras were out. Here’s Stacey (a *very* close Weston family friend), Neen (Kevin’s sister, one of my two bridesmaids), me grinning like mad, my great-aunt Irene, and my grandmother.

And then here’s a great shot of (my brother/groomsman) David, (my sister/maid of honour) Sharon, and (best man) Larry. Apparently within seconds of this photo, Shar and Larry realized that they were planning to give the same speech/toast at the reception. Larry was *exceedingly* the gentleman and let Sharon take the anecdote. 🙂 Both speeches were awesome, so here’s to both.

(I’m not being nice. The speeches really were excellent. We’re incredibly lucky to know people that would say such nice things and so eloquently.)

Here’s a great shot of Kevin and his parents:

This photo is dark, and I apologize to Kevin’s parents for catching both of them in the middle of a conversation, but it’s an awesome photo of my Dad (on the left) smiling. 🙂

And Kevin and his grandmothers:

I’ll post more once I get my photos off of Kevin’s laptop. 🙂

Ever True to Brown, part II.

Graduation has made me cry ever since my year. There’s something so horrible about being forced to leave college. And then there’s all this tradition, and pride, and desolation, and rending of bonds, and community. And at Brown, the reunions are all the same weekend, and so the alumni are back, and graduation includes something called an inverted sock (where all the alums march down the hill, then the grads march through them to wild applause, and then the alums march through the grads, to general exulatation), and it’s all so emotional and important to me. So.

And then they have bagpipers, which also make me choke up. (Here are a few of the 20-some that solemnly marched by… pipers and muliple kinds of drums. Again, ceremony and formality.)

And then my brother is graduating — the third Brunonian sibling in five years (and my parents started the trend by meeting at Brown in the seventies) — and so it’s not only his achievement, but something that reverberates around my family.

My brother and his friends positioned themselves as last in line, based on the general agreement that they absolutely wanted to leave less that anyone else in the class. But on their way (literally dancing) down the hill, they led boisterous choruses of the school song. What a good way to go. I joined in for a few yards to end the verse — it wasn’t a reunion year for me (or Dad, Mom or Shar), and I wanted Dave to have someone from the family who’d walked down the hill to cheer for him.

Here’s a photo of the two of us as I looped by him with the (temporarily adopted) class of ’02:

And another of him as he said “fake happeee!” for the camera…

(There was one with all of his friends, and while they’re all generally photogenic and awesome, that phrase doesn’t lend itself to awesome photos. :-))

And one of Dave and my parents.

Ever True to Brown

My mom, who really already had enough to do what with moving and weddings and whatnot, booked a room for me and Kevin for my brother’s graduation. We were right on the corner of North Wayland, facing Wriston, on the third floor. It’s right in the middle of the action — much fun. I love staying in the dorms. I outgrew wanting to live there permanently midway through senior year, but I love the wave of nostalgia when I’m back to visit.

On Saturday (the morning after Campus Dance), there are classes for all of the returning alums and visiting families of graduates. Aparently the Brown Band marches around as an interlude. Here they are cruising up Wriston, right around noon.

One week to go…

Kevin and I flew a redeye into Boston on Thursday night, did a slew of wedding errands (including picking up the marriage license! And dropping of the dress to be pressed after bringing it on our flight as a carry-on — security was way less daunting that I’d been afraid it would be.), and then headed down to Brown for my brother’s graduation.

I don’t have the faintest recollection who took this picture, but here are the two of us outside the checkin tent shortly after we arrived, with a mere week before the wedding. 🙂

The tank never fails to disappoint

The night before we left for the airport, we found an enormous, hairy crab in the refugium. Kevin called me downstairs, and we took photos with a finger for focus and scale. Woah.

We’d caught a crab about a year ago and let him loose in the refugium, and then he disappeared. I’m guessing that this is the guy — he’s huge. He was really speedy once he got spooked, but amazing that it took a year before we found him. I still can’t guess how he made it up the 21″ wall of the baffles. Crazy!

Here’s a shot with his eyes.

Creepy, no? 🙂

Something to fill the hours

Last night, despite the fact that I probably need another project like I need a hole in the head, I finally decided to do something with this pile of fabric:

That’s black knit suiting with vertical stripes, and blue cotton with vertical lines of lace, plus contrasting ribbon for each. I’ve been shopping endlessly recently. Between David’s graduation, a party for my high school swim coach who’s retiring, the rehearsal, and the evening before, I need several dresses, shoes, and wraps, since Boston in May/June will either be 90 degrees or 40. Then, we leave for a week in Hawaii, and I need honeymoon-worthy beach clothes. Since Seattle is neither a dressy town, nor a sunny one, this has meant a lot of shopping. A bit exhausting. I finally gave up on finding a cover-up for walking from the hotel to our snorkeling beaches, and just decided to make one. Everything I was finding was either gaudy or non-functional, and everything was expensive, so I just went to Joann’s last week, found sale items, and “splurged”.

I came up with a detailed plan:

(note ubiquitous printouts of registry information and collection of readings for the service — still need to choose two!)
Then I used a dress and a sleeveless v-neck to approximate a good size and shape.

And then I hemmed the sides (My first time using a walking foot! Good fun.), sewed on the ribbon, decided that the back wasn’t working and so removed the cross and replaced with strait straps, and then used a zig-zag stitch to hem the bottom. It turns out that the only black thread that I have causes my sewing machine to choke, and so the thread was orange, turquoise (from two decades ago, since the label has a Canadian flag and French on it), and navy. Good enough!

It actually fits very well. Yay! The body is perfect, and the hem is straight. The ribbon is slightly puckery, and so I’m considering adding darts to it, but it really barely even needs it, and for beach-wear, it’s just fine. 🙂

My favourite parts are (1) where the two ribbons join at the shoulder, and (2) the seam for the v-neck.

And this morning, I woke up feeling accomplished (for thirty seconds until I remembered the rest of the things on the list.) 🙂 Only three more days until we leave for Boston!

New Yarn!!

Can you guess the (apparent) color of the week?

🙂 I’ve been sitting on Christmas “yarn” money for months, waiting to be inspired. Best of all, not only did they all come at once, but they were all on sale. Best kind of yarn! 🙂

I’ve been admiring the Soy Silk for the better part of three years now. Finding it for 1/2 off in the Parrot color was worth two skeins. I don’t have plans… Maybe wrist warmers, maybe a scarf. Any thoughts?

The blue cotton ease was an impulse sale purchase. All of a sudden, there are a bunch of fall babies. It seems like something that wouldn’t go to waste.

Next was the sock yarn. I’ve been mulling over a new pair of “Knitting on the Road” socks for Hawaii (advantage — small enough not to interfere with tanning in a bikini!). Meanwhile, I’ve been coveting a fellow S&Bers’ Trekking XXL– I’m hoping this is a monochromatic enough blue to satisfy my rules against self-striping yarn. We’ll see! In any case, it’s pretty, soft, and machine-washable. Trekking XXL, color 104:

Then there was the Rogue cardigan yarn. I’ve been looking for a good machine-washable cotton for ages. I knit a Rogue two and a half years ago and loved it. The cardigan, though, is more my style, and I’d love the zip. This yarn was billed as “True medium blue”, and after a few days of looking at it, I haven’t come up with a better name. It will be a great match for khaki, black and grey pants. The yarn itself is shiny and round — I can’t wait to knit it up. King Tut, %100 finest cotton, color #1142:

Yay new yarn. Other than two baby sweaters, the last time I bought yarn was March 2006! The shopping has been fun!

They bloom!

The irises are blooming! This astounds me. Two weeks ago, they looked like this, and were totally stemless and budless.

In the last week, they sent up shoots, budded, and bloomed. (I love how the bud structure for each plant looks identical.)

They were looking spectacular on the deck railing, but had to be moved to the table after I woke up this morning and found that they’d launched themselves to the ground. I’m guessing that there was wind and they were just top-heavy enough? Somehow they survived the fall without any apparent injury, but I don’t want them to have to go through another one.

From afar, they’re striking (especially for their height), but up close, they’re spectacular.

(Kevin left his camera at home… When the cat’s away, the mice play with the amazing digital XLRS-or-something. 🙂 fun.)

The best part is that only about a third of the blooms have flowered, so this should be a fun week. I am so, so glad that they decided to bloom before we left for the wedding. To miss this would have been a disappointment.

One night of watching all of the backloaded Grey’s Anatomy and 24, and I actually got a lot done on the Isabella tank. Enough, even to take a picture that isn’t just a mad curl.

It’s at the waist, now — once I hit 6″, I’ll start increasing again. The knitting is shown to advantage with the Batchelor Party Tulips. Kevin went to Vegas this weekend with his fraternity. I came home to find that before he left, he went grocery shopping and bought tulips. 🙂 He’s clearly with the program, and gets what makes me happy. 🙂 Nothing (and I’m being totally serious) better than $4 tulips.

Only three weeks till the wedding!