Potpourri

My dad and my brother both came down with the influenza, apparently. However, because my mom is a ninja and reads the same interesting things that I do (because we have the same Facebook friends, in this case), they've all been taking elderberry, which, as you may recall, is a magic gypsy remedy against the flu and all other diseases ever. As a result, my brother's already back in school and my dad was only really sick for a couple of days and is now just dealing with hoarseness and sinus congestion but not actual flu flu.

I am buying elderberry extract immediately. For serious. Apparently it tastes delicious, which is how you know it has to be magic, because since when does medicine taste good? Since gypsies invented it, that's since when.

Yesterday, I bought a sweater at Target. It was $20 on sale for $15 and tomorrow, after I get paid, I am going back to Target and buying the four other colors that they had, because it is a delicious and cozy sweater, and I'm a sweater addict.

One of my goals this year is to knit a sweater. I'm starting out slow with the knitting projects, though. For instance, in August and early September I knitted one (1) fingerless glove. That was to practice cabling, which you should look up on our good friend google. I didn't make a second glove, but I meant to. Now I am knitting two (2) socks.. that is to say, I'm working on a sock and hopefully will not be so bored with it by the time it's done that I refuse to start the second. Inertia is strong in knitting.

But next, oh, next I will attempt to knit a sweater. I feel like there is some degree to which one is not actually a knitter per se until something of that magnitude has blossomed forth from the needles.

Once again, I am delaying my leave for work until the very last possible moment, which means snuggling in bed with the computer and my husband under our heavy pile of blankets. The house is freezing, because we still haven't figured out how the heat works. When I woke up this morning, my teeth started chattering as soon as I made my exit from beneath the aforementioned blanket pile.

It isn't that I don't like my job, and I love making money, but it's so cold and 7:15 is so early in the morning to get up and 9 hours is a long day and you can insert more whining here. It gets repetitive after a while, I know.

I will bottle it all up inside of me for the rest of the day, and nobody will know. Except for you.

Dolled up

I like to say I have at least one bridesmaid for every major epoch of my life. I have my two cousins, who I grew up with--one of whom is my maid of honor, and was the first best friend I ever had. I have my two college roommates. I have Dave's awesome sister. And I have a girl who lives on my hall now and connects to my college v.2.0 endeavor.

They are all great girls, with their own sense of style and their own unique and beautiful appearance. Trying to find something that looks equally good on all of them has been a little bit of a headache, especially because it's taken me a long time to decide what I was even trying to look for.

I originally thought bridesmaids in green with brown cardigans. Now I'm thinking dark brown dresses with cream or gold cardigans. It echoes the brown and khaki of the men's outfits, and the lighter colored cardigan will keep them from blending into the woodwork in the chapel.

Some inspiration:



How. gorgeous. are. those. shoes? I want a pair of them with a desire too intense for words.

Groomsfellows

One of the more difficult aspects of wedding planning, for me, has been figuring out clothes for our wedding party. This was made worse by changing our venue and wedding date, which necessitated a slight change in my overall vision for the wedding theme and style itself.

We're getting married in a beautiful 1930's-era chapel at the college where we met. We're both major bibliophiles and really into all things vintage and literary, so a "vintage academia/ivy-league" theme in greens and browns seemed like a good choice for us.

There were a few more things to factor in. Dave doesn't like asking people to spend a lot of money on clothes, and I don't like for things to be too matchy-matchy. So, it took some time to come up with an idea for The Lads that I felt like was reflective of us and the style we want, while still being somewhat dressy.

I learn, through the wonders of google, that a term has been coined to explain my general idea here--it's called aesthetic traditionalism. I like it.

Here is the general idea for The Lads at this point:




I suppose we could also sum it up by saying that if Bertie Wooster would wear it (and it isn't a white dinner jacket or plus fours--I do want the colors to go, and we aren't golfing at the wedding), I wouldn't object to The Lads showing up in it.