I've got wedding planning on the brain. It's a little heavy. Really we have 13 months until our wedding (yes, we've narrowed it to July 2008), but I feel like I MUST book the venue so I can choose the one I want/can afford rather that scrape the barrell. I probably have 3 months to really decide, but I feel like I need to decide July 1.

At the moment, my interests for a wedding + reception in one location are at:
Golden Gardens Bath House
Argosy Cruise
Sunset Hill House

My main concern is coordinating the wedding and being IN IT at the same time. I've planned corporate holiday parties, but this is a whole different deal. The goal is to make it as easy for myself on the day of, while keeping the whole thing on budget.

Let me know if you've ever been to Sunset Hill House in Ballard, I just only found out about it today.

Sunday night, I thought I broke my little toe, but it's getting better, so that's a relief. I think I can do Tiger Mountain on Thursday, the 3rd week in a row!

Well the kitten is gone, the owner found our flyer. It was so cute, but we aren't in the mood for a cat that climbs walls.

I got a photo of our new deck lights. This was a fun project. I used a planer, a jigsaw, a paint brush, a dremmel, a miter saw and a power drill. When I needed a hand Jesper was there to make sure the job was done right. It really looks great, like an outdoor restaurant seating area.

If you like to look at photos of Jesper and I, we got more engagement pictures taken this weekend by White Veil Studios: Engagement Session II

Tomorrow we are going to hike Tiger mountain after work for the second week in a row. My knee ailed me on the way down last week as expected, maybe this week will be better. I think I need to start doing specific knee strength excercises to prevent this pain. Now where did I put those weights...

We are suddenly foster parents to this lost kitten. We came home from Jazz Alley last night and after a minute in the door we hear constant kitty crying. We rushed downstairs becasue we thought it was our cat Stella in pain, but the noise was coming from upstairs. Right outside the front door.
I cracked open the door and the kitten pushed her way in. Now she has made herself at home and luckily worked the litter box this morning. Stella is not into the kitten, she hisses at her when she gets into her bubble.
This kitten is so cute, doing all those cut kitten things like chasing it's tail and going berserk. We'll put out flyers in the neighborhood tonight and see if anyone responds in a week.

I finished two red sweaters for the red sweater project. When people ask what they are for, and I tell them that they represent a soldier who's died in the Iraq war, they are surprised, because they were expecting a warm fuzzy purpose for the sweater. I think the shade of red I got was right on for the symbolism.

I found another use of freezer paper stecils - art! I put this little robin on some linen and stretched it over a canvas. I've had 4 canvas squares sitting around for 3 years and it's nice to use one! I'm just not a painter.

Saturday was he perfect rainy day to make a pocketboard. Suzanne and I were determined to get crafty with this project after being inspired constanty by the shimandsons blog.

Here is my finished product. i used linen and fabric from one of my favorite designers, Heather Ross.

I getting ready to rip back on my argyle baby sweater, meanwhile, I've started my quilt! This is a busy fabric collection, but I think i got the perfect quilt pattern for the fabric.

It seems like I am really in need of some knitting photos, otherwise, I may need to edit the title of this blog!

I got on the Beta group for the new Ravelry site and am really impressed. I have just added my knitting patterns to it and saw someone has photos of their "Bavarian Rockstar" socks in progress. Cool!

On the home front, we found some nice outdoor party lights for the deck. I got the supports ready and stained. We just need to mount them to the deck. It's going to look great. I have a feeling we'll keep them out until October.

I've also started cooking more meals this week. The key is planning ahead and sticking to it. Even though the crockpot meal I made Friday didn't work, beacuse we had dinner plans in Seattle, we had lunches for the weekend, which was a relief during housework. I also made a angel food cake last week with the leftover egg whites from the creme brule the week before. I am loving my Joy of Cooking book. It's so dead-on with recipes.
We also had our first lettuce salad from the garden, even though it had tiny slug holes in it, it was quite tasty and very tender.Maybe if I water it more, the leaves will get a little sturdier. I've been pretty bad about watering. Although i've been good about committing to Thursday as tomato fertilizer day.

I finished the Soy Silk sweater. I got enough yarn to make 2, so I just need to figure out who to give one to. I'll try to get a photo this weekend.

Tonight I used my new garden tool, a scuffle hoe from heaven. I wish I had known about this before, but I am grateful for learning about it at all! It scrapes up the weed that Ive been dreading to pick out of my garden. Pretty much everything in the garden cameup other than the basil. It never surfaced. I think I'll need to find a good veggie to plant there next.

I was interested in starting that Rusted root sweater, but I'm just not excited about the cotton-ease colors I have. I think I may end up choosing the black from my stash.

I just purchased this adorable sweater pattern, Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. I hadn't seen it before. I'm thinking I could use some of my Cotton-Ease stash for this one.

Last night I went a little crazy at Ben Franklin. I got some wonderful Soy silk on clearance and am going to copy Pam's pattern.

I also got this wonderful stack of fat quarters. I have a pattern ready to go as well. It will be fun to make a quilt. It's been a long time and the thought of putting this fabric to use is very exciting.

But... I feel like I need to finish a knitting project first. Maybe those Anemoi mittens need to get back on track.