1 month left until wedding day!

Here is our list of what's left TO DO rather than all we've done.

• Find a tie (the right color) for Jesper
• Final menu - meet with caterer (July 2)
• Pick up veil from Amy and repair (July 6)
• Finalize wedding music playlist - Charles is DJ (July 10)
• Pick first dance song
• Finalize ceremony/vows and make sure Chris has "minister certificate" (July 11)
• Purchase more wine (15 white bottles)
• Dove basket decoration (optional)
• Borrow 11 chairs for rehersal dinner
• Make sugar cookies
• Decorating plan (almost done!)
• Logistics, helper assignments (almost done!)
• Talk to selected people about readings
• Drop off ribbon and cake stand for cake (July 25)
• Buy orchids from Trader Joe's (July 25)
• Seating plan final print-out (ready to go)
• Seating place cards (late July)
• Print programs (mid-July)

Our Swedish friends are here. They've been chilling with us after a week of walking in NYC. We're going to be sailing this weekend together. It's been too long since we went sailing. The weather should be fabulous.

I joined Bake Space. It will be fun to contribute. I am trying to get better about taking photos of the things I make. Last night I made a wonderful Coconut cake with this recipe. I realized my William-Sonoma cake pans are worth the $$. The cake didn't get too round on the top and it was very evenly cooked. I need a 3rd pan though for recipes like this. My third pan isn't as good and it cooked a little differently. Also, being 9" wide, I don't have a cake plate. Maybe for the wedding I'll get a cake plate that is wide enough. I used a large serving plate, but it's not flat. I don't make fancy cakes very often, but maybe I will more!

The stole is done and blocked. Wa hoo! Yes... it's HUGE.

We saw this flower in a garden in Vanouver. Anyone know what it is?

Tonight Shiori was so sweet to come over and do a test run on my wedding hair-do. It's so good to get practice in so we can learn how to manipulate my hair. I need to decide if I am going to get a vail. I'll wait a week and see if I can borrow from a friend. Hopefully she is feeling generous enough to loan hers out since her wedding has passed, or maybe I'll rent it.

Michelle made these beautiful invitations for my bridal shower. So cute!

This past weekend we went to Vancouver BC and found some fun items for the house. Our favorite find of the day was this wooden model folkboat from Nova Scotia. It has so much character and has a surprise inside. There is a spring that can be wound that makes the propeller wiggle for a bit. This is going to live on our mantle. Now we just need to find the right rectangular painting to hang above it.

Sunday I had my first bridal shower and also enjoyed the wonderful weather. I was almost too hot!

This week I am going to push to get our interior trim caulked and painted. We'll have house guests next Tuesday night and it's good to have the deadline.

Friday night we are delivering a hot meal to our friends how just had a baby 2 weeks ago. It's the ticket to see their new baby girl. I think I am going to make Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas.

I picked up the framed original of the rubber carving print Michelle did for our wedding invitation. It's so nice to get more art to hang on the walls.

Sunday I made these drink umbrellas for our welcome cocktail for the rehersal dinner. I saw the photo from a Martha Stewart idea and couldn't resist to make them. They were so easy to do once I made an assembly line. They were easiest with my round edge Fiskars. The paper circles didn't have to be precise with a ruffled edge. We are going to serve Mojitos, we learned how to make them in Cancun and have a lot of mint growing in the garden.

Wedding stole knitting progress: 5% to go!

Saturday night we initiated the sauna with a crew of Swedes. We used it for 1 hour and got it up to 170F, that was super hot, but we all had many full buckets of garden hose water dumped on us outside to cool down. What a wet party! Sounds like we'll be constructing an outdoor shower sooner than later. The weather was perfect for this. A bright side to our cold gloomy June rain.

Wedding stole knitting status: 90% done, 5o more rows left to knit. I I can do 10 rows and night, that's only 5 more nights!


I found a link to this cool conversion template from Martha Stewart, you print it out and laminate it for your kitchen. Now if we just had one for European conversions, I could use those Swedish cookbooks a little easier.

We tried to make a visit during open hours to the Bathhouse, but I guess they decided to cut out early, because the place was all locked up tight. Grrr... It was pouring rain, this overflow drain at the park was doing it's thing.

Now we are back home and waiting for the sauna to heat up.

We've been working super hard on the yard and this weekend it's looking better than ever. The stone path is in and we have even more plants in the ground. Last weekend I planted some hen & chicks in a shallow pot I have been holding onto for 5 years. It's a relief to finally use it.