My Ball and Chain

Yay! My sweetpea finally took photos of my ring with his super fancy camera. They came out so pretty. Of course, I'm totally biased. But I love it so...

Shoes!

I had to do it. I just had to. The prices were too good, and I sleuthed a promotion code from the interweb, which made them all that much cheaper.

I present to you two of my new three pairs of shoes. Yes, I bought three pairs of shoes, online, all at once. I suppose I was detoxing from "No Frivolous Spending January."

This pair wound up costing $15.99. Original price was $89.99, on Naturalizer.com. I love that store! Great comfort and super good styling, especially as of late. I'm headed to a wedding in March, and I figure that these are excellent dress up shoes for a less than formal affair (beach wedding, Florida, etc.) and that they'll be a good addition to my regular rotation of spiky heels.
And this pair I got for $39.99, original price of $79.99. Hooray! So cute. I love red shoes. How adorable with a pair of skinny jeans? Or a denim skirt?
The best part is that I ordered them two days ago and they arrived today. The third pair is probably on its way, but seriously. Who cares when I have these two to keep me happy!

I guess I missed blogging, being that this post makes it twice in one week when I've blogged twice in the last three months. Ok. I'm back on it.

Still Still Alive

Hmm, its almost February and I realized that I have barely posted since December. What up? I guess part of it is guilt, part of it is laziness and part of it is time.

1. I'm guilty about not doing much knitting or sewing these past several weeks. I started a beret that I didn't finish, and I still have some old old projects in the works that I don't know if I'll ever pick up again.
   
2. I'm lazy about everything these days as I had my winter break from grad school and thoroughly enjoyed doing anything I wanted.
3. I don't have the time anymore, with my new job (not so new anymore, I guess) and school and planning a wedding.

Mike and I booked our location for the big day, and we just love it. We went back and forth about a lot of different sites, their advantages and disadvantages, and couldn't really find many negatives about this place. We both got a really great vibe there, both from the space itself and from our contact, the lovely J.

And I still owe pictures of my beautiful ring to so many people... I think I just have to buckle down and photograph it tonight after class! Its still just as perfect, and I love that it is mine. I also love the reactions I get from people who notice it - it makes me really proud and happy to have something so meaningful, and to have that be recognized by strangers who notice how unique and lovely it is. Someone called it "thoughtful" the other day, and that really touched a chord with me. It is thoughtful. And I love it.

Still Alive

Not much to say, just wanted to alert the masses that I am indeed still alive. The one thing of note:

I'm in to run 100 miles by April 1st. I'm pretty excited about this and I'm already on my way!

He Did It!

Its official, folks. I'm gonna be an honest woman.

Pictures of my beautiful ring to come...

Skirt! Skirt! Skirt Alert!

I totally made the coolest skirt ever. In the absense of my knitting, I've been sewing up a storm. Some good, some bad, but with each project, my technique is improving by leaps and bounds. I've also been collecting vintage sewing patterns, which I just adore. Like this one (I made View 2):



And here it is. I made it out of brown velvet that I got in Ohio last winter but never seemed to find anything to use it for. Its a good thing I waited! This skirt has a waistband, a hook and eye closure at the top of the back zip, and is so awesome.



This is the fully clothed view. I love how a skirt that sits at my actual waist makes my legs look longer, not that you can tell from my top-down photo, which actually makes me look about 2 inches tall! Though, perhaps my midgetness will distract you from the disaster that is my bedroom. In my defense, I cleaned the bathroom today AND baked a sweet potato casserole from Cooking Light Magazine to contribue to my mother's table tomorrow.



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Flaws are Fabulous

I had an exciting day today. Firstly, working for the city is great because we get just about every single holiday there is. This week, I had election day off and today as well, for the observed day of veteran's day. I thought I would get to sit around in my underwear and watch tv all day but my sweet pea had other plans.

Today I went to a gem laboratory. To get our diamond certified and appraised. It was so freaking cool! The guy I had the appointment with, a Gemologist (even typing that is cool), even showed me how to work this ENORMOUS microscope so that I could see my diamond for myself, under a bazillion magnification. Seriously. It was pretty cool.

The coolest thing, I think, is that inside my diamond there's a crystal that contains a garnet. You can't see it at all by just looking at it, or even with a simple magnifying glass, but under the jeweler's doohickey it is totally there. Its a unique thing that is rather rare, but does not decrease the value of the diamond. I happen to find it very cool. Mostly because my grandmother's favorite stone was the garnet and I have inherited a lot of her garnet jewelry. I think its a special connection, especially since the diamond is the one that my father, who died eight and a half years ago, gave to my mother when they became engaged way back in 1967. Its like this was the one meant for me, and here it is, mine, but also my father's, my mother's and my grandma's.

Aw.

Anyhoo, so yes. I have a diamond. My mom gave to Mike and I for our engagement ring. So, yes, I know we are getting engaged, I have known for a while, but the fact that we're not is still a big deal for me. Its like I can't see past my own nose far enough to tell that there is indeed a future out there for me, and that future, very soon, will certainly include a marriage proposal from the man I would very much like to marry. Its frustrating. I'm trying the whole Be Here Now stuff, and sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. These days it seems like nothing works.

Interestingly, I just finished reading a book by Elizabeth Wurtzel, the famed depressive author of Prozac Nation. The book I read is about her subsequent struggle with drug addiction, More Now, Again. I was frighteningly fascinated to see that her experience with addiction is not all that dissimilar from my experience with panic and anxiety. It turns out we're all the same, after all.