Holidays

The christmas season is already upon us! We have our sweet tree up, decorated by my good friends at our holiday open house a few weeks ago (a grant total of 25 visitors, what a success!).

To celebrate the holidays, I will share with you my favorite christmas poem "little tree" by e.e. cummings:

little tree

little silent Christmas tree

you are so little

you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest

and were you very sorry to come away?

see i will comfort you

because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark

and hug you safe and tight

just as your mother would,

only don't be afraid

look the spangles

that sleep all the year in a dark box

dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,

the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms

and i'll give them all to you to hold

every finger shall have its ring

and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed

you'll stand in the window for everyone to see

and how they'll stare!

oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands

and looking up at our beautiful tree

we'll dance and sing

"Noel Noel"

Oh my dear Baby Jesus, PLEASE LET BARACK OBAMA WIN!

I'm so bad at updating this thing. It's October now, just barely, but the weather in Seattle seems to know it. We went from cloudless 70-80 degree days to 65, to 60, now, with a constant drizzle at least a third of the time. Typical. And the sun, which once set at 9:30, has shot down to 6:30, and will be barely 4 by the time school ends. That's what gets me the most.

It being fall, I've been watching my Cubbies in full force. They made it to the top of their group, and had one of (actually, I think THE) best season since 1945. I was, as a perrenial Cubs fan, hopeful. Things did not work out well as planned. I didn't even watch the first game, because I was so sure of a win. Imagine my surprise at seeing a sizable loss. After the VP debate, Mark, our friend Mark C., and I went to a pub down the street, and Game 2 was on. It wasn't pretty, and yours truly actually stood there and cried while the Cubs lost game two.

Last night, we made it to a bar very close to our home (which supposedly serves "southern food"- but it's not that good) and they had the game projected against one wall. Things looked so hopeful that I held on, even to the very, very last inning (though I had closed my tab in inning 5 in case I needed to bolt)... and they just lost it.

I was so mad that I stormed out of the bar, ripped the Cubs cap off of my head, and threw it to the ground in disgust, and started to walk home. But, as I turned around to look at my little cap, I was reminded that no matter what, this was the team I loved, and I wasn't going to stop because of this loss. So, I walked back to it, brushed the wet grass off, and put it back on my head. And then I mourned the loss for the rest of the night, but before I went to sleep, I was already planning my spring visit to Phoenix to see Cubs spring training in Mesa, and also my friend Lisa. And, and the very least, I was so proud when Mark told me that, after I stormed out (he stayed to finish the beers), some guys behind me mentioned that I was a "true Cubs fan". That's about the best thing I could hope for.

One day, it'll happen. And victory will be so sweet.

Wedding Planning, continued.

Hello all!

My friend Lisa has pointed out that I have not kept you updated on my wedding planning (or summer, either), so I thought I might mention a few things on those topics.

Wedding planning is going quite swimmingly, considering that Mark and I are still a year out. We have officially gotten our church booked (4 pm on Saturday, September 12th! Be there!), and hope to have the reception site (the house at Mynelle Gardens, as I have mentioned) taken care of on December 1st. Of course, I have the dress, as well as an adorable white cocktail dress that will keep me cool while I'm dancing at the party.

We have also reserved our photographer, Adam Hudson (you should Google his work, he and his wife are neat people). The logistics of food will be figured out closer to the date, but my father is (hopefully) already planning some menu ideas that capitalize on in-season, in-state, and hopefully sustainably grown food items. I can tell you that an all-local, all-organic meal and drinks will not be a possibility (after all, the limes for the mojitos will inevitably come from far away), but we will get as damn close as possible. As for a cake, we have an idea: There's a non-profit organization called the Christmas Village which helps abused and battered women, and they provide training in a number of areas. One of those is apparently baking, and so they run a bakery called "Village Confectioners." On top of teach the women these skills, the profits go back to the organization. Granted, it's very difficult to get all organic cake ingredients in Mississippi (especially not at premium prices!), so this aspect will be a struggle. I believe I can ask them to use certain organic products (milk and butter, perhaps sugar, most likely any fillings I would like) so long as I front the extra costs. However, even if none of it turns out to be organic, at the very least I would have a socially conscious cake, if not an environmentally conscious one.

The Eco-Conscious Wedding

I should preface this (and can't remember if I did in the last post) by saying that I want an eco "friendly" wedding is misleading. I mean, I do, but let's face it... the only really ecofriendly wedding option is you and close (in proximity) friends biking to the JP to get hitched. No cross-country travel, no disposable plates, hell, no harmful photo printing processes, and no paper invites. This is one sacrifice I don't really want to make. I do want a semi-traditional wedding, with flowers, and food and dancing, and to fly all the way to Mississippi, and to have our far flung friends join us as we celebrate. However, there's a responsible way to do most of this (as far as the flying... we're pretty much out of luck save for "carbon offsets" which are another post altogether). So, I'm calling it an environmentally conscious wedding, which means, in my mind, that Mark and I look at every aspect of planning with an eye toward sustainability and make environmentally sound choices to every reasonable (and affordable) extent.

Some of this is pretty easy. I got my wedding dress from a consignment store, and second hand is always better than store bought. I intend to sell it after the wedding to extend its usefulness further. If all goes as planned, I will have my reception at a local garden, reducing the need for flowers from Ecuador or God knows where. For what flowers I do use, I will try to use a local and sustainable grower, and findings from my family and friends' gardens. I will try to serve locally-grown food and offer recycled, compostable eating wear (glass/china would be the best choice here, but a little too pricey for my budget, and how would we get them home to clean?? I will try to get mark's ring (and maybe my band?) second hand, and I will pick cocktail dresses, rather than hideous "bridesmaids" dresses for my attendants, which I will ensure are flattering and re-wearable (reaaally re-wearable, I swear). I will use candlelight as much as possible to cut electricity costs, and will use Ipod music rather than an energy zapping band (sadly, mississippi doesn't have a market for solar-powered ipod speakers, though). My wonderful friend Kelly Gilbreath (From Scratch Design) is doing my invites, and helping me find recycled paper to use. All in all, it's not THAT much, but it's something.

So I'll keep you updated on how all of that goes. For now, I have mostly taken a break from wedding planning (except looking at pictures online, which I LOVE to do) to do a little summer research, and to enjoy the weather and the lack of homework. I got a gardening bug after receiving our first two weeks of CSA (community-supported agriculture) produce, and I started a window box herb garden (so far, still alive! I have a black thumb, for those who don't know), and some morning glories and herbs from seed. The morning glories have taken off, and now I'm not sure what to do with them.... Our apartment is old masonry, so an outside windowbox is difficult. Thoughts? I also created a watergarden this weekend, by getting a small decorative pot, putting a 40 gallon-per-hour pump in, and covering with black rocks. I surrounded it with some decorative ferns, which I like so much I'm going to have to get more! Here is a picture of my little Zen garden:

The sound of running water is very soothing to me, so I consider this an invaluable addition to our home. I wish I could do one in every room, but this one is portable enough.

Abbey is also enjoying the sunny weather, though has been depressed for a little while, because we haven't been letting her sit in her favorite sunny window, and the others are overtaken by plants. We've been keeping her away from the window, because it is large, and unscreened, and needs to stay open for cooling purposes. Plus, abbey sits at that window like this:


So we can't have her rolling out. Fortunately, today's garage sale-ing brought a precision fit baby gate to replace the unsecured one we had put up which was all to bulky. So now Abbey has her window back, though I don't know if she's realized this yet.

New and Exciting events.

Clearly I haven't written in a long time. In fact, you've probably all given up on me. But, I guess I should still post my most exciting news: I am engaged! On April 26th, after the better part of 5 years, Mark proposed to me, in our kitchen after a beautiful 3 course breakfast, flowers, and champagne. By now, you've probably already seen pictures of the ring, but I'll put one up anyway:
So, now the thing is, I have to have a wedding. Mark and I have tentatively set the date: Sept. 12, 2009. This means we have a long time to plan, which is great because:

1. We don't have any money. This includes me, Mark, and my parents. I'm thinking I can push the budget to about $7,000.... I already have $2900 put away, and I plan to make an extra thousand this summer, and I'm still trying to figure out where the other half comes from. Just for reference, the average (American) couple spends about 25 grand on a wedding. I think that's ridiculous, wasteful, American consumerism at its worst. Then again, it's easy for poor people to say that. And, I digress...
2. I want to incorporate as much environmental sensitivity as I can into the wedding. I won't say I'm planning an eco-friendly wedding, because weddings are, by nature, NOT eco-friendly.

Trying to work within these two limitations is going to be difficult, I know.

First off, part of me WANTS the Cinderella, super-glam wedding, (without the large guest list though... Mark's little sister got married a little while back, and had the most horrifyingly large number of attendees.... it was awful and so impersonal). So, I've got to get over these competing ideas in my head (one, which has been emphasized over and over again by corporate America, Martha Stewart, TV, etc, and the other, which I know is the better way to go). In general, not just with my wedding planning, I need to move beyond my materialism and wastefulness, and focus on being a more ecologically and socially responsible global citizen.

Secondly, organic anything (food, flowers, dresses) is super expensive, and may not even be that much better than traditional options. Also, the wedding is going to be in Mississippi, which is more or less LAST on the list of environmentally-sensitive states. So, I thought I would use this blog to list out this next year's journey, and how I have managed to be successful in cutting down our wedding's footprint, and what compromises I will have to make, to keep the whole thing in budget. We'll see.

Spring Break

I'm writing this entry from a hotel in Arcata, CA, home of Humboldt State (supposedly the most pot-addled student body in the country - a supposition which has been confirmed over and over again as we meet and observe people in the area... and by the consistently long lines at the Taco Bell). It's the last night of our spring break trip, which has been spent mostly in California. We left on Friday morning, and drove literally all day to Berkeley. We spent the next day hanging out with Mark's friends in Berkeley and drinking wine, and spent Sunday in San Francisco. I made Mark drive across the Golden Gate Bridge, and he took me to Crissy Field, and a beach on the west coast, where we saw the sun set over the pacific ocean. Abbey also played in sand for what seemed like the very first time. She would very cautiously step across it, but then would take off and stop to dig intensely. Mark coaxed her to walk towards the ocean as the waves rolled out, but as they rolled back in, Abbey barked ferociously at them! It was adorable. Monday was spent driving from Palo Alto (where we had stayed with David Long) to Pismo Beach via "The 1" aka the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped in Santa Cruz to visit our friend Eva, went through agricultural Salinas, then Monterey and Carmel. Then- Big Sur. I don't even have anything to write about it, other than it was amazing. It's indescribable and should be seen by everyone.

The next day, we spent the morning at the beach, explored nearby San Luis Obispo, and went wine tasting in Paso Robles. Wednesday was more of the same, and we drove back up to Palo Alto that evening. On the way we went through the "Artichoke Capital of the World" where I got a four pound jar of marinated artichoke hearts to make Amerigo's artichoke dip that I frequently crave. Thursday found us back in San Francisco, Berkeley, and then on the way to Sonoma for more wine tasting. We were actually more impressed by Healdsburg than Sonoma, although both were essentially mission-style versions of Canton, Mississippi, down to the types of stores around. And last night, we made it to Arcata.

Today we saw some giant coast redwoods, and again, there's little I can say about them but "wow." They're truly awe-inspiring, and the only negative about today's trip was that Abbey was not allowed on the trails, and it was raining heavily, so we didn't get to spend as much time exploring as I would have like. Oh, and I was about 40 feet from a herd of elk. That rocked.

Anyway, tomorrow is the long haul back to Seattle, and then right into my busy quarter. I'd better get some sleep.