A wonderful weekend
I've been having a truly lovely weekend. On Thursday evening, I stayed late at work to finish one of the more stressful projects I've ever worked on. I went in a little late Friday (a little late being like 8:05, but I usually get to work before 7:30) so Rachel and I could go to breakfast at the dining hall. It was relaxing and very nice. Then - the biggest treat of all - my manager let us all out early because it was the Friday before Memorial Day :3 She does this fairly often on the day before we have a day off, but because we've all be insanely busy, I didn't even consider that she might this time. I got to leave by 3:00, and considering that I've worked at the very least until 4:45 every day since the beginning of April, this was incredibly special. I picked up Rachel early and we did all sorts of can't-do-after-normal-work-hours errands. We went to the town hall in our new town to drop off paperwork (they were going to send the water bill to our old address and we had to submit a change of address form. I mean, seriously? The reason we have a water bill in your town is because WE LIVE HERE NOW! -_-;;). We found out what we need to get library cards. And we stopped at some of the little shops on the main street of our town that we'd never been to before. Most were about to close, but the one we spent the most time in was Poppy Seed Studio, a beautiful clothing and accessories shop with a vintage, antique style. It had floaty summery dresses and vintage silk nightgowns and slips and a lot of flowery, lacy jewelry. Many of the accessories were of a sort of teatime-steampunk bent - keys and wire and pressed flowers and clocks. We discovered a tiny Willow Tree Angel hugging a book for a very good price, and we bought that and a set of really gorgeous postcards that were reminiscent of vaudeville posters, only with more flowers and kick-ass inspirational messages. I also bought this locally made flower headband:
The staff was extremely friendly and invited us to all sort of other events they're involved in :)
On Saturday, we went down to A Loom with a View in Newburyport, MA to check out looms. I've been wanting a loom for years, but I didn't seriously consider getting one until last year, and then I didn't want to actually buy one until we had a house and the space to actually use it. Once we knew we were getting the house, I started saving (and was able to put my gift check from being elected employee of the month towards it!). Rachel helped me research and I tried out a bunch of looms at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. We also stopped at A Loom with a View back in March to take a look at what they had, and I decided I most likely wanted a Schatt Flip Loom. I just wasn't sure what size I wanted. When I went down yesterday, we tried them all out, and I decided I wanted the 25-inch since I could always weave smaller on it if I wanted. I didn't have quite enough saved, but my beautiful self-sacrificing wife moved money from her fun money and fun-money-savings into my fun money account so I could get it right then and not have to wait until next weekend ;_; I'm so lucky I have her!
My loom is home now in the craft room and has met Rachel's spinning wheel, Rana :)
A lot of our flowers have started blooming! Every day we find new ones, and half the time we don't know what they are XD The people who lived here before us must have spent so much energy on their garden, because it's beautiful even this year.
Peonies beside our driveway:
Purple irises in our back yard:
And yellow irises too!
Yesterday evening, we went to my Uncle Bill's house for a cookout, onnacounta Memorial Day and because his birthday is next week. We got to see my awesome cousin Heather and her husband, Nate, and their INCREDIBLY ADORABLE children, Nora and Levi. We sat outside with our bare feet in the grass and had (veggie for me) burgers and hot dogs and pasta salad, while the kids ran around us, "on a boat to Mars and Christmas" XD On the way home, the drive was so beautiful. We stopped at the Wiggly Bridge, a little suspension bridge in York, Maine that goes over a tidal stream and a bunch of mud flats. The sun had just set, and it was hazy, making the pastel-rainbow sky like frosted glass over the dark trees and perfectly reflective water. We made silly jokes and ran around and jumped on the bridge until it undulated and clanged (this is what it's made for), and I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a perfect, wonderful wife. She fills up my life with a joy than can never be lost.
And today we're doing housework and we bought a metric ton of fresh fruit, and Freija is sitting on my lap for the first time since we moved in. Life is pretty (amazingly, blessedly) good :)
The staff was extremely friendly and invited us to all sort of other events they're involved in :)
On Saturday, we went down to A Loom with a View in Newburyport, MA to check out looms. I've been wanting a loom for years, but I didn't seriously consider getting one until last year, and then I didn't want to actually buy one until we had a house and the space to actually use it. Once we knew we were getting the house, I started saving (and was able to put my gift check from being elected employee of the month towards it!). Rachel helped me research and I tried out a bunch of looms at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. We also stopped at A Loom with a View back in March to take a look at what they had, and I decided I most likely wanted a Schatt Flip Loom. I just wasn't sure what size I wanted. When I went down yesterday, we tried them all out, and I decided I wanted the 25-inch since I could always weave smaller on it if I wanted. I didn't have quite enough saved, but my beautiful self-sacrificing wife moved money from her fun money and fun-money-savings into my fun money account so I could get it right then and not have to wait until next weekend ;_; I'm so lucky I have her!
My loom is home now in the craft room and has met Rachel's spinning wheel, Rana :)
A lot of our flowers have started blooming! Every day we find new ones, and half the time we don't know what they are XD The people who lived here before us must have spent so much energy on their garden, because it's beautiful even this year.
Peonies beside our driveway:
Purple irises in our back yard:
And yellow irises too!
Yesterday evening, we went to my Uncle Bill's house for a cookout, onnacounta Memorial Day and because his birthday is next week. We got to see my awesome cousin Heather and her husband, Nate, and their INCREDIBLY ADORABLE children, Nora and Levi. We sat outside with our bare feet in the grass and had (veggie for me) burgers and hot dogs and pasta salad, while the kids ran around us, "on a boat to Mars and Christmas" XD On the way home, the drive was so beautiful. We stopped at the Wiggly Bridge, a little suspension bridge in York, Maine that goes over a tidal stream and a bunch of mud flats. The sun had just set, and it was hazy, making the pastel-rainbow sky like frosted glass over the dark trees and perfectly reflective water. We made silly jokes and ran around and jumped on the bridge until it undulated and clanged (this is what it's made for), and I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a perfect, wonderful wife. She fills up my life with a joy than can never be lost.
And today we're doing housework and we bought a metric ton of fresh fruit, and Freija is sitting on my lap for the first time since we moved in. Life is pretty (amazingly, blessedly) good :)