Dainty Kitty

Pleased

I have two days and nineteen minutes left of work.  Or at least it's the only bit of work I have left as a resident of the United States.  I'm taking off a week to pack (which is really my new job) before Matt gets here, a week before the wedding to, well, do wedding things and then a couple of weeks with family and friends before I head to Salisbury on July 12th.

I am as pleased as a girl drinking good coffee at a little cafe in Rome.

  

(I did start a Rome picture post the other day but the internet freaked out and crashed out on me.  I hope to get back to it this weekend)

The Ring

The final installment in the wedding series - the ring.  :)

 

Growing Our Own Centerpieces

 

 

 

There are two herbs and one plant in each pot.  Technically, my flowers are gerberas but we had two fears concerning using them as centerpieces: one, if we potted Gerberas now they might not be blooming by the big day and two, if we waited until a few days before in order to plant blooming ones, we wouldn't be able to find a Gerbera anywhere.  So, herbs and greenery - still beautiful. 

My Wedding Clutch

The clutch that I won from Red Ruby Rose arrived in the mail yesterday! 

The outer packaging was adorable so I took a few quick photos as I opened it on the front porch.  I love that my address looked like it was printed on a tag but it cracks me up when you ask politely, "please do not bend" but the mail carrier does his best to do just that as he crams it in your mail box.  It must not have been my regular guy because he's really good. 

 

And because I'm a sucker for packaging - I loved the simplicity of this.  A little note was written on the reverse side of the tag.  I have to point out that the button is actually sewn to the ribbon - it's little extra details like that that make me swoon.

 

The clutch - I love it.  I wish it had a tad more pink but green is my favorite color and an accent color in the wedding (our main colors are pink, orange and yellow).  I contemplated several others that were white or off white but I wanted something that I would really want to carry on days other than my wedding day.

 

And the inside.  Even the tag (which I didn't think to photograph) in the corner is cute and I had to smile when I flipped it over and read, "Made in England" - hopefully there were will be some Made in England things from me, too, in the not so distant future.  And I'm not talking about things that are made with fabric or fiber.  :)

 

My Wedding Outfit

 

  

 

I haven't found my shoes yet, though. 

Summer Reading

  

I cannot say enough about this book.  I bought it on a whim for the flight back since I knew I was too near to finishing The New Kings of Non-Fiction (also good - the last few stories are waiting in a drawer in my craft/writing room for my return in July) and I'm so glad I did.  I started it before I left (in a pink bath thanks to a Comforter Lush bath bomb) and could hardly put it down which meant I, unfortunately, didn't leave myself enough to last the entire flight but it was so worth it.  I was a little leary of a book comprised completely of letters but the character development was fantastic and - to overuse an overused phrase - I didn't want it to end.  The ending itself is a little predictable but by the time you get to it you really want the predictable to happen so even that negative is a positive.  I can't wait to read it again and recommend that everyone add it to their summer reading list.  

Before I left I also finished listening to The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.  The title screamed "romance" to me and I'm not fond of romances (that weren't written hundreds of years ago at least) but I heard it mentioned in an interview with a musician who's name I never caught on NPR and then in the forums on Ravelry which I took as a sign so I downloaded it from Audible.  It's a beautiful, fantastic story but I don't know if I would love it as much if I had read it in print.  You're reading accounts from three characters as well as chapters of the History of Love and each are read by a different actor which I didn't think I would like but it kept it interesting and made it easier to follow.  The actor that read Leo Gursky's parts was really fantastic and, half of the time, I found myself anxious to get back to his parts.  It's another book I would definitely suggest for a summer reading list - especially the auidio version if you're into that (I wasn't for a long time but have recently succumbed to the charms of being read to - Fool by Christopher Moore read by Euan Morton is another I've listened to recently and highly recommend). 

This weekend, Italy and gelato and things, I swear. 

Home Again, Home Again

I'm happy and home.  Home as in my future home - Salisbury, England.  I have a few photos from our walk in the New Forest yesterday but we're heading to Matt's mum's here in a few minutes and there are alpacas and a bottle fed baby lamb to take pictures of, too.  The weather has been perfect - sunny and just a little cool.  Knock on wood, not a drop of rain yet!

And, bonus, when I finally checked my email last night I'd found that I won a contest I entered over at Ruby Red Rose's blog.  I haven't picked out my wedding purse yet (and was contemplating knitting one) so the prize of one of her clutches and free shipping is perfect.  Oh - I'm not wearing green anymore!  I felt the pull to feel more bride-like and am wearing a long, eyelet skirt, a lace edged tank top and a light, soft white wrap.  It definitely feels like something you'd get married in but it also feels like something I would wear (whereas a giant puffy gown does not). 

Tomorrow afternoon - my first trip to Heathrow and then Rome!