Axel and John were engaged last fall, after 28 years of togetherness. They met on June 1, 1985 and decided to make it legal on June 1, 2014, their 29th anniversary.

John and Axel picked their wedding colors of lavender and purple and I got to work trying to find a suitable dress to wear. I found this vintage lavender number on Etsy for only $25! In the picture online, it looked perfect.

Alas, it photographed completely different than how it looked in person. In person, it was ice blue and lavender in spots where it had faded from the sun and time. It did fit very well, interestingly enough. But the color was wrong. I was going to dye it, but that seemed more trouble than it was worth.

Then I found this. It was vintage, too, and only $20!

It was my decided dress up until May, when I realized the writing on the wall, that the color has too much pink in it. It would never do! (John has just as much of a eye for detail as I do, so, it would never do...).

Mean while, I got busy in May making special t-shirts for the both of us to wear on his "bachelorette party night out"!

Because you HAVE to wear something fun on a night like that! Here we are below, enjoying pre-theater dinner and cocktails at Andina, wearing our shirts. We got lots of compliments the whole night on them.

Eddie and I threw a small cocktail party the night before the wedding for John and Axel and their friends they wanted to get a chance to see before their big day. I made this cupcake topper for the event out of Lego's, inspired by similar toppers I saw online and on Pinterest...

Here is the dining room the day before the party. I took two days off from work at the end of the week before the wedding to get done everything I needed to prior to their big day: t-shirts, party food prep, cleaning party platters and serving trays, sewing dresses for the girls and a matching bow tie for Eddie. Plus, we had wedding festivities to attend in the days leading up to the wedding. No wonder I was tired when it was all over!

The big joke at the cocktail party was that I had specially painted our dining room to match the wedding color scheme, but reality, it has always been this color.

The cupcakes I made turned out beautiful and were a huge hit. The ones for the party were baked in silver foil cupcake liners, though. But I decorated them the same. Banana cupcakes with a hidden Hershey's Kiss baked inside, with cream cheese frosting on top. I decorated with candied violets, silver dragees and candy pearls, and purple sparkle sugar. Gorgeous and delicious!

Here is the Adventure Time bow-tie I made for Eddie. It matched the girls dresses for the wedding. Adventure Time is a cartoon the girls and Eddie are totally into right now. The main characters are Finn and Jake (Jake is a dog) and in a few episodes there is an alternative-reverse universe so everyone whose a boy in the series is actually a girl character and vice versa. These are referred to Fiona and Cake (Cake being a girl and a cat, instead of a dog).

Meanwhile, back to my dress conundrum. After determining the second lavender dress was too pink, I decided to make this dress:

 I decided I'd copy the light and dark color scheme and make this lovely little number in lavender silk dupioni on the top and a deep purple satin on the bottom.

Well, the pattern is rated as an EASY. I can tell you, it's not an EASY for this version of the dress. Those damn scallops were murder to attach and I quickly bailed on that gave it a straight, color block hem. Then I realized the dress needed "something" else, so I embarked on a haphazard design plan: bows? Double bows?? Should they go at the shoulders? A tulle over skirt?? Shoot, over skirt is too long! Double shoot, my scissors need to be sharpened, they are ruining the tulle as I try to cut it to trim it down!!!  



I needed an underskirt and thought I'd save time by buying one. But it was too short! Darn, I will just make one, after all...

[Once I get pictures back from the actual wedding, you'll see everything turned out great in the dress department!]

My shoe debacle! I got several pairs of silk-satin designer shoes on close-out on Ebay back in February. They were only $19 a pair and had free shipping. Normally, they retail for $150+ a pair!  I tried my hand at dying my own shoes and had great results:

The purple didn't match the satin I picked later for the third dress, but it was close enough. But then, the morning before the wedding, my hand steamer, when I went to steam-set the dye on the shoes, SPIT WATER ALL OVER MY SHOES.

Water and silk satin do not mix. When it happens, you are left with water spots.

Egads!!!

I went into Plan E mode and painted the shoes using some violet sparkle fabric paint I'd bought. It actually created a cool effect on the shoes and the color looked better with the dress than it had before. I painted the tops strap and bow a mixture of the violet sparkle and blue hi-lite fabric paint which gives and iridescent shimmer and matched my two-tone silk at the waistband of the over skirt, perfectly!

That's all for now, I'll share more later!

Our dear friends were married on Sunday morning, yesterday, in downtown Vancouver, WA.
(Photo courtesy of Esther Judd Photography)

I served as Matron of Honor, and let me tell you, the honor was all mine! Still, it's been a busy few months leading up to the festivities and the last days before their big day, crazy. I'm in recovery-phase and sleep catch-up.

More to come, later...

Five years ago, we noticed a rose bush "volunteer" starting behind our gate. It would come up every so often in our gardening conversation, about how we should pull it out, but laziness won over.

Over the years, it's gotten taller and taller, but there have never been any buds produced. We've talked about that, too. Last spring, I guided the branches, which were reaching for the East and Southern sunshine, up over the top of the gate.

A couple days ago, I looked out the kitchen window and what did I see?! Rosebuds waiting to bloom!!! LOTS of rose buds!!!

It's finally happened.

The next big surprise has been what color would this volunteer be?  Dark red, of course! It will look particularly lovely with the Joseph's Coat climbing rose I planted last spring on the other side of the gate.

Grant Lee came back to visit Portland again on Monday night. He performed at the Alberta Rose for a second time. The venue really suits him! He co-performed with Howe Gelb, who was just as much fun and just as funny, as Grant.

Mr. Lee played a new song that had a real rockabilly vibe to it. I've got to figure out what its called...

Looking forward to seeing both gents when they come to visit, again!

What a way to wake up, I feel so loved!!! I got a new coffee cup, too. It says 'Darling'!

Bean and I were guests on Tuesday night at the bar opening of JackKnife inside the re-named and re-furbished Sentinel Hotel (formerly, the Governor)! We brought Comfy Horse with us and Bean chose to wear her Frozen dress and tiger pants (they have a real tail) for the big event.

My best little girl took a seat at the bar with Comfy Horse for this photo op. Then the bartender kindly informed us that no one under 21 was allowed to sit at the bar. "Did she have her ID on her,"  he asked??

 

No, she had left her fake ID at home, so we took a table nearby and Bean enjoyed her "real" root beer soda.

 

I was tickled to see a large painting of one of our favorite actors, William Powell, gracing the wall. He played Nick Charles in our beloved Thin Man movies. He could also be Bean's father. They both have the same huge, bedroom eyes!

 

Comfy Horse helped Bean out with her real root beer...

Eddie was traveling on business in Houston which is why I brought my best little girl with me as my date. The hotel and bar said minors were allowed until 8 pm. This was a huge help for me, as I would have missed the event if I couldn't have brought Bean with me. Eddie and I texted while I was at JackKnife and I sent him pictures of Bean. He asked me to have Bean take a picture of me to send to him. It's a little shaky, but not bad!

 

I enjoyed a Melrose Brown, which was DELICIOUS!!! I snapped a picture of the ingredients so we can try to make it at home.

 

Comfy Horse says, "Boy, Mama Dawg...You didn't leave any for me to try!"

 

Finally, we ended the opening by getting our pictures taken in the JackKnife photo booth. Too fun!!! They text the pictures to your phone. How convenient. I had the booth send them to Eddie's phone as well.

 

Bean was a huge hit at the event (and so were her pants. Those things never fail to get a response!) but they didn't have much in the way of food for the party. We ended the evening at the hot dog hut across town before picking up Lulu at Grandma's. I'm taking Eddie to JackKnife on Friday night after our last opera of the season. He's gonna love it: classic cocktails and great atmosphere!

 

Bean is very expressive in her pictures, but I'm not sure what happened at the hot dog hut. What a grimace! Her lips are literally in a straight line...

Like most families with young girls in the household, Frozen-movie fever has taken over our household, too. The girls are big on wearing their hair like the heroines, so I've been busy practicing my "Frozen" braiding technique.

 

I have a ways to go, still...

This picture of Bean freaks me out a bit. I snapped a couple of pictures of her in rapid succession and this one clearly shows her pupils through her eyelids. It's like, she's actually looking at you, through her skin. It's one of those pictures that I can't stop looking at, though. Mesmerizing!

The garden is planted, mostly. An array of vegetables and herbs with some raspberry bushes thrown in for good measure along with our strawberry and blueberries.

I worked on my Super Hero dress. It's nearly done, just have to attach the collar and it's finished and ready to wear for the expected hot summer ahead of us this year.

 

Bean, dancing with her banana. She ate a lot of bananas over the weekend, that little monkey girl!