Spring Has Sprung

I was very excited to see the new tulips from my trip to CT this fall from White Flower Farm beginning to peek through the soil. One is just blooming! Yay! (Don't mind the weeds, please!)

 The grape hyacinths are up and beautiful.

 The crocus are just about past their prime.

One of my faves from Virginia is blooming for the first time this year. I've had a horrible time getting the forsythia to take root here. You really don't see too much of it in TN. Such a shame. I love going home and seeing it growing everywhere in Virginia!

Of course, the daffs are all popping. I keep cutting them and bringing them in. They can liven up any table in a jiffy!

But these are my favorites of all--the lilacs I moved from my mom's yard back in  Arlington when she moved down here. They took right away (only because SHE planted them!). They are now quite a nice-sized bush with buds all over.

See! Mmmm, I cannot wait to smell them. The purple ones do have a luscious fragrance while the white ones (which I chose for my wedding bouquet) do not. Go figure.

And speaking of which, the hub and I are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary today. He sent me 25 gorgeous white roses with the sweetest note. Do I have to tell you that, yup, he's out of the country?! No worries. We will celebrate upon his return. Twenty-five years. I simply cannot believe that much time has passed. We're pretty lucky, us two. Just like we were married yesterday. Well, almost. Ha!

Happy Anniversary, hub. We still got it baby, don't we!

Labels: Flowers, Hub, Wedding Anniversary, Spring

A Little Bit of This . . .

. . . and a little bit of that.

I had to go into the tire place today to get my almost-flat tire repaired. It's been losing air for a couple of weeks (since I returned from Riverside). Did you know that it is now $1 to "purchase" air for your tires? Say what??? Kookie, I know. Got tired of that real quick like. And, they did find a nail. Loverly.

Speaking of loverly, I had a little time to skim the vast array of magazines while I waited. Straight on I found this page.

Which reminded me that Target will soon be getting a selection of Liberty of London products. Tarjey style I know, but still. Who can resist? I do think it's oh-so-brilliant also.

And, speaking of brilliant, the hub and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Sunday. He brought this wonderful angel wing ring from Singapore from a jeweler named CUPID. He said it reminded him of mom. Awwwww. Of course, I smile every time I look at it. I LOVE it.

We had nice springy weather today. I went to Costco to stock up on some items and found these lovely orchids, $19.00.

Such beauties. I've been moving them around the house since I got them home.

Oooh, another cloud burst! Yep, spring us just around the corner? Can ya feel it?

xo
ro

Anniversary Flowers and Pysanka Time

Of course, I had to take some close ups of my anniversary flowers. They're so pretty.

I love this one green mossy/ferny sprig. Only one though. Wouldn't an entire bouquet be perfect for St. Paddy's Day?

After much procrastination, I finally decided to do some pysanky this year. Low and behold, I found all of my pysanky supplies after much searching. For some reason, my dyes were in the rec room and my patterns and kistky (my writing tools) were in a box in the basement. I have become so disorganized since redoing several rooms in the house, I don't know where anything is at this point. And, of course, that drives me absolutely mad. I was truly doing so much better last year in my organizational skills before all the demo began. Now I honestly have no desire to straighten it all out again. None whatsoever. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head. My one yucky thing a day has turned into doing something totally different than cleaning. But I am still doing one yucky thing a day, promise.

Yesterday, I decorated two eggs. This one is my first attempt at getting my hand steady. I started with a pattern then messed up and used my imagination for the rest. The first egg is normally the shakiest of the season, one I will never give away! Yuk. With the traditional wax process, it will take several more days to see what the egg actually looks like--similar to batiking fabric. You can see the process in a previous post here. I can already tell that this one will not be anything special.

I'm thinking about giving one of my pysanka away in a drawing a little later. The One World One Heart was so much fun, I'm already reading for another one! I will keep you all posted. First, let's see if any of my eggs come out worthy of giving away. Now there is the million dollar question.

Twenty-One Years and Counting

From the movie Moonstruck:

Mother: "Do you love him Loretta?"

Loretta: "Aw, ma, I love him awful."

Mother: "Oh, God, that's too bad."


I still do.

Twenty Years Ago Today

The hub and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary today. Well, we're not really celebrating today because I am still sick. We will postpone it until later in the week. But, 20 years! Wow. I don't even feel 20 (or at least act it!). hehe.

This is what the hub had made for me in Sydney at Giulians when he was there last year. He had it made in yellow gold, which he knew I prefer. I think it adds to the champagne diamond in the center. I am just in love with it! Am I not the luckiest?

The Most Beautiful Day

St. Matthew's Cathedral Washington, DC
March 7, 1987 10:30 a.m.

I can hardly believe 19 years have passed since our wedding day. Nineteen years. Wow. Why, it seems like it was just yesterday......

Isn't it funny how you pick your wedding date. It's either out of necessity or desire for a certain time of year. We had to choose because of both. I had always wanted to get married in the fall. DC in the fall is the most gorgeous (besides the spring, of course). But, autumn, it's my favorite time of year. The pre-hub and I became engaged in October. When I told my boss that we were planning a fall wedding for the following year, he promptly told me, "Don't wait so long." I sometimes wonder if he thought maybe the pre-hub or I would have second thoughts if we prolonged the engagement--grin. We were so complete opposites back then and my boss knew us both quite well. The pre-hub was a major stuffed shirt, executive type and me the ever happy-go-lucky free spirit (and we compliment one another perfectly). Well, FAR (the boss) was like a second father to me and I appreciated his knowledge and wisdom. If I was going to take advice from anyone, it would be him. And, if it wasn't going to be a Fall DC wedding, obviously it was going to be a Spring DC wedding. One is almost as good as the other.

That's where the fun began. You see, my family runs a photography business. It's an old company that my father got into when he first moved up from Texas in the 40s. He eventually bought the founders out and it became full-time work for all of us kids. Central Photo consists mainly of taking group photographs of school groups in front of the Capitol. Therefore, the majority of the work is very seasonal--the busy time being from around mid March until late June--you know, spring break and such for school groups. Therefore, in order for me to have my family included in my wedding (and I did kinda want them there), I would either have to get married before or after the busy season. The company had always been a thorn in my side for this reason--always coming first before anything else--and this time, it was no exception. So after little thought, we decided to have the wedding on March 14. Well, that didn't work, that was the pre-hub's mom's birthday. Not even gonna go there. Ms. Independent (me) is not going to share her day with any others. So the date then became the week before, March 7. And that, my friends, is how we came upon choosing March 7 as our wedding day. Being so early in the spring, it was a major risk in the weather department, especially for DC. You just never know....

As I have mentioned before, the pre-hub and I worked in the same office. Right across the street was the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. Even though I wasn't Catholic, I would sometimes go in there when I needed a "sanctuary." Just to walk in the place and smell the incense could calm the nerves from the everyday stresses of life. When we became engaged, I knew right away that I would convert to his faith--catholicism--and, I might add, with no pressure from him. St. Matthew's is a wonderful old church. I had never stepped foot in a Catholic church before, so I thought they all were like this. Even with it's size, it was such a warm and peaceful place. I went through all my catechism classes there (with the pre-hub by my side), was baptized, confirmed and had my first communion there. So, of course, when it came time to decide where to have the ceremony, it was a no brainer. St. Matt's it was. I didn't want it to be a huge wedding, so we chose the The Wedding Chapel to hold the nuptials. The little chapel has a wood carving of Mary and Joseph's wedding. It's just to the right of the main sanctuary, and it held just the right amount of guests.

Instead of an organist, we chose a harpist. We enjoyed having tea or brunch at the Mayflower Hotel (again in the same vicinity of our office and St. Matt's), and they had the loveliest harpist that would play on the weekends. We loved her music so we hired her. Instead of a wedding march, she played Pachelbel's Canon in D when I came down the isle. It was so lovely. I get teary eyed to this day when I hear it.I remember thinking I was going to be terribly nervous being in front of all those people. I have always despised being the center of attention. But as I walked down the isle and saw the hub-to-be, it completely calmed my nerves. Most people say their wedding day is "all a blurr." I remember every detail of every moment. It was so beautiful. Even the weather cooperated. It was a typical beautiful spring day in Washington, 70 degrees and sunny. I heard all the out-of-town guests had a great time sightseeing after the reception. We finished the whole deal by 2 p.m. (And, just like Washington, it snowed the next day.)

What beautiful memories I have of our special day. I wish everyone could say the same. I've heard so many horror stories. We were fortunate. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect in every way. I still love looking over the old photos and remembering how special it was. Sniff sniff.

21 Super Bowls Ago Today

In a far, far land, 21 Super Bowls ago, lived a young fair maiden and a dark handsome stranger...... (I couldn't resist, sorry.)

Kidding aside, it was 21 years ago on Super Bowl Sunday that the pre-hub and I had our first date. Needless to say, we missed the entire game that year! Instead we went antiquing for art deco, both of our passions at the time. His favorite haunt was Kensington, Maryland, a quaint little town up Connecticut Avenue just outside DC.

We found a gorgeous dining room suite (art deco, of course) that was a bargain. This was just before deco really hit big so bargains were still easy to find. We went back and forth on if we should buy this set, thinking we could split it up. I think I would have received the better end of the deal with the table, chairs and china cabinet, he with the two buffets. Well, we decided against it, I mean, it was our FIRST date! In hindsight......DUMB MOVE! ha. We would have had a beautiful set today if we had been less prudent. Oh well.

That afternoon, we went back to Old Town Alexandria where he lived and had a delicious German dinner. It was so much fun and so comfy being together. It was the beginning of a full-blown office romance. And it did move quite fast.

It's so much fun thinking about those first days of our lives together. I have to say, I knew right away that he was the "one" and I prayed he felt the same. Obviously, he did. (blush)