It was lovely.

There was a preponderance of fog and rain on the first two days, but we did see some sun in the middle of our trip. Then the rain came back on the day we left. I wouldn't have had it any other way, although the rain did squash the camping idea. I love me some Maine fog.



We drank tea and visited with some friends, and drank wine and caught up with others. We went into Bar Harbor to our favorite restaurant and into historic Ellsworth for an afternoon of at our favorite local coffee spot. And we had pie at Ruth and Wimpy's, cause it's just not a trip to Maine without.



We heard two awesome concerts and spent time listening to the brilliant and life affirming lessons of my two greatest teachers. I actually got to play on a concert too, unexpectedly! Someone got sick and I jumped in last minute. Funny, that's actually more or less how I got to Maine in the first place, and how Fred and I met. I'll have to tell you that story sometime.



But mostly we found our peace again in the ocean and the land. We promised each other that we'd buy ourselves a house there as soon as possible. And we left knowing we'd be back, sooner than later.

You're telling me!

When we pulled in yesterday one of our dear friends said, "Welcome home!" Yep, that's exactly what it felt like to drive down that familiar dirt road. It's raining and cold, but I'm a happy camper.

Rings

My wedding ring finally came in the mail yesterday!! It's a little big, so we'll have to send it back for resizing. Which is probably good anyway, cause I just want to wear it now :)



Fred's was made by Al, and mine was made by Kate.

Wedding Planning

Fred and I have ramped up our wedding planning in these past couple of weeks. Things we've recently gotten accomplished, or nearly so:

• Fred's ring! We met with an Etsy jeweler. Al was amazing, and made us feel so much better about picking the ring Fred will wear every day for the rest of forever. It just came in the mail, and we're both thrilled with it. You know it's right when you kind of just want him to wear it already.
  
• My ring! Another Etsy jeweler. She's too far away to meet with her, but I'm glad to have found her and I love the ring we've come up with. I can't wait for it to arrive.
  
• A day-of-coordinator. Someone on board who knows more about weddings than I do. And as always, a neat person who we'll be glad to have around us that day.
• A band. A totally kickin' rockabilly band, a band that wears cowboy hats and boots. My reception is made. Nuff said.
• Patterns for my sister's dress (the halter version below) and my niece's tutu. Because my sister is awesome, and nothing says joy like a 2 year old in a puffy tutu.

• Our reception location. We've had it picked and set for a while now, but we actually went to look at it again and meet with the people there. I'm even happier with it now than I was before, and it was good to put a face to the person on the other end of the phone. As much as wedding mags make the whole process feel a bit like a giant factory-produced slide show, I always feel better when I remember that ours will actually be personal.

• Napkins! My Aunt Judy and Uncle Ed came over the other weekend to help me crank a bunch out, and Judy even took a pile of fabric home to keep working on them. Last year Judy and Ed came over to help finish my sister's wedding dress in the 11th hour. Not only are they lifesavers, obviously, but I love having them around to share in the wedding process. And now my sister is going to help too!
  
• Wedding blocks, wedding website updating, etc. Not exciting, but necessary and crossed off the list. Love that.
• And finally, fabric for my dress. I picked it. It's ordered. Holy cow.
  

Progress

Slowly but surely, the pile gets bigger!



Here's a major shout out to my Aunt Judy who's been helping, and another one to my sister who promised yesterday that she'd start helping too. Thank goodness for awesome family!

Swatches

In an effort to choose a fabric for my wedding dress I ordered 17 swatches of silk from fabric.com. Everything from "iridescent mushroom," which turns out to be fairly horrid, to "iridescent majestic apricot." Let me tell you, this is a really hard decision. And my original color plan won't work as well as I had thought it would. Hmmm......

UFO's

Unfinished objects. Works in progress. Call them what you will, mine are getting out of hand. First we have the half-made green summer dress that I'm totally uninspired to finish. It's something about the rain and the low 60's temperatures. I'm still wearing jeans and a fleece most days!

Then there's the quilt that I started, um, last spring. I had actually begun quilting it by hand when I realized that I just don't have the patience for it. It was summer then too, and sitting under a quilt was not my idea of a good time. It's lived in a neglected heap ever since. Now I'm working to machine quilt it, and quickly, so I can get it done and put it to use.

And the blue silk, of course, is for a dress that I'll wear to a wedding next week. As you can see it's not moved much since the last time I mentioned it. But I'm still planning to wear it next week.

And that's not to mention the napkins for my wedding or the chair I started to reupholster (demolish) in February, or the scarf I've been knitting....... Man. Does everyone have a pile like this?