Mishaps and other haps

Due to time and budget constraints this year, Michael and I decided not to spend the entire weekend at Aldebaran farm, but we did go out to Spring Green yesterday for two plays at American Players Theatre.  We saw the matinee performance of Henry V and the evening performance of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever.  We spent some time with Josh, Betsy, Jack, Terry, Tom, and a whole bunch of Wisconsinites that we usually only see on this weekend (although we actually ran into Colleen the weekend before at Sentry).

We saw The Winter’s Tale at APT back in June when my parents were visiting and with the two plays we saw yesterday, I think that’s all we are likely to see this year.  Next year when we don’t have a wedding coming up (and perhaps have a slightly laxer summer/fall weekend schedule), maybe we can get out to Spring Green a little more often.

We’ve had a bit of a lull this week at work and today seemed to be a particularly slow day.  After lunch, I helped the co-worker across the aisle with something monotonous, which was good for me because I briefly got away from the computer screen that I face most of the day.

Conversation sometimes drifts to crafts because this particular co-worker quilts and cross-stitches.  She and another co-worker have been bringing in their current cross-stitch projects lately and the rest of us are beginning or thinking about beginning projects.  I have cross-stitched before, but haven’t completed a project since middle school– and apparently my methods are not orthodox.  Today I learned that I shouldn’t have been knotting my thread all along.  Oops.

I guess my mother taught me how to cross-stitch at some point.  She cross-stitched for many years and I don’t know if I learned to tie a knot from her or if it was just the best way I could devise to keep the thread in the cloth.  I don’t think she has been sewing at all recently.  She blames her eyes.  I wonder if it helped her relax while she did it, though.  She has felt more stressed the last few years.

I think this might be a good hobby for me to pick up again.  For one, it will be easy to learn.  I already know how, basically.  Hobbies should be relaxing and I need for my hobbies to feel productive.  Making pictures for a new house or for gifts will be productive.

I thought I might find a class or a club, but my whole aisle (two teams) at work is cross-stitching or beginning to cross-stitch or talking about it at least.  Why not have a “group” with people I already know?

I think I will start with a small project that I am likely to finish.  I need a refresher on how-to.  Then if I feel up to it, I will work my way on to more advanced projects.

Originally this weekend was scheduled on the calendar as “Time Off”.

Months ago, we were looking forward into late summer and realizing that August was almost completely booked with weekend events already.  We were also realizing that at this point we’d be roughly 50 days out from our wedding.  Therefore, Michael added the event “Time Off” to the calendar for this weekend.

Now it hasn’t been one of our “SLUG” weekends, regardless.  We’ve been a little short on those kinds of weekends this year.  Michael has been trying to spend as much time as possible with his brother, who has been staying with us this summer, but Joe heads back to Maine this week for his senior year at Bowdoin College.  So Saturday morning the two of them headed out early to go golfing with Bryan.

Then Michael and I went shopping and dropped by Larry and Katie Homuth’s house for a bit for their housewarming party.  Back at home in the evening, I made Molly Wizenberg’s Burg’s Potato Salad from her recently-published A Homemade Life.  I am thoroughly enjoying both reading this book and making the few recipes I have tried from it so far, but I should also note that the ones I have tried so far have been a little time-intensive (worth it, though, from the results I have tasted so far).

After the potato salad made it into the refrigerator, Michael and I relaxed while watching Wall-E and The Jerk on Demand.

This morning, we slept late, but I was eager to make Custard-filled Cornbread from the same book for our breakfast and since it needs about an hour to bake, I started to work on it and placed it into the oven … almost an hour ago … so our breakfast is going to be a noonfest today.

We have a couple of errands to run this afternoon and I want to bake up a quick blueberry crisp later.  That and the potato salad are earmarked for tonight’s going-away dinner for Joe and Becky, a recent addition to the calendar.  Becky is entering her second year at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Ah, noonfest is hot and ready, so I am off!  Have a great week!

Michael and I went to Irish Fest in Milwaukee yesterday evening.  Out of the two of us, I am the one who has had a pretty lengthy history of loving Celtic and Celtic-influenced music (really, the genre doesn’t matter much– I love traditional Celtic music, as well as folk, pop, and rock).  Michael doesn’t dislike it, though, and has been exposed to a reasonable amount via friends who play it.

We didn’t go up for the entire day on Saturday.  I figured that going up early would make it less likely that we’d stick around late for the musicians I actually wanted to make sure I heard.  So we arrived in Milwaukee at dinnertime, grabbed festival grub (which I regretted a little today), and made sure we took a ride on the sky lift before we settled down to chug a pint and listen to music.

We ended up seeing Slide (new to me), Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy (who don’t usually play together, but they are married), the very end of a show by Salsa Celtica, and Gaelic Storm.  As we walked across the festival grounds, we also heard bits of other performances.

I think I am going to have to pick up some music by MacMaster and Leahy (the family band that Donnell Leahy is in) and see if I can find some of Slide’s music.

Gaelic Storm was celebrating ten years of playing at Irish Fest and also filming a documentary, so that particular concert was NUTS.  I think it was a little less enjoyable than the other performances we heard because of the hubbub (and the sheer number of people caught up in the hubbub) but the music was great.

All told, it was a good time– but it was 1 AM (or a little later) when we arrived back at home and I was yawning every time I opened my mouth.  It’s a good thing we planned our trip to Milwaukee for Saturday night rather than Sunday.

For a brief period this summer, we hit a Blockbuster Wall (in my book, a least).  There were no movies playing in theaters that I wanted to see!

This past week, we moved past the hurdle.  I have been two movies in two days and have at least one more that I am waiting to “be in the right mood” to watch.

First, last night Michael and I saw Julie & Julia.  I’ve rarely seen Michael laugh as hard as he did during the “onion scene.”  The movie is so funny, touching and warm.  Meryl Streep embodied Julia Child perfectly.  I cannot think of another actress who could have played the part more convincingly or better highlighted the charming, personable, bubbly personality of the TV persona and chef that America knew and loved.  Her performance is going to be in my head for a long time to come.

Tonight I went out by myself and saw Hiyao Miyazaki’s new film, Ponyo.  It is a cute film about a magic goldfish who wants to be a girl.  It’s G rated.  The characters are adorable and have some brilliantly quotable lines.  I’ve never met a Miyazaki film I didn’t like and I am sure the DVD will end up in my collection when it’s released.  The characters are always memorable, the animation is beautiful, and there is usually a substantive message about respecting the environment (and each other) underlying his films.

Is up to 22.

For those who will be needing a hotel room in Madison for October 9^th and/or 10^th, I have arranged for a block of 10 standard rooms at the COUNTRY** Inn and Suites on Monona Drive (phone # 608-221-0055).  It’s one of the closer hotels to the wedding venue.  The rate per night they gave me is $128.  This rate (and the room availability) is good through September 9^th and you will need to specify that you are reserving a room for the Tew/Babler wedding.

We will have Joe staying with us at the house, I imagine (Best Man and college student privileges), and that’s about all we can handle as we will need room and privacy for wedding prep that weekend.

** Thanks for catching my mistake, Mom

We’ve started receiving replies back from our wedding invitations. This afternoon, we were up to 16 confirmed guests. I’m excited!

It is almost 6 PM, I am working on laundry and I am ready to nap.  It has been a great weekend!

We were lucky enough this year to be able to plan a second weekend of floating at Jack’s house so that friends could be invited without making the head count ridiculous at the normal family weekend*.  Not everyone was able to make it, but Liz, Matt Larson, Betsy and Josh, Michael and I arrived at Jack’s on Saturday morning and had a glorious weekend of floating, cooking and eating marvelous meals, playing Trivial Pursuit, and generally hanging out.

We had torrential rain in Madison early on Saturday morning, so the outlook for the day seemed dismal as we loaded the car, but as we drove out west, the rain cleared up and the weather shaped up perfectly by float time on Saturday.  Miraculously, we were able to work in a second float on Sunday morning with 60% chance of thunderstorms.  We did have a light rain at the very end of the second float, but no lighting in the vicinity and the bulk of rain waited until we went in for lunch and then cleared up before we loaded the cars to come home.

I hope everyone had a great time!  I’m happy to have opportunities to make some great memories this summer!  If only we could wear watermelon helmets every day!

* This is particularly remarkable given Jack’s schedule.  I understand why he plans well in advance because between trips, events that he hosts at home, and his prairie restoration work, he is a very busy man in his free time.

Gee, I hope it doesn’t rain today.  Not while anything important is happening, anyway.

I have taken the day off since we have an early afternoon wedding to attend. Our friends Colin and Lindsay got engaged on Valentine’s Day and will be tying the knot at Olbrich Botanical Garden this afternoon.

This evening, our friend Matt is coming into town and we expect to shop for our second trip out to Jack’s, which is coming up bright and early tomorrow. I hope it’s great float weather this weekend. Rain, please hurry up and do your thing and move on!

We sent out our first wave of wedding invitations earlier this week. Michael and I still have a few addresses to confirm, but the bulk of the invites have now been sent.

I did not include dinner or registry information in the invitations, so I will post that here for anyone who is interested:

1) The wedding dinner will be buffet style. Jim at Cranberry Creek Cafe is handling the food and I have his assurances that there will be plenty of everything and it will be hot. We haven’t actually chosen our menu yet, but we have been sampling the food at Cranberry Creek over the past several months and have some ideas in mind.

2) Michael and I are registered at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Amazon.com.

Now, I need to make this morning a productive one since I have some free time before the wedding!