the goose loves tuesday's ten (#17)

We spent one whole half of one whole day in the car this weekend, driving to Spokane for my cousin's wedding. It was a grand family affair, and reuniting with all the close and extended family members was awesome. Having a few drinks didn't hurt either. Here's my ten favorite moments/photos of the weekend.

1. We drove my parents and brother from Portland to Spokane (about 6 hours) on Friday, just in time to shower and change for the rehearsal dinner. Here's Billy and Liam, post-dinner, enjoying beers at the Blue Spark, one of the only bar open past 10pm. [Fun fact: from their website, I learned their motto is "no crap on tap."] Good beer, but weird dance/music/stage/white trash vibe.

2. We rented bikes from the hotel Saturday morning (yay for winning the one with the unadjustable-and-way-too-low bike seat!) and rode the mile to the wedding reception site to check it out. The groom requested a "water feature" for the ceremony so they were wed in front of a waterfall.

3. After a cloudy morning, the fog burned off San Francisco-style and the sun came out for the afternoon ceremony. Here's the wedding party (and officiant) all lined up!

Adorable flower girls.

4. And the bride! My cousin Alison, escorted by Uncle Jim. So gorgeous.

And the photographer, about to fall into the pond.

5. Here's the Spokane Dempseys. Uncle Jim is my dad's brother, so they have the same last name as us; when they moved to Spokane years ago, we were differentiated by our cities. Allison's three sisters and one brother were the majority of the wedding party, and they were adorable!

6. Allison married Timmy / Jian Liu, who she met in China when she studied and taught English there, so the reception was decorated with chinese lanterns and symbols. Love the red!

And the first dance...

7. The reception room had this great balcony overlooking some area of Spokane (generally just grass) but it was great for some sun and fresh air. We took the opportunity to update some family photos.

 I should probably lighten these up...

Family of 6!

8. The former bride and groom, happy to make way for the newest married couple in the family!

9. Lucy power! The cutest little flower girl, my cousins' cousin on the other side, was also named Lucy.

10.  We left my parents in Seattle with Monika, and drove back to Portland with Liam. We had rented a car to avoid car trouble in our somewhat-unreliable Expolorer, only to encounter an awful screeching noise from the back right tire, about an hour outside of Pasco.

Twenty minutes later, the Enterprise in Pasco switched us out for this hot ride. Catastrophe averted, and Liam got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

the goose loves l-o-v-e pillows

Boo! I'm back!

You thought I was gone for good, huh. But not so. I was just on an extended hiatus. Pesky things like work and cooking and cleaning and walking the dog have gotten in the way of posting fun projects and tasty recipes and poorly-taken photos.

But even if I've been slacking in the posting department, I certainly haven't been slacking in the making department. I've been sewing things, building things, baking things, cooking things, and beautify-ing things. And slowly checking items off my 25 for 25 list. Emphasis on slowly.

But here's one for the sewing and "make from pinterest" categories. A few weeks ago, I saw this adorable pillow on the crafty blog UCreate - full tutorial here.



via

That weekend, I was in sewing mode but not ready to take on the full bedroom makeover project, so I decided to whip up a pillow that could live in my soon-to-be-beautiful bedroom.

The best part of this project (and what makes many projects just terrific) is that I had all the supplies on hand. Old ugly pillow that came from the couch and made with both leather and suede? Check. Cheerful green home dec fabric in enough yardage? Check. (It's Amsterdam in Chartreuse) Enough felt in a coordiating color? Check. About two dog-free hours? Well no, but it worked out anyway.

The project was super easy - just a basic envelope style pillow cover, cut out letters (I just drew letters on paper, cut them out, pinned them to felt, and cut.) I almost didn't have enough fabric, so my pillow sticks out a little in back. But who looks at the backs of pillows anyway?

In the tutorial, the letters were sewn on with embroidery thread in big stiches, which looked super cute. But I do my best to avoid threading needles and sewing in the old fashioned way, especially when it means that it'll take me another 30 minutes to finish. So I just ran the pinned-down letters through the machine, sewing along all sides in white. For the heart "O" I used a decorative stitch, which looks sweet.

It was an enjoyable afternoon and it felt good to just get a project done. Now if only I could finish the room makeover that quickly...

the goose loves anniversaries

Today, Billy and I celebrate surviving the first year of marriage! No, it really wasn't that bad. But it was fun to remember the awesome party we threw last year, and we thanked God every other minute throughout the day for blessing us with sunshine last year. If we had chosen the same weekend in 2011, we would have been faced with cloudiness and downpours, and I probably would have had a nervous breakdown.

So thank God for getting married in 2010! And thank God for my wonderful husband and a wonderful first year together. Here's to many more!

Thought I'd leave you with a few of my favorites from last year.

I love you, Billy! Happy Anniversary!