ack

Damn it. I’ve missed a bunch of days. Between my new job and some other stuff, I’ve barely been home or even able to check my email for the past 3 days. But I do have a few posts in line to be written, so hopefully I can get to them in the next couple of days. Aight, peace.

ring care

I have some photos of the early Christmas decorating I’ve been doing, but I’ll post those in a day or two. Instead, how about a picture of a pumpkin?

This is a ring I got from my mom. It’s peridot, her birthstone. This post is a reminder to you ladies to clean your jewelry every once in while! This ring had been languishing in my jewelry case for years because it seemed dull, small, and boring. But after a good cleaning, it looks amazing and is so much greener than it used to be. I’ve been wearing it on my right hand for about a week now, and it is totally holding its own against my much-bigger engagement ring.

Here is everything I know about ring care:
Cleaning rings:

I basically follow these instructions from Real Simple, except I’m not that fussy. First, I soak the ring in warm water and ammonia (or a little window cleaner works too). Then I scrub gently with a soft toothbrush and a soap and water solution. Rinse in hot water and dry gently with a soft cloth. I clean my engagement ring every few weeks.

Preventing wear and tear:

Although diamonds and sapphires are very hard, they’re not invincible. Most of the wear and tear on engagement rings comes from rubbing the bedsheets at night, so take them off before bed (I put the arms of my glasses through my ring and fold them up, so I know I’ll never forget to put the ring back on in the morning.)

missed a few days

Well, I missed a few days. It’s a pain in the ass to try to take pictures when it’s cloudy and gray outside. Our apartment faces north, so it doesn’t get a lot of good light.

Anyway, here is the one picture I did manage to take today. It’s the nail polish I just put on.

Essie – “Chinchilly”

tea tray

I got this tray last time I went to IKEA (incidentally, I went back today for Christmas decorations with Pam, but I don’t have any pictures of the stuff I got today). Anyway, I love the birds on the tray – they remind me of the work of Charley Harper.

Here’s a shot of the tray in action. I was serving Mom some coffee when she was over a few weeks ago. I love how the tray totally goes with all my mismatched, brightly colored cups and saucers.

nice night

Tonight Daniel and I went to Ivar’s for some Happy Hour clam chowder. As I was picking up my pint of Mac and Jack’s, it slipped out of my fingers and I dumped the entire thing all over myself. As in, beer in my shoes, beer soaking my shirt, even beer pooling in the cuffs of my pants. The chowder and fish were delicious though, despite my cold, wet clothes.

Then we came home and Daniel threw my clothes in the wash and we played some more Age of Empires. I obviously win at life.

a little late

This post is a little late tonight, but I have a good reason. Well, a reason. Daniel and I resurrected an old computer game I loved in high school – Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. We got a little carried away and accidentally played for about 4 hours. We may have to limit ourselves in the future.

enjoying autumn

It rained all day today, but we’ve been having days (or at least hours) of sunshine too. I didn’t get pictures of the leaves this fall, but they were gorgeous. I snapped these photos last weekend, on a particularly enjoyable fall day.

I’m not sure what kind of trees these are…based on the berries, I’m guessing rowan.

wedding photographer

Daniel and I have chosen our wedding photographer and we’re going to go meet with her and sign the contract next week!

Like pretty much everything else in the wedding, we have a very limited budget for the photographer. And have you seen how much photography costs these days?!* So I put up an ad on Craigslist with a little bit about us and our budget. Given what we could pay, I was expecting mostly amateurs and students needing to build up portfolios, but we were surprised to find that most of the responses actually came from professionals.

There were two photographers in particular that especially impressed us. We ended up choosing Electra Frye for a couple of reasons – her portfolio was the most artistic, and her package includes all-day coverage. Also, she seems really nice. We’re looking forward to meeting her in person next week. Her wedding pictures look great, but she has also done a lot of other work as well. Most of her wedding work is on her website (flash-based, so it’s a pain to get pictures to post here), and you can also have a look at some of her other work here.

*I am in no way trying to imply that photographers are swindlers. I have seen the portfolios of many wonderful wedding photographers, and let me tell you, they are artists. But like all art, the good stuff costs serious cash. As in, multiple thousands of dollars. And as important as our wedding is to us, we just can’t justify spending several thousand bucks on lovely, gorgeous photos that will spend most their time never seeing the light of day in a photo album.

all photos by Electra Frye

another farmers market find

I found something else on Sunday at the farmers market – a potential jeweler for our wedding rings! As you probably remember, we had my engagement ring made locally at Green Lake Jewelry Works, and we were planning to go back to them for our wedding rings. But since I’m out of work right now, I’ve been looking for someplace that might be able to make what we want a little more affordably.

On Sunday I came across a jewelry booth owned by Tim Lambert, a local jewelry artist based in Port Townsend. Time sets up at the Ballard Market every Sunday, and he also sells his work through his website and via etsy. I was drawn to his booth because his work is very similar in style to the bezel-set, clean look Daniel and I prefer. He also works in palladium, which is hard to find with local artisans and small shops. Tim gave me a quick quote for a custom wedding band to fit my engagement ring, and it was very reasonable. Maybe coolest of all, Tim only uses 100% recycled gold, palladium, and platinum.

Here are a few examples of his work from his website:

Obviously right now we haven’t decided whether or not we will use Tim, but i thought it was worth it to get a little more information about this obviously talented local artist. His work is stunning, don’t you agree?

Itali Lambertini Jewelry
Tim Lambert
http://www.italilambertini.com
http://www.etsy.com/shop/italilambertini

Sunday at the farmers market

I caught the Ballard Sunday farmers market yesterday. Actually I was just planning to ride the bus to Ballard to walk around for a while, and I totally forgot about the market.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny and just a little wet out. A perfect way to use my extra hour on the day after Daylight Saving Time ends.

The produce selection was amazing. I love the colors and the gorgeous display at this vendor’s booth.

I don’t even like cauliflower, but I want some of those purple ones!

Of course, the best thing about taking a walk around town on a Sunday morning is the dogs! I met a new best friend patiently waiting for his owner to come back from shopping.

I love critters so much!