project roundup, or where in the world have i been?

...which is kind of like playing where in the world is carmen sandiego?, only not nearly as fun.

i have a toddler now [holy moly, she is a toddler!] which means i'm basically working 24/7 and just not getting paid for it - except in kisses and cuddles, which makes up for it emotionally but does not buy groceries. my etsy shop is also not really buying groceries, because i'm not getting nearly that many sales - but i'm getting enough to keep me busy in the meantime. i've also become addicted to pinterest, which is becoming my new source of inspiration. one of my favorite pins is a blurb that says MORE IDEAS THAN TIME which has always been my life but is even more so now that i have pinterest. i built a second garden bed and planted it all up and now my kiddo steals strawberries whenever she has a chance. i'm also an occasional guest blogger over at public service beauty.

i made a quilt last fall for a friend's wedding, another log cabin quilt. this time i set it in a chevron pattern that i thought *i* would not really like (but hey, it's not about me) but surprisingly, i loved it.


then we came into a king-size box spring for free, so i found a bedframe on freecycle and rebuilt our bed. we had always had a slat-frame bed from ikea (no box spring needed), but i realized a year or so ago that ikea only sells eastern king-size beds... and we have a cal king mattress. no wonder the mattress was always tight and didn't quite fit perfectly. we didn't want to ditch the footboard and the mattress was 14 inches higher than it had been thanks to the extra-deep box spring... so i took it apart and "salvaged" what i could. i needed to mount the footboard onto the mounting brackets on the bedframe, which meant the headboard had to stand alone somehow - so i mounted it to the wall, with a couple 2x4s behind it so it wouldn't be set right up against the wall and look hotel-y. then, because we no longer had siderails on the bed, the comforter didn't come down far enough to conceal the sheets, so i made a new quilt.


hannah's gotten some new clothes, although i haven't done much sewing for myself lately. it's just so fun to sew kiddo things. i did make my dress for my sister's wedding last fall - i was the maid of honor and we wore dresses in the same color but all got to choose our own style. i couldn't find a dress i liked, so i designed one myself, drafted the pattern, and sewed it up... only to be told that it was slightly the wrong color (natural/ecru instead of champagne/blush). i was set to make another dress in fabric the correct color (i could have sworn i had the right color the first time, but i guess not) but thought i'd make a last-ditch effort and dye it. i'd never dyed anything before - but thank the good Lord, it worked beautifully and perfectly.


i used a polyester shantung, which i was concerned about being too sticky and hot so i lined it with unbleached muslin. i love muslin for just about everything, especially lining - it just washes up so soft and light and comfortable and is so inexpensive. [if i had known in the first place that i was getting the wrong color fabric, i would have gone with a silk duipioni, but oh well.] the muslin gave the shantung some needed body - without it, it would have just hung unflatteringly and shown every little lump and bump, and even two years post-baby there are still quite a few, unfortunately. the muslin provided a little bit of structure, and the empire waist and a-line skirt camoflaged other imperfections. i ended up making my own piping for under the bodice as well - ridiculously simple and such a nice touch. the neckline came out a bit low for my taste, but ohh well - i didn't feel like redoing it and it wasn't scandalous, SO.

i promise to be better about blogging from here on out! i have a fun tutorial up my sleeve too, courtesy of clothkeeper fabrics - you should definitely check out her shop! (rachel happens to be married to a high school friend, but still - gorgeous designer fabrics!) i'm pretty excited because i don't know that i've actually ever sewn with designer fabric, and what i'll be making will be SUPER cute, easy, and perfect for summer. AND, it's a big-girl thing - not for kiddos (unless your kiddos are big, of course) - so i can be a little selfish! yay!

aruba part 1

we did not leave for our honeymoon immediately after our wedding; instead, we left at the end of the week. (we got married on a sunday but did not leave until the following saturday.) brian had to go in to work for two days during that week which kind of sucked, but i was off work and used the time to write thank you notes and just enjoy being a brand-new-newlywed. and then saturday came and we were off to aruba!

we had a week booked at the caribbean palm village resort starting on saturday august 7, so we took the red-eye out of san francisco on friday night. you can't fly directly to aruba from the west coast, so we flew into jfk in new york and from there headed down to aruba. we arrived early saturday afternoon and stepped out of the airport into the balmy, breezy caribbean air. fabulous! we spent that afternoon unpacking and relaxing by the pool before we went to dinner at the resort's italian restaurant, valentino's.


the next day we slathered on the sunscreen (aruba is in the tropics, so the sun is stronger and we didn't want to burn) and headed into downtown oranjestad, the capital city. aruba is a small island of only about 110,000 people, and oranjestad is pretty much the only town of interest. the other "towns" (like noord, where we stayed) are really tiny hamlets, and are scattered around the island's southwest half. the southwest half of the island is pretty, developed, and the beaches are white sand and sheltered from the pounding waves of the sea. the water is warm, turquoise, and calm, like a giant bathtub.


on the pier at king's beach

the next afternoon we took a submarine tour of aruba's coast. we saw a couple shipwrecks, common because the populated southwest shore is so shallow. (the calm, clear water, shipwrecks, and abundant sea life all make for great snorkeling and diving as well.) neither of us had ever been on a real submarine before - the ride at disneyland doesn't count! the captain even settled the submarine down on the ocean floor. it was very neat being under the sea, knowing that it wasn't a theatrical ride tethered to a track along the bottom.




we visited two shipwrecks in the submarine. because the water off aruba's populated coast is so shallow, numerous ships have wrecked there.


the next day we headed back into oranjestad - we were taking a heli-tour of the island! again, neither of us had ever been in a helicopter either, and we didn't know what to expect. i'm not a huge fan of flying and was terrified for the first ten minutes, but i finally relaxed enough to enjoy the ride. our pilot, christian, took us over the barren northeast coast, whetting our appetite to see more of aruba.


with our pilot christian, before i gave myself a heart attack


oranjestad from the air


the natural bridge, on the northest coast

after our heli-tour we explored downtown oranjestad. pretty much every day in aruba is around 85° with a cool ocean breeze - in other words, perfect and perfect for strolling. we had lunch on the marina (and maybe enjoyed some yummy aruban beer) and then went out to see what we could see. downtown aruba is pretty small and quite walkable, and there were a few historic sights for us history lovers.


lg smith boulevard, downtown o'stad


caribbean colors in downtown o'stad

iguanas are a protected species in aruba, so they're everywhere. there are four in this photo. though they are protected, they are also a delicacy, and we were told if we wanted to sample some iguana soup, there was this guy down on the beach...




jan henrik, one of aruba's prime ministers


brian thought queen wilhelmina was pretty hot

wedding part ii

after taking all those pictures we headed up the hill to our reception. boy were we excited - we were finally married! i was on cloud 9 and brian just could not believe it. married! i was mrs. stensler! pretty amazing if you ask me. when we got to the clubhouse, one the catering staff met us outside to see if we wanted any particular drink to be waiting at our table for us. i certainly wasn't going to pass up a drink on my wedding day so i ordered myself a beer. brian declined anything. i took one look at his awestruck, semi-shell-shocked face... and ordered him a beer as well.


the dj started playing "center field" and we followed our bridal party in to our reception. i had gotten the garden wedding that i had always hoped for, but i wanted to incorporate brian's love of baseball as well. "center field" seemed like such a fun thing to walk in to. "put me in, coach!" then we got down to business: FOOD. it was lunchtime and we had just gotten married, so we were HUNGRY. and man was there a lot of food! we had a big buffet with three different entrees and eight different salads.


jimmy, alice, paul, kerry, brian, me, ed, jackie, dave, and kirsten

we had asked the photographer to pull us away during lunch for some additional photos, so we wouldn't miss out on socializing with our guests. unfortunately he didn't and i'm not sure why not. the upshot was that we got to eat at least. i was famished and scarfed down a bunch of food but brian was too nervous to eat much of anything and didn't even touch his beer.


my beautiful bridesmaids jackie, alice, kerry, and kirsten


those boys! dave, ed, brian, paul, and jimmy




brian wanted to shoot our photographer by this point.

after we took some more pictures we went back inside. it was time for the fun stuff! we got to cut our beautiful cake - with a baseball on top, just for brian. (our tables were also "named" for different ballparks instead of just numbers, and our favors were small bags of jelly bellies and baseball gumballs.)




and man was it ever yummy. chocolate with chocolate raspberry filling and vanila buttercream frosting. delicious. and there was no smashing in the faces either. my makeup and i thanked brian for his restraint.


we danced our first dance to eric heatherly's "swimming in champagne." it was so nice to have a moment together with no one else vying for our attention. we both agreed that our first dance was our favorite part of the reception.


then, sadly, it was time to go. we were both so tired from all the excitement and activity of the day, but we were having so much fun with our guests that we didn't want to go. but we still had to. our guests saw us off in a shower of rose petals and then we hopped into brian's truck, which had been detailed and then decorated by the boys for the occasion.


we were married! it was off to spend our wedding night at the pacifica beach resort hotel, and then in a couple days we were off to our honeymoon in aruba!

black panther style

6 years ago this month, brian asked me to marry him. 6 years! wow. obviously i said yes. it was a really beautiful proposal and looking back on it now, it would not be complete without a bit of signature brian weirdness.

we were both living in san francisco at the time and i was just finishing school - 8 weeks left until graduation. we had decided we wanted to wait to get married until i got my degree, and since i was so close i guess he decided the time was right. "we" had picked out a ring - "we" because i was somewhat concerned about what brian would choose for me. seeing as how i would be wearing that particular piece of jewelry for the rest of my life, i felt somewhat justified in my concern. besides, brian really likes yellow gold and i pretty much do not, and if he had his way i would be wearing yellow gold instead of the beautiful white gold ring i have. in my defense, i absolutely adore my engagement and wedding rings just as much now as when he gave them to me. i also did not want to ever see a ring that i might have chosen for myself and think "if only..." and i can honestly say i have never seen another ring set that is more beautiful than mine, if i do say so myself.


we went out to dinner kind of on the spur of the moment. it was a thursday night. apparently he had gotten the rings (the engagement ring he chose came as a set with the band) the previous weekend and was going to propose later in the month but just couldn't wait. we had dinner on pier 39 and then walked down fisherman's wharf to the acquatic park. it was a crisp night, a bit cool (but when in san francisco is it not cool?) and we did get sprinkled on once or twice, but i was out with my boyfriend and i had a couple martinis at dinner, what did i care? then we were on top of a "lookout" at the acquatic park and the lights were beautiful and i was saying something lame, and i turned around and he was opening a box with a sparkly ring in it. he didn't even have time to get down on one knee, just stumbled out will you marry me? before i threw my arms around his neck and kissed him and said YES!!

and here is the brian craziness: there were two rings in the box, both the engagement ring and the wedding band. he proposed to me with both rings because he didn't know what to do with the band if he left it out of the box. i took the engagement ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger; it was a tiny bit big and would need to be sized down a little more than half a size, but it was gorgeous. i couldn't believe it.

brian apparently also could not believe it, because he told me in no uncertain terms before we walked back to the truck to take the ring off and put it back in the box, and he would put the box in his jacket for safekeeping until we could get the ring sized. EXCUSE ME? you just asked me to be your wife and gave me a ring and now YOU ARE TAKING IT AWAY?? I DON'T THINK SO. i am the happiest girl on earth right now and i am going to WEAR MY RING. he finally conceded on the condition that i keep my hand clenched in a fist so it would not fall off my finger. and i also had to keep my fist raised so the diamond would not fall out of the setting. it was cold so i could humor him with the fist (and after all, how could he tell under my jacket sleeves) but i drew the line at walking around with my fist raised high in the air.

i thought of this all today because we have been having unseasonable heat this past weekend and it isn't supposed to break until the weekend, and though my hands really are not swollen (not like my feet) i can't get my wedding rings on anymore. i put them on a chain around my neck, much to brian's horror. the chain is not thick enough for his comfort nor made of unbreakable titanium and i was going to lose my wedding rings if i wore them like that and if i lost them by God he is going to divorce me, I SWEAR TO YOU WOMAN I AM NOT KIDDING I WILL LEAVE YOU IF YOU LOSE MY RINGS. this morning at the doctor's office, i kid you not, he checked the ring around my neck to be sure the diamond had not fallen out.

because if he could somehow make it so, i would be walking around with a raised clenched fist, just in case.

wedding part 1

brian and i got married on august 1, 2004 - a day i thought (hoped) would be beautiful and sunny. instead i woke up to overcast clouds, cold breezes, and a light drizzle. it was a sunday, two days after the bachelorette party. i and my girls spent saturday working on flowers - my lovely sister did all my flowers for me. we had 400 roses delivered from 2g roses, along with stock, misty, and greens. kerry really made me some beautiful flowers.

sunday morning alice, jackie, mil, and i went to get our hair done and then headed over to the crystal springs golf course in burlingame, where we were getting married. it was a little chaotic in the dressing room because we were running a couple minutes behind, but in the end we managed to get out there okay. i did not want to be late to my own wedding!


the only "problem" with the site was that because it was outdoors, there wasn't really a place for me "hide" before the ceremony so brian wouldn't see me. my dad solved that problem by waiting in the back of the car with me (with tinted windows) while everyone got into place and walked down the aisle ahead of me. i was happy and excited to be getting married, and the moment i saw brian from the window of the car i started crying. there was the man i had waited so long to marry (we were engaged for a year and a half prior) and he looked so handsome in his tuxedo. my dad worried that i was getting cold feet but i assured him they were happy tears.


i got teased later because i was "bouncing" on my tiptoes during the entire ceremony, as if i was so excited i couldn't sit still. i didn't realize it at the time but sure enough, there i am on our wedding video, rocking backing and forth up onto my toes. brian was a nervous wreck. i think it had only hit him the night before that he was really getting married.


our photographer (whose personality just did not mesh with ours, the only other bummer of the day besides the weather) let us know that we were actually lucky with the weather. if it had been a bright sunshine-y day it would have been hard to get good photos that were not all glare-y and washed out. it didn't exactly make up for the goosebumps but it was nice to know we would at least have great photos.


we had a lot of friends and relatives who helped us out with our wedding and we were so thankful to all of them for making our day come together so beautifully. my godmother spent the day before sewing pearls onto my veil and other friends decorated the tables that morning. as i mentioned my sister made gorgeous work of the flowers. we had another group of friends who decorated the gazebo and even left us a little note that only we could see during the ceremony.


when we kissed, brian's groomsmen whipped out signs they had made "rating" us. from left to right, we scored a 9.9, gross, 9.8, and 10.0! we really had a great wedding party and i am so glad we chose the people we did. of course, they are the people who were (and still are) closest to us. kirsten, kerry, me, brian, ed, paul; alice, jackie, isabel, joaquin, jimmy, and dave.


i am so thankful for my sister. over the years she has grown into a beautiful, clever, interesting woman who loves God with her whole heart. she is so fun and talented and i am so lucky that she was my maid of honor.


we barely had time to take all the pictures that the photographer wanted (wait, whose wedding was this?) but i am really glad he got these shots of us.




then we had to head up to the golf course clubhouse, where our guests were waiting for us. our reception was ready to begin!

girls' night out

after the rehearsal dinner, us girls went back to mil's to change out of our pretty rehearsal clothes into our cute "club" clothes for my bachelorette party. i just wanted to have a fun evening hanging out on the town with my girls and pretty soon we were off.

kirsten was our designated driver, as she was 9 months pregnant with my niece and couldn't drink anyways. we went up to north beach in san francisco, a fun, vibrant area of the city. it was friday night and everyone was out having fun, the perfect evening for a party. after circling the block a few times looking for a place to park (parking in san francisco is horrendous to begin with, and on a friday night in north beach it's a total nightmare), we piled out and headed to steps of rome on columbus avenue. yum! my girlfriend julia met us there for dessert.


kirsten, me, and julia. i don't know why the photos got all funky with the lights but i think it looks kind of neat. maybe alice just had too much to drink. i love kirsten's belly in this photo.

before we left mil's kirsten passed on her "veil" from her bachelorette party for me to wear the whole evening. (i passed it on to my girlfriend nichole when she got married last year.) the girls also produced a "scavenger hunt" list of things i had to do, like remove my bra without going to the restroom, get a strange guy's phone number, and kiss a stranger (on the cheek!).


it felt a little scandalous at first, but it was fun. and speaking of scandalous, the waiters at steps of rome! they brought out a tiramisu for me and one pulled me up to dance on the bar with him, since i was not thrilled with the idea of the lap dance that his friend had done for another girl that evening.

after we had our fill of yummy dessert we walked over to suede, a trendy nightclub on bay street. it ended up being a bit of a hike but it was a nice night.


we had a table reserved for us upstairs in the loft, with a bottle of captain morgan's. i think i might still have some of that rum in the bar in our dining room!


kerry & julia taking a time out from the dance floor. maybe to mix another drink? we all got our dancing shoes on, even me - and i'm sooo not a dancer. fun times, for sure.

rehearsing

unfortunately i don't have a lot of good photos from our rehearsal dinner, and the best ones are in my scrapbook already and therefore unable to be scanned. or at least, i don't know how. these few were taken by alice's mother and sent to us on along with a bunch of other photos. the neat thing about weddings is that you get copies of pictures from all different people, with all different points of view. i saw things in some of our photos that i didn't realize because i was so preoccupied with the ceremony/reception/whatever else. it was like a surprise every time someone sent new photos. i loved it.

that friday was a little crazy. we had the actual rehearsal down at the golf course where we were getting married and then all skedaddled on over to the dinner. kerry and i were running a little late because we had to stop in san carlos to pick up orchids for corsages. brian was so relieved to see me when we got there. i think it was just starting to hit him that he was actually getting married.

soon-to-be mil hosted the rehearsal at the beautiful reception room at the oyster point yacht club in south san francisco. we "themed" it in red, white, and blue - what we thought would be fun originally for our wedding colors (we ended up doing something else) - to go with the nautical feeling at the yacht club. the reception room was right on the water overlooking san francisco bay and candlestick point and was gorgeous. we filled plastic clamshells with red, white, and blue m&m's as treats for our guests.

a rare photo of mom, myself, and my dad all together. my parents divorced when i was 16. it was nice to have everyone together with no hard feelings.


for some reason i felt like such a queen when my fiancé made a short speech thanking everyone. it seemed like such a "husband" thing to do, and he's good at talking.


i don't remember much about our rehearsal (except that brian could not spit out "steadfastness" for the life of him) or the dinner except that the food was excellent. my uncle took a lot of photos too for which i was grateful. it was nice to have those remembrances.

we gave our attendants their thank-you gifts at the dinner. i am not sure what i am doing in this photo. it's not like i didn't know what we did for the girls (individual, handmade jewelry). kirsten is seated in the pink, then me standing next to her. jackie has her back to us and my sister is in the beautiful blue dress. what did i tell you about the fashion sense?



my fiancé with his boys. who is brian looking at? (me, i hope!) we really had the best people stand up for us. because of brian's love for baseball and since we were trying to incorporate it into our wedding, we gave the boys engraved baseballs thanking them. they sweetly asked us to autograph them. dave, paul, jimmy, and ed are standing; my honey is seated.


after the fun we all went our separate ways, because we had bachelor and bachelorette parties to get to!

showers

somehow it seems weddings are all around me, everywhere i turn. my policyholders are all getting married. the tv shows i watch and the blogs i read are all featuring wedding events. my best friend is in the throes of planning her nuptials for next summer (finding the dress is the big issue of the moment). all of that combined with my slowly expanding belly has turned my thoughts naturally to my husband, our family, and our wedding. we had a fabulous time so i thought i'd share some photos and remembrances.

we had a bit of a crazy week planned before the wedding: much of our family and many friends were arriving from out of the area so most of the festivities were happening right before the wedding. it ended up being a bit of a whirlwind but i had taken the week off of work and it was fun. two of my four bridesmaids stayed with me at my soon-to-be-mil's house and helped finish up those last-minute wedding things: making favors, programs, that kind of thing. my mom was also nearby at a hotel with my grandparents and aunt and uncle, and my sister was going to stay with her since we had a full house and a cat (she's allergic) at mil's.

we got married on a sunday, so we did my bridal shower on a thursday, at mil's house. my lovely, 9-months-pregnant bridesmaid kirsten came over early to help set things up and i zipped off to the airport to pick up my sister. she was flying in from kazakhstan where she had been the previous four weeks, on a missions trip. it was so good to see her, and she cleaned up pretty nicely in record time. i was amazed at how she held up, considering she had been travelling (or at least, awake) for the past 22 hours and was on a completely opposite time zone from california.


the food was delicious and the girls set everything up so beautifully. i wish i had a picture of the decorations.


me, my grandmother, and my future mil bonnie. i have been blessed with a truly amazing family, not only the ones i'm "stuck" with (my blood relatives) but also the ones i chose (my in-laws).

then the games began. wow, get a bunch of ladies together in a room and we sure do get silly. first kirsten had us make wedding-themed "sculptures" out of pink and blue play-doh. kerry won that game with her husband-and-wife bobblehead cake-toppers. (brian eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball and i had originally looked for actual bobbleheads for our cake topper. i found them, but with a price tag of about $350. we ended up nestling an actual baseball in a bed of flowers.)


next up was identifying the mysterious white powders (no, not anthrax!). some of them were easy, but the entire game was harder than it looked initially.


that's all three generations of girls in my immediate family: my sister, my grandmother, myself, and my mother, all stumped on those powders. don't worry, i didn't hog it! we all got our turns to peer closely at the powders.

then kirsten had everyone draw my "wedding photo" - on their heads, without looking! it was silly to watch everyone trying to draw with pencils poking through the papers into their hair. there was lots of moaning and giggling.


this is mil and kirsten. i'm pretty sure kirsten's drawing won.

lastly was the one game i had specifically requested, toilet-paper bride. i just love toilet paper bride. it is such a nutty game. bonnie had a bunch of colored toilet paper so that made the game a lot of fun.


much good-natured moaning and groaning from my mother ("how am i supposed to do this?!") as she made my grandmother into a beautiful bride. it has been a lot of years since grandma has been a bride, but i think grandpa would think she was just as beautiful as a toilet-paper bride as she was on her wedding day.


kerry and alice really concentrated on making alice a great dress! my sister is the fashionista in the family and alice has super style sense also so they made a great team. they won, by the way.

all those beautiful ladies really decked me out in some scandalous "nighties." is that stuff really for me or is it for the husband-to-be? no photos of those!

it was such a lovely day - very emblematic of our entire wedding events. i did not feel so much like a princess (center of attention) as i just felt loved. here was all my family and friends who loved me and my fiancé so much and just wanted to share our special commitment and help make it special and memorable to us. i think that's what a wedding (and a life!) ought to be about, really.