The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today June 9th 2008...

Outside My Window... is the back yard, pink roses are blooming in the corner. Beyond the yard is the garden, orchard, and animal pens.

I am thinking... about wedding planning and all the things I need to be doing.

I am thankful for... this beautiful day, that the garden is growing, for talking to Andrew last night

From the kitchen... fresh coconut, pecan, and chocolate chip scones.

I am wearing... a pink and blue, floral and denim tiered skirt and a pink shirt.

I am creating... a mock up bodice for my wedding dress. I finished one, it wasn't quite right so I'm starting another.

I am going... out to the garden to water later.

I am reading... Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I read part of it a while ago, but I want to read it again because we watched the first half of the movie last week.

I am hoping... to get a lot done on my dress today, and also find an embroidery pattern I like for it.

I am hearing... some of Jonathan's gypsy jazz music playing in the background.

Around the house... a sewing machine is set up and also the ironing board. There is fabric lying around and paper for making patterns.

One of my favorite things... is wearing flowers in my hair. I don't think of it very often but it seems romantic and old fashioned.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: sew, sew, sew. Fertilize and weed the garden. Go to a friends graduation, and see another friend who has been in Oregon.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... garden sweet peas.


If you would like to join the fun go here.

More Dress Fabric

On Saturday we took a trip to Solvang. It is quite a drive from here. Solvang is a cute Danish town with lots of little gift shops. The main reason we went was to look for bridesmaid dress fabric because there is a place with dollar a yard fabric there. We ended up not finding what we wanted but did get some flower girl dress fabric. We also went to some thrift shops and to the bakery to get pastries. On the way home we stopped in San Luis and found the bridesmaid fabric. Overall it was a fun and productive day.


Oriana and Melissa on the drive down


Bridesmaid and flower girl dress fabric

The Perfect Dress

It has been a lot of trouble to find just the right wedding dress, one that is modest and beautiful and affordable. So I decided to make my own. That way it will be just the way I want it. It will be the perfect dress. I bought ten yards of matte satin fabric, a pattern, some trim, and thread. The pattern needs quite a bit of adjusting to make it right. I have started working on that and I made a mock-up bodice last night.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

I came across this today on a blog I enjoy reading. It originally came from The Simple Woman blog. It looked like fun so I thought I would try it.

Today ~ Wednesday, June 4th 2008

Outside My Window ... I see the trees blowing in the breeze and patch of blue sky overhead. It is a lovely sunny day.

I am thinking ... about Andrew as he rides up to Spokane on the bus. He left last evening for a visit home, and will be gone three weeks. I miss him very much already.

I am thankful for ... my family, my friends and for Andrew. For the amazing way God has blessed me and made my dreams come true in ways far better than I could have ever imagined.

From the kitchen ... there are leftover spice muffins from breakfast. For a little snack we had some dark chocholat covered malt balls.

I am wearing ... a denim skirt and navy blue t- shirt with horses running and the word Montana on it. I have brown flip-flops on and my hair is in a ponytail tied with blue and green ribbon.

I am creating ... this blog post, and working on wedding invitations

I am going ... to finish cleaning my room this afternoon and also do my laundry and ironing.

I am reading ... nothing much. I haven't had time to read a book. The only things I have been reading is my Bible and letters.

I am hoping ... that Andrew will call me soon. He is planning to call when he arrives in Portland which should be soon.

I am hearing ... Jonathan and Mom discuss setting up a Paypal account, the breeze blowing outside, and the hum of two computers

Around the house ... there is not much activity. We are all in the living room, reading, blogging, and setting up the Paypal account.

One of my favorite things ... growing unusual and colorful vegetables. I am enjoying having the garden all planted and anticipating the harvest.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

A trip to San Luis to get fabric for my wedding dress, and a trip to Solvang to look for green fabric for bridesmaid dresses, start sewing the dresses, finish the invitation address list, print part of the invitations, and maybe go to yard sales on Saturday.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you... one of the little watermelon plants.

A Ball with Andrew

Last Friday evening we all went to a Civil War ball. It was an especially fun ball because Andrew came with us. I danced every dance that night. Here are some pictures from throughout the night.


Before the ball...





...during the dance...







... all worn out after the ball.

Little Green Sprouts

The last several weeks have been lovely, and also quite busy. We are starting to work on wedding plans and trying to get things figured out. Somehow in the middle of it all we managed to get the garden planted. We were so behind that I was wondering if we would ever get it planted, so I am happy we did! Now we have little plants peeking up all over. The corn is up and so are the beans. A few melons and cucumbers are also coming up. I hope that everything grows well.

Tea Party Surprise

Over the last two months Andrew Engell and I have been courting. So early last week my friend Jessica who I hadn't seen since before the courtship started, called to invite Melissa and I to tea at the Tea Cozy. She wanted to hear all about everything going on. So we set Thursday afternoon to go.
It was a little odd that morning how much my mom and sister encouraged me to wear something a little nicer. Finally I did, and was glad for it later.








We had a lovely time having tea and visiting. It was very very calm and relaxing. I was just enjoying myself and taking my time.
As we were leaving Jessica said she had forgotten something and had to run back inside. It took several minutes. Then she sugessted that we stop to see the Cambria Pines Gardens.


We walked a little way then came to a bench where Jessica wanted me to sit and take my picture. After she snapped the picture, she suddenly told me to stay there for a minute while she showed Melissa something, and they quickly walked away.


I only had a few seconds to look around and wonder what was going on, before Andrew came around the corner singing.


He gave me a red rose, then got on down on his knee and asked me to marry him.
My answer was yes.





Afterwards we sat in the gardens for quite awhile and talked, then we went to the beach and walked on the pier, and then we went and had dinner. When we went home there were lights, and candles, balloons and a congratulations sign.


It was a perfect day. Andrew did a wonderful job of surprising me and making it very romantic.
We are planning the wedding for the end of September. We will be living up in Washington. I am very excited and so happy.
It has been amazing to see how God has brought us together, I feel so blessed.

Painting

Over the last few weeks we have been working on repainting our house. Here is the nearly finished look. It was all grey before. Now we have tan, green and red.

Water Fight

Last weekend was the the homeschool group campout. Dad and Jonathan went for the whole weekend and the rest of us just went up for Saturday and again on Sunday. It was a fun time. We ended up having quite a wild water fight on Sunday afternoon. Here are a few pictures of the fun!

Wildflowers

Yesterday after church a group of us went out to see the wildflowers. It was a beautiful day for the excursion. There were fields of blue, yellow and orange flowers. There were patches of small purple and white flowers also. We enjoyed exploring the hillsides and picking lovely bouquets.


Sitting on the hillside


Mary picking flowers


Melissa and I


Bethany enjoying the view


Here are some of the flowers we saw. I only know the names of a few of them.


California poppies and a few lupines



Cheerful yellow flowers


These dainty blue flowers were some of my favorites.


California poppy


A wildflower bouquet