A woman I love dearly sweetly kicked me in the shin this morning and told me it was time I updated the blog. We've been so crazy busy getting wedding plans organized and executed. However... any one that knows us, knows that we can make plans for the day and then see a squirrel - a bulldozed home... an estate sale... a log on the side of the road... and our focus changes to rescue and reclaim. The good news is we've done a lot for the wedding these past couple of weeks and are focusing now on finishing the items that we are forging with our own hands.
Bill is bloody amazing with old wood. He always smiles and says that he loves that I like his old wood... but that's another story altogether... He looks at what I would say is a stump and he sees something that can be stripped, sanded and stained into a piece of beauty. He rescued these hand hewed steps from a building that is about to be bulldozed. He's been holding onto them and waiting for a moment when they would call to him and say what needed to be done. He didn't want to destroy the waves from the side... the years of curing... the age... the serious craftsmanship done without power tools... The steps finally called to him last week... They'll be six of our benches for the wedding... Each bench should comfortably fit 3 people. The legs and feet of the benches are from fence posts from another property that was bulldozed near us. He saw the wood sticking out of their trash pile and made me beeline to it. Together the pieces are a thing of true beauty. Warmth and rugged wear from time.
He's sold me on the quest for finding old wood. To the point I'll turn around and drag my friends into the fray. A couple of weekends ago my girlfriend, Sonya, was out visiting and she ended up spending a day with me grabbing all the wood from this pile that we could lift. We hauled two full jeep loads and left them as a Valentines gift for my Mudgie. He was thrilled to pieces until he started taking out all the nails... We have a large galvanized bucket full of them now... :) This wood will also be used for our wedding benches... He's estimated that he needs to make 30 to fit everyone comfortably. He's 10% into his project with 51 days left lol. Bill the Builder can he fix it? Bill the Builder yes he can!!
Sonya was out for another reason that weekend. She brought me the train from her wedding dress to make my bridesmaids bouquets with. Everything for this wedding is either upcycled or has meaning to us. This isn't a cookie cutter wedding. It will be uniquely ours with help from all the friends that we love. How blessed can two people be?
Sonya and I spent hours cutting, sewing (her), and making white roses out of part of the train. The other part of the train was dyed red, washed, cut and made into red roses. Each of the girls bouquets will have 10 of these flowers. Along with brooches that either were provided to me from my mother (for my bouquet), nabbed from one of Cindy and Derrick's estate sales, picked through at Scott's with Cherie and her mom, or found at the 450 garage sale with mom, Angelia, Cherie and Sonya... each one of these will be unique... and will have days of love put into them as I think of the person I am making them for... so grateful to have them in my life. I'm almost done with these. I keep finding yet one more piece to put in... but soon I'll be wrapping the stems, placing the bouquet holder on and calling it a day.
My next project will be to organize the house. With 80+ people coming, it needs to be clean in a way it hasn't been since 2008... the day BEFORE I moved in. Wish me luck... because the only thing that makes me do housework is term papers and I'm done with school... I know I'll find another stacked stone pile that needs to be rescued and moved to our back yard... or daffodils/iris's... or... old wood.
I'm so thankful I've got a man and close friends that get this about me...This song goes to all of you... who make life so full of laughter and joy... ilu
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