I have to write (or type, whatever) things down so I don’t forget:

1. Pack up assortment of fabric & stuff for Back-Tack.
2. Make and address postcards for Snail mail group.
3. Post link to Studio Confidante slide show (so wonderful!) and take some better pictures of my workbench to share here-honestly, if I’d known what great photographs and interesting confidantes would have been a part of that I would have taken a few more minutes to compose an artful shot. Well, in the meantime, here is the link to the slideshow. Martha did such a wonderful job!
4. Pull weeds. If I don’t do this soon, our house will soon disappear, drowned in a green weedy jungle.
5. Make dog beds now that I have all the supplies (foam pads and rolls of super thick batting) taking up room in the guest house.
6. Take a nap.
7. Share link to Mary Jane’s Farm. I would like to be a farmgirl one of these days. Suggest that you look for her magazine/catalog at your local bookstore or market.
8. Also share link to new magazine discovered at my local Barnes & Noble today. It’s from the UK and is called Selvedge. I couldn’t quite justify the $20 price, so just enjoyed it while at the bookstore. Beautiful textiles!
9. Apologize for not including a picture in this entry, refer visitors to the photo galleries in the left sidebar.

That is all for now.

I did a little housekeeping of the sidebars, in case you didn’t notice. Books and music are updated and buttons added for a couple of fun things I am participating in this month. So there you go.

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, the next two weekends are your big chances to see Cary perform live and in concert! This Sunday night (May 8) at the Troubedour, and next Saturday (May 14) at the Hotel Cafe. The Sunday show is with several other great artists and benefits Oxfam’s Tsunami relief, so you can catch a good show and do something nice for others all at once! I’ll probably be at the Saturday show, Sunday is a school night and I’m too old to stay up that late. You can get more info here. As an unofficial street team member, I have music I can share, so if you’d like, I’d be glad to send a cd with a couple of songs. Just leave a comment or send an email! I know he’s my little brother and all, but his music is really good. All the people I have forced to listen to it have ended up becoming big fans.

Saturday was Sweet Pea Day, one of my favorite events each Spring! There was a big possibility that it was going to rain, but I decided to risk it anyway. To illustrate my love of sweet peas, my husband likes to relate a story from when we were dating. We often went to the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings for flowers and fresh vegetables that we would use to make dinner that evening (the vegetables only, the flowers were not for eating). One time he wasn’t getting ready as quickly as I thought he should, so to encourage him to hurry I started pouting that there wouldn’t be any sweet peas left if we didn’t get going soon. Luckily, he sensed the tragedy that would occur if I didn’t get my sweet peas, and we made it in time. Crisis averted!

It was cool and a little blustery on Saturday, but lovely nonetheless. Unfortunately, because it’s been so cool this Spring, the sweet peas were nowhere near the tops of the trellises that make up the maze. And most of the flowers had already been cut, but they told me to come back anytime and they will continue to allow cutting as long as the flowers keep blooming. There were lots of other flowers to enjoy and a craft and antiques fair, so it was still worth the trip.

I started a photo album for garden pictures, and so far everything in there is from Saturday, so enjoy! I’ll add to it from time to time.

Home hair coloring products should come with the following warning label:

Do not use this product after 8:00 pm on a weeknight, particularly if you live in a small town where everything is closed after that hour except for the gas station/minimart. You have to go to work the next day with whatever the results of this do-it-yourself project may be, and the results are likely to be disastrous. Especially if you actually believe that "Medium Golden Blonde" won’t turn your hair a hideous shade of orange.

I’m just saying.

The lilacs are blooming! I cut a big bouquet every few days, and the whole house smells delicious. If you look closely, in the lower left corner, you can see all the lovely weeds we have growing.

I try and pull a big bucketful every weekend, but you can hardly tell. I had to clear some away from around the first lily of the valley to poke its head up so far this spring.

I worked a bit on my fabric collage this weekend, I hope to finish it up this week and post a picture soon! My fingers are sore, but I like how it is coming out.

I forgot two things yesterday that I wanted to post here. One is a picture of all my birthday loot:

I have some really nice friends. The flowers were from the husband, I love those bright colors! And another friend remembered a conversation we had months ago about how much I loved the movie, "The Apple-Dumpling Gang" when I was growing up and she found it on DVD! It’s as good as I remembered. And I got Itunes gift cards and delicious perfume and candles and I just really love everything. Do you see that gift bag on the right? It’s pink! It’s toile! If natural linen wasn’t my signature fabric, toile would be.

The other thing, since we’re sharing embarrassing stories, is that Saturday I went to a wedding. I had the directions to the reception site, and knew that the church was right across the street. I found the reception site and parked my car and noticed that people were arriving for a wedding at the church next door. I was supposed to meet a friend outside before going in, but after looking around and calling her repeatedly I decided I’d better go in because it was getting quite late. I signed the guest book and the usher was escorting me to my seat. He handed me a program, which I glanced at and saw that the bride and groom were not Sheri and Wilbur, as I was expecting, but Suzanne and Paul. Oops. Wrong wedding. So I told the usher, oops! I’m supposed to meet my friend outside, I better go see if she is here. It was very subtle, especially the way I ran down the aisle. When I got outside and walked down the block a bit I saw that there was another church on the other side of the reception site. And the bride was about to go into the church. So I ran inside and sat down just as the wedding started. Sorry, Suzanne and Paul! Your wedding looked really beautiful and the programs were nice. I hope you enjoy my signature in your guest book. Sorry I didn’t get you a present.