cinnamon

As the weeks wind down and D(elivery)-day approaches, I'm trying to keep up with increased work responsibilities while also enjoying the last remnants of my pre-child social life.  Last week held two nights in a row of rowdy concert-going.  We caught Foals at Doug Fir on Thursday night along with my coworkers Nikki and Emily, and Jesse's friend, Danny.  Surprisingly enough, I was deemed DD for the night, but still managed to have a good time despite my pregnant sobriety.  At one point, both Jesse and Danny each brought me a soda.  I felt like a princess.  Other highlights included seeing the singer from Spoon in the crowd and then witnessing a dressed-to-the-nines hipster chick falling off a couch she was trying to climb over (the 4" heels didn't help).

The next night we hit up the grand opening of a new location of Dr. Marten's on Burnside.  The Builders and the Butchers were playing (odd scenario) and free food and beer were offered.  The beer ended up consisting of 2 oz. samples in tiny plastic cups and the "food," if you can call it that, was a platter of crustless watercress sandwiches.  Bite size.  The place was packed, as you can see below.  Certainly provided for interesting people watching.  (See if you can spot the band.)

Toward the end of the show Emily (what a trooper!) joined us with her three friends, Erin, James, and Jaime.  We determined that more food was in order, so we set out into the streets of downtown on foot.  I had mapped out various food carts that were supposed to be open, but that was a bust.  Instead, we found ourselves at Mother's, dining on decadent Chanterelle mac & cheese and laughing up a storm about performing test procedures on willing (read: paid) volunteers in nursing school.  Scary stuff, I tell you.  I remarked that the evening felt like the "olden days" - those in which Portland would draw us in for hours and we'd aimlessly wander the dark, curious streets.  It was a good night, particularly with the last minute addition of Voodoo Doughnuts just before the rain started to fall.

Other than that I've been preparing for a Halloween bake sale I organized at work, which is to occur this Friday.  The event will benefit two non-profit organizations associated with my employer.  I've never organized anything like this before, but it's been a worthwhile experience.  I can't wait to see what my volunteer bakers will come up with!  I'm still trying to finalize what I'll be making in my home kitchen - likely bags of fudge and jars of homemade granola.  I'll do my best to complete my preparation in an organized, photo-ready fashion, camera in hand.

Here are some miscellaneous photographs in the meantime.

Oliver's green Halloween glare

This is where we live - isn't it beautiful? 

Our resident Red-Tailed Hawk is perched at the top of the tallest tree. 

We love him.

And lastly, a belly progression.  I'm sitting at 33 weeks now and am even bigger than the last picture here.  More to come later, I'm sure.

craft night

Before I knew it, it was Saturday and my first craft night was mere hours away. I kicked my cleaning into high gear and got our apartment into great shape. Having a few people over is always excellent motivation to make your place fully presentable!

I had been gathering crafting supplies for a couple weeks, so I set out arranging everything on our dinner table. Each guest was to select a square of fabric and a contrasting color of thread. They also got a 5” embroidery hoop, a couple crewel needles, and a set of stitch instructions. I set out several of the embroidery books I got from the library as additional reference/inspiration material.

I had asked everyone to bring a dish to share and we had quite an array of delicious snacks! I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of our buffet. We had bean dip, hummus and pita, chips with salsa and guacamole, caprese skewers, crackers and baguette with cheese and homemade hot pepper-peach jam, and caramel apples. Nearly all the non-pregnant people enjoyed wine while the rest of us stuck to fruit juice. My guests were even kind enough to leave me leftovers since our fridge was utterly empty!

After we dined, I had everyone practice some basic stitches on their piece of scrap fabric. Basic stitches like the backstitch, stem stitch, and split stitch are incredibly useful and take just a little practice to get perfect. After the ladies had gained some confidence in their stitching skills, we got to work transferring simple images onto the items they had brought (cloth napkins, dish towels, baby shirts, etc.). We spent the rest of the time working on those projects and chatting.

I have a tendency to be awfully anti-social, but it was wonderful to have such a great group of women over for the evening! I should really do this more often.

That evening I finally got the chance to bestow upon my friend April the handbound book I’d made for her eons ago for a giveaway on this blog. I still owe several more people books as well, but I figured I may as well get started on the delivery. I made April a blue robot-themed book in which to write down her son Hunter’s funny comments. I wish I had done a better job doing this with Chloe, who continues to make Jesse and I laugh with hysterical, out-of-nowhere quips.

 

After transferring Quinn’s big owl embroidery project onto fabric during the week, I finally began stitching on Saturday evening. So far I’ve only finished two letters of Quinn’s name (which involved outlining in backstitch and some filling in with satin stitch) and I can tell that this project is going to take forrrrevvvvver. It’s a fun challenge though, and one that will definitely strengthen my embroidery skills. I’ll post periodic updates of that piece once I get an initial portion finished.