Twenty years ago in September 1995, Sean and I started dating. Seven years later, we got married. Today marks our thirteenth year of being a married couple. Sean likes to joke that I could have used a pair of my own knitted socks on the night before the wedding. You know, because I was getting cold feet.
In other news, I knit the heel of the Green Print sock.
You may or may not be familiar with the pop surrealist artists Mark Ryden and Marion Peck and their body of work. In 2008, they collaborated on a short film called Sweet Wishes. (Go ahead and click on the link to watch the film. It’s less than two and a half minutes long.) The film features Dolly, Baby, and Bear, and it’s a story of what happens when the three of them get what they wish for.
Ryden and Peck also released a hardcover book based on the short film. Even though both Sean and I are fans of Ryden’s work and have even been to a couple of his art shows in Los Angeles, we were unaware of the film and the book until just a few months ago when we stopped to browse the Kinokuniya Bookstore in L.A. before heading out to a Galaxy game. I spotted the book on the sale rack and quickly snatched it up.
Sean wanted to make sure that we got to the Galaxy game in plenty of time, so we left the bookstore shortly afterwards and headed out to the Stub Hub Center. Once there and safely ensconced in a parking spot, we realized we’d made it with plenty of time to spare, so I pulled out the book and we sat in the car and looked through the pages together. I never laughed so hard at a picture book as I did with this one. We went through it quickly, and then I had to go through the book a second time, enjoying it all over again.
Fast forward to last week, when Sean and I were walking to the Golden Egg Café in Ventura for Sunday morning brunch. A few doors before the Golden Egg is a thrift store. I always stop to check out the display in the window if something catches my eye. This time, something definitely made me stop.
Dolly?!
Unfortunately, it was Sunday, and the thrift store wasn’t open on Sundays. I wanted to make sure that this doll was the same Dolly from Sweet Wishes, so I stood in front of the window with my phone and snapped a bunch of close-up photos of the doll’s face. Then Sean and I went on to the Golden Egg.
I forgot all about Dolly until I returned to Morro Bay the following day. As soon as I remembered, I went downstairs and pulled my hardcover copy of Sweet Wishes off the bookshelf and compared my photos to the ones in the book. Sure enough, the two dolls were the same make and model.
“Sean,” I said that night when we were talking on the phone. “That doll was Dolly! And I didn’t buy her. Someone else probably will.”
“Aw, I doubt it,” Sean said. “That doll will still be there. You can go back and get her when you come home this weekend.”
The week passed, and on Friday Sean caught the train from Ventura to Morro Bay. We drove back down to Ventura late Saturday afternoon and stopped for dinner and then groceries, so we didn’t get back home until almost 9 PM. Sean was still unloading the car, so I got to the door first and let myself in. Guess who was propped on the coffee table? Sean had gone back to the thrift store on Thursday and purchased her for me as an early birthday surprise.
I did a little bit of online research and found out that she is a vintage doll from the late 1960s. She’s in pretty good condition, considering her age. She was made in the USA by the Ideal Toy Company just a few years before I was born, and speaking of birthdays, I told Sean that his purchase of Dolly was all the birthday gift that I needed this weekend.
Sean officially starts teaching classes again tomorrow, so today was our last day of the 2015 Summer Party. We got up early, ate breakfast at The Eating Room in downtown Redlands, checked out of our hotel, and then drove on to Carson to attend a sold-out L.A. Galaxy game against New York City FC.
Look at that crowd.
The Galaxy won 5-1, and afterwards we went to Marukai Market, where we had lunch and did some grocery shopping before getting back on the road to Ventura. Tomorrow I’ll get back in the car to head north and drive 150 miles more to Morro Bay, and if I’m not too tired, maybe I’ll get started on knitting the heel for that second sock.
A couple weeks ago, Sean installed our new front door. It needed to be painted, and the hardware needed to be changed. Sean painted six different color swatches for me to look at. I agonized over which was the right color for our front door, but I finally settled on one.
This was the old door.
The painter finished painting our house including the back deck and the front door two days ago. We’d put off buying a door handle and lock for the new door until today, when the particular finish and style that I wanted was back in stock. This afternoon Sean installed the hardware, and now the front entrance to our home is complete.
This is the first time in our lives that we’ve lived in our own house, not a rental, and one that we’ve customized to our personal taste. We’re pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Tonight we celebrated Sean’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. I didn’t have my camera, so I have no photographs of the event, but here are some other photos I took today. Good times.
Every day at noon, I usually take a break from my desk by walking out to the parking lot and sitting in my car, where I check my text messages and scroll through Facebook and browse the internet. Just physically leaving the prison and connecting with the outside world through my phone helps me decompress from a morning filled with absorbing the very intense problems of the incarcerated men who make up my caseload.
Today I walked out to my car to discover that a notice had been slipped under my windshield wiper, undoubtedly placed there by a correctional officer patrolling the parking lot. The folded piece of paper turned out to be a copy of a memo from the warden, reminding employees to lock their doors, not leave valuables in their cars, and to roll up their windows all the way. This last part was highlighted in yellow for my attention, because this morning before I went in to work, I’d rolled down my windows an inch to let cool air circulate through the car during the day.
Anyway, I felt a little annoyed by this, even though I understood it all had to do with maintaining the safety and security of the institution. I got into my car and checked my cell phone. Sean had sent a couple of photos to show me something he noticed in the front yard this morning.
My pumpkin plants were blooming.
Even though they were only photos, it felt good to be receiving flowers.
We’re getting our house painted this week, so I took the opportunity to ask for a new front door, which resulted in commiting a big chunk of today to obtaining the door. We had to go to the Home Depot in San Luis Obispo, rent a truck for an hour, pick out the right door, bring it home, drive the truck back to Home Depot before our hour was up (stopping beforehand to fill the gas tank), and then look at hardware and knobs and door-installing tools. When we got back home, Sean did most of the rest of the work, but I did help a little, like hold the door steady while he used the skillsaw to trim 3/8 of an inch off the bottom.
Before: The old blue door with blistered paint, courtesy of the previous homeowners.
After: Fresh new front door!
Now the door is up and I am pretty excited about picking out a paint color for it. I wonder if bright pink would work?
Speaking of paint colors, Sean painted these color swatches for me so that I could pick a shade for the exterior. I made him paint those vertical stripes on the top, so that I could compare colors. Later, when the paint was dry, he pointed to those stripes and said, “You see this? This shows the mark of a very patient husband.”
I should also mention that after he hung the door for me, he went and washed the dishes and cooked us a dinner of penne pasta and putanesca. So I thought I would repay the favor by writing today’s blog entry about him.
I took Friday off from work today because I had a dental appointment and a hair appointment in Ventura. After breakfast, Sean and I got into The Rental and he drove while I tried to hand-sew the binding on the third quilted placemat in the set of three that I’m making for my cousin. Unfortunately, we hit a lot of traffic and the stop-and-go movement was making me carsick, so I set the placemat aside to finish later.
On a separate note, I have been growing my hair out for Locks of Love. I plan to donate at least ten inches, but I’m currently a couple inches shy of my goal. In the meantime, I still needed to get the scraggly ends trimmed, so I scheduled to get this haircut today. It’s the first one I’ve had all year, and I’m pretty happy with it. I asked Sean to take a photo so I could text it to my hairstylist to thank her, and this one was my favorite. Even though it’s a blurry action shot, you can tell I am stoked.
Last night I made key lime pie. Although the pie was supposed to chill overnight in the refrigerator, Sean and I didn’t wait that long before cutting into it.
Out of curiosity, we decided to calculate the number of calories in each slice. It turned out to be approximately 400 calories per serving.
This slice of pie adds up to around 400 calories, can you believe it?
I decided to eat just half a serving…
Only 200 calories!
…and then ended up eating the other half of the slice, anyway.
It’s a good thing we’re training for a half marathon and had to run seven miles this afternoon. Because there’s still half a pie left, and it is yummy.
Tonight’s handmade project is key lime pie. Sean is from Florida and when I saw that our local grocery store had fresh key limes for sale, I knew I had to purchase a bag and make a key lime pie for my husband.
So this is what I did earlier today:
The recipe for the pie itself is pretty simple. Mix 3 egg yolks, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and half a cup of key lime juice. Pour into a graham cracker crust and bake for half an hour in a 325 degree oven.
I just took the pie out of the oven five minutes ago, and here is what it looks like:
It will look a lot prettier once I whip the cream and dollop it all over the top of that pie. In the meantime, I’m supposed to let it cool. Ideally, the pie should be left to chill in the refrigerator overnight before serving, but yeah, I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
365 Days Handmade 