That Was the Weekend that Was Really Nice

Bunny Bunny, Rabbit Rabbit

So we went to the movies on Sunday, the fiancé and I. Had ourselves a little date, a little afternoon out. Wallace, Gromit, popcorn, etc. High points: Adorable floaty bunnies (you’ll see), W&G, charming plot, and a pre-show short starring the penguins from Madagascar. Low point: The trailer that convinced me that Ron Howard should be barred from making any more children’s movies. Not content with the hatchet job he did on the Grinch, he’s now trashing Curious George, a character about whom I usually care very little. But even I am aggravated by scenes like "Curious George drinks a latte."

Anyway, W&G was grand. Lots of small jokes, lots of puns, and even some fun poked at the British penchant for gardening--"It’s all we’ve got!" Delightful, absolutely.

Tapas Dancing

Before that there was wonderful company, fabuloso Spanish food, and a trip to the best chocolate store in town. All in a Saturday night.

The short version is that an old college friend of the Rev was in town for business doings with her husband. We offered an excellent excuse not to eat mediocre Chinese with her co-workers, and it was high time I’d met them anyway. Lord knows, we had talked on the phone often enough. So, they were nice enough to drive in from the suburbs, and away we went. Got to Bon Bon five minutes before closing—hooray! Boyfriend offered to pay for our bag of choccies—double hooray! Also, shared free samples of the most amazing drinking chocolate ever. How amazing? I only had three ounces, but the hot chocolate I had on Sunday tasted like beach sand by comparison.

Dinner at Emilio’s was all fascinating conversation—lots of politics--and tasty smallish things on our plates. Dates wrapped in bacon. Marinated seafood. Sangria. Serrano ham with manchego. And so on. Did I mention it was lovely? Such a nice time. Here’s hoping they come back and actually stay a few days next time.

(And about the choccies…am feeling very, well, nostalgic for London lately. No other way to describe it. I did try to describe it to my mother in last week’s phone call, and thought I was doing a pretty good job, when suddenly she asked, "So have you thought any more about adoption?" It took a second for my train of thought to recover, but it did enough that I was able to tell her in all seriousness that at this point, I would be more excited about going back to London than having a baby. She was not amused.)

Card Again

Greeting card project progress—so far, so so. Most of my designs are done, although I still have one set of four notecards and two from another set that I’ve been vainly trying to finish. The cardstock itself has been ordered, and the Boy has been notified that 750 cards & envelopes will be arriving this week. Where we will put it all, I have some idea. Some. We’ll see.

I have been busying myself with rudimentary miscellaneous hoo-hah (buying packaging material, designing labels) because the Big Worry is still in the back of my head and I can’t get rid of it. Said Big Worry being that my cards, created entirely in the computer, won’t meet some standard for craftiness. Like, maybe they won’t be quite "crafty enough," and will earn me the wrath or at least sneers of people who spend their time actually *making* things—e.g, herbal soap, knitted iPod cozies, stuffed animals out of old socks, etc. And I know, crafters are hardly the sneering kind. It’s just that my cards feel less like something I made and more like something I simply designed. I keep thinking, where’s the craft? I’m not making the paper, and the computer’s really doing the printing (rather than, say, me silkscreening them all). It makes me feel like a bit of a cheat. I know I’m not, but still. Can’t quite shake it.

Now of course, I’m picturing a gang of crafters—all decked out in handmade recycled jewelry and homemade sweaters—jumping me in…except, for the beatdown they don't use fists.  They use knitted iPod cozies.

Comments

[Heather]

Hey, don't stress about your cards. The important thing is the time and personal touch you put in. Designing them on the computer counts just as much and getting your hands dirty. I've seen your work, and it's gorgeous!