Aside from the little bit of time I spent working this weekend, I was pretty much glued to my sewing machine. I bought a table at a holiday bazaar which is in two short weeks! I got it in my head that I wanted to make some pillows and I bought the pillow forms for half price weeks ago. I dug into my fabric stash and let my imagination go to work. I used a couple of fun ribbons I bought in New York last month. Most of the fabric is Heather Bailey’s, but I also used some Japanese prints and Anna Maria Horner’s fabric. I had so much fun making these, I might do some more. The pillows are patchwork, and kinda funky. I hope they find good homes.

I once had the honor of attending the Veterans Day Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. It was my first year in Washington, DC and I found out about it on my way to work. I begged my boss to let me have a few hours off to attend and she was kind enough to accomodate my last-minute request.

I had no idea what to expect but it was more amazing that I could have imagined. I took the metro to the cemetery and then walked toward to Memorial Amphitheater. It’s a beautiful, solemn place and more so with the Marine Honor Guard that lined the streets near the amphitheather. They stood looking so regal. As I was there by myself, I was able to slip in and find a place to stand. I watched President Clinton give a speech and then the President’s Own United States Marine Band played and as they started, the wind picked up and leaves flew around. It was magical. I can’t remember what was said, I can only remember how I felt being there; I was full of honor and respect and gratitude.

On this Veterans Day, I think of my father and Bill’s grandfather. I thank both of them, and all soldiers, past and present, for their service to our great country.

(Click here for the Veterans Day 2007 photo gallery)

I think you could go bowling with this cabbage. It is huge, and heavier than you would think. I seriously considered weighing it but that required too much effort. I put cabbage head next to a pint glass to give perspective, but I don’t think it captures the enormity of this thing. Anyway, what am I going to do with it? I looked at some recipes, but I’m also looking for something that doesn’t require too much work. This one looked good for egg rolls, but again, this is a lot of work. Do you have any suggestions?

At the Penn Band 111th anniversary celebration this past Homecoming Weekend.

I promise that this will return to a craft blog in the near future. Honest.

But in the meantime, I would like to tell you about one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time. It started Friday at Coldplay. After the concert, I drove to Philly. Not highly recommended but I was riding my emotional high (sans any form of alcohol) and traffic was pretty light. I met up with Bill in the wee hours of the morning. We did get to rest before heading to campus for the football game. Bill and I were in the band (it’s how we met) so we go back and hang out with the band and band alums.

If I may wax nostalgic for a moment, joining the Penn Band was one of the best things I ever did. I played piano for eight years so I could read music but I learned how to play the flute and piccolo and later the bass drum and cymbals. The band didn’t require musical ability, just a desire to “play with others”. During the fall I spent my Saturdays with the football team and weekends in the winter with the basketball team. We’d take the bus to different campuses and because the band had no money, we slept on the floor of the dorms and apartments of the other school’s band. The scary part is how much fun we had on the cold, hard floors (clean fun). The band never turned anyway away. This year they have a violinist and two flag twirler people. If you want to be in the band, you are in the band. The band became my community and it wasn’t until recently that I realized how fortunate I was to have that.

My parents came for every parents weekend. They would meet me at campus around 9am to head to band rehearsal. Then they would walk around campus with us, going to the dorms to wake the students and “encourage” them to go to the football game. We’d play for alumni groups and “march” into the stadium. (We were a scramble band, not a marching band.) At halftime, my parents went on the field with me to perform the halftime show. It was an all day event, and they were involved. We had something “important” to do (if you consider cheering for the football team important). What an experience and what memories.

All of this has been floated around in my head after visiting with my friends and going to Yale on their Parents’ Weekend. I owe a lot to the Penn Band. How else would I have learned how to hold my liquor? Or how would I have met my beloved? We have such great friends from Penn, 98% of them from the band. And almost all my college memories involve a band event, or something I did with people in the band. All of this is a long way of saying that going back for Homecoming has a lot of meaning to me.

Moving on, Bill and I went back to celebrate the 111th anniversary of the band. You would think that we would have celebrated on the 110th anniversary, but the band never does anything on time. In honor of the anniversary, the band held a black tie event. It was fun to get dressed up. Incidentally, the occasion marked my 11th anniversary of being with Bill because we started dating at the 100th anniversary celebration. Bill and I danced for the first time to Clapton’s “You Look Wonderful Tonight.”

The whole day was so much fun. We sat with the band, performed at halftime, and later I held cymbals for my drummers as I did 12 years ago. I caught up with friends, met their children, joked, laughed, danced…and drank a little too.

Do I look nice? My mom made the dress (it’s silk and amazing) and I had a huge debate over which shoes to wear, but I made the right choice. I got many compliments, thought I think they took attention away from my beautiful dress. I made my necklace which is hard to see (made with pink pearls to match the shoes).

I will close this blog post with one of the band’s favorite lines: It’s better to play with a group than to play with yourself.

Directv is letting me watch 8 stations at once and I can pick the station I want to listen to. I love directv. LOVE.

I just got back from voting. Normally, I am a there-when-the-polls-open girl, but this year I decided to try something different. I had heard that going between 2 and 4 is a good time because things slow down after the lunch rush. I went expecting a long line so I brought my book and my knitting, but I was hoping for a quick in-and-out. In-and-out it was! There were a couple of people in front of me and it took less than 10 minutes. I almost cried while placing my vote; this is history in the making. This election could result in the first African American president or the first female vice president. Wow.

I decided to celebrate my right to vote with a Whopper no-pickle and a slice of cookie dough pie. I am stuffed, but let me tell you that the pie was a little slice of heaven. I would not lie.

I am almost as excited about tonight’s election coverage as I was about the Bears in the Superbowl. I am going to pop some popcorn, grab my knitting (for after the popcorn) and sit on the couch watching election returns. I haven’t decided what station to watch, but I will tune in to Comedy Central at 10pm EST for their coverage!

Happy Election Day!

I spent Halloween with my girlfriend at the Coldplay concert! It was awesome! Do I look like I had fun? There’s another picture here and here and here.