Good Marriage Wall Hanging

i made another wall hanging for the bride and groom whose wedding i attended this weekend in romania. it was very similar to a canadian wedding in most ways. dinner was served over many hours (from appetizers to the cake at the end) and the main difference was that, due to the groom's families' religion, there was no dancing or drinking. but they had some entertaining games.

the church:the reception: i was a bit nervous as i didn't want to deliver in romania :), but everything was fine. we only stayed one night, and drove around the area a bit before coming back.

the heat wave continues here, we are into week 2 of temps in the upper 30's.

I've Been ...

reading ... i found a used English book store a few weeks ago and bought about 7 books. i finished these two and highly recommend them both.

i'm currently reading this one, and it's pretty good. i've liked all the oprah book club books so far, so i think i'll order them if i can't find them here. i see there's lots on the list since the last time i checked.

baking ... oatmeal cookies, apple muffins and these awesome chocolate chip cookies. i finally had to give them to the boy to take to eat at work, because i had no will power at all, could not just have one or two at a time. :)

making ... my cousin's daughters wedding invitations... 250 of them!! i didn't realize they needed so many when i offered to make them, but i got them done finally! they will be getting married in romania, and we are planning to go. it's about a 3 hour drive, so we will just go and come back the same day. i love romania (on the top of my list of fondest vacation memories) but i don't really want to deliver there!! :))) i blurred the details in the invite, but you get the idea. the original sample i made had the ribbon woven through the paper at the top; it was the bride's idea to have the bow at the corner. attending ... prenatal class, and so glad i did. there were 4 sessions: "giving birth in hungary", "labour", "newborn care". and "breastfeeding." i learned a lot (so much to know!!). i've also been going to a mommy-baby group every week. it's been great meeting other expat moms (from all over; swedish, german, american, asian, english) and again, hearing their experiences and getting lots of great info.

shopping for ... baby stuff! there's so much, and so much to choose from. not easy to narrow it down, especially stroller/car seat. there are so many brands, so many choices, quite overwhelming. we almost had one picked out, but now it depends on whether or not it'll fit in the elevator... but hey, we're lucky we even have an elevator, as many apartment buildings here don't have one. i am also looking for a baby wrap/sling (moby, ellaroo?), and ordered a book on attachment parenting.

enjoying ... lemonade. this is my current phase/crave. i make it myself (after the boy squeezes the juice) because they don't have it here in the stores, only in restaurants, as shown in this pic from dinner out a couple of weekends ago. what have you been up to?

Advent Wreath

i was quite busy with school last week. we presented our group marketing project which was to develop a communications plan for a non-profit organization. i created the print ads for the assignment, which i really enjoyed doing. i did that for years when i worked at a newspaper. it got me thinking that maybe i could do that again somehow, from here, maybe like on a freelance basis.

i made an advent wreath last week as well. i went to 2 craft stores and a florist to get the supplies i needed. when i want to make something, and i know exactly what i want to make it with, are the times when i sure miss wal-mart, micheal's, etc.

i wanted to buy garland, and although the 3 stores had them as decorations, they didn't sell them. the stores were packed, it wasn't easy to find what i needed, and with my limited language skills, it was quite an undertaking. though i finally bought some fresh pine at the florist in a metro station on my way home.

here are the supplies:and here's the finished product: 4 weeks before christmas eve, on every sunday evening 1 more candle is lit on the wreath (1 on the first sunday, 2 on the next, until 4 are lit on the last sunday).

when i was getting info on this tradition here, i found this (which a friend told me once, but i had forgotten about):

"the second sunday of advent is commonly referred to as bronze sunday, the third one as silver sunday and the fourth one as gold sunday. These are the high-shopping days of the retail industry there - almost like black friday in the us."

Cell Phone Case

... i had to trim the bottom of my jeans and made a cell phone case with the leftovers! i didn't want anything fancy, i just didn't want the phone to get scratched in my purse.