No, I'm not talking about time on your hands, or blood on your hands, or anything like that. I just find it interesting to see what people choose to wear on their hands.
Hands are busy tools, to my way of thinking. Anything worn on my hands tends to get in my way, so it had better earn its keep by having some sort of significance. And what is significant to me varies at different phases of my life.
So as of right now, here's what you'll find on my hands, from left to right:
A silver covenant ring. It reads "I am my beloved's / my beloved is mine" referencing Song of Solomon 6:3. Chad has a matching one. We sometimes buy rings after a particularly hard time we've lived through, and this was one of those times.
My opal ring, from a flea market about 20 years ago. It is my inspiration.
My wedding band. It's not my original wedding band, and there's a story behind that. My original band and engagement ring did not match Chad's. Our rings were both gold, which we tired of. And we *ahem* 'outgrew' our rings after a few years.
Then along came 2005. That year was an onslaught for us. I think we had about 8 years' worth of life in that one year. I mentioned that we sometimes buy rings to mark the end of a tough part of our journey, so that's when we got these. They are titanium, which is virtually indestructible; it seemed appropriate. And at last, our rings match; that also seemed appropriate. I love these rings, but more than that I love my husband more than I ever have or thought I could. And as these rings remind me, it's a tried-by-fire kind of love.
The party I speak of is the one in Florence, where all our family, old friends, and some new friends attend. Normally I do a full-blown theme, major decorations and all that. But due to some other events coming up around the same time this year, I just didn't do that this time. Besides, we decided that most people just come to swim and eat cake anyway, so that's what we're going to do. This year I think I have achieved the "simple party" I tried to do last year, which mushroomed into one of the more complicated ones.
But I did want to show you the party favors we made. One of the things I've learned is that those cheap plastic "party favors" don't do anyone a favor. I saw these neat books in this post by Shivaya Mama, and thought they would be easy enough to make. I also thought they would suit boys or girls, and a wide range of ages, which we have at this party. The covers are scrapbook paper; some are not as thick and sturdy as I'd like, but I think they will do. The inside is plain paper. They have a little pocket which will have a pencil and one of a variety of drawing-related accessories. We have already used them as favors for Lizi's party with her friends here, and they absolutely loved them; I had to break out the pencil sharpeners because they wanted to start drawing in them right away.
And Lydia wanted me to take a photo of her feet. So there you go.
