Today my man and I picked out the suits for his guys for Wedding Day! We got a coupon that said everyone gets $40 off their suit if they order before a certain date so we got that taken care of. It seems sooner than I would have thought but, hey, $40 is $40! We picked out light gray suits with baby blue ties and vests- a nod to the North Carolina Tar Heels.
No one can say I didn't try to include my man in the celebration planning. Light blue and light pink are the colors....hopefully it doesn't end up looking like a baby shower of some sort. I'm sure it will be fine...
In other wedding news, I meet with a photographer on Saturday and I'm pretty excited about that. This company has a photography/videography package, which is just so smart in my opinion! I then meet with a wedding coordinator on Sunday since my reception site doesn't allow us to start setting up until way late in the day. Like, halfway through our church ceremony late in the day. Silly. So I need a wedding coordinator to get that taken care of.
I've been addressing Save the Dates for two weeks now and let me tell you it is HARD WORK getting my fiance to get his necessary addresses. Praying for a miracle in that respect. Both of us also have such ginormous families that I have hand cramps just thinking about the giant stack of envelopes I've been working on. Let's hope they enjoy the fruits of my labor :)
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
In-Between Time
This is the time of year that I enter Wal-Mart and feel my eye twitch.
I drive down the street and see decorations on a store front and want to go rip them down.
Ads on websites become red, white, and green and I change the page.
This is the In-Between Time and I spend a lot of it trying not be irrationally angry. All of the Christmas decorations that over-take everything before Halloween has even passed point to a bigger problem in our culture. I get so upset by the blatant greed and lack of focus on the present day that I hardly go anywhere at all.
I'll go out and about after Thanksgiving. My blood pressure can't handle it before then.
I drive down the street and see decorations on a store front and want to go rip them down.
Ads on websites become red, white, and green and I change the page.
This is the In-Between Time and I spend a lot of it trying not be irrationally angry. All of the Christmas decorations that over-take everything before Halloween has even passed point to a bigger problem in our culture. I get so upset by the blatant greed and lack of focus on the present day that I hardly go anywhere at all.
I'll go out and about after Thanksgiving. My blood pressure can't handle it before then.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Grateful to BE
I just returned home from the most lovely dinner party! It was thrown for me by my lovely mother-in-law-to-be and attended by a great majority of my fiance's family in honor of my birthday next week. Let me just say that I am lucking out with my fiance's family; I'm so overwhelmed with the love and acceptance they exude!
This is actually a perfect segue into what I wanted to talk about today: love and acceptance. The priest today gave an excellent sermon about loving yourself the exact way you are. Same old story about not being unhappy with the way you look but given with such joy and belief in the words that it was like the idea had never been voiced before! This is definitely a priest I will be returning to hear more from!
One of the things that he said was that God made each one of us "with big ears or a lump on the nose," stepped back, and said "This one is my absolute favorite so far!" What a beautiful thought :)
For myself, I switched this to describe the inside rather than the outside: God made my personality the way He did for a reason! Trying to be someone else or at the very least hiding my truest thoughts and opinions for fear of what others might be thinking is such a waste of the specific way He made me! I know this with my whole mind and heart yet this fear has had a ruling hold on my life for so long that the thought of living without it is, for me, the most intoxicating of dreams. Just imagine, though, if each one of us embraced the unique mix of gifts and talents that we were given rather than always thinking we should have different ones.
One thing my fiance's family does that I love in theory but have trouble experiencing myself is their tradition of honoring each other on their birthdays or at special milestones. Since it was my birthday dinner tonight they each took turns saying wonderful things about me. Let me just tell you it was SO hard for me to listen! I wanted to curl up under the table while they were talking so no one could see me and then return each nice thing said with compliments for each of them. Neither of these are the point of this exercise however: you must sit and completely take in the honoring. You cannot turn the compliments away; you must accept them, OWN them. For this one day in the year you are given only the nice parts of yourself so you can stop focusing on the negative. How hard and yet how necessary! See- I told you I was lucking out with in-laws!
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." This excellent quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is a good way to summarize my point in this post. Know yourself; know your weaknesses, and know your strengths. In this way, in each moment of the day, we can be truly useful. I pray in this moment that YOU, dear reader, may know yourself and love yourself. Say the same prayer for me :)
What is your favorite thing about yourself?
This is actually a perfect segue into what I wanted to talk about today: love and acceptance. The priest today gave an excellent sermon about loving yourself the exact way you are. Same old story about not being unhappy with the way you look but given with such joy and belief in the words that it was like the idea had never been voiced before! This is definitely a priest I will be returning to hear more from!
One of the things that he said was that God made each one of us "with big ears or a lump on the nose," stepped back, and said "This one is my absolute favorite so far!" What a beautiful thought :)
For myself, I switched this to describe the inside rather than the outside: God made my personality the way He did for a reason! Trying to be someone else or at the very least hiding my truest thoughts and opinions for fear of what others might be thinking is such a waste of the specific way He made me! I know this with my whole mind and heart yet this fear has had a ruling hold on my life for so long that the thought of living without it is, for me, the most intoxicating of dreams. Just imagine, though, if each one of us embraced the unique mix of gifts and talents that we were given rather than always thinking we should have different ones.
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| Thanks Genie! Don't look annoyed Aladdin....you need to hear it! |
One thing my fiance's family does that I love in theory but have trouble experiencing myself is their tradition of honoring each other on their birthdays or at special milestones. Since it was my birthday dinner tonight they each took turns saying wonderful things about me. Let me just tell you it was SO hard for me to listen! I wanted to curl up under the table while they were talking so no one could see me and then return each nice thing said with compliments for each of them. Neither of these are the point of this exercise however: you must sit and completely take in the honoring. You cannot turn the compliments away; you must accept them, OWN them. For this one day in the year you are given only the nice parts of yourself so you can stop focusing on the negative. How hard and yet how necessary! See- I told you I was lucking out with in-laws!
"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." This excellent quote from Eleanor Roosevelt is a good way to summarize my point in this post. Know yourself; know your weaknesses, and know your strengths. In this way, in each moment of the day, we can be truly useful. I pray in this moment that YOU, dear reader, may know yourself and love yourself. Say the same prayer for me :)
What is your favorite thing about yourself?
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Saturday Living
Day 17/30 in my blog challenge!
I woke up this morning to rain pouring down and snuggled back down into my comfy bed with a smile...no blazing heat for a couple more hours anyway :)
Is there anything better than a rainy day when you are allowed to just sit inside with some tea and enjoy it? I submit that there is NOT! (Imagine Brian Regan saying that and now you're smiling.)
I'm going to sit here for the next couple of hours before work and learn more about the wonder that is essential oils, make a to-do list for the growing number of wedding things I need to get done (I will not panic, I will not panic, NOT PANICKING!), and just rejoice in the fact that I can move my eyes in all directions without intense pain; really wrapping up this sickness folks!
Let's do this, Saturday.
I woke up this morning to rain pouring down and snuggled back down into my comfy bed with a smile...no blazing heat for a couple more hours anyway :)
Is there anything better than a rainy day when you are allowed to just sit inside with some tea and enjoy it? I submit that there is NOT! (Imagine Brian Regan saying that and now you're smiling.)
I'm going to sit here for the next couple of hours before work and learn more about the wonder that is essential oils, make a to-do list for the growing number of wedding things I need to get done (I will not panic, I will not panic, NOT PANICKING!), and just rejoice in the fact that I can move my eyes in all directions without intense pain; really wrapping up this sickness folks!
Let's do this, Saturday.
Friday, November 1, 2013
All Saint's Day
Wishing I was in Poland today celebrating All Saint's Day! As it is I am celebrating by making a spicy spinach and artichoke dip for my man. I like to put lots of extra cheese in it, but I forgot to pick up mozzarella at the store so I'm going to be trying out colby jack and seeing if that is a total bomb. I'm using jalapeno cream cheese to give it a nice kick :)
Who out there just loves All Saint's Day? Oooo oooo pick me! Pick me!
What's there not to love? A day that is in honor of a specific saint has traditionally been celebrated by all who share that saint's name; St. John's day is celebrated by all John's and so on. It is still a bigger deal than birthdays in some countries! Presents, special food, everyone is happy for you. Its great!
On All Saint's Day, however, EVERYONE gets another "birthday" because we are celebrating ALL saints! Wooo hooo!!
Its also a day where you get to really think about all of your loved ones who have passed on already. Don't think about them in a way that gets you all down and sad though! Pray for them in case they are in purgatory (if you haven't been doing that already) and think about them being all crazy happy in heaven :) That's why its a required day of going to Mass....there are so many souls in Purgatory who need our prayers! Life is busy and we so often forget to pray for those who have gone before us; this is our built-in opportunity to remember.
What a great day!
Who out there just loves All Saint's Day? Oooo oooo pick me! Pick me!
What's there not to love? A day that is in honor of a specific saint has traditionally been celebrated by all who share that saint's name; St. John's day is celebrated by all John's and so on. It is still a bigger deal than birthdays in some countries! Presents, special food, everyone is happy for you. Its great!
On All Saint's Day, however, EVERYONE gets another "birthday" because we are celebrating ALL saints! Wooo hooo!!
Its also a day where you get to really think about all of your loved ones who have passed on already. Don't think about them in a way that gets you all down and sad though! Pray for them in case they are in purgatory (if you haven't been doing that already) and think about them being all crazy happy in heaven :) That's why its a required day of going to Mass....there are so many souls in Purgatory who need our prayers! Life is busy and we so often forget to pray for those who have gone before us; this is our built-in opportunity to remember.
What a great day!
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