Procrastination

Clearly I am putting off doing useful things by playing with colors.  Sad.

Proposal Part One: The Growing Pains

In case anyone missed it (or heard the slightly intoxicated version):

The Story of How We Got Engaged: Part One

Let me preface by saying that I am a bit of a control freak.  And a feminist.  Deciding to get married seemed like something I should get to be a part of.  I am, after all, half of the decision!  So the almost-engaged period, and the months following were... somewhat frustrating for me.  I share this because I hope it helps someone else who is going through or who has gone through similar frustration.

Back in August of 2007, Ryan and I went ring shopping with my maid of honor / younger sister Mary.  (Y'all have seen cute pictures of her face previously modeling a bridesmaid dress.)  Of course we had been discussing for some time that we would get married, and when a good time to get engaged would be.  I was counting down the seconds until I could show off a beautiful diamond and start planning a wedding.  I was definitely one of your over-enthusiastic types regarding the whole thing.  Fast forward to immediately following the ring shopping experience, back at my apartment with Mary.  I was a mess.

It felt so wrong picking out a ridiculously expensive present for myself that was supposed to mean that I was in love and planning to get married- something I would say easily with no presents included!  But that is what I was supposed to want; a beautiful shiny diamond engagement ring that meant, 'Look world, someone wants to marry me.'  And I definitely wanted to marry him!  So why did everything feel so... bad?

Mary, being my ultra-helpful maid of honor, suggested I read this book:

found here

She had heard about it through a class and felt like it echoed my sentiments.  So before anything else happened, I read this book.

And you know what?  It really helped.  A lot.  Just to know that I wasn't the only one who was confused as to why two adult individuals deciding to get married would need to follow all of "the rules."  However, this didn't stop the process from being massively stressful.

The problem came because we (me? Ryan? both of us? I still don't know) wanted to be traditional.  Ryan didn't feel right not giving me a ring, but I didn't feel right demanding expensive jewelry.  On top of that, I didn't understand why, if we were both ready to get engaged, why did I have to passively sit around and wait until Ryan decided it was the right time?  (Or saved enough money to buy a ring he thought would impress my dad.)  I don't mean to be an ultra-feminist here, but when have I ever sat back and let things happen to me before?  Why should one of the biggest decisions of my life be different?  So let's just say there were many nights of tears, frustration, and confusion.  Ryan even went so far as getting down on one knee and promising that he wanted to marry me- but couldn't propose yet.  In other words, I got to know that Ryan wanted to marry me and intended to propose, but I still had to wait for the tradition of the man proving his worth by spending lots of money.  Only then could I be engaged.

So I sat around waiting (let me tell you, not so patiently) for Ryan to decide the time was right.  Seeing as how he had just graduated and moved out on his own, I was basically waiting for him to save enough money for the ring.  I figured I might be in for quite a wait, and I kept trying to convince myself that I was fine with it.  But honestly, knowing both of us intended to get married, it was hard to justify waiting for Ryan to save money for the purchase of something I wasn't sure I felt comfortable with.  Then one day he came home and said "I have a plan.  I will be proposing sooner than you think."

To be continued...

10 Random Reasons

10 Random Reasons I knew I should marry Ryan:

1. He is one of the most genuine people I know.  When we were first getting to know each other, he told me very directly and sincerely that he wanted to go get drinks and get to know me better because he admired me (awwwwww).  [With no sketchy intentions either, because y'all know that I was dating someone else.]

2. He has a fantastic intuitive sense about others; he will tell you that lots of his friends can be jerks, but he knows which ones would go to the ends of the earth for him.  Same goes for my friends.

3. He secretly (or not so secretly) loves bad eighties love songs and sings them in my ear whenever they come on the radio- and knows all of the words!

4. No matter what else is going on, Ryan will do absolutely anything to make me laugh.  Even if he gets yelled at for it.  ("I am serious this time!  Stop making jokes!")

5. He wants to live a life of purpose, and become more of the man he wants to be every day.  He never wants to get stuck in a rut.  (This part screams soulmate to my heart, fyi.)

6. The first time I went to Atlanta to visit (long before I lived here) he said "Welcome Home" to me when I got out of the car.  When I gave him a puzzled look his response was, "I don't know where that came from, but it felt right."  Atlanta has been home for us both ever since.

7. He would do anything for his parents.  Or his friends.  That melts my heart.  (Even when it drives me crazy.)

8. If we pass a dog while walking, Ryan will stop to play with it no matter how nervous this makes its owners.

9. After spending time with close friends, he has said to me (alone of course, it's not macho to tell your friends you love them) "No one deserves this much love."

10. When I asked him if he cared what I looked like the day we got married (after he gave me LOTS of opinions) he said, "I'll take you however you come to me."

And a bonus reason: He pushes me every day and won't let me settle on anything, ever.

What are some random reasons you knew your significant other was the one?

Moving Recap

Alright so packing was a huge blur, as I just kept pushing myself to get through it and just get to moving day.  And then we moved in together... wow.

I am still massively overwhelmed.  I keep telling Ryan that I am so happy to see him every day, and he has to keep reminding me that this is a permanent thing.  Like every day, for the rest of my life.  I am not sure what is stopping me from realizing that.  I wonder if I am going to just wake up one day, years from now, and realize that I don't remember a time when we didn't live together.  But for now I am just... overwhelmed.  In a happy way!!  I just don't have a lot of words for it yet.

So far we have managed to not kill each other- it's actually a lot easier than I thought to live together!  I mean, I am not working/going to class yet, so maybe it will get more difficult once life gets more difficult?  But for now, it just seems... easy?  (Maybe it's the lack of driving thirty minutes every night that makes things feel so much easier.)

But I was thinking that I might spend some time (since I have a little extra at least this week) backing up and telling a couple stories about how we got to this point- anything anyone wants to know?  It just seems a little crazy to think back over the past almost four years and realize I never expected being here today, planning a wedding and all.  So... stay tuned!

Save the Dates

Based on the fact that we have not yet taken engagement pictures but the time to make some Save the Dates is here, I had to come up with another idea besides sharing pictures of my pretty little face with you.  (Wait, I mean, Ryan's pretty little face...)

I came up with (read as "stole" from this knot bio) the idea of using a vintage postcard, editing the wording, and using it as a Save the Date.  So first I thought a postcard of Piedmont Park would be perfect:

found here

Unfortunately, it was sold already.  So I needed a new idea.  I thought of Christ the King (the Cathedral we're getting married in) and I found this:

found here

And I was pretty sold.  It's beautiful, it's where we're getting married, and I love it.  Then I show it to Ryan and he said that he thinks it would be "pretentious" and very much not my personality to send out pictures of the Cathedral on our Save the Dates.  I immediately understood where he was coming from- I'm not your perfect church-going type.  Has wedding planning and a love of all things pretty affected my brain?!?  (But I still think it's beautiful, eh.)

So I figured I would look up a few more options to satisfy Ry's request.  I present the other ideas:

found here

(This is Ryan's favorite, he said it looks "happier")

found here

found here

(according to the website, this is of Inman Park, but it looks like Piedmont Park to me)

found here

(driving into Atlanta, past the stadium)

So what do y'all think?  You even like the idea of a vintage postcard?  I like the thought of giving people a cheerful little taste of Atlanta- so I am pretty sold on it.  Which one should I use?

Mary's Shoes?

Found these on the Steve Madden website... I especially got a good laugh when I saw their name was Tinkle.  Are these the shoes you bought, Mar?

found here

Invitation Planning

So making the invitations is one of the parts of wedding planning I am looking forward to the most.  Many who have gone the DIY route with invitations have warned that it is more stressful and time consuming than they expected, so I decided to spend the summer making the invites, even though they will not be mailed until the beginning of November.  To get a head start, I have been working on a basic outline for a couple months.  No matter what I did though, it felt too boring.  (Sorry, I am not posting anything until I have something I am more excited about!)  Then I decided to go ahead and purchase this:

via amazon.com

Recommended by my old roommate as a good source of clip art to spice up the design, I thought I would at least give it a try.

Then I decided that I better at least have an idea of the colors and layout of the paper before I can finalize the printing, so I went ahead and ordered samples of some Stardream paper to check colors and weight for printing.  I decided to check out:

Quartz

Opal

Bronze

[Images are from www.paperworks.com but samples were ordered from handmade-paper.us (because they were $0.75 per sample!).]

Last, I decided to order some supplies from Paper Source... Because let's be honest, they have my heart.  (Dear Paper Source, Please open a store in Atlanta!)  Plus, I got the idea for my design from some of their DIY suggestions, so it seemed only fitting.  I decided to get some flat paper and some eco-white cover weight paper:

flocked gold with beige vines

eco-white cover

(the screen shot accidentally included the label, whoops!)

So once all of this gets to me, and I actually decide on what I am doing, I will post some more clues here!  Stay tuned!