An Old Chair, A New Covering Equals Inspiration

In order to keep myself sane and busy, I've decided to take up a new hobby. Now this new hobby may surprise some of you as you all may think of me as someone sans domestic skills. However, with time on my hands that I've never had before in my life and unlimited access to Food Network and the Home and Garden channel, lets just say decorating and Hobby Lobby are my new BFFs.  Now -- a disclaimer -- lest you be fooled, I am no Martha Stewart quite yet. But coming from someone whose previous decor consisted of a bulletin board and political books, I'm giving myself a gold star for effort.

My first major project was to take down our hideous chandelier of old and make a new one. So, with a phone call to my brother to come help me not electrocute myself, I decided to make a DIY chandelier that I found online. 

The result? After a few hours of laughing and frustration we proudly hung our masterpiece:

The fixture is called a bubble chandelier and I thought with some of our more traditional pieces of furniture, a modern light piece might encompass the overall industrial feel of our loft. However, the big approval came from my husband who was very skeptical and worried at first as he did not know he married such a craft-er. Needless to say, we made him a believer in my skills!

The next project was much easier. We had a wingback red chair in our bedroom which was previously only used as a place to mindlessly throw clothing. However, in looking at the old chair, we realized how much potential it would have if it were merely re-covered. So, we decided to paint the legs black and pick out a fabric to match our Anthropologie duvet cover and the rest of the room.

Here is the chair before:

 

Not the prettiest chair of all time right?

However, with a new fabric and a little paint job:

Voila! I am extremely pleased with the result and the reupholstery locale truly did a fantastic job. And as a bonus in the process, I have been introduced to a whole new world: Fabric world. It's mind blowing.

Now, you may be wondering why I am posting this. Well, I have to say I would have never have done these two projects if I would have had a job these last couple of months. I remember when I was working, going to school, and planning a wedding and I virtually did not have time to make myself a piece of toast. Now, to be quite honest, I have never been so inspired and creative in my whole life! All it took was a little spare time.

In essence, I'm discovering what spare time and a little crafting can do for one's psyche and faith. It sounds silly, but making something beautiful from something old is one of the most satisfying endeavors I have ever experienced. Makes me think of an old wise man Isaiah who once quipped it was possible for a "crown of beauty" to come from "ashes."  In this era of unemployment and lots of spare time, I have a feeling this idea is going to spill out in my life in ways more than just re-covering an old red wingback chair.

Stay tuned for more projects!*

*(If approved by the man of the house).

Will Work for Good.

Finding one’s passion is not always as easy as one would think. In fact, I have spent many hours thinking and dreaming of the “dream job” or “dream industry” for me. And let us be honest, I am all over the spectrum. From wanting to be an astronaut (true story) to wanting to open a frozen yogurt store, I’m what many would call a job-seeking disaster. But what really does “dream job” mean? If I am really honest with you, my dream job would be a life sans employment in which I still was paid ample amounts of money to just live life and do my thing. Dream on, right?

So, I’ve switched gears a little bit in my thinking. How about finding something that would allow me to truly evoke change in my immediate world? Yes, I know, our President and his spinster administration has given the term “change” a hugely negative connotation for many of us. However, what I’m saying here is what if the end all, be all worth of employment was not for measly personal satisfaction and a paycheck? What if – imagine with me here – our jobs were for the good of other people around us? What if, we saw our jobs as a way to enhance, enrich, and improve our little world as we know it?

I know what most of you are thinking: Yes, that’s a noble idea, but there is word for that kind of work: Non-profit – literal meaning: NO profit for you! Which, in some cases, is true. I worked for a non-profit for almost the last three years, and I will be the first to attest that not only is the work grueling, but the pay will provide you with enough to eat just that: GRUEL. So, I’m not saying let’s all quit our jobs and work for pennies at non-profits as I realize that is not feasible for everyone.

What I AM saying is what would happen if we changed our mentality and thought of our jobs as more than a way to improve our stature, our image, and bank account. Instead, what would it look like to use employment as a medium to literally work for good?  

Before I go on, stop and ask yourself, why do I work? I almost guarantee it is for one of the self-seeking reasons listed above. But, don’t feel bad! This is what our culture tells us our jobs are for: Money, stature, pride, worth, respect, etc.

In my current state of unemployment, one of the biggest lessons that I have learned is that no matter where you are, where you work, or the time of day, your life can be used to induce positivity (not a word, but it’s cool to make up words now). In consequence, when you see your world around you changing in an encouraging way, I truly believe you will start to enjoy your job in a whole new way.

In some of my previous rants, I’ve posed the question whether or not we are supposed to be miserable in our jobs and if jobs are inherently the embodiment of misery. I’ve concluded no on both accounts. Rather, we should be enjoying our work. However, the more I think and pray on this matter, I’ve realized that misery is a choice. On the surface, it may be true that our jobs are in fact awful and mundane. Who really wants to work and eat in a grey, stale cubicle? However, misery is not the product of our work, but our decision to be miserable. 

Our jobs may be mundane, the tasks may seem trivial, and spreadsheets and phone calls may seem like the devil personified. But, if we changed our thought pattern to reflect the “work for good” mantra wherever we are at in our professions, I believe our lives and jobs will change drastically for the better. And not only that, I think our small little world around us and those we know would shift for the better as well. Then -- in full circle here -- maybe we would enjoy our jobs and love what we do more than we ever have before. 

All of this from the ever-changing desk of the unemployed. Cheers!

Headbands and Coffee Shops: Perks of the Jobless

There are many upsides to being unemployed: Ample time to do crafts, plan dinners, daydream, find interesting sites on the Web, stalk unbeknownst friends on Facebook, stare at walls, and other such community value-adding activities.

 However, unemployment also has its obvious downsides. Such as, the feeling of despair that the universe and obscure HR departments are vehemently against you. Or the seemingly complete annihilation of any self pride once one or more rejection letters start coming. It’s a brutal time in life. Sort of like not being asked to prom or getting cut from the football team repeatedly in a bad dream, a job quest can be heartbreaking.  

 Using myself as an example, I have been unemployed for a couple of months now and I have gone through waves of emotions. Happy emotions that I can finally fill my day with activities that a 9 to 5 would never allow, sad emotions of feeling worthless, creative emotions when I suddenly feel inspired, jealous emotions when I see working women out wearing their cute work outfits, and thankful emotions when I realize it could be so much worse. I could be back in my old job traveling for months losing my sanity whilst my creativity and passion is slowly eroded by the second. Or, my husband could be unemployed. Or, there could be no Internet to continue the refinement of my people-stalking skills. Gasp!

 So, I am seizing this beautiful day of unemployment and I encourage the rest of you job seekers to do the same. While the working world sits in meetings chugging down coffee to keep them quasi-awake, we the job-seekers of America are outside enjoying the last days of stunning fall.

 Right now, I sit at one of my favorite coffee shops wearing a headband that I made in a crafting flurry and am taking in the coffee-shop culture that I would never know if I was employed. If I were sitting at a desk in an office building, I wouldn't be wearing this headband and I wouldn’t be able to report that there is a strange man standing in front of me stretching his arms as if he were in a Yoga studio. Or I wouldn’t be able to witness the awkward collision of friends to the table to the right of me as they try to surface-talk their way out of any meaningful conversation. Or I might not be able to notice all the other Mac-mesmerized, foggy-eyed people sitting around me seemingly hating their lives.

 Perhaps they are job-searching as well.

 Perhaps we should start a support group.

Despite all the jokes, I am learning that one’s employment does not and should not dictate quality and stature in life. We are designed and destined for more: Passion, creativity, making beauty from chaos, enjoying life, and savoring time at coffee shops. Lucky for me, for the first time since age 16, I can finally relish in this time to listen and find out how I can make great use of a vocation instead of having my vocation dictate me.

 And that, loyal readers, is just another of the aforementioned upsides of being an unemployed, housewife-in-training. 

Adam and Eve and Their Correlation With the Theology of Office Space

There are many reasons to be upset at Adam and Eve.

I’m not one to point fingers, but really, did they just have to eat the fruit from that ONE tree? Well apparently they did, and with one sweet bite of the succulent fruit, they single-handedly bequeathed the entire human race with such lovely inheritances such as: weeds, pain, suffering, mosquitoes, awful childbearing, sibling strife, Starbucks coffee, and a cursed earth just to name a few.

Just think: Today, right now, you and I could be playing in a beautiful garden, chasing around lions, tigers, and bears in a friendly game of tag whilst eating the bounty of an all-organic fresh garden. However, thanks to Adam and Eve, we are all either chasing around our children in a not-so friendly game of tag or traversing the maze of our dead-end cubicle lives … or some variation of the two.

Ok, so I’m making this sound really bad. (That’s what bloggers do, we embellish.) Many of us live happy lives including myself. However, all I’m saying is that living in the garden in a perfect earth with a perfect relationship with God wouldn’t be so bad either. In fact, it would be light years better than the lives we lead now. So, where am I going with this? Why in the world am I talking about the curses Adam and Eve bestowed upon us? For the purpose of this rant, I’ve been thinking about this statement in particular made by God when He was essentially giving our BFFs Adam and Eve the boot from the garden:

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

So, I’ve really been thinking about this; is “work” as we know it today inherently doomed to be miserable because of this “curse”?

Now, the reason for this pondering is as of tomorrow, I will be entering into month two of marital bliss. And honestly, despite the being ticked at Adam and Eve ho-hum thing, I am having the time of my life! I’ll leave out all the sappy details – for now – but in quick fast-forward Tivo-like mode, life couldn’t be any better. However, since I quit my job and have been recovering from an odd sickness, I am also on month two of unemployment (or “FUNemployment” as my roommate once coined). Thus, I have had much time to really analyze what kind of work I want to break into and what is “work” as we know it today.

As I’ve been looking for jobs on those awful job boards and job search engines (totally worthless by the way), I find myself applying to jobs that I know three months down the road, I’m probably going to be back on the same miserable job boards panting like a fresh puppy after bacon for a new job. It’s an awful cycle. I’m 25 years old and I’ve repeated it far too often. And I know I'm not the only one. Why do you think "work" and "job" carry such a negative connotation? T.G.I.F. wasn't a term coined just for fun. People really do hate their jobs!

 So, my question is, is it supposed to be like this? Is “work”, the “9 to 5”, “the daily grind”, etc. supposed to be such drudgery?

The answer, I believe, is no.

We weren’t designed to sit in cubicles and run around like rats. We weren’t designed to live the Peter Gibbon’s life and think that everyday is the worst day of our lives because of our jobs. (Thank you “Office Space” creators/geniuses, you have changed my life. Forever.) Yes, we will “sweat our brows” in order to make a salary to feed ourselves, however, I have come to the sound conclusion that we should not hate our jobs. Afterall, we spend the majority of our time awake in the world at our jobs. On the contrary, we should actually enjoy them, using our God-given talents to perform work. It is a choice.

So, in the time it has taken me to write this, I have decided that hating the activity you do eight to ten hours of your day is NOT normal. It is not part of the curse. Yes, work is work and it requires effort, but that doesn’t mean we have to be out-of-our-minds bored, suicidal, apathetic, asleep, and/or all the above while working. This means, obnoxiously pining after that 15 minute break down to gulp the hideous acid-tasting Starbucks coffee to make it through the day just to get away from the dismal desk work we have is not a way to live! (Yes, that was a run-on sentence. It had to be said.)

In essence, I’m writing this “memo” to myself. Yes, Adam and Eve put us all on a fast-track ticket to death (that looks awful when I write it – Ha!), but we are a redeemed people and we have talents to use in the meantime. As Donald Miller says in his new book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years,” we can all “live a better story.” For me, that means reviving my outlook on work and choosing to not live eight hours of drudgery everyday.

Now, just wait a couple months … If I’m working at the Gap selling plain T-shirts I may be singing a different tune.

Thanks Adam and Eve.  

 

 

 

Independence Day? Notice the Question Mark.

The smell of the steaming grill and the sizzling of the greasy meat roasting on it. The sudden spurts of loud explosions. Dirty children with grass stains on their whole body. The smell of sulfur. Soft, delicious Rice Krispy treats. Watermelon seeds. Baseball games. Red and white table cloths. Family. Friends … Freedom.

This is the Fourth of July in the United States.

The Fourth has always been one of my favorite holidays every year. This year, it will be spent on a lake with fiancé and friends in the midst of barbeques and tans. But this year, as I stopped to look beyond all the normal Fourth of July festivities that usually come with the perfect summer holiday, I began to feel a sense of extreme sadness.

Allow me to expand. The other night, I caught The Patriot on television featuring Mel Gibson and the late Heath Ledger. And I have to tell you, every time I watch that movie, something deep down in me is stirred. The whole story of The Patriot – illustrated in Hollywood dramatic proportions – is a micro story to the macro story of how America gained it’s independence from England. Throughout the movie, history comes to life as the underdog – the 13 colonies of America – seemingly commit suicide by going to war with the motherland England to gain independence for their own nation.

We all know how the story ends. The underdog does the impossible and fights off the bully and gains national independence. Consequently, 233 years later this year, we will be sitting around a picnic table lighting off most-likely illegal firecrackers and watching the firework show in the sky celebrating, the fact that we are, in theory, a free nation.

But as we look back to our history, we see 13 colonies wanting to gain independence from a bully nation that is taxing without representation. But, today as I look at our own government, I sense we are starting to relive the exact same injustice that was faced by the inhabitants of the first colonies. With our new President and his administration stealthy taking over the auto industry, banks, now the proposed government-owned health care system, and numerous pieces of other under-the-radar legislation; our independent nation is quickly – and undetected by most of the population – spiraling our independence into a fast decline. Needless to say, with all the new government takeovers, taxes are bound to skyrocket no matter how many eloquent ways Obama can think of saying he will not raise our taxes. It’s inevitable and where is our voice in it? Nowhere. In fact, our “voice” (i.e. state representatives) is wrapped up in partisan arguments, sex scandals, attempts at party renewal, and dead-end promises.

Our independence as citizens is at stake. The hope-inspired “change” that had the majority of the American population misty-eyed and clueless, is on its way to sending the state of our independence into the abyss of failed democracies.

In The Patriot, there is a town hall gathering in Charleston to discuss going to war with England. At one point in the heated discussion, a statesman arises and quips:

“We ARE citizens of an American nation! And our rights are being threatened by a tyrant three thousand miles away!”

As I heard those words, I realized we as American citizens are principally facing the same tyrannical wrong today. But this time, the tyrant isn’t across the pond. The tyrant is Washington D.C., our own democratic government. We may not know it under the flowery and charismatic smile of the Obama administration. But, our autonomy is fading right beneath our very own firework-strewn skies.

Ironically, this year the fireworks will go on and the patriotic words of our national songs will be sung. But, underlying our celebration will be signs of a massive decline; signs and symbols of the continued loss of our independence and freedom chipped away by the wake of legislation from the lofty claims of change.

Bachelor vs. Bachelorette.

So, with just about two months left to go until we hopefully walk down the aisle, we have been bombarded with all the typical pre-wedding traditions: Engagement parties, showers, engagement gifts, wedding planning, rehearsal dinner planning, and of course the notorious Bachelor/Bachelorette parties. Now, out of all the events that we are faced with, what has been most amusing to me is the total divergent response that the latter of these events evokes between the bride and groom.

Let’s take us for example. Immediately after we got engaged, the first – I’m not exaggerating here – first thing the groom and his friends did was immediately plan the Bachelor party. It was quite astonishing. I have never seen a group of guys move faster and be more productive in my life. As if Jon was dying on his death bed, they sprang into action to plan, book, and ticket their trip to Las Vegas. Within days of the engagement, some of the guys already had their tickets. In fact, before we had even decided on a date for the wedding, the Bachelor party was already set in stone on the calendar with all party-goers salivating in anticipation.

Now, let’s look at my plans for my bachelorette party. The first thing I did after getting engaged was definitely not plan my so-called “last hoorah.” In fact, I don’t even think I thought about it. So, the first thing I did was … I went shopping for my dress! Duh! With a short engagement on our hands and a dress delivery taking about four months, clearly this had to be a priority. Then only after finding a church, a reception site, picking the colors, meeting with the caterer, finding a hotel for guests, etc. did my girlfriends and I even start the discussions of the Bachelorette Party.

Ok, back to Jon. For months, I have seen and heard the detailed plans of the party in Vegas transpire over several emails and many phone conversations. And last weekend, as I mentioned in the last entry, as a last ditch effort to “prepare” (??) his friends were all getting together on the weekend before they left for Vegas to watch “Hangover.” Jon and I, having plans already being the only Saturday night he was in town, decided to join them after much deliberation. (Truth be told, I did not particularly want to go sit through a movie about an outrageous Bachelor Party knowing that Jon and his entourage would probably be taking copious notes and tips.) But, alas, I saw the “I’m going to miss out” look in Jon’s eyes and agreed to go after I found out another wife was going.

Needless to say, the movie was funny and surprisingly not as crude as I thought it would be (until the very end which was so hideously bad, I do not recommend anyone see this!). But the whole premise of the movie is a bunch of guys going to Las Vegas for a Bachelor party to do unthinkable things before one of them gets married. Throughout the whole movie the theme of “It’s Ok that this happened because it is VEGAS! Woooooo!” and “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!” played on.

Having been at a bachelorette party a couple weeks ago in Vegas myself, I am not innocent in patronizing the city. There are, afterall, really fun things to do there when you’re not being out of control: Shopping, golfing, spas, games, amazing pools, fun dancing, etc. However, what always shocks me while I’m there is the universal idea that this desert town is essentially the “safe zone” for all immorality. For some reason, it is a given that Vegas inherently is a free for all and that somehow the Hoover Dam must put out some magical water that allows everything that happens there to have no repercussions to reality. It is the one destination that people completely lose all sense of right and wrong, consciousness, bountiful amounts of money, and any sense of cleanliness. I don’t really understand this, and I always thought the quote “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” was always just a joke. But, as I am learning, people actually take this adage very seriously as if it is some kind unwritten rule of the cosmos. In fact, Jon even tried using this cute lil quote on me the day before he left for Vegas. Needless to say, the cute lil quote no longer carries the same comedic value for me!

On the other end of the spectrum, my bachelorette party will consist of good girlfriends, good wine, good conversation, the beach, and of course probably some shopping. The planning thus far has consisted of a cute Evite and several girls just excited to be together. There have been no premeditated plans for how many bottles of alcohol we are going to purchase, who is going to lose the most money, what movies we need to see to prepare for the vineyards of Santa Barabara, etc. Obviously, the disparity between the celebrations is quite large.

So, through this whole process, I can’t help but laugh as I see, again, how different men and women are. On one hand you have a celebration as if the groom has one night left before he ceases to be, and on the other hand you have a true vacation thrown to relax the bride. It is really funny what our culture has fed us and what we actually allow ourselves to consume. What is the history of the Bachelor/Bachelorette parties and how did it get to be what we have today?

Anyhow, more fun wedding updates to come! In the meantime, I just realized through all this wedding planning, work, and school I have not blogged politically in a long while. But I woke up yesterday realizing that I was living in a communist country. When did that happen?

Running down the Aisle!

Alas, clearly I have not been blogging nearly as much I should for all that has transpired since the last post. But, I have to be honest, I forget my name sometimes so if I remember to blog about once every two months, I am going to go ahead and give myself a fat gold star for effort!

(***Photo to the side is of us enjoying a Summer wedding that is NOT ours!)

So, since last entry, I am proud to report that I have not gone to the dark side of wedding planning. With roughly two months and change to go, we’re just cruisin’. Church? Check. Reception venue? Check. Check. Band? Check. Colors?
Check. Food? Check. Cake? Check. Favors? Check. Gifts to everyone and their mother? Check. Breaking our parents’ bank? Check. (That last one is a joke … We have been insanely price conscious, to the point Jon thinks I’m absolutely off my rocker.) All this to say, we are just breezing through wedding plans one day at a time and quickly approaching the big day.

Recent events included meeting with our rock star wedding coordinator at the church, sampling our cakes made by a dear friend here in Denver, picking out invitations, finding a house for my family to stay at, and starting on our lovely and cheesy slideshow. Side note: Even though slideshows are extremely cheesy, there is still something about them that everyone deep down really wants. So, we’re just going to give the people what they want, a romantic, sappy, glorious, wedding-like slideshow. Nothing else in the wedding has these characteristics, so we figured this one thing would be OK.

In other news, Jon leaves this week for his soon-to-be legendary excursion to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. To prepare, we went with a bunch of his buddies and one of their wives and saw the movie “Hangover.” Ironically enough, the bride’s name was Tracy and the boys in the movie stay at Caesar’s Palace where Jon and his entourage will be staying. Too funny. Let’s just hope the movie doesn’t tell the real life tale of Jon Kirby and His Loyal Subjects ...

Anyhow, despite the fact that I look down and see this ridiculously beautiful specimen of rock on my finger everyday and I have this new fancy fiancé name, sometimes I still don’t think its real that all this is happening. But with our amazing friends and family that are constantly showering us with love, attention, assistance, and support during this time, I can’t help but be reminded on what a truly special time this all is. Not to mention, I probably have the most fabulous groom on the face of the planet in regard to helping with wedding stratagem. All I can say is that Jon has gone above and beyond in assisting, taking the reigns, and wanting to be there for everything. I feel awful for brides that have an aloof, non-caring groom because I honestly could not have done 99% of all that we have done without him. And truly, it has given us an idea on how we will work together on future endeavors and honestly, at this rate, I believe we will rule the country and be on the cover of People in no time.

With all the wedding plans going so smoothly, school still in full swing, and of course work still charging hard, it is the little normal every-day chores that have really taken a backseat to my priority list. My laundry and state of cleanliness of my car can attest to this fact. For example, I realized that I needed to put coolant in my car as it was empty. So as I went to retrieve the coolant from the backseat that I had purchased 2 weeks ago (thank God my engine didn't blow up in the meantime) and I pulled out the bottle to find a black, strappy pump shoe was attached to the cap somehow (???). So, after I wrenched the shoe off, I realized that some kind of ribbons were strewn through the handle of the bottle. So, I remove those and I had to laugh at myself. What is wrong with me? I have never been this messy in my life. Not to mention I had to dig under various wedding and work brochures to even find the bottle of coolant! Then, after searching desperately for the radiator to actually put the coolant in the car, I dropped my phone in the engine area of the car as I was trying to call my brother to get instructions on proper coolant pourage. Needless to say, it was an absolute disaster. But I'll tell you what, my car may be on the verge of blowing up, but by gosh our slideshow is almost done!

I’m hoping for Jon’s sake and my own that I will get it together before we get married. If not, I may need to go back to school for domestic training and overall “get your life in order” school.

Can’t wait for August 22!

Amateur Wedding Planner: The Devil is in the Details.

I always thought that planning a wedding would be easy. I mean, who really cares about chair covers, wedding cake, favors, centerpieces, place cards, seating arrangements, etc? Well, despite all my previous vows that I would never care about these seemingly insignificant things, turns out … I care. I’m ashamed to even admit it. But, now that we are full planning/panic mode for the wedding, I find that there is no other option … Between Jon and I, we have to have an opinion down to the most itsy-bitsy of details.

Sometimes, pure honesty here, it is overwhelming. Currently, we are about five months out from when we want to get married and we are currently venue-less. Yes, we have seen some ideas, but nothing yet has been screaming the proverbial “GET MARRIED HERE” vibe that we both need to feel before committing. Such things as weather back-ups, price, availability, and locale convenience have been the main fun-ruin-ers in choosing a venue thus far. However, lack of venues is definitely not the issue. There are hundreds upon hundreds of venues here in Denver, but narrowing them down to our specific needs has been slightly challenging. And on top of that … Web sites can be deceiving. We can look at a venue on the Web and think “Perfect!”, but then once we actually visit, we realize the location is extremely shady and not only would we have to provide our guests with a meal, but also bullet-proof vests.

So, needless to say, it has been an adventure thus far! Doing the research on the “perfect place” takes time and considering the fact that I work full-time, go to school virtually full-time, am moving apartments, and have to work on various weekends leaves me with about say … a 30.3 minute time frame to get wedding planning done! Needless to say, I called a wedding planner today. I surrender to the wedding industry. I may need reinforcements.

But the funny thing about this whole planning business, it is actually insanely fun! So much hype and excitement surrounds this one day, and being involved in the minute details of it all is somewhat empowering. I honestly never thought I would be such an astute student of details, but today in my procrastination of homework, I was researching wedding traditions all over the world and I began to realize the gravity of the actual wedding day and celebration. A wedding tangibly symbolizes the magnitude of marriage and there really is nothing wrong with paying the closest consideration to SOME of the details and formalities involved. Now, this does not mean that we go overboard and fly in on an F-15 jet to the reception, but in all seriousness, I am starting to finally get why people put so much time and effort into a wedding. The trick is finding a balance between putting on a great party and becoming Wedding Nazi Party Planner 2009. Sadly, I have seen many brides succumb to the latter.

But, what has really struck me with the realization of the time, effort, money, blood, and tears that comes with wedding planning, is the seemingly total lack of effort by many couples toward the actual marriage. I was reading today that marriages are one of the strongest bonds in the history of the world … It unites families, tribes, and sometimes even countries. So, my question no longer is “why all the hoopla about the wedding,” I get that now. But my question now becomes “why not the same concern for the actual marriage?” Brides (and grooms) can get so caught up in the details of the wedding that they forgo actually taking care of the most pertinent of details: Each other. To be honest, as I am finding, it is so easy to do! But I just have to keep reminding myself that Jon is what really matters through this whole thing and getting in a fight over what shade of ivory we use for the chair covers is so useless. (That never happened, but I thought it would be funny to say. Jon caring about the color of chair covers! Wow. Will never happen.)

Anyhow, all this to say … The devil really is in the details if you allow the details to own you. Talk to me in four months and see if I’ve gone to the dark side. In the meantime, one small detail looms: The date and the venue! Shoot me now.

A girl, A boy, A Bridge, & A Diamond: The Story

Yikes! It has been several months since I have added anything to this site. In-between work, school, and falling insanely love; my writing has been unfortunately tossed by the wayward. But, I return to the blogging world today to convey momentous life news in the most mass-friendly way possible! I know for many of you, this news is long overdue and I suppose I could have e-mailed and/or returned phone calls … so please accept my deepest apologies!

To continue, a couple of weeks ago … my boyfriend Jon (now turned fiancé) and I got engaged! It still feels like a dream! In fact, as I sit here writing this, I feel like this is one of the first times I have been able to process the reality of it all! I still feel in shock!

(I realize that last paragraph has three sentences all ending in exclamation points. But, like I said I’m still in shock wildly excited! Therefore, all proper grammar rules are null and void for this entry.)

Anyhow, we got engaged on February 18 on a beautiful night in Denver. We had just returned from New York City where we were visiting some of my best friends from college and Jon’s sister Kelly. So, we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants in town called Zengo and have dinner just the two of us after a whirlwind of activity in NYC. Then, the plan was to go back to Jon’s place and finish up a book we had been reading together and then I was going to go to the gym! So, one can imagine it seemed like a very low-key, relaxing night.

So, Jon picked me up around 6 p.m. that day after work and he was surprisingly tardy which is very unlike him. In fact, I think I joked that I was starting to rub off on him! (We joke that “Tracy time” is always 15-22 minutes behind schedule. I’m working on it …) Then, as we get closer to the restaurant I realize he is not going the normal direction to Zengo. So, I ask him what he is doing and he informs me that he wants to walk a little ways to the restaurant across this bridge. This little tid bit in itself – you would think – would have tipped me off. Jon NEVER wants to walk anywhere and this particular restaurant has free valet, so this was extremely out of the ordinary. However, despite this tell-tale sign, I remain oblivious. So, we get into the restaurant order our food and are having good, normal conversation. In hindsight, I look back and another sign should have been that Jon was barely eating anything. Once again, this never happens! When I asked him why he wasn’t eating … He informed me he had eaten a little something before and wasn’t really hungry. So, being starving, I am just eating, chatting, and slowly sipping my wine while Jon – again in hindsight – was gently trying to get me out of the restaurant. At one point, with half a glass of wine left, he gave the indication that it was time to go. Defiantly, I say “what’s the rush! I’m not done with my wine.” So we continue to chat and I still slowly sip on my glass … Finally, clearly being ready to go, Jon reaches across the table takes my wine and downs the last bit of it. I laugh and we stand up to leave.

So, we begin sauntering over the bridge that we had walked over to get to the restaurant. Now, the bridge is this beautiful structure just on the outskirts of Downtown Denver and on this particular night, the weather was perfect. The stars were out and the city lights danced in a picturesque inviting kind of way as we walked along the bridge. At one point, we stopped along the railing to take the stunning scenery in and before I knew it he was saying some things – which I can’t really recall – and I looked down and he is on one knee pulling something out of his coat pocket. Immediately, I go into FULL panic mode and I squeal “Jon, what are you doing! Stand up! Jon, what are you doing! Stop joking … Jon! JON!” But in-between the code red panic and quasi-hyperventilating, I finally stopped and heard those five magic words:

“Tracy …Will you marry me?”

I still get shivers just looking at that question. But, needless to say, I said yes! So, he put an amazingly perfect ring on my finger and after tears, hugs, and fresh kisses (as he would say) we traveled down to Jon’s uncle and aunt’s house where yet ANOTHER surprise awaited me … A house full of family that had flown in to celebrate our engagement! Jon had truly thought of everything. Looking back, it’s one of those surreal happenings in life that felt like an out-of-body experience, but it was a moment in our time that we will hopefully never forget.

So, here I am 25 years old and Jon 29, and we are about to embark on one of the craziest, most rewarding, and difficult journeys man has ever set out to conquer. We both feel inconceivably blessed by the Lord to have been given each other to do life with and we honestly just cant wait to start that life together. Speaking of that, I keep on getting the question “so, you finally met the man of your dreams?!” And my response is always “actually no, I didn’t.” Because the fact of the matter is, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a man more perfect for me than Jon. He is, by far, beyond any dream I could have ever conjured up.

I know that perhaps that last statement may make some of you want to vomit. I'm sorry. Being in love has made me a total sap-head. I'm sappy. I'm sorry.

All that to say, we are hopefully going to have the wedding sometime this year in August! (Yes, as in five months away August.) It’s going to be the party of the year and we couldn’t be more excited. So, thank you for all of your congratulations and your sweet notes of encouragements. Jon and I truly appreciate it more than you know!

And really, stay tuned, I will now be blogging on the zany full-time job that is Wedding Planning. Let’s just say … I have some opinions.