Saying Yes to the Dress

(I didn't want to give away too much on my blog before the wedding, so I saved the fun details for after. Just as a warning...this is a long read, but the end is well worth it :))

As you may remember, we got engaged on Black Friday.  It was an exciting day indeed! I had already been planning and thinking of what I wanted for our wedding before the proposal, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of my own taste. WRONG. I also thought I'd love jumping right into wedding planning and getting stuff done ASAP. WRONG AGAIN.

I wanted to savor being engaged. I wanted to put off the planning/decision making process as long as I could. Why? I didn't know what I wanted! I didn't know what I was looking for! I just knew I wanted to marry WW. I had made that decision and didn't think I needed to make anymore anytime soon. I just wanted to take it slow. 

Two weeks after we got engaged and one week before I moved out of the dorm forever, I went home to move my big items. My sweet friend, Emily came with me for the short overnight road trip. She was getting married the following weekend, so I had originally planned to have a mega girl day filled with massages, antique shopping, and a girly restaurant.  However, my plan failed. Every spa I called was having a spa party the day that we were going home, and wouldn't you know Mildred's Tea Room was closed that day as well. Of course. 

I tried to think of something else to do, and I couldn't think of anything. Crafting would have to do. Mom, Emily, and I crafted that night, and started talking about what I wanted for a wedding. Then the question of the dress came up. I had originally thought about re creating Mom's dress into one, but I hadn't made any definite decisions  (shocker). Mom said she was off the next day if we wanted to go look at dresses. After all the episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" that I've seen, you'd think I'd know what I want and be ready to look. The opposite was true. I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. I told Mom I'd pray about it. 

The next day we went to lunch and a couple stores, and then Mom asked again if I wanted to go dress shopping. Yes. No. Maybe. Not really. Kind of. ...those were my thoughts. I finally said yes, and I picked a bridal store that I'd gotten a bridesmaid dress from a few years ago. I remembered they'd been nice, and I didn't have an overwhelming amount of options there. Perfect place to start.

Even though the store was quaint, they weren't lacking in options. I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew what I didn't want...story of my life. I didn't want halter, princess gown, tight mermaid, spaghetti straps, or too much bling. Good start, right? Ha. I still had tons of options. I went through the racks looking at dress, having a reason why I didn't like most of them. I picked out a few to start off with, but I didn't love any of them on the rack.

Emily came over to me and said, "Lindsey, you've got to see this rack! But don't look at the prices...just look at how beautiful the dresses are!" That's never a good sign. I went over there to see what she was so excited about, and at the first dress I knew what she meant. The whole rack was full of beautiful lace dresses...expensive, beautiful lace dresses.

I have seen almost every episode of "Say Yes to the Dress", and I know that the girls always try on dresses that are out of the budget to see what it's like, fall in love, and then try to figure out which kidney to sell in order to pay for the dress. While I knew that was a "no-no" in dress shopping, I turned into one of those girls...I put them in my pile to try on anyways. Yes, I am ashamed.

I went to the dressing room to try on the 4 dresses we picked out. First I tried on an A-line silk taffeta dress with a brooch on the side. Being petite and having a short waist, the dress was clearly meant for a tall person, and I didn't like where the brooch hit on my waist. It was a no. The second dress was satin and mermaid with a big bow thing on the back...it accentuated my rear...no good. The 3rd dress  more of a princess gown...not my thing. NEXT DRESS PLEASE! The 4th (and last one) was lace and organza, and it was a relaxed mermaid fit. I really liked it...of course I did. It was off the "don't look at the price" rack!

When I was walking back to the fitting room from the terrible mirror room, my mom was looking through the clearance samples. She came across a lace dress that was a champagne color with white lace overlay, and it looked really dark. It was REALLY heavy in the bag, and we joked how if I wore that dress, I'd have to explain to people why my dress wasn't white! I told Mom I was done with the dresses we pulled, so I'd try that one on just to see what the color looked like off the rack. I took it in my fitting room and looked at the tag...the clearance price was over half off of the original price. Hello, that'd be a deal for someone!

I went in the hall between the fitting rooms, and the sales associate tied me up in the back. My mom said she was surprised that it didn't look as dark on, but it just added contrast to the white lace. Emily loved it, and I could tell Mom was starting to really like it as well. When I was all tied up, I went to the mirror room. I loved it! I had always wanted a lace dress, but I had ruled it out of my mind because I knew that it would be expensive. BUT this dress was over 50% off. It was perfect! The only thing that has to be altered is the hem, and since it was a sample I could take it home with me that day.

That was the first wedding thing that was obviously a provision of God. I'd wanted a lace dress, but didn't expect it because I knew it'd be out of the budget. The night before we went to look at dresses, I'd asked my mom about the budget and how much would be reasonable for a dress. She said about $500 would be reasonable...I didn't complain, but I did wonder what I would find for around $500. The awesome part is that not only was my dress over 50% off, but the clearance price was $499. Not only was my dream dress on sale, but it was $1 UNDER what we'd set for a budget. What a beautiful picture of God's provision. When we least expect it, he shows is sovereignty and provides in great ways.

This was my wedding dress from heaven. Ignore my serious look, glistening face, and half straight hair...the bridal portrait day is another story for another day. It was a fun day, but it was H.O.T.

My Mother of the Bride

Unlike Father of the Bride, there is not a movie about the mother of the bride. However, there should be. I'm SURE it would be quite entertaining.

My mom has been there through every major and minor event of this wedding. She has given affirmation, taken care of what I don't want to deal with, and spent hours upon hours trying to make this wedding everything I want.

Some things I've heard her say through all of this...

"We really need to get together to discuss the reception."

"I think we need to cut the guest list"

"Why do we feel like we have to DIY everything?"

"We really need to get this done by Saturday."

"Let me look at my list."

While there have been some "intense fellowship" between my mother and I (in which my father served as the mediator) over the last few months over wedding festivities, the last few weeks have been very different. A married friend said to me the other day, "My mom drove me crazy during my wedding planning. Is your mom driving you crazy?" I thought for a second, and although a few months ago, I might have said yes, (no offense, Mom...I drove you crazy too :)) I said "not at all" honestly. How could she drive me crazy when she's washing my clothes, helping me set up and clean my classrooms, organizing my gifts, washing my new dishes, helping me organize my house, shopping with me for toilet brushes, giving me honest opinions, cleaning my house, helping paint, giving me advice about housekeeping, planning my wedding, dipping 1200 peanut butter balls, finishing the programs, scoping out furniture at antique stores while I'm at school so I can check them out after, coordinating everyone's schedules during the wedding weekend, and many many other things. She's not driving me crazy. She's driving me sane! If I didn't have her, I would be crazy right now. For instance, as I typed this blog, she verified our schedule for tomorrow, made sure I knew where Wesley's ring was, retrieved a lamp in the attic for my new home, and reminded me that I would eventually need to move my belongings out of her house. She is a remarkable woman with many talents, abilities, skills, and taste.

The relationship I have with my mom is unlike any other that I have. I have wonderful friends, but my mom is the person that I am the most honest with. She is the one that I can argue with one minute, and ooh and ahh over a pretty rug or lamp with the next minute. She is the one that I'm down right stubborn with, but yet highly value her opinion. She is one of my very best friends, and I'm so blessed to have her as my mom.

If you ask me, "like mother, like daughter" is the best compliment one can give.

Little Details

Today marks one month from the big day. In honor of the fact that we're almost less than a month away, I'd like to share some fun facts.

Part of being a "DIY" bride is feeling the need to DIY everything...or DEY...whatever. I enjoy crafts and making handmade things, so naturally I want to make our wedding personal with little details. 

Here is one detail that will be at the reception. Since I have no doubt that my brother and his friends (although grown) would throw full packets of birdseed or just throw the tube of bubbles when Wesley and I leave after the reception, we looked for alternatives. My mom stumbled across ribbon wands when she was looking at Joann's one day. They were on clearance for 2.99 for 25. They were originally 19.99. 

She bought a few boxes and brought them home to show them to me. I liked them, but the only problem was they were stark white and everything in our wedding is more ivory or off white. Yes, you're right. That is a big problem.

We looked for a solution, and my mother saved the day. She found ribbon that matched some of our colors and we re-strung the ribbon.

finished product

Yes, it does look like Cousin It. However, we will have them in several holders so people won't be so confused as to what that thing is.

Want to guess what this is for? 

How I did our invitations...

In May, I rejoiced over finally deciding on our  invitations after several weeks of procrastinating. 

In July, I rejoiced over being able to mark "assemble and mail out invitation" off our wedding to-do list. 

Today, I will explain the process of designing, for those of you that may care. 

I started looking at invitation in early January, and shopped around for the best prices. I compared prices from different websites like 123print.com, vistaprint.com, and minted.com. I liked some of the invitations I saw, but none of them "struck my fancy". The ones that did strike my fancy were outrageously expensive for the amount that I was inviting. We needed 500 invitations, and they would have $927 on minted.com. Now, if I were having a smaller wedding with 100 invitations, I would have considered minted.com because they have  really cute invitations. However, that just wasn't going to work for this bargainista. 

We have a family friend that is a vistaprint.com queen. She knows how to get the best deals on the best things, and she shared her knowledge with us. I found an invitation that I liked on there, but I still didn't love it. I saw where you could upload your own design, so I decided to try my hand at some photoshop stuff. 

I found this cutesy invitation on minted.com...

I then used photoshop to make my own. I used brushes for the border, found on brusheezy.com, and I downloaded fun fonts from dafont.com

I ordered a few to see if I liked them in person, and waited for them to come in. They said they would ship in 21 days, and in 3 days they were on my door step. I liked them! However, there was a typo. Sad day. Yes, I could have just edited it, but I decided the color was a little dull, and I wanted to try something a little brighter. 

I then found this one on minted.com, and I used it for inspiration. It looked fresh and clean. Well, it looked as fresh and clean as any invitation could look. 

This was the finished product. As you can see, it's not identical to the $927 for 500 invitation, but it is similar. I actually like it better :). I uploaded it to vistaprint.com, and looked to see what specials were going on. Our vistaprint.com queen told us the specials could be different everytime you sign on. I looked after I uploaded and the invitations were 25% off. It was a decent deal, but I wanted it to be cheaper. I waited a few minutes, and reloaded...still 25% off. I wait a few more minutes and checked my email in the mean time. Lo and behold! There was an advertisement on my AOL screen for 50% off invitations! BINGO! I clicked and was able to order 550 invitations with a linen finish for $145. 

As I said before, Mom kept a meticulous Excel spreadsheet of the guest list. When it came time to address them, she printed them straight onto the envelopes in a pretty font. We knew we were having an invitation party, so she printed them several at the time for a couple weeks. 

Also, because I had the photoshop brushes (border), I used the same brush and idea to make thank you cards, an insert card, and a tag for hostess gifts. I printed the insert cards and tags on business cards, and I'm still in the process of tweaking the thank you note. 

Ironically enough, I don't want matchy matchy things in the wedding...with the exception of my stationary and invitations. My, my, I am so complex.

Bake til you break

Last night, every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same thing.

"What is it", you ask?

Mini pie crusts.

"Why", you ask?

Because Mom, Aunt Joyce, Caitlin, and I made 1206 of them yesterday.

Yes, you read correctly. Yesterday, we began baking pie crusts for chicken salad tarts for the reception. We started around 10:30. We finished around 5. Then we began to make peanut butter balls. We didn't finish that.

I've heard of "Shop til you drop", but yesterday I experienced "Bake til you break."

These are the instructions for this DIY reception food.

Materials:
Five 24 mini muffin pans
Two mixers
3-4 people
A crust recipe (including a gross amount of Crisco)
A peanut butter ball recipe




Instructions:
Clear 10 hours out of your schedule. Put on comfortable shoes. Bake until you reach 1200 pie crusts.Add a few extra for fun. Easy shmeasy!

Make peanut butter balls. Roll 1266 of them. No problem!






Mom and Aunt Joyce are wonderful kitchen masters. By 11:30, we had it down to a science. We rolled the dough, pressed it in the mini cup pans, put the pans in the oven for 12 minutes. We, then, prepared another 2 pans to go in the oven immediately after the other ones were cooked. We continued this rotation until we had successfully baked 1206 crusts.

We then began working on peanut butter balls. Caitlin and Courtney had joined the fun by this point, and they were great help! We rolled about 400 last night, but Mom and Aunt Joyce woke up this morning and finished rolling them. Grand total: 1266 peanut butter balls.

I realized at about 2:30 that I had not been mentally prepared for the day. I knew we were cooking all day. I don't think that I understood fully that we were cooking ALL day. It turned out to be a fun day though. Lots of girl bonding and sweet friends and family.

 

See, we did have time to smile in the midst of hours of cooking! :) I think the cute aprons contributed to some of the smiling. Cooking is so pleasant when you're wearing a cute apron!

Until next time, 

Lindsey, the master pastry presser

My Father of the Bride

One of my favorite movies of all time is "Father of the Bride". I can quote almost every line, and for some reason it never gets old. George and Nina Banks feel like family friends, and I still think that Brian Mackenzie is a little awkward. 

Anyway, this movie has taken on more meaning within the last 8 months. I see some similarities in my dad and George Banks. Like when we discovered how many people were on our initial list and we had to trim back, I flashed back to the scene where the Banks family is sitting around the table knocking people off the guest list and contemplating just telling them not to eat. 

Obviously, if you know my dad, you know he didn't say that. But here are some things that he has said over this whole wedding planning process...

"Why do I keep hearing "we can take that back if we don't use it"? Why did we buy it if we don't know that we'll need it?"

"If something is 80% off, but you buy 4 times as much as you need, what are you really doing?"

"Where you gonna put all that stuff?"

"Ladies, Ladies!" (When Mom and I have "discussions")

"Do I have to go to that party?"

"Now when is this wedding of yours? I'll have to check my calendar."

When re-checking invitations, he was on editing duty.

"Did we mean to put the wrong return address on the envelopes?" (luckily he was kidding...I got nervous.)

"You sure that's spelled right?

"Is that supposed to have 2 L's?

"Don't they live in Newville and not Headland?"

"Who is that?"

In conclusion, Daddy has been a trooper through all the wedding fun. He has listened to every decision dilemma I've had, affirmed my jewelry choices, seen me try on my dress numerous times and acted like it's the first time every time, acted interested when I've shown him DIY projects, and never once complained about any of it...including cost.

He's been there to remind Mom and I to "be anxious for nothing" several times, and prayed for us when I couldn't decide what invitation I wanted. 

Step back, George Stanley Banks. Tim Gay's the best Father of the Bride ever. 

You're invited...

Tonight was the night. 

Tonight we made a huge mark.

Tonight we dominated our to do list. 

Tonight we stuffed. 

Tonight we stamped. 

Tonight we sealed. 

Tomorrow we mail. 

You guessed it. Tonight, we had an invitation party. Our sweet friends hosted it for us, and we were able to knock out the assembling process in, what I consider, record timing. 

There was much preparation that went into the invitations. While designing/choosing the invitations was stressful for me, the guest list was an even greater task. My mom compiled the list, along with Wesley's mom, and organized it meticulously in Excel.  She then mail merged them and printed the envelopes. Last night, the night before the invitation party, she and Dad proofed the envelopes carefully. The chose the Santa Claus approach of making a list and checking it twice. 

They so diligently double and triple checked addresses, names, and spellings. I must say, they make quite a team. Have I mentioned that I'm not sure how I'd get married if I had to do everything myself? 

Anyway, we carried our envelopes, invitations, stamps, and handy dandy envelope moisteners over to our friends' house. We ate a delicious meal, consisting of foods that I may have to try my hand at after Sept 24th, and then set up stations to assemble the invitations. 

We began around 6:50, and we finished around 7:25. Record timing? Yes. The time flew by and before we knew it, 460 invitations were ready to mail. 

The "Mommas"

Sweet friends that came to help

The wonderful hostesses

We had a great time, and we are so thankful for such sweet people to help with what could have been such a daunting task. Thank you so much!!

My Breaking News Report

Much has happened since I last expressed my sentiments for the world to see. I haven't been to the beach since my momentous day off, but I have had other fun things happen.

One fun thing happened a couple of weeks ago. I was at home on my off day...minding my own business...looking at possible wedding music. All of a sudden I have a message and friend request from someone I've never seen before. The message started out "Hey Lindsey, this is (insert name here)", and I proceeded carefully knowing the consequences of clicking on spam messages from Facebook. However the message was safe, and somewhat comical. She started by introducing herself and stated she was from WDHN (a local news station). She said she got my name from someone I went to high school with, and she was doing a story on weddings/doing it yourself/ways to save and heard I'd be a great interview...HA. This is one of those situations that you sit and literally "lol" (laugh out loud), wishing someone was there to share in the humor of the situation. Alas, no one was with me.

Anyway, I thought about it for a few minutes, texted my mom to share in this comical scene (since the week before we'd both been stressed to the max by all the do it yourself/do it ourselves projects we've accumulated...which is a different story for a different post on a different day...), and then I responded to the anchor with my phone number. I didn't expect to get a call quickly, but much to my surprise, by phone rang within a couple hours. I wasn't sure if she'd want to meet somewhere or do the interview over the phone. However, we talked over the possibilities and decided that she and the cameraman would come to my house two days later. Needless to say, I cleaned like a mad woman the next day...;)

Wednesday morning came, and at 9:56 a news reporter and cameraman came to my house. I showed them the wedding paraphernalia upstairs, and explained all of the different projects we'd completed, as well as those that we're planning to complete...eventually. She asked me questions about the food, how to save, where I looked for deals, when to start, how many people we were having, etc. I showed them my dress, my invitations, my flowers, my centerpieces, and of course my shoes. They stayed for about 45 minutes, and then went on their merry way.

Throughout the wedding planning process, I have tried to keep my focus on the purpose of a wedding. The purpose of a wedding is to...spend $500,000 and go into debt for 50 years, hire other people to do everything for you, and be mad because things didn't turn out your way on that day? Yes. Exactly. SIKE (Yes, I just pulled a phrase from the 90's.) The goal and purpose of a wedding is to get married. Whether I spend $500,000 or $5, the end result is the same...marriage. I'd rather spend less, save more, and plan/decorate myself/with mom (even if it does cause my grey hairs to quadruple). Now I am not judging those people that have very costly weddings, nor am I saying they're lazy for hiring people to do everything for them. I'm saying that  a Do-It-Yourself (Myself, Ourselves, Themselves...whatever) wedding with personal touches and sentimental details not only will be more meaningful for me on the day of our wedding, but will provide memories for years to come.

I'm not sure if you caught it, but I said earlier that the random facebook message from the news anchor came a few days after Mom and I were ready  to pull our hair out over wedding planning. I was ready to forfeit, she was ready to quit...it was not pretty. We both had massive wedding to do lists full of conditional tasks. For instance we couldn't get table runners until we got table cloths, but we couldn't get table cloths until we knew what size tables we'd need. BUT we couldn't figure out what size tables until we went to look at them and set them up....the conditions could go on and on. Needless to say, we were over the whole wedding planning thing. Once again though, I'm amazed by God's timing. The day after a wedding meltdown, I got the facebook message. I agreed to be interviewed, and thus had to organize all my completed projects and put them in one location. Mom and I realized through gathering the completed projects just how much we have accomplished.  It was like God was forcing us to look at what we'd already done, and "be anxious for nothing", as my dad so often reminds us throughout this journey called engagement.

I try to search for purpose in life's happenings. For instance, when I was called about the interview, I thought "Why do I have this opportunity? Is God wanting to use me in some way and use this story to do something other than just entertain the local news watcher?" My conclusion: I'll probably never know. Even if the only purpose that He had was to give me a chance to look back and reflect on the process thus far, then 1) I'm thankful for the opportunity and 2) I'm very impressed by His creativity! :)

If you haven't seen the segment, here's the link from WDHN. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Bride on a Budget :)

To DIY or not to DIY

I have quite a dilemma these days. What is it, you ask?

To DIY or not to DIY...that is the question.

For those of you who may not know, DIY is Do It Yourself. In the realm of weddings, there are so many creative ideas, tutorials, articles, and magazines devoted to those who enjoy DIYing (or DIT...Doing It Themselves). Being the craft lover that I am, I get sucked in. I want to DIY (or DIM...Do It Myself). But the question is how much is too much? How many things should I decided to DIY (DIM)?

I love craft projects, but I'm guilty of over committing myself to projects and hobbies. I think that I can do it all myself. I have a hard time using that handy tactic that I learned in 5th grade-"Just Say No". In attempting to plan a budget friendly wedding, it's ESPECIALLY hard to say "no" to the money saving crafts. Can't you see my dilemma?

There are several things I'm contemplating DIY...DIMing...Doing myself...whatever. Right now, invitations are on the top of my "maybe I should DIY (DIM)" list. We shall see.

So do I DIM? or do I let someone else DIT and pay them for it? Such a predicament.

Here was my latest DIY (DIM) project! It comes with a tutorial as well.

HOW TO MAKE SUPER FUN WEDDING SHOES:


You will need:

• 1 plain, boring, simple pair of pumps

• 1 brooch that you've had for 2 years

• lots of prayer that someone is selling the exact same brooch on ebay

First buy the plain shoes.

Find a brooch that fits perfectly.

Pray for and buy the matching brooch on eBay.

Voila! Super fun wedding shoes! 

 

 

 

 

 

 Pardon me while I prop up my feet...:)

Like Manna from Heaven...

I am often amazed at God's provision in my life. I have never been without something I didn't need, and often times without something I didn't want. I am overwhelmingly blessed by the family I've been given, my significant other, my wonderful friends, the opportunity to go to college and study music, the opportunity to go to a CHRISTIAN college, the experiences I've been able to have, etc. Lately I've been overwhelmed at the Lord's provision for wedding plans. Things are falling into place quickly and pretty easily (or it seems that way).

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about decisions and shoes. Since then, I found a truly awesome pair of shoes! Then I returned them. I know, kind of an anti-climactic story. It gets better, I promise.

I returned those awesome shoes to Dillard's and decided to look for some different truly awesome shoes. Wesley was actually with me, so I asked his opinion. Of course, he picked out the simplest shoes. Plain Jane. Boring. Cute and comfortable, but still not very interesting. I actually went ahead and got them...he's quite the persuasive one. I got them home and finally admitted to myself that I actually liked the simple more than the elaborate ones that I had first gotten. I still wanted something to spruce them up...some bling, some flowers, some something! I looked on etsy.com for shoe clips and found some interesting ones, but nothing that "struck my fancy" as my mother would say. I thought I was going to have to walk down the aisle with boring, plain ole blush/champagne colored shoes. Yes, I realize no one will actually see my shoes, but knowing that they're there will make me stand up straighter, I promise. Just go with me on this one.

So I was in my room last week writing a lesson plan. I looked down at my plain wedding shoes and thought "I need to find something to do with those." I looked for some type of jewelry that I could put up to my shoe just for a visual example. I saw a brooch on my dresser that I had gotten a couple years ago to wear with a dress for a recital I played in. I thought, "Hmm....that's pretty. Maybe I can find something like that. I'll try it to see what it looks like." ( Yes, I always think in complete sentences...) So I put it on my shoe. Then, something AMAZING happened.

It fit PERFECTLY. The shoes are peep toe and the narrowest part is 2 inches...the back of the brooch is 2 inches. It was meant to be!!

"But wait..." you say (as I did). "You only have one brooch, and you have two shoes." You are correct. It made me sad to realize this. I racked my brain to remember the brand of the brooch so I could look it up online. I remembered it was Liz Claiborne, and typed "Liz Claiborne rhinestone brooch" into Google. Lots of brooches. None of them were the ones I needed. I went to eBay expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I typed it in the search and scrolled down, and I saw a blurry picture of a rhinestone brooch! Could it be?! I clicked on it to get a closer look...my computer was taking forever! I grabbed my brooch and ran into the living room and pulled it up on Mom's computer. I held my brooch up next to the picture and got a second opinion. After discussion, we decided that YES!! It was the exact same brooch!! I had to order it! I bid on it...but then I had to wait 4 days until the auction was over. It was nerve racking....but fear not! Today, I am the proud owner of 2 brooches for my 2 wedding shoes. It should be coming in the mail the day after tomorrow!

It turns out she bought the brooch 2 years ago and it fell behind her dresser. She recently found it and didn't need it anymore. Thank you, Lord for allowing her to misplace that brooch!

So while brooches on shoes may seem like just another fun detail to the wedding, they are much more than that for me. When I put on those shoes on September 24th (8 months from yesterday), those brooches will be reminder that my God is Jehovah Jirah. He will provide. He provided something as small and seemingly insignificant as the brooches on my shoes. I know I can trust in Him for my future.

Matthew 6:25-34

25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?^g 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I'll post a picture when I get the other :)

I'll leave you with a blast from the past. This was March 2006. Before we were dating...ahh the memories...

Preparing to teach and planning to wed...

I made it through my first two days of student teaching this week! Of course, I didn't actually teach anything this week, but just having two days under my proverbial belt makes me feel better about this spring. I'll start teaching Kindergarten and 1st grade music classes in a couple weeks, and then build from there. After watching my cooperating teacher teach every grade over 2 days, I realized something about Kindergarten kiddos. They think EVERYTHING is funny. They tell you random facts. They raise their hand to tell you that their birthday is in July. I already have 2 Kindergarten kiddo stories after 2 days.

1) Upon the music teacher introducing me to the class as "Miss Lindsey" a girl raised her hand and said, "I had a dog named Lindsey once! But she died." The teacher responded, "You had a DOG named Lindsey?? That's a girl name!" The little girl said matter-of-factly, "Yeh, it was a GIRL dog!"

2) The second isn't quite as interesting, but it made me laugh. After the teacher explained why an unfamiliar girl (me) was sitting at her desk, the whole class stood up to look at me. They all waved with blank stares like they weren't so sure about whether I was going to be nice or not. Then one little boy, who was staring the most intently out of the whole class said, "I like your necklace", and immediately sat back down. I'm so glad that my fashion sense was confirmed by a 5 year old boy! :)

Another funny thing happened after a 3rd grade class in which the teacher had introduced me and given a small tidbit of my life. She told them where I went to college, that I am engaged, and that I am getting married this year. After class, two 3rd grade girls asked to look at my ring. I don't think I even knew what an engagement ring was in 3rd grade. Just kidding, but seriously I wouldn't have thought to ask to look at a ring in 3rd grade. I'm used to college girls and women asking to see my ring, but 3rd graders was a new experience. It was an experience that made me laugh, nonetheless.

It should be fun, but I just have to work on my comedy act for the Kindergarten classes to get them laughing...which shouldn't be too hard. Yesterday they thought a song about hippos in the snow was the most hilarious song ever written! Yet another reminder that the next 2 months will be fun and filled with stories!

Well wedding planning is in full swing. I still don't have any super awesome shoes, but it will come. It's funny to look back each week and see how much has been decided or changed in the wedding plans...even in a week. This week we set the date.

We are planning to get married September 24th.

I didn't want the date to get lost in the rest of the words. Mark your calendar, save the date, circle the number, etc. I'll let the blog world know if it changes, but I don't think it will now. Having a date makes it so much more real, and it gives us a goal to work towards and a specific time to look forward to. We're excited! :) I feel like it's all going to come together, and hopefully for a reasonable price. My goal is to be practical and simple, but still classy.

I came up with some themes the other day while I was cleaning my room. Prepare yourself. The awesomeness of the alliterations may have the potential to blow your mind. Just kidding, but I really like alliterations so I'm proud of my themes.

Neutral and Natural. Linen and Lace. I like the neutral and natural colors, and I think linen and lace add a southern charm of sorts. We'll see if I stick with these themes. Hopefully I will because if I don't, I'm not sure if I can come up with anymore alliterations...

Be inspired by this inspiration board by  Every Last Detail blog

Decisions, Decisions....

As of yesterday, I have been engaged for 5 weeks. Although I haven't made a huge dent in the to do list of planning the wedding, I have made a dent in my research. I have come to a conclusion. There are about 1239874234 decisions that have to be made between now and the time I get married. Such as...

What color do I want the bridesmaids to wear?

What shade of that color would look good?

What material of that shade would be good?

What flowers should there be?

What shade of those flowers would look best?

How many of each shade would be good?

How many pew markers should there be?

Will we have a singer?

Who will sing?

What will they sing?

At what point will they sing?

Where should we register?

What should we register for?

When should we register?

How many towels should we register for?

What color towels do we want?

How many lamps do we need in our house?

What color furniture should we get?

Oh...and where will we be living?

Geez Louise. Yes, I'm getting a little carried away...mostly for dramatic effect. But as I participated in a best friend's wedding a couple weeks ago, I realized something. There are a bajillion decisions that go into one day...3 hours really. Of course some of the decisions on registry and where we will live are life decisions... (no pressure), but the others effect 3 hours of our life. At the end of our wedding day, we'll be married. Whether we have cake and punch or a sit down meal, we'll still be married. Whether we have roses and peonies or wildflowers, we'll still be married. Whether my bridesmaids wear gold or chartreuse, we'll still be married...but probably short a few girl friends :) Basically, I've come to the conclusion that I want to take it all in stride, enjoy the wedding planning process, and most importantly-take it ONE DAY at a time. ONE DECISION at a time. 

Today, I made a decision about my shoes. I decided I want fun shoes. I don't know if I'll have colored ones, but I do want interesting ones. After all, pretty shoes make you feel pretty! In less, of course, they're uncomfortable, then they just make you irritated. So I guess I just made another decision... I want fun, semi comfortable shoes. Another decision! I'm on a roll. 

I've already begun my quest to find said shoes. I started with Ivory just for my conservative side's sake. In my search, I found these super awesome shoes!

While they are, as previously stated, super awesome, I've decided not to get them. At least not right now. I came to this conclusion for 2 reasons. 1) They're in Europe and I don't know my size in UK shoe sizes, 2) They're $70 and I can't justify buying them impulsively without trying them on knowing that I'll probably only wear them on my wedding day.

Either way, they're still some of my favorite shoes to look at. Excuse me....at which to look. (Thanks to my 6th grade English teacher, every time I end a sentence with a preposition, I get onto myself. )

Yet another decision made today. Whew, I think I might turn my decision making off for now and enjoy this New Years Day.

Happy 2011!...a year of many decisions and exciting times :)