Category Archives: Random Thoughts/Little Things to Tell You

a beautiful start to a lifelong love letter

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Photos by Mary Costa Photography

A few of my friends have gotten engaged in the past few months, and with that my own wedding has come and gone and I realized that I never told you guys how it went, what we did, etc. Probably because during the wedding I figured I’d sound like a stressed out crazy person, and right after I just wanted to relax and be married.

Now that I have gotten some distance from planning, partying, and basking in the glow of the married life, I wanted to give you a glimpse into my wedding and advice for yours (if you ever choose to get married and are thinking “what have I gotten myself into, read on!)

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* Enjoy your engagement: We were engaged for almost two years. I loved every second of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I would say take a month (or two, or in our case, six!) to enjoy being engaged and the excitement of THAT before you even dive into planning. There are basically two options – you have a long engagement and a wedding planning that’s broken into two parts (big stuff like venue, location, date, then smaller stuff closer to the wedding), or you have a short engagement with no break in between. I loved hammering the big stuff out first then chilling for about six months before really getting into the nitty gritty.

*First thing: set your budget (low!): Unless you’re somehow lucky enough to have no budget, you have to do this part first. Set your budget for 25% less than what you think you can afford because it WILL go up. Talk to the players involved (parents, grandparents, etc.) and figure out what you are spending. Everything else comes after this – you can’t look at locations without knowing what you’re going to spend. And here is the truth – you can get married for $500 or $500,000, so nothing is too small – don’t freak yourself out about it too much. Weddings can be very expensive, but they also can be gorgeous on a budget.

* Think about the 3 most important things: Think about the top three things that are important to you, and ask your fiance to do the same. For us, it was food, location, and dance time. That’ll help you identify where to spend the most on your wedding, and where you can cut corners. For example, I wasn’t super into a really fancy wedding dress, I didn’t feel like we needed a video (so we had a friend shoot one, thanks Megan!), but I knew that I wanted a DJ that would play what I wanted to hear and I knew that I wanted to get married outside. Figure out what these things are from the beginning and it’ll make planning a breeze.

*Identify your “events” surrounding the wedding: Nowadays people live all over and if you’re like me, you probably don’t have tons of money to just fly willy nilly all over the country (you’re saving for a  wedding, for goodness sake!) So figure out your expectations around the wedding first. Do you need t00o have a bachelorette or bachelor party with ALL wedding party present? Do you want a shower? Do you want to go dress shopping with your family? Do you want a big rehearsal dinner? Do you want a brunch the next day? Do you want to go straight on your honeymoon? Think about these things so you can work within your budget and your friends budgets – be respectful of your bridal party’s time, too! We had a small shower in Chicago with a rolled in bach dinner, and I had a bach weekend with my ladies in LA, which was all perfect!

* DIYing: If you’re DIY-ing everything, spread out the tasks so that each friend is doing one small thing. This helped us immensely at our wedding – Traci made our seating chart, Ellen did the table numbers, Corelyn and Melissa did the burlap/lace table clothes, Kylah was in charge of day-of flowers, and we all pitched in to make the bouquets and boutonnieres (well most my dad, but that’s ok). Plus, it was amazing to see all the crafts come together the day of – really special and humbling to see all the work my friends put in to the wedding!

* Remember it’s your wedding: Don’t give into wedding hype if you’re not into certain things (themes, wedding colors, favors, etc.) We had white linen at the wedding. We didn’t have a champagne toast. We didn’t do favors or seating cards. And it was all fine – people toasted with whatever they were drinking, we had a seating chart, and nobody even noticed. If you have something you care about, awesome. But if you’re not that into it, chances are you don’t need the “extras.” You also want the wedding to be personal to you – so remember that if you do want wedding colors and favors, and hand-written seating cards then you should have those things. See “think about the 3 most important things.”

* Things will go wrong – but it’s ok!: Things inevitably will go wrong, but they will be minor – as long as you let them be. We had a couple mishaps (Lauren in fact was the one who reminded me she forgot her bridesmaid dress) but it was fine. She got another dress. She still made the rehearsal dinner. If you just realize the day will be amazing no matter what, then mishaps will surely be breezed over.

I definitely have more advice specific and general, but this is getting long, so I’ll stop here. I will say this – email me or call me (or come over, let’s be real) and we can talk more. Let me know if you need helping planning your wedding (several of you engaged ladies know who you are who I’ve been harassing to give me assignments) and let me know if you have questions. I have a killer spreadsheet. Corelyn (for those of you who know her) was a great resource, too. Just remember this – your wedding is a start to your marriage. It’s a celebration of all that’s happened and all yet to come. It’s a day to remember for certain, and it will be beautiful.

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come build me up // come shed your light

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I love new year’s. I love a new start. I love a new planner. I love a chance to start fresh, keeping in mind everything that happened last year and beyond. I love organizing things and organizing life into months and years is just so convenient, don’t you think?

Last year I made some new year’s resolutions, and some I kept and some I didn’t. I’m reupping several, therefore, to hope to make them this year, and adding some new ones for good measure. I like the idea of vague goals for some things (more free time) and concrete goals for others (300 miles to run). So without further ado, here are my goals.

  • read 52 books (I read 26 last year, half of my goal, but double the year before)
  • find more free time for walking, wandering, laughing, sunshine, giggling, and Scrabble (guys, I am the queen of overbooking, in case you didn’t know)
  • run 300 miles (I ran 107 and 2014. Let’s hope this summer isn’t hella hot and I can actually run outside from May to September, or find a gym to join I like)
  • do an unassisted headstand (which goes hand and hand with more yoga and killer arms and shoulders, please thank you)
  • move (we have been trying to move for literally four years, and I can feel in my bones 2015 is the year of the house)
  • reevaluate my recipe wheelhouse (the thing about having a food blog is you tend to make things either once or over and over and over again. If I feed Corelyn chicken quesadillas one more time I think she’s going to leave me, so we’d better find some new fun things Jeff will eat that are also healthy – and quick!)

Here’s to 2015. Here’s to adventuring and friends’ weddings and camping and sunshine and running and laughing and playing and fun. Happy New Year, lovelies – may your first weekend of the year be as cleansing as mine.

xo

 

you’re vicious like the blue sky

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Jeff has been working crazy hours, and I have been sick, so this Sunday, which is the first day in a week I am really feeling like myself, I am enjoying a relaxing day doing exactly the following things:

writing thank you cards // working on wedding stuff // crossing things off my list // catching up on GMS stuff long neglected // photographing some delicious foods made by E // video chatting with my family because my dad is the best // eating pizza for breakfast // drinking coffee for the first time since Tuesday // listening, twice, to Matt Nathanson Live at the Point because, damn. // heading to yoga to flow it out // reading the book club book // cracking open the latest NatGeo with gusto // making playlists, because it’s been too long // braiding my hair, always // contemplating why baby mockingbirds have made their home in the tree outside our window // researching the nesting period of mockingbirds // don’t worry it’s only 12-14 days // good news, they don’t reuse their nests // writing for GMS because, funfetti. // missing my boo but knowing i’ll see him this week // living.

happy Sunday, loves.

We are citizens….It describes the way we’re made.

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President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address this week, and I am a little behind to the party. I watched it yesterday morning, and cried no less than four times.

I hope you find a chance to watch it; how many of us find time to watch endless hours of TV, but don’t find 60 minutes to spend watching the President address our country and fill us in on his plans? Even if you don’t agree with him, you should be educated in what’s happening in Washington, so you can participate in our democracy.

I am so proud to call this President mine, someone I elected twice. His words on how to get jobs into the US, how to help immigrants achieve their dreams, and his dedication to this Earth (and realizing global warming is real) was amazing.

One of his quotes has really stuck with me:

But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can — to secure this nation, expand opportunity, uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

We were sent here to look out for our fellow Americans the same way they look out for one another, every single day, usually without fanfare, all across this country. We should follow their example.

– President Barack Obama, SOTU 2013, February 12, 2013

Here is the full video!

We can get this done, America.

 

 

30 day cleanse: here we go.

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Well kids, it’s day 2 of my self-imposed-roping-Jeff-in-too cleanse. Here’s what’s on our list of no-no’s:

Cheese (1st week)
Red meat (2 weeks)
White flour (1 month)
Processed foods (1 month)
Fried foods (1 month)
Alcohol (1 month)

Day 1 was hard because I was hungry for most of the day due to my rushed lunch-making. I made a salad but didn’t have time to add a proper protein, so instead of delicious tuna or chicken I had a handful of edamame, which just wasn’t quite enough. My snack drawer at work is full of processed foods, so I had to turn to granola (mostly nuts) and fruit (mostly citrus) which wasn’t exactly filling.

Day 2 was hard because I went out to lunch with my coworkers, and had to figure out a way to not sound like a snotty hippy. I got a kale sandwich on wheat bread (whole grain/wheat bread is a cheat I’ve allowed because I don’t have time to be making my own bread all month) but it had cheese on it, so looks like I’m tacking on a non-cheese day to the end of the week.

I know, I know, this sounds like torture, right? So why am I doing this?

Well, for one, I want to see if I can eat unprocessed foods for a whole month. You quickly realize all the things that you can’t have, but I want this to teach me just what I can have. I can have any fruit or veggie I want. I can have whole grains (think quinoa, brown rice, farro, barley, bulgur) and eggs and dairy (save cheese for week one.) Learning what is processed will get Jeff and me to think about what we are putting into our bodies.

Secondly, I want to get back to cooking at home on a regular basis. In December we got busy, and the first thing to go is cooking, because it’s time consuming, which is understandable. But if we pay attention to the task of preparing food for ourselves, we’re doing ourselves a favor of keeping our bodies healthy (see number one.)

Thirdly, I haven’t been doing the best at eating my fruits and veggies, and winter is even tougher to get those fruits in there (hello clementine number 7 of the day!) Limiting what I can eat makes me rely on fruits and veggies for nutrients, which is how it should be, because they’re chocked full of everything needed to guarantee a nutritious diet.

Finally, because somewhere between “yes” and “let me see the video,” in the excitement of the engagement, I agreed to run a half-marathon, and I think taking care of my body will help me get to a place where running, yoga, and general exercise are taken in stride rather as a burden.

So for the next month, things here might get a little cleanse-heavy and a little running heavy, too. I hope you stick with me, friends.