70

70 days.

Wow. 

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So far its been pretty fun--you know, planning your perfect, dreamy wedding, looking at blogs, and collecting photos. But its officially stressful now. As in, I have now lost sleep to wedding plans and stress, its officially stressful.

I know every person who plans a wedding gets stressed and I'm no different, but it doesn't mean that I don't feel like pulling my hair out or crying any less!

Money is always stressful. It feels like we try to be as cheap and thrifty as possible, and yet things still add up.

To save money we had to cut down our guest list a lot. So of course I'm horribly nervous about offending people. And we still have a fairly large guest list, even after all of that. Joey and I have joked about hoping we have a small group show up so we don't have to pay for as much food (just a joke, not an insult to anyone), but we at least wanted our families there. I understand life happens, and I'm not mad (because what would that change?), but I'm pretty bummed out that most of my aunts and uncles and none of my grandparents are even coming. I mean of all of the people I would want there, I'd like my family to be there.

This week I've been trying some of the DIY plans I had....and they are flopping majorly. I tried these yarn globes that you make with balloons, yarn, and watered down glue, and it was just a big slippery mess. I'm sure I could get it down with some more practice, but the time and mess isn't worth it, especially when I planned on making big 18 inch ones to hang in the tent. I've also been spray painting bottles, tea cups, and cake stands I made, and those aren't looking as great as I had imagined either.

And you know what? I really wish I had my mom here to help me. Sometimes it stinks planning a wedding without your mom with you to help you get these things done.

Ok ok, I won't be a total downer. We did have a miracle last week: One of my good friends and her husband are going to make our wedding cake and decorate our reception for us for much less than we would've had to spend with a bakery and wedding coordinator. They are potentially saving us $600-1,000. Friends, you two are major life savers!

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Joey and I are headed to Lynchburg today to get some supplies for the reception, and then tomorrow we are going to DC to meet with our caterer--and then on Saturday we are going to our good friend Charlie's wedding! Oh happy day! Hopefully that will help put all of this wedding stress in perspective. After all, when all is said and done, Joey and I just want to be married, and that's all that matters to us.

I Paint.

I just mixed paint.

And it was incredible.

I took a watercolor class in the fall (turns out, I really dislike water color), but I haven't touched oil paint since senior show last spring. For that, I am embarrassed.
But tonight I dug out my paint and palette knives (and searched desperately for my bottle of liquin) and just started mixing. The moment I smelled the liquin and paint as I mixed and sculpted it with my palette knife was almost indescribable. I felt grounded, stable. I felt at home. I felt more like me. I immediately relaxed (the fact that I've been living alone for the past two days while my housemates are on spring break or working had been getting to me) and let that artistic therapy take over. Sure, this might sound silly--you're probably thinking that I smelled those paint chemicals too much. But I think that I got back to something that is really a part of me. It was like coming home to something I've always known. 

A Little Color

Its snowing right now. Its March 5th, the start of spring break. And its snowing. 

And I don't like it.

It only makes it feel like Spring will never come, which means our wedding will never come. 

So, to cheer myself up, I thought I'd post something I love: flamingoes from a Spring trip to the National Zoo. How charming are they? I just love 'em.

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In other thoughts, I can't get this dream of mine out of my head. World, when I grow up, I want to be a graphic designer. I mean I really want to be a designer. When I think about all of the classes I've taken and the jobs I've tried, design is the one thing I keep coming back to. I never get sick of it; each project is different. I can do it from home and can have a family at the same time.
I've been trying to design for people whenever I can, branching out from the Travel Study and Ballet Company work to designing wedding invitations and prints for friends, but sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. I mean, I've been painting for 10 years and I feel like I'm starting to get a decent grasp on that, but design? I feel like I'm at square one. Sometimes I make something and I think 'shoot, this looks pretty good!'. But then I look at design blogs and I realize how far behind I am. I feel like I'm having to relearn how to be creative.
My plan is to design like crazy this summer and just keep practicing; I really want to do freelance design work, maybe design invitations and wedding and event products. Hopefully I can learn more and really get this off the ground. It makes me nervous and excited and a little confused, but quite hopeful. I feel like I've really found something that I'm passionate about and can do for a long time without getting sick of it.

So, here's to following your dreams!

We Did It.

We ran away.

Well, for a weekend.

As many of you know, Joey and I are beyond done with school, Lexington, and being engaged, and feeling quite burnt out. And last week it was really getting to me. Well, we decided Wednesday that on Thursday night, we would go to Joey's ASME dinner in Lynchburg, and then simply get in the car and just drive to Virginia Beach in the middle of the night. We only told our moms and our roommates, and then escaped as fast as we could.

What We Did:

• Stopped at Wendy's for a Jr. bacon cheeseburger and root beer at 12:30am as we made our way to VA Beach.
• Enjoyed the 80 degrees and sunshine on Friday.
• Totally loved the seagulls hanging out in the parking lots (even though they're dirty and obnoxious).
• Ate pho and spring rolls at Pho 78, Joey's favorite Vietnamese place.
• Got blown around by the crazy wind quite a bit.
• Played with puppies, got my wedding makeup at Sephora, and drank peach Boba at the mall.
• Enjoyed Chanello's Pizza (a VA favorite) and a movie with Joey's dad, Jeremy, and Alex, and also played with Jeremy's albino pet rat, Boo.
• Stopped by Bonefish Friday night to have appetizers and catch up with Joey's mom.
• Cuddled up and watched Thursday night's episode of the office and shared a pint of vanilla bean ice cream.
• Had my first fresh Krispy Kreme donut.
• Went down to the beach (one of my must-do items when we go down there).
• Found the rare pickle potato chips at a Wa-Wa (unfortunately for Joey!).
• I saw a hermit crab for the first time and found a "Virginia is for Lovers" shirt (which I had to get before I left VA) at a surf shop at the beach.
• Ate the famous lobster taco at Baja Cantina, a dive at the ocean front.
• Enjoyed edamame, french fries with herbs and truffle oil, and parmesan chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and mushrooms at the swanky new Yard House. 
• Found room in our stomachs for lemon raspberry and godiva chocolate cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory (which was also Joey's first time there).
• Relaxed and watched Monster's Inc. on Sunday morning.
• Mustered up the courage to drive back to Lexington and the real world. 
• Saw blossoms on the trees in Richmond and smiled knowing spring is approaching.

We definitely ate a lot of food that weekend, but we like to relax by finding cool new restaurants or going somewhere we've never been before and trying some dynamite food. Its our thing, I guess! Even though it was short and we had to come back to real life, it was such a wonderful weekend and gave me the break we both needed to get through the rest of the semester.

And I just have to say, Joey is so incredible. He knew that I was down and unhappy and felt like I was suffocating here, and he decided to put his classes and projects on hold for a couple days to take me away and make sure that I was taken care of. I love that we always know exactly what the other needs to feel happier and more alive and are willing to do pretty much anything to make it happen.

I sure do love him!