On Planning a Wedding

If I were being totally honest, I think I would tell you that I'm sort of over the whole wedding thing.  Not because I don't want to get married - I have the world's greatest fiance, and I can't wait to get married! - but the whole planning process is such a massive undertaking.  In a way, I guess I look longingly at the days of yore when people would gather a few family members, head into town when the itinerant preacher was around, and tie the knot.  Think Laura Ingalls Wilder-style.  It seems a bit unnecessary to have this long, drawn out engagement processes that enables the betrothed couple to plan what feels like it needs to be the greatest party that anyone has ever planned, and heaven help us if all the of the details don't come straight from the world's most trendy Pinterest board.  Because that's not what a marriage is all about, right?  A wedding should be about two people joining their lives together in the sight of God, surrounded by witnesses.  Heck, in this case, I don't even think it needs to be a "great cloud of witnesses."  Just a few would be fine.

I suppose that I sound entirely ungrateful.  Do I want a nice wedding?  Yes.  Do I want to have dear friends there?  Definitely.  Do I want them to enjoy themselves and feel like the trip to get there was worth it?  Absolutely.  It's just that when I'm in the midst of how many tables will you need to have? and do you want white napkins or colored napkins? and if you want to spend $13,000, you could have the best catering service ever! and you need to read these 33 cool ideas for groomsmen, it doesn't feel like it's about joining lives together in the sight of God.  It feels like an industry.

[via my email inbox]

Maybe it's just something that comes with the territory, and I'm ranting about nothing.  I mean, I will admit that I sort of enjoyed looking through the 33 cool ideas for groomsmen (though I can't say I was into all the groomsmen wearing black tuxes while the actual groom wore a white one, or even groomsmen wearing jeans).  But something about the you-need-all-this-stuff-to-have-the-ideal-wedding just bothers me.  Why is it that I need to spend thousands of dollars to get everything just right?  Why should this period of life - preparing for marriage - include the undue stress of throwing the party to end all parties?

Conclusion: I'm a hopeless paradox.  The girl that looked at wedding magazines for years, but when it became real life, found out that looking at magazines is much less stressful than using the magazines.  The girl that wants a lovely wedding, but doesn't like the wedding industry.  A girl who loves shopping for a wedding dress, but doesn't like spending buckets of money on a reception.

Is this normal?

Super Bowl 2014 - A Live Blog by a Fair Weather Football Fan

Alright folks, here's the back story:

Official Blog Fiance is from Seattle, and (it should probably go without saying) he's a Seahawks fan.  I've never been a huge football lover personally, but in an effort to add to pre-marital bliss, I'm now officially a Seahawks fan myself.

Official Blog Fiance unfortunately had to go on a business trip to Abu Dhabi over Super Bowl Sunday (whaaaaat??!), so he had to miss one of the few times that the Seahawks actually made it this far.  Because I didn't want him to miss out entirely, I figured I'd do a live-blog version so he can experience the game without having to watch the entire thing after the fact.


6:17 - The Seahawks head to the field.  Kurt Russell gives them a glowing intro speech.

6:19 - The Broncos hit the field.  Kurt Russell gives them a glowing intro speech too.  (Why didn't they pick two different celebrities for that?)

6:23 - Renee Fleming sings the national anthem five million times better than anyone else who's ever sung at a Super Bowl.

6:32 - Three out of the four of us miss the kickoff while going on a house tour.  Peyton Manning apparently misses catching the football, and Seattle mysteriously ends up with two points.

6:57 - We all finish making homemade pizza.  Seattle is up by 5 points, and we're six and a half minutes away from the end of the first quarter.

7:11 - I take the pizza out of the oven.  Seattle scored a field goal during the 10 minutes I was in the kitchen.

7:16 - First quarter ends.  Score report: Seattle: 8.  Denver: 0.

7:22 - Seattle makes a touchdown!  The following field goal brings the score to 15 - 0 (Seattle).

7:24 - Commercials.  More pizza.  This is definitely the best homemade pizza I've made yet!  Pepperoni and ham.  Good combo.  Tim Tebow's commercial gets shown!



7:38 - Denver has possession, Seattle intercepts, and runs the ball ALLLLL the way to the other end.  Touchdown!  Seattle: 20.  Denver: 0.  Shoot.

7:39: Field goal follow through.  Score report: Seattle: 22.  Denver: 0.

7:52 - Finished my pizza!

7:54 - Peyton gets to around 20 yards on 4th down.  Seattle intercepts and it's back in their hands.

7:57 - End of the second quarter.  Time to make cookies!  Oh.  And the half time show.  "Oh yeah yeah.  Oh yeah yeah yeah yeaaaaaaah...."

8:10 - WHAT.  Bruno Mars can play drums?  Really well?  "That's cool," says the audience in attendance here.

8:11 - Bruno predictably starts with the few measures that have been in every halftime commercial up until now.  Who knew that there's more to the song that "Oh yeah yeah..."

8:13 - This is a shocker.  I'm actually enjoying the halftime show.  I think I'll dance around the kitchen while making the cookies.

[via Google images]

8:16 - Well, scratch that.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers are pretty much the worst.  I mean, they're shirtless and wearing black shorts with patterned leggings.  What the heck.

[via Google images]

8:20 - It's ok.  Bruno came back, told everyone that we're beautiful just the way we are, and redeemed the show.

8:31 - Quarter 3 starts, and it's Seattle's ball.  

8:31 - Seattle gets an immediate touchdown.  DUDE.  Percy Harvin takes the cake.

8:32 - Field goal.  Score report: Seattle: 29.  Denver: 0.

8:55 - Yet again, we have a ball turnover from Denver to Seattle.  I'm starting to feel pretty bad for Peyton.  But...Seattle's winning.  So I don't feel that bad.

8:57 - Awww.  Budweiser outdid itself with commercials this year.



9:01 - Mmm.  Framboise Lambic is good from a bottle.  Now it's gone.

9:02 - Seattle makes yet another touchdown!  This. is. crazy.

9:03 - Field goal.  Score report: Seattle: 36. Denver: 0.

9:10 - I'm beginning to think that my high school SAT class teacher was right - I'm the world's worst guesser.  I guessed that the Broncos would win, and it looks like I'm being proved wrong.  I'm glad about this fact in this particular case.

9:11 - The Broncos finally get a touchdown!  There are zero seconds left in the third quarter, but they still get a 2-point conversion attempt, I guess, since they're still playing.

9:12 - Annnnnnd they get another 2 points.  Yay, Denver.  (Pity yay.)

9:13 - A commercial with a montage of teams including Seattle shows Pete Carroll saying, "We're going to New Jersey!!"  Audience member responds, "Wow, that's the first time that going to New Jersey is good news..."

9:15 - Fourth quarter starts, and it's Seattle's ball.

9:23 - Seattle makes another touchdown.  WOOOOOO.

9:23 - All the Broncos players look totally demoralized.  Pete Carroll looks beyond elated.

9:23 - Field goal.  Score report: Seattle: 43.  Denver: 8.  11:45 minutes left in the game.

9:28 - Richard Sherman is apparently hurt (for the second time).  Timeout.

9:32 - We're back, but we're now on injury number two.  Didn't quite catch which Seahawk it was.  Richard Sherman is out for the rest of the game.

9:41 - 6:30 left.  This is looking good.

9:44 - 5 minutes.

9:46 - 3:45.  Another ball turn over from Denver to Seattle.

9:50 - Richard Sherman is on crutches, but they're all so happy that he doesn't seem to care at all.

9:50 - 2 minute warning.

9:52 - I'm racing my computer battery here.  14% to 1:59 on the clock.  YOU CAN DO IT, OLD COMPUTER!

9:54 - Russell Wilson dumps an entire cooler of yellow Gatorade on Pete Carroll's head...out of extreme joy?

9:55 - THE SEAHAWKS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!

[via Google images]

Well.  There you have it.  And if you too want to become a Seahawks fan, just watch this video and you'll never turn back.

And...Re-start.

For the past several months, I've felt like I'm in a get up-work-go home-eat-sleep-repeat rut.  I tell myself that I have nothing worthwhile to blog about, and therefore I don't write.  This is bad, and in reality it's just not at all true.  The fact that life if more of a routine than it was during college does not in any way, shape, or form mean that it's less interesting.  And while it is true that much of my time is spent at a desk each day, there's a lot of life that happens outside of work.  For example, here's a list of things that I haven't blogged about and should have over the past several months (in no particular order):

1. At least four business trips to places I've never been to before.

2. The fact that Potomac, Maryland has the most enormous mansions.  And a Tesla store in the mall.

3. The gardening project on my office's windowsill (I'm now a gnat-killing ninja).

4. Downhill skiing after not skiing for over six years.

5. Buying a wedding dress.

[No picture available due to pre-wedding secrecy.]

6. Traveling to Milwaukee to see a Tolkien exhibit in two days.

7. Hiking in the rain in New Hampshire.

[The view from the top.]

8. A trip to the Grand Cayman.

9. Making new friends from work.

[Well, I guess I don't have pictures of said new friends...yet.]

10. The gloriousness of crock pot cooking.

[Yet another thing I didn't take a picture of.]

11. My new-found obsession with NPR.  (I'm the nerd with the NPR app on her phone...)

12. 2013's goal of trying several new restaurants in the area.

13. Not-so-small brother heading to college.

14. Oh, I don't know...planning a wedding.  Obviously not a big deal.

[There is no picture.  We're too busy emailing people.]

15. Getting engaged.  (BOOM.  DONE.)

[This photo is actually two years old.]

So clearly, my imperceptive view that nothing exciting happens anymore is a total and complete lie.  College does lend itself to random, exciting, blog-worthy activities, but college ended more than two years ago - and for crying out loud - my life is just as good (if not better) than it was then.  So in short, I am without excuse.  The no-internet-in-my-apartment thing is just a cover.  If I'm going to "suck the marrow out of life," as Kelle Hampton is fond of saying, then I better start recognizing the fact that everyday life is worth capturing.  I've said it before, but I think there's a good chance of succeeding this time: it's time to bring this blog back from the dead.  I might even give it a fresh coat of paint.  Here's to 2014 - the year of weddings, blogging, adventures, and the beauty of the routine.