Life updates + I found my dress!

Hello, hello!

It is Friday but totally feels like Wednesday. And I am SO glad it's not actually Wednesday. Yay!

Anyway, this is going to be a quick update because I have to get ready for work at some point this morning.

This past month has gone by so fast, and Tom and I have gotten a lot done for the wedding! I've mentioned this before, but because we are having a two-year engagement, we do things in spurts. We immediately booked our venue exactly two years to the day and did a ton of discussing and coming up with ideas. That was in October.

Then we did nothing until January, when we attended a couple wedding expos and found our photographer.

After that, we did nothing again until this month, when we completed nearly half our list of to-dos, I swear! We were on a roll.

This month, we have:

-Paid photographer deposit

-Found/booked DJ

-Found/booked videographer

-Bought lanterns on sale at Hobby Lobby for centerpieces

-I ordered my wedding socks/shoes (Yes, socks. See them here.)

-I GOT MY DRESS! At a sample sale. It was fate. 

-Planned what the groomsmen/Tom will wear

-Finalized the plan for our centerpieces

-More discussing/planning for flowers, music, etc.

-Finalized engagement party guest list

When we're in a "let's do wedding stuff" mood, we really take advantage of that. Because this summer is going to be crazy, and we won't want to do a thing.

It feels good to FINALLY be under a year and a half! 

We went to Adore Bridal in Morton on Memorial Day to look through their sample gowns. My friend was in town, so I went with her, Tom's mom and his aunt.

This dress was the first one I saw, the first one I tried on, and it was perfect. I'd actually seen it in a magazine months ago and tore out the picture, even though I was certain it was way, way too expensive. Nope! With the sale, it was well under my budget. I stare at the picture of it every.single.day.

Coming up next? My best friend's bridal shower and bachelorette party!! Let the summer begin!

Adventure

I love this picture. I could stare at it all day. I took it early in the morning last weekend at a family farm. 

It's interesting because I have a fear of horses. I have never liked riding them. I don't like to pet them. I even took horse lessons as a child, but I was always a little too anxious about what might happen to fully enjoy it.

My mother was a champion horse rider. She rode them without a saddle through the Nevada desert and won horse shows. Unfortunately, I don't think I inherited an ounce of that.

It's because they're unpredictable that I don't like getting too close. I prefer to just look at them, like this. And appreciate what they stand for: freedom, and an adventurous spirit. 

Instrumental, not ornamental

Myself, when summer meant Capri Sun and sprinklers.

Our bodies, that is. In case you haven't read the bombardment of magazine covers at the grocery store, it's nearly summer, and your body just isn't good enough for that.

It doesn't matter who you are. Something about you is inadequate. You need to lose twenty pounds, trim down your thighs or tighten your belly.

You need to be tan. But not real tan! Spray tan, tanning lotions, tan-in-a-towelette. You cannot wear shorts until your skin is the perfect shade of bottled tannish/orange. 

Ideally, aim to be hairless, poreless, freckle-less and just generally manufactured. 

Childhood summers were good on the body. Wind in your hair, grass under your feet, rain on your tongue, sun on your shoulders, dirt on your knees and an ice cream cone that melted all over your hands every time. 

The body was there to enjoy the summer. To take in the mosquito bites with the golden tan, but to have too much fun to notice either.

I have learned to be self-conscious and unappreciative of the incredible design that is the human body. 

Have you ever tried looking at every person that passes you, and seeing them as a soul within a vehicle rather than just a body? Try it. It makes you acutely aware of how hard everyone is trying. Makeup and hairstyles and uncomfortable shoes and long, long hours at the gym.

It's important, of course, to pay attention to the body. To keep it feeling healthy and vibrant. Rest when needed, sweat when needed. Don't constantly eat crap.

But at its core, the body is instrumental, not ornamental. It's not there to be looked at and judged. It's there for the wind and the dirt and the summer ice cream and that cool, invigorating rush of an ocean wave. 

And this summer, I am not putting my body through rounds of spray tanning and obsessive work outs to be "Summer Ready!!!" My pasty self will enjoy long walks and festivals with a sun hat and SPF, and it will be glorious. Freckles, insecurities and all. I want to enjoy it as best I can, grateful for a body that lets me do just that. I hope you will do the same.

Three Years and the river

This weekend Tom and I celebrated three years together!

Luckily it was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of that. We visited Wildlife Prairie Park, which is like a zoo but better. The animals there are all indigenous to Illinois and they have tons of room to roam.

From there we took a ride on the Spirit of Peoria paddle-wheeler in the hot, hot sun and I spent the entire time reapplying sunscreen. But it was beautiful and relaxing.

We stopped by the Riverfront Museum after that, got some dinner, and then rented We're the Millers. That movie was way more hilarious than I anticipated.

Photos from the day! (All are from my phone, hence the quality...still mourning the loss of my camera back in January.)

Happy Wednesday!

A blogging break, and updates

Well hello there!

It's been awhile. Like pretty much a month and a half awhile. It was nice, and I kept up with reading my favorite blogs, but I am ready to write again!

In no particular order, my life over the past several weeks:

Wedding

I go through weird obsessive phases every week. One week, I will be meticulously planning the steps to getting our first house. The next week, I will be crazy about health and fitness. The next, finances. After that, the future and trying to continue launching my career. And then puppies.

This week, it was all about the wedding. And I am driving myself crazy!

We have been engaged for over 7 months (seriously?!) and our 2-year-engagement has now dwindled to the length of an average-ish engagement. We spent the last four months or so not doing much of anything.

I go in spurts with this thing. One month of insane checklisting and vendor searching and researching, three months to recover.

So far, we have our venue, which happens to be our caterer AND ceremony/reception site, and we found our photographer. Next up are DJ's and officiants, then florists.

But this morning I did make my very first wedding item purchase, and I am SO excited!!

I am not a heels kind of girl. At our wedding, I will definitely not be wearing heels. I don't see the point because the shoes aren't really seen anyway. So I will probably get some shiny Toms, like this:

Via

That brings me to what I bought this morning!

I love socks. I am known for my wildly mismatched and festive sock collection. Because our wedding is one week before Halloween, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, AND I will be wearing shoes that allow for socks, I googled "bride socks." Amazingly, these were one of the first available options:

Via

Yes, I purchased Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein socks for our wedding day. I am thrilled. So other than that, I have just been trying to write everything down and get things organized and not drive Tom crazy. 

My best friend is getting married in two-and-a-half months, so that will be a welcome distraction!

Book 

Sad news on this front. I found out a few weeks ago that the publishing house that was releasing my book closed its doors. So it's back to the drawing board, I'm afraid. But I haven't given up. I have started sending out my children's book and re-sending out my novel and greeting cards. It was very sad, and I found out the news while I was sitting in Barnes and Noble, so somehow that made it worse. But that's alright. I feel like it's a chance to find an even better opportunity.

Work

Work is great, still loving what I do! :)

And now, here is a random assortment of photos since the beginning of April:

Beautiful redbud trees!

We went to the zoo a couple weekends ago.

I chopped my hair off and I love it! So much lighter for the summer.

First time at Emo's this year. I love their ice cream, even if the clown is horrifying.

Date night before both of us got our hair cut off!

Happy Monday!

:)

Disappointing products, peanut butter and chili, and the book

So you know how it's April Fool's Day and all that? Well, I don't trust ANYONE today! Anyone. Especially Tom, because if he's going to want to prank anyone, it's going to be me. He did, actually. He convinced me he'd be home late, then BOOM! He wasn't, and I was happy.

However. We had dinner tonight, and there he was, telling me how delicious peanut butter and bread is with chili. Naturally I thought he was spewing lies, because come on now. Gross. But his family was in on it! They all eat that weird combo! So I ate it, and it was kind of delicious. I'm still convinced it's an elaborate April Fool's Day prank.

Anyway, something has been on my mind. And it's that the last group of products I bought have been deeply disappointing. I would like to share those with you so that you might save some money. However, I do have successful versions of all of these things, so I will do another post with the good things I have bought.

There is something so awful about being really, really excited to try something for awhile, buying it, and then hating it. All of these things fit into that category.

1.) Herbal Essences naked shampoo and conditioner, Herbal Mint scent

Via

I was so excited to try these! I kept seeing ads for them, and I love anything that's a little more natural, so these seemed like a budget-friendly option. Plus, the packaging was pretty and I can be a sucker for pretty packaging.

All I can say is my hair was VERY dried out after using them, and for whatever reason, the scent smells like men's body wash. It's weird for your hair to smell like that. I was so disappointed in these that I don't even think I want to finish the bottles. They are "moisture" shampoo and conditioner, but it took a lot of coconut oil to make my hair look less fried. They had some good reviews online and they may work for your hair, but for me, they were disappointing.

2.) gud from Burt's Bees, Red Ruby Guava body lotion

Via

I am a big fan of Burt's Bees products. I have been using their cream cleanser for years and I love it. So when I saw they had a new line of products, I was excited to try it out. I smelled the gud's lotion in the store and thought it smelled light and refreshing. Then I got home and put it all over my arms. It felt really weird, like it made my skin feel even drier. Then, after a little while, the scent seemed to intensify and ended up smelling like rotten fruit. 

It didn't provide much moisture at all and smell really ruined it for me. I used it once or twice but I don't plan on finishing it up.

3.) Tom's Long Lasting Aluminum-Free Deodorant, Fresh Apricot scent

I've been trying out aluminum-free deodorants for about a year now, and it's been hard to find one I really like. Since I ran out of the last one I liked ("Kiss My Face" Natural Liquid Rock) I decided to give this one a try. 

For me, it wasn't long-lasting and it made my skin peel. I felt like I just rubbed some apricot-scented lotion on my armpits. So I ended up buying the liquid rock again, and I think I'm going to stay with that until I give Lavanila a try. For now I'm pretty happy with it, and it's even unscented.

Book Updates

I got the edited manuscript back from my editor! I fixed what was needed, sent it back, and now it has to go through formatting and one more round of editing. Pretty soon I will also get to see the cover!

This is such a terrifying/exciting process. Last week I panicked and almost didn't want to put the book out anymore. Something about just inviting people to read this made-up story from my brain is scary.

I don't know if that makes sense or I just sound crazy, but either way, I have accepted it now. And the second book is well under way. I will share the release date once I know it! I'm guessing it's two weeks away now.

Happy Tuesday! 

I don't do....

Happy Saturday! Ahh, the weekend. Always over too fast. Last night we got to see Jim Gaffigan perform (hilarious) and today I am working on one of my side jobs and shopping with a friend! It's really hard to keep up side jobs with a full-time job. Once the weekend hits, I don't want to do even more work! But I have something I am working toward, so for right now, I'm going to try to keep it going.

This is a random aside, but I thought I should include it...I am growing an herb garden again! Lavender, rosemary, thyme and basil. The kitchen is going to smell delicious.

This post is something I saw on Stay Crafty My Friends, and decided to do for myself! So, here we go. Things I do not do!:

-Sleeping in: The past two to three weekends, I have been waking up and leaving the house at 6:30 a.m. to run errands. I have no idea why, but I really enjoy it. Sleeping past 8 makes me feel like I'm wasting my day, and I love how few people are out at that time of day.

-Games: Card games, board games, sports, etc. I will play if I am forced into it or if we are with a group of friends, and I usually enjoy it. But if you ask me if I want to play a game, in my head I will always be thinking "NO!" I have a hard time with movies, too. I don't like committing myself to anything that will take a couple hours. I've always been like this, and I kind of wish I was more into card games and things. But I would probably rather do the dishes.

-Trends: In terms of fashion, that is. Ninety-five percent of my closet is made up of solid sweaters and long-sleeved thermal shirts, jeans, boots and scarves. I rarely ever buy patterned anything. Today I am wearing this huge button-up sweater I got at a thrift store five years ago, jeans from high school and a plain, long-sleeved purple shirt. Occasionally I try to be exciting and buy something fresh and trendy, but then I never wear it.

This is my thrift wear sweater that I wear ALL the time. I think I wore that exact outfit yesterday:

-Makeup: This may be misleading because I do wear a tiny bit of makeup. Usually my daily go-to includes concealer where I need it, curling my lashes and lip balm. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll wear mascara. Usually I prefer not to because I forget and rub my eyes. I love the idea of makeup, but even when I try to put a lot on, it's barely anything.

-Heels: At the end of this list, you will probably realize that I dress myself like I live in the woods. Alone. I think heels are lovely. There are so many beautiful shoes in this world. But I go for comfort every time, even if I look like I'm fifty years older than I am. Even "comfy" heels aren't comfy enough for my feet. I might wear heels three times a year, if I have two weddings to attend and feel really girly one night.

-Cutesy fake word speak: Huge pet peeve of mine. HUGE! There is a blogger who I will not name that uses cute little words like "perf" for "perfect," "nast" for "nasty," "deets" for details,"adorbs" and all that. I had to stop reading because of it. And it's a pretty good blog, too, so it was sad when I couldn't look past the total and utter disregard for perfectly good words.

-Chicken: If I made it myself, or if I get any sort of "chickeny" taste from it, my day is ruined. Thankfully, the crock pot knows how to cook it just right, so I don't have to give it up entirely!

-Petty gossip: I get really uncomfortable around people who are judging someone for their appearance. I think that's the worst. Or just being really mean for no reason. Or making a snap judgement based on ignorance. It drives me nuts. The older I get, the more I try to stay out of it because it's completely useless and unproductive.

What are your don'ts? If you do one of these, let me know! :)