Circus Act

The circus was in town recently, and while I didn't attend, I realized that much of the last few months has left me feeling like a lion tamer, tight rope walker, juggler, clown, ringmaster, and heck, even a side show act all at the same time.

Thankfully this week I was able to find a happier balance and figure out my life. Well, at least somewhat. With the fella's new job (which he LOVES! Praise the Lord for His timing and plan!) taking him away for the evenings, I've had plenty of free time to catch up with the wonderful friends that God has placed in my life. And while I know I could do that any week, with our very limited free time I usually end up prioritizing my time with D ahead of other relationships. This week, though, I spent a refreshing many hours (and several glasses of wine) hearing about the lives of some of the greatest ladies in my life.

I am so thankful for the gentle ways that God uses the people in my life to restore my soul as a microcosm of the way that He does. In this season of crazy, one of the greatest blessings I have is the opportunity to take a quick breath in the company of my favorite people. Wine is another one.

The List

With our wedding swiftly approaching (a mere 67 days according to our Knot site), we're quickly finalizing our guest list. I've started addressing envelopes, and naturally everyone who received a Save the Date will be also receiving an invitation; however, we compiled a secondary list of possible invitees who didn't receive a little STD from us (teehee) but were still in the running for an invitation. The list included old friends from high school, close acquaintances from church and various and sundry other miscellaneous relationships. My first instinct is to invite everyone - I want our wedding to feel warm, inviting and welcoming, but budgets tell me otherwise.

Last week, Little and I had a meeting with our florist and chased that with a trip to our favorite tapas restaurant for wine and a quick bite. Immediately upon entering I spotted an old friend who was solidly on our maybe list, with perhaps a bend toward the "Yes" column. My immediate reaction was to hide from her. I didn't want to do stilted small talk, and for some reason the thought of an interaction with her made me cringe. So. I hid. And hid. Until she'd left the establishment. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Little. "I guess the basic guideline is not invite someone I'd prefer to hide from in public." So, we have that to go on now.

A Little of This, A Little of That

Life is sprinting along right now in the most hectic but delightful way. Our church hosted a twelve night revival in mid-January, with twelve of the world's best preachers coming to church to speak life and truth over our church. We had people come all the way from Canada, California, England and more just to attend. It was a whirlwind, and by the end of the twelve nights (that ended up feeling like one super long day... I don't think I saw the sun for days) I was drained and exhausted but so humbled and honored to have led our production teams through such an incredibly epic (and I hesitate to ever call anything epic, but in this case, very little else applies) event.

Since then, I'm finally starting to feel like a human again. We're nailing down more wedding plans - we've picked the linens (a mix of burlap and slate gray pintuck!), started collecting ladders for our reception space (one of the details I'm most excited about), attending our Dave Ramsey classes each week, AND I finally received the call that my dress is in! I'm so in love with my gown and can't wait to try on the one that I'll be wearing down the aisle. Next Friday I'm so excited to head to J. Major's to slip it on with my mom and mother-in-law-to-be accompanying me. I can't wait to spend this special day with two such extraordinary women! We won't start fittings on Friday, but we will make sure that there's nothing wrong it and take a look at what tweaks we will need to make before April.

On Friday night, the fella and I took a dance class at the Y with dance extraordinaire The Lobster and her He-Lobster. We had such a blast learning the East Coast swing and Rumba. Our first dance will be to Ray LaMontagne's "You Are the Best Thing," and being two of the whitest people around we're more than happy to learn a move or two, so we don't stand swaying prom-style at the reception.

This weekend I've been busy work, but the highlight has been the fella landing a new gig as a chef at a fabulous privately owned, high-end restaurant in town! He starts Thursday, and the opportunity is really incredible. We are so excited for this next step in our lives and his career. Goodness, I love this man!

My New Obsession

Right now salads are my best friend. Not because I'm on a greens-only wedding diet (less than 3 months now, y'all), but because I can't get enough of the symphony of textures and flavors. I've rediscovered Dean & Deluca this week and spent a solo lunch there this morning relishing my new favorite - field greens, chicken, chickpeas, goat cheese, pine nuts, roasted red peppers, dried cranberries and avocado - and people watching while the rain drizzled outside. I caught myself jealously watching a lady in her 80s chug a glass of wine before excusing myself to head into work. Odd to me how much I enjoyed a few minutes of decompression eating alone and savoring a salad. A pointless post, really, but I want to remember how utterly relaxed I felt in that moment and remind myself that sometimes a few deep breaths and leafy greens are all it takes.

Satisfaction

After posting my to-do list on Monday I got a spurt of motivation and knocked out our wedding site from The Knot. Check it out! There's still information to be added, but I'm thrilled to be able to highlight it off the list in my notebook.

Checking It Twice

Wedding plans have been coming along swimmingly. I took a break for a few weeks to work my way through 30 extraordinary Christmas worship experiences at work (we had Christmas attendance of more than 21,000 people and saw 2,182 people give their lives to Jesus) followed by a glorious week off in which the fella and I moved him into my condo, and I moved home until the wedding. We don't want to live together before gettin' hitched, and his lease ended, so it made sense to let him get settled into our home and save some money while I live with mom and popsicle. I have a long list of bridal to-dos awaiting me in 2012 that look a little something like this...

- Groomsmen socks (pink and gray argyle are not so easy to find)

- Rehearsal dinner (we're nearing a final decision on this)

- Invitations (we're nearing a final decision on these too, and I love that they're being custom made by a talented friend)

- Parental gifts (again, we know what we're doing, we just need to pull the trigger)

- Linens

- Alcohol (our reception will feature an open wine and beer bar, but we're opting not to serve liquor)

- Reception art being done by a sweet friend

- Collecting ladders

- Purchasing the fella's wedding band (we're nearing a final decision on this)

- Considering day-of coordination (so far I can't stomach spending money on this, although I have no doubt that the peace of mind it will provide is priceless)

- Finalize the registry

- Finalize gift baskets for out of town guests

- Finalize music selections for the ceremony

- Decide on programs

- Finish tweaks on my mom's veil

- Find someone to do my day-of hair and makeup

- Find shoes

- Decide whether or not we want a videographer

- Create our site on The Knot

- Decide on a layout for the reception (our venue is a 10,000 square foot refurbished warehouse, so it's a HUGE blank canvas)

- Guestbook

Twenty Twelve

My only resolution this year is to become a missus. I'm thinking my odds are looking pretty good.

What They'll Wear

My biggest fear when it came to choosing bridesmaids dresses was that my lovely ladies would loathe my choice. Honestly, I'm still worried about it. My five maids represent a wide range of style choices, so finding one frock to embrace all of those different opinions made me feel pretty nauseous. The only things I knew for sure was that I wanted them to be gray, I wanted them to be short, and I didn't want them to be dupioni silk. I also knew I wanted each girl to have a chance to express themselves a bit and not be too matchy matchy. I took my little sister with me try some on, and we both ended up with the same favorite - something that isn't a naturally common occurrence, so I knew we'd chosen a winner. I instructed my 'maids to also pick out a pair of bronze-ish peeptoe pumps to complement the look, and I'll decorate them with cluster earrings and a different cocktail ring each. So, how did we do?

STDs

This week we finished mailing our Save the Dates (yep, we gave all of our loved ones an STD). I was so excited about how they turned out. My sweet photography intern gifted us with an engagement session, and another talented friend gifted us with the design. I couldn't wait to hear the feedback since the fella and I love them so much, and it's been nothing but wonderful. I still have to pinch myself that in less than four months I'll have the honor of being Mrs. The Fella.

My Sunshine

I adore these people.