Month: July 2014

3 Modern Bride Decisions I’m Making

LaurenLeave a comment

I’m sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Actually, I kind of meant that apology to be to myself.  Sorry, Self, for not writing very much lately.  You deserve a creative outlet, but I’ve kind of had a one track mind lately and as exciting as it probably is for my handful of readers to hear wedding talk in every post, I kind of don’t want to be that person.

Aaaand that opening was kind of a waste of time because this post is all wedding talk.  Ha!  Specifically, three decisions I’ve decided to make that I feel put me in the minority but that I feel kind of strongly about.  Ready?

IMG_1218

#1 I’m not buying a wedding band

You guys, I LOVE my engagement ring.  It is the most precious, beautiful and meaningful thing I’ve ever owned.  Every time I look at it, I imagine Joey picking it out, going against my wish for a halo ring because he thought this one was much more me (and being totally right) and then I melt into a giant puddle of emotion.  It is so perfect.  And I kind of love the look of it on its own — plus it has some side detailing that makes it kind of difficult to match with a wedding band — so I’m leaving it on its own.  Maybe one day, I’ll have a wedding band designed to go with, but for now I’m more than happy to have this ring be the one “I thee wed” with.

#2 I’m not changing my last name

It’s 2014 and the independent woman is alive and well, but I still feel hesitant and guilty when I tell people this.  The decision has NOTHING to do with my commitment to Joey.  It has more to do with the fact that I’ve had this last name for 25 years and I like it and it’s who I’ve been my whole life and I don’t want to part with it.  Also, Joey truly doesn’t care if I take his last name or not.  If he did feel strongly about it, I wouldn’t even hesitate to change it, but since he doesn’t and since I’ve heard the whole changing last names process is a huge ordeal, I think I’ll pass.

#3 I’m not addressing anyone as Mrs. Husband’s Name

Now that our invitations are out, can I just say how confusing that addressing is!  If you Google it, and I did, there’s just so many different opinions and conflicting “rules” about how to address your guests.  I liked coming across just single person addresses because those were pretty straight forward but all the others were a bit more complicated.  In the end, my inner modern day feminist said “forget what Emily Post says, I’m not addressing anyone by their husband’s name!”  It felt good.

***************************************

What important decisions have you made lately?

We’re off to meet with our photographer about the day of schedule and what kinds of group shots we want to get, which must mean this thing is happening soon!  Have a good weekend 🙂

Weekend Things

Lauren3 Comments

Gosh this weekend was good.  I can’t say anything life changing happened (unless you consider a lavender mimosa to be life changing and I kind of do…), but it was just one of those weekends where you don’t have too many concrete plans or serious expectations and everything just ends up being fun and easy and productive. (I recently read some article about things we become obsessed with in our 20’s and “having a productive weekend” was one of them.  It was spot on!)  I felt like I had a smile cemented on my face and I just kept thinking how sweet life is 🙂

Also, lately I’ve been caught in this limbo between wanting time to slowwww dowwwwn (I LOVE summer!) and wanting it to speed up (till, say, September? :P).  It’s very confusing :O

IMG_3352

We mailed out our wedding invitations on Friday!!!!!!!  I’m still pretending the group of people standing outside in the same parking lot as the mailbox thought it was totally normal that we took a picture of us putting envelopes in the mail and then high-fived.

IMG_3336

Another night, another Rockies game.  I still can’t get over how cool it is that we can be sitting at home one minute, decide “okay, let’s go to the game” and be at the park five minutes later.  It was kind of raining on and off in the beginning but the rain let up and we managed to win.  Schweet.

IMG_3343

Saturday started with a trip to Ikea — no wait, it started with sleeping in.  I think we both felt so behind on sleep and it was nice not to have any morning commitments.  Okay, one trip to the coffee shop and two iced coffees later, we made it to Ikea.  I think we’ve finally become Ikea pros and this trip thankfully went surprisingly smooth.  I can’t say that’s always been the case in the past… We left with some wedding goodies 😉 and a few house organization things.  All of which I’m really excited about!

IMG_3344

Afterwards, we went to pick out wedding rings!  Actually, we mostly went to pick out Joey’s wedding ring.  I’ll explain about mine in a later post 😛  He currently wears zero jewelry so we both think wearing a ring everyday will probably be weird.  He picked out a few he liked that our jeweler is having brought in to try on.

Oh and the jeweler happened to be in the same shopping center as Trader Joe’s so I obviously dragged us in.  We bought some bread and a few frozen things and decided that place isn’t as great as everyone thinks.  We did get a free grocery bag since it was our first time in the store though!

IMG_3350

Once we got back home, Joey headed to the office for a few hours (boo!) and I went on a caffeine-induced cleaning spree.  Our house was starting to feel gross and needed a serious scrub down.  I mean I don’t know if cleaning the dust off the top of the fridge was necessary but seriously, I had too much energy.  It felt so much better afterwards.  Although, I’m sure it will only last a few days.

Once Joey got home, he cooked us up some green chili cheeseburgers and grilled corn plus our newest homebrew (which needs just a bit more time to carbonate) and we relaxed on the back porch before planting ourselves on the couch in front of a movie.  We watched “The Trip” and I seriously loved it.  We were laughing so hard in some parts.  And I just learned there’s a sequel.  Yes, please!

6

Sunday brunching!  I swear I’m drinking a lavender mimosa and not a glass of water, or worse, vodka.  We met up with Bobby and Becca for food and to hear all about their trip to Jamaica.  Joey and I showed up early because we figured it’d be crazy busy at 11 AM on a Sunday but we showed up to no wait and our pick of tables.

IMG_3359

Later, we geared up our bikes — okay Joey geared up our bikes — and headed to the Rockies game!  Turns out there’s a path that takes us straight to the stadium and somehow avoids any major hills.  I’m all for paths like that!

IMG_3361

The game time temperature was 75 degrees but I swear it felt like 105.  Remind me not to run, bike and sit in the sun all in one day.  So hot and sweaty.  It started to sprinkle on the bike ride home and it felt so good!

IMG_3355

After the game, I left Joey at home to build our Ikea shelves for the basement.  Yay for storage and organization!  Meanwhile, I went to the grocery store and almost decided to just move in there because it was so cool and refreshing.  Back home, we heated up leftovers, watched Big Brother and Food Network Star (was anyone else sad that Chad wasn’t the one who got to rejoin the competition?!) and got into bed early (who am I?).

If every weekend could be as good as this one, I wouldn’t mind 🙂