Five Things

It's been a while since I've done a Five Things post, huh? Well I finally have five things saved up, so here's a new one!

1. 40 Days of Dating

As a psychology major who fell in love with her very best friend, after months (years?) of dancing around whatever romantic stuff was really going on between us, I find this project SO, SO fascinating.

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Tim & Jessica have been friends for years, each with a long string of failed relationships for very different reasons, and they make a pact to date each other for 40 days. And every day they separately write about how it's going. And they just finished the 40 days, so you can go read the entire thing start to finish (no waiting impatiently!).

I don't think I really have much in common with either of them, but I think that's why I find it so fascinating. I love how infinitely unique people are.

2. Our Vow Renewal

Jeff and I renewed our vows in July! Our church hosted a vow renewal Mass for all of the married couples, and we were like sure, why not? so we went to church on a Friday night and renewed our vows!

It was actually really lovely. There were a lot of couples there, and we all said our vows at the same time, and although we were just one couple in a church full of couples, it felt much more intimate and touching to me than when we actually said our vows on our wedding day.

When we got married, we were in front of all our family and friends, and I was worrying about how the train of my dress looked and whether I was talking loudly enough that the people in the back of the chapel could hear, and there was sunlight coming in through the stained glass windows and I was worried that Jeff would have squinty eyes in all the photos and as much as I tried, it was hard for me to just be "in the moment." I'm not one of those people who enjoys being the center of attention, so I was self-conscious and thinking about practical things for a lot of our wedding day, and there were just a lot of things distracting me from the vows themselves. It was a beautiful, lovely day, but it was just really public rather than intimate, you know?

When we renewed our vows, it was just us... we were surrounded by strangers and there were no photographers and no flowers to hold and I wasn't at all worried about how loud I was speaking or what my dress looked like and it was kind of a magical little moment. I'm really glad I took a break from Bar exam studying to do it!

3. Rosary from a Dear Friend

I was in a Catholic sorority in college. I loved the girls I met through it so much. Some of them are still my very best friends, and it was just so wonderful to be a part of such a beautiful, supportive group of women.

At some point (either my last year of college, or maybe when I was back visiting at an alumni event right after graduating... I can't quite remember), one of the younger girls gave me this purple rosary that she made for me.

I can't remember at all who it was that gave it to me... I know it was one of the younger girls who I didn't know extremely well (I was the President my last year of college, so there were a lot of younger girls who knew me better than I knew them). I remember being touched that she had made it for me because it wasn't someone I was super close with, but as hard as I try, I can't remember who she was.

Anyway, I really wish I could remember because I ended up packing the rosary when I went to take the Bar exam. I didn't want to bring my regular rosary because I was worried it might get lost in all the Bar exam craziness, so I packed this one instead. And it was a godsend. Praying the Rosary is so calming to me, and that little purple handmade Rosary really got me through those three days of taking the Bar.

So, if you're reading this and you're the sweet girl who gave it to me, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and please tell me who you are! And to everyone else, just know that little acts of kindness like this can and do make a huge difference in people's lives. Maybe not until years later (it's been at least three years in this case!), but they do make a difference.

4. The Great Gatsby

I'm a dutiful English major who generally refuses to see movies based on books until I've read or re-read the book first. Since I was studying for the Bar exam when The Great Gatsby movie came out, the book and the movie had to wait.

But on the plane en route from Houston to Singapore (via Moscow), I finally got to re-read The Great Gatsby for the first time since high school. I know some people really love it, but it wasn't one of my favorites in school (I had a good friend in high school, John, and it was by far his favorite book we read in Junior English, and I never could understand why). I hadn't read it since then, and it turns out I still find it horribly depressing, although I do appreciate F. Scott Fitzgerald's beautifully descriptive writing.

The Book

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After I read the book, Jeff and I watched the 1974 Great Gatsby movie. It was marvelously true to the book, but kind of just blah.

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Then we watched the new Great Gatsby movie, and it was amazing. Beautifully done. I actually think I liked the movie more than the book, except for a few little things that were left out (most of all, they leave out the moment when Gatsby sees Daisy's daughter for the first time, which I think is one of the most poignant scenes in the book).

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So, I think I've now read and watched enough Gatsby-related stuff to last me a lifetime. But I'd highly recommend the new movie (although you really must read the book first!).

5. Traffic Jam

I'll be starting work pretty soon, and I'm already dreading driving in Houston traffic every morning. It's actually not bad from where we live to downtown (my commute will be a million times easier than it was when I had to drive to school every morning), but it's still worse than never leaving our sweet little suburb during rush hour (which is what I'm doing now).

Whenever I start to feel annoyed at the Houston traffic, I just think of this story about a 100 km traffic jam in China that lasted 9+ days. Perspective is everything!

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Traffic, dating, rosaries, wedding vows, and Gatsby. How's that for a random blog post? 

2011 Weddings: Alan & Katie

We finished off our string of summer weddings with the beautiful wedding of my sorority sister, Katie, and Alan. I thought their wedding was just absolutely gorgeous. Maybe it's just because I know the bride well and I know she's a genuinely beautiful person (inside and out!), but it was a really pretty wedding. It was all purple and cowboy boots and twinkle lights and dancing, and it was just lovely!

I made Jeff take a picture since we were all dressed up. :o)

Pretty purple invitation!

Alan waiting for Katie (he looked so nervous!)

Beautiful Maid of Honor in a flowy purple dress! The bridesmaids all had different dresses in the same purple fabric (you know how I love almost-matching bridesmaids!!).

Beautiful church!

Beautiful bride! She combined a mantilla veil with a blusher that her dad removed, and it was just so pretty!

I love this dress!

The ceremony was done by a priest that Katie has known since childhood, so it was really sentimental and special.

The reception was in a lodge-type building with wooden walls and wood beams and such. It was so cute!

Sparkler sendoff! (my favorite kind of sendoff!!)

Beautiful bride!

Lovely centerpieces... hydrangea and purple tulips!

The tables were done in purple and ivory satin linens with champagne napkins. So pretty!

There were twinkle lights everywhere, which made such a romantic, rustic atmosphere!

It was really nice to catch up with some friends from college and see some faces I hadn't seen in a while. Weddings are great for that!

It was a gorgeous wedding, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing, but I have to admit that the most exciting part for me was that I was recognized by some blog readers for the first time! These two girls (who both also happen to be named Katie... how weird is that?) came up to our table and told me that they read Spirals & Spatulas and had to come over and say hello! So I got to meet both of them and hear how they found my blog, and we talked a bit about Catholic weddings and such. Isn't that just so fun? 

I of course got all totally nerdy and overly excited and awkward about the whole thing and apologized profusely for not posting more in the last week, and then went on and on talking about my latest DIY project that I'm planning to blog about soon. Katie & Katie - I'm sorry about talking your ears off, but it was the first time that's ever happened to me and it was a little exciting. Haha! I really am so, so glad you came over to introduce yourselves!

Well... that concludes Wedding Season 2011 for us! I loved each and every wedding we went to this summer. It's amazing how weddings can be such a reflection of the couple and the little details can mean so much! I'm going to miss having weddings to go to in the coming months!

Catholic Wedding Program

Happy St. Patrick's Day Y'all! I hope you're wearing your green and celebrating the Irish today!

This is another old 'draft' post that I just found and wanted to finish. Somehow the wedding posts still keep turning up! I thought this one would be helpful to Catholic brides... it's pretty hard to find an example Catholic wedding program anywhere!

Our wedding programs were one of the projects I was very meticulous about. The design was simple and they were inexpensive, but the inside contained a very detailed outline of our ceremony, as well as the names of all the important players. The first two pages listed our families, wedding party, and ceremony participants. There was also a little note from us thanking everyone for coming and supporting us.

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Since not all of our guests were Catholic, I wanted the program to explain the parts of the Ceremony well enough that everyone could participate and feel involved. I typed out all of the responses, and wrote "please stand" and "please be seated" when it was appropriate.

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The back page had directions to the reception as well as our new mailing address (so everyone could add us to their address books!).

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I printed the covers on ivory cardstock, and the insides on regular printer paper. Then we just folded them in half and tied navy and maroon ribbon around the fold to bind them. Super easy!

We set out programs on the wedding party's seats because we knew they wouldn't get them on their way in (nobody walks down the aisle holding a program and a bouquet! haha).

I'm including the files in hopes that they'll help someone create their own Catholic wedding program. The fonts didn't show up right because I was using downloaded fonts, so if you use them you'll have to fix the fonts and spacing, but at least the text is there. Here they are:

Inside

Cover

Wedding Week: Bridal Luncheon

The few days before the wedding were just full of fun. On Friday morning, I had the chance to get together a lot of my favorite women for a Bridal Luncheon.

This event was the only one that had a "major mishap." A week before the wedding my mom drove to the restaurant to finalize everything, and guess what? The restaurant had randomly closed down! Luckily, they hadn't closed down entirely... they had just decided to stop being a regular restaurant, and start being a special-events venue. 

The employee who had been working with us wasn't working there anymore, so no one had any record of the room reservation she had worked out 6 months prior. So one week from the event we had to pretty much start over. We redid the menu, and my mom had to do some expert negotiating to avoid paying a $500 rental fee (because we weren't paying a rental fee when it was just a restaurant!). It ended up all working out, but not without a few scares!

Just so you get the whole picture (and because I love love love paper products!), I'll start with the invitations!

We found this scalloped cardstock at Joann's Fabrics. I'm in love with it. 

Oooh... texture-y paper!

The luncheon was at The Lodge at Shirley Acres. Because of the whole restaurant-closing-down fiasco, we ended up having the whole place to ourselves instead of just the party room! 

My mom and grandma set up a variety of photos from my childhood. Only mildly embarrassing. :)

That box with a bow on it contained a binder full of recipes from all the luncheon attendees. Each person had picked a recipe and then decorated a 8.5x11 page with the recipe on it, and my mom put them all into a binder. SO wonderful!

Pretty centerpieces! We put white stones in the bottom, and floated those plastic crystals on top (the same ones we used for the candy buffet table). 

With my mom and Grandmom, who worked so hard to make the luncheon happen!

Oh, sisters. :)

It really was a "lodge." Compete with deer head in the next room. 

With Jeff's mom and grandma

Best dressed flower girls EVER! 

Tables all set and waiting!

With my cousins!

Bridesmaid pic! 

My aunts, grandma, great aunts, and second cousin (on my mom's side!).

I ordered the club sandwich. There were also shrimp po-boys and chicken caesar salads. And for dessert, there was cheesecake and bread pudding! Yummmm!

And the kids got chicken fingers and fries. :)

It was a decent-sized group. We invited all of my cousins, aunts, and bridesmaids, plus my grandmas and Jeff's grandma, my flower girls, and my mom and Jeff's mom. Oh, and also my great aunts and my one second-cousin that was attending the wedding. Like I said, pretty big group. :) 

I felt so, so blessed to have all those women there for me. I look up to them all in different ways, and it meant a lot that they all took the day off work or drove in early from out of town to make it to the luncheon. Plus they brought me recipes, which was GREAT! 

After the luncheon, we ran home to change clothes, and then I took my bridesmaids to our reception venue to drop things off. I had about fifteen boxes, all labelled with typed checklists of their contents and numbered (Box 1 of 15, Box 2 of 15, etc.). I so wish I had a picture of all those boxes stacked up ready to go... it was a grand achievement for my obsessive-compulsive-organizational tendencies. Each box had a folder on the inside with instructions, complete with mock set-up photos and diagrams and everything. It was wonderful. I wanted to drop them off myself so I could make sure our venue coordinator understood all my directions, so we took everything a day early. 

Quilt guestbook supplies, table numbers, sparklers, candy buffet stuff, escort card displays, bathroom baskets, family photos... it all had to get there, and I had to leave it all in the hands of the coordinator to set up the next day! At this point I started to stress a little bit about the wedding... letting go of all my hard work and giving it to someone else made me a little nervous. I don't think I felt completely better until I got to our wedding reception and saw it all set up according to my diagrams. Yes, I'm ridiculous and a control freak and entirely too obsessed with being organized. But I can't help it. 

I got to see the room all ready to go with tables and linens...

Oh, how I loved those pintuck tablecovers!

I was totally surprised by just how huge the head table looked. It reminded me of Disney movies... you know? Like the royal castles with their exceedingly long dining tables! 

I think I scared our venue coordinator with my really detailed candy buffet instructions, because she asked if I'd like to go ahead and set it up myself. OF COURSE I WOULD! 

Ta-da!

Thanks for the help, bridesmaids!

We took one last glance around the room, told our coordinator that we'd see her tomorrow, and hurried back to the house to get ready for the Rehearsal!