Simple Inspiration: Countdown Inspired Quotes

There has been an absolute transition of time. It used to be that when people would ask when the wedding was, I would tell them, and they would respond: "Oh you have plenty of time!" And now all of a sudden the canned answer is, "Oh, that's coming up fast!"

117 days until the wedding. 89 days until the send off party.

Yikes when did that happen??

I have been collecting love quotes since we got engaged. I am not sure what, if anything, I will do with them but they are lovely.

Most of these have come from this blog.

Every house where love abides

And friendship is a guest,

Is surely home, and home sweet home

For there the heart can rest.

-- Henry Van Dyke

"When you're in love you never really know whether

your elation comes from the qualities of the one you love,

or if it attributes them to her;

whether the light which surrounds her like a halo

comes from you, from her,
or from the meeting of your sparks."
- Natalie Clifford Barney

"Open your life wide, and take me in forever.

I will never be tired-
I will never be noisy when you want
to be still...nobody else will see me, but you—
but that is enough—I shall not want any more."
—Emily Dickinson to an unknown recipient

 

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be …

It really is worth fighting for,

being brave for, risking everything for."

— Erica Jong

“Sometimes, when we’re lying together,
I look at her

and I feel dizzy with the realization

that here is another distinct person from me,

who has memories, origins, thoughts,

feelings that are different from my own.

That tension between familiarity
and mystery meshes

something strong between us.

Even if one builds a life together based on trust,

attentiveness and mutual support,
I think that it’s important
that a partner continues to surprise."
-Barack Obama

30 Days: Song Challenge

My friend Nikki told me I should participate in the 30 day song challenge on facebook. I went and checked it out, got bored, and filled it all out right then and there.

I feel like I could have endless answers for some of these. What song DOESN'T remind me of somone?? In case you want to play, here it is:

day 01 - your favorite song: Motorcycle Drive By: Third Eye Blind

day 02 - your least favorite song: This is hard but for now I choose Jam by Kim Kardashian

day 03 - a song that makes you happy: Mr Jones by Counting Crows

day 04 - a song that makes you sad: Danny Boy by Frank Patterson

day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone: She Will Be Loved by Maroon Five

day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere: Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond

day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event: For Me This is Heaven by Jimmy Eat World

day 08 - a song that you know all the words to: Shoop by Salt N Peppa

day 09 - a song that you can dance to: Hey ya! By OutKast

day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep: What you want by the John Butler Trio

day 11 - a song from your favorite band: The Song that Jane Likes by the Dave Matthews Band

day 12 - a song from a band you hate: Rockstar by Nickelback

day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure: I want it that way by the Backstreet Boys

day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love: Dixieland Delight by Alabama

day 15 - a song that describes you: Short Skirt, Long Jacket by Cake

day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate: macarena by Los Del Rios

day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio: Grenade by Bruno Mars

day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio: English by Ashtray Hearts

day 19 - a song from your favorite album: #41 by Dave Matthews Band

day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry: Born This Way by Lady Gaga

day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy: Mushaboom by Feist

day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad: Ave Maria by Beyonce

day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding: To Make You Feel My Love by My Dad (Garth Brooks, Adele, Trisha Yearwood, Billy Joel)

day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral: In My Life by the Beetles

day 25 - a song that makes you laugh: The Wine Song by Cat Empire

day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument: Hot Crossed Buns- Haha! Used to be able to play In my life and stand by me

day 27 - a song that you wish you could play: Taylor by Jack Johnson. The intro is awesome!

day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty: Come Back Down by Lifehouse
day 29 - a song from your childhood: Only the Lonely by Roy Orbison or Roy the Boy as my family calls him

day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year: Here Comes the Sun by the Beetles

Daily Inspiration: Wedding Blogs

I have truly enjoyed being engaged. Planning our wedding has been a gift and I know I will look back at this year with joy. When we got engaged people kept tellnig me to make sure I appreciate this time as it is special and the only time in your life where you you be in this position. They are right and I even when I get stressed, I try to remind myself how lucky we are.

Part of the joy in planning has been the discovery of wedding blogs. I think I will keep reading them post nuptuals. They are bright and thoughtful. A few of my favorites are Ruffled, Green Wedding Shoes, Engaged and Inpired, and Beantown Bride Blog. I actually found my photographer through one of these but weirdly can't remember which one.

A real wedding posted on Engaged and Inspired.
This ceremony made me whisper a dragged out WOW at my desk at work.

 Do you have a wedding blog that I should know about??

Plant, Dog, Child: Step 2 Will Take Longer Than Expected.

You need to keep a plant alive before you should get a dog. You need to keep a dog alive before you should have a child. I heard that somewhere. I don't know where. Even if you don't take it literally it is about taking more responsibility. Nick and I have two dogs and up until a few days ago, I thought we were doing a great job taking care of the boys, now I feel like a terrible parent.

Duke is the older of our two canines. He is a 15 year old West Highland Terrier (westie). His personality is that of a sweet, stubborn, old man. He's content sitting on the deck with his face to the sun and although his hearing is fine, he'll ignore you if he's not ready to come in when called.

In the few years that we have had the boys, Duke's age has started to show itself. He is still happy and loving, wagging his tail and cuddling when he sees fit but he has weird spots on his body, he gets sick easily, and his vision is fading. A while back I started doing vision tests with him, holding food in front of him or waving my hand. His left eye is all white and his right eye maybe has partial vision.

With the thought that he could not really see and that we've been living in subzero temperatures, we let his hair grow out. We let his bangs fall in his face. We let a beetles like shag take over his head and fall into his eyes.

It has been sad watching our clumsy old man trip around that house. He really is getting old and I need to be honest with myself that as his visions get worse, daily tasks will get harder.

Earlier this week, with a break in cold temperature, I decided he was overdue for a haircut and clipped away a pile of hair almost the same size as him and gave him a bath. It was nice to see his sweet brown eye(s) again.

Since the cut and the bath, he has a new spring in his step. He has no trouble finding the back door and even though he's still really slow, he no longer is nervous about going up and down stairs. Turns out the hair cut was the cause of his expedient aging and not the cataracts. He's still our little old man but we need to not look at his age and think that he's any worse that he is.

Sorry Duker. I see a lot of walks and doggy ice cream in your future as Nick and I try to apologize for your bad haircut.

Monday, Monday: Can't Trust That Day

It has been a rough week. Monday started me off wrong. Monday, if you had told me what the day was to bring, I would have stayed oh so far away from you.

Monday is my late day at work. I do not have to be in until 10:30 so it is the one day during the week I get to stay in bed longer than Nick. When I do finally climb out of bed I take my time and play with the puppies, have a nice breakfast sitting on the counter looking out the window, and gradually make my way into work.


Ferocious Toby

 This Monday was different. I was upstairs picking out clothes when Toby started barking like a madman. I yelled for him to stop but he was at that point in which he can only be stopped by your presence. I ran down stairs and found him not at the back door as I would have thought but standing instead in front of our basement door.

The basement door was closed but does not have a lock. Behind the basement door are steps to the basement and a side door that leads outside. "Toby, WHAT are you barking at??" I implored. As soon as the words left my mouth, Toby growled and a knock came from the basement door. Three knock to be exact. Knock, knock, knock. And yes I mean these knocks were coming from inside the house!

I ran upstairs. Nick was in the shower and I was pounding on the door. I told him what happened having to clarify more than once that yes I meant the INSIDE basement door. When what I was saying finally registered, Nick turned off the water and jumped out of the shower. He instructed me to call 911 as he wrapped a towel around his waist and started heading downstairs. I did as I was told and followed him downstairs. Nick grabbed a knife and the two of us stood in the front hallway as I gave the 911 dispatcher our address and explained the situation.

The cops arrived rather quickly and although they initially started walking to the wrong house, I was able to wave them over to me. I showed them the side door and they attempted entering from outside before coming in and searching the basement.

They came back up to the living room where I sat on the ottoman and Nick stood behind me (now dressed as I made him put on pants before the cops came). I was visibly shaken but the cops told me that they did not see any footprints and the  house was clear. They suggested that what I heard was melting snow. It was not. They suggested that it was a strong breeze. It was not.

We thanked the policemen for their time and they left. Nick stayed with me until I had to leave for work.



Playing hostess in our duplex a few years ago. Years before the mysterious knocking.


The story should be over but it's not.

I was driving to work on the main road that runs through Minneapolis. I was driving in the far right lane when the truck in front of me stopped and put on his flashers. I stopped behind him and flipped on my left blinker. I looked to my left and was about to pull out when the back of my car was slammed into. Luckily the traffic was heavy and the car behind me could not have been going more than 25, luckily I was stopped and did not then hit the truck in front of me. But still, my body jerked forward as I heard the awful clunkity crunch noise of an accident. I hate that noise. It is still in my head and it puts me on edge.

I opened my door and stared blankly at the girl climbing out of her car. Are you kidding me?? Is what I wanted to scream. Instead we exchanged concern and information.

She was apologetic and rightfully accepted all blame. "I was not paying attention. I saw the green light and just went." She admitted. I appreciated her honesty. "I'm having a really bad day." She added.

"I am too." I shared. "It's okay. It could have been worse. We are okay." I said as she embraced me. I got back into my car and drove to work. I'm still surprised that I did not turn around and go home and skip work but at the same time, home wasn't sounding too inviting either.

My neck, back, and shoulders still hurt a lot. I am sitting at work with heat packs and ibuprofen and later today I am going to buy locks for our basement door. Now is a good time to announce that we are moving July 1st and with the old apartment might also go the old Corolla.

Nick, The Corolla, and a cow's butt somewhere is Wisconsin.

*Blog title care of the Mamas and the Papas

Simple Inspiration: Photos

I have so much to say but I'm saving up my creative words for another outlet. Today, I need only to share photos, images that are cheering me during this stressful time.

Image courtesy of Engaged and Inspired. So lovely. This picture makes me want to have a photo session with NV when we are all dolled up.  

 

Reese Witherspoon at the Oscars this year was flawless. Classy and beautiful and makes it look easy. And I LOVE that hair. It's actually a half up half down, not a pony as it appears.



I may have just bought these for our July 22nd party! Badgley Mischka is my new favorite shoe designer. I dare you to go to amazon and look for a pair of shoes by Badgley Mischka that you don't want!

I've always liked James Franco but my like has turned into a serious celebrity crush upon finding out that he is currently pursuing his PhD at Yale and then stumbling upon this photo care of cute boys with cats.

I promise to be back soon with more than photos. Until then please pray to whomever your god may be that it warms up in Minnesota. This has been the l-o-n-g-e-s-t winter e-v-e-r!!

Scattered: So Let's Go!

My head is scattered today. There are so many things I want to do but most of them require either lots or money or at least a plane ticket. It is like when you are in your kitchen and you keep opening your refrigerator even though you know what is in there and you are not even hungry, you just keep looking anyway. I keep pulling up the same web pages over and over as if I might find something new, something that will calm my unsettled nerves.

So far today I have occupied myself with this, this, and this. They are not new articles to me. I saved them in my favorites months ago and go back and read them to revive myself.

The tricky thing with the decorating tips is that as much as I agree with his words, I want a new home so bad that I do not want to spend my days updating the crumbling duplex that we now inhabit.

The slackerology post makes me itch for adventure (so does the -22 windchill). It makes me want to travel so bad that I spent yesterday morning searching craigslist for apartments in Sydney. The one I fell in love with is this. It looks simple and sunny and the view! Wow! It is not realistic though because in case you missed it, that $700 is per week.

Something wonderful did happen yesterday! My family friend that I wrote about here sent me an email. He included a draft of his newest book that is going to be published and has not been read by anybody except his publisher and said:  What I’m trying to do here is get you back to writing, so let’s go. Check this out and then send me something fun to read.

I thought it was only a few pages but 30 pages in Nick asked me if I was coming to bed soon. I answered yes, I just want to finish reading first. I then looked and realized it is 243 pages.

So reading and writing is the task before me. Wish me luck. Writing here is different than what I send him. I write here as I used to write in my journal. I write in my voice. I write without worrying too much about language. It is good that I do this. It gets me typing, it gets me thinking about writing outside of professional emails but it is still a long walk back to fiction.

Photo: Jeffrey Westbrook/Studio D