Happenstance

It's been a long time since I wrote anything on here. I went trough a lack of personal time and lull in creativity when I started a very stressful and time intensive position as an Event Coordinator. However, I recently find myself with more time on my hands, renewed desire to create, and very unexpected baby boy on the way. Honestly, after a miscarriage, several long discussions with Mark, and just getting older, I was becoming more OK with the idea of not having children. Not to mention, for some reason, I never considered that our child wouldn't be a girl. It's funny how life works out. I have not been enjoying pregnancy... and I still have the entire 3rd trimester and labor to look forward to. It's mostly been a lot of vomiting in the beginning, difficult body changes, headaches, emotions, construction, expense, stress, worry, insomnia, and recently symphysis pubis dysfunction & gestational diabetes. Yet, knowing he is healthy and feeling him move around, is p

Here are some pictures from the wedding!! We wont have the professional photos for several weeks, but  McShane Photography  provided us with some sneak peaks (towards the bottom of the blog) and other people's photos have been rolling in! The first thing I noticed when I looked at these photos, was thankfully, how much I loved them and what a wonderful day it had been! However, my critical nature soon kicked in and I noticed how tired my eyes looked and the dark circles (from lack of sleep, stress, and let's face it, age) under them. I instantly felt self conscious and upset. Generally, I wouldn't Photoshop my own image, but I felt the need to (they are my wedding pictures after all!) make my eyes look a little nicer. I have no excuses for my vanity. Here are Jena McShane's Sneak Peaks (of absolute mind-numbing fabulousness that already made my eyes look nice): Plus, she captured our Bridesmaids Poster picture perfectly!

Wedding flowers are wicked expensive. Like stupid expensive. Plus they are basically just dying from before you even start using them. I just can't feed into that kind of nonsense.  Mark suggested that we went flower free, but I couldn't really get behind that either. So Erin and I set out to make flowers for the wedding! We don't mess around! That being said, the beginning was all messing around. We tried several different things, like making felt flowers, and were kinda hitting the wall. Until Erin made her first paper flower  using information she found on the Internet! I was completely over-the-moon sold.  We started making the flowers using Erin's Cricut to cut out all of the paper shapes. She had several die options and the Cricut allowed us to manipulate the shapes to make standard flowers, like roses, and our own creations.  Cutting out the shapes was only the first step. After we had the shapes, we used Erin's Copic markers to color the edges of

Over the last year, I have really started thinking a lot about positive body image, self-acceptance/love, and happiness. Not only are these ideas not tangible, but they can be so hard to talk about because their definitions widely vary depending on who you are talking to. However, I genuinely feel that I need to better understand not only what these ideas mean to me, but also how I am going to actually achieve them.  I wrote a long post earlier last year about why I decided to do a  boudoir shoot  and how it made me feel, and later followed-up with a post about my  pin-up party  experience, and recently I participated in an women's empowerment photo-shoot. All of these were very public and somewhat anxiety inducing ways for me to really force myself to see my body for what it really is, not what I perceive it to be. I can't say that I am a completely changed person or that I now look in the mirror and love what I see. However, I think I am making real strides towards that.

Serendipity. Happenstance. Fate. Luck. Whatever you want to call it, something or someone, was working for us on February 12, 2006. Both Mark and my father's invited us to a free lunch at Claddagh’s, the one thing neither of us had ever turned down.  We both showed up, wearing what they had found on the floor that morning, expecting nothing more than a free meal; neither of us expecting that we would be meeting the person we would be spending the rest of their lives with. I was living in East Lansing at the time and was finishing my junior year of college at Michigan State University. Mark had recently moved to the area, in hopes of returning to school and starting a new chapter in his life. The first thing I noticed was his smile and quick wit. Even looking like a hobo, he seemed at ease with himself and able to put others at ease as well. I kept hoping he would ask for my number (Mark said he regretted not asking). I spent the next few months pestering my father to get Mark’

Today I sent out packages to ask my friends if they would be willing to be my bridesmaids. I really enjoyed deciding what I wanted to include and creating everything. I decided to create a postcard that individualized the "Bridesmaids" movie poster. On the back I wrote a message about why I wanted them to be in my bridal party. I wrote up information cards that laid out my ideas about the wedding and who I was inviting to be a part of the bridal party. I included a card that spoke to the Celtic influences that would be playing a part in our wedding. I added a sterling silver anklet with charm, that I thought well represented the gratitude I had for their participation. There was an Irish blessing. Lastly, I put in the colors I chose for the wedding. The items I chose to include and create represented my desire to make sure my bridesmaids felt appreciated and knew what I was hoping for from them. I have been a MoH and bridesmaid several times. During which

The Toledo Zoo was suggested to me by my friend Liz and it was the perfect fit for Mark and I. After extensive research, we decided to put down the deposit to have our wedding at the Toledo Zoo! Not only is the Toledo Zoo absolutely beautiful and perfect, but it is very reasonably priced. We will have our ceremony in the gardens and the reception at the African Lodge.  I am pretty excited about this! We will have free entrance to the zoo for our guests and live animal interactions during the cocktail hour!

Today I went wedding gown shopping with Sarah and Mark. The intention was to try on the gown I was obsessed with (as it was on sale) and realize that it was not the dress for me. So I could move on and go real gown shopping with my mom and friends later. However, that is not what happened. Everything lined up and I ended up leaving with the gown of my dreams. I have been obsessed with this gown for months. I found a picture on Pinterest that led to nowhere. I had no idea who made the gown, where I could find it, or what it looked like below the waist. I searched several times for it, with no luck, and had given up on finding it. I decided to look for it again, after Mark proposed, and found it on the first search. There was only one boutique in Michigan that was selling it and they only had one gown left. The sample. They said they were having a sample sale that weekend. The weekend my mom was in Chicago. The gown was way out of my budget and I doubted the one size they had (the

Today Mark proposed. It was absolutely amazing. He proposed at our 6th annual Memorial Day party, in front of all of our friends and family. It was perfect. It was amazing. It was everything I ever wanted (and waited for). To be fair, I would have said "Yes" no matter what. I have love Mark for what seems an eternity and I know he is the person I want to spend my life with. That being said, who would say no to this ring? I am extremely excited to start planning our wedding. I love event planning and this is one of the most meaningful events of my life.

Seans Iontach is Gaelic for 'Unique Opportunity'. So what does that mean? I feel like our lives are filled with unique opportunities to be amazing, make changes, or succeed. It is all a matter of being able to see and take advantages of a seans iontach. I am not always the best at this. However, I am trying to be the best version of ME that I can be. Mostly I will be blogging about the mundane and wonderful things that happen in my life. This will range from crafting, travel, beliefs, career, and so on. I hope that it will be enjoyable to read and have the occasional seans iontech to inspire.