Happenstance

Halloween was, yet again, pretty fabulous this year. I was particularly excited due to Mark’s AMAZING Axe Bass creation for my ‘ Marceline the Vampire Queen ’ costume. He worked very hard on it and it turned out perfectly! I bet we could sell it for MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, or at least a hundred. He did not have the time to make his own electric Halberd Guitar for his ‘ Marshall Lee the Vampire King ’ costume. Which saddened me greatly. However, he did say he would make it in the future. This may be the first step to an awesome new hobby! Overall, I think we found very good replica outfits for our costumes and I was quite pleased.

Mark played a huge role in designing our Save the Dates. He wanted it to “accurately” portray what led up to his decision to propose to me and represent what he felt the wedding would be like (obviously, a lot of tongue and cheek is being used here). His inspiration came from feeling that I won the first round of our life match (He proposed) and that the second round would be at the wedding. Guests will have to attend to see who wins that match! Maybe parenthood is the final round? Personally, I am putting my money on me! Mark worked with his talented friend (Jeff Manley) to create the art for the front. Manley drew and Mark colored. Mark asked me to create something that was reminiscent of an “old school boxing match poster” for the back. I love how they turned out! They are very ‘us’ and a lot of fun. I am so glad that we are mixing traditional and very personal elements within every aspect of our wedding.

I (like most women I know) am not comfortable with my body. This is entirely stupid. I hate that I feed into society and media's interpretation of what beauty is and give it more importance in my life than is necessary. Being thin or prettier would not make me a better friend, wife (to-be), employee, or anything else. I tell myself that it would make me happier, but I have been thinner and was not any happier.  At the end of the day, maybe it is just an easy way to hate myself and explain why other's might not like me as much as I want: "You didn't stick to your diet, you didn't lose weight, you suck, that's why you didn't nail that interview". This is completely absurd. As a rational woman, I know this. Yet I truly feel that if I was thinner then people would like me more, I would like me more, and life would be easier.  Mark and I plan to have a child some day and there is a good chance that said child will be a girl. I absolutely do not want he...

Today Mark completed his gifts for his Groomsmen Ask! I am very excited about this for several reasons. Firstly, he came up with the entire idea himself and worked really hard to make it nice. Secondly, it means we have completed asking our Bridal Party to be our Bridal Party, and they have all accepted! Mark decided on a lot of personalized and cool items when he chose his gifts. He picked up some really nice cigar boxes from our local smoke shop. While he was there he also bought some cigars (Which I love because of the name and that they say 'Romeo's Court' on them...which is great since they are going to Mark's groomsmen). He also bought and personalized some cigar lighters. Mark worked on the best placement for each item in each unique cigar box. When the placement was finalized, he glued ribbons on the box and tied everything down. Once all of the boxes were ready, he wrote personalized notes for each of his groomsmen asking them to be in the wedding. Finall...

Joanne’s Fabric was having a sale on fleece blankets, so I decided to pick up a few and craft! I really did not know what I wanted to make, but I knew I wanted it to be fun and stuffed animal like. I Started by deciding on the main shape. I went with rectangle. In order to make it more interesting, I sewed the fabric together in several areas to create a unique silhouette. Mark was my crafting company. Then I used the base of my creature to create a pattern for the front and back pieces. I got out some crafting felt and played around with shapes until I came up with the face and ears. I used scraps of fleece to create the tail and floppy legs. Making sure to finish all the edges and turn things inside out once sewn. Then I stuffed the legs and sewed them on. Finally, I stuffed up my Monster Cat (I decided it looked like a cheshire cat bus), and sewed it shut.   This all took about 2-3 hours, including prep and design time. I am pretty happy with how it tur...

I forgot to post anything about this. Way back in September, I created some felt masks for Mark and me to wear at the Big Zoo Party. I am very interested in making animal masks for all of the people in our bridal party as well. I think that would make some fun zoo photos. I started by deciding what animal masks I wanted to create and then looked up pictures and masks of said animals. This time I went with Red Fox and Red Panda. The next step was figuring out what supplies I needed. For these masks, I found a very nice mask form and used glue to layer the felt over it. I decided on the design I wanted to reproduce and printed it up to be the size I needed for our masks. Then I cut out the felt to match the shapes I needed. It was pretty simple. I then placed the design on the mask and moved felt pieces around until it looked the way I wanted it to. The hardest part was gluing it all onto the mask without making a huge mess or ruining the felt. I added some finishing touc...

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’...