Our amazing photographer

We've signed the contract for our photographer!  Gabriel Van Wyhe does amazing work, both creatively and with the classic, beautiful wedding pictures you dream of for your wedding day.  Now we get to plan our engagement shoot!

I like shots of feet: (especially like that their dog is in this one...it'd be great to have Paris in a few shots:)

and I love the lying-in-the-grass shots:

(how cute is this old couple?)

this is super-cute:

and it'd be great to have a shot of my oh-so-beautiful ring...

and I love the dips...

and the forehead-kisses:

ooh, this is cute, too:

I also (although Matt doesn't "get it") think it'd be fun to have props like red balloons...

since we're getting married in a setting with so much green & flowers, it'd be good to go in another direction for the location of our shots, I'm thinking...like an alley in downtown Tacoma, maybe...

or on some stairs?

or railroad tracks...

definitely a lot of beautiful photos to inspire our shoot! 

Details...

In no particular order, these are the things that are on my (wedding-laden) mind of late:
-how to make 7 bridesmaids (and Matt's 7 corresponding groomsmen) NOT seem obnoxious both in photos & standing with us for the ceremony...can we stagger them somehow?  (it's on my "google this" list.)

-deciding what bling to put on my GORGEOUS, undadorned dress.  How much do I really want the black sash?  Will I regret it in 20 years when I see pictures? 

-how to shrink the guest list while still honoring our family & friends who want to see us get married.

and the exciting things:

Ok, I'm so blessed...after several unsuccessful dress-shopping trips, Matt's mom flew my mom in from Philly to surprise me on our 4th (I know...) appointment.  And I found my dress!  Best yet, we bought the sample so they cut us a deal..then we were told that  the designer takes 9 months to order & ship the dresses so I wouldn't have been able to get it in time for our Labor Day wedding.  (also, it's silk.  I die.)  :)

It was amazing to watch my mom & Betty bond while she was here.  It's been hard for my mom to reconcile the fact that I am really staying on the west coast, especially now that Anna is looking at colleges (some in WA!  yay!)  Betty's been an amazing friend & support to my mom, & recognized the importance of having us together to make big decisions before we even did.  God is good.  So is my future MIL. 

We have a date (September 5th) and a venue (Lakewold Gardens) and a dress...last night we met with a caterer and tonight with a photographer that I really like. 

So more than anything else, I have realized how much weddings are about details...most of which I had never thought of or really care about.  And they are all posed as questions that I feel like I SHOULD have a concrete answer for.  Things like, "are you wearing your hair up?" "Will you have a full cocktail hour or just 45-minutes?"  "What kind of necklaces will your bridesmaids wear?"  

(my answer to every one of these questions has been a blank look and an "ummm, I don't know...do I have to know right now?") 

I am the girl who has dreamt of her wedding day but had to put a lid on the dreaming a few years back.  I was trusting God that He has the best plan for me, but it no longer seemed imminent that that included a wedding.  So I kept some small details in my mind (blue shoes and a photo booth), but have not been a wedding-crazed single girl.  That probably scored me points with Matt, but is not so convenient for our vendors...or mothers.  So I am scoping it out, immersing myself in wedding porn (hehe) and obtaining opinions on details.  Ex: yes!  hair up!  45 minutes seems sufficient! 

Still don't care about their necklaces, though.  Maybe they can pick their own...

hail! our new website!

March is very tricksy with its weather.  And I always forget & get lured in by its whispers of a warm spring, only to get caught in a freak hailstorm without a coat (that was today). Crazy! 

At the top of my highlights for today were:
- busting out our wedding website (after over-thinking it waaaay too much.)  Turns out hugs from Matt & a new hosting site were all the inspiration I needed to get it up & running!  (I'll post it once we have the date more solidified...but it's definitely looking like Labor Day weekend!)

- discovering that Fiber One bars kind of taste like Samoas.  (I said kind of...)  One more reason to not shut up about these things.  Seriously, they're so good! 

getting married!!

umm I am engaged.  (!!)

Matt asked me to marry him yesterday on the drive back from Long Beach (where we were clam digging with his family).  

and so a NEW GOAL is to not be a crazy person who lets the wedding porn (yes, it really is like that) take over my life. 

but so far the preliminary planning has been fun.  and calling Matt my fiance and staring at this gorgeous ring is lots of fun. 

but I have no intention of letting this become a wedding blog.  (for now, at least).  :)

peace

Good morning, Jesus.  Thank you that everything I hold in my head- You hold in your hands. 

Love, Kelly

tuesday to-dos

I am now:

-a resident of Tacoma, WA (officially...with a change of address and everything. ) :)
-the owner of a motor vehicle again (and legally, once I get the tabs today.)
-an unsupervised B of A teller.  (okay, they still check in to make sure I'm doing okay, but I'm not "in training" anymore.) 

And guess what?  All of those areas of my life I've been trying to invest in?  I have been reminded that I do a LOT better with all of them when I am in a routine.  I just do.  As in:  I am just now, after living here for 3 weeks, finding a rhythm that enables me to think about things like running 4 miles and not eating dairy or sugar and writing letters to college friends.

So on my to-do list today is to take Rocco  (see above) on a walk/run, make Angus road-legal, do my taxes (because there's no need to procrastinate when you're getting money back!!) and brainstorm last-minute ideas for Matt for Sunday.  And maybe hang out with Lisa, too...  (umm and also work. )

 

and...

Because it's our first Valentine's Day (and my first one ever in a relationship-is that weird?)  there's a lot of pressure to make it a good one.  And while I know he's feeling a little more pressure than I am, he's almost guaranteed to make it good because there's no bar even set for me.  And I'm pretty easy to please.  Pink flowers and I'm happy.  But he can be a tough nut to crack- and I'm still stabilizing my budget right now, so a nice gift is out.  And the easy thing to do when you're a girl (that would involve lingerie or whatever) is off the table for us until my last name changes.  So...what to do, what to do?  Creativity (but boy-approved, that's the pickle!) is the name of the game.

mlk day

Can you tell I'm resistant to discipline? I haven't posted a "daily" update on here in 5 days... :)


While I'm so thankful for GRACE, I'm even more aware of this real need in my life...so I'm going to just keep going here, steady on...

It's been a pretty busy week. And the coming one holds even more:

In the next 10 days I will be moving, starting a brand new job (full time with benefits, whee!), and introducing the 3 most important people in my life to each other. (!) I've been mentally preparing for all of those things for months now, it seems. So now that it's happening it's a joyful relief, to go forward. I'm much more excited than stressed (my favorite kind of planning is for the new & exciting things...) but I still see a huge need for:

• seeing grace each day
• trusting that God has me & delighting in Him
• being diligent (i.e.: working my butt off) :)

My most pressing need right now seems to be just sorting all of my stuff into 3 categories: sell/give away, use right now (move with me into Amanda's house), & store "for the future" in Matt's garage. Since I tend to bounce between being overly sentimental & stubborn about things & overly calculating & minimalistic, it's a pretty big task to judge things by their importance and usefulness. I foresee a lot of caffeine-fueled evenings this week... At least I don't have the luxury of procrastination to hinder me. I've gotta just do it.

So! Today being resourceful looks like finding moving boxes. (And filling at least 4 of them. Probably with books. I love my books...)

Pursuing growth in my relationships/community by talking to my Mama for an hour before work this morning (check!), making specific plans for the future with some of my Seattle/West Seattle darlings, & going to the women's bible study at Lifehouse thursday night...

I know me. I need people around me. I'm very aware of the amazing community I've been a part of through Mars Hill/West Seattle. And as I (well, 'we'...) go forward with this new church, I'm excited both to jump in with both feet to what's available there & maintain friendships & community in Seattle.

Today there's sunshine in the Junction & I'm soaking in my second-to-last day of work in solitude, appreciating the ability to do some much-needed planning.

The question I'm chewing on today is: 'what kind of relationship do grace & diligence play in my life? what's an appropriate balance of the two, so that I can actually grow?'