Into the Forest

I was just walking my dog and my parent's dog with my sister a week or so ago when it occurred to me that the trail we were walking them on would be perfect for wedding pictures!

I've mentioned before my love of trees and tree motifs. Since the weather in my part of the world is so unpredictable, an outside wedding was just out of the question. There went my vision of standing with my man under a huge tree with chandeliers hanging from the branches.

The first bend in the trail

The trail makes you feel like you are in the deep woods. Best of all, it's all paved, only 1/2 mile long, has countless places to take pictures, and is steps away from a restroom and a parking lot. Perfect for ladies in heels! The park is only 10 minutes from the middle of town, so we wouldn't have to drive much to get there. I think pictures with the bridal party would be really gorgeous out here, and I'll get my dose of tree loveliness.

This beauty is right at the trailhead....would it be totally weird for me to bring a chandelier and hang it in this tree and then take pictures? I so want to!

So what do you all think? Am I too hung up on the tree thing? Do you think the trail would work for pictures?

PS-There is a fantastic book I read a couple weeks ago called Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. You can find it here on Amazon. It was one of the best books I have read in a long time.

I just finished reading...

The Virgin's Knot, by Holly Payne.

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It was good. I like reading about places and people I have never read about before, and this book gave me that. The book takes place in the mountains of Turkey in a tiny Islamic village. The main character weaves rugs that have mythical qualities, according to the villagers. I don't want to give anything away, so I will stop there. The book was an enjoyable read, but my only issue with it was that the author kept allluding to a couple mysteries that were never wrapped up. Maybe they were wrapped up, but just so subtlely that I didn't pick up on them? Loose ends in books bother me. This book was worth reading, but I probably won't read it again.

Engagement Ring Insurance

Ryan and I just got my ring insured.

I know, I know, we should have done it a long time ago...we've been engaged since April 20th, and we just now did it.

My wise dad told me to go to State Farm, where he gets all of his insurance from. Ryan and I thought we had to insure the ring on a homeowner's policy, but when I called State Farm, she said that the best way to do it is to get a personal article policy. The personal article policy is a stand alone policy, and has no deductible. It covers any damage, loss, or theft of my ring, and was a mere $30. Oh yes, $30. All we had to bring was the appraisal. We can also add the wedding bands onto the same policy.

Gratuitous Ring Shot

I feel better now that I know everything is taken care of, ring wise. I had never seen the appraisal before--I had no idea that Ryan had picked such a high quality stone. It is completely colorless, and is very well cut. Ryan got really into the different clarities and grades throughout the ring shopping process.

Have you gotten your ring insured?

New Blogger

A great friend of mine has just started her very own blog. Melissa and I graduated from the same Public Relations program, and she was always an execellent partner when it came to group projects. She is new to the blogging world, so if you have a second today, pop over and say hello at http://catsupbottle.blogspot.com/. Love you Melissa, we need to get together soon!

The Economy and Me

I haven't mentioned how the economy has affected me yet.

I graduated from college in December of 2008 with my bachelor's degree in Public Relation. As of November of 2008, I had a full time job lined up a ready to go. By January, I still hadn't gone full time at that job, and was told that it wasn't going to happen. I work part time as a secretary at a big hospital in town, so I had some income coming in. Once I got the bad news about my full time job, I started applying to jobs in a 50 mile radius like crazy. I had an offer to sell insurance on a 100% commission basis, but I didn't feel comfortable with that. I had a few interviews, and was told on several occasions that I was competing with people that had 5 or 6 years of experience.

Here I am in May, still working part-time at the hospital. I know how lucky I am to have a job, but I can't help being frustrated with the fact that I am not in the field that I want to be in, and that I'm only part-time.

I had a really great job interview last week, so we'll see what happens. I'm at the point where I don't get excited or hopeful about potential leads anymore, because I have had so many let downs! This job would be really good for me career wise, and I really respect the owner of the company--it would be a great situation overall.

Ryan just graduated from grad school the Saturday before last (yay!), and he has been applying for jobs too. He wants to coach distance running collegiately, and he would be so good at it. You should see him with his athletes - it is so obvious that he was put on this earth to coach.

If I get this job that I just interviewed for, and he gets a coaching job, then I will probably have to stay here for a while, and Ryan and I would try our hand (again) at a long distance relationship (we started dating in March of 2008, and he spent May-August working in his hometown of St Louis, about 2 hours away from my hometown). If Ryan doesn't get a coaching job, he might stay here in my hometown and volunteer with the University's team to get another year of experience. If he does that, though, he would have to find a job where he could be done by 2:45 p.m. so that he could help out at practice. Or, he could find a high school teaching job (his undergrad degree is in education) and coach at the high school level. The only caveat with this is that once he gets into having his own program, he won't want to leave and keep looking for collegiate coaching jobs. I am stubborn and insist that he MUST pursue coaching at a college because it's now or never (we have no mortgage, no kids, why not?).

This is all probably very confusing, so my apologies! Ryan and I have gone over and over our options so many times that my mind is all in knots. It's all up to a far greater power than us, so I do my best to trust that everything is going to work it's way out the way it's supposed to. Being a control freak, this is nightmarishly hard. I'm a planner by nature, so it's super hard for me to not know where either Ryan and/or I will be in a month.

To wrap this up, I am lucky to have a job, even if I am only part time and do not get enough hours. Everything is very up in the air for Ryan and I right now, but we're in a very transitory part of our lives, so this is to be expected, I suppose. There's a line from St. Theresa's prayer that I really like that I try to focus it on "May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be." Until Ryan and I's job situation gets figured out, the real wedding planning must wait. Until then, it will remain at inspiration only!

How has the economy affected you and your loved ones? Has it affected your wedding, and how so?

The More the Merrier

This is my new motto for our wedding!

Ryan and I spent the last 2 nights working on our guest list. Between the 2 of us, and including absolutely everyone we wanted, we came up with 339 people.

We both have an A List and a B List, and the 339 includes both Ryan's and mine A and B List. I feel kind of terrible having a B List, but the reality is, there are people we very well might grow apart from in the next year.

I'm thinking that at least 30-35 of my family list of 100ish are not going to show. My extended family isn't very close, and they are very spread out, so I doubt many will be making the trip. I've always had a very small group of friends/close family members, so I won't be crushed if some can't make it.

Anyway, if we invite absolutely everyone on our lists, I am sure that at least 39 will not show, and we will therefore be right at the number we need to be at-300. We'll probably budget the reception for 300 people.

Putting the guest list together was really, really tough. Ryan felt like he had to defend the people on his list, and I felt like the number was so high that I couldn't add anyone. We talked lots about it, and we are both happy with the number we came up with. I am glad it's over! I knew going into it that the guest list was going to be difficult, and I was right. I was a big part of the problem, to be totally honest. A mean, nasty little part of me was having a rough time giving up my vision of a small, intimate affair. Having his whole family there is so important to Ryan, that I just had to get over it.

You know what I'm looking forward to doing with all of these wonderful people who are going to be there to support us? We can take a picture like the fabulous one from the end of "The Shining!"

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What did you think was going to be the hardest thing about planning your wedding? How big/small is your guest list?

I just finished reading...

In the Shadow of the Ark, by Anne Provoost. It's kind of like The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, where the author takes a story from the Bible and fleshes it out, gives it a back story and a new perspective. It's fiction of course, but I love having different ways of looking at stories.

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I highly recommend this book, it was a great read. In the book, you find out that Noah's sons weren't so righteous after all, so you're left with this questions of, why them? Why were they chosen and saved? Did God really eradicate evil from the world like he wanted? How were babies evil, why did they have to die?

Have you read this, and did you like/dislike it? Why? What have you read lately?