Life is not a Fairytale

I had a realization this weekend about the huge gap between the way I picture my future and reality. This is especially true when it comes to weddings. When I pictured my wedding and even my showers, I thought I would be in great shape, my nails would be beautiful, I would be excited and happy and having the time of my life.

In reality, I was exhausted, I haven't worked out in far too long, my nails are a real mess, I spent most of the weekend sick and I was so miserable at times I wanted nothing more than to be in bed cuddled under warm blankets.

However, I had amazing friends and family who helped me pack gift and do wedding projects and loved on me, even though I clearly had plenty of germs to share. No one noticed my personal appearance was not identical to the brides in my bridal magazines. I hated that I felt bad this weekend, but I have been reminded over and over it would be much worse if it happened wedding weekend. (I will be taking lots of vitamins and medicines prior to wedding weekend now...I think little sleep and pure exhaustion equals sickness for me.)

I still had an incredible weekend and really enjoyed the time I got to spend with friends and family and future family! I see now that God was teaching me an important lesson about how we can set ourselves up for disappointment by ridiculously high expectations. I am learning to be content, whatever the situation. A wise friend told me she calls it choosing joy. Right now, I am still feeling sick and am waiting in the Phoenix airport for my delayed flight, but I choose to be grateful I have time to read my book and write some thank you notes and eat lunch without being rushed. I feel happier already!

Friday Five

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do a Friday Five post this week. No promises that I'll ever remember to do it again, but here it is for this most exciting of Fridays!!

1. I got today off work! Sadly, I don't get paid because it's a mandatory furlough day, but I'll still take a day off happily. It's a move by the State of Oregon to hopefully save money by closing offices for a day and sending workers home without pay...and I hear there are more of them coming next year. Oh well--more days off!

2. I'm heading home to NM this weekend for a girls wedding weekend extravaganza!! I'm SO excited :) I'll get to see all of my bridesmaids (and meet two of their babies!), my mom/aunts/cousins/grandmas, and Kory's mom/sis-in-law/grandma and I know it will be so fun. We'll also do wedding craft projects, have 2 bridal showers, get fitted for my dress and b-maid dresses, do a hair and make-up trial, check out the venue and make many plans for the wedding that is only 2.5 months away.

3. The weather in Artesia this weekend is supposed to be in the 80s and I am beyond thrilled about that! It hasn't been above 50-55 in 6 months here (ok...maybe that's not exactly true, I'm no meteorologist) and I am LONGING for some sunshine. I plan to soak up some sun this weekend and enjoy wearing Spring clothes.

4. I have to drive 3 hours to get to a major airport here in Oregon and I have to drive 3 hours to get to my parents house from any major airport I fly into and that makes for a LONG trip. The flights alone are usually 7-8 hours with a lay-over and then 6 hours of driving just makes me feel like I should be arriving in another country after all that travel.

5. Babies!! I am SOOO excited to meet Beckham Crawford & Grayden Washichek this weekend! One of my main goals for this weekend is to hold those babies a LOT and get lots of good cuddle time with them. I promise to return next week with great pictures of me holding them, as well as all the other fun events of the weekend!

Lists Make Me Happy

• I love bullets. I hope other people love them as much as I do.
• I think it's funny how everyone apologizes for not updating their blog often enough. I don't expect anyone else to blog every single day or even every few days, so I assume you don't expect the same of me. I blog when I have something I want to write about. You should do the same. It's very freeing.
• I seem to start every single sentence with I...then again, this is a blog about me, so I guess it makes sense.
• Our first wedding shower is this weekend. Sadly, it's in TX and we're in OR so we can't be there.
• How in the world did people plan weddings before the internet? (You don't need to answer this.)
• Modern Family is seriously the most hilarious show on television right now. I love it!
• We just got a Costco membership and have quickly realized that it is the biggest impulse buy store ever! Of course, impulse buys there can cost you $400!
• I want an iPad 2 so badly. Have you seen that cover? Genius!

This Makes Me Smile

Very random as usual, but I ran across these two pictures last week and both made me laugh, so I thought I would share.

Picture Update

All pictures in this post are stolen/borrowed. My poor camera has not seen any action in quite some time now. I will attempt to remedy that as soon as I find something in my life that I deem picture-worthy.



I CANNOT wait to get my hands on this happy little guy next month!!





I am obsessed with these granola bars. I have at least 1-2 of them every day at work.



I love this show, but the drama this season is really wearing me thin.

 

Since getting engaged, I have received an e-mail from this website almost every day...weird.



Kory and I are reading this book together as a part of pre-marital counseling. Really good so far!

Blog Reading

I think my lack of posting lately can be attributed to the sheer amount of time I've spent READING blogs rather than keeping up with my own.

Also, my life consists of mostly wedding planning these days which means I can't post on recent events because then you would know everything about my wedding and the surprise is half the fun!

So, that means, that you will continue to get these random thoughts on my mind instead of meaningful posts with pictures and events happing in my life.

If thinking about eating healthy and exercising would produce the same results as actually doing the work, I would be SO fit. I think about it all day long and then I get home from work and eat junk and spend the entire evening on the couch...go to work...repeat cycle the next day.

On My Mind

I wonder how many times I saw the words snow, weather and cold on Facebook the past two days?

What is that AWFUL smell coming from my kitchen sink?

I really don't understand why guys like video games SO much.

I want to blog but don't seem to have anything too interesting to share.

Twitter seems to be gaining popularity these days...maybe some of my friends will join?

The "j" key broke off my laptop. That's annoying.

I know I like reading blog posts with pictures. I should include a picture.

I am going here on my honeymooon!

I really wish my apartment had a dishwasher.

That guy and girl on idol that broke up HAVE to get back together. Their duet made me cry.

My friends having babies makes me very happy. The fact that they're 2000 miles away and I have never met the babies does not.

I really hate dressing up.

Why am I sounding so negative? I should work on that.

My snow day in London was so great. Good memories!

My wedding doesn't really seem real to me yet. Maybe when it gets closer?

I really love Oregon. A Whole Lot!