Living in the present and planning for the future...

Well, here we are! These will probably be the two shots we choose. There were some alright outdoor shots but we really wanted a nice, "family portrait" and an official "engagement pic". There is a softer version of the "engagement picture" that I'm also looking at a lot.
I'm starting to really feel like I'm actually going to get married. Talk is cheap, right? But getting to a point where you start owing people? That's when you start feeling like, "IT HAPPENING!"
Anyway, I haven't been writing very much. When your life moves at a certain pace you are mostly thinking in the present. People who meditate say its important to think in the present. In order to do that you need to achieve absolute mindfulness. Aren't we living in the presence when we are moving so fast we are living moment to moment and don't even have the foresight to write to our loved ones and have lunch with our friends? This is what I like to call a bit of a slippery slope.
Or are you only really living in the present when you can eliminate all the cares and worries of our daily life. Has anyone actually done this through meditation? If I have achieved selflessness I'm not aware of it. My friend Sara said she thought she had during our final posture of yoga once and she ruined it by saying to herself, "I'm doing it! I'm actually meditating!"
I have become very relaxed. I've slowed my pulse and lowered my blood pressure but I don't know about selflessness.
Perhaps I'm too immature in my practice and it is something I'll achieve with a greater wisdom. Anyway, this is what I'm thinking about as I post these previews of Kent and my engagement pictures on my night off.

Chapel: CHECK!

Kent and I have been penciled in for Sept. 2 at Sts. Peter and Paul Chapel. Very historic church built in 1861. Click on the link to see more about it!

Engagement pics are done! I will see the proofs on Saturday! Hooray, Hooray! I've been so busy I think that I'll see Kent in those pictures before I get to see him in the flesh! Anyway... more to come on those. Maybe I'll even scan them in!

How is your international food etiquette?

Test yourself here.

Miss Olivia's Debut

Kent and I got our engagement pictures taken yesterday. It was raining but we were able to get some outdoor shots in her yard. I think they will be nice.
We took some more formal shots inside with Olivia, our dog. It was funny because Olivia was a perfect model. She really loved the camera and the attention. There is one picture where she is perfectly posed on Kent's arm- a perfect family picture. She whined and cried when we were taking shots without her. The photographer seemed to really like her too despite the fact that she made a tootsie roll on her floor. She kept saying that is was, "Miss Olivia's debut."
I think that they are going to be very nice. We will get the proofs back next week sometime. You may put your orders in the comment line if you are interested in a couple of things. I will try to scan them in when I get them but I'd like to get an idea of what everyone wants.

I learned about my brother Mike today!

Something I like to do for fun is Google searches. I found my brother Mike on the web today and read all about him law practice. I thought that was pretty cool. Follow the brother link above and you can learn too!

Blasted RAIN!!!

Rain in the forcast all day for thursday! Argh!!!

Wedding Photographer- Check!

Well, I have a lot to report, thankfully, on my progress this week. As some of you know that I had quite a struggle last week. This week was much more rewarding. First of all, I met with a photographer and liked her very much. She will be taking our engagement photographs next Thursday (10/20). Iowa's autumn is peaking at the moment and we plan on getting some very nice outdoor shots as well as the formal engagement session indoors. Her name is Bonnie Stover and she operates out of her home in Cedar Rapids.

My package includes an engagement session, a pre-bridal session or love story of the couple and seven hours of wedding day coverage. Formals, prewedding candids, ceremony, after ceremony candids, and reception coverage will all be taken care of! She will take color portraits, candids, and black and white photojournalism. A teacher at Mark Twain referred her because she is so in love with her pictures and the album that she made for her. The album is 28 pages with all the best pictures from the day. Everything has a lifetime guarantee. Isn't that nice?

So, I'm very excited about our engagement session. We are going to take the day and go around some possible reception sites in Cedar Rapids. I know I have been talking a lot about the Art Museum in Iowa City but Kent wants something a little more rustic. Our relationship has thrived so much through travel and the outdoors that he and I really think it would be nice to incorporate this into our marriage. So there are I few places we can look into that could work. I want this to be Kent's day too. What makes him comfortable takes the pressure off me so I'm all for making him happy. We are going to stop by Palisades park, Squaw Creek (which is a golf course) and someplace called Touch of Class. We'll see how it goes.

I think most of all I'm thankful to have a little insight from Kent on the wedding, finally. In the hour that we talked about it I was able to settle on a color idea and really pull together a concept for the wedding, "Rustic Italian". So even if I don't get married at the Art Museum I think there is something out there that can make us both happy.

Getting to know you question of the day...

What was your childhood lunchbox? Mine was the Cabbage Patch. I loved it. My brother had the Star Wars one... Please post your lunchbox as a comment... Even if it was a brown bag. There is no shame in that!

When life plays dirty tricks

Do you ever think about what ironic yet cruel timing life can have? I was excited about finding my diamond earring not even a week ago but today I have lost my debit card. I didn't lose my wallet- just the card. I'm going crazy trying to find it. I last used it at Fareway foods store so I don't think it was sucked into a machine. I think its in my apartment somewhere. Anyway, the cruel timing thing is that I desperately need to deposit my paycheck today but bank out of town. Oh the cruel irony... I'm really wigging after the schedule of my last week.

I had appointments and classes up the hoo-ha. I have reached my out of apartment threshold and am experiencing withdrawal from cuddling up in a blanket with my honey at home.

So much is happening I can barely remember all my appointments. Luckily, I learned to schedule everything into my phone. An hour before each engagement an alarm goes off to remind me what I need to do next. Here are next weeks engagements:

1) Visit with photographer to review her Portfolio for engagement and wedding bookings. I am pretty confident with this one though as I have already seen her work today. A fellow Mark Twainian showed me her wedding pics and they were very nice. What I liked best was her candid shots. They showed the brides sense of humor and was sensitive to the bride and grooms personal importances.

2) Stamping Party! (Yes, I will plug your website, Brad, at the party).

3) A BBQ for a few of us Mark Twain employees! (hurray, stress relief)

4) Sadly, Kent's mom broke her hip in a tandem bicycle accident. I want to send her cookies and maybe make it up there to visit her. Get well soon, Elaine!

5) Doctor's appointment, yuck.

6) Regular scheduled classes and jobs, more yuck. Write a paper. Go to library to check out resources.

Here are the things I have on my mind:

1) Need to change oil in car and get brakes fixed.

2) Need to know when and where the hell my parents are moving in order to arrange the wedding. (Don't be surprised if I start thinking about pushing the wedding back or just getting hitched in Greece again. I mean, work with me people!) P.S. Kent doesn't like the idea of getting married at the art museum. Apparently, he doesn't have confidence that his friends will be able to behave themselves there. Sure... his friends.

3) I'm not seeing enough of my honey and I'm sad about it!!!! :(

4) Checking account in serious danger of being overdrawn.

5) Being poor... Forever.

6) Doomsday. The oceans are over flowing. The tectonic plates are moving. The economy is collapsing. The Bible belt is growing. Volcanoes are erupting. Forests are burning. The weather is destroying. The world is ending and everyone keeps smiling and making more babies. Argh. (Did that sound like the Willy Wonka boat song) AND THE ROWERS KEEP ON ROWING!!!!!!

On a positive note, here is what I'm looking forward to:

Thanksgiving surrounded by my big ole Ohioan family. "Weekend at Bernies" only Uncle Bernie will not be dead. I plan on really relaxing with my sweetie for this long weekend. I will enjoy the fall Ohio colors and drink some red wine with my family and eat good food. I will talk and laugh over pictures with my Grandma. I will get my toes done with my cousins Sam and Aileen. I'm pysched! I'm picturing Norman Rockwell only everyone is wearing harley shirts and is talking really loud.

That's really the only thing I'm looking forward to for the moment. My immediate family (Mike, Chris, Mom and Dad) has pretty much decided to not get together for any holidays. Pretty soon we will probably only see each other at 10 year reunions. See ya'll at the wedding!

Well, this blog is swiftly making its way to blah blah blah land so I better stop while I'm ahead. Did I sound over-exhausted?

I was a Garbage Pail junkie

Ok, who of you among us is willing to admit how much they loved collecting these tacky cards. I personally was addicted. My cousin Joey and I would trade and buy them all summer. We shot off cap guns, chased each other around my Grandma's trailer park, and looked at Garbage Pail Kids.

I hope you enjoy this little flashback.

Here are Lin and Bri with me at the site of first Beatles venue 

Gifts from Liverpool

I grew up believing that I had an aunt and an uncle living in Liverpool, England, named Lin and Brian. Although they weren't really blood family, every year they would send me Liverpool scarves, banners, and other various knick knacks. This was before I actually understood what made someone an aunt or uncle as opposed to just being a family friend. We would get cards and letters with long letters written in them with that very European way of writing where everything is in print but in a special, almost bubble-like, penmanship.

When I did my study in Italy I found myself without any family or anywhere to stay for Christmas. At the young age of 21 that was a very vulnerable place to be. Although I had never officially met Lin and Brian before they welcomed me into their home without so much as a breath of hesitation.

Lin is my mother's pen pal. Mom won the Scouse penpal on a coin toss with one of her Beatle-maniac friends when she was still very young. Her whole life she wrote to Lin through grade school, high school, graduation, marriage, having children, growing older, children growing older, moving, working, crying, laughing, and through saying goodbye to loved ones. Until pretty recently, they had never met. In fact, I think my mother had either just met Lin in Florida or was only about to meet her there the next summer (I can't remember). Anyway, the point is, I was to go to their house, where even my mother hadn't made it to yet.

Today, I received yet another gift from my family in Liverpool. I say family because by all my purposes they are family. They sent me a very nice black t-shirt with the child faces of Paul McCarteny and John Lennon on the front with the title, "The Long and Winding Road" printed underneath. What a nice reminder of their relationship with my family. I actually found it quite meaningful and put it on at once. I even got a compliment on the t-shirt from the woman who repaired a couple of skirts for me as I picked them up.

Lin and Brian are going to try to make the trip to be at my wedding. They actually were mostly enthusiatic about the possibility of it being in Greece. Perhaps, we will just see them on our honeymoon.

I was also given another gift today- Iowa City was visited by a bright and beautiful double rainbow today. Isn't that nice?

Anyway, it must be my lucky week.

P.S. Kent and I had dance class again today. That means we've made it through the waltz, the slow dance, and the swing dance. Today, we learned the Rhumba. To be honest, we were finding it hard to connect today. I suppose as a couple we still have a lot to learn about reading each other's cues.

Lost Treasure Found

The most mysterious and amazing thing happened to me today. After I put the quarters in the washing machine I bent down to load the dryer with wet clothes. When I popped back up the diamond earring that Kent gave me and that I lost was sitting on top the quarters for the washing machine. How bizarre? This earring is VERY important to me. I wore the set everyday. The back was difficult to keep on as they get loose from constant wear. I had lost the one earring once before and, after making plans to go to church with Gen, I looked down after hanging up and saw it in the corner of the floor in my bathroom. I thought that might have been a message that I need to go to church more often. I was thrilled then but am double thrilled today. I swore that it must have washed down my shower drain. Then out of nowhere in the hallway of my apartment building it pops up like the prodigal son? I swear it must have been on a trip to Europe and just climbed up on the coin slot to get my attention!
Well, this week came to a screeching halt as I'm home alone trying to collect my thoughts about everything that I need to do. As I see it they are:
1.) Research Seattle and determine good living areas.
2.) Write my Psychology paper
3.) Type and print out stickers for my slides for Antioch
4.) Laundry - done
5.) Dishes - done / clean apartment
6.) Research Art Therapy
7.) Sort through an entire foot tall pile of papers sitting by my desk (where does this crap come from?)
Moving to Seattle thing is really messing with my head. I wish there was something I could do to get my head in the right place. With everything that goes on in my day to day I feel like time is speeding past me and opportunity is swept away with it. When I get a day off as I have today I feel like I don't really want to do anything even though I know I have to.
I woke up with an allergy attack from hell this morning. To make myself feel better I took an allegra, sprayed my nose, took a shower and did what every girl needs when they are as tense as I am at the end of a hard couple of weeks full of work... I got my toes and fingers done. Gold for our Hawkeyes on the toes (that was actually unintentional) and pink on the fingers to stay girly.
I'm also looking in to going back to the gym to work out again (something else to fit in my schedule?!?!). We will see what they offer me. I e-mailed my request and I hope the return offer is in agreement with what I want to do. God knows that its going to start getting colder and colder and that bikeride to work is going to look less and less appealing.
So guys keep me in your thoughts and show me your support because I need to do this move! Kent and I need to step our lives up and this will not happen in Iowa City.
May all of you experience finding a lost treasure this week!