just a regular old entry

Something about the coming of Fall -- still off in the distant, but hopefully not TOO distant future -- has sparked yet ANOTHER attempt to get back to journaling.  It also helps that I'm now working at a paper goods store which has the largest selection of journals I can ever remember seeing all in one place at one time. 

I can't count the number of times I've tried to be a good journalist throughout my whole life, and just could ever keep it up.  So many times I've been convinced I'd do it if I just had this or that pretty new journal, but all of them only have a few entries in them.  I've often used the excuse that "I'd rather be living my life, not journaling about it," but that's just stupid.  I've really admired friends and roommates I've had over the years who were so dutiful about writing entries every evening.  The best I've ever done was keeping up with my Xanga (yeah, remember those??) for a couple of years.  I would skip a month or two sometimes when I got really busy or had a lot of activities going on, but I love going back and reading how ridiculous my college life was.  And the enjoyment I get out of reading the journal entries I HAVE written only tells me how much I really should be doing it consistently. 

My latest idea is that I need a Day Journal, one of those that you just write a few lines on each day so you can remember what you did on that day or what your agenda was.  I feel like I could start with something like that, simple and not too time consuming, and maybe slowly build to longer entries.

yeah.  I know what you're thinking.... not likely.

That's the problem with a blog.  It's public.  It's "out there."  And there's this unspoken pressure to always write interesting stuff about your life, your business, or whatever it is you "blog about."  Sometimes I want to just write a blog entry like this one that just says "this is what I did today."  Or "today I got up, went to work, came home, had dinner, and went to bed."  But we all know that wouldn't keep anyone entertained for long.

Well, tough.  All of that up there ... I can't figure out how make an arrow pointing up, so just imagine it.... was just the preface to this:

Today I got up late (a luxury of living less than 10 minutes from where you work and not having to be there until 10am).  I let Oscar out to enjoy the sunshine in the backyard while I got dressed for work.  Tim was already gone.  He's been working days this week which means he has to leave at 7:30am and doesn't get home until 8:30pm.  This is our routine.  Tim walks Oscar in the morning, then Oscar gets back in bed with me for a few hours to cuddle after Tim leaves.  O-town gets a few more precious minutes outside to bark and play while I put on makeup and get dressed.  Then I'm off to the paper store from 10am-6pm.  I work the registers, I help people pick out stationary or find a gift for their Mom or Wife, and I answer stupid questions.  Today I helped a lady pick out non-gender specific paper for a same-sex wedding reception.  I also heard all about her feelings on the matter.  Yay me.  I also restock and dust and organize "the wares."  Pretty soon I should know how to take custom orders, so if you need to have a custom designed invitation for your baby shower or 50th birthday party - ask for me! (well, not yet...)  I watch the clock waiting for it to be 6pm when I get to clock out and come home.  Oscar is waiting for me on the couch.  Usually, he bites my hand he's so excited to see me.  We walk so he can poop.  Then I put my feet up for a while, usually watching Netflix, but mostly killing time until Tim gets home.  We talk about our day a little bit.  Sometimes sit on our deck and watch Oscar bark at squirrels in the backyard.  And we go to bed early.  Or if Tim is working nights, we eat dinner and say goodbye and then Oscar and I get in bed and watch movies.

Nope.  Not journal worthy.  Show of hands - who read this all the way to the end?

getting back our Groove

One of my favorite movies of all time is Emperor's New Groove.  I love the opening number where the old man throws off the Emperor's "groove," the music does that record-scratching stop, and then the old man gets tossed over the (very high) palace wall (to what - in any other world but Disney - would have been sure death).

Over the past nine months of unemployment, I have had a lot of time to think about the human "groove" and wonderfully complex things, like the meaning of life.  Of course two months of that time frame was really spent enjoying the holidays after moving home, and our new-found unemployment, three months was spent dwelling on my wedding, and then two months after my wedding were spent in that transitional stage of realizing I WAS married.  Then there was a month I look back on as the "we have to find a house now or die" period.  Once we found one there was about a month of "Wow.  We have a house..." time.  Then we hit July rent & expenses and ever since then we have been in the "We have to have jobs or we're going to be homeless" phase.  That brings us up to speed.  It was really this last month and a half that I have been convinced, in a way that nothing else but complete and utter unemployment can convince you, that human beings were meant to work.  We were meant to toil and revel in our productivity.  We were meant to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  We were meant to set goals and attempt to achieve them.

I will be the first to say that I love a good lazy day.  The extra 10 lbs I walk around with, which is really looking less and less like extra and more and more like here-to-stay, is probably the first thing which screams: I LOVE TO BE LAZY.  I do.  I like me a day full of marathon TV shows, or zipping through a good book in bed for 24 hours.  I have always been that type of person.  I have slept for a full 21 hours before.  No lie.  However, I am very very very very very very unhappy not having a job.

Tonight I celebrated what the Honey & I have, rather than all the things we don't.  He now has a job.  A job he likes, where he feels appreciated, where he's interested in staying and growing, and that pays him real live money.  Not the fake stuff.  I'm happy in my internship, learning about my career and industry, interacting with really wonderfully creative and business savvy women... and I'll figure the rest out later, and I'm totally okay with that.  We have a great old house in a lovely neighborhood in a terrific location in Austin.  We have a super amazing dog, who is SO much more than a dog.  We have each other. 

We never thought our transition back to our home state would be so challenging.  We thought we would be moving back home to friendly territory, a bountiful land of many opportunities.  Ironically, it was by far THE hardest move I have ever lived through.  It took almost a year to get the baby steps accomplished, but now we feel very much that we are right where we should be.  We have found our groove.

But I'm still pissed that Washington, DC waited until we moved to have a freaking EARTHQUAKE.

NEW News!!!

some explanations are due.  and i'm too tired to use capitalization, so bear with me.  

THIS BLOG IS GETTING A MAKEOVER.

wait.  that was all caps.  

let me explain:

i created an awesome new business website using wordpress.  that site has a blog built in to it.  that built in blog will now be my "all things wedding business" blog.  

except i just deactivated my website.  

 why, you ask?

let me explain:

i'm doing an internship with a FABULOUS event planning company called CLINK Events, here in ATX.  really, i'm having way too much fun going to a job where i'm not getting paid, it's ridiculous.  waaaaay too much fun.  primarily what i'm doing there is planning weddings, and so my having my own business where i'm making money doing the same thing is a conflict of interest.  out of consideration to their company and my internship with them, i have deactivated my business website and my facebook page until i complete my internship and move forward with marketing my own business.  really this works out fine, because with the internship and looking for other employment on my plate, i neither have a whole lot of time to handle much else, nor to blog about wedding trends.  you can rest assured i'm still keeping UP with wedding trends, you're just not getting to read about them.  however, i still plan on keeping this blog. 

let me explain:

this blog will now be mostly a personal blog.  that means, for those of you who were all along just reading this because we are friends, well now you'll hear more about my life, my house, my plants, my boys, and what i had to eat on any given day.  and you won't have to wade through the yards of wedding to get to the personal artifacts.  for those of you who were following this for more of a professional relationship, well, you are more than welcome to keep reading, just know i won't be incessantly promoting my business or talking about how to pick out the perfect invitations or a theme for your wedding day.  i think all parties are much relieved.  

and really... i'm looking forward to just being a random blogger.  i happen to like writing, it clears my head, and so i just can't wait to dump all that garbage out here and make you eat read it.

enjoy!

FULL PAGE SPREAD in San Antonio Weddings Magazine

We are so excited our "Day After Wedding" session was used for this full page advertisement spread.  This feature is in San Antonio Weddings magazine, which just released a new issue in July.  Maggie Green Carrillo of Greenleaf Images used the best photos from the session for her full paged spread.  It's on page 19 - so get out there an get yourself a copy!

And here's Maggie with her copy of the magazine spread....

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Laurel White Design featured on The Perfect Wedding Blog

This exciting feature was a little funny to receive in my inbox.  It's on The Perfect Wedding Blog over in the Netherlands, and while you probably can't read any of the text, anyone who's seen our wedding photos can guess which picture taken by Tyler Metcalfe was featured here.  From what I gather, it was a post about using photographs at weddings... but I could be way off and I'll never know.  Here's the post or you can follow this link to see it on their website:

Betrek overleden dierbaren bij je bruiloft

July 8, 2011 | Naomi

Je gaat trouwen! Je voelt intens geluk, maar ergens ook verdriet. Een overleden dierbaar persoon kan er namelijk niet meer bij zijn. Je neemt je voor diegene op je grote dag een speciaal plekje te geven..

Er toch een beetje bij

Marieke reageerde op de post Decoreren met lijstjes dat zij op haar trouwdag als tafeldecoratie lijstjes had staan met aan de ene kant haar ouders en aan de andere kant haar overgrootouders erin. Wij vonden dat een goed idee. Daardoor in deze post wat andere manieren waarop je (overleden) geliefden een eervol plekje geeft op je bruiloft.

Fotocredit: Mango Studios

Fotocredit: Tyler Metcalfe Photography & Greenleaf Images

Fotocredit: James Moes