Life as we (get to) know it

Some things are still settling down from the wedding so we aren't completely back to normal but things are easing back into a pattern.

Work everyday.

Come home or go see houses to buy.
Cook dinner.
Take care of animals.
(adding crochet time more into this)
Watch TV until falling asleep.
Repeat.

We cannot wait to find our home. The process of looking and working out terms is very stressful. We find it helpful to keep the big picture in mind so as to keep the stress lower and to prevent stress-bickering.
It has been nice saving money by renting Grandpa's basement but we are long overdue for our own smoke-free space we can call home.
PS: the lilies outside are so beautiful! I was going to pick some and put them in a vase but I found out that they are poisonous to animals like kitties! Oh noes we are not gonna go there.

PPS: Enter the giveaway!!! Only 6 days left! Simply leave a comment and you're in; No following, tweeting, facespacing or anything else necessary.

That took long enough...

Shawn and I got our marriage license little over a month before the wedding. When you get all the stuff signed in the office to be licensed they tell you that this is public record and will be published in the paper. Well, that took a whole month itself! So by the time we got to see this beautiful newspaper clipping, we were back from our mini-moon already!

Oh State of Nebraska...

PS: ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!!! ENDS 7/7/11!

GIVEAWAY!!!

I am just so happy all the time anymore that I want to give away a sock monkey! The deets: The prize will be one original sock monkey (made of new socks, silly!) handmade by myself.


HiLLjO's Sock Monkey

To enter:
*You must leave a comment here or here about who you would give the monkey to or if you'd keep it!

Extra Entries
*Be a follower of Daisy to Sunflower or HiLLjO
*Go to my etsy shop and then come comment here on which owl hat for sale you like the best.
*Make a blog post about the giveway!!!

The giveaway will end  12:00 AM CST Thursday, July the 7th!!! Lucky 7-7-11!

Good Luck!

PS: I'm ammending the giveaway to include everyone around the world! I WILL SHIP INTERNATIONALLY!

It's Kinda Funny...

I know we have only been married for 11 days but being married is already a bit different. Sure you still know each other the same, but you tend to take it into account more. There is a lot more thinking before speaking that goes on. And there is a lot more speaking as well.

Carter and Carter-Cash's guitars
National Music Museum, Vermillion SD

Communication for us has increased on a lot of things like what to name the kids and where to take them on vacation. We also have an open stream of commentary about the wedding here and there. And then comfortable silence settles into cozy places between talking.

We always have it in the front of our minds no matter what we are doing that we want to make the other happy. Faced with the legally recognized permanence of our choice to live one life together, I can already tell that we know it is what you make it.
And we're making it great. It truly takes each day of trying each minute but it is so worth it.

Bunny Moon 1

For our first honeymoon, our "mini-moon" will be a non-glam and all rustic camping on the way to see Mt. Rushmore!
We have a cute little campsite set up! Just us bunnies in the great outdoors.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

How to Read Wedding Magazines

There was nothing I throuroughly enjoyed more than taking a crisp $20 bill down to the bookstore to purchase 3 or 4 wedding magazines when we got engaged. I bought them a couple different times and took any free ones laying out in places we registered--duplicate or not.
Now I'm not the average Midwestern bride that gets married in a church and has a reception in a hotel. If you are, I wouldn't have to tell you how to read magazines! They are made for that kind of awesome experience. For those who are more like me, or want something that isn't in the magazines, don't write the Knot off quite yet; there's still things the mags are good for.

Inspiration
The books are filled with pictures and ads (also pictures). Don't skip over them; this is not a magazine. It is a wedding magazine. The pic of the centerpiece you skip over could be the One. Don't pore over every page, but be objective and look at each photo for a good amount of time.

"NO" ideas

What DON'T you like about the magazine? In the magazine? Is there a photo of a reception you think is the ultimate tacky festival? Cut it out! Making an antonym inspiration board when you're first planning is actually a lot more helpful; at that point you're bombarded with ideas you like. If you find one you don't like, there's a definite no. We must learn to celebrate this word later, so start now!



Read it Backwards
The only thing you should skip in wedding magazines is the table of contents. Don't expect what's coming next. Take no context with any photos. One thing that helps me with this is actually a funny habit of mine: I read magazines backwards. I don't know why, I just start in the back cover and read to the front.
Read your magazine front to back, read a new one, and then pick up the first one and read it backwards. You'll be like, "Did I see this?! I don't remember that!" It's like having fresh eyes when it's in a new order!
Remember that the Wedding Industry pays a ton of money to put their interpretations of being married into these mags. Only you can tell what being married/getting married will look and feel like to you. Most of my wedding magazines were for gathering "NO ideas" and it helped us a lot!

After you read them, I suggest giving them to a friend who would be interested or is getting married. Just because it's a new month doesn't mean the ideas from last month won't work anymore! What are some of your favorite magazines? Do you cut them up, give them away or save them?

Hello From Mrs. Shawn Finley!

hello everyone!
Just thought I'd post an update on how things went! Everything went beautifully yesterday and it was amazing.
You are in for a serious treat when we get our wedding photos back. Two words: Italian. Carnival.

Hell yeah!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

On My Wedding Day to you, Bride-to-be

bridesupnorth.com

I have but one regret during our entire engagement: I wish I had been more overt about me being a Bride.
Sure you have the engagement ring (probably) and the glow, but lots of teeny-boppers wear fake engagement rings now for "fashion." When you're young-looking like me, no one can "tell" for sure, even though my ring doesn't look like a cheap cocktail ring from Walmart. If it does look real, you simply look too young for that to be so.
I would wait for people to ask me if I was engaged when getting a manicure instead of exclaiming it like I wish I had. I would never talk about more than what was asked about concerning the wedding. I just figured that no one cared as much as I did, right? I'd probably annoy them...
Well from my experience on my Blog and the Weddzilla blog, I'd say people are pretty happy for you when you blurt it out to them. They get very interested. This month I was a little more flamboyant about being a bride and I've really enjoyed it; to the point I wish I'd done it all along.
So REVEL, you brides-to-be!!! REVEL!!!

Weddzilla!

It's the same thing that I posted here so you can skip it without missing out on my brilliant musings today. ;o)

1 Day

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Here I am.

I will be married tomorrow forever after. I am not nervous, but the butterflies in my tummy are Amazonian.

I feel so many, many things.
I am happy to tears constantly; I am so excited; and I am so sure of Shawn and Me.

I just know that Shawn is the right man for me; everyday I am reminded when we discuss everything from having kids to what to eat for dinner. It helps that we agree on most things, but it is nice that even if we don't agree we always work through everything in a respectful and loving way.
We have worked so hard for so long at this wedding that we are strangely ready to be over it! Don't get us wrong; we are looking forward to the wedding more than anything we have anticipated thus far in our lives, but we're ready for the marriage. We want life to be quiet again so we can snuggle down like bunnies with our animals and watch Adult Swim at night until we fall asleep.
Honestly, we're just ready to take our life back from wedding planning! Before wedding planning, being bunnies daily was our Common law Status. After we're married things will go back to that status but we'll be able to do things we want to do like fix up our (soon-to-be found)New House together and get scars from it. We want to have babies and raise them into big people. We want to walk together, holding hands forever. We'll be living just like it was, but now it's in 3-D! WE are not changing, the status of the RELATIONSHIP will be.
We are making a promise to be together forever no matter what. Just as people change, feelings change; you cannot simply marry for emotional reasons alone. It is not enough. Marriages go through periods of YEARS where things might be just "not the same as before" but the couples who stay together during those rough spots usually fall in love with their spouses all over again.
My only advice to married people: love the other person as you want to be loved, and stay together. For better or worse.
You swore!

So on this day, my last day as a single lady, to all my single ladies: Just don't rush your life to get to any point, whether it be married or any other status. Waiting forever for Mr. Right is better than having a beautiful short-lived wedding with Mr. RightNow.
And always remember that everything happens for a reason! Everything.

I love you all, and all your words of support and kindness have really changed my life. I wish I could hug you all in person and share what you each have personally given me. You're beautiful!

Cardigan Mini-Project

I am a huge fan of the bride-in-a-cardigan. Especially in my color, yellow.

However, it is not hard to find a picture of a bride in a cardigan. Even yellow cardigan bride comes up with a lot of results on google. I will wear a cardigan because I like this trend and a hoodie (like I usually wear) just won't do. To separate myself from the rest of the cardigan brides and yellow cardi-brides I replaced the buttons my cardigan was made with and sewed the replacements on, sourcing them from my very own collection. Now I have a special, very buttony cardi that is perfect for MEEEE!

LOVE IT!

WeDDziLLa

Have some wedding magazines laying around? Go see how to make the most of them yet! Also a good read if you're not a "Knot" enthusiast!

Bunny Napkins

An ongoing project this week will be folding our blue napkins into bunnies in order to carry out the bunny theme onto the tables! We will be folding around 150. We started last night with an assembly line. I fold, Shawn pins them together and we put them in a bag to bring with us to the venue. I think they're really cute!

Vintage Dress Alteration

BEFORE

Shawn and I have been "married" to each other for a few years now. We have lived and conducted ourselves in a way that if Nebraska recognized it, it would be commonlaw marriage. In light of our upcoming legal marriage we want to make a stand with Nature that we were married first, before the State said so!
That being said, we will wake up around Dawn on Thursday, pack up and hike out into the woods we love. We are going to pack my vintage dress, an outfit for him, and his camera equipment. We have found a spot already that we wanted to get married at. It is so beautiful with a sunken in creek bed and trees everywhere. Once there, we'll change, take some photos and privately discuss what we only want the other to hear. Some stuff I don't think everyone would care to see us get all mushy over at the Friday wedding!
So what do you think of the vintage dress's real purpose now?

AFTER

Very understandibly my alteration lady is too busy leaving for her Summer trip to finish up the hem shortening. So being the HiLLjO, I did it myself!And what do you think of its new length?

How Am I?



"I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION!!!"



People I have been talking to and seeing lately always ask me the same question "How are you feeling?"
Let's see... I'm at 7 days to the wedding... but I appear mostly normal. Let me tell you how it really feels!!!
Underneath my ebbing surface glow, there is a mountainous mound of stress and cautious anticipation. Every worry, every tear not currently streaming down my face, every nervous giggle, every gift letter, everything to do with this wedding is settling under the surface and in the back of my mind. Like a wedding glacier, right Diana?

I am a highly emotional being, that I have realized. I only recently learned to be master over my emotion that displays in the last couple of years. I am so glad for that this this week because I feel crazy but I can keep it in check. I think I'm not outwardly crazy too because of all the steps we have taken to be really organized! I have EVERY SINGLE PAPER or thought that we will need in our wedding binder. I think for safety I should duct-tape it to my leg as a garter on the wedding day.

But honestly, I am SO ready to just sit back and enjoy the shew on Friday the 10th, and watch all our hard work planning and organizing play out. And I want to promise something here and now: I will not abandon this blog! I may not have the most followers, but damn do I ever have THE BEST.

Thank YOU, personally, for all the warm wishes!!! You guys make me well up daily.

1 Week Until We're Married

7 Days

Weddzilla!

I'm discussing geek chic 8-bit weddings!!! Wanna see a bouquet made from shrinky dink film?!

Big Mo' is Flooding, but it's all good!

Although our specific venue location is undisclosed for another 8 days(!) I have shared that it is on the Missouri River. Well, folks when all the snow melts, where do you think it goes? In the river!

Photo by Josh Korth for KVNO

Due to the incredible amount of snow and rain we have experienced in our region, the Missouri River is expected to rise to a depth of around 36 feet by the end of June. There is a landing near our venue that is currently flooded! It has been shut down and all its events through July canceled. We are so lucky that the flood gates line the area directly between that landing and our venue! They are designed to hold the water that is surely and swiftly coming!

Photo by Josh Korth for KVNO

We are also in the upstairs of the venue so we are on higher ground and will not be flooded out! We are so fortunate because I have heard of area brides having to move their venues already.
Keep Calm and Marry On, right?!