East

So… First of all, it’s my birthday. I just had to put that out there. I’m well aware that birthdays are supposed to get less exciting as you get older, but I’m not less excited. I’m the same amount. I like birthdays… especially when they’re my own.

And second of all, Adam and I trekked (what a weird word spelling) out to East Nashville last night to meet with our reception band guy. Now, I’ve heard a lot about East Nashville and places in East Nashville, but with a few exceptions that I barely remember, I don’t know that I’ve ever really been to East Nashville. So anyway, he wanted to meet at Portland Brew, which I was pretty excited about, given that I had heard of it and we have that whole coffee thing that we do and we never head that far into Nashville to try stuff like that out.

So anyway, we travelled through some semi-sketchy territory and then, out of nowhere, is the cutest neighborhood ever. I mean seriously, I have no intention of ever living in Nashville, but if I did… I would live in this neighborhood. So we end up at Portland Brew, also way cute, where I got a chai latte. This was a pretty random choice. I think I picked it because I was feeling poor and it was like fifty cents cheaper than a coffee latte? I could have afforded the fifty cents upgrade, but whatever. Hindsight’s 20/20. And the chai latte was good, so no complaining.

So we sorted out the wedding music business in a conversation that Adam and I will continue to be stunned by for months, and then were directed to Rose Pepper by Patton (the band guy). His girlfriend/wife lives like two houses down, and he owns nine houses in the area… so he’s pretty much a local. Anyway, we had flautas there, because I’m currently on a flauta train (courtesy of Chuy’s). But who am I kidding. You don’t care what I had to eat.

The moral of the story, is that East Nashville is fun. And there were other places that are around there that I had heard of but didn’t know where they were. So it might merit a return trip one day. And then we went through Nashville to come home… which is always fun at night. City lights at night are some of my favorite things. Cheers to adventures with someone you love!

Songs

I’ll tell you that with the exception of wedding invitations, which continue to be ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated, ceremony music has been the most difficult part of this wedding planning madness. It’s mostly complicated because I’m incapable of making a decision. It’s one of those “you can’t go wrong” type situations, but I DO NOT KNOW what to do.

I don’t know what songs.

I don’t know if they should be vocal or acoustic.

I don’t know what instruments.

I don’t know who should play the instruments.

I’ve got an idea, sure. But I’m fairly confident that it’s common courtesy to tell people these things ohhh, about a month ago or something. Vona Wilson, who’s several different kinds of fantastic and is co-officiating the wedding with Bryan Jones, told me to close my eyes or go sit in the field and imagine what the day looks like. What do I hear? It’s actually a pretty overwhelming thing to do. Obviously this isn’t the first time that I’ve envisioned my wedding day, but the closer we get, the more accurate the picture is. When I close my eyes now, I see the actual backdrop, the chairs that we selected from Southern Events, the colors of the fabric we rented… I can see almost everything, and how it all fits together. We’re 45 days away, for those who aren’t counting… although I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be counting.

Moral of the story: I’m excited. Still.

In other news:

Tomorrow’s my birthday.

Jessie has moved back to Franklin… which I haven’t addressed in this blog yet but is INCREDIBLY important and worth mentioning. We all (minus Emily) went to Chuy's. Disclaimer about this: Dane the server wasn't a very good camera operator (Have you noticed that for the most part, no one that you ever recruit to take your pictures for you takes a good one -- how is that in this day and age, people still can't operate a digital camera very well?! Weird.) And I had just gotten done working out with Mike Flynt... so please, no judging.

AAAAAND I got some fun stuff from The 92nd PGA Championship at work the other day! A fun canvas bag, seen here, and a shirt/pullover thing, also seen here, that I’ve worn for like three days strait or something. I really like them.

Sky

I'm a sucker for storms. Also I'm a sucker for the sky. If you've known me for any length of time, this is not new news. If you're my iPhoto it's not new news either, because (and I literally just verified this) I have 1,200 pictures (ish) of the sky hanging out in there. Sunsets, sunrises, clouds, sun, rainbows, storms, you name it. If it happened it the sky, I have a picture of it. Something about the enormity of the sky is totally captivating. I can find no other explanation for it other than God. I mean, I've seen sunsets that look similar to each other, but never have I seen two identical sunsets. And not only that, but how is it that one day the sunset can be beautiful and rich and made of seven different colors and the next day, the same sun, with the same type of clouds can set the sky on fire? It's captivating.

Even despite the colors of sunrises and sunsets, the vastness of the sky is such a metaphor for God. It goes on and on, and no matter what, you'll never get to the end of it. Get in a rocket ship and travel forever... there will always be more to discover. And pretty much 100% of the time, we can only see what immediately affects us. It's hard to get to know the God of a million light years away, but what we know about God is generally what we see from where we're standing.

As I kind of just said, even that it completely unpredictable. There have been a few times when I've been so convinced that the sunset was going to be phenomenal that I've gotten in my car and driven to the closest place that I know of that faces the sunset and is void of trees, only to sit and watch and find that nothing spectacular happens. Which is crazy, because how often do I do that with God?! I feel like He's building to something and I sit and wait eagerly, only to find that nothing really happened. What happened wasn't what I was expecting. It was great, it was normal. Usually a bummer.

Then there are times when storms inevitably break. Those are fantastic. A storm comes through and whips around trees and produces a crazy amount of rain and thunder and lighting and freaks your dog out pretty bad... but then it all starts to settle and the sun breaks through. Beautiful redemption.

AND, if you're not convinced enough, the sky looks different to almost everyone. People approach the sky at different angles and from different places. It looks different from my house than it does from five miles down the road. Just like how you see God depends on your perspective. Perspective doesn't only come from location either... the sky will look different depending on whether or not you notice it. Brilliant sunset or not, the sky is beautiful. But only if you stop to notice it. If you're too busy trying to get through that yellow light or racing inside to start dinner, the sky won't be as astounding... it'll become average. Standard. Part of your life's scenery, but not something you're awed by.

I could go on and on... the metaphors are endless. But then, so would this blog be... and no one likes an endless blog.

Signs

This post, the theoretical Sunday post, is dedicated to Adam's job. Playing with big stickers and making signs all day might not be the most glamorous job, but it does lend itself well to some fun pictures. So basically, that's all I've got. Nothing particularly wordy, because frankly, I don't have a lot to say about the sign business in today's world. Although I would like to thank it for the honeymoon I'll be going on in like SIX WEEKS.

Here's to you, Signs First, you're a fun time.

Gratitude

Soooooo, here’s your post-weekend-blog-o-rama post. The moral of the story is: It went by too fast. As is life, I guess. But anyway, Saturday was pretty great… because not only did I get to have shopping playtime with my mom in Green Hills, but I also made a huge amount of wedding progress. Wedding progress like buying wedding shoes, making shower lists, and several other things that I have great pictures of but can’t show you, because it’ll ruin the wedding fun that is being planned for everyone. Don’t worry… they’re fun pictures, so they’ll make their debut sometime in October.

But basically, this post is an ode to all of the people who have put their sweat into making my wedding dreams a reality. There are times when this process is draining, but there are other times when it’s totally worth it… and this weekend was one of the worth it times. This isn’t a super long post, but it’s heavy with gratitude, and I hope it reads that way. To everyone who doesn’t have to sweat in the 90-degree humidity, listen to me talk out logistical concerns, or respond to my slew of emails, but does anyway… I thank you. I’m beginning to see all the pieces come together, and let me tell you… IT’S AWESOME. It makes me happy.

Also, sorry about the awkwardness of these pictures I've tried to insert, apparently I haven't mastered this skill yet. But anyway, these people are winners, even if they're less than thrilled to be having their picture taken. They love me, it's okay. A huge thank you to all of them!

Birthdays

In other news (and for blog part two), it’s a birthday filled two weeks! Let me just tell you a little bit about that:

My mom’s birthday: August 15^th

Adam’s dad’s birthday: August 20^th

Adam’s grandfather’s birthday: August 23^rd

My birthday: August 27^th

Impressive, right? There are other birthdays in there too… but they’re less related, second cousins and stuff. So anyway, moral of the story, we’re having parties. And I love a good party. I also love cake and presents. As much as I love getting presents, I love giving them. It’s a problem sometimes, though, because I’m incapable of giving meaningless gifts. Gift cards are not something that you will EVER get from me. Adam articulates this nicely, because he doesn’t want to give or receive obligatory gifts. If you’re giving a gift because it’s a gift-giving occasion and the world says you have to, so you ran out and grabbed the first thing that you saw that would be acceptable… it’s a no go.

When you’ve grown up that kind of kid, though, you really struggle when you’re 24. I mean seriously, that’s like 15 years of trying to think of creative and unique gifts for your parents for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, and birthdays?! I used up all my good ideas years ago! And don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The fun part is getting creative and considering what you know about people. It is also important to note, however, that sometimes homemade gifts crash and burn… as do most of the things I make for my father. One day I’m going to come up with something good though. When it makes it out of the basement or a closet, I’ll know that I’ve done well. I don’t know if Dad reads my blog, but I hope he does, because this is a passive aggressive tactic on my part.

Soak

Okay… Just because I didn’t write one of these yesterday and don’t write them on the weekends, today deserves a blog (I just mistyped that glob – that’s silly). So anyway, it’s FRIDAY! Best day ever… and when I went out side this morning, it was like 67 degrees! In case you were wondering, 67 degrees is the perfect temperature when you’re going from summer to fall. It’s the perfect amount of cold. When you’re going from winter to spring, 75 is the perfect temperature. Feel free to disagree, but I don’t make the rules.

Last night was the same way… Adam was working on the truck and I was sitting on the patio watching, drinking a Landshark, and feeling the breeze. It was a colder breeze, because it had been raining all day… and there was really not much humidity. It was borderline a perfect moment. Definitely worth soaking in. And as I’m finding, it’s hard to remember to soak moments in. We move too fast and think too much, but we don’t sit and soak. I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn’t. It would have been a good picture though. I know because this boy who was in my photojournalism class last semester took a picture of Landshark on a sunny day and it turned out really nice… the condensation was shining…. It was nice. I could find him and ask for a copy of it, so that you could get a glimpse of the experience… his name is Evans I think. I’m not really going to do that. God gave you an imagination for a reason. Use it!

P.S. I just wrote one super long post… so in the interest of common courtesy, I’m going to split it into two. One for yesterday and one for today. That’s probably cheating. I’ve cheated so much on this blog game that I don’t even know what’s right anymore. So I’m pleading ignorance. Also, I swear some pictures are coming. Tonight. I have them, they’re just not on the computer… you'll notice that I added pictures to the rain post (a good faith action, just to show you that I mean it).