On Being Domestic

I've been reading Stephanie Nielsen's book Heaven Is Here. I used my amazon birthday money from Grandma to get it. I had read her blog a few times, and listened to her interview on the Mormon Channel once. Just listening to her enthusiasm for life and gratitude for what she has, despite severe physical pain post-accident (if this isn't ringing a bell, check out her blog), always makes me feel more grateful and content. Just happy for all the little things.

Another fabulous thing about Stephanie is that she completely glorifies motherhood and femininity and marriage. This lady loves her family. She loves being a wife and a mother.

It's a good book for me to be reading right now, because it totally builds on my excitement to marry the love of my life next month in the Manti temple. It also makes me feel like doing domestic things--or trying, anyway. I was home working on my thesis today, and since I had tons of blueberries I picked on Saturday, I decided to try jam-making for the first time. Maybe if I feel like it, I'll update you on how it turned out. I couldn't stop eating it while I was making it, because it was so good. We'll see if it sets up right and does what it's supposed to. Hope so!

necklace giveaway

http://bradenandjodee.blogspot.com/2012/06/necklace-giveaway.html?showComment=1339103200324&m=1#c2278808348980638696

check out this necklace you could win for FREE! I think it's pretty. Love the pearls.

Trip Home: Graduation and Wedding Prep

I was home last week for Emma's graduation. She was Valedictorian of her class and gave an amazing speech. I have been watching the recording now and again for some continued inspiration to get me through my final summer of grad school. :)

I am so proud of her. 

I also wanted to share a couple of the great wedding finds my mom and I had while I was home. We went yardsaling, hoping to find wooden picture frames (hoping to paint them white, sand the edges for a distressed look, and hang with ribbons to make something like this). Anyway, we scored pretty big. We landed at the yardsale of an elementary school art teacher (who my mom happens to know), and not only did we find about 20 good frames for painting, we found an adorable old step ladder, some old window panes (for hanging pictures, as well), and an awesome vintage door, pictured below. Perfect little shelf there for setting the guestbook on. $30 for ALL OF THAT.  

Mom and I also worked on staining some old canning jars green...to make them look antique. Food coloring and mod podge does the trick. These look really cute with the pink daisies and colored ribbon and we'll use them for centerpieces.

I should have taken more pictures, really. But I will mention that we also found several lace curtains (they'll work for tablecloths to go over the colored tablecloths we've got) and a great easel on which to set the framed chalkboard I got at another yardsale. $3 for the tablecloths/easel.

Anyway, things are coming together and it's been so fun to have these little projects. I've spent some time hand-addressing my adorable kraft envelopes (brown-paper-bag style) for the announcements. A lot of people told me I was crazy for doing it by hand, but they're turning out so cute. 

Sigh. Most of all, the wedding is coming right up and I'm so excited. Sure, it is fun (okay, really fun) to have an excuse to execute all of my dream crafts. But take away all the crafts, all the projects, all the yardsaling. We could elope, and I'd still be elated. 68 more days!! 

Hopeful

My, oh my. Bothered that the new blogger isn't allowing me to separate my paragraphs out. 96 days til the wedding. I just checked. I have been working NON STOP on my thesis. Well, as non stop as I've ever worked on it, anyway. Something crazy came over me a couple weeks ago and I decided it was time to set a date for my defense, and when I mentioned this to my major professor, he suggested we shoot for April 30th. Even though I knew it was crazy, and I'm pretty sure he pulled that date out of nowhere, I decided to go for it. I need to have it submitted to my committee by this coming Monday, so I've done a ton of work on it these past several days. The whole thing (the thesis, I mean) has really transformed, even since I thought I was getting close with it last week when I sent it to my major professor. And the project is consuming--for as much as I've put it off so many times, I just love reading all the comments and remembering who said what and making connections and just...being there. (quick update: my thesis is from when I went to Aruba a few summers ago and did focus groups on marriage/relationship education). In a weird way, it'll be a little sad to be done with this project. It keeps me feeling connected to a place and people I love so dearly. But overall, I will be SO HAPPY to be done. I've got final projects due because the semester is ending, and I'm about to be done with my thesis. And then it will be summer. This summer is going to be great--it will consist of long-ish Tuesdays at the clinic (just like always), Wednesdays and Thursdays at my internship, and...that's it. No readings, no class, just clients at school and my internship, and supervision meetings (meetings about my therapy with my supervisors). This is fabulous. AND NO THESIS. It will be done! In less than 2 weeks, I will see Chad. He has a week off because his semester is ending, too, so he's coming down for a few days. We already have a beach/camping trip planned with some friends. I'm so excited for my first beach trip of the summer. And more excited to see Chad. I just can't quite get enough time with him. Once my thesis is done, I will probably launch into full-blown countdown mode. Countdowns to trips, and the countdown to the big day. I can't believe how fast time has already gone--we've been engaged for 3 months, already! Goodness. The day Chad leaves, I fly out to visit home for a week. I get to see Emma graduate and give her Valedictorian speech! I also get to see her either sing in her last choir concert, or play tennis at the Colorado state tournament. Or maybe both? I'm so proud of her! I can't wait to hang out with her and the rest of my family. This post is probably a little more boring and ME-ish than usual. I think I morphed into journal mode as I was writing tonight. It feels good to get some thoughts out, though. Good times. And tomorrow is Sunday! There is nothing like the anticipation of a nice, relaxing Sunday. Good night, world.

Math

124 days until my last day of work
125 days until my last day of class
129 days until the wedding
136 days until graduation

I can do ANYTHING for 4 months and a little. Anything!

Ok, so I'm a little worried about getting everything done, but I'm really trying to believe it can happen. It's got to. Right?

On Long-distance Relationships. . .

I really don't recommend them. Unless, of course, you find someone amazing who takes your breath away and is the sweetest and most wonderful man ever.





Which only makes it crummier that you don't get to see him but once a month. Miss him.

I Made Me a Shirt.

So, I came across this blog post for a DIY Christmas sweater a week or two ago, and have been dying to try making my own version ever since. Check it out:

I started with a plain tee-shirt, and I chose a graphic online to put on the shirt (this was the most time-consuming part--did I want a whale, a tree with heart leaves, or a bike? I ended up with none of those things.) I used parchment paper to make the stencil of the graphic, and layed it out on the shirt.




I used sparkly silver fabric paint to fill in the stencil.



And added some heart raindrops.



Voila!