Things I've Learned About Having A Wedding

This "engagement" process has definitely been a learning experience.  Here are some of the things I've learned (and am currently still learning), in no particular order:

1. Getting mail can be so much fun!!!  I get so excited on my way home from work every day to check the mailbox.  It's amazing how letters (i.e. RSVP cards) and fun boxes with presents inside magically appear every day while I'm at work!  I've always loved getting snail mail....and now I really love going to the mailbox!
2. At some point someone is going to criticize a choice you made.  And even though you have thought about every. single. detail. of this wedding.....someone's going to come across as critical, even if they're trying to be helpful.  This is when you get to choose:  Do I become a Bridezilla?  Or do  I bite my tongue, and pretend I have poor hearing?  Word to the wise.....go with option B.   No one likes a Bridezilla.
3. Somewhere in the world someone is actually birthing my wedding dress....or something like that.  Did you know it is supposed to take nine months (!!!!) to order a wedding dress?!  Are you kidding me?!  So rush ordering a wedding dress and then waiting on pins and needles for it to show up.....not so much fun for the bride.  
4. Want your wedding to be about YOU and YOUR GROOM????  Good luck.  You gotta fight.  And I mean FIGHT to keep your wedding about the two of you.  People, vendors, venues....it somehow ends up being about them and not about the couple.  Next time I'm involved in a wedding (which will probably be my sister's), someone remind me that I've already had my wedding and this is her day.  
5. It's definitely a good idea to put the groom in charge of (a select few) tasks.  For example, my man is an awesome planner.  So he was in charge of researching and booking our honeymoon, getting transportation for us on the day of the wedding, and getting the mens tuxes.  He was not, however, in charge of anything that even remotely involves decorating.  While it's good to delegate tasks to the man, be smart and know his limitations. 
6. Weddings are friggin' EXPENSIVE!  Did you know that if you wanted a really yummy cake (and Michael and I did), you could end up paying $4 A SLICE?!  Ahemm? Along those same lines, it might be worth the extra expense to put a bodyguard next to the cake table to ensure one slice per guest.  (Just kidding!  Kind of.)
7. I have an amazing man (with a pretty awesome family to boot).  Yeah, you're right.  I already knew that, and that's why I'm marrying him.  But this engagement has just continued to prove to me how absolutely right this man is for me.  Michael's grandma and I were talking on Sunday (actually she was bragging on him, and rightfully so!), and I said, "He's a good boy."  She corrected me (again, rightfully so!) and said, "He's a great man."  Yup, Grandma.  You're absolutely right.  He's a great man.  What I wouldn't give to give his mama a hug and thank her for raising such a great man.

Homesick

Tomorrow is the first day of school in my eighth year of teaching.

Tomorrow is also the first day I will not be teaching in Raytown.

And while I'm excited to meet the new kiddos that I'll be teaching, I'm genuinely sad that I won't see the familiar faces of all of my babies.   I miss my home.  I miss knowing my colleagues.  I miss seeing my friends.  I miss feeling a part of the community and the history.  And, man, I miss my kiddos.  For eight years, I have given everything I have to the kids of Robinson.  Leaving them behind has been significantly more difficult than I ever anticipated.

...Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
                                                                                       ~Psalm 30:5

I'm Back!!

Hello again, blog world!  It's been a while!!  If you didn't remember, I spent the majority of the month of July in China where I had zero internet until the last couple of days in Beijing.  (And even then it was super slow.)  Instead of trying to tell you all the details of my trip, I'll just attach some pics at the end of the blog.  For now, I'm still trying to get used to being back in the States!  I've had a strange time unlearning some of my China "rules."  For example...

1.  When I got home it felt really wrong for me to use tap water to brush my teeth.  I had a mental conversation with myself, assuring myself that it was safe to use the tap.  (In China, I use bottled water to do the tooth-brushing thing.  You'll get super sick if you use their tap water.)
2.  Along the same lines as #1....I kept forgetting that it was okay to get the shower water in my mouth. When I'd shower in China, I'd all but glue my lips together for fear of "the sickness."
3.  Because of China's sewage system (or, in my opinion, lack thereof) you're not supposed to put your toilet paper in the toilet.  They put all their used tp in a trashcan next to the toilet.  Ewww.  It took me a few days to not think about the trashcan first.
4.  Jet lag was TERRIBLE!!!!  (So, it's not really a rule.  But it's a result of spending 3 weeks in China!)  It took me two solid days before I even began to feel normal.  The first night back, I was exhausted.  But I still managed to lay in bed with my eyes wide open until at least 4am.  I did nothing but lay on the couch my first day home.  On top of the exhaustion, I was seriously nauseous for the first couple of days, too.  Don't know what that was all about.  Thankfully, after a couple of sleepless nights and seriously long days, I finally got my body back on the central time zone.

I've thought a lot about my students since I've been home.  I'm hoping the Lord will really bless the seeds we planted there.  Hopefully I'll see them again some day, if not on this side of heaven.

At the airport before I left.  It was an EARLY morning!

Me and Bess (She was on our team last year)

LECHE FRUIT!!!  I love this stuff!!

Helping one of my students with a dialogue

Our teaching team meeting

Our students getting ready for the day

Our team

Lauren and Dave at an evening activity

Class 2

HAIRY PORK!!  (That's what I call it anyway.)  SO DELICIOUS!

I really should have an entire blog post about hairy pork.  YUM!

I just schooled some kids in UNO.

The Chinese kids L.O.V. E. UNO!

I was played a pregnant girl in one of our skits.

It's a strange looking baby.

My Chinese translator (Shane) and me after our Easter egg hunt

To squat? 

Or not to squat?  (I just NOT TO SQUAT!!) 

Tiananmen Square

Riding in a rickshaw

With our rickshaw driver

One of our sweet teens on the teaching team

Class 2

Wedding Update: Two Months

I'm heading to China soon, so I won't be able to blog on our actual two-month mark.  I feel like we're doing pretty good, though.  The big stuff is all taken care of, and a lot of the little stuff is finished, too!!  YAY!  (Now if I can just get my dress to be on time...)

Groom -  Michael Malone

Date - September 22, 2012

Wedding Venue - Raytown Christian Church (the church I grew up in)

Reception Venue - The VanNoy Mansion.  It's SOO pretty!

Colors -  Blue, White and Ivory

Gown - It's top secret....but I have it.  (I'm trying not to second guess my decision!!)  We had to put a rush on my dress because apparently you need to birth a wedding dress.  (It takes 9 months to get a wedding dress in.  Guess who didn't have 9 months?!)  I called the bridal salon this week and my dress is scheduled to ship at the end of August.  Sure hope it gets here in time to be fitted!!  EEK!

Shoes  - Holy frustration!!  I hate buying shoes.  And when it comes to wedding shoes....I hate it even more!  I have really long, really skinny feet.  Seriously, I wear a 10 narrow.  Let me just tell you how many cute shoes come in a 10 narrow.  Virtually NONE.  So I've been battling the shoe war.  I ordered six different pair of shoes on Amazon and not one of them fit me.  Yesterday Michael and I set out to find me some stinkin' shoes that fit!  And wouldn't you know?  I found them at our first stop!  Thank you DSW!!!!  I wanted blue shoes, and I actually found some that fit!!!

In case these beauties don't last on my feet the whole night, I found some wedge flip flops that I can wear for the reception!

Makeup - Thanks to a reference from a friend, I found a really sweet makeup lady.  I'm excited to have a run through with her so I can see what the end result will be!

Flowers - Garden Roses, Peonies, Hydrangea and Lisianthius

Maid of Honor - Meredith (my sister)

Bridesmaids - Three of my best friends in the world!!  See here.  The bridesmaid gifts came in this week and I LOVE THEM!!  (So glad I ordered one for myself, too!)

Bridesmaids Dresses -  We picked them out and have them ordered! Read about it here.  I called the dress salon and the dresses are expected to ship at the beginning of August.  I'm excited for the dress fittings and see the girls all together in their dresses! That's when we'll know for sure if my "vision" for different shades of blue is a good one or not.

Best Man - Andrew... A great friend of ours!  He was a co-conspirator in the proposal plan.

Groomsmen - Jason, Matt and Greg  (Obviously...they're all friends of the groom.)

Florist - Amy Cason  (She's a friend of mine and is absolutely phenomenal!)  Check out her work!

Engagement Photos -  My friend Allison (also a bridesmaid) took them for us.  Check them out here!

Wedding Photographer - Soo...apparently I know lots of people in the wedding business.  My friend Allison Carenza is doing those.  Again...she's phenomenal!  Here's a peek at her work.

Flower Girls - Georgia, my friend Courtney's daughter; Michael's niece Kyndall.  We've purchased both of their dresses and we're just waiting for them to come in!  The flower girl gifts came in this past month and they are SOOO cute!!!  Michael just shakes his head at me when I get excited about stuff like this.

Food - We booked our caterer!  We are excited to be using Brancato's Catering.  YUM!!!!  Now we're just waiting to see how many RSVPs we will receive.  Everything (and I mean everything)is based on our guest count.  Which means those RSVP cards are much more valuable than I ever realized!  After planning this wedding, I will always be prompt in returning my RSVP card to events!

Cake - We had three great cake tastings, and I agonized over this decision!!  But I finally decided on using Classic Cakes.  We're going to have a round, four-tier wedding cake.  We (really, I) had a terrible picking the flavor because they were all DELICIOUS!  So we ended up picking several different flavors for each tier of the cake.  We're a little worried about people taking more than one slice (if you've not purchased a wedding cake, it's priced - not cheaply - by the slice.  So this, too, is based on the guest count and has the potential to get really, really expensive.)  We're thinking of hiring security to monitor the cake table.  ;-)  Just kidding!!!!  As far as the cake decoration, no fondant for us!  We're going old school and doing a stucco icing.  This is an example of stucco. 

SO excited!!!  

DJ - I finally booked a DJ.  For some reason, those people don't return phone calls.  So when I found a company that seemed really professional and they actually returned my phone call, I booked them!  We're going with Complete Music DJ and Video.  If you've used them and they sucked....please don't tell me.  I've already put down my deposit!

Rentals - Our tables, linens, etc. are all booked.  We found out this month that our reception venue has purchased a whole ton of stuff that we can rent from them for waaayy cheaper than we had originally booked with another company.  We're waiting for a new quote for rentals.

Save the Dates - We've sent them out!  

Invitations - We've ordered the invitations, but sadly, they won't arrive before I leave for China.  So I'll be rounding up my bridesmaids to help me do some addressing and envelope stuffing when I get home!  :-)  My philosophy when picking out invitations -- simple and cheap.  No one will remember what my wedding invitations look like...so I'm not going to stress about them being super cute.

Wedding Website -  SchulzeAndMalone.ourwedding.com  Glad to have that up and running!

Registries -  I think our registries are finally finished!!  We registered at Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate & Barrel, and Macy's.  

Decorations - I don't have all of the little pieces for our decorations yet, but I know what we're doing....which makes me feel better!  Once I have a plan, I'm good to go.  The chancel/podium/stage in the church is really deep, so we're  going to be using some silk trees to create a new depth.  We'll also be using my friend/florist's candelabras and pedestals.  

We'll have some vases of blue delphinium and some ferns to soften the chancel.  Right now I'm working on getting the candles and candle holders.  Michael and his sisters are going to light a candle in honor of their mom.  It was really important to both of us to honor her in some way in the ceremony.  I have her candle and candle holder.  I'm still searching for a pillar candle holder for our unity candle.  I feel like I've searched EVERYWHERE for one!

Little Details: Lord have mercy, there are so many little details to think about!  Today I'm heading over to my friend Allison's house (she's a bridesmaid, took the engagement photos and is also an art teacher -- yes....she's very talented!).  She's going to help me with some signs that I want for the wedding.  I saw this sign on my florist's Facebook page (for information on my wonderful florist, see the link above!), and thought it was perfect for us!  

This is just a preview of what ours will look like!

I also want this sign for the entrance of our wedding ceremony (just not on a chalk board).  Here's our preview...

This is what my spare bedroom looks like.  Each bag is a different part of the wedding (i.e. rehearsal, ceremony, reception).  Trying to get organized!!  

I have a few other things finished:  thank 

you tags for the wedding favors, photo booth signs made, jewelry picked out.  So I think we're in pretty darn good shape!

I'm so excited to share everything put together!  

It's coming soon!!!! 

BeautiControl

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BeautiControl has products that range from facial cleansers to spa products to makeup.  You will love their stuff!!

New Blog Features

I started a couple of new pages on my blog!!  Make sure to check them out!!!  Here's what you can expect:

• Meals for Michael: This is my new favorite part of the blog!! I'm documenting my attempts to feed my soon-to-be husband.  This should be interesting....
• Our Wedding: I won't complete this page (or even start it, really) until after the wedding.
• About Me:  Well, this one should be kind of obvious.  I haven't gotten around to doing anything with it yet, but eventually, it will tell about who I am. 

The Other Side of the World

I'm going back to China this summer.  (See the story here.)  And, if I'm anywhere close to being honest, I have not been excited about the trip.  After all, I'm in the middle of planning a wedding for this September.  I'm starting a new job in August.  And I honestly just wanted to have a selfish summer to do whatever I want!! 

And so I've had a terrible attitude about this trip.  I've complained.  I've pouted.  I've grumbled.  But because I wanted to be obedient to what I felt like was the Lord's calling (and because I couldn't figure  out way to get out of the trip!), I've come to terms with leaving my fiancé for three weeks and giving up the last half of my summer.  I've half-heartedly asked for prayer requests to give me the want-to for this trip.  In reality, I figured I'd just suck it up and suffer through.  

Tonight, though, the Lord answered prayers.

At our all-church picnic tonight Michael and I ran into Dave.  Dave is the one who got me going on these trips to China.  Last year it was just he and I who went to China from our church.  My dad made him promise to keep me safe, and he did just that.  He was my surrogate dad!  I loved knowing that I was safe with Dave around.  And it was just nice to have a friend/dad to pal around with.  There's one thing I love even more about Dave.  He. Is. FUNNY!  Oh my goodness, he's funny!  We stood around for a few minutes tonight talking about China and just flat out laughing!  And it reminded me of being in China with Dave last year.  I belly laughed all day, every day!  It was so much fun!!  As we were driving away, Michael was wishing that he could go to China!  I don't think I could do this trip without him!!  

My China dad (Dave) and me

I walked in the house after the picnic and for some reason I had the immediate thought, 

"Did I tell Bess that I'm getting married??"

Bess was the wonderful co-director of our camp last year.  She's from South Carolina and her beautiful accent gives her away the second you talk to her on the phone.  I loved her before I even met her.  She has a beautiful heart for God, and just loves Him!!  I got on the phone immediately and was blessed to talk to both her and her husband.  Bess and I spent many an hour last summer talking about my singleness and how the Lord has a plan for me.  She all but insisted that after being in China, I was going to find my man!  It had happened for two other women in her life, and she was sure it was going to happen to me.  Well, lo and behold!!!

So tonight I had the amazing privilege of telling her the good news.  I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

I love Bess because whenever I talk with her on the phone I laugh, I squeal, I cry, I praise the Lord.  (If you can't tell, I adore her!)  So imagine my pure and utter joy when I found out tonight that we will be flying to China together!!!!!  We are going to be on a plane together for 12+ hours!!  AND we'll get to hang out again in Beijing at the end of camp!  YAY!!!!!!!!!

Bess and I taught dance together last year

After hanging up with Bess, I had a really amazing realization.

The Lord just gave me (at least a little) of that want-to.