Kate Spade and Snuggies

Is it just me or is registering for a wedding one of the most awkward and stressful activities on a wedding to-do list? There’s nothing like making a list of a thousand different things that you both need and love at any price range and at your favorite stores. It’s so awkward expecting people to go to these said stores (mine are Target and Macy’s by the way) and expecting your guests to get you what you’ve asked for.

There are so many wedding registry “taboos” too you have to watch out for. I mean, you don’t want to be like your second cousins goofy fiancé who put ten thousand video games on the list, but you do what your guests to buy things that you and your husband can enjoy together. You also don’t want to put on an ironing board, hangers, or rubber-maids on the list but they are items that you need. You do however want to make sure that your guests can tell that you let your fiancé have some fun with this project and you aren't a control freak. So, you allow your fiancé to add “snuggies” to the list and 30 giant dodge balls, but you spend the next few months praying no one actually buys them.

It’s such a stressful process! Especially if you drag your fiancé into Target and spend half a day picking out items that you need and come in two months later to find out that your list has been deleted!! That’s when I called my mom. I went to Florida and my mom and I went down every aisle at Macy’s (I had to fix Target’s by myself) and picked out even the obnoxious stuff because my mom is so supportive. She even convinced me that it’s okay to add a set of china even though I wasn't planning on it because I absolutely loved it. (I did, see above)

Most of the “awkwardness” from the project stems from the fact that you cannot wait to get the blue pillows (Target registry) for your living room and the fluffy white towels (Macy’s) or the plastic dishes for patio parties (Macy’s). I can’t pretend to think that I’ll get everything on my list from my luggage (it’s beautiful-Macy’s) to the steamer I added for Adam’s suits. I just hope that no one judges me for what I’ve asked for or hates my style.

In the end I have to remember if I didn’t have this registry most of my guests would feel more awkward buying me presents they weren’t sure I would like than I felt awkward by telling them what to get me.

Public notice: Our registry for Target is different online than it is in the store. One more frustration added to the process... At least my complaint with this is legitimate.

Lights and Dishes

Adam and I are having a “Creating Good Habits” week. You can tell I’m a teacher in the making when I theme my weeks for myself and even my fiancé. As most of you know, Adam is already living in the house we will be living in when we’re married and I spend the majority of my time there too. With this, we have already started to see how easy it is for us to make big messes in one night that I have to spend the whole next day cleaning.

After several hours of cleaning up dinner, the popcorn bowls, the cups in the living room, the homework books, paper, pens, game controllers, vacuuming the ants that got into the popcorn we left out, etc. I decided we needed a change before I’m living here too. So I went through the house room by room making a list of the little bad things we always do that need to end.

Some of the new ‘habits’ or chores were easy. I simply asked Adam to make sure to put his dirty laundry in the basket or to actually put the new toilet paper on the hanger, not just on the counter. Some of it was a little obsessive, like asking Adam to put all of his empty hangers to the right of the closet so it doesn’t take me two extra minutes to find empty hangers when I do his laundry. But the majority of the list was necessity; leaving lights on in rooms we aren’t in, leaving cabinet doors open (Yes Mom, I still do that), keeping an eye on how many dishes we use each day, and the list goes on.

It might be obnoxious that I’m thinking if we can learn how to fix these little bad habits now, our life together will be easier later when we have bigger things to worry about. I don’t think I’m crazy at all for it though. Next year we will both be in school full time and working full time. I won’t have the opportunity to thoroughly clean up our house like I have the time to clean his house now.

In Adam’s defense I have come over this week and his bed has been made and the house looks pretty good. Now I’m forced to face homework and wedding obligations because I don’t have cleaning as an excuse to avoid them. So here goes a week of building good habits. Wish us luck!

Next week “Good Money Habits”... Or maybe I’ll put that one on hold for a while?

Love and Strings.

The other night I couldn’t sleep as I kept thinking about how happy I am. How “content” I am. My oldest brother is about to get back from the Middle East, I am so in love, I’m doing well in school and working hard on planning a wedding. Everything right now is perfect. I used to think that a close friend of mine lived a perfect life. She has incredible grades, she’s beautiful, intelligent, she works hard, and she had a boyfriend, a house, a dog, and an immense love for him. But with incredibly bad judgment, he broke up with her and the break-up made it seem like she had lost everything. From my perspective she lost someone that she doesn’t need, but she’s crushed.

The three witches from Hercules (or mythology to sound more educated) held a string that once cut, ended a life. They had the power to decide whether mortals lived or died. I feel like Adam has that control over me and that my best friend’s boyfriend had that control over her. It’s amazing what love requires. I care so much for Adam that if anything happened to him or if he decided that I wasn’t right for him, the loss would be so great that I would want to die. In the same way I have that control over Adam because of our love.

I understand why so many people are apprehensive when it comes to love. You continuously put yourself out on a limb and pray that it doesn’t break because when you fall sometimes you don’t think you can get back up. But, you have to broken leg or not.

Making a commitment is so much more than signing a marriage license or moving in together. It’s promising that you will do your very best in taking care of each other and not dropping the heart that you hold. You might squeeze it a little sometimes, but don’t break it.

Is it right to allow someone else to control your ability to breathe or willingness to live? I don’t know, but it is nice while they are there to do it.