DIY project dos.

So I had a couple different ideas of what I want my hair to look like for the wedding. All of them included flowers in some way, shape or form.

I thought about having a crown of flowers.




or a few small flowers scattered around my hair





and finally I thought about doing what Sam did for her wedding with just the one flower pinned on the side.

(me in Sam's wedding)



I was kind of leaning away from the last choice since Sam had already done it. But then I asked Mike's opinion and he said that, out of three, he really liked the simplicity of one flower. So, I'm going the third choice. It is for him after all :)

So I went on Etsy.com to look at hair flower fascinators. With yellow unofficially (well, I guess now officially) being one of our colors, Mike and I thought it would be cool for me to have a yellow flower in my hair and my bridesmaids to have white. After looking for a while on Etsy and not really finding anything, a light bulb went off in my head. I could make these flowers very special and just make them myself! I mean, the vendors on Etsy did. So why can't I? Plus, I've seen so so many posts on the many blogs I follow with DIY instructions on how to make your own hair flower.

And so, after work, I headed over to Michael's and spent (I kid you not) 40 flippin minutes picking out beads and flowers (five white and one yellow). I swear I'm the most indecisive person on the planet.

So, without further ado...my DIY hair flowers :)
sorry for the bad quality. I had to use my cellphone :P

these are my supplies




(the beads that took me half an hour to decide on :P)




I took the flower apart then began sewing the petals back together adding beads every so often.




I hot-glued a silver clip on the back and voila! er however you spell it.




BUT! It was a bit too floppy for me. I think I'm going to at least buy my flower off Etsy...anyway moving on.


I didn't take pictures while making my bridesmaids flowers, but I got two done and I like how they turned out.



And that is how the cookie crumbles.

Love never fails.

I know this is supposed to be a blog about Mike's and my wedding but I'm making this post more about our relationship. Or rather relationships as a whole.

I'm not going to lie. After Mike and I started dating I immediately fell into "high school dating mode" or more like "middle school dating mode". This is where the only time you see each other is during school during or between classes. For some reason, I just didn't feel the need to hang out with Mike a lot. It's crazy that the roles were basically switched around. While he was trying to pursue me, I was making excuses as to why I didn't want to hang out.

I was so used to the aspect of teenage dating that I hadn't grasped the concept of committed dating. Which brings me to this blog's topic.


Dating: the Difference between LOVE and "Being in LOVE"

What has this world come to? When did dating become a pastime? I admit I did it too but seriously, what are we thinking? What is the point of dating a person who you know you are not going to marry? The reason is that we are so bent on getting what we want now, that we are willing to sacrifice our emotions and our hearts to get it.

All the time I hear little middle schoolers or little high schoolers (even though I was just one last year I still call them little) telling each other "I love you" or posting on their facebook "I love so and so so much!" then a week later their status is changed to single. Then the next week "oh now I love so and so" SERIOUSLY!!! do you even know what love is? Do I even know what love is?

We hear so much that the reason for a break up or a divorce is "the feelings just weren't there anymore." What feelings? Love? Love is NOT a feeling. Love is a choice. Love is not the butterflies in your stomach or a falter in your heartbeat (though those are side effects of love) but you know what else are side effects of love? sacrifice, probably some very tired mornings from trying to resolve an issue all night, supporting each other's decisions even though it may not benefit you yourself.

Love is patient, even when you want something now. Love is kind when you so badly want to tell the other person to shut up or to yell at them. Love does not envy other relationships for what they have that you don't have. Love does not boast, is not proud, is not rude or self-seeking (that's sacrifice and supporting each other selflessly). It does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It ALWAYS protects. ALWAYS trusts. ALWAYS hopes and ALWAYS perseveres (which leads me to my next point)

LOVE is not a feeling. Feelings do go along with love, though. Somehow the first feeling of love didn't hit me until about three months into Mike's and my relationship. Enter: butterfly filled stomach, skipping heart and constant smiles. The first feeling of LOVE burns like a wild fire. This is where a lot of people get into trouble (but I'm not writing this post about that). It's passionate. It's hot (like Mike ;) ). It's hanging out all day and texting all night. It's losing sleep. Living in a dream like state ALWAYS thinking about the other person. I CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD! kind of LOVE.

IT'S WONDERFUL!!!!

After things finally clicked with me, I was like this. I still am, in a way. I smile just thinking about Mike. His smile. His laugh. His voice. His eyes. His smell. His hands. His arms. I'm smiling now :)

Slowly, this wild fire begins to shrink back into more like a controlled campfire. You still smile whenever you think about each other. But now you realize that sleeping at night is a good idea. You should probably see your friends so they know you haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Know what I mean?

When you get married there's the honeymoon phase which is basically the wildfire EVEN MORE WILD (if you catch my drift *wink wink*) but that's not where it stays.

So many marriages end in divorce just after five years of marriage. Why is that? Because statistically speaking, the first five years of a marriage are the most difficult. You are getting used to sharing your life with another person. Money is tight at first. You learn things about each other that you could not have known before. So many broken marriages could have survived after these five years if the couple would have remembered that "Love ALWAYS perseveres." Through thick and thin. Through the feelings burning like a wild fire and being shaken like a fire in a rainstorm.

Knowing that marriage is only five short months away, I'm trying to cope with the fact that even though I may not always feel passionately in love with Mike, I always will love him. "Love" these days is thought of as a feeling that can be lost. But love is really a promise that can't be broken. If you truly love someone, you can't just wake up one day and "unlove" that person. If you can, it wasn't love to begin with.

I know for a fact that Mike is worth fighting for. He is worth being patient for. He is worth being kind and gentle to. He doesn't deserve to feel like he is incapable of giving me what I feel other relationships have that we don't (I do struggle with envy, and Mike, I'm working on that, because you don't deserve that.) But he also doesn't deserve to be thrown in other people's faces. He is worth sacrificing my own personal wants for. I will be slow to anger and what is in the past will stay in the past.

Love never fails. If it does, it wasn't love to begin with.

How Pretty Met Awesome

So yesterday was my dress fitting :) Unfortunately my mother and sister/Matron of Honor were both working so they couldn't come. Though I was able to share the experience with both of my amazing grandmothers and Jenny/maid of honor/best friend.

Anyway, you're prolly thinking "what does this have to do with how you and Mike met?". I'm getting to that. So when we were leaving, my gramma (I know it's spelled wrong. that's just how I spell it.) and my granny were talking about this blog and how they knew about it because of facebook (oh trendy grammas). Then my granny said "So I know how you two got engaged but how did the two of you meet?" And I just kinda laughed and said I'd post the story in my blog. Only just now, I'm realizing that I never told my granny how I met her future grandson-in-law! And we've been together over a year!! So Granny. This is for you.

How Pretty Met Awesome. In as much detail as I can remember at twelve o clock in the morning.

Once upon a time...

In the fall of 2008 this coffee shop called Intermission started putting on open mic nights every friday night. This was where local musicians could go and play two or three of their very own songs (or covers of songs they like) for the customers. It had such a great atmosphere (not to mention great coffee) and there were so many wonderful and talented musicians. I started going there I think with a couple friends from youth group and after going a couple times and seeing how supportive and open-minded the audience was, I decided to give it a shot. The first time I played at open mic was with Tasha (then Ouellette now Dahlke). We played On Fire by Switchfoot and then she helped me by playing keyboard while I played guitar and sang a song that I had written myself for the man I was someday going to marry. I got a pretty good response :) Unbeknown to me was the fact that while playing this very song, my future husband was in the room watching me and wondering to himself if I was the girl he was going to marry (I just got chills teehee)

Anyway, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty hyped up on adrenaline and to involved in the moment to really notice anyone that I didn't already know. So, unfortunately, this was not the night that Mike and I first met. Neither was the second friday or the third for that matter. I'm not sure exactly how many open mic nights it took for me to realize what a treasure this place was holding for me.

Somewhere in the middle of November, I got a friend request on Myspace of all places from a cute boy named Mike who I vaguely recognized from Intermission. So I added him. We talked a bit. I found out that he really enjoyed my sets, though I had never heard any of his. One day he posted a bulletin on myspace asking anyone who had US cellular if they could lend him an old cellphone because his was broken. I was the first and apparently only person to respond. So the two of us agreed to meet up at Fred Meyer and I would give him the phone, and he would give me a cd of his :) I dragged along my, then, soon-to-be-brother-in-law (no wait...they weren't engaged yet) my soon-to-be-soon-to-be-brother-in-law, so that I wouldn't be meeting up with an almost stranger by myself.

When we got there, I found Mike and his brother (my soon-to-be-soon-to-be-brother-in-law) Danny. It's funny cuz now that I think about it, as soon as Mike and I locked eyes this giant shining smile lit up his whole face :) and my stomach started doing all kinds of crazy winged-insecty things, even more so than it normally would, because on the way to Fred Meyer I had put my phone number in the contacts and labeled it "text shay :)".

That Friday night, I remember it was December 19th (because that was the day our winter break was supposed to start but it had started two days earlier due to snow) I went to open mic night, found Mike and plopped down in a chair right next to him. And we actually started talking. Mostly about the phone. Just to get things started.

I'm not exactly sure how He did it, but God managed to take that little conversation starter and turn it into a snowball fight behind Intermission (Elle Ouellette and I vs. Mike and his friend Brian), sledding up at Columbia Heights church (where I squeezed Mike around the middle as tightly as I could and we managed to be the only two that could stay on the sled all the way down the hill) sledding for the whole couple weeks following that night, texting Mike almost every waking minute of the day, and finally me realizing that this guy was so absolutely incredible and perfect that if he wasn't the one for me, I was going to give up entirely and go join a convent.

I will never forget the night that he told me he liked me. to my face. hear that? TO MY FACE! Mike, you get bonus points for that.

He was house sitting for some friends of his from church and it was the last night there. I offered to help him clean the house up before they got home the next day. So, we were sitting at the table, not cleaning, TOTALLY flirting with each other and suddenly Mike just blurts out "I like you." and I just stared. This so completely caught me off guard. Partly because I had just got done telling my brother the night before that this boy was OUT OF MY LEAGUE and partly because when you're flirting with someone to the point where the only thing you're missing is the little notes with the check yes or no, you don't just blurt it out. but THANK GOD he did. It just shows how much of a man he is :) So anyway, of course, I said I like you too, turned as red as the train on Sam's wedding dress and carried on whilst dancing around the room like a kid in Disneyland (okay I exaggerated a bit)

That was the first night I ever hugged Mike and let me tell you, even though you may not think that a hug is a big deal, to me, it was like taking the hugest and most satisfying sigh of relief.

Soon thereafter, we left the house in Kalama and slowly made our way back to my house. First we stopped at the lake and walked around the middle sections, stopping once to climb a tree. Then we went to Starbucks until they kicked us out around eleven. Then on to Safeway where we sat in his Jeep and talked until about two in the morning. Best thing he said to me that night was in the Jeep. He just kinda shook his head, leaned back in his chair and said "to think I would fall in lo....ike with a seventeen year old" haha. We still talk about that.

And then he dropped me off at home where my brother, still awake at three in the morning, got to hear my run around the house yelling "HE LIKES ME!!!"


I can't even begin to explain how euphoric and happy I felt. Knowing that something was going to happen. This boy was going to be permanently written in my future. At this time I didn't know how. Whether he was going to be just a friend, just a boyfriend, or maybe even a fiance and then a husband. I didn't know. And that's where I had to tell myself to stand back. And just let God do what he does best. Writing our story. :)

Our first DIY project completed!

Just because we're awesome, we decided it would be rad to paint our own cake toppers. I would paint Mike and he would paint me.

So, today I went to Michael's and picked up a couple of these cute little guys.



I got two packages of two just incase we messed up. But we ended up not needing the second pack.

I also got some brushes and some paint colors that I didn't have (like brown and the shade of purple that we will have in our wedding)

Then we got to work.

After about forty minutes. We had our finished products.

Presenting the lovely couple :)




Aren't they awesome?! I think we both did a really good job.

Here's Mike with his mini-me





and me with my mini-me



he even added in the mole underneath my eye!

All in all I think these turned out great :) and I'm so excited to see them on top of our cake!

The Invites

Two days ago Mike and I found ourselves in an empty house all day. Why, you ask? Because the rest of my family (parents, sister and her hubby, aunt and uncle and my grandparents) went to see Cirque Du Sole (sp?)

I'm still jealous.

Anyway, so since we didn't really have anything to do on this lazy Sunday afternoon, we began browsing the interwebz for possible invitation ideas. After about....half an hour or so we stumbled across this awesome creation.




We both loved how it basically told the story of how they met and their relationship all the way up to the wedding.

So with diet cokes and omelets in hand we began constructing the masterpiece that would be our invites.




see how excited he was?


About 5 hours into it my family came home and we listened to my parents talk about how awesome the show was (grr.)

But at least we weren't totally left out. They did get us each a gift.





After everything settled down again, we got back to work.

And 2 hours later (a total of 7 hours) we had our finished (rough draft) invitations.

But you only get a sneak peak.






So there's the rough copy. :) Both of us are very happy with the result. Mike just impresses me more and more with his skills.

When we do actually send these out to print, get them back and decide to start addressing them and whatnot, we will be having an assembly line type thing and I've already recruited a couple people :)

Our Venue (mostly photos)

Alright so this is where the ceremony is going to take place.
Between those trees, try to imagine a birch arch
(that Mike and I are going to try and make ourselves)

As you can see, the area is small so we're having less people at the ceremony.
That big brown spot will be green by September.

This is where we will be having the reception.

Just a short walk from the ceremony

and wonderful dreamy Mr. Awesome (*sigh*)
and my Uncle Roger.

Hopefully this kind of gives you an idea of how epically awesome our wedding truly is going to be :)

The Dress

Girls always dream about their wedding day. The decorations. The place. The flowers. But most importantly the dress.


That's never really been me though. I could picture everything else (not counting the groom) but I just never thought about what kind of dress I really wanted to wear.


So when I finally did start looking at dresses I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for. After a while I decided I wanted a kind of form fitting dress. A sleek one...like this kinda.





But then one day I was just moseying on through the interwebs and I set my eyes on the most FABULOUS dress I've ever seen :) (yes I just used the word fabulous). It was COMPLETELY different than what I had been looking at before.

This was the dress.

Then a little while back some of the women in my family and I went out looking for dresses for me to try on. The first bridal shop we went to had my dress :) in a size 14 :( I'm a size 4. Picture that. I tried it on, and even though I was slightly swimming in it, I knew this was the dress I wanted.

I have tried on a total of three dresses. And I don't need to try on anymore.

I'm not going to put the picture of my dress on here and risk Mike (being the curious person he is) seeing it. So you'll just have to wait for the big day :)

Remember? September 25th.

Juggling the Dates

Originally our wedding was set to be December 18th. We were going to have an awesome wintery wedding complete with twinkling white christmas lights and the whole shebang. Then my parents mentioned that it prolly wasn't the best date with Christmas only a week later, about nine December birthdays and the crappy weather (for people who would have to travel to get here) so that idea was out. They said that we should either go for November or January.
Being the impatient couple that we are, we opted for November. So our new date was November 20th.

November 20th. Still Autumn. Not many November birthdays. The week before Thanksgiving (Mike and I would find enough to be thankful for for that holiday *wink wink*) It was great.
Though with the locations (Fathers House and the McClelland Art Center) we were looking at a bill of about $1000

We were sticking with November 20th though. This would give us time to save up as much money as possible, as well as for Mike and I both to find decent jobs with benefits. I wouldn't budge.

Until we learned about my Aunt's parents' property up on Coal Creek that they were willing to let us use for free

*record scratch*

did I just hear free?

Seriously, the most beautiful sound to this somewhat cheap bride-to-be's ears.

So we got together with my parents and discussed budget. Cutting out two months gave us less time to save money (though this would cut $500 out of the bill) and find better jobs. But we were determined. And not too long later we found ourselves in the back of my aunt and uncle's car on the way to scope out the property.

We had set the date for September 18th. This seemed like a pretty harmless date. It was in the middle of September, so it would still be pretty warm. There would be plenty of gorgeous flowers to create my boquet (that was sort of an issue with December and November). It was set. I was excited.

But then when I mentioned to my aunt and uncle that we chose the 18th they told me what my mom had neglected to tell me BEFORE I had posted the date on facebook. They weren't going to be in town that weekend. They had already paid for their camping spot and had planned this thing out with this big group of people for a while. There was no way they would be able to be there if we had it the 18th.

......AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

So finally. With much discussing. Much debating. Much figuring. We picked a date. AND THIS ONE IS NOT CHANGING! I don't care if the world wants to end that day. This is it.

September 25th. 2010.
Be there or be □

The Proposal

okay. so. yeah. here I go.

So Mike and I came up with a BRILLIANT idea to have a picnic at eleven o clock at night. Cuz we're crazy awesome like that. So we went to safeway and got all the fixins for sandwiches. Then he dropped me off at home and while I made our sandwiches and got everything together, he went to his house and got WHAT I THOUGHT was just his guitar. So we packed things up and drove to the lake to martins dock and spread out our tarp and two blankets. Here's the thing, Mike and I have this crazy ritual kinda thing where we buy scratch lotto tickets for poops and giggles. So after we got done eating our sandwiches and whatnot, I started doing the scratch ticket while I THOUGHT Mike was getting out his guitar but REALLY he was being sneaky. Not too long after I started the scratch card, I hear a phone go off. It was You and Me by Lifehouse (which is mine and mike's song and the song we want our first dance to be) and I was thinking rather annoyed, "who is calling me?". I didn't even think about the fact that that wasn't my ringtone for calls or texts. So I reached behind me and pulled out my old dinosaur phone from between the blankets. I, once again not thinking, didn't even realize that I hadn't seen this phone for over a YEAR, in fact this phone was the reason Mike and I met, but that's a different story ;) so as I tried to think how it could have possibly gotten out there, I opened the phone and saw that it was a text message. This text message said the ever so heart-melting, life changing, tear jerking words "Will you marry me?" I was thinking it was a joke from one of my friends. Haha actually the first thought that came to my mind was "Abby?". So I looked up at Mike and he pulled a ring box out from behind his back and opened it up and asked outloud.

Ladies, I think I win with the best reaction and response in the history of proposals. I stared at the ring for like ten seconds then basically yelled, "Holy crap, dude!" Haha it was funny. Then as my heart was pounding and I shook like a Chihuahua on crack, I managed to say yes in every way shape or form possible (i.e. yes, yeah, uh huh etc.)

And then I took off the rings that resided on that finger. Mike slipped on my beautiful ring and we kissed…a lot

And when I got home and jumped on my sister in her bed and her dog bit me on the nose.

Just started so I'm a little behind

With the wedding only about five months away, we're already somewhat well into the planning process. "Well into the planning process" covers the proposal, the dress, the venue, the date, the wedding party, and the invites. Usually a blogger, such as myself, would have started one of these things up right at the beginning but seeing as how I put the blogging community to shame with my laziness, I'm just now getting this thing up and running.

The fact that I have tons of time to kill today (I don't work tonight. WOO) I'll be basically writing a bunch of separate blogs today. So...don't mind the date these blogs were posted...glad that's out of the way.

Meet Pretty and Awesome

Pretty

Hi, I'm Shannon :) If you're reading this I'm sure you already know who I am.

A little about me...hmmmm. Well I'm prolly one of the biggest book worms you'll ever meet. I'd rather be at home reading an epic book and drinking tea than going out shopping (unless I actually had money) and even then I'd prolly be buying books.

Going along with that, I love to write. I've written a few stories in my day and recently wrote a playwrite that is in the making of becoming a production. Though I've kind of put that on hold since I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I try not to be a burden or a brat..which is seeming harder the more this wedding planning is getting going :P

I love my family and friends and thank God for them every day

as well as for the wonderful man He has brought into my life :)



Awesome

There's so much I could say about my wonderful fiance :)

First off he's absolutely adorable. Several of my guy friends have admitted to having man-crushes on him and the other women in my family always tell me how cute he is :)

He's a musician (of course) and an amazing one at that. Seriously I could listen to him play all night (if it weren't for my need to be held by him all night. and I don't want to share those arms with a guitar)

His love for God completely takes my breath away.

Mike is the most caring, sensitive, hilarious and creative guy I've ever met and I thank God every day that He put the two of us together.