This week and last, I had some good company and great help from Amanda, Wing, and Te, all at different times to help me with invites.  Fun times =).

Writing!

It's 11:30am right now and I'm trying to finish at 10 page paper that's due today. Have class at 4pm an another assignment to complete so I'm going to keep this short. I'm done with the paper, only problem is I haven't read it through yet and revisions and citing articles always takes a long time. Just in case, you didn't know, I am currently getting my Masters in Public Health at UMCP.  Kevin is hard at work in his program in Elementary Education at UMCP as well. He graduates JULY 2nd and when that happens, we're going to have a big celebration. It's a huge accomplishment! 

As I'm writing my paper and apparently a blog entry, I'm listening to "Breathe Deep" a cd filled with the music of Hiram Ring, a college friend of mine.  Check him out at www.hiramring.com, buy his tunes on ITUNES, and if you're on the invite list to my wedding, then you should hear him there as well!  Alrighty, BACK TO WORK.

Stamps for an 18 year old!

Just went to buy stamps at the post office. Although there was a long line behind me, the USPS worker, who is getting married in June, talked to me for awhile. The way our conversation started was, "You're getting married? You're so young!". Apparently she thought I was 18 and getting married. Luckily her coworker thought I looked 24, which is not bad.  Really not bad.  

Anyways, a praise.  I can send all invitations using normal postage!  And thankfully I bought a billion FOREVER stamps so I can use them later on too.  RSVP stamps are little fruits! 

Are the invitations done yet?

Not quite but I have another great story to go with it.  I had hoped to print out my invitations on Monday and finish them by the end of the week. Today is Thursday night and as of Tuesday, I had printed my invitations but had made a small mistake. Yes, just a small one. I had printed 160 invitations with the words aligned about half an inch off. Not a big deal, but I was really frustrated with myself. Because I don't like to waste and the info on the messed up invitations was still accurate, I intended to keep the invitations. Kevin even helped to change the design to cover up the mess up. Unfortunately, this morning when I woke up I couldn't help agonizing inside about the invitations. I'll admit; I was obsessed. NO PEACE!

The fact is that I love cards. When I was in my senior year of high school I planned on studying graphic design with intentions of starting my own greeting  card line.  Obviously, I didn't go that direction, but I've still carried the same dream and the same passion for cards.  When you get a card, you feel special. If the card is designed well, you feel even better. In my eyes, I wanted to send an invitation card that not only made people feel special, but that whipped their bad day into a great one.

So to keep the story short, Kevin and my big big sister, Jo, convinced me to reprint the invitations (It was probably the agony in my voice that convinced them).  I was hesitant and I'm stubborn so I wasn't going to do it, but tonight at around 8:30pm  (Thursday) I drove to Kinkos once again... I've been there almost every day this week. Nice place, 24 hours by the way.

So Mr. Douglass from Kinkos was gracious enough to reprint the invitations for free. I didn't use any excuses or even try to convince him to reprint them.  I was actually planning to just redo the order. Not only did he reprint my invitations for free, but he printed the invitations immediately and offered to use their paper to print it, free of charge.  I decided to use my paper although I was unsure if I'd have enough left to print my last order.  Needless to say, things worked out perfectly.   Instead of having to come back Friday to check the order and then Saturday to pick up the entire job, I got all my invitations reprinted immediately FOR FREE and I got my reception cards printed out immediately as well. Couldn't get much better than that!  

WOOHOO. The verse to go along is  "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me." Think this was God's reminder to TRUST IN HIM.

A few words from the designer herself...

Spring break just started for me and I plan to print wedding invitations at Kinkos THIS WEEK> I'm currently designing the RSVP and reception cards on the fabulous Microsoft Word. Who know you could do it all on word? Anyways, the invitations are complete...in terms of the design...so I'm excited!  I love designing things and I love different types of paper and I love fonts and I love cards! In the process of designing the invites I've probably thought of 30 other designs so if anyone ever wants to use my word template and change it around a little I have ideas! I'm happy to say too that the invites will be handstamped and I didn't even have to buy it. (The things you can find when you're just looking around!)

I found this beautiful flower stamp in my sister's drawer and although I'm no stamper, I couldn't let it go. okay back to work. 

March already?

Today is Sunday, March 8th and I always try to make it my day of rest.  Set aside some time to hang out with Kevin today and although we've been dating for almost 3 years, our time together was just as or probably even more enjoyable than it was when we first started dating.  As we get closer and closer to our wedding, it seems like I become more and more thankful for our relationship and I guess I value it more.

Why am I thankful?  Okay here we go... just to name a few. 

1. I have someone who listens and cares and challenges me each day.

2. Our relationship has grown closer and progressed with each extra year we know each other. Just seems to get better.

3. I have the best family, parents, and church community that really support us and encourage us in our relationship.

4. We balance each other's weaknesses very well.

5. We think of crazy ideas together.

6. We have a whole lot of fun and laugh a lot at each other and with each other.

7. We've developed balance and self-control in terms of the boundaries in our relationship that's helped make our relationship healthy. 

8. The fact that I have great friends that also encourage me and understand me.  Can't just have a man..always need other people too. So I'm glad that I've learned that I need other people too! It's made my relationship with Kev even better.