We've picked out a pair of toasting glasses. I was hoping for some help on what to put on them. We'll consider traditional, whimsical, contemporary... anything! I love brainstorming.
Leave us your suggestions in the comments. Don't forget to mention the name/type of font you would use.
Our relationship was noticed by a wedding dress website. They are not just any wedding dress website, they specialize in plus size wedding dresses. They wanted to celebrate love and the happiness of a Real Size Bride. It was fun being noticed and working with them. Take a look at their dresses, they are ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!
The blog post that was written was very nice. My family and friends enjoyed reading it and I hope that my family of bloggers enjoy it too. Help me thank them by sharing the blogpost and/or following their facebook page.
My wedding planning has slowed down a bit due to the holidays but is starting to pick up again. I've posted new ideas on my Pinterest board and still on the search for more teapots.
I feel like I won the lottery! I stopped at a St. Vincent de Paul store on the way to mom's today and found this set. It was only $4.00. I'm still on the search for teapots but this was being sold as a set; I just couldn't break it up. I definitely plan on actually using it for tea one day.
This photo really doesn't do it justice, it's an antique looking kind of white. I'm so in love with this set!
Relationships change and
evolve over time. Technology also changes and evolves. Sometimes they go hand
in hand. Skype is eight years old. Myspace is eight years old. Facebook is
seven years old. Twitter is five years old and iGoogle was launched five years
ago as well. Eleven years ago, I met the man of my dreams, I had WebTV and I
had no idea that we would be where we are today; in our relationship or in
technology. If you are under twenty years old you probably have no idea what
WebTV is. How would a couple maintain a long distance relationship without the
technology listed above? Today’s kids probably don’t think about it and assume
it’s been around since the dawn of time. We “old folks” know better, although I
feel I’m speaking to a younger audience so I’ll tell you now…technology has
come such a long way in the last eleven years.
Vernon in Michigan 2001. I’m such a Yooper!
Vernon and I met online.
I was looking for young single parent support and he had made a post on a
pen-pal site. I’m not sure how I found him because I was not familiar with this
odd thing called “the internet” but he had everything I was looking for. He was
a single parent, was my age, had a child same age as mine in addition to a
younger child, and just wanted someone to write to, converse with, and interact
with. Only negative was that he was a guy…. well, if he turned into a ‘perv’
I’d just stop writing him. We emailed each other for a while and discussed
parenting, life, being single, working, and our pen-pal relationship turned
into friendship which turned into something I don’t have a word for. Not a word
that’s good enough anyway. We also wrote letters, you know, paper and pens and
envelopes and stamps. Those kinds of letters. After several months, maybe close
to a year, we finally exchanged pictures. Nope, no facebook yet, no picasa, we
MAILED them to each other. I do believe that Vernon had a scanner and scanned a
photo and emailed it to me. It took forever to download if I’m thinking of the
right picture. We had already fallen for each other before exchanging photos.
We got to know each other from the inside out. The photos were just a bonus.
As we got more familiar with
the internet we became familiar with chat rooms. I don’t remember if it was
yahoo or what, but we would have to log into the same chat room at the same
time. I would create a private one so we didn’t have to be bothered by all the
weirdo perverts out there looking for “cyber sex”. I remember the first
time some dude sent me a photo of his ‘junk’, that was pretty scary. It’s
always a good idea not to talk to strangers, in person or on the internet. I
then discovered an instant messenger program called ICQ. That was much better
than chatrooms. So we used that and Yahoo IM.
We wanted to hear each
other’s voice. I found a vending machine at the little shopping strip in my
town and it sold international phone cards. I could buy one for $20 and we
could talk for over 4 hours as long as we didn’t make multiple calls. Every
time a call was made it would deduct some sort of fee that would lessen our
minutes, so to get the most of our money we used it up in one shot. We did that
about once a month. Sometimes I would fall asleep on the phone, or so he says.
There were no laptops,
no wireless internet, and dial up internet was very expensive and the computers
were very large and cumbersome. For a while I didn’t have a computer at all at
home, just the webtv which had limited use. So when we did instant messenger it
was while I was at work. Shhhhh.
Now with cloud computing
(which is 100% of what my job consists of), digital photographs, Facebook,
Picasa, iGoogle, Yahoo IM, Skype, webcams, I can go on, but you get the
picture; our relationship has grown with the help of these tools. We are
constantly aware of the other’s schedule, mood, and even when traveling we can
keep in touch. We Skype once a week, only because of the 6 hour time difference
and we both work full time jobs. Otherwise, we’d probably Skype every day. I
have an awesome phone plan through Vonage where I can call him in the UK as
often as I like and only pay one flat rate. I take advantage of that when he
has days off of work and I call him when I get up at 6am. It’s a great way to
start my day. I have uploaded web cam photos of myself and sent them to him a
few minutes later. I record videos on my Flip Camera and he can watch them
whenever he wants. He doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on major events and I
can look at his photo albums any time I want. It makes the long distance
relationship so much easier. Waiting several weeks for a letter is terrible.
Don’t get me wrong, even with this technology, long distance relationships take
a lot of work, but it just seems easier now.
Me in England 2011. We still look HOT!
Our bond was really
strong from the beginning. I think that without this technology we’d still be
together but the times in between visits and letters would be even more
difficult and stressful. I don’t wish an LDR on anyone, but if you happen to be
in one, take advantage of the technology out there, appreciate the time you
have online, and make the best of it. Have fun and be creative. I still
manage to send Vernon postcards and the occasional letter or card. I guess I’m
a bit old fashioned that way.
Happy Birthday to the man of my dreams, the man that I will marry this year.
I have never been so excited for a year like I am for 2013. Vernon, I wish I could be with you today. You work so hard and take such great care of those around you. Enjoy your daughter today, as I'm sure she's going to spoil you like she does every year. I hope you have something special like a lager or root beer.
Here are some recent pics of me since you are always saying how you want more pictures of me. This is what I wore today for your birthday. I love you so so much! I can't wait to talk to you this afternoon/tonight.
Yes, this one is cheezy... I'm actually on the phone with Heidi.
Vernon and I got an engagement gift from my parents. I didn't know people gave engagement gifts. My parents love Vernon and I am so thankful that they do. It's important to me that my family accept and love Vernon as part of the family. They also appreciate the fact that Vernon's parents love and accept me as part of their family so everyone is happy! It's January 1, 2013 and it's going to be an amazing year!
The gift is a journal where we can document our relationship. It is full of questions and we fill the page by writing our answers and stories. When completed it will be a keepsake for our kids and grand-kids. I'm really excited about sitting down with Vernon and completing it little by little. My whole life I've always loved journals and diaries so I will have a lot of fun with this.
I've kind of put a hold on wedding plans for the last couple of weeks because Christmas and Heidi being home have taken up my time and thoughts so once she's back at school I will go back to the wedding plans. I haven't ordered a dress yet, that has come to be a stressful and unenjoyable task and I'm going to have to do that soon. I found one I like, but I'm worried it wont look right on me. That will have to be at the top of my list this month.
I'll keep you posted.
I'd be happy to hear about the most difficult part of planning your wedding if you have been married.
I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was lucky to be able to spend it with friends. We had a traditional meal with a gloriously delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, corn, homemade stuffing, and dinner rolls. We finished it all off with pumpkin pie and apple-pear pie. We enjoyed each other's company, laughed and watched some great movies: Eight Crazy Nights, The Tale of Despereaux, Addams Family Values and last but not least, The Color of Magic. I take photos of holidays and special occasions because I get sad that Vernon is not there with me, so I bring him with me by taking pictures and talking about him. Last night was even better because they turned on The Color of Magic, which is a movie based on the Discworld Book series by Terry Pratchett. Vernon and I have read all of the Rincewind books together and then watched the movie together on one of my trips to England. But, to be honest, he and I weren't very impressed with the movie and quickly dozed off. There was so much missing that we got frustrated. When watching the same movie last night, everyone liked it so very much. I enjoyed it and happily talked about the Terry Pratchett books with everyone. It was like Vernon was there and at one moment during the movie I felt emotional and wanted to cry.
The next day is.... you guessed it... Black Friday. I did this once several years ago. I stood out in a parking lot with a friend at like 4am and I don't think either of us were really planning on getting anything specific. We just wanted to have the experience. I don't think I'll ever do that again, especially with the crazy stories that I hear every year and the scary videos that I see. I can't imagine what the rest of the world thinks of us crazy Americans fighting each other, stepping on children and grabbing and shoving like a bunch of starving wild dogs over a freshly killed deer carcass. It's pretty sad when you think about it. Just so you non-Americans know, we all aren't like that.
Today I did go out on Black Friday, but later in the morning when the psycho craziness had died down; but the parking lots are still full and stores are still busy, but it's all civilized. I stopped at the Goodwill store and found a couple of beautiful teapots for my reception centerpieces. I want to find used ones and I don't want them to match. They only cost $1.50 each. I feel like I got the best deal of Black Friday! I was so excited to find these. I'm going to go back a few times a month to look for more. These are the only ones I'm going to share because I don't want to spoil all the fun. So exciting!
Tomorrow I have a second Thanksgiving dinner with my parents so that will be fun. I was able to have some face time with Vernon today after I came back from my Black Friday shopping and he said to me, "Darling, I'm glad you get to have multiple Thanksgiving meals". Yeah, me too.
Today I did go out on Black Friday, but later in the morning when the psycho craziness had died down; but the parking lots are still full and stores are still busy, but it's all civilized. I stopped at the Goodwill store and found a couple of beautiful teapots for my reception centerpieces. I want to find used ones and I don't want them to match. They only cost $1.50 each. I feel like I got the best deal of Black Friday! I was so excited to find these. I'm going to go back a few times a month to look for more. These are the only ones I'm going to share because I don't want to spoil all the fun. So exciting!
