Too many bridesmaids?

I know some ladies out there have dozens of close girlfriends - childhood friends, college friends, work friends. You get the idea. When you have millions of girlfriends it can be hard not to chose all your girls to stand up with you the day that you get married. However we all know that 15 bridesmaids is rarely reasonable.

The solution - instead of just having bridesmaids have a color team! I think this is an awesome way of including your close friends on your wedding day without having everyone as bridesmaids. Plus just think about how gorgeously coordinated your wedding pictures will look.

This creative idea comes via A Practical Wedding.

Economy

I have been very lucky to not really be affected by the current economic situation. Hubby has a job that is more than secure. Last I checked the military isn't laying anyone off. ;) I'm blessed to have a job that is (at least at the moment) also very secure. I work for an advertising company in their military department so as long as the military is buying I have a job. So far the only thing that I had really noticed about the economy was lower gas prices. Seriously, who's going to complain about that?

Well yesterday it hit home. My Dad was laid off effective Friday. My Dad is a superintendent for a construction company. With the housing market the way that it is, he knew that it was coming and started looking for a new job several months ago. My parents will be fine, and he pretty much has another job lined up.

However it's still scary because it has finally convinced me that all this talk of the economy is real. Yea I knew it when our stocks took a nose dive. We lost what could have been a down payment on a house - OUCH! I guess what I'm saying is that it's hard to believe all the talk when it has not touched you yet.

So how has the economic situation effected you?

Cardboard Love

Today I was introduced to Cardboard Love in a Digital World. I thought the above was perfect for the hubby and I right now. Check it out here. You just might find one for yourself.

Mardi Gras

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!

Tolerance

A friend posted a blog this week about her argument for why gay marriage should be legalized. She wrote a well researched opinion, but it was her opinion. I think that was her whole point was to get her opinion out there. While she is passionate about what she believes, she is understanding that others do not share her opinion. My point is that while we are entitled to our opinion we have to remember that others are entitled to theirs as well.

The backbone of this country is freedom. The right to be free to express yourself, your beliefs and so many other freedoms that we take for granted every day. However I find that many people feel that these freedoms only belong to certain groups. You are free to believe in your religion as long as it's Christianity. You are free to express your views as long as they agree with mine. Wrong people wrong. This is not at all what the writers of the Constitution had in mind. They dreamed of a place where all different types of people could commune together. They had enough foresight to understand that the world was not made up of one view and one religion. They understood these things to be mere ideas something that could not be made concrete nor grasped. At the same time, they understood the importance of these mere ideals.

I encourage you today and every day to remember that the greatness of this country is found in it's individuals. We are each unique and have something to teach others. It is not to say that our goal should be to change their minds, but I promise if you open your mind and listen to others. You just might learn something. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. My "niece" turned one this week so I'm off to celebrate her birthday and hang out with some of my favorite people! 

I Heart Blogs

I'm a big fan of blogs. I like blogs because it's connects me with other people's blogs/photographs/websites that I would not have found. While checking out snippet&ink today, I found this gorgeous picture.

Gorgeous Vegas elopement pictures by Ben Chrisman. Check out the rest here.

10 Months

We have officially hit the 10 month mark in this deployment. I don't really know what to say other than it's been a journey. One day I would like to sit back and reflect on this deployment - the highs, the lows, and lessons learned, but right now it's still too personal. I wish I could say that we only have two more months to go, but we don't. We have another five. I do know that we have grown as a couple through this, but I wouldn't say it's easy.

In other news, I hope everyone had a love filled Saturday. I'm not a huge Valentine's Day person. Hubby and I don't need a day to be reminded that we love each other. We are firm believers in telling and showing each other every chance we get. We still "celebrate" the day, but it's not a major deal. I put celebrate in quotes because for the third year in a row we have not been able to spend it together. In fact, we have yet to even be in the same state on that day. lol Maybe next year. Despite my Debbie Downer attitude toward the holiday, I hope that everyone had a great day.

Remembrance

This should have been posted yesterday. Seven years ago on February 12th a dear childhood friend passed away. My friend Chase died just shy of his 20th birthday. He had the sweetest and most beautiful smile. He will forever be missed.

A very close mutual friend, N, wrote the below in honor of Chase.



I heard news of you--
that you'd left this world
and my heart was heavy and grim.
But remembering you now
my view has changed somehow,
and my heart is full to the brim.
It's a strange mix of mirth and sadness--
a little confusion, a little madness
until I thought of you leaping to my arms
through the air.
And I see your spirit soaring still,
but it's gone from this earth now; there's no empty ill--
To drag down my head with sorrow and pain
for certain that I will see you again.
I will not cry or sit regretting,
as if my mortal power could keep the sun from setting.
But to quote the poet Dylan Thomas with simplicity,
"Time held me green and dying though I sang in chains like the sea."
You fell asleep my friend and then awoke
on a strangely familiar paradise shore;
And for this age on earth I must say goodbye.
Goodbye, my love, but not forevermore.

Floral Nesting

I was surfing the web at work and came across this beauty. I think it's a really unique way to display flowers, and I absolutely love the little nest as place card holders. I think this would be a great idea not just for a wedding reception but also a bridesmaid luncheon, bridal or baby shower, or brunch with the girls.

Sometimes you have to rant...

I'm going to be upfront and say that I'm in a horrible mood today. So to keep from letting PMS get the better of me, I give you the below list. This list is in honor of two things today. First the crappy overseas internet that keeps kicking my husband offline for no reason, and second to hubby's cousin's girlfriend for stating that a 13 week training session is going to let her see how I really feel. I could go on and on about that last one, but I won't. Instead I suggest you read number 8 on the list. It is worded more appropriately than anything I could say right now.

1. “Aren’t you afraid that he’ll be killed?”
(This one ranks in at number one on the “duh” list. Of course we’re afraid. We’re terrified. The thought always lingers at the backs of our minds —but thanks brilliant, you just brought it back to the front. Maybe next you can go ask someone with cancer if they’re scared of dying.)

2. “I don’t know how you manage. I don’t think I could do it.”
(This is intended to be a compliment. Though, its just a little annoying. Here’s why: it’s not like all of us military wives have been dreaming since childhood of the day we’d get to be anxious single moms who carry cell phones with us to the bathroom and in the shower. We’re not made of some mysterious matter that makes us more capable, we just got asked to take on a challenging job. So we rose to the challenge and found the strength to make sacrifices.)

3. “At least he’s not in Iraq.”
(This is the number one most annoying comment for those whose husbands are in Afghanistan. What do they think is happening in Afghanistan? An international game of golf? Guys are fighting and dying over there.)

4. “Do you think he’ll get to come home for Christmas/anniversary/birthday/birth of a child/wedding/family reunion, etc?”
(Don’t you watch the news? No! They don’t get to come home for any of these things. Please don’t ask again.)

5. “What are you going to do to keep yourself busy while he’s gone?”
(Short answer: Try to keep my sanity. Maybe there’s a military wife out there who gets bored when her husband leaves, but I have yet to meet her. For the rest of us, those with and without children, we find ourselves having to be two people. That keeps us plenty busy. We do get lonely, but we don’t get bored, and drinking massive amounts of wine always helps keep me busy.)

6. “How much longer does he have until he can get out?”
(This one is annoying to many of us whether our husbands are deployed or not. Many of our husbands aren’t counting down the days until they “can” get out. Many of them keep signing back up again and again because they actually love what they do or they VOLUNTEER AGAIN and AGAIN to go back to Iraq b/c there is work that needs to be done.)

7. “This deployment shouldn’t be so bad, now that you’re used to it.”
(Sure, we do learn coping skills and its true the more deployments you’ve gone through, the easier dealing with it becomes. And we figure out ways to make life go smoother while the guys are gone. But it never gets “easy” and the bullets and bombs don’t skip over our guys just because they’ve been there before. The worry never goes away.)

8. “My husband had to go to Europe for business once for three weeks. I totally know what you’re going through.”
(This one is similar to number two. Do not equate your husband’s three week trip to London/Omaha/Tokyo/etc. with a 12-15 month or more deployment to a war zone. Aside from the obvious time difference, nobody shot at your husband or tried to blow him up with an I.E.D., your husband could call home pretty much any time he wanted to, he flew comfortably on a commercial plane, slept between crisp white sheets and ate well, paying for everything with an expense account. There is no comparison. We do not feel bonded to you in the slightest because of this comment and, if anything, we probably resent you a bit for it. Comparing a 12 month combat deployment to a few weeks business trip is like comparing a shitty ford taurus with mercedes convertible.)

9. “Wow you must miss him?”
(This one also gets another big “duh”. Of course we miss our men. There are some wives who do not and they’re now divorced.)

10. “Where is he exactly? Where is that?”
(I don’t expect non-military folks to be able to find Anbar Province on a map, but they should know by now that it’s in Iraq. Likewise, know that Kabul and Kandahar are in Afghanistan. Know that Muqtada al Sadr is the insurgent leader of the Mahdi Army in Iraq and that Sadr City is his home area. Know that Iran is a major threat to our country and that it is located between Afghanistan and Iraq. Our country has been at war in Afghanistan for seven years and at war in Iraq for five years. These basic facts are not secrets, they’re on the news every night and in the papers every day —and on maps everywhere.)

11. “Well, he signed up for it, so it’s his own fault whatever happens over there.
(Yes, ignorant, he did sign up. Each and every day he protects your right to make stupid comments like that. He didn’t sign up and ask to be hit by anything, he signed up to protect his country. Oh, and by the way, he asked me to tell you that “You’re welcome.” He’s still fighting for your freedom.)

12. “Don’t you miss sex! I couldn’t do it!”
(hmmm, no i don’t miss sex. i’m a robot. seriously…military spouses learn quickly that our relationships must be founded on something greater than sex. We learn to appreciate the important things, like simply hearing their voices, seeing their faces, being able to have dinner together every night. And the hard truth is, most relationships probably couldn’t withstand 12 months of sex deprivation.)

13. “Well in my opinion…..”
(Stop right there. Yo, I didn’t ask for you your personal political opinions. Hey, I love a heated political debate, but not in the grocery store, not in Jamba Juice, not at Nordstrom, not in a restaurant when I’m out with my girls trying to forget the war, and CERTAINLY NOT AT WORK. We tell co-workers about deployments so when we have to spend lunch hours running our asses off doing errands and taking care of the house, dog, and kids, they have an understanding. We do not tell co-workers and colleagues because we are giving an invitation to ramble about politics or because we so eagerly want to hear how much they hate the President, esp. while we’re trying to heat up our lean cuisines in the crappy office microwaves.)

14. “OH, that’s horrible…I’m so sorry!”
(He’s doing his job and he’s tough. Don’t be sorry. Be appreciative and please take a moment out of your comfortable American lives to realize that our soldiers fight the wars abroad so those wars stay abroad.)