September’s Anthropologie

I’ve always been attracted to Antropologie’s bohemian/polished/vintage-inspired catalog, but I was especially blown away by September’s issue. It’s got everything I love–classic silhouettes, a few ruffles, vintage-cut skirts, and PERFECT shoes. Ohmygoodness, the shoes. I want them all. I’ve also included some things not pictured in the catalog–that I found on the website, which I can’t look at very long because I’d spent much more money than I actually have.

Words of Wisdom

from a friend of Dustin’s:

“Being married is much more important than getting married.”

Hear, hear. (Or is it ‘here, here.?”)

School Days Inspiration

I’ve always been skeptical about Martha Stewart anything, but I signed up for her Weddings site, and I’m so glad I did!! She features such gorgeous weddings, and today, I found the most perfect little wedding. Minhee and Truman had so many great details, and while Dustin and I are going for more of a literary styled bash, “school days” touches fit into that so well.

All images below were found on MarthaStewart.com, and are not my property. Thanks for sharing the wedding love.

I just love this photo of the bride and groom–so perfect, especially since they met in 4th grade! Dustin and I met in a Shakespeare class, so you can see why I’d be drawn to these kinds of touches.

This is their invitation suite. From MS: “In keeping with the school theme, letterpress invitations, maps and reply cards were printed on vintage notebook paper by Minhee’s company, Paper + Cup. Attendance reports asked guests to indicate who was coming. All the components slipped inside a small manilla folder printed with the couple’s names and address label peek through the outer envelope.” We won’t have the funds to pull together such a large, detailed suite, but we’ve got a DIY surprise (along this same idea) that will knock your geeky socks off. We promise!

Um, LOVE THIS SHOT! A requisite posed shot of the bridal party without being awkward. So completely framable and playful!

And don’t you just love their seating card table? I was already planning to use apples as my “seating card,” but instead of stickers and graph paper like this:
I’m planning on using tipped pins to attach scraps of paper–reminiscent of those impromptu bookmarks and notes Dustin and I passed in class.

And how’s this for a guestbook idea, huh? Guests all scribbled on the flippable chalkboard, had a polaroid snapped of them in front of their message (it’s like the coolest photobooth idea, ever!!!!), and placed it in a vintage accountant’s ledger:
I mean, how PERFECT is that idea? Too bad the Polaroid is no more. I wonder if someone will make a Polaroid v2.0. (Please???)

Okay, last image, I promise. I just had to share their favors! School supplies in a brown paper bag. Practical and cost effective:

I am completely in love with this wedding. A lot of the details would need to be tweaked–we’d mature some things from 4th grade to classic literature to better reflect who we are as a couple, but considering that we met in school, and are both going to be educators (Dustin as a high school teacher, myself eventually as an American literature professor), incorporating our passions into our wedding decor just seems so natural and easy.

I absolutely LOVE it when I run across a wedding that is just so full of inspiration–but this one has definitely been the one closest to what I’m envisioning (with rustic BBQ and beer currents thrown in!).

The Happiness Project

I’ve always been a relatively happy person. And while I’m not known as the person who smiles all the time and is always in a good mood, generally, people that come in contact with me find me in good humor. In fact, there are only two times in my life that I can look back on and say that I’ve had significant moments on unhappiness–middle school, when I thought I was ugly, fat, and hated by everyone, and early college, when I was having similar thoughts.

This semester (and last semester, too) has been really rough. And while I wouldn’t say that I’ve been unhappy, I’ve certainly had my moments. I’m homesick. I miss my fiance like crazy (I just realized today that we’re now keeping up a long distance relationship–before, I just felt really lonely without him). The classes I’m taking now aren’t thrilling me, and I’m wrestling with deciding if I want to jump into my PhD in the next few years, or if I want to wait, and where Dustin and I will live once I get my MA. I feel stupid in most of my classes, and I’m not exactly sure how to catch up. My cats are adorable, but they’ve chewed through a lot of money this semester (mostly in power adapters for my laptop). I don’t know if Dustin will be able to find a job once he moves here, and I worry about our finances. And I can’t seem to get below 180 lbs no matter what I do. Et cetera and so on.

I had a mild revelation a few days ago, sparked by this movie trailer. It was one of those revelations that shouldn’t really be a revelation, but it was. If I dwell on these things that make me unhappy, I’m going to be an unhappy person. And I really don’t want to be an unhappy person. There are far too many of them in the word already. I don’t mean that I shouldn’t think about my future–my education and Dustin’s career and our joint bank account are all things that need to be thought about, but not with this overwhelming sense of desperation that tends to surrounds my thoughts on these subjects. I need to keep joy at my center, even when things feel unbalanced.

There are a few memorable people in my life, and I usually remember them because of how unstoppably joyful they are. I want to be one of those people, and so I’m going to try. I don’t mean to be glib about life. I know there are a lot of people who struggle with being happy. It’s not as easy as just deciding to be happy. I know this. But I must try. I know it won’t be as simple as waking up and saying “I am going to be happy today,” but can’t that be a start? Otherwise, where would I even begin?

Here. Now. With The Happiness Project.

How would you start on your own Happiness Project?

It’s a New Day!

Just under an hour ago, Barack Obama was sworn in as our President. I’ve been listening to Will.i.am’s “It’s a New Day” since he released it just after Obama swept the polls, and it’s become not only a really great song to mark this historic moment in our lives, but a really great song to wake up to. I play it when I need motivation to get moving, and it reminds me that I’m not just this insular creature, but involved in the world’s motion.