My Fair Wedding: Part 12

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,
Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, 
Part 7, Part 8, A Hard Decision, Part 9
Part 10, Part 11

I love food! Who doesn't??(I kind of wish someone had warned me about the marriage 15)

Food has a tendency to eat up a lot of your wedding budget. Pun intended...however awful.
The most convenient aspect of my wedding, however, was the theme.
An old timey carnival means old timey foods!

So instead of paying someone a ton of money to cater our event, we just got lots of hot dogs, cotton candy, and lemonade (the lemonade stand was crafted by my uncle and manned by my adorable cousin)

The cotton candy machine was easy enough to obtain through my sister's work (Funfinity), and my Aunt's neighbor supplied us with the hotdog stand!

Our cake was entirely for show, so we bought it from a grocery store and had it decorated by a friend.

(The gorgeous cake topper was hand painted by my very own talented mother)

Our real dessert was pan dulce. :) Mexican sweet bread that was ridiculously inexpensive!

We provided our guests with a little candy bag/ At this point in time, the idea is hardly original, but it is cute. We ordered lots of candy through a grocery store (no additional charge), and my aunt and grandma ordered more candy online :)  

 We also had a little luncheon before the ceremony! My family joined together and made all of it while I was at work. I love my family. :)

I was so busy and nervous that I didn't really get to enjoy all the fun and delicious food...but our guests sure did!!! :D

being offensive or being offended?

       I don't know if y'all have noticed, but I find myself blogging less and less. I also find myself reverting posts to drafts, writing things out and then never posting them, deleting old ideas. Not because I don't want to share those ideas, and not because I don't like those posts, but because I'm suddenly afraid of offending people. Nothing I write is EVER intended to offend anyone or make anyone feel bad. But I do like to express my ideas and opinions and I hate thinking that I might offend a reader because they have a different opinion or do things that I do not like to do. You know what I mean?

     For example, that post I wrote on swearing? The only thing I was thinking about when posting it was "what if someone who swears doesn't like this? What if they get offended?" But in reality, I don't mind one bit if you swear! Swear all you like! Swear up and down! Swear at me! Swear the dirtiest swears in the world. I just don't want to curse anymore. That's all. And I wanted to share that with you, so that I could get my idea out there and also to keep myself motivated. :) What I'm getting at is that I wish I wasn't so concerned about accidentally offending someone. After all, if it's an accident then I'm not really doing anything wrong, right? And if I focus every post on making everyone happy and not offending anyone, then my blog would be really surface level and ultimately boring.

Like Franklin said,

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. 

 Or this quote from my favorite playwright...a little more direct and altogether debatable.
The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.

But in the end, I just need to remind myself that we all choose whether to be offended or let things roll of our back. We choose to be upset at someone or something. We pretend that we don't have a choice and waste so much time being prideful and hurt. I don't want to offend anyone either on purpose or on accident, and if I do, I apologize. But I don't want to stop blogging about things I think or realize. I don't want to stop posting about my opinions and beliefs.

Just because someone is getting offended doesn't mean someone else is being offensive.

 

the no good very bad day

After we got home from our exciting trip to Vegas, life hit hard. It always seems to. :) Past mistakes and bad decisions are catching up with me, we left our house in a hurried mess, work was not-so-patiently waiting for us,  and Taylor and I are trying really hard to be ready for the temple as soon as possible!

It's not easy.

And today wasn't either.

I suddenly felt overwhelmed and wanted to give up. Ya know how it is. One thing will get you down and suddenly EVERYTHING seems impossible. I woke up today ready to clean and work out and run errands, and then suddenly I didn't think I could do any of it!

Luckily, I have a secret weapon that combats a no good very bad day. Well, it's not so secret...it's my best friend. Taylor has done everything he can to turn this frown upside down. And now I don't think I want to give up. This is just a minuscule moment of my entire life and even a smaller moment of eternity! I'm still scared and a little down, if you come to my door, I'll probably say "Um...I'll call you later," but I'm not gonna lay in bed all day and mope!

At the very least, I'll read a book!
...okay at the very least, I'll listen to a book.

And I'll try to get over this one day at a time! Days full of prayers and that helpful secret weapon.

What's your secret/notsosecret weapon to an awful day? Or any advice?

Spring Fever

I am not a night owl. I also don't consider myself an early bird. In any case, I'm trying to type this post using my handy dandy iPad that my husband recently acquired for me through his awesome negotiating skills. It's quite challenging. And this paragraph makes little to no sense...

Anyway, I know that this warm weather and sunshine may just be an illusion, but it sure is getting me excited for spring! I love spring. My birthday is in Spring. I got engaged in Spring. Taylor's birthday is in Spring. It smells good, it feels good, it is good  amazing!!

During the winter I stay inside almost all day. I eat junk, and I emerge from my apartment like a bear that recently awoke from hibernation mixed with a puppy that is seeing grass for the first time. I ignore my allergies and frolic. Yes. Frolic. I frolic all over the place. I visit streams and waterfalls and play games!

I take pictures of flowers and pretty things!

And Taylor and I do fun things outside! Like go on picnics and stuff our faces...

I'm stoked for spring!!!!! Oh..and a word of advice. Don't blog from an iPad.

shut yo' mouth!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about something I haven't ever thought so much about.

Swearing.

I used to have quite the mouth. I swore up and down without even thinking about it. The "bad words" were just part of my language and I just said them when I said them. You know what I mean?

I grew up with swearing, learned swearing, and swore. Makes sense, right? But when I met Taylor my perspective changed. He hates swearing.

He doesn't mind when people swear...meaning he doesn't get all offended and ask them to quit or anything. He just doesn't like it. When I first met him, I told him that I sometimes swore. I told him that I don't think of them as "bad words" because I've always said them. I told him that they just slip out and they're a part of my language.

He didn't buy it.

The fact is, angels don't swear. And Christ doesn't swear either. If I want to be like Him, then why wouldn't I try to stop this little habit? I mean honestly, do I like my little cusses that much.

I stopped swearing, because Taylor doesn't like it. And even though sometimes a curse will accidentally slip out, I'm going to keep NOT swearing because I have more important things to focus my energy on. Because I want to be Christ-like and He doesn't swear.

Not to be funny.
Not to be taken seriously.
Not to be edgy/different in a Mormon dominated society.

And I don't think "Well, it's just part of who I am" is a good enough excuse to not try to be like Him.

There are no excuses.

So, that being said, I think I'm done swearing.

we have a winner

I always treat "Giveaway Winner" posts like a huge car accident. I don't wanna really look at it, but I do at the same time... Mostly because I never ever ever ever win. Hopefully, y'all don't feel the same way, because I've got a winner for you!

Amy Harris

~Entry #43~

 (*applause and dazzling noises*)

I had fun with this and I hope you guys did too!

To Amy,

I've sent you an email and Studio Eleven should get in touch with you soon!

To all my new followers,

Stick around and shoot me an email! I would love to get to know you :)

~Nikole.../Kolie