So I've decided to start a new blog. I'm leaving behind my emo Livejournal days (except of course, when I need to be emo). I want a blog that other people can follow - one that explains things. I've been going through a rapid transition to adulthood (hello! no posters in my bedroom anymore?!), and I feel like a need a blog to represent that too. So here it goes. Since I'm not necessarily just blogging for myself, I'll do a full round of introductions.
My name is Amanda. I'm 21 years old, and I'm a senior in college. I'm engaged to Sean, whom I've been dating for over 4 years now. We'll be getting married in January of 2011. I've been involved with band since I was in 5th grade, and I'm now one of four captains for my college's color guard - we spin the flags with the marching band. Along with color guard, classes, and wedding planning, I somehow manage to hold down a part-time job as well. My family is incredibly important to me, and I've been around little kids for most of my life, including my 8 year old sister. Taking care of kids is first nature to me, and while I'm not ready for them yet, I can't wait until I am. I just bought my first car, a 2008 Dodge Caliber. My life is so incredible busy, but so fulfilling at the same time.
Anyways. Because I am a busy college student, I'm off to read for classes.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Who's This Crazy Blogger You're Stalking?
Don't lie. You know you're addicted to blogs. It's okay, me too.
I’ve always had a blog it seems. It started with a Xanga account my freshman year of high school, which was the thing to do at my first high school. Then I switched schools. At my new school, the “cool” thing was a LiveJournal. To be fair, they were actually pretty even in use at my first school, but the customizable opportunities of LJ kind of overwhelmed me then. Oh how far I’ve come. I switched over to LJ, where my longest running blog evolved. I maintained that blog for just over 7 years. Crazy, right? So much of my life is documented on that URL – it’s amazing how one little line can contain so much. My life has changed so much in the last six months that I decided I needed a new blog – one that better reflects who I am now. Hopefully, I can keep this one running as long as previous blogs – only time will
As far as the name of this blog goes, it seemed fitting. Anyone who knows me in real life know that I have a very distinctive laugh. And I love laughing. I try to maintain a positive attitude, and I try to find the good in everything and everyone, because, after all, life is beautiful. It’s much too short to go about moping and complaining.
So now comes the biggest question- who am I? Behind every person, every face, every laugh, there lies a story. A tale that has evolved over a lifespan, and has every imaginable (and often unimaginable) twist and turn. Mine is no different.
My name is Amanda. I’m a 20-something, recent college graduate from the University of Missouri. Like every other recent grad, I’m just starting out and trying to find my place in the world. I’m one crafty girl, and I love to cook, bake, and make tons of things. I’m an adventurous homebody, who loves traveling and staying in at night. My weakness is chocolate and amaretto sours, in addition to pineapple upside down cake and anything Italian. I was in marching band for over seven years, and credit some of my best friends to it. I’m Catholic, born and raised, and I’m still working on developing my faith in my adulthood. I love to volunteer and build things.
I’m engaged to my incredible fiancé, Sean. We’re high school sweethearts, and we’ve been together for over 4 ½ years – all long-distance. We’re tying the knot on January 8th, 2011, and a lot of my posts revolve around my very DIY wedding. My very large, Catholic, DIY wedding.
You have no idea what’s coming.
I’ve always had a blog it seems. It started with a Xanga account my freshman year of high school, which was the thing to do at my first high school. Then I switched schools. At my new school, the “cool” thing was a LiveJournal. To be fair, they were actually pretty even in use at my first school, but the customizable opportunities of LJ kind of overwhelmed me then. Oh how far I’ve come. I switched over to LJ, where my longest running blog evolved. I maintained that blog for just over 7 years. Crazy, right? So much of my life is documented on that URL – it’s amazing how one little line can contain so much. My life has changed so much in the last six months that I decided I needed a new blog – one that better reflects who I am now. Hopefully, I can keep this one running as long as previous blogs – only time will
As far as the name of this blog goes, it seemed fitting. Anyone who knows me in real life know that I have a very distinctive laugh. And I love laughing. I try to maintain a positive attitude, and I try to find the good in everything and everyone, because, after all, life is beautiful. It’s much too short to go about moping and complaining.
(True Laughter. The Sweetest Thing.)
So now comes the biggest question- who am I? Behind every person, every face, every laugh, there lies a story. A tale that has evolved over a lifespan, and has every imaginable (and often unimaginable) twist and turn. Mine is no different.
My name is Amanda. I’m a 20-something, recent college graduate from the University of Missouri. Like every other recent grad, I’m just starting out and trying to find my place in the world. I’m one crafty girl, and I love to cook, bake, and make tons of things. I’m an adventurous homebody, who loves traveling and staying in at night. My weakness is chocolate and amaretto sours, in addition to pineapple upside down cake and anything Italian. I was in marching band for over seven years, and credit some of my best friends to it. I’m Catholic, born and raised, and I’m still working on developing my faith in my adulthood. I love to volunteer and build things.
(Lyndsey, Allie, Me, Jayme - They call us the quartet)
(Cause we're just that awesome)
(My Mizzou Girls)
(My YG kids - Tijuana Mexico)
(Top Row: Patty, Mandi, Me, Emily, Tory, Audrey, Katy, Josh)
(Bottom Row: Moni, Megan, LeAnn, Kristin)
I’m engaged to my incredible fiancé, Sean. We’re high school sweethearts, and we’ve been together for over 4 ½ years – all long-distance. We’re tying the knot on January 8th, 2011, and a lot of my posts revolve around my very DIY wedding. My very large, Catholic, DIY wedding.
(I kinda like him)
You have no idea what’s coming.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Back Post #17 - Pre-Cana, Session 2
Okay, I'll admit, it's been awhile. (blame 2 vacas and moving for that one!)
Anyways. Saturday, July 25th, we took our second (and final!) pre-cana class. Personally, I thought this one was a lot LESS interesting. And frankly, since it's been so long, I can't even remember much. I think it was mostly kind of boring, because most of our talks were about how we communicate - communication is my major. I thought I was going to shoot myself from boredom. Then, we talked about finances and donating to the church, which was kind of pointless seeing how Sean and I combined make like, negative money. That was about the sum of it - the whole 5 hours of it. I know this blog wasn't as in-depth as the last one on pre-cana, but frankly, this class bored me to death. BUT! The important thing is, we passed! And we got a nifty certificate to prove it:
Anyways. Saturday, July 25th, we took our second (and final!) pre-cana class. Personally, I thought this one was a lot LESS interesting. And frankly, since it's been so long, I can't even remember much. I think it was mostly kind of boring, because most of our talks were about how we communicate - communication is my major. I thought I was going to shoot myself from boredom. Then, we talked about finances and donating to the church, which was kind of pointless seeing how Sean and I combined make like, negative money. That was about the sum of it - the whole 5 hours of it. I know this blog wasn't as in-depth as the last one on pre-cana, but frankly, this class bored me to death. BUT! The important thing is, we passed! And we got a nifty certificate to prove it:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Back Post #16 - Engagement Party and a Joint Account
We had our first (and unfortunately, probably only) engagement party on Saturday!
(The Invites)
Our families came together at Sean's house and everyone got along really well! Mama had a hay day with all the babies and getting to hold them all. The food all turned out delicious - Gram made a strawberry shortcake and a german chocolate cake - in addition to the Costo sheet cake Mama bought. Anyways, it was good times, and I was certainly exhausted by the end of it all.
A nice surprise, however, was the money we got at the end of the day. We didn't get much - we honestly weren't expecting any. We had told anyone who asked us that we didn't need anything. But we did get some money, so we started a joint checking account. It's the first thing Sean and I have actually *shared* together. It's exciting. It's our first thing together, which of course has me thinking about the future. In the next two years, I'll be graduating college, getting a job, moving in with Sean, getting married - the list just keeps growing! Hopefully we'll be able to continue adding money to this new account. While the goal is for it to help out with the wedding (it's already short $80, thanks to invite supplies), it'll also be a springboard for us next year when we combine finances and such (if they're anything extra - somehow I don't think there will be).
A nice surprise, however, was the money we got at the end of the day. We didn't get much - we honestly weren't expecting any. We had told anyone who asked us that we didn't need anything. But we did get some money, so we started a joint checking account. It's the first thing Sean and I have actually *shared* together. It's exciting. It's our first thing together, which of course has me thinking about the future. In the next two years, I'll be graduating college, getting a job, moving in with Sean, getting married - the list just keeps growing! Hopefully we'll be able to continue adding money to this new account. While the goal is for it to help out with the wedding (it's already short $80, thanks to invite supplies), it'll also be a springboard for us next year when we combine finances and such (if they're anything extra - somehow I don't think there will be).
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Back Post #15 - Pre-Cana, Session 1
*First, a warning. This is LONG*
So Saturday morning Sean and I woke up early (like 6:30 early - we couldn't sleep) to go to our wedding prep class. We followed our directions, and even left early in case we got lost...and then realized that the church we were supposed to go to, Christ the King, is right across the street from our friend Ellie's house. Talk about small world. We were early, and yet we had no idea where to go. So we people watched. We got slightly nervous as all we saw were old couples, but then we started seeing younger couples. And followed them. :)
There were 22 couples. We were sat 2 to a table, and our lucky tablemates just happened to have graduated from kU. No joke. We didn't exactly make friends, needless to say. For a little demographic info for the class as a whole, I'll break it down and compare us. We were one of the youngest couples (if not THE youngest). We were one of the few couples that was still in school (of those who were going/have gone to school anyway). We were the longest dating couple. We had the wedding date the furthest away (the closest was August 8th). We were one of the few couples that had grown up in the Catholic school system (you could tell - trust me). Finally, we seemed to be the couple who knew the most about each other, which seemed a little strange to us.
When we got to the class, we were each given a book and pens. It's a workbook produced by the Archdiocese with 8 chapters - we covered 4 yesterday, and we'll cover 4 next class. Though we talked about (well, really we were just lectured on everything) the Sex section, we have to do the workbook part on our own by next week. Fun times!! Hahaha. The other chapters we covered this week were The Sacrament of Marriage, Family of Origin, and The Stages of Marriage. I'll explain each of these, though mostly in how it was taught. I found the entire class pretty interesting, and I really liked the imagery that was brought in. Yes, it's a very long, religious post, sorry, but it's very interesting nonetheless.
Section 1: The Sacrament of Marriage
With the sacrament section, which was by far the most "Catholic" section we had, we talked about how a marriage in the Church is different from a marriage outside of the Church. Basically, we were given 3 sections of imagery, each involving a play-doh couple - yellow and blue, fyi. When two people are living together and dating, it is like they're in a plastic bag. Each one can leave fairly easily and new people can join - the bag is easy to open and close, yet not permanent. With a marriage outside of the Church/God, it's like the couple is in plastic wrap tied shut with a knot. A judge is responsible for tying the knot, but he/she can just as easily untie the knot, and the couple can live their lives as if there never was a knot to begin with - there might be a few specks of the other colors on each other, but for the most part, our play-doh selves are still blue and yellow. With a religious marriage, it's like the play-doh got squished up together. Instead of having yellow and blue play-doh, you now only have green, and the colors can never be separated. The point is, that marriage isn't something you can go into and leave whenever you want. The Catholic Church is very against divorce (although it does recognize that sometimes it is necessary), and marriage is something that you have to be selfless about.
Section 2: Family of Origin
This section talked about our families - what the values of our current families are, and what we want to bring into our new family. Once we're married, we're not just husband and wife - we're our own family. We talked about time, and how much we'd spend with each set of in-laws, if we'd be willing to move for each other, if our parents would get keys to our house (mine: yes, his: no - we don't trust his parents), how we would set up parameters for our parents to let us go. We talked about how we'll spend holidays, what the most important things we'd like to incorporate into our family are, and even little things like which way the toilet paper should go. It was actually a really fun section. We talked about baggage, and how each person brings different things to a relationship - how our growing up affects us. For us, the issue is mostly about money and vacations - Sean's family spends freely, whereas my family is stingy. Sean's family goes on vacations and is a very close nuclear unit, whereas mine isn't (as much time as my family spends together, we really aren't "close"). This was also the area where the discussions of other couples shocked us - it was as if they had never spent a holiday with each others' families! Sean and I probably could have filled this section out for each other, and all around the room we heard comments such as "you really think that way?" and "Oh I didn't know that". Oh man.
Section 3: The Stages of Marriage
Okay, this section should have been renamed something like, "Eventually, you're going to get bored with marriage and realize it sucks. Realize it now, and learn to suck it up." Very, um, hopeful. We talked about how in marriage there's the stages of Romance, Disillusionment, and Renewal. We know that marriage isn't always going to be a bed of roses. Actually, maybe it is - thorns and all. But anyways, yes, at some point we're going to wake up and wonder what we're doing with our lives. And I'm okay with that. This section was basically about being able to find the little, everyday things romantic, but seeing as Sean and I have never really be "romantic," we think we're okay on this. This section REALLY made us feel like we were more mature than the rest of the group, because everywhere you looked there were these girls with big honking 1 1/2 carat solitaires talking about roses and boat rides and dinners and jewelry. The last time Sean and I went out on a date, we went to Burger King :) I mean, we know that we're not necessarily in the "romance" period anymore - the disillusionment usually happens at about 6-8 years into the relationship, so we're halfway there. We're not that sappy little couple that has to be touching each other constantly anymore. A text in the middle of the day makes me smile. Being long-distance has kind of altered how we work, but, frankly, I like it that way.
Section 4: Sex and Sexuality
Okay, so we haven't actually done the workbook part of this, but I can tell you a little bit about the talk. It was mostly about living with each other before marriage. The idea is that if you live together before marriage, what's the point of getting married? It's nothing special. You're going to wake up in the morning together, have a big party together, and then go home to your bed together. Sean and I do plan on living together before we're married. We do. We have no problems, no qualms, nothing. We'll only live together about 4 months before we get married though, not years. I have complete faith that it will be special, nonetheless, but only time will tell on this one.
Sorry I've bored you all to death on this one. I'll admit, I blog for my own benefit - I want to be able to remember all of this in a year. Our 5 hour session went by pretty quickly - we had movies, talk, workbooks, and snacks. It wasn't bad, although maybe that's because we were both raised in Catholic schools. We'll continue this saga in two weeks though!
So Saturday morning Sean and I woke up early (like 6:30 early - we couldn't sleep) to go to our wedding prep class. We followed our directions, and even left early in case we got lost...and then realized that the church we were supposed to go to, Christ the King, is right across the street from our friend Ellie's house. Talk about small world. We were early, and yet we had no idea where to go. So we people watched. We got slightly nervous as all we saw were old couples, but then we started seeing younger couples. And followed them. :)
There were 22 couples. We were sat 2 to a table, and our lucky tablemates just happened to have graduated from kU. No joke. We didn't exactly make friends, needless to say. For a little demographic info for the class as a whole, I'll break it down and compare us. We were one of the youngest couples (if not THE youngest). We were one of the few couples that was still in school (of those who were going/have gone to school anyway). We were the longest dating couple. We had the wedding date the furthest away (the closest was August 8th). We were one of the few couples that had grown up in the Catholic school system (you could tell - trust me). Finally, we seemed to be the couple who knew the most about each other, which seemed a little strange to us.
When we got to the class, we were each given a book and pens. It's a workbook produced by the Archdiocese with 8 chapters - we covered 4 yesterday, and we'll cover 4 next class. Though we talked about (well, really we were just lectured on everything) the Sex section, we have to do the workbook part on our own by next week. Fun times!! Hahaha. The other chapters we covered this week were The Sacrament of Marriage, Family of Origin, and The Stages of Marriage. I'll explain each of these, though mostly in how it was taught. I found the entire class pretty interesting, and I really liked the imagery that was brought in. Yes, it's a very long, religious post, sorry, but it's very interesting nonetheless.
Section 1: The Sacrament of Marriage
With the sacrament section, which was by far the most "Catholic" section we had, we talked about how a marriage in the Church is different from a marriage outside of the Church. Basically, we were given 3 sections of imagery, each involving a play-doh couple - yellow and blue, fyi. When two people are living together and dating, it is like they're in a plastic bag. Each one can leave fairly easily and new people can join - the bag is easy to open and close, yet not permanent. With a marriage outside of the Church/God, it's like the couple is in plastic wrap tied shut with a knot. A judge is responsible for tying the knot, but he/she can just as easily untie the knot, and the couple can live their lives as if there never was a knot to begin with - there might be a few specks of the other colors on each other, but for the most part, our play-doh selves are still blue and yellow. With a religious marriage, it's like the play-doh got squished up together. Instead of having yellow and blue play-doh, you now only have green, and the colors can never be separated. The point is, that marriage isn't something you can go into and leave whenever you want. The Catholic Church is very against divorce (although it does recognize that sometimes it is necessary), and marriage is something that you have to be selfless about.
Section 2: Family of Origin
This section talked about our families - what the values of our current families are, and what we want to bring into our new family. Once we're married, we're not just husband and wife - we're our own family. We talked about time, and how much we'd spend with each set of in-laws, if we'd be willing to move for each other, if our parents would get keys to our house (mine: yes, his: no - we don't trust his parents), how we would set up parameters for our parents to let us go. We talked about how we'll spend holidays, what the most important things we'd like to incorporate into our family are, and even little things like which way the toilet paper should go. It was actually a really fun section. We talked about baggage, and how each person brings different things to a relationship - how our growing up affects us. For us, the issue is mostly about money and vacations - Sean's family spends freely, whereas my family is stingy. Sean's family goes on vacations and is a very close nuclear unit, whereas mine isn't (as much time as my family spends together, we really aren't "close"). This was also the area where the discussions of other couples shocked us - it was as if they had never spent a holiday with each others' families! Sean and I probably could have filled this section out for each other, and all around the room we heard comments such as "you really think that way?" and "Oh I didn't know that". Oh man.
Section 3: The Stages of Marriage
Okay, this section should have been renamed something like, "Eventually, you're going to get bored with marriage and realize it sucks. Realize it now, and learn to suck it up." Very, um, hopeful. We talked about how in marriage there's the stages of Romance, Disillusionment, and Renewal. We know that marriage isn't always going to be a bed of roses. Actually, maybe it is - thorns and all. But anyways, yes, at some point we're going to wake up and wonder what we're doing with our lives. And I'm okay with that. This section was basically about being able to find the little, everyday things romantic, but seeing as Sean and I have never really be "romantic," we think we're okay on this. This section REALLY made us feel like we were more mature than the rest of the group, because everywhere you looked there were these girls with big honking 1 1/2 carat solitaires talking about roses and boat rides and dinners and jewelry. The last time Sean and I went out on a date, we went to Burger King :) I mean, we know that we're not necessarily in the "romance" period anymore - the disillusionment usually happens at about 6-8 years into the relationship, so we're halfway there. We're not that sappy little couple that has to be touching each other constantly anymore. A text in the middle of the day makes me smile. Being long-distance has kind of altered how we work, but, frankly, I like it that way.
Section 4: Sex and Sexuality
Okay, so we haven't actually done the workbook part of this, but I can tell you a little bit about the talk. It was mostly about living with each other before marriage. The idea is that if you live together before marriage, what's the point of getting married? It's nothing special. You're going to wake up in the morning together, have a big party together, and then go home to your bed together. Sean and I do plan on living together before we're married. We do. We have no problems, no qualms, nothing. We'll only live together about 4 months before we get married though, not years. I have complete faith that it will be special, nonetheless, but only time will tell on this one.
Sorry I've bored you all to death on this one. I'll admit, I blog for my own benefit - I want to be able to remember all of this in a year. Our 5 hour session went by pretty quickly - we had movies, talk, workbooks, and snacks. It wasn't bad, although maybe that's because we were both raised in Catholic schools. We'll continue this saga in two weeks though!
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