Desert Laura

Only 2 weeks to go until the big day.  I've been a bit preoccupied with the planning, less than I thought I would be, but mostly just getting the finishing touches on what will be an amazing day.  The past few days I've been talking to all of my friends coming in from out of town and feel so honored that people are actually coming into town for us .  They're putting their lives on hold for a few days, spending money and energy to be here to celebrate the day...it's such an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness that we are surrounded by loving friends and family. I had a bridal shower about 2 weeks ago, and about 40 women came to say hello.  Two of my dear friends threw the shower for me, along with my sisters who did some of the cooking.  The best part (aside from the amazing gifts and fun games) was seeing my grandma come up the driveway and surprise me!  She's visiting from Chicago and staying with my parents.  That means that it was uncle...

Chris and I went to a local bar, The Lost Leaf, in the hopes of finding some good music to dance to.  To our surprise, this amazing local band Bata Ire was playing.  They played Afro-Cuban music with lots of drums and amazing rhythm.  They were amazing!  We danced our butts off all night long! Lovely evening of music and dancing.  I don't know what I would do if I couldn't dance. 

It's time for resolutions, right?  Not for me.  For me, I make resolutions every day, week, month, of the year.  I make my lists of what needs to be done, what I'd like to do better or differently.  Instead, I look at what I want to accomplish this year that I didn't do last year, what I'd like to continue doing, or what needs changing.  This happens throughout the year...through constant reflection and insight. I cannot help but be grateful for this last year; it gave me so many wonderful things.  The most significant being a wonderful partner who I'm lucky to share my life with.  Not to mention that I learned how to raise chickens, and how to cook amazing vegan food. I baked more bread than I could eat; I started crafting more than just scarves; I learned that I'm not always right; I learned how to let go of someone I love dearly and let her die with grace and peace.  I learned how to put balance back in my life, when to say no...and...

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.   Ring out the grief that saps the mind For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousa...

Thanksgiving week is over and now I'm enjoying a long weekend of resting and relaxing.  Mr. C and I had a nice time with friends up in the McDowell mountains.  There was lots of good food and super nice people to spend the day with. I'm getting ready for some DIY projects for the wedding,and hoping that they're all as simple as they appear in my head.  My plan is to get these done by January.  Some things on my list: Make invitations Make soy candles (about 40 of them) Make thank-you cards Make more olives Sew linen table runners So, our next date night idea was to go out and shoot pool and play darts.  So exciting!  I'm awful at pool and haven't played in a really long time, but I was looking forward to the challenge. We started the evening by making a really good dinner of sauteed vegetables with tempeh in a curry simmer sauce.  We popped open a very cheap bottle of red wine (thank you Trader Joe's for selling wine cheaper than Two-buck Ch...

Mr. C and I have been together for a while and we love to have "date nights."  We try to go out, just the 2 of us, at least once a week.  Dinner, at least.  Every couple weeks we get our dancing shoes on and go to the nearest Blues bar and dance to the old-school R&B cover band...they're great, and we absolutely love to dance .    The other week I had the bright idea of changing things up a bit.  Try to come up with creative things to do on our date nights.  This is a big city and I thought it would be fun to find ways to see it all...and do it all under $30.  So, Mr. C and I each had 5 sheets of blank paper to write 5 different date night ideas on it.  We put these 10 sheets in a jar and every week we would pull a sheet from the jar and plan a night based on what was written. So, this week we went to see a movie...at a drive-in.  There are only 2 in the city, and I haven't been to a drive-in in a few ye...

So I'm seeing a counselor.  It's not a bad thing, really.  I actually like to go every month to chat.  I mean, I'm a social worker and being a counselor is what I do.  So why shouldn't I have some time to be on the receiving end of things for a change?  Lately, the conversations have been about my family (actually, they're usually about my family).  But getting married brings up lots of things that I'd like to think I've resolved, put away in a nice box wrapped snuggly in pretty tissue, never to come out again.  Normally, 6 out of 7 days, the box stays put.  My life is good, healthy, happy. But now that I'm getting married I find myself dealing with my box of old family stuff. I never pretend or claim that I have a typical, functional family.  I think most of my friends know otherwise.  So it's no surprise that I've tried to live the last 14 years of my life in the healthiest way possible.  That means finding some distance b...