Keep Calm and Update my Facebook Status

This anticipation is killing me! I was all prepared to leave the house at 11:00 this morning. Wow, was even ready early and sat down at my computer to play for a bit at 10:20. This is unusual for me. At 10:30 I called the surgical center to verify everything was running on time and we would be good to go. Ugh, they delayed me another hour, but said I should call before I leave again, in case they delay me longer. So, I have some time to play, to think, and do burn.

First thing I decided to do was post a picture to twitter of my outfit. I mean it’s a really serious decision I had to make today: what to wear to brain surgery! HAHA. I finally made up my mind and decided to wear yogo pants because clearly they are the most comfortable thing a woman can wear, but I did not choose just any yoga pants; I wore my KCCO chivette yogo pants because when you are about to have somebody shave your head and crack open your skull, any reminder to Keep Calm and Chive on is quite helpful. Additionally, I wore a sports bra because it’s way easier to put that on when I get go home. Bonus: It’s one of my favorite colors – turquoise, and it looks like a tank top. Next a wore a white racer-back tank top because I love tank tops and can’t do without them, plus, it makes me feel pretty due to the lace and my lack of makeup today. It doesn’t matter than nobody will actually see the lace because it is only on the back and I am wearing yet another layer over it! Lastly, I have my zip-up KCCO hoodie. I love hoodies, they are comfy, and cute, and relaxed, and of course just one more reminder that I should just keep calm.

So now that the important decisions have been made for the day, I have begun to think about all the amazing people in my life who have been there for me in all of this. I have my husband sho takes care of me, understands that life sucks in this state, and does whatever he can to make it all easier. I have my mother who keeps telling me to settle down because it’s all going to be fine, plus she is coming out to visit me. I have my grams and gramps who let me call them a lot and tell them everything as it develops, plus they listen patiently. I have my sister that tells me I’m fine. I have my other grandma, and my friends, Mary Beth and Heather who have text or called to wish me well. There is my cousin Chelsea we text me as well. Then there are my friends Kami, Tyler, and Joel who prayed with me last night. And I cannot possibly forget all the amazing friends that have sent me Facebook messages, commented, sent their love and their prayers. I have such an amazing support system and I know that I am very lucky!

The last thing I have to think about today is the surgery itself. I know a lot of people can be nervous to go under because they fear they may not wake up. I have been that person in previous surgeries, but for some reason, today, I have no fear that I will wake up. I know I will. For a while I feared the worst outcome of the surgery though – either losing the ability to move the left side of my face to include smiling, or to loose my hearing completely in my left ear. They ask you a million times if you are sure that you understand the risks and if you are sure that your symptoms are debilitating enough that you really feel like you have to have surgery or if it would just be easier to live with the symptoms. Trust me, I have questioned my answers many times. I can drive short distances – like less than 20 and I have a husband to drive me longer ones while I dope up on motion sickness medication. I could always just never exercise anymore and eat hardly anything to keep my figure. I could just take Xanax for the rest of my life to prevent my panic attacks and noise associated with the tinnitus…or I can just get the surgery and actually function again fully in the way that i did before. Alright, surgery is the right choice. Now my biggest fear is waking up and there being no change or the surgery having made me worse. I just wish I could see the future and know without a shadow of a doubt that this is the right thing to do.

Holy cow! I need to just get this waiting over with. The more time I sit here and wait, the more I have time to question it all. Let’s just get this surgery on already! Alright, well, I’ll talk t you from the other side!

P.S. I have my silver sparkly slippers on as well! They give me special magical powers and strength!

Pretty Much: The Best Day Ever Series (Wedding Invitations)

I had always known that my wedding day would be nothing like the traditional weddings I was no stranger to. Being a little different or unusual in life has always made for some unique events and fun times. Our wedding day was absolutely not going to be any different. From Day 1 (May 10, 2012) of our engagement, plans included all the details that made us who we were as a couple. In the end, it was more perfect and more unique than we could have ever imagined!

Dakota had called me Princess since we met in the Army way back in 2006. Not only was I the only girl in our unit, but I was also pretty feminine and not exactly the military type. I was an ex-cheerleading captain, an ex-flag captain, an ex-pep club member, and ex, spirit squad founder, etc…etc. I wore ribbons and lace, short skirts and high heels, and I had a {fo}hawk died so black it was blue in the sun. Everything about me was contradicting, and he loved to make light of that my calling me “Princess” instead of “Soldier” as he made me do push-ups and sit-ups to score better on my PT tests.

It was fitting that we immediately found a castle to book our wedding at, and despite it being at a castle, and the whole wedding industry cliche of a fairytale theme, we wanted the day to be outside the box. Shoot, we got rid of the box completely for our special day! Even the planning was done outside the box- no really! We planned the wedding from Afghanistan. The majority of everything was made by me 2 months before the wedding. Anything not finished yet, came together the week of the wedding when our home was a mad-house of family armed with glue-guns, tubs and tubs of flowers and glitter everywhere! No detail was left undone, and what I couldn’t find time for we either bought or rented it from our amazing venue, Castle Park Events Center.

I promise you that the last two months before the wedding were extremely busy. The man didn’t get state-side until 2 weeks before the wedding, and my family lives on the other side of the country, so you can imagine how busy I was doing most of it all by myself. One of the biggest accomplishments was designing the stationary suite. Oh, and I letter-pressed it by hand…each 3-color piece! I know, I am crazy, but I promise that it was worth it. Check it out:These were so much work! Holy Cow! I have no problem creating detailed invitations like this for my bridal clients, however, they are not a fun one to do! I learned a lot while creating them, and can now serve clients with much more ease. One thing that I learned is that for the few extra cents it costs per invite, it is COMPLETELY worth it to purchase the pre-cut paper. In fact, it really doesn’t save any money because it takes a lot of time to cut the paper. It also hurts my hands to cut because it is super thick! These ones were 600gsm. Yeah, crazy! They were like thin cardboard. Here are some images of my process. Please don’t be too critical of the image quality…I took them with my old cell phone. I don’t know what I was thinking!

I’m always taking orders for custom design work. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any of your wedding or special event needs. I can even complete small orders ranging from 1 to 1000.  Let me know if I can help you with anything!Big Hugs

Goodbye February

It’s the first week of March already? Oh my goodness! This doesn’t quite seem right. When I was young, 3 months of Summer lasted for an eternity, and now 2 months goes by and I feel like I was literally toasting to the new year (without Champagne because we waited until the last minute to go the the liquor store and it was closed!) last night. But here I am thinking back upon a month and trying to remember what all I accomplished. The truth is, it doesn’t seem like much. To be fair though, February is the shortest month of the year! I feel like telling myself that this new month of March will be different and that tomorrow is another day and I will actually accomplish something before the end of the year. Haven’t I been saying that for a few years now though? Ugh!

For real though, what have I accomplished? Well, I delivered a gorgeous wedding invitation suite to a bridal client, I completed 4 weeks of design school (What was I thinking?), I sold 2 things on Etsy to complete strangers, I was a {Small} part of the Life is Messy Bootcamp which is still going on and it is not too late to sign up and be a part of something awesome, I underwent 10 tests for my hearing and balance system, 3 different blood draws, a CT scan, and another 24 hour long test that I won’t describe because it sounds awful, and somewhere in there I did all the research I needed in order to order my organic, non-GMO seeds for use in my garden this year. Oh yeah, I was also a wife, a puppy mommy, a friend, a sister, a daughter, and a designer. Okay, so maybe this month was actually much more full than I gave it credit for being. Thank goodness for that because I was starting to feel like it was a wash.

This upcoming month of March is really going to be big. I’m pretty excited about it! This month the Best Day Ever will debut online at the Wedding Chicks blog, my mother is coming out to visit (and take care of me after my surgery), I am having surgery, I am working on some really special items for an awesome bride, I am finishing the planners that you probably need a copy of, I’m hoping to start blogging more 9but give me a month or two before I really start blogging on a schedule), I get to celebrate a week off from school and call it Spring Break, I hope to continue growing my business and my creativity, and lastly I might actually be able to write the Thank-you notes that should have gone out months ago to our wedding guests. It sounds like March will be busy! I’m looking forward to it though.

What are you happy to have accomplished in February? What are you looking forward to in March?Leave a comment and let me know!

Have an awesome week!