Wedding Invites

I just realized that I never posted the wedding invitations that I FINALLY created!  After experimenting with at least a thousand different styles, and trying to be creative while preparing for my senior show, I gave up.  And then I found my happy place and eventually my wedding invites in a box of colored pencils and some drawing paper.

So here they are, the illustration was created by myself with a pastel pencil, colored pencils and colored paper.  All done while watching a Jane Austen movie!  And then I just plugged in the typography the way that I wanted and v-walla, they were complete!

Not So Much, Sleeping Beauty!

Lately I've begun having wedding dreams again.  It's funny, I'm really not worried about the wedding itself at all.
Will it all go smoothly?
Probably not.
Do we have back-up plans?
Yeah
Will it make everyone happy?
Likely not, but honestly, the purpose of the wedding is to CELEBRATE with Todd, myself and our families—if you're not happy with how we did something, then you are free to leave.

But regardless, every dream that I've had lately has something to do with the wedding—the other night Sienna (Maid of Honor) and I had to sneak into the school across the street because Connor and Hunter needed different shoe sizes for the wedding.  Connor also wanted some snacks and I remember being a little irritated because the snacks I found contained soy, and I can't have soy!  So I wasn't going to get a snack at the wedding.
Weird...

In one of my dreams last night there was a thrift store / game show with wedding items all laid out. Todd and I were desperately trying to figure out what we needed (apparently there was a timer or something?) and not having very good luck.  Our confusion was growing by the moment!  And I don't really remember anything else, just confusion and trying to listen to everyone give advice all at once.
Oye

And it has been so hot lately that sleeping hasn't been as "sweet" lately.  I'm used to sleeping through the night but now I'm waking up and tossing around and thinking over my weird-o dreams.  Honestly, I'm more worried about being a good wife after the wedding, about finding a job and being able to do everything that needs to be done as an *adult*, and just adjusting to a new life!  I mean, I'm excited about it and even impatient at times, but I am also nervous... it's a new adventure!

It's been good, and I'm far from dreading it—I don't want to give that impression!  Just the close date, and the reality beginning to hit about the change that is coming!  Experiencing some "firsts" and "lasts" now—last dental appointment under Dad's insurance... first bridal shower (picture above)... last time living entirely at home... first letter with "Mr. & Mrs. Crouch" referring to me!... first time moving items into "our apartment"(still packaged—he's not allowed to use them until we're married, lol)...

Only about 16 more days!

Busy? Me?

There is no way to describe the flood of emotions and happenings that have taken place over the past month, but before I attempt to give you a glimpse of what it has been like to be "me" over the past few weeks, I have a dozen blurbs of advice:

1. Don't try to plan your wedding right after the last semester of your college career
2. DO laugh off wedding nightmares.  It's one day, who cares if you remember to shave your legs or not?  The groom? psh
3. Don't go to Italy right before your wedding
4. DO be nice to your mom, she may just be doing everything for your wedding while you're in Italy
5. DO go the cheaper route when planning your wedding, because last minute expenses add up and it's better tot have a cushion.
6. Don't depend on friends to do everything, it stresses them out and it stresses you out.
7. DO find a super guy, because he'll have to calm you down as you look over your To-Do-before-I-Do list, and he'll need to help with a thing or too (it works best if this "super guy" is also "the groom")
8. DO take extra memory cards when going to Italy, you will fill every.one.you.have.
9. DO have a normal sleep schedule. Don't stay up writing blog posts about being busy / tired
10. DO eat gelato every day while in Italy, because American ice cream is just not the same
11. DO shop for wedding rings before the final month.  oops
12. DO plan some times for rest and friends, you will need it.


Italy was great, but it was the craziest three weeks ever.  Every city in Italy is so different than the others that we went through a small culture shock transition with each move we made (every 2–3 days or so).  I don't mean to sound negative, because I really did love it.  I was a little reluctant to leave at first, but once I was in Italy I was just excited to see more and more; to soak in the culture and the artwork that I was seeing.  However, as ready as I was to explore and see the sights, I was also very ready to return.  Three weeks is a long time, and to be honest, I would rather not leave the country again for the amount of time without Superman.  It was a hard and rather frustrating separation period.

 Me in Assissi—pardon the un-edited photo, I haven't had a spare moment to edit them yet :-/

The view was breathtaking in person—so green!

 In the Vatican <3

Hiking in the Alps :)

Once I was back from Italy, I spent time recovering from the time difference.  I returned at 5:00pm Detroit time, but it was 11:00pm Italy time (and I had been up since 5:00am Italy time!).  I was DEAD TIRED, I can't remember a lot of what actually happened that night—it is all a blur as I struggled to stay awake and soak up as much family, Todd and the English language as I could!

After a day of laundry and catching up on Emails, my mamma finally returned the next evening!  We talked for a little before I had another hang-out night with Todd and my sibs.  The next day brought another whirlwind, this time it was filled with Wedding-To-Dos.  After a moment of panic we got started.  And that's where I've been ever since.  I went today to help the new ADC summer staff figure out what the summer is going to look like for them and hang out with some camp friends for a little while :)  I also got my weekly baby-fix through some time with little Hayleigh!  What a sweetheart :)

Alright, I'm losing it now—my head keeps jerking back up as I recover from a small doze.
More later (hopefully)

Bride-To-Be

It has begun!  The pre-wedding parties have started—beginning with one hosted by my nearest and dearest girlfriends :)  Mandie and Britney came from out of town and my housemates and Beej were here too!

Instead of the current bachelorette party trend, my friends threw a tea party!  And it was WONDERFUL, we all dressed up and drank tea and ate "tea sandwiches"(college student version), chocolate covered strawberries and cupcakes!  Best.Party.Ever!

And the rings on these cupcakes lit up!  So we were all swinging around our giant light-up rings as we drank our tea.  Pinkies up!

And they got me a crown!  It was a blast, we wrapped up the evening by watching "Father of the Bride" together and then eventually changing into pjs and enjoying another movie with some lemonade.  I have the best friends ever—they know me so well


There is a lot to do before the wedding yet, but there is a lot on the move!  I can't believe we will be getting married in 70 days! Wow

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99 days

I missed the not-so-subtitle brag post of "I get to marry my best friend in 100 days" opportunity, but here's the next best:

"I get to marry my best friend in 99 days!" woo!

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Save the Date

Last minute decision: We need "save the dates" after all... oh dear
It all makes sense, but just another thing on the "to-do before I-do" list, and the "to-do-before-I-can-graduate-and-be-officially-done-with-my-undergrad" list.
Thus, save the dates consumed a fraction of my weekend, but I am fairly satisfied with them :)

We are going to Email them out, though some of them will be printed on postcards for our older friends and family :)
Not much like the invitations that I finally designed (yay!), which correlate more with the decorations that we are planing to do (hehe, because I haven't finished that yet either...), but I think these are kinda fun and I enjoyed making them.

So yeah, there's our Save the Dates :)

The Bride Dreams

You know how when something new, big, exciting, and a little terrifying is coming up, and you start to have dreams about it?
Well, let the wedding nightmares begin!

My first wedding nightmare:
A few weeks ago I had a dream that I was back on the beach again with my ADC campers.  I remember thinking: "okay, the wedding is at 2 o'clock, so I'll have to be ready by then!"
Of course, I'm decked out in the lovely box-cut t-shirts, athletic shorts, messy ponytail and bad tan-lines of a camp counselor.  Oddly enough, this didn't phase me until I got a phone call from Todd.
He asked me where I was and if I was ready!
What?! 2:00!! ALREADY?!?
Abandoning my precious campers, I made my way to the gym where, apparently, the wedding was supposed to be held.  I started to get upset because I had not been able to design my invitations or pick out a dress or decorate or anything!  But lo-and-behold, my two bridesmaids (who I can't remember) had picked up a dress for me on their way over.  The dress itself was awful, didn't fit at all, but I couldn't tell them that I hated it!  And to top it off: I smelled like the lake and sweat, I wasn't wearing any make-up, I had abandoned my campers who were all doubtless drowning in the lake, and I had not had any part in the fun of planning my own wedding! Waah!  The last thing I remember was sobbing into the shoulder of poor Todd.
It was a relief that I woke up shortly after this disaster.

Next!
I had this dream right after the day I skipped shaving my legs—something I will doubtless not do again for a long time.
I was at the church (the real location of our wedding), getting ready in the ladies' bathroom with my bridesmaids.  This was shortly after I had purchased my dress and set up the appointment to have it altered to fit me, so in my dream, the dress still didn't fit.  It was much too large, and I kept tripping over it as I struggled to keep the massive folds of fabric on my body!  I also didn't' have shoes!  Where were they?  And HORROR OF HORRORS, I looked down to see that not only were my feet shoe-less, it appeared that I had not shaved my legs in years!
Thus, struggling with so many yards of fabric that my dress was draped over my shoulder ("toga" style, of course), I was trying to shave my hairy-man-legs with a pink razor in the sink of the ladies' bathroom at my church—all of this, just moments before I was supposed to walk down the isle!

Last Week:
At one point this past week, I had a dream that I needed to look through the formal dresses in the basement for a dress that I could wear to the wedding.  My sister was with me, and as we tried to get to the back of the room, we were halted by giant spider webs!  I'm not very fond of spiders, but when conscious, I can get past my fear.  Not so in dreams! I can't STAND them in my dreams.
And of course, I can't seem to kill a dream-spider, so they continue to haunt me until I wake.  These spiders were a little different.  Looking up at the horrid beast as I reached for some of the dresses, I noticed that this particular web was created by a Lego-turtle-spider.  Yep.  A turtle, made of Legos, that was actually a spider, spinning a web.
My wedding was over—I had Lego-turtle-spiders haunting me and I didn't have anything to wear.  Thankfully, I soon woke up and realized how silly I am.

A Day of Days

It's been one of those days.
Those crazy ones.
The ones that make me wonder why I am still up at this hour, writing a blog post when I should be very much in bed.

A Recovery Day:
Mom, Connor and I have been sick this week and we're all finally well enough to move around like normal people!  Which is good :)

A Girly Day:
Today (due to the recent recovery), Mom and I went and bought my wedding dress!  Super exciting? Um, YES! We also set up the date for the fitting, and took care of a few other small wedding-like things :)
The worst part about this fact, is that I can't tell the attractive young man about the dress... which I didn't realize would be this hard!  Though... I confess, I have told him a little (it's white, it will fit after it is taken in, I will wear it at our wedding, ect).
Ah well, at least "Pick and Buy Wedding Dress" can be checked off the daunting list of wedding to-dos.

An Organizing Day:
Now that I am feeling well, I have begun to organize and straighten my own thoughts—make a check list for the wedding, figure out lab aid stuff for the other student workers, and start to organize one for my January jobs at the school, not to mention brainstorm portfolio pieces for the upcoming semester...
Which brings me to the next day within my day:

A STRESSFUL Day:
I realized how much I have to do this month. Wow, I am not sure how it is all going to get done!  And after a last minute turn of events, I am headed back to the Arborshire tomorrow, and have to pack up my stuff, go buy groceries and try not to panic about everything I need to do!
Oye

A Thankful Day:
Despite all of this craziness, both wedding related and non, I have been blessed with some really wonderful people.  I love that my mom will listen and work with me as I plan out my "to-dos" for the next week or so.  I am so thankful for how my siblings can make me LAUGH, and can lighten up my mood after a stressful day/moment.  And I cannot help but love Todd all the more when I can start to explain a "to-do" that is stressing me out (especially wedding wise), and he finishes the sentence and makes it seem so much easier than the entire issue was a few moments before.
He's also great at reminding me that I don't have to make everybody else happy, and in the end, pointing me back to the focus of our lives: God.

It's been a crazy day, but a good day.  Doubtless, more adventures tomorrow—good night!

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Stumped Designer

Guess what? I get to design MY OWN wedding invitations!!
How exciting is that?!  And, an additional dash of awesome, I have the chance to design something that can be exactly the way I want it (after passing it by my toughest critic / best encouragement / fiancee, Todd, of course).  Also, it will be a chance for me to basically advertise my work while being totally functional at the same time!
And really, what girl doesn't dream of designing their wedding invitations once Mr. Right decides to get on his knee??
...
just me? Okay then...
Despite this excitement, I am stumped!  There are a lot of designs that I like, but... I haven't exactly found/ thought of something that really excites me.  Hopefully soon.  I've drawn up some ideas, but they just aren't right—maybe for someone else's wedding, but not for a designer/ illustrator! :)  So far, nothing quite fits my style or ... yeah, nothing quite works yet.  Go FIGURE, I'm a graphic design student who can't design her own wedding invitations!  I am a very frustrating client I must admit.

But hopefully I'll have something to share soon.  At least an idea :)  Until then, I'll just play around I guess!

(oh, and i didn't really plan out my invitations that early—but I will admit that it was one of the first aspects of planning that I grew excited about!)

SBC Christmas

Photo credit: JenJen

We have some non-costume pictures of us as an engaged couple now!  Our friend Jen took some pictures of us by the tree at the summer staff Christmas party this past weekend (thanks dear).  It was a great time overall.  Some of us came the day before and spent the night—that was a blast!  We ate food (lots and lots), hung out by the fire, swapped stories, laughed (lots and lots), ate more food (seriously, tons of food), stayed up too late, took random naps (just because we could), played games in the gym, and then attended the dinner party on Sunday night.
It was great! And of course, spending time with my special Mr was wonderful.  Even without the snow, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Photo credit: Emily (?)

My Ring

I finally got my camera back, and now I have pictures of the ring for all of you :)

I love it

It adds something girly to my man-ish hands! haha  I'm still surprised when I look down and see it.  And I'm caught staring at it, or squealing "ah!" as I think about the fact that this actually happened!
I'm SO excited! I'm going to marry my best friend!


...
Ahhh!

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Going To The Chapel

My last post (the day I posted about spotted beards and Christmas candy) was the day before one of the very best days in the history of best days...

But I didn't know it at the time.
Or the next morning for that matter.
I had no idea that I was about to become one of the most excited girls ever.

I was volunteering at Somerset Beach Campground's Live Nativity in the evening with some great friends and co-workers—and, of course, my Superman :)  The Live Nativity is great, I look forward to it—but it is COLD!  We bundle up so much that we resemble marshmallows in our lovely Bible-time costumes.  Usually when Todd and I are back at Somerset, we'll go for a walk before actually leaving the Campground.  It's nice, we get a chance to catch up on the week, and remember some of the crazy things that have happened to us at camp.  So we went for our walk, and it was great as always.  After making our loop around the West campground, we walked back to the parking lot—but instead of walking back to the car, we went to the beach instead.  (I am still surprised that I did not catch on to that...)  Anyway, we walked up to the beach and saw a swing hanging from the tree by the boat house!

Now, some background: Before we were dating (and some after), we would talk on the swings a lot—and once we were swinging rather late in the evening and were picked on by the other counselors. And "teenagers staying out late on the swings" were mentioned a few days later in our security meeting (not about us specifically, but I still turned a few shades of pink).  

But because of that, "swings" is one of our little inside jokes, and we had actually just been talking about that meeting and remembered how embarrassed I was.  Thus, a swing that neither of us had ever seen before was kind of a huge deal, and we started taking turns on it.  It was great!
After trying out the swing, Todd gave me a bag of Dove chocolate—similar to the one he gave me before we were dating—the week I had my Senior Teen girls—(that had confused me greatly the whole week, because I already had a huge crush on him, but of course didn't think he was interested).  Then Todd encouraged me to get back onto the swing, and he stood behind me as we talked and I went back and forth.

I distinctly remember noticing that he wasn't saying much anymore.  But apparently I just like the sound of my own voice, because it didn't phase me at all, and I kept talking, assuming that he would pipe in when he was done with his own thoughts.  And he did... kinda.  After a moment, Todd called my name and upon turning around I found my favorite young man on one knee, with a small white ring box in his hand.
I'm not sure how I got off the swing, but the next thing I remember, I was standing in front of him—completely in shock, trying to figure out what was going on.  He asked me to marry him and I clasped my mitten-ed hands over my face and said "ohmygosh" a few dozen times before I was finally able to give him a resounding "yes!" and buried my face in his shoulder.  He laughed at me :)

Best night ever?
Yes

Swing, Chocolate, Superman, Promise.
Yeah, it was perfect :)

But of course, it wouldn't do to have everything happen without a single snag!  That's just not how we do things.  This is the only picture of us that we have from that night, because Todd's camera battery was frozen and I had lent mine out to a friend for the week.
So here we are, just hours before our engagement, in our ridiculous costumes.

I may be a little bias, but I think we make a cute pair, don't you? ;)

You can see pictures of the ring here: RING

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