Sav and Stav ponder marriage

Once upon a time, Sav asked Stav, "Do you think we'll get married?" Stav paused. They had only been dating a short time. Stav said, "I can totally see it." The pair was in a faraway land called Manhattan visiting the maiden sisters of Stav. Sav had felt accepted in the family right away. She knew it in the soles of her feet that it was only a matter of time.

Several years later, the young couple wandered up the brick streets of Hillsboro Village as morning was just setting in when suddenly Stav dropped to his knees. With tears building on his lower lashes, he proposed.

The rest of the day, the two relaxed and chatted about their futures. They imagined a lifetime of experiences and shared lingering glances. When night came, they decided to tell their families of the decision they had made. It was a lovely day, and Sav drifted to sleep imagining white gowns and flower girls.

Then reality set in. Planning a wedding has been one of the most exciting, fun, frustrating experiences of my life. I am excited about the big party aspect of it. I'm excited about sharing such a precious moment with my family and friends from all over the country. But sometimes I feel like it's so futile. It's extravagance even though I'm on a tight (super tight, in wedding standards) budget. It seems indulgent and irresponsible to entertain such lavishness, to host such an exaggerated version of a simple union.

I found this quote today on SoulPancake.com which said this: "It’s not the wedding as a rite of passage, or the wedding as a religious ritual that I have a problem with. That aspect I love. I love the idea of sitting around a large table with my BFFs, laughing, everyone beaming in expectation of all our futures.

"What I despise is the... hassle. The dress. The flamboyancy. The expense. The talk of it. The expectation of it."

I have to agree. Equally, I have to admit my very feminine desire to dress up and be admired by the guests and my to-be husband. And to have a picture that I can place under a lamp in the living room until I am 85 and say, "Yes, we were so young and so beautiful," and my grandkids can realize that once, their grandparents were fit and fashionable. And I want to forever say, "Do you remember at the wedding when so-and-so did this-and-that and it was so funny/touching/surprising.." I want those things. And so I'll have them. And I'll get over days like this when the whole process just feels.. wasteful.

Sav and Stav win a contest

Once upon a time, Sav and Stav were planning their wedding. (This is the part normally left out of fairy tales.) They discovered that such a party is expensive, and that in order to create a magical experience they would have to plan.. A lot.

They planned and planned, and scavenged and shopped. They took favors and tips and borrowed and bought. As time carried on, much longer than they thought, they realized that really they only wanted to tie the knot.

And so one day, as Sav skimmed the web, she found a contest the could help the pair wed in a fashionable, organized, once unfathomable way, and so they signed up and were finalists in a few days.

They campaigned for votes on Facebook and Twitter. They asked all their friends via digital transmitters, and Sav tried to relax, but the competitor in her got her riled and antsy, hoping to be the winner.

Finally Friday came, and with it the contest's end. Sav hardly slept the night before, voting even as she dreamt. At daybreak she said "It's Friday!" and out of bed she jumped and found a email in her box that said, "Hooray, You've won!"


We couldn't be more grateful for the votes and support. We are sooooo excited to get working with DandyLion Events! It's just who we wanted. Also, Kate Crafton's work is absolutely amazing- check them out here and here!

Sav and Stav buy a vacuum cleaner

Once upon a time, Sav and Stav moved into a new house. Because of a strange twist of fate, they were put in a house much larger than that to which they were accustomed, and at a price much smaller than expected. The house needed care, cleaning, and updates, and so they set to work.

In the house, they found three vacuum cleaners.
The biggest vacuum cleaner was loud and clunky; it scuffed the floors and smelled quite funky. The smallest vacuum cleaner was swift, but dusty, the brushes wouldn't spin and the wheels were rusty. The middle vacuum cleaner seemed just right, not too big, too little or too light. They got it started, and with clean desire,the thrid vacuum sparked and then caught fire.

I spent the beginning of this snow day researching vacuums online. I found one for under 100 dollars that had consumers singing its praises. The fact that it was called the "Ultralight Never Loses Suction Multi Vacuum" had me a little worried- isn't a vacuum something where brand names may actually matter? But with a little searching on the ad, the name "Shark" appeared more than once. No, it's not Bissle or Orek, but supposedly it'll do the trick.

Upon tracking the "Ultralight Never Loses Suction Multi Vacuum" down in the store (in the hand-held Dirt Devil section- bad sign?) I found that the mouth of this thing was pretty small. Many people had said, though, that this was a good feature; it allowed for corners to be cleaned and under couches to be swept. It has a removable canister for cleaning corners and dusting, and it's classified as lightweight. It's not a cordless and the suction is supposedly created in a different way than the normal vacuum- we'll see if this thing lives up to the hype. I bought it, but not without questioning myself. There were other lightweight vacuums that just looked more legit. I had even put the Eureka Lightweight version in my basket before swapping it out to go with my original plan.

I can't wait to try this thing out. You cannot possibly imagine what it's like for a more-than-moderately neat person to go so long without a working vacuum.

I've got a feelin' that tonight's gonna be a good night...

Sav and Stav do ballroom dance

Once upon a time, Sav and Stav went to a free ballroom dance class. Hoping for a good time and some basic skills, they were surprised to be hit with a mega sales pitch (should have seen it coming...). Stav promised he'd be back when he had the money and inched his way out the door. The instructor, Kinsey, relentlessly called them for 3 months until finally, one day... they came back,

So our first official ballroom dance class was today. Brian and I had a great time.. we, in 1 hour, learned the steps to the waltz, the rumba, the fox trot, and the swing rock. Surprisingly enough, we seemed to have a knack for it. Our history in music was apparent to both us and the instructor- we were actually able to keep time with music. The agenda that had been mapped out did not include the final two dances, which can only mean that we are super duper fast learners.

I wish I had a picture of us owning that dance floor. Alas, that will have to wait for another day. Until then, how about enjoying this little nugget?

And they both kept on living.. happily ever after

Sav and Stav fight the feeling

This weekend, Sav got a little sniffly-nosed. She fought and fought all day Friday and Saturday. She let Stav go out and play in the snow on his own (or rather, she let him shovel the entire driveway by himself).

Sav and Stav take on the snow day!

Since I work in a public school, I knew last night when Metro Nashville canceled all classes that I'd most likely not have to work today. Brian's job in internet marketing for a Honda dealer in town is not usually as flexible. Today, however, the sleet began at around 8:30. At 9:15, it became a blizzard and by the time Stav got to the main road he knew it would be foolish to make the 30 minute drive into work.

So here we are, on the couch, browsing Netflix and free game trials for X-Box. We're singing Snow Patrol songs (why wouldn't we?) and talking about making hot chocolate thought neither of us have gotten that far. I did have to work for a few minutes this morning, but after an hour of canceling appointments I'm done for the day and we are going to enjoy it.

My Favorite Things

Inspired by one of my favorite blogs, , I have decided to make this post about my own favorite things! I’ve actually been thinking about this for a while. I’ve been going back and forth about if I should include things that are purely material or if other, intangible items should also make their way to the list. The decision: it should be a broken list. So here it is:

Stuff :
- Down pillows. They cradle your head oh-so-gently and take on the roll of your warming support system while you sleep.
- My engagement ring. It’s my very favorite possession.
- A well-made latte
- Moroccan lanterns
- Paco, the guinea pig, if he can count as “stuff”

- Really cool stationary (always an interest, but you can thank my wedding planning for the new obsession)
Moments:
- Lying in bed awake before it’s actually time to get up, especially when it’s raining
- Sitting in the kitchen and chatting with Brian after a long day at work

- Retesting a learner in my adult reading program and finding they’ve gone up a grade level (or more!) --- find out more, visit www.nashvilleliteracy.org
- Late night in the middle of the dance floor, sweating and moving and forgetting that anyone is there except you and the strobe lights and Black Eyed Peas or random house song
- When Paco runs and jumps and squeaks and then comes and gets in my lap and looks at me to see if I was watching him—I know, don’t make fun of me, I love him
- Touching down in a new country and feeling the flurry of excitement, gratitude, and anxiety sweep over me all while trying to look like this is all “old hat” to me (photo from Santiago de Compostela, Spain, just outside the library after school)

That’s enough for today. Thanks again for the inspiration to the ladies at www.myfavoritethings.blogspot.com