Weddings, Weddings Everywhere...

I am about ready to puke from talking about wedding stuff. Between my own wedding, then my maid of honor getting engaged so I am now HER maid of honor, a girl I teach dance with getting married next May, and others in my interior design program being engaged too, it is pretty much inescapable. Not that I am unexcited for my own and other weddings-I definitely am!-but talking about any one subject nearly 24/7 could drive anyone to the loony bin...

Also, while theknot.com is a wonderful tool and wedding website, there are some girls out there that really need to get a life. I enjoy it for some of the local resources it recommends, and I really, really, REALLY like the checklist that helps keep me on track, but beyond that....meh. There have been a few times that I have clicked on the different forums and questions, but it makes me want to gag each time, and wonder why on earth I clicked on them in the first place. The acronyms alone could cause an English teacher to commit suicide. It took me a few days to even realize that BM meant bridesmaid-at first I thought it meant best man! FI=fiance (duh...), MOH=maid of honor(ok, confession: I DO call my own MOH this one), and I still can't figure out what MUA means. Not to mention that the same girls seem to sit on the forums all day writing back and forth...seriously, don't you have a mom (does mother of the bride=MOTB?), BM, MOH, FI, or MUA (?) to help you out at all? Why ask the opinions of strangers all the time?

Now for the good, non-complaining news: I have all of the major things done except for finding a DJ-the church, reception site (which includes catering), photographer, florist, and cupcake lady are all booked-hallelujah!

Put a Ring on It

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402122.html

This is an issue near and dear to my heart, and it's nice to see that the secular world is paying attention to it, too.

Sort of along the same lines of the article, I have noticed lately that if you are dating (which means you are in a serious relationship, in my book) or engaged, there are few social groups reserved for you. It is the small things such as when I am in the doctor's office filling out a form that requires me to check "single/separated" or "married"; well I am definitely not the latter, but I am definitely not the former either. What about "in a relationship"? Or, the more politically correct but much less charming "in a monogamous relationship"? I can also see it in the larger things, such as when the churches I attend offer "singles" Bible studies, and they offer "married couples" Bible studies...but nothing for those of us in between. Tyson and I share a much closer relationship than many married couples I know, and I would love to be able to attend a Bible study with him. Not to mention that if those types of bonds are strengthened now, in the dating/pre-marriage stage, there is a great foundation already lain for marriage.

Now, since I have been thinking about this for a while, I have determined that it is simply the high risk of these types of social groups being broken up that prevents their creation in the first place. People that are dating and even engaged have a much greater propensity to be broken up than those that have already made that commitment or have never made it in the first place. If a couple breaks up, that would greatly change the dynamic of the group, and could leave the others feeling awkward or forced to choose sides. These groups also would have a high rate of change, as people would constantly be added and removed from the group-whether because of a broken-off relationship or because they get married and join a new group.

At any rate, it would be nice to have some sort of group to cater to this stage in life, particularly in the church. Right now it feels like a tottering sort of balance-definitely not single but not quite married yet, either.

mind doodles

Just some things running around in my brain lately...

1.)  I may be considered "old-fashioned" by some because I do not believe in living together before marriage.  One of the #1 excuses I hear for living together before marriage, and the one that irks me the most, is that people say, "Well I need to know what they are like before I get married to them.  What if we get married and live together and it is awful?" or something to that extent.  (On a similar vein, though not completely related to living together, is people who have sex before marriage and say, "Well what if they are bad in bed?"  and/or "Well if you wait until marriage then that's the only person you ever have sex with your entire life."  That's the POINT dummy!)  Anyway, first off, statistics show that people get divorced at a significantly higher percentage than people that wait until marriage to live together.  Secondly, it has only become "the norm" to live together before marriage during about the last 60 years.  That means that for thousands and thousands of years people waited until marriage to live together and the human race has done just fine.  And lastly, if you are THAT worried about how living with your significant other will go, whether married or not, I am pretty sure you have bigger issues to worry about in your relationship.

2.)  I need to start eating healthier.  This is my reminder.

3.)  I am very, very sick of school.  I feel like I have been here forever and I am ready to be done.  Unfortunately, I have a whole nother year left.  I am actually extremely glad that I got into interior design the year that I did and consider it to be proof that God knows things better than I do, but...this is just another instance where I want to have my cake and eat it, too.  The biggest thing is that I am sick of running around and doing things for other people to try to please them and try to get that A.  And then to work hard on a project and get told everything that is wrong with it.  At least when I create a project in the real world to try and please another person, I will most likely know much more about it than my client, and will therefore be able to easily convince them that it is exactly what they want.  

4.)  Related to #3 above, I have also been very, very tired lately.  I come home every day and say "Today was such a long day."  What happened to all the short days?  Running away and doing nothing for about a week sounds awesome.  Can the whole world just be put on hold for a week?  Please?  At least my whole world?  And Tyson's?  That would be wonderful.