Lucy goes to the vet

Well, we're about to go to the vet. Yesterday afternoon, Joey and I noticed that Lucy's left eye looked a little red and just ever so slightly swollen. By 7:00 that evening, it had gotten definitively worse, but I still thought a trip to the vet was a bit much. However, by this morning, her eye looked like this:

Even Louis, who hates touching or being touched by Lucy, was licking her eye (cute and gross!). So we are headed to the vet now to see what happened. I suspect that she injured her eye while playing her favorite game, "Let's knock over the Christmas tree!"

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This year is the first time in many that I have been extremely excited about Christmas! Joey and I went out last night to search for the perfect, live, local Christmas tree, but alas! they were all too large for our apartment. However, we did not want to leave the tree lot empty handed, so we purchased a handmade wreath made of live greens (pictures to come).

Inspired by the Selby (and Pawloski) tradition of generic stockings with silver glitter fabric paints, we also purchased four small ones. They are now hung on the ceiling with care in hopes that the patron saint of kitties soon will be there!

And of course our sweet kitties helped to decorate (Lucy helped to set up the tree) and then posed for our Christmas card!

Accepted!

At 11:00 last night I checked my email for the last time before turning in-- and this is what was in my inbox!

The Silver Streak!

I remember being a very small girl when Dad bought a really neat silver car (this was before the days of Marlin Perkins) and named it the Silver Streak. Apparently Dad really disliked this car, as we only had it for a few short months; and apparently I was enthralled with it because I have only positive memories of this car.

Anyway, to replace the Dot (though she will never be truly "replaced,") I have come in to possession of a 2004 Subaru Outback AWD, and I have christened her the Silver Streak. As Dad says, Joseph and I will now be the poster children of newlyweds everywhere, because, as everyone knows, Outback = camping! Speaking of which, there are tons of really cool Subaru Outback accessories for camping which I will probably be posting as Christmas comes closer.

In Memoriam...

The Dot

(1998-2011)

The Dot, as I like to call my VW Cabrio, will be retired this week. She had been making funny noises under the hood, and the tachometer would shoot to 5,000 rpm suddenly while accelerating. I took her to the mechanic who immediately diagnosed The Dot with a failing clutch and a bad transmission. I am sure most of you know that these, in themselves, are not usually terminal illnesses; however, in conjunction with each other, they will cost more than I can afford, and may only buy The Dot another few months.

The Dot was a true Volkswagon; that is to say, she was the very epitome of the People's Car. And truly she was a family car as well, coming from the distinguished lineage of Morgan Williams, to Claire Selby, and finally to Caroline with whom she spent her final four years. Even up to her last trip she could get up to 33 mpg-- a veritable feat for a car with 213,000 miles.

Happy Birthday!

Well, although I do think it is a bit crass to post in honor of my own birthday, I am doing it anyway. It also happens to be National Pickle Day!

So everybody celebrate for me and for pickles!!!

Joey and Caroline get a Kitten!

I'm supposed to be grading projects about my students' family trees... but I thought this would be much more fun (and way cuter!)

In my last post I recounted only part of my adventure to PA... now for the finishing touch!

I got a kitten!

She will be a pal for Louis and a help to him in his old age. Well, he's only 7, but that's kind of middle aged for baby cats. They are already friends, believe it or not, and like to eat the same food out of the same dish and then deposit the digested food in the same litter box! Whoever heard of such a thing!?

An anniversary, a wedding, and Amanda!

First things first: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!

Their anniversary was yesterday, and not only does it mark a marriage of two people who love each other, but it also marks the beginning of a new and comp

lete family. So in a way, this is the anniversary of our whole family! Yay us!!!

Now, in other news, I made a promise last week to blog about my trip to PA-- so blog I shall! The trip was lovely and I miss my friend Amanda more than ever. It's like when you're really, really hungry and you only eat one bite of your twice baked potato, you're so much hungrier for MORE twice baked potato! So Amanda, if you're reading this, you are as wonderful as a twice baked potato-- don't you feel special?

I arrived at BWI on Friday evening where Amanda picked me up and we drove the two hours back to her town. As girls do at sleepovers, we stayed up and talked waaaay past our bedtime :) But it was well worth it. On Saturday we went to Amanda's fiancé's aunt's wedding (it's quite a mouthful). It was very small and the bride was so happy that I was able to attend the wedding. Amazingly, she even asked me to be part of the photos!! The reception was held about an hour away from the ceremony. Here are some pictures of what I saw along the way:

The next day was Amanda's bridal shower hosted by her bridesminions, Kristen, Katie, and me!

Seeing Amanda was wonderful. We are true friends, as evidenced by the fact that we have not seen each other in over two years, and yet nothing seems to have changed!

Happy Friday!

I am SO ready for the weekend-- but it certainly won't be relaxing! My best friend from Randolph College (formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College) is having her bridal shower this weekend; so being the good bridesmaid that I am, I am flying up to PA tonight and will be back in CHS by Sunday. Yikes! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and posts, so stay tuned!

Joey gets a Haircut!

Hello everyone! Yes, yes, I know it's been a long time since I've posted; however, I have some exciting news! My dearly beloved has gotten his hair cut. Here is a photo from before he got his lovely locks chopped:


In an effort to present himself as more professional and put together, Joey decided to get his hair cut so that he could look nice at formal occasions. Now he looks like this:


Isn't he handsome? And professional? And put together?

I won a sweepstakes!

This has never happened to me in my life! I went to a bridal show here in Charleston two days after getting back from the USVI which was pretty overwhelming. However, Kasia and I did have some of the best BBQ we've ever tried, and some of the worst.

But more importantly, I won a free pampering session for myself and 8 of my friends from David's Bridal and Mary Kay! This is not a scam, because I remember signing up for the sweepstakes. I've never won anything like this in my life!

AMAZING!!!

First post of August!!

Hooray it's August! It is officially the HOTTEST month for Charleston, but luckily we've had some rain. School has started, and classes start Thursday. Joey's car is making strange noises only when we are NOT at the mechanic. And we have ALMOST finished with the guest list!!

This is my news for today. LOTS of caps!

<3

Ruminations on a Means to a Beginning

It is certainly way too late for me to even consider being awake right now; however, as has been my wont this week, I can't seem to succumb to slumber. But these hours of lying hopelessly awake in bed have allowed me time to meditate and ponder the gravity of marriage and the seemingly whimsical fantasy of weddings.

In the last two days I have actually enjoyed looking up wedding ideas and decorations. Perhaps this is due in most part to Pinterest: a wonderful website that is akin to pinning magazine clippings of things you like to cork boards. To see my page or follow me, click here.

I devoted my last post to chronicle my bizarre dreams as of late. Unfortunately, they have not yet abated; however, the subject matter is becoming slightly more comical during my waking moments (which seem to be ever more frequent). Clearly most of my dreams are borne of anxiety, and Dad was right in saying that I should focus more on the marriage rather than the wedding itself (for the wedding is only a means to... a beginning). And so I have a few thoughts on both subjects...

It is extremely difficult for me to imagine what married life will be like. This seems a bit absurd to my mind because it's not like I don't know people who are married. In fact, many of my favorite people in the world are married (like my parents-- both sets!). But it still stands that I can't imagine it. I am sure that my lack of imagination stems from my preference to live in the "now" (à la Eckhart Tolle). And I love to imagine what life will be like when it is time to bring children into the world (driving a VW Passat station wagon in navy blue!). But the question remains in my mind: what is it going to be like? Marriage is promising to love your spouse through everything that life throws at you. No matter what. In good times and in bad. In sickness and in health. For richer, for poorer. We've heard it hundreds, maybe thousands of times in real life, in movies, at church. But the wedding industry, the bridal industry does not focus on this at all.

Instead, much of what gets thrown at the hapless bride as soon as she accepts her compressed carbon rock from her belovéd is not advice on how to love and serve her one-and-only 'til death do them part; but rather, advice on table decorations, flowers, bouquets, color schemes, themes, photo booths, where to register for the best gifts, DIY everything from your pomanders to your wedding gown, and the list goes on and on and on and on. . .

You get my point.

Actually, I haven't even gotten to my point, which is this: the reason there is even such a thing that exists as the wedding industry is because the wedding is concrete. It's something for which we can actually have a vision, unlike marriage, which is something that only time can imagine or tell. I realized tonight that I very much prefer to imagine what it will be like to walk down the aisle (as it may be) and see Joey's face when he sees me in my dress for the first time; or to picture how beautiful all of my friends and lovely sister will be in their dresses; to hear the prelude music wafting over the front lawn as the bridal party assembles. I don't prefer these things necessarily because I look forward to the event itself (but I am looking forward to it); instead, it is because these are concrete things that I can actually influence and have direct control over-- so long as my belovéd agrees as well.

Marriage, on the other hand, I cannot control, although through my actions I may influence its health. This is not a bad thing at all, but, in fact, a very good thing. Marriage is the next great adventure; and there is no one else with whom I would rather embark upon this journey than Joey.

Dreams

I've heard lots of people say that you have weird dreams before you get married-- but I didn't realize that they start now! In the last month alone, I have had four different dreams where people die (including my dear fiancé and my cat... I guess he's not really a person, though). I have also dreamed that my engagement ring started to disintegrate on my finger.

Last night, however, was perhaps the weirdest of all the dreams I've had. Frequently I will have dreams about the wedding reception, and last night was no exception. I was dreaming that it was Joey's and my first dance; but instead of me dancing with Joey, I was dancing with a rather large, blonde girl. I also realized that we hadn't taken dance lessons, so we weren't even dancing well. And then I realized I'd completely forgotten to even hire the photographer!

YIKES!

FOUND the perfect venue!

Contrary to popular belief (ahem, isabug), I have not abandoned the blog. This has just been a very busy summer whence I've been traveling up and down the east coast as well as the Caribbean. SO, I think it is high time I update the world wide web on what's been going on wedding-wise.

So about two weeks ago, Joseph and I were still seriously considering the Aquarium (and leaning pretty heavily towards it, I might add), but we also thought the Maritime Center might be a nice place as well.

Unfortunately, I cannot post pictures from the Maritime Center's website. But you can view it here.

As soon as I walked into the area where the reception would be held, I immediately saw our relatively small budget vanish with the amount of money we would be dropping on decorations ($800 for rental plants!) just to make the place not look so austere.

So as all good daughters do when they find themselves in a tight spot, I called my dad. He told me to run all of our numbers again, just to make sure that we had carried all of the ones and added everything up correctly. We had. Then he reminded me that a year ago in March I had fallen in love with Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner. I hemmed and hawed at the idea, but dad told me to call them and visit the Gardens one more time-- just for posterity. So as all good daughters do when their dads tell them to do something, I called Cypress Gardens and set up an appointment to see the venue.

And I fell in love with it all over again. In case you've never been to Cypress Gardens, or you think that I'm referring to the one in Florida, let me give you some pictures that will paint a lovely image of what we should see next June:

If you look closely at the second picture, you can just make out an alligator swimming through the cypress swamp. I took all of these pictures myself when Joseph and I went last March. As you can see, it is going to be amazing! And I know what you are all thinking: that bridge is going to be a perfect photo opportunity for the bridal party! For more information about Cypress Gardens and all it has to offer, please visit their website: www.cypressgardens.info

Finding the Perfect Venue

As you may well know, finding the perfect affordable venue in Charleston during wedding season can be difficult, if not impossible (especially for our, relatively, tiny budget)! Even though the wedding is about a year away, it is important to remember that Charleston is the #2 location for destination weddings (#1 being Las Vegas). Therefore, it would behoove us greatly to find the perfect venue now, and then we can rest for the next six months.

Today Joseph and I went to the aquarium to scope out the EBR (Executive Board Room) on the 3rd floor, as well as the historic church at Holy Cross. Both spaces were really nice and gave us a lot to think about.

Although it can only hold about 75 people comfortably, the 3rd floor at the aquarium is a very beautiful space for both the ceremony and the reception. It has both an indoor component (the board room) that can be used before the ceremony for the bridal party, and a wooden patio that overlooks the harbor for the ceremony. In order to utilize as much space as we can during the reception, our caterer (most likely will be Sticky Fingers) will be able to set up in the hall and leave the board room and patio open for people to sit and eat or dance. Our favorite aspect of the 3rd floor of the aquarium is being able to see an amazing view of the Charleston Harbor.

The historic church at Holy Cross is really beautiful and a perfect size for the small wedding we want. And for me it holds a lot of nostalgia. However, there are a lot of restrictions that need to be observed if were were to hold the ceremony there. Not all of them are bad! For example, the only flowers or decorations we would be able to have would be altar flowers or candles. This concept comes from a tradition in the Anglican Church put in place so that you could not tell someone's socioeconomic status by the decorations in the church. In my opinion, though, it is great because we don't have to worry about buying decorations for the church.

Currently, the aquarium has put us tentatively on their calendar for 6:00 p.m. June 2, 2012. We have two weeks to think about it, play with ideas, run it by our friends and families, and then give a "yes" or "no." Joseph and I are leaning towards "yes," but will take some more time to settle on a final decision.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our site. Please check back often to get updates on the latest wedding details. Glad to see you!

xoxo
Caroline + Joseph