Why is it that the time I feel most inspired to blog, when I feel the most eloquent, is when I\’m at work? It\’s like my muse decides to show up and say here\’s some inspiration and I\’m all like \”Kinda busy over here doing statistics, can\’t you come back, say, around 9pm when I watch Dance Moms instead?\” But no. We must not be on very similar schedules. So, what ends up happening, is that instead of having one-topic posts, I find that I have too much I wanted to talk about. So I guess I\’ll do some number points?
1. I feel obliged to say that wedding planning is going well. I mean, I guess it\’s going well. A lot of what I\’m doing is a little more…untraditional? My dress for example is being made by my godmother, and that\’s not happening until 2 weeks before the wedding. When my fiance told somebody my dressmaker lived in Maine, they asked him how I was going to do fitting and such, given the distance. No you don\’t understand. It will fit perfectly because it is going to literally be made for me the week before or something. Upside: my wedding gown will be totally unique and meaningful. Downside: I still am not 100% sure what it\’s going to look like. I just hope my godmother has a similar taste as me.
2. 2 weeks ago Evan and I went to a cooking class and learned to make tacos and salsa. At first, Evan wasn\’t totally convinced that this would be his thing. He\’s basically like that with everything. You bring up something and he almost always says no and then you have to like work to convince him it\’s a good idea, or at least an idea worth considering and he\’ll eventually come around, like doing karaoke at The Highball. He just doesn\’t do new things a whole lot. So we learned to make salsa and tacos at the Whole Foods Culinary Center (which is not, as we learned, actually in the grocery store). Oh my goodness it was delicious and so easy and effortless. Super fun. Plus you get to eat it afterwards and talk with your classmates who also like good food and wine. Awesome. Evan\’s asked when we can take another class. I think he\’s hooked.
3. That Saturday we went to Conroe to Evan\’s grandfather\’s memorial. I met his grandfather at Christmas, so it was nice that I was able to go. He had an amazing life and it was a beautiful memorial. I also met a ton of Evan\’s extended family which was nice because at least I\’ll somewhat know who will end up coming to our wedding.
4. I am a little registry-obsessed. I honestly think I care more about our registries than the wedding (the reception that is, NOT the religious ceremony or the MARRIAGE). I guess I feel like at the reception, the food will be eaten, the music will be danced to and dresses will be worn, but the KitchenAid stand mixer? That will be around for a while. I will be using plates and knives and pots and pans on a daily basis. You gotta know what you want. That\’s a commitment. I just can\’t walk into a place a pick something out, I have to do extensive research on everything, plus there are these registry events that places hold (I\’ve been to Macy\’s and Crate & Barrel) and people actually help you and you get free stuff just for going. Now, anyone can get me anything (or nothing) they want to and I\’m totally down with that, but if someone chooses to pick something off our registry, I would feel awful if it turned out I really didn\’t want that.
5. Thursday night Evan and I went to our first NFP (Natural Family Planning) class. NFP is something that I knew I wanted to do for the last 6 years in terms of planning my family after I did a research project on it. Hormonal birth control doesn\’t sit well with me. I don\’t want to give myself medicine to change something that is functioning normally. If I had really irregular periods, I might think differently, but as I stand now, I have no real need for it. Plus NFP doesn\’t have side effects and I would rather not get a preventable blood clot thank you very much. That\’s part of my support. The other, much stronger, part of my support comes from my feminist tendencies. You may be thinking that the Catholic Church is far from progressive and feminist and in some ways I can understand your argument. However, I believe that NFP is definitely without a doubt the most empowering form of birth control that exists. It doesn\’t cover up or hide your fertility like other forms of contraception. It allows you to own it, to understand it and to make decisions based on listening to your body. It\’s about educating yourself and your spouse and allowing ourselves to be understood and respected. It facilitates intimacy, communication and encourages love rather than use. It also forces you to be present within the moment of every day and notice your body when it\’s speaking to you. Besides, being in tune with your body helps you recognize if something is wrong and I\’m all for that kind of education.
6. I\’ve been thinking about reapplying to graduate school for my PhD recently. I\’m still on the fence about it. On one hand, I miss school and sociology dearly and part of me just wants to lose myself in my passion. On the other hand, school is stressful and truthfully I was really burnt out by the time I got my master\’s degree. My thesis was downright brutal to get through and the thought of a dissertation is a bit terrifying. But it\’s not simply writing it that\’s the issue. I think it\’s the defense that bothers me. People in academia make careers out of telling you your wrong, and when you\’ve spent so much time and effort on something that somebody just discounts, it kind of makes you feel like it\’s pointless. That and I have no idea if I could even get in. I didn\’t get in to any of the schools I applied to last time (granted, they were all good schools and I hadn\’t finished my thesis yet or retaken my GRE at the time and I did get wait listed at Purdue, so I guess that\’s not a total fail). But it costs a lot of money to get rejected to grad school. I would hope that this time would be different, but you never know. It\’s a competitive situation and I don\’t always have the best first impressions.
7. I\’m moving next week to a house in South Austin (I\’ve never lived south of campus before, so it should be interesting). We\’re moving to be closer to my sister and her husband and their baby (who recently moved to Kyle). I\’m going to continue to live with my parents and dog, however we\’re adding on my fiance, my brother and sister-in-law plus their two cats (who currently live in Houston and are moving to Austin to go to school). That\’s 6 adults, three pets and five cars. It\’s going to be…something. I think it\’s funny when I tell people about my living situation. The most common response is: \”You need to get out of there. What are you thinking?\” And I can kind of understand what they mean. I don\’t really come off as being really independent, do I? But, I thrive on the energy of people and there won\’t be any shortage of that. I am in love with my family completely and I can save a ton of money on living expenses, which can go directly to the wedding or the Cayman Islands or the Dominican Republic, or Israel (I have a lot of travelling I want to do in the near future). And it\’s only for 6 months or so, depending on whether Evan can find a job. I know most people would never ever do this ever in their lives, but just because I\’m choosing this does not mean that I\’m crazy or super dependent or that I can\’t get my own place and be independent. It just means that I recognize the opportunity at hand and don\’t believe the cons outweigh the pros. Except maybe the cats. I really am not looking forward to living with two cats.