Reading Rainbow is cancelled!?!

Go here to learn more about the sadness...

The wedding programs are done! That's a full two weeks before the wedding people. That must be some kind of record...

I know, i'm proud of myself for weird things. Can you tell i'm feeling better? Yay!

I'm next!

As i was told over and over again at Lisa's wedding last night, i'm the next one getting married. Our wedding is in 19 days, not that i'm counting or anything. I've been busy with the start of school and trying to get over the cold i got from my students so i haven't had much time to focus on how close i am to getting married, other than how much i have left to get done, which is not much. The list that has been seemingly endless since the time we started wedding planning has dwindled to an actually achievable amount.

The only thing i'm worried about now is getting over my cold since it seems to keep coming back. I think i've gotten

over it and then it comes back again in a new and exciting way. I also want to make sure that i am actually in the moment when we get to the week and day of the wedding. I've spent so much time planning for this day that's coming that i want to make sure that i realize that it's actually here when it is.

Andrew and i were apart this weekend because we had two weddings to attend, neither of which we could miss. So i stayed here and he went to Michigan. It's been a long time since we've spent more than a day apart, so of course i missed him, but i was surprised how much i missed him. That alone tells me that i'm ready to marry him. I am so completely comfortable with him. I can tell him anything. I can do anything with him. It's better than i could have imagined a relationship being.

On a completely different note, i've been listening to the book Angry Conversations With God all weekend. It is fabulous. Seriously, it's the best book on religion i've read ( i know i'm listening to it, but it's still the whole book so it totally counts) since reading Donald Miller and Rob Bell. It's approachable and sarcastic and true. Here's the basic idea of the book:

Angry Conversations With God began when Susan hit hit forty and found herself loveless, jobless, and living over a garage. When a churchy friend told Susan that she needed to look at her relationship with God was it like a marriage, Susan decided to take God to marriage counseling.

Angry Conversations chronicles Susan's spiritual history, from childhood faith to a midlife crisis, and all the bizarre church experiences in between.

I was raised Lutheran: Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Lutheran. But as an adult I tried everything: Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Rock ’n’ Roll Slackers 4 Jesus, Actors for Yahweh. Then I said, “Screw it,” and became a drunk and a slut. Well, a Lutheran slut—I only slept with two guys. Then I got sober and into AA, where I could pick whatever God I wanted. But I didn't pick God; God picked me. I've known him as long as I could remember. I’ve been washed in the blood, slain in the Spirit; I walked through the Bible, I’ve been baptized twice; I’ve done outward cleansing and inner healing. I even went through a therapy program for ex-gays, and I was never gay. Through it all, even if pastors hurt me or friends let me down or entire denominations went Shiite on my ass, I still believed God was good. Until that moment in Central Park...

Taking God to counseling, Susan quickly casts herself as the neglected wife and God as the jerky spouse who has no interest in changing. Susan readily skewers American Churchianity and the weird ideas put forth by her crazy in-laws. But before long, Susan must face the fact that the god in her head is not the real one; the real God won't be manipulated, demonized or controlled; and he loves his wacko family regardless, just like he loves her. Is she willing to love God, regardless of what she can get out of him? For better or worse? Not so much.

Angry Conversations is funny, vulnerable, and even at its most scandalous, a refreshing affirmation of faith.

Check out this article about arranged marriage. It's seriously the best description and depiction of it i've ever read. And, of course, i love it because it's about India!

ONE MONTH!

Ditto

I don’t know why I didn’t start re-reading my books earlier. I’m falling in love with the characters all over again. It’s perfect and simple. Beautiful. This is such a simple pleasure and I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. I’ll be sad if they ever stop printing books on paper. There’s something about the feel of the paper and the look of the ink. It’s soothing. I feel like I’m home when I have a book in my hand and good music playing. sigh.

Taken from Amberlyn

To me, the daily mail is akin to Christmas Morning. There are few words every spoken through time that have the same magic as – wait – Christmas Morning. It’s like fairy dust has just been thrown about. That’s how I feel about the mail.

Taken from Wide Open Spaces

And now a quick recap of our weekend in Michigan!

We left bright and early Saturday morning and drove up to Michigan. Our first stop of the day was South Haven where we visited Papyrus and Renaissance. These shops are actually both in one building and they're the reason my mom and i visit South Haven. We also stopped by a few other shops, including Black River Books VERY disorganized. The shelves are way too close together so you couldn't really relax and look at books because you were so busy trying to stay out of people's way!

Then we moved onto Saugatuck. We were planning on stopping at a few stores,

but there was some sort of festival going on so we couldn't find any parking! We did stop at a really cool store on our way out of town. It's called Amsterdam (Get it? Cause it's close to Holland...) and it's basically an old barn full of all kinds of random stuff. There were piles of dishes, old signs, a coffin (eww...), a huge wooden bear, and even a huge crucified Christ who was missing his right arm. We didn't buy anything (I know, you definitely thought the crucified Christ would fit into our decorating scheme for our apartment!), but we had a great time looking at everything!

Then it was on to Holland! I haven't been back since the summer after Andrew graduated, so it was good to be back! Our first stop was the 8th Street Grille where we ate their fabulous chicken corn chowder. After lunch, we went to a few of the shops on 8th Street and then attempted to go take pictures at the anchor and in the chapel, but the grass around the anchor had just been replanted so we couldn't get to it and there was a wedding going on in the chapel. Oh well! After that, we thought we'd complete our Holland experience by grabbing some cider at The Brewery, but they didn't have any! Instead we headed over to Lemonjello's. Oh how i've missed their coffee!

On Sunday, we woke up and drove to McBain, where a ton of Andrew's family lives. We drove around for a few minutes and saw all of the farms. Then we went to the church where the bridal shower was being held. It was a fun time! I managed to remember the names of all of Andrew's aunts and didn't confuse any of them, which is a feat in itself considering there are six of them! After the shower, we went to Andrew's Uncle Jon and Aunt Mary's farm! They have about 100 cows and 50 cats so you know i loved every minute of it! There were two twin cows that were only a few weeks old that would let you pet them and would suck on your fingers. They were so cute! After our time on the farm, we went to Grandma Taylor's house and hung out for a few minutes before heading down to Flushing to spend the night at Andrew's dad's.

On Monday, we spent the day with Anna and explored exciting downtown Flushing. It was great to get to see her and spend some time with her. Hopefully she'll be able to come down a few days before the wedding so we can spend even more time together!

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend and a much needed break from the pre-wedding/pre-school stress i've been living in lately. Now it's back to the real world. I have one week left before i go back to school and i have a bunch of stuff to get done, though this lovely weather outside my window is not encouraging me to do anything other than sit on the couch, watch tv, and read blogs. Who wants to go outside when it's downpouring?