Xapa to the World

Category: Review

  • Getting Married: 1 Week – I’m Really Glad That…

    This last weekend was my bachelorette party. In tradition of my bff-MOH, Lanna, I would like to style this post in the same manner of many of our conversations where most sentences, if not all, begin with the phrase, “I’m really glad that…” So, here it goes.

    I’m really glad that I have one more week until the wedding!!! Eek!

    I’m really glad that I have a small group of close friends who are willing to come out for my bachelorette party for as long as they can until their wifey-motherly responsibilities call them elsewhere. It is entirely acceptable and I am just glad to be wedged into busy schedules that I myself am captive to.

    I’m really glad for pastor’s wives who are dear friends and mentors as well who are willing to throw brunches for an unknown number of ladies involved in the wedding. What a blessing!

    I’m really glad for flower girls who come to said brunches and refuse to kiss my cheek but want me to catch them to kiss theirs.

    I’m really glad for flower girls who interrupt their mommy’s stories to tell them, “Why did you say you were still eating? You’re not holding your fork…”

    I’m really glad for practical married friends who give comfortable and realistic gifts at bachelorette parties. They were all very pretty too. It pays to wait to get married when you’re a little older.

    I’m really glad that my friends will try new ethnic foods with me. Eritrean/Ethiopian food is so yummy and communal – sorry Emily for all the spices.

    I’m really glad that I charged my camera all day to just not take it with me and that I only took this picture the whole evening.

    week 1 girls

    I’m really glad for the tradition of The Blind Lemon in Mt Adams.

    I’m really glad for ordering a strawberry colada with alcohol this time.

    I’m really glad for Virginia. (I can’t explain this here, but it wouldn’t be right to not mention it.)

    I’m really glad that I did not actually witness Virginia, though. Poor Lanna and Amy.

    I’m really glad for a very dear friend who gets visibly angry that she hasn’t seen the new Iron Man movie …and upsets the baby.

    I’m really glad for dressy flip flops.

    week 1 flips
    This is what I wore for the night. Disregard the feet marks and general wear.

    I’m really glad that Friday was my last day floating to the other Cincinnati branches for work. I will now only be in two branches and the second is within 10 minutes of The House.

    I’m really glad for hole-in-the-wall, Tardis technology antique malls. This place was bigger on the inside!

    week 1 antiques
    Clockwise from top left: hand-painted table; beer mugs; cardboard Titanic; C3PO Mister Potatohead.

    I’m really glad for vanity tables to rehab for only $38.

    week 1 vanity

    I’m really glad (this one is kind of hard) that I have such an amazing church. This Sunday is my last regular attendance there and it’s going to be really sad (not really glad), but I am trying my best to look beyond that to what God might have in store for us. I’ve left the church before, but that was always with the knowledge that I would hop a big plane in a certain reasonable period of time and be back. Please pray for me.

    I’m really glad for a fiance who takes pictures of the flowers at The House for me to see when I’m not going to be up there for a few days.

    Such lovely tickseed. Our wedding colors AND it's a native Ohio flower!
    Such lovely tickseed. Our wedding colors AND it’s a native Ohio flower!

    I’m really glad for pottery that turns out exactly how you envisioned it when you first put the glaze on.

    week 1 pottery
    It’s a piggy bank and he has a cute little red tail to match his wings. I think I’ll call him Stewart.

    Did I already mention that I’m really glad that I’m getting married in a week’s time? Because I am…

    I’m really glad that Matt and I are staying home for the week after to get used to The House and relaxing together.

    I’m really glad that I have to work only three days next week.

    —————————–

    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

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  • Book Promo: Hidden in My Heart

    A little diversion from the current blog series. When I was in Japan, I met a family serving in Hiroshima. They hadn’t been in the country for all that long, I think no longer than I had at that moment, but we had some good discussions and I gave them some tips on ESL ministry. They are a super sweet family.

    I won’t give their family history here, but they are a mom and dad, twin daughters, and three adopted sisters. They are precious. Every month, they send out updates on their family and work. I believe they are planning to head back to Japan soon, with the whole family. Wow!

    Taylor, one of the twins, recently had a book published! There’s a term that’s fairly common with missionary kids or kids that are born into one culture, but raised in another. The term is Third Culture Kids, or TCK’s. They don’t really feel they belong to either culture, so they have a third culture that’s a mix and in between of the other two. This can result in a whole bunch of emotions and they are hard to process. I don’t know what it’s like to be a TCK, that’s not part of my life story. But here’s an excerpt from the email update Taylor gave.

    A few months after we arrived in America, my mom and I were walking on the causeway. We were talking about Japan, and she had begun to notice my anger. We drove to a coffee shop afterwards, and when she asked me what was truly wrong, I started crying. She asked me why, but I didn’t know. I was asking myself the same question.

    We talked two hours. Toward the end of our conversation, she asked me to write down a list of emotions that I had felt during our time in Japan. Then she told me to write prayers to God about each one.

    I quickly wrote the list. As I sat on the floor with my laptop next to a bright, sunny window, I began writing prayers to God. I cried some more. I asked God to show me what I had missed. I took a few steps back and examined my anger. I opened my ears and truly listened for the first time in four years.

    Who is your anger directed toward?  I heard God gently ask. I stopped typing, stunned. Was my anger directed toward someone?

    Yes. He responded.  Think about it.

    I read through the prayers I had written and thought about it some more. The truth slowly surfaced. And it horrified me.

    God… I felt more ashamed than ever, but unlike the last few years I was ready to accept it. My anger is directed toward You, God, isn’t it?

    I kept writing. I uncovered my self-centered nature, and I revealed stories that I would much rather keep hidden. I asked forgiveness for the anger, bitterness, and discontentment that had taken root in my heart.

    What a reflective young woman she is. I’m glad that I had a chance to meet this family in person, even for just a short time. But I wanted to help promote her book. It is a gathering of the prayers and thoughts she had written down about not having a set physical home. I haven’t read it yet, but Taylor is very articulate and descriptive. I’m sure it will be a great read.

    Here is the link.

    Hidden in my Heart

    If you can’t see the picture above, please click here.

  • Getting Married: 15 Weeks – Review: The Darkroom – Fairfield, OH

    For a quick summary review, you can skip to the bottom of this post. Everything else is all flowery and verbose and not for Cut-To-The-Chasers.

    We tried to do completely DIY Invitations and aside from making the paper ourselves, we were on track to doing just that.

    So here’s what happened. I’ve been saving up invitations of my friends for years to be sure I had a wide variety of wording and designs. They’re also just great memories of the lives I’ve been able to have as friends, many of whom are now out-of-state and have homes bustling with kids. I heard there would be a huge stationery sale at Michael’s one day and I had another 20% off coupon, so Matt and I went through and found packs of 50 invites/envelope sets. We picked up 4 and some other sheets of paper and went on our way.

    I started brainstorming the design and we discussed the wording. I typed it up, made the adjustments for the dimensions of the invitations and emailed it over to Matt for him to print out. Only, the font didn’t keep, and when I saved the file as a pdf, it wouldn’t hold the dimensions. So, Matt had to play around with it for a while and when he finally got it to print the right way, he was running out of ink and some of the lines bled.

    I was getting a little stressed about it before all this and that was worrying Matt. He’s so sweet to me. He said that this was a problem he would solve and I wasn’t to worry about it any more. He took the invitations over to Staples to see if they would be able to print them but they refused saying that they don’t work with paper of those dimensions. (Rule of thumb: When getting paper on discount, be sure that the dimensions are something that can be readily put through a printer!) Staples said that a smaller print shop might be able to do it and Matt remembered the developer shop down the street that printed our engagement photos and Christmas gifts (we gave out some framed copies to family members).

    This developer shop is called The Darkroom and I’ve mentioned it before in this blog series. They are, honestly, my new favorite place. Before planning this wedding, I’ve only used them less than a handful of times, opting for the quick develop shops, or online developing. The quality of the prints I’ve got from The Darkroom makes the adage ring true, “Good things come to those who wait.” And the wait is not that long at all. They will work with you on a deadline (within reason, of course), but they seem very flexible and determined to help you out.

    Week15 Darkroom Logo

    The Darkroom

    1195 Hicks Blvd
    Fairfield, OH 45014
    513.829.3154
    Website

    Matt dropped off the paper and the file and presented our case. The man readily accepted the challenge and was to call me when he had a proof completed so I could see the result. The difference was amazing! He and I discussed the price (since we had brought our own paper, they didn’t have a set price for just printing invitations) and came up with an agreeable settlement for the both of us. Those weeks learning how to bargain in China and Egypt really paid off! In the States, we don’t bargain much, so I didn’t haggle the price as much as I did in those countries, but it was fun to do on my home soil.

    The Darkroom has so many products and services, it really is amazing. Here I thought they just developed pictures! According to the website, they provide the following:

    • Hardbound Lay Flat Photo Books
    • Canvas Prints and Gallery Wraps
    • Fine Art Metals
    • Candids, Portrait Units (which include – Magazine covers, key chains, luggage tags, trading cards, photo buttons, fridge magnets, t-shirts, coasters, keepsake box, coffee mugs, aluminum water bottle, and mouse pads.
    • Shoot for special events and Prom
    • more information on the website.

    Within a week’s time, I received a call that the invitations were ready and Matt swung by to pick them up. They turned out beautifully! Now I’ve had the task of handstamping the details, but the text is lovely, precise, and just what I wanted it to be. I would put up a picture, but I want the final result to be a surprise to my guests, so that will just have to wait for an update until after the invites have been sent out. I’m sure you’ll understand.

    So here’s the breakdown:

    The services:  I didn’t even know that The Darkroom did invitation printing, but Matt happened to notice it on one visit there. We saw another sample set out and it was exquisite, with beautiful embellishments and colors. So, they provide this particular service and just about any other service one would imagine along with photo services. You can find them here.
    The help: Richard Braun and the ladies who help out there (I’ve never caught their names, but they are lovely) are very helpful and attentive to their customers’ desires and needs. Richard has been doing this for years, and worked with his father who started the business 34 years ago.
    The parking: They have their own parking lot. It’s kind of across from Skyline and near an intersection on Route 4, so sometimes traffic is a bit tricky if you park in the spots along the road.
    The facilities: The shop itself is small and unassuming, but I’ve only seen a small part of it inside. I will tell you, though, that someone on staff smokes, so you can smell it when you first walk in. However, the smell didn’t transfer on my invitations or photographs at all.
    The results: The results are highly professional and just what you order. If they can’t do something, I’m sure they will tell you, so you have realistic expectations of what you are going to get. The color in the picture prints was lovely and my invitation text was crisp and exactly what I had wanted.
    The price: Price is very reasonable for a professional shop. If you’re looking for a cheap shop, then this isn’t for you and maybe an hour developer is what you’re looking for. But you get what you pay for. The quality just is not going to be the same.
    Returnability: I plan to use this shop much more in the future, even though I won’t be living in the same zip code. I anticipate bringing our wedding photos to be developed here as well.

    Thanks for the read!

    —————————–

    I’m getting married to my, you guessed it, best friend on June 1st, 2013! Matt and I are super-excited and since we have quite a bit of time to plan this thing, I decided it’d be fun to blog about it. Well, maybe not always fun, but at least informative and it might give me a welcome distraction. You can find all the posts by clicking the “Getting Married” tab on the right of this page, or by clicking here. Thanks for stopping by!

    My Pinterest Wedding Board

    Our Wedding Website on WeddingWire.com

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