The Hitchin' Post - Invitations

During this wedding process, I have become more aware of how giving people are.  We are constantly coming in contact with people who love love & who have a giving heart.  With fabric, burlap, lace, ribbon, card stock, to printing the invitations.. sweet folks have been giving us discounts just because they feel like it.  It could be my mom's real personality and her ability to make a joke out of nothing that makes them connect to our story, maybe its our willingness to bend, make-do, & compromise so easily...  regardless, people are crazy good. 

Background story:  last week I freaked out a little bit when I realized we were like 8 weeks away from the wedding.  I freaked out because we hadn't ordered wedding invitations... or really, the card stock for the invitations, which would take a little time to process then ship, then we had to go get the invitations printed on the card stock and then packaged, then addressed, then stamped and finally, sent out.  And with my ridiculous academic calendar for the month of April... I got a little stressed out.  So Mom & I decided that we were just going to go to a fine papers company in Winston Salem, buy the card stock they had and then go get it printed the next day.  A normally a week to a week and half project done in 24 hours -- seems perfect right?

Well, perfect-ish.  We went and bought the card stock.  They did not have full sets of what I wanted, so in our second natural we bent & compromised & left the store content.  Next, we were trying to figure out who could print the invitations for cheapest... to come & find out that MOST stores don't print on pre-cut card stock.  They usually do large sheets, print multiple copies & then cut them in the size we wanted.  Well, we then realized that the card stock we just bought was final sale.  Crap. 

While Mama was walking through the jungle maze, also known as the grocery store, I was calling every printing store I could think of.  I called Sam's sister to ask where she got her invitations printed, my dad filled me on places that he has used to print blue prints, I called the "go-to's" such as Staples and FedEx.. nobody.  Feeling a little overwhelmed, I plopped down in the "for decoration only" outdoors table set while Mom stood in line texting all her friends for suggestions.  She mentioned to me Office Max, so I called and put on my "stranger voice" -- ya know, the really high pitched, perky, pleasant voice that you use with strangers -- Mr. Rocky from the printing department of Office Max told me that I could indeed get my invitations printed on pre-cut card stock!

"Oh my word, are you serious?  YAY (clapping of my hands)!  Are you sure?  I need [this size & this size].  Seriously?  YAY!  Okay, see you tomorrow morning!  Thanks so so much"

So Ashley & I got up early Saturday morning & headed to Office Max.  After a almost 2.5 hour adventure in Office Max (we were the only ones there in the first 2 hours), we have adorable printed invitations on cute, little card stock and the rest of my Saturday looked liked this:

Until around 7 at least.  Then I went over to the Scott's residents to celebrate the 21 candles of Miss Sidney Lee with a cookout, cake & a drive-in movie (in their own driveway!)

iPhone picture.

The one with HAIRSPRAY.

 My roommate, Liza, is seriously one of the best YoungLife leaders ever!  She pours every single ounce of her emotion, time, money, and love into her sweet girls.  I am encouraged by the hours she puts into contact work in order to spread the gospel whenever she can, wherever she can, to whoever she can.  

One of her girls got the lead role in her high school's musical rendition of HAIRSPRAY!  I adore musicals.  Liza got everyone in our house a ticket plus one for a close friend of ours... and we decided to make a night of it.  We all decided to get all ditty-ed up and go grab some sushi in downtown Raleigh before we head to the show.

 

HAIRSPRAY was awesome.  Megan (aka Mego) killed it.  She was so spunky & fantastic

from start to finish.  I could not stop smiling the whole time I was there.

The schedule usually never works out with all 4 of my roommates: Jenn is a student teacher & YL leader,  Im planning a wedding, Sarah is knocking out interviews & job offers like nobody's business & Liza is consumed by a new major & her awesome gals.  So, nights like this, where all of us get together & devote time to one another is seriously the sweetest break we could all take from our crazy schedules.

The one and only, Clark.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

So when I was fifteen my parents started talking to me about what kind of car I wanted for when I turned 16.  All I knew is that I wanted a SUV.  I kept leaning towards a Nissan Xterra -- I mentioned them every time we passed one on the road.  & honestly, I really didn't care what car I got, but for some reason, I just really loved the Xterras. 

One morning in November, my sophomore year of high school, my parents told me that were gonna meet up for lunch with one another, then run some errands and then one of them was going to come pick me up from school.  Awesome.  No big deal.

While I was waiting in the lobby of my high school, I saw this gorgeous Xterra pull up.  It was the most perfect color and it was the newer model!  I immediately called mama.   "Oh my gosh, Mom.  There is an Xterra in the car line at the high school that is the exact car I want.  It's this dark beige color.  Where are you?  Are you close so you can see it?"

Without another word spoken on the phone, the window of that Xterra rolled down & there sat my parents just waving like crazy!!  I freaked out.  I ran a dead sprint to the car screaming & clapping my hands.  I was on cloud nine.

I jumped in the back seat & just ohhed & ahhed over everything.  They pulled over at the local grocery store so I could drive it home and we stopped at Wendy's on my way home so I could show my best friend.  I was freaking out, y'all.  I got my dream car. 

When we got home, I pretty much had a photo shoot with the car.

*cue embarrassing but hilarious pictures*

 

 

My parents got me my dream car for my first car. (I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the parents that I do)  The day I got my car, I named it.  With a slight obsession with Superman at the time, I dubbed my Xterra, "Clark".  Clark has been his name from the get go.  I love Clark, like love love y'all. 

I write all this to say, that my Clark has had some trouble with his transmission.  Sam & I had already been talking about trading one of our SUVs in, so we could save on gas... and we chose Clark because we thought we could get more money out of him.  This week has been a "growing up fast" week for Sam & I.  We have learned more about insurance, loans, car payments, and budgeting than we ever have.  We are buying a new car today & saying good riddance to Clark.  I don't wanna give up Clark, I really don't.  But this new car is a smart decision and signifies an exciting new chapter of my life, my life with Sam. 

More details to come, once we have the keys in our hands and the wind in our hair! 

The one with Davy Crockett.

Here at Joby's, we only had one trick-or-treater.  But one was just enough for me.  My sweet blonde came as Davy Crockett and was in character the whole time he was in our house.  He naturally kneeled down and threw up that gun when a camera came into the room.  The kid rocked it.

 

Once Davy Crockett went on to invade other homes, my roomies and I ordered two large pizzas and spent our Halloween night piggin' out and watching Hocus Pocus.  Some say that's lame.  We say relaxing.  It was also just a great time to spend with one another.  Our schedules are CRAZY off this semester.  It is a rare occassion for all four of us to be the in the house, it's even more rare for all four of us to be in the house with no distractions (school, young life talks, projects, etc.) in front of us.  So we made a point to spend this spooky night in the comfort of each other in our home.

Hope everyone had an incredible Halloween!

The one for celebrations.

A couple of celebrations have happened over the past several weeks and they are all worth mentioning on my sweet little blog.

 Celebration #1: Some weeks ago my sweet roomie, Liza, celebrated her 22nd birthday!  She spent her birthday  weekend at Windy Gap and then came home to balloons, chicken casserole & a couple gifts relating to her beloved tea.

 

Liza is fun.  She loves trivia, useless information & figuring stuff out.  So we decided to create a small scavenger hunt for her birthday.  At each clue there was a small gift & then her final clue lead her back to our house where me & my other 2 roomies set up "Joby's Spa".  We wore black tanks with black leggings.  We put on Spa Pandora Station.  We spoke softly and catered her to a homemade facial & pedicure.

 Celebration # 2:  I love me some blonde boys. I've been sitting for a family of two blondes for almost 2 years now.  It is the same family that lost their dad about 3 weeks after I started sitting for them.   I have grown incredibly close with my boys (& their mom) && love them all something fierce.  This semester has been a little different from the past three... as I only sit for the younger, Will.  Well John, the older of the two, has struggled a little more with the loss of his sweet dad.  Through hours of prayer and advice, his mom decided to send John to a camp to help little fellas, like John, have deep-seeded issues that they can't seem to bring to the forefront.  Therefore, John is gone weeks at a time.  From me being at home this summer and then John leaving for camp, I hadn't seen the boy in 4 months!!   I was getting a little stir crazy to see my little genius.  Finally, when I was back in Raleigh, it was one of the weekends that John was allowed to come home.  We set up a date to have lunch together && it was the best lunch ever!  I picked his sweet little brain & found out that at his camp, he is completely in his element.  Camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, bonfires, outdoors galore! 

After lunch, we had a bubble blowing contest & a mini photoshoot in my car.  What a celebration that hour on Friday was.  I've missed him too much.  I love my sweet John.

 Celebration # 3:  My dear friend, Amelia, is getting married!!!  Over Labor Day weekend, I shared in a Bridal Shower for Milly hosted by her sisters & it was so much fun.  We ate at the 4th Street Filling Station & celebrated our girl with cake, gifts & laughs.  I am so excited to REALLY celebrate her in a couple weeks! :)

 

 

My life is so blessed with opportunities to celebrate with the people I love.