The Engagement

This is a picture of my first scrapbook page . . . I made it this past January. It tells the story of our engagement. What a lovely evening! There were a handful of times when I knew, for sure, that I would marry Herb. I was very timid about dating in general . . . typically cut off any perspective relationship by date two or three . . . but with Herb, I know I needed to keep going. But that didn't stop me from being nervous . . . just like everyone, I have my issues & scars . . . especially when it comes to trusting men . . . but that is another story for another day . . . or maybe that is another story that just doesn't need to be highlighted. I am not sure. But all of that to say, going out with Herb felt like a big risk. After Herb asked me out for our second date, I remember telling my roommate, "I don't want to go out with him! But I do know that I am going to marry him. So, I guess I need to go."

It was one of those things. Intuition . . . the Holy Spirit . . . whatever it was . . . I knew. Sometimes, we have to move towards things even when they scare us. And I did. And I do. And I will continue to.

How is that for a cryptic post?

You can find another story (written on 10/31/06) about how I knew I would marry herb here.

Happy 51 Weeks!

It is official. This time, 53 weeks ago, I was hopping out of the shower after walking home from Einstein Brother’s bagels with Amy. The weather was cold and rainy. Despite my self-diagnosed seasonal affective disorder, the weather did not disturb me the least bit. The hairdresser was on his way. It was a mellow morning, just as I had planned. Jack Johnson playing in the background. Nobody had been invited over, with the exception of two bridesmaids who were asked to refrain from coming if they were the least bit overwhelmed or stressed out. They didn’t come by except to pick me up to go to the church.

This week, I am going to take us all on a little trip down memory lane . . . dating, engagement, the wedding, and the big fat first year of marriage!
How about these fun pictures? Our first big night out as a couple – my 80’s party! And our first “nice picture” as a couple! I had this enlarged to a 5x7 and put into a frame for Herb. I was so nervous to give it to him; what if he freaked out because he thought I was more serious about the relationship than he was?!?!? And I would feel like a fool! But, I pushed my fear and gave him the framed photo. He did not, as it turned out, freak out. He was relieved that I liked him enough to frame a picture of us!

You can read about "our story" here.

Beauty

WOW! I have felt so inspired and fired up since I gave my talk about beauty and body image last weekend. Then I posted most of it here because I was so excited about it! Then I thought more and more about my long time goal of having an article or even a book published. And then I thought more about what I wrote about beauty and body image. And how I might like to use some of that in my pursuit of publication.

So, for now, I am taking it off of the World Wide Web. Just seems like a good idea. I would hate for somebody to like it, "borrow" it, publish it before I do, and then all of a sudden I am talking to Katie Couric's replacement on the Today Show about why on earth I published somebody else's work. (I do realize, of course that that girl from Harvard most likely did use somebody else's work. But wouldn't it be weird if I was accused of plagiarizing my own plagiarizer? Note to self: learn how to spell plagiarize before trying to get published). If you have any questions about what I wrote, let me know. It is an important topic and I feel very excited about women learning where their true beauty and value come from! We can chat. Otherwise, it is going into a safe place for now.

The good news is, I feel inspired to take writing off of my "someday" list and put it on the "today" list. I am going to do it. I am going to work on the essay I published here and see what it turns into. I have a magazine in mind that I might send it to for review. Special thanks to my friend Kelly who inspires me by keeping her five year goals on her fridge. I have mine up now (to my husban's chagrin, i am sure because he hates things hanging on fridges!) I have already crossed one thing off!
Here I go!

In the past 10 years my mom has tried a lot of new things that would have previously been outside of her comfort zone. It is cool to watch her push herself. This summer, she went on a mission trip to an orphanage in Russia.