On Being Midsized

I am a midsized woman.

This means that I wear anywhere from a L-2X depending on the store.

Everyone I know has a complaint about their body. And most of those people have complaints about how their body relates to clothing that typical stores carry. The plus sized girls can't find anything cute in their size. The stick-thin girls can't fill out the butt of their jeans. The big chested girls look too top-heavy. The small chested girls don't look top-heavy enough. And the petite girls that have to hem every damn thing they buy.

We all have issues. That is something we have in common.

But I want to take a moment to recognize the midsized women out there who may not always experience the common shopping dilemmas that other women face. Or may experience those, in addition to a plethora of unique experiences.

I don't know of many stores that do this, but DEB splits their store right down the middle. Plus size is off to one side, and non-plus size is off to the other. But what about me? I am sitting right on the line between plus size and non. The plus size items in this store are a little above my range. And the non items are a little below my range.

Waaaah!!!

And then of course we've got stores out there that only cater to one size demographic, but have another store that carries similar clothing in higher sizes. Think Hot Topic and Torrid. This means that I have to go to not one, but TWO different stores with nearly identical items and face double the amount of "why don't they carry my size" than the average woman.

I am grateful to stores who carry plus size options because generally it's easier for me to take a plus size garment and get it altered than it is to add something to something that is too small. But I just wish the middle group wasn't forgotten so often.

Unique Unity

I really wanted to do a unity ceremony for our wedding, even though we aren't particularly religious. We looked at all of the usual ceremonies, but couldn't quite find anything that was "us." We liked the candles, but then again everyone does it. Everyone who doesn't do candles? Sand ceremony.

We had looked at hand-fasting (but apparently some people consider this evil), rose ceremonies (I really wanted something we could take home afterward), and all kinds of other things on Pinterest and wedding boards... But still nothing that stuck out at me.

Until one day I saw a pin like this one over to the left on Pinterest and had an "ah hah!" moment.

Finger print hearts!!! 

There were three things that I loved about this idea:

1. The symbolism.

2. It's really cheap to do.

3. We've never seen it before!

Our minister wrote the following for our ceremony before we did the ceremony:

Sarah and Ryan, this celebration today honors a commitment by the two of you to continue to share and grow as individuals and as a family, today and every day for the rest of your lives. Unity ceremonies involve a symbolic representation of the bringing together of the unique individuals you are into a new and beautiful whole. Here, you have chosen to use your fingerprints, which are unique and represent the differences in you that compliment each other so well. As you make a heart shape with your prints, it represents the bringing together of those unique and different qualities into a unified whole while retaining your individuality.

I loved it. It couldn't have been better! The only thing to remember if you do this unity ceremony is to keep wet wipes or hand sanitizer up with the ink so you don't get any on your white dress!

Oh... And PRACTICE! 

Thanks to Katie for the beautiful pictures!

The Accidental Superbowl Party

Getting the beer ready while we wait for
the cable to come back...

I know I'm a week late in posting this, but I think it's important enough and will continue to be relevant enough to touch on.

My husband and I differ in our definitions of clean. I have a lot of house pride, and he... Can tolerate mess. Now, I definitely don't think I'm one of those crazy women that has to have a model home at all times. The dishes in the sink right now imply otherwise. But I like to keep the house at a certain level, and here's a real world lesson in why...

We were invited to a Superbowl party last weekend. We showed up about a half hour before kickoff and noticed immediately that everyone was sitting around a TV with a "no signal" message floating around the screen.

"So uh... What's up?"

Comcast was having an outage. During the Superbowl.

Stephanie's football whoopie pies! (Delicious!)

Yep... So that was interesting. After waiting a bit for things to clear up, and the game starting in the meantime... We needed to think of a plan B. Few people suggested some local bars, but with all the drinks and food that had been prepared, that wasn't really an option.

"Well, you can all come back to my house...?" Only a slight cringe. We had vaccuumed... So that was something. But still, there were a few people that would be coming to my home that had never been. I hoped that the mess wouldn't be too bad. No tumbleweeds of cat fur in the kitchen. No weird stains on the carpet.

Send Husband ahead to double-check that the cable was fine. Of course, the Ravens got a touchdown as he called and that was enough to get everyone's butts in gear. We were only 10 minutes down the road, but we still had to transport a few crockpots and cookies.

So all in all - we had a good party. No one noticed that the house wasn't 100%. But it got me thinking... How many more times are we going to have accidental parties?

So I've heard about party boxes that people keep with all of the elements needed for a successful accidental party. Plates, cups, soda, maybe some games, snacks, etc...

If you have any tips for what you would keep in your party box... Post it here!

Confessions of a Sentimentalist

There is a fine line between being sentimental and being a hoarder. Sometimes I worry that I overstep that line. As you can see by the picture to the right, courtesy of Katie Vee Photography, I had a big bouquet at my wedding. A cascade of roses, feathers, and greenery. It was seriously beautiful, but unfortunately not practical to keep around forever.

I looked into bouquet preservation, but it starts at $300... And there's a lot of other things I could get for $300 that I would love a whole lot more.

So I decided on a compromise... I kept a couple pieces of the bouquet, hung some roses upside down to dry them out, and sat on them for a few days.

I have a few boxes of dried flowers floating around... A corsage from my first prom, a flower from an anniversary, my husband's boutonniere from my parent's wedding... But this was my wedding bouquet! I had to do something special.

So I scoured the internet (mostly Pinterest) for a few hours until I found something that seemed useful. All kinds of cool ideas were out there, no doubt. But a post on OffbeatBride really got my attention. So I made an ornament with my bouquet!

It was really simple, just took some petals, a part of a feather, and the gem from my rose and popped them in an ornament. Super cute, right? Oh, and that ring around the top is from the favors my mom made for my engagement party. I knew I hoarded them for a reason!

Who am I? How did I get here?

I've had a few blogs before. And they always start the same way - I'm going to update this all the time. I'm going to improve my writing. I'm going to get readers. I'm going to make it interesting. And this is no different... Except this time, I will do these things.

I got married on December 15, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland to my high school sweetheart of seven and a half years. Ryan and I are parents to six furbabies - three cats and three ferrets. We own a home in what I would consider the middle of nowhere, but we're still close enough to the city to have some entertainment on weekends. The house has been one project after another for years, and I'm not expecting that to stop any time soon.

I don't know how to describe my style. I like earth-tones, relaxing colors, and super-personalized everything. I don't feel comfortable in a space that doesn't feel me. Nerdy, unique, fun, relaxing, and practical. That's what I want.

Above photo courtesy of the amazing Emily Chastain Photography.