Break In Illinois

Spring break isn't too exciting when you seem to be the only one stuck in Illinois!

Break was uneventful for me, and nothing new has really happened. My fiance, who I still swear is the most incredible man I've ever met, is being flown out to NYC by...get this... the New York Times! They're interviewing him on Friday. I'm so proud! But as for me...I'm still waiting.

I did get to have a couple nice "wedding" moments over break. I picked up my wedding dress, which is now residing safe and sound at my parents' house until I get it altered in December. I also got to visit the location for our wedding again. I thought I'd share some pictures:

This is where people will sit. If you can see it, behind the bricks against the glass is a pond with pretty fishies.

This is where PJ and I and our wedding party will stand. The chairs will go past those stone areas, and we'll stand just to the right of the waterfall.

And here's a closer view of the waterfall.

I love where we're getting married. It's so pretty inside, and we get the run of all the outside gardens too. They're not in bloom yet, but I know they'll be gorgeous come June.

The Waiting Game

I finally mailed my applications to the publishing institutes yesterday! It's such a relief in a lot of ways, finally getting it done and knowing that I did my best. I hate waiting though. I should find out if I'm accepted by mid-April. If only I had that much patience...

There's not much else new going on. My wedding dress is in, and the contract for our wedding venue is signed. Now I'm just waiting to figure out more about New York and trying to get through school.

Is anyone else ready to graduate like now?

Have I Mentioned...

...that I looooove wedding planning?! It seems like things keep falling into place. I got my dress last week, and today I got two more pieces of really great news.

1. My mom came to visit today, and as we were sitting and chatting, she told me that she had some good news and some bad news for me. I told her to tell me the bad news first, and she said that she had called the Botanical Center, where I want to get married, and that it was booked on June 2, 2012. My heart sank; I was so sad! Then she smiled and said "By you!" Apparently she called and set up an appointment and is signing the contract this week! So naturally we squealed and jumped up and down. She's so sneaky, but I'm so thankful to have such a selfless and thoughtful mom. So... I am OFFICIALLY getting married June 2, 2012 at the Quad City Botanical Center! Yaya!

2. Later today, I got a reply to a message I sent on Facebook a long time ago. (P.S. Gotta love social media for tracking down people! :)). It was to the woman who took my senior pictures when I was in high school. She was awesome, and I wanted to try to book her for our wedding. I finally heard back from her today, and not only did she agree to take our engagement and wedding photos, but she said the sweetest things and is essentially charging us what she does her family. So I'm getting an awesome photographer that I already know at a fraction of the price of many others I've looked at. And we don't have to pay her for quite awhile, meaning we can save up for other things right now.

I really do love planning my wedding! :)

Here Comes the Bride!

I did it! I bought my wedding dress yesterday!

It's so pretty - and the most money I've ever spent on one thing in my life! But it was a wonderful experience that I got to share with my mom, sister, and both grandmothers. I couldn't be any happier. I wish I could describe the dress or post a picture, but I'm afraid my fiancé would read this blog and see it. I'm old fashioned like that - he won't get to see it until I'm walking down the aisle.

This makes the wedding so much more real to me, and I have no idea how I'm going to wait another 15 months.

Yesterday was really a great day to lift my spirits. I got to spend the day with my family, got my first smartphone, and bought a wedding dress. And today I blew off my first class so we could do a little more shopping (shhh!). I adore my mom and my sister, and they helped me forget about the sadness for awhile.

Happy day!

Say "Yes!" To The Dress!

I'm super excited for tomorrow. It's been kind of the one bright spot in all the sucky-ness of the past couple weeks. Tomorrow...I'm going to try on wedding dresses! I'm planning on choosing the one tomorrow and getting the process of buying it started. I couldn't be any more excited! I'm also planning to invite my grandmothers to come and share in the experience. (Plus, tomorrow I'm finally getting a new phone, and a smart phone at that!)

Nothing like wedding planning to cheer a girl up. I'm watching Say Yes To The Dress to celebrate.

A Hard Week

This past week has been an incredibly tiring and difficult one. I am down to the wire on my publishing institute applications, and losing almost two weeks has really sucked.

Last week, I found out that my great-grandpa, who lived in Arkansas, had congestive heart failure and was being given days to live. No one really knew what would happen, but my parents decided to make the drive down to see him one last time, and I went with. I got to see and talk with him on his last good day, last Tuesday. He later got worse and was moved to a hospice. I came back to Peoria Thursday night, and he passed away Friday afternoon. I hadn't planned on going to his funeral, but I knew I'd regret it later if I didn't. So on Sunday we made the drive again, and I spent through Wednesday in Arkansas.

I haven't gone through this, really at all, in my lifetime. I have very young parents, so I've been blessed to grow up having all of my grandparents and 3 great-grandparents around. I don't quite know what's proper to think or feel or say to people. It's just hard. 

Since I've been gone almost two whole weeks, I have so much to do that's adding to the stress and emotion of it all. Not only do I have to catch up in my classes, but I have to hurry and start/finish the applications to the publishing institutes. 

I suppose I write this mostly to vent, and to also explain why I haven't been around and haven't been doing any more planning for the future, but I sincerely hope no one else goes through this this semester. 

Broadside

There's no real news in my planning, but I thought someone out there might be interested in what I'm doing now.

Publishing is a very city-based industry, so living in Peoria makes it very difficult to get any real experience that will help me once I get to New York. That’s the main reason why attending a Publishing Institute like the one at NYU is so important.

However, I do what I can here to at least get some experience. I work for Hilltopics, Bradley’s alumni magazine, doing copy editing, office work, and some writing. Even better than that, though, is that this year I was selected to be the Editor-in-Chief of Broadside.  Broadside is a student run organization; we are Bradley’s literary arts journal and publish two journals a year featuring student poetry, short stories, drawings, paintings, photography, and other works of art and writing. It’s a huge responsibility, but it’s reinforced completely why I want to be in publishing.

As Editor-in-Chief, I’m involved in every stage of putting the journal together, and I plan events that keep students interested in Broadside and further showcase students’ artistic endeavors.

I’m getting really excited about the things we have going on this semester. The first week of March we’ll be having an open mic night, followed by a showing of a related movie (probably Dead Poets Society). In April, just before the spring journal is released, we’ll be having a release party where people can get early copies before the rest of Bradley.

If anyone who reads this (and is a Bradley student) is interested in submitting a piece of writing or art, visit bradley.edu/campusorg/broadside or email me!