I have torn myself away from my arts and crafts to write this post.

You guys.  Why did I ever stop?  I have been making the prettiest things for this here wedding!  My cardbox and my guestbook turned out so lovely.  I would post pictures but I think the 2.5 people who read this are coming to the wedding, and Justin has seen them already.  I'm literally trying to think of more things to make and bring.  I have an idea or two!  If this wedding were in August, I would have gone even more nuts making everything.  If only!!  Anyway.  Everyone tells me I should go into business with the calligraphy I do, but something tells me Lanham and the surrounding area don't have that much demand for fine lettering.  Ha, Lanham doesn't want it, and DC doesn't need my calligraphy.  Sigh!

We just realized last night that the first weekend from here on out that we're free is August 14, the weekend before I go back to school.  Hoo boy!

In unrelated wedding news, I now have a platform on which to run for president (or vice, while Justin runs on the platform that all food should look like how it's pictured in advertisements).  Nature documentaries need to stop portraying predators as THE WORST CREATURES IN EXISTENCE.  It took me until very recent adulthood to realize/accept that it's just life, they need to eat too, they can't help that their prey is cuter.  But really, we had to turn off Disney's Earth because I kept inadvertently crying for the various baby animals getting chased by wolves in super dramatic, heart-wrenching it-got-lost-from-its-mother scenes.  The separated elephant following the herd's tracks ... in the wrong direction didn't help either.  Why does nature gotta be SO SAD? :'(  I am going to go socialize some cats to comfort myself.

First year of teaching: CHECK

I made it!  About ten months ago, the school year started.  Two schools, three blizzards later, and one surprise bridal shower later, it's over and we did not make AYP, for those of you keeping score at home.  Also for those of you keeping score at home, I am no longer teaching that itty-bitty self-contained class, which is for the best.  It would have been, well, hard.  In many ways.  This does mean, however, that I know I'm a resource teacher next year, but I have no idea whom I will be teaching - how old or how many.  Oof.  It has potential to be legit insane.  Hardcore, to say the least.

But enough of school for now!  Here is a numbered list of things I hope to accomplish or engage in in the next 60 days.

1.  WARL!  for the puppies and kitties! 
2. nurture my slightly lonely pumpkins
3. make a box to hold our cards at the wedding
4. organize/amass wedding decor details
5. get married
6. recover from getting married
7. yoga!
8. learn the stock market
9. get a massage
10. cook lots of really fancy things
11. start a compost pile
12. calligraph!
13. research and invest in a super awesome camera
14. read!

And all those things will probably take me right up to August 17!  This time thing, you guys.  It goes by.

Lady titles

You guys!  You will all be exceedingly relieved to hear that I found a hair and makeup artist who can make my hair look like it does cool things!  This is stellar.  Also stellar are my shoes.  We all knew the Gap or one of its associates would feature in my wedding someway, somehow.  I'm basically the talk of the town at school, between my volunteering to teach next year's six-child self-contained classroom and my imminent matrimony.  They all say I glow!  I am guessing that is due to the latter rather than the former.  They all ask me about my new name; I tell them.  But something that bothers me about this day and age is that even though I will officially be Mrs., that will invariably get shortened to Ms.  My principal is Dr., and she insists on Dr., and that's her right, but unfortunately instead of keeping her staff's titles straight (granted, 135 is a lot of titles to keep straight), everyone is Mr. or Ms.  And this culture is so ridiculous that it might even be more likely by now that a woman is Ms. rather than Mrs., and no one should dare assume Mrs., because that is assuming marriage; there are too many touchy situations and sore subjects, so everyone just plays it safe with the catch-all Ms., which is absurdly pronounced Mizz, which is like 3% away from Miss.  There's also that political, level-the-playing-field argument, well, no one knows if MEN are married, MY identity will not be determined by whether I have a husband!, etc etc.  The same argument can be made for Dr.!  It's a title you earn by doing a lot of things.  Those people who get upset about identities being tied to marriage should also get upset about identities being tied to the highest possible degree, HMMMMM?  And I have loved being Miss.  It's young, it's pretty.  It's a statement: no, I am not married.  Similarly, I will love being Mrs.  It's another statement:  yes, I am married; yes, I have found someone whom I love immensely and who loves me immensely, and we made a commitment, and we are very comfortable in our commitment.  It's humble and motherly and gentle and surprisingly assertive in this society in that old fashioned way, holding its head high.  I have way too many children whose mothers or mother figures are Ms., often with different last names.  Family!  I hear myself saying in my head, that's just the way it's always been, that's the way it's supposed to be; and I hear the rebuttal, but why does it have to continue!  And I don't know that exact answer, so in an attempt to answer a related question, here is the sum of my reasoning:  I heard of this one completely predictable study where Ms. was seen as more successful, assertive, powerful, attractive; Mrs. was seen as slow, homely, you get the idea.  But you know what, Mrs. was seen as being very warm, and Ms. was seen as being a bitch.