Barefoot Bluejean Night

Today has been an exceptionally beautiful September day. I just want to stop and say that I LOVE the fall. When I woke up this morning and stepped outside to go to church, I thought I would be hit with waves of typical Louisiana humidity. But no. It was incomparable to yesterday. The weather had that crisp fall feeling with a dry breeze replacing the usual summer moisture.

And just as easy as it is to flip the pages of a book, so we have moved into the fall season. I have to admit that I always feel 17 this time of year. There is something about the waving of goodbye to summer that fills me with the longing for a nostalgic past I never experienced of lost-love as well as a nostalgia I HAVE gone through filled with hot chocolate and amber leaves, school books and an appreciation for the weekend.

Anyway, since Isaac and through the rest of the summer, I slacked off on wedding planning. I was feeling so mentally exhausted that by the time work was over everyday, all I wanted to do was sleep. Matthew's work has picked up to a soaring pace and I am glad he has more hours. My only complaint is that I haven't seen him in what could very well be a week; I miss him, and my lovesick heart has produced nothing but the disease of lethargy since we've been apart. Hence another reason I haven't been working on wedding stuff with sincerity.

I'm not as ridiculous as his mom, but in the back of my mind, I worry for him. His job is dangerous, the hours are long and tiring and he doesn't get much sleep. Sometimes he manages to snag four hours to rest in a 48 hour period for a week straight, when things get really busy. AND, he has to drive about four hours a day to top it off.

So yes, I do let myself worry a little bit. And I do miss him so very, very much. Luckily, marriage is going to make this all so much easier in one way: I will be able to see him when he comes home to for a few hours.

I said all of that to lead back to my point that this weather has birthed a refreshing in me and I am back to getting serious. I even forfeited a cozy Sunday afternoon nap to work on it. So with my country play list running, giving an official farewell to those summer nostalgia days, I am working on wedding stuff.

The appointed two tasks of today is FINALLY and I mean FINALLY writing out a completed guest list. It took some effort because I was allowing the Holy Spirit and memory to be my sole aids in who to invite. But I finally added up the heads to 59. So totaled with our church and Matt's guest list, we have a whopping head-count of 147. And that's the bear minimum of people, they were all mandatory to invite.

SAY WHAT??!!!

I give or take 47-75 who can't make it due to the wedding being at night on a mid-week, and a bunch are from out-of-town, etc. But like I told Matthew, "If they love us that much, they'll come no matter what. And if they don't, I'm still marrying you because I love you that much, no matter what."

Cheesy I know...leave me alone. lol

I'm in the process of emailing and face book private messaging people individually for their addresses. If that's too silly to you, get over it; it's a big short cut that is saving me a lot of time! Besides, so many are communicating this way these days no one cares anymore. And I am enjoying getting to catch up with people I haven't talked with in a while.

The addresses that I can't get because I'm not connected with people on face book I will try to acquire from my mom and/or grandmother.

The second thing I chose to do today is create a reception play list I want to present to Matthew when he's ready. He'll help me edit it and even add to it if he wants to. ;-) Then I'll give ya'll a sneak-peak on what it will look like. I like giving people sneak-peaks! :-D

And the last thing I'm going to do is stress over what to give as wedding favors. I have about 30 good ideas in mind, but they are either too expensive or don't fit the theme or are only half of an idea. It's crazy, really, how to accommodate your personal flair on a budget that won't just get eaten by the end of the night or tossed away in a year...and I have to come up with this idea for an estimated 150 people.

That's why I'm stressing a bit! lol. I thought about personalizing a box of matches but once they are gone, so will the box with the name and date on it. And then what will they light them with? Personalizing 100 mason jars, even if they are a dollar a piece plus supplies to make them, PLUS candles PLUS the matches just adds up way too fast.

See my dilemma?

I wanted to do skittles in a little pail or mesh bag because that's Matt's and my favorite candy (if you ever hear us talking about skittle kisses, you'll know why we love them so much) but they will be eaten before the end of the night and rainbow really doesn't match our theme (it doesn't have to but it would help my OCD issues).

We thought about doing a candy bar but that runs up into money really fast too. And once again, it will be gone before the end of the night.

I want it to be something that is unique, useful, practical and will be around for a long time. And I REALLY wanted to give people a copy of our favorite picture. How.Do.You.Do.That?

Honestly, if my father-in-law wasn't such a music gyro (love the man, don't get me wrong) I would totally break the law and give everybody a copy of the music play list. It's easy, affordable...yeah....but no. I just had to ask him if it was illegal. Of course he said yes. And now that I REALLY know the fine print of the law, I can't do that without conviction. That is affordable, easy, economical and everybody loves music.

Hmph!

Well, I guess I'll be heading to the thrift stores this Tuesday on my day off and see if I can find some inspirations to coax my creative juices into coming up with EXACTLY what needs to be given as tokens of our gratitude.

So I should be posting more frequent then I did last week on my blog. :-) Thank you for reading.

And I'm going to leave you with a song, as is my usual routine. Two songs, this time. Springsteen is one Matthew and I jammed to in the truck on these past summer sunsets of 2012. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it. Barefoot Blue Jean Night describes us and our southern summer ways to nearly a T.

Go light a bonfire and toast some marshmallows,
~Rose

P.S. The little stinker just knocked on the door when I finished this post. He's home!!!!!! Work let him off a little earlier then usual so we get to spend some time together. My heart just lept with so much joy I nearly cried.