A little wedding cake ten years later?

Posted by random olio

My wedding was different. We both wanted it that way. We wanted it to be about us. The focus was about two distinct and unique individuals coming together to take vows to spend our life with each other. We did not want to get caught up in making other family and friends happy, or to cater to everyone’s little need. I have seen it happen so many times, where the bride and groom get so sucked into the wedding and party afterwards that they forget to breathe and remember why they are bringing their lives together. The most important moments of a wedding day is not what you look like, if your hair looks perfect, or if your mom is happy, but those precious moments when you promise to keep your vows. That is what a wedding is truly about, the vow and promises that are the beginning steps of a marriage.

Now that you have heard my rant and thoughts about a wedding, you can probably guess that Chris and I got married just the two of us. We did not elope per se, because we alerted folks that we were going to run off to the beach in Hawaii to make our promises to each other at sunset. Getting married with just your life partner in tow might not be for everyone, but it was so right for us. We still comment on how perfect it was for us, and have not regrets.

Yet a few things could have been easier. Those things had nothing to do with our vows, or family, or even because we almost missed our appointment to obtain our marriage license. The parts I might do differently were the silly, unnecessary wedding details. My dress. A cake.

the cake made for our after wedding party

Finding a dress was complicated. At the time, I could choose a big ass dress from David’s Bridal, spend more than I was on my wedding and get something unique, or do what I did and purchase a dress at Banana Republic for $100. There was not a wedding dress line at J. Crew or Banana Republic at the time. I know I might sound old, or many other women before me might say that I had more options than they did, but whatever they may say, the options are now endless.

When I recently came across the website: Loverly, a Pinterest site of sorts that specifically focuses on weddings, I thought: “Bummer, wish such a site was available when I got married.” Sure, theknot.com was around, but it was more for creating a website and registry pages. There was not a pin board type site where you could find endless creative ideas. Even though I have been married for almost ten years, I recently had so much fun exploring the different boards on Loverly. We did not have a wedding cake, instead a very generous friend made a cake for us for a party after we got married. It tasted amazing.

Maybe for our upcoming tenth anniversary, I will have a cake made, invite friends over, and eat to our hearts content. The dress, well in the end, mine was perfect for a beach wedding.

We need to be ALIVE

Posted by random olio

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” –Howard Thurman

Alive. What is it that makes you feel that way? What makes your heart beat fast, gets you excited and energized to be present in each moment? I love the way my heart pounds after a really good workout. It feels like a feat each time. A sense of completion. Some days are easier than others, some harder, some are a struggle. The hardest part is getting dressed, lacing up, and going. Once I start moving, I feel alive. Proud. Happy. Sometimes exhausted. On those tough days, at least I laced up and tried. I moved. I pushed myself. I started.

What is it that you do that makes you come alive? Is it solving a problem? Exercising? Listening? What lights your fire, gets you excited, and brings the true you to the surface? Sometimes for me it can be that aha moment with a friend or co-worker, when you have solved that problem together, or when you connect on a level you never expected. Other times it is when I am sitting on the couch reading a book and I have an idea pop into my mind. It is the answer I have been needing, or patiently waiting for, it was the resolution to a problem.

If I were to go and do the same job every day, with no variety, no changes, no ambiguity, then I would be bored. What keeps me feeling alive is the ever-changing landscape of work, family, friends. It is the question of how to do what we do, but better. How to be a better wife, a better sister, a better friend. Evolving as a person, learning, growing, changing, that is what makes me feel alive. Whole. That is what makes me roar, sing, and laugh.

What makes you feel most alive?

Did You Pay For College?

Posted by random olio

I recently read this discussion called: “Why Kids Should Chip in for College.” It is a discussion I support. I had to pay my way through college and while it was tough, it was good life experience for me. It starts the reality that life costs money in a big way. Maybe you do not have to have your child pay for school completely, but they should contribute. If not, what happens when they graduate? Will you continue to pay for their life? How have you helped them to prepare for the next stage of their life where they have to pay rent, utilities, food, car payments, insurance, etc.?

These days with the zillions of technical devices we have at our finger tips, the ease of access to credit cards, and dwindling checking accounts, those graduating from college will have a harder time balancing the cost of their wants with the bills they will now have to pay, with the amount in their paychecks. Do we need to shift the balance of what we are doing for kids today? Have we taught them the value of the cost of life itself?

I remember a class we had to take in high school. I cannot remember what it was called, but what I do recall is that we had a section on stocks. We were split up into teams and we had to decide what stocks we were going to buy together based on the research we did on the company, the rate of return, and many other factors. I cannot remember how well my team did, but it sparked a new thrill inside me of something I had never been exposed to – investing. What I find interesting about this class that we were required to take, was that we never learned about the basics of money: balancing a checkbook, living within your means, interest rates, deciding between how much you can make saving versus paying off debt, and saving for retirement. These aspects of personal finance would have benefitted us way before we were ever at a place to actually invest in stocks.

I wonder how many college graduates know those core personal finances ideas. Are most college graduates savvy with their social media profiles, and maybe how to create their next app, but not ready for the basics of paying their rent, and saving for their next plane ticket? Are we coddling kids today, rather than finding ways for them to be set up for success?

What do you think? Are we preparing today’s college graduates for their best financial future?

Any.do is it for you?

Posted by random olio

My new favorite app: Any.do. Thank you to a colleague that share this app with me! Yes, I am a dork and love the app that keeps me organized. At the moment I have two apps that keep me organized. The one I have had longer is Wunderlist. I use it for those long-term lists. For example: I keep a list of restaurants we want to venture to at some point. When I learn of a new one, or receive a recommendation for one, I add it to my Wunderlist Restaurant list. I have another list for movies I want to see, and television shoes I want to catch up on.

For the day-to-day items I use Any.do to keep me on track. Here are a few reasons why I love Any.do:

I can schedule reminders to pop-up on my phone and remind me that I need to complete the task.
Any.do syncs with my iPhone calendar. If I turn the phone into landscape mode, I can see my tasks connected with my calendar.
I can make a note to call someone with Any.do and then when it is time to make my call, I can call right within Any.do.
If I would like to add something to my to-do list in Any.do, I can speak my to-do item via the “audio” function on their to-do list.
At 10 a.m. each morning I get a notification on my iPhone that it is time to plan my day. A nice reminder to think about what needs to be done.
I can move to-do items to a later day just by dragging the item.
Chris and I can share an account, so I can add items to the list specific for Chris when he opens the app on his iPhone (and vice versa for me).
There is an extension for Chrome, so you can use it on your computer and iPhone (I have yet to use the Chrome functionality yet).

Both Any.do and Wunderlist keep me organized in different ways. What iPhone apps do you use to keep you organized? #keepmeposted

A clever dad…

Posted by random olio

I can assure you that I never once remember my father brushing, blow drying, or helping with my hair. I have many memories of my mom doing different things with my sister’s and my hair. We would braid it and then sleep and have semi-wavy hair the next morning. We used soft rollers we would also sleep on and wake up with soft curly hair. One time I remember my mom got my sister’s hair stuck in the comb-like curling iron, and she had to cut it out of my sister’s hair. I remember being completely shocked and never her wanted her to touch my hair with that thing. Other than those memories, I mostly had short and rather funky hair during most of my elementary through high school years.

Hair was never something I was fond of. It required work, frequent haircuts, time to style, and the weather could change all that work in seconds. So when I saw this video recently, I was in amazed for a few reasons. 1. This precious girl’s father is doing her hair. 2. Use of a vacuum was new to me. 3. The girl is not fazed by it at all. 4. The end result was rather surprising.