Wedding

All posts tagged Wedding

They’re NOT Just Like Us

Published July 29, 2016 by Malia

Okay, guys, bear with me.  I’m about to break my rule about not talking about politics.  And for the record, let me just say, I have not yet decided who I’m voting for, and even when I do decide, it’s my personal decision, and it’s my choice not to share it with the entire world.

I’m not a fan of politics.  I hate that politics bring out the absolute worst in people, and just seem to stir up so much hate and anger.  However, there’s something about politics that just really, REALLY annoys me…

Celebrity Supporters

What’s a celebrity supporter, you ask?  It’s anyone famous, or kinda famous who steps up and says, “I’m voting for so and so, and you should too because I’m just like you.  I’m a hard working, red-blooded American who only wants what’s best for this country; and this candidate shares all of our core values and beliefs.”

What’s absolutely amazing to me is that people would rather listen to a celebrity tell them how to vote, instead of actually sitting down and educating themselves about the candidate in question.

The thing is, no matter what the magazines may tell us, celebrities are NOT just like us.  It doesn’t matter how many times they’re photographed wearing yoga pants or getting Starbucks or walking their dogs.  The truth of the matter is, they live in a very different world than most of the rest of us.

Don’t believe me?  Here’s a few examples:

-This year’s Oscar nominee’s received a gift bag valued at $232,000 (Harper’s Bazaar).  Sure, it wasn’t sanctioned by the Academy, but that didn’t stop the nominees from receiving it.  Maybe it’s just me, but that number seems mind boggling for a “goodie bag.”  To put that in perspective, with that much money, I could pay off our mortgage, car, my student loans, and have a bit left over to give my parents to help pay down their mortgage.  To even make that much money, I would have had to work nearly twelve years at my last job to make that much money.

-Think about the last time you got a hair cut.  How many hundreds of dollars was it?  Yup, while you may pay between $15-$35 for a haircut, there are celebrities paying $350 and up for a cut that every stylist in America hopes they can recreate when an obsessed fan comes in wanting to look just like their favorite star.  (Forbes)

-What did you spend on your wedding?  Probably at least a couple thousand, right?  Even the most expensive weddings I know of, among my peer group, didn’t top $60,000 (and yes, even that number seems super high to me).  However, when celebrities get married, it’s not unusual for that price to jump into the millions.  (USA Today)

Are celebrities bad people because they have this kind of money?  No, not at all.  Having lots of money has little to do with what kind of person you are.  It’s how you choose to spend that money that reveals what your true nature is.

The point I’m trying to make is that these people don’t live a life that’s anything like that of the “average” American.  Now, I can appreciate that celebrities have quite a bit of power.  They can send out a tweet saying that the best tacos in the world are at a pretty unknown bar in Dallas, and not only will their millions of followers let all of their followers know, but the previously unknown bar will suddenly be famous.  And even if their tacos suck, most will never admit it because their favorite celebrity made the claim of best, and they just know that the celebrity couldn’t possibly be wrong.  With that kind of power, what politician wouldn’t want a celebrity in their corner, tweeting to the masses that their candidate is the one with true vision for the future?

So, here’s the deal, as we head into the next few months of this insane political circus, famous people are just people.  Meryl Streep is a very talented actress.  Willie Robertson is a successful businessman with an entertaining “reality” show.  Patton Oswalt is a entertaining comedian (and perfect narrator for The Goldbergs).  Wil Wheaton was in Star Trek: Next Generation and has been a pretty positive supporter of nerds and geeks.  Mike Tyson is a former boxer.  Mark Ruffalo makes an awesome Hulk.  Chuck Norris has a very specific set of skills, and it’s been said his tears cure cancer (but, sadly, he never cries).  Okay, the list could go on and on, but I’ll spare all of you.

Celebrities are people.  Most of them are rich people.  They’re people with their own opinions.  Guess what…you’re a person with your own mind.  It’s okay to listen to the celebrities, but don’t make your decisions based on what they tell you.  Research for yourself what is actually true, and in November go to the polls and vote.  Vote for what you believe is right.  Not what someone, using 160 characters, told you to believe.

The Playlist

Published September 26, 2015 by Malia

One thing about our wedding that makes me super happy, is the fact that multiple people have told us how much fun they thought it was.  I know I may be biased, but I think they’re right.  Probably one of my favorite things from our wedding is the playlist.

Back when we first started dating, one thing we would do is put YouTube on the Chromecast, and we’d both keep adding videos to the stream.  It made for many hours of inexpensive entertainment.  Since we weren’t having a dance at the wedding, the boy had the idea of putting together a giant YouTube playlist that would run in the background throughout the reception.  It’s filled with nerd music, parodies, and some pretty random weirdness.  It’s also a pretty good look at what entertains the two of us.  So, whether you were at the wedding and confused by the quiet YouTube videos, or just wanting to watch an eccentric stream of videos, I’m going to share the playlist with all of you!

Learning to knit at 1 a.m.

Published February 20, 2015 by Malia

It’s totally normal to try to learn a new hobby in the wee hours of the morning.  Right?  Especially a hobby that is super frustrating, and uses tools that you can either gouge your eyes out with or hang yourself with.  Absolutely nothing bizarre about any of this.  Nope, nothing.

This is what I do when the world is feeling overwhelming.  I attempt to craft.  Normally, I loom knit with varying levels of success.  (Last year, I did manage to actually finish two blankets.  I’m super proud of that.)  However, I found this blanket pattern that is absolutely perfect, and to make it turn out right I have to learn to actually knit.  No more cheat knitting.

I’ve previously alluded to my ongoing Pinterest addiction, and this pattern is another Pinterest find.  There’s this excellent blog called Lattes and Llamas, and they have the most amazing blanket I’ve ever seen.  The best part?  The entire pattern is free and available.  The lovely ladies who write the blog have also provided, “Learn to Knit” videos.  So far I’ve really got the hang of casting on to the needle, and I’m slowly getting the hang of the knit stitch.  It’s the purl stitch that’s causing me headache.  That, and the fact that I can’t seem to keep my yarn from getting super tight on the needle.  However, I’m determined to make this blanket.  I don’t think I’ve ever found something that more perfectly represents so many of the nerdy things that I love.

The big day is 22 days away at the moment.  I’m slowly moving myself from my parents, to the boy’s.  Fortunately, he only lives across town, so I can do this move a little more relaxed.  It’ll be nice when we’re finally married, and I’m no longer playing the running back and forth across town game.  It was fun a year ago, now it’s just wearing on me (and I’m pretty sure it’s wearing on the boy).

22 days.  This is surreal.  I keep thinking of that moment in Star Trek IV, when the whale scientist ends up on the Klingon Bird of Prey, and Kirk tells her, “Hello, Alice, welcome to Wonderland.”  (Seriously, the older I get, the more I love this movie.)  I constantly have a million thoughts racing through my head, and I’m feeling about every emotion that can be felt.  This is all so new,  but it’s a good new.

And if I can solve the mystery that is knitting, it’ll be a great new!

Totally Doing A Great Job of Writing Regularly…

Published January 17, 2015 by Malia

There’s something about publicly announcing I’m going to blog more regularly that seems to send my brain into rebellion and causes me to blog even less frequently than I was.  Which strikes me as completely ridiculous.  So, just to be safe, I’m done making proclamations regarding how frequently I’m going to write or how much weight I am going to lose. 

So, this is how I’m spending the wee hours of Saturday morning…

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I’m hanging out at the comic book store while the boy participates in the midnight pre-release of the next set of Magic cards.  This is actually a pretty big deal among those who play.  Some of these people will be here until five or six a.m., and then be back in a few hours to play for several more hours.  I’m not playing because I really, really, really, REALLY stink.  I make the worst players look like experts.  After a brain frying day at work I’m just not in any mental state to play a strategy card game.  However, I do enjoy hanging out and supporting the boy and getting lots of reading done.  I love that I can sit in the corner and read for hours on end, and no one cares or tried to bug me. 

Also, I’ll be honest, it’s a nice break from wedding stress.  I’m only 56 days away from the wedding, and my anxiety is through the roof.  I’m really excited about the future and the wedding, please don’t think I’m not.  However, there’s so much new and different that is headed towards me at break-neck speed and it’s a little scary.  I’m moving in with a boy.  That’s a definitely a first.  I’m gaining a whole pile of relatives all at once.  I’m changing my name.  I’m going to have to give up my wild, single girl habits (Translation: I have to start showing some restraint in the Kindle book purchasing).  This is only the short list, there are so many other things I could be listing off, but the goal is to not be stressing at the moment, so the list ends here.

56 days is not a very long amount of time…maybe I should start thinking about packing…

My cat is extremely jealous of Grumpy Cat, which has absolutely nothing to do with the content of this post.

Published November 21, 2014 by Malia

According to the countdown app on my phone, I’m only 3 days away from turning 30…and I’m only 113 days away from my wedding. 

No, that’s not a typo. 

The boy and I are gettin’ hitched!

Feel free to take a moment and join me in the “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!” Squeal-A-Thon that I’ve been having for the last two weeks. 

That’s a large part of why I’ve not  written much lately.  It wasn’t really public knowledge until last Sunday.  Now, though, pretty much everyone I know knows, so I figured I was fine saying something here.

The other reason I haven’t written much is because I’ve not wanted to sound like a broken record.  My life is pretty routine.  I work hard at my awesome/crazy stressful job.  Sleep.  Go to the boy’s house to hang out every few days, and usually use that time to catch up on all the shows that air while I’m at work (Flash and Scorpion are excellent, by the way).  The super cool thing about being engaged (y’know, apart from getting to marry the love of my life and start a whole new life adventure) is that I actually have new things to write about. 
So stay tuned as I start a new decade of life.  Wow, that sounds cheesy.  And now I want pizza.   Which isn’t a good thing if I really want to be able to wear the gorgeous dress in 113 days.

113 days.  I’m getting married in 113 days.  I cannot hardly wait, I’m so excited!!!!!!

Lazy Saturday

Published November 1, 2014 by Malia

We are in recovery mode currently.  Yesterday the boy was a groomsman, and we stayed until the party was over at midnight.  Since it was Halloween, the party was a costume party.  The wedding was Magic: The Gathering themed, so the boy’s costume was Tezzeret, and mine was Jane Austen’s Catwoman.  I love Catwoman, but there’s no way I’d ever wear the leather cat suit.  Which got me to thinking outside the box.  I got to wondering what it would look like if Jane Austen had written Batman, which led to what I think was a pretty cool costume.  Mom made me a beautiful Regency style dress, I found a fantastic laser cut metal cat mask, and dad hot-glued fake nails to a pair of lace gloves.  I was pleased with the end result.

We are adorable!

He had to be into work crazy early, which means he got off of work early, and now I’m crashed on his couch doing boring things like paying bills, and he’s asleep in his recliner.  It’s peaceful and a rather nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

It’s the beginning of November (a fact that you’re aware of if you know how to read a calendar).  This means I am officially at the end of my twenties.  23 days from now I’ll awaken as a mature, thoughtful, classy thirty year old.  Or, I’ll just wake up as a 30 year old who’s really no different than the 29 year old I currently am.

I do want to start my 30’s on more positive, emotionally healthy ground than I meandered through my twenties with.  For the most part, my twenties will forever be locked in my brain as this murky swamp of a decade where I made some really terrible decisions.  However, I also made some really fantastic friends.  It’s been a strange decade, that’s for sure.

Also, since it is now November, it is officially NaNoWriMo.  When I finish this post, I’m going to start working on my novel.  I really have no idea what I’m going to write about this year, but I figure the important thing is that I at least participate in the exercise.