Bookmark the Date!

Since Nathan and I decided upon a book-themed wedding, life has been much easier... And a whole lot more fun!!!  The first order of business was save the dates!  And not just ANY save the dates, specialized, personalized and perfect save the dates!  You might've already guessed it by now, but yes, we choose to do BOOKMARKS! (it's ok, you can gasp a little)...

First, we took our engagement pictures and thanks to our amazing photographer Rory Gordon of Rory Gordon Photography, we were able to get some great pictures taken to add to our bookmarks!  I painted the inside of a thick book, with the words "Save" "THE" "Date" "June 24, 2012." They turned out fabulous and helped us get started on the designing of the bookmarks! 

Because we are doing this wedding on a pretty tight budget, I kindly asked Nathan if he wouldn't mind designing the bookmarks himself, since he had a full week of vacation and nothing much to do except watch the Simpson's and eat Chipotle all week- oh and seminary papers to write, but hey, he somehow managed to squeeze it all in :)

So, he was able to design these beauties in less than 2 hours, which was AWESOME!!  All we had to do was send them to the printer, and VIOLA...

This is the front of them.  We also decided to mail them in Kraft paper envelopes- further information below (as if there's some HUGE detail that I'm not sharing).

This is the back of them.  If you can't read it, which you probably can't, it says "Ashley Gustafson and Nathan Womack Bound together in marriage on June 24, 2012 in Fullerton, CA.  Formal invitations to follow. Romans 8:37-39"  Anybody LOVE the pun with the word bound???  Anyone??? Anyone??? Bueller???  That's ok... On to the next!

Then we oh so cleverly, thanks to my dear friend Laura Lewis, tore out a book page from the same book that we painted on for the pictures on the bookmark to write "Bookmark the Date!" on each page, as seen below. Using an xacto knife, we cut slits in each and wrote on the slit part and then inserted each of the bookmarks.

Then, we also went that extra step and again, thanks to Laura, individually stamped each envelope with a specialized W womack stamp that I bought from pick your plum.  And we placed each of the above pictured bookmarks into the envelopes and BOOM, they were ready to go out!

Oh we also used vintage looking stamps, just to follow with the theme.

Anyways, I thought somebody might be able to use this or might enjoy seeing it.  It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!  And minus a few old people who just "didn't get it" most everybody loved them and thought that they were creative and beautiful!

Stay tuned for our decision on the formal invitations!  Also, there's much more fun to come with the book centerpieces, escort cards, and the boutonnieres!  Not to mention my brooch bouquet :)

June 24th 2012 can't come fast enough!!!  YAY for marriage and goodness :)

DJ Turn it Up!

Planning a wedding has been one of the greatest experiences EVER.  It's also been exhausting.  The negotiation skills that need to take place are INSANE as well as the amount of time and research that it takes to make everything fall into place. 

However, sometimes, occasionally, every once in a great while, something good just falls right into your hands.  Nathan and I were at Starbucks, meeting with our 7th photographer (yes, lucky number 7, right?!) when we thanked her for her time and walked outside and started discussing our purpose in life (or most likely the weather, but purpose makes us sound so sophisticated).  As we're talking and quoting Aristotle, this kid- 19 to 20 years old- walks up to us and says, "Hi there!  I hate to bother you guys, but..."

Ok, usually, generally speaking, as some sort of unwritten rule, when someone starts of a sentence like that, you (and by "you" I mean me) assume that they want money.  So, naturally, I start to kinda "eyeball" him to see if he really needed the money or not (as if it's up to me to judge that sort of thing) and start to think about my cash situation in my wallet, when all of the sudden he finishes and says, "I overheard you two were planning a wedding.  Congrats!"

Now, my head all of the sudden goes from "Oh, he's just a person in need" to "When did I get a stalker?!"  I'm looking around furiously, as if he has other stalker friends following us too, and then get really nervous.

I think he sensed the nervousness and overall weirdness about me and he quickly says, "I just overheard you with the photographer and then I thought that maybe I could give you my brother's information because he does DJ work for weddings."

Oh.  Ok.  Phew.  Not a homeless kid in need.  Not a stalker with a wedding obsession.  Just a good brother helping another brother out.  Nice.

I ask him for a business card.  This is where it gets good.  He says he doesn't have a business card, BUT, he has a small, tiny, ripped piece of paper where he then proceeded to scribble the name and phone number of his brother along with his website. 

I asked him for a ball-park figure of how much this would cost me.  He kept saying he had no clue because the only thing his brother let him do was family backyard barbeques.  Nice.

Needless to say, the kid did great because I called his brother, who then calls me back when I'm busy to which I call him back to when it goes straight to voicemail to when we are now in an INTENSE game of phone tag. 

Hopefully the kid was right and that his brother IS a good DJ and that he can give me a good price.  The search the best priced DJ is ON!

Oh and hopefully I'll have a million more stories about how funny and great life is :) 

Book it!

I have now been engaged for nearly 3 (whole) weeks!!  And me, being the planner that I am, have started the planning process on this wedding business.  After all, Costco is already setting up for the Harvest, which means that Target already has Valentine's decorations out, which means that next May or June will be here in jiff!

Nathan and I have already started looking at venues and have been fortunate enough to have some help come along with us (in the form of besties... and my mom). Venue shopping with Traci, Amber, Amanda, April, and my mom has been a blast! And we're still in the process of finding that "ideal place."  Nathan is constantly reminding me that no place will be perfect, but we still find something that we're happy with.  That's when I decided to let go "perfect" and reach for "ideal." ;) 

Anyways, so we haven't found our venue yet, but we have both decided on a theme.  Being the academics(a.k.a. nerds) that we are, we decided we want to do a book-themed wedding.  AHHHHHHHH... LOVE IT!!!  We're thinking all vintage, antique-like books for centerpieces, and library invites, and bookmark save-the-dates.  I mean, really the creativity on this thing is endless...

I've already collected over 60 books, sitting in my "minivan-sized" living room.  We have 10 children's novel-type books that are 99 years old and by the time of our wedding, assuming my math is right, will be 100 years old!  AHHHHHHH... LOVE IT!!!  We also have 17 classic Shakespeare books from 1950 that actually might be worth something.  We also have 6 (ironically) books on the Bible, which are very beautiful and vintage.  And then of course, there are the cookbooks.  Only Amber can deeply appreciate the cookbooks ;)

So our next step is to find the aforementioned "ideal" venue.  Once we see it fitting in with our book-theme, then... we'll BOOK it (pun completly intended). 

Wish us luck!  And if you have any ideas, send them my way! I'm always open to creative people's opinions :)

He Rocks!

This is a story I've waited my whole life to tell.  A story of romance, adventure, travel, culture, and most of all love. So sit back, relax, and enjoy reading the story of my engagement :)

Setting the scene:
The day was Saturday, July 9, 2011.  The weather was clear and warm.  The day was a celebration.  A celebration of Nathan's 26 years on this lovely planet. His birthday was a day I had been looking forward to for a while, because I knew that we would get to spend a lot of time together and do something really fun.  And by fun, I mean touring a museum and singing Bruno Mars songs in the car on the way to our destination. It didn't matter where we went, I was just ready to go.  So Nathan planned a day for us in Santa Barbara.  We were going to see the Mission and go to the beach.  It was going to be a new place that the two of us hadn't yet visited together.

Royal Mess:
While getting my nails done earlier that week, I saw on the news that the Royal Couple (why this is capitalized, I have no idea) was going to be in town for his birthday weekend.  I (of course!) already knew that, but what I didn't know was that they were planning on going to Santa Barbara on the day of his birthday.  So, I immediately call him and tell him that Will and Kate were planning on being there the same day we were (GASP!).  Seriously, the nerve of these Two! He calmly said that we could just plan to go somewhere else and that it was no big deal.  Later that week, I mentioned the idea of going to the Getty Villa in Malibu and that became our new destination.

The Getty Villa:
Seeing the Getty was absolutely beautiful.  The weather was so great and we were able to enjoy our time together there.  We also got to eat good food, which was high up on my priority list, since I hadn't eaten at all that morning.  They also had a biblical photography exhibit which was awesome! The pools, the gardens, and the buildings were all flawless and we both really enjoyed it.

Then we went for a drive.  He kept saying that he really wanted to just sit on the beach.  I kept asking him if he wanted to see Transformers.  He kept insisting on the beach.  I didn't understand what boy wouldn't want to see Transformers.  But, it was his birthday, so we kept driving in search of a good beach...

Well, Malibu really isn't the best beach spot because of the fact that the water goes all the way up to PCH, not leaving much room for sand and such.  So we went to Starbucks, and caffeinated ourselves and kept driving around.

Santa Monica:
Finally, he made the decision to drive to Santa Monica.  So we parked near the pier and walked for MILES (possibly could have been like 48 feet, but it felt like forever).  And we get our blankets and sit down in a little area, by ourselves, away from the masses of people.  Then he hands me this card with my name on it and tells me that it's for me but not to open it.  Then he leaves for like 20 minutes.

So for 20 minutes straight, I'm sitting there and FREAKING out, thinking that he was going to come back and pop the question.  But then I thought that maybe it was just a regular card and that he wasn't in fact going to propose to me, but just wanted to say something nice instead.  So then, I was just confused and really didn't know what to do.

The Proposal:
Once he got back and we talked about celebrity gossip and food for about 3 minutes and then he asked me to open the card.  I asked him what it was first.  He said that it was a thank you card for his birthday.  I was slightly confused, but then he said I needed to stand and read it and that I needed to read it out loud.  And that's about the point that I knew...

So I read this beautiful card where he thanked me for everything and said that I had given him so much and he wanted to give me something... (yes, dot dot dot WAS included in the card)...

And he got down on one knee...

And he had a box...

And inside the box was............................................................................................................

My perfect ring!

The ring is INCREDIBLE!  I couldn't believe it when I saw it and was just absolutely thrilled to have it on my hand!  Then, the kicker...

As if the ring wasn't PERFECT the way it was, he told me about it.  He said he designed it himself and that he used part of the gold from his mom's wedding ring to make mine and that 4 of the side diamonds were also from his mom's wedding ring.  I couldn't believe it!  That ring was everything I've ever dreamed of, and to have him include his mom's ring in it, made it so incredibly special. It could not have meant more to me!

After we talked about the ring for a while, he finally asked me if I was going to say yes or not.  I totally forgot he even asked me to marry him, between the card and the box and the ring, I was a little distracted.  Of course, I said yes!  He is my best friend and the love of my life (cheesy, but true) and I couldn't imagine my life without him.  He is everything I've ever prayed for and wanted and sooooo much more- much like that ring he got me.  I love every moment that I have with him and I just can't believe that he loves me as much as I love him.  He is such a blessing to me and my life.

Spreading The News:
We spent the next two hours calling people and telling them the fantastic news!  Getting to share the news with everyone was amazing and I was really overwhelmed with all the love and support that we received.  It was overwhelming and wonderful and amazing! AND, thanks to his Grandma Ruth, we didn't have to call everyone, because she graciously said that she would make the calls for us ;) It was so comforting to hear her excitement!!!

After the calls and the texts and the tears and the drool, we decided it was time to hit facebook ;)  My favorite thing to do is to enlighten my facebook friends with fascinating, random things in my life.  And this was just about as fascinating as life gets.  I was way too excited to post it! And from there, the love/thumbs ups just kept coming!  People are really just so great!!!

The Aftermath:
All in all, I just can't explain how happy I am.  I've never felt this much love and support for anything in my whole life and I cannot wait to share all the wedding details with everyone. 

I am so looking forward to planning a wedding, going on a honeymoon, and starting my life with this amazing guy! I still feel like this whole thing is a dream and am waiting to wake up.  The beauty of it is that it's not a dream and that it's real and that it's happening to me!!!

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!  I'm getting married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Facebook: Dis-like.

Let me just start off by saying that I, of all people, am a HUGE fan of facebook.  I absolutely love the feeling of getting a snapshot into people's lives. The best is seeing their pictures (many of them completely embarrassing), watching them check into random places (many of them completely embarrassing), and seeing who's complicated with who this week (ha!.)  It's great!  And I completely fall into the category of the person who often shares too many random bits of my personal life for all the world to see.  Guilty!

However, there is a whole other group of people (in my case, a small percentage of my fb friends), that put their hearts, their minds, and most uncomfortably, their pains, hurts, and fears out there for everyone to see.  The past few days have been difficult with me seeing a few different friends posting some rather uncomfortable stuff about their hearts and how they've been totally broken- for various reasons.  And after I read their status updates, and their notes, and their wall posts on other friends' walls, I have this aching feeling for them.  My heart hurts for them.  It's not fun.  And I don't like it- no pun intended.

And I caught myself wondering, "Why would anyone admit to having these feelings to all 200+ friends?" 

Of course, there are hundreds of different reasons why one would expose their lives in such a way. For some, it's attention, for others it's a therapeutic outlet to write, and I would be that some people don't even have a reason for doing it, they just do. 

So as I was contemplating hiding the aforementioned friends, so that I just don't have to share in their sadness, I realized that this is my opportunity. 

This is my opportunity.

To pray for them. 
To advocate for them.
To petition for them.
To love them.

And even though sometimes I don't even tell them that I'm doing this (many of them are not believers), I still feel that it is my responsibility as a follower of Christ, to love them and pray for them.  Now, it's often hard when I do pray for them and share with them that I'm doing so, and then they either ignore me or tell me to not waste my time, or delete me- that one hurt a little.  That's difficult, sure.  But whether it hurts my feelings momentarily or not, is besides the point.  The point is that they still need prayers and they still need love.

To make a long story short, I hope that by these people sharing their hearts in such a way, that others are able to lift them up in prayer and offer them a friend during their rough season.  I hope that I'm helping where I can doing a good job in being a prayer warrior for these people.

Facebook friends may come and go, but God will always be there.  Now that's deep ;)

Canswer

I work in a cancer hospital.  When I first got this job, all I could think of was how inspiring it would be to work here.  Sounds strange, I know, but I was really excited about being a part of something that was doing great things.  I was excited to be a part of the clever "Breast Canswer" advertisements and go to the photo shoots of administrators and nurses and doctors- who all play a critical role in saving lives. I really believed that I would be able to watch hope and love flourish in a place like this.  And it does.  Hope and love are most definitely present.  But so is illness and death.

Today, my coworker, a breast cancer survivor, went in for her yearly checkup.  She's been cancer-free for 11 years but she says that every time she has to get checked, she gets extremely sick and nervous, filled with fear that the cancer might come back.

This woman is a believer, with a very sweet heart and a love for Jesus.  So I knew that I could pray for her before she went in, to at least calm her nerves.  After she came back, she explained to me that she just wanted God to tell her it was going to be ok.  That she didn't want this guessing game of not knowing if she's sick or not.

It's hard to relate to her when I've never been sick (as in serious diseases).  I've never lost anyone.  I've never really even seen a terminally sick person until I came here.  (I've lived a VERY sheltered life).  So of course it was easy for me to pray for her.  It was also easy for me to tell her that God has a plan and that He is good and that her faith is encouraging to me.  It was also easy for me to tell her that even if God didn't directly speak to her, that Jesus says, "blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed."  It was easy for me to tell her to have some faith.

She took everything I said with a sincere smile and a quick thank you email, but I still feel like I haven't been able to help her.  Her appointment today left both of us feeling like life is so out of our own personal control.  I really am so inspired by her faith and by her love staying constant for God, even when things are REALLY rough for her.  She has taught me a lot, in a very short amount of time. 

Now, all I can do is pray that she will stay healthy.  Even though she hasn't yet received a prophetic word or had a vision of Jesus walking towards her, giving her the thumbs up that she's cancer-free (yes, that's how I dream it happens, thanks to facebook), she and I both have faith that He will take care of her, one way or another...

Conversations of Courage Vol 2

So several months ago, my loving and smart boyfriend came to me and told me that he was going to write a section in a book that was to be published sometime in 2011.  I was super excited and thrilled for him and could not wait to see his dream of writing come true in book form!

It was amazing to be able to help him along the way, not only being his cheerleader and number one fan, but also to be able to read it ahead of time and give him my thoughts.  His writing is superb and I was so pleased to be a small part of his writing journey.

Now that the book has been published, I've been able to read through every story and see how God has moved in on these people's lives.  It's a really encouraging experience to be able to share with others the power of what God can do, if you let Him.

Check out his blog to read more about it and find out how you can read his story! 
http://nathan-womack.blogspot.com/?spref=fb