*DIGNITY?* I laugh in the face of *dignity!*

'Which on of these things doesn't belong here, which one of these things just isn't the same...?'

{whoa, i (sort of) quoted lion king and then sesame street...}

Correct answer: the crazy kid in a tutu!

Yup, that is me, and if you are wonderin' why I am wearing such a thing, let me just tell you!

My youth group, Merge Ahead, is pretty big. Something like 150 kids. So we break everyone up into small groups, called CREWS (gender/age specific), that meet on other nights of the week, so everyone is part of something smaller than the Sunday night whole.

That is my CREW. We meet on Thursdays and normally do Bible/book studies, eat food and pray but..sometimes we branch out. Last week when we learned one of the girls (Lindsay. Far left.) was having a 22nd bday, we decided to celebrate last night. Obviously having cake and the usual. Then the leader, (Jeri, far right) said something along the lines of "Haha, you're going to be turning Two Two! That is fun to say..." and I blurt out "GUYS! WE SHOULD ALL WEAR TUTUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (first thing that came to my mind. I will take any chance to wear any kind of costume. But it took them just a minute to make the mental connection.)

Longer story short, I am the only one with access to tutus. My dear friend Emily is a beast of a point ballerina; she has a closet stuffed with past costumes. That tutu is hers (and though I am a very unlikely candidate for wearing something as girly as a tutu, I adore that one because it is red and black and awesome. Not the first time I've borrowed it...).
Basically they concluded *I* would show up in a tutu for Lindsays 2_2 party.

And oh yes, I did!

First, we made a list of 22 places to venture in a tutu...a park, a baseball game, New York city, old folks home, insane asylum with Ace Ventura, mosh pit, etc...

Original plan was to hang out at Jeri's apartment but when "a park" appeared first on our list, it was all too convenient that Jeri lives next to one. So off we went!

One of my life motto's: "Dignity? I don't believe in dignity..." so yes, I went to a park in a tutu. (Where there was a little league baseball game going on...meaning PEOPLE were there...)

We played on the "sway fun" (this giant, rocking benchy thing) which we, because we are so punny, decided was just "tutu much fun for us."

Tutu on a corkscrew thingy...

I am the scariest "ballerina"...ever...and I can play on playgrounds a lot better than I can dance ballet. (Emily talked me into a couple years of that...it was interesting...)

I can even side saddle green rhino's in a tutu, my skills are so ...unique.

Me, Jeri, Katie W, Katie S and the birthday girl Lindsay.

It was a once in a life time experience. Never before has anyone gifted a 22 year old the gift of dressing in a tutu. Never again, either (although my the 19 year old Katie W might request that gift when her 22nd comes around.)

I'm not gunna lie, I was having a blast. Not everyone can rock a tutu, especially outside of a dance recital, but I sure as anything can. So I do, as often as possible.

Anyone having any parties the want me at!?

All Dressed Up with Everywhere To Go...

After I did the post about me and the 22nd birthday tutu adventure I realized what a costume addict I am.

 I have concluded I cannot and will not turn down any opportunity for which I can dress weird. Somewhere in me there is still a kid that wants to play dress-up and I seem to be unable to control her.

**(I blame/thank my mom who let me wear whatever I wanted as a kid. Didn't do Halloween, but she let me dress as whatever I wanted all other days of the year.)

    

Just look at me in all my fashionable childhood glory...**

Parties, fairs, performances, no reason at all. I am unleashing my craziness on the world through the means of my wardrobe. And I have pictures to prove this...

Shakespearean acting. This was 2008, King Lear. I was Goneril, which by the way, was a fantastic part. Not only did I get to not DRESS like me, I got to act unlike me.

This one was a couple weeks ago. I was supposed to be helping my friend buy a costume for an upcoming dance recital (Michael Jackon's Thriller...). We found said costume, and that is not it. That is us messin' around with bizarre clothing. We found some fantastic rain pants ("Lets buy them and wear them on our Costa Rica trip!!!!") and then some fantastically hideous tops to match. We decided that we are BOTH the Fresh Prince(sses) of Bel-Air. Or something.

Shakespeare 2007. Love's Labours Lost. Rosaline. She was fun, but not as fun as Goneril.

And in 2006 I played the fool. Literally. Launce of Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Super Hero Theme Night with MergeKids (my church's children's ministry). We leaders dressed as made up and real superheroes.  And oh yes, you had better be believin' I can do a full, flat out split!

This...well...I can't really explain this. But it may or may not have involved Buddy the Elf, several Luchadors, maple syrup, stretchy pants, Rave Dancing, a photo shoot and The ChaCha Slide. Lets just not talk about this...

3-D Movie glasses. Which we punches the lenses out of and wore out to eat after the movie...

"Lets find the ugliest clothes in the store and try them on!!!!"

We do this a lot. These are our outfits for when we join the circus.

Renaissance Faire. Oh heck yeah. I will take ANY opportunity to wear my pirate ensemble publicly.

*I can't find the one of me in a "medieval wench" costume playing an electric guitar. That one is really special.*

Shepherd boy David and Joseph from the Bible. It was for children...

 The other occasion on which I wore the tutu. Emily was going to a banquet and was all dressed up and gorgeous. I was hanging out with her before hand and raided her closet for some more dressy attire...such as a tutu.

Yup. It's official. I love costumes. A lot a lot. Give me a reason, any reason, big or small, and I'll find a way to play dress-up.

**there will be very little bloggin' going on for the rest of the week. I am going to be house/kid sitting for some of my favorite people in the whole world. See you all on Monday.

**ps: England is playing again on Friday!!!!! I am going all out and wearing every piece of flag-bearing clothing possible. And I have a LOT. Pictures will commemorate this experience.

Another 22nd birthday.

Remember the post about me, a 22nd birthday party and a tutu? Good times. Well this week I attended another birthday party for a turning 22 years old friend. And not just any old friend, my Soul Sister (her birthday is my half- birthday and vice versa. So, according to her, that makes us Soul Sisters) Sarah Louise. Who is a mermaid, princess, artist and all-around good time.

So obviously any old party wouldn't do. So she threw a princess/tea party, because "the thought of it filled her with happiness." Tiaras were mandatory.

Now, if you know me, I am anything but a princess/mermaid kinda girl. Don't do glitter, don't do pink, don't do girly, and definitely don't do princess parties with tiaras. But, as I love my dear 'Weeze' I went. On the agreement that (as it was my HALF birthday) I could dress semi-piratical (which turned out more pirate/princess/punk) and still wear the tiara. (She agreed to this. She is happy whenever she can bring even a liiiiitttle girliness out of me. She calls me Isabella KissesandHugs.)

I was a pirate. Everyone else was a princess. And we had a 22nd birthday party and it was most fabulous.

Silly birthday card. You can't tell in the picture, but it glitters because I added in some sparkly nail polish over-top the marker. And yes, I even OWN a tiara (or 3...) because of Irish Dance. Painful beast, but for the love of Sarah Louise I wore it all night!

 Some princess in a tree house. Makes sense, right? No...but it was fun squeezing like 11 people into it, wondering if the floor would hold over 1,100 pounds...and it DID!

 This was the "you had better put these pictures up on facebook (which I don't use really) or your blog" face from the chief princess. Look. I obeyed. You happy Weeze? 

Me and my soul sister on a swing...being emo or something for some reason. "Look sad! We can make an emo band and this can be our cover!"

Me, the Soul Sister, and my actual (but also not really...) sister Emikel.

So they say "now lets see how many princesses the hammock can hold!" I sit down first. And promptly the hammock rises up in mutiny and I end up on my butt in the grass. Still not sure what went wrong. I am a pirate and am totally pro at hammocking...?

Princesses who were more successful at hammocking than I...

Princess Weeze showing off her Disney Princess Spaghetti-O's from Princess Lydia.

Up-close proof of the tiara wearing. Yeah. I did it. With a skull shirt, skull earrings, (fantastic) red peasant skirt, and studded leather belt and shoes. Yup. I did. 
Oh and did I mention I parked my car down the road and walked to her house... I think everyone who walked by wanted to be my friend or something. Oh good times.

22nd birthdays are just so fun (or seem to be with my friends). Who's next? What other girly costumes might I end up in for the sake of celebrations? Only time will tell...

Bawk Bawk Easter Bunny

*title is apparently off a Cadbury Egg commercial from years ago. My dad quotes it whenever chicken are eaten or bunnies are mentioned...? But the Easter Bunny sits upon the same lie throne as Santa...another story, for another day...

I had previously mentioned how my littlest sister was envious of the amigurumi cat I made for another sister's birthday. So, because she is 20 months old and has no patience to wait until her own birthday in April, I made her a bunny.

She named her HopHop. Or just Bunny. Depends on the moment...

She is about a foot tall, is made of cotton yarn (typically used to make wash clothes and stuff, but I had a bunch of scraps and I wanted to use it up), and wears a tutu (her legs came out not like I wanted them-kinda like a mermaid-so I covered up the flaw with a poofy dress). And I especially like her big, crazy ears...although cat ears are a lot quicker to make...
(But I now have requests for a moose, a hippo, and an elephant; I had better improve my ear/antler skills soon.)

This is the sister, sledding, with a bunny, in my grandmother's living room...? Oh to be one!

Getting married is quite the chore...

So, I am getting married in 64 days. No big deal. The reality sure hasn't sunk in yet, although I do have sudden moments of mind blowing realization, but what has sunk in is WEDDINGS ARE A LOT OF WORK!

JoJo and I, no matter the time frame we had to plan, or even if we had a budget of 50 zillion dollars, always wanted a small, family centered, non-traditional outdoorsy wedding. And seeing as I am non-conventional about most aspects of my life, it shouldn't surprise you that I am non-conventional as a bride-to-be either.

When I was 14, I went on a mission trip to Chile. Great trip, had nothing to do with weddings, but had a lot to do with dysfunctional relationships of team members (many long stories, of which details don't matter). Up until that point in my life I had no intention of getting married. Most of the time I planned on living in the woods by myself and being a falconer/ raptor rehabilitator forever. But during that trip I decide that I was going to someday get married and that I was going to do things right. At that point I made all sorts of very serious decisions about how I was going to do things and what I would do in the mean time. That included praying for the guy I would someday marry (funny thing: Within months of all this occurring some 15 year old kid name JoJo randomly came to my church and got saved...fast forward 7 years and we are getting married. God is cool like that.).

Upon getting back from the trip I walked into my church sanctuary, which they had renovated in the time I was gone and put up hideous acoustic panels on the wall. At that point I raised my right hand and swore to honor God, and still get married, but not to get married in that building. I am sticking with that. I love my church, but it isn't lovely in photos. From that point on I began planning the wedding I would someday have with the one and only man that God had created for me. It being outside was of the utmost importance. (I know some Christians strongly believe in getting married in a church, particularly in their own, because they want their wedding to be "in the eyes of God." I agree very much with wanted my wedding to be in the eyes of God and that is crucially important, but I do not believe God's eyes are limited to any particular place. I believe in God's omnipresence. My wedding will certainly be within his reaches!)

So my 64 day away wedding will be taking place on my grandparent's farm. When I was 14, I also thought it might be nice to get married in the rain, but since then I have rethought that and have decided, as much as I love rain, not to subject my friends and family to it on my wedding day. JoJo proposed in the rain. That is good enough for perfect me. So please, pray for nice weather on May 26th (tents as a back up plan, though!). We will be doing the ceremony (with our wonderful youth pastor as the officiant) before our family and friends (we wanted small and then realized we had huge families, so our guest list is at 200!). The ceremony will be followed by a picnic-style reception, also at my grandparent's beautiful property.

Another part of my wedding that was set in stone from age 14 on was a "retina burnin' white wedding dress." There were a couple years were I joked about wearing my friend's red and black gothic tutu (just because I am fond of rebellion), but I always knew my dress would be *WHITE*. JoJo and I joke about people having to wear sunglasses at the wedding. Long story short, I put a lot of effort into earning a white wedding dress. Its needing to be white was a non-negotiable.

And guess what? A couple Saturday's ago my mom and I went second-hand wedding dress shopping (as we are expert thrifters!) for *7 hours* and at our last stop, Savers, we found a BEAUTIFUL dress, very close to my size, in a style that suited me, for $69.99. It was used, but in lovely condition and it was made in the USA (I refused to buy a dress from a big name bridal store because I try to avoid supporting any company that isn't fair trade and uses sweatshops in their product manufacturing.) And $70 beautiful dress? It was WHITE. God is so good.
I wish I could better describe it to you, but you will have to wait until after the wedding for pictures! No dress-info leaks allowed!

This post is getting long and overwhelming, so I will cut myself off now. There will have to be more posts telling of all the thrifting, DIY-ing and preparations that have been going on in planning this wedding.  (*more posts over HERE on my mom's blog) Originally, 3 months seemed like a horridly short amount of time to pull a wedding together, but God, as usual, is being faithful and again and again we are being surprised by His goodness in helping us to make this wedding happen.  I am trying to remain calm and not sweat the small stuff. (will the flower girls shoes, or the sauce we serve on chicken have any long term effect on my marriage? No.) No bridezilla's allowed. Big picture, the wedding doesn't matter. The marriage does.
 Between all the planning and prep, as well as full time school and part time work, I am getting more and more excited. Stay tuned for more updates!