gism, weekend wrap up

Ladies & Gents - this has been a jam-packed few weeks. Christmas, NYE, my birthday... and next weekend we get ready to celebrate a new administration and a newly challenged leader. It's too good to be true!

I feel like I spent this past weekend driving - we headed south for a wedding. I think weddings are romantic. After meeting my husband at a wedding, it seems as though the cheesy-factor goes through the roof. I love seeing two people who are well matched entering into this covenant. This wedding was gorgeous -- the bride was all glow-y and the groom had the best poker face I have ever seen. I got to hang out with old (and new friends) and thoroughly enjoyed watching The Tambourine. JFC, I will come down for a Saturday. Or hook up the Wii for a double date (and I feel a little silly writing that out. Holla.).

Also, this whole grace in small things thing... I feel silly making a list every day. Mainly because, weaving through this whole blog thing, are little elements of where I find grace. In my husband who brings me a diet coke for a Friday surprise. In the relief of being appropriately dressed for a wedding (can you believe someone wore WHITE?). In a new dog toy that is stuffing free. In the card my parents-in-law gave me, the one that makes me feel like a real part of the family. In the sweetness of three birthday cakes. In the strength of surviving another year - growing in my faith, growing as a person and getting past that which holds me back.

I see grace in so many ways - okay, so a list is a definite way of making a point of the whole thing. Pausing to take notice. etc. I might not do it every day, but in case you were wondering, I've never had to do something every day for it to be real.

ps. Would you ever ever wear white to a wedding? One that wasn't your own?

Meet George.

I woke up early this Sunday. Well, early-ish. It was gorgeous out -- bright blue skies and a cool constant breeze. I had a hankering for a newspaper and a brie&bacon sandwich from Gourmet Shop. Since I wasn't really within driving distance of Saluda - I made my own. I woke up the Sleeping Prince with a mimosa and we headed to Lake Ella. A cooler, a blanket and our puppy - we were set.

We had the St. Pete Times & the Tallahassee Democrat; I also had the newest version of Martha Stewart Weddings. I have always been a Martha fan -- and I still think she was wronged. More than that, MSWeddings has some really neat stuff in it. Of course, we estimated that the wedding magazine purchase total is somewhere around $50 in the two months that we've been engaged. Seriously - I have a stack at least a foot and a half high in the hall. Ha! What a racket! We decided that I would purchase no more wedding drivel. NONE! Not even if it has my dress/tiara/veil/shoes/dj/flowers on the cover. No more for me!

Well, I suppose our puppy George heard us and took it to heart. I was upstairs when I heard the oh-so-familiar sound of paper ripping. Chris went first - to warn me if it was bad. Yeah, George was ripping into the Martha Stewart Weddings -- my last wedding publication! Sigh. I'll live. He, however, might not!

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FYI: He is not named after any particular political figure per se. Chris calls him George W. I usually refer to him as George McGovern. Poor dog is going to have a complex and start refering to himself as Nader.