Moving On, Moving Up

We are still pretty bummed about Maine. All in all Wednesday was pretty crappy. I accidentally kept crying when my students or co-workers asked about it... Thankfully I also have bad allergies right now so I could turn my from blithering idiot and into a fake sneeze or two. No need for students to see me semi-defeated for a day.

Most heartwarming were former students of mine who had nice little "f@!* you, Maine" facebook statuses, it is nice to know that they support marriage equality! And all of the great comments that I got on the blog made me smile in my heart.

If you didn't hear, Houston is in a run-off for mayor and Annise Parker could be the first openly gay woman to be governor in HOUSTON FREAKING TEXAS.

This is more than big. This is huge.
And this is even huge-r for Texas.
Huger isn't even a word, folks..... that is how HUGE this thing is.

My new friend, Meghan and her wife Lindsay, (who also happen to be founders of Impact Houston) are trying to fund-raise for Annise and have created their own fundraising page.I know after Maine's defeat, I wanted to throw my support behind SOMETHING (that wasn't HRC this time around). And I'm definitely planning on donating to her campaign to help her win the race.

You can donate here!

Also, Erica over at Bi-Wedding Diaries, had a great post about her feelings on Maine and a link to an Etsy shop that is donating profits to No H8. You should check out her blog first, and then the etsy shop next.

Hope everyone has plans for a happy weekend!

No Crumbs...

I have been dreaming about my wedding since I was 5. When I was in high school and college and had a bad day, I would go buy a bridal magazine. True story. I would peruse through those glossy pages and bookmark or tear out things I liked. Then, like any good theatre designer, I'd put them in an image book... to keep safe.

Just because I never thought or planned about a having a groom doesn't mean I'm not entitled to standing in front of friends and family and saying vows to the one I love. And it doesn't now. But, apparently 53% of Maine and my home state and half of bloody America think my 'commitment ceremony' (i loathe that phrase) is just fine and dandy as long as I don't want the rights and privileges of straight couples.

Well, I'm pissed. I'm glaring a lot. Just the fact that we have to go outside of the state we were raised in to get married is insulting enough. And now, with Prop 1 passing....

Last year, I was devastated. When Prop 8 passed, Deb and I couldn't talk about it. She went out and ate an entire thing of cookie dough. I smoked a lot of cigarettes. It wasn't pleasant by any means. I can't believe it has already been a year.

I have a lot of mixed emotions. Part of me doesn't want to make a big deal out of this. Part of me just wants to get married like the rest of the population. I just want to celebrate and then be a wife and not HAVE to be a part of this. Another part (the more prominent) knows that just by having a blessing in Texas we are making some sort of stand. We are drawing attention to ourselves (blog or no blog) and creating conversations and hopefully changing people's minds with every vendor, every person we talk to.

D and Me? We're the same as you. We want the same things in our life. We wanted to get married.

A saw this on twitter (I know, lame), but it made me laugh in a way that I feel like sums everything up:

"I don't want crumbs anymore, I want the whole damn wedding cake."

I will raise a toast to that.

Falling in love with fall colors (awwww)

Trying my hand at inspiration boards.... now that I have photoshop on my computer! I'm slowly falling more and more in love with these colors, and I know how much easier (read: cheaper) they will be since they will be in season.

And do you love those invitations? Because we do, and we decided about 3 months ago to splurge and make them OURS! We were going to change the color, but if we go fall-- we won't have to... and I love that orange and cream! The best part about the shop owners, Golden Rectangle Press is that they ACTUALLY HAVE A SAME SEX INVITE on their page. Which I appreciate more than anything. I think it is one thing to support same sex marriage, but another thing entirely to put examples up on your site. So, Thanks for that one, awesome shop owner!

The Facts and Links:
Brilliant letterpress invites from Etsy shop owner, Golden Rectangle Press.
Gorgeous Cottage Photo From Evrim Icoz Photography in Portland.
Pretty Orchid Centerpiece from bridesmate Harmonious-- who found it on theknot.com
The rest-- google image search: fall wedding

Things I Love Right Now....

1. The fact that I am finally coming out of a two 70+ hour work weeks and can start thinking about things other than theatre again!

2. The Sugar-Free Red Bulls that got me through these two weeks.

3. Celebrating engage-a-versaries, monthaversaries, and now our *official* two year anniversary.

4. The fancy invitations we fell in love with.

5. Our Halloween costumes (we are going as "Infomercials" with Snuggies, TurbieTowels, Shakeweights and other fun things we can think of!)

6. Fall Bouquets. Cue color crisis.


Aren't they just so purty?

Photoshop Fiends!

Thank you for all the suggestions! I am going to try and working on the suggestions today or tomorrow, and then repost.

This may seem like a silly question, but I actually couldn't think of a decent answer for it.

How the heck do you send magnet save the dates?

Do you put them in an envelope? That seems a little odd. And rude-- just a magnet, no explanation. I don't like that idea at all. Maybe a postcard with a magnet attached?

What if we did massive postcard sized save the dates ala VistaPrint (thanks for that bit of advice, DangerJane!) How much would postage cost? I don't even want to think about it.

I would just say screw it all together, EXCEPT for the fact that our wedding is so close to Thanksgiving-- I want folks to be able to plan accordingly!

What did you do?

Photoshop Phun

Spent around 35 minutes messing around on the photoshop, and this is what I came up with.

I think it is maybe a little bit too busy. But it got my creative ideas flowing. Thoughts?

Coulda been a contender

We've been going back and forth on to send Save the Dates, or not. To make save the dates, or not. To just call people, or send out facebook invites (which we deemed not okay).

A large majority of our guests are out of towners, so it is important that they know and know early about when the wedding is, and how long they should plan on being in town and such things... and so maybe we will just send out STDs....

wait a minute--- STDs? That sounds terrible. "Sending out some STDs today"

So wrong.

Anywho-- so maybe we will send out Save the Dates only to our out of town folks..... But what to send?

a postcard.

a magnet.

Then we thought magnet postcard? But that seemed silly. And giant.

And option 3.4 -- D's brother is a pretty highfalutin web comic, and he offered to draw our save the dates, which would be awesome! Except that he has a pretty morose sense of humor, which is awesome and hilarious, and it may not be appropriate for a pre-wedding invite thingamagig.

And then we found these on etsy:

And I LOVE these! They are so fun! But-- can we make these? Should we try? I smell an adventure with stamps and pretty paper....

P.S.-- The Etsy store is Beth Blinebury and she has really really great party invites and adorable save the dates!

Food! Glorious Food!

With our wedding date almost a year away, I've deemed it time to think about food tasting. After all, if we want fresh, local vegetables we need to make sure they are in season! It is also a really good opportunity to meet up with our venue again and talk progress. The Astin Mansion has in house catering, which is awesome. And their food is delicious... even better. They have varied options from light snacks to a full sit down meal. We are going in the middle at the standard, good old fashioned buffet.

To be honest, I hate sit down weddings, and D out right despises them. They seem stuffy, pretentious and really boring. Plus, how can we mingle with our guests and eat at the same time if it is a sit down meal? Carry our plates and hover?

Awkward.

So, buffet it is. With tables provided for those who wish to sit. And taller tables for those who wish to stand, but not hover and carry their plates.

What kind of food are you planning on serving? Or if you aren't planning a wedding right now-- what kind of food do you think is totally awesome to eat at weddings?

Why I don't like Texas right now....

It is too far away from Washington D.C.

D and I were planning on going to the National Equality March. Living in Texas makes it sort of difficult.

If you haven't heard (which means you are living under a rock), there is going to be this amazing march through D.C. on October 11. Equality Across America has this amazing weekend set up, with great workshops, events, socials. If you live on the east coast, please go. If you are fund raising to get there-- let me know.

If you live in NYC, there is another super group called Broadway Impact. Here is a little bit about them from their website.

We are a community of actors, directors, stage managers, fans, producers — pretty much anyone who has ever seen, been in or worked on a Broadway show — united by the simple belief that anyone who wants to should be able to get married.

I totally love this group, and hate hate hate that I don't live in NYC right now to help them out. They have done so much-- from phone banks to fundraising to sponsoring buses so folks can get down to the March and back for free! I strongly encourage you to donate, or buy one of their nifty shirts. As Christmas Eve from Avenue Q would say "Every little bit helps".

Achoo choo

It has been a week. Sorry.

Excuse: D has come down with some terrible bronchial flu like thing that is making her miserable and I caught a weaker version... but I slept for 20 hours straight. So that feels like an odd accomplishment.

Actual Post:
Our school hosted our first GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) meeting for the year this Monday. It was a nice turn out. Small, but dedicated. The students are focused and really passionate about our cause this year (bullying). It is also a nice mix of both and straight students, which always makes me happy. When I was in the GSA it was the "Gay and Closeted Gay Alliance" pretty much.

My role as a sponsor is to try to keep things positive. It is so easy to slip into a "Our school is so conservative" or "the kids are all so ignorant"... the list can go on. And I think by overgeneralizing those that have different opinions, we are only granting them permission to do the same thing.

Staying positive. Thinking positively. Or as Dori, from Finding Nemo, would say "just keep swimming, just keep swimming, laladada-dee-da"

I think this is something I'm trying to do in all aspects of my life right now. It is hard. Finding positive things in rather stressful areas of your life can be a challenge sometimes. Especially since it has been rainy all week-- it is amazing how weather can change your mood.

I'm not sad or depressed or anything, but I'm finding myself trying really hard to focus on the positive and not focus on the negative.

Example:
I know we are strapped for cash, the wedding budget isn't where I want it, I don't make enough money, the economy has gone down the toilet-- these are constants. I need to focus on what we are doing to make it work and how that is a good thing! More dinners at home mean more time spent cooking together. Catching up on Discovery channel is never a bad thing! And this is hella good practice for "for richer or poorer".

Or do I just sound like that All-State commercial? Are you in good hands?

Happy Friday!