Y'all.
I'm getting married in 52 days.

This is how I feel about it:



But food can't help me make decisions. So here are some things I need some advice about.

How should I wear my hair?

Wedding favors? What are some nice ones? I'm fine with DIY because, to be honest, I could recruit a bunch of wonderful college women to help me out (win event, amirite?). But nothing too ridiculous.

What do you get bridesmaids?

Mother-of-the-groom gift?

What's the one thing people always forget?

Advice?

Thanks y'all.

Hannah has mentioned multiple times that she doesn't know what Berkeley looks like and would like me to send her photos.

That sounds like a lot of work. Also I don't want to stand out and take photos because people will know that I'm new and it will ruin my street cred.

So instead I'm taking y'all on a digital tour oooooooh

Using pictures from google.

Professional.


This is what our chapel looks like. Nobody likes it. Well, few people like it. Our chaplains compare it to the Flinstones. It was designed to look like a tomb so...check.

Pro: you are never sweaty.


This is my favorite coffee shop!

Orrrrrr this one

Sacks is great, you can sit on coffee bean sacks. Also the guy who runs it is hilarious and they play the best music. Strada is busy so it's only good when you go at like 8am...so...

Obviously these are the important things about Berkeley.


My favorite cheap eats is El Burro Picante and they have this weird little burro outside. Anyway, like I said, these are the important things.



Here's a beautiful scenic picture that someone else took. But it's pretty legit. The clock tower is the Campanile in the middle of campus. It's great. It has bells and plays music (not the Harry Potter theme so UNL's got them beat there).

And of course the bay and the Golden Gate bridge, which I can sometimes see from the top of our hill on a clear day (it's always foggy).

There you go! A free tour! It's really beautiful here. And full of stone cold weirdos but I love that about it.

Thanks for all your prayers. You are in mine as well.

Bad news first: we didn't get that apartment either.

Wah wah so sad. Ugh. Pity party.

Okay, now that we've moved on.

We saw the Avett Brothers this weekend. WHAT.

It was pretty stinkin' legit. Brandi Carlile opened and she was legit and then my heart exploded because I love the Avett Brothers.

Sorry for my weird melancholy post yesterday, friends. Sometimes you just get a case of the Mondays on a Thursday. But now my roommate is singing "That's Amore" and our apartment is clean and tomorrow I'm seeing the Avett Brothers.

Ahhhh.

But today at 3pm West Coast time John and I are viewing another apartment, with applications in hand, checks prepared to be written, references prepped and ready, etc, etc, etc.

So please pray for us. Every time we look at an apartment or fill out an application I shave 5 years off my life and get a stomach ulcer. John's ever the optimist which is great because I am Queen of the Pessimists. That doesn't look like a word but firefox seems to be okay with it.

I know people around the country are wigging out about how cold it is so send it this way! I literally have no idea how I'm going to handle a winter without snow. I can hear all you warm-weather-lovers hissing at me and I get it. But I'm just saying.

Thanks. I hope y'all have a great Friday!

Do you ever have a day where you just can't.

Like, nothing bad happened or whatever but you just feel bleeeeeeeh. Or meeeeeeeeh. Or blech. Or blurgh.

I feel that. I feel all of that.

I definitely ate dairy. And probably fructose. Sometimes I get a liiiiiittle bold and I eat things I probably shouldn't because I feel invincible. I'm not.

Anyway here are some things I found online while being a little bit dead.

This is my new desktop. Thanks, Buzzfeed and Andy.

Gilmore Girls is going to be on Netflix, so I should probably get Netflix again.

Our wedding invites are officially out in the mail. So if any of you want to make the final decisions, I would love that.

Things to be decided still:
1. Reception music....
2. Readings. All of them
3. Something else...
4. Probably something else.

As you can see, I'm a veeeery focused bride-to-be.

Sorry this post hasn't lived up to the usual peppy/snappy/energizing self.

Keep it real.

eating: so much kale. You guys. My teammates are so healthy and I'm lazy so I just eat what they put in front of me. Most of which is kale.  

drinking: Water and water and water. Also coffee. And wine.  

listening to: The Brilliance. I highly recommend. It's moody and artsy and calming and about Our Lord. It's legit.  

watching: I'm watching Leanne hang art up on the walls. I do not have a gift in spacial awareness and being aware of what to hang up where. But Leanne kills it. Our house looks like a home.  

reading: Scripture #nerd. Gospel of John, Isaiah, Corinthians.  

wearing: Sweatpants and a hoodie, which is never my get up, but Tuesday has been rowdy.  

realizing: How incredibly blessed I am. So sappy. Let's not dwell on it or I might cry.  

working on: I made some art today, that was pretty fun. I also submitted an article to Eye of the Tiber (hilarious). So today was pretty artistic. Also a Bible Study.  

enduring: Okay, I dig Berkeley. But I get so sweaty in the afternoon. Like, it's chili-dogs in the morning and the evening and then I'm roasting in the afternoon.  

smelling: It smells like wood stain and some weird burning tool because Leanne is making art like it's her job.  

sewing: Sewing? I don't sew. Hannah so made this list.

wanting: To go to bed. Roommates are great but they keep me awake waaaay longer than I intend to.  

disliking: How smelly my feet get after wearing my birks.  

cheering for: AVETT BROS CONCERT ON SATURDAY

I woke up earlier than I normally do this morning which has allowed me to drink two cups of coffee instead of my normal, self control induce, one cup.

And because of that second cup my mind is firing 12380x faster than usual.

1. This morning I decided that my greatest fear is not spiders or sharks, but that spicy pepper seeds will someone get onto my hands and then those hands will get into my eyes and I will be blind. I was making toast and the toaster was next to a carton of jalapeños on our counter and I literally thought, is there a chance for cross-contamination?

2. Did you know that if you hold down a letter key on a Mac you can add accents to letters? Whãt? This would have been helpful to know in all my years of studying Spanish and having to insert a symbol every stinkin' time.

3. As a human being, sometimes I read/hear things in the news (aka on Facebook...ugh le sad) and I just get really down. Like, what the heck can I do about ISIS? How can I actually help ethical medical research? How can I assist in the fight against pornography and creeps distributing naked pictures of celebrities?

4. But redemption is real. Holy Martyrs of the Middle East, pray for us.

5. I met with an amazing student yesterday from Japan. She did her undergrad at MIT and is now getting her PhD here at Berkeley. She converted at MIT, her family did not approve and basically ignores her new found religion, and she has never met another Japanese Christian. Never. Ever.

6. Basically my job is inspiring and it has already been such a gift to me. I'm grateful for this entire blogging community, for every Catholic community, for our Church. I'm grateful for a lot of things.

Phew. Have a great Wednesday, you guys. You're in my prayers