Currently // November

ANTICIPATING my wedding shower next weekend in Winston-Salem!

ATTEMPTING to make the world's largest to-do list for the upcoming month. It's about to get crazy up in here. I'll let you in on a secret: there's no need for the "about to get" in that sentence.

CHECKING my mailbox the second I get home from work every day to see how many RSVPs have arrived. My record is 11 envelopes in one day :)

CHEERING my Blue Devils on to yet another victory against a top 5 team. No big deal.

CROSSING my fingers that Zach gets to leave Camp Lejeune once and for all really soon. He was supposed to go on terminal leave this past Monday at noon, but the Marine Corps had other plans. We all knew they'd take advantage of their last chance to drive me crazy...

DECORATING for Christmas, despite the fact that I'll have to take it all down the week before Christmas (It's either that, or leave it all up until we get back from our honeymoon on January 5).

ENROLLING Zach in classes for the spring semester, which also entails SPENDING hours of my life on hold with the advising office, admissions office, etc. I dare you to charge me 4x the amount of tuition because Zach "isn't an in-state student" when he has been stationed here for more than three years.

GOING to World Market on a weekly basis. What did I do before I discovered that store?

LAUGHING every time Zach refers to our future cat. No, we have no immediate plans to get a cat. But she already has a name, and Zach talks about her by name as if she's currently wandering around the apartment. Meow.

LEARNING to say no more. I can't even tell you how many freelance design requests I've turned down in the past couple of months. I like making people happy, and as a result, I tend to take on much more than I can handle... but I'm working on it :) It has removed so much additional stress from my life and allowed me to work on just a few projects that I really want to take on.

LISTENING to our wedding "first dance" song on repeat.. and tearing up every time the bridge rolls around. Are people supposed to cry during their first dance? Probably not, but I can't make any promises.

PURCHASING my own car insurance, because I'm in the process of checking off every possible grown-up "to-do" by the end of the year. I'm just an overachiever like that.

QUESTIONING my thought-process behind having a wedding five days after Christmas, but TRUSTING that everything is going to fall perfectly into place :)

SHOPPING online like it's going out of style. I like having packages waiting for me when I get home from work almost more than I like the RSVPs.

SIPPING on anything peppermint-flavored I can find. Milkshakes, mochas, creamer straight out of the bottle. I'm kidding about the last one. Sort of.

A Letter To My Future Husband

Letters have played an incredibly significant role in my relationship with Zach. Being in a military relationship means that there are seriously times where letters are the only form of communication we have: no cell phone access, no Skype, etc. (Hard to believe!) Even before Zach joined the Marines, we mailed each other letters while I was beginning college at Duke and he was living as a resident volunteer at Camp Bethel. We left each other notes on the "PP Line" in the Craft House during the summers we worked as counselors together. We have boxes of these letters from throughout the years, even the first one I ever sent him nearly six months before we began dating.

However, that's not the first letter I ever wrote to Zach Jones.




I wrote this letter nearly ten years ago when I was in middle school. I know that I was in middle school because I dated the letter, but even if I hadn't, we could all deduce this was written during the middle school ages due to the fact that:

1) It is written in a purple gel pen. 'Nuff said.
2) The "Beth handwriting" that I have become semi-famous for among my group of letter-writing friends did not develop until high school, and I assure you it is nowhere to be found in this letter.
3) I included a SWAK. Epic middle school awesomeness at an all-time high, folks.

My youth group leaders in middle school (I think they sometimes read this... hiii, Mr. Jason & Tina!) had a toddler-aged daughter at the time. I vividly remember them talking one Sunday afternoon about beginning to pray for the spouse of their child. It was initially a bizarre concept for me; she was like, two years old. The more they talked about it, though, the more sense it made. There was a rather likely chance that her future spouse was already out there toddling around somewhere. If her future spouse was potentially out there, then my future spouse was definitely out there. Thirteen year old mind blown.

With that, I began actively praying for my husband. Not in the "Dear God, Please give me a boyfriend who will someday become my husband" type of way, but genuinely praying for him: for his relationship with God, his family, his friends, his life in general. I continued praying for him constantly throughout high school as well. I remember praying for my future husband more than I prayed for anything else as a teenager. I prayed that he would have a strong commitment to the same morals that I deeply value (and what do you know... he does!) I prayed for a man of godly character and of purity. And somewhere amongst all the prayers, I wrote him a letter.




I'm so glad I'm marrying Zach, because he's the only person on the planet I could trust to read this letter and not completely judge some of the ridiculousness epic middle school awesomeness that is happening inside. (You thought SWAK and a purple gel pen were bad? Ha!) However funny and typically-middle-school some parts of the letter may be, I was still rather insightful for my age: I disclosed the fact that I knew I hadn't met my future husband yet. Sorry if you knew/liked me back then - you apparently never stood a chance. I told him that I was praying for him, even though I didn't know him. I even told him when I was getting my braces off ;)

Everything else in the letter is just for Zach. He knows it exists - he has for quite sometime - but he hasn't read it yet. For now, it lives with me in my "Zach box," which contains over four years' worth of movie stubs and letters on Marine Corps stationery. It has lived in that box for quite sometime, because while we've only been engaged for six months, I've known the intended recipient of this letter for years. Such a tangible reminder of God's faithfulness and answered prayer... and my precious middle school heart.

Giveaway

One of the dilemmas of being an artist / designer / crafty person in general is that I rarely ever purchase art. Why? Because as I'm browsing the art & decor sections in various stores, all I can seem to think is, "I could make that. I could paint that. I could design that." And it's true, I could. Why spend perfectly good money on something that I could create myself?

Here's where the dilemma part comes in: how many of those "I could make that" items do I actually take the time to make? Probably less than 5%. I would be much better off just buying the canvas or the print in the first place; it could have been hanging in my semi-artless apartment for the past five months already. Womp.

BUT, I come here today with a success story! :)

Last week, I saw a design for a 16"x20" wall calendar that I absolutely fell in love with... and for once, I actually sat down on Sunday evening and made my own replica.




It's already hanging in my office. Love love love.

I had so much fun going through photos and selecting one to represent each month. Pictures from so many areas of my life: Winston-Salem, Duke, Camp Bethel, and Camp Lejeune... with a couple of engagement photos, a Cary shot, and even a Florida picture thrown in :)

Calendar Giveaway

Since I had so much fun selecting some of my favorite photos to make my calendar, I wanted to give my blog readers the chance to win one as well! (With their own photos, of course. Unless you particularly want a calendar with a photo of my marriage proposal...)

How to enter: In the comments below, let me know what you would like to see more of on this blog :) That's it! Your comment automatically enters you for a chance to win your own calendar, printing + shipping included.

You can leave a comment using your Google (Blogger) / WordPress account, or simply select "Name/URL" from the "Comment as:" box and fill in your name (you can leave the URL blank).

The giveaway is open until Saturday, December 1 at 11:59PM. Winner will be announced Sunday evening.



Good luck!

Thankful Doesn't Even Begin To Cover It

"It's the oldest story in the world:
one day you're seventeen and planning for someday,
and then quietly, and without you really noticing,
someday is today... and then someday is yesterday...
and this is your life."
(OTH s9ep13)


This is my life.

There isn't a week that passes where I don't find myself completely overwhelmed by that thought (in a good way). So serious. I constantly catch my mind wandering while I'm sitting in my apartment or driving around Raleigh or working in my office, following this thought-process:

A year ago, Zach was my boyfriend.
A year ago, Zach was deployed thousands of miles away to Afghanistan.
A year ago, I lived in a dorm.
A year ago, I shared a bathroom with 30+ other girls.
A year ago, I shared a laundry room with 150+ individuals.
A year ago, I stayed up half the night writing papers and working on projects.
A year ago, I worked part-time as a coffeehouse barista and a resident assistant.
A year ago, I compiled my portfolio and tweaked my resumé to begin applying to full-time jobs.
A year ago, I had no idea what my life would look like after graduation.
A year ago, I was just trying to make it to graduation.


What a difference a year can make.



Now, Zach is my fiancé... less than five weeks from being my husband.
Now, Zach is three hours away, spending his final week(s?) at Camp Lejeune.
Now, I live in my own apartment.
Now, I share a bathroom with nobody. I even have a bathtub.
Now, I share a laundry room with nobody. I bought a washer and dryer, people. Big deal.
Now, I rarely stay up half the night, but if I do, it's because I'm planning a wedding.
Now, I work full-time as a graphic designer for a state-wide non-profit organization.
Now, I have my own office with large windows and multiple computers and my name on the door.
Now, I am less concerned with what comes next and am simply enjoying what is happening now.
Now, I am humbled by and so incredibly grateful for the blessings that God has poured out on my life this year.





I am marrying my best friend. I'm living on my own. I am doing what I love. So many dreams have come true this year, and so many more are soon to follow. Quietly, and without me really noticing, someday is today... and then someday is yesterday... and this is my life :)


• • • • •

Needless to say, the past six months or so have been a daily Thanksgiving (minus the gourmet food) as I continue to be in awe of the way my life is unfolding. As far as this year's official Thanksgiving? I not only got to spend the entire day surrounded by family, but I got to spend my first Thanksgiving with Zach! (One out of five isn't bad, right?)




I was a little surprised when Zach asked if he could spend Thanksgiving with us. I told him that I had just assumed we would spend one final holiday with our respective families since we rarely see them & then begin figuring out the whole "yours, mine, & ours" holiday rotations (It's going to take a lot of figuring out, trust me. My family alone celebrates Christmas eight different times in December. Sometimes nine).

Nonetheless, it was SO nice to be together: Macy's Thanksgiving parade on TV with my mom and sisters in the morning, lunch at my grandparents on my dad's side of the family, and dinner with over 40 cousins/aunts/uncles on my mom's side of the family. I love tradition... & I love adding Zach into it even more.

Somewhere between the festivities of the day, we managed to squeeze in a sister photoshoot. (Remember last year when my mom said it was going to be our last yearly calendar? False.)






I even ventured into the world of Black Friday shopping for the first (and last) time ever. (I think Black Friday is genuinely of the devil and would rather pay full price plus more for anything than deal with large amounts of people.) But the 21" dorm room TV needed a serious upgrade and I had a pretty good partner-in-crime... and now I'm watching NCIS on 43" of glorious screen. Hello, Gibbs.




Of all the things I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving season, I would be remiss to not include my lovely blog readers. More so, the uplifting comments and never-ending support that I receive from my blog readers. Words not only have the power to tell stories, but they have the power to inspire and encourage, which is exactly what so many of you do when you take the time respond to my daily (weekly) ramblings. As a way to say "thank you," I will be having a giveaway on the blog tomorrow... so you should probably get really excited and make sure to check back!


Happy Monday :)

Every Pretty Girl Deserves To Go To A Ball

*plus 100 awesome points if you can tell me what movie inspired this post's title

I've waited three years to write this post - three years since the last time Zach and I went to a Marine Corps ball.

Needless to say, this night was greatly anticipated: one grand night to celebrate four years of service, two duty stations, a combat deployment to Afghanistan, and the final ten days of life in the fleet. (We're in the single digits now, folks!) Plus, it's the only day of the year where I can get ready in less time than Zach. I'm talking dress, hair, nails, make-up, jewelry, etc. completely done... and he's still over there with his lint roller and shoe polish. Such a feat.

Although I initially had every intention of thoroughly documenting our final Marine Corps ball (I don't know why I thought I'd be so sentimental about this coming to an end - clearly not the case), I quickly realized that:

a) DSLRs were not designed to fit in a clutch (but seriously, it's 2012... someone should get on that), and
b) There's no discreetly classy way to snap photographs throughout an incredibly formal military ceremony.

Then again, I don't have purple hair, my chest stayed inside my dress the entire night (bonus points), and you couldn't see my multiple skull and crossbone tattoos through my pink lace-up corset dress... so I'm pretty sure I could have taken a million pictures while dancing on a table and still been one of the classier ladies in attendance. Oorah, Marine Corps. I'm really gonna miss you.

I did get a few pictures, though:

Since we've gotten engaged, I typically stand on Zach's left side when we take pictures together (so my left hand is free to be strategically posed in a way that shows my ring, obviously). However, Zach was really into making sure his medals were in every photo, so I got bumped to his right side for the evening. Hmph.

A few highlights from the evening:

• The Marine Corps has a tradition of cutting the birthday cake and presenting the first slices to the oldest and youngest Marine present. The majority of people gasped when they realized the oldest Marine in the room had been a Marine longer than they had even been alive (over 25 years). Everyone gasped when they announced the youngest Marine in the room was born in 1994. People born in 1994 should be in like, 7th grade right now. Weird.

• The Chaplain's prayer before the dinner included the phrase "zombie apocalypse." There's really nothing else to say about that.

• There is something innately hysterical about large groups of Marines in dress blues dancing. No, I didn't capture it on video - if there's a dance floor, I'm going to be on it. Search "Marine Corps Ball Gangnam" on YouTube if you want to get a glimpse of what I'm talking about. Except multiply any video you find by a lot... we had almost 700 people in attendance.

That's really the extent of the ball-related highlights. We mingled, listened to numerous speeches, ate really good food, bonded with the guys from the armory, danced, and watched one of the Marines standing at attention throughout the ceremony pass out while the guest speaker was talking. It's casual.

• • • • •

The rest of the highlights came after the ball ended. Of all the places in the world to have the final ball we'll ever attend, 1st Battalion 9th Marines conveniently chose Wilmington - the same city where my favorite TV show was filmed ;) The ball was actually held on the riverfront: walking distance from the "Naley table."

So naturally, we ventured that direction...

I was a little more excited than Zach about taking pictures here initially...



...but he warmed up to the idea.




My favorite part of both birthday balls we've attended?
The post-ball "find-a-random-mirror-and-take-insane-amounts-of-ridiculous-selfies" ritual.



Don't let Zach fool you...


...this is his favorite tradition as well :)


Had to document the ring's first Marine Corps Ball experience since the medals took over all night...


I may have gone a little overboard with the mirror pics, but how often does a girl get to have her hair/nails done, put on make-up, wear a pretty dress, and feel like a princess for an entire evening? Oh wait... I get to do it all over again next month for the wedding, My bad ;)

The rest of the weekend included a trip to the Farmer's Market, Port City Java, a giant going-away party at Texas Roadhouse, the gloriousness of Camp Lejeune finally opening a Panda Express on base, my last trip to the barracks & PX, and lots of Just Dance 4 on the Kinect:

The Few, The Proud. Yes, all four dancers are Marines.
0311s (straight-up infantry) at that...
You're welcome.

And thus, our final Birthday Ball weekend came to an end. I'd probably be sad about it... if it didn't also mean that all field ops, duty shifts, ranges, trainings, deployments, [insert 99% of everything else associated with Marine Corps life], and weeks/months apart were coming to an end.

We're almost done.

Official 2012 Marine Corps Ball Photo




Not-Official-But-An-Entirely-More-Accurate-Depiction-Of-Us 2012 Marine Corps Ball Photo

Veterans Day | Senior Capstone Exhibition, Part 2

Six months ago, I had the opportunity to exhibit my senior capstone art show at Duke. I spent my final semester in the capstone class with everything culminating around this final project/exhibition... and I've been waiting for an opportune time to reveal my project on this blog. (I've already posted "Senior Capstone Exhibition, Part 1," which highlights many of my classmates projects.)

With today being Veterans Day, I decided it was a good time to showcase my final project of my undergraduate career. A lot of work went into this exhibition; it was a perfect blend of my love for design, typography, and the United States military.

Throughout the past four years, I have gained insight into the military world that many others simply never get. I've heard stories that many others will never have the chance to hear... because while the men and women of the United States military have fought to defend our freedom of speech, they do not always have that same freedom. It's true. The Uniform Code of Military Justice has articles that prevent members of the military from expressing their opinions if they present any elected government officials or the military as a whole in a negative light. Which leads me to...

My Project: "A Different Type of War"

For my project, I interviewed numerous active duty service members and created a series of typography posters from my conversations with them. The quotes are completely anonymous to protect those interviewed. The purpose of this project was not to be pro/anti-military or pro/anti-war. It was more or less like a PostSecret for military members: providing a public voice for those who are not always free to express their opinions, whatever they may be. As you can see from the quotes selected for the exhibition, there are a wide variety of opinions among those who serve. They all deserve to be heard, and it was an honor to share these for my exhibition.











The typography posters were designed to be ironically reminiscent of vintage recruiting posters, and were juxtaposed throughout the exhibition with black and white photographs of an anonymous serviceman that could be any member of the military.

My family was able to come up for the exhibition opening:

my dad

my mom (L) and my professor/visual arts advisor (R)

...and Zach was finally able to see the exhibit during my graduation weekend senior reception, although he had seen the project in every stage of production since I wanted to make sure it honored the voices and opinions of all those who took place in making the project come to life.

Note: To keep with the anonymous portion of the project & avoid a conflict of interests, I didn't interview Zach. I know what he thinks about all of this, anyway :)

This Veterans Day, I hope to provide a little bit more insight into the lives of the veterans of our nation - insight that I've been blessed to gain over the past four years. These men and women come from a variety of backgrounds with differing beliefs. They don't have the same political views. They don't have the same opinions concerning the war. Regardless, they do whatever is asked of them. They place their love of country and duty to serve above all else, even when it means not having the freedom to express their own opinions... and today, we honor them.