well, contrary to my direst suspicions, i'm not, in fact, insane, nor even going in that general direction...
and each one of you knew that already.
oh, me of little faith.

it's true that every minute seems full to the point of exploding, but right when i think it's about to, it doesn't. thanks for keeping me anchored in reality, guys!

i have some exciting tidbits to share!

#1: my wedding dress came in and i tried it on for the first time!!! it needs some alterations, and my flabby arms are right there in that need, but it's so beautiful. i never would have imagined myself in such a dress. people say, 'you only wear it once,' then some roll their eyes at the expense, but really, wearing something that incredibly exquisite can only happen one day. if i were to wear it any other day of my life it would be cheapened somehow.
i'm perfectly content with its one day of glory.
and that day is less than a month away!! can you believe it?!

#2: casey, erica, allison and i are going on a roadtrip to chicago!! we're leaving monday morning and coming back thursday night. it will be whirlwindish beyond compare, but it will also be so great to spend quality girl time experiencing a new city. i'm almost afraid there will be too many cool things and i won't be able to take them all in. some people say when they go to europe, the art loses its magic because there's SO MUCH of it! first of all, i can't imagine that happening, in all honesty, and secondly, if that sort of thing does happen, i hope it's not the case on our chicago trip.
we plan on taking the chicago trolley hop-on-hop-off bus one day and visiting art museums the next day. really we're just there two full days, so we thought this would be the best way to pack in as much as possible. then maybe in the evenings we can enjoy some of the foods chicago's known for.

#3: right after we girls get back from chicago, my lovely parents will be arriving to spend the 3 weeks before the wedding here in branson, helping out with wedding plans and on dad and nick's part, doing some camping and fishing.
i'm looking forward to their visit.

#4: nick & i decided on our honeymoon destination -- we're officially going to kansas city! we have our hotel and everything. we figured that'd be a good spot since it's not too far away (4 hours) so we wouldn't waste time traveling. it's also a spot we can easily return to in the future so we won't feel bad if we just want to take time to rest and relax and not be out trotting through all the sites.

#5: also right after returning from chicago, we'll find out if the refinancing is a go. i'm looking forward to hearing one way or the other so we can make plans accordingly. keep your fingers crossed that it goes through, though! we'd love to not only be able to pay for wedding things, but also put some of the money back into the house since nick & i will be staying here. this house needs a little tlc, that's for sure.

i suppose that's enough tidbits for now. they're getting less and less exciting as i go along... my #6 was going to be that i have some sort of ailment that's plaguing me, but that's not exciting at ALL! and then right after that i would have told you about mohinder's horrible diseased skin -- he looks like he has leprosy right now, it's repulsive. i feel so bad for the feller. the vet thinks it's an allergic reaction to something or other and put him on some antibiotics. but to diagnose this, they had to shave his fur all around the affected area, so now half of his neck is bald!
he looks pitiful.

i think i'll stop before i get any further from 'exciting tidbits' :-)

thanks for all of your encouragement, guys. it really is good to be reminded to take it easy and not worry. god has things firmly in hand.


p.s. last depressing bit of news, i promise: i'm once again camera-less! the camera i was using belonged to the blue eye art classroom, and i had to leave it behind! sad day.
you'll just have to be satisfied with long newsy posts with no visual stimuli. oh, and perhaps the occasional stock photo.
how's this -- some of my favorite images from snippet & ink inspiration boards. after looking at all 200 she's ever made, i collected my favorite aspects here and there, and have now created my OWN wedding inspiration board for your viewing pleasure!

some of these are actual elements in the wedding though, not just inspiration pieces.
i.e. the green dress will be worn by miss allison hamm, the fabrics fanned out are going to be sewn into table runners by my lovely mother and that girl will be playing me in the movie coming out next spring, 'nick and kate's wedding of bliss'. it's sure to be a blockbuster hit. i mean, come on, check out those dewy lips.

i'm going insane!!!!
not literally of course, but definitely very figuratively. as figuratively as can be imagined without it being literal.

today's the last day of school for the year, praise heavens above, but it seems that all the space in my brain that's had school stuff in it is being filled instantaneously with wedding stuff and financial stuff and planning stuff until that brain space has been crammed chock-full then has started spilling over the sides, making me want to cringe back into the safety of all that mild, non-threatening school stuff.
spare me from all the stuff!!!
someone!

okay, so i'm being overly dramatic.
the main concern at the moment is, as always, money. everything will be a-okay if we can refinance the house, as we're currently working towards doing. but the date when we'll know for sure, 100% that the loan went through and we're saved?
june 20th. yes, that's right, one week before the wedding.
how in all hades are we supposed to do anything remotely wedding-like with money we currently have (but that's needed to pay bills for the entire summer), hoping to be reimbursed with refinance money when there's a very small chance we WON'T be?! if we take the gamble and use the money we currently have but then DON'T get the loan, it will be time to just throw our hands up and surrender.
wave the white flag at all the forces of evil that are constantly hanging on our toes, pulling us down into the deep pit of financial wreckage. does anyone else feel like life is a constant financial battleground?!
i do.
i recently read 'total money makeover' and was inspired beyond belief, but it's a little difficult to put his extreme strategies into play when there's a wedding on the line.
as many people have advised at many different stages of the game, we really should just elope.

but no worries, we're not, all you who are driving many miles to come celebrate with us! and be not disheartened by my outcry that we won't enjoy the aforementioned wedding when you come to it -- oh yes, it will be a party of magnanimus proportions. mark my words.
that is, if the process doesn't kill us first.

my very own luthier fiance, nicholas, finished his first rezophonic guitar! ain't it a beauty? he made this with his very own hands!
what a guy.
if you don't know what a rezophonic guitar is, that's okay. i didn't either. it's also sometimes called a dobro. they have an amazing sound.

you play it on your lap and use a glass slide thingy. i'm not too instrumentally savvy but i still think it's pretty darn cool.

table rock lake

this is from over a week ago, but it was such fun i had to share!

the motor almost didn't get us back, but it was a blast!




whoops... eyes closed.
for those of you who don't know and might care, this is my first official picture of the dating couple!! yes, it's true. after many, many moons, rob & erica are dating.

in case you're wondering, nick was trying to stroke zach's goatee. he didn't quite make it.




titanic wannabes...

the lake was so high, we were literally sitting on the water line!
that's not normal. but it sure was beautiful!

mohinder day

today mohinder gets his vaccinations so he's all caught up so he can get FIXED next week!!!!!
hooray!!!!
he is literally the most hyper cat in all of the cat kingdom.
i'm hoping the removal of testosterone from his energetic little self will calm him down.
i'm pretty sure he'll still want to climb on things that are clearly impossible for cats to climb on, especially cats with no claws. i don't think he's ever really admitted to himself that he has no claws.

nick & i went for a walk on the most beautiful of days -- sunday's sunniness was everything we would have hoped for on saturday... oh well.
and we came upon this little feller enjoying the sun just as much as we were.


i'm not sure who this guy is, to be honest. he just came up to me in the woods and tried eating my cheek...

artsfest part 2: the symphony

the day of artisticness was concluded with a symphony performance in the park... we were totally jazzed, if not a bit cold. it sure didn't feel like may, but whatcha gonna do?
elisha came prepared.


there were a whole gaggle of kids over on the side running and laughing and blowing bubbles. one boy in particular took the opportunity to hone his ballet skills. there's a video at the end of this post. he literally danced for 2 hours solid.





he was about 12 years old, and was actually pretty darn good! the conductor called all the kids up on one of the last songs so they could 'play' trombones for the '76 trombones led the big parade' and this ballet kid took the opportunity to perform for the entire ampitheater of people. we were imagining that his parents were either mortified or wildly proud.

artsfest part 1

saturday was artsfest in springfield! a few girls and i hit the town to take in the artsiness. it was sunny, but somehow chillier than one expected a sunny artsfesty day to be.
the only regret of the day was missing the corndog vendor. we kept seeing people with huge, delicious-looking corndogs, but we never found where they were coming from!
everything else was super great, though. maybe a fair will come to town and i can get all the corndogs my little heart craves.

kati, allison, elisha & i didn't feel especially beautiful, but the wall said it, so we believed it!


this was my favorite booth -- such creative baskets! the picture doesn't begin to do them justice.

soooo many people!

christian ballerinas. enough said.
they had potential for being really good, but their choreography was a bit lacking at times.

these guys were a block or two away from the main artsy street. we walked by them on our way to artsfest, then a couple hours later they were still going to town outside their apartment. they were... creative to say the least. i only videoed for a few seconds because they saw me and i got a little scared.
we had quite the sampling of music styles on this particular day, i tell you what.

after a LOT of walking, we took it easy in our favorite library pod...