Some pics of our apartment

We finished setting it all up a few weeks ago, but I just got around to taking pictures for another project I'm working on. Just thought I'd show off all our hard work.

our bathroom colors--green, gold, and brown
we've got a French thing going on, hence the French Family Proclamation on the back of the toilet. :)
Thanks to Johanne for making it all possible! (She gave us pretty much everything we needed.)

Our favorite room in the house--the study!

more of it...

our dining room (the chest on the right has all of our board games in it)

a close-up of the dining room table

our red-and-white (and black) kitchen

our living room, my second favorite room in the house!

the bedroom (kinda sparse, but we're still working on the decoration)

That's it! Bienvenue chez nous...come any time! :)

While we're on the topic of flowers...

If you need a little inspiration of things to do with flowers (especially the real, dried ones)...
http://www.make-stuff.com/gardening/dried_flowers.html

AND...

I'm not sure what to name my someday-business. Should I stick with something clear and traditional, like "Flowers by Celeste," or go cutesie and call it "Celeste's Best Buds"...or, as my husband jokingly offered last night, go the funny route and stick with "Bud-Wiser"? :D Any suggestions using my first or last name and something related to flowers I'd be happy to hear!

I know what I want to do with my life

Teach, yes. Wife & mother, yes. Write, yes. Travel the world and learn new languages, yes. Prepare for missions, yes. And now, I have a new dream to dream--I want to own my own silk floral business. I learned a lot in making the flowers for my own wedding (9 bouquets in four shapes, plus boutonnieres/corsages, plus 3 different floral arrangements for various tables and other decorative needs) and I did a dang fine job. I have a flourish for the artistic and the personal, both of which come in handy.

Think about it. We use flowers to celebrate or communicate in every major anything we do...weddings, funerals, graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, parties, dinner, saying "I'm sorry" or "Get well" or "Thank you." Holidays like Mother's Day or Valentine's Day. Prom. Award nights. And always a "just because." Flowers are our way of bringing the mysteriously simple and beautiful and natural into our world.

"But wait. Didn't she say silk flowers?" you are thinking. Well, yes. Because real flowers, when you cut them at the stem, die. And they are increasingly expensive. And then you have to pay EXTRA money just to preserve them. Silk flower arrangements, on the other hand, allow you to not only make things in advance and keep them as long as you like, but to tear them apart and turn them into something else entirely once you're done with them. And they are just as beautiful if you know where to find the good ones. And I do. :) Of course if we had the choice between freshly cut, once-alive flowers and some synthetic flower, we would go with the former. But sometimes that's not the choice. And that's where I come in.

And it wouldn't just be bouquets, no. Flower pen vases in every color, hair clips, bookmarks, shadow boxes, dolls, and the promise that if you bring it to me to be floralized, it can and will be done--bags, baskets, flip-flops, favors, clothing, and more! Corsages. Centerpieces. And I'll bet I can think of more if I try. Of course springtime would be the premiere time for business, but sometimes a lovely bouquet in purples and blues and whites is exactly what you need in the middle of winter. And I would learn how to do it all. And on the website that my husband would make me would be a link to the stories I've written and contact info in case they needed a tutor, which would give me the chance to do everything I love all at once and mostly from home and at my convenience.

My dream world is rich and good. What is yours?

Game of 21

Twenty-one things that four small children at the bus stop got excited about this morning:

(1-10) I'm not sure, I wasn't privileged to be there for this part of the game.
(11) A "cherry" fallen from a tree (really just a dried-up bud)
(12) A spider web
(13) A "piece of pie" later determined by one to be an old PB&J
(14) A roly poly
(15) Another roly poly
(16) A "puppy--no--kitty!" crossing the far street
(17) A piece of paper tossed by the sidewalk--it was determined after much deliberation that the person must either have thought it was a cookie (part of the PB&J lunch) or maybe they just didn't have a garbage can at home to throw anything away in ('cause no one would litter unless they made a mistake or had no choice!)
(18) An ant that chased one of them around
(19) Matching outfits
(20) Half an orange peel sitting in the grass
(21) Getting a ride to the park on "the SubWay bus"

Small and simple things, my dears...

I live in a world of crazies, and I love it...mostly. :)

Without internet, or cable, and finally having moved everything into our lovely new apartment (address below), Paul & I have taken the last few days as a break from the hustle and bustle, reading and playing board games and generally enjoying ourselves. There is still MUCH to do, but mostly until my class starts next week and we have to come back to real life we are enjoying the chance to breathe a little. But, of course, being me, things are hectic anyway:

(1) I'm drifting between two identities as I slowly get my name changed with every little business and such...today's list is the bank and the BMV.

(2) My step-mom got called up suddenly to Iraq (again). She leaves Monday, for a year. We children who never know about anything until the last minute found out about this Sunday afternoon, which was surprisingly early for us except that:

(3) Since my dad works as a consultant for IBM and is currently heading up a project in California, he's taking my two brothers to the west coast for at least the next year. They won't be back to Indiana even after that, since they are selling everything they have and driving out to find a furnished apartment in the Anaheim area. If dad's project ends early, they'll all just move to the next venue.

(4) They were going to take my niece with them, too, but the sister who is her mother fought and won custody back. (Duh, of course she wouldn't want to be on opposite sides of the country from her, and you can't just do this without discussing it with her...but they did, 'cause what else would my parents do?) So tonight my mom is bringing my niece over to say goodbye, and tomorrow she and my other sister drive her out to my sister's place in North Carolina.

(5) Paul has to reapply for admittance to Purdue, because he was on academic probation last semester and didn't do so hot...so in the meantime, he gets to work and take a few classes at the community college (maybe), and his graduation date was pushed back to December 2010, which means we'll be here for another 2 years. Which means I also am not student teaching in Chicago. But I am oddly okay with that, especially since that means that next summer we won't have to move!!! I haven't NOT moved at least once a year since I came home from Utah...5 years ago. I'm ecstatic to stay in one place for a while.

Whirlwind, I know. I may be in denial about some things, and I certainly have some strong opinions about some of it that other people do not want to hear, so I keep my mouth shut like a good girl. But Paul & I have an amazing home and we're gonna be okay, and nothing else really matters to me anymore. Isn't that amazing?

Our address for the next two years:
2501 Soldiers Home Road #64A
West Lafayette, IN 47906

Summer...

I don't know how to enjoy it quite like when I was a child. But no school (well, mostly, except for my one-month-long class that starts next week) can't be all bad. I wish I had more to write, or knew what to write about all that's going on now, but the truth is that while things are kinda in a state of limbo and we wait for a few doors to open and things to start, we are bums! Total couch potatoes. We eat out a lot and watch a lot of TV and movies and read some when we feel like it. We go to sleep late and get up REALLY late. We talk a lot about things we want to do, although the old phrase "when we're married" still creeps in now and again and Paul & I still have a hard time not referring to each other as "boyfriend"/"girlfriend". Maybe after we move into our own place next week, and start really moving on school/work/summer vacationing, and learn how to get this married thing going, it'll feel more "real". We'll see. :) I love to learn, I love to learn, I love to learn...

In the meantime, I'm here, I'm alive, and I am thinking fondly of you. :)

A few wedding pics...more to follow!

All of the pics from D.C. and from last night's reception are on my photographer's computer, except for these 6 from the temple grounds which I stole so that I could have some pics for the sign-in table. So until I get the rest, here's what you get! The colors are all a little off, not sure why, but we're in the process of photoshopping things to fix 'em, so everything will be amazing when all is said and done.

I wish I could write more, but there are too many thoughts to sort through first and besides that, we're off to Chicago for our second reception in about 2 hours and there is still SO MUCH to do before then! So I'll have to leave you in suspense a little longer. ;)

A pretty awesome guy :)

I get married in thirteen days to a guy who will take me to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine and then will come home and watch the A&E Pride & Prejudice that same night. And then go to WalMart to pick me up some Sudafed PE and softer tissues and orange juice. I feel pretty lucky! Perfect? No. But he's pretty flippin' awesome. :)

Oh, the economics of college kids...

I spent nearly $750 on books alone this semester, and, of course, I will only get about $30 back. Half of the problem is that my education classes use several cheap books and then one realy expensive course packet that you can't sell back. One-fourth of the problem is that Purdue bookstores offer so little compensation (for example, my $90 art textbook is selling back for $5). And the last fourth of the problem is that stupid publishing companies come out with a new edition every semester or every year and make everything so specialized that you can't sell it back, period! Add to that the fact that one of my books will be incredibly useful and I WANT to keep it, and...well...you have poor, poor me. Poor, poor, poor....

C'est la vie, hein?

I love to see the temple; I'm going there someday...

I do! Here are the few temples that mean something special to me:

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

This is the first temple I ever went inside, and is still the one I get to go to the most frequently. I'm going there on Saturday!

PROVO, UTAH

Ah, college. 'Nuff said.

NAUVOO, ILLINOISThis is the temple in which I received my endowments...on my 26th birthday...as I was feeling like death. :) But it's a beautiful one! I love it!

WASHINGTON, D.C.This is where I will be getting married in three weeks and one day! The wedding is most definitely still on and life is glorious!

People need to go to the temple. It's an amazing place to be.