wedding dresses and spiritual quotes

Hello Blog friends,
sorry I've been so absent lately. Planning for a wedding can take up copious amounts of one's free time.
Speaking of which, I went hunting for a wedding dress yesterday!
No, the above pic isn't what I decided on...it's just a sample pic to represent the subject. Josh would probably kill me if I stuck the real deal up...he's adamant about not seeing the dress before the wedding. It's kind of cute. ;)
So the process was ultimately pretty painless.
I went to LA's downtown fashion district (my first time ever)--which is much less glamorous than it sounds; it's where you go for good deals, really--with my pals Michelle, Shalom, Audrey, and Mari. I tried on a total of 4 dresses within about an hour and a half. It came down to #s 2 and 4, but 4 won out in the end. I ordered it and could've picked it up later that day, but I decided to return for it next week instead.
Before we set out, Shalom asked me what my budget was, and I said $300. That was me trying to be economical...I had browsed at David's bridal, but most of their gear was $500 or more!
So the dress I picked out (and really like, which is great) ended up costing $299. Score!
Of course I still need to get a veil and shoes and such, but I'm pretty darn happy. And dare I say it--I even thought it was fun!

Switching gears completely, I came across the following quote in Dallas Willard's book, The Divine Conspiracy:
"Very little of our being lies under the direction of our conscious minds, and very little of our actions runs from our thoughts and consciously chosen intentions. Our mind on its own is an extremely feeble instrument, whose power over life we constantly tend to exaggerate. We are incarnate beings in our very nature, and we live from our bodies. If we are to be transformed, the body must be transformed, and that is not accomplished by talking at it.
The training that leads to doing what we hear from Jesus must therefore involve, first, the purposeful disruption of our 'automatic' thoughts, feelings, and actions by doing different things with our body. And then, through various intentional practices, we place the body before God and his instrumentalities in such a way that our whole self is retrained away from the old kingdoms around and within us and into 'the kingdom of the Son of His love' (Col 1:13 NAS)."

Coffee Quote

At my Starbucks yesterday, I overheard one of our regular customers--George (who gets a decaf non-fat no foam latte several times a day)--say this to a coworker of mine:
"I tell my family this is better than crack!"

Of course I know the context and I don't think George or his family are into drugs, but the seeming possibility was highly amusing to me.
This is my weird sense of humor.
;)

Goodbye, Ristey!

So, a lot of you who read this have already gotten the news, but to make it public knowledge: I am engaged! Wahoo!!! :)
Josh and I plan to get married in my hometown in Wisconsin this coming June 21st.
Should be one heck of a great time! :)
I am already feeling WAY blessed by the friends who have agreed to be a part of the wedding party, help out, and attend.
This pic is of almond blossoms, which I really *really* hope to get for the wedding flower...might prove difficult, but we'll see what we can do. It's hugely significant--if you want the dirt, shoot me an email.
I will try to post a better pic of Josh and I soon, but if you want to see a 24 second clip of him in real time, search for "Dodger Rant" at Youtube. :)
For those of you I promised an email of details to, I promise I will get on that soon...it's been a bit busy for me as of late, but I will get to it.
Thanks for sharing the joy, all!

Quotable quote from last Friday

Sorry I haven't posted this week, but I meant to put this on...

Last Friday Josh and I were hanging with Caleb & Elisabeth, studying Proverbs and whatnot.

Two things that came out of Elisabeth's mouth that night (and by the way, she's a sweet, 12 year-old redhead...that might help set the scene):


1) "Speaking of hell..."

2)[a lot later] "Hey, that reminds me that AC/DC sang that song, 'Highway to Hell', right?"

HA!