our wedding video

a major thank you to kent mast photo and video for creating our wedding video.

i am so glad we decided to splurge and get a videographer - it was worth it! the number one thing people told me they would have done differently at their wedding was to have a video, so that advice was helpful.

i think he did a great job of capturing us as a couple and i hope you enjoy the video as much as i do. ;)

You'll Find Your Way



I love this song. It put tears in my eyes the first time I heard it, and this morning I played it for Lance only to realize yet again that we do NOT have the same taste in music. "I'm not gonna lie, it sounds exactly like the other songs you were just listening to." Which is funny because that's what I often think when he plays a song he likes for me - they all sound the same and do nothing for me.

This song makes me think of going for drives with my dad. Of all the back roads in Lancaster County, but especially in Holtwood. I love those roads. And somehow that got me thinking about the things we take for granted. How I used to get bored going to Pappy and Grandma's on Sunday afternoons with my dad and brother. Probably because it was routine.

And now I think, 'what I wouldn't give to have more of those ordinary Sundays ...' to get to be around Pappy Shank again and talk to him. I have so much left to ask him. So many stories I wish I could hear from him. To go back to Grandma Shank in a right frame of mind, bustling around the kitchen and making good food, singing and laughing.

To the phone ringing and Bruce loudly speaking what always sounded like jibberish to me, and Grandma responding in a yell-voice to get through to him, listening for a bit then yelling for Benny. And Pappy sitting on that stool cradling the phone, watching TV from the kitchen until finally we'd be sitting down to eat and Pappy would speak his only other words to Bruce (besides hello) - "Bruce! We're eating dinner!" And hang up.

Life is full of ordinary days. Sometimes we grumble or wish them away, but in retrospect they usually end up being the best days. Routine and the little things make life good, but the people around us are what makes life really good.

Sometimes if I'm frustrated or in a chaotic situation I think, "What is wrong with people!" or "I hate people!" But if I'm not completely distressed, I will counter that awful thought by thinking about how much I also LOVE people.

For as terrible as people can be, it is people who can also be almost unbelievably amazing. Through kindness, making you laugh and being there for you. Through completing the ordinary, everyday tasks that the world needs to keep moving. Through accomplishing amazing feats and overcoming unimaginably painful circumstances. People make life worth living. They are the best part of life. Ordinary days and ordinary people, they get inside of you before you even realize it and fill you up.

This song reminds me to take nothing for granted. Whatever kind of day you're having, someday you will probably look back on it as one in a series of ordinary days that you will miss. So don't take the people around you for granted.

What will I remember about these first weeks of marriage? What will I look back on someday as an ordinary that I miss? Well, I actually love when it feels ordinary. I love how natural it feels to live together, and I love when it feels like we have some routines established. It can be frustrating adapting to the Army life, which has no consistency, right down to the hours Lance works.

I am learning to keep my mouth shut when I'm in the passenger seat and Lance is driving - I fail miserably, but I promise I really am trying to pipe down. I am learning about myself and Lance and marriage.

[slightly creepy pictures of us, but we LOVE the mugs you made for us, Heather!]



What ordinary things might I lovingly look back on? Hmm, probably the newness of marriage. Our apartment and how we just have what we need. The basics. No clutter. I hope we always stay like that and don't accumulate excess.

Maybe all of the ridiculous ringtones and alarms Lance has on his new phone. One morning I faintly heard ducks, and since there are ducks that wander around our apartment complex from the lake to the pool and so forth, I didn't think much of it. But the ducks kept getting louder and louder until finally I said, "Lance do you hear those ducks?" Which apparently woke him up enough to realize his alarm was going off - the one he set to the tone of ducks quacking. So glad I knew that. ;-)

I love when Lance kisses me goodbye in the morning when he goes to work. Date nights. How we both get so excited for good food, and making big breakfasts on the weekends. Making fun of Georgia together. Adventures with our GPS. Watching Lance learn new things (like teaching him how to iron and how to make grilled cheese) and find his way around the kitchen when he helps me clean up. I love that it's just us down here, establishing our life together.

"Normal day,
 let me be aware of the treasure you are."

[Mary Jean Irion]

almost wedding time

only 9 days until lance gets to PA, and 17 days until the wedding!

i decided to write something so i remember how i felt when the wedding was this close. i always think i'll remember everything, but it turns out i don't - and my blog can be really helpful for looking back.

i am really, REALLY excited. i hope the day doesn't fly by in a blur, and i hope i don't feel nervous. the coordinator made a point to say that we need to amplify our voices during the vows for the ceremony and i nodded that i understood, but what i really wanted to say was, "um lady, i could care less about amplifying. if i make it through our vows without sobbing the whole time i will consider it a win."

my bridal shower two weekends ago was so sweet. my mom did such a great job planning EVERYTHING for it. she is simply the BEST and i don't know what i'd do without her.

i am thankful for my sweet brother driving people to the shower, and hiding out in a parking lot to call when my mom and i  drove by, probably scaring to death the person who happened to be walking out of said church at the exact moment he was ducking down in his vehicle to call to alert the party people we were close.

and i'm thankful for my stepdad, who is really the nicest person ever and the best stepdad you could ask for, and he grilled some tasty bacon-wrapped chicken for the shower - my fave. (such a girly girl i am with my food choices, i know.)

{it was a full, full house! and this doesn't even show everyone.}

{thank you so much Cindy for taking pictures!}

i felt SO loved. your heart is just overwhelmed with love that there are so many people in your life who care about you and love you and want to support this huge, momentous occasion! i love it.

i felt like i was in a daze at my bridal shower, maybe because it was a surprise. except technically it wasn't because i had pretty much figured it out. but still. the surreal feeling that day has me hoping my wedding day won't be a blur.

this past weekend was my bachelorette party and it was also a BLAST. seven of my friends and i spent the night at a cute hotel in philadelphia. i'm blessed to have a friend who is a very talented hair stylist and she did my hair in fun vintage curls and did my makeup too, which i loved.

we had amazing sushi for dinner, complete with nasty hot sake shots ... which i loved even though they tasted terrible, because i'm obsessed with trying new things. our waiter was so fun. (i love it when you get a good, happy server.)

i loved wearing my pink bachelorette sash and even more than that i LOVED all of the well wishes from strangers telling me "congratulations" and "you'll be a beautiful bride" and my personal favorite - "your fiance is the luckiest guy in the world!" ha. philly really IS the city of brotherly love. ;-)

then we did karaoke! i am so excited that i can check that off my life list! after a slew of girly songs (think britney spears "hit me baby one more time" and spice girls "wannabe") we left for dancing at another spot.

more highlights:
- my cousin screaming my name into the mic after karaoke and telling everyone to "give it up!"
- someone giving me a feather mask from their mardi gras party
- beautiful snow falling outside (but not sticking around til morning for our drive home, phew)
- arguing with the DJ because he wouldn't play a song one of us requested, whoopsies
- lots of good chats traveling to and from
- spotting a michael buble lookalike
- someone deciding to adopt a british/australian accent
- and a friend taking off her heels at the end of the night, walking barefoot on a philly sidewalk because apparently i am not the only person who struggles to walk in heels. i kept mine on the whole time, no problem, woot woot. but my feet were sore the next two days, womp womp.

thoughts on a thursday

--- wedding plans are in full swing. i hit my stressful peak last week and i am now back to being excited, well, actually even more excited because the day is getting closer and closer! at our food tasting last week (YUM), our wedding coordinator said: "you're easy! are you always this easy?" i said, "i try to be" and i also tried to bore my eyes into my mother's soul to make sure she would both hear and remember this proclamation. to make it even better, the coordinator continued and said i should give lessons to all of her other brides so they could be more like me. um, i'd love to!

--- i am going to miss the baristas at the coffee shop i became a regular at in york when i move. i love talking to them and they make the best chai. plus i already fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams of becoming a regular somewhere. so much so that they stopped saying "the usual?" after awhile, ahh bliss. it is good to be known. and the little things are always good. i've also really come to love york city, in spite of myself. it is a great city, especially for an aspiring young professional.

--- it turns out i like "crafting" more than i thought. i've been making random things for the wedding and i have had a lot of fun doing it.

--- the best part of winter is my lands end parka. it is one of the best things i've ever bought. you can't even feel the cold when you wear it zipped up to the neck with the fur-lined hood up. only problem is you then lose all peripheral vision. i almost got hit by a car trying to cross the street the other day. it was really close. i had the walk sign and looked before i stepped out, but nonetheless the speeding car almost hit me and i didn't even see it coming because of my hood. but the statue of liberty graciously started yelling at the car for me. there are people dressed up like the statue of liberty singing and dancing all over the city, and i still have no idea what they're advertising for so that tells you how effective that campaign is. or maybe how clueless i am. i think it has something to do with taxes or loans? maybe?

--- suit shopping with my dad = success! i was dreading it, but it went really well and the third one he tried on worked great. which was good because i think we had both already hit our limit at that point, ha. after lunch he ordered cheesecake and when he was halfway through the enormous slice that probably could have served a table of four he said, "is this a concentrated sweet?" "what? yes, of course it is! dad! i forgot you're not supposed to have that, now i'm going to get in trouble, great. that is literally about as concentrated of a sweet as you could have ordered!" he's on a diabetic diet and i'm obviously a great caretaker.

wedding planning

being engaged is as fun as i expected it to be and then some - and the same with wedding planning. i'm remembering why i wrote in my sixth grade yearbook bio that i wanted to be a wedding planner. what a goober. clearly i watched "father of the bride" a little too much growing up.

i'm also starting to understand why everyone freaks out and gets stressed about planning a wedding. add that to the growing list of "things people always told me but i refused to believed." you know what i mean? those things that everyone tells you and then in the throes of whatever it is you wonder why no one ever warned you about it, until you remember they did and you refused to believe it.

besides not being able to set a date until we know a few more things about lance's military schedule - a legitimate obstacle, the other "obstacle" is one i have created: the paradox of chelsea.

i sometimes have really expensive taste and can quickly become enamored with beautiful and exquisite wedding things. but just as quickly i become overwhelmingly guilty and the thought pounding in my head is, "how can anyone spend that much money for ONE DAY?!"

for instance, after touring a fantastic wedding venue, i happily thought that with the military discount they were offering us it wouldn't be too terribly outrageous. blame it on my eternal optimism, blame it on my lack of even attempting to do some quick mental math before i let myself consider the venue, but when i put the numbers into my calculator, i was dismayed at the total. gag. it sent me into a wedding planning slump as i revisited the idea of eloping for the umpteenth time.

i'm weird. i know.

but i just want to get married. i'm not writing this post because it has any significance or is really of interest to anyone. i want to write it down so i remember it. things change before you know it and no matter what there is always so much to be thankful for.

before i know it, our wedding will be here and then gone. but writing about it will let me look back and laugh at thoughts that crossed and/or consumed my mind like ...

• how much is too much to spend on a wedding gown? on a wedding?
• how/when did i get this old?
• does lance really know what he's getting into? mainly: does he realize how long it could take before i am actually good at cooking?
• my family should go into a vintage wedding rental business. popular businesses like magpie vintage rentals make me laugh. everything they have to rent out i could borrow from someone in my family. we rocked vintage before it was trendy, or heck, before it was vintage. however, i'm not necessarily crazy about the vintage wedding trend.
• is there any way i can get my hair to grow faster?
• i love that lance said he loves listening to me talk about wedding stuff. and that he pretty much gives me free reign.
• an amazing photographer from seattle that i emailed just for kicks said he would waive travel fees to shoot our wedding in lancaster because he loves this area (and taking pictures here) so much. how cool is that? i'm not planning on hiring him, but it was a great reminder of how very blessed i have been to be born and raised in beautiful lancaster county.
• being engaged has me thinking a lot about heritage too, and how thankful i am for mine. i love that my family's history is deep roots in a beautiful land, and an even richer heritage of faith. it's comforting and inspiring.
• even though i'm not really an animal person, i keep thinking about having a dog in my wedding. particularly a bulldog in a bowtie. lance confirmed for the millionth time that he is the man of my dreams when he suggested we find two - a bride and groom bulldog! best idea ever, lance! he of course was joking, but i was not.

guess who's engaged ...

last friday night (april 6, 2012) in georgia, lance asked me to marry him and i said YES. squealed maybe? it's a little blurry, and so is most of the sweet speech he made, because at that point i was blissed out. it was perfect - but i will save the story to tell you in person because the blog feels too impersonal. =)

we surprised his extended family on easter sunday - they didn't know he would be home for easter, so we walked in after church when they had just started eating and everyone screamed and cheered. once they'd settled down a tad from that lance said, "that's surprise number one, and now for surprise number two ..." and he held up my hand with the beautiful sparkling ring that he picked out for me to even louder screams and cheers - so much fun. i love surprises. and lance. so really, what could be better? =)

and yes, that is one of our engagement pictures already - taken by the amazing carrie logan (she'll be posting more pictures on her blog this week, in case you're as excited as i am to see more.) we had so much fun at our photo shoot with her. i wanted to get them taken before lance left this morning for ranger school, since he will be gone for about three months completing that.

i am proud of him for so many reasons, but add getting into ranger school to that list, because it's an incredible accomplishment. i made the mistake of googling it to learn more and frankly what i read about it terrified me. an average of two hours of sleep a night and barely any food while still competing in grueling physical tasks? yikesabees.

the bulk of ranger school is top secret and it makes me shudder to think of what he will endure. i will continue praying for him and i know that if anyone can do it, lance can. he's the best. =)