Some Thoughts on Life Right Now

(Disclaimer: I don't often write super personal posts like this about my feelings, my dreams, and my insecurities.  Please be kind.)

In many, many ways, I am so lucky. I have a family who supports me in any crazy thing I do, an amazing guy who loves me and accepts me for all my wackiness, a faith that has gotten me through so much, a house that may be tiny but is safe and comfortable and cute and all mine, a car that works, and a job. I have more than most people on this planet can ever hope to have. I am fully aware of this and eternally grateful. Nevertheless, I constantly feel as if I'm wasting my life, wasting my younger years, wasting whatever talent I may have, wasting a degree that both my family and I sacrificed so much for me to able to get.

I have dreams and things I want to do and visions for how I want my life to be, but I feel like I haven't figured out how to make it happen yet.  I'm constantly plugging away: writing, working, creating, applying for opportunities, but the breaks seem few and far between.  A lot of times, I feel too old, like I missed the boat and there's no way to get on it.

A few months back, I commented on a post by Grease + Glamour about people who won't give up on their dreams.  She took the time to respond to my comment and in many ways, her response has been the fuel to my fire to keep going, to not give up, to keep trying to do this....

When the season of life is changing...

I've been in a somewhat melancholy contemplative mood today, as I have been, like many, saddened by the passing of actor Robin Williams.  I always felt a kinship with this man that shared my name and brought such joy to so many people.  People and things all have their seasons of life and sometimes they leave us before we're ready.

I recently started a new job and while new beginnings are exciting and hopeful, it often means that with this same cycle of life, some people and things reach their end.  I was thinking along these same lines a few weeks ago, when I heard that Chalet Suzanne, a local restaurant and inn that had been open for 83 years, was closing.  It was a quirky family-run landmark that had a special place in many people's hearts.  I always feel change very acutely and it makes me sad when the vintage places that I love close and are so often torn down.

B and I went out to Chalet Suzanne a few weeks ago for a final meal.  We brought the camera and got some great pictures of this awesome old place.  It is obviously in need of some maintenance, but you can still see the greatness of what was there.

DOES THE WEDDING INDUSTRY HAVE TO BE AWFUL?

So, some deeper thoughts today than I've put on my blog in the past...

I'm not a bride yet but when I was maid of honor for my friend Jessica a few years ago, she introduced me to the blog Offbeat Bride.  OBB was a beacon of common sense for us in the crazy world of weddings and long after her wedding was over, I've continued to read it, inspired by their straight talk and open-minded views on weddings and life in general.

Offbeat Bride and another blog, A Practical Wedding, both write fairly extensively on the issue of the "WIC."  WIC stands for Wedding Industrial Complex and essentially, it refers to the wedding industry as a whole, which is generally characterized by its tendency to pressure people, primarily women, to spend tons of money on ridiculous stuff that they don't need.  This market tends to be full of weight loss supplements, over-priced dresses, and "personal details" that every bride just has to have.  It's perpetrated by slick wedding websites, pushy sales people in overpriced salons, and (my guilty pleasure) wedding TV shows.  

Mason jars and chalkboard. A (beautiful) wedding that was inspired by a bride's desire to incorporate as many of her Pinterest wedding pins as possible into her wedding.  Via weddingchicks.com

The thing is, as OBB bride's editor Ariel wrote, any wedding business, no matter how indie or alternative, becomes by default a part of the wedding industry.  I was reading this article from APW on Friday and I got to thinking, if all of us who are trying to keep it real, but have wedding-related business, are technically part of the WIC... how can the whole thing really be all that bad?