Sixteen Year Old Lauren

Tonight Jesse and I got on the topic of applying for our marriage license. It's one of the next things on our never ending, getting longer by the day, To Do Before I Do list. Neither of us knew how to apply for a marriage license so I went where any good bride goes when she needs answers on such things. Straight to Google. It was there that I learned that marriage license can be as inexpensive as $10 (Colorado), and as expensive as $100 (in Minnesota--go figure, right?). I also learned that it needs to be applied for in the county that the couple is getting married in. This will be a bit trickier for us as we're getting married in Dodge County. We are in the county of Dodge several weekends this summer but we will probably need to make a special trip down there during the week so we can apply for it when the courthouse is open. Jesse and I will also need copies of our birth certificates. Jesse is pretty sure his remains at his parents' place. Isn't that where every 30 year old man keeps his birth certificate? Mine was...somewhere. I just wasn't exactly sure. However, I am thankful and happy to announce that I now have it in my possession. Thank goodness because Google also told me it could take up to 4-6 weeks to have a replacement birth certificate processed. Yikes.

Memories, like the corners of my mind. Scattered pictures, of the way we were.

After I located the birth certificate and placed it somewhere safer, I continued to dig through the trunk that held it, along with several mementos from my life growing up. Several is an understatement. I seemed to have kept everything. Pretty sure the sales tag from my first training bra was in there. Purchased at Daytons of course. I was blown away at the things I kept coming across. The following is a short list of a few of those silly artifacts:

• If I went to school with you, you can rest assured I still have your school picture. I can't say I look at it everyday, but I definitely still have it. At least a dozen of you wrote, "Good luck with the boyz." (why the z?) on the back of your picture. Thank you for the luck. I guess you can say all that luck is finally paying off. And I have you, fellow Triton Middle School classmates, to thank for that.

• Then there were our glamour shots. How many rolls of film did we waste taking pictures of each other posing in various places? And how exciting was it to wait for one of our moms to go into Rochester so we could have the film developed?

• Oh and remember that picture that all of us theater nerds would take in the girl's locker room after our final musical performance of the year? Yep. I have copies of that picture. That's right. I said copies. Plural. It's called blackmail, ladies. 

• I also kept a lot of the notes that we would pass each other in school. Those were probably the funniest things. The things we would talk about that we thought were so important. Pretty sure I was crushing on at least four guys all in the duration of one month. Oy.

• I also came across every birthday card I received the year I turned 16. The year I didn't pass my driver's test on the first try, but did score a very hot pair of Doc Marten boots, and a surprise birthday party.

• Finally I came across something I wrote back in 1999. I have always loved to write. And I have always been dramatic. Feast your eyes on this following exert from my journal:

"...I had intended to talk of a certain subject that has been heavy on my heart lately. Well actually I hadn't thought much of it till tonight when I came across a box that had not yet been opened since our move to the country nearly a year and a half ago. Yes, I moved to the country and I hate it and I mean it with all the conviction in my heart. It was never my decision to make this henious move but it happened and there's nothing I can do about it -- something I have been told time after time since that dreadful day, August 31, 1998. I wonder if my parents would have done it if they knew how much pain and anguish it would cause me. It hurts so bad. My house. My home. No one understands it but it was mine. A 15 year old memory of mine that when I moved was discontinued and I would never ever get to have it back. Tonight as I was looking for something, I came across the box as I had said. In it were a whole bunch of things from our old kitchen. Magnets, pictures, notes, the ring I was looking for. Things that at that time meant very little to me, merely little invisible parts of my life. But now by just closing my eyes I can imagine exactly where they were in our little avacado kitchen. I hated that color. It was putrid. But now I love it. Sometimes when I think about it I can still hear the swing of the porch door and feel how it felt in the summer when every step you took down toward the basement got cooler, and cooler. And how warm the sun felt coming through the big landing windows...."

Don't say I didn't warn you. Very dramatic. Yeah, in case you didn't gather as much, moving out to the country was not my idea of a good time. I loathed my parents for making me move there. After I read that journal entry I started crying. Not because I still missed the old house. True, I still do at times. It was for sale recently and I tried to convince Jesse to buy it for me for my birthday. What? You never asked someone to buy you a house for your birthday? No, I cried tonight because I couldn't believe how much time has gone by. In just a blink of an eye twelve years has passed. Poof. Gone. So much has changed (my waistline). But so much has stayed the same (my affinity for dramatic rants). It's unbelievable to me to see where life has taken me. Twelve years ago I didn't want to live on that farm, or even be associated with that farm. And now, in just a little more than two months I am getting married and my husband and I will be celebrating with all our friends and family there. Oh. And that avacado green color I hated? That is one of my wedding colors. ◦

Sixteen Year Old Lauren

The transformation of Elsie's Coop

This my little bloggy friends, is what you call progress. So. Flippin'. Excited.

Oh yeah, do these babies look familiar??? Of course I have to find a way to incorporate my Goodwill kicks into our big fat farm wedding somehow. Pretty sure the green toes will have to take a hike, though.

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The transformation of Elsie's Coop

Dirty 30

Happy birthday to my oh so studly, hard working, baseball/basketball/football/underwater basket weavin'/hockey lovin', centipede killin', hunk of a man. He turned the big 3-0 today. Dirty thirty, yo! I love him more and more every single day. I love him so much it's gross. I can't wait to call him my hottie husband in 76 days from today.

Holy crap! 76 days???!!!? Yeah. Time is definitely flying. I am finding that the closer we get to the wedding, the more things I am adding to the To Do Before I Do list. It isn't suppose to work that way, is it? I have never been much of a list lover, but I will say that I have really enjoyed crossing things off as I get them done.

We are both thoroughly exhausted right now. We spent all day yesterday working on the big fat farm. I never did do an update on wedding weekend #2, so this post might be a bit long as I recap what we did this weekend (wedding weekend #3) and a few weekends ago.

Our second wedding weekend was a bit bittersweet. We accomplished a lot of wedding related tasks, but there was a dark cloud on the weekend as we were mourning the sudden loss of my parent's dog. Elsie was a German Shorthair Pointer that my parents welcomed into their family last spring. She was just a little over a year old when she was hit and killed by a car. It was heartbreaking, especially since the person who hit her didn't stop. They just kept driving, and my poor daddy was the one who found her.

This was the first time I met Miss Elsie. She was just a few weeks old when she made a trip to the cities to walk with my mom, Jesse, Apple, and I in the Walk For Animals. Such a little peanut she was. And she adored my dad. The silver lining is that my parent's have decided to add another canine companion to their brood since losing Elsie. They found another litter of GSP puppies that came from the same bloodlines as Elsie, and have decided one of their puppies will be a nice addition to their family. Right now they are deciding on names. My top three favs are Gilda, Zelda, and Zoila.

Wedding weekend #2 pictures!

We're turning the chicken coop into the location of the bar. And before it is the bar it is going to be where me and my bevy of bridesmaids will get ready before the wedding. It is a cute little building, and it's coming together quite nicely.

My parents had four windows that they took out of their house when they added a larger entryway to their home. They decided the windows would work great in the coop. I love that we were able to reuse them. This wedding is costing us a few pennies. Being able to put these windows in for little or no cost feels so good. Also, since there is no electricity in the coop it was important that there be as much natural light streaming in as possible.

Barn cleaning is a very crappy job. Literally. This is me doing my doody as poop scraper. I did a pretty kick butt job. If poop scraping was an Olympic sport I'd definitely medal in it. Going for the gold.

Here Jesse is doing his time as poop scraper in the hay loft. Yes, the poop was EVER-Y-WHERE! This is a barn after all. Just a few years ago this barn was filled to the hilt with sheep. The sheepies be gone now, but their scat did not scatter too far from the premise. The good news is that we saved all the scraped up poops and will be incorporating them into wedding favors for our guests. More on that later. (That second to the last sentence may or may not be completely fabricated....guess you'll just have to keep reading the blog to find out!)

 

Can you believe that we haven't settled on our desserts for the reception yet? Well, we sorta have. I really badly want a billion batches of my mom's world famous Fat Linda Bars. They are the bomb.com. But they are also a bit spendy to make, and also quite time consuming. Whatever shall we do? Any dessert suggestions? But for now we have the sign for the dessert table. Love is sweet. Let's hope the desserts are as well. 

I get wedding related picture messages from my mom throughout the week. I was tickled silly when she sent me a picture of this. How cute is that? The woman is a creative genius. She has the details on this particular piece of wood. Alls I know is that most of the signage we're creating for the big day is from old slabs of wood that have been sitting around the barn the last 13 years. Some of it was even around from our house in town.

I was especially enamored with this piece of lumber. What? Enamored with lumber? Yeah, I clearly have issues. But let me explain. It's antique lumber. A small bit of family history--for the first 15 years of my life I lived in the same home my dad grew up in. And then my dad moved me out to the big fat farm. Way before my dad grew up in that house, the Whitney family lived there. I love history and thinking about the "olden days". My dad has shared a little about this family with me. From what he has told me they were an affluent and wealthy Dodge Center family. I wish I knew more details. I will add that to my After I Do To Do list. Right under learning to can and figuring out how to master the sewing machine I've had for over two years.

Update: I couldn't wait until after the wedding to do a little research on Harry Whitney. I Googled him, and spent over an hour trying to find some info on him. Unfortunately I wasn't able to come up with much. But I did find this. Not sure what it's all about. Any of my lawyer friends want to give it a shot? Jesse thinks it looks like a deposition of sorts. Yep. We're nerds. Both Jesse and I get our rocks off on all things historic.

Here is the chicken coop, turned bridal quarters, turned bar, with all the windows installed (there are two on the other side as well). Eventually the door will be replaced with a set of french doors my parents found for cheap on Craigslist. After spending weekend #2 fixing it up, we were tossing around a few different names for it. Coop's Coop maybe? Sounds rather fitting considering that is my last name (for the next 76 days anyway). But we finally settled on Elsie's Coop. It pays homage to the sweet puppy girl who's time with us ended way too soon. My dad has also said he plans to turn it into his man cave after the wedding. If any man deserves a man cave it is definitely my dad.

Alright. I am done wedding recrapping. I know I haven't even touched on this past weekend yet. I'll get to it. Eventually. Jesse is currently snoozing next to me, but I need to wake him up so we can grill out with his parents tonight in true 30th birfday fashion.

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Dirty 30

Are you new here?

Some of you may have been following us since the inception of Our Big Fat Farm Wedding. But for those of you who are new to this little corner of the interwebs, I have taken the liberty of highlighting a few of our posts from this past year. If you find yourself in the mood for some mind numbing thrilling adventures please follow this link. I admit, when I started this blog I thought it would be littered with fun, inspiring wedding related DIY projects. Yes, there have been several wedding related posts, but I think the ones I found more enjoyable to write were the ones about our daily, non-wedding related events. I know not everyone enjoys the ongoing rambles of this young couple's life. That's OK. No one is making you read it. But for those of you who are new here and want to catch up, or those faithful followers who want to re-live the love....well have at it! Follow this link (yes, that's the same link twice in one paragraph).

How about some fun wedding related new? I have my first shower today!! Jesse's aunts are throwing me a lovely shower on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon. YAY! I know this may be hard for most people to understand, but as outgoing and social as I am, I really don't like that I am going to be the center of attention for the afternoon. I know, I know. Most of you think I am huge attention whoore. Let me clarify things for you. I do enjoy attention. I am sure most of you can agree with me on this, unless of course, you're a complete agoraphobic (I am not downplaying agoraphobia. I know it is terrible condition and I sympathize with those who suffer from it daily). I just don't like organized attention. Organized attention to me is a bridal shower. I have to open gifts (do I look appreciative enough?). I have to smile (are they looking at the gap in my teeth?). And most importantly I have to limit the awkward comments (remember, I do awkward very well). Oh, and I have to wear an outfit that makes me appear non-blobbish both while sitting down and standing up. And I can't pit out in it. Ie: No sweat marks under the arms (eeek!). Yeah. That's a lot of pressure for this girl. But despite all of these semi-minor obstacles, I can't help but feel so thankful that there are people in this world (people who know me!) that want to throw me such a lovely shower. I feel very blessed. And there is bonus! I am not going to be the sole center of attention. Whew! My very dear friend, Kendra (fellow bride-to-be and fiancee to Jesse's cousin) is going to share the spotlight with me. She's super cute and fun. I need to talk to her before hand and see if she can throw in a few awkward comments to make me look a bit less awkward. What do you say, Kendra? Are you game?

Picture time! The following are a series of pictures that were taken the weekend after St. Patrick's Day. Myself, Jesse, Bobby (Jesse's cousin), Kendra (the aforementioned bride-to-be), and Jungle (Jesse's shadow and right hand man) had just come from our friend's annual St. Patty's Day party and stopped off at Shamrocks for a few brews. Perfect time for a photo op. The first one is of Kendra and I. I think my favorite is the one where I am yelling at Jungle for photo bombing a picture of Jesse and I. That's Jungle. Ruining my life one picture at a time. Just kidding, Jungy. You know I love you.

OK. Enough of this nonsense. I need to go finish gettin' purdy for the day's events. My momma is coming to the shower too. She's simply the best (better than all the rest), and I can't wait to show her off to Jesse's side of the family.

Boom. Shaka laka, shaka laka. ◦

Are you new here?

Rube Attire 101

Praise the wedding planning gods! Jesse has finally (almost) decided what him and his rubes are going to wear on our wedding day. If you recall this post from several months back (November 17, 2010 to be exact) I introduced a look that I was particularly keen on for the guys. Here's a pictorial for a little refresher.

www.megsmith.com

I still love it. Unfortunately Jesse wasn't a huge fan. Sad. I thought I would threaten no more buffalo inspired cuisine until he saw things my way, but I know myself better than that, and was sure I couldn't follow through with such nonsense. And then I thought I had finally convinced him to see things my way when we hopped over to Kohls last Monday to try a similar suspender inspired look. Jesse declared the dressing rooms a no photo zone and wouldn't allow me to take pictures of him. Use the image below and a bit of your imagination and that is pretty much what we were dealing with.  

 I ain't gonna lie. It was pretty heee-larious. Poor Jesse. He just couldn't pull off that trendy look. It was then that we decided to go our separate ways with the suspender theme. I suggested to my groom that he give it some thought and attempt to get the men's attire vision emailed to his rubes by the end of the week. And he did (almost). Below is the email that he will be sending out to his buddies regarding his expectations for their attire.

Rubes, 

 It's that time of year when somebody else is getting married, and this time it's me. Considering that Jungle's future wedding will only be valid in 4 states; this may be the last one.......until somebody gets married for the second time. The plan for this one is no jackets. So it'll be matching khakis (we're not 100% sure where from yet but I'll keep you posted. Most likely just Kohl's or something like that), a white button up dress shirt (you can use your own or buy a new one) and dress shoes (preferably brown but black are fine too). I'll provide the ties (a mixture of looney toons and piano keys of course), so for the most part you'll be responsible for the pants only if you already own the shoes and shirt. No short sleeve shirts either, although that would be awesome. That's about all for now I'll holler when anything else changes.  

                  "wont you gentlemen have a Pepsi?"  Spies Like Us - 1942

So there you have it. What do you think? Don't ask me why he added the random quote on the bottom. Yet another oddity of his. Very random. How about those tie choices? Yeah. That won't be happening. Wait. Let me rephrase that. It won't be happening at the wedding ceremony. If the guy want to switch things up after the I Do's then who am I to stop them? I am just the bride.

http://www.ties.com/

http://www.ties.com/

Speaking of post-ceremony attire. Word has it that the look below will also be making an appearance. Yes, Jesse and his rubes want to sport the all over denim look. Hot, no? Literally. That will be so hot in August. Bunch of weirdos.

And then there was this one. All the guys rockin' the hockey jersey. Really?



And then this. My all time favorite, pee in pants from laughing every time I think of it, most hilarious use of suspenders EVER! Not sure if it fits with my rustic glam farm wedding theme. But it does include suspenders. Decisions, decisions!

The three pictures above are definitely a far cry from my dream vision for the guys. But I guess we have to take into consideration who we are dealing with. It's all about compromise. Every bride needs to choose her battles and realize you can't win 'em all (so don't even try because you'll die tryin', ladies!). And yes, this is one of the last weddings for both my set of friends and Jesse's. Ours definitely will be unique, and we'll most certainly go out with bang. Guess you'll just have to wait until some post wedding wrap up blogging to see what we ultimately decided on. 

What would you choose? Should I go all bridezilla on Jesse's azz and hold out for my dream look? Barrels with suspenders? Hockey theme? 90's inspired ties? I know you all secretly love the Canadian tuxedo. Let us know what you think. Leave us a comment! And maybe you even have a few ideas of your own. We're all ears (and naturally, so is Bobo!!!).

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Rube Attire 101