We are an Easter People

Happy Easter everyone!  This year's outfits were assembled by Little Miss Chief herself, who is having quite the Belle moment, hence the yellow.  We had to snap this photo after we got home from Mass because we had to rush out the door to get to the 9am on time.  (We got there with 5 minutes to spare, but had to sit in the cry room.)

Yesterday was also the 10th anniversary of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007.  I felt so blessed to be able to spend the afternoon with my dear friend I met that year, our freshman year in engineering school.  It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since that awful day, and there's something profound about spending the Triduum reflecting on how death touched all of us that day, and how we as a university community came together to heal in the aftermath.  We will certainly neVer forgeT, and I'm so proud to say that this day has become not one of sorrow or despair, but a day to celebrate the lives of the 32, and to enjoy, with our fellow Hokies, the beautiful spring day that was stolen from us all those years ago.  This year, that spring day involved my friend and I watching our daughters play in the sunshine, hunting for Easter eggs; we celebrate Christ's victory over death and the blessings in our own lives over the past 10 years.

So how was your Easter?  Who dictates the family color palette in your house?  And for my fellow Hokies- how did you observe April 16th?

Much love,
The Geeks

Oh, Internet... {81}

Today I get to indulge in one of my favorite activities: packing for a road trip.

Because tomorrow- we road trip!

Well, tomorrow night.  Really late tomorrow night.  We're going to put on jammies, stay up past bedtime, and then get in the car and drive and drive and drive (and hopefully someone will sleep and sleep and sleep for a good percentage of it).

So while I pack, you should read!  Specifically, read these awesome things:

Breenah at By Breenah wants to take Jim Gaffigan out to dinner.  (Me too!)

What It's Like to Play for Legendary Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer- we're gonna miss you, Frank.

"You don't want him using you as a pacifier, do you?  Well, yeah.  Kinda I do."  Check out this beautiful reflection on Better than Eden.

Catholic All Year shared How to Advent.  We're working hard to make sure Advent and Christmas are two distinct seasons in our house.

What awesomeness happened on your internet this week?

Much love,
The Geeks

Answer Me This: Father's Day Edition

Time for more Answer Me This on this hot, sunny Father's Day.

1. What's the best thing about your dad?

back before my dad grew his woodsman beard

I'd say the best thing about my dad is that he will always stand by his convictions.  Mom has always called him her rock; he won't ever give up on what he believes.

That, and he's a pretty great Papaw.

2. What's the best thing about your kid's dad?

That's right, Chief.  He does rock

The best thing about Mr. Geek is that he is willing to do anything for his little family.  Walk around the house singing to a crying baby at 2 in the morning?  He'll do that.  Sleep on what was essentially a sheet of plywood wrapped in fabric (the "sofa" in the hospital recovery room)?  No problem.

More important than his willingness to get his hands dirty, though, is his devotion to this marriage as a true partnership.  He doesn't view looking after his daughter as "babysitting"; he doesn't see vacuuming the living room as going above and beyond.

3. What's the best advice your dad ever gave you?

It wasn't fashion advice, I can tell you that much.

It's not so much advice that he gave me, but rather a sort of philosophy to live by.

He told me that you choose who you love, and I always thought that was terribly unromantic.

But now I get what he was saying.  You might not always choose who you're initially attracted to, but you choose who you love, because love is a choice, an action- not a feeling.  I'm so glad I finally figured out what he was talking about, because it's the foundation we've built our marriage on.  My parents have had a strong, solid marriage for 29 years now; I feel like that's a pretty good relationship to imitate.

4. What's something you have in common with your dad?

That whole being firm in his convictions thing?  That tends to translate into stubbornness and inability to concede when he's maybe kinda sorta wrong.  I don't know anybody who inherited that trait from him.  Nope.  No idea.

5. What's the manliest thing you know how to do?

I don't really like this question, because it implies that any talent can be "manly" or "girlie".  The only truly "manly" activities in the world are things like peeing standing up, and the only truly "girlie" activities are things like giving birth.

But there are plenty of talents and abilities traditionally assigned to men, and I can do some of them, too.

The most "traditionally male" things I've ever done are as follows:

-graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering

-drive (and prefer) a manual transmission

-replace the headlight in my car

-fired a weapon at a shooting range for fun 

-work outside the home and bring in the larger paycheck

-and yeah, I've peed standing up once or twice

6. Who is your favorite fictional dad?

image by Warner Bros, via Harry Potter wikia

Arthur Weasley is not a perfect father- he tends to want to play "good cop" by threatening the kids with, "Wait until your mother hears about this!" as opposed to enforcing family rules himself- but he loves his wife and children and does whatever it takes to protect them.

Sometimes Mr. Geek and I are a little like Arthur and Molly.  I even dream of having 7 kids one day...

Head on over to Catholic All Year and link up your answers!

Much love,

The Geeks

Twenty Random Things About Mrs Geek

1. In high school, I thought I was being called to the religious life.  I felt a yearning to do something that made the world a better place, a call to be a teacher, and a desire to travel the world.  This led me to the conclusion that I should become a nun and live in Africa and teach at a school for girls.  (It didn't hurt that the daughter of my parents' friends did that exact thing and then came and talked to our parish about it.)  I also assumed I would be a terrible mother and felt no real call towards motherhood, leading me to believe that I shouldn't get married.  Basically my logic worked like this- women who were good mom material became wives and mothers, and women who were not became nuns.  Ergo, I was destined for the habit.  I don't think my parents ever wanted that for me, though, because they continuously pointed out that I was a little boy-crazy and constantly in need of a boyfriend, which I couldn't have if I was cloistered away somewhere (or, you know, in Africa, but I think they were in denial about that bit).  But then a nun pointed out to my mom that being a nun doesn't mean you can't like boys, so that line of reasoning dried up after a while.  It doesn't mean I didn't really struggle with my discernment to a vocation, especially as my senior year boyfriend and I got ever more serious and I realized the benefits of a potential marriage and a lifelong partner.  Sometime in my freshman year of college, even as I was realizing that this boyfriend was not the right match for me, I all of a sudden felt an overwhelming call to motherhood- I needed to (one day) give birth to my own children, no question.  I still thought I'd be pretty bad at it and struggled with the idea that my potential future children would hate me, but I inexplicably knew that it was what I was supposed to do.

2. I've always wanted to be a redhead.  In middle school and high school, I pestered my mom to let me dye my hair or at least get highlights, but she never let me- she always said it wasn't a good idea to damage my hair when I was still so young, and I think secretly she was afraid the color would turn out awful and I didn't exactly need any help in the awkward department.  First I wanted a dark chestnut brown, then goth black, then strawberry blonde, then cobalt blue, then real ginger red...basically anything but my mousy, dirty blonde.  By the time I got to college, I still had an itch for red hair, and the ability to do something about it, but I never pulled the trigger.  After we got married, I did the whole post-wedding chop thing, and I promised myself that when it grew back out, the next extreme hair-makeover I did would be to finally dye it.  Buuuut then I got pregnant.  And then, you know, the baby was born.  And now I just don't have time to get my hair done (though if I did, I'd want more of a maroonish red with dark undertones).  But I feel like if I dye my hair red now people will just think I'm copying my (beautiful) daughter...

3. My drink of choice is a whiskey and Sprite.  Maker's Mark, to be specific.

4. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are my favorite candy ever.

5. If I had to pick one city to live in for the rest of my life, I'd choose Blacksburg, VA.  It's a beautiful town and is consistently rated one of the best places to raise a family- it's not your typical college town.

6. I've performed with the Moscow Ballet.  It's really not as impressive as it sounds- when I was in middle school, they were touring their Nutcracker and auditioning for the children's parts in each town.  I auditioned and landed a role as a mouse for both the matinee and evening performance.  I know, I know, it's silly, but it was one of the only children's roles that had a part in both acts of the show, so I had considerable stage time compared to some of the other kids.  I brought my old pointe shoes and had some of the professional ballerinas sign them.

7. I secretly love Taylor Swift's music, even though I can't stand her as a person.

8. Hallowe'en is my favorite holiday because costumes!  Also candy!

9. If you're wondering what to get me for a gift-giving occasion, kitchen supplies are a safe bet.  Mr. Geek and I have a shared Google Document with a list of things I'd like for the kitchen in case he's ever stumped on what to get me.

10. Saint Augustine is my favorite saint.  Seven-year-old me had always seen saints as perfect, untouchable beings who I could never hope to live up to, but Saint Augustine was just a normal boy who became a very bad boy who completely turned his life around and made it to Heaven after all.  Of course, the more I studied the saints, the more I found stories of extreme conversion (which is kind of the point of saints), but Saint Augustine was the first to give me hope that holiness is truly achievable for all of us.

11. I hate snow.

12. Belle is my favorite Disney princess but Leia is a very close second.

13. Disney Imagineering has always been my dream job.  I'm still holding out hope that I'll get there one day.

14. Mr Geek and I recently discovered Archer and we LOVE it.

15. While I loved the Song of Ice and Fire book series, I'm not a huge fan of the TV show.  I only watched maaaaaybe half of season 1 of Game of Thrones and was just not impressed.  Part of what I like about the books is the pace- which, yes, is slow, because there is so much detail.  And not like Jules Verne details- it's not hundreds of pages describing the colors of the fish swimming by- but character-building details, so that when people do things that seem completely out of left field, it's at least not out of character.  The TV show, by nature of the medium, just feels so rushed by contrast.  Also I keep hearing about all the plot changes and I just have no desire to watch that, so.  Here's hoping he finishes the books...

16. I love the Disney show Gravity Falls.  Mr. Geek always asks me how old I am when he catches me watching it, and I tell him to shut up because it's super clever and funny.

17. I have a serious baby clothing habit.  I just can't help it.  Little Miss Chief has a completely full closet and I can't. stop. buying. it.

18. Iron Man is my favorite super hero because his super power is his BRAIN.  He's an engineer!  I mean seriously.

19. I'm not a beer drinker.  I'm not intentionally trying to be annoying or anything, I just prefer cider.

20. I'm very particular about the way I sort laundry.  I sort by color- like, individual colors- and then group like colors together so that in the end I do a load of whites, a load of darks, and a load of brights.  I could just sort them that way to begin with, but I have to have my process.

All right, there we go- 20 things!  What are some random things about you?

Much love,
The Geeks

Wordless Wednesday: Hokies

watching VT vs UVa on Thanksgiving weekend 2013 // *personal photo*

Much love,
The Geeks

Fashion Adventures: Hokie Colors

I can't believe it's already September!  Mr. Geek doesn't particularly like the arrival of September because it means that the temperatures are slowly starting to drop and we're one step closer to snow.  I'm not a huge fan of snow either, but I like the other things that September brings- pumpkin-flavored EVERYTHING, brightly-colored tights, and college football. 

I wore this orange and maroon outfit at the beginning of last week (29 weeks 4 days, if you're keeping track) to properly usher in college football season.  (And yes, we lost our game this weekend, but it was a hell of a lot closer than I expected it to be.  Go Hokies!)  At the suggestion of my cousin, I decided to try a tighter-fitting maternity top with ruched sides- it definitely emphasizes just how very large my belly is, but it also shows the relative not-largeness of the rest of me, and, in general, it feels less like "mom clothes".

I'm glad to say that I don't find myself standing like this very often, because I haven't been experiencing much lower back pain lately, which I attribute mainly to the exercises I've learned in our Bradley class.  I do find my upper back and shoulders hurting at the end of a long day at work, but Mr. Geek has perfected his shoulder massaging skills so such pain is quickly remedied :)

I wonder- does Starbucks sell the Pumpkin Spiced Latte in decaf?  Because if I have to go through an entire fall season with no pumpkin in my coffee, I'm going to be sad.  (And yes, I know I could make my own pumpkin spice syrup, but that implies I have the time and energy to make such things.)

Earrings: Charlotte Russe
Necklace: Forever 21
Top: Target Maternity
Slacks: Motherhood Maternity
Watch: Kohl's (same style, different color)
Shoes: Simply Vera by Vera Wang via Kohl's

What's your favorite September arrival?  Are you excited about the impending cold weather, or do you dread it like Mr. Geek does?  And moms- do you prefer loose and flowy maternity clothes or more form-fitting?

Much love,
The Geeks

*all photos personal*

Lifescouts: French Language

So Monday I showed you the video explaining the concept of Lifescouts.  Mr. Geek and I are going to periodically show you which badges we've earned as a way of sharing more about ourselves with you; if you've earned the same badges, feel free to share your story in the comments!

image via Lifescouts

How Mrs. Geek Earned the French Language Badge

I took 5 years of French in school, and was really rather good at it- straight A's, and all that.  My ever-disappearing Southern accent always meant that my pronunciation was rubbish, but I could read and write with the best of them, and, if the speaker would condescend to go slowly enough, could carry on a decent conversation.  Harry Potter had turned me on to the idea of learning Latin, so I had considered switching to that in the 9th grade, but I believe our school only offered 3 years of Latin, and I was advised by various teachers that many years spent studying one language was more attractive on a college application- the ultimate goal of high school- than hopping from one language to the next.  I contented myself with researching the origins and definitions of all the Latin spells introduced in the Potter-verse and allowing that to help me better understand French.  By senior year, I could pick up a children's book in Spanish or Italian and understand most of it, and when we read The Little Prince in French class, I was proficient enough to actually engage in a literary discussion of the book- in English, though, not French, as my vocabulary wasn't quite expansive enough to delve into such philosophical issues.  I took the AP exam for French my senior year- an exhausting all-day academic marathon of reading comprehension, essay writing, listening comprehension, speaking, and conversing.  I scored a 3 out of 5- a "passing" score, worth the minimum amount of college transfer credits for a foreign language class.  Of course, I didn't need the AP score to earn those transfer credits, as Virginia Tech's College of Engineering required only 2 years of a foreign language in high school to satisfy that requirement, but it was nice to have those credits anyway, and taking the exam meant I would receive weighted credit towards my high school GPA.  (The agony was totally worth it for my little over-achieving self.)

I have not taken a French class since 2006, nor have I had any need to speak French since then, aside from the occasional ballet class.  When I get really bored, I'll check out the website for Le Monde, a French newspaper, and read through the article summaries just to see what I can understand, with varying levels of success.  Perhaps if I ever get a chance to visit France, I'll try brushing up on my conversational skills.

Have you earned the French Language Lifescouts Badge?  Did you take French in school?  Have you ever been to France?  Do you speak French fluently?  Have you ever had a funny or awkward experience in which understanding French may have been beneficial?

Much love,
The Geeks

A Ringing Question

Folks, I have another question for you.  As I've never gotten married before, I'm not completely sure what the answer is here :)

Do I wear my engagement ring during the ceremony?

I've seen photos of brides who did, but more photos of brides who didn't.

I've done a little research (*cough*HERMIONE*cough*) and I know that back-in-the-day, there was no distinction between engagement rings and wedding bands- the bride only wore one ring, which she sometimes received at the engagement.  Or, if there was a separate wedding band, she stopped wearing the engagement ring altogether after The Big Day.

I do know women who no longer wear their engagement rings but keep them stashed away in a jewelry box to pass on to their daughters one day.

Not me, buddy- I love this rock and I'll wear it until my fingers fall off!

Some women wear the engagement ring on their right hand for The Big Day and then leave it that way afterwards- like my friend, BM MrsB.

That's not going to work for me, either.  I wear my college class ring on my right hand every day, and I plan to wear it on The Big Day, too.  I'm sure some people will find that tacky or otherwise be personally offended in my choice of jewelry, but here's the thing- to me, that ring represents a lifetime of incredibly hard work, not just the 4 1/2 years I spent in beautiful Blacksburg.  That ring represents all the best parts of me- and as I'm bringing myself to my groom on our wedding day, I think it's fitting to wear that ring.

So, the diamond isn't going on my right hand.

What I'm wondering is- is it such a big deal if I wear it during the ceremony?  If anything, it'll remind Mr. Geek which hand to put the wedding band on :)  (He was holding my right hand during the proposal and I had to switch hands for him when he pulled out the ring!)  Besides, if I don't wear it, where will I put it?  I can only imagine that in all the chaos going on that day, if that ring isn't on my finger, it'll probably get lost in the piles and piles of wedding crap we'll be schlepping around.

So what do y'all think?  Should I:

-Just wear it- there's no rule that says you can't!
-Make my mom hang on to it because clearly she won't have enough to do that day

Much love,
The Geeks

What's the Worst that Could Happen?

Wedding nightmares are apparently a pretty common phenomenon with stressed-out brides near the end of the engagement.  Night after night, the frazzled bride's subconscious plays out every possible scenario of things that could go wrong on The Big Day, from the slightly improbable to the completely absurd.  For some brides, this serves merely as fodder for a funny story over coffee with a friend, and for others, it convinces them make sure they are prepared for the worst in the off-chance that the dreams are their third eye seeing into the beyond.

Emma Thompson as Professor Trelawney // image via Stellar Path

I have yet to fall victim to these sorts of nightmares.  Sure, I'm crazy stressed out about all things wedding right now, but my stress originates mainly from The List and from rational fears, such as the worry that I won't be able to finish everything on The List.  I haven't quite ventured into the territory of the myriad of other things that could go wrong.

This weekend, Mr. Geek and I made the trip down to Blacksburg for my friend (and bridesmaid) MrsF's wedding.  You may have heard that a slightly interesting series of thunderstorms made its way across the state and the rest of the East Coast on Friday, causing minor problems along the way.  The wedding reception was supposed to be held at the Blacksburg Country Club.

image via jrandlesley.com

Like millions of other Virginians, guess who didn't have power on Saturday?

Now, never fear- this story has a happy ending.  Turns out the country club did some leg work, and called up The Inn at Virginia Tech to see if they could hold the reception there, with the country club staff doing the work.

image via The Inn at Virginia Tech

The Inn was cooperative, and the phone call that the bride received the morning of her wedding was not, "So...what do you want to do now?" but instead, "We have a back-up plan!"  Apparently the bride originally wanted to host the reception at The Inn anyway, so everything worked out for the best.

the happy couple, thankful to be dancing in an air-conditioned room // {personal photo}

Of course, as Mr. Geek and I are the next in line to the altar amongst our group of friends, dinner conversation at the reception began with the question, "So, Miss Geek, what would you have done if this were your wedding?"

We all generally agreed that I would've freaked out, spent most of the day crying, and sent out an announcement to the guests generally stating, "Just kidding, we'll try again next week."

Thus began a rousing game of Let's Name Everything That Could Possibly Go Wrong on the Geeks' Wedding Day.

Let me tell you, this was a super fun game.  It's my new favorite game.  I'm pretty sure I won.  I mean, I'm the only player who nearly hyperventilated and tried to change the subject several times before announcing rather abruptly that it was time to go dance.  And I've found myself practicing my skills at this game by making my own list of disasters in my head and freaking out about them.

Want to play?

Things That Could Go Wrong on the Big Day

-the Atlanta airport closes, and a majority of our out-of-town guests can't get to the wedding at all, including the groom
-a hurricane tears its way inland and destroys the reception site
-the kitchen at the reception site catches fire and the entire place burns down before we get to eat any cupcakes
-my dress catches fire while being steamed/pressed and I have to wear jeans instead
-I never actually find a good pair of shoes to wear and just go barefoot
-all of my hair falls out and I have to wear a wig even though I am so very against using extensions
-the invitations don't get sent to the printers on time so they get mailed out late, and by the time people receive them, they've already made plans for November 10th
-my fabric flower boutonnieres/corsages look stupid and everyone refuses to wear them
-a bridesmaid forgets to order her dress and has to wear jeans instead
-the florist covers the church in $1 million worth of white roses and when I can't pay in full the entire parish brings a lawsuit against us
-the sound system dies at the reception site and I have to sing loudly, else there will be nothing to dance to
-my makeup causes an allergic reaction that doesn't show up until after months of use, and on the morning of the wedding my entire face is red and swollen
-the photographer wrote down the wrong day and doesn't show up
-something is wrong with the seafood in the po'boys and every single guest is struck with immediate, violent food poisoning, causing them to vomit all over the dance floor
-they run out of Maker's Mark before I get a drink
-the sound system works just fine, but the only music my computer is capable of playing is the Nyan Cat song on a loop for 4 hours and we can't make it stop
-I receive the Blood of Christ at Communion and proceed to spill it all down my front
-the ring bearer does indeed throw his little book down the aisle, and while we've thought ahead and not actually given him the rings, it knocks over a candle on the altar, sending the whole church up in flames
-my dad decides he knows what's best and will be driving us to our honeymoon and then back to NOVA rather than letting me drive my own car
-Mr. Geek farts really, really loud when he's supposed to say "I do"
-I come down with laryngitis and am incapable of saying anything, much less "I do", but I mouth the words anyway.  Years later, the topic comes up in the form of a funny story in an audience with the Pope and he declares the marriage invalid because I never actually made any vows.  Mr. Geek is so horrified that I had never realized this was the case and so decides to not re-marry me officially.
-Mickey and Minnie actually accept our invitation, show up at the wedding, and terrify our two tiniest attendants (my baby cousins).  They proceed to shriek in terror for the entire Mass, refusing any comfort, just standing in front of the altar rigid in shock and wailing at the top of their lungs.

*Phew* I'm really good at this game, y'all.  It's actually quite fun.  At least I'm laughing at the ridiculousness my imagination is capable of instead of sobbing in the corner in sheer despair.

Your turn!  What are some absolutely terrible things that could happen at your wedding, probable or otherwise?

Much love,
The Geeks

True Colors

Well, I bet ya'll can guess what comes next, even if you hadn't read the title.  We picked a theme, we decided on the "atmosphere," so clearly there was only one more element to nail down before we set off buying things- colors!

As a pre-engaged lunatic girl, I had already considered colors for my one-day wedding.  Mr. Geek and I had even discussed color palettes before getting engaged, and we'd settled on royal blue and clover green:

Colors Courtesy Pantone

You may recall that my weird little brainstorming session included a portion on colors.  If we'd gone with the colors we determined represented our personalities, our color palette might've looked something likes this:

Colors Courtesy Pantone

 Hmm.  That has the potential to be a nice color palette, but it needs a little tweaking.  The major problem here is that blue and orange are together- two colors that should never, ever go together.  Ever.  I don't care what shades.  And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Hokie and also an Alabama fan.  (Okay maybe I am.)

Paint is clearly my greatest medium.

At this point we did what any other couple would do when faced with such a dilemma: we turned to the interwebs.  I typed the words "color palette" into an image search, hoping to get a picture of a color wheel or something, and instead, I found this picture:

Photo originally found here, then printed, crumpled a bit, and scanned back into my computer :)

(Unfortunately, since then, the website hosting the image has taken it down, but thankfully I printed it out to carry around, which means I could scan it in for the blog!!)

We both thought it was perfect.  These colors just feel like fall, whereas the combinations I mentioned previously feel more summery.  (I guess it helps that they're presented as leaves!)  Saying these colors out loud (red, orange, purple, green, grey) sounds awkward; you wouldn't assume these colors would go together.  But these shades together really do make the perfect fall color palette.  Armed with a print out of this photo, we headed to the paint department at Lowes to pick up some swatches, and settled on these:

Olympic Antique Moss, Valspar Waverly Home Classics Purple Potion and Tomato Red, Valspar Laura Ashley Home Pumpkin 6

We decided the purple and red would be the main colors, showing up in bridesmaids' dresses and bow ties for the groom and his men, while the green and orange would be supporting colors, showing up in boutonnieres and corsages for the mothers, and greys and silvers would appear as accents, in suits for the boys and shoes for the girls.

How did you choose your color palette?  What do you think of ours?

Much love,
The Geeks

I'm Sensing a Theme, Here

Like most kids, my answer to the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" changed about a million times (and, if I'm perfectly honest, it's still changing).  A dream career I've continued to revert back to over the years is teaching.  My current iteration of "when I grow up" is a high school math teacher...but that's another story entirely.

Somewhere around middle school, I was pretty certain I'd become an English teacher- specifically, a creative writing teacher.  The summer between 7th and 8th grade, I went to a geek camp called Center for Talented Youth (CTY) run by Johns Hopkins at various universities throughout the country.  That summer, I went to St. Mary's College of Maryland and took a college-level writing class, Crafting the Essay.

Daddy Geek took this picture of Mom Geek and me as we explored campus just before my 3 week taste of college began.  Incidentally, it's my favorite picture of my mom and me ever taken.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Oh, right.  This post is about choosing our wedding theme.

Before we picked colors, before we assembled a guest list, before I started Googling wedding dresses (okay fine, I've been Googling wedding dresses since my family first got dial-up internet), before we even thought about a budget, we needed a theme.  Ogres have layers, and weddings have themes.

I actually find this movie quite annoying. (via)

Mr. Geek and I sat down with my newly-purchased wedding binder full of tabbed dividers separating blank sheets of college-ruled paper, a folder awaiting receipts for wedding-related purchases, and a notebook  that looked too pretty to pass up, and I warned him that we were about to launch into what would probably feel like a creative writing exercise.

Bless his heart, he agreed to play along.

I gave us each a blank sheet of notebook paper and a pen, wrote his name on the top of my sheet and had him write my name on the top of his.  To start this exercise, I had to set some very important ground rules:

1.Empty your mind of all things wedding-related.  For the next 1/2 hour or so, we are not talking about a wedding, we're just talking about each other.

2. Write down the first things that come to mind, as they come to mind.  Don't second guess your initial thoughts.

3. No peeking at the other person's paper :D

For the first portion of the exercise, I gave us 60 seconds to list as many adjectives to describe the other person as we could possibly think of.  (See?  Should've been a creative writing teacher.)  Here's what we came up with:

Mr. Geek:                                                                              Miss Geek:

silly                                                                                         and she said all that really fast

fun                                                                                          pretty

smart                                                                                      exciting

adorable                                                                                 intelligent

loving                                                                                     funny

geeky                                                                                      compatible

old-fashioned                                                                         organized

southern                                                                                 silly

sweet

cute

It would take forever to explain exactly what we mean by a lot of our answers to these prompts (especially in those that follow), but I will explain a few.  The first bullet Mr. Geek listed is obviously a phrase and not an adjective, but the general idea was to list descriptions of the other person.  Other than her physical description (bushy hair, big front teeth, already changed into her school robes) this is the first thing Harry notices about Hermione when they meet on the Hogwarts Express in the first Harry Potter novel- she talks a lot, and very quickly.  This is not the only thing Miss Granger and I have in common.

Yeah, this was my Hallowe'en costume this year.  Which I wore to work.  I'm 23.  Problem?

After adjectives/descriptions, I gave us 60 seconds to jot down objects that remind us of the other person.  This is where things start to get a little...philosophical?  You know how, when you're really close to someone, random things in your everyday life remind you of them?  Shoes remind me of Daddy Geek's sister, because she's a manager at a shoe store.  Large tote bags and purses remind me of Mom Geek because for my entire life, I've never seen her without one.  (She got a new one for Christmas one year, and when she was opening it, my baby sister enthusiastically exclaimed, "Oh, it's a new suitcase!")  Random everyday objects have a tendency to make you think about certain people.

Mr. Geek:                                                                                                  Miss Geek:

textbooks                                                                                                   slippers

calculators                                                                                                 cats

HP/LotR books                                                                                         books

electronics                                                                                                 computers

food                                                                                                           engineering

rats                                                                                                            cookware

pens                                                                                                           fashionable clothes

love letters

suits

Aw, how adorable- Mr. Geek thinks I'm fashionable :D

Next, we went with places: these could be real places or imaginary places, places we've been together or places we'd like to visit together.

Mr. Geek:                                                                                                Miss Geek:

Chicago                                                                                                   Blacksburg

Little Rock                                                                                              Virginia

Japan                                                                                                        Roanoke

DC                                                                                                           Herndon

Middle Earth                                                                                           Chicago

Hogwarts                                                                                                 Ruston

the Shire                                                                                                   Kentucky

Hogsmeade                                                                                              Alabama

Disney World                                                                                          Mobile

New Orleans                                                                                            Home

California

Germany

Godric's Hollow

HOME

I love that both of us, as the 60 seconds were winding down, jotted down the word "home"- me in all caps, him capitalized like a proper name.  We were both thinking the same thing- being together, wherever we may be, feels like home, and the concept of this place called "home" is visualized most fully in each other.

 Woah, that was disgustingly sappy.  *Cough*  Sorry 'bout that.  I guess this is a wedding blog, though, so what do you expect?

Anyhoo, the next 60 second period was spent listing people that remind us of the other person- fictional characters, celebrities, or real people who either in appearance, personality, or associated memories call to mind the other person.

Mr. Geek                                                                                        Miss Geek

Ron                                                                                                 Mrs. Weasley

Bilbo                                                                                               MuteMath

Legolas

Harry

Arthur 

Anthony Kiedis

dad

Andy Bernard

Fr. "Andy Bernard" 

It's not that I was enjoying this exercise more than he was, it's just that I write a lot more than he does.  Also it was my idea, so I came prepared with ideas in my head...and I write a lot faster (and messier) than he does.  Also I'd like to explain what I mean by dad- Mr. Geek looks a lot like his dad, shares some personality traits with my dad, and, in general, will be a very, very good dad himself, when the time comes.

Almost done!  The next 60 seconds were spent jotting down colors that remind us of the other person.  It was a little difficult to follow Rule #1 here and separate this exercise from the concept of wedding planning, but it was important that we really concentrate only on colors that we felt were representative of the other person, either because they tend to wear that color or because their personality exudes that color.  (I sound like a hippie or something.  I'm not, I promise.)

Mr. Geek                                                                                    Miss Geek

blue                                                                                             red

red                                                                                               yellow

grey                                                                                             blue

                                                                                                    orange

Mr. Geek is a bright, clear blue, like the ocean on a calm summer's day or a cloudless sky just before the pink of sunset creeps in.  He's a deep, crimson red like a full-bodied glass of wine or the brave banner upon which Gryffindor's gold lion stands proud.  He's a calm, soothing grey like the clouds of a spring rain shower that make the day perfect for wrapping up in a soft blanket with a good book.

According to Mr. Geek, I'm a bright, bold, fire engine red like the lipstick I reserve for only the sauciest occasions (which is then unceremoniously imprinted on his cheek or nose or forehead).  Yellow is my favorite color because it's bright and sunny and obnoxious and, well, so is my personality- in high school I was briefly attracted to the music and especially the fashion of some of the school's goth kids but, well, I'm just too happy for that kind of thing.  He listed blue because most of the time, my eyes are blue.  (Sometimes they decide to be green.)  Finally, I'm orange, because of the whole bright obnoxious thing and also because I'm a Hokie through and through.

Finally, the last part of the brainstorming exercise was to write the word US at the top of the back of the page and spend 90 seconds listing as many words as possible that comes to mind when we think of us as a couple.  That...was a lot of words.  I could show you both lists, but this post is much too long as it is, and there's not enough pictures, and let's be honest here- no one actually reads blog posts, they just look at the pretty pictures.

Pretty!  Courtesy of Emile Frey

Where exactly am I going with all this?  What does any of this have to do with a wedding theme?  WHY ARE WE SO DISGUSTINGLY CUTE?

You'll just have to wait for the next blog post to find out!

Much Love,
The Geeks

Location, Location, Location

In the last post, I mentioned that picking a date was much easier than picking a location for this little party of ours, and yet the date-setting process sounded a bit involved.  How on earth could decision making be any more complicated?

Courtesy of Google Maps

There's an awful lot of dots on that map, neh?

Tradition states that the wedding should be held in the bride's hometown.  This is pretty practical advice if the bride hasn't moved far from her hometown and if the groom's hometown is nearby.  "Hometown" normally means this is where all the couples friends and family live or at least are from.

Not so much with us.

Technically, my hometown, the city where I was born, is the southernmost dot on this map- Mobile, AL.  A significant portion of my parents' families live there still- including one of the flower girls for our wedding and her older brother, the altar server for our wedding.

I may have been born in Mobile, but I spent most of my life in a much more northern dot- Roanoke, VA.  (Spent a few years in central Kentucky before moving there, too.)  I made my lifelong friends in Roanoke, the girls that helped me fight my way through the horrors of middle school and fly relatively below the radar in high school.  Roanoke is where my family met the priest that will be marrying us, the role model that became my Confirmation sponsor, and other wonderful families we want to invite to the wedding.

I went to college just down I-81 from Roanoke at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA (the dot that's practically on top of Roanoke's dot).  At Tech I picked up another bridesmaid, and she and one of the friends I'd made in Roanoke snagged husbands by the time we were done with our engineering degrees.  I grew up in 3 different states, and though that's not really a whole lot compared to military children, I can't really call any of the towns my family has ever lived in "home."  When I think about "going home," I think about going to Blacksburg.

Mr. Geek, on the other hand, is from one of those western dots- Little Rock, AR.  His parents and many of his family members live there or close by.  He went to college at Louisiana Tech University in the dot just south of Little Rock, Ruston, LA.  He met some of his best friends there, including groomsmen, his best (wo)man, and the extremely talented photographer who shot our engagement session.

(Wondering how on earth we met when we grew up so far apart?  Watch our engagement video!)

After graduation, I, like so many other Hokies, snagged a job that brought me to Northern Virginia.  Because we'd been talking about marriage for so long at this point, Mr. Geek saved his pennies and moved here less than a year after I'd settled in.  (Those two NOVA dots are the places we live now.)  We both have friends and coworkers here (and in DC and Maryland).

So what's that red dot on the map?

The summer after I started my brand new big-girl job, my dad got a new job that moved my parents and sisters to Alexander City, AL.  The older of the two, my maid of honor, is finishing up an art degree at the University of Montevallo, and my baby sister lives with my parents in Alex City.

Before my family moved, I had always assumed I'd be getting married in Roanoke.  This turn of events tossed a wrench in the works, so by the time Mr. Geek proposed, I was warming up to the idea of  DC wedding.  Every Sunday at my new parish, I'd picture myself walking down this aisle and was dreading the idea of paying DC wedding prices on my modest barely-out-of-college budget.

And then we talked about it.

During the same conversation in which we picked a date, when I was still finding myself distracted by my brand new bling, we had a rather long conversation about exactly where we were going to get married- a discussion I'd never thought was necessary, because I'd pretty much made up my mind already.  This was the first conversation we had where I realized that Mr. Geek is not the "traditional" groom the Wedding Industrial Complex (WIC) tries to sell us- the uninterested groom who has no opinions on anything wedding-related except for where to go for the honeymoon, who answers the question "which do you prefer?" with just a grunt, if anything.  Mr. Geek is just the opposite of that- in this instance (and in some others), he didn't even need me to present option before he made his opinion known.

Ladies (and gentlemen?), my groom has a brain and a heart, and he's using both just as intensely as I'm using mine in this wedding planning adventure.

So anyway.

Mr. Geek asked what I thought about having the wedding in Alexander City.  The question caught me off-guard a bit, but he had good points.

That red dot is (roughly) in the middle of all the other dots on that map.  In all honesty, the people we are most concerned with having near us on The Big Day are our closest family members, and Alex City is reasonably close to those most important people.  Because our friends and family members are so spread out, this wedding is going to involve considerable amounts of travel for pretty much everybody, no matter where we have it.  In addition to Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Virginia, we want to invite people who live in DC, Maryland, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, California, and Washington, among other places.  Although we absolutely do not expect all of our loved ones to make the effort to be there with us that day, we want to make it easiest on, well, our parents.  Plus, he figured I'm going to need my mom's help throughout the planning process, and it would be easiest for her to help if the majority of our vendors are where she lives.  (Oh how right he was on this one!)

photo courtesy Emile Frey

So...that settled it!  When we finalized the date with our parents, I talked to my mom about what she thought about having the wedding at the little church where they are parishioners, and though she was taken aback at the idea, Mr. Geek's logic prevailed on her, too.

Red dot it is!

How did you decide where to get married?  Are your friends and family scattered across the country like ours?

Much Love,
The Geeks