There Were Bells

Well, howdy, y'all! Things have been crazy around here... and gosh, do I have news for you!

I will be needing to print some wedding invites of my own now. :)

That's right, I'm engaged!!! I can still barely believe it, and it's been two weeks! I'm so excited. The funny thing is, what very little wedding planning I have done has been a pain. It's so hard to find somewhere in Orlando that is cheap but pretty to have a wedding or a reception at. I've been slaving over this for hours and hours each day to so little avail. Is it weird that I already kind of wish I was just getting eloped? Haha!

Nah, it will be so much fun once I can get to the thing that I like best: making things that are pretty! I'm much more excited about finding things in the colors Darin and I like, figuring out how to make the whole thing schmancy without spending too much money. (We are two poor college students, after all. Although he just got an awesome full-time job, so he'll be super busy but saving up the dough!)

I just wanted to give you guys a taste of what is to come...

This is rather tentative, I really wanted a lighter peach in there somewhere. And I think it's my computer screen, but that middle yellow keeps looking green when I take a minute away from it. Maybe a 6 color palette isn't too psycho. Well, either way, this is what we're working with for a bright, relaxed July wedding! It's one of the easier things for me to decide on right now. I might go insane with all the other things, haha.

No matter what, though, it's just one day of your life. The days that follow it are SO much more significant and define us, and I'm thrilled to be spending them with a God-desiring man who also cracks me up every day and does what he thinks is right. Love at first sight if I ever saw it!

Anyways, I'll keep doing stuff when I get the chance, but I hope you had a great holiday and are finding refreshment and hope in the Lord!

- Lara

Save the Date #2: A Little Bit of Curl

I lied. I flagrantly lied. I'm just on a roll, and there's no stopping me! Thank you, professors, for giving me a week of from some paper being due. :) I appreciate it! It lets me get my juices flowing and play with some colors!

When you find a gorgeous font, you look for ways to use it and make it work. It is just too pretty to leave lying on an invisible shelf inside of your computer. What, you didn't know that's how computers are organized beneath all that plastic??

This is one such case. It was too swirly and perfect. It needed some air. It needed life, people. I admire typeface artists so much for somehow creating these masterpieces that we take for granted, as if there was a "big bang" creation of all the fonts in the world. Someone designed that Verdana you use all the time, or cute little Trebuchet. Even Arial! (That guy must have made BANK.) Next time you are like, "Wow, those letters look cool," when you're looking at a magazine or an invitation, appreciate the person who made it! They do good work!

Anyways, that was kind of irrelevant.

See what I mean?! You know exactly which line of text I am talking about. Mmmm. So delightfully full of swoops and curves. Yes, my beauty, you had to come out and strut your stuff somewhere. Even if it is an imaginary Save the Date card. Maybe someday, I will have the chance to print you on paper -- what a glorious day that will be!

Keep it classy, friends!

- Lara

Bible Study Flyer

I promise this will be my last update for the day. I realize I could have combined all of these into one massive post, but that makes me look less accomplished and more like I have no life. (I DO HAVE ONE!)

Or maybe the choice is giving me the opposite PR problem? Eh, whatever.

I made this earlier today to print and hand out on campus to invite students to the community group bible study I co-lead. I hope it isn't too feminine? I have a hard time occasionally gauging color and style to keep something from being girly but also giving it a little pizazz, so that everything you get isn't just Times New Roman boring.

Would you be likelier to check something out if it looked like time was put into the ad you are handed, or the commercial you watch? Or if the style looks current with the times? Why do you think that has such an impact on people's decision-making? It's fascinating to me that something cheap, boring, or out-of-date can quickly turn someone off of something that they really might be into. Either way, it's just an interesting thing of culture and psychology. Who knows. Thanks, popular media!

- Lara