My thank you Letter to November.

Now, I am not quite so positive that I understand how weather works, what with the moon and the currents and the tilt of the Earth's axis, and the position of that one star way out in space, or what way the wind is blowing, and how that all changes the temperature.

This week is the 2 1/2 week of November...and it is 60 degrees. I went for a run and was too hot. I am now cleaning my house with no heat on and I want to turn a fan on.

How does this happen? I am beyond excited for the absolutely gorgeous day, but the cynical-used-to-be-from-Californian in me keeps projecting into the cold, hard and long winter. Images of never being warm, and having to shovel my way out of 5 feet of snow to get to my Rabbit that won't start, all the while snow is seeping into my boots and my socks are soaking.

They are horrible images indeed!

So when is that coming? Is this November weather telling me "Don't fret little Californian. I won't let you suffer this year like last."

Thank you November. I appreciate it.

Here's to you.

Dear November,

You have treated me well. I must say. What is different this year from last? Are you finally seeing the folly of your fally ways?

If so, then many thanks to you. My hats are off, my gloves are off (in the most non-threatening way possible, of course) and I curtsy. To the temperature that is no longer fall or winter, but spring! I know that you have to make way for December soon, however, you are lovely now.

Thank you for shortening the horrible images that come to mind of the bitter cold. Thank you for shortening the lenght of a desolate winter.

Thank yo November.

And I can't forget! Thank you for Thanksgiving and food and the sun.

You are too good this year.

Lots of good feelings,

Caitlin

Life as a Coordinator

I just wanted to say that every so often i get a gem. A gem Bride and Groom, who love and adore each other. Those are the work weddings that aren't so much work and more so fun and exciting.

This weekend was such.

Two lovely couples with lovely guests and lovely weddings. I had fun connecting and dancing (behind the scenes of course) and supporting these couples in their wedding adventures. Sounds cheesy, but the stories of these couples are phenominal. Their meeting and growing together. Through job changes, moves, death, and life after college.

These are the ones that make my job worth it.

I know I don;t give too much information about my job, but I am a wedding coordinator. Really my blog shouldn;t be desing it should be something like: The Advetures of a Liaison.

Or "Secret Life of the Coordinator" Whatever it is going to be called, that is what i do. I plan and coordinate two weddings every weekend, working with brides and grooms and parents, to ensure that their special day goes smooth and is well...coordinated.

I don't always have images, but soon I will start posting what I do. The set-ups that i create, the weddings themselves. If ideas are needed, etc.

Congrats Gina and Pete

An at Home Wedding Continued

Here are a plethora of images from the June 12th wedding of Jon and Shaylah.

Tables set up with bud vases and vintage, collected table-clothes.

 

 

"Play with me, Sing with me, Eat with me."

Heather's hand-made lens. Don't know how she did it, but it looks so dreamy.

The mass, the day after.

My sister is engaged. And now I have been inlisted to help her with her plans.

Meadow wedding with tent in a field in the valleys of the Aidirondaks.

I am thinking twigs and bark with wildflowers as center pieces. Sage and Red Orange colors. Ribbons on wooden chairs. And birch bark.

I love my job.

Shaylah and Jon's Wedding: At home, With Friends

Back in June, I got the pleasure of working with my friends, Shay and Jon, on their wedding. As in: decoration and set-up of the reception site, even the the fun times with another friend JMiz (also named Jon and a designer-visit his site) building an arbor for the ceremony. Their photographer: Heather (onelovephoto) was amzing and was able to capture the wedding just like Shay and Jon wanted.

Here are a couple of Heather's photos of some of the details that I got the fun time of creating with Shay and other friends, and then setting up!

I guess I can work beyond the invites and the planning (insert smiley face here)

Shay & Jon with the Arbor and hand made pom poms

T

The entrance to the lovely home used for the reception.

Hand made pin-wheels, pom poms, and flowers done by the Bridesmaids

The dessert spread-pies missing to be cut and served

The house was beautiful and unique on its own. But fit the wedding so.

Friends. Eating and drinking soda.

More to follow.

Work and Summer endings, and on being a blonde

It is already the end of August. Usually marked with the begining of school: shopping, new pens and pencils (although A shoebox exists full of them under the bed, collected dust bunnies and other allergy inducers), cool nights, bright mornings, less daylight, and of course: classes.

However, this end-of-August-time doesn't carry with it the impending start of another college semester. It actually brings exactly what the-beginning-of-July brought. Work and then some. But...don't take me wrong, I am in love with my work! I don't see my job as work.

Effort? Yes.

Work? No...well, depending on the weekend.

I am continuing to plan in the Wedding world. Meeting new brides and grooms, helping them smooth out details of their weddings. Mkae my personal suggestions on how the escort cards should be placed, or if it is important to have ushers before the processional.

And it works. It goes swimminlgy well.

I haven't had a problem!

Until this past weekend.

The cake. The cake dropped. YES. I take responsiblity for a five layer cake sliding off the cake table, seconds after the bride cut it to serve to her 209 guests. Yes, it dropped, in front of all those 209 guests.

I couldn't do anything except close my eyes and say "Make it go away, make it go away." It didn't go away. Minutes earlier my manager and i were chatting about he loveliness of the evening and the perfection of the time line and service. Spoke to soon, eh?

It turned out that the table legs weren't locked, so upon moving the table off the dance floor, the cake slid off unto the tablecloth. Only after that did we learn that the cake dropped at the bride's parents wedding. Fate! Blessing! Cakes falling are tidings of good news!

The bride was completely happy. She laughed at me and told me it was okay since she didn't like cake anyways. I didn't know what else to do except hug her and almost cry from joy. Joy because I had this irrational fear that I would be fired, kicked out in the rainy weekend's cold. But no. I press on and have learned-check those damn table legs.

Oh, yes. I am a Blonde now. For those that don't me, I have been a Brunette (or darker) for my entire life. Finding joy in seeing my auburn hair flash in the sun and relish in its ability to (on a very rare and good day) to resemble Zooey Deschenal's hair. However, early spring, I chopped off all of it. I regretted it the next week when i coudln't see it on my shoulder anylonger. So what better way to bite through the painful and awkward groing out stage then to bleach it all and get some highlights.

Three separate dye baths later and a weekend to California, I have come out a lovely and natural looking Blonde. Resembling my twin sister more than ever.

I don't think I have noticed any changes int eh way that people treat me. I meet so many new people every weekend at the wedding I coordinate that I can't tell if they are different people (which I know they are) or it is because of my Blonde-ness.

I need to create more often.

Regularity as a goal has been reached every so often. Need to be more regular about reaching regularity. Noted.

Where in the world have I gone to

I am absent. From anything not associated with work or with being outside. So please forgive me for not including you in my endeavors.

The summer is underway. The wedding season is underway, well underway.

With two weddings a weekend, I am starting to broaden my creative abilities, from design and art, to displays and production.

I have also grown a new interest in decorating. Homes, rooms, wedding parties, tables for dinner. Anything. Housewares, home goods, lamps, banners, fabric. a new love. My new(ish) apartment has helped this love grow and grow.

Nesting I like to call it. Hoarding, others call it. If I am a nester or a hoarder, something about settling is so appealing to me. To find my place, and walk around it multiple times like my giant puppy back home, to create my bed, my comfort, all things that I am learning to do on my own. As an individual, as an adult, responsible to work and to my friends but most importantly, responsible to care for myself.

I have been working on my space in my apartment every day. I little here, a little there. Granted, I live with three other girls with very different style than me, but we have learned to fit it together to create a welcoming and unique place to rest and sit. I love it when someone walks into our custom painted living room and just breathes deeply.

My goal: to breathe deeply. To show others how to breathe deeply.

The most sunshine-y yellow kitchen

Our reading nook

 My safe haven

Regularity. My other goal

Oh, what a world

Oh, what a world that this is.

I am hours away from completing my last exam of my college career. Then onwards to commencement.

The past two months has been colored by pop-up shops, college events, geese, weddings, coordinating, moving, portfolios, and looking ahead.

Where do I even begin?

I have a job. There's a start. As a Wedding Coordinator. A job perfectly tailored for me, the event planner extraordinaire, with the ability to bring in all my creative efforts and desire to be around people.  The Willowdale Estate is beautiful and I already love working there.

As a Gordon College student, my time here (now that it is on the road to completion) has been colored by desiring to learn how to bring my vocation and my faith into one place. How to use the skills and lessons from CCC Freshman Seminar, or Design 3, or even Management into real life. Extracarriculars such as leading Campus Events Council, working in the Barrington Art Gallery, even leading a couple backpacking trips; all of these things have completely worked themselves into my life after college.

To plan a campus wide event with a time line and schedule and 50 people to coordinate taught me how to wrangle a wedding party for their reception announcements. Organizing a vendor list and time line for a April wedding taught me how to understand and work well with a team.

I guess this epitomizes what Gordon wants to teach its students. The cross over between student and adult, between learning and acting. I must say that I have never been more excited about the prospect of using these small tidbits from chapel services or convocation in my "real" life. Real Life.