Rehearsal Dinner Invites

this may seem awfully premature as i've shared nothing about the plans for the wedding, but nonetheless, i've made the first draft of rehearsal dinner invites... any thoughts? you can click to enlarge. : )

i've been distracted ; )

friday morning at flippin' 6:30 i took a flight out to visit B for a few days. well, it is actually going to be quite a few days, and i am ok with that! i love getting to be with him in oklahoma city. it is undoubtedly a city i never thought i would live in, or care to, but now that he's been here a few months, i can honestly say that having nashville in our past is just fine with me. this photo is of us at the oklahoma city first church of the nazarene's staff Christmas party. doesn't that sound grown-up? we're just good at pretending.

delightful news on the OKC front though: today we will know for sure if brandon is moving into a house... WHILE I'M HERE! geez. we were thinking that it may be until march before he was able to get out of his current lease, but this week has been quite bizarre, and things are working out unbelievably. goodness. this house is most bizarre, but we are quickly falling in love with it because it has so much personality! no doubt, this house would not suit everybody, but we are ecstatic about it. (or maybe just i am that excited. brandon doesn't tend to be the bubbling-over-with-joy type.) i will post pictures as soon as we get to go back in, but i can tell you now that you're probably not going to like it just yet!

this week is about to hold a plethora of renovating projects and packing brandon up... some minor changes and this house is actually going to look really modern and spectacular. i'll keep you informed as i go! for now my biggest responsibility: it's time to call the landlord and negotiate rent. bah! wish me luck.

forgive my enthusiasm

this is brandon whiteside, and he is my friggin hero. you may also know him as the man i'm going to marry. he just made a wedding website that so ridiculously trumps our old one. i might actually be embarrassed by my attempt. whoops.

LOOK! go, go, go!

Operation Mrs. Right

warning: this idea has vast potential to give you cause for rolling your eyes. or is it really that bad?

don't ask me what it is about small Christian schools that make them so highly prone to frequent decisions to marry. no joke. all of your friends in no time. it's funny how the statistics used to really frustrate me and now i'm one of them. this also is proof of the inevitable priority shift that elapses in a young lady's four years away. now that i have committed to this grand journey, i'm finding that i have less and less in common with my peers. by no fault of theirs, it's largelydue to the fact that they're not planning my wedding, a joyful endeavor that reigns over my thoughts. because of this awareness, i've been surrounded my a conviction to assemble others in my situation. sounding cheesy yet?

no, it's not a cult.

confession: my intentions are based in a need for community that is selfish. however, i assume i'm not the only one that wishes for something such as this. ideally, this comraderie would identify itself as a bridal community for the development of wholeness in each of us. i feel that since we have chronic wedding-on-the-brain syndrome, the most fitting reparation is to promote furthering our minds, our hearts, etc. specifically, i'd like to see us adress family, finances, futures and faith. this could take the shape of finding a girlfriend to hit the gym with, getting advice about dealing with your new in-laws, having someone to go to when you need prayer, relationship help, sharing wedding talk with people who won't get sick of it, or having plain discussion time, etc. we could even bring in friends who have recently married and get a heads-up in real life from their angle. lastly, i'd really like to see us tackle some service projects. a woman of compassion and confidence can not be replaced!

essentially, we are a support group that wants to see a woman go into marriage as a whole person. further, i would deem the group a success if we convinced one bride-to-be that a wedding is more than custom napkins and M&M's. oh, and did i mention that this could be so much fun?! we're sharing resources and making new friends that share a simlar goal.

as you can see from the title, i think it's more-than-fitting to dub this force Operation Mrs. Right. please allow me to clarify: i have no time for promoting the housewife that lives and breathes only to be the woman her husband needs. that's not the business here. but hey, if we could be functional, efficient, wise babes, then why the heck not?!

at present, i've compiled a list of 25 girls on campus that are eligible. shall i spend my 3-week vacation from work and school creating invites and a more structured plan for what this is to be? if you were in this situation, would you be interested in joining us? or am i crazy?

"dead" week...

my mood as determined by a song: ben kweller- run

i'm not sure why i thought it would be a great idea to begin an undertaking such as this during the same week as finals! whew. questionable decision, ashley. you can thank my theories of comm exam for my ability to look somewhat calm despite the looming test in business finance (pictured above, for your convenience). i expected it to be a real doozy, but walked away pretty stoked. were i to be photographed at this moment, well, i'd be found collapsed on the floor. dang it, business major-dom...but i'm walking away from that class now (hopefully)! the final there had massive weight, but distributed among only a few questions. it's always nerve-racking when the questions are worth so much. bah!

on to a new project, and i'm very heavily relying to responses on this, so please tell me if i'm losing my mind. deal? ok, thanks. it is my next post:::

This has to be the best way to talk about the wedding, right?!

Calling all bridesmaids and fellow-bloggers (as well as my mother and future mother-in-law): I have so much to tell you! First and foremost, B.Dub has no knowledge of this website, and it'd be ideal to keep it that way so that I can post whatever I'd like without potentially ruining a surprise. Scratch that. It's inevitable that the boy is going to find it, so operation:be covert has ended rather quickly.

My plan is to update regularly with tidbits (including pictures) to build everyone's understanding and excitement for what the wedding is to be. For details about how we actually got together (both initially and the proposal), visit our wedding website at www.brandonwhitesidemusic.com/Brandon_&_Ashleys_Wedding/Welcome.html

What a party, huh?!

Anyone know how i can change the background on this? I'm severely new to blogspot... in fact, I don't even know two other people that have one. Bah!