We just finalized our invitation decisions, so I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at what we picked! We are planning to work with Starshaped Press. They are relatively affordable as far as letterpress goes, and I love the results of their old fashioned press. Here’s the design we picked:
Author Archive
Wedding Invitations: A Sneak Peek
Posted on January 11th, 2011 by Wasabi. No Comments
Interfaith Holidays
Posted on January 7th, 2011 by Wasabi. 9 Comments
The holidays can be really tough on couples, whether you are celebrating the same religions or not. For Ginger and I, the holidays are colored by trying to figure out this interfaith family we have created. Ginger was raised Jewish, and I’m converting. On the Hanukkah side of things, the holidays are really exciting to me. It’s a time to explore my new faith and culture with the yummiest fried foods and big roasts. Christmas was always about food and cooking for me growing up, and it’s a pretty easy switch to put that energy into latkes, prime rib, and rugelach. Hanukkah, like New Year’s, is our holiday, just the two of us and our friends.
Last year, we finally forged the holiday compromise: Thanksgiving would be with Ginger’s family, and Christmas would be with my parents. It was so hard to make that compromise- Thanksgiving would never be the same for me. For Ginger, Christmas had to be celebrated every year, something she had tried hard to avoid her whole life. It seemed so difficult that the hard stuff had to end with the compromise, but unfortunately, it doesn’t. Every year still brings with it little deaths and little births. A new family tradition for Hannukah, followed by the reminder that Christmas music wouldn’t be appropriate to play in our Jewish home. “Silent Night,” my childhood lullaby, doesn’t fit into my home life anymore. And, the smell of an evergreen won’t ever be welcoming me back from a long, winter day.
Then Christmas comes, and we fly to be with my parents. It’s like being a visitor at a Christmas celebration, it’s wonderful, but it isn’t ours. We have a Jewish home, and yet, an interfaith family. We dug through the emotions that come with each holiday season this year by attending my conversion class together, and then hashing out our feelings over bagels and lox. I don’t think this will be that last challenging holiday, but talking it over seems to help.
What I’ve learned about marriage from being chronically ill
Posted on December 28th, 2010 by Wasabi. 6 Comments
Chronically ill but still bad *ss (picture taken by a friend)
I’ve dealt with medical conditions before but nothing like what’s been happening for the last couple months. I’ve been admitted to the hospital twice for unstoppable vomiting that lasted days and days. And right now we still aren’t 100% sure what’s causing it despite exhaustive testing. I’ve found it helpful to look at the silver linings during this ordeal; to focus on what I’m gaining rather than what I’m losing by being sick. So, I’m going to let you in on some things I’ve learned about my marriage and myself from this experience.
I’ve learned I am marrying a wonderful caretaker. I now know that without a shadow of a doubt. I used to think Ginger would probably take good care of me if I got really sick. Now, I’ve seen her do it and I know she is an amazing caregiver. I’ve watched her advocate on my behalf with doctors when I physically couldn’t. I’ve had her calm me down and hold my hand while I waited for treatment. I’ve watched her explain to my dad that she’s not leaving my side tonight and woken up next to her in my hospital bed. We’ve already begun to live out our vows. Somehow, I love her even more now if that’s even possible.
5 Takes: Proposal
Posted on December 21st, 2010 by Wasabi. No Comments
Ginger and I proposed to each other almost two years ago. It wasn’t your typical proposal; it wasn’t a big surprise and we didn’t exchange rings. And yet, it was so romantic and “us.” For a while leading up to our engagement, Ginger wasn’t 100% sure she wanted to get married. Making that decision meant facing some internalized homophobia (hard stuff!). By this time, though, I was ready, and it was hard to wait for her to get there. But a couple months later, she told me she was ready too. I responded with, “Let’s wait till our anniversary (4 yrs of dating), if we both still feel the same way then, we can make it official that night. But on a random work day in January, I came home and felt like I couldn’t wait another second to propose to the love of my life. So while we were sitting on the couch eating stir fry, both bursting with the same question, we asked each other and each said, “Yes!” Then, we ran out to get a bottle of Champagne, and drank it while we made phone calls to our friends and family. I was blown away by the emotions! We were on a “newly enGAYged high” for at least a month (which, incidentally, is about how long it took to get over how weird it felt to say “fiancee”).
For us, it made sense to ignore the traditions and material stuff, and just have a simple engagement where we were both equal participants. On very rare occasions, I feel a little less than without an engagement ring, to be honest. But most of the time, I’m happy to get a free pass from the ring Olympics. I like that not wearing an engagement ring makes me think hard about how I react to societal pressures. Nevertheless, I CAN NOT WAIT to wear my wedding bands!
