What do you believe?

Let me start this post by saying that the views and expressions I am about to make are my own. They are not meant to offend or disrespect anyone, only to nearly open the dialogue and the mind of myself and others. And now that I've scared you as to what I'm going to talk about....
I was raised Catholic, I went to church, religious education I even had a stint ( yes illl call it that) at a cathoic school and graduated college with a minor in religious studies. With my various educations I've developed quite an acletic view on faith,religion and spiritually
The reason I find this post necessary to write at this time is because I feel I've dealt a lot with what I believe in the past few months. Anyone who knows anything about Catholics knows it's all about the rules and the traditions. Planning this wedding I've come up against some I don't particularly understand or believe it. Mainly it is the rule that a Catholic wedding ceremony has to be preformed in a Catholic church in order for it to be recognized by the church. Long story short, I'm having some issues with the concept. The church that had significant meaning to Dustin and I is being torn down so will not be available for our wedding. So at this point we settled on another church. But why should we pick a church for the sole purpose that it is a church? Isn't that loosing the point of having a marriage in a church? I understand that a church is suppose to be a holy and sacred space, but if God is the one presiding over the marriage..... He created everything. JEsus may have wanted us to " build his church" but I don't think he really meant build a brick and mortar place and all holy and sacred events must happen here, I just feel the conept is so disconnected from what the intentions originally were.
When I die and go to heaven I highly doubt I'm going to be denied because I was not married in a physical catholic church. Why are the requirement different for each religious denomination? Don't we all want to get to the same place in the end. I don't think it matters if you call yourself Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, baptist, Islamic, Mormon, cnidarian whatever....It's not about the labels it's about how you live your life
I believe in love, loving others and allowing others to love me. I believe in helping people and making a difference. I believe in living life to the fullest and not holding back. I believe that if you treat others with respect and compassion, it will come back to you. Isn't that exactly what were suppose to do?
Ive always though if Jesus came back today and saw what we've done with faith and with religion he would be disappointed. It's like if the founding fathers came back and saw what a mess this countries gotten itself into. It's a break from the original plan, the true importance there so much violence in the world over conflicting beliefs both physical and mental violence. Where is that going to get us? Do we think that if we condemn or try and kill off one religious belief it's going to get us closer to God? I don't think so. Like I said it just seems so distant from the true purpose.
But back to my point on my wedding. I don't want to go through the motions of getting married in the church if I don't really understand why I am doing it. Practing your beliefs should be a personal experience and not something anyone should force upon you. Everyone at different points in their spiritually journeys. Some choose to stay within the rules and traditions while others choose a more open path

Its about how you live your life

I believe in......
Love
Laughter
Joy
Friendship
Karma
Expression
Embarrassment
Adventure
I
Opinions
Experiences
Mistakes
Learning
Knowledge
Questions
Conversation
Change
Revolution
Past
Present
Future
Kindness
Hope
Pain
Triumph
Bluntness
Confidence
Truth
Faith
Miracles
Beauty
Possibilities
Peace
History
Forgiveness
Listening
Talking
Conversation
Words
Music
God

Made you blush!

So as I've stated in my previous post, I'm having a hard time finding a wedding dress, nothing is really jumping out at me. This week was bridal fashion week in New York and I've been following all the fashion shows trying to find something to be inspired by. A reacurringtheme I've noticed in the new bridal ines as well as made popular by Reese Witherspoon is the blush/tea stain colored wedding gowns. I actually really love the concept of a little color. some may think it goes against what a wedding dress should be but I think if its your wedding you should wear what you'd like. I'm not talking like full on pink or tan gowns but a more subtle, muted color like a watered down pink lemonade color. I just think it's so pretty and romantic, perfect for a wedding. Here are some I'm liking right now....





Or if I want to be really daring I'd go with this dress. A Tiffany blue dress? Yes please!

The Say yes to the dress feeling

I always figured it'd be very easy to find my wedding dress. I'd always been the type of person like liked the first thing I tried on. But as I've come to find out shopping for probably the most important garment you'll ever wear can be a little daunting. It's not like a prom dress that docent really matter, this is the only dress you get. I went to a few store the other week when I was in Indiana and I went to two more today. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on the"idea" of a wedding dress. I'm still waiting to have that"say yes to the dress" moment like I've been waiting for and it hasn't happened yet. Perhaps not everyone has that moment, but shouldn't it feel like you don't ever want to take the dress off? Ive found plenty of dresses that I think are beautiful but none that have pushed me over the edge. I don't know if I'm just being unreasonable in my thinking but i want to have that "say yes" moment and think every bride should.
I think I'm putting too much pressure on my self,the moment will come and maybe ive already found the dress I just need to wait until I'm in the proper mindset to fully enjoy the experience.

Inspiration

In honor of valentines day and love I've been doing some searching in the Internet for wedding ideas. I know I'm probably way behind on this but I just descovered EtsY.com and I'm find so many thing I want for the wedding! I've kinda been jumbled about wedding colors/theme but these items have inspired me to make a final decision








I really love Tiffany blue but didn't want to incorporate it in the wedding because I feel it's a cliche color. But pairing it with the blush and taupe give it a great new life. I love the idea of the lace and rhinestones and I'd love to add some pearls into it as well.
Yay inspiration!
Happy valentines everyone!

Engagement and puppy training

Well for those who didn't know, Dustin asked me to marry him on New Years Eve and along with the proposal came a new addition. Chloe is our new little beagle puppy. I was so excited and happy for both the engagement and the puppy. She is a little ball of energy who does not like to be put in her kennel and loves to sit on your lap. It's so neat to see her little personality develop and mess around with her. Today she turns 3 months and I can't believe how big she's gotten Justin the few weeks we've had her. I want her to stay small forever, but becoming potty trained would be a plus.
Dustin and I havent done too much in regards to planning our wedding. We've brainstormed ideas and talked about tentative plans but nothing detonate yet. I'm surprised in how calm I am about it right now. I always thought I'd be out picking a dress right after I got engaged. But I've always been a procrastinator so that might work against me in this wedding planning. Right now I'm just happy to be engaged and want to take time to enjoy that part of our relationship. A lot of couples rush straight into planning and dont take the time to enjoy this period in the relationship.
We did go to a bridal convention today and plan on going to one tomorrow in Oklahoma city. Dustin is just beyond thrilled about it (insert sarcasm). But it's good for us to go and get ideas. I have a general idea in my mind of what I want the wedding to be like but we've got time to figure it out.

2010 was quite a year...

Well 2010 was quite a year, a lot happened between Dustin and I

In febuary dusin found out he was going ti Oklahoma State University for graduate school and to work with the cowboy football team. It was a change of plans from what we originally thought but we were going to make the best of it.

In march we flew out to Oklahoma for the first time and checked out the place. Stillwater was a lot smaller then Phoenix but a college town. We found places to live and got acquainted with the place

In may both Dustin and I graduated from college. I graduated with a degree in history and public policy and a minor in religious studies from Arizona State and Dustin graduated from Purdue with a degree in Sports medicine..
We then left for St. Thomas a few weekns later to have one big vacation before we'd leave for Oklahoma.

In June Dustin moved from Indiana to oklahoma and in July I joined him out there.

Septemper October and November consisted of getting used to this new place, meeting new people and OSU football games!
Oklahoma state went 11-2 this year and Dustin was happy to be apart of it.

In December Dustin got to go home for a little but and we started planning for Christmas. I went home for Christmas and Dustin went with the football team to San Antonio for the Alamo bowl against Arizona

He was back by New Years eve and we decided to just spend it in together since we had dent seen each other for awhile.

And as 2010 came to an end, Dustin asked me the most important thing of all

"Will you marry me?"

Merry Christmas from Oklahoma!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM GINA AND DUSTIN!