For The Journey Not just the destination…

In the past week, I’ve gone to two bridal showers for two of my friends. The first was Nancie’s Bridal Tea. It was an experience, in that it was the first shower I’d ever been invited to, and I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what to wear, or even what to bring as a gift. It all worked out though and I had a great time.

The shower was thrown by her fiance’s aunts. They had decorated their place in Southern tea party style, complete with fine china and lots of lace. The lady’s all wore dresses and Nancie wore a hat – they were trying to make her (a Cali girl) into a real GRIT (Girl Raised in the South). We had tasty hor d’oevres, including cucumber sandwiches, punch and many flavors of tea in teacups. Then, Nancie opened her gifts and we sat around and chatted. I enjoyed getting to know a couple of Nancie’s friends, and it was neat to meet her mom.

• Photos from Nancie’s Shower

The second shower was for Jane. It was hosted by her bridesmaids and had a makeup theme. It was mostly our regular craft group, and with the theme, what to wear and what to bring was a little easier. Again, we had hor d’oevres, with cucumber sandwiches and punch. Jane opened her presents, and we used the bows to create a hat for her to wear at her wedding rehersal. Then, we chatted like we normally do. Again, it was neat to meet Jane’s mom. I wonder if my friends see me as similar to my mom, as I see them to theirs.

• Photos from Jane’s Shower

Today, Thomas and I became official Unitarian Universalists by joining the UU Metro Area North congregation. This means that we completed the two About UU courses, signed the membership book, were assigned a Care Circle, and will give a financial contribution. This is the first time I’ve ever belonged to a church, and I’m happy to say I really feel welcome by them.

After the service, there was a potluck where we chatted with the other members. Our bios were printed in the Order of Worship today, so people were able to talk to us about some of our interests. Thomas got many comments about being from Sweden.

This is what mine said:

Hi, I’m Dallas. I moved to Georgia last year with my boyfriend, Thomas, after I finished graduate school in Indiana. Before that, we lived in Raleigh, NC. Thomas and I now live in Roswell with our dog, Clover.

I am an Instructional Designer by day, but I spend my free time taking nature photography, crafting, gardening, blogging, and camping in our 1971 VW Bus. I love to learn, and I am currently interested in communities and simple, green living. I hope to visit all seven continents some day – I have been to four, so far.

Last March, Thomas proposed to me as we sat in our VW bus in the UUMAN parking lot. We will be getting married in April.

There is also another part of the New Member process where you can share a credo of your religious and spiritual beliefs during a service. Thankfully, this part is optional because I don’t feel comfortable stating my religious background, and current beliefs.

We also became members of LA Fitness today, so we can get into better shape.

I finally got tired of of the toilets seats being left up in our house.  I like the comfort of knowing the seat will be in the right place when I go in the bathroom.  Thomas and I talked about possible solutions, but he thought he needed some positive reinforcement.  Hah, he’s not getting a cookie when he goes to the bathroom – only Clover gets that kind of love.  I tried my own method…

I stuck bright, funny notes on the inside of the toilet seats.  The one in the guest bathroom says: Keep the aligators in the sewer.  Put the toilet seat down.  While Thomas is just standing there, he can see the reminder to put it down.  Hopefully repetition will reinforce the behavior.

Tonight, when I walked by the bathroom, I saw something green and wiggly on the counter – geez, I told him the aligators would get loose.  Actually, the notes have been working, and the green, wiggly thing was just an Anole that got in the house somehow.

This weekend, we were lying in the living room and Thomas commented that he saw a hummingbird fly by the front window. Full of hope, I bought a hummingbird feeder and hung it up.

The only hummingbirds I’ve ever seen was at our friend’s house in Indiana. His birdfeeder was packed with them. Anyway, as it turns out, Thomas was right, we do have hummingbirds. We think it’s a ruby throated hummingbird. I wonder how long they’ll be here for.

Things have been busy recently, and stressful too. Everything seems to be settling down, so I’ll just post on the fun things that have been going on in our lives.

Over Labor Day weekend, Thomas and I drove to NC to visit our families. I went wedding dress shopping with Mom, and Thomas hung out with his sister. Overall, the weekend was alot of fun. We had delicious food, great weather, and we were able to go over some wedding plans with my parents.

The next weekend was full too. Saturday we used Thomas’ hanggliding gift certificates to learn to hangglide. The morning was lessons on the bunny hill, and the afternoon was a tandum flight with the instructor. Unfortunately, Thomas hurt his knee, so we rescuduled our tandem flights. Even with the little bit of air we caught on the bunny hills, it was alot of fun. I can’t wait until we go back.

• Photos from hanggliding

That Sunday, we also attended the final class, UU102, to become members of our church. We’ve been going there for almost 8-months now, and we both really like it. This class mostly taught us how our particular congregation and facilities are set up. Our New Member Ceremony is in a couple of weeks when we stand up in front of everyone during church and get introduced.

This week, we started a new class at church to learn how different religions use meditation – this week was Quaker style. I’ve never really meditated before, so it was an interesting experience. I sat comfortably in the silence, I sorted through all my thoughts that were bugging me. I worked through them one at a time until I felt comfortable letting them go. Then, I just let my mind relax. I didn’t really have any thoughts. I was aware of my surroundings, but my mind just floated without attaching to anything. It was very peaceful and relaxing, and much easier than the Buddhist breath counting that Thomas had me try before.

That’s about it. It has been raining alot recently, but at least it has cooled off. And it actually feels like Fall. Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!