New life...new blog in the works!

Hello friends!

Where to start, where to start? The last three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of fun, activity and adventures. We got married. We honeymooned. And we moved..to our "new again" address. I have sooo so, many things to blog about, but right now a couple of things are holding me up...we are still moving and we have no Internet at home. And also, my whole life has shifted, and I am excited to tell you I am designing a new blog! I no longer need a blogroll of 50 wedding blogs to sift through on my dashboard, and my name will change as well. I need a new site and a new look. I am trying to learn Wordpress quickly to get my new page going (I'm switching away from Blogger), but it has been a bit challenging trying to fit it in to lunches and a few breaks here and there at work. But I'm diligently working on it and I can't wait to show you my new blog when it's ready to go!

Until then...please know that I have so much I want to share about the past few weeks. Please be patient and wait, pretty please? It has been a magical time in my life and I can't wait to write all about it!

Love,
Mrs. Hancock ♥

Funniest wedding moment

Sooo, I have been in the land of wedding for almost a year now. Like Ian said last weekend, "Let's goooo...we've been planning this almost a year!" However, I am torn...torn between wanting to leave wedding land, and wanting to stay. Did you know that your wedding is the biggest right of passage in your life, other than birth and death? I know that sounds melodramatic, but it's actually true. You are taking this person that you went out and found (or found you) and you are turning them into family. You are actually "making" your very own family. And that also means that you are sleeping next to family when you go to bed at night. It's forever, you hope.

All of these are true statements, and weddings are serious business. However, I have have had some funny moments along the way.

Like spray painting in the dark. Read that again. "...in the dark." Here is how this whole new breed of DIY wedding goes: *See beautiful idea. *Search out suitable materials for said idea. *Obsessively recreate your idea until it is perfect. This is how I ended up spray painting in the dark. The sun set, man. But my signs needed another coat of spray paint. So what does any good crazy wedding planning bride do? Get out there and paint those signs. I saw Ian peering out at me from the screen door at one point in this process, his scared little groom face lit up with the kitchen lights behind him. And it was then I knew that I had passed ordinary wedding planning a loooong time ago, and I had become something else: IT HAS TO GET DONE NOW BRIDE. We agreed to pretend that that whole experience never happened. But it makes me laugh. I have always believed that for anyone who wants to do something right, the regular hours of mankind do not apply. Yes, most people go to bed at 9 or 10 pm. I don't and I never have. The good things in life happen from 10pm to 2am for me....the best ideas, the most fun, the alive moments where you're doing what you want to do.

Anyway, just a funny moment I wanted to share. In another week, I'll be an old married woman. But today, I am young and single. And spray painting in the dark is just plain funny.

♥ V :)

Makin' it my own

“I’ve come to understand that it’s not about outdoing anyone else or having the best this or that, but about creating a unique set of memories of every little thing that you can both call your own.”

Best wedding quote I've heard yet.

9 days 9 days 9 days 9 days 9 days!!

God, I would like to go ahead and place an order for weather JUST like this on our wedding day...pretty please...I've been good, I swear!

So excited I can barely stand it...can't wait to see all of the people I love and adore in one place.

And most of all, I can't wait to become MRS. Hancock. ♥
♥ V :)

Wedding nightmares

We're under a month until the wedding. Less than a month!! Holy batman!! And let me tell you, I have been having some niiiiiigghhhhhtmaaaarres. Now, you might think that these dreams would be about past loves, the ones that got away. I have not experienced this. I have, however, dreamed about the band not showing up, and the makeup artist going MIA, and the whole wedding not happening. Ian says these are not nightmares; that there is too much tragedy in the world to call these nightmares. I disagree, I said. They are nightmares.

So help me God, I would accept the rapture, or a tornado blowing me to Oz, AFTER JUNE 25TH. I could go if I had to, but please Lord, don't have made all of this planning in vain.

I thought I had experienced enough nightmares. Today, I saw a nightmare with my eyes:

O.M.G.

O.M.G.

Seriously, THIS hot mess is a nightmare!!!!

♥ V :)

P.S. the only way this could be worse is if they were holding save the date magnets.

Notes from Planning a Wedding

###

"Are we getting each other wedding day presents?"

"I dunno, I think that is for people who didn't spend the night before their wedding in the same room, and they're like, not seeing each other until they take their vows."

"Oh. Well, you know, it's the thought that counts, anyway. I was thinking about getting you a set of pearls from the Shane Co."

"Huh. I was thinking about getting you an inscribed Colts mug that says 'Mr. Awesome.'"

"Wow! That was easy. If it's the thought that counts, then I'm glad we were thinking those things."

"You know we aren't getting those things right?"

"Yeah, I know."

###

In preparation for my upcoming nuptials, I scheduled a consultation for some light cosmetic work, involving lasers. I was second guessing myself on the way to this appointment.

Until I had the pleasure of this little exchange.

While checking out with a bridal magazine at my trusty local CVS:

"So, you're getting married? When is the big date?"

"June 25th."

"Do you need a bartender?" (This same man has asked me this on at least three different occasions while checking out with bridal 'zines.)

"Nope, we've got it covered. Thanks for offering."

"So, is this your first marriage?"

(Really?)

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Um, I put the petal to the metal on the way to that appointment.

###

Things we have learned while trying to obtain birth certificates and passports for our honeymoon after our home burning to the ground and losing all identifying documents:

1. You can't actually get a passport after 3 pm, in the city of Westfield. Because at that point in the day, a line could form. (Ian found this out during a very "Meet the Parents" moment i.e. Ben Stiller trying to board his plane. There was in fact, no line, at the time while Ian tried to make said purchase.)

2. You may not apply for a passport with a copy of a birth certificate.

3. There must be space left between your head and the border of the photo used to obtain the passport. That's what I get for wearing this big backcombed mess of hair all over town I suppose. Doh.

4. The city of Indianapolis, the state's capital, no longer allows you to apply for a birth certificate in person. You must go online. The actual office is within walking distance of my work, but you must go online.

5. If you order a birth certificate in the mail, it will take three to four weeks to deliver by snail mail. I somehow did not notice this fine print upon placing this order.

6. I don't have three to four weeks. Upon placing my second order, and paying another $22, and blowing up my drivers license by 200% and lightening it by 2 levels, and uploading the documents, I better get that freagin' thing like, STAT!!!!!! Because at that point, I still have to apply for the passport.

*Sigh.*

Jamaica had better be worth it 'mon.

♥ V :)

###

Our invitation! :)

You can't possibly go wrong with the Martha Stewart collection.  I love them and had to share! 48 days!!

♥ V :)

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!



Lauren and I were treated to brunch by daddy at Lincoln Square...

Mommy had a few glasses of wine on the porch...

Lauren princess sat on her thrown...

We kicked a ball around and played catch, did sidewalk chalk and played babies to our heart's content...

and with my feet in the grass and blue skies above, it was truly a beautiful day.

But then...

there is also another part to this day for me and for many others helping to raise other people's children, because I'm a step parent.

It troubles me that step parenting is such a "grey" area of family life. I went to the Internet to find some inspiration for this post, in the form of quotes, but all that comes up in the search bar is "evil" or "wicked" stepmother. I find that very sad, because blended families are the norm, not the other way around, in today's society. And I know that when I am sitting down with Ian's girls to do crafts, or take them on an adventure, I don't feel evil. Dear God.

Here's me, just being evil...if I truly were a wicked stepmother, I don't think I would allow the children to do crafts with glitter, now would I?

As a woman with a higher level of education, I was statistically more likely to have step children. Those with education beyond a regular college degree are in a category that typically marry men who already have children. Those are the facts. Only 12% of women in America are step mom's, as this probably directly correlates with the education factor.

However, I find myself pretty much in no man's land in my circles. My friends aren't old enough to be divorced and remarried yet (thank goodness for them). So in turn I don't have much support in this area.

Which leads me to Mother's Day. This day is even tougher for women who don't bring children into the marriage, so I am very thankful for my Lauren. I know, obviously, that I am a biological mother to Lauren. Neither of my stepchildren recognized me this year, and 99% of this was because their mothers both did not allow them to be at our house for even one minute, as this is "in the papers." The "papers" if you are not aware, rule your life as a step parent. The "papers" allow them to do this. And I know that the majority of this is because Ian and I are getting married in less than two months. And it is getting real to them, that I'm not going anywhere, and they feel the need to show this force to make themselves feel better.

I don't want this to come off as aggressive or bitter. The whole situation just saddens me. Ian is not divorced. I am not divorced. We never broke vows to anyone to "end up" in this situation. This is just how our lives are and where the road has led us.

I know that it takes a village to raise a family. I know that blood is thicker than water. I wish I could tell these mothers not to be threatened by me. I don't do the things I do for anything in return. I do the things I do because it is the right thing to do, and to support Ian, and because I care about and love his girls. A card would go in the trash, and flowers would die. But it's still not an easy day. That's the thing about holidays, even holidays such as this one. What about people that can't have children? Or haven't gotten pregnant? Or have lost their own mother?  My heart goes out to all of us. We're doing the best that we can.

"Speaking from the land of the step parent, I tell you, this business of being evil is hard. It is very hard. Being a step parent is the hardest thing I have ever done. And what rewards there are, are small. No one pats me on the head for having given up the pleasures of endive and champagne and tuna steaks for spaghetti sauce and hamburger. That's what mothers do."  ~taken from "The Evil Stepmother," by Maureen F. McHugh

And Audrey, I know that you read this blog! I love you very much! I am so grateful that you are in my life and I wouldn't change anything about our family! I love ALL of my girls, very, very, VERY much.

Love, your wicked stepmother

xoxoxo

♥ V :)