The latest

baylor upsidedown, originally uploaded by leli jo.

Garret and I spent some of Valentines Day in Independence, taking photos. i was happy with how they turned out. This double exposure above turned out really trippy! And this cutie is one of my new favorite photos ever.

I've started a new adventure: writing a faith-inspired wedding planning blog. So, one reason I've written a lot less here lately (and haven't made a new header - so sad!) is because I've been writing a lot on this new blog and trying to gather readers. It's called Every Good and Perfect, and you can read my explanation of why I'm writing it in this post.

Learning a lot of new things at work: budgets, proposals, reallocations, federal initiatives - all things that I was previously totally unfamiliar with! This has been challenging sometimes, but I'm still very grateful for my job. I can walk around outside at lunch, I work with wonderful people who treat each other like family, it has great benefits and holidays, and I'm learning lots of new and valuable skills!

And, drumroll.... Today was an extra excellent day for two reasons:
1. Garret got a job! He was hired at a reputable local cabinet manufacturer and he is SO excited. Praise the Lord! God is so faithful to provide, right when we reach our breaking point...

2. We're getting married in 99 days!!! To celebrate, I made Garret a list of 99 reasons why I can't wait to marry him, and he liked that a lot. It was really fun to write :)

Modge podge

November has flown by. I can't believe Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away! Awesome! Right? I think so. This entry is going to be a bit of a modge podge. Haven't had real clear thoughts lately, so I'm just going to go for it. Thought I was going to go to bed early tonight, but I think writing will be good. Thanks for reading :)

Tonight I listened to more than one JJ Heller song in a row for the first time, and it has been reallyreally life giving. "Love me" is powerful.


This post from Piper was good. I don't know if I've fully internalized these concepts:

....God's free and sovereign heart-changing work is our only hope. Therefore we must pray for a new heart. We must pray for the "want to":

Incline my heart to Your testimonies. (Psalm 119:36)

He has promised to do it:

I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes. (Ezekiel 36:27)

I definitely struggle with trying to manufacture my own "want to," putting my confidence in it, and then eventually failing because my strength is insufficient. Sometimes, my own human motivation to do the right thing will work for a good while, and maybe I don't even realize I'm relying on it, but I've learned that it can't truly sustain godly actions. Because, the world and my flesh will thump away at whatever construction paper morals I had been relying on, and one day I will look up and my "want to" is gone without a trace. Grasping through that shame and helplessness towards the neglected power of the Holy Spirit's gracious changing of my soul has been very challenging for me lately.


I really really like this blog. I read the Bright Side Project (and try to win sometimes), and one day I read on there that they had a new weekend editor - Lindsey from A Great Full Day. So, I hopped on over there and was quite pleasantly surprised by the fresh, friendly mix of spiritual Truth, style, and exuberance in her blog. I'm also enjoying this blog that I randomly found. (Both of these ladies' posts often remind me that I too am a font nerd, and really enjoy working with typefaces.)


Along the lines of creativity and typefaces, I've been sitting on a lot of ideas about different prints that I'd like to create. I'd been sketching a lot, but finally spent some time with Illustrator this past weekend. Garret had to go up to work for a little bit on Saturday to transfer some 8mm film, so I tagged along to keep him company. I brought my laptop and it was fun to hangout, help him with his work, work on some of my own projects, and watch strangers' vacation movies from the 60s, lol. So, this is the first thing I came up with.

And here's a zoom of it so you can tell what's going on. A little cheesy maybe, but I got the idea in my head, and was just excited that I could remember how to make my own pattern in Illustrator and apply it.

I've been toying with lots of different ideas of things to design for the wedding, and I'm looking forward to making more of them come to fruition. More is coming soon :)

Tah-da!

Our engagement pictures are in! Yipee! I got the links today while I was at work, and it made it really hard to concentrate! I just wanted to look at them and pick out my favorites and have fun!

Here's the slideshow - http://www.fidelisstudio.com/client_slideshow/GarretandLeslie - my fave from that is definitely the last one. I looove that chimney by the snakehouse on our farm. And of course I love it when Garret makes me laugh, which is a lot :)

Also, here's the whole gallery of photos, where there are lots more good ones! The password is leslieandgarret: http://www.kmdfoto.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=60. Some of the kissymushy pictures are awkward, but on the whole I really like how they all turned out. That was such a fun day! Which ones are your faves? I'll give you time to form your opinions... okay - some of my faves are: 14, 3, 29, 38, 39, 5, 7 and 9.

Now, our wedding to-do list for the next month or two is: design save the dates, finalize the guest list & round up everyone's addresses, decide where we want to register and maybe start, find bridesmaid dresses, pick florist & caterer. Yeah... that's all I can think of. Planning really has been pretty chill so far. I really want to plan a wedding that is Christ-centered, but also plan it in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Confession: I have very little idea of how to do this. You've probably heard this idea from me before, but I think I'm going to start a blog about planning a wedding and preparing for marriage from a Gospel-minded perspective. See, I wanted to read this blog originally, but I can't find such a thing, so I think I should just write about my journey. I've actually already started it, but I want to get a good amount of content in it before I show it to anyone. So... yeah, please share with me any thoughts you have on that, and I'll have more to share soon!

Shnniiippits of life

Okay so this is actually a pretty random assortment - not really of my life per-se (sp? per say? hmm - help, the English major is floundering!) but maybe more-so just an assortment of things that I have had in or around my brain in the last few days/hours. There really is some interesting stuff in there I promise! ;)

• This wedding video is magic. Garret works with 8mm film a lot at work, so maybe he could somehow both marry me and film our ceremony at the same time... hmmm! Jk, I want his FULL attention, I promise! (I'm not really worried about that, either.)After watching that video, I'm definitely putting visit Aspen in the summer and ride in a ski lift through the mountains on my life to-do list. Oh wait, we're hopefully going to get to do that on our honeymoon, except it will be the Smokey Mountains - whoop!
  
• I looove this sign, and that song. :)
• Today I went to a lunch workshop held by an organization of university/local communications peeps - ProComm, held in The Zone. I felt like a grownup, the food was really yummy, the view was great, I enjoyed getting out of the office a little, and the speaker, Jackie Huba, was really engaging. It's interesting figuring out how we could use social media well in our office.
• If you ever have a craving for awesome, random dance mixes (that one contains Dolly Parton's "9-5"!), check out this DJ's blog! He's got lots of free downloads and it makes good background or dancing music! A few of the songs are shady, sorry, but most of it's just plain random - a really unpredictable, fun mix of old and new.
  
• This post about "telling time" on Girl Talk was really good. As I seek to get ready for marriage, this balance of being both a strong and submissive wife, definitely comes up. I want to learn how to "tell time" in a godly way! I've been reading about the book Womanly Dominion and I def want to pick it up soon. I think we studied similar stuff in the first aspect ("Mistress of your Domain" - mistress as in in-charge, not as in adultary - just clarifying) of the Five Aspects study we are doing in D-ship. It's packaging/presentation isn't especially trendy, but I HIGHLY reccommend that study!
• Some more Etsy favorites (that I won't be buying this month bc I'm trying to be good): Fruits of the Spirit print, Love Defined art, and this is SUCH a cute print!
• Yes, I am fairly addicted to looking at wedding blogs. There, I admit it. Me and my Google Reader are, like, almost-bffs. Anyhoo, this was one of the most attention-holding posts that I found today - so many things in these photos that make me smile and giggle - that happy-go-lucky blue sky, those yellow shoes, and... llamas!?!

Alright already, I'm out.

So...I have a new favorite shiny thing...

So, I'm pretty sure anyone who reads my blog already knows this, but yes, Garret and I are engaged! Praise Jesus! I'm veryveryveryvery thankful to have completed the awkward in-between-time b/w commitment and engagement! It's finally sinking in that we really are engaged and really are going to get married in less than a year!!! We're working on a wedding website, and I'll post it here when it's done. For now, here's the proposal story, via some tag-team story telling, and a few photos. More to come later! (This photo where he's on one knee was a reenactment, the day after - just fyi!)

Our Engagement Story

Leslie: The weekend of July 24, I had planned on going home for my Dad’s birthday, but Garret asked if we could stay in town Friday night so that we could have a date night. At first I was a little stubborn about it, but I finally changed my mind, and we planned on going out to eat and then taking a walk around campus. I thought it was just a normal, fun, relaxed date night – I had no idea what he had up his sleeve!

Garret: First, a little back story. For the two weeks previous to the 24th, I had been driving all over the place, sneaking out of town to have the official, “Can I marry your daughter talk” with her dad, buying the ring and taking care of all sorts of other things. I had to figure out a way to get her to stay in town, and it was really stressing me out. Finally, with the help of our close friends she agreed to stay for a supposed date night. Friday night came up and I was so excited. I had never been more confident and nervous about something in my life. We went out to dinner after work and had some good Mexican food and an ice cold Shiner. After dinner we took a walk along our favorite areas of campus, and we ended up at Rudder Tower on our favorite balcony. We sat there for a few minutes before I said, “I need to ask you something.” I pointed to her True Love Waits rings, and said “I’m going to need those.” I hit one knee and said “Will you marry me?” and she said…

Leslie: “SHUT UP! REALLY!?!” – and then “YES!!!!”
I was COMPLETELY SURPRISED! I knew it was for real, and I was SO excited! But also, I was totally in shock! Garret did a great job at surprising me and I really had no idea it was going to happen so soon! After he slid a beautiful diamond ring on my finger, we enjoyed the moment for a while, and I tried to let it sink in that we really were engaged! Before we left the balcony, we prayed together, and that’s when it began to solidify in my mind – I’m really going to marry Garret Lee! God is good.

After that, Garret told me that both of our families, Kristi and Derek, and many of our friends were all waiting at my house for an engagement party. I was really excited about that, because I’d specifically asked Garret to orchestrate that if he could – and he did SO good! (And my wonderful roomies helped him out a lot!)

Everyone was waiting in the yard when we pulled up, and that was so much fun! We told everyone the story, took lots of pictures, and celebrated! All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.

Spring Break

I know this is real late, but here's some fun photos from my last Spring Break!

During our roommate weekend extravaganza we had a day at the park and enjoyed playing games, resting in hammocks, and of course swinging on the swings! I love my roomies! After our Shalom Shack Extravaganza weekend, I went home for the rest of the break and enjoyed time with family and friends. It was pretty restful and not too busy.

One night Garret and I, and our BFFS Derek and Kristi all went out fishing at the lake. Me and Kristi were mostly excited. ;)

Friday night Garret and I went out C&W dancing and that was way fun. I had a blast dancing with my man!

My friend from home Lauren, who I've known since kindergarten, got married Saturday. She looked gorgeous! We had a fun time at the wedding. (Above: me, Lauren, Chrissy and Kristi)

Garret and I had a good time at the wedding and enjoyed catching up with old friends.

I also got to see my awesome sister Melissa and her husband Glen. Here they are in their apartment, with a scroll I brought them from EA. I love them a lot :)