The official announcement

Here's the letter I'm sending to my friends and fam with my save the date cards:

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s been a very full and busy year for me, with lots of changes and growth!

At the end of last January/beginning of February I went to Colombia, (that’s South America – not Missouri J ) with Gilberto to meet his family and see the city where he grew up. It was a totally amazing experience, everyone was so friendly and caring and passionate about life there. Gilberto’s sisters are gorgeous and sweet, and his parents are also super kind and caring and were very protective of me. We went just before Carnival – so there were lots of pre-carnival festivities and decorations everywhere, and we saw several neat parades with great costumes and dancing! We also got to go to the beach several times, which was quite a novel concept for me, considering it was February and my friends were driving off the roads in major snowstorms back home! I created an online travel journal of my experience at: http://heatherincolombia.blogspot.com/ for those of you who might want to read more about it! (one thing I should mention – the journal entries show up in reverse order from the top, so if you want to go in chronological order, start at the end and read up!) I really had a lot of fun and fell in love with his family and his city, and I can’t wait to go back for visits!

At the end of April, I took the plunge and rented my own little tiny studio apartment! Moving out was a big experience for me, but it was very empowering to be master of my own little corner of things! It’s all one room, with a very good-sized bathroom/dressing room and lots of cupboards and a nice closet. I’ve been having fun decorating and setting up. I think I’ve outgrown it already though, especially with all my craft supplies. I need an art studio room or something! In a few more months my lease will be up and I can look for something bigger.

From the beginning of the year through the end of the summer I was juggling three part-time jobs – administrative work for my dad’s home business and the church, administrative work for a non-profit organization called ArtLife Society and serving lunch twice a week in a local café. Never a dull moment, and I learned a lot from all of them!

In August I planned and taught an improvisational theater class to 9 local high school students with one of my friends from my improv performing group. We planned and advertised for it in about two weeks, and after 4 intensive sessions had a performance with about 30 audience members! It was a fun way to make a little bit of money, and solidify my confidence in my teaching skills.

After our workshop, the owner of the studio where we taught asked if we would like to help her start a group called “Youth For Change” to help encourage local youth to vote in the election. We kicked off our organization with a dance party, where we had a table for people to register to vote. We also had some environmental petitions to sign, so the kids who were not old enough to vote could be active as well.

Another fun summer activity was participating in the local Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. I shared a table with my friend who had pottery. I made jewelry, cards and hair accessories, and Gilberto made a yummy Columbian caramel sauce, and Tommy even joined me a few times with his beaded hemp key chains. I didn’t really make much of a profit, but it was a great way to spend my Saturday mornings outside being social, and I did get to turn my craft supplies back into some cash.
At the end of August I heard about a job opening through a friend and realized it was time to start looking for something a little more permanent and consistent. After a few missed calls, I went in for an interview and was hired on the spot! The company is called ArtSelect, and they are an online custom framing shop. ( www.artselect.com )All the skills that I learned from my other jobs have been coming into play as I slowly work my way into more responsibility there. I started off filing art prints, and soon after they discovered I could write well, so I sometimes write advertising copy now, as well as help organize collections of art for our customers. They really like me, and it’s a great work environment, with several people close to my age who I get to work with directly every day. It is a very dynamic company with a lot of opportunity for growth. Just a few months after I was hired the whole company moved to a bigger, newer office building, and I got to help in decorating the new offices with framed art from our warehouse.

Gilberto’s birthday was in October and we hosted a DJ dance party at a local café. He used to DJ in Colombia and has wanted to try it here for a long time. It was a fun party with flashing disco lights, great music, treats and of course – dancing!

At about the same time I started my new job, I also started rehearsals for the musical comedy “Once Upon A Mattress”. It was the first musical I had been in for several years, and also the first play I had ever been in with Collin. He ended up with the young romantic male lead – his first solo singing experience, and he did a great job. I was so proud of him, and I had a lot of fun in the chorus with my friends. We had near full houses for all eight performances!

Just as the play was ending, I participated in a weekend Christmas Craft Fair. One of the organizers had seen my crafts at the Farmer’s Market and invited me to join her and 12 other local woman artisans. I was very flattered to be invited, and it was lots of fun. I learned a lot about marketing and displaying my stuff, and also made many great trades with other women, so I ended up with neat things I don’t know how to make myself.

The biggest news though, is that Gilberto and I started talking about getting married earlier this year, but it wasn’t till over Christmas weekend that we set a date – July 16th 2005! We’ve had a lot of logistics to struggle with, especially with our families being on different continents, but we finally made our decision. The wedding will be here in Fairfield, and we are planning to live here afterwards as well. We will have been together for 4 years this May, and things have just gradually, naturally and easily unfolded to this moment. I’m really happy and excited, and if it works for you to join us I hope you will be able save the date for the wedding! I think it will something simple and sweet, what matters most to me is sharing my happiness with family and friends!

You are in my heart every day! May the coming year bring happiness, prosperity, good health and good times for you all.

Love,
Heather



So here it is 2:45 am on Thursday, and I am finally printing the damn things, and a first batch of envelopes, most of the important people... I was supposed to do this like last week, or Monday at least or something, but I've always gotten distracted for some reason or another, and tonight, despite G's pleading to go to bed at 12, I freaked out and determined to stay here for the long haul... Maybe now that it's printing I can leave, and come back tomorrow. dammit. I'm sooooooooooo sick of this. I've put a bunch of the rest of my life on hold to get them done, and stayed up till at LEAST 12 every night this week procrastinating on them. ARGH!!! Still need to put in the cards, and put on stamps, and lord help me if the are more than 37 cents each.... I may hand deliver to some people in town, although that costs gas money... argh. utterly tired at the moment. Can't even deal...

Oh yeah, I looked at engagement rings tonight at Americus. Of course the one that I ended up liking was $699. ARGH. $400 more than he wants to spend... :( It's soooo pretty though, 3 little bevels, and this kind of pale mixed gold color. Unfortunately it's not possible to go smaller on the diamonds in that setting... Even my next favorite choice was $417. Grah. Mom had a couple of suggestions of other local jewelers to call and see if they did stuff... I just wish HE would do the calling part, even if I have to meet with them to see what they do. Now that I have a good idea of what I like. It's totally different to see something online, or under the counter even, compared to on your hand. whoa. I have small fingers, so the big stuff just overwhelms it. And I don't want a solitare that sticks up to get caught on things... blargh. And then I come home and G and Collin BOTH talk about the bogus-ness of the whole diamond market/concept, and how gold is actually way more valuable than diamonds, etc... scientific, cynical bastards.... I'M SUCH A GIRL!!! I want a pretty sparkley thing!!! It doesn't have to be expensive, honestly. If they made me one the same shape, with cheapo diamonds, I doubt if I'd know the difference... just not CZ. That's cheating! And I'm worth more than that. sigh.

I'm gonna be useless at work tomorrow. At least it's coffee day!