The Jury's Out...

... Mrs Donovan is in the house!!!

So, I'm pretty much the laziest BUT I'm finally back, haunting the walls of my blog, ready to ramble. But first, (despite it being almost a month ago) I want to talk about my wedding...

You know how it sounds incredibly cliche to refer to any momentous occasion as 'the greatest day in my life'? Well. It literally was THE greatest day in my life.

The build-up was horrible. The pits. I pretty much didn't sleep the whole week beforehand. I stressed myself, my family, and my friends with the volume of stuff I had left to the last minute. I disliked my make-up trial. I was belittled by older women who thought it was funny that I would stress about something so trivial as a wedding. I cut my leg shaving at 4 in the morning on th day of the wedding. Yes, I shed blood in a sting-y, plentiful way, 12 hours before walking down the aisle. I had family issues, and in fact guest list issues as a whole. I had weekly nightmares of the wedding turning out horridly. In a bizarre twist, both my engagement ring and my wedding ring simply wouldn't fit on my finger the week of the wedding (the ladies in the jewellery shop looked horrified when I tried them on upon picking them up - and told me to come back next week to get them re-sized. It was that bad). Driving to the venue, I was on the verge of vomiting from the nerves, and upon getting out of the bridal car, I burst into tears and did not stop when I would have liked to.

But.

The moment that I saw Mr Christopher waiting there for me, grinning at me as I sobbed my way down that aisle, holding my Dad's hand, I knew the day would be perfect.

It was perfect because Chris cried during his vows (and made countless numbers of ladies cry too!!)

It was perfect because the sun was shining its brightest, at the end of a cold, rainy week.

It was perfect because I was surrounded and supported by my 4 best friends in he universe (and they all matched in little purple fairy dresses!!)

It was perfect because we were married by a man who I met on the first day I ever went to youth group, who has seen a huge chunk of my personal journey, who was even my boss at one point, and who I have nothing but lots of love and respect for!

It was perfect because there were paper lanterns and rose petals - Kirstin did the most amazing set-up job ever!

It was perfect because moments like a train blasting you out of audibility right before you start your vows, is what makes a wedding.

It was perfect because we definitely had the most adorable flower girl ever!!!

It was perfect because the only emotion I experienced all day was sheer, pure, unstoppable joy!

It was perfect because at the end of the day I drove off in a heavily 'decorated' Rav4 with the man who I am now going to spend the rest of my life with!!!

The couple of weeks after the wedding, I pretty much lived on Facebook, waiting for folks' albums to go up of the wedding, and what an amaing surprise - so many people took photos!! (The photo up the top was taken by Jared &/or Tenille).

So. Greatest day of my life. And they're not kidding when they warn you that it flies by and ends before you know it!!

People wonder whether it's weird to be married, to be living with a man, to go on holiday with a man, to be a wife. I'm floored by just how normal it all feels. I've been waiting for the moment where it actually hits, that life is suddenly 'different', and after 3 weeks of waiting, I've decided that if this moment hasn't hit yet, it's not going to. Everything feels normal. We may be living under the same roof now, but it's in a house that I've been painting and working on for the last two months, and is incredibly familiar. We may be living together now, but we haven't changed as people - he's still Chris, I'm still Klara. Bizarre, in a completely un-bizarre way. So there you go.

But anyway, enough rabbiting from me. I just felt as though my first post as a married woman should be significantly large. I will point out that now I'm uncertain what to do with my blog. See, I'm not Klara Jury any more, and therefore klarajury.blogspot.com is not all that fitting!! Will keep you posted on that issue...

I Love These Ones...

... Officially my favourites of the Skunkboy Creatures. I think...? Heck. It's so hard to choose a favourite! But looooook at these most wonderful little ones:



Gallop the Horse: he's covered in buttons! He's grey like a Grandpa-cardigan!! Ooo, and on his other side:


A love heart! Because he loves you!!!


Next in the line of favourites:


Abernathy the unicorn: Am I not the hugest fan of unicorns????
And look:


He has a rainbow on him!! With a little rain cloud!!

Oh my my my... I'm so smitten with these two!!!
I just don't think my heart will be content until I have my very own Skunkboy Creature... Little tree-ornament owl arrived on Friday, and she helps, but she's just so little, my craving will not be satisfied. *sigh*

Shelby Healey...

Haven't done one of these plugs in a little while...
Today I was trying to get inspiration for our wedding menus and bombonierre, and Etsy'd the word Love Heart... some very cute stuff, but I found a Heart-able artist called Shelbey Healey!!


This is so cool! And re-affirming, once again, my absolute love of collage and mixed media!!!

House Things That Make Me Smile...

Our mug/glass cupboard... so super cute and colourful!!!!

Wet tea-towels, hanging on the line.

Our couches. Oh, our couches. *Heavenly sigh*

And in other news, guess what colour we painted the master bedroom today??

(Kat)

(Steph-o)

(Me!)

(Token bum/arm shot!!)

So Much Excitement...!!!

Life has taken a crazy, wonderful turn this week, with 2 of the most fantastic, perfect-for-each-other people on the planet getting engaged!!!!!! So CONGRATULATIONS KAT AND ANDREW!!!! It's not very often I have the opportunity to get this happy and giddy for someone!!!

In other news, Skunkboy Creatures has turned 4 of her adorable creations into Christmas tree ornaments!
I've been hanging out for a Skunkboy Creatures toy FOR EVER but have held off. I still would like one, someday, but for now this little one will tide me over! Yay!!

Brain-Mush

This evening, my mind seems to be filled with endless thoughts. I've heard the best way to stop thinking about a thought that's bugging you, is to write it down. So here goes...

1. I am so so so jealous of anyone who's my age and can build a house already. House fixer-upping is not actually fun at all. It's great to have a place, but it's my dream to be able to move into a place and not freak out that the shower's going to be scungey, or the toilet's going to be stained and disgusting, or the window sills aren't going to be sealed. *Sigh*

2. (Thanks Hatti for this one): In 5 weeks, I will be the woman of a house. I will no longer be living in the room I've slept in for the last 18 years, or enjoying the company of the family I have always belonged to. I'll be all 'grown up', cooking every night and living in a space that's half-mine! This is really exciting, but maybe a little more terrifying than I'd anticipated, now that it's so close (to clarify, I definitely don't have cold feet!! I just haven't ever experienced an adventure like this!)

3. I wonder why it has taken me 5 years since finishing high school to get my butt back into creative gear? I've always pined to draw, paint, sew, etc... so why the heck did it take me so long to just buy a sketch book and start trying it out? In high school I worked solidly during every private study period, doing things I should not have been doing, but which kept me alive and excited... drawing, creating stories, cartooning... And for the last 5 years the evidence of this has hung on my wardrobe door as a weird tribute to my finest moments in study period. Why did I stop?

4. I have a pretty cool name. Klara Kamilla. When I was a kid, I hated my middle name. It's my Grandma's name (not why I hated it, I just thought it was old-fashioned and embarrassing!!) But now I really like my name. It's unique :)

5. There are some things I do not tell anyone, for all kinds of reasons. I wonder if they really matter that much? Sure, some things are secrets for a reason, but some things I hold onto are a bit silly!!

6. I'm pining for a large pack of connector-pen/textas. I just discovered this artist, and I actually can't stand to look at her work. It's incredibly crude, and ugly, and very in-your-face, which I'm sure is her aim, so fair enough. But the cool thing about her is that she does a lot of colouring-in with connector pens!! So now I want to :)

7. House-painting is such a painful, slow process. Ergh. We're still working on the first room we started on! It's a little dis-heartening, although last weekend we were able to unwrap one couch and put it against a finished wall, along with a new end table & lamp from Ikea. That little corner of our living room honestly keeps me going. It looks so picture perfect! So I can't wait to see the rest of the room hopefully very soon.

8. Money is not as stretchy as it should be, especially when you have a shiny new mortgage to adjust to, and a wedding.

9. Not everyone you know makes sense. Different people are different. Sometimes I feel like me and my close friends are the only sane people on the planet! But I'm pretty sure everyone feels like that once in a while :)

10. Assignments suck, and I'm so over uni. Lucky it's about to be the Summer break, but I still have a semi-long haul before then (at least classes are over).

Umm... Duct Tape Rocks!!

So there's this brand opf Duct Tape, Duck, and each year they give out a scholarship to kids who create their prom outifts out of duct tape. Some of these entries are mindblowing!!!
Go here to check out the entries... Way cool!!