7 Quick Takes, Vol. 23

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We're in another spurt of wedding planning right now. Our save the date cards came in, bridesmaid jewelry has been ordered, and now I'm dithering about invitation designs. History nerd that I am, I gravitate toward stuff that looks more vintage-y. But I don't want something that yells "I am a twee olde-timey hipster." This card from Vistaprint might work if you want to welcome your guests to a carnival/traveling medicine show with special prizes for target shooting. The Betrothed said one "Victorian Vintage" card looked like "The picture Jesse James was adjusting on the wall just before he got shot."

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I've been our of work for a month and a half, but no unemployment benefits yet. Government paperwork, why you gotta be so hard?

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On the positive side, I have another interview next week! I finally, finally have a better sense of trust that if it's the right one, God will still make it work out.

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Once again, though, I have nothing to wear. I used my only suit that isn't huge on me for the last round. Once again, Divine Providence came through. I just found a great Banana Republic suit at Good will for $11. "Do not ask, what shall we eat, or what shall we wear...."

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You may have seen this fascinating article in The Atlantic about the decline of Mary as a popular baby name. Does this mean that nobody looks to Jesus' mother as a role model or values virginity anymore, as some Catholic bloggers have suggested? Maybe a bit, but I think that's too easy of an answer. From what I've seen, the trend of picking original, unique baby names extends to devout Christians too. In my little Catholic bubble I've seen Maria, Regina, Mairi, Mary Elizabeth, Mary Catherine, and Mary Beth. I swear half the girls in my high school had the middle name Marie.

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I got to catch up with some former classmates this week, which was fantastic. A true friend is someone who will not only not get mad when you are an hour late because of traffic, she will also have gluten-free brownies waiting for you.

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God bless all those students suffering through finals! My three younger siblings are all juggling papers and presentations right now. I just got to give Brother #2 advice on a history paper over Skype. Sigh,  I could almost smell the library stacks. Pondering Leonardo da Vinci is way more fun when you aren't the one getting graded. :-)

Did you know Napoleon collected lots of Leonardo's work, including his notebooks? 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

What I Learned Wednesday

Emmy Cecilia at Journey of a Catholic Nerd Writer has started a new link-up, What I Learned Wednesday. Since I am also a Catholic nerd and love when someone else gives me a post topic, I couldn't say no. Here's what I have discovered this week. 

1) I am an eldest child, and I am a procrastinating perfectionist. This is normal.

Recently I checked out a bunch of books about birth order from the library. (After paying a big fine because I procrastinated about renewing the last batch, naturally.) My favorite title is the enticing, Growing Up Firstborn: The Pressure and Privilege of Being Number One. That's RIGHT Dr. Kevin Leman, we firstborns have it the WORST! 

The picture of firstborn perfectionism sounds like my life. Dwelling on past failures, gauging worth by the number of successes, blowing past accomplishment to focus on what needs to be done next. If you're always worried about doing a good enough job, then you hesitate to get started. This is exactly why I could never start school papers way in advance. I needed to mull over my topic and feel ready to write profound things. 

This has been particularly true for wedding planning. A long engagement of 16 months is doing me no favors. What if I pick out something now and hate it in 6 months? How can I make this celebration a reflection of me and my marriage if I don't even know what I like? You can't rush art. 

But at a certain point, you just have to pick something. I've gotten a little better at this over the years, especially with shopping. Which brings me to:

2) Never pay retail when you don't have to. 

I got an unexpected call this week offering me a job interview in another city. On Friday. Since I last built my professional wardrobe, I have lost 22 pounds. Hooray! Now all those pantsuits don't fit, and neither does my long winter coat. Cue what my family likes to call "Turbo Shopping." 

Burlington Coat Factory had a decent-yet-unorganized selection of wool coats, but I wasn't sure if I could do better elsewhere. I checked out the one day sale at Macy's - to find some of the exact same items from the other store, at twice the price. 

So today I went back to the first store, and picked up this fun, swingy Laundry coat. I paid $60 less than the Macy's sale price, and less than a third of the suggested retail value. Discount outlets can take more time and effort, but once again I learned that it is worth it. 

Cravat and platinum hairdo optional.