Browsing Tag

ryan and hannah corson

Order

I had a miscarriage recently, and I’m actually OK.

It’s been awhile since I posted anything of actual substance online. I update my Instagram regularly, mostly with absolutely pointless videos of my son eating breakfast, or playing with dinosaurs, or coloring. You can follow those exciting updates here #yourewelcome

I’ve tried sitting down and writing many, many times since we moved here, but it’s been awhile since I had something concrete that I could actually process from start to finish. Something defined. Black and white. Easy to process.

For some reason, this miscarriage has been that for me.

Most of you probably didn’t even know I was pregnant. I was only 7 weeks or so. While it definitely wasn’t planned, we adjusted quickly and welcomed the news. I knew I was pregnant for about a week before the miscarriage started, and there have been some gloomy and wistful days. Not just for the loss of life, but also for the loss of another plan.

Since leaving CO we’ve watched so many plans come and go. Living life completely open-handed is not easy. Holding out everything to be redistributed, redirected is exhausting at times. We’ve left nothing behind for a Plan B. Moving forward into the things that are before us is often… Daunting. Exciting, for sure. We’re both adventurous people. But everything’s turned out just so darn different than what we had planned or consciously hoped for. There are so many factors that are up in the air right now. So many unknowns in the midst of walking out the path we find ourselves on. When we found ourselves expecting a child again, we accepted that as another factor to consider as we move forward. Because of the pleasant surprise of Ellis (we weren’t exactly the most enthusiastic parents-to-be before Ellis), we knew this child would be the same; an absolute joy.

So you’d think that when I experienced miscarriage, peace wouldn’t be the primary experience. But it was. And I’ll tell you why. Or I’ll try to, without offending anyone.

When I was pregnant with Ellis, I read several books on natural pregnancy, labor, and delivery (See my Goodreads if that kind of thing interests you). The main thing that stuck out to me out of all the literature I consumed was this quote

“One cannot help a physiological process. The point is not to hinder it.”

When I was in labor, I made the controlling, Type A part of me (the part that wants to know what is going on, why it is going on, and what I can do about it) chill out. I trusted my body. I let my body do what it needed to do. And it did.

Side Note & Disclaimer: I 100% realize that this cannot be the case each and every single time. There are things that go wrong where medical intervention is absolutely necessary. For those times, I’m so grateful for the medical professionals trained to right the wrongs happening in our bodies. But the majority of the time, our bodies are created to operate a certain way and they are fully capable of doing so.

The point is that I gained a deep respect for my body through the experience of labor and delivery.
And in the same way that my body can, when operating correctly, sustain a life for nine months, my body knows when it cannot.

Here are some facts that I learned while having a miscarriage:

They are very common: Statistically, about one in every four confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage. See here & here & here
Of those miscarriages, most of them occur because of chromosome abnormalities. See here & here.
Also, most women report feeling emotions like shame, isolation, and guilt as a result of a miscarriage.

Maybe this is common knowledge to most people. It was new information for me and instead of experiencing extreme sadness and shame that most women report feeling when experiencing a miscarriage, I experienced peace.

I just deeply respect the order of things that is set up in our bodies. In a weird way I feel like this miscarriage has broken through a cloud of confusion around me. In our life right now with so many unanswered questions, plans that constantly change, constantly weighing the pros and cons of a new decision – a concrete thing happened. Definitely not the outcome I would have chosen, but I’m OK because I know that my body is operating as thousands and thousands and millions of other women’s bodies have operated since the beginning of time. Being apart of something solid, something bigger than myself feels grounding in a way that I’ve been craving. Even through the midst of a dealth, I feel such light and peace.

The opportunity to have this perspective shocked me.

And of course we’re sad. This was a precious life. And we would have loved and cherished him/her regardless of any abnormalities present. And granted, I haven’t been trying to have a baby for years, I don’t have any past traumatic experience with having a baby, not to mention I was only 7-8 weeks along. All that to say, there are so many factors that go into my emotional response. If you’ve had a miscarriage and had a very different experience, I’d love for you to feel free to share that experience. Everyone is different and this is not my attempt to write a trendy post to contradict what everyone says about something standard like being emotional when there is a death.

I guess I just wanted to share our experience in the small chance there someone out there who needs to hear a story of how we went through a miscarriage and were OK.

Like, really OK.

And maybe this perspective can bring this converstaion out of the realm of only emotions, (all of which are valid) to also include facts, which are just as valid.

Maybe it really just helps me to write it all out, document and process it in some way.

Either way, that’s what has been going on with us lately.

That and many other things.

Maybe those will be in the next blog post.

Photo credit:Madison Grooms

February 17, 2018

Country Living, Reading, Simple Living

Hello 2016

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell

Temperatures have been pretty chilly and we’ve had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving. This means watering animals twice a day with hot water, feeding everyone a little bit more, and bundling up as much as possible before morning and evening chores.

We had some new friends, Zach and Elle, stop by on their road-trip-tour to interview us and the animals. They are working on a project called the New Americans. Their goal is to wander around the U.S., capturing the stories of normal, everyday Americans. We had a blast hanging out with them and getting to know them for less than 24 hours before they moved onto the next destination. You can follow their journey via Instagram (links above).

Christmastime was fun this year. We chopped down a massive tree from some friend property and drug it between 1/4-1/2 mile back to the car. I think we decided on a slightly smaller one for next year, but it still looked great once we got lights and ornaments on it.

We also went on a Christmas morning hike where Ry surprised me with another tree & cozy campfire.

We also found out that we’re expecting a baby around the end of July! So I’ve (Hannah) been dealing with fatigued, nausea, and eating a ton of cereal. We’re looking forward to this new adventure this summer!

There really hasn’t been too much going on other than normal daily routine. Which is nice.

Ryan finished making the aspen ladder for our bookshelves (photo to come later)
We’ve been enjoying getting our Christmas presents (Taproot, Backwoods Home) sporadically over the last month (thanks MIL!) and reading them in the mornings or evenings next to the fire.
I started thinking about & planning the garden and what we’d like to plant and what we should plant, seeing as the baby will be coming right before harvest time…
Also reading: Lord of the Flies, The Friday Night Knitting Club, & Birthing from Within.
Watching: That 70s show, Downton Abbey, Business of Being Born, & Holy Ghost.

Thanks for reading & stay warm!

January 11, 2016

Country Living, Eating Simple, Simple Living

Life on the Homestead

Working full time and taking care of 50 animals takes quite a bit of time – but seriously loving every minute. Until I can update again, I’ll share a brief overview of whats been going on around the homestead.

– Made some Elderberry Ginger Syrup

– Experimented with making a high altitude adjusted Chocolate Beet Cake

– Learned how to save money and make our own goat feed

– Still learning about raising pullets

– Watching ducks make a massive mess everyday in their food & water

– Making reusable “utter wipes” for the goat milking

– Canning summer fruits and veggies

– Visits from family

– Homemade yogurt

– Using the dehydrator more often to preserve summer goods

– Goat cheese making

– Sourdough successes

Processing Homestead Life

After moving around and having constant change for the past few years, its been really great to have some routine and structure. Milking every morning and evening, feeding animals, making cheese and sourdough, finally being able to actually throw away moving boxes (!!!) and settle in. It’s been kind of crazy how fast all this has happened. It’s such a different life than what we were living before – and such a refreshing change. I don’t think I realized how absolutely peaceful living on a homestead, taking care of animals, and being SO busy with things that I love doing, was going to be. In the craziness of what our world & culture looks like these days, this verse describes perfectly what we sense God is calling us to and what we find joy in:

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to work with your hands, so you may win the respect of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone”

We also have the most amazing neighbors ever. I’m serious. I can’t even tell you everything that they’ve done for us in helping us get going – not only are they pros at homesteading, they are just really fun people and we are super blessed to have great friends living just down the road. You should follow them here or here.

I also have to brag on the husband a little bit – he’s been working extremely hard over the past few months at work & sacrificing time spent on the farm, so that we can actually have this place. #imlucky

I hope to have time to post more updates with recipes, photos, and stories – but for now I’ll leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln

“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”

Linking up with Leigh Kramer

September 1, 2015

City Living, Country Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

Tiny House Magazine Feature: Tiny Living, Big Community

Tiny House News

We are super exited to be featured this month in Kent Griswold and Andrew Odom‘s online creation of Tiny House Magazine!*

This month they are celebrating their 2 year anniversary! Congrats guys!!

The article tells much of Ryan and I’s story: from meeting, to engagement, to wedding, to tiny house building, to current.

There is a focus on our wedding and how it literally took our entire community to pull it off (there are several folks mentioned – not by name – in the article, so if you were involved in helping with our wedding, you might just be in there…) We like to think of it as our “barn raising” wedding.

Also a snazzy infographic (created by yours truly) depicting the average costs of weddings in the U.S. this year based on a study by Statistic Brain.

Here’s a sneak peak of the article:

I had never heard of a Tiny House until I met my husband in 2012. I met him in a coffee shop that I was working at in Golden, Colorado. He was living in Houston at the time and was just visiting family, who was traveling through the area. We had a lot in common; We’re both oldest children, both fairly stubborn, both enjoy learning, and we both wanted to live a life that was different than the average person.

To read the rest, click here or on the picture above to purchase this month’s edition of Tiny House Magazine! Get 25% off if you use the code 25FOR5 from now until December 23rd. (If you click on the link, scroll down until you see the 24th Edition- $3.99, with 25% off with coupon code)

Included are other stories and pictures of tiny house and sustainable living enthusiasts. If you like reading about things like grown men making homes in dumpsters, or families living in hobbit holes, or if you just enjoy learning about how to live a more sustainable life – you need to check out this magazine.

Other News

Another 2 year anniversary is quickly approaching – our wedding anniversary! I mean, we’re still like 4 months away, but whatever :)

This month I’ll remember my babe’s sweet proposal on Christmas day

cute baby tree and gorgeous big girl ring

It was awesome. Like for real. Totally didn’t see it coming. He’s so creative too: he wrapped up every candle, then as I unwrapped it he lit them all, and placed them around the room so that by the time I got to the last present we were sitting in a cozy, mountain, candleland. (#soromantic) He just rolls his eyes (like a good husband does) while I bring out the tissues while looking through every.single.wedding.picture. I can’t help it. #iloveus

As well as having fun memories from last Christmas when my family came to visit us and we packed 10 people in a two bedroom one bath lil rental, went sledding, and frolicked in the Sangre de Cristo mountains for the holiday. This Christmas will be quite different from my family’s normal traditions as my dad is recovering from a scare with severe acute pancreatitis. I may write more about this experience in the future, we’ll see. For now, we’re all just really thankful that my Dad is alive and on the mend.

My family, minus Ryan… he was making my Christmas presents #spoiledrotten

So I’m not exactly sure what this year’s Christmas festivities will include, but at least we got the tree up :)

Merry Christmas everyone! Don’t forget to grab your copy of the Tiny House Magazine, cozy up next to something warm (fire, candle, or coffee mug will do), and check out our article! :)

(*This post contains affiliate links)

December 18, 2014

City Living, Country Living, Simple Living

Homemade Cleaning Products: Laundry Soap, Glass Cleaner, and Dish Soap

It is so much easier than you think to make your own homemade cleaning products.

For real. Like it took me a few minutes to make these cleaning solutions for laundry soap, glass cleaner, and dish washing soap.

I really enjoy learning about how to make a simple version of things we use all the time. AND CHEAPER. And so many of these recipes I’m finding all use the same ingredients. Now, that just makes sense to me. There will be more recipes coming in future blogs, I promise. I’m way too obsessed to stop now. For now, I’ll start with these THREE recipes for homemade cleaning products I’ve made over the past few months and LOVE them.

Ok. Go to the grocery store, (or your pantry) and grab these items:

– Washing Soda and Borax (both typically right next to each other on the laundry supplies aisle at the grocery store)

– Bar of Soap

– Citric Acid (I’ve never used this before, and after searching the store for 30 minutes and googling, “where to find citric acid in a grocery store”, I finally found it near the canning supplies on the baking aisle. You’re welcome.)

– White Vinegar

– Spray Bottle

– Corn Starch

These recipes came from Wellness Mama’s blog – which I highly recommend if you are a DIYer or lover of all things natural. ::thumbs up:::

Use 1/8-1/4 cup per load

Laundry Soap

– 1 parts soap (grated into fine pieces. We love the smell of Dr. Bonner’s Lavender) mixed with

– 2 parts borax and

– 2 parts washing soda.

That’s it.

Use about 1/8-1/4 cup for each load. Our clothes always smell super fresh.

Super crispy clean, no streaks

Glass Cleaner

– Mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with

– 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol

– 1 TBSP of corn starch and

– 2 cups of warm water

Mix ingredients and you’re good to go. While I’m cleaning the bathroom mirror, I go ahead and use this cleaning mixture to clean the sink, bathtub, and toilet. Easy Peasy.

(Hint: shake the bottle or jar before each use to get the corn starch mixed evenly)

Not bad!

Dish Washing Soap

– Mix 1 part citric acid with

– 1 part salt

– 2 parts borax and

– 2 parts washing soda

Keep in an airtight container or the mixture will harden into a solid mass. Learned this lesson the hard way after the first batch. Still cleaned the dishes amazingly, but I just had to work for it (think hammer and chisel). Another option for this, as my brilliant husband suggested, is to store the citric acid (as this is what causes the mixture to harden and stick together) separately and then add to the mix when starting a load of dishes. This may vary depending on how hard/soft your water is, so just experiment until you find something that works :)

(Hint: we use about 1/2 cup of vinegar as the rinsing agent)

Let me know how these recipes work for you!

Happy Cleaning!

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December 8, 2014

City Living, Simple Living, Tiny Living

The Realities of Living in an Unfinished Tiny House

I (Hannah) have had several people recently ask me questions about living in an unfinished tiny home. I finally sat down and replied to someone with a really long email about the whole experience.

If you are considering moving into a tiny house that is not yet finished, perhaps you should read this. Or not. If someone had tried to tell me this information (oh wait… they probably did), I/we would not have listened. We wanted/want to live our own adventure – hard times and all.

Without further ado, a story about living in an unfinished tiny house as told in a reply to a question via email from Hannah’s perspective (Ryan may add his thoughts later on).

Alli,

Good to hear from you! I’ve really enjoyed the Tiny House community on Instagram.

Ok. “What was it like to live in an unfinished tiny house?” This is gonna be long. Prepare yourself.

When we first moved in, we ONLY had the bedroom built. Like, just a 10X10 (or so, I don’t remember exact dimensions right now). Pics on website, on “Tiny House and Wedding Update” blog post or the “Our Tiny House” page. We eventually finished the entire exterior, but this was while we were living in it.

A tiny bit of back story: we got married in April 2013 and a week before we were married the housing situation we were planning on moving into together, fell through and we were forced to scramble last minute to find a place. We found a month-to-month rental place that was 240 sq feet (great practice for Tiny living). We knew that in July 2013 we either had to make a year commitment to the rental place, or find somewhere else to live.

Around the beginning of June, we found a great deal on a gooseneck trailer that we bought. So our thought was to start building immediately and move into it at the end of July when our lease was up.Everything worked out: we found somewhere super close to where we both worked to start building. An amazingly sweet elderly woman had a few acres right in the middle of Golden CO (where we lived at the time) and allowed us to park the trailer (and all of the extra stuff that comes with it – turns out building materials take up a LOT of space) and start building.

We did get the bedroom somewhat livable before moving in..meaning it was framed with plywood and some tarps to keep out the rain. VERY basic. We ran an extension cord out from her shed to charge cell phones, laptop, and power tools, and kept water bottles around and used her hose to refill. But we didn’t have room for a kitchen, it was just the bed. She allowed us to keep our clothes in her garage, so that became our closet. We didn’t have any food storage options, so we just went to the grocery store every morning for breakfast, fast food (ugh) for lunch and dinner. We’d come back to the tiny house after work and work on it in the evenings before bed. We showered at my office which was like 2 miles away and used the bathroom at a gas station close by.

The lady whose land we were living on eventually took pity on us (I believe her words were, “no one should have to live like this”) and invited us to use her kitchen and bathroom. So at that point we were basically living with her, without living in her house. She allowed us to use part of a fridge and freezer space, kitchen to cook meals each day, and bathroom to use and take showers in. This significantly improved our quality of life, as you can imagine.

The building process took us SO much longer than we anticipated. We moved in in July, and I was under the impression that we were going to have the whole tiny house down before winter.

October hit and the temperature started dropping significantly, especially at night. Although we did make significant progress, we didn’t have electrical wiring or insulation done yet. Tragically, the elderly woman passed away very suddenly, and her family decided to put the house and land on the market. For 2-3 months around that time, we lived in friends basements, guest bedrooms, and cheap hotels around the Denver area. We decided to move to a tiny mountain town 4 hours south of Denver at Christmas, and moved the Tiny House down there as soon as the family sold the place.

Summary

Overall – yes, I can honestly say that I am slightly scarred from the experience of living in the tiny house before it was complete. There may have been other factors involved with that time period being difficult, like we were VERY much newlyweds, basically moving into a shed after being married for 3 months, living a “3rd world country experience” yet still trying to keep up with our “1st world” jobs and community. Or the fact that when we were dating and first married we had like $300 and had no idea what we were doing as far as building something this enormous – did I mention that our tiny house is HUGE? Like 250 sq feet. Needless to say, it made me feel fairly unstable and made both of us stressed out in general, not having somewhere to just CHILL and recoup. To be living in a construction zone, always having SO much to do: that list only gets longer and involves more money.

All that and I still say this: I really hope that this doesn’t scare you away from building a tiny house or even living in it unfinished.

I know that for who my husband and I are (we’re both firstborns) we needed to do this. If you are even considering building a tiny house, I feel like you will understand this somewhat. Even if it causes some scarring :) you can heal from it and learn a ton.

Where we are at now:

The tiny house is still down in the mountain town on some other friend’s land, in the unfinished state we left it in. It is PACKED full of building materials. We basically ran out of money and realized that we needed to spend a few years being a tad more strategic in planning our future. We moved back to the Denver area, took great jobs, and are living a fairly focused life just working and planning for the future. My husband works 7 days a week in the oil field and he has 1 week off every once in awhile so he is planning on going down there every so often to finish the house. We still have high hopes of finishing it, and we just realized that we had to be a bit more strategic if we wanted to remain sane :)

Advice (take it or leave it) for those considering living in an unfinished Tiny House:

– Work on finishing the inside first. That’s what you’ll be living in. If the outside just has tyvek for awhile, and it looks like crap, but you have electricity, insulation, drywall and a bed and chair (:sigh:) and the inside can be a refuge for you, it will help you keep going when you feel overwhelmed.

– If you do move in without electricity and water, and its basically like a shed, simplify your lifestyle. And by that I mean cut out as many extra activities as possible. I don’t know if you work, or how much, or if you are super involved in your community, or hang out with friends a ton, or have your own business, etc… but the more of these “other activities” you can temporarily cut out during the time you are building and are forced to live a highly rudimentary lifestyle, the better. Almost like meditating or something, just make your focus the tiny house for a little bit. I think that if I would have been able to do this, I MAY have enjoyed the process a tad more. If I could have just woken up each morning, not had to think about how long it would take me to actually be ready for the day (grab clothes from garage, go to store get breakfast, drive to work take a shower, awkwardly have wet hair and toiletries at work…etc) but just wake up, enjoy living a slightly “pioneer-ish” lifestyle for a few months.

– Have a back up plan. If/when the tiny house takes longer than you anticipate, have a backup plan in place so that its not this extreme pressure to complete the massive project before the first frost or something. We both didn’t handle that pressure very well, me more so than my husband. I think the unknown for me was almost unbearable. Not knowing how long I’d have to live like this was really difficult. If you set deadlines like, “if we don’t have the inside livable by November 1, we are moving into this apartment.” That way, when things get hard, you can just tell yourself, “Hey, I got 2 months of this and then we’re either going to be living in a functional tiny house, or this other housing situation.”

– Passion vs. Practicality. I read an article in the paper that talked about 10 ways passion could kill a new business. Basically, that emotions can block logically decision making. We just wanted to build this freaking house and at times this basically stopped us from creating a realistic timeline or putting a plan in place. So, for your overall health, be willing to set aside excitement for the finished product for like a few days, and maybe talk to some people in your life that you trust to help you come up with a practical plan for executing this fun project.

Questions for those considering moving into a tiny house that is unfinished:

– Where are you located?

– What’s your story? Are you married? Single? Do you have kids?

– Where do you work? What is that environment like?

– What is your background in construction? (for the record, mine was NOTHING when we started)

– What kind of budget that you are working with?

– Whats your timeline?

– How did you get involved with tiny houses?

– How have the people in your life responded to your dream of building this tiny monster? ;-)

Hope this helps somewhat, and I’m super pumped for you guys who are building or thinking about building!

If you are reading this and you are considering building a tiny house, or if you are considering moving into an unfinished tiny house, tell us your story! We would really enjoy connecting with you.

And if you’re ever in the Denver area, let us know. We’d love to have you over for tea :)

September 22, 2014

Simple Living, Tiny Living

Wedding & Tiny House Update

Hello & Happy Summer from the Corsons!

Yes, its true- we did get married! 4 months have passed, so we figured it was about time to update the blog…

Wedding Update

Now, I know you’re all wondering, “well, DID you have a ‘simple wedding??'” Especially all you brides out there a couple of months after your big day. I can just hear you, “ooohhhh yess… that funny girl who thought her wedding was going to be ‘simple’ and then she invited 400 people. HAH! She’s cute.” Well, was it simple?…

Kind of.

We definitely did stay true to our original vision of keeping this wedding as simple as possible for the sake of focusing on the things we care about. We quickly found out that the things we really care about are people. We both loved looking around the room at the rehearsal dinner, ceremony, and potluck reception and seeing how many different people were here to celebrate with us. We also realized that weddings, no matter how much you try to weed out stress- just ARE stressful. Yes we kept things simple, yes we look back and love everything that happened, and yes we were super stressed the week of the wedding- trying to work out details or organizing people, spending time with people, and spending time with each other. It’s a huge week in the life of any human making a lifetime commitment like marriage to another. Add in other humans who you both love and want to spend time with and you’ve created something more complex than just having a few conversations with out of town guests. Also, we had the help of SO many people in actually pulling this thing off…could NOT have happened without these friends.

Our conclusion? Weddings are stressful. And worth it to us because, with the help of friends, we were able to create space to celebrate and set aside time designated as a very important event with very important people. If you ACTUALLY want something simple and stress-free… we suggest you elope :)

Tiny House Update

There has been SO many changes in this area since the last blog post!

(1) We found a trailer

(2) We have been collecting materials

(3) and building and designing… (let’s be honest, Ryan designs everything)

(4) AAAAAAND…… we moved in!!

While it is SO exciting to get out of the renting cycle and to actually be living in what will soon be our completed home, this adventure has been so much different that I (Hannah) pictured. I have always really admired and looked up to pioneer families who rode in a wagon across months of unknown territory and adventure to their picturesque cottages and babbling brooks. Of course it was a hard life, but didn’t they realize that they were starting something new and that the challenges were totally worth it, even in that moment?

Whew.

Shoot dang those folks were amazing.

Now, don’t worry – I feel almost completely silly at comparing what we are doing to the pioneer families (except we don’t have running water or electricity). And I don’t exactly think that Tiny Houses are going to be the next “thing” (um hello, homeschool families like my own would have to have a train of these things) – of course I could be wrong ;-) But here’s what I see the value for us right now:

we can do it.

Financially. Physically. Mentally (some days better than others).

It may take us longer than we initially expected, but we will finish. And have a HOME that is paid for and fully functional!

But honestly, living without things that I (still Hannah here) am used to having (like running water and electricity) has been so much harder than I thought it would be! I thought that I was ready to be camping out in a partially finished home, working long hours, learning as much as I can about construction…

Yup. I definitely admire those pioneers.

But I AM learning so much. I am thankful for a husband who is patient (most days) with me to teach me what he knows about construction and perseverance. I am thankful for Zella Cameron, the kind woman who is letting us build this monster in her front yard. I am also thankful for her bathroom and kitchen (which she recently offered to let us use until ours is complete). I am thankful for friends and family who have given their time and muscles to help us do a little bit at a time. I am thankful (most days :) ) for the ways that this project is challenging me. To do something I’ve never done and honestly, am really not good at. I’m thankful that we are building a home and will have no debt.

That’s pretty cool.

That’s about it for now… Thanks for reading! You can keep up with more current updates if you’re on Instagram, look up hannahcorson and follow her, she has updates more frequently there regarding the Tiny House construction! You can also keep up with us at gofundme.com/restoringsimple . Thanks!!

August 17, 2013

Simple Living

A Simple Wedding

You know how people always talk about having a “simple wedding?” No stress, just enjoying each other and the special people you’ve invited to spend your special day with? And then, that week and day comes, and it just IS stressful and NOT simple?

How does one keep a wedding simple? Is this even possible? Everyone I talk to says that they have tried this, but because of one thing or another, it always ends up being stressful and not so simple.

I (Hannah) quickly realized this within the first week of being engaged. I was at Hobby Lobby (because where else do you go to start planning a wedding?) and was looking into the possibility of making our invitations. I found cute & kitschy paper, stamps, ribbons, stickers, and envelopes. Of course, it might take us 2 weeks to make them, but our invitations would be so pinterest perfect, all the 15 year-olds would save them for inspiration for their own weddings. After 45 minutes of strategizing in the aisles of the mecca of the craft world: this stamp with that paper with that ribbon, with that paper laid on top of this one, I had two thoughts.

(1) “Crap. This was not going to be a simple wedding.”

And then after a moment of sitting in the defeat and sensing my stress levels rising already:

(2) “Wait a minute. What if I just said NO to trying to make this day perfect? What if I just realized my goal of this day (to have people I love in one place, celebrating me and my man) could be reached in MUCH easier ways than my culture tells me?”

Our wedding website says that we have 179 “to dos” and we are behind on 89 of them. We haven’t sent out invitations, gone dress shopping, figured out colors, or even talked to the wedding party yet. We HAVE had a conversation about whether we want the wedding in the evening or in the afternoon (no decision yet…). We don’t have a budget (well, we do- its somewhere between $0-$50 depending on how much utilities are in March). We aren’t having a cake or big reception. We may or may not be including a dog in the ceremony. We had no idea what an “A” or “B” list was before yesterday. We know that we want candles and Christmas lights (well, I [Hannah] do at least). We DO have someone to marry us and we DO have the church booked! We also have amazing friends who have offered to help. We consider these things fairly significant steps.

We have just realized (Ryan probably faster than me) that we desire to keep Simplicity as the highest value in planning this day, because when we say NO to things that honestly, don’t matter, it can free us to say yes to the things that really do.

Well, this is our plan at least. We’ll see how it goes :-)

February 2, 2013