The Brenna Wedding Invitation

We seem to be on a TLP wedding invitation blog post trend right now.  Maybe that is because the wedding invitations we’ve done are some of our very favorites.  This post is especially meaningful to us because the invitation we designed for this wedding is the one that gave us the idea to start The Langham Project DIY Printable Invitations and Stationary and because it is the wedding of Judd’s brother, Colby, and his precious wife, Brenna.  As you might have already figured out we named this invitation and its corresponding components after the beautiful bride.  The Brenna Wedding Invitation features a custom combined monogram (that includes the bride and groom’s full names as an overlay) with a nice surround detail in a sage green font.  The other wording on the invitation is brown.  Brenna was so kind to share some photos from her special day with us to include on this post.  We would be remiss to share these without giving credit to their amazing wedding photographer, Julie Cottrell.  We’ve put our watermark on the photos that we took. Any photos without our watermark were taken by Julie.

We offer several options for our wedding invitations.  Each design can be purchased separately or as a package.  The individual wedding invitation is available for $45.00.  The Brenna will be customized entirely for any bride and groom who order it.  The monogram and colors can be changed to fit the look and feel of the client’s wedding.  This design was created to fit a square 6 1/4” x 6 1/4” piece of cardstock.   The invitation fits inside of an envelope that is 6 1/2” x 6 1/2” in size.  We, The Langham Project DIY Printable Invitations/Stationary, send the customer a digital file of his or her order. The customer is then able to purchase any paper of his or her choosing and is able to print as many or as few invitations as needed on a home printer.  Another option for the customer is to ask a local print shop to print the order.  Brenna ordered her paper from an online source and then printed the components you will see in the following pictures on her home printer.

For Brenna and Colby we designed a matching set that included a wedding invitation, reception response card, wedding ceremony program, and thank-you note.  The Brenna Wedding Program design is available for individual purchase for $45.00.  It features the combined monogram in sage green and brown font throughout.  The wedding program is designed to be double-sided.  It is 5 1/4” x 8 1/4”.

The Brenna Response Card design is available for individual purchase for $15.00.  It ties in with the wedding invitation with a more simplified custom monogram (with only the bride and groom’s first and last names).  It is 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” and fits a 4 3/8” x 5 3/4” envelope.

The Brenna Thank-You Note design was customized to be larger than many wedding thank-you notes by request of the bride.  She knew that she writes large and wanted to have enough space to properly thank her guests.  The size of this note, as the rest of our products, is customizable.  The Brenna Thank-You Note featured below is 5” x 7” and fits inside of a 5 1/4” x 7 1/4” envelope.  The Thank-You note design can be purchased as a separate component for $12.00

As previously mentioned, the Brenna wedding invitation and its corresponding component designs can be purchased separately or together as a wedding package.  The individual prices for each design are as follows:

Brenna Invitation: $45.00

Brenna Response Card: $15.00

Brenna Wedding Program: $45.00

Brenna Thank-You Note: $12.00.

Or, you can save by purchasing these items together with one of our packages.  The package that includes a wedding invitation (including featured custom combined monogram), response card, wedding program, and thank-you note is $107.00.

These designs, and this couple, are particularly special to us.  We hope you like them too.  If you are interested in ordering the Brenna Wedding Invitation design or the other pieces featured please leave us a comment on this post or send us an email at langhat@gmail.com.  Click here to find The Langham Project DIY Printable Invitations/Stationary on Facebook or see our sidebar above.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, y'all.

Not So "Real" Estate

Look what I found this evening at the lot for sale next door to us.

The home on the lot burned to the ground just before we moved in our house.  All that is left is the front entry.

Several sweet little neighborhood girls use this facade as their imaginary everything space. We've witnessed it become a make believe house, school, and even a magazine/newspaper headquarters.  In fact, Judd and I bought two "subscriptions" for a quarter a piece a few weekends ago.

Yesterday a for sale sign was placed on the lot.  Apparently the children were very upset about this.  Look at the sign that they put up this afternoon.

I thought it was too cute not to share with you all.

I have such sympathy for our pint size neighbors.  My childhood neighbors and I were so much like them (Hi Carolyn and Rachel).  I think their little hearts are broken. I hope whoever buys the property will let them play in the yard from time to time.

 

Distracted By A Grandmother Visit

I've been a little distracted this week from my dissertation prospectus because my sweet, most-wonderful-in-the-whole-wide-world, precious grandmother is in town. She even brought her little doggy, Miss Toddy.

I'm ok with this distraction. I am SO glad to get some special time with her this week.

Also, watching Judd snuggle and brush Miss Toddy put a pretty big smile on my face.

I hope you are all having a good week so far.

The Rocky Road Towards A Dissertation Prospectus

I have pretty much spent every night that I don’t have class and every single Saturday and Sunday for about the past two months preparing for and writing my dissertation prospectus.  It is disgusting to me at this point how little I really have to show for all of that time and effort.  So much of it was spent collecting literature and organizing my thoughts…and not actually writing.  I am sure that it wasn’t time wasted; however, it feels like I should have more of a complete product than I actually have.  I feel like I should be much further ahead with the output (writing) than I am now.  I’ve included pictures of the current state of my office to help portray my life at this particular moment in time.  Hopefully, if you have been following the blog for a while you will know that I am usually a fairly organized and neat person. 

I am pretty sure that I am to the point where people are going to stop popping in my office to visit or stop asking how my day/weekend was for fear that I might actually answer them or for fear that they may incur bodily harm from tripping over a stack of paper on my floor.  To corroborate this notion let me tell you about something that happened last week.  I had a total come apart last week complete with crocodile tears (while at my full-time job) about the fact that I probably was not going to meet a deadline for my writing that I had set for myself.  It was TOTALLY EMBARASSING.  I was crying so uncontrollably that I had to shut my door because there was no way to regain my composure at that point.  Of course the whole time the meltdown was happening I was feeling even more guilty and ashamed for not being able to “handle” the situation.  I couldn’t help but think, “Ok, here I am with two degrees in administration, yet this is how I choose to react to a stressful situation. GREAT! (cue sarcasm).”  I was crying so hard that the student assistants who work in our suite were ready to tear down the door to make sure I was ok.  Again, GREAT! (cue an even heavier sarcastic tone).  Seriously, why I am making this process so hard on myself?  Or, am I even doing that?  Is this what getting a Ph.D. is supposed to feel like? 

I am exhausted.  I know I have said that before on the blog.  I mean it now and I meant it then too.  I realized last week that I will have spent longer working on my Ph.D than I did on my entire bachelor’s degree.  I finished my undergraduate work in three years (9 full continuous semesters).  I have already had 9 full non-stop semesters in my doctoral program and have approximately 2 or 3 more to go if I am lucky.  It could be even longer than that if I can’t get my writing together.  I feel like a broken record by saying this; but I am going to say it anyway.  I am working full-time (8-5), taking three classes, and trying to write the prospectus for my dissertation.  I guess I should be tired but I don’t feel like I should.  I feel like I am drowning and should instead be able to keep all of the balls I am juggling in the air.  I feel like I should be able to keep up with the pace of this life that I have CHOSEN!

Currently, I feel completely stressed, out of shape, pre-maturely aged, unkempt, disorganized, worried, nauseous, and depleted.  I have even had some shortness of breath issues here lately.  Gosh, Abby, get a grip.  I am way too stubborn to give up.  I know deep down inside that I will eventually finish this degree.  But, geez-Louise and H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks this has been one hellacious obstacle to overcome.  Don’t worry folks I blog to vent.  I promise I am not on the verge of “jumping.”  I am just FRUSTRATED as all get out.  Worst of all, I am frustrated and disappointed in myself.  There is no one to blame for my lack of progress but me.

I looked around my office during my total and complete breakdown and was part disgusted and part amused by the fact that I have allowed myself to be so visibly unhinged.   What you are seeing is my real office at my real full-time, grown-up person, university job.  Good grief, what is wrong with me?

My colleagues have all been so sweet and supportive (although I feel confident that deep down they are wondering what in the world is wrong with me).  I wish I could just get a grip.  I am trying.  I’ve put on my big girl pants and continued pushing ahead despite the fact that my brain and spirit are fighting as every single word or thought is typed.

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up.  That is where I am at this particular moment.  I know that God gives us all obstacles to overcome and that He often reminds us that we are not the ones in ultimate control over our lives.  I chose this path for my life and must live with the consequences and trials that come with it.  I understand that there are so many more difficult problems to face in the world than the one I am experiencing.  I am so fortunate in the grand scheme of things.  Despite my truly Debbie Downer perspective I have not forgotten that I have a husband, family and friends (and faithful blog readers) who love, encourage, and support me.  I know I wouldn’t have even made it this far without them (you).  I also know that I will be so proud when this ordeal is over and that I will probably look back on these times and laugh.  I am just not there yet.

New Blog Header

Look! The Langham Project got a new blog header.

Judd designed this for us the other day.

What do y'all think? We both have wide screens so we are not sure how it looks on other computers.

Can you see it? Is it centered? Any suggestions?

I Can’t Get No…Diss-er-ta-tion

I hope you folks have figured out that when my blog gets to the point where I am writing like a third grader about the Westminster Dog Show (of which I didn’t even get to watch in entirety) that I must be at a breaking point.  Yeah, sorry about that last post.  I was even embarrassed as I was publishing it.  I am (and have been for about the last month) totally consumed with attempting to plan and write my Ph.D. dissertation prospectus.  I am hoping to have something to show my committee approximately two weeks prior to my prospectus meeting date of March 19th.  Do the math.  That is REALLY soon.  I am starting to panic.  At this point, I really don’t have anything that I am proud to present at the meeting.  If you have some room on your prayer list, please add me to it.  I am getting so tired and frustrated.

If you don’t know, the prospectus is the first “mini” draft of the first three dissertation chapters. It is usually about 20-30 pages.  If my prospectus is approved, then I can begin preparing for and writing my official proposal (the first full draft of Chapters 1, 2, and 3), take my comps, apply for IRB approval, set my proposal meeting date, and apply for admission to candidacy.  Once I achieve candidacy status and get IRB approval I will be allowed to start my data collection for chapters 4 and 5.  I am hoping that I can do all of that this semester (or at least the 8 weeks of it that are left).  Keep in mind that I am still taking three classes and working full-time.

So, that is where I am at the moment.  This arrived in my in-box last week.  It was an attempt to bring some humor to the situation that my fellow Dissertation Divas and I find ourselves in right now.  If you are a doctoral student in the early dissertation phase or if you know a doctoral student experiencing this or if you know one who has experienced this then you might find the video below funny (and sad), too.  Pay close attention to the words.  The lyrics are pretty clever and depict my feelings at the moment.  At least, by the looks of this video, I am not the only person who has ever felt this way at this point in the process.

I find myself particularly relating to the “I don’t have a prospectus and I think they are starting to suspect this” line.

Source: You Tube - (I Can't Write) No Dissertation -Metrics Gang

Westminster Dog Show Winner

Happy Valentine’s Day, y,all.  I hope your evening was so much more fun than mine.   I hope you spent it curled up next to your loved one (be it human or canine).  I spent the evening away from my one true love because I was in class.  I did manage; however, to get home just in time to hear the winner of the Westminster Dog Show.  Judd and I always get a kick out of watching the show.  Last night, we caught a few tidbits of it.  While watching we saw this beautiful, and exceptionally hairy, fellow.  He won tonight.

After watching him win, we looked down at our own sweet four-legged boy.  We couldn’t help but laugh.   You just couldn’t ask for a better dog.  He is SO loving and sweet. But, his breath and goofiness would take him out of the running for sure. 

This was the facial expression he was making prior to us watching the announcement of the winner.

 

This was after we praised and commented on the other dogs.

He was really into the show this year, himself.  Can’t you tell?  I don ‘t think he appreciated us laughing at him.  Nor did he appreciate my commentary on the other dogs.  He huffed and puffed and pouted and eventually went to sleep with his favorite baby.

Feed My Starving Children

A few weeks ago my colleagues from UAB’s Office of Planning and Analysis, Judd, and I had the opportunity to package food to help feed starving children throughout the world.  The organization that facilitates and plans this effort is called Feed My Starving Children (FMSC).  The site where we volunteered was Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.  Shades Mountain offered its Christian Life Center gymnasium as a site for the mobile meal packing session.

One of my colleagues, Mary Beth, mentioned the opportunity to participate to us.  The entire office eagerly agreed to volunteer.  She told us that Feed My Starving Children “is an organization that uses volunteers to pack dry ingredients in such a way that they can be distributed to areas where there is no food and provide several nutritious meals.  It is a fascinating project AND process that the Shades Mountain Baptist Church family loves being a part of.”

Here is a link that shows more of what FMSC is about.  http://www.fmsc.org/page.aspx?pid=232.”

This year Shades Mountain Baptist doubled its level of participation and attempted to package over half a million meals.  When the entire event was finished, Shades Mountain’s pastor announced that the FMSC goal had been exceeded and lots of great volunteers packed more than 545,000 meals over the several days of the MobilePack event.  That is enough meals to feed 1,494 children for a year!!!

I’ve included a brief video about Feed My Starving Children.

 

I didn’t have my good camera with me that day; however, I did manage to capture the moment using my iPhone.  After all, who would want to forget how we all looked in hairnets?  We all had a great time and look forward to helping with FMSC again next year.  Go FMSC!  Go Shades Mountain Baptist!  Go Office of Planning and Analysis!  Whoop-whoop.

If you would like to volunteer for a MobilePack event click on the link below to see when Feed My Starving Children will be in your area.

Link: Feed My Starving Children MobilePack Event Dates