magnum opus

My sister, Blove ( I should probably eventually write a post about why I call Anna "Blove", everyone in our immediate family and all of my friends know who I'm talking about, but I imagine the general public is thinking "The Human's had a fifth kid? Don't they know how that happens? And they named her Blove?) , received Confirmation this past weekend, May 16th. She took the name Therese of Liseux, probably because the poor thing has had my devotion to her shoved down her throat since birth. Or because Blove is definitely the Little Flower of our family. Actually, all my siblings confirmation saints are very indicative of their personalities and role in our family. Kinda cool.

I wanted to commemorate this occasion with something really special, but had several limitations like money, distance that needed to be travelled, and most of all wanting to keep in mind that this wasn't some version of "Catholic graduation". We had already gotten her something in Rome the year before, which she hasn't gotten yet because I forgot to pack half of the things I wanted to bring on the trip. I put my brain to work. I had been wanting to make a t shirt quilt for myself for quite a while, but my family is holding my t shirts hostage. I decided a quilt of Blove's favorite things up to now would be a perfect gift. A momento, that I thought would be cost efficient, could travel well and could save all of her trinkets from her journey thus far.

I learned lots of things about myself during this project.
1)I like to finish things in one sitting and with this project it was NOT gonna happen. There are so many dadgum steps! It literally took me the entire semester, which was probably good because William got all A's and one B+ which I will attribute to his hard work and dedication and my being distracted by this behemoth.
2) Unless something is really messed up, I usually go with the first thing (whatever it may be, try, outfit, hairstyle) that I determine satisfactory. I am always going for a base hit and never a home run. If the stitches were a little crooked, I was like "eh, there are so many, she won't notice." I don't know whether this is a good trait or bad trait, but I was pleased that it was something about myself that I could finally put into words and had a concrete example for.
3) I really love my sister. There were a few times when I was getting really frustrated and I wanted to give up and just buy her something. But I am so proud of the final outcome and it is something she can keep and cherish forever and thats not something I could have bought.


 I used this tutorial, which was a perfect resource. Despite what I swore up and down to my husband after I finished Blove's, I am already working on a second and I am gathering up materials for the third one, that will probably be much prettier because I let all the screw ups happen on Blove's.

The perpetual helper, or nuisance

before binding

one row at a time

One of my favorite squares, I drew this on gold lame
and then razored it out. 

Squares

1) Blove 2) A Minnie Mouse pillowcase we both used. 3)Owls 4) St Therese quote "The only thing I really wish is to love, until I die of Love." 5) a softie 6) uhhhh a pretty print, that may or may not have been a shower curtain at some point in its life. 7)Wedding picture 8) Music notes 9) My favorite square, a picture of her from when she was a little girl, with her monogram. Photo cred to Wendy Farnum Weinert. 10) Cupcakes 11) The other side of the Minnie pillowcase 12) A Grace collage 13) The words to i carry your heart by e.e. cummings 14) a picture of her and me when she was about four 15) The page from The Hunger Games where Katniss volunteers as tribute 16) Wedding picture 17) The sheet music for You'll Be in my Heart by Phil Collins (our song) 18) Baking owls 19) Family picture and the classic Blove and Thomas picture with some more softie. 20)The Mockingjay 21) The sheet music from Blove's eighth grade solo "Tale as Old as Time" 22) Frozen 23)Her middle school 24)....more shower curtain. 25)Cam's Panthers jersey 26)fabric from the very first skirt I sewed for her and animal print (two birds, one stone) 27) Her high school

Truly a labor of love. Oh and an important note, this "quilt" actually isn't quilted. When I was ready to start quilting, I realized my sewing machine didn't have the appropriate accouterments and was running out of time. Heeee :-)

Let It Go

The Rant: Let It GO

Yesterday, I was thinking about life and decisions. Maybe, mostly, because I have been listening to "Let it Go" from Frozen, on repeat. Probably more than any little girl in America. And it occurred to me that a lot of our decisions are made on assumptions, best guesses, and "educated guesses". Elsa hurt Anna so badly by assuming that she would hurt Elsa with her powers. We were encouraged to make these kind of presumptions in school to help us take tests and make important decisions. It is a very important skill, you take past experience and apply it to your current situation and VOILA! A decision! A supposition. A choice. A judgement. Wow, that was a quick decline.

I was talking with Mr. McKenna, the younger, the other day about someone. I said that I didn't like someone that we knew a long time ago. He asked "How do you know? You aren't the same person you were then and I am guessing neither are they."
And it dawned on me how many experiences, people, places, things, ideas and thoughts we just dismiss because of our assumptions. 

How much love, support, money, food or fun are you missing out on because of fear? How many fun nights, new experiences, and lifelong friendships are you missing out on because you are afraid of the idea you have in your head of how that person will react to you or how something will taste or how awkward that interaction might be.

I have been a victim of this presupposition before as I'm sure I have been the deliverer of such judgement. I have had people say, "I wasn't sure I wanted to be your friend because I thought you might judge me."  Not only did they miss out on a great friend, but so did I. Someone was not only afraid of my judgement, but also at the same time, made an assumption, a judgement against me. WHAT ARE YOU MISSING BECAUSE OF FEAR OF JUDGEMENT?

I feel like a lot of people miss out on relationships because they are afraid of what the other person thinks. I THINK it is high time we moved away from such ridiculousness and started making judgement calls on people based on their actions. What we should be concerned with is the way that people conduct themselves, the way they treat others. You are never going to agree with everything someone thinks. What would make you unique if you did?

 I am never going to accept and agree with everything that you think. Just like you are never going to accept and agree with everything I think. Why should we miss out on each other? You may want me to think that communism is the way to go and the best way to structure my life, but guess what, I think that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. And you are no closer to accepting that, than I am to accepting communism. THAT'S OKAY.  Let's celebrate our difference, together.

This particular matter is one of my biggest wounds. I have someone that I daily hold in my heart that will not speak to me because of what they mistakenly think I believe. No, they never asked. They assumed. They thought the worst of me and dismissed me, because they thought that is what I would do to them.

Here it is. The call to action! Reach out to the person you think you won't get along with. Make a friend with someone different from you. Try a cumquat. Let go of your fear.

Spring Refresh

When William hears "tax refund" he thinks pay back debt, save money, and be responsible. I think REDECORATE!!! Here are some shots of the latest refresh of our living room.

I added some shelves in place of the picture we had over the sofa to display some of our favorite things. All gifts from people we love.

 I sewed some pillow covers to go over some ugly and outdated pillows. I am still looking for a good print fabric to make another pillow, but have yet to find one that has a good combinations of the colors I am looking for. I also added a picture of the Queen City to the big picture wall that leads up to William's office so he can remember where we are headed. :-)

 These are pictures that we used at the wedding, wedding pictures of our grandparents and parents. Then I took one of my favorites from our wedding and put it in the middle over our monogram. There are some other little trinkets on the mantle and I added navy curtains to compliment my color scheme. And there's Pickles looking majestic.

 Close up. Left to right. Grandma and Grandpa McKenna, below, Mr and Mrs. McKenna, Grandma and Grandpa Everard. Right side, Grandma and Grandpa Human, Mr. and Mrs. Human, and Grandma and Papa Reed. I left the picture crooked, just for Johnny.

 Once again our majestic pup, and the dirty fireplace. 

I will posting some more things soon, like pictures from Hawaii, Rome and hopefully some big news coming soon. 

When in Rome

So the much anticipated third installment of Hopefully Not... will be put together soon, as soon as my adorable husband is done with school and has slept a full 8 hours. Until such time, I figured I would work out the Roman Holiday!

We had a frickin blast. We were very Roman in our adventures, taking part in siesta, not waiting in lines, eating pizza, pasta and drinking lots and lots of wine and the most important part....gelatti! Love.

Everything needed for semi successful flight with the New Mrs. McKenna

 This was the view straight out our window, down an alley in Piazza del Pantheon.

This was a window much like ours. Pretty much everyday we opened the shutters and let the breeze and music float in during siesta. There was always someone playing accordion, violin, or singing in the Piazza. This honest to goodness was one of my favorite parts of our stay. 

 The Pantheon from our window.

Monday 

We arrived after a rough flight at 11 am Italian time, about 5 am USA time. We were exhausted because neither of us slept very well on the plane. So we took a nap (which would become a theme in our adventure).

First stop was the Pantheon. Obvi. Actually, I lied, first step was wine and pizza. Then the Pantheon. However, we were very uneducated and didn't appropriately appreciate its splendor until later in the week. 

Then we hit up the Gesu and the home of St. Ignatius, William's confirmation saint. 

 Well done, Italians. That's terrifying.

The first of many bottles of wine. 

William and his short little patron. 

Artsy fartsy window.

 A handy dandy mirror for being able to see the ceiling appropriately. All of the paintings were 3D, including the ones in the chapel in St Iggy's house.

The light pouring into the Gesu. So pretty. 

Around 5 pm we headed to the beautiful Piazza Navona, where we people watched, ate gelatti, and looked at all the strangely similar street vendor art.

Coconut and Tiramisu, the first of many gelatti nights.

The most beautiful piazza in Rome. 

 And so began my relationship with these dudes. It was my mission to figure out how they did this by the end of the week. I was unsuccessful, but I know its fake. I just can't figure it out. Curses.

 The dome of the Pantheon

 The first of many espressos

 The glorious Trevi Fountain

 And the hoard of people who came to see it.

Aw. Love.

I just love seeing that ring. Pre bedtime vino.

So that was day one. A Top Ten of the rest of the trip will follow! Buon Giorno!

Hopefully Not the Happiest Day of Our Lives: Part Two

The rehearsal dinner was a blast. Probably too much fun for this poor little restaurant slave that never goes out or has any alcohol. We had so much, but I crashed into sleep on Friday night. I had bought melatonin because I was afraid I was going to be rolling around in anticipation all night. False. Crash. World War 3 could have happened outside and I wouldn't have known. However, I did wake up at 6 am bright eyed and bushy tailed, much to the chagrin of my beautiful bridesmaids.

That's when it started. The stomach turning. The head ache. The heartburn. I listened to my poor little Katie throwing up in the next room and dreaded what I imagined was an impending doom. (Side note: she was SUCH a trooper. She looked beautiful and poised even though she was surely suffering from the plague.) Meh. What's wrong? I'm not nervous but I just feel like I could die. Sweaty, shivering, nauseous.  This is not what I had in mind!

The morning went by, everyone got their hair done, make up done, we had some delicious coffee, bough by a random stranger behind Kimberly in Starbucks. This is why I send her to do things like this for me. We narrowly avoided being sighted by William, because I secret agent dove into the MD McKenna's mini van and we made a speedy getaway.

The whole thing was such a whirl wind. As time passes, I remember seeing people that I'm like, "Oh yeah, they were there!" It was kind of like a dream because I remember very few specifics of the day. (Everyone told me this was going to happen but I don't really remember) But then, when I had a few minutes to be alone with my daddy, it hit me. This is it. Here we go. The actual wedding I can remember like it just happened. I was certain I was going to throw up until we actually said our vows. I kept trying to make our friend Cory laugh, but he was being serious. Who does that?

Saying our vows was one of the highlights of my day. I instantly felt better. I knew neither of us was going to back out, but it was still an option up until that moment and so the instant it was finally said and done, I was on a rocket ship straight to Cloud Nine. William said his vows like he was being sworn into the office of the President instead of marrying a girl that grew up not wearing shoes to play outside. To my surprise, I didn't shed one tear the entire day. Not so much can be said for my beloved Blove. She is so precious.

And now for the meat and potatoes. My top five of the day.

5) All of my bridesmaids putting my dress on- Now while my dress was beautiful, it probably weighed as much as a huge sack of potatoes. Luckily, I had the most incredible bridesmaids. I guarantee you that no bridal party in the history of forever has run a wedding like those girls. They worked so well together, protected me, loved me, did everything without questioning or complaining. They are the best friends I have ever had. They all took my dress out of the bag and held it up so that I could get in. With intricacy and the tenderness that only sisters can share, they put my in the dress that I had dreamed of my entire life. My beautiful maid of honor, the one who originally laced me into that dress, the first time, laced me up that afternoon. It was so special to me. I couldn't have imagined it going more perfectly. I also thoroughly enjoyed Megan putting my garter on. :-) Also be informed my loves, that the flash mob to Love on Top is number 5.5 on this list.

4) Be Thou My Vision- There is so much that went into me picking the song that I walked down the aisle to. First, having the blessing of having my father walk me down the aisle was incredible. I have always been a Daddy's girl. I was telling someone the other day about the massive tantrums I would throw when he left for work (in part because I watched too many Lifetime movies and was certain he was never coming back). He thought he looked like Big Bird, but I thought for sure he was the 2nd most handsome man I had ever seen. He was my first love and it was such a joy to be escorted by my father, a privilege denied to many.

The first time I ever remember hearing it was at Brittany MacAlester's wedding, when I was in high school. It was such a beautiful moment, it struck such a chord in my heart. Brittany had changed my life and to see her in such beauty with this wonderful Irish hymn walking towards her husband left quite an impression. I decided that day, 8(?) years ago, I was walking to that song.
The first time I ever heard our cantor, Rose, William's cousin, sing I was certain there was some 30 year old woman singing, but I'm pretty sure she was like 12 or 13 at the time. Such an incredible voice. The combination of those two aspects play in my memory over and over. I may be biased but I have never seen such a handsome sight as William standing at the end of the aisle waiting for me.  It was like magic. Finally. We were here.

3) Grandma and Papa's Car- Riding away in their car was like the cherry on top of the sundae of the whole day. It was my tribute to the beauty of their marriage. They celebrate 60 years of marriage this year and I pray that we may see and learn from their love.

2) The End of the Night-   to an outside to this event, I am sure that this was the weirdest thing that they ever saw. But that is how Belmont Abbey rolls. For our last 30 minutes, William and I finally got to dance and party with our friends.  We got to see little James, tear up the dance floor to "Ganghnam Style". He's six. It was nuts. After the horrifying experience of them picking me up and all the horror that went along with that, we had our last dance, I couldn't tell you what song it was to. It was so surreal. All of our friends were in a circle around us, singing and dancing.  It sounds weird, because it was, but it was so awesome to be surrounded by those that knew us best, celebrating us and our love. Then we actually did our exit with a rousing chant of "MCKENNA!"  Thank you dears. We will never forget that. I know that was one of William's favorite parts of the day and mine as well


You will have to tune back in for my very favorite part of the day. It is a blog post in itself. I am pretty certain, the post, like the best part of the day, will be a collaboration between my husband and I.  It is sure to scandalize, cause a stir, inspire, and embarrass. Be on the look out.

Hopefully Not the Happiest Day of Our Lives

It was coming, coming, coming, coming, coming, coming, here, and gone. William and I had the most wonderful day on our wedding day. Someone told me it was raining that day, but I don't really remember. We both agreed that it was one of the best days of our lives...thus far. One of our wise friends said they hoped it wasn't the happiest day of our life and that the happiest days were ahead of us. We couldn't agree more.

I have so many thoughts about marriage and new found wisdom from my three weeks as a wife. But I wanted to post some of my favorite parts about the wedding and honey moon first. The honeymoon may take some serious time, because I took some serious pictures.

So you can obviously see all of the pictures that are on FB but I wanted to share some of the behind the scenes ones.

Thursday

I was so happy to be with my little Megan. I had seen all the other bridesmaids since graduating from college, but Megan moved to Minneapolis so I hadn't seen her in a year. But nothing ever changes about our friendship. I was so happy to see her. 

 As soon as I had people to help me with the wedding, I put them to work. We tied 200+ bells to place cards, it only took like 2 hours. No big deal. So helpful. Also, I had gotten my spray tan the day before, hence why I look like I just came back from a cruise.

Friday

 We took all the bridesmaids out for lunch and mani/pedis. Literally, the worst manicure/pedicure experience I have ever had, but everyone managed to keep their cool. Good thing because I was stressssssing about it.

 This picture is at the rehearsal, and I just thought it was interesting because these two people had never met before that day, but they were two of the most crucial people in supporting our relationship. Such contrast. Sacred and secular. Old and young. Both wise. Both holy. Both loving.

 Little James, the show stealing ring bearer. 

 Ha. 

My beautiful friends.

Saturday 

 Such a typical Megan face. I love it. 

 Signing the license

 Going to take pictures

 My poor little sicky was so beautiful, even if she felt like poop.

 This girl. I swear everyday I hear about something else that went wrong with the wedding that she took care of that I never knew about. As the wedding was going on, I thought to myself, shouldn't this be more stressful? The answer is no, not if you have the best bridesmaids ever to protect and love you, lead by the best friend and maid of honor ever. They were seriously like Alpha Team. They are available for rent, for a modest royalty fee of course.

 My brother Thomas was given the strict job of taking pictures of people crying. Spot on, Tom. She is so beautiful. 

 I love the look on his face.

 Me and Thomas, the photographer of most of these lovely shots and my baby

Blove giving her speech. So proud.