Homesteading

My newest obsession is homesteading. Really, it's a continuation of old obsessions. Basically, it means doing things yourself, growing your own food, producing your own energy. It translates into urban farms, learning to make butter, and cheese, raising goats,and sheep, and crocheting and mending clothing, and having solar panels and wind mills.

There are lots of different categories. Rural homesteading, urban homesteading, suburban homesteading, apartment homesteading. Right now, I am most concerned with the apartment variety. There are limiting factors, of course.

Balconies, patios, and windows are big. They allow you to have small potted gardens. Community gardens help a lot too. And CSAs! They are a huge part of urban homesteading. Learning to bake bread, and can vegetables and salsa, these are all skills I would love to acquire.

This new knowledge of homesteading is really shaping how I see myself growing as a person and how I want to live next year. Educating room mates, learning new cooking skills, cleaning with homemade cleansers, reusing things, repairing things, growing some potted plants... I am incredibly excited to see how it all works out :)

Car for next year?

So Matt's dad wants to find us a car.

This is a problem. We can't afford it and it is not a good choice in terms of the environment. I really don't want one. But Matt thinks it might be a good idea so we can get home.

The main issue in affording it is the insurance. We really wouldn't drive it except to go home, but we would have to pay for car insurance 6 months at a time, even though we aren't using it. I really don't like the idea of all that money being spent for barely anything. I would much rather just ride the red coach bus to Orlando and have my parents pick us up from there. It would be a little cheaper, in the long run, if you include the price of the car, and the gas, and the insurance, and the registration... Plus we wouldn't have to drive. The bus has wifi so we could actually watch a movie on Netflix or something. It would be much more enjoyable.

Hopefully we don't get a car, but if we do, hopefully the insurance isn't too much... And the car is gas efficient. (Which probably means it will be manual and I will have to drive it all the time.... ugh.)

Next Year's Housing

So no more house hunting--we have definitely decided to focus our search to apartments. And we have actually made some progress!

We went to an apartment on the north side of campus on Tuesday called Lenox Parc. They have a 1/1 that's just a little more expensive than what we pay now. It has a washer /dryer in unit, but no dishwasher. We weren't expecting on giving that up so that's a bummer. And they have a third party internet which is a little concerning; I'm not sure what to expect.

Yesterday, we went to see Villa Cristina on Bellevue. It did not work out. Their 1/1 was perfectly lovely, amazing actually, with a washer/dryer and a dishwasher. But their rent was $699 and they wanted to charge an extra $100/month because we would be splitting the apartment. That was WAY outside our budget.

But, the trip wasn't a waste. While waiting for the bus, we decided to go into the office across the street because we had really fallen in love with the area (so nice and quite, yet convenient to school, Publix, and a bus stop? yes please!) The lady there showed us the 1/1. It was pretty similar to what we have now, just a little nicer and a little more expensive. Still no washer/dryer, we would have to use the facility. BUT. We talked to her a lot and she mentioned their 3/3 has various sized bedrooms and the master rents for under $500! That's less than what we pay now. We would have our own bathroom, and a washer/dryer in the apartment. And a dishwasher.

She didn't have a unit available for a tour, but she is going to call us when she does. So exciting! This could definitely be an interesting option. And I have so many ideas about the complex. Possibly convincing them to install bike racks? Or a complex garden? Water barrels? Compost bins? Recycling? I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but it is just so exciting thinking of all the new things I could do. They really have a lot of space. I like to obsess over things. Just a lot.

Fingers crossed it works out!

Our Wedding

So, our wedding is beginning to take shape.

I think the separation of church and state should apply to marriage, so we are having two ceremonies. We are getting married legally here in Tallahassee, just the two of us, at the courthouse--Florida doesn't require witnesses. Then we are having a spiritual ceremony, with just the two of us, outside somewhere. I want to decide it kind of spontaneously, wherever feels right for us as a couple. This will  be on March 6th (our anniversary) of 2015. I will have graduated already, but Matt will be in school already. That's the Friday before spring break that year.

Then we will spend a few days alone here in Tally before taking a bus home to Melbourne. At the end of spring break, on the 14th (pi day!) we will have a celebration! We want to rent a beach clubhouse we found and have tacos and just spend time with our family and friends. The venue holds a max of 70, which is perfect since our guest list is at about 50 right now. That gives us space for any vendors, or people who are new to our lives. And we are having homemade pies instead of cake.

We have worked out ideas for the save the dates, and the invitations. The website has been started and our honeymoon registry set up. Our budget is set, and we have ideas about outfits and decor. I am so excited to do this with him.

Best of all--we are having a sea monster theme. This way, it is still beach appropriate, but we can avoid sea shells and coral and such. It is very cliche, but mostly it is just bad for the environment to remove them from the environment. Plus I don't want dead things at the wedding. I am barely OK with having meat options for the tacos.

Overall, it should be relaxing, and intimate, and personal. And us. Colorful. DIY. Crafty. Eco-friendly (as long as I can get Matt on board).

We still have issues to work out--is it better to be budget conscious and get the food from Sam's or eco-conscious and get it locally-sourced? We are low on budget and self-catering. How much food do we need? Who is going to make the pies? (Hopefully my sister will make a few, she's a pastry arts student. And Matt's dad makes amazing pies) How long will it take to make the invitations I have designed--and will my mom be willing to help? (She's into DIY and cards. She has a lot of supplies.) Do we have the budget to hire a student photographer, or should we just count on our guests to take pictures? Will the kids be entertained enough? (about a third of the guest list are children.) Are we going to have any alcohol?

So much. So much. My parents spent $500 total on their cake-and-punch wedding, including my mom's dress. And Matt's mom is still paying off her recent wedding that cost over $20000. So who knows how this will turn out. Should eb an adventure though! :)

Baking Soda update

So this baking soda thing was going well until... Key West.

My mom said she would bring me baking soda from home, since they were driving and we were flying. So I didn't pack any, and then.. she forgot to grab it.

Oh well, right? But, I had to have clean hair for the wedding. So I used my mom's shampoo--which said ti had low levels of harsh chemicals and stuff, but still. I was a little bummed. And I got a haircut there, and they used shampoo on my hair too.

When I got home, I tried to give my hair some time to just work it out of its system, then went back to the baking soda. I was going through the whole process again. My hair was super oily. Then I took a shower and didn't have the baking soda in the bathroom... And so I had to use shampoo.

It's been rough, but I've been trying to get my hair back on track. I can't expect miracles, but the baking soda works really well when I give it a chance. I put a container full of baking soda in the bathroom yesterday, with the scoop. So, as long as I remember to refill it when it gets low, hopefully I should be good.

Offbeat Bride--the site that revolutionized my wedding planning experience

So, Matt and I are engaged. Have been for over a year. I proposed October of last school year. And the wedding planning has taken many turns.

At first, it was a pretty traditional beach wedding, a little too similar to his mother's wedding. Then I discovered offbeatbride.com and everything changed.

They cater to everyone offbeat--steampunk, renaissance, nerdy, eco-friendly, vegan, polyamorous... Name it, and they are accepting. As long as you can respect other people and don't do any bashing--including of yourself--you are welcome on their site. They think everyone and everything is awesome. They focus on people, not trends. They point out how happy a couple looks, and then how amazing her shoes, or dress, or whatever, is.

What's really cool is all the eco-friendly ideas they have. From non-floral bouquets and centerpieces to eco-friendly decor and fashion, to self-catering for vegetarians, they have it all. What's also nice is they cover emotional and philosophy questions as well--help with in-laws, how to get over body image isues and love your wedding, how to love your wedding even if it isn't perfect. Some of my recent favorites have been how to deal with canceling your offbeat wedding and how marriage doesn't equal children. Of course, there is always the name change debate.

They are very LGBT supportive. So you have trans couples, or male-male couples, or female-female couples. There was even recently a polyamorous group--a woman and man were getting married, but their mutual partner was also present and part of the ceremony. It was very interesting--not quite for me, but nice to learn about other people.

The also have a few sister blogs: Offbeat Home and Life (formerly Offbeat Home) and Offbeat Family (formerly Offbeat Mama). They even have a blog called Offbeat Empire that is all about running the blogs and deals with questions about editing, moderation, and what is covered and what isn't. What is awesome is that the whole thing started with a book called Offbeat Bride, and it has sense turned into this whole community online. There's even a private forum for those planning weddings, commitment ceremonies, and vow re-newels.

I am so grateful this exists, and so lucky to have found it.

No house :/

So, we didn't get the house...

The bank went with a higher offer. i don't know if we are going to still look for houses or look into apartments more, but we have to figure it out soon. The friend we had lined up as a roomate for if the house worked out has since found a room in a house farther from campus--with her car, she can drive to school every day, something we don't have the luxury of as an option.

Most apartment places have individual leases, something that won't really work for us. Right now we have a traditional lease, and sorta in our budget, but we don't have a washer dryer in unit. I could deal with a washer dryer facility next year, as long as it was in the same building. Right now we have to go outside and downstairs with out laundry and when it's cold or raining, it's almost impossible to get the chore done. Last year, we both have laundry facilities, but they were in the same building--I was in Gilchrist, and Matt was in a big apartment building. (His old place isn't really an option because it is dorm style--the apartments don't have kitchens.)

And so we start the search. The impossible search. With no leads yet.