How to Plan a Simple Wedding

For all you would-be brides and bridegrooms out there who want a simple, elegant affair, I have a few suggestions for you. Once you set the date, be sure to take on some other sort of major time commitment, such as graduate school or starting a new business... or both! This will assure that you don't spend too much time making it more complicated than it needs to be. Don't worry, you can fit a lot of planning in between 9 and 9:15 am Sunday mornings. Then, go ahead and invite all your long-lost relatives from across the globe. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after all! While you're at it, invite all your old baby-sitters and your parents friends. Be sure to plan it during the busiest time of year so that guests have a lot of things to do while they are here. And it is always fun to have it in another town other than where you live, so that not only will guests from out-of-town have to find a place to stay, but everyone will! Don't worry, there will be plenty of high-class housing in that quaint, eclectic fishing village. Don't bother planning activities for all those out-of-town guests, just trust that it will all work out. You can make all your invitations for cheap, unless you choose to try something you've never done before, like block-printing, that requires a substantial investment of money for supplies and time to learn how to do it. Get a friend to help you with the food, they can cook for 120 people and they won't flake on you if they are truly your friend. If you want to use local food and flowers be sure to plan your wedding for late in the summer so things are actually available. If you make your own wine be sure it is palatable. Then, when it gets closer to the date, start thinking about all the projects you can do to spruce up the house before your entire extended family comes to see it. You don't want to show them a dump, after all! Outdoor weddings are lovely and cheaper than renting a big hall, don't worry, if it rains it is lucky! Oh, and be sure to have your mother make your dress. Just because she was finishing your prom dress minutes before your date arrived doesn't mean the same will happen with your wedding. If you start thinking about it 6 months before what could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned for more helpful hints on how to have a simple, stress-free wedding!

Invest in Me, invest in Yourself!

The world is turning upside down before our very eyes. Most of us are able to go on quietly with our lives, thankful that we have our jobs, our houses, and our health. But all around us there are signs of the coming change. The stock market bombed, Bernie made-off with the rest of our savings, and our tax money is being funneled right into the pockets of the bank executives. Is there anywhere safe to put our money? Even if we hide it under our bed, inflation will dwindle our savings faster than the mouse can eat it. The dollar is strong right now because the whole WORLD is in trouble, and for some reason they trust the US. But only until they realize that we are in worse shape than they are. We have to change our strategies, and we have to change fast. We need to start putting our money in places we can believe in. We need to invest in our friends and our family and our community. We need to invest in local food and local energy before things get really bad. Form a solar co-op, join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and please, please, please move your money our of the big banks into a local credit union. Remember that even if you don't have large chunks of money to invest that you "invest" with every single dollar you spend. You can invest that money locally or shop at Wall-Mart and throw your money away. If you spend it locally, it will come back to you in some way. Your community will have greater depth and have more resillience to changes coming our way. And your neighbor will keep their job and their home and be able to feed themselves (hopefully) local food. Bon Appetite!