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For at least eight years of my life mid-December was finals week. Major projects in every single class always seemed to be due at the exact same time – late November or early December. And it sucked. A lot. “Oh! The torture! Don’t they know their class isn’t the only one! I have six other projects to do too, you know!” I’d howl melodramatically to my friends when we exited the building. After that was a week of studying for finals with highlighted index cards, old tests and quizzes, ripped out spiral notes, and small group study sessions at the library or coffee shop. Then came finals week. Campus was quiet and empty. Some days you had two or three finals, and others you had none and no classes. I’d study late into the night and then wake up really early the next morning – sometimes 5 a.m. for an 8 a.m. final – to lock it all into my brain. Then I’d repeat the process until it was finally the last one and – sweet freedom! No more studying or mentally calculating how badly I could do on a given exam and still keep a straight A average. Late night movies and coffee nights with my girlfriends? See ya’ there! Sleeping late? Yes, please!

I think I liked the rush of being incredibly, unbelievably, busy with the pressure to get it all finished on time and done well with the feeling of joy and “nothing to do but have fun!” when it was over. Reading my friends facebook status updates this week about finals and hearing the CCM students say things like “have a great break!” and “good luck with finals.” makes me a little nostalgic, partly because I’m the same age as some of these kids and that kind of feels like what I should be doing, and partly because, well, I want a winter break too! I want to be busy with something and then have it be over so I can go play with my friends and enjoy the holidays with nothing to do but relax. And sadly, neither house cleaning or job hunting gives me that break. I’m experiencing college withdrawals in my grown-up person world. If you’re in college right now and you’re snickering while reading this and thinking “What a loon! I’ll never miss this!”….your day will come.

Yesterday I got my wedding dress back from the cleaners. Sooooo…now what do I do with it? Right now it’s hanging in a garment bag on our bedroom door, but it can’t stay there forever. I’ll always remember it, and our pro pics will help me if my memory does get a little fuzzy so I don’t think I need to keep it for memory’s sake. That, thankfully, nixes expensive gown preservation. Keeping it with the intention of never wearing it again seems like a waste of a perfectly good dress to me anyhow.

I could sell it on a website like Weddingbee Classifieds, Once Wed, or PreOwnedWeddingDressses. This seems like a good option because some other lucky girl could find her dream dress (my dress is pretty rare but received tons of compliments – especially because it is one of the few not strapless dresses, so I’m sure I could find a taker), the dress would get a well-deserved second life, and we could make a little bit of money too. But I would have to get pay to get it fixed because the bustle ripped and one of the jewels on the shoulder strap fell off and would have to be re-attached. Another option is donating it to something like Brides Against Breast Cancer, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Dress, or one of those bridal shops that burned down and left dozens of brides without a wedding dress weeks or months before their wedding.

Or lastly, we could do a Trash the Dress session, have a ton of fun and get some phenomenal pictures like these…

Source and Source

…but we can’t afford to hire a professional photographer right now (we’d have to find a willing photographer buddy and pay him or her in baked goods and wine) and I’d have to get up the nerve to ruin my dress. Out of all the options, I like this one the best! But since Ted’s tux was rented and he’d have to ruin a suit, and since we can’t afford a photographer, I think the most practical option would be to sell it and the most loving option would be to donate it……..unless we can take great “semi-trash” pics with a friend, not ruin it, get it re-cleaned and then sell or donate it….I’m a genius.

Today I will park myself on our couch in front of our beautiful Christmas tree, turn on the lights and some tunes, and not budge until our Christmas cards are ordered and our Thank You cards are written. Then I’ll find and unpack my scarves, mittens and hats (it’s supposed to snow on and off all day with a high in the low 20s) and later tonight meet Ted at the NHL Cincinnati Cyclones game with our church’s young adults ministry group. Hopefully we’ll meet some nice people, enjoy a great game and chow on some Dollar Dogs!