My Tattoo :o)

Many people have asked me what my tattoo means, so here's the story once and for all:

I first started thinking about getting this tattoo when I moved home from California last year. I realized that I was moving out on my own, getting married, and finally becoming an adult. That idea was really scary to me and at times I was overwhelmed with alot of fear. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that many many people let their lives be controlled and dictated by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the "what if?", fear of failure. I didn't want to live like that. I prayed about it alot, and over the summer, I came to realize that when you put your faith in God and really trust him with everything, you don't have to fear about ANYTHING, because God never lets down those who trust Him. So I decided to get a tattoo saying "I shall fear no evil for you are with me" as a reminder that God is always with me and will take care of me, no matter what situation I am in. The bird on the shoulder also symbolizes the freedom that you have when you don't allow your life to be controlled by fear anymore. There is a bible verse that says how a sparrow cannot even fall to the ground without God noticing, so how much more will he take care of us humans, the pride of his creation? So that is what my tattoo is all about. At first I was nervous about getting it, because it is so very permanent, but I realized that if i can even talk to just one person about Jesus because they ask me about my tattoo, then it was totally worth it. It opens up a door to share about how awesome God is, and for that reason, I will never regret it.

All who wander, are not lost.

So John and I are getting ready to set out on our own personal adventure.

We have decided to leave our families, friends, jobs, and everything here on the East Coast and move to Portland, Oregon. It's almost like we are setting out to find our fortune on the Oregon Trail, if you think about it. (Or at least, if you think about it like I do...)

So why the move? Well, both of us grew up here in South Eastern PA for our whole lives. And while we have lived in several parts of the country for short periods of time (Florida, California, Wyoming, Texas, etc) we feel that we really need to get away from the area and live in different places around the world while we still can. Now is the perfect time to do that- we are young and do not have any sort of established careers, we are married, but don't plan on any kids for at least 4-5 more years, and we've accumulated a decent amount of savings (which I am so thankful for!). We basically have zero responsibilities at this point, which is why we must go- go and seek our fortunes!

So why Portland? Although we both dislike the idea of big city living for the long term, we did want to try the experience while we were still young. Portland has consistently been rated one of the Top 5 cities to live in in the US, mostly due to it's abundance of parks and greenery, as well as its homey "neighborhood" feel. That aspect definitely appeals to the city-apprehensive such as ourselves. Portland is also a fantastic food town, due to the abundance of fresh, local ingredients in the area. The city prides itself on using mostly all fresh, local and sustainable products, which is important to John and I as foodies. It will also provide John with a great selection of restaurants that will help develop him towards his career as a chef! Last but not least, the Pacific Northwest region is simply a gorgeous, area filled with laid-back people, who in my opinion, seem more open, less greedy, and less self-absorbed than many people in the east.

So that is our plan- We will be moving in mid-October, driving all our stuff across the country, and then spending two weeks searching for jobs and apartments. John will be checking out line cook and sous chef jobs, and I am going to apply at every Event Planning firm I can find, in hopes to get my foot in the door of a new career. I'm not sure where we are going to stay until we can find an apartment, but I'm sure God will help us figure it out. He always takes great care of us. :o)

After Portland, who knows? The sky is the limit, and there's a whole lot of world out there to explore!

My First Wedding Inspiration Board

A wedding inspiration board is a great way to portray the entire theme, mood and "feel" of an event in a single image. They have become widely used as tools to help get the creative juices flowing when planning events, and I hope to make one for every event that I create. I think it will make for a great portfolio of what I am capable of. It could definitely be a powerful marketing tool, if I ever start my own event planning business someday.

This board is a composite of some of my favorite images from the very first wedding I ever planned- Mine! It was set in the fall, and the theme was kind of, well, for lack of a better description, a "fantasy feast!"



My husband John and I are both big Lord of the Rings geeks and love swords, fairies, the Renaissance Faire and the like, so it seemed to be a wholly appropriate theme. The music was celtic and ethereal, the tables were set like a medieval-style banquet, the invitations and name cards were typed in "elvish" and "hobbit" fonts, and we even cut our cake with Aragorn's sword! :o) We also both went to culinary school and have been in the food business for our entire careers, so the food was another major focus. Aside from the whole roast pig that was the main course, John and I actually cooked most of the food ourselves, which for 150 guests, was quite a feat! (Not to mention, that I planned the entire wedding in only 4 months...) But it was an honor to gift such an amazing gift to our guests. :o)

In the end, the event was a smashing success, and I am happy to say it was everything I could have dreamed of! I just hope I can go on to help bring that same feeling of joy, excitement and best of all, zero stress! to other couples out there who might chose me as their wedding planner.

Here's to the start of a new (and hopefully sucessful) career!

Hello Blogging World!

Hello there people of the inter-webs!

My name is Katrina and I am very excited to be starting my first blog today. I am not quite sure what the etiquette is yet, or whether it's better to start a blog and only post on a certain theme of topics, or whatever pops into my head, or what, but I will try my best to make sure it's something that people might actually want to read.

I am currently working on starting my career in wedding and event planning, and I am definately a self-proclaimed "foodie", so you can probably look forward to a lot of bridal stuff and good eats! I'm also into "end of the world" theories, so I'm sure I'll be posting some good tid bits of that as well, to satisfy the conspiracy theorist in all of you. :o)

So anyways, here' goes nothin...