Shame on me; I haven't yet introduced myself. *Tsk tsk, where are my manners?*
I'm Kristin Singhas, soon to be Kristin Caudill <---so weird! I'm 23 years old, and I teach 9th grade at a private special education school in Hagerstown, MD. I have a self-contained classroom of ten incredibly unique young men (diagnosed with behavioral/emotional disorders or autism spectrum disorders). Some days are more difficult (and smelly, truth be told) than others... but the good days and those "Aha!" moments make it totally worth it. I love my job! I'm working on my Master's degree at Mount St. Mary's University. My goal is to have my degree completed before the production of mini-me's... so we'll see how that goes! Right now, my life is rather busy. Teaching full-time (without a planning period, mind you), taking graduate level classes, and planning the most important day of my life leaves me with very few moments of quiet and solitude. I've had to make sacrifices here and there in my schedule to be productive. I'm hoping that over the next two weeks (classes end and I'm taking a much needed TIME OUT trip to NYC for three days) I'll be able to get a better grip on things and be able to pick back up with those things/people that I love. So, that's a little bit about me. I guess since this is a wedding blog, I should tell you a little bit about my fiance, Jason. Well... he's 32 years old and lives in Greencastle, PA. He works as a diesel mechanic in State Line, PA. He also takes on tons of side work, and owns some heavy equipment that he rents out to construction businesses. He's a busy man, which complements my busy lifestyle. We spend time together over the weekend, but through the week we entertain ourselves through nightly phone calls. You're probably wondering how we met... :) Well, it was actually a complete set-up! He's good friends with my uncle (they used to work together, and the house/property that Jason bought is actually adjacent to my uncle's!) and he and my aunt decided that Jason would be a great match for me. So, they set it up so that we would both be at my aunt's Memorial Day picnic on May 29th, 2005. We met that day... talked quite a bit... went out on another date later that following week... and we've been inseperable ever since. He's a great guy; treats me wonderfully. I know that he'll be a great husband and a wonderful father one day... :) ...But enough of the mushy stuff! How about more wedding talk!? We're getting married at Antrim Brethren in Christ in Chambersburg by Pastor Ken, and our reception is being held at the Cortland Mansion in Hagerstown. Believe it or not, Jason has actually contributed quite a bit to our wedding plans. He lets me know when he likes or dislikes something, and I appreciate that... because it is his wedding, too... and he's definitely waited longer for it than I!
When we first started talking about who we wanted to be in the wedding, I had a list of about 7 people who are very important to me (both friends and family). However when the conversation came up, he told me that the ONLY person that he wanted standing next to him on that day was his brother as the best man. Now, this created quite the dilemma for me. I have 3 cousins who I've always been very close to that I've always wanted to have in my wedding... and now I had to choose only one?!? Well, after discussing with Jason how I felt about limiting my number to a single maid/matron of 
honor, he understood where I was coming from and opted to add a couple of his cousins to the groom's side so that I can have my cousins in the wedding. It worked out well... everyone who is in the wedding is family. I can think of a couple of weddings that I've been in for friends of mine who I barely talked to after the wedding... and I don't want to get my wedding pictures out 10 years from now and see pictures of people that I haven't seen in years, ya know? Figured I couldn't go wrong with family. There's no way I could've chosen between my friends, anyways. I'm trying to think of other ways to include people in the wedding... or someway to make a tribute to those close friends who I would've loved to have had in the wedding.
The guest list currently is around 230. This was another area where Jason and I clashed somewhat during the planning process. I had a list of roughly 20 friends in addition to my family. He had a list of almost 80 friends in addition to his family. (OH MY GOODNESS!). For him, he felt that if he invited this person, he'd have to invite that person... and so on and so forth. He has people on our invite list that we haven't spoken to in over a year! ...But I keep telling myself, it's his wedding too. It's just hard for me, knowing that my parents are spending roughly $40/head at the reception... But anyways, I hear that 20% of the people you invite don't come anyways. I guess we'll see!
Wedding colors... a cabernet wine color, which accents of gold and cream.
Honeymoon... a 15 night cruise from San Diego to Hawaii and back :) ....CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!
Anyways... I think that's all I can share for now. I'm exhausted (just finished writing a 10 pg paper for my one class that's due tomorrow night) and thought I'd de-stress for a few minutes by blogging... So anyways... Feel free to leave comments, ask questions, etc! Always open to advice, too :)
Lots of Love xoxox
kristin marie
