Friday Five: Lucky Charms

3/14/2017

This one is a pretty typical lucky charm. Make a wish on a star right? But one night back in high school, my sister and I were at a park by our house and noticed that we kept seeing shooting stars. Never having seen this before, we were amazed. By the time we made it home the sky was lighting up constantly with huge streaks of meteors. We were lucky enough to have stumbled into a meteor shower and spent hours just laying on our driveway watching. This is one of my favorite memories from high school!

Sidenote: My fiance Cory just happened to be watching the same meteor shower in his backyard and texted me that night to ask me if I was watching. We were only friends then, and at that time, we rarely talked, but it is kind of special that that event made him think of me. Awww! ;)

Another lucky charm from high school; giving the windshield two taps as you pass under a yellow light. My friends did this all the time back in the day and eventually I picked up the habit as well. When Cory and I first started dating, I was still some-what in the habit of windshield tapping and he would always roll his eyes playfully at my superstition. Time passed, and the habit faded, but not too long ago as we were passing through an intersection, the light turned yellow and Cory tapped the windshield. He gave me a teasing grin and we both laughed at the memory.

My Grandmother, we call her "Grammy", was born a New Year's Baby. She was the first baby born at the hospital on January 1st that year, and the world sure is better for it! Needless to say, New Year's Day has always been her day. We wake ourselves up after a night of ringing in the new year, and make our way to Grammy's house to celebrate. Every year, even though it is HER birthday, she has the kitchen full of goodies (you can never go to Grammy's house and leave hungry) and she never fails to have a big pot of Black-Eyed Peas. Growing up, she would insist that we each have a spoonful, even though our tummies went straight for the Mac and Cheese and Homemade Fried Chicken. She said we had to have a bite for good luck, so we always did. As we grow older, there may be years where her birthday celebration is put off a day or two, or life gets in the way of one or two of us making it to her house, but she has never failed to reach out and make sure we eat our Black-Eyed Peas!

Grammy was not the only one born in January! My family is full of January birthdays. In order it goes Grammy, my Aunt Carol, Me, [my cousin Avery, my cousin Emmy], Grandad (Grammy's P.I.C), and my brother Scott/Andrew (remember Scandrew?). Since there are so many, we break it up into two birthday celebrations. The "January Girls" (Grammy, Aunt Carol, and I, Emmy and Avery are on the other side of the family) go first, and we celebrate three generations of January "Stephens' Girls". Being one of the January birthday's has always been special to me, and is a part of my little family story, so I have always felt lucky to be a January baby. Luckiest of all, is that I was born on January 7. Seven has always been my lucky number!

Sidenote - Cory's birthday is on the 27th of November (his entire immediate family has Nov. bdays...crazy). We started dating on February 27, 2011. He proposed on March 27, 2016, and we are getting married on May 27, 2017. SO MANY 7s!! Maybe 27 should be my new lucky number?

Here are the January Girls in three generations!

Cory and I's wedding day is starting to feel so close, but we are trying to soak up every moment of the whirlwind. Planning has been stressful at times, but the little traditions are what makes it memorable and enjoyable. As I go I am collecting the little tokens I will use to fill this age-old rhyme.

I do not have my "something old" yet, but it would mean so much to me to have a token from one of my grandparents to wear on my wedding day! I will put Grammy in charge of that one! ;)

I JUST ordered my "something new". On a whim, I decided to check out Kendra Scott's Color Bar. I love me some Kendra, and I figured why not include it on the wedding day. I played around for awhile and decided on a bracelet using stones in our wedding colors. I showed it to my sister and when I told her what stones I used she got excited. It turns out that the pink stone that I used was "Rose Quartz", the stone of LOVE, and the blue-green stone was "Chalcedony" which is said to absorb negative energy and create a nurturing feeling. I only picked the stones because I liked the color, but my little "something new" turns out to have multiple uses if you believe in the power of crystals!

I gained a sister last summer when my older brother married Hannah. At their wedding, I gave up the bouquet toss and let Hanna's sister have that one, but the Garter Toss Champion was Cory...does that surprise anyone? haha. I decided that the garter he caught would be my "Something Borrowed" and I would use it until Cory passes it onto the next Garter Toss Champion!