http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs?/reflecting_jenn en jll3@calvin.edu 2008-07-03T19:37:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/untitled/ By a name / I know not how to tell thee who I am. --Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet Something I didn’t expect from the wedding: the amount of time I would spend talking about writing. I guess it’s natural: I knew half the people there, and after we said “Oh my gosh the service was beautiful and Jon looks so happy and Adrienne is so gorgeous and she’s getting married can you believe it!!!” they would ask about writing. And what really surprised me—though I don’t know why—was the amount of times I was asked about what my title would be. Sigh. My title. I have no idea what the title of this book should be. It’s been a thorn in my writerly side for a long time now, as I have made lists of over a hundred possible titles, and all of them were rubbish. And since I mercilessly judge other books according to their titles, I know mine has to be good. Jenn Langefeld 2008-07-03T19:37:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/the_wedding_album_part_two/ I wish you all the joy that you can wish. --Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Wedding stories continued… 6. The cakes. Here’s an unabashed plug for the wedding cakes (they had three): Each one tasted eyes-closed heavenly. No Styrofoam-dry cakes at this reception! The guests I polled raved about them, just as we had been raving for months… The bakers at La Bonne Bouchée and The Cakery are geniuses. If you are near Saint Louis, go check them out. Try the Four Flavor Cake and the Strawberry Black Forest at La Bonne Bouchée, and get the Confetti Cupcakes from The Cupcakery (run by the same folks as The Cakery). They are sublime, and I promise you’ll love them. Jenn Langefeld 2008-07-02T19:17:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/the_wedding_album_part_one/ Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! —Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice the wedding bouquets I could go on and on about the wedding, how much fun it was, how wonderful, how perfect everyone looked, how happy Jon and Adrienne were (and are!)… but superlatives are boring to read, even if they are easy to write. So here are some wedding moments, for a glimpse into the wedding weekend… 1. Pottery. The bachelorette party: we painted pottery at a nearby place called Pottery Hollow, and had a great time choosing colors and being amazed at how creative the other bridesmaids were. Oh, and note the fabulous wedding weekend t-shirts! the maid of honor and the bride, with their pottery creations Jenn Langefeld 2008-07-01T19:06:01-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/aftermath/ Well. We’re still alive: we made it, we made it, we made it. And it was a lovely day. Adrienne and Jon were both glowing--they looked so, so happy. Saturday passed in a blur, and truth be told, I still feel a bit blurry around the edges… But, no, I didn’t cry, sob, bawl, or in any other way create a ton of moisture in the front of the church. Surrealism and sheer joy mixed for a strange cocktail that kept me grinning all day. I can’t believe it’s all done! I hardly know what to do with myself. So I’ve been reading for hours, gazing at the walls, and sleeping late. (Although, I haven’t been perfectly lazy. Yesterday I had a baking fit and transformed nine cups of leftover reception fruit into two pies. Lattice-top blueberry: fabulous. Crumb-topped strawberry: not so fabulous.) Needless to say, forming sentences is a little tricky just now: writing isn’t really going to happen until next week, at the earliest. More wedding stories to come… --jl isn’t she beautiful, beautiful, beautiful? lucky you, jon. Jenn Langefeld 2008-06-25T20:27:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/round_and_round_the_rugged_house_the_langefeld_family_raggedly_ran/ kristen got in last night--her bridesmaid dress hanging in the one place we could find for it Well, we’re going mad as calmly as we can… Everything comes down to these last few days--bachelorette party tonight, decorating and rehearsing and rehearsal dinner tomorrow, and then everything wedding on Saturday. Both of my sisters are veteran bridesmaids, but this is my first saunter down the aisle, and I’m half-convinced that I’ll trip. And what do you look at as you come down the aisle? It sounds like a dumb concern, but I have these visions of myself with a cheesy grin on my face, or trying to wink at Jon, or wave to my cousins… But I guess I’ll hear all about proper bridesmaid etiquette tomorrow. Jenn Langefeld 2008-06-19T14:32:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/five_pre_wedding_reactions/ 1. the allergic reaction: the three-day aftermath from what should have been a routine salon visit. Pain and blisters are a bad combo. Half a week later, my face is still a little messed up, but it should be good by the wedding. Yikes. 2. the inappropriate reaction(s): the reply I got from the clerk at the department store. I pushed the silver necklace I got for my bridesmaid dress across the counter; she asked about the occasion. I gave my quick “younger sister getting married, super excited, can’t believe it’s next week” speech. And then she told my parents and I stories about how, in her country, younger sisters would never get married before the older sisters.  Jenn Langefeld 2008-06-15T19:16:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/reality_check/ So, my little sister gets married in eleven days. WOW. This means that there is tulle in the kitchen, boxes of napkins in the laundry room, my hair is in a practice updo (more hairspray than I’ve had in years), and I have shoes in my purse. It means gifts in the living room, knitting marathons for me (almost done with the fourth pillow!), and it means that I should not, under any circumstances, watch Father of the Bride. It means that we’re all excited and happy and yet have these surreal looks on our faces and impossible to-do lists. Best of all, it means that in eleven days, I have a brother! And not just any brother… Jon is fantastic. It also means that I will take any and all suggestions on how not to cry when I’m standing up there in the front. Seriously. I’m a weeper. I cry when I’m happy and I cry when I’m sad. And since weddings are a weird and wonderful mix of emotions… I figure I’m in pretty deep trouble. (I cry at the weddings of people I don’t even like. Right.) I don’t know if there’s any mascara in the world that will be waterproof enough. You have no idea how nervous I am about this! So send me your tricks of the trade, ways to disguise Kleenex in a bouquet, anything at all. I’ll listen… More to come. --jl Jenn Langefeld 2008-06-10T19:47:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/the_two_year_itch/ Amazingly, May 20 was my two-year anniversary of graduation. Two ... years. Clichés about how strange that feels leap to my mind, but I’ll spare you. We’ll just say it feels pretty strange. So maybe that explains what I’ve been up to lately, on the sly, almost without telling anyone. I’ve been investigating an MFA program, much to my own surprise. A Master of Fine Arts degree? I’ve said so many times that I’m not interested in one--for so many reasons. I felt ready to do my own work; I wanted to write the book in my head. I could motivate myself, so what’s the need? Besides: I’ve heard that MFA professors tend to scoff at genre writing. For better or for worse, that’s what I’m writing right now, and too much scoffing might kill me. Jenn Langefeld 2008-06-07T13:57:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/library_epilogue/ Just got back from the library: all my books were in! Something about watching the librarian scan 18 books and 3 DVDs to my account fills me with glee. “I have a warped sense of how long it takes to read a book,” I explained, feeling like I owed some sort of apology. I left with my red bag maxed out, and my arms full--again. Drove away cackling, feeling like a thief. I need a much, much bigger bag. Or perhaps a shopping cart. --jl Jenn Langefeld 2008-05-27T16:43:00-05:00 http://www.calvin.edu/weblogs/reflecting_jenn/emergency_medical_procedures/ “Suppose we change the subject,” the March Hare interrupted, yawning. “I’m getting tired of this. I vote the young lady tells us a story.” --Lewis Carroll You can’t write just for the wanting. --Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle I learned something this last month. Five successive weekends of travel can effectively and completely disrupt my writing life. Despite my fine intentions (I will work in the car! I will work in the hotel! I will work before bed!) and despite my fifteen minutes of writing squished here and there, I came back home last Saturday feeling completely disconnected from my work. Lesson #2: Disconnection is absolutely unbearable. My puritan streak must be even wider than I thought. Jenn Langefeld 2008-05-23T19:15:00-05:00