Author: Kat Devine

Blogger. Writer. Student of Life. Wife. Mother of Fur Brats. Activist for the elderly, children and animals! I started this blog while planning my wedding. My intent was to share all the interesting and wonderful things I learned while planning. I enjoyed the planning, but found it incredibly stressful. Blogging about it helped relieve some of the stress. A little about moi . . . I am a late in life first time bride. I have an incredible weakness for the underdog in any situation. The scope of my interests are broad and I find myself holding a little bit of knowledge on a lot of subjects. I have always enjoyed writing and have fond memories of writing stories as young as ten years old. I was lucky enough to have the privilege of growing up all over the world; Germany, Japan and Korea just to name a few of the places we lived. I believe it has made me a much better human being and afforded me a better, more well rounded education and world view. I am intolerant to ignorance of any kind. Education is free and only as far away as our individual curiosity permits. I am passionate about a variety of things to include righting injustice. I do not admire or appreciate any type of "herd" mentality, whether it be politics, religion or wall street. I prefer to celebrate those who think for themselves. I respect anyone who has the ability to balance the importance of function over form and not form over function. It is more important to celebrate those that perform and less those that are vain. I enjoy hiking, biking, trail running, working out, reading, crafts, gaming and cooking for my husband. We have two Frenchtons (Half French Bull Dog & Half Boston Terrier), 1 Miniature Pinscher and a cat who thinks he is a dog. I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends and family and am grateful for all of their love and support. I am honest and loyal as the day is long and do not take kindly to those who are not. I am both feisty and sweet - and will always stand up for the under dog. My weaknesses are that I give too much credit to people who don't deserve it because I project myself onto others. I automatically trust, believe that others are as honest and hard working as I am, so it completely shocks me even at this stage in life when others are not honest or good. And it appalls me to no end when those same people claim to be "Christians" and proclaim loudly about how 'good their hearts are' while their actions are anything but good-hearted, or nice, or even regretful. I am easy to forgive, but never forget. Sometimes my honesty hurts others and sometimes it helps. Here's hoping that anything you read here does NOT hurt and only helps. Keep in mind though, I am only human and I'm far from perfect - so there are times when my limitations are stretched and I do things and react accordingly - do not mistake my kindness for weakness. I can and will kick ass when and if it's necessary. (After all I have a third degree red belt in Taekwondo and I'm NOT afraid to use it.) I hope you enjoy this little foray into me and my life. Lots of love, Kat Devine of Team Devine

Wedding Stress

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It’s not a myth. It really does exist.  It can be found in any bride and varies upon age, personality, experiences, hydration levels, diet and exercise.

I have worked very hard to keep mine in check.

However, it has crept up on more than one occasion to say the least.

The first melt down happened fairly early on while talking to my mother on the phone during my lunch hour while I ran to the post office.  I remember her telling me something about family members wanting to know the date of the wedding so they could make sure they would be able to make it and I went from zero to bitch in about two seconds and started screaming at the world in general,

“Why couldn’t these people just effing wait for the effing ‘Save The Date’ cards!”

I have to give my mother a lot of credit.  Instead of escalating herself and making the situation even worse, she calmly told me to breathe, that everything was going to be ok and that family just wanted to celebrate the big day with us.  She assured me that we weren’t behind in sending the cards out and that I was allowing that thought to fuel my crazy.

It worked.  I breathed.  I calmed down.  I ashamedly realized how ridiculous I was being.

Then it hit me – I was causing myself more stress by imposing outlandish expectations on others (my fiancée was printing our cards for FREE when he got a free moment) and even more so on myself (I wanted them in the mail and I wanted it done yesterday!)  In addition to that we had regular everyday stressors with work and home and then boom! We got hit with a sudden diagnosis for Drew to have back surgery.

Needless to say, the ‘Save The Date’ cards didn’t go out until weeks later; but they were still sent within the timeline parameters that conventional wedding planning guidelines suggest.

The earth didn’t stop spinning.  I didn’t die because the cards didn’t go out when “I” thought they should go out.  Nobody had an apoplectic fit and foamed at the mouth.

All is well that ends well.

So, my point to all of that – is – YOU and ONLY YOU can stay unfazed by wedding stress.  No matter what timeline you give yourself to plan your wedding, get organized and be realistic and know that things will go awry.  Deadlines will be breached, but in the end, you are still going to marry the love of your life and your day is still going to be a wonderful celebration of that.

Hope that’s helpful.

Hugs.

Kat

WELCOME! This is our wedding website and we are happy that you are here.

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Team Devine is comprised of Andrew Devine (Drew) and Kathryn Fowler (Kat or Denise).  We are so very happy to include you in our plans.  You can read more about our story in the About Us section and maybe pick up some tips and tricks everywhere else as we share our experiences in this whole crazy thing called wedding planning!

So sit back, sip that wine or coffee, kick your feet up and ENJOY!

1988_Prom_001   little me 2

Here are some oldy but goody pictures to make you laugh. Prom 1988 Seoul, South Korea, the picture was taken in front of our house in the Embassy Housing area of Yongsan Army Base.  My date was my boyfriend, SPC David Claunch. He was an awful date.  Needless to say both my Jr and Sr Prom experiences left a lot to be desired.  My dress was made by our Korean sew lady in less than a day with no pattern. I just pointed to a picture in the catalog and she went to town.  Back then the Spiegel catalog was our big connection to “Fashion” and trends while overseas. LOL.

little me

I’m trying to get Drew to locate some pictures of his Prom and when he was little, but it really is like pulling eye teeth. So for now, you will just have to suffer with laughing at just me.