Calligraphy Beginnings

I spend half the afternoon searching for online calligraphy sources and found a lot!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calligraphy
http://www.studioarts.net/calligraphy/
http://www.jennibick.com/learning-calligraphy.html
http://www.societyforcalligraphy.com/classes.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw4nUdHYQ4E
http://cmcgavren.home.sprynet.com/chiselpt.html

The other half of the afternoon was frustrated information-overload searching through google images for calligraphy fonts I would like to be able to reproduce.  I discovered that I'm drawn more to the artistic side of it than the super precise side and that lead me to "Calligraffiti". 

Niels Shoe is an artist that practices this: http://www.calligraffiti.nl/  I'm not a fan of the super thick lettering since I'd like to be able to do this with a regular pen/pencil most of the time but I love the artsy style and the way the words and embellishments blend together.  Here's an example of his work!

I printed several font examples to begin practicing.  I'm looking forward to seeing a change in my daily writing and working up to a skill level that I can address my save the date cards and wedding invitations with class!