Our Engagement Weekend - an Ooey Gooey Lovefest!

December 2004
J and I have been friends for about 7 months now.  We act like a couple, but I am not ready for another relationship. 

January 2005
I fit nicely in his arms.  He makes me happy.  We have a lot of fun together.  Okay, he can be my boyfriend now...but I'm not asking.

February 13, 2005
We take a little trip to Frankenmuth.  We plan to stay the weekend.  On this day he asks me to be his girlfriend.  I say yes.  I like him.

We carry on about our life together...as boyfriend and girlfriend.  A year passes.  Then two, three, four and five.  Wow.  Five years.  We act like a married couple, but he's not ready for a wife, I guess.

February 13, 2010
We take a little trip to Frankenmuth.  We plan to stay the weekend.  It's our 5 year anniversary and J surprises me and takes me back to where we first started dating.  He asks me to be his wife.  I say yes.  I LOVE HIM. 

Here is how it all went down....

We are just leaving our hotel to walk around Frankenmuth.  Aren't we cute?  I take a lot of photo's of us this way.

We walked and talked.  I mentioned the horses.  J mentioned the horses.  What girl doesn't want to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride?  We kept walking and talking. He brings up the horses again and I say that I want to go for a ride.  I wanted a white horse.  Oh please can we have a white horse?!  They have to go in order and to my delight, a white horse was next in line.  J is oftly chatty, asking one of the attendants about pictures and stuff.  I figured he was just being sweet, since this is our five-year anniversary and all.  We get in and the girl offers to take a couple pictures.

We're riding along, up a river-lined road.  I've never been on this quaint little road in all the times I've been to Frankenmuth.  I bet I'll visit it quite a few times in the future.  I'm happy and J seems happy.  I snap another photo of us.  It looks very similar to the first one in this post except our eyes are a bit glossier and our noses are red.  I lean in and tell J that I feel like a princess.

Our driver introduces himself (and also the horse, Ernie) and tells us to ask any questions along the way.  J  asked if we could stop along the way for a photo.  Our driver happily obliged.  As J exited the carriage I heard him whisper to the driver.  I was oblivious but hopeful...do you know what I mean?  He stopped me from exiting the carriage and he knelt down on the step.  He put his hands on me and I froze.  (I have tears typing this out.)  He looked me in the eyes and said....

"First of all, I love you...very much." .... insert tears...he pulls a little black box from somewhere..."Will you marry me?"

I can't even tell you what I felt.  It was such an amazing feeling.  I want to relive it a thousand times over.  I think every little girl dreams of this moment.  No matter how old we are, we all have a bit of that "little girl" inside.  I really did feel like a princess.

As you know, I said YES!  To be exact, I said "Of course! Are you kidding me? Oh my gosh, YES!!"  Then I said "let me out of here!"  I was still inside the carriage and he was outside.  This moment was followed by a lot of laughter and tears.  We hugged and cried and kissed and laughed.  Ernie (the horse) peed.  HILARIOUS.  That is our life.  I debated whether or not to include this, but yeah, it's our life.  We roll with it.  Our driver congratulated us and we carried on for the remainder of our ride.  I wanted to take it all in and enjoy the moment.  We snuggled.  We laughed.  We shouted out to this family walking by and waving to us -  "We just got engaged!!" 

At the time it felt like the longest horse-drawn carriage ride ever.  I wanted to enjoy it, but I also wanted to call my momma and my sister.  J knew that so he encouraged me to call.  I did.  "Momma, I'm ENGAGED!"  *sob* *sob* *sob*  She knew.  J had talked to both her and my dad prior so they knew that phone call was coming.  We enjoyed the last few minutes of our ride.  When we got back one of the attendants greeted us right away.  She knew too.  J told her before we left.  She was ready to snap some pics for us.

Our first pic as an engaged couple!

And our second!

 

Talk about giddy.  I could not stop smiling.  This was the case for the majority of...well... it continues.  Still smiling!  Before I even crossed the street I was dialing my sister.  I needed to tell my Beckey.  I stopped in the middle of the street and told her.  When something so great happens in life, you want to share it with the people who mean the most to you.  I was doing that.  I even talked to my niece and nephew. You know...the people that mean the most! My sweet 10 year old niece said "so..did you say yes?" Yes, Lovey Girl, I did! "Well, that's exciting!" Awe. Love her so! Here is the conversation between my 6 year old nephew and I.

Me: Hi buddy! Guess what?
Him: What?
Me: Uncle J asked me to marry him today!
Him: Okay
Me: You don't really care, do you?
Him: Nope..not at all. So, how many days can we spend at your house over summer vacation? 17?? 100??

Man, I love that kid!

We shared the news with some more friends and family. We squee'd and jumped up and down together, over the phone.  We called, we texted, we facebooked.  Okay, well, I did all that.  J shared it with a few and plans to tell people in person.  Um, I.could.not.wait.  We went back to the hotel and we continued to share the news.  We relaxed a bit before going back to town.    He pulled out the ring bag.  I thought it was silly, odd, cute that he had it all with him, until I realized the reason, and then I cried again.  He knows how I feel about diamonds.  Due to the conflicts in Africa and blood diamonds, I am not a fan.  I would have been happy with Moissanite or even Cubic Zirconia.  Instead, he sought out a conflict-free diamond.  He read me the certified guarantee and gave me a copy for safe-keeping.  That is love, my friends.  That is love!

The ring!

Here are some pictures of our night. At one point I felt like everything was worthy of a photo.  Believe it or not, I've spared you a few.

\

Love was all around us, popping up everywhere to say hello!  J said it was because it was Valentine's weekend.  Um...it was because it was our ENGAGEMENT weekend...obviously!

So freakin' sweet.  Seriously. 

Day Two...

The Cheese Haus and the mouse statue are a special thing between us.  The two ladies that were taking our pics were so in love with our love.  It was such a joyful moment.  That's why I kept the second pic...even though my eyes are closed.

Even the taffy kisses!

What's a trip to Frankenmuth without a stop for fudge.  We sweeten up the entire family with fudgey goodness.

Are you sick of us yet? 

In one of the shops they had a shop kitty.  Her name was Diamond.  Fitting, huh?!  She loved J.  J loves animals and they love him.  However, when I tried to pet her, she scurried away.  Nice.

We ended our visit with a visit to the St. Julian Winery.  We tasted lots of samples, took a little tour, and had a special bottle made up just for us.  It was the perfect ending  to our weekend.

To Be Continued...

Cirque du Soleil - Alegria

What a wonderful night! I love Cirque performances.  I have seen La Nouba in Orlanda, FL and also "O" at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Sunday I was able to add Alegria to that list.  Each one is so different and so amazing.  It's always a mesmerizing show and I cannot wait for the next one...hopefully it will be LOVE, the Beatles Tribute back in Las Vegas.

I'm already planning my Halloween costume for this year.  I want to be HER! Isn't she lovely? 

She was the main performer/singer for the show.

We had great seats and I knew cameras would not be allowed, but I brought it anyway.  I was right - they were not allowed.  As a matter of fact, they were "strictly prohibited!"

This was made quite clear the moment we parked our car.  This was the first of many signs right from the parking attendant.  I had my camera disguised in my hat, covered by it's strap, in the bottom of my purse.  I'm no rookie.  I've done this before.  You could not see it.  In it was coming!  We hand over our tickets.  We go through the metal detectors.  We get our purses checked. We get our camera purses handed back to us.  They didn't see it.  Then....the lady asks us if we have any cameras or video-recording devices on our person.  Gulp!  I don't lie.  I should have.  "Yes, ma'am...I have a camera."  Dummy, dummy, dummy!  I was escorted along with multiple others to go check our camera.  It was fine.  I wouldn't have used it anyway because somewhere between the ages of 25 and 29 I became a chicken....or maybe a grown up.  You pick.

After the fabulous show I was given my camera back.  Thankyouverymuch!  I tried to snap a quick shot of my momma and me in the parking structure.  Lol! We had a few attempts!

I love my mom so much.  She is an amazing woman who always puts others first...including me.  I am blessed by her. I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

After that, we were off.  It was too cold to walk around downtown and take pics, so I snapped a few from the moving vehicle.  Not my finest work to say the least... 

365 days of photos

I love to take photographs.  You capture a smile, a moment, a memory.  Sometimes you just take the mundane and make it look pretty.  Some days, like February 3, 2010 you capture your morning commute, through a dirty, cracked windshield.  Whatever it is on the other side of that lense, you capture it, you look back at it and you remember.

Feel free to take a peek at my life through pictures in the first 37 days of 2010.

So scarce

I haven't posted in almost a month, and that is okay.  I don't always have a lot to say...and when I do it might not make sense to most of you.

I have been reading a lot and reflecting and exercising and making healthy meals and baking bread from scratch and doing lots of laundry and catching up with old friends and working on building relationships with new ones, with God, with my family and with J.  I guess I have been busy and i'll use that as my reasoning for not posting often. 

Tackle It Tuesday

I must confess, I actually tackled this on Monday...but just like in board games, I cheat!

I didn't even think about organizing my pantry or turning that horrible catch-all closet into a functioning, useable space.  Both areas have bugged me for awhile, but it was just never something that made it anywhere close to my to-do list... until Sunday night.  I saw someone else post about their new and improved pantry.  Oddly, it looked like my catch-all closet.  Not the messiness of it, but the layout.  The only difference was that my closet didn't have shelves.

I laid awake Sunday night and browsed Home Depot's website for closet storage and organization.  I had my shopping list ready for Monday and I was going to tackle this problem!  Come Monday I thought back to my "budget" and how if I were going to make changes in 2010 then I probably shouldn't go out and drop $100 on new pullout shelves, baskets, and jars.  Next thought - call J.  He will know how to make my own.  Better yet, he will offer to do it when he gets home from work.  Nope, that wouldn't be good.  He has been working so hard at work and also on our rental property.  I am not going to put this off on him. 

Plan B! (or C!..whatever)

I remember this wonky put together shelving unit I had in storage somewhere.  I dug it out and got to work.  It isn't perfect and I still plan on adding some jars and bins for better organization, but for now, it is done and I DID IT!  I love both new spaces.  It makes finding things so much easier.  Best of all, J was really proud and thankful for the new clean spaces too.

(This bottom shelf is where the new jars and bins will come in handy.  I have some excess baking supplies here that need seperate storage.)

Resolutions Shmesolutions!

Ya'll know I don't like "resolutions" so I didn't make any this year.  I did make my 10 in '10 list though.  Let's see how it's going!

The List:
1. Clean my home studio! (and keep it cleaned)
2. Create at least one new and healthly meal each week
3. Work out, work out, work out!
4. Give more than I receive. Some form of hands-on charity. Not just giving of the $$ this year.
5. Solidify some plans for my family
6. Settle into a budget and savings plan
7. Learn something new
8. Start and complete PROJECT: 365
9. Turn 30 with a smile
10. Focus on the Lord, through consistently going to church, sharing Him with J and others and reading my Bible.


The Progress:
1. Ha! Haven't even touched it.  I did, however, spend hours yesterday cleaning the rest of the house.  I scrubbed floors, I dusted, I mopped, I vacuumed, I did it all...except the studio.

2. I am kicking butt and taking names.  I have created so many new and healthy meals already that I better slow down or else I will run out of recipes before the summer.  As we speak I type I have yeast rolls rising on the counter and a healthy chicken noodle soup simmering in the crockpot.  Awww yeah!

3.  Errrrday!  That is right!  I am down 2.6lbs from BEFORE the holidays and God knows I didn't weigh in during or directly after that two week long fat fest.

4.  I hope I am doing this.  I am blessed so I feel like I am always receiving.  I am looking for ways to volunteer.  I have contacted a great lady at Project Linus and plan to start making some blankets for the little babies. 

5.  I'm praying about it.  That is all a girl can do at the moment.

6. Again, praying about it.  We have also only ate out once this week.  Well, I have only ate out once this week.  On Thursday I splurged on small Diet Coke and a Fresco Steak Soft Taco from Taco Bell.  Can a girl get some credit?!  I said a SMALL Diet Coke.  Woot! Go Lisa! Go Lisa!  Normally I consume a large and drink every sip.  It's not on my 10 in '10 but I am also trying to cut back on my ridiculous amount of Diet Coke.

7.  If recipes count, then check.  If not, then I have another 11.5 months to go.

8.  Started!  10 days down, 355 to go! Word.....

9.  Ahhh, 10 months to go.

10. This is going well.  I am trying to be the light.  I am trying to honestly think "what would Jesus do."  I have been focusing on being loving, encouraging, supportive, and uplifting to J throughout everything, everyday.  We do need to go to church.  Somedays I wish church wasn't 45 minutes away.  It makes it tough.  

Thanks for checking in and catching up with me.  It's been a good 10 days!  It is January 10th, right?  Wouldn't it be funny if it was only the 9th? I'm such a dork.  Off to check the date....