Playing Grown Ups

Like many little girls, when I was little, my cousin and I would play Barbies for hours. We'd spend hours setting up our Barbie furniture and accessories just right, everything in its perfect place. We'd imagine all sorts of stories and scenarios. There were of course always the two beautiful young girls, often princesses, usually 16 or just turning 16 (thank you Little Mermaid), they always had the perfect boyfriends. Perhaps a little bit of drama thrown in for excitement, because there has to be conflict before you get the happily ever after, right? We would play at being grown ups. To us of course that happened naturally at 16 because that's when you met prince charming, got married, had a mansion (or a castle or palace, anything huge and grandiose worked), horses, carriages, servants, etc. Thankfully we passed through that age a little bit wiser as to how things really worked and we didn't expect to live in a castle. Meet a prince charming perhaps, but not the other stuff. As the stories have it, things never go exactly as you might have imagined...they turn out better. Mine sure did. I am marrying the most wonderful prince charming I could ever have imagined.

I told him the other day that I feel like I'm going to feel like we're playing grown ups for a while and that eventually someone will come in and tell us to put our toys away, it's time to eat dinner or go to bed or something. As of New Year's Eve the fiance and I officially became home owners. It's still surreal, a total "wow". We own a house, we're getting married. It's exciting and crazy and thrilling and just completely mind blowing all at the same time. A wonderful and amazing way to start the new year. Playing grown ups. But for real this time.

Pardon me while I have an excited wedding moment...

I always anticipated having a lot of fun planning our wedding together, but I think I seriously underestimated just how fun it would actually be. Even the littlest things have brought huge smiles and giggles. Of course the fiance teases me all the time about it, but he actually loves how excited I've been lately. It seems like everything is just falling into place since we booked our reception venue. We have our wedding party asked and confirmed. I found my dress!!! My mom and the fiance's mom came with me and we found THE dress at the first store we went to, 4th dress I tried on. I absolutely adore it, I didn't want to take it off. Now all I need are shoes and whatever jewelry I'm going to wear. We found the most amazing and delicious caterer, they are SO nice. We'll be booking them by the end of next week. I seriously cannot wait to eat at our reception. (we did a tasting a couple weeks ago) I have already asked my mom and the fiance's mom to make sure I get something to eat at the reception.

The fiance's parents are throwing us an engagement party/kitchen themed shower this summer, so we started off our registry with kitchen items. Talking about our entertaining wants and selecting things we would love to use was really exciting. What's even more exciting is that some of the items are being purchased. The fiance's counterpart at work was the first, her gift is the only one that I know what it is. (unintentionally) Let's just say that I absolutely love her to pieces and she is beyond generous. I came home last night to find a fairly large box on my doorstep from one of our registry stores. I was so excited, even though I have no idea what it is. I could probably figure it out if I wanted to though, I'm sure. The fiance says he knows what it is. He's so cute about the gifts.

We are just about 10 months away now and things are just perfect. I am so happy and having so much fun. Everything just makes me smile. I'll be even happier when we find and book our photographer, videographer and florist. Those are the only other major vendors we have left to figure out. Hopefully we will have everything sorted out and booked by the end of the month, including our honeymoon. It's really exciting, if slightly overwhelming to look at honeymoon options. There are just so many great choices and packages. The fiance is taking point on that topic though, which is both incredibly romantic exceedingly helpful. I love how involved he is with everything. He's not overbearing, but I get input and help making decisions. Did I mention that he's absolutely perfect? I'm so very, very blessed to have such a wonderful fiance.

2 - 365

2 - the number of years the fiance and I have been dating (as of yesterday)

365 - the number of days left until our wedding

Infinite - how indescribably happy I am

447

Not feeling well is not fun. Scratchy throats that induce coughing is not much better. Toss it into a three day weekend and it really sucks.

A fiance who is unbelievably sweet and will go out in the rain to get you mint chocolate chip ice cream to soothe your throat is absolutely incredible. A future mother-in-law (in 447 days) who makes you hot tea with lemon and honey because she hears you coughing from the other room is also incredibly sweet.

I am so incredibly blessed.

Happy 2010!!

Happy 2010!! I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday and New Year. Mine was amazing, if a bit on the chilly side. We left the east coast at under freezing and stepped out of the airport into 70 degrees. I loved the east coast, but I was sure happy to be home in my warm California sunshine.

I have lots of stories to share from up and down the east coast. Fun adventures, long walks, nights with my cousin and her boyfriend, historical sites and all sorts of fun. I think the highlight of my trip was sitting around the living room with my Uncle Don, fiance and grandparents on New Years Eve, just chatting for a couple hours. It was quality time with my uncle that I absolutely loved. That's not to say that the rest of my trip wasn't amazing, it absolutely was. That moment was just one of the most meaningful.

I spent more time on the east coast in December than I did in California. Consequently, I had my first real encounter with jet lag. I went to bed at 5:45 last night and did not get up until 6 this morning. 12 hours was wonderful though and most definitely needed. Sadly, the fiance's grandmother passed away while we were gone, so we were at her funeral yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful service though, I think she would have liked it. The fiance is doing pretty well, but I'm sure that prayers would still be very much appreciated.

I've cleaned most of my apartment but still have a few things to do. The spring cleaning bug always hits me after New Years. I guess I just like to start the year out clean and organized. It will also help as we delve into our wedding planning. I'm really excited. I should hear back from the chapel wedding coordinator hopefully Thursday to secure our date. I am SO excited!

I'm planning to keep up regular posting this year, let's call it a New Year's resolution. Maybe not everyday, but at least a few times a week (though daily would be great). I will also do my best to get more photos up as well since my blog did initially begin as a place to post my pictures. I have a few ideas for some series/themed type posts as well, but more on that later.

The first race

I. Am. Sore.

Flat, hard packed desert = full day of riding (as opposed to a few short rides in the dunes)

Bumps, lifts and bounces = lots of standing while riding

Riding all day + lots of standing while riding = a great workout with a side of really sore muscles. But in a good way. Minus the whole soreness pain stuff. Honestly, I feel like I had an amazing workout, and I did.

My outer thighs from my butt down to my upper thighs hurt. My inner thighs hurt. My upper arms, across my chest, around my shoulders and over the top of my back hurt. Like I said, a great workout. Totally worth it, I rode really well Saturday. I was proud of me and so was the fiance. I love the dunes, but I get to ride more at the hard packed desert. (don't worry, I never ride without my chest protector) I was doing really well Saturday, really enjoying riding and getting some speed going. It was like a switch flipped and my muscles decided they were done. This was of course after many hours of riding, so no big deal.

The fiance had his first race on Sunday, he did great! There were three of us scattered around taking pictures of his first big race. There are a few modifications he wants to make to the bike, including a twist throttle since his thumb gave out on him during the third lap and he had to slow down. But not bad at all for a first race, I am SO proud of him. Poor thing is super sore today, probably more sore than I was yesterday. At least today I'm starting to be able to move a little bit more.

The Farting Dog

The fiance and I spent the weekend at my parents house digging through (cleaning) my bedroom while my dad and older little brother were camping. My mom and I would like to turn it into a guest bedroom, but between all of my stuff and various things that she and others had tossed in there, it needed quite a bit of work. I gave myself three options: give away, trash, put away/box up/organize for later. It took all of Saturday and quite a bit of time today, but we managed to get it done. There is no way I'd have gotten through it without the fiance...he gave me the motivation when I was about ready to scream, and helped keep me on track. He even set up the frame for the bed my parents are going to put in there.

The weekend wasn't all work though. The fiance satiated our appetites with amazingly delicious meals: his special eggs (with veggies and meat mixed in), turkey wraps in whole wheat tortillas, amazing whole wheat pizza with a few special twists and buttermilk waffles with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon. We ate incredibly well, and my mom enjoyed the break from cooking. My grandparents were even able to join us for three meals, it was wonderful. :) My mom also rented The Proposal for us to watch Saturday night. What a great movie, we really enjoyed it. I definitely recommend it if you haven't yet seen it.

I'll leave you with the funniest story from the weekend. My parents' dog is pretty old (at least 14 years old) and she has what looks like doggie MS, she can move and stuff, but the nerves running to her back legs just aren't quite working properly. She's a Queensland though, so she's still eager to play and doesn't even seem to notice that she's having physical trouble. Since she was whining a lot Friday night and she and Kara weren't getting along very well this trip, we had moved her dog house upstairs to my mom's room for Saturday night. We were trying to get her upstairs (which she can still make on her own) but she just didn't seem to get that we were trying to get her up the stairs again. So for the second time that night I picked her up and carried her up the stairs. About 2/3's of the way up, she farted. (pretty sure I literally squeezed it out of her) My mom was a step or two behind me and was right in the firing zone there...and it stank. I forget her exact reaction, but I was laughing so hard I nearly dropped Angel. I managed to trip up the last two stairs and somehow managed to put the dog down gently without dropping her or hurting her before I ran into the wall at the top of the stairs. Luckily I got my hands out in front of me. It was a rather loud thud, I'm surprised I didn't wake up my little brother. I ended up sitting at the top of the stairs because I was laughing too hard to walk at this point. My mom got Angel into her house and we finally made it back downstairs, laughing the whole way down. I made it to right in front of the fiance (who witnessed the whole thing from downstairs) before I was on the floor again. There's something about ridiculous laughter that makes my legs and muscles not hold me up. I finally managed to stop laughing when the coughing started, but even that was kind of funny. (minus the part where I don't like feeling asthmatic) But it was by far the funniest story of the weekend.

The Ring

As promised, here are a couple shots of my amazingly gorgeous and sparkly engagement ring. I cannot stop looking
at it!!! It's just so sparkly and shiny. I absolutely love it. The fiance did good, very good. It was the most perfect, romantic proposal ever. We've already started planning.

The One Where She Says Yes

I am absolutely ecstatic to share something, especially following the more melancholy post yesterday. Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes, I really appreciate it. I am officially changing the bf's nickname. He is now the fiance!!! We got engaged last night!!!! =D

It was so perfect! Yesterday was our 18 month anniversary since we started dating. He took me to the Italian restaurant that he took me to for our one month and one year anniversaries. :) After dinner he came over to my side of the table with this wine carrier, which he'd said earlier had presents in it for me but there wasn't wine. When he opened it, there was wine...he gestured to it and I pulled out one of the bottles. It was inscribed with the verse: "There are three things that last faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love." Below that it has a Celtic cross with Celtic knots and whatnot. Below that it says "will you marry me and love me always and forever" and then has the date, October 8, 2009. And then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! =D =D =D

I am SO excited!!!!! It was even more significant since yesterday was exactly one year to the day that he took me to Julien for our 6 month anniversary, after which we stopped at the winery where we work sometimes. It's also the day that I first tasted the tawny port wine there that was and is still in the barrel. I've been waiting for them to bottle it for the past year. I now have the first and only two bottles currently in existence. He let the fiance bottle it and cork it and everything himself. :) We're friends with another winery couple up there that also does bottle etching. He etched the bottles for the fiance!!

I am so absolutely ecstatic. I am floating on a cloud and I can't stop smiling! =D