The Honeymoon

We're BOOKED! I'm SOOOOO excited about this. We're taking a 2 week land/ocean cruise in Alaska. We're starting in Anchorage and taking a land cruise through Denali, and Copper River wilderness center. Then, we're cruising down the inner passageway to see my cousin in Skagway and ending in Vancouver. We'll have a couple of days in Vancouver, so I want to show the ear doctor Victoria. We went there a bunch of times when my sister and I were little and I loved it!

Don't we look good in Alaska?

The settings

For some reason the table settings at the wedding reception have been occupying an obscene portion of my thoughts as of late. Here are pictures that make me smile.

This picture has been saved for a long time in my "inspiration" folder on my computer. So fresh, so alive. I, however, probably wouldn't put dirt on the plates for my guests' food. I think that's a little weird.

This may be a little too girly-romantic for what we're thinking, but I just love that color of blue and the big open flowers. I'm sure there would be a way to manly up this idea, right?

This picture seems so ME. Although, I don't understand the movement of putting sticks into flower arrangements. I'd never pay for sticks.

Love the two tone greens. We'd probably do blues, but you get the picture. I just found out that those chairs cost an arm and a leg to rent, so we'd probably just have normal white chairs.

The idea for the centerpiece is really cool, and so pretty I think. Just grow wheat grass and then on the big day stick tulips down in. Genius! (isn't that a crazy amount of stemware on one table?)

Last, but not least, Jordan's friend Rachel set her table this Easter in the exact colors we're thinking of using for our wedding. Love the milky blue plates and the dark brown cloth as an accent. Plus, I'm a huge fan of the planter boxes and little mint bowls.

Any thoughts? Where else should I look for inspiration?

Panda, why must you torture me?

When did Panda Express start mixing nasty, slimy celery into their mixed veggies?!?!? Gross

One week left

I sort of can't believe that in one week I will be totally done with my Masters degree. Holy Cow! How cool is that?!?! I'm so glad that I decided to go back to school. I'm so glad I did it when I did. I've learned so much in the two years here at CU here is a list of things off the top of my head:

1. MATLAB is hard, but awesome when you figure it out.
2. I don't have to get straight A's in everything. This is a lesson that I'm SO glad I learned. I don't think I would have learned it any other way.
3. Some things are more important than others. I've learned to prioritize these things a lot better.
4. I've realized that school/work/"success" doesn't really drive me like it used to. People and my interactions with them tend to by my main motivation.
5. I'm so lucky to be blessed with a mind that understands things, because I have not been blessed with the patience to persistently work to understand.
6. When sitting in an otherwise boring class it is important to keep my mind wide open to the different interpretations of what the teacher is talking about. One lecture on bacterial growth in space helped me reaffirm my faith in God. Beat that!
7. Having an advanced degree means that someone worked very hard in one particular area. It does not give them carte blanche in all areas.
8. Teaching is awesome, grading papers is not.
9. In the future I will remember to treat those less experienced than myself with respect.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'm so excited to graduate!

The Venue

The ear doctor and I are planning on getting married in the Denver LDS temple, so the ceremony will require no additionally planning on my part....phew!

For the reception, the venue was REALLY important to me. I've been to so many weddings where the couple didn't start with a good venue. It you don't start with something you really like, you're sort of sunk in the water.

I had a few qualities that I really wanted in a venue.

1-Good Dance floor, not some small little square tucked back in a corner. I want people to dance and my reception, so this needed to be front and center.

2-Big enough to hold everyone, and small enough so that everyone feels included.

3-Character. We went to a bunch of places that were trying to be elegant. New places where people tried to add things to make it seem romantic. They just seemed to be trying too hard. I wanted somewhere that I really felt like it was true to itself...if that makes any sense.

4-In our budget, of course.

5- Really felt like Colorado. Both of our families will be traveling from out of state to come out our wedding. I wanted to make sure that everyone got a chance to see the beauty of Colorado.

So, after spending 3 weeks frantically driving all over the Denver Metro area, we decided on this beauty:


The Boettcher Mansion. It was built in 1917 and is located on top of Lookout Mountain, overlooking the city lights of Denver. This place is SO awesome. For the past 3 months it has been undergoing $3.1 million of remodeling. Here is the main room where we'll have our reception:


It's called the fireside room because it has a huge open fireplace on the right hand side of the photo. The overhead lighting will be spectacular! I even kind of want to get an old Model T to drive us around so that I can capture the feel of the house. Since we're having a swing band play at the reception I think the feel of this house will go perfectly!

Bridal Shower dress

Alright, lets talk about how awesome the dresses are over at Shabby Apple. Why haven't I known about this store earlier?!?!? I'm pretty sure this dress will be perfect for (1) our engagement pics {maybe}, (2) my bridal shower...hosted by the awesome Sarah G, (3) Going out to our engagement celebration dinner that the ear doctor's parents have financed in advance for us, and (4) the wedding of a dear friend in Huntsville, AL later this summer.

Plus, only $92?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! It could only be better if it was green, baby blue or yellow. (I get scared of wearing red as a redhead, but I think I could rock this one.)

The Ring

By popular demand....

More on a theme

An anonymous commenter suggested that I check out the work on a very talented photographer, Charlotte Geary.

All I can say is...WOW. This woman has amazing talent. She is my favorite photographer I've seen in a long, long time. Amazingly adept at capturing the perfect moments of the big day. Her photos look like paintings...each one really captures emotion and beauty. I cannot say enough about her work. I looked through every single photo on her website and then went over to her blog and was astounded. Plus, she does great volunteer work in the community. This is a person that I would not only love to hire, but want to be best friends with.

I mean, really. Wouldn't you want to be friends with the person who took this photo?

Its a real shame that her services are a little outside of our budget (which I am determined to stick to).

This is me with a really, really sad face.....

Finding a Photographer

Today my aunt sent me this amazing photo of my cousin and her finance. They are getting married in just over 2 weeks. I think it is an amazing shot.

I love how perfectly it captures my cousin! The framing, the line...just perfect. Finding a great photographer is sooooo important to me. I want someone who is almost a photojournalist. I want them to capture really tender and moments. I want something really special to remember my day, like this photo.

Virginia

It rained a lot last night. It's strange because it hardly ever rains in Colorado.

Because of the rain a bunch of worms thought it was safe for them to come out of the ground and float around through the water. They didn't think anything was out of the ordinary when they decided to leave the safety of their holes. They thought it was any old average night.

They floated around, probably thinking about the family they left behind down in the dirt. They were probably enjoying their new-found freedom. They were learning more, seeing the world, and really experiencing life.

Then, the rain stopped and they were stranded on sidewalks and roads.

As I walked across campus this morning I noticed that the majority of the squished worms were small, skinny worms. The ones who had probably just left the dirt for their first time. The squashed potential made me really sad. How would they have ever known that today was going to be the day they were run over by some bike tread? They could never have predicted that their new found independence was going to end up in their unexpected meeting with the bottom of someones Merrel shoe.

The really moving thing is that some of the worms were able to brush themselves off and wriggle their ways back to the dirt. Back to their lives, back to something they know. That they will go on digging holes and rebuilding after today gives me hope.

The Invites

I love the idea of having perfect, themed invitations. Awesome invitations that are custom designed and a perfect foreshadowing of the wedding. However I don't have a gajillion dollars. If only there was a person who has started her own letterpress company who has great style that I feel comfortable trusting.

So far, my quick attempt at finding invitations I love have yielded the following results.


I really really like this invite. I think I'd change the yellow to green or blue (still working on colors), but I really like the style.

From Kenzie Kate invitations, this is a really cool invite. I like that it's not feminine, so it seems like its coming from both the ear doctor and me. Also, these are already colors that we're considering. Also we're doing an indoor/outdoor so this invite kind of introduces that idea.

From Ceci New York, these are my favorite invites by far. Absolutely perfect for the theme/feel I was hoping to convey during our reception! This is me wishing I had an unlimited budget...

These invites are simple, but still pretty cool, I think. I love that the envelope has the pattern from the invite. The plus of these invites is that I can order, proof, and buy online so the turn around time is really quick. Awesome for planning an event in less than 3 months!

Masculine, foresty, perfect for a Colorado mountain venue, which is the other idea we're working with. The ear doctor really liked these when I showed him.

I like the contrast of the loose, organic outer border and the strict inner border on this one. Plus, the branches on the envelope are cute.

5 years ago I would have thought this one was old looking and almost "matronly" but now I think it is feminine and beautiful. I don't know if you can tell from this small pic, but the whole thing is done on a letterpress and the top has a lace-like ink-free imprint from the heavy press. I think the ear doctor didn't like this one at all...I see what he says, it is really girly.

I don't really like the peach ink on this one, but I really like the pattern and layout. Plus the paper is so thick that the letterpress looks AMAZING!

I like this whole set together. I really like the idea of tying all the paper products together. Not in a perfect match way, but a theme way. This whole package is really cool.

Last, but not least, this invite is really cool. And, the ear doctor would be proud of me because it is the ONLY invite in the whole list that has any birds on it. See, I have restraint. I really like the colors and we're considering a blue/brown scheme, so this would work well.

Ready to get married

Well, I think I'm officially ready to get married.

You may be asking yourself, "how does she know, how can she be so sure?"

Well, I'll tell you how.

Yesterday I roasted an entire turkey all by myself, and it turned out perfectly. Golden brown on top, juicy in even the most top piece of breast meat. Even the microwaved leftovers are moist and delicious for lunch today.

I've arrived.

The dress

While I was over in Utah two weeks ago, I tried on wedding dresses with my mom. We started at the most awesome store in Trolley Square, Alta Moda. If you live in Utah, you MUST go to this store. The owner is a really nice woman who treats you like a queen. They only carry designer dresses and have a special relationship with most designers to get their dresses altered to have sleeves and backs. Really, SUCH a great place! I found the dress of my dreams. Unforch, I'm not going to share and details at all because ear doctor reads this and I don't want to give anything away.

The dress I found cost $4600! Who in their right mind would pay that much for a dress? Anyway, I sunk down into a pit of despair after I took a look at the price tag. Ugh. I was annoyed all day.

We went to some other shops and tried similar cuts and styles. The thing is, you can really tell the difference between at $500 and a $5000 dollar dress.

We decided that my mom is going to make me the dress of my dreams. She's an amazing seamstress, at the dress really isn't complicated so I'm pretty sure it will turn out beautiful! Plus, I think it is a really awesome way to have my mom involved in everything with her being so far away (she lives in Washington State).

My aunt and grandma think we are crazy to try to do this.

I'm going to love proving them all wrong.

The Proposal

We weren't supposed to leave for spring break until Tuesday. I'd decided to force myself to go to work on Monday so that I didn't use up all of my so painstakingly accrued vacation hours. However, when my little sister went into labor on Sunday morning I knew I just had to get over to Utah. I didn't want to miss a thing. Excitedly, I ran up to ear doctor and asked him if we could leave after church to drive over. He was a little thrown off because I'm not really one for spontaneity. He sat and thought all during the first hour of service and then told me that we could leave after a meeting that afternoon. Awesome!

On the drive over he told me that we had to swing by Salt Lake on Monday morning to get him some clothes. He had been planning to do laundry all day Monday, and since I had an out-of-character spontaneous moment, he wanted to buy stuff over there. I thought it was a little strange that he wanted to go to Salt Lake for clothes, since my sister lives in Logan, but whatever.

We got to Ogden late, late Sunday night and slept at a friend's house. Then, Monday morning I called my mom and found out that she'd had the baby. I wanted to drive up to Logan ASAP, but the ear doctor looked at me and said, I HAVE to go to the distribution center to get some "clothes". I don't have any at all to wear. I really wanted to go see the baby, but I realized that the ear doctor's need was more pressing than mine, so we took off to Salt Lake. It was a BEAUTIFUL day...clear, sunny, warm. We got to temple square and he bought what he needed. I wanted to rush back to the car because my mom wanted to meet us in Brigham City for lunch. He suggested that we take a walk around because it was so nice and we hardly ever get to go there anymore.

We walked around for a while and then he asked me if I'd ever been to the top of the conference center.

I had, but he wanted to go up and look out at the city and the mountains. I agreed. We walked up the outside stairs of the building to the very front where a huge, beautiful waterfall cascades between the beautiful marble stone. We stood there looking at the temple, which has great personal significance to us. I was getting a little antsy because I didn't want to miss my mom for lunch. Plus, the sun was really intense, so I said, "let's go...I'm getting a sunburn."

He turned to me and smiled and said, "no, lets' wait another minute"

He gave me a hug, told me I was his very best friend, got down on one knee and asked me to spend my life with him while offering me the most shiny, beautiful ring the world has ever seen. In one swift movement, I stuck my right pointer finger through the ring (I didn't want to loose it, but I didn't want to take the time to wait for him to slide it onto the correct finger) and fell into his arms.

After a minute we separated and he told me that the stone was the same one that his grandma wore for 52 years of the most love filled marriage. She called him up 3 weeks ago and offered it to him. After telling me that I was a complete wreck. I started crying so hard! I've never felt so honored or welcomed into someone's heart and family. That his grandma would offer to give me something so prized left me absolutely speechless. Thinking about it still gives me goosebumps and brings tears to my eyes.

Turns out, that he had been planning to ask me here, in Colorado on the Monday before we planed to leave. My little Carpe Diem moment totally messed up his plan and sent him into a 24 hour tailspin trying to figure out a new way to ask me. Good thing he's so great thinking on his feet!

We danced to no music on the top of the building.

It was perfect.

Back to life

So sorry for the complete cessation of posting with absolutely no warning. It's not that I didn't want to write, I just didn't have the time. There's nothing wrong with you...you're great. It's me. I've just have been so busy. I really did mean to write you.

Anyway, there are some very good reasons why I haven't posted. My little sister had her baby! Little Charlotte was 8 lb 8 oz 21 inches long and perfect. She has dark brown hair and pretty blue eyes. She is adorable and I can already tell she is really really smart. Plus she has great fashion sense because her auntie Katie has basically supplied her entire wardrobe. My sister is pretty much amazing. After being a mom for only 4 days she had it down. A total expert already!

The other big news is that the ear doctor asked me to be his wife and I GLADLY accepted! Hooray! We are engaged! I love this man more than life itself. He is the perfect match for me and I can't wait to be his wife.

We're planning on getting married at the end of June, so the planning will be frenzied! However, I think it's better to just get it done fast so that the planning doesn't stretch out forever. I promise that I would be just as frenzied in a year long engagement as I will be in the next 3 months so at least I'm decreasing the span of the insanity.

Anyway, if anyone has any great suggestions for a wedding reception in the Denver area, let me know!