If I had $250

... that someone was forcing me to spend on 1 item at J.Crew I would most definitely get this:

Sadly that situation would never happen.

Shower fun!

Is it too late to do a recap of my weekend on Friday? Whatever. I had a busy week. So last weekend I flew back to MD to hang out with my family, getting some wedding things done, and I had my shower. My wonderful, awesome mother was in charge of the planning. [My 16 year old sister, the MOH, got off easy.] Anyway, my mom did a great job, as usual. Her food was divine. Seriously, I wish I had her cooking abilities. I still cook like I did when I was 10 ... in need of lots of directions.

So I flew in Thursday night [well really Friday morning at 2 am] and I was so glad my dad offered to pick me up. Taking a shuttle that late would have sucked! Friday, we were supposed to go pick my dress up. Huge, freaking, debacle. It was a long story. Essentially, they didn't have my dress, it wasn't finished, and we waited at the store for 6 hours just to walk out with the dress. I posted several nasty reviews of the bridal salon. :) Trust me, they were well deserved.

Saturday was my shower. It was so nice to see everyone and being the center of attention wasn't too bad. Well there was one part .... I think my face turned bright red, and really I can't think of when I've been more embarrassed. But aside from that it was great. :)

opening presents.

uh-oh ... look who got engaged. :)

Two of my lovely friends made us this scrapbook of us growing up as kids and then getting together. I was trying not to cry when I first opened it. This is C's family looking at it.

These are the two responsible for the scrapbook.

And then Monday we had a walkthrough with the caterer, met with the florist, and I got our marriage license. Did you know that you cannot bring a cell phone with a camera inside a courthouse? And, you have to pay in CASH for the marriage license. Yes, even if they tell you they will take a check it's all a lie. $75 cash ... seriously, these days no one even has $5 in cash.

Side note: I realized that the directions I typed up and sent out with our invites were wrong. If you're reading this and are coming to our wedding please ignore the directions I gave you. If you don't you'll end up lost and confused in the farmland of Maryland.

8 things

I saw this on someone's blog and stole/borrowed it. :0

8 Things I am looking forward to:

1. Um, our wedding!!! 38 days, baby!

2. Being productive this weekend. Cleaning, reading, writing (papers and thank you notes).

3. Having my fiance around ALL next week. I haven't seen the dude in 2 weeks.

4. Sending my mom her 50th Birthday present!!! I wish I could be there to watch her open it. It's awesome.

5. 77 degrees today!! Hello shorts.

6. Getting our canoe today.

7. Having food in the apartment after I grocery shop this weekend.

8. Seeing all our family and friends again in only 5 weeks!

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Drank 2 cups of tea.

2. Wrote a research paper for 15 hours. [The reason I didn't do much else.]

3. Made Cowboy Spaghetti.

4. Ate Easter Candy for lunch.

5. Learned APA format. Quickly.

6. Took a walk. Although a very short one.

7. Attempted to cleanup from my trip.

8. Continued to add to my enormous pile of laundry.

8 Things I wish I could do:

1. Acquire large amounts of money to pay for my tuition.

2. Find a internship/job.

3. Hike more.

4. Go paintballing with C at his Bachelor party. Boys get to do all the fun stuff!

5. Have unlimited airline miles.

6. Pick when and where we are going on our honeymoon.

7. Buy a yard for the dogs.

8. Remember every second of our wedding.

8 Shows I watch:

1. How I Met Your Mother

2. My Boys

Uhh ... that's it. I don't watch much TV.

It's the little things ...

... coming home to the Rockies.

... seeing family. Immediate, not so immediate, soon-to-be in-laws, everyone.

... seeing friends. It had been a long time and I missed you guys!

... brunch with one of my favorites.

... a long flight, which I slept through half of.

... Southwest. They let you check 100 lbs. of bags for free.

... My amazing mother who worked so hard to plan and prepare everything for me,

... My amazing father. Ditto.

... Bringing my wedding dress home after the debacle.

... Driving the back roads around MD in the rain. So pretty.

... Eating awesome food that my mom slaved over.

... Wonderful, thoughtful gifts. [and ones from my registry] ;)

... all the people who drove from NY to come to my shower. Thank you!

... The ridiculous greeting I got from my dogs after being away for a week. It's a good thing there were no witnesses.

... Downtown Frederick. So cute.

... MORE friends getting engaged. Congrats!!!

... knowing that the next time we go home we're getting married!

... a relaxing weekend ahead of writing thank you notes, finding room for a canoe, long walks with the dogs, grocery shopping, and watching How I Met Your Mother.

... gift certificates. Guilt free shopping.

... Getting an Easter basket from my mom. Yes I'm 25. I still love it. Who doesn't like chocolate bunnies?

... missing the snow in Denver.

P.S. Happy Earth Day. Plant a tree, or recycle a can, or take the bus or something.

Shower preview

So last weekend was my trip home for my bridal shower and some last meetings with vendors. I'll go into details later once I finish my paper. I just wanted to give a shout out to a few of my favorites: The Tree IDer, 1/2 of Stinky Little Baby Ducks (sorry we didn't get a chance to hang out more), Whits, and my sister (who I don't think even knows I have a blog). More to come later.

Credit for this one goes to The Tree IDer. ** Stinky Little Baby Ducks, you left before we took 100,000 pictures. Ok, more like 10. :(

The story of Love Part 5: Engaged

So, when we last left off [Part 4] C and I were "living in sin" and had lots of decisions to make about where we wanted our next year of living in sin to be. I mentioned that I applied to grad school in the Northeast as well as a few places in Colorado. Well I thought that Colorado was my best shot so we planned a trip in March to check out the area, look at places to live, and see if we really wanted to move here. I think our parents were all hoping that we would hate it. Actually, I know they were. When we got back to MD with pictures and stories from the west no one wanted to hear or see them. Anyway, we had a great trip in March exploring the area, checking out apartments, and doing all the touristy stuff that I am now too embarrassed to do.

Our first of 1,000 trips to Red Rocks. The trail not the amphitheater.

Now I'll spare you the details about getting into school. I could write a novel on that alone and it's neither interesting nor something I want to relive. Basically, the school lost every piece of paper they possibly could, mixed me up with other applicants, and went from telling me that I was accepted to they had no record of me ever applying. It was a nightmare. Seriously. But after a month of scathing emails, phone calls, etc. I finally found out that I got in. Of course after that process I didn't really want to go anymore, but C talked me into it [he didn't have to try too hard], saying that if I didn't go I'd always regret it. And, he was right.

Anyway, at the end of this entire process we planned one Saturday to drive back to UMD, where we went to school, have a picnic and hang out before heading over to my parents for dinner. While we were there, after some kick-ass PB and fluff sandwiches and a minor frisbee injury, C asked me to marry him. He was so nervous, it was pretty cute. :)

This is where the magic happened. PB & fluff sandwiches and frisbee accidents. :)

And then we began the process of planning a wedding [we originally wanted a destination wedding in the Virgin Islands. Ok, C wanted a destination wedding. I wanted to elope.] and planning a move to Colorado. It was one of the craziest times in our lives and it hasn't really calmed down at all in the past year but also one of the most exciting.

Goodbye east coast. Hello Rocky Mountains.

Today also happens to be our 1 year Engagaversary :) ... Say tuned for [Part 6] when we get married!

Randomness...

Ok I have officially begun to freak out about my trip home. And I swear it's about the dumbest stuff, like: what I'm wearing to my shower, actually having all of my family in one room together, getting together with my friends without my parents being mad that I'm not spending enough time at home, not missing my flight on Thursday, being the center of attention (I HATE being the center of attention. I am the opposite of an attention whore.), having enough time to write my term paper for school.

I wish C was coming with me. I feel so much calmer when he's around and he always seems to help me realize what's actually important. I knew we should have made this a couple's shower!

I'm off to run last minute errands, clean the apartment, and research my butt off. At least I have two long plane rides where I can, hopefully, get a lot of work done.

I am super excited to see family and friends and for the awesome weather back in Maryland. I also get to give my sister her 16th birthday present in person, yay!

On a side note: I was just thinking the other day that Colorado is really starting to feel like home to me. Maybe it's spring. Maybe we've just finally been here long enough for me to settle in. Whatever it is, I like it.