Wonderful Weekends

What a fantastic weekend!! With President's Day off on Monday and class cancelled on Tuesday, I was blessed with a 4 day weekend. As if that wasn't enough, this weekend was Soiree! That did mean missing out on Date Night because the boys were decorating for Soiree all night on Friday. But I got to spend all night on Friday learning about and playing pinochle with the roomies which was fun. 

All Saturday was spent at an adorable Tea Party getting ready for the night. Soiree was themed as a dinner theater and the place looked fantastic! It was fun to introduce the younger girls to the blessing that the boys do for us. It was a really great night!

I think the best part of the weekend though was on Sunday. I spent the day relaxing and being calm and looking forward to a make-up Date Night since we missed out on Friday. Right before Brett came over I was reading in bed and ended up falling asleep. I woke up to my man sitting on my bed with flowers and a card. He even picked flowers that are a color I wear often, even though it's not his favorite color. And it was the greatest way to wake up ever! I'm glad he's mine forever :)

Wedding!

Food:

We are having a morning wedding which means, lucky for us (and you!), we get to eat brunch! I'm really excited about our menu. We are having an Omelet Station, Breakfast Potatoes, and a pastry basket for the breakfast part. For lunch we will have a Pear and Gorgonzola salad with a panini station consisting of Chicken Pesto, Roast Beef and Peppers, and Italian Salami.

I'm so happy with how accommodating our caterers are and the food tastes so delicious!! You should all be just as excited :)

Cake:

The most recent wedding decision made was about our cake. We will be having a 4 tier cake with butter-cream frosting.  The 4 layers are split into 3 flavors - Zucchini and Lime Cake with Lemon Curd Filling, Red Velvet Cake with Fresh Raspberry Filling, and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Filling.  I'm really happy with all of our flavors, but I really like the Zucchini and Lime because it is like vanilla but with a refreshing citrus undertone. It pairs so great with the Lemon Curd. This might also be my favorite because it is in the layer that Brett and I get to cut and eat together :)

To Do This Week:

We are just about ready to send out our Save The Dates. This has been stressful for me because this means that the guest list needs to be finalized...which has not been an easy process. It's tough combining the lists of  family members and friends, but I think we finally got it down. We had to cut a lot of people out, but these wedding things are expensive so we did what we could. We also have to pick out 4 pictures to put in our Save The Dates.

Along with the Save The Dates we are sending out our wedding website address. Before we send this info out, I would like to have everything done on our website. Based on what I know about people, I don't think many people will keep checking the website after they first see if, but I've been talked into the realization that people will look at the website for info they need whenever they need it. Still, I would like to have everything on the website done before we send the Save The Dates out. In that case we need to finish hotel blocks and wedding registries.

The hotel block has been kinda annoying because the hotel we want is not being very accommodating.  However Brett is doing all of the communication with the hotel and is setting up times for us to go check it out so that hasn't added any work for me. Such a blessing!

Wedding registries unfortunately wont happen before we send out Save The Dates. I'm bummed because I would really like to have them done but it's not possible to everything right now. We are thinking of doing registries at Crate & Barrel and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think we are going to put some furniture on there which feels a little weird but I've asked a lot of people and they think it's fine and it really would be helpful. And no harm if we don't get it! Just would be nice if we could.

And last thing we need to get going is Premarital Counseling. This is another thing my wonderful fiancee is taking control of for me. All this takes is a couple of emails! I'm excited to get this started. Being engaged has been good but there have definitely been challenges as well and I'm expecting marriage to be the same so it would be great to get some advice to be able to be better.

Ugh, so much to do! But it's getting done slowly but surely :)

Life Update

If busyness was measured by a lack of blog posts, then you would be able to tell how busy I am.  Between school, InterVarsity, and planning a wedding my days are packed full.  But it's fun stuff going on :)

School:
Normal, I guess.  Taking 13 credit hours this semester and so far it's been pretty easy.  It's nice to have a little bit of extra time to give to other things since homework isn't taking as long.  I have 1 1/2 years left.  My class schedule shouldn't be too hard during those which is a total blessing.

InterVarsity:
A lot has been going on with IV this semester.  3 of the other 5-year Seniors and I are hoping to be student interns next year.  We find out in a few days if that is officially happening and we are all incredibly excited for the potential the internship has for us.  The 4 of us and 3 others on the Vision Team were invited to a staff conference in Florida last weekend.  It was such an incredible experience; we were able to see how passionate all of the InterVarsity staff are and my mind was opened to some different possibilities that I've never thought of before.  I also got to meet the Area Director of the University of Texas down in Austin (my hopefully future boss).  We had lunch together and chatted about our different campuses and what IV looked like at each of them.  And we talked about future possible needs in Texas; places where I could potentially go.  It was an intense weekend and we all learned so much.

I've been having a lot of fun leading a bible study with Kevyn.  It's been great getting to know him better and we have such an amazing group of people!  They all have such potential to be great leaders in IV.  I see at least two of them on the Vision Team in a couple of years.  One of my girls is already on the Admin Team and the other is taking over the blog.  This is kinda bittersweet for me.  I'm so excited that she is willing to take on this task and is doing so with excitement and joy.  She is a great writer and I could pick no one better to take Burning Embers over.  We were talking about it last night and I was giving her the low-down and I could feel my grip of Burning Embers tighten.  I'm excited for her to have it and excited to see how she makes it better.

Wedding:
The most changes in my life have happened in this area.  Date is set for June 23rd at 10 am.  Place is The Gatehouse at Lionsgate Center.  Dress is bought, colors chosen, then changed, then changed again...for the last time, I promise!  Bridesmaids picked, invited, and dresses found.  Engagement pictures taken (we will get them soon!!), Save-the-Dates chosen, then changed.  Guest list is way too long; we need to start kicking people off which just makes me sad.  Then we need to get everyone's addresses.  I found some invites I like but with the most recent color change it didn't work as well as I hoped.  So I went Tuesday and looked at different invites for 2 hours and settled on the same one as before :/  That is a decision I'll be putting off for a while.  We are meeting with the caterers on Sunday and the Cake people in a couple of weeks.  It's on it's way to getting all planned.  More details will come later :)

The Proposal!

We are engaged!!!

I don't think this comes as much of a surprise to many.  I've been expecting this for 2 1/2 years, so I knew it was coming.  And because there had been so much talk about it, I didn't think Brett would be able to surprise me.  We are not a "dating" couple.  So I figured if we went out to dinner sometime, that would be when he would propose.

So I patiently waited.

That's a lie.  I wasn't patient at all.  There was always lots of joking and "hinting" about proposals and even though I knew he was going to propose at some point, I was completely in the dark about when he would do it.  At the beginning of October, I was preparing for a busy month.  3 consecutive weekends were filled with Fall Conference, Vegas, and the Amazing Race.  So I couldn't find a time that made sense for a proposal and figured I'd have to wait even longer.  It was a reality I had come to terms with.  I was talking to my roommate about it and she asked if Brett would propose during Fall Conference.  And a couple days later my other roommate asked the same thing.  I was 100% confident he would not.

He did.

Saturday morning started with breakfast where a friend told me the first thing he would do when he got home would be to tell Brett my ring size; a pretty typical conversation :)  Brett stopped by and said hey and everything seemed totally normal!  We split up for quiet time and after that hour we met again to listen to our speaker.  Stephen stepped up to begin his talk and said that before he began, Brett wanted to say a few things.  Brett was sitting in the row behind me and I remember looking back confused when he got up and walked to the front.

He started talking about how he was trying to step into this weekend but there was something that was distracting him that he needed to get off of his chest. And then he called me up.

I remember hearing gasps and feeling excitement all around me, but I just froze. I was convincing myself he was not going to propose in front of all 200 people there, because that was not something he would do.  I was finally pushed out of my chair by an excited friend and made my way up to the front.  I was in such shock and was really hesitant walking up there.  He started talking about how he couldn't imagine his life without me (cue excited girls now) and he wanted to say that he loved me in front of everyone.  At this point I think most everyone has come to grips with the fact that he was going to propose. Except for me.  I was still so shocked.

It wasn't until he got down on one knee that I finally realized what was going on.  And after that all I remember is how much me and Brett were both shaking. I'm surprised he was able to get the ring on! And what a beautiful ring it is!! Thinking about it makes me shake still.  Luckily we have video of it!

So far, being engaged has been kind of surreal.  I thought I knew how to plan a wedding and then I got engaged and realized I have no idea how to do this.  So it's been an interesting process but my fiancee (still so weird to say!!) and I are having fun dreaming  :)

We don't have many things figured out yet, but for those of you that love asking questions, we are planning on getting married July next summer here in Colorado...somewhere.

63!!

I am so proud to be on leadership with such an amazing group of people.  A couple of weeks ago we were nearing the deadline for Fall Conference.  With a goal of 70 people and only 27 registered, we had a lot of work to do in 3 days.  80 names were written down and we committed to holding each other accountable to invite them.  It was overwhelming to think about.  

But God really moved in this moment.  In 3 days we nearly doubled our number, reaching 49 registered.  With an extension, the number was brought up to 63, and the last 7 people registered in the last couple of hours!  It was so amazing to get the updates and see God working through all of us leaders.  

I am getting so excited for Fall Conference because of the people we have going.  I wrote out the list of all 63 people yesterday and was so surprised at how long the list was!  I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to create close bonds with friends, to spend time in the mountains, and to focus on being filled and refreshed with the presence of God.  

So, to everyone that worked so hard to invite friends, thank you so much!  It's a blessing to know you and call you friends  :) 

84 cookies

When I'm stressed, I like to bake.  It relieves stress.  It lets me focus on something I can control.  It's something I'm good at.  

This week I baked 84 cookies.  

It's been a really really busy crazy week.  And this was supposed to be an easy week!  I don't understand why it got so crazy but let me tell you...

I think part of why I've been stressed is because I no longer go home when I have breaks at school.  I enjoy breaks at school because it gives me the potential to work on homework (although that hasn't happened to the extent I would like yet) and it's nice to see people I don't have class with.  But on the other hand, I think there is something really restful about being at home.  Even if your working, it's more restful.  So I think that's really been wearing on me.  Tuesday I left home at 8 and got back at 1 in the morning.  The other days have been pretty similar.  

Next week is looking even busier.  I have 3 tests next week.  And we are doing the IV Proxe Station.  I'm really excited for the proxe, it just came at a bad time.  On the plus side, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon classes are canceled since my professor is going to a beer festival.  I am excited for that!  

But I need to start focusing on how I am going to handle stress and busy weeks like these.  To start with, I need to use my time more wisely.  To be more productive at school, and multitask when I am working on simpler things.  And I need to sleep.  I should probably also make time to take bathes with a glass of wine, that would be helpful.  And I need to actually talk about it.  

When I am emotionally and relationally drained, it is really hard to me to be nice and energetic and happy around the people I am most comfortable around and care for me the most.  It just creates problems where there shouldn't be which creates more stress.  So I really need to attempt to change in that way.  Not easy.  

I would also like to start running again.  It would be really beneficial for me to get outside and be more active and I think it would really help me clear my mind.  But there's that whole lack of time thing to deal with...

I feel like I'm just ranting about how crazy life is, but that is all that I can think of right now.  Right now my to-do list is running through my mind, full of things I need get started on.  So, I should probably go.  But I would like to start blogging more consistently.  No promises though.  

TMI

Today at work a 70 year old man hinted about his sex life.

I know it's important to ask people how they are doing and to be interested in their lives.  I never realized how dangerous that truly was until today.  Too. Much. Information.


Pretty clever title, huh? :)