We are getting MARRIED

So you already knew that, but it seems so much more realistic now that we picked a date and a location.... We are getting married at the Winds in Ocean Isle, North Carolina on Aug 13th. We are so excited to rent a beach house and spend a week with our friends and some family. We can relax hangout and play on the beach! We are starting to work on Save the Dates and invitations...so hopefully you will get those soon.
Phew!
Date...check
Location...check!

Decisions

Shell Island

After visiting three resorts and a wedding planner, we have come to the ultimate decision. Chris and I have narrowed the field to two locations: The Winds and Shell Island. While both entail beach weddings followed by a reception they could not be more night and day. One wedding would be a week long relaxation period with the wedding party and our families ending with the wedding ceremony as the finish line. The other would be shorter with elegance holding a major role. I feel like we have almost decided to do the week long journey because the event would be done just the way we each have imagined (of course me starting at 6 years old and him at 22). Relaxing, fun, but still the seriousness that comes tied to a taking vows of love for the rest of our lives. We have to have a final decision by Sunday. Oh wow.
This is The Winds Resort.

Ocean Isle

No time to write but I wanted to show you all the start of our vacation.

Finals

I would like to know who invented finals. Where they crazy? Who in the world thought it was a good idea to cram tests from somewhere between 3 - 6 class finals into one week? If you are lucky you have one a day for a few days...if not you have multiple finals one right after the other. This isn't really testing how much you know. It is testing how much stress you can withstand before you keel over and die. While I appreciate tests not being cumulitive, professors should still remember that we have 2-5 other finals all at the same time. If you think we are studying as much as we have for your previous exams you are sadly mistaken. Also while I am at it- Take homes are not less stressful if you give them on a Thursday and the student has 2 finals Monday one Tuesday and you want the take home back by Tuesday at noon. When in the world do you think I'm going to have time to complete your take home?

P.S. My next week and a half is a little stressful.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Not really much new. Chris and I drove to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. This is only my second time to the city. Every time we go driving or walking I stare in awe at the houses. They are all so nice. We were walking in the park yesterday and saw a 1.7 million dollar house for sale. Needless to say it was awesome! It finally seems so real. Instead of being a one day kind of a thing it has suddenly become a soon we will be looking at houses kind of a thing.
We also were able to hang out with Chris' family. Oh the stories that come out when you hang out with family! We enjoyed ourselves so much!
Not to be super corny but this holiday season got me thinking about all the things and people I am thankful for. I am so thankful for families...of all kinds. Friends I have found to a crucial part of life. The kind of friend who you can trust with any secret, you can tell them about your weird habits and know that they will love you no matter what. I am thankful for all the pets in our lives. And finally I am so thankful for all the love in my life. So if you fall into one of these categories, you should know that I am thankful for you!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving!

The Dress

Who knew that one could learn so much from shopping? Dress shopping the other weekend taught me some interesting lessons. One, I am so excited to get married in white. This dress is so significant to me and portrays so much about me. Two, no one should ever be as pale as I am. Three, anything is possible with enough constrictive clothing and padding. I also made some hard decisions as a result of dress shopping. Eat less and no more pop...so if my blog gets more and more crabby you all know why. (Which reminds me I should probably buy more advil...caffeine headaches) Dress shopping also made me realize the magnitude of what Chris and I are getting into. I feel so much more mature than I previously have. I feel as if our relationship is so much more important. It is definitely not any more serious (we spent the weekend dancing in stores and seeing who could push the other into the bushes) but our time together seems to mean so much more now. We finally booked tickets to North Carolina to checkout wedding locations and vendors. I'm so excited, it will be our first real vacation just the two of us together! Who knew that one (gorgeous) dress could teach someone so much?

Friday the 13th

I got my ring back today (in a size that does not fall off my finger!)!!!! Chris and I got to spend some time in the car talking about all the things in the future that excite us. It was a really nice afternoon. After that we got discuss all the progress we made on wedding plans with my Mom. That was beneficial and kind of fun. I feel like her insight helped a ton. Maybe now we can take some big steps forward and pick a location and a date.

Will You Be My Rock?

So today was an interesting day. A lot of random-not-so-bad-individually-but-when-combined-they-blow events occurred. What I realized is how lucky I am. I'm first to admit I have my faults. Today's events reminded me that my fiance, Chris, knows them all and loves me anyway. I did not understand the importance of this until I met him and we fell for each other flaws and all. We have recently discovered the benefits to having the other person to take turns with in who is the rock and who is trying not to drown. Between work, school, wedding plans and not having enough time in a day, we manage to have enough stress for 3oo individuals. Chris and I have unconsciously worked out a system where we each have our stress/freak out time while the other stands guard. I've never had this luxury before. Now I'm not sure how I lived without it.

The Proposal

It is officially story time. (Aka I did not make any progress on the wedding so I will tell a story to distract myself from that fact) My fiance, Chris, is the best gentleman in the world. He knows me better than I know myself. I am continuously impressed by how much he knows about me and is able to predict my thoughts and interpret my actions. He proposed to me on our anniversary. I arrived uncharacteristically late for dinner. Upon arrival, I found the door locked. Hmmm...I was intrigued. When he finally let me in, he was acting uber weird. I thought he had burned dinner beyond all recognition. We sat on the couch and he informed me that dinner was not quite ready yet. I answered questions about my day (which was super boring) while he continued to act nervous. Shortly after this the door to his apartment opened. A small dog, Bowser, (that belongs to friends of ours) came running in. He loves me, and therefore launched himself into my lap. Tied to Bowser was a box. At this point I thought that Chris had planned a huge office prank. (Not sure what I am talking about? Check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMA1R0FHfCs) He pulled the box from the dog. Chris then tried to bribe the dog to go down the stairs and back out the door with a bone. Bowser attempted Doggy Suicide by almost jumping over the mantle and down the 5-6 foot drop to retrieve the bone. Luckily Chris grabbed him and led him to the stairs. When Chris opened the box, there was a ring. At this point I decided I should probably pay close attention. He talked about how much I mean to him and how he is truly himself when he is around me. It brought tears to my eyes. I enthusiastically answered yes to his question. We ate dinner (which was not ruined as I had assumed) and began calling all relatives. It was pretty sweet! Overall it was probably the best night of my life :)

Eating is overrated!

Today I realized exactly how much food costs. You may be confused and thinking hasn't she bought food before? I'm talking about wedding food. Apparently someone decided it was a good idea of overcharge for wedding food that typically isn't all that good anyway. It never occurred to me that the biggest expense for my wedding would be food. This discovery leads me to my question. Can I invite people and tell them that only every other person is allowed to eat? I am going to guess probably not but it would make life so much easier.

So anyway the point of the story is that the wedding plans did not progress much today. Boo.

The Beginning

Haha. So this is all Rachel's fault. She showed me her blog and told me to comment. Turns out it is hard to comment without a blog of your own. Then I discovered that blogging is a nice way to procrastinate from studying. This is perfect. I was getting a little bored of facebook.

Like I said, my fiance and I are in the process of planning our wedding. We have just started and already the prospects are intimidating. With no location convenient for both families, we have decided on a beach wedding. Right now it appears like that beach will be in North Carolina, however wherever we can get married this summer might just be the spot.

I am at an interesting set of crossroads in my life right now. I'm stuck somewhere between being a college student, an RA, soon-to-be-married, and attempting to figure out my future. Looking back it has been a long road full of turns and potholes that almost swallowed me alive. Looking ahead is slightly better if it were possible to ignore the massive quantities of unknowns.

If you are intrigued, then continue to follow the adventures of the Great Goddess D.