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No, not of me. Of the Ring! There is absolutely no reason to take these… except that I love photography and I love my ring and I had an hour free this morning. They are totally self-indulgent, so what better place to post them than on the blog! I still haven’t taken one that makes the ring look as good as it does in person, but I think that might be the norm with diamonds. It is hard to capture the sparkle!
I took about a zillion photos… but here are the best of the best:
So far the best thing about being engaged? The Calm. There was so much anxiety in the time leading up to the proposal… as you can see from my posts below. When will he do it, how will he do it, how will our families react, how will we set a budget, etc etc.
But now I know the answers! He did it, it’s done, we’re engaged! And now I know for sure we’re getting married, I know when (approximately January 2011), we’ve set an approximate budget. I feel like everything is as it should be. And really… the transition from girlfriend to fiance has not been as weird as I thought. It was a LITTLE weird the first time I called him my fiance (and I still hate the word, doesn’t it sound… fru-fru?), but other than that it has been a natural transition.
We’re two weeks in and I’ve only had one minor freakout (budget… that was expected… and to be blogged about later). I think wedding planning will be fun, but honestly I’m looking forward to the BEING married more than the GETTING married. Hopefully I can just take my time and enjoy every step of the process.
I’m writing the second, and hopefully last post that I can’t publish until after he’s “popped the question.” It is October 5, and I can’t believe I’ve made it this far without exploding from the excitement of it all!
In the month+ since I wrote my last pre-engagement post, I think I’ve calmed down a bit. Kind of. I’m a bit more able to focus on other things, and a bit less…. bouncy? heh. I still think about it every day and I still can’t stand the waiting, but I guess I’m accustomed to the waiting.
It all got a bit more real a few days ago though.. on October 1. I realized that in all likelihood…. I will be engaged THIS month. In a matter of weeks. When making plans with a friend for November I realized that… I will probably get to show him my new ring! When I saw my parents this weekend, I thought of the next time I’ll see them the weekend after my birthday, and if I’ll get to tell them how he did it. I thought of this coming Thanksgiving seeing my family, and Christmas. How exciting!! It is REALLY going to happen. And SOON.
We leave for vacation in two and a half weeks (or 2 weeks, 3 days 11 hours, if you’d like to get specific about it), and I just can’t wait. I’m looking forward to the sun, the sand, the serenity. I’m looking forward to giving up the computer for a whole WEEK (crazy, right?). I’m looking forward to a week of nothing but fun and sun with my guy. But most of all I’m looking forward to leaving the country single and returning ENGAGED.
I still have some small hope that he won’t make me wait until my birthday… but only time will tell. I am so worried about him trying to get the ring to Mexico and keep it safe for 4 days before my birthday. I’m also worried that he’ll be so nervous about the impending “moment” that he won’t fully enjoy the first half of our vacation! I think it would be perfect if he proposed before we left so the trip would be in celebration and so I could be put out of my waiting misery! heh.
I also have a fear that I’m wrong and he won’t do it on my birthday and will make me wait even longer! I can’t lie… I will be a bit disappointed if the trip ends and my left ring finger remains naked. But, regardless, I know it will happen soon and until then…… I wait!
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so glad that I was right! This is the second (and last) post that I wrote while “waiting.” We’ll return to your regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. 
So I’m writing this today… August 20, 2009. But I’m not posting it yet! Why am I not posting it? Well I have come into certain information that should not be widely published due to the fact that B may read my blog. (He knows the name of it, I’ve showed it to him on occasion, although I really don’t think he checks it ever. But he might).
So what info do I have? Well, I think B is getting ready to propose! There are a variety of things that lead me to believe this, but obviously I don’t want him to know that I’m onto him! I’m writing this tonight because I have a lot of pent up excitement/energy and it’s just gotta go somewhere! But, i will not post it until after things are official. My prediction (let’s see if this comes true when I publish this later) is that it will be during our vacation in late October, maybe on my birthday? If I were him, that is when I would do it. What better time to propose than on a beautiful romantic vacation on your girl’s 25th birthday? But I so hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m way, WAY off.
Why? Because I might actually die from impatience before then! You know that movie When Harry Met Sally? Yea you do… at the end Harry goes and finds Sally right at midnight on NYE to tell her that he loves her and she says its only because its NYE and he’s lonely and he says something to the effect of “and it’s not because i’m lonely, and it’s not because its new years eve. it’s because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
Yep. I’m not sure when I had that realization. It wasn’t like some light bulb moment or anything. We’ve been together for about 2.5 years and we’ve taken things pretty slow. We both got out of serious relationships right before we met and we didn’t come together in a marriage mode. We just hung out and had fun together for a long time. And then some time this spring I just realized that every time he went home I wanted him to come back. Like, now. I didn’t just love him, I couldn’t see not loving him forever. I think I finally saw what was there all along, but I couldn’t really appreciate while I was so crazy busy in school, starting a new job, etc. As soon as I felt settled and happy as a person alone, I suddenly didn’t need or want to be alone anymore!
So that’s my story. And now (I think) he’s shopping. And me? Bouncing off the freakin’ walls while trying so hard not to let him know I’m onto him. I’ve been surfing wedding blogs and wedding ideas. I started an “ideas” document where I copy and paste url’s for cool things I find. So weird because I have NEVER been a “wedding” person. But now I can’t get it off my mind and 24/7 I keep thinking, “come ON already let’s get this show on the road and get engaged so we can be married ASAP!”
Not to mention the obvious curiousity: What ring will he get me?? I might not be a wedding person but I am DEFINITELY a jewelry person. Not so much rings, earrings are usually my thing, but I’m so excited for my ring for so many reasons. I’m excited to own something so beautiful, but also to see what he picks out! Once upon a time (maybe a year or more ago?) I suggested to him that we go shopping together for rings NOT (i made clear) because I was at all ready to get married, but because we might possibly get married some day and if that was the case he might want to know what kinds of rings I like without having to ask. He said NO. haha. He thinks it takes the romanticism out of it or something.
Over our time together it has come up and I’ve given him some preferences. I prefer solitaires to 3-stones. I prefer thinner bands to thick. I prefer a more unusual shape (like cushion, asscher, or radiant) to round or princess. And my only absolute requirement: No heart-shaped diamonds. Why on earth would anyone take a beautiful rock and cut it into a hallmark symbol? Oy. So he definitely has a few guidelines but the possibilities within those preferences are really endless. I can’t wait!
So until the time comes (when will the time ever come? Honestly every day feels a week long), I bounce. I am practically vibrating with excited energy and I can’t help it. bounce bounce bounce!
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Obviously… I wrote that post a few months ago… and? I was right! This was one of two posts I wrote pre-engagement that I”ll be posting. So glad to be done **waiting**
So as may be surmised from my last post…. Mexico rocked. Hardcore. It was the first vacation in a LONG time where I did a whole lot of nothing. Usually I feel like if I’m going to take the time and expense of doing a vacation, I want it to be cultural… I want to see historical sights and do museums and so on.
Not this time. I’ve been working full time for a year… for the first time in my life. I was ready to just reeeeelax. There was no better place than a resort on the Pacific coast in Mexico…. our hotel:
As I said in my last post, when we checked in to the hotel, they upgraded us to a room with a balcony. I may now be ruined for rooms without balconies! The balcony was really key to us because after a few hours on the beach we (and by we… I mostly mean B) were done with the “beach.” It was kind of hot, there was a legitimate concern about sunburn (we’re both so white), and really B was a little bored even if he wouldn’t admit to it. Having a balcony made being in the room almost as nice as the beach for me because I could go back with B and while he relaxed in the AC watching tv, I could read on the balcony! With our view… I really might as well have been sitting on the beach. This shot is from standing on the balcony.
Plus… although the views from the breakfast buffet were great….
When you can have this delivered right to your room with our view? No contest. Our typical breakfast was strawberry yogurt with granola (for me), chef’s special (for B), and fruit and baked goods to share. MMmmm….
Although our resort had lots of activities every day… we only partook in a few. We started salsa lessons by the pool but got rained out… thank GOD because wow were we bad! We watched Kung Fu Panda in the kid’s camp. We attended Casino Night (I totally would have won if it hadn’t been for B… sabotage I tell you!!). The best thing we did though was tennis lessons. We were the only two that showed up… so we got an hour long private tennis lesson! It was so much fun because I have never really played before and I was soooooooo bad. In just an hour I was able to learn a lot and was actually able to hit the ball and put it where it was supposed to go… kind of. A lot better than I was at the start of the hour anyways!
Other than that…. we spent a LOT of time right here… our own private palapa on the beach. Okay it wasn’t really “ours” per se… but the resort was empty enough that every time we wanted a spot in the shade we had no trouble finding one right about here.
We also did an excursion on my birthday… but that is a post for another day! For today… I will simply leave you with some more pictures of the sunsets. Of all the many MANY photos I took on vacation… more than half were the sunsets. They were so beautiful I just couldn’t resist snapping away.
Let me just start by saying… I’m engaged!!!!!
But I should probably start from the beginning. Our flight to Mexico was relatively uneventful and we made it to the resort about 4:30pm. We were starving so we ordered some room service and settled into our (upgraded!) room. We had a balcony that looked right out on the ocean, and the view was just incredible.
And the food? Delish!
We decided to take a walk up and down the beach to check things out and get a feel for the resort. While on our walk, we saw two weddings in progress. There is really no better view for a wedding… although I don’t know if I would like people like us walking around and seeing their wedding in progress! Didn’t stop me from taking a picture though, of course.
Soon after, we saw a group of people gathering and we decided to check out the festivities. Turned out that our resort was part of a Sea Turtle Conservation program. They protect the sea turtle nests, and when the babies hatch they collect them to check them for health and keep stats on them, then release each day’s hatchings every night at sunset. They do a little educational speech, teach you how to handle them appropriately, then let you release them yourselves into the ocean! At first I was a little freaked out because they look kind of gross in the cooler.
But it turns out that once you get them individually, they are really very cute
We also found someone on the beach who knew how to work my dslr camera– rare! We took the opportunity to get a photo of the two of us that wasn’t an awkward hold-the-camera-out photo or a self-timed photo from a too-short table. yay!
I wanted to go back to the room to wash my hands, and we said we’d head to the latin festival right after. Well, after I was done washing up a bit, B said that he didn’t feel so good and that he wanted to take a walk on the beach before we went to the festival. We had seen a really pretty cove at the farthest north part of the beach but hadn’t been able to go there earlier because the wedding people were there getting their photos done. We decided to take a walk down there to check it out. This has since been dubbed (by me) as Engagement Cove.
Turns out, it was really pretty down there. I was down near the surf and B was up closer to the rocks. He told me I should come up there but I was freaked out because there was a weird noise– I thought there was going to be a bug or a lizard or something that he wanted me to look at! He kept insisting and I kept resisting until he finally told me something along the lines of “Oh my god its just water running down the rock onto the sand there are no bugs I promise now get up here” hahaha. He was right. No bugs.
The details are slightly fuzzy because I finally had caught on to what was happening, but I know that there were very nice things said, there was B on his knee, a ring that was almost dropped in the sand, and lots of kissing. Us right after I said yes… albeit a bit fuzzy because my camera was having a hard time metering in the dark cove… but I still love the looks on our faces.
Also on the list of things I love, of course, my ring!! It is a cushion cut solitaire in a platinum pave band, and it is PERFECT. I am totally in love with cushion cut rings and B did a fantastic job (with a little help from a friend) of picking out a great ring.
I haven’t had much time to get creative shots of it… but one afternoon I did decide to try some pics of it on top of a Christmas ornament we had bought in town. About 4 seconds after I snapped this pic, B realized what I was doing and started freaking out about the ring falling off the balcony. Despite the fact that I was like 3 feet from the edge of the balcony and I was taking photos of a ring, not a bouncy ball. He did not care that I needed natural light and put the kaibosh (sp?) on the photo taking… oh well heh. I will just have to pick this project up later when he isn’t around The last pic snapped before B caught on to what I was doing on the balcony:
So ummmm yep! I’m engaged!! I have lots more to say about Mexico, LOTS more pictures, and a few pre-engagement posts that I have saved ready to post. For now, though, I will leave you with the view from the spot that B proposed… in a word… PERFECT.
Yea ummm I’m a little excited. As I mentioned before, B and I will be going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for my 25th birthday. After months and months of waiting (we booked in May!), it is finally almost here! We leave Friday and I’m practically bouncing off the walls!
This is our resort:
All ocean-view rooms… all inclusive… and a-mazing. One of the things I’m most excited about is the pool:
I was never much of a lay-by-the-pool kind of girl… until we went to Vegas last summer. It was soooo hot (Vegas in August. Yep). It just felt awesome to lay out all morning reading a book with intermittent dips in the pool. And this time will be even better because the drinks will be free! (loved the pool at Treasure Island… did not love the $9 daiquiris)
Another thing I’m really excited for is all the photo opportunities. PV is supposed to be absolutely beautiful, and I’m so happy it is on the Pacific coast! That means opportunities for incredible sunset photos like this:
I’m a liiiiiitle worried about two things. First, B is not a reader. We talked about this when we were deciding on vacation and I asked him what he would do at a resort all week if he didn’t read. He has assured me about 1000 times that he’ll be fine… but I worry that he will be bored! Me? I could sit by the pool for a month solid reading, but what do people do if they don’t enjoy reading? I’ll report back after vacation I guess! Second thing is that he is home sick today! It isn’t horrible, but he’s been kind of sick-ish on and off for a few weeks. We got him some echinacea and emergen-c + nyquil. He is on serious fluids, soup, and napping. Fingers crossed for us staying healthy over the next two weeks!
I’m sure the trip will be great. We don’t really have anything planned for the trip, we’re on the “no plan” plan. I know that at some point we’re going to try to go out snorkeling, and we want to do one other “excursion.” I wanted to do the zip-lines but B is unsure about heights and I don’t care enough to push. I’m thinking maybe horseback riding? Or ATVing? Who knows. Also, my birthday will be during the trip and I’m hoping to get a facial and massage that day. I haven’t brought it up to B too much because I’m not sure if he has anything planned, but if he doesn’t have a plan I’m taking myself to the spa!
Probably the most exciting thing will just be getting to hang with B for a whole week! Since we started dating he has been working full time, so we never have gotten to spend THAT much time together. We have done weekends away and we did go to Vegas for a week, but it was with two of my friends and we only took one “date night.” Even if it rains, even if he’s sick, regardless of what happens, it will be so great to just get to hang out with him for a whole week. Sigh… can it be Friday now? Preferably Friday afternoon so I can be all checked into the hotel and done with traveling.
I am living proof that one does not learn from their mistakes. Today I had a ceramic plate sitting on a burner on the stove (NO counter space in my kitchen and I was trying to unload dishes). I put a pot of water on another burner and turned it on to boil. Several minutes later I hear sizzling/cracking/popping. Yep. I did it again.
I will say that in the past year+ that I’ve worked at learning to cook, the average cuss words/hour in the kitchen has steadily decreased. That being said, I have during this calendar year so far lit on fire (or almost-fire):
- A silicon pot holder
- tin foil
- a kitchen towel
- a ceramic plate
I may need to retire.
Does everyone (all of you, my imaginary readers… suddenly feeling like I am doing a newscast into the mirror with a hairbrush, but whatever) know about coupon codes? I really hope so.
Whenever I buy anything online, when I get to the payment screen, I always look for the box that says “enter your coupon code here.” Then I open a new tab and google “[website name] coupon code”. That easy, seriously. Maybe one of three times I find a workable coupon, but it is so worth it.
I just placed an order with snapfish.com, my photo printing service of choice. I ordered nine 5×7s and six 8×10s, total cost before tax and shipping $25.05– pretty darn good!! But I googled anyways. Within 2 minutes I found “$10 off any order of $25 or more,” score! Just that easy. Total cost with shipping and tax, less than $18.
Google, I love you.
**this PSA regarding coupon codes has been brought to you by your friendly frugal blogger**
It is October, I LOVE October! October 1-December 31 is by FAR my favorite time of the year. As soon as October comes I just get really excited, almost giddy. I love everything about fall and early winter.
It begins when the nights start getting cool. I’m immediately taken back to high school. Sitting on our covered porch, wrapped in a blanket, hanging out with my friends. Laying on a trampoline in the backyard in the middle of the night, staring at the stars. Hanging out around someone’s bonfire after a Friday night football game.
Then the leaves turn… yellow and orange. Ironic because I hate the color orange but I love it in nature. I think the leaves turning is so much more beautiful than any flower in the spring. Apple cider, hay rides, picking out pumpkins, and HALLOWEEN! My birthday is just a few days before Halloween and I’m sure that is part of why it is my favorite holiday. I’d always have costumed birthday parties, and some years we went to “boo at the zoo” or haunted houses. I think I went trick-or-treating every year until I was 14.
Next is Thanksgiving. I love my big family and Thanksgiving is always such a fun time. It is often the first time I’ve seen many of my cousins since the Christmas before, and it is so great to catch up with everyone. We make the rounds at everyone’s house and hit the Black Friday sales at 5am. It isn’t even about what we buy, really. Usually we don’t come home with much more than an average shopping trip, but it is such a fun tradition with my mom.
All of a sudden the Christmas decorations are everywhere and the shopping in earnest begins. If Halloween is my favorite holiday, Christmas is a very near second. Is it just me or is everyone a bit happier in December? We are hopefully getting the first few big snows, and Frank Sinatra sings everywhere. I get to put up a ridiculous amount of decorations and figure out the perfect gift for everyone. There are cookies to bake and parties to attend. Christmas morning is always bittersweet because I know it means the end of this season is near. We get one last hurrah with New Years Eve… and then back to work and cold. I always thought that they should move Christmas to February or March, just to spread out the season… but I don’t think history is on my side here.
As this fall starts, I am just incredibly grateful. I have a lot of good things in my life, and I’m in a really good place. Only time can tell… but I have a hunch that this is going to be a really good year for me.
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