One More LA Wedding Post...

I promise this is the last time I will blab about my BFF's wedding in SoCal!  Betsy Blue, her amazing photographer, posted a link to her blog on facebook today.  Turns out, Betsy entered some of her photos to the Style Me Pretty wedding blog and Kristine & Uriah's pictures are featured!!! Bets did an amazing job... I find it funny reading the comments on the Style Me Pretty blog about the details of the wedding... Kristine did all of the planning and visionary work herself! I admit, half of the time I thought she was crazy! HA!  It ended up being the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to and I am so proud to say that I stood by her as her maid of honor up at that beautiful alter!!!

So, anyway... go check out Betsy's blog and the Style Me Pretty blog too!!! Sigh... it makes me wish I could get married again and have a TON of money to do it with! :)  Not to say that I didn't appreciate our wedding, it was beautiful too!!! :)

Top 2 Tuesday.... Dates!

This week's Top 2 Tuesday topic is... Dates!

I honestly am having a hard time choosing just two dates... Brandon and I have been together for over seven years and we still have no children... so we've been lucky to have LOTS of dates!!! :)

One of my favorite dates will definitely have to be the night he proposed, December 16th 2007.  I totally knew it was coming, but it ended up being perfect.  We lived in Arizona at the time and it was Christmas season (my favorite!) We had both worked a lunch shift that Sunday but Brandon had told me earlier in the week he wanted to go out for a nice dinner after our shift that day.  So, I knew it was coming.  I even told some of our buddies at work I thought it was happening, but I didn't want to ruin his plans.  So, I tried with all my might to just be quiet! That was TOUGH!  As we pulled into The Phoenician in Scottsdale I sent a quick text message to my BFF Kristine (the one who just got married) and then Brandon yanked the phone from my hand and threw it in the backseat! Oh no! I left her hanging! I sent a text that implied what was happening and then she was left in suspense for the next 2.5 hours!  Anyway, it was such a peaceful dinner because the restaurant was super slow on a Sunday evening but there was a pianist playing Christmas tunes on a beautiful grand piano.  That is SO up my ally! I love piano music and then Christmas music even more! :)  So, we ate a beautiful meal that was VERY expensive (um, we were poor college kids!) and then we paid and walked outside and around the hotel grounds and I made some snarky remark about how we spent $200 on dinner and no proposal?! It was one of those moments where I definitely didn't think before I spoke... ha!  Well, thankfully I didn't piss him off too much and about five minutes later down the path in front a beautiful fountain he got down on one knee and said about a million beautiful things.  It was perfect.  He proposed with a ring that was my moms... he knew I would want to have a part in the ring decision and it meant a lot because I knew he had to of asked my mom for that ring months previous when we were home visiting everyone.  I still don't know how he hid the ring from me! I'm snoopy! Anyway, the night ended with me finally being able to text Kristine and then we called my parents (of course, my mom knew!) and they were so happy for us.  Those are the only three people I contacted.  Then, we drove around looking at Christmas lights throughout the lovely cookie cutter Arizona neighborhoods! :) It was fabulous! He made the night so special just by doing some of my favorite things.

The other favorite date that sticks out in my mind is way back in 2004, the year we graduated high school. That summer we spent our time working and glued together... like normal 18 year old kids... right? Ha! Anyway, one day we decided to head down to a local beach town about two hours away and have a getaway.  We drove down there and rented a hotel room and found some adventure.  We walked the beach for hours and found a quaint little bed & breakfast to have dinner at.  After dinner we took a blanket down to the beach and sat together listening to the waves.  Brandon had bought me a promise ring and he gave it to me while we were down there on the beach... it was very romantic (I suppose!)  I only have one picture of this date and it is of us at dinner but it was a special day and a half! :)  We rented mopeds the next day and proceeded to get stuck on the beach several times! We had a blast!

It is funny to me that my two favorite dates are semi-romantic... because I am SO not a romantic person.  It makes me feel all awkward and uncomfortable and I usually make an ass out of myself some how because I feel weird (like my snarky comment about no proposal yet!) But these two dates just remind me how doing simple stuff together just makes us so happy! We are such dorks that wearing the goofy helmets and getting stuck in the sand on our mopeds was a blast! Haha!  Anyway, if you want to share your favorite dates... go over to Taylor's blog and play along!

Reusable Gift Wrap Giveaway!

My friend Jen at A Daily Dose of Davis has been integrating Eco-Friendly Friday into her weekly posts.  She has come up with some great ideas!  Since wedding season is right around the corner, her post this week was on gift wrap. 

I admit, I'm a sucker for a beautifully wrapped present.  I love when someone takes the time and effort into making something look beautiful for me and I thoroughly enjoy wrapping presents that I am giving. However, it is SO wasteful.  Some of the options that Jen has suggested are really beautiful!  Hop on over to her blog to see what you think... and enter her giveaway!

Wishful Wednesday & Top Two Tuesday... Late!

It's Wednesday again... and this time I'm going to cheat. I will do this week's Wishful Wednesday topic first.... then last week's Top Two Tuesday. Just because houses get me all excited like that. I have had posts from last week in my drafts and just haven't gotten around to posting them!


First up... I "wish" I could come home to this bedroom every night...

I love the light airy look of this room but it is classically fussy... just like I like it! Ha!  A lot of nic nak type of things and I LOVE the chandelier! Yowza! Check out the detail of the ceiling also... very unique.

I also love this room and it may be a better mixture of Brandon and I rather than so girly and much simpler...

The warm colors in this room make it very inviting and I love the bed and the tray ceiling. The only thing I would add to this bedroom is a fireplace!

Now, a master suite would not be complete without one of these...

Ahhh... bath time!

Oh, and of course... one of these!

This makes my closet (ha!) type A organized heart go pitter patter... *sigh*

Now, on to Taylor's Top Two Tuesday... I'm only 8 days late... geeze.





The topic last week was DREAM HOUSES!

I have to pick two?! That is a difficult task people! My mom has been a Realtor for as long as I can remember... so when most of the people my age remember watching Animaniacs and Saved By the Bell I remember following my mom in and out of countless houses.  Even now, I would much rather attend Seattle Street of Dreams or even our own Thurston County Street of Dreams than go to Nordy's Half Yearly Sale any day.  I mean, really!  My mom showed Brandon and I over 30 homes in the area when it was time to buy our starter home.  We lucked out and found a really nice house... but a girl can dream right!? Oh yes... this girl can dream!  Someday I will have a mini version of my dream home, because really... I don't need over 2,500 square feet!
I typically go for French Country styled homes or at least more Traditional homes.  Every once in a while a Craftsman will tug at my heart strings or even a traditional PNW home with cedar shingles.  Here are some examples of things I love!

Here is a classic Pacific Northwest exterior.  I would love this house nestled on acreage or even on a fairway of a nice golf course with a view of the Olympics behind it... :) We need to have the golf course for Brandon!


This is a more classic French Country style that I love...


Isn't this one gorgeous at night? How fun would it be to entertain around that pool!?


I would love to have a kitchen that looks something like this....


Well, that was fun!  If you made it to the end of this post... thanks! I had fun looking for houses and bedrooms. But, I must say if I ever get the blessing of owning a home like any of these I would definitely need this service to help me out! :)

Beautiful May Days

May has proven to be gorgeous so far. Its days like we've had recently that make up for all of the rain and cloudy days in the PNW. Good thing the weather has been great because I feel like I'm slowly sinking in quicksand.

School has me completely overwhelmed. I've been enrolled (again!) for the last ten months and I only have six months left until I will have completed my BA in Organizational Leadership *cue the confused looks*. Some day I will elaborate more on what my degree is centered around. In a nutshell, it is the human side of businesses. The infrastructures of HR and how important they are in the big picture. I'm learning how to be a successful and effective leader wich will help me in literally every aspect of my life.

The problem with school is that I am on an accellerated timeline meaning I am finishing courses that would typically be completed within a semester in 8 weeks. Yowza.

Work doesn't stress me out, thankfully. Its just a time sucker. I will admit that bartending is definitely a means to an end and not something I enjoy much, but it is what it is. I love my days with baby E though. She's kind of a monster some times but it is just her curiosity and zest for ACTION! Ha! That child is wild! She's just over a year and not quite walking... we have a great time.

Then there is that thing we all know as "life.." both of our moms birthdays are in May, Mother's Day, my SIL's birthday and every other random thing that pops up. I feel like I can't keep up!

Then, last week we almost lost my Grandma. My Gram means SO much to me. I have lost four Grandparents and two parents... the thought of losing her made me almost have a breakdown. She was airlifted to Harborview which is the number one Trauma Center in ID, MT, WA and AK... I am so thankfulthat they got her there in time and she's now recovering. If I didn't believe in the power of prayer before last week... I certainly do now.

So, I am thankful for so many things in my life and I love my life. However, I'm going through a rough patch! I will make it through though! The beautiful day spent out on the lake in our boat today helped... :)

Happy Friday!