Shower Power!

A Quicky for ya:

La Amada will make you holla!

We might have, maybe, possibly found a resort! YAH!
Check it out if ya want to.....www.laamadahotel.com

It looks super fancy, which we are not, but what the hey it's not like we're white trash or nothin. Right Ya'll? I totally wear shoes to Wal-Mart now. Every Time.

Skie is wonderful and irritating all in the same breath. It's just not fair he is so good at everything. Ok not everything, I don't recall one time his dirty socks have made it the hamper immediately after removal. But....he is good at finding resorts online. I've been stressing about finding a place, and he stayed up until 4 am Monday night researching. He found two great places actually, and the other one is somewhat still in the running but they haven't gotten back to me on prices. Check it out: www.hotellereve.com

Le Reve is cool because it only has 25 rooms, so we could rent the whole place to ourselves! How fun! And, although there is only one restaurant we could basically order whatever we want. Some of our peeps have strict diet restrictions. Con of Le Reve, we think/hope more than 50 people can come! The guest list is just about 150, and Skie hasn't looked at it yet. But, the other side of that is there is a nice resort just a quick 5 minute walk down the beach. Not that big of a deal. We hope it isn't too expensive.

I can't wait to move on from this, and make some STD's!!
I already have the ones I want picked out on Etsy. I won't show you though because then it won't be a fun surprise! I also have the invitations I want on Etsy. :)

I wonder if it is appropriate to send some people one type of invite and other people a fancier version. I don't know if we can afford 150 of the ones I really, really want.
Hmm....so many etiquette questions.

I am *hopefully* going wedding dress shopping on Saturday! YAH!
We have four places booked, but I might have to cancel one of them. It is too many in one day!
My mom is coming down, my ex-roommate will go, and my other friend Alice (who BTW is the most adorable preggo ever! Well after Kat and Anne, obvi!)

Just Jokes

Dirty DR is a no-go :(


But Mexico is back in! :)


Oh the bittersweet......





Someone (not to mention any names, but we know a munchkin with the same name....) has family that are not big traveler's so had a small (read: huge, and decisively stated they would not go) reaction to Mexico initially. After realizing it is the best country to have a destination wedding, agreed it wasn't so dangerous after all.





Back to the resort drawing board now. Which is stressful, time consuming, and exhausting. Did I mention stressful? The goal was to have the Save-The-Dates (or STDs as the forums call them, hehe) out by the time we leave for Seattle in June. Yeah, probs not happenin





Oh well. We will just renovate the bathroom.


Seriously we are redoing the bathroom. Just because life isn't quite busy enough.


(Pictures to come)





The good thing about the bathroom is because we only have one shower, we have to get away for the weekend AT THE BEACH! It's a sacrifice, but I can manage.





I think I have the resort thing narrowed down to about 3. Just to get the fiance to sit down and look at them. Maybe tonight between going to Lowe's for the bathroom stuff, playing a soccer game, packing, and cooking dinner I can show him. Seems unlikely, but a girl can dream.

Unofficially Official

Not going to Dominican Republic now. I know, I know we are all going to miss having a 7-10 hour flight, but it's not going to happen. It looks like Mexico is the winner! Which is great because that is where Skie and I wanted to go all along, but there are some people in my life who watch a bit too much Fox "News" and believed we would all be killed by scary men with guns. The Mayan Riviera is super safe tourist region. We are going to be fine.
After looking around said "people in my life" were suddenly on board.
DR is 7 hours minimum from DFW, and there are many 24 hour flights from Seattle if anyone happens to come from there.....
Jamaica resorts just don't do it for me, and they are pricey! We don't love that.
So Mexico won! Now to pick a resort...... This is really simple it takes about 30 minutes per resort to research the first time, and there are only about 1,157,489 resorts. No big deal.

Dirty DR

It's official: We are getting married in the Dominican Republic! YAH! At the Majestic Colonial resort www.majestic-resorts.com.


And we are going to hire "Photo Phil" who is the resident pro in Punta Cana, though he hails from Canada. Check him out: steingardstudios.com


He does "Trash the Dress" sessions where you do all kind of crazy things in your wedding dress, like getting in the ocean, sitting on the sand (gasp!) I am excited about those pictures!

It appears the best wedding website ever is mostly Canadians. I had no idea, but it is the best destination wedding site ever. bestdestinationweddings.com

DIY:
One of the major stressors is trying to decide what to DIY and what to just buy. I mean it isn't like I'm busy, working full-time, going to graduate school, playing on a championship kickball team, riding bicycles for AIDS awareness, redecorating a 5 year old bachelor pad, and planning a wedding. I should be able to make everything! (read: serious sarcasm)


I do, despite all that, want to make some things too add "that personal touch". Just which ones to choose.....definately not invitations or Save the dates. But what about welcome bags, bridesmaids t-shirts, centerpieces, and what not. I think I can do some of the things. Some brides make everything. What the heck are their jobs? Do they have jobs?


I will always work that is a given. but the other day I jokingly told Skie I wanted to be a "kept woman." He laughed, and said that is why I am in graduate school, so he can be the "kept man." Apparently that is his dream job. Whatever- let the competition begin....


Next up save the dates......

Life is so hard....

Really, my biggest decision right now is what fabulous resort to marry my amazing fiance! Times like this make me feel extremely grateful. I am grateful for: having enough money, which has many addendums- so I know I will eat tonight, so I have a roof over my head, so I can travel anywhere I want (Seattle, Dominican Republic, etc.) having a good job that I actually like after 5 years starting an internship that is going to be amazing having wonderful family having wonderful friends being physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy and so many more..........

Vegas Baby!

We are definitely going to VEGAS!! I have never been so I am super excited, and we are going to play kickball! Our kickball team is amazing. We won the championship game (twice) and got an invitation to the national tournament in Las Vegas in October! How crazy fun is that going to be?! TONS! Also I hope we can be on ESPN Ocho....a girl can dream....

Wedding Plans

I never thought I would be "one of those girls" but here I am. I love planning the wedding! It is so much fun thinking about where to go, who will be there, and what it will be like to get married to my amazing fiance! We are going to have destination wedding somewhere in the Caribbean, but that is such a big place where to start?!! Every day during my lunch break I search for resorts, checking each thing that is important to us, ruling some in, some out, not finding the "perfect" place yet. At least we know the approximate time of year (April or May) and the approximate location. After that, I really just need to decide on a color and a dress, and done! I think the destination wedding thing is really going to suit us! Start saving your money honey, we are going to the BEACH! :)

Proposed

Skie asked me to marry him! (and I said yes!) It is such a good story, I wanted to share and have it documented for posterity. He suggested we go to the Zilker Botanical Gardens on Saturday March 19 to look for plants for our yard. Friday night we stayed home, and my friend Meg called him, and he went outside to take the call. This was my first red flag something was going down.....he had been super cute recently, talking about "when we are married," and "when you are my wife" and he asked what it would be like to hold hands with a giant rock on my finger. Second red flag.... That Saturday driving to the park, Meg called him again, and he lied about it saying it was his dad. Third red flag.... I really did not think he was going to propose this day, I thought we would just take some pictures for landscaping and go out with friends. I had it in my head he was going to ask the next week when we went to New Orleans. We were standing in front of a gorgeous waterfall about to leave the gardens and I saw a photographer who I thought was trying to take pictures of the waterfall. I started walking away from it, and I saw Meg and two other girls from River City Pops (a "Glee"-esque choir) walking towards us. I was very confused as they started singing "Going to the Chapel." I turned around, the photographer started taking my picture as Skie got on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I started crying and choked out a yes! The girls were still singing as Skie put the ring on my finger and gave me a big hug. It was the most wonderful moment of my life. And the story doesn't end there...... We had already had plans to ride the train to a little co-op beer joint to meet friends. We continued as planned, saw friends on the train, got to the bar, and out of the crowd came my mom and dad! Skie called them and asked them to come down to share the special day with us! Throughout the night my uncle, Skie's aunt, and many many friends came out to congratulate us and share the love. It was one of the best days I have ever experienced. So much love for us! It was really amazing. If getting engaged was this awesome, I don't know if I can handle the wedding day! :) but I can't wait to try.......