Outside Fred Meyer’s at 7 pm they cracked and had to call me for blankies and a little table to play poker on. They’d been their three hours already and they (from left; my cousin Ryan, Bj, and Brent) have five more still. I’m getting married to a nerd. But a cute one. And after all, I think I might be more excited then him to try out the Wii, and I’m the one whose nice and warm and scrapbooking right now. hehehehe I win.
It’s November!
Just getting these up on the site now. I’ve made some other fun ones up, working on getting those up too. So much yummy ribbon has been coming in, I need to get it all up, they are fab-u-lous.
Love thy neighbors
How do I love my neighborhood, let me count the ways. First I’m misrable sick earlier this week and I hear racking. It’s my wonderful neighbor Eric, Tracy’s husband raking my yard, sa-weet! Then this morning I hear kids running around screaming and I look outside and see this:
and it’s viola, clean street! File under: I love my neighborhood.
slightly better
I feel a tinsy bit better. I had to cancel with another friend today, which sucks, but I don’t think getting people you like sick is a real good testament of friendship, so… Last night I was trying to think of something that would make me feel better. I have been wanted to scrapbook for a good six months, and I finally did yesterday. Just one page, but it made me go to bed a little happier, check it out:
Details at two peas.
What I’ve (not) been up to
What I’ve been up to is being sick. I woke up two days ago with a little nagging cough, then yesterday I lost my voice. This morning it was worse. I had to cancel hanging out with Michele and getting to see my favorite little baby, so as not to spread this thing. Luckily she took pity on me and brought me over soup, orange juice, kleenex, throat lozenges, cough medicine, and the coolest thing ever: bubble gum cold-eeze. I swore I brought my card reader so I could down load pictures, but I guess I forgot it. I spend this last weekend with Bj up at his parents so we could go over the guest list. Um, it’s hard to make the list, much harder than I thought it would be. Easier was picking out our china, you can look up our registry on Macy’s under Amber Pence, what do you think?
Too many colors?
I went through my bits and pieces of ribbon this afternoon before I left for our appointment with the wedding coordinator. I’m thinking really colorful with a nice green/chartreuse base. What do you think? I might add something brighter since it’s March 31st and not really winter, but it should still be nice and gray outside. And hopefully a little wet at least. I love that moody weather.
And now the planning phase.
First of all thank you for your sweet comments, and wonderful stories, I loved them all. I love my blog readers!
So okay I’ve been collecting Martha Stewart Wedding magazines for like 10 years, no joke. Luckily when I was smashed into my mom’s house I did some major editing of my magazine collections, resulting in these binders for my wedding stash. I’ve already looked through them with Bj and edited down further to about 20 good pages of stuff that we like. Plus we registered for our china on Saturday at Macy’s. Bj actual spotted the pattern first, and it is called grosgrain (which is the name of a ribbon) so how could I resist? We have to work fast because we’re hoping for a March 31st wedding. We just can’t handle living an hour apart any more, it’s complete torture. I have a really awesome place temporarily on hold for the reception for that date, but I just got some info from the exclusive caters and it’s so expensive, I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it work. We’ll see. We have an appointment on Friday with a wedding consultant so maybe she’ll have some other good options. Plus I found out that the dress I’ve had in my head forever is a discontinued Vera Wang. But it’s way to early to start freaking out now, right?
In other news the Ribbon Jar and I are best friends again. I’ve been making lots of custom jars for my customers, and I’m going to do some special collections up this week. I’ve restocked all the favorites, and am adding some wicked cool new things, that make me want to just sit down and be crafty. I’ll I’ve had time for is this:
I had it started before I left because I needed something to just knit. No counting, no anything, just knitting. All I have to say is, log cabin rules. But any fan of Mason Dixon and their book knows that!
I said YES… eventually.
We got home from Hawaii and everyone wanted to come over right away. I saw them dart their eyes down to my left and hand and then slowly away. No I wasn’t engaged, as everyone had expected. But that’s not because Bj didn’t ask me. And now that I’ve got a hold of most of my family and friends personally I thought I would blog about it. But first, I need to do a little back story.
Bj and I have been dating for over 5 years, in fact we’ve been dating for 61 months, and that’s a hell of a long time for a girl to wait for a proposal. I don’t talk much about this on the blog, because, like Kay said, it’s almost like talking about Bj right in front of him. I had told Bj at the beginning of the year that I just couldn’t wait any longer for my life to start. The direct result of that was buying my own house and not moving up to Portland. But of course I couldn’t break up with Bj, I love him way too much and I knew we were meant to be together for ever. I considered proposing to him, but I hated the idea that he might be just around the corner with a proposal and I would ruin well laid plans. Also I did express a deep desire for a specific ring and I thought that the long wait was possibly due to him saving up for it. After all he had told me years ago that all he wanted was to have a job first, and he has been working at a great job for a year and half.
So Hawaii, I knew it was coming. I had hopes, but I have lost count of the times I really thought, like totally that it was going to happen and then nothing. We got to the end of trip and nothing had happened, I just figured it wasn’t going to. We’d already walked sunny sandy beaches, gone to romantic dinners, and participated in a wonderful wedding. I was sure if that didn’t bring it out of him nothing would. So…
It’s Monday night and we spent the day para-sailing, and then driving about an hour to get to this awesome fabric store so I could stock up on Hawaiian print fabric. We ended the day at a cool dinner spot on the roof a building right off the beach. I had this crazy homemade smores thing for dessert. Now those of you who have not met me personally this next part will be hard to understand. I don’t drink; okay, but when I have a boat load of sugar and am feeling very happy I get to this sort of crazy place. Everything is funny, I can’t keep a straight face, and stumble around like a crazy. So that’s what happened. I was laughing my butt off walking back to our car, and many of the gifts we got are a result and me going nuts in the Stupid Factory, laughing at everything. So we go back to the hotel and decide to watch Ghostbusters. I love Ghostbusters, and we bought it when we were in Kmart earlier picking up some cheap-o luggage for my fabric haul. I’m being all goofy and Bj loads up Ghostbusters while I change and then we go to watch it. He’s telling me he loves me and everything, but I’m not really paying attention, I’m all, "hey that’s great man, can we start this movie?" So he fumbles with something and drops the ring and then is like, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Or something, I wasn’t really paying attention remember. I was shocked and the Ghostbusters theme just kept playing over the DVD menu. It wasn’t the ring, and it definitely was the proposal I had expected. I was all, "what, WHAT? no, what? What are you doing?" "Asking you to marry me." "Here, like this? In our hotel room, in front of a movie?" I was extremely upset. I mean I have like five hundred good ideas for how a proposal should go, and this didn’t even get close to ranking on the list. Eventually I said I would think about it. I thought it was a bad omen to start with a horrible proposal that I hadn’t even been listening too, I mean I wasn’t even looking at him when he did it.
We actually had a great last couple of days, but I still wouldn’t put the ring on. I didn’t know what I wanted. I thought maybe I wanted him to try again, and he did whip the ring out four more times, after we got home he even snook out to get flowers. But it just got funnier instead of more romantic. We talked about it, and talked about it. The other ring was out of his budget, and now that I’m wearing this one, I don’t know why I didn’t want it at first. I guess I like to consider myself extremely unique and I thought it was just a little too "normal" for me. Bj’s response was that he was an idiot for not coming up with something better. So after much discussion I said yes Friday morning at like 1am. Then I went into super excited hyper mode. I’m so lucky to have Bj in my life, he’s super awesome and though I’ve never dated anyone else, I can’t imagine it any other way. In my opinion no one is as perfect for me as he is. So yeah! Let the planning begin. Because if you think I’m waiting a whole year to get married…
And before you ask, because I’ve already been asked, no I’m not moving! Are you freaking insane? I love this house almost as much as I love Bj!
I really wanted to tell the story how it happened, because, though I haven’t heard another story like it, I’m sure it happens. I’d love to hear your proposal story, if you have one!
I’m back!!! And I’m tan!!!
Dude this was one of the best vacations of my life. Okay nothing comes close to Bj and I’s road tripping adventure of a few years ago, but this was just so relaxing at nice. We got to the island of O’ahu on Monday the 23rd. We were staying in Waikiki at the Marriott. It turns out our room was on the very top floor. I didn’t know that in between the penthouses they throw in a couple of regular rooms, but they do, and the view is sick!
Check out my picture of the day from the night of our arrival for a cool night picture of the island side of the view. It was a little scary to go out on the balcony, I made Bj shake the banister to make sure it was sound. So the main reason for going to Hawaii was for my dear friend Carmen’s wedding. Carmen and I were friends in high school, our freshman and sophomore years we were inseparable. Then Carmen went on a 9 month long exchange in Japan and I was sure I was going to die having her gone. I remember when my mom said to me the day she left. "You may have a lot of boyfriends, but there is nothing like your best girlfriends." So right mom. Anyway Carmen now lives in Alaska with her man Andrew, whom I had never met before, but after meeting him and his friends in Hawaii, I can see that he is worthy of Carmen. We got to hang out with a bunch of fun people. First for Carmen’s bachlorette:
It was all girls, save Carmen’s father who was our driver. His face while Carmen opened her gifts was priceless. We ate at Roy’s and the food, dessert, and atmosphere was great. Check out the presentation:
Before the rehearsal dinner the next day Bj and I went to the aquarium just down the street from our hotel:
Look I finally got to wear my cute summer clothes because there’s no renovation in Hawaii!! Of course the highlight of the trip was the wedding. We got up to the north shore early the day of the wedding so I could do the flowers and Bj could bob around in the ocean with Andrew’s friends. I have never done wedding flowers before, but Carmen said I was the craftiest girl coming and could I please. Of course! Andrew’s mom picked up some flowers at a local market for tres cheap, and we walked the beach to find greenery. I didn’t do so bad if I do say so myself:
I love those grape like things Carmen’s parent’s found on their walk. There is so much wire in this bouquet, I was paranoid that the wind coming in from the ocean would rip it apart, but I hid it well. Here is a beauty shot of me with my bridesmaid’s bouquet:
Hello sunset, just try and take a bad picture in this amazing light. I love the dresses Erin, the maid of honor, picked out for us. Hey they are on sale now at J Crew. They were just perfect and flowing. Carmen and I being as cute as possible:
Carmen got the three of us Tiffany’s bracelets to match hers, and I doubt you’ll ever see me with out it now, I love it so much. Oh hey, and I got my hair cut in Hawaii, love it. Didn’t have time to do that all summer. Now, the cutest couple:
After the ceremony. Check out the back of this dress ladies:
The dress is BCBG, her favorite designer since forever. I was lacing up the back for her almost crying she looked so happy and beautiful. Erin did her hair and spent forever getting every curl perfect, it was wonderful. The whole wedding party thank you to my awesome boyfriend who thought to take this picture of us getting our pictures taken:
After the wedding we island hopped to Maui. So we go to check in to the Westin, get our leis and everything and the receptionist is all, "oh I’m sorry we don’t have any reservation under that name." Commence freaking out. We’re in this beautiful lobby with real flamingos for god’s sake and we don’t want to leave. She tells us that we are actually at the Villas down the road. So we go down the road, not expecting much and check into our room. It’s a freaking timeshare place and we have not only a full sized kitchen, but huge bathroom, dining area, living room, and a bedroom with a heavenly bed. The room was bigger than Bj’s apartment!!! We even had a balcony from with we could see the ocean. Our hotel pool had a water slide. We decided then and there to scrap most of plans for sightseeing around the island and rented snorkels. We snorkeled right in the bay at Ka’anapli, just paces from the hotel pool. We got burnt, we drank mixed drinks, went into town and ate the BEST PIZZA EVER. Bought funny gifts for our friends, a crap load of Hawaiian print fabric, and then a couple extra suitcases to hold it, but um, took like next to no pictures. Here is a few from that island:
I love this dress my mom got me for the 2004 road trip, if I ever were it out I will scour the earth for another.
What a cutie. Hang loose! Or you know, I always see this as yellow, since that is the ASL sign. Anyway I’m going to post more pictures in my photo albums, check them out!
Picture Re-Cap
Okay have to make this quick:
Decided on green for the fireplace too, and I love it. Love the flowers from the Leks, so cool, thanks guys!
And now we’re off and I won’t see you for nearly two weeks. Bj and I have both agreed not to take computers or work phones or anything. So we’ll just be relaxing. And knitting, I hope for lots of knitting. See you later!
(picture courtesy of Bj’s co-workers)