When I moved to Ohio 1 1/2 years ago, I know there would be sacrifices. A long distance relationship is more than just missing your significant other, it means a lot of flying back and forth between cities. Lucky for me, that means I get to visit San Diego several times a year! I'm in the airport now, tapping away this post on my phone excited about seeing my fiancé (won't ever get tired of saying that!) in 7 hours. 7 hours seems like nothing compared to 7 days or 7 weekends so I'm very excited about this.
Before the engagement, this weekend was going to be a camping trip in the mountains and lots of relaxing. Now it is all about engagement photos, celebrating with family and friends, and registering!!! I we may be apart until early June so it is important to get these things done now (according to the bazillions of to-do lists found on the internets)
So, we'd love your help!! Married or just a professional wedding guest, tell me your dos, don'ts, loves, hates, advice and suggestions about wedding registry. Favorite stores, best value, most used and never taken out of the box items are all welcome. Come on...you know you want to give your opinion!!!
Thanks friends!!
See you soon, San Diego!!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Setting the date
After being together for 4 1/2 years, Connor and I had often talked about getting married. He knew I didn't want a terribly long engagement partly because I am just ready to marry him and partly because I knew with too much time to plan the wedding, I'd go a bit crazy.
At dinner the night of the proposal, I cautiously brought up the question of when we might want to get married. I wasn't sure that he'd go along with my moderately short engagement plan so I wanted to be careful...no reason to rock the boat 2 hours into the big night! Luckily he told me that he assumed it would be this fall sometime, to my relief. Because I knew the proposal was coming, I happened to take a peek at the Texas A&M Football schedule so see what we might be contending with in Brenham.
For those of you hiding under a rock, in the last year Football at A&M has become a thing. A REALLY BIG thing. So much of a big thing that I know many people who attend every game, who tailgate with the best of them, and who would not be pleased to miss a home game in what should be one of the biggest seasons ever. My hometown of Brenham is about 50 miles from College Station where I attended Texas A&M from 2003-2007. Because of the MASSIVE influx of visitors for the game, hotels in Brenham often get booked up on game weekends since it is a relatively easy drive. For those two reasons I knew we had to pick a weekend that did not conflict with a Home game.
This left:
September 28...too soon.
October 12...I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding in San Diego that weekend.
November 2...a home game but its against UTEP...the game most Aggies would possibly give up but alas, its the opening weekend of hunting season and my Dad put a stop to that.
November 23...away vs. LSU, I'd have a watch party instead of a wedding.
Then we are getting close to December and I didn't even want to mess with that.
So that left November 16, 2013. Its a bye week for Fightin' Texas Aggie Football. A match made in heaven.
That leaves us with 8 1/2 months, not too short, not too long, I think it will be just right!
Did you have drama trying to save the date for you wedding? Or did you just have a huddle of groomsmen in the back corner listening to their respective sporting event?
At dinner the night of the proposal, I cautiously brought up the question of when we might want to get married. I wasn't sure that he'd go along with my moderately short engagement plan so I wanted to be careful...no reason to rock the boat 2 hours into the big night! Luckily he told me that he assumed it would be this fall sometime, to my relief. Because I knew the proposal was coming, I happened to take a peek at the Texas A&M Football schedule so see what we might be contending with in Brenham.
For those of you hiding under a rock, in the last year Football at A&M has become a thing. A REALLY BIG thing. So much of a big thing that I know many people who attend every game, who tailgate with the best of them, and who would not be pleased to miss a home game in what should be one of the biggest seasons ever. My hometown of Brenham is about 50 miles from College Station where I attended Texas A&M from 2003-2007. Because of the MASSIVE influx of visitors for the game, hotels in Brenham often get booked up on game weekends since it is a relatively easy drive. For those two reasons I knew we had to pick a weekend that did not conflict with a Home game.
This left:
September 28...too soon.
October 12...I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding in San Diego that weekend.
November 2...a home game but its against UTEP...the game most Aggies would possibly give up but alas, its the opening weekend of hunting season and my Dad put a stop to that.
November 23...away vs. LSU, I'd have a watch party instead of a wedding.
Then we are getting close to December and I didn't even want to mess with that.
So that left November 16, 2013. Its a bye week for Fightin' Texas Aggie Football. A match made in heaven.
That leaves us with 8 1/2 months, not too short, not too long, I think it will be just right!
Did you have drama trying to save the date for you wedding? Or did you just have a huddle of groomsmen in the back corner listening to their respective sporting event?
Monday, February 18, 2013
The Proposal
The big night came and went and I've been an engaged girl for 11 days....its still fun and I'm still smiling like a big ol' goof when I look down at the beautiful ring on my hand. I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so I'll start from the beginning.
If you haven't yet...I highly suggest starting with the first three parts of the epic proposal saga:
Part 1: An OOPS of Epic proportions
Part 2: When life gives you lemons...go shopping
Part 3: T-24 Hours
Thursday, February 7th was the longest day EVER. I was waking up early all week (I have no idea why, ha!) and Thursday was no different. I knew I had a full day of work to get through before the big event so I purposefully planned to have a project that would take me the whole day and would keep me focused and zen! It worked, the day flew by, and before I knew it, I was getting ready! I was originally supposed to be ready by 6 but (as I later found out) Connor's plane was delayed in Chicago so that was pushed back until after 7. Of course I was ready by about 5:30 so there was lots of pacing and thinking and re-touching. Finally Erin said it was time to go so with a leg warmer as a blindfold, off we went to the top secret location!
Erin managed to throw me off on our way to the location but once we started driving up some big hills, I was pretty sure I knew where we were! The BEAUTIFUL Alms Park in Cincinnati. It was dark by the time I arrived but I've included two photos of what it looks like in the daylight.
I have visited this park several times and Connor and I actually visited here the last time he was in Cincinnati. We even stood in the spot where the proposal took place. Its lovely any time of year and I'll happily visit again!
It was so wonderful to see Connor in front of me when the blindfold was taken off. Being in a long distance relationship with him makes every time I see him incredibly special, this night especially. I sort of expected him to start talking (I mean, this was his deal after all!) but there was definitely a minute of awkward small talk that still makes me laugh a little bit. I was thinking, "Uh...I think this is where you say nice stuff" and finally he started in on a very sweet little speech. I don't remember much of it but I'm pretty sure he called me the "Apple of his eye" which is great because he has beautiful blue eyes. He got down on one knee, said my full name, and asked me to be his wife. I think I might have had a tear in my eye but I really just had a huge smile on my face. Of course it was dark when he opened the ring box so he ran over and grabbed his phone to shine a light on it.
THAT was the moment I got emotional. Connor took everything I had ever said about what I would love in a ring and presented me with the most beautiful ring I had ever laid my eyes on. He listened. He worked (really) hard to make sure it would be something that I would love (and I do!). I'm proud to wear it because it is beautiful but I'm even more proud because it means that I get to marry my best friend!!!! Still love saying it!
The ring gets a whole post to itself but I've had lots of requests for this, so here it is!!
After the proposal, Connor pulled out his computer and started showing me a video that he had put together. Remember that Facebook message I mistakenly got? It was a request for pictures and videos to share with me after the big event. We got through the first five minutes of it when his computer had a hiccup and he announced that we had dinner plans and needed to go! (Sidenote: we did finally finish the video the next morning and it was really incredible to watch 20 minutes of the most important people in my life congratulating us on our engagement.)
We called my parents on the way to dinner and I think my mom was as excited that the proposal happened as she was that she didn't have to keep it a secret any longer. We were headed to Metropole at the 21C Hotel in Cincinnati for dinner and to stay there for the night. Dinner was really lovely. Our food was fantastic and we had a sweet little table for two. It was so fun to hear about his side of the story, learn about the ring, his asking my parents (which he did on December 28th, my birthday, when we were in Texas), and start talking about when we wanted to get married.
Just after I commented on how lovely it was that we were having such a nice, leisurely dinner, he looked down and realized that we were going to be late for the final event of the evening.
To finish off the night, Connor walked me to Igby's, a new bar around the corner. When we walked in, we had 15 of my wonderful friends waiting to celebrate our engagement with us! It was a really wonderful way to end the night! (Thanks everyone for joining us!!)
The rest of the weekend was filled with staring at my hand, giggling over calling each other 'fiance', phoning family and friends, posting to Facebook to make it officially official, and smiling from ear to ear. My wonderful roommates gave us a bottle of champagne and a wedding magazine (that was for me, though Connor got a good laugh by looking through it!) so we got to toast to our future before my fiance had to head back to California.
We have already begun the fun of planning our wedding and I plan on sharing much of the adventure on the blog! I'm living in Ohio, Connor is in California, and we're planning our wedding in Texas so having something to share with friends and family across the country is important to me. I'm even hoping that Connor will be making an appearance with some posts as he's a fantastic writer and I think the male's perspective would be an interesting addition to a typical wedding blog.
If you haven't yet...I highly suggest starting with the first three parts of the epic proposal saga:
Part 1: An OOPS of Epic proportions
Part 2: When life gives you lemons...go shopping
Part 3: T-24 Hours
Thursday, February 7th was the longest day EVER. I was waking up early all week (I have no idea why, ha!) and Thursday was no different. I knew I had a full day of work to get through before the big event so I purposefully planned to have a project that would take me the whole day and would keep me focused and zen! It worked, the day flew by, and before I knew it, I was getting ready! I was originally supposed to be ready by 6 but (as I later found out) Connor's plane was delayed in Chicago so that was pushed back until after 7. Of course I was ready by about 5:30 so there was lots of pacing and thinking and re-touching. Finally Erin said it was time to go so with a leg warmer as a blindfold, off we went to the top secret location!
Erin managed to throw me off on our way to the location but once we started driving up some big hills, I was pretty sure I knew where we were! The BEAUTIFUL Alms Park in Cincinnati. It was dark by the time I arrived but I've included two photos of what it looks like in the daylight.
This is the place he was waiting for me. The compass rose was surrounded by candles and rose petals. Facing the other way is a beautiful view of the Ohio river and downtown in the background which sparkled in the dark.
A view from above...the lower area is where it all happened!
It was so wonderful to see Connor in front of me when the blindfold was taken off. Being in a long distance relationship with him makes every time I see him incredibly special, this night especially. I sort of expected him to start talking (I mean, this was his deal after all!) but there was definitely a minute of awkward small talk that still makes me laugh a little bit. I was thinking, "Uh...I think this is where you say nice stuff" and finally he started in on a very sweet little speech. I don't remember much of it but I'm pretty sure he called me the "Apple of his eye" which is great because he has beautiful blue eyes. He got down on one knee, said my full name, and asked me to be his wife. I think I might have had a tear in my eye but I really just had a huge smile on my face. Of course it was dark when he opened the ring box so he ran over and grabbed his phone to shine a light on it.
THAT was the moment I got emotional. Connor took everything I had ever said about what I would love in a ring and presented me with the most beautiful ring I had ever laid my eyes on. He listened. He worked (really) hard to make sure it would be something that I would love (and I do!). I'm proud to wear it because it is beautiful but I'm even more proud because it means that I get to marry my best friend!!!! Still love saying it!
The ring gets a whole post to itself but I've had lots of requests for this, so here it is!!
After the proposal, Connor pulled out his computer and started showing me a video that he had put together. Remember that Facebook message I mistakenly got? It was a request for pictures and videos to share with me after the big event. We got through the first five minutes of it when his computer had a hiccup and he announced that we had dinner plans and needed to go! (Sidenote: we did finally finish the video the next morning and it was really incredible to watch 20 minutes of the most important people in my life congratulating us on our engagement.)
We called my parents on the way to dinner and I think my mom was as excited that the proposal happened as she was that she didn't have to keep it a secret any longer. We were headed to Metropole at the 21C Hotel in Cincinnati for dinner and to stay there for the night. Dinner was really lovely. Our food was fantastic and we had a sweet little table for two. It was so fun to hear about his side of the story, learn about the ring, his asking my parents (which he did on December 28th, my birthday, when we were in Texas), and start talking about when we wanted to get married.
Just after I commented on how lovely it was that we were having such a nice, leisurely dinner, he looked down and realized that we were going to be late for the final event of the evening.
To finish off the night, Connor walked me to Igby's, a new bar around the corner. When we walked in, we had 15 of my wonderful friends waiting to celebrate our engagement with us! It was a really wonderful way to end the night! (Thanks everyone for joining us!!)
The rest of the weekend was filled with staring at my hand, giggling over calling each other 'fiance', phoning family and friends, posting to Facebook to make it officially official, and smiling from ear to ear. My wonderful roommates gave us a bottle of champagne and a wedding magazine (that was for me, though Connor got a good laugh by looking through it!) so we got to toast to our future before my fiance had to head back to California.
We have already begun the fun of planning our wedding and I plan on sharing much of the adventure on the blog! I'm living in Ohio, Connor is in California, and we're planning our wedding in Texas so having something to share with friends and family across the country is important to me. I'm even hoping that Connor will be making an appearance with some posts as he's a fantastic writer and I think the male's perspective would be an interesting addition to a typical wedding blog.
T-24 Hours!!
Part 1: An OOPS of Epic Proportions
Part 2: When life gives you lemons...go shopping
Part 3 of this little proposal saga:
My dress is steamed, my nails are polished and glittery, and my bag will soon be packed (because I was informed tonight that I needed an overnight bag!! Eeek!!). The last week has both flown by and taken an eternity all at the same time. I still have a day of work to get through but with a belated birthday lunch with my coworkers and some quiet time painting fabric, I have high hopes that the day will go quickly. As of now, after work I'll come home, get in an easy run (and hopefully blow off some steam!) and get all gussied up. My roommate asked me if I'd be ok wearing a blindfold in the car which means I'm being taken to a secret location for the big event. I still have no idea where we'll be going, and really, I don't even care. I can't wait to see Connor's face, to hug him, to see the beginning of the rest of our lives together unfold. Apparently, since the great mishap, there have been many changes of plans between Connor and my amazing roommates. I'm really looking forward to all of the behind the scenes stories, I know they've all worked really hard to make this weekend special for Connor and I. How lucky am I?!
Part 2: When life gives you lemons...go shopping
Part 3 of this little proposal saga:
My dress is steamed, my nails are polished and glittery, and my bag will soon be packed (because I was informed tonight that I needed an overnight bag!! Eeek!!). The last week has both flown by and taken an eternity all at the same time. I still have a day of work to get through but with a belated birthday lunch with my coworkers and some quiet time painting fabric, I have high hopes that the day will go quickly. As of now, after work I'll come home, get in an easy run (and hopefully blow off some steam!) and get all gussied up. My roommate asked me if I'd be ok wearing a blindfold in the car which means I'm being taken to a secret location for the big event. I still have no idea where we'll be going, and really, I don't even care. I can't wait to see Connor's face, to hug him, to see the beginning of the rest of our lives together unfold. Apparently, since the great mishap, there have been many changes of plans between Connor and my amazing roommates. I'm really looking forward to all of the behind the scenes stories, I know they've all worked really hard to make this weekend special for Connor and I. How lucky am I?!
I've
gotten 6 love letters from Connor and I've been told to expect one more
tonight, the final installment. Each has been more adorable and
thoughtful than the last. He told me that the letters came about as a way
to make up for the surprise being ruined. I must admit: now that this is
the way things played out, I couldn't be happier. I will cherish these
letters forever, and to think, they almost never were. I'm also really
excited that I get to truly appreciate the events that will transpire this
weekend. Yes, I know that a proposal is coming, Con won't get that
shocked look that he was expecting with the previous plan. But I'll be present
in the moment. (Hopefully) I'll be able to remember each moment and hold
it close to my heart. I've never much liked not knowing what is going on,
but with this situation, I know just enough to trust Connor and my roommates
and to go with the flow and have fun!
I
keep wondering what my reaction will be. Just thinking about the idea of
it makes me get a little teary. I don't want to try to figure out how its
all going to happen, I trust that its in great hands. Its pretty possible
that I'll cry. I'll definitely laugh, thats for sure. Will I say a
simple "yes" or just nod? Or play it cool with a "eh,
sure"? Or maybe go big and let loose a "HELL YEAH". Right
now, Inner Megan is letting out intermittent squeals of excitement so maybe it
will just be an "EEEEEeeeeeeek!" Whatever comes out of my
mouth, in my heart it will be "yes my love, forever".
And
the ring...I'm SO curious to see what he picked out. He knows very well
that I have pretty strong feelings towards a modern meets vintage style. Our
personal styles are quite different. I'm a vintage/eclectic fan and he's
all about the clean and modern. I think there is a place for them to meet
and I'm sure he'll find it. We first looked at rings online in the Fall
of 2011. We looked in stores Spring 2012. I found only one that I
liked but after about 6 months I got a bit cold on it deciding that it just
wasn't quite right. Per his request, I made a secret Pinterest account so
I could pin some ring images I really liked to share with him. There was
definitely a theme of leaf motifs and (what I call) a football shape and an
oval diamond. A unique vintage feel but clean and modern, hopefully
timeless. In mid-December I showed him a photo of a beautiful ring with
an oval diamond with a leaf motif on the sides. I told him that its
exactly what I wanted. That specific ring was even custom made in San
Diego! I have no idea where he was in the planning stage of all of this
and now I only hope I didn't give him a heart attack a month and a half ago.
I
guess this time tomorrow I'll know all of these mysterious questions. The
one thing I do know right now: I'm desperately in love with the man of my
dreams and I cannot wait to be his forever.
When life gives you lemons, go shopping
By
Thursday I decided that I needed to work the system and use this new knowledge
to my advantage. Life had given me some big sour lemons and I was
determined to make cocktail with 'em. I just *happened* to be going to the mall
with my roommate/bride to be Erin to pick out my bridesmaids dress for her
wedding so we decided to take a look around and see what else we might find
since we both have events coming up that would benefit from some cute outfits.
And lets face it, after a icy and cold winter, we were looking forward to
something that reminded us that the trees would bloom again and we would be
seeing flowers soon.
Our
target was Francesca's.
If you've never been to one of these stores, I HIGLY recommend it!
I compared it to a poor girl's Anthropologie with a little less
hippie/boho vibe. I've been a fan for a while, picking up some of my most
interesting wardrobe pieces there. They also have fabulous jewelry, purses,
and great girlie gifties. Erin found a darling sleeveless white lace
dress that is gathered at the waist with a black ribbon. We have had fun
coming up with ideas to style it different for tons of different events and I
think she'll get a lot of wear out of it! I tried on several dresses but
the one I chose was the first one that I picked up and loved from the
beginning. A cream or white dress felt appropriate for the occasion (and
something that I'll be able to wear again in the coming months) and I love the
embellished collar. Since it will be cold, I plan on styling it like
this:
 |
Meanz from A Koi Story models the Chrysler Brocade
Dress from Francescas
|
I'll probably wear a black blazer with the dress
instead of the cardigan to add a little more contrast and edge. I've got
solid black tights as well as some fun lace/fish nets that I'm deciding
between. Also, the dress is a bit shorter on me so it is cute but
appropriate for a 28 year old. During our shopping extravaganza, I also
picked up some new black pumps replacing my 7 year old previous pair. It was
time and this was my excuse. I'm so thrilled with my finds and I think
the outfit is going to end up looking really beautiful, classic, and timeless.
I
have to say that overall, I'm still feeling quite calm about the situation.
Since there would have been a whole avalanche of surprises, I'm quite
sure I would have been very overwhelmed. Surprise visit and an engagement
is a whole heap of excitement. Because of the turn of events, I now have
the opportunity to savor the anticipation, to reflect on our relationship, and
to mentally prepare myself for the beginning of a crazy new chapter in our
lives. I have a very unique opportunity to take everything in and
remember every moment...at least long enough to get it written down.
My
dear boyfriend is not normally a mushy kind of guy. For sure, he lets me
know how much he cares about me, but its never in grand gestures. I must
begin to give him more credit though. For the past two nights, he's
written me the most wonderful love letters. Each begins with the number of
sleeps until I get to see him ('sleeps' being our counting system until we are
reunited). As far as I can tell, there is a theme for each one and even
some of his favorite photos included. Two nights in (7 sleeps and 6
sleeps) and he's gotten me crying each time. I can already tell these are
letters that I will cherish and I am crossing my fingers and toes that I'll be
lucky enough to get one each of the remaining nights until Thursday.
I
officially have next friday off from work so we'll have the opportunity to spend
the day together which is absolutely thrilling. Its been just over a
month since I've seen him and while going two months without a visit is our
usual schedule, I've been having quite a hard time being away from him since
our week together at Christmas. What can I say, i'm smitten with this man
and I hate being so far away. I'll get to see him again in California in
early March which will make our inevitable goodbye a tiny bit easier.
An OOPS of epic proportions
I
really didn't expect it. He really had me convinced that it would be at
least 6-9 months before there would be anything "sparkly" on my
finger. ("Sparkly" being our not-so-secret-but-not-too-scary
code name for what we refer to as the big scary GETTING ENGAGED EVENT,
obviously.) And now, in the next 7-9 days, its probably going to happen.
And I know this NOT because I snooped and pried and begged to know
if/when/where/now now now/pleeease it would happen. But because he told
me. On accident.
I
know....collective GASP. Because thats what I did when I ACCIDENTALLY (I
swear!) saw the facebook message that he sent out to my besties that he
ACCIDENTALLY (he swears!) included me on. All I saw was one line of a
message from Him (which is weird because he's NEVER EVER on facebook):
"SHE
DOESN'T KNOW I'M COMING NEXT WEEKEND"
...which
was enough to let me know that OMG OMG I SHOULD NOT HAVE SEEN THIS!!!!!!!
And that was that, it was all over. I'm no dummy. I threw my
phone at my roommates and started crying. There was no un-seeing what I
had seen. No memory eraser, no turning back. First thought: I can't
let him know that I know. Second thought: There's no way I CAN'T let him
know that I know. Luckily, that problem was solved for me.
He
quickly discovered the mistake on his own, immediately called my roommates (who
are also his good friends) to plead for help. But it was too late.
You see, I live in Ohio, he's in California and as far as I knew we
wouldn't be reunited in Cali for another 29 days (but who's counting? Oh, I
am.). And, come on, there's only one reason he would tell all of my
friends he's coming for a surprise visit and to keep their mouths shut so this
would be a giant surprise. SPARKLES.
We've
been together for 4 1/2 years, since summer of 2008. We met at college
where I was a graduate student and he was an undergrad. After 2 1/2 years we
were talking about marriage, though in a very vague "if one day in the
very very distant and far away future we were to ever get married/have kids/own
a house" kind of way. Slowly the far aways and very-verys began to
drop and we began to speak in real time, "when we get married, I want to
drive away in a bat mobile", "our kids are going to be blessed with
great athletic skills but cursed with the worst skin ever", "can we
have an entire room carpeted to look like a football field?"...you know,
the usual. After our last week together over Christmas, he had me (sort
of ) convinced that 2014 would be the big year to get engaged and 2015 would be
the year of the wedding. I figured he was either trying to throw me off
the scent or he was actually really serious so I went with the serious route
and kept things relatively calm in my head. We also spoke a lot about waiting
to get engaged until after we were able to live in the same city for a period
of time which I actually thought was a really good idea considering we've been
long distance for a year and a half. I was very proud of myself for being
excited for the future but not freaking out every day about when and how it
would happen. I trust my dear boyfriend and I knew that he'd make
everything perfect when the time was right. Moral of the story, we're
completely ready for the next step, the trick was (Him) deciding when to take
it.
And
as I learned tonight, the time is now. I've been promising myself that I
would start writing on this blog when we got engaged to remember this time in
our lives and document the excitement. It only feels appropriate that I
start tonight, the night I feel the first bits of electricity that OUR lives are
about to change. I'm choosing to see the misstep as a funny part of our
story, something that we'll laugh about for a very long time (though I also
promise not to rub it in because the best part of the story is how hard He
worked to keep it a surprise!!). For almost 10 years, my mantra has been
that "Life is Perfect in its Imperfections"...and yet again, I'm
proven right.
And
now, I now have a week to be an emotional, excited, and nervous basket case.
And,
gosh darn it, I'm going to get a manicure...just in case.
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