The Dress (hopefully)!

I've had this dress picked out for months (yes, before we were engaged) and I happened to be cleaning up my bookmarked websites and this one popped up. I noticed that it was marked half off and I almost died. There were only 2 sizes available and one of the sizes is mine (hopefully). I ordered it right away and it should be here in 5-7 days. I've been checking for the dress in Anthropologie for a couple months now and can never find it so unfortunately I haven't been able to try it on. If it looks horrible then I'll return it and look for something else, but I REALLY want it to work out. Cross your fingers!!

A Family Affair

Jake and I are both so lucky to have wonderful friends and families and we really want our wedding day to include all of our loved ones. And this is how we're keeping it a family affair:

• The ceremony and reception will be held at Jake's parent's house in Northern California
  
• Jake's Uncle Rob will officiate the ceremony
• Our caterer is a very good friend of Jake's family and I've only met her a few times, but I already love her for all the effort she is putting into our event.
  
• I plan on asking Jake's aunt and cousin to do my hair and the hair of my bridesmaids. They are both hair stylists and they're both pretty awesome so I'm excited to be related to them.
• I'm going to be painting some things for our save the dates and invitations and my good friend Christina will be using her awesome graphic design skills to make them amazing. You might remember her work from my college graduation announcements and she's currently a graphic designer for Match.com!
  
• My mom is going to make my cupcake wedding cake. She's basically the best baker in the world (as many of you already know).
  
• She's also going to sew a ring pillow for us
• My pretty green i-pod will be the DJ. We became very attached during marathon training so I couldn't imagine anyone/anything else providing our dancing music.
• My soon-to-be mother in law is going to plant flowers for us to use for the wedding. We'll also probably go to the local farmer's market the day of the wedding and pick up some things so lots of people will be able to help me pick out and arrange the bouquets.
• We're currently in talks with one of my sister's best friends who is an awesome photographer so hopefully that will work out too.
  

We are soooo excited for our wedding. And in case you haven't heard, we picked a date:

09-19-09!!!
(nine is my favorite number *cough* Mike Modano *cough*)

My First Wedding Related Purchase!

I'm a little annoyed that the shipping was $8 for a $10 item, but it's worth it. I may or may not have to wear it around the house a few times before the big day. I'll update this weekend with some additional wedding details!!

We're ENGAGED!!

5 years, 1 month, and one week after our first date Jacob popped the question on the top of Mt. Charleston. We made plans about a week ago to go hiking, but we were originally going to go to Red Rock since we have a year long pass that's about to expire (and we've only been once since we purchased it) but I heard at work that if you go to Mt. Charleston this time of year you're likely to see waterfalls because all the snow is melting. Mt. Charleston is one of our favorite places anyway so we decided to ditch the Red Rock idea and go on the search for some waterfalls. We began our hike but were surprised to find that even the start of the trail was covered in snow. We forged along though and the snow began to thin out.

As we reached the end of the trail we could see the lookout point, but I did not think it would be possible to reach it because of this mound of ice/snow that sloped downwards and seemed rather unsafe. Jake was determined to reach the point so I told him to go w/out me and I'd wait for him. He insisted that I follow him so I agreed and after gripping the side of the mountain and slowly scooting myself through a small crevice between the mountain and the snow I made it to the lookout point. I started taking pictures while he searched for something in his Camelbak.

After a minute he says "Hey man" (yeah we call each other "man") and I turned to find him holding a ring box. I really thought it was a joke though and told him he wasn't "for real" but then he opened the box and asked me to marry him so then I realized it was "for real". Obviously I said yes and he put the ring on my finger, I admired it for a few minutes and then took it off before heading back down the mountain because I didn't want anything to happen to it. As we were leaving we saw a man and his son headed for the point and we asked them to take our picture.

Once we made it back to the car the marathon of phone calls began. First I tried my mom and dad and nobody answered, then I tried my dad's cell phone and no answer! Then I tried my sister who answered and screamed for about 20 minutes after I told her. I called Melanie after that and got no answer but left a message telling her to call me the SECOND that she got the message. Then I called Siggy who was very excited, but in true Siggy fashion, told me that once you get married you're officially "old" and she's not ready for all of us to get old yet. I tried my parents again and they answered this time (they'd been outside working in the yard) and they were very excited too. Jake had a nice little sit down talk w/ them when we were in Texas a couple of weeks ago so they knew it was coming. There were a few more calls after that, but I'm sure you're tired of reading about them. Also, I'm sorry if you have not received a phone call yet, but I was a little tired of the phone after a while and just wanted to enjoy the day. Just in case you're wondering, I pretty much have the entire wedding planned out already. I actually even requested the days off from work back at the beginning of the year, but we have to verify the location/date with a few people so I'm not telling you yet when it's going to be. Let's just say that we're aiming for September of this year. I realize that's only 6 months away, but we're going for a somewhat small, very casual shindig that's really more of a backyard party than a formal wedding. And don't start thinking "only 6 months away, she must be pregnant" because I'm definitely not :) I'll fill you in on all the details later.

One thing I will tell you though is that I asked Melanie to be my maid of honor. There are several reasons for this. One is that she's my oldest friend, dating way back to the 7th grade when we were both super awkward and lame. We endured our lameness together all the way through high school and have kept in touch since then. She knows all my secrets, all my former "crushes" and EVERY aspect of my relationship with Jake. We can go weeks w/out talking but still pick up right where we left off. I'm so lucky to have her as a friend! Another main reason is that she's a bridesmaid expert and I really want to see her surpass 27 dresses. Haha, not really, but she did mention that she just watched that movie the other night and her family gave her a hard time about all the weddings that she's been in. I'm so fortunate to have her and so many other wonderful friends and I really hope that everyone can be there for our special day.

I hope you all made it to the end of the story!! I have one more thing before I go....A few nights ago we were at dinner and Jake said "I think we should start putting a playlist of songs together for our wedding" and he had one in mind that he wanted to include. We listened to it when we got in the car and I'm telling everyone right now to go download it. It's called Moment of Truth and it's my FM Static. It's pretty much the sweetest song ever and my new favorite. Word of caution: it will get stuck in your head for days, but it's worth it.

No Such Luck

Unfortunately we did not win the HGTV Dream Home. I'm incredibly sad about this, but I suppose life will go on. To make myself feel better I thought I'd spend some time sharing MY idea of a dream home.

* A huge laundry room to accommodate the massive amount we seem to collect

Closet Factory

* I want it to be comfortable and eclectic
* Lots of natural light
* Big kitchen that opens up to the living area (with 2 dishwashers like the HGTV home)
* A craft room

Pottery Barn

* Lots of closets and cabinets so that I can be super organized
* A pool under the house that is completely enclosed by big boulders so that it's like a cave and the rocks will magically be heated. (shhh...I don't care if it makes sense, it's my "dream")
* Jake wants his own study/office in the attic that has a secret passage way.
* A big garden w/ onions, tomatoes, cilantro and jalepenoes so that we can make salsa
* Jake wants wood beams like this throughout the house

Domino

Top 10 Reasons I Hate Wal-mart:

1. It's pretty much always crowded (unless you go before 3:00 on a weekday, but obviously that's impossible).
2. They never carry the same products every week. This is especially annoying when you find a product you like, but then can't find it for a week or two (or at all) after that.
3. The produce is HORRIBLE.
4. There are never enough lines open and I usually have to wait around 15 minutes to check out.
5. People automatically become idiots when they walk through the door (they don't pay attention to their surroundings at all).
6. The aisles on the grocery side are wide enough for 2 carts to pass, but on the personal care side of the store you can barely squeeze one cart down the aisle.
7. They are horrible at bagging groceries. I purposely empty my cart a certain way so that it's bagged a certain way (all canned items together, all boxed items together, all cold items together) but they can NEVER seem to bag it correctly. Oh, and we don't have self check out at the one I shop at.
8. The Glad Ware is on the "home" side instead of on the grocery side w/ the ziplock bags and whatnot where it would make sense so I never remember to buy them.
9. The store I shop at has only been open about a year, but all the carts are messed up already.
10. It's the cheapest so I feel I must shop there.

We FINALLY Saw this movie:

It was really good and I would highly recommend it, but I guess the Academy's recommendation is more reputable than mine. So take their word and go see it! My favorite part was the choreographed dance during the credits. I absolutely love choreographed dance scenes! Tomorrow night we're going to see this:

FOR FREE!!! A girl I work with has some connections and offered me free tickets. Jake's boss said it was really good so we're looking forward to it. To be honest though, I would be looking forward to it even if it had horrible revues because I love free things! But speaking of Broadway musicals, does anyone want to buy me tickets for this:

It's going to be at Mandalay Bay starting in May and would make an excellent birthday gift. I'm just saying...

26.2

Well, I've just about recovered from this:

Cowtown Marathon 02/28/09

Place: 480/924
Time: 4:27:04

I'm definitley glad to be done, but I'm also just a little sad that it's over with. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I was so lucky to have so many friends and family members there to cheer me on. People keep asking if I'm going to do another one and I keep telling everyone that I'm not even ready to start thinking about it. It is mentally exhausting to train for one of these and my brain needs a break! Everyone realizes the physical challenge that it entails, but few understand that it literally takes over your life. Early bed times, very early mornings, entire Saturdays devoted to long runs and then the recovery, turning down plans with friends b/c you have to run the next day...it definitley takes a toll on you. It is definitely worth it though. I will never forget the moment I crossed the finish line. I burst into tears as Jake hugged me and when he said "I'm so proud of you" I said "I'm so proud of me too" and I really really was.