Engagement Photos!

Last week I gave you a sneak peak of our engagement pictures, so today I wanted to tease you with even more! Check out the end of this post for the link to see all 53 of them if you so desire. If you can't tell, I'm pretty darn excited about these, so I hope you enjoy them as much as Kenny and I do!

All photos by Kim Jackson Photography.

If you can stand to see more of us, head over to our SmugMug for 48 more.


P.S. you only have until tonight to vote on the Twitter poll on the right!

Trash Talking

I've been branching out of my normal training routine and stepping away from the treadmill at the gym. Recently, I've been walking outside around my neighborhood. It's just so nice outside in the mornings now, and today I even left my earphones out of my ears and let the birds sing to me. Everything about this morning's walk was fantastic...

...except for this:

Today's trash day in my neck of the 'hood, and whenever I'd get within 10 feet of most of these black and blue bins I could sure tell that some of that trash had been sitting in there for a good week. It kinda puts a damper on the nice, fresh air.

The Way I Always Look

This song just popped up on my iTunes and I immediately thought it'd be a great First Dance song.

The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra

But then I started really listening to the lyrics:

Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you...
And the way you look tonight.

Yes you're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart...
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart.

Lovely ... Never, ever change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won't you please arrange it ?
'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.

Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,
Just the way you look to-night.

I think they're really nice and would be great for a first dance, and as much as I want Kenny to remember what I look like on our wedding day, I want him to remember that he loves me even on the days when I look like crap, when I'm feeling sick, or when I just got home from running eight miles.

I don't want him to love me based on how I look on our wedding night while we're dancing the night away; I want him to love me just the way I look tonight...

Possible Centerpiece?

I took a quick trip to Dollar Tree today to see if they have square vases, because the price for vases from fancy schmancy stores want to charge me mucho. I decided I'd like my centerpieces to be in square vases filled with coffee beans and have poofy light pink flowers. Something like this:












Since real flower centerpieces cost way more than I want to pay, I thought it'd be a better idea to try to make my own. Yup. I'm going to attempt to Do. It. Myself. Well, it won't be all DIY, in reality I'll need help from my mom and friends!

Okay, back to my quick project (seriously, it was quick. This took me MAYBE 15 minutes). I got a square vase ($1), two bunches white carnations (1 dozen, $2), and two bunches of light pink roses (1 dozen, $2 - but I only used six of them, so really it was $1 for that). So. The grand total for this centerpiece? Four bucks. When/if I do this for real I'll probably get some flowers from Hobby Lobby, because I don't really want white flowers. BUT, what do you think of the carnations? I think it gives it that soft, poofy look I like! The vase is also a little small, I think, so I'd need to see what it looks like on table set for ten people.
Just squint real hard and maybe you'll see coffee beans in the vase, and all light pink flowers. So what do you think? Seriously, honest opinions!

The Day After

The day and the day after either I or Kenny leaves each other is always hard. We just get so used to being around one another that when they're gone you have to readjust your life. It's back to the IMing and texting each other routine. Yesterday I actually contemplated moving our wedding up several months, but the only feasible time we could have it would be too close to my brother's wedding, and I'm pretty sure that's a big etiquette no-no.

It's not that I feel like the next 302 days will be a waste spent out here, it's just that I want to get on with my life with him. I know it's going to be a somewhat rocky transition (with me picking up my entire life and moving/changing lifestyles/jobs), but I just want it to start as soon as possible, and 10 months from now just seems like ions away.

(I just liked this picture so much I wanted to use it again! AND notice how it's centered around Atlanta - how cool is that? If only the picture was taken about half an inch lower, a little closer to Warner Robins!)

I find myself checking out our engagement photos more often than may be considered healthy, but he just looks so darn fantastic in them that I want to look at him all the time. Hopefully I'll get those photos up somewhere sometime soon so you guys can see them, too. While I don't think they'll be as drool-worthy for you (because if they are I may have to sit down and have a talk with you and tell you that HE'S MINE!), I do hope you'll like them.

I'm spending most of today out in Tome, New Mexico watching my great aunt Tia while my mom and dad are spending a weekend out of town. She doesn't have the Internet there (GASP), so I'm taking a lot of work with me to finish. I wish I had some wedding projects I could start on!

Hope you all have a good Saturday!

Friday Poll

source

Here's a sneak peak of our engagement photos! I'm just waiting to get the CD of them so I can get them all online. That's one of my favorites :)

Based on my very un-scientific poll, I'm willing to guess that most of you live or are from the West side of America. I, personally, can't handle the taste of sweet tea. No sugar in that refreshing drink for me, thank you very much!

As for this week's poll, I wanna know if you Tweet!

Do you Tweet?
* I have twitter, but don't tweet
* I can't stop tweeting
* No, I refuse to sign up
* Other (leave a comment)

An Almost Goodbye

This morning my dad asked me when Kenny leaves. I told him, “tomorrow,” but I must have said it with a gloomy tone, because he asked me why I was sad. Stating what I thought was the obvious, I said, “because he’s leaving!” And then my dad responded with, “Well you’ll only be apart for a week, you’re seeing him next Friday.”

And then it hit me.

People don’t understand. Some people just don’t get that being away from the one you love is hard, really hard. I realize Kenny and I both choose to be in this long distance relationship; I understand that I could have moved out there as soon as I knew I loved him so we wouldn’t have to go minutes, days, and months, apart from each other, but I didn’t move.
Knowing that I’m going to see Kenny next Friday (I’m going out there for the weekend) only makes saying goodbye tomorrow a tiny bit less hard. Couples in normal (i.e. not long distance) relationships rarely spend time away from each other, but my relationship will always be based around countdowns, hellos, and goodbyes, so I just wish people would take our situation a little more seriously.

After I see Kenny next weekend we’re not quite sure when we’ll be together again. The (hopeful) plan is for him to come out for my brother’s wedding in July, but that’s not set in stone yet. Nothing ever is when you’re life is determined by the whims of the military. Other than that, he’ll be deployed in the fall.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely. – Charlie Brown

In the Mean Time:

While I figure out what I want to blog about, why don't you take the survey to the right. And while you're at it, feel free to leave suggestions for other poll topics!

All Smiles

Talk about a whirlwind last several days! Kenny flew into town Wednesday morning and I’ve been attached to his hip ever sense. (Okay, in all actuality, I’ve been attached to his thigh since he’s a good foot taller than I am). I’ll spare you the hour-by-hour schedule, but it’s safe to say we got a lot of wedding “stuff” done and I’m feeling a lot less stressed about things. This is the only time he’ll be in town before December rolls around, so I thought of the things I wanted him here for and we went to town, literally.

Here’s a brief recap:
* Signed the contract for our ceremony and reception venue
* Checked out rings, tux’s, and started a brief registry
* Had a blast taking our engagement photos (we should hopefully get them back by this Thursday!) (We were originally going to take them at the airport, but after realizing the Sunport isn’t exactly photogenic, we opted to shoot them in Nob Hill. I really can’t wait to get them back.)
* Went over possibilities for a First Dance song, but that's still up in the air.
* And most importantly, I’ve enjoyed seeing my fiancé every day.

When you’re in a long distance relationship, it really makes you appreciate the time you have together.

I know I slacked on getting my regular poll up on Friday, so I’ll put one up today. But first, the results from the last poll!
It looks like the overwhelming response is that you all like Christmas/Hanukkah the best. I put my vote towards New Years. That’s when Kenny and I first met and I really like the traditional meal my immediate family has that night followed with a celebrations with my friends!

For this week’s poll, I want to know what you like to drink:

Which do you prefer?
1. Sweet Tea
2. Unsweet Tea

I still need to get my photos of the day up, so keep an eye out for those!

After these messages

...I'll be right back!

*My man is in town, so I'm skipping time on the computer to hang out with him. I'll resume blogging when my life becomes boring again*

Engagement Shoot Inspiration

Kenny and I are taking engagement pictures next Saturday and I managed to get the location for the shoot at the Albuquerque Sunport Airport. Do you see the connection? Kenny and I have been long distance our whole relationship, and with him being in the Air Force and all, well, airports have some significance in our lives!

So with that said, I went out into the world of the Web and found some other airport engagement photos. These are some of my favorites and I wanted to share it with you. Now, I'm almost positive there won't be any airplanes in our photos (just part of the deal I worked out because of silly liability reasons, but if you all cross your fingers and send us good vibes next Saturday, maybe they'll appear!

I'm really anxious to see what our pictures will end up looking like; this definitely isn't your traditional engagement shoot, but hopefully it'll all turn out great. Our photographer, Kim Jackson, possibly sounds even more excited about this than us, and I'm taking that as a very good sign!

So what do you think of our shoot! I also numbered these photos because I'm interested in which are your favorites (I have a few that really stand out and I'm in love with). Without further ado, here are a roundup of my favorite pics:

1:2:

3:

4:

source for above four

5:

6:

7:

source for above three

8:

9:

source for above two

10:

11:

source for above two

12:

source

So that's all of 'em. What do you think?

Tome Hill Pilgrimage

In honor of it being Easter weekend (and the fact that I didn't really do anything productive or exciting today), I think you should check out my pictures from yesterday if you haven't already. I have great plans to write a legit article about my adventure yesterday, but that's not going to happen tonight.

Friday Poll

There wasn't a great turnout for this week's poll, because I'd like to think I have more than five people reading this! (One of those votes is from me and another, I think, is from my mom!) Either way it looks like I have some lazy people who like to read this. KIDDING! But other than that it looks like everyone works out throughout the day. I'm a morning worker-outer. Once I get home in the afternoon that it and I'm done for the day!

Now for the next poll! In honor of Easter this Sunday, I wanna know what holiday you like the best. And if it's not listed, feel free to share it in the comment section.

What's your favorite holiday?

1. New Years
   
2. Valentine's Day
3. Easter/Passover
4. Fourth of July
5. Halloween
6. Thanksgiving
7. Christmas/Hanukkah
   

Kiss and Make Up

I woke up having a “case of the Thursdays” and I hope the feeling departs soon. Kenny and I had an argument last night – nothing serious, but it still sucks arguing over the phone and being 1,405 miles apart. Normal couples can kiss and make up. Us? Well, we say we love each other, hang up, and hope for sweet dreams.

I went on my normal “homework” walk this morning and walked around a local park. It was a gorgeous day, but I still couldn’t shake that grouchy, oh-woe-is-me feeling. I decided to treat myself to some coffee, but after I paid for it and got to my car I realized I accidentally left my caffeine sitting on the counter at Dunkin’ Donuts. “It’s one of those days,” I said with an embarrassed laugh as I went back in and picked up my day’s saving grace.

Yup. It’s one of those days.

Is This It?

It seems that everyone—from my day-of coordinator to people I randomly meet—must know what my colors are for the wedding. I know I should just buckle down and pick them, but I've just been so indecisive. Well, tonight I think I'll just go ahead and pick them. I worked on this inspiration board all nigh, and it was surprisingly fun.

Dun...Dun...Dun...

sweet pink and brown by jesstagirl on Polyvore.com

Pink and Brown will be the inspiration for our wedding...

...I think.

Windy City

I should start off by saying I'm surprised nobody blew away today. We've had some ridiculous wind lately—I'm talking 70-mile-an-hour gusts and 30-degree weather. And needless to say, this was not an ideal setting for a garage sale. But, we went about our sleepy ways and started setting up at 6:30 am.

And before we knew it, people started showing up!

I know the pretty blue sky can be deceiving, but believe me, it was windy! Some of the things weren't selling as quickly as we'd like and since ALL of the profits from the sale were going to my fundraising, I couldn't risk selling things at 50% less than what we were already asking. So I went to Craigslist, posted a whole bunch of stuff and actually had people respond and at my house ready to pick up their new items!

All in all my fundraising pot now has $450 more dollars in it! I'll reach my goal sooner or later. If it was a nicer day we probably could have sold more, but we did what we could.

As for right now, I'm pooped and the 14 miles I'm supposed to walk tomorrow is looking extremely daunting. This wind has completely drained me and if I feel the way I feel now, tomorrow morning, I may do seven miles tomorrow instead.

a not-so-gorgeous day

...I'm trying to not get blown away.


Update to come later (if I don't get blown away first).

Google

I had to take a tiny break from my work to post this very, very interesting thing that just happened. I'm writing something about noodles for work, so I typed "noodles" into the Google search bar:

And this is what it gave me:

The thing that's so cool about this is that I didn't type in "noodles, Albuquerque," but it still knew where I was searching from and gave me some Albuquerque noodle results. This means one of two things:

1. I spend WAY too much time on Google and it's starting to know that I end everything with "blah, blah, blah, Albuquerque"

2. Google is Big Brother.

Also, I typed "google" five times in this post and every. single. time. I spelled it "goggle."

Friday Poll

I've had the same phone for at least the last five years and I love it. It's tiny, cute, and does all that I need it to do, except take pictures. I can sometimes receive photos, but taking them isn't even an option.
It's kind of nice to know that at least two of you out there share the same cell-phone fate as I do.

And now for a new poll in honor of me being lazy today and not going to the gym (whoops!):

When do you work out?
*In the morning
* During the day
*After my 9-5 job
*Me, work out? HA!

No Foolin'

I've never been good at playing practical jokes, so instead of foolin' you guys I'll treat you to a double post today, how's that sound?

This is was the quote welcoming me into the month of April this morning. Now, I get how it's supposed to be Spring related with the blade of grass reference and all, but I think it's a pretty lame quote. I'm sure I'm being to logical about it, but I really think it's stupid. What do you think? Does this inspire you? Because honestly, I'm thinking of putting up another quote in it's place so I don't have to stare at it for the next 30 days.

So I guess this could also be considered a triple post for today. I know, I know, I'm stretching it now! My mom came home with these lil fellas today. Now I'm not a fan of mice; it doesn't matter if it's Gus Gus from Cinderella or even a baby mice, but these are seriously adorable - and they taste even better than they look!

It's made out of a Hershey's Kiss, an almond an a chocolate-covered cherry. Apparently a woman at my mom's work makes them (and possibly other objects/animals?) an creates them often for weddings. She'll see the woman again on Friday and is going to get more info out of her.

If I could get these in any shape, object, or animal for the wedding, what would you suggest?

Excited

I had big plans to blog yesterday and make a huge deal about how, exactly two months from yesterday I would be participating in the marathon. But instead I choose to put the computer away and watch NCIS and The Mentalist.

Lately I've been searching online to find military-wife inspired blogs. I've found several that I really like (you've probably noticed them pop up on my blog list to the right) and they're getting me even more excited about becoming a more proficient blogger/writer.

I've always wanted a specific niche when it comes to writing and I can't wait to start writing about my life of being a wife, having a family, and the blessings and curses of being in love with someone in the military. I haven't thought this all the way through, but when I get married, or some time before, I'll probably make a new blog or rename this one to reflect my new life. I found this site with custom made blogs that are very vintage-chic and reflect the military life, and I LOVE them! Now I just need to come up with some witty/clever blog name.

I am so antsy for my next adventure to begin that I can hardly stand it!