doing: january 2015

celebrating NYE outside of the house {and not in sweatpants!}

tweaking my new blog template

planning a wedding prep trip to the mitten

gathering addresses for save the dates

trying to convince greg to elope

writing cover letters

running out of brain power to write blog posts

figuring out what I want to be when I grow up {or the next few years :/ }

driving to work still {lame}

sleeping in ‘til 6am

struggling through my jam-packed work days

eating way too many conversation hearts

bribing myself to meet my 40 miles this month #runningishard

doing: august 2014

struggling with my one little word 

 

eating rice cakes in bed

 

wearing my space coyote dress often

 

learning the secrets to yummy nondairy frosting 

reworking the office/guest room

getting better at French braiding my hair vs my default Dutch braid

catching up with old friends like a day hasn't passed

kicking ass on this months mileage {and bike riding}

 

pinterest failing

putting deposits down for our wedding venue {wooooo!}

making more custom bow ties {have you ordered yours yet?}

hello august 2014

holy sh*t it's august already. yikes! where did july {and the summer} go? i took some time to slow down and relax last month, and have some fun without thinking about what i should/could be doing. boy do some of my goals show that {whoops}, but i feel a million times better. so without further ado....

> this is a leftover from last month, boo.  i've been wandering the fabric stores and not finding any inspiration {lame excuse, i know}. but these aren't things i can force production on, if i do, i'll never be satisfied with the end product. update: still no, but now that the fabric stores are full of fall and winter selections i'm much more inspired. it's hard to get mideval-heavy when all you can find is neon chiffon. true story.

> well last month i covered my 25 miles in 13 runs, which breaks down to 1.92 miles per run and 2.6 runs per week. so with 4 weeks in august, i need to run 7.5 miles a week to be successful. now that the 1st week is almost over and i'll be 4 miles behind by sunday.....longer runs are gonna be my friend once again! update: yayayyyy! done, done and done!


> hahaha, oh boy. this one has been on my unoffical to-do list for a while now. greg finished his list months ago, and his gentle nudges to do my own have started to become a lil more forceful, lol. so its time to just get it out there, it doesn't have to be a final list, but i do need to get some names on paper. update: besides the rest of this list and other daily things that needed to be done in august, this is alllll i heard from greg this month. so to be a brat, i did it on september 3rd. then i made him rework his list of first names into my super-duper spreadsheet extraordinaire! muahhhahahaa

> it's not easy, nor convenient, but riding my bike is good for my wallet and body and jeepy. update: jeepy is still out of commission, so this was easy to maintain.

b&g proposal, part 2

check out part 1 here

so the rest of the day goes on, business as usual. greg's cool-as-a-cucumber, not being nervous, not being overly affectionate, not tipping his hand in any way, shape or form. just the usual goofy greggie. once again, i haven't the slightest clue that he's up to anything.

later that evening, everyone is hanging out around the bonfire and i'm giving his cousin a hard time. i'm razzin him because he's been dating this super awesome girl(that everyone LOVES) for 5 years. and they're still just dating. ugh matt, pull it together and pop the question. i think they're such a good match and i'm getting frustrated that he hasn't proposed yet. all the while i don't know what their plans in general are or if they've talked about it or if they don't even want to get married, blah blah blah, she's awesome, hurry up and ask!

so i'm getting close to being obnoxious and greg says he wants to go for a walk. not unusual, sometimes he gets all lovey dovey and romantic, sometimes he saves me from making an ass of myself. so we walk down to the other campsite, down by the gorgeous moon-lit lake and he starts taking about how much he loves me and wants to be with me. all sentimental and mushy. i don't know if i'm still distracted about harassing matt or if i'm just being totally oblivious.

either way, greg pulls a box out of his pocket. and i just stare at it. like a deer in headlights. staring. he says something else mushy and lovey and i say: 'no way.' a shock and disbelief kind of 'no way.' and i may have started to back up. and kept saying no way. i'm pretty sure somewhere in there he did ask if i would marry him. but i kept saying no way. finally he gently reminds me that i really haven't said yes, technically all i've said is no.

thankfully no *action* shots of the happy dance

so i hurry up and say 'yes, yes, yes' and he shows me the ring. and he puts it on my finger :) then i start to jump around and do my awkwardly flailing happy dance. you know, the one where i punch the air up, down and around while simultaneously kicking and jumping up and down, that one. and yelling 'i get to be a nif, i get to be a nif, i get to be a nif.' so i pull myself together and give greg a big hug and a giant kiss, and then realize one of the cousins has been in his nearby tent, reading a book. so i run over and shove my left hand in his face. and he says congrats and gives me a hug.

a reenactment for everyone

so then we head back over to the other campsite/bonfire and i stand in front of everyone and just start doing my happy dance. no words, just flailing. then i run around and put my left hand in everyone's face. then i snap a picture and send the photo to both his and my parents. who, on a separate note, happen to be meeting each other for the first time ever, unsupervised.

photo we sent to the parents, some caught on faster than others ;)

and now he keeps calling me his beyonce. i'm not sure if its because he *liked it and put a ring on it,* or if he thinks it sounds just as funny as fiancee. either way, i think i'll keep him.

the b&g proposal, part 1

at my brother's wedding on August 3rd

so we went camping with a bunch of greg's cousins (and uncle). there's nothing like getting together a bunch of single, childless 30-somethings for a long weekend in nature. lots of day drinking, lots of late nights around the bonfire, beautiful views, an uncomfortably friendly skunk, lots of drinking, and lots of being shushed by the park rangers. well one didn't even shhh us, he was a total stoner dude who, without saying a single word, did the "lower your volume" signal thing with his hand, but then there was another who preemptively asked us to keep quiet that night. to our defense we weren't really being that loud, but there is a cousin who feels the need to fill any type of noise vacuum, either way it was a good time.

so greg and i go out for a beautiful kayak paddle around the island we're staying on and its a gorgeous, gorgeous summer day. he's in and out of coves and all over the place. i'm just paddling along, drinking my coconut rum and iced tea out of my disposable coffee cup. (yes i was accused of being a 16 yr old girl quite a few times that weekend, but i didn't feel the need to be drinking whiskey all day and all night for 4 days in a row). we're just chit-chating and hes being lovey dovey(i think we even attempted a cross-kayak kiss), anaaaannnnd then we paddled back for lunch.

not greg and i, but i recognize the kayak/paddle combo......i can't really tell who though

later that evening he says we should go for a sunrise kayak the next morning, but continues to let me refill my coffee cup, over and over again. i'm having such a good night that i think its fun-times to hop on the wimpy air mattress and bounce greg off the other side. until he does it. and i almost go flying out the extra door that hooks up to my jeepy, that i for some reason thought was a window and had unzipped. but i digress.

so the next morning the alarm on his watch goes off and i'm super annoyed. i've long forgotten about the sunrise kayak idea. i'm annoyed because the sun isn't up yet. i'm annoyed because i'm hungover. in hindsight, i'm surprised he didn't pester me much more, but he knows how stubborn i am and knows to choose his battles. so i roll over and he goes out to see the sun come up. alone.

stay tuned for part 2....