A little Inspiration...

I've been in the process of creating a "inspiration" notebook with different clip outs from magazines and color swatches... These are some colors I am playing around with...
I LLOOVVEE the dark purples....I see them, and I die. GORG.







I am really sorry that I don't have the exact wedsites that I got each pic from, but here are a couple...
(Laura Novak Photography, Estillo Weddings, Cover Girl.)(cosmobride.com)(makemyday.net)

We're Engaged!!

I am THRILLED to announce to the world that Darick & I got ENGAGED this past weekend!!! Even as I write this, it sounds so weird...LOL... I'm engaged...engaged to be MARRIED! So bizarre, yet, so euphoric.

Darick and I met about 5 1/2 years ago. He was bartending at Joe's Crab Shack, and I was a cocktail waitress. I remember the first encounter I had with him, and thinking he was so bizarre.. LOL in a good way. I had never met anyone like him. He was witty, and out spoken, and funny! I remember thinking he was really old. Haha he was 25 when we met, and I was just 19... WEIRD!! We worked together for a while, and I started to think he was cute. We hung out many times in group settings as friends and then he asked me on a date. If you call washing our cars together a date. HAHA so cute! I thought it was sooooo cool that I was hanging out with this "older" guy. I thought we were just having a good time together. I didn't think I would fall in love. BUT life has ALWAYS had its way of surprising me, and about a month into our courtship, he asked me to be his girlfriend :)
We have the BEST time together. We would take long walks, go on mini holidays to DC, eat at fabulous restaurants, climb mountains, go to the beach, baseball games, the zoo, the aquarium...anything that was either delish or adventerous! We LOVE to eat good food and do things we haven't done before. It has always been so much fun begin Darick's girlfriend. He's so entertaining. I could just listen to him all day and laugh, but he's a mover and a shaker. Never satisfied to sit still, he would always have us on the move doing new things. It has been such a blast!

Well... VERY LOONNNGGG STORY short, here we are, 5 years and 4 months later and the setting is Bonefish Grill...

I worked Friday night and was SO looking forward to getting out of there for the weekend. It didn't click with me then, but Darick had asked me what I time I was going to get off work, and to call if I was going to be any later than normal...little did I know he was being a sneaky devil.

Most of you think that Darick proposed to me in NY, but actually he proposed to me Friday night.... or should I say EARLY saturday morning.

I left work with my friends Myrick and Suzy...we were walking out to our cars and I opened up my door to LOTS AND LOTS of roses all over the inside of my car. I was like "WHATS GOING ON????" Neither Myrick or Suzy had an answer for me, they just thought it was so sweet, which of course, it was! Darick had been in Florida for the previous few days "visiting family". <--- I will address this later.
I thought he just missed me and he was being a sweetheart and treating me to some beautiful flowers. I got in the car and started to read the first note on my drivers seat. It described how we met and how much fun we've had together through all the years of our relationship. I started to read the next card about some of the struggles that we have had as a couple, and how we worked through them and how they have made us so much stronger as a team. They were so heart-felt and sweet.
I tried to call him, and he didn't answer. To be honest, I thought he had fallen asleep (not unsual)...
I pulled into my parking spot, and gathered my things...and the many roses that were in my car... I took a few steps towards the house when I noticed a rose on the ground...and then another one right after that... and another after that one. I looked down the sidewalk to see that there were roses lining my path all the way to the front step of our house. (Mind you, we live in a town house, and my spot in up the hill a little bit.) I picked up each rose until I got to another punch of roses on the front step with another note. By this time, I AM TREMBLING. SO NERVOUS. I read the note, and my eyes start to tear up because inevitably, I think I know what's going on at this point. I opened the front door and low and behold...MORE ROSES. I make my way to our room which is pitch dark except for a dozen or so candles. There are MORE flowers all of the bed, and floor, and there stands Darick...all dressed up at 1:00am with one more rose in his hand. I was like "What are you doing crazzzy boy?? How much money did you spend on roses??" LOL. He explained that if I took all the roses in the room and added them up, they would equal 64, representing the 64 months that we have been boyfriend and girlfriend. It was important to remember that each month of our relationship we have learned something new about eachother and it makes it easier to know where you are going and where you want to be, if you already know where you have been. He grabbed me and held me very close, just saying how much he missed me and how much I meant to him. To be honest, I don't really remember what he said exactly but it was along the lines of "I know that I've always told you that we would spend the rest of our lives together, but I could say that all day long, and now I want to show you..." He pulled a ring out of his pocket and placed it before me as he got down on one knee... and he asked me to be his wife for forever. :) :)
AhhhH!! First thing that came out of my mouth??........ "SHUUUTT UP!!" (I'm classy, I know...) immediatly following that I said "Duh! OF COURSE!" and we hugged and kisses for like 10 mins straight. IT WAS SO PRECIOUS! He then pulled at his collar exclaiming "Where the heck is your wine key?! I've been trying to open up this bottle of wine for hours!" We shared a bottle of wine and talked about our love and relationship and when we both knew that were were the one for each other. I am over the freakin' moon! <3

Remember how I said he was "visiting family" in Florida? Well, turns out when he went down to "visit family", he didn't just visit his family, he drove about 150 miles from where his family was to pay a visit to my Father....who has been at his Florida house since he retired last year. He went to ask my Father for his blessing and permission. OMG are you kidding? SOOOO traditional. LOVE IT. He is really one of the most respectful people I have ever come in contact with. I love that about him.

We talked about how he initially wanted to propose in NYC in the middle of Times Square and that he thought about it for a long time, but he wanted it to be just between the two of us. We are such personal people, and I can so appreciate that he wanted it to be an intimate, memorable moment that just the two of us shared together, at our home, instead of making a big ol' scene. It was just PERFECT. He is such a romantic!

I am soooo thrilled to be marrying Darick. He is the sweetest, most thoughtful and hysterical guy a girl could ask for, and I am so lucky! I am going to marry my best friend. We are so excited to plan our big day!







For anyone who hasn't already seen it, please make your way to the FABULOUS blog of Madeleine for her amazing take on different themes for the wedding! I freakin LOVE HER for putting this together, so creative and so thoughtful!!! XOXO Mads!!
Since I don't know how to put in a fancy hyperlink.....
copy & paste this--------> www.whatabigtodo.blogspot.com


Believe it or not, I will be posting much more now that I have the most exciting topic of all!! YAY!

I only had the one picture of my ring from my camera phone,I have not been able to locate my memory card adapter to upload the new ones... so sorry for not having any new pics, but I will make it up to you when I find the adapter!! Thanks for reading and all of the well wishes! We are SO happy! XOXOXO

Video from Snow Adventures

I ran across this video from when we had the big snow last month! When we were stir crazy we went out to see if anything was open to buy the necessities. So cute, I wanted to share :) Bahhhaa ignore my shoes.

A Minnie Celebration!

Most of you know that I had to put my little girl Minnie to sleep last week. It was VERY hard to do but I know that she is in a better place now, and that she is no longer in pain. I miss her SOOO much though.
It's really strange. I knew for a long time that I was going to have to say goodbye to her at some point, and I believe that I did my best to prepare for it. I don't think I would be as "good" as I am right now if I didn't have that time to prepare.
It's the day-to-day stuff that is really difficult. I didn't even realize how much of my day involved her until she wasn't here anymore.
I used to wake up in the morning to her on my pillow- purring her little heart out. She's meow a good morning to me, and we'd go to the kitchen to get her some breakfast. I'd get in the shower and she'd be waiting on the other side of the door, cleaning her little face from breakfast. She'd scurry right in to the bathroom because she loved the warmth the steam made.
I'd go sit at my little vanity mirror to do my make-up and she'd be right there, sitting on my lap, purring up a storm while I finished my beauty regime. The day after we put her down, I remember waking up just feeling strange. My whole day from here on out would be different, and it made me sad. We create such a relationship with these animals that we bring into our lives, and a piece of our heart surely goes with them when they pass on. There is no other word to describe the feeling then "weird". Its so weird that she isn't around anymore. She has been there when I wake up for the last 18 years!! THATS CRAZY! Its only been a week that she has been gone, but it feels like a month. As I write this, I'm not crying and I don't mean for it to sound sad at all, because I've chosen to celebrate her life...and not mourn it. Life is all about perspective and I choose to see the sunny side of this. I was blessed for 18 great years with this little angel in my life and I would not change one single thing. I'm sad from time to time and I miss her everyday, but I try to smile about it.
The vet called me today to tell me that the little clay paw-print they made for me is ready. I thought that was so sweet that they did that for their customers.
All of my friends and family have been so amazing and supportive to me and I don't know what I would do without them...
As we drove up to the vet, I got out of the car, carrying Minnie in a blanket, I stood behind Darick's truck for a minute, and with a little bit of attitude I said.. "uhhh, are you coming?", because he was taking his sweet time getting out of the car. I didn't know it then, but I figured out why he took his time when after we left the vet office, I opened my passenger side door to see a large cream-colored bear with a pink ribbon and a card. "This can be your girl now, you hold this bear whenever you miss holding Minnie." He said to me. Of course I burst out into tears, but not because I was so sad about Minnie, but because he understood what I was going to have to go through in the coming weeks. The hard part isn't going to the vet to put the animal down, its getting used to them not being around anymore. I have the best guy in the whole world. I am so thankful for him and the rest of my awesome family.

The moral of the story is that things change in life. The important part about life is that you appreciate the things that stand right in front of you while they are standing right in front of you. It's easy to take something for granted, but life has its ways of showing you what is most important. The scenery of life is always going to be changing...you just have to embrace.

XOXO