Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that vending machine treats are grossly overpriced.  Fortunately, the cheap-wad inside of me can usually beat up the fat kid inside of me, and the possible repercussions of the vending machine are avoided. And that's just a win-win for everybody.

I shall protest and pretend it is not happening and good things will happen.

This morning in the shower I thought, "Hey!  I'm gonna wear a cute, twirly skirt to work today because, ya know, it's going to be winter soon and I will then be relegated to practical clothing."  ("Practical clothing" was nearly a swear word (swear phrase?) in my vocabulary prior to my move to Utah, but progress has been made.)

I donned my cute, only-worn-once-before, twirly skirt and proceeded to get ready for the day.  It's pretty springy, but I thought I could pretend it's appropriate for autumn, too.

Twirling my way (not really) into the living room with my gloriously huge picture window, I noticed it was a little darker than usual outside as I sat on the couch to commence my daily morning reading before work.  After awhile, I started to hear neighbor kids squealing, which was quite odd as I never hear them in the mornings.  After some time, the squealing seemed to be multiplied with more children chiming in, and then it morphed in to a sort of chanting.

Okay, chanting sounds really creepy, and all children-of-the-corn like.  I'm talking about the type of singing kids do on the playground in their little sing-song voices.  ANYWAY.

While trying to focus on the Written Word, but simultaneously trying to figure out what in the heck is going on, I concluded that possibly they were just playing and started making fun of some kid, hence the chant-like singing. (Not creepy.)  My inherent nature to always defend the underdog was gettin' all riled up, ready to go beat up some little kids (not really), when I thought I deciphered them singing about rain or something.

And that is when my heart dropped in realization.

People.  It's a friggin' blizzard outside.  In October.  Before Halloween.

WHAT HAPPENED TO FALL????  Sad face.

Well, I decided to not change out of my springy twirly skirt to signify my protest and as a a way of telling the snow to suck it. (I am so classy.)

On my drive to work (in the snow that I pretended wasn't there), I suddenly felt bad for being so ungrateful when I am so blessed.  I said a little prayer apologizing for my thought process and pressed on.  Then I get to work, and ya know what happened??

I get an email in my inbox from Southwest Airlines (who I was recently contemplating starting to hate) saying they're having a sale for flights starting at TWENTY-FIVE FLIPPING DOLLARS.

Well, Southwest email, I have been waiting for good flight prices to travel to and from my wedding so I don't have to drive (me no likey driving), so I love you so much I could makeout with you if it wouldn't make Josh mad!  (He's the jealous type.)  I clicked right through, and whatdayaknow the dates for the fare are valid just around the dates I need for the wedding.  Woohoo!  And not only that, after skipping some dates in which they are not valid, the sale fares were good again on the dates for my Utah reception so my parents could also purchase cheapo flights to come here!

Tender mercy, indeed, my friends!  I'm thinking that Heavenly Father likes attitude adjustments.  Or something.  Any way you want to read it, all this good fortune is making it basically impossible for me to be upset about the snow.

So!  If you wanna travel from December 1st through the 16th, or from January 5th through February 10th, you should totally check this out.  Be quick, though - it's only good through this Thursday, the 29th.  The website has been pretty packed with traffic, so you may encounter some errors, but keep trying my friends - you'll get through eventually.

And all I can now say about the snow now is:

YAY FOR A DECEMBER WEDDING IN ARIZONA!!!!

And this picture really has nothing to do with this post, but I just think we are pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.  Plus, he is the REAL REASON I have no reason to be upset about the snow, as he makes my life pretty darn fantastic.

The album

Ok, my friends, I've posted pretty much all the pictures I like on facebook. Rather than bog this place down with all of them, I'm just going to link you there. So, if you're interested, check it out.

If not, well then, you're kind of poopy and I didn't want you to look at them anyway.

I'm hoping this will work, but I'm not really sure if it will because of all the facebook who-can-see-your-stuff rules. Let me know if it doesn't work, or request to be my friend and it will. Or if it doesn't work and you know how to make it work let me know that too.

The announcement photo

Kyle is fantastic and has already finished editing our choices for the pictures. (Seriously, we told him which ones on Monday night.) So now we need your help choosing a picture for our wedding announcement.

Which of these do you think works best?





Then there's this whole series that we both think turned out just great.




Yes, I am kidding. None of these will be used for the announcement.

Oh, and yes, that expression on my face in the second picture where he's kissing me on the cheek was an intentional silly face. I really am not that alarmed if he tries to kiss me.

Sneak peek

Here's a shot from our photo shoot with Kyle last weekend.


We are exceptionally good looking people, if I do say so myself.

Well, at least when we're shot without detail and you can only see the outline of us and we have an awesome photographer's skills helping out and a pretty sunset and landscape to distract. But whatever. I'll take what I can get.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am grateful for:

1. This picture.

Source: Baby's first WTF moment

Because for real, people - that is funny. And how could it not just make you a little happier today?

2. Talented and generous friends. My friend, Kyle, has been working on developing his newfound photography talent, and I just loooove his style. He has a focus on nature and the sort of details that I, too, am drawn to in photographs. The growth he has exhibited in the last year seriously blows me away. Right now he is building up his portrait portfolio so he can have something to show potential clients, so he offered to take Josh and my pictures for free this weekend for us to possibly use as engagement pictures. UM, HELLO, YES, AND THANK YOU, OF COURSE I WOULD LOVE TO BE SUBJECT TO YOUR AWESOME TALENT.

I say "possibly" because one of my BFFs, Michael, already agreed to take our engagement pictures and will be doing so next weekend. As you may or may not know, Michael has a BFA in Photography from BYU, has had several projects with national exposure, and is currently working to move to NYC to pursue his dream of fashion photography. He is fabulous. (Or, as he and I might say privately, he is fagnificent!) (Michael, am I in trouble for writing that on the internets?) So now we get TWO photo sessions with TWO talented photographers with TWO different styles.

I ADORE THEM BOTH.

And really, you should too. Just sayin'.

Oh, and because we're discussing Michael's genius skills, I just have to insert my claim to fame, courtesy of him, right here. For his final project he did this amazing murder series, and I got to model for it. Here is my shot:


What, you don't see me? I'm the grandma legs!

I know, I was really flattered when he asked me to model for that role.

I have to say, though, that in other photos I tried to add a certain something to the role by contorting my legs all funkily (and impressively I might add), but apparently it was "too much." Oh, the woe of us models being limited in our creative expressions.

Wedding dress? Check.

So I got my dress.

WOOT!

Huge sigh of relief that that chore is over.

And hey, it was actually sort of fun, too.

Crazily enough, I found it in the first store. THE FIRST STORE, PEOPLE. It freaked me out and since I am so good at making decisions that involve big commitments (hello facetiousness!) I couldn't bring myself to buy it at first. I had to check out other dresses at other stores to be sure that I wasn't just "getting it over with" or settling or something, and the method of going elsewhere confirmed it for me. We promptly returned to the store, and snatched that baby up.

My mom was so great during the whole thing. My bridal consultant was sooo impressed and I was just like, "What? That's just how my mom is..." (Oh, how I take her amazingness for granted.) She never pushed me to do what she wanted, but would offer appropriate insights here and there. When I would consider the prices of a dress and hem haw about this or that my mom said something to the effect of, "Heather, I am not looking at the prices. We are looking for the best dress for you, and the price is an afterthought."

But before you start thinking I am the most spoiled person ever, my tastes in dresses were on the simpler side and they were never over $1000 so although spoiled well taken care of, I'm not like those girls on "Say Yes to the Dress" with a "small" $5000 budget. (It's a dress, people!)

Seriously, I could tell you more stories about her greatness, but it's been 2 weeks and I forget. (Blog more often, dummy, and it'll be more entertaining because you'll actually remember stuff!)

So we have this heartwarming moment about how I shouldn't worry about the money (I'm a money worrier), and then we go to the whole payment thing. The chick at the counter asks for the method of payment and I look at my mom, who was already looking expectantly at me. I had a brief moment of panic and the little girl feeling of, "Really? I'm paying for it?" immediately followed by the snotty no wonder you're not worried about how much it costs if I'm paying for it feeling. Then I remembered that my mother had already so kindly agreed to put wedding expenses on my Southwest Airlines credit card and pay them off each month so I could get free flights.

Hmm. That story was funnier if you were there. And it'd probably be funnier if I told it better, too.

Anyway, it was great. And it's done. And I'm getting married in approximately 63.5 days. Huzzah!

Oh, and sorry - no pictures. Joshy reads this blog, ya know, and I'd like to save some sort of excitement for the wedding. (I won't mention that even if I wanted to show you pictures I couldn't because I forgot my camera and have no pictures of the dress.)

But to appease the lack of picture-ness of the dress, here is a picture of me shooting a gun.


Why a picture of me shooting a gun? Yeah, I don't know.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am grateful that my mom is currently on a plane to come visit me! Woo woo! I haven't seen her in quite awhile, and she hasn't been to Utah to see me in even longer, so I'm excited for us to hang out. We're going wedding dress shopping (eek!), so wish me luck. It's weird, but this is one thing I have been dreading. Hopefully my really low expectations will aid in making things more enjoyable...please?

Oh, and sorry to leave you hanging with the story. The next day I came down with something that I'm pretty sure was tonsilitis. Seriously, people, my tonsils were soooo huge. (I have a picture, but I will spare you.) I could hardly eat for a week, and it just made me really miserable and not in the mood to excitedly recount a story.

The Details Win Out

Most of you mentioned you'd like more details, and my clever friend, Rachel, so wisely advised:

"This is your blog so seriously... write down EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you want. My blog has everything on it rather people like it or not because its a history of me... and my life. I want to remember it all."
(If you're looking for a blog to stalk, give Rachel a try. Seriously. She's clever, funny, raw, and REAL. Do it.)

Aaaaanyway, back to Josh and me. Let me just [Ctrl] C [Ctrl] V what I wrote before for a little refresher. Feel free to skim.

Long-time blog readers may remember that I wasn't a Josh-lover in the beginning. In fact, I was kind of a big fat snot. (But not totally; I had legit concerns, it was just the way I handled it on the blog that was snotalicious.) I didn't think that I liked him, but I wanted to give him a chance because you never know if your mind could change. That first date he surprised me. A lot.

He'd noticed me reading my scriptures outside every day, so he picked up on the fact that I loved being outdoors in peaceful settings, drinking in my surroundings. So for that first date we picked up P.F. Chang's, and he took me up a canyon to a beautiful wooded area and we had a little picnic. I was so surprised by how totally easy he was to talk to, and how I hardly knew him but still felt like I could say pretty much anything to him. I had a delightful time (I know, who says "delightful" besides 85 year old women named Etta? But it is the best word to describe it), and we ended up dragging the date on. After it was over, I knew I'd had a good time, but I still didn't really think anything would work out with us.

(New stuuuuuuuuuuff- GO!)

The next day he followed up with a text saying he'd had a good time, and inserting appropriate flirty phrases. He had just bought Rock Band after we'd discussed it a lot, because I was currently involved in a competition at work. (I may or may not have been excited he had it so I could use him for get more practice time.) I must say I was impressed with his date etiquette in following up, and I chose to ignore the fact that I was a little excited he was texting me.

He texted me after Church the following day saying my hair looked beautiful, and making other flirty contact. I had him wrapped around my finger.

Or so I thought.

He asked me out again for the next weekend, and we went to dinner, chilled at Rock Canyon Park talking whilst enjoying the overlooking view of Provo, then went to his apartment to watch a movie. He'd been getting closer and closer all night, so I knew that he'd probably try to make a move during the movie. Still unsure of how I felt, but mostly sure I wasn't interested, get this - I sat on a different couch. Laid out on it. So he couldn't even sit next to me. Harsh, I know. He later told me that it confused him a lot.

After that date, I'd decided I wouldn't accept another. He was cool, I had fun with him, but I just wasn't "into him romantically." (Ho, ho, ho.) It was still obvious he liked me, though, and there were a few times when he'd pop over as part of the groups who'd visit periodically throughout the week. (This is when I exhibited my embarrassing snotiliciousness.) I was convinced he'd ask me out again, and considered how I'd let him down.

The week went on with no word from him. Friday came, and still no date invitation.

What?

I was bugged. And a little bugged that I was bugged.

This is Exhibit A evidencing that Josh knows how to play the game, my friends.

The next day, Saturday, my roommate, Whitney, had to do her mom a favor and sell tickets at an event in Salt Lake. Since I had no other plans (grumble, grumble), I joined her.

After the concert started we were just waiting in the lobby until intermission. Bored, I coyly suggested to Whitney that we mess with Josh. (What a sweetie I am.) We decided that we'd send him texts from my phone to mess with him, but then later I could claim that Whitney did it under the guise that it was without my knowledge. Whitney, of course, would actually send the texts so we wouldn't actually be lying, and we used a couple of her catch-phrases so it'd be more believable.

(Oy, Whitney and I were a little out of control while together.)

But Josh proved to be smarter than I thought. And it may or may not have backfired a little bit.




To be continued...

Thankful Thursday

Ah, beloved Thankful Thursday. You have been missing for quite some time as I was basking in my lame-o-ness. Welcome back.

This week I am thankful:

That I finally have a ring on my finger! (WOO WOO!!!) I thought we were basically engaged before and if someone asked me about my plans or whatever, we weren't so secretive that we wouldn't say that we already had a date and stuff. But I always felt a little weird saying that we were engaged with my bare finger, and I was totally dying to make the formal announcement. And now I have a ring, I have a ring, I have a ring, hey hey hey hey! (Thank you, Little Rascals.)

That I'm finally losing this weight I've put on, and am thisclose to my Pre-Josh weight. Just in time for wedding dress shopping (WOO WOO!!). My body is kind of weird when it comes to losing weight. Usually I have to be diligent in working out and eating right for 3 or 4 months, seeing virtually no results, then out of nowhere it's like the weight just falls off. I'm all for the falling off, but sometimes it's hard to remain motivated and diligent when it seems to be doing no good. I am also grateful to have recognized this pattern so it helps make it a little easier. I'm one of those who gains weight if I think about food, but at least I can usually get it off.

That I have been in such a good mood lately and it's really really hard to upset or annoy me. (Josh is really grateful for this, too.) It's so weird and I can't figure out why in the heck I am in such a good mood. (Sarcasm, obviously.) I don't really feel like I'm giddy, but I suppose that I sort of am. Yesterday I was trying to talk to a co-worker who is relatively new in the office, and I kept getting distracted, pausing mid-sentence and losing my train of thought (because Josh and I were discussing honeymoon options on gchat) (WOO WOO!!). I finally was just like, "Argh, I'm sorry. I'm really distracted," then to make fun of myself I stopped, stared at my ring and said, "Ooo, pretty!" My co-worker said, "I've never seen you so giddy!" and apparently I've been a delight (seriously, Heather. Stop using that word) to be around. Woo woo for being pleasant!


Wow. This is getting a little out of hand. I think I'm almost annoyed with me and, like I said before, it's basically impossible to annoy me right now so that's saying something.

Will you guys still be my friends when I chill out? Kthanksomuch.

The one in which I struggle with how many details are annoying, and how many details are fun.

He loves having his picture taken, and is so cooperative. Even after he just proposed marriage to me.
But ya know, whatever Josh. When you make faces like that, they're still going on the blog so it's your bad.

A few reasons why Josh's proposal to me was unique:

He didn't really ask.
And I didn't really answer.

The significance of him not asking is much cuter if you know us and our history well, so let me try to give a little background.

Long-time blog readers may remember that I wasn't a Josh-lover in the beginning. In fact, I was kind of a big fat snot. (But not totally; I had legit concerns, it was just the way I handled it on the blog that was snotalicious.) I didn't think that I liked him, but I wanted to give him a chance because you never know if your mind could change. That first date he surprised me. A lot.

He'd noticed me reading my scriptures outside every day, so he picked up on the fact that I loved being outdoors in peaceful settings, drinking in my surroundings. So for that first date we picked up P.F. Chang's, and he took me up a canyon to a beautiful wooded area and we had a little picnic. I was so surprised by how totally easy he was to talk to, and how I hardly knew him but still felt like I could say pretty much anything to him. I had a delightful time (I know, who says "delightful" besides 85 year old women named Etta? But it is the best word to describe it), and we ended up dragging the date on. After it was over, I knew I'd had a good time, but I still didn't really think anything would work out with us.

Holy cow, this "little background info" is turning into quite the story. I keep thinking of more and more things I have to tell you in order for you to truly understand the end of the story. Ugh. I'm a long story-teller.

Umm.. would you guys like to hear the whole story? I can break it up into multiple posts if so... otherwise I can just cut to the chase. Let me know, because for now I'm cutting to the chase.

Ahem.

He didn't really ask.
After a short speech and tender expressions of feelings he pulled out the ring and said, "I'm not asking. I'm telling you. You're gonna marry me." And he slipped the ring on my finger.

I laughed when he said that, and was about to respond but the ring totally and completely distracted me. Instead, my response was, "It's GINORMOUS!!!"

And for the next hour it seemed that "huge," "ginormous," "freakin' ridiculous," and similar words and phrases were the only ones in my English-freak-I-really-did-graduate-college-on-academic-scholarship vocabulary.

But I'm not kidding, people. It is freaking ridiculous. These pictures don't even do it justice.

Last night we had dinner with a bunch of Josh's extended family, and one of his little cousins said, "That's the biggest diamond I've ever seen!"

No kidding, man. I almost feel a little silly with this huge thing on my finger.



ALMOST.


I really am not trying to brag.
(Huh? I guess bragging just comes naturally? What does that even mean?)


Let's not even talk about the wedding band yet. (Oh my goodness, people.)

Okay, everyone, let's all be super impressed with Joshy's spoiling me. I made him wait a long ol' time and he still spoiled the crap out of me.

Side-note: I'm kind of worried as I post all this stuff because I'm not sure how many details are appreciated and fun, and when it starts breaching into annoying territory. So I'm gonna leave details at that. If you want more, just ask, and I'll happily oblige.