Nice to Meet You, I'm Engaged.

This weekend, Boyfriend became Fiancee! I am excited and happy and nervous about planning a wedding, but the overlying feeling is an extreme sense of rightness. This was not a snap or impulsive decision after dating someone briefly. This is a considered, conscious choice to continue spending my life with the person I love. 

We have been dating 4 years, living together over two and a half years, and can talk about anything. This person knows all of my flaws, quirks, obsessions, and issues, and still wants to be with me for the foreseeable future. I know all of his stuff, too. And you know what? Every single day, I get to wake up to his cranky morning face and give him a kiss.

I didn't dream about weddings as a kid. I wasn't planning Barbie weddings or Cabbage Patch engagement parties or dreaming about princess dresses and tuxedos. I loved treeclimbing, fort-building, baseball in the cul-de-sac, rollerblading (I should not have been allowed to rollerblade. That was poor decision-making skills, parents. How many times did I get hurt because I couldn't stop properly??), swimming, and pestering my older brother to take me with him wherever he went, or to make me macaroni and cheese for every meal. I liked reading with my mom, playing my GameBoy on road trips, and I had big dreams about becoming a famous lawyer-slash-singer. 

I was not obsessed with weddings back then, and I'm not obsessed with weddings now, either. Planning our wedding will probably be somewhat stressful, and I'm sure we won't agree on every little thing, but we'll make it through. And I can only hope that the stress of planning a wedding brings us closer together, reveling in the ridiculous that is traditional weddings. 

But in the end, it's not the wedding that matters, but the marriage that follows. I already know I want to spend my life with him. Now it's just making it official and me getting a fancypants new name. 

Seriously though. Immediately after he asked and I said yes, we hugged and kissed and it was amazing and just the two of us and exactly what we wanted....I kind of squealed and half-yelled "I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL EVERYONE!" 

My mom could not be more excited about this, nor could his parents or our siblings and friends. Thank you, to everyone we love, for being so wonderful and supportive, and happy for us. Your support is so awesome and I can't wait to dance the night away with you in celebration in a year or so. :)

So we went ring shopping this weekend, which was very cool. I get to pick out my ring! It was harder than I thought it would be. I thought I would see something and know immediately that that was my ring, but it wasn't like that at all. I knew going in that I wanted a large sapphire instead of a big diamond, and all of the traditional engagement settings just weren't what I wanted. Some of them seemed devoid of personality when it was just diamonds on top of diamonds surrounded by diamonds on a diamond band. So I finally found an embellished split band with a large center sapphire that I fell in love with. It is interesting and different, and I can't wait to be wearing it every day. An outward symbol of our choice to stick out life together!

2015 is really starting off strong! Engaged, and in 2 weeks is our actual 4th anniversary, and 2 weeks later, we're adopting a kitty, and having a new furry little friend to love. Damn, this is a great year already! 

Happy New Year!

Hello, 2015, nice to meet you! I am having trouble remembering to write 2015 on checks and dates and stuff, but otherwise, you seem pretty rad so far! And Boyfriend and I are adopting a kitten next month!!

Happy new year to one and all! I love holidays and beginnings, though not so much ends of things. I love opening a whole new year, to discover what’s waiting for me on the other side. I enjoy looking back at the past year and being appreciative of what I’ve had or done or experienced.

Now, I’m not going to drag you through a rundown of 2014, I promise! I’ll just hit the highlights really quickly.

In 2014, Boyfriend and I went to New Zealand for 2 weeks with my brother and sister-in-law, to visit my dad. We spent an amazing 2 weeks just driving around the north island and stopping wherever we wanted, and staying in these cool little campgrounds, and taking pictures. Also, I saw Hobbit holes, which was really, really rad.

In 2014, I saw my nephew turn 4, one niece turn 7, and the other niece turn 1. I saw my best friend (who lives in Florida) an unprecedented 6 times this year! With us living so far apart, that is actually a banner year for us!

In 2014, I got to spend a fourth year with Boyfriend, and we decided not to move out of our current apartment, a decision we regretted almost immediately! We love the apartment itself, but the building is so old and the floors and ceilings are so thin, it is super annoying!! We shall move this summer.

And now, instead of the long, involved, probably boring-for-you recap of what a great year I had, and the adventures I went on, and the things I hope for this year, please enjoy these pictures that I’ve collected that make me laugh.

FAT GIRAFFE!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!