a whole lotta not much

This week has been kinda upy and downy... It's been busy, but boring...

1. I've done a lot of wedding stuff. I've found some amazing deals, but wow, money spends fast.

2. My parents have been in the Virgin Islands for a week. I'm picking them up tonight. I miss them!

3. Today is moving day. Why do we need so much stuff? Both of our leases were up this month so we decided to save a few hundred dollars and consolidate. I'm living out of a suitcase in my parents basement and Paul is living in my apartment...104 nights...go by fast, go by fast...

4. Paul and I have been eating out way too much lately. I can't even remember the beginning of last week, but I haven't cooked for at least 10 nights in a row. Wow.

5. I'm ready to be warm.

6. I'm looking forward to being a home owner. Not that it's going to happen any time soon...or in the state of Utah, but I'm looking forward to feeling really settled in somewhere, and painting, and being creative, and knowing it's mine.

7. I'm going to make brownie bites right now. I wanna try those baby ones in mini-muffin tins and see how it works.

8. I'm ready for Mexico. Spring of '06 my friend Katie and I went to Cabo San Lucas, Spring of '07 my friend Kathy and I went on a cruise to Ensanada, and Spring of '08 the same Kathy, her friend Cammie and I went on the same cruise again. My brain thinks this is a normal thing now. I guess a fiance and wedding planning is a good trade...but...a big boat, the sun, ocean and Mexico would sure be nice...

9. I got my hair done yesterday. I love that my cousin Sara does my hair. She's gonna do my hair for my wedding...we're thinking I might wear it down. Check here work out here.

10. I wish I was the investor of Spoon Me. Or that I had a never ending Spoon Me machine in my house. It's the best stuff.

text the word "LENT" while speeding down I-15

Every year I give up something for lent. (The past 2 years is 'every year' to me.) I don't usually (I never) succeed for 40 days...is that how long it is?? But I try and I'm never sad when I fail because...I'm just not.

This year I decided I'd give up text messaging. Not completely. But my plan was that if a texting interaction took more than 2 texts I'd call the person.

By 10AM this morning I'd already had 3 conversations via text. One with my fiance Paul about wedding/love/lent. One with my brother Scott about getting some info to him about a project for a class he has, and finding a house key. And one with my friend Anne about hanging out later today. All 3 are people who I have no problem talking to, it's just that texting is my #1 way of communicating. Shortly after realizing that I'd already failed, I got a phone call from one of my cousins who needed Scott's phone number. I gave it to her and was off the phone in less than 20 seconds. I thought to myself that if I needed a number from someone I'd text them and they'd text me the number and then I could move my blackberry scroll ball over the number in the text and push one button and my phone would call that person, or I could scroll one line down and have the option to text the number I'd just recieved via text. Which is easier/quicker?? I started thinking about this last sunday while texting one of my other brothers, Taylor. We texted (is texted a word?) for about 30 minutes about the Celine Dion concert I'd just attended, the Oscars and our love of Slumdog, and one of his childhood friends who had just passed away. All topics that may have been easier and quicker to talk about/get informed about by talking, but we just kept texting and texting and texting...

So, then I decided I might try and give up speeding. While thinking about habits that are hard to change or give up I noticed that in about a 4 miles stretch of road I went at least 10 over, 3 times. It's hard to go the speed limit! And most of the time when I catch myself speeding I'm just going with the flow of traffic. I'm not flying past people, or weaving in and out to get ahead. I'm just keeping up with all the other people in the world who are in a hurry.

So, here is what I've decided. I'm gonna kind of combine the two and try not to be such an over-acheiver. I'm going to give up texting while I'm driving. I do this a lot. So now maybe I'll text less in general, and I'll pay more attention to the road and my driving. Happy Lent!...er...Ash Wednesday...er...whatever...

4th, 4th, tag.

The idea is to go to your pictures, open the 4th folder and select the 4th picture. Post it. Explain it.

This is an old friend Aaron and I. I lived by him back in the day and he would have a lot of parties and never invite me. But we had all the same friends so I'd hear about the parties and go anyway. This is us having a make-up hug at his birthday party a year or so ago...that I wasn't invited to. He always claimed that I was invited, or that I was one who always had a standing invitation to everything... blah, blah.

Try to have a secret party.

I'll find out.

And I'll come.
(If you're reading this, consider yourself "4th, 4th, tagged".)

Project 365: Week 8

February 16

Our "Met-iversary." Paul and I met one year ago today. I know I swore I'd know a guy a year before I'd talk marriage or be engaged. I was 17 days off. Oh well, expect the unexpected...er, something. We went to dinner and bought clothes for our invitation pictures. Then watched some DVRed Bachelor and 24. I love him. (Paul, not Jason Mesnich or Jack Bauer) But Jack IS a close second.
February 17
My Grandpa's brother passed away this evening. The mortuary that Paul works for is handling the services and I happened to be with him when he got the call so I went along with him and his co-worker to the hospital. It's an interesting profession and my man is oh so good at this type of work.
February 18
I gave up fake nails a couple months ago. I kinda miss them, but this stuff is the next best thing. My mom got tricked into buying it at the mall before Christmas and she gave it to me. I pull it out every couple weeks. I also work on Paul's nails, but that's top secret. My brothers heard about it once and said if he did it again he'd have to give up his man card.
February 19
Today was a fun day. I could've taken a lot of pictures but I forgot to. Anne and I went to lunch for our birthdays. Hers was the 17th and mine is the 20th. After work my sis-in-law dropped off these BEAUTIFUL flowers. Thanks Laura and Scott! Later Paul and I went to dinner and then went shopping around for wedding ideas. Sometimes shopping with him is so much fun and sometimes it...is not so fun. ;)
February 20
My Birthday. I haven't yet, but by the time this is posted I will have probably blogged a B-day post. Real quick- lunch and shopping with my mom, (thanks mom!) Appetizers and drinks at Ruby River, dinner at Mayan, and He's Just Not That Into You. All with Paul. (He's into me) Here is us at Mayan.
February 21
My great-uncle Paul's funeral. My fiance Paul handled the service through the mortuary he works for. He did an amazing job and all the extented-extended family who had never met him of course fell in love. This is at the grave side in Bountiful, Utah. My grandpa and his remaining siblings, Ralph, Ruth, Mark and Max.
February 22
Celine Dion. Does life get any better?? I've been waiting for this concert for 15 months! I love her. My mom was suppose to go with me, but she was given a free trip to the Virgin Islands and left this morning. Paul came with me and whether he admits it or not, he's her newest fan. It was a-mazing!

birth

I'm 29. This blog might be rambly and run-ony. I've been sitting here thinking how to write it and my brain is racing and I don't know why. So we'll see.

I decided I might not like birthdays. Not because of anything that happened or didn't happen, I just, I dunno.

Here was my day. Gym. This geeky shy awkward young membership checker told me "Happy Birthday Andrea!" when he scanned my card. It was kind of random and I'm sure they have some listing on the memberships and it pops up on the screen when it's your bday. Caught me off guard for a second, then it made me feel good. It's nice when you get a Happy Birthday from someone who has no reason to know its your bday. Kinda like the time I got pulled over on my bday and didn't realize the cop would figure it out with my license and when he returned to my car he said, "Slow down and have a Happy Birthday, ma'am." Me: Oh...right! Thanks!

My mom took me to lunch and then we did a little wedding stuff shopping. Oh and I bought her a pair of shoes...for my birthday. I told my dad I bought them for her as a thank you for birthing me. Then he tried to get me to buy him something because he said he did all the work in the process. He got nothin outta me. The real reason I bought them for her was because 2 Christmases ago I gave her a ticket to Celine Dion to go with me. The concert was suppose to be this past Nov. but it was rescheduled for this Sunday. My mom got a free trip from work and she leaves Sunday morning so she can't go. :( So I bought her shoes to make up for Christmas. And Paul in going to Celine with me. The Paul who I'm marrying...the one who, when he found out that last weekend at the Energy Solutions Arena they gave out earplugs at the monster truck rally asked, "Will they give out earplugs at Celine Dion??" I love her! And nothing will ruin the show for me.

Tonight Paul took me to Jordan Commons. We went to Ruby River and had some appetizers while we waited for a table at the Mayan. We ran into my friend Taft from high school, it was good to see him. Then we had dinner at Mayan and went and saw He's Just Not That Into You. Not the best movie. He kind of almost barely redeemed itself in the last 90 seconds, but overall it was sad and depressing. Maybe it woulda been a little better if I'd seen it with girlfriends, but seeing a movie like that with the man I'm about to marry just made me feel like relationships and commitment and love isn't realistic or possible...I know that it is. But that's how the movie comes across. Maybe I didn't explain that well. If you've seen it, you might agree, or disagree. Whatevs. We'd decided to keep my bday simple because we have a financial plan we're working on before we get married. And with v-day, our met-iversary, and my bday in the same week, it was a lot. But Paul still gave me a gift card to one of my fave places. And he's taking me to Cali in a couple weeks for the 7th time in less than 8 months.

Birthdays are birthdays. Everyone has one, and really, the moms maybe should be the ones who are celebrated. They did all the work. All I did was slide out and cry. So, Happy Birthday Mom, thanks for birthing me.

And thanks to all of you who called, texted, emailed, facebooked, etc. It is nice to know people remember...and/or see the facebook reminder. That's a good feature.

Ok, that's all...until next year...

One Year Later...

Paul and I met one year ago today. It has been the best year of my life. I know what you're thinking...Kleeee-shay. But it's true.

It was a very unexpected day, and not what I was looking for. I met him less than 24 hours after I got home from my trip to Peru. I'd spent a month in Ukraine just before my trip to Peru and I was feeling totally independent, excited, ready to travel more and never settle down. Who knew.

He and I were both invited to my parents house for lunch. He was friends with my younger brother Taylor. He'd already met my family a year before and I'd heard every once in a while about this amazing guy who lives in California. He was living in Utah now and had finally found some time to visit my family. He didn't know he was meeting me that day, and I wasn't even sure if I was going to go because I was covered from head to toe in red bug bites from these little Peruvian jungle bugs and I wasn't feeling great. But I hadn't seen my parents in almost a month, so I went. Little did I know, my life was about to change.
We went on our first official date 10 days later. To keep this shorter, I'm gonna make a quick list/timeline. Mostly for me to remember, so sorry if this bores. (It's interesting looking back, because I honestly didn't think we'd ever really date. Our lives had been and were so different and when we met I was days away from 28 and he was a couple months into 22. That was way too much for me but I was intrigued, and found myself thinking about him way more than normal.)

February- We met, I turned 28, and we went on our first date.
March- Started talking and or texting almost daily and hung out once or twice a week.
April- Talked a lot more and about a lot of deep stuff. Slowly started spending more time together.
May- I spent a couple weeks in Hawaii and we talked on the phone quite a bit. I realized that I liked him a lot and I missed him while I was gone. He went to my apartment while I was gone to check the mail and water my plants. (Only one died.)
June- I realized we were dating but not officially dating. I was frustrated and told him I needed a break. It was sad. He contacted me 4 days later and we went to dinner and a long drive and things got right back to how they were but still not dating.
July- He decided we needed a break. This one felt a lot more final to me. I cried and was sad. It lasted 3 weeks. We saw each other 2 or 3 times at events that mutual friends had invited us both to. Awkward.
August- Things were kind of back to "normal" but I had a lot of insecurities. I always had in the back of my mind that it could happen again, or this might be the last time I see him. I loved being with him, but I was very unsure about the future of our friendship. By the end of August our conversations and time together were a lot more personal and deep. I went to California for a conference he was doing for work. I met and stayed with his family and realized I was dang near in love with him. It was a great trip and the thought of coming back to Utah and feeling unsure all over again was exhausting.
September- On the 2nd he asked if I was free for dinner the next night. I spent 24 hours hoping he was feeling the same as I was but also preparing myself for possibly our 3rd (and final) break. I'd decided that if it was a break that I really couldn't do it anymore and that we'd be done for good. It was a good dinner. We "became official" on Sept. 3rd. Road tripped to California again. Had our first kiss. And started spending all our free time together.
October- Spent all our free time together...kept falling more and more in love.
November- Spent all our free time together...kept falling more and more in love. He turned 23.
December-See previous months...had a great Christmas in California.
January- Yep, still in love. Oh yeah, and he asked me to marry him.
February-Wedding planning, parents meeting parents, and every single day when I feel like life cant possibly get any better, it does.
I'm so lucky to have him. I can't imagine anyone ever loving me as much as he does.
"I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. Run the risk. If you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived."
-Anthony Hopkins, Meet Joe Black

I'm looking forward to many more amazing years! I love you, Paul.

Project 365: Week 7

February 9

Today was one of those days. Nothing too exciting and I've heard way too much about the Feb. 9th Salt Lake killer who isn't caught yet, and has been at it for 3 years. I've been a little paranoid, so I was glad to see the day come to an end. Not that I'm any safer on the 10th, its just one of those weird/annoying things.
February 10
Every once in a while Pauly and I decide to play a game. Usually cards. But tonight we mixed it up with some good old Chutes and Ladders...Now we know why it's called 'The Classic Game of Ups and Downs For Preschools' It's Soooo boring that it becomes fun. (I won 3 times)...doesn't matter. We also played one round of Rumikum (I won)...again, no biggie. Then we finally busted out the cards, a new game called 'Swap' It'd be more fun with more people. We played twice. (I won, twice) ...he's such a good sport. And in his defense my family is a game playing fam. If he ever took me hunting...he'd win.
February 11
This is not my dress. But I decided on my dress today! I love it, but I don't wanna post it. I like this one but the flowery bead stuff was pink-ish. Not a fan. I'm so excited about my dress. You'll see it in 4 months...be patient. We also registered at Target tonight. Paul did really well! It was fun. Oh and I cut off my face cuz I looked not cute. Oh and I sepia-ed it cuz the pink was too ugly.
February 12
Probably not the best food to leave for my future in-laws who are staying at my apartment for the weekend...
February 13
Paul's parents love the tv show, "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives." We hit two of the Utah locations that have been featured on the show. Blue Plate Diner for breakfast, and Moochie's for lunch. Here was our stop at Moochie's. Try the philly cheese steak sub.
February 14
Dinner at the Mandarin in Bountiful with both sets of parents. We think this is where we want to have our rehearsal dinner so we had to try it out. And we tried A LOT of food. 9 or 10 entrees and 3 desserts. So good! The 'parents meeting parents' weekend could not have gone any better.
February 15
We celebrated my birthday tonight at mom and dad's. I hate this picture, but it was the best out of the 8 that Paul took...that are now deleted.

At least we're not Andrea TEALhalgh and Paul PINK...

You know how you're planning your wedding and the groom is mostly like, "whatever...if you like it I like it." ?? And even if they have an opinion or thought you can easily sway them or lead them in your direction and trick them into thinking it was their idea?

Like-

Groom: Hey sweetie, how about we have pork chops, mashed potatoes, and corn.

Bride: Ok babe, that sounds great I'll put in the order for pork (roast) chops, mashed (baked seasoned red) potatoes, and corn (a nice vegi blend with colors that look fantastic with roast and red potatoes and make the plate a beautiful color palette of amazingness.)

Or:

Groom: How do you feel about having Carnations?

Bride: Great! And we can save a lot of money by just getting colored tissue paper and wadding it up and gluing it to the end of green sticks.

Groom: Roses or Gerber Daisies?

Bride: Awww, that's better.

(These aren't real conversations Paul and I have had, I was just using extreme examples.)

One thing though with Paul, I wasn't magic enough to sway/trick him on. Our wedding colors. Paul was so excited to share his super creative idea with me.

Paul: GREEN and WHITE!

(cricket, cricket....)

Me: Really??

Paul: Yeah, cuz Andrea Greenhalgh and Paul White!!!

Me: That's great, if green looks like shades of red, orange and yellow...

The trick didn't work, and I've given in. Our wedding colors are green and white. I've found some way awesome looks with different shades of green and I'm kind of excited about it.

Project 365: Week 6

February 2

Paul surprised me by arranging to go to Long Beach and visit my friend Kari who just moved there. She lives and works on this boat! It was fun to see her and get the tour. What a great office and back yard!
February 3
Paul in front of the World's Largest Thermometer. Isn't he hot??
February 4
Aww...lists. This was Paul working on his part of the guest list. We've decided the guest list(s)...Rehearsal Dinner, Ceremony, UT Reception, and CA reception is the most important part. First things first!
February 5
More list making. This time my mom was hard at work.
January 6
Matt's Birthday party. Today was a good day. Dress shopping, (90% sure I found the one), Matt's party, and then dinner with Paul. This was the only event that my camera was present. Matt, Me, Paul, Sephra.
February 7
Another good/busy day. Paul and I went church hunting. I found one I LOVE. I'm about at the same percentage on the location as I am on the dress. Then, Anne, Kylee and Elen came with me to a bridal show in Provo. I got some great ideas. This is a different flower look that I really love. The we went to CPK for lunch and talked and talked and talked. They are so great!
February 8
My Grandma borrowed all this pottery from me and the deal is I get it back when she dies or I buy a house big enough to where I'd need it. (She'll probably win, but I hope it's still a long ways off.) She's had it for over a year but here's the quick story that explains why I took a picture of it today. When she got it all organized how she wanted it, she felt like it needed something more. (This was pre-red flower) I told her it needed a little splash of red. She added the flower (that I also gave her) and she loved it. Well, today I stopped by and she showed me the comics from the paper. The "Mutts" comic was a white looking scene with a lot of trees that were all white, black and light blue. One of the branches has a tiny red bird perched on it. On the ground there are two little white and black dogs and one is saying, "This place needed a little splash of red." My grandma said she laughed and thought of me.

Lists of lists...of lists...of lists...

I'm gonna try and limit my posts about wedding planning, but I can't make any promises. I am so excited, first of all. We're getting married June 12th and having a reception that night as well. The rehearsal dinner will be on the 11th, all in SLC somewhere, and then we're having a reception in Southern California on June 20th. Oh, and we'll be honeymooning between the events. Paul and I spent most of our last day in Cali talking wedding and the whole next day on the drive home was pretty much all wedding. There is so much to think about, especially with a 2 location event.

Here is just a very small idea of whats to come...

-an invitation with warm beach pictures AND cold mountain pictures.
-dresses for people from California all the way to Alabama
-finding a CA location (and a UT one)
-having some places in Utah to show the Whites by next friday when they fly out to meet my parents.
-Guest lists for rehearsal, ceremony, UT reception, CA reception. Oh, and we each have one for each event, so that's 8 guest lists in the works right now.
-The to-do list that we started on Monday. It has about 30 things on it, and it's just the list of things we need to make lists of.

Oh, and this was comforting. I got on a website to help locate local vendors, etc. I had to register to use the site and when I was scanning through some info there was a to-do list. At the top of the list in big bold letters it said, "Congratulations! You're engaged!" Then at the bottom of the list in small print, it said, "You have 110 other tasks to complete." Great. Thanks.

I'm glad we still have 126 days...and that we're keeping it "kinda small"...

So, about the ring...and I'm not talkin' Superbowl.

I'M ENGAGED!!! (In case you missed that in the '365' post below. But here are more details.) So, I'm marrying a mortician. Our original plan was to fly down to SoCal last friday night but there was a death in St. George of someone from L.A. so we had to drive down a day early and take the body. Paul's mortuary in UT coordinated with his dad's mortuary in CA and they did the funeral together. The plan all along was that Paul was going to propose on Saturday, (I had no idea about any of this!) but as the Funeral Director he had to do a viewing friday night and the funeral saturday. We had a friends wedding to attend Saturday night so the day was shot. At the last minute before we left for the viewing he decided he was gonna do it right after we finished at the mortuary that night. He told me to grab my swimming suit and while we were getting ready for the viewing his dad packed a box for the beach. (Still, I knew nothing.)

After the viewing we headed to the beach. I hadn't noticed the box but when he pulled it out of the car to head to the sand we just made jokes about it being cremated remains that we had to scatter at sea. It never clicked for me to wonder what it actually might be. He set up this cute little spot for us with a candle and stem glasses. We just sat there and talked for a while. Then he asked if he could give me a present. He pulled out a wrapped box. I opened it and there were 3 stacking boxed and he'd put our names on each of them. Inside the last one there was a small box. It was dark enough that I didn't notice the jeweler name on the box, I opened it. It was empty and had a "?" in it. It was at that moment that it clicked as to what might be happening. He turned to me, pulled the ring out and asked me to marry him!!!

He was saying all these amazing things and I just covered my mouth with my hand and looked at the ocean crying. I'd said "of course I'll marry you" at one point but he just kept saying all these great things to me. By this point I was laughing and crying at the same time. I guess he wanted to hear that one little word cuz he finally said, "Will you please say yes so I can stop talking?!" I yelled, "YES!" He put the ring on my finger and we kissed and life was perfect. We just sat in the sand watching the waves, holding each other, kissing each other, laughing, talking, and just being in love. Then I stared texting the family. We finally headed home around mid-night and we stopped on the way home at In-N-Out Burger...what better way to celebrate!
I loved that I was totally surprised. We knew we wanted to marry each other and we'd talked about it a bit, but I didn't expect it this soon. Especially cuz last week he started to be less talkative about it. I thought he was getting worried or overwhelmed, he was just doing it to make sure I was totally surprised. It worked!

It was amazing. I'm so in love. Paul is perfect for me. I've never been happier.

Project 365: Week 5

January 26

'Spoon Me' It's my favorite thing in the world. Mmm, mmm, mmm...especially on an evening of sitting at home watching The Bachelor and 24 with Pauly. (Although every single week I tell him that he doesn't get to watch The Bachelor with me anymore.) He bribes me with Spoon Me.
January 27
Draper, Utah Temple. The construction in complete and the open house is going on right now. This afternoon Paul and I met up with my mom and went on a tour of the newest LDS temple.
January 28
I've been cooking dinner a lot for Paul and I. I'm trying to get more creative, sometimes its good, sometimes not so much. This was yellow curry and chili pepper chicken and potatoes. Not the worst but we won't have it again. We use to watch TV while we ate dinner but we've started eating at the table and just talking about our days. It's a good way to do it.
January 29
St. George...There was a sight change of plans for the CA trip. We left a day early and stayed the first night at Paul's bosses house. I forgot to take a picture so he's me about to go to bed at just before midnight.
January 30
I got ENGAGED!!! The beach in California. (A lot more detail about this trip, and more pictures will be posted soon!!!)
January 31
This is at Paul's sister's best friends wedding in California. Me and my future in-laws... sis, hubby, dad, mom, and poppy.
February 1
Paul and his childhood/college buddies at his parents house on Superbowl Sunday.