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.