what’s goin on

I’ll be singing Marvin Gaye all morning thanks to that title…

There is an awful lot happening in my little world right now, so here’s a little catch up.

wedding planning

We are sort of at the hurry up and wait point. We have a lot of stuff set in stone. Venue has been set. Bridesmaids, groomsmen, best man and man of honor (my brother!) have all been asked. Florist is booked. Music is booked. Hair and makeup are booked. Dress and shoes (omg, the shoes!) have been purchased.

(source) I look at them in their box almost daily.

Colin’s suit and shoes (can’t wait to show you guys his look! It’s fantastic. Vans are involved) are purchased. We picked out wedding bands, but we still need to pay them so the artist can get to work on making them. Invites are being designed (perks of having a graphic designer for a brother). It’s now getting down to details. Colin and I are going out to Kansas for a quick weekend trip at the end of next month to talk to the venue and florist about “our vision” and to taste some food (we still have to decide on a menu and talk about our dessert table requests- I’m envisioning a lot of pies). I have a feeling that July will be here before we know it…

workouts

This is the most consistent I have ever been with serious strength training in my life. My personal trainer sessions ended over a month ago, but Colin and I have been going to “really” lift together at least twice a week and it has made a HUGE difference in how I look and feel. I’m also registered for a race next month. The race has a full marathon and a 10 mile and a friend of ours is running the marathon and she somehow convinced me to sign up for the 10 miler (okay, it was actually super easy). It’s been a great reason to get out and do some longer runs again!

kitten

Prim is finally sleeping through the night (kittens are babies after all), which has made me love her even more than I thought was possible.

And there you have it. My life in a nutshell. Wedding, workout, travel for work, food (I’ll do a food post sometime soon because Colin and I have been making some insanely tasty meals), kitten. Rinse and repeat.

Make it a great week everyone!

new love

Don’t worry, Colin isn’t going anywhere, but a week ago we did adopt a new furry bundle of joy.

Meet Prim! (Yes, Primrose Everdeen IS her given name. This was actually Colin’s idea. We are huge nerds and we embrace it.)

Colin and I have been wanting a kitten for awhile. We both grew up with pets and missed having one hanging around. We’d been keeping our eyes peeled for the one who tugged on our heartstrings the hardest (if it were up to me, we’d have 4 cats, 3 dogs, a turtle, and a llama, so my vote doesn’t count) and last Sunday we found ourselves filling out the adoption forms.

She loves people, is a total chatty Cathy, chirps instead of meows (for real, I should try to take a video to record this).

Oh, and she’s flipping cute.

rings and things

Oh hey there strangers! I just haven’t really been feeling the blog mojo recently, so I haven’t been forcing it. I’ve thought about just shutting down the old girl, but I’m not quite ready to do that. I want to keep documenting what is going on in my life even if I’m the only one who reads it.

A lot has gone down over here in the wedding world, so let’s catch you up.

1. We booked a venue! Colin and I thought about different places all over the US. We thought about getting married at a brewery in Wisconsin. We thought about getting married at the boarding school Colin attended with a reception on the beach. We talked about just going to a courthouse. So what did we end up with? A ranch outside of my hometown in Kansas.

(source)

The ranch has bison, horses, and we get to stay out there the whole weekend. AND we set a date! July 7th! Since it is the weekend after the 4th of July we even get to have fireworks. I couldn’t be more excited.

I also found THE dress. My mom and Colin’s mom came up to help me look last weekend. We ventured into New York City, went to one place and I ended up loving the 2nd dress I tried on (I tried on many more after that but we kept going back to that one). I won’t post any pictures in case Colin stumbles on this post, but I’ll give you some hints- it’s short, it has a green ribbon, and it’s everything I could have hoped for! We went to RK Bridal and had the BEST experience ever. If you need a dress and are in driving distance to NYC, I’d highly recommend going in and asking for Jo (just don’t go on a weekend because it was a mad house, we went on a rainy Friday and we were pretty much the only people there). Jo and I just clicked and she understood exactly what I was looking for.

Oh, and I finally got my ring!

Colin and I picked it out and we got engaged without the ring because it was going to take almost a month for them to remake it for me with the sapphire we chose. It is SO worth the wait. It’s gorgeous and now that I have it on my finger I can’t take my eyes off it.

So now we have a date, a venue, my dress (and shoes and headpiece!), and our best fellas (my brother is going to be my man of honor). Not a bad start, right?

Make it a great week everyone!

wedding who knews?

Okay, so plenty of people know these things, but I am not one of those girls who spent countless hours on wedding blogs prior to being engaged. I don’t have a dream location. I had no idea what “cushion cut” meant before we went to try on rings. Planning a wedding is going to truly be an educational experience for me. Yikes. (Note- I swear, this blog isn’t going to be all wedding focused all the time, but it IS sort of the way I document my life, and right now, my life is a little bit wedding focused. I apologize in advance.)

Things we know for sure-

1. Keep it small. Close friends and family only. I think this is going to be a hard pill for some people to swallow, but really, Colin and I aren’t looking to go into debt for this wedding and we really want to keep it as small as possible.
2. If it doesn’t feel like us, we aren’t doing it. There won’t be engagement photos. There definitely won’t be a garter toss. We want to do our best to keep the whole process fun for both of us (and our families!)
3. It will be fun. We want our guests to have a really good time with us. The “with us” is key here. We want to be present the whole weekend and celebrate with everyone!

That is about as far as we have gotten in this whole planning thing. So, if you know of any cheap, amazing, quirky wedding spots, please feel free to shoot them my way…

Also, is it wrong to want to plan an entire wedding around a pair of shoes? Because these seriously make my heart flutter.

Adore.

This weekend I am off to NYC for a work event. I’ve REALLY enjoyed my lack of work travel the past couple of weeks, but it’s time to kick it up again! Make it a great one my friends!

 

the story

Thank you all SO much for your sweet emails, tweets, texts, and phone calls. Colin and I couldn’t be happier! He is the best guy in the world and I really can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to have snagged him.

The story of the proposal goes back about a month. We have been joking forever about marriage and some time in early December we came to the mutual decision that we should just do it. Such a modern couple, huh? When we went to Lawrence we started looking at engagement rings. We told my parents and brother and called his mom and step dad to let them know we were looking (or “engaged to be engaged”). We found a couple of things we liked, but nothing that we LOVED. We left Kansas empty handed, but our families were already bubbling over with excitement and I’m pretty sure my mom bit off part of her tongue to keep from telling people. Side bar- it is SO hard to not tell everyone you know when you are so excited about something but need to keep it a secret!

One of the first days we were back in Philly we were walking around the city and passed through Jeweler’s Row (yes, there is a whole section of the city devoted to diamonds). On a whim we popped into a shop and tried on settings and discussed stones (I knew I didn’t want a diamond and that I was much more of a sapphire girl, thank you Kate Middleton). The woman we met with was INCREDIBLY helpful and she really listened to what we wanted and didn’t want and we ended up with the ring you saw on the last post. On Saturday Colin bought the ring, but they have to remake it to fit my finger (I have small fingers, who knew?!) because simply resizing the ring would probably bend the halo and not let the stone fit in just right (the things you learn!), so the ring won’t be ready until February 1st. Boo.

We know we don’t want a long engagement (my parents are doing some traveling this year and will be in and out of the country), so we decided to go ahead and be engaged sans ring for a couple of weeks BUT I told Colin he still had to pop the question. I didn’t want to tell anyone until it was “official” and I needed to hear those magical words (apparently, I am a little bit traditional after all). So, Saturday, after walking around the city together (it was gorgeous here in Philadelphia) Colin led me to the place we first met. As soon as we turned down the street I knew exactly what was happening and we both started giggling. He said some really lovely things, shed a tear or two, and then asked if I would marry him. I obviously said “of course!” and there you have it. We are “officially” engaged. He didn’t hire a sky writer or organize a flash mob but it was perfect for us and I couldn’t be happier.

We have no date set or venue set, but like I said, it will probably be soon (this summer!), small, and casual (“preppy casual” as Colin keeps saying). So, all systems go on wedding planning!

Thanks again for all of your love and support! Make it a great Monday my friends!

he put a ring on it

On Saturday, two very important things happened.

1. Beyonce and JayZ had their baby.

(source)

2. Colin popped the question.

(yes, the stone isn’t set into the ring correctly… or actually set into the ring at all, there’s a story, which I’ll share tomorrow!) (and yes, I have super line-y hands)

I am so very happy and so very much in love! All details to come, I swear.

Make it a GREAT Sunday my friends!

dancing heart

My high school choir teacher used to always tell us to do “whatever made our little hearts dance.” Now, at the time I thought this was supremely cheesy. Now I find myself using it all the time. So, here are some things that are making my heart dance these days. (Click on pictures for all links!)

• long underwear. I know this sounds ridiculous, but this time of year I pretty much live in mine. As I type this I am wearing long underwear under my pajamas (gotta love working from home). Bonus points if yours are cute.
• my personal trainer. I promise to write more about this one of these days, but Phil is my new favorite person. Did I mention he’s a runner training for the Olympics? Yeah, he’s kind of awesome. I’m already noticing a big difference in my body, plus, I actually can lift things heavier than a feather now.
• trashy tv. Always and forever. Poor Colin is such a trooper. I can’t even tell you the kind of deals I had to strike to get him to agree on watching the Bachelor with me.
• secrets. I’ve got some I can’t wait to spill! (Secrets secrets are no fun, I know. Sorry friends).
• neck gaiters. Colin’s sister got this for me for Christmas and I LOVE it. Mine is a beautiful green color and I have been wearing it constantly.
• these boots. Now, a few months ago I “accidentally” bought two pairs of these boots (the above color and a dark purple. yay for employee discounts). I wear them ALL. THE. TIME. They’re leather and WATERPROOF. And super comfortable. I wear them all over Philly and we walk a lot, so that’s saying something. Extra bonus? They are half off right now (and an extra 20% off the sale price). So you should probably buy a pair.

What’s making your heart dance these days? Make it a great one my friends!