Who Knew?

I mean really, who knew that registering for wedding gifts was going to be such a challenge? I mean, it's AWESOME, but it's hard! Even though we're still in the middle of the process, I feel as if I have a few little nuggets of wisdom to share. Of course I'm in a position to do this, I'm probably the smartest, most awesome, and most wise newly engaged person on the planet.

Objective: Find places to register

Our Approach: Hey! Crate and Barrel will give us free breakfast if we register there!

The Correct Approach: Perhaps decide on two or three locations where you want to get gifts from, based off of their products, not their incentives. Although I'll admit, Crate and Barrel was a winner for us. Not only did we get free breakfast, but we got the store to ourselves (with other engaged couples), lots of time with the scan gun, (the BRIDAL GUN as they call it!), and some free ridiculous heart shaped champagne flutes. If that doesn't say true love, well then, I'm just not sure what does.

Objective: Outfit your kitchen and home with niceties.

Our Approach: Zero thought, discussion, or research into styles, level of quality, etc.

The Correct Approach: The correct approach would probably be anything but what we did. I would recommend at least a little bit of research. Even the tinniest, wee bit of looking up ideas would be helpful. Thankfully, most locations where you register will give you lists, so you're not completely in the dark as you wanted around with the bridal gun. You'd think this would be helpful right? WRONG. Completely overwhelming. An asparagus steamer? Really Crate and Barrel, really? A trifle dish?!? What is that? I was so thankful to be able to at least check of one item. Toasting Flutes. Yes, we're set on that one. We have these lovely, heart shaped flutes....

Objective: Register with speed and thoughtfulness.

Our Approach: Speed? We don't even know where to begin here!

The Correct Approach: You must allot yourself a generous amount of time here. I mean, generous. Tim and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (which, by the way, has a completely inordinate amount of items. I mean, Tim and I were staring at a wall of pizza cutters. Seriously, how different can they all be?). Anyway, Tim and I went to Triple B at 7. They close at 9:30. We've got lots of time right? Again, WRONG. Our wedding coordinator, Isaac, took about an hour of our time, showing us pictures of some really ugly dishes and stemware. The only fun part of this was when he demonstrated the strength of a porcelain teacup by SMASHING it against the desk. It did not break for those curious. After we finally straightened out the spelling of Timothy, (yes Isaac, it does have two T's....) we were off with the bridal gun, which weighs in at about 5 lbs. And I was wondering why my arm was sore this morning..... Needless to say, we ended up scanning evereything we could find the last ten minutes, because we had barely made it out of the toaster section of the store; because yes, there is a toaster section. It's these types of decisions that you'd think would be easy to make, but then all of the sudden, you're standing in front of five toasters, and you are suddenly struck with a bout of indecision. Do you make a decision based on price? Toasting ability? Number of toast slots? Stainless Silver or Plastic? Brushed or shiny silver? DO YOU SEE WHAT I'M SAYING? This whole process is stressful.

Whatever.

We still have one place to register...Pottery Barn. I'm hoping that by the time we make it there, we're going to have this whole process down to a tee. I mean, they're classy at that store. The last thing I want is a ten minute deadline with Tim yelling "Scan! Scan! Scan!" while I frantically look for barcodes and SKU's.

I'm thinking about making a bridal gun/taser combo. That way, the taser part can be used to whip people into shape, force out decisions, and stun Isaac into silence...(and if he's lucky, improve his spelling!)

I found my wedding dress!

I really love it because it has that perfect combination of Sarcophagus/English Wig/Coif look that I was really going for. Talk about a great find. It's couture. Now...I just need to find matching bridesmaid dresses!

2010.......

So. My new year was anticlimactic as always (besides the fact that I had the traditional surf-n-turf dinner with my family, which is AWESOME). We of course partook in the, oh-so-exciting 60 second count-down, getting particularly excited at the ten second mark. then...3.....2.....1........! Oh hey 2010, you feel just like 2009.

FALSE!

2010 felt the same for about 15 hours, after which, things were drastically different. Because....yes.....I'm ENGAGED!!!!

I HAVE ENGAGEMENT

TIM ENGAGED ME

I'M BETROTHED

I HAVE UPCOMING NUPTIALS

I'M TO BE WED

HE PROPOSED

HUZZAH

HUZZAH

HUZZAH!

The sneakster took me completely by surprise and proposed to me on January 1. We were on a hike in Boulder, (a snow hike, a slippery hike, and a cold hike). Mid hike, I stopped to catch my breath and turned around. Because my hands were freezing, I put them in his pockets to warm them up.

BAM

The ring was in there.

I didn't feel it, but Tim kind of unceremoniously ripped my hand out of his pocket, which was a very strange gesture in my eyes. A few seconds later, he dropped to his knee in the snow...and proposed.

The rest is history folks. And no, I won't give you more details. Some things you just keep private. Bahahahahahaha

Post engagement, we went to his house in Boulder where my whole family had come up to celebrate with us! Viki made a delicious feast, and we had the COOLEST cake ever from Whole Foods! Deeeeeelish.

I couldn't be happier, or more blessed. I keep having trouble falling asleep because of how lucky I am. I'm insanely excited to spend the rest of my life with TIMOTHY WILLIAM ERICKSON!

Details to Follow! :)

5, 6, 7, 8, 9!!

9 Ladies Dancing! 8 maids a-milking.
7 swans a-swimming! Synchronized, of course.
Six geese a laying (by the ocean, not laying eggs)...do geese even lay eggs? Yes I know they lay golden eggs, but normal ones?
5 gooooooolden rings! (ding dong ding dong ding)

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to meeee...

4 calling birds. Whom...may I ask....are they calling? My best guess is probably the three french hens. Yes, it's an international call, but still.

Speaking of hens. Did you know at Disneyland, they have the Turkey that has the Presidential Pardon at Thanksgiving? I know that turkey's aren't the same as hens...but they're both poultry. Ok, so every year the president pardon's 1 turkey at Thanksgiving to be spared from the knife, the oven, and ultimately, the acidity of the stomach. This one special turkey then gets to hang out at Disneyland all year. Awesome. Here's my question...what happens to the turkey when the year is over, and a new "pardoned" turkey gets to take his place? I bet the old one gets killed and eaten for Thanksgiving! It's all a ruse! So instead of being the one lucky turkey who's life was graciously spared by the leader of our country (which, by the way is a very random tradition), he ends up being the turkey that lives for a year with the knowledge that he is going to die. He probably scratches a countdown in his little turkey coup. If there's ONE way that Disneyland wouldn't be fun, it would be because you're stuck on display and are on a countdown to death. Poor turkey.

Thrrrreeeeeeeee French Hens

Why French? Why not American? I mean, the song is sung in English....not French. I'm just saying...

On the Second Day of Christmas...

Okay...as Andy Bernard so aptly pointed out, it's a bit curious that the first seven days of the 12 days of Christmas is basically 30 birds. That's a lot of fowl. I wonder if the partridge shares the pear tree, or if the other birds have to continue to hover in the air until the 12th day is complete? Just think of the chaos...especially when you get the maids-a-milking, dancers dancing, and drummers drumming.

On another note, my wonderful boyfriend took me to see the nutcracker last weekend. Nostalgia. I can remember getting so excited to see the Nutcracker with Grandma when I was younger. Putting on my best dress (although it was all about the shoes for me. I always wanted red sparkly ones, with a Mary-Jane strap over the top. Still on the hunt....) and getting to see the ballerina's prance and dance around the stage, secretly wanting to be dressed up like them in poofy tutu's. It's such a magical production; my favorite is when they do the dances from around the world. Ahhhhh those mad Russians get me every time! Male ballerina's, (ballerino's?) are so

stinking bouncy! They just frolic around stage in garments which are SURE to cut off circulation, bounce around ---to the height of which might rival basketball players-- spin like a daredevil, and THEN, they finish in a silent landing. It boggles the mind.