Catching Up

Oh my how things have started to fly! On top of planning a wedding, Douglas and I have been very busy bodies!

We got the chance to go to the football game in Denver again. They lost this time but it was still a lot of fun! I am not a huge Bronco’s fan but we did get to witness the Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow score his first NFL touchdown. The atmosphere of being there in person can’t even compare to watching it on the big screen at home. It really is a lot of fun. This game was super last minute, I love having a fiancée who is so spontaneous. He is a major keeper and I don’t know what I would do if he wasn’t so adventurous. He keeps our life exciting. Here is a picture of us at the Bronco stadium on Orange Sunday.

This impromptu trip happened to fall right around the time of our anniversary. Doug sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers at work. I will admit, it made me cry…have I mentioned how awesome he is? He went to the flower shop and wrote a personal card for the flowers but then had them delivered at my office so I would be surprised.

After the game while we were in Denver, we decided we would go to the aquarium. The traffic was bad and since we were close to the anniversary we decided to splurge a little bit in celebration. The aquarium was a lot of fun. I was pretty exhausted from the game but I could walk around aquariums for hours. Doug touched the stingrays but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was too yucky! I love the sea turtles though and I had a really nice time. We ate a delicious dinner at the aquarium after we had gone through twice.

I had to pick a friend up from the airport that night so rather than drive back to Laramie and then back to Denver again, we decided we would kill some time. We went to see Jackass 3D (clearly his choice, not mine) at the Movie Tavern in Aurora. It was pretty much the coolest movie theatre I have ever been to! You don’t even order concessions or anything until you sit down. Then you have a call button you push if you want anything and a waitress comes over to your seat to take your order. Not only did they have traditional movie theatre treats but they have a full menu of restaurant style food. The chairs were like the giant, puffy, leather office chairs that people have. Best. Movie. Theatre. Ever!

Then came Halloween. I don’t love this holiday at all, but it is Doug’s favorite. I decided because he does so many awesome things for me, I owed him big time and I participated in Halloween this year. I went as a zombie bride. My friend Meredith did my make up and she did an incredible job! We also carved pumpkins and had a really awesome time at that! For your enjoyment:
We are down to the wire on the wedding….I can imagine there won’t be much blogging related to non wedding related things for awhile. I have a fabulous Bridal Shower to blog about! Until then….

Wedding talk? Nah, let’s talk football.

I am going to throw out the disclaimer that this blog is LONG overdue. It is not wedding related at all, and for that reason I think I will love writing it. It is always a challenge for me to talk about anything lately and not squeeze the wedding into it!

About a month ago Doug and I were given the opportunity to experience some really awesome things football related…and we enjoyed every second of our football packed weekend.

We started our Saturday off with the grand opening of the Wildcatter stadium suites with my Mom. It was a pretty awesome privilege to get to see the game from up there! UW lost but that seems completely irrelevant. We got to see what a phenomenal facility they turned out to be. They are SO NICE!!!! Let me just throw that out there. There are private suites but there is a big general area (which is where we were at) full of tables and chairs, stadium style seating in rows, a bar with stools…lots of cool things. We ate delicious food and watched the football game. You might think being so far up and away from the field would be less exciting but I actually thought that the view provided from that level of height (Bird’s Eye they say????) was quite phenomenal, and despite the loss, we still bleed brown and gold.

The following day we got the opportunity to go to the Denver Broncos game. I am a Colts fan through and through but Doug cheers for the Broncos and I have never been to a professional football game in my whole entire life, so I was totally jacked for the experience! They played the Seattle Seahawks AND they won – which made it even more exciting! I didn’t own a single thing Broncos (can you blame a girl, orange is SOOOOO not my color) so before we left town Doug bought me a t-shirt that sports the Bronco head so I would fit right in. It was incredibly hot in Denver that day and I forgot sun block so I burned to a crisp! However, it was pretty incredible to see a football game like that in person.

The half time show was a silent gun drill that the Marine Corps put on. It was pretty incredible. They marched in unison, did the gun drills in sync, stayed in perfect formation and all of it without one. Single. Sound. Not a count off. Not a beat. Nothing. It was amazing.

It was a fun weekend full of football madness and for two days I didn’t talk about the wedding to Doug…..I think he thought it was the greatest gift a woman could give.

Tuxes vs. Wedding Dresses = Tuxes Win

I have decided that the men get it easy when it comes to weddings. When I went dress shopping…………….well actually we don’t need to rehash that because there is a whole blog dedicated to it, but "simple" is not a word I would use to describe it. However, simple is exactly the word I would use when it came to describing the experience of picking out the tuxedos.

Cut to Men’s Warehouse in Ft. Collins where Doug and I sit at a desk waiting for help. The consultant comes over, she shows pictures of tuxedos to Doug and he chooses a base tuxedo. This process was 10 minutes, flat. Next, the consultant pulls out the color swatches and fabric designs for the vest/tie combos. Doug settles on a color/fabric/pattern combo for the groomsmen within 3 minutes. Not. Kidding. Cuff links? “Sure,” he says and decides on them within 10 seconds. Suspenders? Check. Shoes? Check. Wow…..and then we move on to the Groom tux…..

Doug decided on the same coat and jacket as his groomsmen. He picked out a super tasteful Calvin Kline, might I add, and it made me a proud fiancée. He actually laid his colors out to try to decide white on white, white on black, black on black, etc…..but even with the further in depth process for his own tux, we were in and out of Men’s Warehouse within an hour. It was amazing. Incredible. I am still speechless thinking about it. Speechless and impressed and proud. My man doesn’t mess around.

I can’t give you all the details of the decisions Doug made because we have to keep some things a secret, but I will tell you he picked some amazing tuxes out and maybe (just maybe) he has a shoe surprise up his sleeve…..

Once, Twice, Three times a ……. Diva?

Sheesh this wedding business is time consuming! It’s official. I have two dresses AND I will wear two dresses. Yep. I said it. Two. You see, my oldest sister has this long-sleeved beauty that is custom made all the way from England and we commonly refer to it as the “sister dress.” It has seen a lot of weddings. It has been worn by some awesome ladies. The legend must live on. When it arrived I didn’t think I was going to fit into it. I mean for Pete’s sake we are talking about four different women here, four different body types, four different ages of the brides-to-be at the time of marriage...but by some “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” style miracle, it zipped. It needs a good cleaning, a few adjustments to modernize it, a hoop skirt to wear under it….but it is official that I will wear two dresses during this wedding extravaganza.

I justify this in many ways….firstly, it is my day (or two) and I am only doing it once so I can do what I want. How’s that for an attitude? Secondly, it will be December and I am going to be cold. I am going to need long sleeves for those outdoor pictures at the temple – bright pink arms are very unbecoming. Thirdly, I need two dresses because I am having two separate occasions. That way at both events the dresses are crisp, wrinkle-free, clean and ready for action. Finally, well, did I already say I do what I want?

Ok, so this is a little unorthodox, but what about my life have I ever done the way people say I should? Methinks the answer to that is: nothing. We are 65 days out. Did I mention we haven’t done flowers yet? Mom, are you reading this? We need to do flowers….

Quickly Catching Up!

Man I am sure sucking it up at keeping up on this thing so far! Major things happening since the last post: the engagement party and the dress pick up! First and foremost, thank you to all of you who traveled from near and far to be at the engagement party. It meant so much to both Doug and I to be surrounded by the people we love and for those people to meet all the other people we love! What a wonderful blessing it is that weddings bring us all together like that! Well, I mean that part and the whole eternity with someone thing. That’s a blessing too.

My Mom threw a FABULOUS engagement BBQ. Doug’s parents as well as his sister and her little family came in from Rock Springs (THANK YOU!) and the weather cooperated perfectly. We ordered hamburgers from the butcher and despite the fact that I told him we were having a BBQ at 2:00 pm – they were frozen upon pick up. Talk about a disaster. 40 hungry people to feed and frozen burger patties! I am convinced that one of these events is going to go off without a hitch….just not sure which one! Anyway, we made it work and a good time was had by all!!

So remember my previous post where I said that my dress would not be in until December 6^th? Well, David’s Bridal lied. It was the best lie they have ever told though because it came early!!!! I was SUPER STOKED to pick it up so Mom, myself and two of my bridesmaids headed to FoCo for the honors.

Well, maybe not honors because remember how traumatizing picking the dress out was? Well, it didn’t get better. We arrived and they provided me with the customary trying on undergarments and after squeezing this fat roll, pulling up both boobs, sucking it in and letting out a giant puff of air we managed to get me all done up in my princess wear. I stepped out of the dressing room and expected to see complete and exquisite beauty – I did not. What I saw was a giant, fat marshmallow that looked to be carrying triplets in the belly region of giant baby marshmallows.

Before a mental breakdown ensued we quickly decided that the slip I was wearing to try it on provided a whole lot more poof than the one I was wearing the first time and after a new slip and a few more deep breaths, I tried again. Step in front of the mirror, prepare for perfection and see………………….ugh. JUST ME again! My ever practical Mom said something along the lines of “tuck your boobs in and get a tan.” I cried, again. I also want all the women out there to know, white washes you out, hard core. It is about the least flattering color on the planet. Be prepared.

So the dress is sitting quietly at my Mom’s house in the closet wrapped neatly in its garment bag waiting for the day we do the fitting. I am over the emotional hurdle of accepting the dress I spent a zillion dollars on. I really do love you dress, I really do, but I am starting to feel like YOU don't love ME! I had a talk with my boobs and they agreed to try to stay small so I don’t look as huge. Oh, and dress, if you are listening: Please, please, please be kind to me in 89 days. Please.

A Proposal of EPIC proportions

I decided if I am going to blog like crazy about the wedding planning, details, excitements, etc….I ought to let the world know how it all started….well not clear from the beginning, but at least the proposal part!! I am throwing out the disclaimer that I knew none of this while it was actually happening, and only came to find these details out at a later date.

Let me start by saying there were many reasons I did not see this proposal coming. Doug’s truck had accrued a costly fix, the timing wasn’t right; he always said he’d propose in the winter….I had given up hope of seeing a ring anytime soon. So that day I asked him if he wouldn’t mind hanging out at my house in the afternoon to sign for my new cell phone. Being the caring man he is, he politely responded that it would be no problem to do so. That afternoon my cousin needed a key off my key ring and being as Douggie’s truck was in the shop, he was cruising around in the jelly bean. As a result, he had my keys and therefore the key Maggie needed. So I called him up and told him she was on her way to my house (where he was SUPPOSED to be) to pick the key up. There was a hesitation in his voice and I inquired in a way that could only be described as irritated about what the problem was. He quickly said, “Nothing, babe I am just not there yet but I will run right over.”

We hung up the phone and I was PEEVED!!! Why would this man say he was able to wait at the house to sign for my cell if he really wasn’t???? So he rushed over to my house and as he was giving the key to my loving family, the FedEx drove by – in a panicked instant Doug dismissed my family and raced after the truck….albeit he was waiting for his very OWN package on that very truck (MY RING!). My cell phone wasn’t in but his package was, and that was all that mattered to him.

He called to let me know my cell wasn’t on the truck and I was a total jerk to him. What did he mean not there? I needed my blackberry! NEEDED IT! So what do I do but demand to know why he was cranky? Him? Cranky? Hardly! He was on top of the world, my ring had arrived! Crazy woman moment at it’s best!

So the night goes on and when he is off work at 8 I asked him to meet me at Tommy Jacks to meet one of my very good, good friends (who is subsequently a bridesmaid!) and with attitude in his voice he agreed. I rushed him there and couldn’t figure out why he was being so moody! Once there he immediately excused himself from the table (I later found out to move the ring into a different pocket so I wouldn’t feel it) and ordered only a cup of gumbo. A cup. Now those of you who don’t know Doug might not find this strange, but those of you who do know that Douglas would not ever order a cup of anything. Ever. I later found out the nerves were preventing a good meal from being eaten!

Doug had recently moved out of his house into a new one because the University had purchased his old house. The old house was vacant at this time and after dinner he told me he wanted to run by the old house because he thought he saw a sign on the door. When we got there he asked me if I wanted to come in and I was a snotty turd and refused…I mean this could technically be considered illegal right? I was NOT going in there!!!! So he went in without me and a few minutes later opens the front door and shouts to me in the car, “Hey babe you gotta come in here real quick! It is awesome!” I proceeded to argue with him for a good 2 minutes about the situation and he finally just slammed the front door to the house and let me stew.

I sat in the car for a solid 3 minutes just to prove I wouldn’t be bossed around. I am stubborn. Surprised? Shouldn’t be. So I stomp begrudgingly up the steps and throw the front door open with attitude to match a 3 year old temper tantrum, and instantly my heart stops, my eyes fill with tears, and I feel like a complete moron. There, in this vacant house, on the empty living room floor are rose petals and candlelight strewn across the hardwood. Doug gave a beautiful speech about the reasons he wanted to ask at that house and dropped to one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. I know I nodded but I think I was crying too hard to actually say yes.

I couldn’t see the ring in the candlelight so he flipped the overhead light on and the instant the stones started to glitter I started bawling all over again. Dream ring. Perfect proposal. Incredible man. Lucky, lucky me. He played music, we danced, I cried some more.

Thankfully his patience out lasted my snotty attitude and he didn’t allow me to sabotage what was the most perfect proposal. Ever.

Napkins and Favors and Knives? Oh, my!

I decided last night that when I begin having children, I hope that I have all boys. Period. If I never give birth to a girl then that eliminates ever planning another wedding. Ever. Please don’t misunderstand, I love all things wedding. The pretty decorations, the gorgeous dresses, the punch fountain (which in my opinion is a MUST HAVE), the wedding favors, the extravagant cake, two people utterly in love…weddings = totally awesome. However, I have learned that what I love about weddings takes forever to plan. These babies are work! AND SO MUCH MONEY! EEEE gads!

I am a bit of a procrastinator so last night my Mom demanded I spend some time with her ordering some things for the wedding. Ok, not such a hard task, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. Up first? Napkins. Didn’t like the silver, didn’t like the white (I mean, how BORING), didn’t like the green they offered….but the black! Oh the black! How fabulous it was with green lettering. So I settle on the name and the date and squish it all in there with our limited character amounts and then my Mom says to me, “What accent do you want?”

Huh? Accent? As in do I want my napkins to sound like Texas or the East Coast or like they are from Mexico? Who, in their right mind, thought accents on a napkin were a good idea? So we looked at hearts. We looked at sayings. We looked at bible versus. We looked at monograms. We looked at leaving it off. We looked at bride and groom figures. We looked at mini sceneries. In the end, I decided on something and I can’t tell you what because, really, I don’t want to reveal all the wedding secrets. Some things must be a surprise! Needless to say, the napkins alone were quite the task!

So on and on my evening went like this. Things I had never thought of were going into this – like considering the color of the centerpieces, the linens and the favors at the table when deciding what color to use for the font on the favor boxes! You know, too much green will look like a forest, too much black will be depressing, too much silver will look metallic, etc, etc, etc etc!!!! Colors, boxes, napkins, bubbles, ribbons, cake topper….and just as I was about to lose my stinking mind, my Mom says, “Ok, now it is time to pick out a cake serving set.”

So she opens, on the computer screen I loathed by this point, knife sets. Oh yes, knives that were silver, pretty, covered in scrolling script, and most of all – BEST of all: sharp. All I could think about was how awesome it would be if I had one of those knives in my hot little hands to stab right through the center of….the notebook. Yeah! The notebook that had the list of all the things yet to do, to plan and to execute to make this go off without a hitch. The knife would stab nicely right in the center of that notebook. I could also stab…..

“AYZ – do you like this one?!?!” OH! Sorry, Ma, I forgot we were doing something here. “No, that is horrible and ugly and that whole groom entwining the bride thing on the handle just looks tacky.” On it went like that until I found the perfect serving set. By the time the evening ended, my brain was in the right place again. Instead of looking at the serving set and picturing awful things with the knife, I pictured how awesome it would be to cut the cake with my husband using the elegant serving set, how pretty the tables would be with all the awesome things we ordered that night, how special this reception would be with personalized awesomeness that expresses so very much of “Ayzlynn & Doug.” I guess the brief 30 seconds in which I contemplating murdering the planning notebook was just a lapse in judgment. BUT in the future, wedding planners, don’t save the knife set for last.

The Wedding Dress Challenge

Getting married makes me a lot of different things.

Top of the list? Old. In an awesome way. To start, I can’t really believe I sold out to the blogging world. However, there are just sooooo many people I love that are too far away to share these things with. I want them to know the details every step of the way, so what better way to share it than to blog it? So they say….we’ll see if I really just added one more thing to stress about to the extent that my brain explodes right out of my skull prior to December 17th.

So yes, I am getting married. I can’t quite get used to saying it either. It is crazy. And awesome. And overwhelming. And fantastic. And a lot to take in. And out of this world exciting. We have already conquered so many things! Like the venue – couldn’t be happier about that. The save the dates are stuffed and addressed, they just need sent. Expect those soon! Also, got the dress. I may diva it up and rock two different dresses for the entirety of the experience, but that remains to be seen. The expensive dress though? Total check off the list. And. It. Is. Fabulous!

Whomever said dress shopping would be utterly awesome was a big, fat liar. Truly, dress shopping was miserable! I REPEAT, MISERABLE! Maybe it felt so awful because I did not come out of the birth canal skinny and I have to work off every spare calorie I eat with vigorous exercise. People told me there would be a “moment.” They fibbed. I did not put one dress on and just think “OMG THIS IS IT!” Instead, I put about 17 dresses on and thought everything BUT “this is the one.” I thought things like: my boobs looked too big, the skirt looked too poofy, my ass looked about 10 sizes wider than it is, the bead work isn’t fancy enough, there isn’t enough lace, I look like a giant marshmallow, is my gut seriously that huge and finally, I suppose this one will do. Alas, my mother convinced me to try on the final two dresses. Both were complete and utter perfection. No lie, they both looked equally fabulous on my 25-year- old-starting-to-sag body, and then I had to make the awful decision of which dress to decide on! I called Doug, I cried to Andrea, I asked the sales clerk, I petitioned advice from my baby brother….but to no avail. Finally, my Mom came into the dressing room and I sobbingly begged her to make this impossible decision for me. Being the pure genius she is, she took pictures of me in each dress and I decided which one to get based on the way it looked on camera. Pure, total, utter genius, Mom.

So I decide on the dress, I go to order it in because the store only carried champagne and I wanted white, and they say to me that the delivery date is December 6th. Wow. Pushing it much? Only me. It will be worth the wait and I have utter faith the dress will arrive on time. After all, this is my wedding we are talking about here!!!

Dress shopping was traumatizing but it is a relief to have it over with. Douggie, the ever patient fiancée did say to me, “You could be wearing a white sheet and I would still think you were the most beautiful bride ever.” So with a little love from my betrothed I made it through. Well, that, and a very large meal at P.F. Changs.