a day to remember.

 

this photo is from my best friend's wedding this past december. she wanted the bridal party to have a glitter finger. my ring is currently being repaired.

on this day two years ago.

things were different.

much different.

not only am i speaking of the weather.. because winter just re-arrived this morning by ten-fold.

but because i was single.

well.. i was dating. but had no idea what this day two years ago had in store for me.

 

the day started at 9:30 in the morning.

and ended at 9:30 in the evening.

 

we hopped on a train and toured the windy city for the entire day.

started our commute back home and i was thinking and expressing how that would have been a perfect way to propose.

but he didn't.

 

until we arrived back home.

 

y'all can read the story in full detail here.

it was one of my favorite days.

and a perfect proposal.

 

and now i'm blessed beyond mesaure to spend my days with this man.

forever.

 

 

 

 

today is also the one month mark for our sweet dave being in the hospital.

please keep praying! the lord is healing!

day seven. part seven.

happy sunday!! our one year anniversary is on monday - so i'm sharing all about our love! read each part up to this point to catch yourself up! [part one], [part two], [part three], [part four], [part five] and [part six]!

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today i wanted to share with you some of our official engagement photos and lots of photos of preparation for our wedding day. be prepared for some fun and craziness!

we loved, loved, loved our engagement photos! it was so fun and so natural to take them.

the preparation for the wedding was full of so many emotions! stress, happiness, fun, nervous, excitement, ups, downs - pretty much every emotion possible!

to release the stress, we went and got manis and pedis :) and then headed out to get ready for rehearsal.

but we ended the night before our wedding with bang - we flash mobbed another wedding! it was so fun!! the bride was not very happy at first.. and then she went along with it.. and then we got kicked out. definitely a memory we look back on often!

we did almost my entire wedding handmade.

i made the [invitations] and the programs. 

my mom, friends and i crafted all of the center pieces together.

my mom and i made all of the 'thank you for coming' gifts.

we decorated all of the cupcakes for our dessert table.

i made every one's seating mugs.

the entire back drop for our ceremony was built and we used lots of live plants and flowers.

we bought all the flowers from the farmer's market [remember how i love shopping local ;)?] and we put them all together for the aisles, up front, bridesmaids bouquets and my bouquet.

it was so much fun to make our wedding hand crafted and special, just for us.

definitely wish i would have had more time if i had to do it all over - but i would definitely do it all myself just like we did!

and... i didn't even have pinterest at that time!

if you have any questions about our wedding, how much it cost to do it all, or are interested in doing a self crafted wedding and wondering more details - email me and i would LOVE to help you out! 

day six. part six.

ahh! we're almost there! this is the exact day [saturday] i walked down the aisle and married my handsome hunk! it's gone by so fast! :) here is [part one], [part two], [part three], and [part four] and [part five] of our love story

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during this season of dating, mr. b and i were living in different cities. not too far from each other, but far enough that we didn't see each other often. one weekend i was in town visiting him and was staying at his parents house. mr. b told me he had a 'day date' planned for us and i needed to be awake and ready at 9:30am.

on the morning of march 19, 2011 i woke up and got ready. while i was getting mr. b opened up the front door to his parents house and surprised me with a rose, a kiss and a cup of coffee from one of my favorite coffee shops.

the thought did cross my mind if he would propose but i didn't want to get my hopes up so i pushed it aside.

before i knew it we were off and on our way.

throughout our drive there were small surprises that he gave me.

at first i had no idea where we were driving to.

then the thought of chicago crossed my mind.. until we took an exit wayyy before chicago.

we ended up at a train station. this was on purpose to throw me off.. and it did!

we boarded the train and were off... to chicago!

we spent the day there and enjoyed each others company and he still continued to give me little gifts.

we hopped on the train back home that evening.

i was crushed. we went all the way to chicago and there was NO proposal! i couldn't believe it!

i thought to myself, and yes... even verbalized to him how perfect that would have been to propose because it was like our analogy for our relationship!

we got back to his parents house and shared about our day and started to sit down to watch a movie.

mr. b then called me over by him and asked me to come back outside to get something.

once we were out by his truck, he turned around and started to tell me how much he loves me. he shared with me how he knew the Lord was calling us to be together, to serve together, and to glorify God together. he told me i was the only woman in the world for him and that he would be so blessed and honored if i would make him the happiest man in the world and marry him.

i was shocked. totally shocked. so shocked that i didn't even cry. mr. b was shocked that i wasn't crying.. haha

i, of course, said yes! and couldn't wipe the smile off my face!

this was around 9:30pm - 12 hours after our day had started!

we walked back inside and shared with our friends and family.

 the moon was one of those moons that only comes around once every so many years.. i don't think it will happen again until 2030 or something? so my dad said we needed to get a photo with it! haha it's so small up there!

these photos were taken the night mr. b proposed. he was already changed out of his clothes and was relaxing when i realized we had no photos!

there are so many details to our proposal

- funny moments of how mr. b's dad walked out while right in the middle of mr. b's proposal

- or how my camera didn't work for the entire trip!

- all the small gifts and surprises

- details of how i yelled at mr. b the entire train ride home for not proposing in chicago

and so much more! to read our entire proposal go [here] where i posted it back when he proposed :)

and now we start wedding festivities!...

month of september.

oh me oh my! i am SO excited for september.

not only is it one of my favorite months because fall is starting to kick in. the leaves are starting to change [and we have some beautiful trees here with gorgeous colors in the fall!!], warm apple cider starts coming out, i get to bring out the fall clothes, cooler temps [i love comfy sweatshirt weather].

here are the wonderful things i'm looking forward to this month.

- labor day vacation [i took yesterday off too, so i'm loving my 4 day weekend!]

- amazing awesome changes coming to the blog that i am SO excited about!

- a mini surprise vacation to celebrate our one year anniversary!

- our one year anniversary [that is photo of our entire party. what a wonderful day it was!]

- a week recap of our love story leading up to our one year on the blog!!

- celebrate mr. b's cousin's marriage to one of mr. b's college friend/roommate at their reception

- going on a road trip with these two friends and baby t to visit another wonderful friend and go to the country living fair

- some guest posts for some wonderful blog friends

- taking engagement photos for one of my besties [but not the official ones.. i'm not that good :)]

- going to a bridal show with miss riss and help with more wedding plans for her!

- taking one year photos of mr. b and me!!!

- another bestie is coming to stay the night with me and we're going to have a girls night!! woohoo! [sorry..gotta kick mr. b out ;)]

busy month huh? but it's going to be so fun!!! a lot of this falls on weekends.. so we will be so busy on the weekends, some of it falls during the week. we have a huge fair in the town i work in that is thrown into all this as well, which will make things even more crazy busy. but i'm so excited! can't wait to share all our fun adventures with you all too.

stay tuned for a fun-filled month!

busy.

I have no idea where the month of May went! I thought I was going to be able to get so much wedding planning done and get super organized before starting me new job. Well, I didn't get near as much done as I would have liked to.. but that seems to be the way things go doesn't it?

I started my new job June 1 - and let me tell you, it feels GREAT to have an income again! So far, I have loved the training and meeting new people. I start more 'intense' training next week and then I have my first exam on next Thursday! And then I have another intense week after and July 5th is my second exam, if I pass both of those I will officially be licensed and ready to go! It's so exciting to see all of this coming together!!

Other than my job, I have been doing LOTS of planning for the wedding and LOTS of garage saleing! I love garage sales and getting good deals! I will post pictures soon on my good finds. B (my finace) doesn't always like the things I pick out.. he doesn't always see past the 'old and worn' pieces. But he does trust my interior design background to know I'll fix it up and make it look nice in our home.

Speaking of home.. I have been doing a lot of yard work out at our house that we will be living in once we are married! It's so fun to have our own place to decorate and make 'ours'! I have to be honest though... here is a story that will be prone to make someone laugh. One day I was out there for ohh, about 3 hours planting flowers and weeding. After I was done putting all the flowers in I called my mom and asked her if pansies were perennials or annuals and she informed me they were annuals. You won't believe what I did... I planted about 30 DEAD pansies! Bless my moms heart, she encouraged me that they might come back now that they were in the ground. I waited a little too long to get them in the ground. I went over there last week to check on them and about 5 of them are coming back to life. So now I guess I'll be back out there to plant some new flowers instead. Whoops :)

One other thing I wanted to share - B and I got our engagement photos back a couple weeks ago! We LOVE them! They turned out so good and we had a blast doing them! I'll share a few of them with you

Don't you just LOVE this barn?

I love him! 88 days until we say "I do" and unite together as one!! I can't wait!

PS.. that bike is my garage sale find for $1!!! :) We got some new parts and a basket, so now I have about $15 into it! I still need to get a few more things for it, but I love cruising around town on it!

it's official

So. We have made is official! We are getting married on September 10, 2011. It has been so hard finding a reception place for mainly two reasons. One - our wedding date is already almost 5 months away! Two - our date falls on a 'fun' date that so many others probably want too. 9.10.11 is the day I will marry my best friend! I am so super excited for the journey God will lead us on as a married couple. This date has a lot of significance to us too. We thought it would be fun and we had even briefly mentioned it a while back thinking 'Oh it would be fun to get married on 9.10.11' and then we found out it is a Saturday!

I will keep you posted on more of the wedding details - and all my different creations for it! I'm excited to get creative and get the big stuff out of the way. There is still a few more big things I have to do though.. find a ceremony spot, finalize the guest list, find a caterer, and find me a DRESS!

But there is still one little thing keeping me from fully indulging in wedding planning... yes, school. In order for me to graduate I must make it to the end of this month. 25 days until I walk!

 So.. back to the books.

my perfect day.

This past weekend was one of the most amazing weekends I've ever had. I was taken on a surprise date which ended in a proposal! If I could have picked a proposal myself for us.. it would have been this one! It was absolutely perfect for us and very meaningful :)

I'll share our story with you.

Background information: When Mr B. and I first started dating in 2008 we made this analogy of our relationship being a trip to Chicago with Chicago being our destination (engagement/marriage). We said this because we wanted to go our own 'speed limit'/pace. He also would joke around about proposing to me with a 50 cent machine ring all the time too.. so those both played into our day.

The week of the engagement:
I had made coffee plans for Saturday morning/early afternoon with a friend of mine and mentioned it to Mr B. He asked me to reschedule because he wanted to take me on a surprise day date. When he told me that, I questioned and wondered if he was going to propse, but one of my very close friends said she knew nothing about it (and she's not a good liar.. haha) so I figured okay.. he's not really doing it. So I rescheduled my plans and told him I would set aside my day for him. I spent the night Friday night at his parents houses because I knew we had to leave at 9:30am on Saturday.

Saturday morning:
I woke up and was getting ready but Mr. B. wasn't at his parents house. Mr. B. showed up around 9 and entered with a single rose, my favorite coffee and a slip of paper that said "Coffee, a kiss, and a rose. Some of the best ways to say "I love you" that I know's" We left his parents house and headed out to get some breakfast. On the way there I got a ball that you crack open (the kind that the jewelry comes in from the 50 cent machines which is where this comes into play). Inside were 3 rose petals, a reese's and another slip of paper that said "Roses are red, violets are blue, Jennifer is as sweet as a Reese's, we both know it's true!". They are my favorite candy!! After breakfast we got on the road and started driving.. I had no idea where we were going and kept prying for him to tell me! He handed me another ball with a quarter, and a slip saying "Just a hint: When you put me here I become flat. I can't wait to spend the day with the one I love!" I was so confused and I was thinking we were going to a souvenir place with a machine that flattens coins. I even mentioned how trains can flatten coins but didn't think about that being an option. Well, we arrived to a small town that I didn't know of at an Amtrak train depot. Then I knew we were going to Chicago! The next pieces I got were the tickets and another slip saying "When we first started dating our "goal" was to make it to here. well, without further a do... let's ride!"

Saturday afternoon:
We arrived in Chicago and I got another ball with a slip saying "These next 6 hours are completely up to you. I will be by your side falling more in love with you!" So we spent the afternoon in Chicago and it was a blast! Once I realized we only had an hour and a 1/2 left I started to get nervous thinking that if he was going to propose it would be soon! Well, that time passed by and we got back to the train station and he handed me another ball with petals and a slip saying "Trip back home, not alone. I love you Jennifer - shout it from a megaphone!" and it had a drawing of him shouting I LOVE YOU JENNIFER through a megaphone hah. That really threw me for a loop and I didn't think it was happening since nothing happened in Chicago (he did that on purpose because he knew I would have expected it).

Saturday evening:
So we arrive back to the train depot and I get another ball and that one said "Our day is almost over, but my love will not. Put your hand in mine, it's the perfect spot!" On the way home he gave me another ball and it said something about getting dessert but we were both so full that we skipped that and went home. After we were home for a while Mr. B. handed me 10 more roses and asked me to come outside with him. At this time it was 9:30pm. He took me outside to where he first told me he was falling in love with me. He also said he had one more ball and he pulled it out. It was orange which is my favorite color! It was the 7th ball which is his favorite number. Inside this last one said "I know this last rose will make you sing! Jennifer will you be mine forever and please accept this ring?" And I was like what?! And I looked in there and pulled out.. a stinking 50 cent machine ring!!! I couldn't help but laugh and then tell him it wasn't funny. I wear a purity ring on my left hand and he knew that he couldn't take that ring off my finger unless he had another ring to replace it with. Well he insisted that I take my ring off and try on my 'new' one. I tried it on and then put it back. After that I asked for my ring back. Instead of my purity ring he pulled out the most amazing and perfect ring I could have ever imaged for myself! He then started talking and this whole time his parents are inside waiting for us to start a movie.. they have no idea what is happening. Well.. Mr. B's dad came out and yelled "What are you guys doing out there?!? Aren't you going to watch this movie with us??" Mr. B. said back "Uhh.. dad.. not right now!!" We laughed and then he got down on one knee and asked if I would make him the happiest man in the world and accept this ring and marry him. Then I said YES! We went inside and called my parents - they didn't know it was happening either. Mr. B. asked for their blessing back in January but didn't tell a single soul when he was proposing so no one could accidently ruin it.

I know it's long - but there is no short way of explaining a 12 hour day! But we have made it to our "destination"!! Hopefully there will be pictures soon so you can see my ring :)