It's Friday

In case you didn't remember. Not that anyone could forget it's Friday, especially since it's the beginning of a three day weekend.

Nothing big is going on around here lately, just life in general. Here's a run down of my week:

I wrote my midterm paper for Literary Theory on Wednesday (stayed up until 2 a.m. to get that puppy finished!), and we only have two more class days! This has been an intense few weeks, but in class yesterday I feel like we finally completed the loop that links everything we've been learning about to real life. Don't get me wrong, theory is fascinating all on its own but being able to actually understand how the theorists were able to come up with these crazy ideas makes it so much better.

My oldest younger brother (all my brothers are younger than I am, but he's the oldest of the three, mkay?) is graduating from high school this evening. Holy. cow. Where did time go? I still remember how we used to play so well together when we were little kids. He'll be attending the University of Texas in Austin in the fall and I am so proud of all he's accomplished. Seriously, he is such a smart kid and has grown up so much in the past few years. His graduation gift has some stipulations that come with it, on being that he has to come visit Will and me for a weekend in the fall or he has to give it back. Muahaha, I know, I am so evil.

Tomorrow I am going on the hunt for some some throw pillows for our house. There are several places we could use some, so I'm pretty open to anything right now. As weird as this is, I just really want to be working on something for our house, and pillows are something I can do from 11 hours away. Bonus point if I find some fabric to make some, because that keeps me doubly busy and I have to go to my mom's house to use her sewing machine (which she loves). And THEN I am going to have dinner with my BFF since 2nd grade. I don't think we've seen each other since last August when she got married and I am so excited to see her. She is expecting her first baby in August and I CANNOT WAIT! Even though we're not technically related, I feel like this is my first niece. Plus, we are "Secret Sisters" (our code name so we could write epic 3-page notes to each other in junior high and not get caught), so I am totally calling this baby my "Secret Niece."

I've made it to the gym four days in a row this week and I feel awesome! I've stuck to running on the indoor track (best invention every for Texas summers!) and doing the elliptical. I'm going to add in weight lifting next week, so I'm trying to prepare myself for the insane soreness I get because of DOMS.
Proof:

Awkward/nasty picture from the locker room. You're welcome.

Running is pretty frustrating for me right now. Back in February when we ran the 5k, I could run 4 miles pretty easily. Now, I made it just past 1/2 a mile before I had to take a walking break. How is it possible to lose so much endurance in just three months? Actually, don't answer that question because I know the answer. Working out would be so much easier if I would stop quitting and having to build my endurance back up.

I've also been really concentrating on eating a much healthier diet this week. Most of my evening meals consist of things like this:

Roasted sweet potato and asparagus

I also usually add some broccoli and a slice of bread (you know, so I don't start feeling deprived and go crazy and pig out on carbs). For some reason, the idea of eating a "veggie plate" never dawned on me until I saw it on another blog the other day. I mean, I've been a vegetarian for almost a year now, so the modern American standard of having a hunk of meat with a few sides hasn't applied to me for a while, but I guess I had turned that into "must have an entree of carbs with side of protein and vegetables." Obviously, that was not helping anything. These meals have been really satisfying and keep me full until the next morning.

For breakfast I've been drinking a fruit and protein smoothie.

Generally I use:

Strawberries
Blueberries
Banana
Spinach
V8/Orange juice/ almond milk
Greek yogurt
Chia seeds
Vanilla protein powder
Ice

It makes a ton, so I drink half for breakfast and half for part of lunch or as an afternoon snack. Other snacks include almonds and baby carrots. Eating healthier is always hard at first, but man is it so much easier when your spouse isn't around. I'm not saying it's his fault we ate like crap all year, but it is so much easier to feed off each other's cravings or to give in to fast food when you're both tired. My goal is to help Will become much more of a veggie eater when I go to Houston. He's always hated veggies (his favorite "veggie" is the white potato, gah!) and tries to avoid them like the plague, but that is just going to have to change.

Last night I had a little extra time and made myself some black bean patties to go with my sweet potato. It was delicious.

The caramelized onion on top really made it special, though.


What is your best advice for high school grads?
Do  you have any fun plans for the weekend?

A Wedding and Moving

Happy Monday!

I had hoped I would sleep well last night since I had the bed to myself for the first time in a while, but alas, sleep was fitful again. I've been sleeping particularly badly since the week of finals, and I am really ready to have a few good nights in a row.

Due to my lack of a restful night, coffee was required to make it through my Literary Criticism class. I was doing okay in the first half of the class using my usual concoction of a ton of water, mint gum, and taking a quick break in the middle, but by the time we took our class break at 10:30 I knew coffee was necessary. I have a love/hate relationship with coffee- love because it always works to perk me up instantly, but hate because it tastes so bad and I'm afraid to get addicted. I stopped drinking all cokes in junior when I started playing tennis, and only have a few a year now, so I am really sensitive to caffeine. Usually when I need a little help waking up I drink some Tazo Awake tea, but it just doesn't work quite as well as coffee. I only take it when I know I won't be able to be respectfully awake for something because I know I can and will become addicted quickly, and then the effect will wear off.

But enough about coffee, let's talk about the gorgeous wedding we attended on Saturday! Two of our friends got married in a beautiful ceremony that took place in one of their friend's backyards, and it was honestly the most perfect wedding I've attended. I went to brunch in Amarillo with the bridal party , and since Will was a groomsman and I knew the bride well enough to hang out and do the last-minute running around for her, we both went out to the ranch around 1 pm. The ceremony was supposed to start at 6 pm, but the groom's grandmother got a little lost so it was delayed for about thirty minutes, but that was the only thing that went "wrong." An outdoor wedding in the Panhandle in May is such a risk because of the 10,398 things that could go wrong (including but not limited to: hurricane-force winds, rain, snow, tornadoes, 105 degree heat, flash floods, etc.), but God must have smiled down upon the happy couple because the weather could not have been more perfect. It rained last week at the perfect time to help the grass green up and fill the pond, and the everything just came together.

Afterwards, the reception was held at a place called Starlight Canyon, and it too was beautiful. The food was actually really good and the DJ did a great job. Will and I enjoyed hanging out and seeing some old friends from high school that had come back to town for the summer. We stuck around until the very end and enjoyed one last dance to Coldplay's "Yellow," and then sent the bride and groom off.

Sunday dawned early when I woke up at 6:05 sweating up a storm (seriously, how can I be cold one night and dying of heat the next?), which was actually lucky because Will's alarm was supposed to go off at 6.

We finished packing the car and he took a quick shower, then he was off with all our fur babies.

Just add dogs:

The other side

Still had to add his bike.

 See ya in 27 days!

Freska's carrier went up front on top of the pillow.

They were gone before 7 a.m. and made it home (it feels weird calling our house in Houston "home") around 6. Will said they all did pretty well on the drive, but Boomer freaked out when they drove off and realized I wasn't with them. The pups took turns riding in Will's lap and in the kennel. Will unzipped Freska's carrier but she chose to stay put :)

Even though we've done the long-distance thing many times now, it feels so different this time around. Knowing that Will is at our home without me feels very strange, especially because he took all the pets. Usually they stayed with me (I guess I kind of know how he felt, but I think it's always different to be the one who gets to "go" and the one who has to "stay").

Hearing him talk about how Freska was hiding behind the couch and how the dogs were running laps around the living room made me feel homesick and lonely. I'm trying to concentrate on things like getting back into the gym (something that definitely fell to the back burner this semester, and it shows!) and reading some books on my Kindle, a luxury that I don't have during the semesters with all my reading for literature classes. Oh, and then there's my Literary Criticism course to read for. It's really interesting, but man is it dense!

Only 26 more days until I get to go down there and spend a few weeks!

And Then He Was a College Grad

Will graduated last Saturday with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering!

Four long years of late night studying, frustration with group members on group projects, hours and hours of homework, and an immense amount of dedication have all led up to this.

I don't have the pictures from the actual ceremony (I used my MIL's camera, which is in Costa Rica with her for the week), but here I did manage to snap some pictures during the weekend with my camera.

Someone took some epic naps. But hey, I say everyone deserves some down time in the days following the completion of a college degree :)

I had a some-what specific look I was going for: classy maroon and white. Will had one request: "none of that Congrats/ 2012 stuff." Works for me- I happen to think it's kind of tacky (at least for college graduations). I made these tissue paper pom poms for above the table, flanking the sides of the "Congrats" banner (I decided it didn't count as the tacky stuff since it was homemade), and hanging in front of the entryway.

All finished.

From the other side.

I hung the "Congrats" banner from the pendent lights above the bar where we put the desserts and used mini clothes pins to attach the letters to some plain craft ribbon. I bought the letters and scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby and painted the letters black.

The entryway made the perfect place to put the table for drinks. My in-laws have curtains hung over the entryway to provide some privacy since there are windows on each side of the glass door, and to help with glare on the TV (AND it helps with heating/cooling), so my sister in law suggested I hang some pom poms from the curtain rod. I was really happy she suggested it- it really tied the whole look together.

We had tea and lemonade, and Will's aunt arranged these pretty grocery store flowers beautifully! The custom Scentsy was a gift from one of Will's former bosses from his on-campus job. She decorated the Scentsy with WT logos and our mascot.

Back to dessert bar- I wanted to make sure Will had everything he wanted for his weekend, and he requested no-bake cookies, sock-it-to-me cake, and buffalo cookies from our school caterer. We actually ended up making three batches of no-bake cookies because someone doesn't think recipes are important and/or just can't follow them (even though he is a literal rocket scientist... oh yeah, he's starting work for NASA in June), and he didn't boil the cookies for the required one minute. The first two batches didn't set, which ended up being fine because I scooped it all into a bowel to put in the fridge and I ate on it for several days. The third batch was a little dry, but at least they set.

These buffalo cookies are served at almost every campus event (and since Will and I were/are student workers we attend a lot of campus events), and Will absolutely loves them. They're not bad, but they're not anything to write home about either. But will really wanted them, so his mom graciously ordered three dozen to have at his party.

Family picture time!

His aunt and grandmother, who came down for the weekend. They were awesome with helping us get everything pulled together!

I really wanted a good "family" picture, but these two were not cooperating. I made Scarlett a little bow and Boomer a bow tie from some maroon ribbon. We put Scarlett in the back yard after these pictures and when she came in again her bow was in one long string behind behind her. Oh well.

Will's sister was also there, but she was inside talking to some friends she hadn't seen since Christmas. I didn't realize until after she left that we didn't get any pictures with her.

My family. P.S. Isn't my brother a giant compared to all of us? I think he's officially the tallest in our family, except for my cousin's husband (but he married into the family, so his height doesn't count).

These two have been friends for years and years. They used to have a lawn-mowing company together.

And these two are getting married on Saturday. Aren't they adorable?

My granddad

Thanks for the awkward hand placement, mom :)

And finally, it's present time! Will had told me back before Christmas about a watch he wanted (well, before that he told me he wanted a watch by Movato. After seeing the price, I told him we might talk about it for when he graduates with his Ph.D. but there was no way he would get it for his undergrad). So the second watch he told me about was half the price and I really wanted to get it for him. The only problem was, there was no way I could have bought it without him know, and I really wanted it to be a surprise. He takes care of all our banking throughout the year for the trade-off of me doing taxes (I don't think he's figured out how easy taxes are haha), so I knew he would notice if I bought the watch. So starting in January, I starting taking $20, $30, sometimes $50 out of every paycheck we got. Sometimes he noticed and sometimes he didn't, but if he did I just told him not to worry about it. I gave the cash to his mom, who kept it hidden for me until I was ready to buy the watch. I was sure he would realize what I was doing, but he said he was truly surprised. He was convinced that I was getting him some stuff for his bike.

Surprise! I even took the watch out of it's box and wrapped in some tissue paper and put that in a big box with a heavy book to keep the surprise until the last moment.

A very serious discussion of how when we were going to get it fit to his wrist.

Overall, it was a great weekend. We were surrounded by friends and family, and hubs is officially done with his undergrad. We're still waiting to hear back to see if he got accepted into grad school for the fall, but we're not too worried about it right now. Will is leaving on Sunday to go to Houston permanently (holy cow, where did time go?), and I'm 1/3 of the way finished with my May Intercession course. Everything is moving along, but I still cannot wait to have a few weeks off and go to Houston.

Our Story, Part 4

I believe I left off in August 2009, just before I started college and Will went back to Houston for a Co-Op tour.

I started college ready for the change, but a little nervous about everything. I graduated from high school a year early, so I was a year younger than the other freshmen. I also joined our university's honor program, and I was worried that I wouldn't be as smart/dedicated/"honor-ly" as all the other students joining the program. Luckily for me, I fit in just fine and made many friends (including Brandy!)

I turned 18 that September and Will came home to visit.

If I remember correctly, that was the first Thanksgiving Will spent with my family. We ate lunch with his family and then left later that afternoon with my family to visit my cousins. This was also the first Thanksgiving in their new house- it was finished in August (or maybe it was late July) 2009.

Thanksgiving 2009

I went to visit Will in Houston for his 20th birthday in October, and over that visit (I think... gosh, I'm too young to not remember all these details) we went shopping for my wedding ring. At this point, we'd been dating for three years, and we had known since about 3 months in that we were "the one" for each other. It's a weird feeling, knowing at 15 that you've met the one who you'll spend the rest of your life with. Although, I realize a lot of people think that and spend years with a person, only break up once they're in college or realize they've grown apart. I also realize the whole "high school sweetheart" thing is not really a realistic occurrence for most people, and I would almost never recommend or suggest to another young woman that the boy she dates at 15 could be her husband some day. We all grow up and change so much during those years (and Will and I are still growing up in many ways), but some how, it just worked for us. I think there were a lot of circumstances that helped us to grow together, and not apart, while we were growing up.

I can't remember if I've already shared this or not, but when my mom and I had the first discussion about whether I should date Will, I told her that I didn't just see us dating for a short time, but that I saw it as more of a "forever" thing. Why I said that, at 15 years old, I have no idea. In fact, up until that point, I was pretty set to date a ton of guys through college and make sure that I found myself a good guy. I think my mom's struggles with relationships really made me aware that not all people are who they appear to be, and I was determined it wasn't going to happen to me. So when Will and I had our first fight a few months into our relationship, and when he called me later that evening to apologize and work things out, I think that was the point that I knew we could work through just about anything and we could be together forever.

So anyway, back to the ring shopping.

We had a budget (big for us, small compared to what a more mature couple could afford), and we both had really different ideas of what we wanted. I still am not quite sure why Will thought he should get what he wanted for the ring I get to wear for the rest of my life, but whatever. I actually really wanted to use my grandmother's ring, but Will really wanted to have something that was from him to me, so that was a no-go. We went to the big mall in the area and set out to visit all the jewelry stores in it. We went into the typical Kay, Ben Bridge and other big-name stores, and we were really disappointed. The sales associates were pushy, but had very little to offer us. We were also really put off by all the big sales that were advertised (because it makes it feel like you Must Act Now to Receive the Best Price), and we weren't set on buying a ring that day.I just really wanted to do some heavy lifting with him so he knew what I liked. In fact, I think I was supposed to pick 4-5 rings I wanted and he would have the final say. Yeah, that so did not happen.

You see, his mom was really set on us waiting until I was finished with my freshmen year of college before getting engaged, but Will and I were really tired of waiting, because honestly, when you know you're getting married what is the point of waiting a whole semester to get engaged? It wouldn't have changed anything, just the date we were engaged. At this point, I was really set on a January wedding, so if he had proposed that summer we would have had about 6 months to plan. However, he was planning on doing another Co-Op tour that summer and I didn't want to be newly engaged and trying to plan a wedding over the summer and fall semester mainly by myself, so I asked him to propose by May 2010. I know, we're both control freaks about details.

So anyway, back to the ring shopping.

We finally stumbled upon Helzburg Diamonds, a store I'd never heard of because we don't have one up here in Amarillo. We went in and were immediately impressed with the staff, who were attentive but didn't stand over us trying to cram diamonds on my finger. They definitely had the best selection in our price range, and explained all the diamond-lingo with us to help us see the difference between buying a bigger but less quality diamond and a smaller but "better" diamond. Our sales associate was really helpful and even helped us give directions over the phone to Will's mom, who was meeting us later for dessert.

Needless to say, I found THE ring. I round solitaire with six-prong setting instead of the traditional four-prong with a chevron guard. Or that could be the completely wrong terms, you get the idea. It was simple, elegant, and timeless. And it was under our budget. We decided to go with smaller and better value, so someday (sooner rather than later, I hope) if we want to exchange the diamond they will give us the value of our current one and apply it towards a bigger one. Will was not thrilled that I was so resolute about which one I wanted, because I think he really wanted to surprise me, but we left the mall with two red ring boxes. I was kind of ticked he wouldn't let me try on the rings when we got home, but I did not put either on until the day he proposed.
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Other things that happened the semester:

I found out I was a Readership Ambassador for 2009-2010. We read A Thousand Splendid Suns and wrote a personal reflection essay over it. 45 semifinalists were chosen out of over 300 entries, and then interviewed in groups of 4. 16 finalists were chosen to go to Turkey, all expenses paid, to experience kind of cultural immersion.

Will and I attended Fall Retreat with our CKI chapter. 

 There was a costume competition. Costumes had to be made from newspaper. I was an Eskimo. I'm pretty sure we won a prize.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Will was in Houston (AGAIN) for an internship/co-op tour, so he drove up for the weekend pretty much just to see me. By the time he graduates, I think he'll have done 5 tours total for for his internship and co-ops. These we all done over summers and fall semesters.

Christmas time again and Will's sister, Megan graduated from college.

Then it's January and classes start again. The first Wednesday after classes started, I had a bad day. I can't remember exactly what happened, but I remember talking to Will on the phone towards the end of the day and being depressed. He called me around 4:15 and said he had a surprise for me, and wanted me to go somewhere with him. I complained a little- told him how tired I was and asked if we could do it another time, but he insisted.

I walked out the circle drive in the middle of our campus where he was picking me up, and as soon as I saw his face through the windshield I knew. He was grinning from ear to ear, and could not hide what I knew was coming, no matter how hard he tried.

He took me to the park, where we got out and sat on the bench. After we talked for a  minute, he pulled me and started walking. I started teasing him, asking what was going on. He had his coat on and something was bulging from his pocket. I asked him what was in his pocket as I felt the outline of the ring box, and he tried to slap away my hand. I jokingly asked him if he was going to propose, and at that moment he got down on one knee and started saying lines from The Office.

Yeah, The Office as in the TV show with Steve Carell and Dunder Mifflin. He got down on one knee on the sidewalk covered with duck poop (it's the only lake in town) and proposed using a line that Michael used when he proposed to Karen (or was it Holly? I don't  know.), and he most definitely said "... I want the ketchup fights..."

At this point, I thought he was kidding. You know, teasing me. He had warned me that he was going to make me think he was proposing but not really be doing it just to keep me on my toes. We had also agreed it would happen sometime in the semester, but the semester was literally 3 days old, so he still had plenty of time. He knew that I really wanted a romantic proposal, one where our friends and family could be there right afterwards, and here we were surrounding by hateful screaming geese and duck poo. So I did what any woman would do, and I smacked him on the head and told him to get up and stop it.

Stop being mean to me, I said over and over. Finally, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and I turned to see his best friend with a video camera filming the whole thing. Oops.

Are you being serious right now? I asked. Yes.
Oh... Ok. Then yes, I'll marry you.

It wasn't exactly (or at all, for that matter), what I had dreamed about for 18 years, but a proposal is a proposal and in the end we were engaged.
This picture was recreated after I said "yes".

See the bulging pocket? The duck poo?

We were so excited, and went immediately to show my mom (Will had asked her already) and his mom. I had to go from there to work (I washed dishes at our church. Classy, I know.) When I got home that evening his mom had done a really sweet flower arrangement and gotten us a card and chocolates as a congratulations gift.

Perhaps here I should mention that The Office proposal was not entirely random. Will loves the show and has watched it forever. He really wanted me to like it too, so over that Christmas break, we sat and watched the first several seasons in order. I was really liking it at that time, too. So I guess he thought it would be the perfect way to propose ;)

Stay tuned for part 5!