More Santa Barbara Pics...

Happy Birthday to Joseph!

Joseph's birthday was Sunday, so I took him to Santa Barbara for the weekend.  We spent Saturday afternoon walking along the beach and checking out the art fair, and then went to dinner at night.  We also went to the "Old Spanish Days" festival and watched the singing and dancing and ate churros.  Walked around downtown at night and stopped at Starbucks for a hot chocolate.

We stopped for breakfast on Sunday morning, then took the long way home on the PCH.  Such a pretty day!  Joseph got tickets to see Pearl Jam in San Francisco and Raiders tickets for the day after for his birthday present.  I also made him spaghetti and cake and ice cream, and Bodhi, Joshua, and I sang happy birthday!

I'll try to post more often.  My sisters are inspiring me.  I'm not making any promises though.

 

Making Progress!

So I finally feel like we're beginning to make progress with our wedding planning.  I have the contract for the venue in hand, and except for a couple of small items it looks great.  We plan to execute it and send our deposit out this week!  Don't mark your calendars just yet, but we've chosen May 1, 2010 as our date!  Yes, I know this is Derby Day, but I got approval from my Dad.  (And what does everyone think of mint juleps as a signature cocktail???) 

I've also started to get quotes from vendors for photography, invites, hair/make-up, and cake.  Moving right along!

Didn't do much this weekend other than clean and do some dress shopping (yes, dress shopping!).  Also went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which I'm sure was excruciating for Joseph and would have been for me too except for all the wedding stuff to look at.  

I have plans to go to Phoenix this weekend to do some dress shopping with the Phoenix girls and go out for Jill's birthday (yay!).  Also finally booked my flight for Detroit for July 28-August 2.  (By the way, NWA "miles" are crap.  Conveniently for them none of the flights are "available" for miles redemption.  Ended up having to use 20K miles AND pay $150.  Ugh.)  Can't WAIT to see my wonderful family!!!  (Get a move on your tix Bri!)  

Memorial Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Went to Michael's graduation party on Friday night (congratulations, Michael!), then drove up to Sedona on Saturday morning to do some serious wedding venue hunting.  I'm happy to announce that we've found THE place!  It'll be a small and intimate gathering with close family and friends.  We checked out hotels for guests, rehearsal dinner places, and even did a cake tasting!  I took tons of pics of everything, but I don't know how much I want to give away yet.  (Am I supposed to keep everything a secret so it's a surprise?)  We're deciding between about three Saturdays from the end of April and beginning of May (ahem, don't want to get in the way of any trips to Italy!), so we'll announce the date shortly.  Now that we've decided, it finally feels real!  

Here's Joseph and me at dinner in Sedona last night.

And Bodhi in the luxurious down bedding.  It was hard to find him in there sometimes!  (Yes, our little man traveled with us, and I think he approves of the venue.  He LOVES the ducks!)

We spent the evening last night with our friends, Judy and Stephen.  Went to dinner, then for desert on an outside patio, then walked in the pitch black dark along the creek.  

As usual, pics just don't do it justice.  Sedona is such a beautiful place!

Pics from our cake tasting.  The tasting was at the chef's house.  She has this huge, gorgeous commercial kitchen that smells delicious.  She's been on Food Network, in magazines, and everything.  And yes, we picked a cake!  It's the design I had my heart set on (the one thing I just HAD to have), and I hope people don't think it's too weird.  And we picked two very yummy flavors!

Justin (left) and the graduate, Michael.  Aren't they the cutest?  They are seriously the sweetest boys ever.  I hope our kids turn out as wonderful as all of our nieces and nephews.

Good morning!

Joseph and I had a fun weekend in Phoenix.  Went to Titus's birthday party on Saturday and then on Sunday, Roberta, Katrina, Jill, and Jennifer took me bridesmaid (not wedding) dress shopping!!!  It was so fun!  And it helped me a lot - I kind of started to figure out what I do and don't like.  All of us were trying on dresses.  So fun!  

Joseph, Bodhi, and I are going to visit a resort in Sedona next weekend to check it out as a possible wedding venue.  I'm so hopeful that it'll be what we're looking for!

Since Bodhi and Daddy are on vacation this week, Joshie and I are living it up.  Unfortunately, with Bodhi around, Joshie doesn't play a whole lot anymore.  Bodhi is always getting in the way!  But since Bodhi's in Phoenix, Joshie got a lot of playing in this morning!

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a nice Easter.  Joseph and I enjoyed a lazy weekend.  I made Easter dinner for just the two of us and we watched movies.  It's sad not being with family on holidays, but snuggling up on the couch all day with my boys is the next best thing!

I came home from the gym to find Easter presents waiting for me.  Joseph had a bunch of flowers hiding in the fridge, and he got me a magazine, a movie, and candy all in a little chickie purse!

  

My Engagement Ring

So there's just too much to tell.  I had the most amazing, incredible, perfect weekend of my life.  And I still need to call some family and friends to share the news.  But I couldn't help but post a picture of my beautiful engagement ring from Joseph.  I'm overwhelmed by how beautiful it is.  

Before diamonds are cut into the sparkly ones we see today, they exist in a beautiful, untouched state wherein they are unique from all others.  A long time ago, raw diamonds were worn only by royalty and believed to be fragments of stars or tears of gods.  People thought they held all the powers of the earth and kept the wearer safe from all harm.  

So here is a picture of my raw, uncut (and conflict free) diamonds that are perfect just as they are, no cutting needed.