Marital Bliss

We are loving married life. I sit and write this as the snow outside piles up on our porch and everywhere else. So far we have at least a foot, most likely far more than that. Anyway, back to married life.

We just finished finals. Our Christmas break will be simultaneously relaxing and busy. Lots of time with Casey's family and some time with my mom, then our cruise. I am really excited to go with Casey. It has been 4 years since my last and only cruise. Casey has never been. It will be a great honeymoon.

Life is just wonderful! Our apartment is Christmasy, presents are under the tree, and our fireplace dvd helps us think we are warm in this chilly basement. Maybe I should make something in the oven =P

Here We Go

So we are now officially sealed together for time and all eternity! Yesterday was exhausting and we were very glad to be home at the end of it.

We got to the temple at 8:30ish for me to go through and we were sealed at 12:30. It was so wonderful! Words cannot fully express how amazing the gospel is. I am so grateful for everything that I have been able to learn and do.

We were 45 mins late to our reception, but it was great. The food was wonderful and everything was just awesome. Mariel got some wonderful pictures and I can't wait to see them.

Today we are just relaxing, opening presents, and unpacking my stuff. The apartment is a mess right now, but it will get better =).

That is all for now, thanks to all who came and saw us sealed, came to the reception, and especially everyone who prayed for my dad to be home!

So close!

My dad is home!!!! He got to the ATL airport at about 7 this morning! I can't express how grateful I am for prayer and the people who have kept us in theirs! Wow... talk about tender mercies of the Lord.

Everything is in place and we are moving forth with the wedding. So, on Tuesday I will shed my single status and enter the ranks of the married women.

This past Tuesday I met with the stake president and he signed my wonderful shiny (not really) new temple recommend. I am so thrilled to get to go to the temple I can hardly stand it!

Life is good.

No!

Life is great!

No!

Life is AMAZING!

Single Digits

We are down to the wire here. Everything is in place, my dad is on his way home, the wedding stuff is pretty much all taken care of, and I am pretty much keeping up with my schoolwork.

I discovered today that it takes me about almost 2 full hours to do my hair. An hour and 10 mins of that are just curling it! Thank goodness I will have help. With 2 curling irons going it should g much faster.

Who would have thought that everything could fall into place so quickly. It seems like time has been non-existent lately. People say how long it seems to take right before you get married. I have discovered that the days are long, but they pass faster than I would have ever thought possible. So, soon Casey and I will be sealed together for time and all eternity. I can't wait.

Wow!

I had my temple recommend appointment with my bishop today. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I get to go to the temple and be able to have all the blessings of the temple. To quote Pride and Prejudice: "It is too much! It is too much! I wish that everyone could be as happy as I am!"

Cake is taken care of and that was the last thing other than getting my train bustled that was on my list. Done done done! Now I just have to wait... ugh.

19 days and Counting

Flowers: Check!

All I need to take care of is the cake! Sweet... no pun intended.

So Little Time

We have 22 days left and I am in a scramble. I went down to GA to pick up my dress over the weekend. It is amazing!!! I would post pictures, but well... Casey reads this blog too. It is so beautiful. I have the caterer all taken care of, the reception site is booked, I have a DJ, a photographer, the invitations are sent, and I just have to take care of cake and flowers.

Keeping up the schoolwork and wedding plans is getting pretty stressful, but I am keeping it together. Casey and I are going to pick out a tux today and then I am heading back here to school for more non-stop homework. Oy... it will all be here faster than I can blink.

The Plans are Raging On

That's right. Raging!

I have a reception location, I am meeting with the caterer on Friday, and I am working on ordering things that I will need from the interwebs. Life is going about a million mile an hour right now and that is all I really have time to write.

*drumroll*

So it looks like we will be able to be sealed on the 24th of November!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I am rapidly making plans for a small reception here near SVU and then we will have two open house in May when my dad gets home. My dad is scheduled to have leave starting the 17th and should get to GA within 4 or 5 days.

So far, I have a DJ that is on standby for a location. The reception space is in the process of being reserved. I am going to check it out tomorrow. This week I am going to call the Temple and schedule my endowment session and the sealing. They are going to be on the same day. Yes, I know I am crazy... but I have no choice.

I met with my bishop today and we talked about plans and such. I am going to have my interview for my temple recommend around the 10th and then I will meet with the stake president within a few days of that. I was able to go do baptisms on the 13th of this month and it was amazing! I love knowing that I am worthy to go to the temple. It is pretty much one of the best feelings in the world.

Now that the wedding plans are underway I will try to keep this thing updated, but since everything is happening so fast it may be spotty. So far so good... just 37 days left!

Let Them Eat Cake

So I am bored and looking at wedding cakes online. There is one that I really like, but I am not on my laptop so I can't save the link...


So this one would have sage green fondant ribbon and dark purple calla lilies instead of being white.


This cake is a similar deal as the one above... sage green satin ribbon, purple gum paste calla lilies. Oh... and no gum paste dots. I think they are tacky.

So there is my boredom.

It'sGood to Be Back

Casey and I are finally back at school... still not married, but back at school. I am taking some pretty fun classes.

Spanish 101: yes, I am taking another language class. I thought it might be 'fun' to take it so Casey and I can talk to each other in 3 languages, English, Spanish, and German. He is taking German. To continue:

Intro to Business: I am a Business minor now. I thought it would be a good idea to have a little business background to go with my Art major.

Intro to Printmaking: I love art classes! They make my life happy and slightly less stressful.

Ballet: I have to take Phys. Ed. classes to graduate. This means I have to find classes that don't involve a lot of running. Also, I love love love ballet! I have always wanted to be serious about ballet, but I am not flexible. Alas...

Bookmaking: This is a great class so far! I am loving it! Again, art classes are wonderful.

Institute: I am in the Life and Letters of Paul class. It seems pretty good so far, but I don't know how it will be. It only meets once a week, so I haven't had a good taste of it so far.

Those are my classes. I am pleased with how things are going so far this semester.

Change in Color

Our colors are now Sage Green and Plum...

I want to use these flowers

Ascari Mini Calla Lilies


Aren't they gorgeous?
I'm thinking something like this for a bouquet.


not sure about the peacock feathers, but I love the idea of this bouquet.

Chapter 2: The Proposal...

All this time i had been cunningly telling rachel i was having a hard time finding a ring...not too much to be obvious i was just stalling with the real one, but enough, and in different ways, that she actually believed me.

So my long time (as in since probably march or april) idea was that on my birthday i would, at some point, try to get kinda saddened and talk about how epic my birthday had been, but it just wasnt quite enough, that i wanted something more...then would bust out the ring and say something simple, i never got it concrete.

Well the big day came and i made my claim "oh dont take away the baby they"....oh, wait...thats another story, nevermind, anyway...Mamma Stacey thought it would be a great idea to propose at the restaurant we were going to have dinner at, which could have been nice. i thought, though, "you know, i proposed once in mass public, i kinda wanna do this in a more casual, intimate, but still romantic setting"...which meant her house...as at one point i was gonna do it in the car or while we were shopping, i had a few times i thought one thing or another would be really good and i was gonna go on the fly, but i decided i really just wanted to do it at her house.

We were at her house, about to leave to go...somewhere....im pretty sure it was dinner...and i couldnt wait anymore. i already knew no matter what i wouldnt really be able to pull of "slightly saddened at something i didnt get" because i was too doggone excited. i pulled her outside into the hall and started trying to get out something to the effect of "this birthday really has been the best birthday ever, but there's still one thing i really wanted...but you're a classy...no, er...um...traditional kinda girl and so i knew you wouldnt get it for me, so i went ahead and got it..." i already dont remember if i tried to say anything else, or if i mentally said "screw it" and got on one knee and asked her if she'd marry me.

I dont remember -exactly- what all happened after that, except that there were some tears (of joy), some hugging, some kissing, and a "yes" thrown in there somewhere in the beginning.
Between an excellent day of great food, shopping, bowling, getting a Martin acoustic guitar, all from/with my honey, and having her re-accept to be sealed to me for eternity with what is -her- ring (and not a borrowed one), it really was the absolute best birthday i've ever had in my life.

Fin. :-P

Chapter 1: The Ring...

So, I've been lovingly nudged a few times in the short ribs to post the story of the real ring/proposal. someday i may add a few details to the original proposal story...but seeing as how this one trumps it, maybe not :-). I apologize in advance for how wordy I get.

Way back in the day when we were still new at the "hey, we're actually gonna get married somday" game, Rachel and I were online looking at rings on zales.com. at first it was a "I like this kind of stone, i dont like this kind, that kind fo band is nice"...but it ended up as one ring, an "I want -that- one" kind of thing...

fast forward a long time. i had back and forth debated on whether or not to get that ring as rachel had many times suggested other possible rings, but more than once enforced that that one was still her all-time favorite. I found out the band she wanted happened to be one of the ones you could get online without the stone. I ordered it July 2nd. since it was a "special order item" it said allow 3-4 weeks delivery but i went ahead and ordered it 2nd day ground. i was hoping to propose on my birthday...

well, sure enough i thought it should have been shipped a lot earlier than it was and was getting really worried it wouldnt get here in time. I do believe it was monday the 20th (my birthday is the 24th) that the ring showed up at my apartment door in alabama. i was as giddy as a little school girl...now, i should have ordered the stone a lot sooner but i had figured id wait for the ring...well, i ordered the stone online next day air or something...but found out that they -had- to ship it to my billing address, which is -not- alabama...so i cancelled that order and started frantically searching for some local jewelers.

I found one and the guy said he could have the stone ordered wednesday and it would come in thursday afternoon and it would take about an hour or so to fit it in the setting. this would work great but there was a chance id already be working by then and not be able to come in...i was cutting it close, really worried id have to come up with some non-birthday proposal...
Thursday morning the guy called me and said the shipment came in early. i got there not too long after, gave him the ring, and before i got my first job for the day was able to get the ring, the -day- before my birthday. if i was giddy when i got the band alone, i was super-duper giddy to have the whole thing, and know i didnt have to wait terribly long to propose...

To Be Continued...

Random Sidenote!

How did I forget to post that I got a new car?


There she is. No name yet, but it will come.

Another totally unrelated tangent, I saw Julie and Julia yesterday. So, of course, I am going to blog about it. I didn't really care all that much about Julie Powell the blogger, but Julia Child has been one of my favorite famous women for a long time. I watched her on PBS back before we even had cable. Her relationship with her husband was so beautiful. You could tell that she tried so hard to be happy with her life, but it was still hard sometimes. Her desire to have kids and not being able to was heart-wrenching. The scene that touched me the most was thus:
Julia receives a letter from her sister saying that she, the sister, is pregnant. This causes Julia to sit down and begin to cry. Her husband asks what it is and when she says she is so happy for her sister you can feel the pain in her voice. That expression of emotion is exactly how I am feeling about my current predicament wedding wise. I am truly thrilled for all my friends that are getting to have the wonderful blessing of being sealed in the temple, but every time I think about it... it is really hard. I guess I always thought that everything would be sunshine and daisies when I was getting ready to be sealed... boy was I wrong.

For some reason, I thought this would be easy. It isn't. This is one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. I don't know if I have ever felt such deep emotional pain and turmoil in my life. I know that Heavenly Father understands my sacrifice, but that doesn't make it any easier. He does however send little blessings to my life. For example, a (former) co-worker of mine was getting rid of a couch and asked if anyone at work needed it. I said I would love to take it.

So when Casey and I finally get married we will have a pretty much new couch bed...

An end table...

And a kitchen table with four chairs! This is not including the bed and dresser that my parents are giving us. Also, Casey has a loveseat that we will get. We won't be starting out as totally poor college students who need furniture. I am so grateful for wonderful people in my life, and there are so many!

MINE!!!

I have my ring!!! Casey is amazing! That is all that really needed to be said!

In Loving Memory

I forgot to post this a while back...

In honor of Halpert, the 2001, Dark Gray Saturn SL1:

Though his body will be picked to the frame by needy car owners, his spirit will always remain with us.

I owned Halpert from the Summer of 2007 until July 17, 2009. He was a ghetto car... especially at first. No door panels, loud exhaust, and some other things led my dad and I to the junk yard in search of scraps. We found a dome light, a spare tire, and even a few interior upholstered things to make Halpert more presentable. There was still one door without a panel and no cigarette lighter in the end, but he was a good little car.

I got my license and drove Halpert up to SVU within the same week. He shuttled me back and forth to and from campus, Walmart, home, and any where else. We paid more for a new transmission than for the car itself when the transmission went out.

Halpert ran well and got great gas mileage until July 2, 2009. As I drove home from work with a co-worker behind me, I had to stop behind a man who was turning across traffic. I was hit from behind. I and my co-worker were, and are, ok, but Halpert did not fare so well. His trunk was a mess. He was towed to a shop here in PTC and they began to assess the damage. It would have cost more to fix the car then the cost of the car and what we paid for the new transmission.

I received a phone call on the 14th that State Farm would be declaring my car a total loss. On the 15th I went to the shop and cleaned out what remained of my belongings in the car. That was difficult. We drove away from Halpert for the last time. Today, at 12:00pm I signed my name on the title of my car and the State Farm agent took it. I no longer own Halpert. This note is a way for me to let out the emotions that I am feeling over the loss of my first car.

Halpert never disappointed me. He was a good car. My friends and I would make fun of him and yet we loved him anyway. So many good memories...

A Little Ray of Sunshine

I got a new phone! It is totally awesome. It is the LG Env2... basically the greatest phone known to man. Anyway, so that is my happy thing. I also got a rental car last Thursday which helps a lot! It is a new Pontiac Vibe. I would not recommend the car based on the fact that I can hardly see anything when I am backing up. Talk about blind spots!

I was able to go and get the last thing that I need for Casey's birthday on the 24th. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. It is going to his best birthday ever. And of course, last but certainly not least...

HARRY POTTER ON TUESDAY!!! WOOOOOO!!!

One More Crisis

So yesterday I got in my first real car accident. I mean, I tapped the back of my mom's car once and messed up her paint job. Anyway, yesterday after work I was driving home there was a guy who had to stop to wait to turn onto a side street off of highway 16. So, my co-worker Kendall was driving behind me and didn't realize that I had come to a full stop. She was going probably 35-40mph when she hit my trunk. I started to move forward as much as I could once the guy turned, but there was nothing we could have done. I smacked my head on the headrest, but other than that I am fine and so is she.

Her Jeep fared pretty well. It has some minor scratches on the front bumper. My car on the other hand...







I couldn't drive it home because the tire was rubbing the frame on the driver's side. We had to have it towed. It is sitting in my driveway and it makes me sad. We can't get the fixing started until Monday what with the 4th of July coming right up. Kendall will be picking me up for work in the mornings, but it sucks to not have a car again.

I just really wish Casey was here. It would help me deal with this a lot better. I didn't realize how bad my car was until we got back to it on the side of the road to give the keys to the tow truck man. That was when I actually started to let myself be upset about it. I am doing ok now... I am a bit sore, but it is alright and not unexpected.

wow....

that was -really- long for being filled mostly with unimportant ramblings about my life...oh well, gnight!

-Me

And now, for something completely different:

A post from me. its late, really late...its about the time ive been going to bed the past few nights, only this time its not because ive been staying up reading Harry Potter like a recent addict...which shouldnt really be seen as a simile i guess, since i -am- a fairly recent addict...i've been working to read through at least book 6 by the time the 6th movie comes out so that rachel and i can go see the midnight showing together. i just finished book 5 after having read just over 500 pages of it in 2 days...for me that is totally epic like you wouldnt believe to be reading that many pages of -anything- in 2 days... :-P

tonight, however, im just up this late because i dont get on the computer very much anymore. i got back to my apartment around midnight and thought "huh, i think i'll get on the computer for a bit before i go to bed", and now its 2:45 in the AM...

Anywho, things are goin pretty well, all things considered. I've been installing security systems for APX alarm this summer. no, you dont have to be a dishonest scumbag to -install- the systems, just to sell them...all the same, leaving out information here and there certainly has its place. case and point about the sales reps: i almost had to take down a system i had just barely put up because we (data entry and I) found out the the credit for the account was run on the customer's deceased brother......now apparently this is not nearly as common as i thought it was, pretty rare, actually...but still.

i'm mostly babbling right now with no real form or reason as to my paragraph structure. but since i never really post anything, i figured someone out there might be remotely interested in my goings-on, er, going-ons...interested in what's going on in my life. anyway, i was installing for about a month in albany, GA (pronounced al *bay* knee by the true locals) and for the rest of the summer i'll probably be where i'm at now, in montgomery, AL.

its been fun. its been incredibly frustrating at times. i have completely broken down once or twice (out of the view of the customer, of course) for how i couldnt get something to work or how i was ruining someone's house...but with anything, you have your ups and downs. i have plenty if stories, but none worth randomly sharing on a blog without some kind of reason to share it i suppose.

I go to Rachel's house every other weekend. its always the highlite of my...fortnights...after two weeks at a time of not being able to see her, hold her, or kiss her, it always feels nice to remember what its like to have a fiancee you love with all of your heart. her mom, of course, is always there and she is a blast as well. i honestly couldnt ask for better (future) in-laws. if you pardon my attempt at explaining it, its not like hanging out with rachel and her mom, its like hanging out with rachel and a mutual friend that i met through rachel and happen to not have known for nearly as long. i feel i have a healthy respect/fear of her dad. knowing that he really isnt nearly as intimidating as he might seem, but all the while still knowing that he decides whether or not i get to stay alive...its a good balance, id say...

er, not wanting my comments about rachel to be outdone by my comments about her mom/parents, i end, sappily, this way: I -really- need to get to bed as, afterall, in 3.5 hours ill be waking back up to text/talk to the most beautiful, wonderful, amazing woman that i know.

-Me

I Should Update On Wedding Stuff

but there is nothing to update. Here is a quick update on my dad.

He flew up to Indiana on Friday. On Monday he left and flew to Bangor, Maine. After that, he got to fly to Shannon, Ireland, but didn't get to leave the airport for long (he got fish and chips). Then he heads to Bucharest, Romania and then to Kazakhstan for a few days. Those are the only things I really know right now.

Thats about it. I thought you might want to know.

...And There It Goes

My dad left today. He will be in Indiana until Monday and then he heads to Afghanistan. He will be in a tent with no way of contacting us for the first little while that he is there. This sucks. I feel blank.

So Here It Is

I am going to complain about my life in this post. I am warning you all before you continue reading.

I hate my life right now. The only thing that is keeping me from curling up in a ball and ceasing to care about anything is the people who care about me. It just hit me about 20 minutes ago that my dad is leaving in like 5 days. He will be gone for a year. So for a year I have to deal with my dad being gone, not being able to get married until next year, and did I mention my dad being gone for a year with no leave?? I read things that my other friends are going through with their wedding planning and how hard it is to wait for a few months without their significant other before the big day. Guess what folks, I get to feel that for a freaking year! It must be really hard to be getting married over the summer, finding an apartment, and being sealed to the man you love for eternity when you want to.

My life is hard right now and even though I know it will all be fine a few years down the road when I am sealed to Casey it will all be ok. Right now though, every time we get a wedding announcement in the mail, every time I read someone's wedding plans, and especially when I see the young married couples in my ward I want to cry. It just isn't fair that the military gets to interfere in my life once again. And it isn't even like my dad is in a high enough position to ask for time off for my wedding. This just sucks.

I am not mad at any of my friends who are having minor issues with wedding planning, I am not mad at my dad or the military, I am mad at the situation and how much it sucks. Ok.... I'm done now. I hope I haven't offended anyone.

Keeping My Head Above Water

This has been a pretty rough week for me emotionally. I am working through a lot of residual issue and such, but I think that I will be mostly ok soon. My life is moving forward: working, cleaning, talking to my wonderful fiance, reading, being creative, and everything else. All things considered I am doing better than I could be.

On the wedding front: we ordered my wedding and temple dresses last Saturday! I am really excited about that. I can't wait to try on my very own dress... it is gonna be amazing! We have to wait for the order to get here and all that, but its not like I don't have time. Other than the dresses, the wedding planning has essentially come to a full and complete stop. Not having any clue when the date will be makes it hard to do any planning.

On the family front: my dad comes home for 10 days starting Monday! It will be wonderful to see him. He and my mom are going on a cruise for a few days, so I will be alone int he house again. I hate that. Oh well, my mom gets home from trek today and Casey will be here this weekend. I took Monday off of work so I can spend some time with my dad, mom, and Casey (until he heads back to work). It is going to be a good weekend.

Well that is it from me for now. Much love to all of my wonderful and supportive followers =). It really helps.

<3 Rachel

One Major Hitch Before We Get Hitched

So I found out this morning that my dad may not get any R&R. This would mean that if he was able to come to a conference in Charlottesville and if the military doesn't decide to change it to a video tele-conference instead then that would be the first week of December. Apparently, the wedding of your only daughter is not a good enough reason to try and fly out of Afghanistan. I am not mad at my dad... I am really upset with the situation. It is really hard to watch all my friends who are getting married with what seem like very few and very small issues and I have no idea when I will even be getting married.

I am really struggling with this and no one outside the situation understands how I am feeling. As much as I love everyone who has and will offer support, this is a situation that I don't think any of them truly understand. It totally sucks... I just want to cry. There is a real possibility that I won't be getting married until next April or May when my dad finally gets home. If that is the case, I will not be attending school in the spring and possibly the fall either. I am really upset about this and I just need to let it out.

I just kinda wish that everything could be easy. I'm just lucky that I have such a wonderful man in my life to help me deal with this. I sure do love him.

Workin' the 9-5

I GOT A JOB!!! I start work today at 9 at dum dum da dummmmmm Prima Music. It is a company that distributes sheet music and books to music teachers, school, etc. I am basically going to be doing inventory, but it is 40 hours a week and 7.50 an hour! That is a buck an hour more than I made last summer so WOO! Life is good. Anyway, I need to ge pack myself some lunch and eat some breakfast. But WOO I have a job!!!

heidy ho

so, Rachel gave me her password a while ago so that I could randomly post from time to time...well, she event went as far as to make me co-author and i -still- havent posted...til now of course...hi all, this is me. i have absolutely nothing worthwhile to say at the moment except that i'm totally excited to get married to the most wonderful woman i've ever met.
as a side note, im in georgia/alabama installing security systems for APX. its an alright gig so far, it should pick up soon though. see ya!
-Me

General Update

Just a general, non-wedding update. I have a job interview with Prima Music. I am pretty excited. I hope that it works out. Anything is better than the Daycare center...

Invites

I think I have an idea for what invitations we are going to use. Unfortunately I can't do anything with that idea until I know whether or not we really will be getting married on the 21st of November. As of right now it looks good, but we will see. The military likes to throw curve balls at my family. Anyway, back to the invites... here they are. Obviously they will have our pics and colors that match ours better. But yeah, I like these ones better than the ones I wanted before (which incidentally are being used by Darla and Chase.) I guess everything works out for the best.

Cats and Dogs Living Together... Mass Hysteria!

So I added Casey to the list of authors on this blog. He will now be able to post whatever and whenever he wants. Let the chaos begin. Just kidding sweetie.

Ring 1 Engagement Pictures

When we went up to the Temple on the 24th to do baptisms, Mariel took some pics for us. I am calling them the engagement phase 1 pics. Here are a few of them for ya.



She is definitely going to do our official pictures. We have to wait on my "real" ring before we can do that though =).

If You Are Planning a Wedding...

You must get this book! It is excellent. I have found a bunch of ideas to save money on my wedding. Just my personal recommendation.I have an older edition and the only difference is that you can tell that it is a little dated =P. Oh well, it is all good. I think it would be an excellent investment for all my fellow wedding planning women =).

Flowers Flower Everywhere...

So I have an idea for what I want as my bouquet. I found a picture and absolutely love it! Anyway here it is.

It is red roses, Seeded eucalyptus, and hypericum berries.

Registration

Casey and I went with Chase and Darla to Roanoke and registered at Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We are also registered at Amazon.com. We were in Roanoke forever! My feet and lower back hurt so bad after we were done.

We went to Target first and registered for everyday dishes and some other fun stuff. We traded scanners with the Chase and Darla and scanned something random. It was hilarious. After that we went to Olive Garden and ate yummy food. Calamari, salad, bread sticks, Zuppa Toscana, and Chicken and Gnocchi soup. It was all so good.

Our next stop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond. By that point Casey and I were a bit tired. It got progressively worse as we walked through the store. The scanners at Target were much better. After a little while, we both started getting really tired and sore. We put pretty much everything on our list onto the registry. There are a few more things that we need to put on there, but it is ok, it will get done.

That is all for now!

Quick Bridesmaid Update

I have a picture of the capes. They will be white. I'm not sure if they will have the muff or not. It all depends on cost ;-).

My mom will be making these, so don't worry about buying them.

Let the Planning Commence!

I am so bad about updating these things!

Short update: I am engaged!!!

Long update:
Casey and I decided a while back that we wanted to get married. The only problem was timing and money.
Timing: With Dad leaving for Afghanistan in late June we had a quandary. November felt right, but we had to make sure that it would be kosher with the Army. We still have no definite word on that, but we should know when dad gets there.
Money: Casey has none. No money = no ring. The only reason that we were not engaged before now is because I did not have a ring. We decided that we could wait until the summer for it to be official.

The Story:
March is the month of proposals here at SVU. Mariel and Erik got engaged on the 20th and Darla and Chase got engaged on the 21st. I was feeling pretty crappy at that point. It was obnoxious to me that all of them could wear shiny rings and plan stuff while I felt left out and anxious for my own. I, of course, expressed these frustrations to Casey. He in turn talked to Kory and Rachael about his own frustrations. They told him that they thought we deserved to be engaged just as much as anyone. This lead to a fun little idea.

He asked me if I was ok with a borrowed ring until he could buy me one. I told him that I was ok with waiting, but to use his best judgment. He decided to take the ring from Kory and Rachael so that he could give it to me. I knew that he had the ring, but I had no idea when or how he would propose.

There was a dance on the 27th of March. Casey had rehearsal before the dance and I went down with my amazing roommate Mo! We danced for a bit and then he got out of rehearsal. About halfway through the dance our song, She's Got a Way by Billy Joel, came on and we started dancing. He sang a little bit to me. He was shaking pretty bad and I figured that he was about to propose. When he got down on one knee in the middle of the dance floor I was still totally taken by surprise. "Rachel, will you marry me?" He said with the box in hand. I took the ring and hugged him. "Nothing would make me happier." was my response. I have never uttered a truer statement. We hugged and spun around for what seemed like forever. Finally I handed the ring back to him and said, "are you gonna put that thing on me or what?" He shakily slid the ring onto my finger and we hugged and kissed again.

After that everything is kind of a blur. Everyone was cheering, the DJ announced what had just happened, and 50 million people hugged me. Out in the hallway I called my mom and a few others. Liisa, my maid of honor, was really happy to hear that it was finally official. After a few pictures, a bunch of us left to go to Leehi's. It was so great. I still can't believe that I am engaged!

So again, we are planning on November 21. We will be getting married in the Washington DC Temple. There will be two receptions, one in Northern Virginia and one in Georgia about a week later. Here is a little wedding info:

Colors: Cranberry and Sage

Registries: Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond(nothing on them yet). We might also register at Amazon.com.

My Dress: Casey saw it before we started dating... oh well. The colored panel and sash will be sage green. I want a white, fur trimmed cape to wear out in the cold VA air.

Casey's outfit: Tux with a cranberry vest and tie.

Bridesmaid Dresses: They will be cranberry... that is all I know so far. I am also considering white capes with fur trimmed hoods for the bridesmaids too. These will be sewn by my mom.

Groomsmen: Tuxes with cranberry vests and ties.

That is about all I have for now.