Monday, April 30, 2012

Over the Moon

So.  Where to start?  I keep disappearing for so long and then when it comes time to write another post, I'm so overwhelmed that I don't even start.  But!  I have VERY exciting news.  I think a photo would be appropriate here...

The Mister proposed!  Oh my gosh, it happened last Wednesday and I'm still wrapping my brain around it.  It doesn't help that I had to drop my ring off at the jewelers on Thursday to have it resized and I'm not going to be able to pick it up until sometime this afternoon.  I want my ring back already!

While I have known since our very first date that the Mister is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, and while I also knew that he felt the same, this still came as a total surprise to me.  I really didn't think he would propose until after our second anniversary in November but, come to find out, he has had the center stone since last October!  He picked out the ring entirely on his own and he did an amazing job!  The whole first day I had it, I couldn't stop looking at it.  It is exactly what I had hinted at -- something classic but interesting.

But how did it all happen?  I'm glad you asked!  The Mister decided to do it while my parents were here visiting, so we were able to capture the whole thing in photos!  He's rather clever, that Mister.

Last Tuesday, we had all woken up in the wee hours of the morning to take a bus tour of Washington DC, so we decided to sleep in a bit on Wednesday morning before going to Colonial Williamsburg.  It was a gorgeous morning and we were all sitting out on the deck of the condo my parents rented for the week, sipping our coffee and chatting.  Finally, we decided we should probably get ready.  Since there were four people who needed to get ready, I announced I was going to take a shower, but that I wasn't going to wash my hair.  And the Mister immediately asked, "But babe, don't you want your hair to look pretty?"  I immediately scoffed and replied that if I washed my hair, it would take me at least an extra half an hour to get ready, but everyone told me that was fine, so I sighed and washed my hair.  Then as everyone was getting dressed, my mom walked into my room wearing a sundress and asked if I thought she was overdressed.  I told her no, I'm sure there would be other people at Williamsburg in dresses.  And then I threw a tiny hissy fit.

Why did I throw a hissy fit?  It's been something I've been doing a lot lately.  I'm frustrated with my wardrobe.  Before the fire, I had a very carefully cultivated closet.  Tops could be worn with multiple bottoms.  But right now I still have a hodge-podge of items and I find myself wearing the same few tops over and over because other tops I have don't go with any bottoms I have.  So, I threw a bit of a hissy fit because I had only brought tshirts and cardigans and I looked all schlubby while my mom looked very nice and Sean was wearing my favorite shirt and my step-dad was wearing a nice shirt too!  Then my mom offered to iron the only nicer top I'd brought, which should have been some kind of clue, because my mom NEVER irons.  But I just accepted that she felt bad for me and went back to putting on my make-up.

So we finally got on the road to Colonial Williamsburg and we decided to tour the Governor's Palace first.  It was a lovely tour through an amazing house and at the end, you are let out into the garden, which was also amazing.  The day was so beautiful and the garden was so pretty that we decided to wander around for a while.  There were these awesome natural arbors along the sides of the garden and after we walked down one, the Mister asked if I thought the other one would be a nice place for a photo.  I said I thought it would and we went to go pose while my parents snapped away.  We'd been posing for a while and they hadn't lowered their cameras yet and I, of course, got impatient and said, "Uh, guys?  Did you get the photo yet?"  And then I turned back to the Mister, and, well:

The Mister was down on one knee, asking me if I would marry him.  Oh my gosh, y'all.  I totally left him hanging for a good thirty seconds.  I kept looking at him, at the ring (it was so sparkly!), at my parents!  I couldn't say ANYTHING!  And finally I told him,. "Yes, yes, of course yes!  Get up get up get up!"

Like I said before, I knew this would happen someday, and I would tease the Mister all the time about when would he just propose already.  And little did I know that he'd been sitting on this proposal for quite some time already, totally just playing it cool when I would bug him.  And when I would declare that I was going to stop bringing it up.  And all that time!  All that time, he was just waiting for the right opportunity!

Right now, things are still a little up in the air (ha!) about when and where we'll get married.  We should have a better idea in June about what the Mister's next orders are.  If he stays in the states, then we want to do it next year, in late Spring or early Summer (I want peonies in season!).  But if he gets an overseas assignment, we're going to try to do it before the end of the year, so I can go with him.  There are so many decisions to make, so many things to think about!  My sister is my maid of honor and she's already made FOUR appointments for dress shopping in Atlanta!

I have very little idea of what I want my dress to look like.  Sort of like with my ring, I want something classic but interesting.  The Mister is going to be looking very dapper in his uniform, so I want to complement that, not clash with it.  I've bought a few bridal magazines and I've paged through to look at the dresses, but I just can't picture myself wearing any of them.  I've never really shopped for formal gowns before, so I have no clue what kind of shape I want or what material I want or any of that.  Also, the Mister doesn't want to see my gown until I start walking up the aisle, so even after I DO choose a gown, I won't be able to share it with y'all, which makes me kind of sad!

Also, I promise I won't turn this into a Bridal Blog.  I am still trying to make a decision about what kind of camera I want, but once I get that sorted, I'll be back to regular posting.  I think blogging about it will help me sort through my wardrobe and work toward getting back a semblance of what I used to have.  I can't guarantee there won't be a few wedding updates along the way, but this will remain primarily my style blog.

But holy cow, y'all.  I'm getting married!

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Well, it's been almost a month since the fire.  I realized this the other day because I was supposed to do my annual re-qualification training for work on the day of the fire last month.  I've been rescheduled for my training on the 9th of April, exactly a month later.  I would prefer to put it off for longer, and especially for NOT on the one-month anniversary of the fire, but I will have to call my manager about that.  We'll see.

I am completely moved to Virginia (I only had about 200 pounds to move anyway) and I've been added to the Mister's lease, so we are official.  I don't have a dresser yet though, so I am living out of suitcases and we don't have enough shelf space for me to put up the decorative things I salvaged from my apartment.  We're working on it, but it's slow-going because the Mister works during the day all week and last weekend we went to Tennessee to participate in a HUGE surprise party for my mom's birthday.  Talk about a success!  She had no idea and the look on her face when she walked in the room and we all shouted "Surprise!" was incredible.  My sister did most of the planning, so big props to her for putting it all together!  Lots of people took photos, so once I get my hands on those, I will post them here.  The theme was "Casino Night" and I found a gold lame' pleated tank top at H&M and a white blazer from Forever21 that I wore with a pair of dark denim jeans and some platform sandals.  Very Vegas, if I may say so myself!

And on that note, I still don't have a camera.  Part of me thinks I should just go with another point-and-shoot and then a part of me really really wants to get a DSLR.  I did a lot more with SLRs in college and I LOVED playing around with all the settings and having control over everything, but DSLRs are expensive and I am weird about spending money sometimes.  I'm not going to become a professional by any means, but it would be nice to be able to take really great photos.  I went with a point-and-shoot before because, besides being cheaper, it was also more portable.  I'm not so worried about that now because the camera on my phone is adequate for any out-and-about photos I may want to take.  Do any of you have fancy cameras?  Any suggestions?

I am working on writing up my experience of the fire, but it's hard.  I've told the story to people countless times, but sometimes it is difficult to write something the way I tell it.  But I'll have it up soon.