Well it was inevitable--I've moved

I get married in 9 days, so I thought it was time to blog.





Really, I just need to clean my fish tank and am procrastinating . . . .





Okay, I'll go clean it.

29 days people!

School is rapidly coming to a close. All I have left is a take home final that is due next wednesday. Yikes! And then I'll be wrapping up wedding details. I can't believe I am here! I feel like most of the big things about our wedding are planned now, but I don't even know how that happened. I've just been moving along, doing things, and then I look back and things are done. Weird. There is still stuff to do, but nothing major (unless I'm forgetting something . . .)

Every once and awhile I'll have a moment of feeling stressed, but then I just tell myself that the wedding is just ONE DAY. Sure, it's one of the biggest days of my life, but it is still just a few hours that I'm planning here -- a ceremony and a reception. It should not consume my life or my thoughts.

I'm at the Hydrant right now with Ryan.

That is my beautiful Italian-style cappucino. Yum! And Ryan's green tea.

Ryan is studying for his last two finals of nursing school. And then he graduates next week!


Man, what a time! What a month!

Oh yeah, and I have blonde hair again. I wanted to look like me on my wedding day, so I wanted my hair to be blonde again. And it is. I'm not going to post a picture; you can just trust me now and see me when you see me.

I've made us rings.



Ryan has been expressing dissatisfaction (jealousy?) in not being able to wear a ring now too, like I get to. So I made him an engagement ring, and a pinky ring for me to match.

I made these rings using the trusty fisherman's knot.

I learned this knot in my backpacking class at Baylor and have used it so much since, mainly just with necklaces. The two knots can move, so you can make the necklace bigger or smaller without having to untie the knot. Pretty handy.

I had my first Easter away from my family yesterday. I spent yesterday afternoon with my almost-family instead. Ryan and I joined his family at his grandparents house. It was a lot of fun! We ate a wonderful lunch and played with baby goats.





The above picture is Ryan's sister holding the goat with their cousin.

Baby goats are some of the cutest things I've ever encountered. Ryan and I want to have goats of our own someday.

Check out my wordle! It was made using the text from this blog (click on the little image to go to it).


Sweet. Its interesting to see all the words I use often outside of their context. You can make your own!

2 months and six days! Ah!

What a great Sunday it has been! I feel like today has truly been a sabbath. I have not done a lick of work, and have spent lots of time enjoying the weather and enjoying family (and family-to-be).

Well, I did sort our recycling. That is kind of work. It took almost an hour to do. We like to let it pile up. But what a fun time it was taking it to the recycling bins! Apparently some middle school library decided to recycle all of their books . . .

Jack pot! So Ryan and I had a lot of fun dumpster diving for books.

And yesterday we frolicked about in the beautiful wildflowers that are growing in his backyard.

And Oliver, the dog that lives with Ryan, entertained us.



Such a great weekend! I'm going to try to work really hard this week so I can have another Sabbath next weekend (Easter!).

Oh what a beautiful morning! What a beautiful day.

I rode my bike to Ryan's house this morning and then we rode together to a coffee shop downtown. It's so nice to be able to do that! And I am wearing my Chaco's today--first time this year (pictured above). It's nice to feel the wind on my toes.

I can't wait until Ryan and I can live in the same house, roll out of the same bed, and head out of our same front door together to bike downtown to a coffee shop. On the way here we saw a cute little house with a sign in the front yard saying it was up for grabs (it was unclear whether to buy or rent). Ryan called the number and left a message.

I'm trying to look forward to that future, while at the same time treasuring the present and these last couple of months of single-dom. I know that with marriage there will be a lot of new challenges that I never even could have foreseen (and a lot more things to pay for).

But I still can't wait!

It's the first day of spring! And there is snow in the forecast. What a crazy world we live in!

And what is further crazy is that Ryan and I have changed our wedding date--June 5th. That means we are getting married in 2 1/2 months! Wowee Wow! I was super stressed about it before we actually made the decision to change, but things are really working out well. The change has not created any problems. I think we are really supposed to get married on June 5th.


And this day also marks the end of spring break. The week has gone by too fast. But at least we are now one week closer to June 5th!

I promise, I can talk about things other than our wedding. But why?

Spring is springing! I'm excited about it. Excited to wear my chacos again!

I haven't broken them out yet. I'm afraid doing it too early that I'll wear them and then have to put them back in my closet for another week or so. But my toes are itching to be set free.

That's all.

New post time! Man, looking at that counter to the right makes me nervous/anxious/excited. Anxious and nervous because there is still lots to do that I don't know how to do (decorating, catering, decisions) and excited because I want be married to Ryan. Four and 1/2 months!

Weddings weddings weddings weddings! They're everywhere. But that's okay.

But for today, it's a beautiful Sunday morning and I'm at our friend Chris and Heidi's house doing some studying (or blogging . . .). We made pancakes and Ryan is sitting next to me, studying for a test on Monday. I remember when I used to study for tests . . . I don't really have those anymore. Just reading and talking and writing. And playing with little kids. I've found I really enjoy the younger ones-like kindergarten and first grade. They have so much fun creating, and no inhibitions. I'm leading a lesson next week for a fourth grade class. Nervous about that . . .

My newest obsession: fabric flowers

I found instructions online about how to make these bad boys and now am hooked. I've only made one complete flower, but I have gotten the hang of it and the second one is going faster.

I've also made a ribbon flower:

Ribbon flowers are quicker than the fabric ones. They involve some fancy folding.

How cool would it be if I had a wedding full of these things? And they would survive past the wedding--they could be given out to guests and put in my home. If anyone is interested in helping me make these let me know. It's only February, so I think this is an attainable goal. If not, we can just make as much as we can, use what we make and then fill in the gaps with real flowers.

In other news, for the first time in my life I am tired of school. I've always been one of those nerdy ones that kind of likes school, who thought she would be content being a professional student all of her life if that was possible. But now, after about 18 years of it, I'm finally getting tired of school.

But it's not over yet.

Snow days are magical days (here in Texas anyway). And today was indeed magical. It started with a yummy pancake breakfast with friends, and then proceeded to a walk in the snow with my fiance, shortly followed by snowman making in his front yard, and now involves me sitting on my couch (which is in his house) with most of his roommates as we all work on our Mac laptops.

Our snowman's name is Ned; Luke, Ryan, and I created him. He taller than me, with acorn eyes, a twig smile, and a jean scarf. We took a lot of pictures but are unable to locate the cord that connects the camera to the computer and so are currently unable to share them. I will share them with you as soon as I can though. Suspense!

The sun is out! That feels very nice. Yesterday's weather was quite dreadful. When I woke up and headr the storm going on outside, I thought to myself, "There's no way I can walk or ride my bike to class in this." My class didn't start until ten so I went out and bought a pair of rain boots right away. It's my first pair. Having rain boots makes days like yesterday a little more bearable.

And then today it's not raining, so the rain boots are back into the closet until Thursday probably.

I've discovered this winter that I really like cold weather. When I got back from Vail I was surprised that I missed it. I think it's because I've learned the secret to thriving in cold weather--you just have to dress for it. I think a lot of Texans don't like cold weather because they don't dress for it. They don't layer, they don't wear coats that are heavy enough.

Gotta go!

Hello my neglected blog. Remember me? But I'm not going to apologize because it is my blog and I can update it as I see fit. And I just haven't seen it fit to update it very recently.

I'm so happy that the sun came out today. Ryan and I went out and played at the park in honor of it. I'm glad we did that so that sitting in this chair right now--studying at our computers--doesn't seem so bad. At least we got to play a little.

I just told Ryan that I don't know what to say on my blog, that's why I haven't been writing on it much. "You can just say, 'Hey I don't know what to say. I'm just sitting next to my beautiful fiance.'" That's what he said I should say.

Hey, I don't know what to say. I'm just sitting next to my beautiful (handsome) fiance. He is working on a paper. He's always working so hard.

This past week we started three registries-at Bed Bath and Beyond, R.E.I., and Ten Thousand Villages. Registering for things is so fun! Free shopping. It feels like pretend shopping, because we might not get any of this stuff, but we are pretending that we will. There are links to our registries on our wedding website (there is a link to the site in my previous post) if you are curious. We are still working on building them up. It is such a great way to procrastinate! I can register for things with the click of a button.

". . . Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more." Luke 12:48

I feel like I have been given so much. I have a wealth of resources--friends, families, money, education, and knowledge of God that was been taught to me since I was little. I have so much! I hope I can give as much as I have gotten. Like Spiderman's uncle said, "With great power comes great responsibility."

I watched Spiderman yesterday while unpacking. This past week was spent in Vail with great friends (speaking of having much). It was such an incredible time! I am still so excited that I had to change my blog background to wintery mountains. I miss the cold and the snow and seeing those same people everyday. So great!

The spring semester starts tomorrow. I'm nervous and excited about it. There will be newness this semester. We'll be planning a wedding for one thing, which is something we've never done before. On Fridays I'll be observing an art classroom--helping the teacher out and doing some teaching myself. That starts this Friday! And my schedule made it so I won't be nannying this semester, so I'm on the search for a new job. Gotta start saving for the honeymoon!

Speaking of, Ryan and I have started a website for our wedding. You guys can have an exclusive sneak peak: click here. It's a work in progress

I just finished The Hobbit. What a grand adventure! I feel satisfied now, like after having a good conversation. And I've finished the book just in time. I'm about to pack up and be gone for about a week and a half and now I have one less book to carry around with me.

I have spend most of today packing and preparing to be gone for various wedding festivities and one ski trip. Lots of adventures coming up! And lots of driving. And lots of friends. I'm anxious for it all to start! And after these adventures I'll start my second semester at UNT. I haven't really thought much about that, since I've had so much other things going on. I'm excited about it though. We'll see what it brings.

It's had been a really great Christmas season--one of the best. Lots to be thankful for!