Engage-iversary Day

2006 - Just engaged!

Now that I've been blogging for a whole year, I have to be careful about repeating posts, especially on important days.  Today marks 6 years since John asked me to marry him.  I was thinking I should write our engagement story, but I already did that last year!  Since I had approximately 7 followers then, maybe it's okay to repeat a little bit.  Or perhaps I should tell "the rest of the story."

• I think it was in September when John first asked me to marry him.  It was a very casual conversation and I was not really surprised that he asked.  I was kind of surprised at the timing, since we had only been dating for a couple months. I think we both knew this was the real deal before we started dating, so I agreed right away.  I really wish I knew the exact date, because then I would have another excuse to celebrate each year. 
• Once we decided to get married, we starting thinking about when we should get married.  Summer of 2008 seemed like the responsible choice, since he would be done with school in May08.  Of course, we decided summer 2007 would be better, but late in the summer, to give us time to plan.  But early enough that we could go on our honeymoon before school started in August.  Looking at the calendar, our 1-year dating anniversary was a Saturday in late July.  Decision made.
• Working back from our decided wedding date, we figured we would need about 6 months to plan, so we should get engaged around Christmas.  
• I wanted John to talk to my dad before we got engaged, so we decided it would be good for him to come with me for Thanksgiving, meet my whole family, and have "the talk."  My dad is a pastor, so he is super busy around holidays all the time, so I let him know that he needed to carve out some time to talk to John.  I imagined them sitting at a coffee shop and chatting.  My dad took him on hospital visits, and they talked as they drove from hospital to hospital.  Welcome to the family!
• Since the whole proposal wasn't going to be a surprise, John asked me if I wanted him to pick out my ring by himself, or if I wanted to help.  I thought it would be fun to go together, so when we got back from Thanksgiving break, we started ring shopping.  The ring was going to be ready for pick up on Dec 8th, which was a Friday.  I worked until 5 or 6 that day, so we made a date for Saturday evening.  When John picked up the ring, he couldn't wait, so we moved our date to that night. 
• Legend says that some friends from John's dorm were trying to convince him to play video games that night, which he declined.  Allegedly, he had breakfast with those same friends the next morning and didn't mention anything about being engaged, but discussed video games in great detail.  They still make fun of him for this.  

Sometimes, I hear other proposal stories and think it would have been fun to be surprised with some huge romantic gesture, but I don't think I'm really the "huge romantic gesture" type of girl.  I mean, sometimes I hear other proposal stories and think "wow, that is so cheesy!"

I think our story is just perfect for us.      

     

Seeing Stars

This outfit is almost entirely new.  I tend to shop quite a bit when we got to Indy, since they have several stores that we don't have.  Shopping is also a fun activity for my nieces and sister.  We had a sisters shopping date on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving - which is when I got these jeans. The girls were very excited about how I could wear the jeans with my pink cardigan, and I should buy a pink shirt to wear under the cardigan and then I would look soooo good. They are very into matching these days.

The top is from Macy's.  I ventured over there on Wednesday morning when everyone else was working or at school.  I always find a few great things at Macy's, so I really wish we had one in Omaha.  Maybe someday.  Here's a close-up, to prove the dots are really stars.

The cardigan is the craziest story.  My sister had to be at work on Black Friday at 3:30am, so I offered to drive her, since we figured it might be busy and hard to find a parking spot, or not busy at all and creepy in the parking lot all alone.  We decided to go a little early to see if there were any good deals.  It turns out the mall was totally dead, but a few stores were open.  Urban Outfitters had 50% off all clearance, so I got this cardigan and a little purse.  Then I dropped Jill off and went home to sleep.  I have no idea how she survived the day!

Top: Alfani via Macy's
Cardigan: Urban Outfitters
Jeans: Gap
Belt: Old Navy
Boots: Bare Traps via DSW

In the Garage

 

Outfit photos are so difficult in the winter!  I am getting bored of my indoor spots, so I decided to be crazy and take pictures in the garage.  It's kind of like being outside, because there are leaves on the floor.

After raving about the awesomeness of knit pencil skirts recently, I was pretty excited when I found this one on the clearance racks at Macy's.  And this is way more practical than my other purple skirt!

Sweater: Gap
Scarf: Charming Charlie
Tank: Old Navy
Skirt: Sunny Leigh via Macy's
Tights: Chinese Laundry via TJ Maxx
Boots: Wanted via Piperlime

Wreath Party

Stripes over plaid was completely inspired by this pin.  I wish my plaid shirt was peeking out more, but otherwise, I love this layering!  I had a date with my friend Brooke to make some wreaths for Christmas, so I had to pose by her gorgeous Christmas tree!

Wreath-making was a blast. We were missing Anne, so we set up the iPad and Skyped her in for the evening.  It was awesome.

I was hoping to make something similar to this, but I had to make a few adjustments.  I had a bunch of leftover twine from when I made this, so decided to use that instead of yarn.  Then I couldn't find any fake holly berry at the store, so I grabbed this giant poinsettia, and abandoned the felt flowers, too.  When I got started, about 1/4 of the way around my wreath, I realized I would not have enough twine.  Brooke offered to loan me some sparkly red yarn, and I decided to do approximate quarters.  She also loaned me some holly berry sprigs, which I think helped pull it all together.  While I was in process, I was pretty worried, but I think it turned out well.   

Sweater and Jeans: Old Navy
Shirt: J.Crew
Boots: Wanted via Piperlime

I'm linking up with Shanna today for Random Wednesday.  You should go check it out!

Billy Elliot

Last week, I went to Billy Elliot, as part of our Broadway season tickets.  I have to say I was a little disappointed.  The dancing was pretty impressive, but I thought the story was pretty slow-moving and not very engaging.  The music was also kind of boring.  As I write this, I can't even think of how any of the songs went.  That said, I did think the actors were great.  The main character was played by a 14 year old boy, who was super talented.  The next show is Beauty and the Beast, so I can almost guarantee I will love it!

Sweater and Skirt: Limited
Coat: Gap
Boots: Etienne Aigner

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

On Saturday, we went to get our very first real Christmas tree.  When we lived in apartments, we just had a little fake tree.  Last year, we didn't bother getting a tree since we were going to be travelling.  I am SO EXCITED to have a real tree this year.  Our house smells like magic.

We went out to dinner and then broke out the Christmas decorations!  I love (love love love) Christmastime.  It is so fun to get the ornaments out and remember where each of them came from, whether they were gifts, or souvenirs from a vacation, or we have no idea where they came from, I just love it!

Mostly finished - we need to buy a topper and a tree skirt

I also Christmas-ized the table in our living room.  Isn't that baby poinsettia the cutest!?

Outfit details:
On Me:
Chambray top: J.Crew Outlet (I finally got a Chambray shirt!)
Sweater and Jeans: Gap
Boots: Wanted via Piperlime

On John:
Sweater: Gap
Corduroy pants: Old Navy
Shoes: Kenneth Cole

Book Review - What the Dog Saw

When I was in college, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I majored in Business Administration at first.  Second semester of my Freshman year, I took an Honor's Marketing class and absolutely loved it.  My teacher was amazing, and I just thought it was all so interesting.  In hindsight, I think it was interesting to me mostly because the teacher was so great.  I changed my major to marketing, and ended up in a career that is somewhat marketing related, so it all worked out.  Anyway, this class was when I first read something by Malcolm Gladwell.  We read The Tipping Point, and I was hooked.  I read and loved both Blink and Outliers.  I just think it is so interesting how he looks at things.

In 2011, I picked up What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures at the library, but I had several other books going, and I ran out of time before I had to return it, so I only read about 100 pages.  On our drive out to Indy over Thanksgiving, John and I listened to the audiobook, and (believe it or not) I loved it!      

What the Dog Saw is a compilation of 19 of Gladwell's articles from the New Yorker.  There are 3 sections of the book, but each chapter is a stand-alone article.  The first part was my favorite.  It's about the "Minor Geniuses" of the world.  I find people more interesting than things, so it makes sense that I enjoyed these chapters more.

I'd definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone who is interested in psychology/sociology and business.