tomorrow

Tomorrow I go back to work.

Josie will be at daycare.

I have to get everything ready tonight and my head is spinning trying to figure out everything in advance because I don't want to forget something important.

I have a busy week on top of the fact that I am completely changing my daily schedule.

Josie says, "ditto."

Will we survive?

Bachelorette/bachelorette. You figure it out.

 This is the Bachelorette.

 These are the bachelorettes.

These are the rest of the bachelorettes.

We played games. Like what does the Bachelorette think the Bachelor will say about anything and everything and who can guess how many she will get right? Also games like draw all over the table, madlibs, and decorate the granny panties. Plus size (huge huge huge) granny panties.

Here is a sample of our lovely table art. 

Our table was a little crowded.

Then we went to Babb's coffee shop. We made marker towers and decorated previously mentioned panties. Then a public speaker stood up and began a presentation. To everyone in the restaurant. We thought when we got there that they were just looking at us because the Bachelorette was wearing a veil. Wrong. They were looking at us because we were the only people they didn't know. We snuck out...

And got pulled over on our way to the next coffee shop. Why, you ask? Because of an illegal u-turn. You can't do u-turns downtown. Good to know...the Bachelorette just got a warning, no ticket. Whew.

A fellow bachelorette made cookies for dessert. They were mint chocolate chips and were completely delicious.

I attempted to be artistic.

Again, mere attempts.

The Bachelorette opened her presents and is now officially ready to be married.

 

Other highlights of the night:

• We ate at Rhombus Guys which is right next door to Babb's Coffee downtown Fargo. We had two pizzas that we almost finished and all agreed that we love that place.
• We learned that a capital B for Bachelorette is the one getting married, and the rest of us are bachelorettes with a lower case b. 
• The Bachelorette got to learn all about married life from us even though she probably didn't want all the details. We just want her to be ready. :)
• After awkwardly leaving the presentation, we couldn't decide where to go, so we awkwardly stood on a street corner which may or may not have intrigued the cop who pulled us over. He probably thought we were drunk. We were not.
• The granny panties were so big that we couldn't hide what we were doing (drawing all over them for her honeymoon of course). Always a fun way to give the groom a treat ;)

I'm so excited for the Bachelorette to become the Bride! Wedding in a couple of weeks. And all my friends (most, some will be missed that can't make it... ) are coming and it is going to be sooo much fun. This month is my wedding season this year and its crazy busy with all of them crammed into two weeks...

And... I got a mani/pedi today. I like I like!! These colors are fabulosa and the nudish color is exactly what I want to buy. Mamosas for the Mr and Mrs or something like that. 

The toes are a purplish black. I'm really loving/obsessing over the super dark toenails. Aren't feet awkward?

G'night!

Hello bloggy world! Isn't the quality of my phone photos the bomb diggity?

Quick and ... easy?

After taking a solid week off of running (pathetic, right?) I finally trekked out again and ran a mile. One. Uno. I know I know its so impressive but my goal was not to kill myself. My goal was to jump the dreaded mile hurtle and leave it at that. Whenever I take a hiatus from running, it is always hard to start up again because the first mile is always the worst. I find that once I get through a mile I can usually run quite a bit more. Its just that first mile that gets me! It's like a horrible uncomfortable dragging on and on warm up and my body never feels "ready" to run until after its over. With me being so out of shape right now, I knew that I needed to run it straight through to get my mind in shape. I'm telling you, running is completely mind over body. I knew  that I could run more than a mile, but my mind would just interfere and insist on stopping before my real breaking point.

Its done! I ran a mile tonight, just before the sun went down, and will be up running again tomorrow morning at 5:30 a.m. Why, you ask? Because I start work next week, and I am freaking out (like can't fall asleep at night and am constantly making lists in my head of a bunch of random things all the time) about going back to work next week. I have been planning out how the morning will go, what I need to bring to daycare, what I will do at work when I get there since I will have to breast pump at work and that's new. Plus I will be doing a different job, will have my own office, and will have a bunch of emails and policy changes to catch up on. All of this means that I need some test runs to calm my nerves with as much as I can.

I will get up at 5:30 a.m., pump quick, run, shower and get ready, feed Josie, and "pack everything up" all before 8:30 a.m. That's the goal. I have 4 days to accomplish this before the weekend is here. I know its manageable, but I am just worried about packing everything up and not forgetting something obvious.

I've already been regulating when I pump and making sure its at the same time everyday for about a week. That should work out fine. It's so nice to know that something is already under control. I know that once Monday comes, I will be a wreck already just from having to leave Josie for so long all of a sudden. And don't say that I should practice leaving her for a while. It's not going to happen because I want every second with her I can get and I might possibly bite your head off if you suggest it. :) <-- that smile is only a small one.

I also realized on my run tonight that I probably need new shoes. Two reasons.

1.) Even though my mileage is low for these shoes, I wore them when I was pregnant and stretched them out so now they don't fit me perfectly and I can feel the difference too much. It's just obvious that they aren't helping me.

2.) I want to run the 5k for the Oktoberfest run on October 8th. Just typing that right now was me making up my mind that I want to do it. I actually hadn't solidified the decision in my head until I started writing this post but now that it's out there I am so excited. I love the excitement of a race and 5k isn't too long. I know I can be ready for that in a month. I would love to be able to run it in under 32 minutes, but we'll see. I have quite a ways to go!! New shoes will be exciting (oh the things I live for) and beneficial for training. Maybe that's something I can do this week with my few hours of free time before chaos starts next week.

Goodnight my bloggy world!

Engagement story

I don't remember meeting Michael. I know about the time period and where we met, but he was just another guy in one of my classes, another guy amongst a bunch of them at the tech school with a 6 to 1 ratio. In a way we became friends by default. He didn't know anyone in class and had no other classes with any of the other students. I had just transferred to this school and needed someone to just joke around with. Over time we became better and better friends, and I remember the day that I really noticed him.

We didn't start dating until a year had passed by. I knew right away that he was the guy I was going to marry, and looking back now I just can't believe I was so sure! I had no idea who this boy man was. What I learned about him and who he truly was over the next year showed me that he was a completely different person than I had thought when we started dating. It truly just shows how God's plan prevails over anything we could possibly plan for ourselves. I shouldn't have known with my heart that he was "the one" but I did.

We'd talked about getting married before he proposed since he had graduated and looked for jobs in other cities. I knew that it was coming eventually, but didn't have any reason to think it would be a particular time. Little did I know that he was in communication with my best friend, Denise, about what kind of ring to get. They had gone ring shopping without me even knowing it. The best part is that Denise is even worse at keeping secrets than I am and can hardly ever keep something in when she's excited. The fact that she didn't give it away is a huge thing in itself! It helps that she avoided me from that day until the day he proposed.:)

At the time, Mike was working about 2 1/2 hours away and I only saw him on the weekends. I had bible study at my apartment every Tuesday, and that week  he had decided not to go back until Wednesday. Because I didn't get to see him as often, I was completely on board with going with him down to Wahpeton (my hometown) after bible study with him for one of his jobs. I didn't think anything of it that we left town at 9:30 PM to talk to someone about a job he was going to do (turned out to be Denise's parents, although they had no idea they were his alibi).

On the drive down, we talked a little bit about where we saw ourselves in the future and how we felt about each other. It was sweet, but didn't scream "proposal on the way" like you'd think. What did scream to me was the fact that we drove right past the turn to go to Denise's parent's house. When I asked about this, he said that he thought we should drive through the park first.

Back story: When we first started dating, we went on walks in the park a couple of times and it was truly romantic. It was when I really started to see his sweet, more serious side and showed me that he wasn't just a goofball. I had some really great memories with him in this park.

So once we got there, we got out of the car and walked up to the pond to watch the ducks (something we'd done before). He was getting nervous at this point and I have to admit that I kind of knew what was about to happen. It still didn't take the fun out of turning and seeing him on one knee!! The ring was beautiful and of course I said ''Yes!" I believe my original answer was, "Is this really happening?" but he got the answer he was looking for.

Since we were in Wahpeton, we had to stop by my parent's house, even though it was 10:45 PM. My parents groggily said "Congratulations" and I was a little surprised that they weren't more excited. I was thrilled to find out that Mike had taken them out to dinner the week before and asked them for their blessing! See what a true gentleman he is? Now my sister, she was excited. She was jumping and laughing and shouting. You can always count on the sista to keep things fun.

On the drive back, I called my future bridesmaids and shared the news, except Denise. Because she was such an integral part of this, we decided to stop by her apartment and let her know in person. I ended up sneaking into her room and jumping her while she was sleeping. It certainly surprised her!!

So that is the story of how we got engaged. Another memory I don't ever want to forget.