turning 24 and other things

{aries image}

it has been quite the time lately.  things seem so up in the air these days i'll admit i've been avoiding the blog a little because it's hard to know what's going on from one minute to the next.  while things haven't exactly settled around here (except the cold temperatures... they have settled in and will not budge) it's time to check in and announce a few things that we actually do know for sure at this point.

1.  my birthday is saturday!  steve and i are planning on heading out of town to the west side of the state to inaugurate me into my mid-twenties.

2.  we have officially booked our flight to greece and will be making a brief rome-antic flight connection in italy!  sadly we won't have much chance to explore, but at least we'll get a feel for the airport for when we decide to go back! ;)

3.  our wedding is less than six months away!!  woo hoo!

i'll leave you with that for now, but there's things brewing that i hope i get a chance to come gush about later!  happy thursday!

happy new year (OMG we're getting married in 2014)

i promise i will be back with a better post soon.  historically i have always really liked taking advantage of the new year to reflect, regroup, and reassess and i know this year will be no exception.  in the meantime, here's a bit of fun from one of my stocking stuffers: the fortune telling book for brides.

according to this knower-of-all, here's a little bit of what is in store for steve and i based on details of our proposal and our wedding plans:

if your proposal was on bended knee:  "if your husband to be got down on one knee and proposed, it is likely that you will be parents tot three or more children."

if you got engaged by trees:  "trees are symbols of life and the soul.  becoming engaged under a tree symbolizes that you and your future husband will shelter each other all your lives, and serve as a grounding influence for each other."

if your wedding is between september 1-15:  "you will be blessed with many opportunities throughout your life.  don't hesitate: reach out to them as they are offered to you.  chances you pass up may not come again."

aries / sagittarius:  "this high-octane pairing will be full of laughter and adventure."

orchids as your wedding flower:  "you and your husband will always be passionate about each other, and you will live in great luxury."

well fortune-tellers... there's a look into steve's and my future ;)  see you all in 2014!

word count: 36,443

four years of us-ness

four years ago steve and i concluded our second week of knowing each other / inseparable hanging out by deciding we should probably not date other people.

it's been decent being facebook official with you, sir.

also the love and stuff rules too.

it makes the next four years look pretty darn good, knowing i'll have this handsome mug in front of me.

it's an extra happy friday everybody!  if you need an excuse to enjoy yourself tonight, our anniversary is yours to share (we'd recommend joining us to see the hobbit in 3D imax wherever you are).

word count: 36,443

our awkward DIY engagement photoshoot

our incredible wedding photographer costs a pretty penny, so when it came time to think about engagement photos we definitely had our work cut out for us.  i have taken more selfies of me and steve than i care to admit, so instead of standing awkwardly in front of a stranger with talent, we opted to stand awkwardly in front of a tripod to take our official photos of betrothal.

true story:  DIY actually isn't too bad a way to go if you know how to use a good camera and lens.  sure, it's kind of weird jogging between tripod and steve planted in the "don't move or else you'll be blurry" position, while strangers decide to stop and watch with interest from a standpoint that happens to be, you know, in the background of the photo...  but it's also free, which is neat.

also true story:  DIY engagement photos are a solid way to be really self-conscious about how weird you look taking fancy selfies in public.  still, i recently finished designing our save the date postcard, so now that i have an official picture selected (to keep confidential until we send the postcards out), i figured i'd share the rest of our hilarious, semi-embarrassing photo-shoot.

steve was making fun of me because i kept getting pissy with him for looking stiff.

so when i told him "be whimsical" he opted for the julie andrews sound of music pose.

yup, pretty much.

happy weekend recap

we have had the most beautiful weather imaginable lately. we had the whole weekend to ourselves and made the absolute most of it.  we're turning into old people or something getting up so early on the weekends, but we got a lot done and finally got a chance to have a minute to ourselves, which we've definitely been missing.

we had easy nights in, got some banking sorted out, got some engagement photos taken for our save the dates, and took a day to soak up the outdoors at oval beach on sunday.  i'm headed into winter kicking and screaming, but the weather's been nice enough to keep me forgetting that snow is a thing around here.  all things considered it was a pretty perfect weekend.  i'm ready for another one, but sadly can't forsee one for quite a while.  i think starbucks and i are going to be better friends.

hope everyone has a good start to the week!

word count: 31,103

one year from today

on september 13 2014 i get to marry

the greatest person i have ever met

the best friend i have ever had

and the most handsome devil i have ever seen.

am i lucky girl or what?  i've basically been floating around on my own personal cloud since picking steve up from the airport last night.  beyond the fact that i'm giddy to have him back, there was also some exciting news about our potential-future-home-prospects for when his training program finishes next year!

sometimes i worry i'm going to look over my shoulder and have someone tell me this isn't really my life.  but here we are 365 days away!  now let's plan a wedding!

by michelleink88.

happy friday!! 

word count: 23,426

the "we"-kend

saturday we headed over to the west side of the state to tour wedding venues (they are so so so much cheaper there).  bada bing bada boom we have now officially picked a place to get married!  i'm sure eventually the spot will reveal itself, but for now we're keeping it under wraps while we get everything finalized, and make a few more plans.

we don't want to give it all away too soon!

after a morning of touring, my parents, steve's parents, and the two of us went to one of my absolute all-time favorite restaurants, in east grand rapids for champagne and general deliciousness.  rose's restaurant is attractively situated on the shore of reed's lake.  it was such a beautiful saturday that the mom's convinced us to model for some photos (obligatory, as it was the first time we have seen family since getting engaged).

when we returned to ann arbor, steve was mr. productive, continuing to unpack and do laundry while i remained a totally guilty lazy-bones, harassing bert endlessly while emailing bands and photographers and watching the whitest kids u know on netflix.  i will convince myself this is ok because i was more productive than steve during the day i took off work to move.  sometimes there's pinterest and you drop the ball.

happy monday everyone!

word count: 21,323

doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt i love [hamlet]

layla by artcarved bridal (steve said the style has been discontinued)

happy friday everyone!!

a huge thank you to all the guest bloggers who gave me a chance to sit and take a breather this week.  as it happens, however, i'm still trying to catch my breath.

the instagramaholics among you may have already caught wind, but today i am here to announce some very big, exciting news on loose from the zoo.  steve and becky, as in the adventures thereof, as in me and that handsome bearded scoundrel, the stevedore, are getting married!!!

that's right, steve has decided to make me an honest woman.  and, in case you don't follow me on instagram and haven't seen the bombardment of ring photos (apologies to those of you who DO follow), we are excited with a capital E.  and a capital X-C-I-T-E-D.

it's times like this i wish i could just press pause on life and sit back to soak up all the wonderful things i have to be thankful for.  between this, my trip to san diego (which was absolutely off the chain... come back next week to see pictures, i'll post about that once i've calmed down a little) my three day work week, and our new apartment together (again, expect posts about this one later) it's kind of hard to remember if / when life has ever been better.

if i keep typing i'm just going to sound more disgusting, so i'll wish you all a happy weekend for now.

brb, planning a wedding.

word count: 19,699

happy fourth of july from the fifth of july

hope everybody had a lovely holiday!!!

this independence day was a big one because my sister got engaged!!  i'm sure this will not be the last you hear about sarah's upcoming wedding since it will be in ann arbor.  i'm insanely excited to start taste testing curry for the menu... mahkni now please?? steve and i are so excited for sarah and dave, and we are all too stoked to get this big crazy intercultural showdown on the road.  woohoo!  (and how gorgeous is that ring / cliff he proposed at?  well done dave!)

my wardrobe is lacking in the extreme patriotism / clean laundry department so steve dressed festively enough for the both of us and we went for another float down the river to celebrate our raging freedom.  you might recall that i am distantly related to alexander hamilton and one of the original pilgrims so i'm about as american as they come, but since we owe the brits a great deal, i shall honor yesterday with a list of things i have learned about americans from watching british television.

1.  americans are extremely comfortable with guns.

it is almost humorous to watch how gingerly, carefully, and fearfully characters in british television handle firearms (unless of course they are villains).  i say almost humorous, but then i remember that there are more than forty times the number of gun related deaths in america than there are in britain and it feels like the joke might be on us.

2.  americans find cigarette smoking rather taboo.

which is great for cancer avoidance... not so great for that whole freedom thing we're always talking about.

3.  americans don't like normal looking people.

it is essential to be generically hot to be on american television.  your next best bet is to be a unique looking older man (we still really like steve buscemi).