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).