Lots of people have been requesting pictures of our condo now that we’re all settled in. As some of you know, we completely remodeled the entire thing before the wedding and it looks amazing! My parents are the owners (and our landlords) and wanted to remodel it as soon as the old tenant was out anyways, and we just happened to be the next tenants! Lucky us! Every inch of wall was repainted, new carpet went in upstairs, and beautiful hardwood floors went in downstairs. There are new baseboards, a new sink, refrigerator, microwave, and dishwasher, the cupboards got repainted and so much more!

It took us much longer than I thought it would to fully settle in, and some remodeling was still going on when we first got there. Now I feel like things have really come together (on the first floor at least) and we are really proud of how it turned out!

Here’s a panoramic of the living room. The couch and chairs were given to us by a family friend which was such a blessing. As some of you know, there was an issue with our Target registry, some stuff would not come off even after it had been bought and I wound up with SIX crock pots! Well, after returning them, and a few other duplicate things, we were able to buy the rest of the living room furniture and some bedroom furniture!

We got a great deal on a canvas print of our first dance picture, I LOVE it!

This is one of my favorite things in the whole house. At first, we had no idea what to do with it, it was designed for a TV but ours was too small, after playing around with it for a while, I came up with this! The letters were a wedding gift from my cousin Tara and her husband, and I put framed pictures of the proposal and our first look on either side. It came out so cute!

We’re trying to figure out how to conceal all those wires, any suggestions?

Panoramic of the kitchen

Our table was also given to us by another family friend, we were so blessed with every aspect of this house! We got TONS of champagne, wine, scotch, and beer glasses as wedding gifts. So much that they wouldn’t fit in the cabinets! So we got that little cart for them. On top is a beertender we got as a wedding gift that Kurtis LOVES. I don’t drink beer, but I’m really glad we got at least a couple of gifts that he can enjoy! (All the pots, pans, silverware, and dishes were way exciting for me! Him, not so much)

And that’s as far as we’ve gotten! Our bedroom is just about done and I recently started putting together the guest room/office. I’ll put up a post with pictures of those once they’re done!

Our condo coming together was the result of a lot of help from a lot of people! Thank you so much to everyone who helped clean, paint, lay carpet, etc. A HUGE thank you goes out to the U-Turn for Christ guys and Linn Garber who did SO much for us! And of course my parents 😉 We could not be happier or more blessed.

I’m a Disney freak. Sue me. I have been all my life. People ask me all the time what I, a grown woman, love so much about it. I think it goes without saying. There’s something extremely powerful and magical about having an imagination. Do I honestly believe in magic, fairy tales, and wishing on stars? No. But how fun is it, to momentarily enter a world that does? Whether you’re watching a movie or visiting the parks, I find it breathtaking to enter a world of imagination. Doesn’t everyone love Disney?

Almost all of my most favorite memories have been made at Disneyland or Disneyworld. When I was a toddler, I had a HUGE Lion King obsession. My mom says we went to see the movie more than 5 times in theatres, and once it was out on video I would rewind it the second it was over and start it again. I know every young child had a movie like that, mine was The Lion King. I slept with a simba stuffed animal until the day I got married. (I also have a simba tattoo on my ankle, which is actually my favorite of all my tattoos) One of my very first memories is being at Disneyland watching The Festival of The Lion King parade. As a kid, you honestly believe that the people in those giant suits are the real deal, that your favorite characters from the movie are actually right in front of you. And what an incredible experience for a child! And it was incredible for me. I’ve been in love with Disneyland ever since.

I have amazing memories over the years with friends and family spending incredible days in the parks.

And of course, going to Disneyworld for the first time with my sisters

And lets not forget I got ENGAGED there!

Can you blame me for being a little obsessed?

Today, I woke up in my own bed on Christmas morning for the last time.

I went downstairs and opened presents with my brother and sisters for the last time. 

I didn’t even really think of that until just now. I didn’t savor it this morning, I wish I had. But I’m not sad. I had an extremely happy childhood. Growing up, I always had the most wonderful Christmases. There’s no reason to be anything but happy over the life I’ve had, and no reason to be anything but excited about the life I am about to begin. Although I can’t believe that in 9 days my childhood is REALLY over, I couldn’t be more ready. 

People would argue that childhood ends much earlier. For some people, it might. They might say childhood ends when you turn 18, or graduate high school, or move out, or graduate college, etc. etc. I feel like childhood really ends when you get married. When your parents house isn’t “home” anymore. When you don’t fly/drive home for the holidays because you have someone else to spend them with. Or even another family (His) to spend it with. Isn’t it weird how growing up you always had all your holidays, birthdays, vacations, and more with these people, and now you suddenly…don’t. It’s so weird to think about. 

A year ago yesterday, Kurtis put a promise ring on my finger. 8 months later he fulfilled his promise, and suddenly I wore two beautiful rings. In just 9 short days, I’ll have three. Sometimes I feel like I have the ultimate love story. But I know we were really just two crazy kids who fell in love, yet had no idea what we were doing. Grew up a little bit (or a lot), realized loved each other enough to make it work no matter what, and were lucky enough to end up here. 

Part of me can’t believe I’m here. My wedding is in 9 days and that seems impossible. That’s single digits. My family is flying in next week. My dress is being altered. The cupcakes are being delivered. I have to move.

WHAT?!

Is this really happening? Somebody pinch me.

I have to keep reminding myself of that!

I’ve been really frustrated lately with mine and Kurtis’ work schedules. For an engaged couple, we don’t get to spend a lot of time together. Don’t get me wrong, we try to see each other every day. But it’s usually either when he gets off work at 9pm or I get off work at 10pm. And then we watch a movie together or something for a couple of hours, then part ways to get some sleep. If one of us has to open at work the next morning, we usually only see each other for an hour or two. 

A few days ago he randomly had a saturday off, and I didn’t have to be at work till four, so we got some engagement pictures taken and went out to lunch and it was the most fun we’d had together in a long time. 

Sneak Peek

So I’ve been really frustrated. I spend my days laying around the house before work and wedding planning. Half my bridesmaids live in California and the other half are in school, Kurtis is always at work or school, so I do most of the planning by myself or with my mom. All the while I’ve been asking myself, is engagement supposed to feel this lonely? 

But what can you do, right? It’s no one’s fault. 

Yesterday was a really hard day. But despite the things that kept going wrong, some awesome things happened. When I was walking into work I ran into a man outside named Frank. He is opening up a dance studio two doors down from froyo! We got to talking for a little bit and he asked me if I knew anyone who was a dancer, and of course I told him that I was. He told me his studio is mostly ballroom but he was thinking of offering a fundamentals ballet course one or two nights a week and asked me if I would be interested in teaching it. UM. DUH.

Not only is teaching something I’ve always wanted to do, but something I would actually enjoy doing. And at only one or two nights a week, I could easily keep working at froyo, and just pocket the extra cash from teaching. 

I’m not entirely sure how serious Frank was. If he will actually go through with offering a ballet course or not, or if I would actually get hired to teach it, but just being offered this opportunity lifted my spirits a lot. 

Later that night, work was complete chaos. Everything kept going wrong and it was really busy and I was having to work alone for most of the night. After a while, I lost it. Ever had a meltdown at work? You really need to have a good cry but there’s still customers to take care of, so you have to do your best to keep smiling? It’s the worst. But my boss came in with her family and came into the back to discuss something with me. She told me Jessi was going to be pursuing a CNA job and Lucy was going to be managing the new store and wanted to give me more responsibility at the Parker store. It includes a slight raise and more hours. She also told me she wanted to start alternating my hours so I could have alternate weekends off! I’ve been working every single Saturday and Sunday night for almost TWO YEARS. Those words were such a relief. Now I’ll have more free weekends and Kurtis and I could really use more money before the wedding, lately I’ve been stressing out over the possibility of having to find another job. 

But with the promotion at my current job, and the possibility of teaching dance a few nights a week, we just might be set!

I’ve been learning lately that we’re really not supposed to get too comfortable. The last couple weeks have been really uncomfortable for me. But God had a plan all along, I just needed to be patient. He comes through time and time again, and yet, every time I’m uncomfortable, I forget to trust that But he always does.

Lately I feel like my life has been happening in fast forward. 

I’m getting married four months from today.

MARRIED.

Gah. When did I become old enough to get married? Or to have friends getting married? Or have friends having babies? I have a good friend who is two years younger than me getting married on Saturday. WHEN DID I GET SO OLD? 

With so much going on, I’ve barely had time to think about wedding planning (but don’t you worry, my mother and mother-in-law snapped me out of that real quick!) my little sister left for college in California and I was left alone with my brother and sister for four days, life has been completely hectic since my parents got back.

My days have been full of caterer tastings, invitation design meetings, meetings with my moms, (so weird) meetings at the venues, shopping for/putting together centerpieces, work, sorority recruitment, Echo, Echo meetings, shopping/cooking for echo, hair trials for Lucy’s wedding, AND SO MUCH MORE.

I still don’t understand how all of this is happening. My sister and my best friend are flying in tomorrow for the wedding on Saturday. After that we have set-up, the rehearsal dinner, then I have more work, then we have wedding day! 

So much of me wants everything to slow down, but part of me wants everything to speed up.

Lately, more than every, I am reminded that life is a roller coaster, and you should never get too comfortable. 

Guys, I’m engaged. And while I’m excited out of my mind, it’s been really hard for me to grasp. Kurtis had me convinced he wasn’t ready to get married. That it was probably gonna be at least a year or two before we got engaged. And while I knew I had to respect the fact that he wasn’t ready and be patient, it broke my heart. While we have our disagreements and tough times, we have an extremely strong relationship. It amazed me how every time we came to an obstacle we somehow got through it. Love is stronger than anything I know. Our love is stronger than anything I know. And because of this, I couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to marry me. 

We have been together almost 3 years now, we’ve gotten through everything that we have, I love him more than I ever thought possible, we’re older now, we make decent money, why doesn’t he want to marry me?

It broke my heart.

Now I know he was just trying to throw me off, to make it a huge surprise when he proposed. and believe me, it was a HUGE surprise. (I don’t think most girl’s first reaction to a proposal is to ask their boyfriend if he’s serious…whoops. But I recovered, and said yes)

I’m so glad he made it such a big surprise. That made it so much fun for me. But it means everything I thought was true wasn’t. 

I spent the last 6 months obsessing over the face that he didn’t want to get engaged. Trying my hardest not to watch wedding shows, unfollowing all my friends wedding pinterest boards, because all of it just made me sad. But the whole time I was going through all this he. had. the. ring. And it just blows my mind!

And pictured the next two years of my life so often thinking about how I’ll probably still be living at home and Kurtis will still be living at home and everything will still be the same and I’ll be bored out of my mind. 

But now I picture the next two years of my life completely differently, and I can’t believe this is how it was going to be all along. He knew it and I didn’t. This is why being a girl is so hard you guys, the man in your life controls all of this and you just have to sit back and wait for it! But let me tell you, while it’s hard, it’s completely and totally worth it. I’m living proof.

xoxo.