Honeymoon Day 4, Sunday (May 30, 2010, Pre-Wedding Day)

Day 4 - I finally slept in until 7:30!! Woohoo!! I think I'm finally getting used to this vacation thing! What's funny is that 7:30 used to be sooo early on a Saturday morning at home, but now I'm happy to sleep in until that time because anything is better than 5:30 AM!

This morning we headed out to check out a few restaurants that were still in the running for our wedding dinner destination spot. We just weren't happy with The Plantation House, the original choice for dinner, so we decided to try a few more places. We checked out a very cool restaurant called Merriman's in Kapalua Bay that's right on the water. We loved it and decided on that restaurant for dinner right after the ceremony. Then we met up with Scott & Shannon for some lunch over at Whaler's Village. Had a yummy lunch at Hula Grill and walked around for a little bit so Shannon could get in some shopping. I was finally able to fulfill my shaved ice craving. But it was straight Wild Cherry sugar syrup! I don't think I'll be having another one of those while I'm here. Too sugary, not good for the head.

After being at Whaler's Village for a few hours Mike and I headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sun time. This was when Mike said to me, "My doctor did say that I need more Vitamin D, I'm really deficient." Yep, he's finally coming around to this laying out in the sun thing! He doesn't get it when I just want to lay and bask in the sun, but he's enjoying it now more and more as the days go on. Especially since that's really the thing we're going to be doing most while we're here!

Mike decided to join the 10 year olds on the slide at our pool, which I thought was hilarious. So I waited at the bottom of the pool to get a picture. I wasn't about to go down that slide....not yet at least. Maybe another day....

After hanging at the pool for a few hours we got a call from Scott & Shannon, now checked in next door to us at their new hotel, to see if we wanted to hang with Kayden for a while so they could snorkel. Of course we took them up on it, especially because they were ready for some much needed alone time, just the two of them. A week with the little guy and no break I'm sure can get exhausting. So we headed over there to hang with Kayden on the beach. Mike was in heaven. Digging around in the sand, playing in the water, getting splashed, these are the joys of being a Daddy. And he's so ready to be a Daddy!

Mike let Kayden start to pile on the sand. Kayden was so giddy about it, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was hilarious when Kayden then took a pail of sand and dumped it on his own head! It was like he thought to himself, if he's getting sand dumped on him, I guess so should I!

I was snapping away pictures of Mike & Kayden and looked down and thought, WOW, my belly is huge! It looks so much bigger than it really is when you're looking down UPON it. All I can see is this roundness that I've never seen before. I LOVE IT though! Since I don't feel pregnant (just really sick all the time) it's so cool to finally see my body taking the shape of a pregnant girl! Here's a funny shot of my round belly - this is what I'm looking at all day long while trying to soak up the sun!

After our beach fun, we went to Duke's which is located at the back of the property (hotel) where Scott & Shannon are now staying. It's much smaller than the other Duke's I've been to, but it's Duke's alright! And of course, we had to get our traditional dinner picture for the evening!

Well, tomorrow is the big day (Monday), so the posts from our fifth day here will be some wedding shots. Until then, love, hugs & kisses from Mike & Krista! XO

Honeymoon Day 3 (May 29, 2010)

Day 3 started AGAIN for me at 5:30 AM - I don't get it! I'm supposed to sleep IN on vacation. I mean, I have NO problem sleeping in at home! (Well, only when Mike takes Wiley Bear out of the room and takes him downstairs can I then sleep in peacefully!) I just hope this doesn't become NORMAL for me every morning! We finally got out of bed around 7:30 and headed out for our morning walk around the hotel. We walked down to the beach and I snapped this photo with my phone. Absolute paradise!! I love it here! (I love the shadow from the palm tree and the other island off in the distance. Not to mention how blue everything looks!)

So after we had our morning walk and breakfast, we headed out to our marriage license appointment. Yep, it's official! We got our marriage license and we're all set! Here's a picture of Mike signing his life away!

After our marriage license appointment we had a little bit of time to kill before our next appointment, which was my consultation at the salon for my hair & make-up for the wedding. So we drove around Front Street in Lahaina and checked out all the little shops and cafes. We tried to get some shaved ice to appease my craving, but couldn't find a parking spot. Then, when my bladder decided to make its appearance for like the 15th time that morning, we had to get out of there and high tail it back to the hotel.

We had a little bit of lunch out by the pool and settled in poolside for another hour before my appointment. When I headed to my consultation, Mike headed out to our favorite "sports lounge" area by one of the pools outside so he could catch the end of the Suns/Lakers game. Go Lakers! Scott & Shannon joined us at that time and we decided on dinner in their room with pasta and leftovers. Perfect! After dinner we took our standard nightly dinner picture and headed back to our room. I was exhausted! Didn't get a nap today, so I fell asleep at probably 8:30! I needed it!

Scott snapped this photo in between poses. It's just us in so many ways. With love, until the next day, Mike & Krista

Honeymoon Day 2 (May 28, 2010)

Day 2 of the Honeymoon, Friday! Day 2 started off EARLY for me (me, as in, Krista, me...). For some reason I was up at 5:15 AM. I went to bed around 10, so that's just like bed time at home, and normally I sleep until 8 AM with NOOOO problems at all. But this morning was different. I had a splitting headache and nothing was going to get rid of it. So, while Mike slept soundly next to me (which is weird, I thought HE would be the one up at 5 or 6 AM) I tossed & turned & tried to get comfortable to fall back asleep. At 7:30, when I hadn't fallen asleep yet, Mike finally rolled over and even though he probably wasn't awake yet I said, "Oh good, you're awake! I'm so bored!" He was like, um, well, I'm awake now! So we hopped out of bed and went for a walk around the hotel. We decided to check out the scenery and see how far the boardwalk went down on the beach. We had our appointment set up for 10:30 to meet with our wedding planner to pick our wedding spot, so we walked around for a little bit and then headed back to our room for some cereal and to get ready for the day. And of course, I had to update the blog from the day before :-) In case it's confusing, I'm blogging about the previous day, but I'm sure you're all smart enough to figure that out.



We met with our wedding planner and checked out a couple of their key spots on the hotel grounds where nuptials take place. Since our wedding will be so small, we picked one of the smaller areas that's actually on the sand, even though technically you're not allowed to get married on the sand, because then it's Hawaii public beach and you have to pay for a permit. Which we're not doing, but we're just literally a step away from the hotel, so it will be fine. The picture below is the spot where we decided to have the nuptials. We'll be married right next to the jutted out tree that has the towel wrapped on it. We'll make sure we remove the towel before the wedding! It might not look ideal or perfect, but, it's pefect for us.


So after we checked out our wedding spot and had that figured out, we headed out to the pool for the afternoon to hang out with Scott, Shannon & Kayden, We did a little hanging by the pool, hanging in the pool, hanging at the beach, and Mike attempted to snorkel but just wasn't feeling it. After a few hours we headed into the room to take a break from the 85 degree sun, and frankly my belly felt like it was overheating, so it was time for some A/C and snacks.

We napped for a little in the room and then headed out to the bar by the pool so we could catch the end of the Celtics/Magic game (when I say "we" I mean Mike wanted to see the game and I went to support him).

That night for dinner we decided to barbeque outside by the kiddie pool. The guys went to the store to get dinner whileI talked to Shannon playing with Kayden in the pool (I wasn't in the mood for swimming, so I just sat at the edge of the pool). By 7 we were ready for food! We had steak, chicken kabobs, salad, Doritos (my craving request), potato salad and bread. It was like we were back home cooking in our backyards, it was awesome!

So after dinner, Mike and I took our now ritualistic nightly dinner pictures, and he wanted to climb into the kiddie pool and get on the pirate ship for our picture. So I hopped on his back and he waded through the pool to the pirate ship. I gotta tell ya, hopping on my honey's back at 12 weeks pregnant - HURT! Belly, boobies, ouch. :-) I didn't think it would be that difficult to climb onto his back. I'm quickly learning even the smallest things that used to be easy a couple of months ago aren't quite as easy anymore.

After we took our pictures, it was baby Kayden's turn! (Although, "baby" Kayden isn't a baby anymore. He's a little toddler man now!) So after I was safe back on concrete, Mike grabbed Kayden and they climbed the pirate ship for pictures. Mike is going to be such a great Daddy. He just absolutely loves his time playing with Kayden and takes advantage of it whenever he can.

Signing off on Day # 2.

Love, Mike & Krista

Honeymoon Day 1 (May 27, 2010)

Today started the first day of our journey to Hawaii! Up at 5:30 AM and at LAX Airport by 7:45, we were ready for the big flight! However, our plane wasn't. 30 minutes before we were supposed to get on the flight the announcer came on and said that our plane wasn't equipped to travel to Hawaii and we'd have to wait for another plane, but that they'd find one for us somewhere at LAX. There goes leaving on time for our honeymoon! Luckily we were only one hour behind and were in the air by 10 AM.



I did okay on the flight, but I gotta say, it sucked. The movie came on shortly after we hit our 30,000 feet destination so that took up two hours that seemed to go by pretty quickly, but we were seated in the bulk head (which was great for leg room) but not good for movie viewing. It was like sitting front row in the movie theater. After having my head cocked up at a 45 degree angle for two hours, the headache kicked in. Mix that with the fact that we were seated right next to the fresh coffee pot that was brewing (which made me want to throw up!) my head was spinning. We bought a little cheese & cracker plate but that didn't suffice. I had to get a Pepsi and sip that with some Tylenol and that didn't help either. I tried to lay my head down and close my eyes, and did that for about an hour and a half while Mike read through his magazines, but the headache wouldn't go away. Finally, after eating through 3/4 of a Pringles container, I figured the salt and the 700 calories weren't going to help either, but I did try half of a hydrocodone, which my doctor did say is okay, but that seemed to then just kick in the nausea! As soon as we landed, you can say I was pretty much done. I tried to keep myself from throwing up while we got the rental car and got on our way. (Stopped at a Carl's Jr and refueled with some chicken strips. Started to feel much better after that!)

By now it's about 2 PM and we've headed towards the hotel. Here's a picture of the drive to our hotel, taken from the highway right before Lahaina (we're staying just north of downtown Lahaina in Kaanapali). This seemed to be the only spot that was luscious with green trees on the drive, so I took advantage of the view and snapped a picture.

So, we made it to the hotel, and as we were checking in, I was sitting in the rental car and out of the corner of my eye something was flying right towards my head. I turned because it freaked me out, and it was little Kayden! Scott and Shannon had just happened to come down to the lobby to see if we were there yet, and it was perfect timing! It was so great to see them and see familiar faces! And what better place to vacation with your besties than in Maui! So we got everything up to the room, and of course unpacked everything immediately (Mike wouldn't do it any other way!) and met up with the Cross's down at the pool. Our hotel room actually overlooks some of the ocean and mostly the kiddie pool, so it's pretty cool that we're right there at the pool where we can see them and know when they're down there to meet them! Yeah, I don't know if they enjoy us crashing their vacation as much as we enjoy vacationing with them! But by the end of the week, I'm sure they'll be glad to be on their own again!

After a few hours at the pool and just checking out the hotel (and of course caught the end of the Laker game - AMAZING! Although, Artest, you almost screwed it up man. Way to redeem yourself), we decided to ready ourselves for some dinner and have our first Maui meal out under the sunset. We ended up at Leilani's in Whaler's Village and had a great dinner. We took a few pictures while we were waiting for our dinner table to be ready for us. It was awesome weather, not too hot, not too humid, and not cold or breezy at all! I'm always cold, so of course I was worried about that, but it was all in all a great dinner!

The happy couple four days before the wedding! And yes, that little bump you see in my belly, it's officially growing! This picture was taken yesterday, Thursday, so on that day I was 11 weeks 5 days pregnant. And the belly doesn't seem to be going away after meals anymore, it's just getting bigger. And I love it! (For those of you that might be reading this for the first time and just finding out now that I'm pregant - surprise! We haven't really told anyone but our family and some close friends that we see all the time, so how could we not tell them. But now we are making it public knowledge, especially since tomorrow I am offically into my second trimester, a lot of the first trimester worries and scares are behind us. Not ALL of the scares, but percentage wise, we just made it through the scary part.)

We snapped this picture walking into Whaler's Village in Lahaina (I think it's in Lahaina). It's a really cool outdoor shopping center with a few restaurants and most importantly, there's a Louis Vuitton. I told Mike, what a great gift for your bride! A new Louis! He wasn't going for it though, not surprising. And since I won't trade Wiley Bear for a new Louis Vuitton, I guess there's no negotiating this one! The honeymoon alone is a great bride's gift!

Me and Shannon. We took a picture with Kayden, but it came out dark and you can't really see. You can tell she's already been here for five days and has a tan while my tan is just beginning, but it'll get there!

So, after dinner we said goodnight to the Cross family and headed to the grocery store to stock up on food for a few days. By this time of the day, I was exhausted and sooo ready for bed. But we had to get some food for the next day. So we headed down to Safeway and found what we needed, and as we're checking out, this drunk (sooo drunk) guy decided to stand next to us in line like he knew us. He was babbling something under his breath about his dad and waiting for him, this guy was like 40, but he was looking for his dad, and he had two grocery bags in his hands - empty grocery bags. He's standing probably two feet away from me and the smell of whiskey is making me gag, and literally want to throw up in my mouth. I think I must have had the most panicked look on my face because the lady in front of us in line grabbed her two kids up from standing next to her and put them in the car and kind of scooted away. I slowly started walking around Mike to stand on the other side of him and to get as far away from that guy as possible. I didn't know what he was going to do! You never know with a drunk guy! So we found another checkout line that was open and scooted away. The best part of the night was when I told the cashier that there was a drunk guy walking around disturbing customers, and he's like, "Oh, the guy that's dressed in all white? Yeah, he's fine." I was like, "Oh, he comes here often then, huh? This is normal? Well, okay then!" Like the fact that the drunk dude is there all the time makes that okay?! Whatever.

Headed back to the hotel and unpacked our groceries, but since we couldn't find a parking spot, we had to just park in front of the elevator and Mike went down to move the car and find a parking spot. Twenty minutes later I was like, um, what the hell happened to him? He should be back by now? So I called Mike's cell phone and he's like, I can't get the trunk, to shut, so the top won't go back up on the car without the trunk shut, and I don't know what to do. (Stupid Chrysler Sebring convertible). He didn't want to leave the car out with the top down because Hawaii is famous for its rain, especially in the middle of the night, and the last thing we needed was to have the car get damaged and pay an arm and a leg for it. Luckily he found an undercover parking spot at the building next to ours and 45 minutes later Mike made it back to the room, I said good night after I knew he was safe and I was out. Man, I was so exhausted! It was after 1 AM California time at this time, and we'd been up since 5:30. Long day but we're here and so worth it! Until tomorrow folks...that was our Thursday!

Love, Mike & Krista

New Orleans Visit

I keep saying to myself, I need to post my pictures from New Orleans, and then it slips my mind again. I know this has nothing to do with our wedding, or our family, but since the wedding isn't taking up any of my time to plan, I guess no more posts about the wedding. (Although, I'm getting my wedding dress on Wednesday, so maybe I'll take a few pictures when it's on and post those).

Anyway, I went to New Orleans the first week of February to go visit our clients and the campuses there. It was actually the week Mardi Gras started and the week before the Saints were in their first-ever Super Bowl, so it was a pretty great week for me to be there. It was so alive with Saints pride and everywhere you looked there were Saints figures in windows, on house balconies and in front yards. I was happy to cheer for the Saints the next week and see them win the Super Bowl since I was lucky enough to have visited there.

While I was in town, I wanted to take advantage of me being there and might not get back any time soon, so I wanted to drive through the 9th Ward because you can still see the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Yes, I was scared to drive down there because it was supposedly the "ghetto" but I talked to plenty of locals about going down there and I took their advice before I headed down (they told me where to go, where to avoid, and to only go during the day time). So a few hours before I was heading to the airport I drove through the French Quarter and went shopping down there at the most wonderful boutique store I've ever been in. Designer dresses, shoes, clothes and handbags all for about 25% of their actual cost! I got a beautiful designer silk dress that will just be perfect for dinner in Hawaii on our honeymoon. It was originally $395 and I only paid $80!

But, I digress. I'm supposed to be talking about New Orleans and the 9th Ward. Well, before I get to the devastating part, I have to post some pictures about the beautiful parts of New Orleans, LA. (From here on out, I'm just going to abbreviate it to NOLA - that's what the locals call it). :-) So, here are some pictures of the most beautiful parts of NOLA and what is truly Southern class and Southern style!

Okay, so here is a picture of the street my hotel was on. I would drive down this road every day when I was heading out in the morning, and I just loved! the trees that line the streets. I don't know if you can tell, the tree branches cover the streets like you're driving through a tunnel, and then they connect to the trees that are on the left side of the street so it's just this gorgeous passageway you're driving down. This is St. Charles Avenue just a few miles from Tulane and Loyola University.

Here's a better shot of the street, from farther away, so you can actually see how the trees start on the right side of the street and the branches reach all the way to the left side and then join the other trees.

Here's another picture of St. Charles. I'll try to explain this. So, when you're driving Southbound, the only way you can get to the Northbound traffic is you have to take a sharp left turn through the grass, which is also where the bus travels, so if you're not careful or paying attention, you can cut off a bus and cause problems for them and really mess up traffic! I got close a few times, me not being familiar with the roads AT ALL, it was pretty scary. You're turning left and avoiding joggers and buses at the same time. It was all too much for me...

So, driving down St. Charles, there are some MASSIVE homes, well, mansions, really, and I can't tell if these are buildings where business is conducted or actual homes! But either way, they're gorgeous! I was naive going to New Orleans because all you hear about is the destruction that was caused by Katrina and I didn't realize there is a part of NOLA that is so far away from the 9th Ward that has a ton of history still and a ton of money! So don't think that ALL of NOLA was devastated. The 9th Ward was really a small neighborhood in a very large town!

So, now for the sad and devastating parts of NOLA. I had heard from some of the locals that the most devastating part about Katrina was the fact that many parts of the 9th Ward were just starting to be rehabilitated when the hurricane hit. Many of the people were getting out of the "slums" and making more money, had better jobs, getting their educations, and they were starting to see a new growth and new life in the 9th Ward. There were even brand new townhomes that had gone up in the neighborhood for some of the families that could afford them and had earned them. And then not much later Katrina hit and just knocked those families down that had worked so hard to get where they were. They had barely been in their brand new homes and then found themselves homeless again. Here is a row of Townhomes I found and it was just soooo eery to drive into the parking lot and have it be deserted, but yet, they were so new. And they were so cute too! I felt so bad for those people at that time. It made me very grateful for my cushy life.

For me, the most humbling part of my whole trip was seeing the spray paint on the sides of the homes. The spray paint indicated how many survivors or bodies were found inside. I saw one house that had "1 Dog Inside" spray painted on the front of the house, but then around the side of the house you could see "Rescued" and the date of the rescue. Obviously made me think of my own dog and how devastated I would be if I had to leave my dog behind. It was emotional, but again, made me so grateful for my beautiful home and my beautiful life that was waiting for me back in Irvine. Unfortunately, a lot of these people never made it back to their homes and had to start fresh somewhere else. Some may never have even found out if their dogs made it out alive.

Crate & Barrel (Our Favorite Store!)

For those of you that have asked where we might be registered, it is offically done! We are now registered at Crate & Barrel. Feel free to peruse our registery but please, nobody, do not feel like you need to buy us ANYTHING. We are celebrating our wedding in a way that is not necessary "traditional" so please don't feel like you HAVE to buy us anything. This is just there in case you really, truly, feel like you want to. :-) We love you for your kind thoughts and efforts!

BUT, since I registered for some really fun stuff I'd never buy for ourselves (after all, isn't that what registeries are all about?) then I won't tell you NOT to buy anything, if you really want to. It will help me on my way to becoming the domestic Goddess I know I can be some day! XO

Here's the link to our registry, but if it doesn't work out and come through properly, you can just use either Mike's name, or mine, to find it. http://www.crateandbarrel.com/Gift-Registry/Guest/ViewRegistry.aspx?grid=4491797

head in clouds....feet in sand...heart in hand....

I just saw this phrase on the website of the wedding planners we're using for our Maui wedding. Sooooo true!!!

Meet us in Maui.....

So much for a fancy wedding at a multi-million dollar home, on a private estate in a gated community overlooking the ocean....Wow, when you put it like that, it almost seems crazy we wouldn't want our wedding there! But because of many, many different reasons, we've decided against it. We've opted to instead get married in Hawaii when we head out May 27th for our honeymoon. We are hoping to get married on the 31st, even though it's Memorial Day, but my lucky number is 31 so it just seems right to get married on that date. I just hope they don't double charge us to get married that day instead of on Saturday, the 29th, the date we had originally. Either way, it really doesn't matter what day it is! We're excited and cannot wait to come home Mr. and Mrs!
It's going to be a special, glorious, and joyous day for Mike and I. I can't wait to marry my best friend at sunset in paradise - and then eat a roasted pig! Luau!!!

Two years on Snowdrop Tree!

It's crazy to think that we've already been in our house for TWO years! We closed on the house December 31, 2007 and moved in January 20, 2008 - only six months into our dating relationship. Yes, we were on the fast track to a long, but now slow, life together!

Well, two years in our beautiful house was also two years of living in, what the home builders call, a 'master-suite'. Which basically means no door from the bedroom to the bathroom. Which means, dear Krista who loves her sleep and HATES the mornings was woken up every morning, for two years, at either 5:45 or 6:00 AM, sometimes lucky to not get woken up until 6:30, since Mike's an early riser and gets to work so early! Every morning when he would get up and hop in the shower, I had the light shining DIRECTLY on me while I was in bed, not to mention the annoying noise of shower water running down the drain! Ear plugs and little face masks over my eyes just didn't seem to help me sleep through it. BLASTED!

So, as part of our two year anniversary celebration to ourselves, we decided FINALLY to install a door! Yay!!!!!

This was the BEST investment yet that we've made on the house. I had to share the before & after pictures and say thank you babe! Thank you for being such a great man and for taking care of your 'needing-to-sleep-in-every-moment-I-can-before-we-have-kids-and-I'll-never-get-to-sleep-in-again woman! It was pretty cool to see the process of having the door installed, I gotta say. But home improvements and home construction has always been second nature to me and I've never minded it. Growing up in a house with a General Contractor and an Interior Designer will do that to you. So I loved to see it take shape and progress to what is now the best door I've ever used in my entire life! Haha! I never thought something so simple would be so great!!

The first morning we had the door, Mike got up, showered, got dressed and left for the day and I didn't hear a thing! He came over to me and leaned down to give me a kiss when he was leaving for the day and I woke up shocked that I hadn't heard anything! That door must have super powers!

Not to mention, after two years, Mike was finally able to turn on a light in the bathroom and walk into the closet and flip on the light and actually SEE what he was getting dressed into that morning! And thank you to our neighbor Scott for getting it all set up for us. That was the BEST $650 we ever spent!!

So here's what the doorway looked like BEFORE the door....

And here's what the doorway looked liked after the sheetrock and texture went in...

And finally, the finished product! I LOVE that door! Can't tell you how many times I've come around the corner though, and have run RIGHT INTO IT! I keep forgetting it's there!!

Photos of the Venue

I finally got some pictures rounded up from 4th of July a couple of years ago at Chuck & Tywla's house. Here's a picture of Mike and I in the backyard, which is obviously now where we're getting married. I wanted to provide some pictures so the family could understand more what the backyard looks like.

And, here are some pictures Twyla's assistant emailed over to me to help me with the chairs, but it also shows you the idea behind what we're trying to do for our centerpieces. (These pictures are from a dinner party that Chuck & Twyla had at their home last year for their 30th wedding anniversary). Mike loved the way these hurricanes & leis looked on the table, so we may use their idea. We originally wanted a really long table for all of us to sit at for dinner, too, but unfortunately right where the table is set up is where I need to walk down the "aisle" so we'll, instead, just set up a bunch of rounds. Now we just need to figure out the extent of my aisle and where we'll have the actual ceremony. That is still TBD.

Twyla

The Ring....MY Ring.....My....Lovely....Ring!!!

Well, my WORST nightmare just came true. Here's the before-story to what actually happened, and then, I'll describe, what actually happened.
So, I'm sitting in my sister's kitchen last week while visiting Boise for work and we're talking about my ring. Yes, I gush about my ring, I LOVE my ring, I think it's gorgeous (as I'm sure everyone gushes about THEIR rings). Yes, I'm talking about my engagement ring. Well, some random girl at the gas station had told me how much she loved my ring when I was giving her my money to buy my Pepsi, so I was saying to my sister how nice it was to hear a total stranger say, Oh my God, your ring is gorgeous. I never know what to say to that. I want to say, "I know! Isn't it?!" But then I don't want to sound full of myself. So I just politely says, "Thank you. He did a GREAT job!" And I was on my way. So, my lovely sister decided to jinx me right then and there and say, "Um, aren't you worried about losing it, or damaging it or something? I mean, you don't ever take it off?" Yes, she said it just like that, sounding all Valley-Girlish, promise. (Although, she really didn't sound like a Valley Girl. But for the sake of this story, it helps). So, I'm like, 'No, Lori, I'm not worried about losing it or something happening to it. It'll be fine....I mean, what could happen to it? I won't lose it! I mean, yeah, it's a little loose, and I really should get that taken care of, but what will happen to it! It's fine!"
So, that's the pre-story to the story. So, I head home, come home to my honey, and go on about my life. Until, the next morning.
Mike and I decide we need to get outside and take Wiley Bear for a walk. Hey, maybe we'll walk down to the local Einstein Bagel for some breakfast. Well, halfway there I knew Wiley wouldn't make it the whole way (I promise, I wanted to go back because of Wiley, not because I LOVE walking or anything...) so we headed home to get the car and proceed to Einstein's. We pull up, Mike says, what do you want to eat? I said, I want that little protein plate breakfast, and as I put my hands together and make like a little bowl shape with my hands, I happen to notice down on my band that - wait for it - a freaking diamond is missing from the band!! I flipped out! And then, upon further inspection, I turned the ring and looked down the other side and BLAM! Another diamond was missing. I flipped out and started hyperventilating and was like, Mike, Mike, Mike, babe, oh my God, what now?!?!? Yeah, somehow, I don't know, maybe because I was holding the leash, my ring suffered a fracture, a slight fracture, but enough to fracture the stupid ring and basically split it right down the freaking middle, from one side to the next, and in the process, lost two of my precious diamonds. Couldn't believe it.
So now what?? Well, I am officially ring-less for the next two weeks. My finger is naked and I feel horrible. Thank God Mike didn't freak out on me or I don't know what I would've done. He looked at it and said, it's fine, it's fine, we'll get it fixed. I'm so glad that in my times of panic he remains calm.
So, today I said goodbye to like my third most loved thing in the world. But, the good thing is that, my ring was a little too big. Well, almost one size too big, but I didn't want to be without my ring so I never wanted to get it sized. Well, since I lost two diamonds that were in a perfect line, they're just going to remove one more diamond, on the other side of the ring, and then they'll actualy size it down so it fits. And then, Lori, I won't have to worry about it falling off and me losing it! Right now it's a size 5 & 3/4, and I'm a 5, so the only good thing that's coming out of this is that I'll actually have a ring that fits me now.
So then we can go about our normal lives, and I can feel engaged again, as soon as I have my blingy bling bling back ON.

The Wedding Date

Well, this is the first official post to our new blog! I wanted to start this blog to keep everyone up to date with the wedding details and as it gets closer, I'll post a lot of the information about the "big day" here. So please don't think me rude if I just direct you to my blog in case you have a question that I already answered here! :-) I am just hoping anyone who wants to know what's up can come here, and my family can get some information on what they need to know about the wedding details from here. This is more fun than sending out a blast email to everyone anyway!

Well, Mike and I have officially set the wedding date! I got my dress probably three months ago (first things first!) and we decided that after the holidays die down and we get back to normal then we would take a few minutes to look at the calendar to see what day would work best for us. Drum roll please......May 29th it is! Yes, that is THIS May 29th. We're getting married in 4 1/2 months. That will be PLENTY of time to plan the wedding because we've decided to have a small, family-only, intimate ceremony. So to all of our friends and close loved ones that will not be there for our special day - it doesn't mean we don't love you and want to share this special day with you. It just turned out that WHERE we're having the wedding just happens to be at our DREAM location but because of the WHERE, we need to keep the numbers down to a minimum. So that meant parents and siblings only.

So now, you might be wondering, where is this dream place? We have been so fortunate, because of a long-term relationship Mike has, to be honored to have our wedding at the home of Chuck & Twyla Martin. Mike has worked for Chuck for now 12 years! He is like a son to them (the son they never had). When we got engaged, we asked Chuck & Twyla to dinner so we could tell them the great news. We met at this little Italian restaurant in Crystal Cove (Newport Coast) and Twyla said she just had this feeling that we were going to tell them we were engaged. So when we told them the news, after they congratulated us, Twyla said, you can use our house! Well, on the way to dinner, I had told Mike, wouldn't it be a dream if Twyla said, hey, have the wedding at our house! And here she was, offering! We couldn't turn her down, we didn't want to turn her down, but we also knew that we could never have 100 or 150 guests roaming around their house so that would have to be the sacrifice we made to have our wedding there. We decided it's worth the sacrifice of having a huge wedding, to have the most beautiful home and backyard overlooking the ocean as our backdrop. (I added a Google Map image of the house, above. Just look for the little, yellow flag. That's the backyard where we're getting married!)

For those who don't quite know where Chuck & Twyla live (which is probably everyone), their house sits on 9 lots in a very high-end, gated community in Laguna Beach called Smithcliffs. Their backyard is the ocean. Their yard is gorgeous and overlooks a private beach below, and straight ahead is the Pacific Ocean. It's exactly the backdrop we wanted, but the backdrop you have to pay a LOT of money for if you want to get married there. So we are VERY fortunate and VERY lucky to say our "I Do's" there, and so grateful for Chuck & Twyla opening their home to us, and our families, to make it a very special day. I can't wait! So excited! Now that we've picked the date, it just can't get here fast enough!

So, family, get ready to head to Orange County for May 29th. Yes, Memorial weekend. But we aren't leaving for our honeymoon (to Maui) until Tuesday, so we can actually spend time with our family all weekend! It'll be worth the travel down here, I promise!

I LOVE YOU KRISTA

I LOVE YOU KRISTA