Playing House

I sit here this evening on a very comfy couch; a couch that I have often fallen asleep on; a couch that is all-consuming; a couch at a dear family's house.  I am playing house this week. I am listening to the breeze blowing through the trees in the backyard.
I'm here, playing house, realizing that 2 months from today I will be in my own place...I mean OUR own place.  As husband and wife; for lack of better words, doing house.
I love this thought, and I just thought I would share that thought with you.  (Never before have a written a sentence with the word 'thought' three times.  It's probably against grammatical rules, I know Grandma will not be proud of this, but I'm hoping she lets it slide this time). I have been blessed with all kinds of activities that I have failed to blog about lately: our spring break outreach, a beautiful bridal shower with family and friends, almost finishing college by taking my last college exam ever (4 days of internship left to be exact), wedding planning, and potentially having our place picked out.  (I say potentially, but I am hoping that my impatience will end tomorrow and we will hear our answer.) I am not sure when we find out, but I am sure that I am IMPATIENTLY waiting.  
I will do my best to blog about some of these spectacular events this week while I get to sit on this wonderful couch.  Happy Monday! 

Leaving...Arriving...

As you all well know, I can't stand to leave my dear Northwest. I have been blessed to be in the true cold weather, (however it was beautifully crisp, clear, and sunny while freezing cold) for the past weekend with my parents. And a blessing it was. I cannot even describe the joy of spending time with my parents planning wedding details (mom's job) and life plans (dad's job...i.e. my taxes got done this weekend too!) Not to say that they both don't contribute to the other job...dad printed 101 wedding addressed envelopes today while my mom wrapped me in yellow duct tape. Nothing says a dress 'form' of me for my dress than wrapping me in duct tape and cutting me out an hour or so later. Dad found it rather hysterical...we all did actually.

Mom and I spent an entire day on the streets of Seattle searching for the perfect petticoat; found it-its called a "mega poof", shoes, and paper for the invitations. Most were successfully found, minus the shoes. *Anyone know the perfect place for wedding shoes that aren't necessarily white?

Many things were crossed off the list and I am so tired from my 'vacation' now, as I sit in the airport, that I can only imagine how many things we crossed off the list that I am currently forgetting.

My flight is boarding now, and I am going to take a great 2hr and 5min nap. But before I go, I want to fill you in on a few things I am leaving behind in my Northwest.

-my parents that are willing to spend every moment of their weekend fulfilling wedding plans.
-my beautiful ring: it is getting fitted for the wedding band...which takes 2 WEEKS! Boo Hoo...but I know it will be a perfect fit this way.
-the cold winter, clean air that I miss so dearly when I am in Fresno.
-the hot tub.
-a good glass of wine, left in the bottle from the dinner I had with my parents at the airport.

However, not all things a bad. I am also going to arrive to some great things when I land in Fresno:

-my fiancé at the airport when he picks me up. I didn't even really say goodbye because of flight mis-haps and needing to get to the airport 2 hours before I expected while he was at work.
-the Amazing Race is being recorded at my house, so I won't miss an episode and Lisa promised to wait to watch it with me; what an awesome sisterface!
-my internship tomorrow morning...week 8 of 12, I'm just happy to be crossing one more week off the list.

Ok. I will admit, I am literally finishing this while standing on the ramp to board my plane, taking in each breath of air, although it is not as fresh on the Tarmac. But there are plenty more good reasons to head back to Fresno I'm sure, but I will use my hurried-ness as my excuse to not list any more.....Fresno just isn't the Northwest...

I am happy that I got to be here and I am happy (while teary-eyed) to head back.

I am leaving Seattle and arriving in Fresno.

Triple Digits

Ok, February-clearly not my month to blog. I was doing so many things that I wish I blogged about, but each moment I thought to blog, was apparently a fleeting thought.  I apologize.  January finished and in February we celebrated Greg’s birthday #23, Valentine’s Day, and the fact that we have been dating for 3 years within the same week.  We also leaped (absolutely pun intended) on Leap day in front of the chapel where we will ‘take the wedding leap!’ See:

March has brought further excitements and joys, ups and downs, and crazy life moments.  Today’s moment is this…The very last day we are in the triple-digits for the countdown to our wedding…DAY 100!


100 DAYS.  Can you believe it?  I can’t!?  In 100 days I will be Mrs. Hessler…maybe it’s time I practice writing it now…maybe. 

More to come…promise it won’t be a month…maybe. 

Engagement

Life as an engaged girl is very exciting, let me tell you.  I have realized at many times that the next time 'said thing' happens, I will be married.  Things like:

• The next flight we take together...HONEYMOON!
• The next Christmas card sent out.
• The next time I buy furniture.
• The next time I take down the Christmas Tree (which I have still yet to do this year).
• The next 4th of July party at my parents house.
• The next time I decorate a home...our home.

I am sure the list could continue, but you get the point. 


Another detail of our engagement that I would like to share with you is our picture shoot with my dear friend Stefani Ortiz.  I lived with Sefani for two years before she was a married woman.  I was a bridesmaid in her wedding.  She will be a bridesmaid in my wedding.  I love this woman.  Stefani is also a photographer.  As our photographer for our wedding is from Oregon, engagement pictures had to be by someone else.  Who better than a dear friend that has journeyed with us through our relationship?  She was my roommate when Greg was continuously asking me out on dates, before I said ok.  She helped convince me that I looked just fine before I answered the door for our first date.  She is also the one that conspired against me so that on the morning of my 21st birthday, his fraternity could come into our apartment to sing me happy birthday; while I was in my pajamas.  Needless to say, she has always been on my side, but Greg won her over too and she bounced back and forth depending on which side she found more fun at the moment.   


After the blog title yesterday of "pictures" she commented that I have yet to post the engagement pictures.  I must apologize for their late posting, she did take these quite a while ago.  But it is not because I didn't love each picture she took.  I have spent countless hours enjoying each moment of each picture.  These are just a few of our favorites.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

Great...aren't they?!  Thanks Stefani!!

Pictures

Ok, so I promise I have been taking the pictures everyday, just not posting them.  I have been reminded by a few people that I haven't posted them.  Now they are posted!  You should check out my calendar. 

Jan 2012

Each photo has a short caption on the bottom of them.  I am still figuring out this post a photo-a-day thing is going to work.  Let me know what you think!

New Challenge

Over the past year, so much has happened. I suppose I don't really need to recap those moments because you either experienced them with me or have already read about them.  Thanks for all unforgettable those moments!

Now for the future, it is now 2012.  It even feels crazy to type that.  This is the year I will become a wife to the man I love.  I will graduate college (again) I will be a grown-up according to my mom.  I will decorate a house that I will be Mrs. Hessler in.  I am sure so many other things will happen as well and I can't wait to experience life.

Along with living life, I want to be cautious to remember each moment and not take moments for granted.  To mix things up with my blog I am going to challenge myself to a "picture a day" blog this year.  (along with some friends) Now, I will be honest, I am planning to blog 1x per week with the weeks pictures.  (Just to clarify that I am not promising to blog each day).  These pictures could be of anything, using my phone, my camera, Greg's phone, anything to capture the moments.

So here I begin, with my picture for today.  This is the man I get to marry June 23, 2012 (THIS YEAR!).  I am thrilled to be by his side for the rest of my life and could not have picked a better way to ring in the new year.  (notice the time on the clock? It is after 12 and therefore on Jan 1, 2012.  Happy New Year!  I hope you enjoy this years adventure of mine through photographs.

Year End

Ok, Christmas was fantastic and in my world, not yet over. I get to spend Christmas with my parents next week when I fly home with my sister, her boyfriend Riley, and my wonderful Fiancé. Christmas is one of my favorite times if the year and I love spreading the season as long as possible.
As promised, I will fill you in from last Friday. While I was home I got to go to the Jordan Christmas party, which is an annual occasion for me. I was blessed to be apart of this event once again. Thank you Jordan's, Agaba's, and Nelson's.
Next it was Christmas Eve Coffee with Grandma and Papa. Another wonderful blessing! I love when they come to Fresno and we can all catch up.
Off to Bakersfield was the next step for our Christmas adventures. We had dinner at Greg's sister Dee's house where I was wonderfully blessed into the family and got my first card with "sister" on it from a brother-in-law (almost). Cool...I have 2 brothers now.
Christmas Day we had dinner with Greg's dad. Another great meal with great company!
Monday after Christmas we took Greg's niece Taylor and nephew Logan to Magic Mountain for the day. They are 12 & 9 and Logan is just now tall enough to ride the biggest rides, he wasn't very thrilled, but we convinced him the rides were worth the games at the end of the day.
Last night Greg took me to the Straight No Chaser show. Dear friends Makenna, Matt, Anukina, and Daniel also came as well. What an incredible experience to be with friends and my favorite group for the evening. We got all dressed up and had a ball! We then headed to the Markarian's house to ring in the new year...and we certainly accomplished that! Happy New Year to you all.

Blessings

I write to you today, sitting in the Sea-Tac airport, awaiting my return flight to Fresno, listening to Amy Grant's Christmas Album...one that never gets old, reflecting on the past week.  (To you in the great Northwest, I am sorry that I did not tell most of you that I would be in town, but it was a quick 48 hours in Seattle. I will be back in January and will see you then!)
In the past week, I have turned another year older.  I am now 24. What better way to spend the day than with friends, another trip down Christmas Tree Lane, and good food.  It was a splendid day.  There are a few goofy thoughts that come with being 24 for me. Let me explain:
-next year I will be a quarter of a century old. Thanks dad for telling me.
-I am now the age I will be when I get married. 
-I am the age I will be when I graduate college for the 2nd time. 
-I'm almost a grown-up.  I beg to differ, but mom says June 23 I am officially a grown-up.  Weird! 
Another accomplishment for me in the past week is that I took my last final exam ever...EVER! I can hardly believe it, I know, I know, I have an exit exam next semester and that should count but for me, I say it doesn't. I won't be sitting in a classroom writing an essay or filling out a scantron; it doesn't count. 
As of December 19, my dear friends Daniel & Anukina Garrison have now been married for 2 years.  I was blessed to be apart of their wedding and I continue to be blessed to have them in my life as well as Greg's.  Congrats you two!
Being a crafty girl and doing something that I have been wanting to do from pinterest.  I will show you a picture later, but if I disclose the picture at this point, I will be showing someone their Christmas gift, and I just couldn't do that!
Lastly, I have returned to my first home.  I am continuously corrected when I say, "I am going home." which home does that mean? I know I have shared with you before my love for both places, although for polar opposite reasons.  I have my home in Lakewood; the house I grew up in and my parents still live, where I sleep in MY room and have precious memories overwhelm me each time I come back, where my baby piano resides and I get goosebumps all over again each time I play it, as if it was the first time in all over again.  I also have my Fresno home; where I (with the help of many others) have made an ugly salmon pink condo adorable and perfect for us, where I have the privilege of living with my sister and Makenna, where I have begun my own traditions and made more unforgettable memories. So, as I said, I returned to my first home Thursday morning.  
I flew inThursday morning with my mom meeting me at the airport. We spent the day in Seattle looking at bridal shops, Pike Place trinkets, windows shopping, and simply browsing the streets.  We then headed to University Village to continue our wandering day.  We found great stuff, Christmas presents, and possibly the place settings for my future home with Greg (I need his approval before I can tell you what they are).  The evening concluded at The Keg.  I am fairly certain I have blogged about this spectacular restaurant before, but it was the perfect evening of dinner with my parents, good food, and great laughs (even a few snorts).  I got to hear the other details I had yet to hear about how the ring was picked and all the sneaky stuff I didn't realize was happening. It was priceless.  
Alright, but flight is boarding now, so I will have to tell you about yesterday at a later time.  All I can say is I am blessed by the people around me in both Fresno, Lakewood and many cities in between.  Have a Very Merry Christmas Eve.  God Bless you and your family on this special weekend.

Christmas Joys

As I posted last week, it is the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, and if it wasn’t last week, it certainly is now.  I wanted to take this moment to share with you a few of my favorite moments of this hustle and bustle.

During this time, I love…

-walking down Christmas Tree Lane with my dear friends and my fiancé.  This was the 4^th year Greg and I have walked the lane together.  4 years ago we walked down the lane and Greg asked me if we could have “the DTR talk.”  Following this, he had to explain that DTR means to ‘Define the Relationship’ where he explained that he wanted to date me.  Now we walked the lane talking about our wedding.

-driving to see family, even if it means hours in the car.

-cheering my parents on from afar while they are opening a new grocery store tomorrow.

-Starbucks Christmas Blend each morning.

-driving spontaneously to locations far away in search of blessing those that have blessed us with Christmas gifts.

-putting the lights and bright colored ornaments on the tree with Lisa and Makenna.

-driving through neighborhoods, randomly taking the long way home, to look at houses with Greg; both their lights and the houses themselves, dreaming of our house to someday decorate together.

-getting packages of cookies in the mail and devouring them quickly.

-finding the perfect gift for someone and wanting so badly for them to have it that I almost can’t wait until Christmas for them to open it.

-wearing scarves!

-getting close to Greg’s family; my soon to be family.

-hanging Christmas lights on our house.

-sitting by the fire and reading a good book…I can do this now, since I don’t have school books to read.

-baking Christmas goods; pumpkin, German, and chocolate alike.

-spending extra time in my PJ’s simply because I can.

Are you enjoying your Christmas hustle and bustle?  I hope you are.  I know this crazy season is easy to get wrapped up in the dizziness of the times.  Remember the craziness is not all that counts….

Hustle and Bustle

School is drawing to a close, Christmas hustle and bustle is nearly in full chaos, decisions are being made, and life is flying by. These are my reasons for not posting. I apologize. My semester is nearly finished and I will be able to blog the way I wish to blog.

I first want to share with you my wonderful Thanksgiving. I was blessed to spend Thanksgiving with Greg's family...nearly my family. His family tradition is to go to Santa Barbara and attend a horse show. For the Hessler family...I apologize for any terms that are incorrect...I will learn, promise. Greg's sister, niece, and nephew, show English Riding and his family all goes to watch. Both Taylor and Logan did very well in their showing riding their own horses; Bravada, Jeff, and Gabby. I was amazed at their abilities...far better and far more brave than I would be on a horse.

On Thursday evening after the show finished for the day, we had dinner with the other families, stables, and riders from the show. What great fun! I will admit, my line dancing skills have greatly improved. Hehe.

Also, my baking skills have apparently improved as well. I made Pumpkin Spice cupcakes to take with me. Thank you dear Amy for giving me the recipe. These a the best cupcakes that I have ever made in my life! (I made them again for the volunteers on Wednesday night and they were still as amazing as they were the first time). Yum!

Unfortunately, we had to head back to Fresno Friday morning since it was the busiest day in the retail world and Greg works at Eddie Bauer. We left at 5am and right around 6 I had a keen sense and found Starbucks and Chevron in the same exit...sounds easy, I know, but in the middle of nowhere, not so easy.

Needless to say, it was a great time with many more to come. This was just the beginning of the seasonal adventures. Ready or not, here we go!

Decisions...Decisions...

Ok, anyone will tell you I am an indecisive person. I always have been, and at this point probably always will be. It drives a few people nuts...I won't mention any names, but you can probably guess.
To give you some insight...

...now you know how I feel when facing any decision.

This weekend was a far different experience for me. I made all kinds of decisions, with my mom of course. My wonderful, creative, artistic, and visually imaginative mom flew to Fresno on Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon, when I was off work, we hit the ground running. Almost literally. Without a doubt we put a new definition to power shopping!

Mom and I were a great duo with incredible support from many others...including Greg. He was there for the food and wine, chose to be studious and studied through the flowers, the napkins, the dresses (because I said he couldn't come; my two Lisa's were the perfect supporters here), answered all the text pictures for approval and told me he loved me many times.

So, needless to say, I feel very accomplished. I feel very confident with my abilities to plan a wedding; but only because of the support of the ones I love. I feel excited. I am still going to impatiently await the day I call him my husband.

Thank you mom and everyone for all your help this weekend. I couldn't have done it without you.

Simple Thoughts

As my dad would say, simple minds entertain simple thoughts.  Here are my simple thoughts from yesterday; that have also carried on to today. 

I have not been feeling great the past few days and Greg was incredibly sweet and brought me a Starbucks Tea yesterday.  There is almost nothing better than a great cup of tea, but it got better.  Yesterday was November 1.  This means that Starbucks Christmas cups came out.  Wonderful!  I love Christmas and if Starbucks starts…so do I.  Bring on the Christmas tunes and start decking the halls!

As you may know, the Christmas cups have different quotes written on the top of them with great red and white pictures of animals ice-skating and other such Christmas activities.  My first Christmas quote says, “When we’re together, I know I’ll never fall.”  Priceless, from my Fiancé, even better.

On top of Christmas season starting and my cup quote being great, the sleeve says, “Let’s merry.”  I know this is for the Christmas season, but coming from my future hubby it was just the whip cream to my coffee (ok, it was tea…no whip cream; consider my lactose intolerance, and it wouldn’t have had whip cream anyway.  It just sounded better than icing on the cake when discussing Starbucks). 

Those are my simple thoughts.  As this Christmas season is beginning, it is all about remembering the simple thoughts, simple moments, and simple pleasures that bring the Christmas Joy. 



1st-Prince Charming...2nd-The Carriage

I am still in future bride bliss.  I will be the first to admit that I often catch myself staring at this beautiful ring on my finger.  I have been on pinterest (I'm sorry to inform you of your newest addiction if you are not yet on...google it).  Anyway, I have been on pinterest for quite some time, and yet I find myself unable to leave the wedding & events section. I have been making plans and writing my first list (I'm sure there are many more to come) of all the things I want to get started on. 
And now, I will admit that even my pumpkin reflects my new found emotion of future bride.  We craved pumpkins last Friday night.  Before I get to what I carved, let me tell you, never before have I carved a pumpkin outside at 8pm in a t-shirt.  I went to a pumpkin patch in a T-SHIRT!!! Sheesh! I had to put on a scarf just to remind myself that it really is October and almost Thanksgiving. 

Ok, so with bride on the brain, I will say again that I have officially found my Prince Charming.  I am so blessed to have this wonderful man by my side.  I am thrilled for the day that I can call him my husband and I am excited to spend these next few months planning that day.  

*I really did find a white pumpkin to carve!

Every girl deserves her Prince Charming.

I found mine.

Every girl should get her Cinderella carriage to ride to the adventure of her life.  

I made mine.

*Greg's pumpkin took far more work than mine.

And you can't possibly carve pumpkins alone, so here are some of the many other great ones at the BYOP (Bring Your Own Pumpkin...in case you were still trying to figure it out) Party the Garrison's hosted.

 

*There's at least one in every bunch....