The Ring Giving, Documented
8:33 PM | Author: Jolena
Bill and I have been engaged for over a month, but it took this long to get the ring designed and created. He wanted to have the occasion he gave it to me be particularly memorable. We went to the Divine Comedy show last Friday and in the days running up to it, he and my roommates worked some serious magic to get it to work out so he could give it to me onstage. I've been asked whether I was surprised, and my answer would have to be...sort of. I knew he was going to give it to me sometime during the weekend, and I knew my roommates were helping him.


Thursday night as I was going to bed, it struck me that this might be what they were all excited about, as they were SERIOUSLY excited about their plans and leaving me completely in the dark. However, I didn't know how it was going to happen, what I would have to do, etc, so it was still really fun to anticipate. Here's the documented proof of it happening. We made sure to ham it up for the crowd so they thought this was the actual proposal. It was pretty sweet all around. I love the faces of the cast members in the background. The one guy hugging the other guy's legs is particularly entertaining. :)

One Ring to Rule them All
10:34 PM | Author: Jolena
So tonight was the night for the REAL proposal. :) I'd say it was the third. Or maybe fourth. He's really cute and just gets in the mood to propose again every once in awhile. :) I love it. This time he planned it out in detail, and it was awesome!

We went to the Divine Comedy show with my roommates. During the halftime part, they asked for a volunteer to help them with a sketch. Bill "volunteered" and then they got me to come up too. We were supposed to time them while they summarized all the reading people were supposed to do for their homework and we would have won a bunch of tickets if they went over a minute. Yeah, we lost, but then they asked Bill if he had anything to say, and he was like, "Why yes I do!" He dropped to one knee, pulled out the ring and proposed one last time. I think we got a bigger round of applause than Divine Comedy. It was great! It took some serious skills to get it all set up to do this, since they doesn't usually do those kinds of requests, but what can I say, Bill's got them. :) As you can see, the ring was worth the wait.


I feel loved
11:33 AM | Author: Jolena
I came home from work last Friday not in the best of moods. It had been a long week and I was tired and somewhat cranky. Two things happened between parking my car and arriving home.

1. A friend of mine was standing at the curb waiting for something or other. She is on crutches and has been for the last 3 months due to a hiking accident where she took a spill and injured her knee. Since then she's been to every doctor imaginable and had several different treatments, with no real positive results. I have no idea how she deals with life, as she's a full-time student and close to graduation. Regardless of everything that has happened, she has a fantastic attitude. As I walked towards the stairs, she cheerily asked me how my day was and replied that hers was great. For some reason it struck me. I wasn't in a very good mood, and I really had no reason for it. I'm not having any major trials. In fact, my life is at a wonderful place just now. Why the bad mood? What I've decided is it's a habit I've formed of late to let little things bother me, get me down, and affect my mood negatively. As my friend's example showed me, that doesn't have to be how I react. Her simple cheery hello meant so much more to me than she ever could know. I'm grateful for friends like her.

2. Right after this little experience and following though process, I walked up the stairs to my apartment. My roommate greets me with the question of whether I'd seen what Bill had left on my door. She then said something to the effect that I had quite the amazing fiance and she thought he was just great. Quite curious, I walked back to my bedroom and found a note taped on my door. It said basically that he wanted to make sure I knew how much he loved me, so since we'd been dating for 260 days, he had written down 260 things he loves about me and hid them all over my apartment for me to find. Talk about amazing!!! I've since found probably 60 of them. I think he still has more to hide, and a few more to write, so I can't wait to keep finding them. What a guy! Talk about a turnaround in how I felt as I stepped out of my car last Friday. I'm definitely feeling the love. What a great life I have! And an amazing fiance!!
Good Week for Wedding Plans
10:30 AM | Author: Jolena
This is shaping up to be a great week for completing wedding plans. I should have my Colorado and Utah reception locations finalized this week. I'm picking up my dress from the lady that did my alterations this afternoon. My ring is supposed to be done tomorrow, finally. We've gotten a significant number of our addresses found, made into labels, and put on envelopes. We got our engagement pictures on Saturday, so we should get the photos back this week and be able to work on finishing our announcements. It feels nice to be completing things.
New Boots and Alterations Woes
9:51 AM | Author: Jolena
I've wanted black dress boots for like 5 years and have never found a pair I liked enough to buy. Yesterday I decided now was the time and I was finally going to buy a pair. This is what I ended up with and I love them!


On an unrelated note, I got a smashing deal on my wedding dress a couple months ago and was so excited about it. I just got back from the place that's doing my alterations and that great deal just flew out the window with the updated quote I received. Although the dress looked simple enough to alter when I bought it, such has not proven to be the case. It's a good thing it's going to look perfect because I'm definitely paying for it!

I've decided I hate the part of wedding planning where you have to fit everything you need to buy into the budget you have. It'll be fine once it's all done and I have everything paid for and ready, but it stresses me out in the process!
More fun pictures from this weekend
8:27 PM | Author: Jolena
Bill's little sister Miriam is quite the budding photographer. She's going to take pictures at our wedding receptions and I'm quite excited about it. She took a few pictures of us this weekend and it was fun. Here's a few of her shots of us:

We're meant to be together. Just look at the shoes. :)












This is the backyard at Bill's parent's house. We're having our open house out there even though our wedding is in January. Isn't Las Vegas amazing?!



















We were being cute talking to each other instead of posing. Sick, I know. lol


So you can play Freecell on a normal computer, but what would be the point after this 22" beauty?!






Eventually we stopped goofing off and took a good picture. Yay for wearing cute dressy clothes and taking pictures!




Bill had this string hanging out of his collar that for some reason he thought he'd actually be able to see if he looked down enough. It was quite amusing...
Two Fun Things
8:18 PM | Author: Jolena
I got two very fun things this weekend:

1. My wedding shoes
2. A new purse, courtesy of my soon-to-be father-in-law.

I'm so excited about both of them!!!

Have I mentioned that I love my almost in-laws? Yeah, I do. They are so fun and so caring and just wonderful in every way shape and form. I'm feeling particularly blessed to marry into the Ashman family. They really are great people and I am excited about the future. It's going to be great!
The finished product
3:27 PM | Author: Jolena
So like I said in my last post, Bill's dad is a dentist and when we went down to Las Vegas this weekend, he fixed my tooth that never grew in all the way in my front four teeth. I have all of one picture that's sort of close enough to see the difference if you know what you're looking for. It looks pretty sweet in person even if you can't see it here. I'm happy about it. :)

And yes, apparently we have issues keeping our eyes open.