Happy Holidays!

Where Does the Time Go?

So much has happened in the past month - I actually can't believe I haven't written in so long. I have a lot to catch up on. Originally I thought I would just give each event it's own post, but I honestly just can't see myself doing that right now. I will try to summarize what has gone on in the past month.

On June 10, Brian passed his final exams for his Ph.D.!!! Here he is all dressed up on his big day. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it and trying his best.

I hit 100,000 miles on my car. Go me!

We visited my great aunt Karen and uncle Tom in Ojai, CA and spent some time with her new horse Molly.

Our first Santa Barbara festival since moving up here was Summer Solstice, which is based off of Carnival in Brazil. Brian was a little overwhelmed with all the craziness, but overall we had a good time.

I had my dress fitting on July 3, where I spent approximately 40 minutes waiting for the seamstress, but only 10 minutes in my dress. Which I guess is a good things, since it fit perfectly.

We spent July 4th at my godparent's house and at Tim and Dorsie's new house in Lakewood.

We brought our cats up with us finally to our apartment. It has been a transition, with Cinder meowing pretty frequently when we leave the room. We are working on disciplining him with a spray water bottle.

July 9-11 was spent in the mountains of Santa Barbara at Engaged Encounter, which is a requirement for us to get married. Basically it's the Catholic Church's way of making sure you really want to get married, because no normal person would sign up for this. You show up at 7:30pm on Friday night and don't get to leave until 4:00pm on Sunday. You spend the whole time writing in a journal and listening to people cry.

Okay, so it wasn't all bad - but it was too corny for me. Because Brian and I had been dating for 4 years, we had already gone through a lot of this. Most of the couples we met had only been together for a year or two. I can see how it would have been helpful a year or two ago. What I really hated was that it felt like summer camp, sleeping in these little twin beds and sharing a bathroom between 20 women. I'm sure if we had brought binoculars we would have been able to see our apartment from where we were. It literally took us 8 minutes to get home.

So that's been my past month - and this next is going to be even more crazy with my company putting on it's annual forum. I'm looking forward to this coming Sunday, where I can finally relax!

Save the Date!

Sending out our Save the Date cards this week (Yes, I know they're a little late. Oops!) so look for them in the mail!

And here's an update picture of my office. Obviously I've got a lot more on my plate then I did before - but I like it. This Friday is the company picnic and I am very excited! I will get to meet everyone's family and Brian is coming as well.

Then we have gift registry shopping to do on Saturday at Macys...not sure how that's going to go. Seems like so much stuff to go over and no time to do it! I have no idea what I need, or what will fit in my little apartment! But all is going well...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...


3 MORE MONTHS!

Musings

Brian has been begging me to update my blog, but there honestly isn't a whole lot to report. Still no job for me, though I've had seven interviews now. I'm hoping that that is a good sign and something will come up soon, otherwise we have to pray that we can make it through the summer up here until Brian gets a TA ship. Of course, I might go back to being a nanny. Who knows.

Here's a little bit of what we have been up to:

Earth Day in Santa Barbara. I thought it was lots of fun and very cool but Brian was a little put off by the hairy feminist women walking around. There was also a man dressed entirely in plastic bags. He looked like a Yeti. That was funny though. Here I am under the spider; no, I was not afraid.


Our friends took us out for Brian's birthday which was fun. Then they turned it into a engagement celebration for us haha. We had a good time.







Brian is having some problems with his exams...again. I won't go into too many details but the hope of being finished on June 10 is looking less likely than before. None of this is his fault, just circumstances that we cannot control. Here's to hoping all things turn out for the best.


Wedding planning is coming along at a slow but steady pace. It's frustrating because everything seems to take a week or two...people just do not return calls or emails anymore I guess. Still, progress is coming. These are what I hope our flowers will look like, or close to it.

Brian and I are very excited about getting married. We hope a condo/house and babies aren't too far along after that. We both want a large family and are looking forward to the challenge. Speaking of which, I came across this very interesting article the other day which I would like to share!

http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/big_families_are_the_new_green1/

Enjoy the read, and God Bless!

Final Week

Today is my final week at work. It's bittersweet showing the new tutor how things are done and watching the kids interact with her, but ultimately it is for the best. I need to be with my future husband and get a full time job so I can use my college degree. I will miss the kids very much, but I know how adaptable they are and I don't think they will have a problem with someone else.

I have an interview tomorrow, so tonight I will be driving up to Santa Barbara and then heading to the interview at 9am. Then Brian and I will be driving home together in my car, I will drop him off at home, and then I will go to work. Needless to say, I'm going to be exhausted.

I had dinner with Jenn last night at BJ's, and that was so much fun. I'm sad to be moving now because I think she's a really great friend and I wish we could spend more time together. But I also know Brian and I will be coming down at least once a month so hopefully everything will work out for the best. I'm going to miss her!

This past weekend we got a lot of stuff done at the apartment again, hanging up pictures and trying to make it look more homely. You can see the album here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/110765024091697507770

Brian and I also created a wedding website, which you can find here:

http://www.ewedding.com/sites/ernstwedding

We are very excited about our upcoming wedding, and still have so much to do. It really is a never ending process but after we meet with a DJ this weekend things should feel better. This whole week is going to be a mix of many emotions for me: nervous, anxious, excited, sad, exhausted...but I'm excited for Easter and look forward to a new time in my life!

I Said Yes to the Dress

So, I finally said "Yes" to the dress this Monday. It was my first and only time having to go dress shopping. Thank God because I hate dresses. I just have some kind of phobia. I know the perfect dress is really important to most brides, but it honestly wasn't even in my top 5. I knew I wanted it to be a little princessy, but not too much. I knew I wanted it to be symmetrical - I hate things that are uneven. I knew I didn't want it to be revealing or too form fitting. But those were basically the only concerns I had.

Brian was absolutely shocked when I came home and said I was DONE - dress, veil, everything. Usually I take forever to make decisions. But I put this dress on and felt pretty good. I tried on a few other dresses, another which looked pretty good too, but ultimately ended up choosing the first one I really liked. No, I'm not in LOVE with my dress. It's a dress. But it's a beautiful dress, and I look good in it, and that's what matters. I REALLY loved it when I had the headpiece and tiara on. Everything came together and it just felt right. But I could have just as easily gone with the other dress as well. I don't know. I guess I go back to my original statement - I hate dresses. But I knew it was the one because Courtney cried when I came out. Hey, if I can make people cry, it's a winner.

Obviously I cannot post a picture of the dress I got with you, because then Brian would see it! But I will post some pictures of the dresses I didn't get. Haha.

The top looked like the Sydney Opera House. NO.


Liked the top, but the whole bottom was going sideways. NO.


And the worst of all - the yellow cupcake dress. NO. NO. NO.


Aren't you dieing to know what I picked! Well you'll have to wait 7 more months!

Wedding Countdown

Wedding Ticker from PromoteMyWedding

Prague, Engagement Day

Well it's time to stop being lazy and write about our wonderful engagement in Prague, and our subsequent trip to Berlin. I'm having a problem deciding what kind of photo hosting I should use to upload my pictures. I can't stand using blogger anymore because it takes 10-15 minutes just to upload 5 pictures (you can only upload 5 at a time). Picasa is pretty good because you can sync the photos using Picasa 3 on your computer to the web, but the photo frames don't open into larger pictures when you click on them. I'm going to try using photobucket, but that has to load. So I'm going to write first and then add the pictures later!

Since our train to Nuremberg left at 6:00am, we had to get up quite early at 4:50, so Mom could drive us at 5:15. Thank God for Mama. She even made us little sandwiches to eat on the train. She's the best! So we were quite tired on the train. I can't remember if I slept or not. When we got to Nuremberg after 3 hours, we took a double-decker bus. This was awesome, because our EuroRail pass is 1st class, and the bottom of the bus is 1st class only, and no one else was there! Being 1st class also entitled us to one free hot beverage per person. Brian slept a little, and I think I did too.

Arriving in Prague was a bit confusing. We knew which trams we had to take to the hotel, but we didn't know where they were. And unlike Germany or Switzerland, most people do not speak English. After walking around for 10 minutes, a man offered to help us. Though he spoke very little English he did manage to guide us in the right direction. So, we got on the RIGHT tram but in the WRONG direction. It took us about 5 minutes to figure this out before we got off and turned around. Mind you we did all this with luggage, laptop bags, backpacks, and purses. FUN.

So we were a little tired after getting up so early and trying to find our way, but thank goodness the hotel was perfect. Somehow we lucked out and got a room on the backside of the hotel facing a hill, and we had a nice balcony. Very pleasant. So we rested there for a little bit before taking showers and getting ready for what would become our big evening!

Brian wanted to see a park that overlooks the city of Prague, so we took a little train up, much like the one we used in Switzerland. I took some pictures in the flower garden, and then we sat down at a little cafe to drink some cola. Then we went on our trek to find exactly what Brian was looking for. And what a trek it was! No matter where we walked we could not find this view, but finally we got to the Monastery, and the view was behind it. It just took about an hour, so we rested for a long time on a bench that was pretty secluded.

Now, I had pretty much had a "feeling" all day that he was going to propose, since he seemed a little nervous, was looking for a particular spot in the park, and kept looking around to see how many people there were. It was downright hilarious though, when he tried to get the ring out of his pocket because he had put it in his wallet. I had to feign blowing my nose and turning the other way just so he could manage to extract it. So cute. Finally, after waiting for months, he got down on one knee and made a little speech, and then asked me to marry him. I have no idea what he said though haha, I couldn't really think.

So, although Brian couldn't surprise me, I could surprise him. I had secretly slipped off the ring I normally wear on my ring finger, which he gave me for Valentine's day as a sort of promise ring, and had put it in my other hand. He was quite surprised when he went to remove the old ring and found it wasn't there! Hehe. I am much more subtle than my silly boyfriend...er, fiance. :D And then he picked me up and spun me around like the Princess that I am.

We took many pictures, enjoyed the view some more, and marveled in our happiness. Then it was off to a very romantic, EXPENSIVE dinner that was probably the best food I've ever eaten besides at Craftsteak in Las Vegas. I had duck, which I'd never had before, but I loved it. I also had rosemary creme brulee, which was delicious. The restaurant was on the top floor and we sat outside on the terrace surrounded by plants and flowers just under the nearby Castle. It was very romantic and peaceful, AND since it was a Tuesday night, no one was there. We practically had three waiters all to ourselves!

After dinner we concluded our lovely day/night by walking on the Charles Bridge. It was just what a Princess dreams of!

Engaged!

Yes, Brian finally proposed on August 18, 2009. Just wanted to update that really quick, but I don't have any pictures on my computer yet. We are both very happy and are having fun making wedding plans! We are also very tired from all of the traveling we have done, so will probably be pretty lazy in the next few days. Look for a full length blog post sometime soon!