The Lucky One

I'm not sure if I have really taken the time with you all to share how lucky I am to have Tom as my hubby-to-be. I thought about this as I was sitting here reveling in how good he was to me this weekend (more like especially this weekend). So, if you'll allow (well, even if you don't), I'd like to share just some of the reasons I feel so blessed. 


Let me just start by saying that I have been sick just about all weekend (oh goody), and was sick just a couple weekends ago as well (fortunately, the cold took a vacation for my birthday weekend at Disneyland). Now, Disneyland, there is a reason I am so lucky. Tom is not a fan of Disney (well, wasn't prior to the trip) and still gave me a 3-day trip there for my birthday. It was absolutely fabulous! Anyway, back to this weekend...I have been sick and he has taken beyond good care of me the entire time. No whining or anything. In fact, I rarely had to ask for anything. He continued to assess my needs and ask me if I needed anything. It was truly a blessing. So, I would like to list all the things he has done just this weekend: 


I will start on Friday (part of the weekend in my book...): 
1. The way the plans were looking, I was not going to get to see him, and was already starting to feel pretty crappy (I had work stuff during lunch, the CCW course, and then housesitting). So, what does my man do? He calls and asks if he can take me to dinner before my class to have a chance to hang out...but of course! So, he takes me to sushi, and kisses me goodbye before class. Really...doesn't get much better than that. 


2. As if #1 wasn't enough...at around 8:30 we were let out for a break from the course and I had a text from Tom telling me to look before I drive. Well, of course, I can't wait until it is time to leave. I must know why I need to look! So, I go out to my car (I walked, but wanted to run...) and on my windshield, I find this cute little book, The two of US, Why i'm nuts about you. It is adorable! Each page has a cute little saying about why he loves me like he does, with a photo of these two chimps. 

Here is one of my favorite pages in the book. In case you can't read it, it says: It's true. There are endless reasons why being with you makes me happy. 

Okay, so let's move on to Saturday. Saturday was the worst as far as being sick. I really was quite miserable! Achy, feverish, coughing, sore throat, sneezing, sniffling, etc. The worst cold symptoms plus body aches. YUCK! Anyway, here we go:
1. He gave up his entire Saturday, told his friends and parents it was our time and he was booked. If you know Tom, you know this means a LOT. Instead, we spent the entire day (and I do mean the entire day 9am to 10pm, minus one errand I needed to run) on his couch, catching up on our favorite TV shows through hulu. As I type this, I think I may have mentioned it before, but oh well...
2. At around lunch time I needed to go to the post office to deal with the property management company and to ship some mail to the folks I'm housesitting for. He gladly joined me and even though to pick up boxes for my grandparents, the Lanes. Then he took me to the Crepe Cafe (one of our faves) for a fruit crepe for lunch. 
3. During the day, at random intervals, he would rub my feet and legs, or shoulder and neck. Definitely when it was requested and a number of times in between. Also, getting up for me to get me something to drink or moving the pillows and blankets and always asking to make sure I was as comfortable as I could be. 
4. Later that evening, he left and picked me up some Taco Bell (my favorite when I'm sick). While out picking this up, he stopped at the store and got me some TheraFlu and flowers! Is this man good or what? The flowers are beautiful red, white, and blue with a cute flag in them. It was completely unexpected and a wonderful surprise and ending to a day that could have been miserable. This picture hardly does them justice, but you get the idea. 

Sunday I had to miss our regular lunch with the Lanes, but he went anyway (1.). He knows how much it means to them (and me) and I know it made their day. :) 
2. He was kind enough  to go out of his way to bring me back lunch since I didn't go out for it. And then to hang out with me until it was time for him to leave for Hash. (I sat around all day in my PJs watching WE TV, Yay for wedding sundays!) 
3. After hash he went to dewars to get me a Peppermint Ice Milk Shake...Yum (he even bought this cute little gumball that had frosting smilies because he thought I would like it)! And definitely soothing for my sore throat. AND went to get me more Taco Bell. He brought them to me and just hung out watching TV with me until I was ready to go to bed (at which point he had to ride his motorcycle home). 


Monday was another great day, his mom had offered to make breakfast (although wanted labor after). He was very understanding when I said that was a no go for me, since I still wasn't feeling well. I did end up joining them later and he was sweet as pie, affectionate, and gave me kisses (I sure hope he doesn't catch this)! After he joined me for dinner at my parent's house, even though i know he was absolutely exhausted. He was wonderful, let me cuddle on him while we all watched Cake Boss (not as good as Ace of Cakes, I think). 


And to be honest, it's not like I can even say this weekend is a once in a blue moon ordeal (not that it happens every weekend), but he is like this on a fairly regular basis. How many ladies are lucky enough to find that? I really am blessed and feel truly luck to have found this amazing man who loves me enough to do all this (plus a lot more). I just wanted to share and give the man some props for all his efforts, he really is amazing to me and I love him more than I can say. Thank you all for tolerating my book of a blog and allowing me to share with you the joy I experience with Tom. :) Tom, if you're reading this, thank you for being such an amazing guy and for being so good to me! I appreciate it more than you could know. :)


Head-Over-Heels for Tom,
Amy :)


P.S. Mom and I are meeting with House of Flowers tomorrow and looking forward to sharing how that goes! 

Bad Virus!

So...I am sick again! This is the third time this quarter...although, at least this time hit on the weekend so I shouldn't have to miss more work. But, that still doesn't make it any more fun! On a positive note though, it has given Tom and me the excuse to lay on the couch and catch up on our Hulu shows. That has been quite nice. For now though, I just hope this goes away quickly so I can enjoy at least some of the weekend!

For those who need a little entertainment, here is a YouTube link to Tom's debut at Disneyland. After he tried to volunteer me...uh huh...nice try there buddy :)


Anyway, that is all for now. I am going to go lay back down and hope this bug goes away!

I'M BAAAACK :)

Disneyland was a success! Hooray! Tom enjoyed himself thoroughly which was both a surprise and a relief. :) We had an absolute blast at the park (6 hours on Sunday, 12.5 hours Monday, and 5.5 hours Tuesday). Although, we were both pretty exhausted afterward. Another praise is this is the first time i've been able to go more than a day or so at the park without my ankles giving me some serious grief! I do think this is due to a number of variables:
1. I spent some dough on some new New Balance running shoes which helped keep my feet comfy and supported.
2. I think the weight loss has played quite a role
3. I have been more active in the previous year than in time before previous trips.

Regardless of how each of those plus any others I didn't think of helped, I was just glad to be able to go the whole time and never feel like my ankles were going to break. :)

In other news...I am now housesitting for some family friends (The Congers) as they are in Minnesota celebrating and enjoying the birth of their first grandbabies! Beautiful twin girls! So, I will be remotely accessing my blog through their computer, whose keyboard is currently irritating me (maybe I should bring mine over...hmmm). I will be here until the middle/end of June with their house and cute doggy, Bonnie. I think we'll have a lot of fun together, she is quite the energetic puppy. :)

In further news (like the way this is going? :-p), I got another letter from the last property management company I rented from who says they won't give my deposit back and that I owe rent (totally bogus). So, since I am now thinking court will be inevitable, I am doing my research and getting all my evidence together (thank you for those days of debate)! As part of my evidence, since in their letter they imply they haven't been able to rent the property out, I decided to go by the house to make sure the sign is still up, if in fact, they don't have a tenant...Well, well, well, low and behold, they do have a tenant! And the young man was nice enough to answer the door and tell me he has been there for about three weeks! So, as if there was any question the judge would rule in my favor before, this should be icing on the cake. See, lying and deception never pay. If only they knew who they were messing with! It is nice to have another assurance that I have done everything like I was supposed to and they have not, so there is less concern in court. Although, I will still send them one more letter to see if they are smart enough to just give me my deposit versus my deposit plus damages in small claims.

Anyway, I need to go walk miss Bonnie before my CCW class, so, I will be back soon! Thank you again for taking the time to read my thoughts. :)

Attorney-in-Training,
Amy :)

A fun-filled weekend to come!

Well, it only happens once a year, and this is it! It is my birthday weekend and I plan on enjoying it to the fullest! Which I must say, I have not done in a long time. In the recent past I usually did much of nothing; aside from whatever my mom planned for me (which was always sweet). But this weekend Tom is taking me to Disneyland (oh yeah!), after taking me to dinner tonight. :) It doesn't get much better than that. :D

Also, yesterday, we got to do our official wedding cake tasting. I love the company and have already ordered our cake. This meeting was initially almost kiboshed because this lady who I am not a fan of was already there. But I pushed through, stood up straight, and dealt with it until she left (since I was the one with the appointment, not her). Anyway, the lady was totally sweet and worked with what I was thinking and interjecting with the practical realities of cakes. She did all this and estimated the cake out to exactly what I was thinking would be the cost. It really was amazing. I thought she would estimate higher which would force me to choose cupcakes to cut costs, but she did not! Hence why I ordered the cake. So now, on Tuesday I shall give them the flavors of our liking and continue waiting for another 350 days (not that I'm counting).

Today, I also went shopping for some new clothes (since my old clothes are falling off). Such a great feeling! It was nice going shopping and while I'm still in the larger end of sizes, I can wear normal people shirts (I didn't have to go to the plus size section for tops) which was exciting! So, I got a few new tops and will probably soon have to get bottoms. An expensive, but fun change for me. :)

Although, now that I think about it, I don't know that I've told you about my recent weight loss efforts. So let me tell you now (I hope you're in the mood for reading a novel). For those who don't know me, I have always been overweight, but I let it get quite out of hand over the last couple years. Pretty miserable if you ask me. So, this year I decided to put a stop to my terrible habits and take care of myself, not just for me, but for Tom as well. Around the same time I was starting my efforts, one of my mom's friends started a Biggest Loser challenge. So, mom and I partnered up and while we didn't win (not even close) we both lost a good deal of weight. Well she ran a second round of the challenge for just individuals, so, mom, Tom, and I are all competing and we are all doing well. All said total, I've lost 27 pounds since January, which is HUGE for me. I plan to continue with this effort until I reach around 150 which is a ways off, but at least i'm heading in the right direction and hopefully I can get close by the wedding. :) So, that is my story :)

Well, I think that is most of it. I do apologize for taking a couple days off and apologize ahead of time for the days off I'll be taking while at Disneyland, but promise to catch you back up upon my return to reality. :)

TTFN,
Amy :)

Feels like a Friday

Isn't it Friday already? I was really kind of hoping it was. Perhaps that is why I have felt in a funk all day. My brain is disappointed that is still not quite Friday. Amazing how the name of a day can have such an impact on my day. At least tomorrow it will be true! But for now, I will appreciate and enjoy what is left of my Thursday and share my not-so-random thoughts with you! 


I wish I could say today was at least productive, but it wasn't. Perhaps this is also due to my brain thinking it was (or at least should have been) Friday. After all, what good is a Friday if not for being unproductive? :D I got called out of a meeting I facilitate to run a report for my not-so-organized boss, but was able to "save the day" which is a good thing I think. After that, I really wasn't much good to anyone for anything. It was like my body and brain both decided I was tired and done for the day. Oh well, at least every day isn't so funky. I will make up for it tomorrow! 


In other news, I got to paint my cake topper so the bride's hair matched mine and changed the colors of the flowers as well as a few other remote details. This is normally not something I would be at all good at, but I think I did alright. Not perfect by any stretch, but it is close enough that it will work. :) I really wanted to finish it tonight since I am meeting with the cake people tomorrow, and I figure having that for them to see will help in the design of the cake.


I'm also getting excited about my upcoming birthday trip to Disneyland! YAY! And I need to go look at the passport and other information to be sure we are not only getting the biggest bang for our buck, but also allowing for the most time to enjoy both parks at our leisure. Disneyland is so much better when you don't have to rush from ride to ride. 


Well, I guess there is no better time than the present and I should hop to it. At least I will be able to say I was productive in one aspect today, and that should enough. 


Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite! 

Wednesdays with the Lanes

For those who know me, you may know that I have a set of "adopted" grandparents that I met in high school, Bob and Audrey Lane. They have no biological children of their own but have a number of other "adopted" children and grandchildren like me. I am very close to both of them (more so than any of my biological grandparents). They have been married just short of 60 years so far and have been quite an inspiration in my life as well as a great guide and picture of how I want to be when I get older, happy and still in love.

Anyway, back to the title. As part of Tom and my regular weekly routine, we see the Lanes twice a week. Once on Sundays after church for lunch at Camille's (for those who haven't been, you should go) and then on Wednesday night for dinner and a movie. Each week we rotate who cooks. Although, I must admit it is really just the men who rotate cooking, both Audrey and I just get to sit back and enjoy, but we do help with dishes after. :)

We have already finished all the Horatio Hornblowers and are now going through the Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea series. I think the "Anne" movies are some of my all-time favorites! I never had the flair and imagination of Anne, but I can even remember as a kid how fun it seemed to be able to float through stories like she does. Alas, I was given a much more logical, practical brain, which has served me quite well. Although, slightly less fun I must say! Definitely a must see for those of you who haven't already!

These Wednesdays make my week almost every week. I think the Lane's are a great model for me and Tom, I do hope we turn out like them 60 years from now. Still madly in love with each other. I count myself blessed to have them in my life and fear the day we lose either one of them. But that day is not yet upon us, so I shall continue to enjoy their company and wisdom. :)

Yours truly,
Cordelia (gotta watch Anne of Green Gables...) ;-)

Relief is here

Wow, well, I certainly did not expect that first floral meeting to go near as smoothly as it did! My mom and I went to the FlowerBar and LOVE the owner! She was patient, sweet, very knowledgeable, and definitely willing to work with what I wanted, in my budget. I don't think it could have gone more smoothly (now looking at invitations with her mom after, that wasn't so awesome). I feel so much better about the flowers now, it really is amazing. We still have one more florist I want to visit, but the Flowerbar people said they'll beat any price. So, we may end up going with them regardless, but we'll see after House of Flowers. My MOH used the House of Flowers and loved them, so I might just change my mind. We will just have to wait and see. :)

Tom was able to join us for the invitation looking and then took me and my mom to California Pizza Kitchen. YUM!! Being on the diet, I had not been in quite some time, and it was definitely quite yummy. After that all three of us headed back to mom's to watch Penelope. The movie was cute, but probably won't make the top 10 list. :) I really do have the best man in the world.

As another side note, I am still learning the ins and outs of blogging and trying to learn the social norms for this online culture. Natalie (she is good, I know), found something but I think she may have sent it to the wrong email so hopefully we can try again tomorrow. I'll be fluent in blog speak before you know it!

I think that is all for now. Thank you and good night!

all at once...I'm in love

Ok lol maybe not all at once, I was more referring to the fact that someone coming on here will see three separate posts at once; but really I wrote these at separate times, but felt the need to put them all up so they don't get lost on another website. So, please forgive :) lol This is the last one for tonight...I promise (well I promise to try).

I never thought flowers would be a difficult think to decide on for my wedding. That of course was when it was all theoretical. Now that it is practical, tangible, I think something completely different. My thought now is more along the lines of "flowers are going to be the toughest part about planning this wedding". Thank goodness the venue already has that taken care of (my parents have a gorgeous backyard). But what about the bouquets and centerpieces and touches that will need to be added to make it nice? And this is of course all before I realized how crazy pricey flowers actually are...goodness! But we'll ignore price for now, let's just focus on the task at hand. Picking flowers. I think this is harder for me because (so far) everything else I've looked at had a finite list, I could see the options before me and then it was just a logical decision tree for which I liked or fit what I wanted and which did not. Flowers, however, have a seemingly ENDLESS list of possibilities. Each flower has a number of variety types, each in a number of colors, so on and so forth....So, how does one pick?

Well, for those that know me, this will come as no great shock, but in order to help myself narrow it down, I created a spreadsheet. My intent was to go through photos on google, floral websites, and wedding websites and list the flowers I liked and those I did not. I had no idea how vast the options were until I started. This method clearly will not suffice! And while I still don't have a better method, I did figure out a few options I seem to like most: deep purple hydrangeas and orchids. Although, I also really like peonies, dahlias, petunias, sweet peas, zinnias, snap dragons, and the list goes on. How do people do this?! I think someone should create a guide. A decision tree if you will. If you are having an out door wedding you should look at this list and then narrow it by color and tada you have your flower choices! If any of you know one that exists, please let me know. :) Until then, I will continue to rack my brain trying to figure out a better method for choosing flowers.

Although, the problem still exists after I choose the flower. How do you arrange them? I guess the bouquets are simple enough (yeah, I say that now, I haven't' actually tried), but what about the centerpieces? I have been looking mind you, as has my mom. My mom is wonderful about helping me find ideas. She has some serious wedding research skills and I am grateful! I still want to know though, is this piece as difficult for everyone else as it is proving to be for me? Or do most people have this all figured out already? It is throwing me into a wedding planning tizzy (maybe I can see why florists charge so much, this could be worth the cost)!

I think this is all so vibrant for me right now as we are meeting our first florist tomorrow afternoon. My wonderful mom and matron of honor will be joining me at the Flower Bar. Hopefully the professional folks there can take what I know and don't know and help me figure out what I want and don't want all within a reasonable price range/budget so I don't have to lose sleep. hehe not that I'm actually losing sleep over it, I'm actually having a quite a lot of fun, but still would prefer resolution. I'm not used to not knowing what I want. That usually isn't a problem for me, and something that will take at least a little getting used to...:-p

Anyway, this has been fun, but I think that is all I have to say about flowers...for the moment at least. I wish you all a good night and please drop me a comment if you have some pointers :)

I know, it already signs them for me...

The gates are open and the floods are flooding! I never realized how different it would be from thinking about planning your wedding (since I was a kid) to actually planning the event. Although, I do still think we have made great progress thus far. We have officially been engaged for 17 days and we have a date, venue, caterer, DJ, colors, and an idea of layout. Whew! And yet so much left to do still!

And who in the world decided they could charge so much for stuff?! $50 for a single rose boutonnière? Quite ridiculous if you ask me! So, what's an uncreative gal like me to do? Learn the DIY day and hope my mom and friends have mercy on me!

I am still rather clueless on how the centerpieces will come together or what kind of flowers to use (and not use), how to arrange tables and chairs, how to put the candy station together and still look cute, and all sorts of other little decorative pieces (the parts that frighten me the most)!

Although, I am certain we will get through this and have a wonderful wedding and life following! With that said, if you have words of wisdom, or are a willing creative extra, I am recruiting hands, eyes, and minds.

The soon-to-be,

Mrs. Amy J. Trammell :)

Lost in a blog world...

Okay, you all win! I am a lemming who is joining in to see what this blog world is all about. I am warning you that at least for awhile this will mostly be a wedding blog more than a me blog, but that seems fair enough since that is a pretty big part of my life at the moment. I will admit that I began a small blog on my wedding website (yet to be released with only one post). But while I was typing the second post it seemed silly to me to put it there because the purpose of the site is information and a blog is more of an editorial. So, I didn't really think people would read it there. And second, what if I found I really enjoyed blogging?! Then all my hard work would be on a site that in a year will be obsolete if not completely gone. That would just be unacceptable. So, here I am, and here I go. :)

As if it isn't obvious by the content here, I am new, so if you have hints/tips/tricks about blogging (Thank you Natalie for the use of Gmail Reader) I am open!