We're back from our dreamlike European honeymoon, and we've been spending the week since getting all settled into our first apartment home. Which is somehow almost as fun as being in Europe. Getting settled is amazing.
Today is Jared's first day doing some job training, and I'm kickin' it at the apartment, unpacking my four thousand boxes (girls have so much stuff) and getting distracted along the way by sparkly nail polishes and long-forgotten hair and makeup products.
You learn lots of things about your spouse when you get married. Like such as . . .
-Jared takes immaculate care of his teeth. Which would explain why they always look amazing. And which makes my personal hygiene routine look wussy. But let's be real--we already knew that.
-He can organize anything in less than 5 minutes. And he's way better at laundry than I am. Score.
-Musts in our kitchen, says him: fruit juice, hint of lime tortilla chips, Log Cabin lite maple syrup, frozen chicken.
(Musts in our kitchen, says me: eggs, protein powder, edamame, flowers.)
-He's an amazing cook. Pre-marriage he could grill up some wicked delicious chicken, but otherwise it was mostly Asian Select meals from the freezer section. Now he be makin me this gourmet tortilla soup which is way better than any soup I have ever made, and I cook all the time. Also, please take this moment to enjoy our jelly-bean-filled piggy bank centerpiece, courtesy of Jared's mother.
(if it's not loading, click the picture and it will enlarge)
Jared and I are having the greatest honeymoon to ever happen, because this is what we have seen whilst in Germany:
-Bare old man bums in the park. Like 500 of them.
-2 dudes making way too much PDA on each others' faces at a high-schooler street party.
-Scary boy with scary dog following us around for a block or two after we walked through said high-schooler street party at midnight.
-A grown man taking off his dress on a cruise down the Rhine as his friends sang German drinking songs in the middle of the day.
-The following sign, as we drove away from our meal at a gas station Burger King:
Also, France is empty now, guys. We went to this huge French city and no one was there. Bastille Day or something. Whatevs. Let's all move to France though--it's so beautiful when you have it to yourself.
And our current hotel in the Swiss Alps is nice until you open the balcony doors and are knocked off your feet by the fresh smell of ultra ripe cow dung. Yum.
It's also nice here because Jared was in charge of choosing the opening song for our Family Home Evening tonight. He chose a song called "PDA."
Nice.
And this is a picture of my shirtless husband in a field of German wheat. It's normal
With 5 days to go, I'll admit I've become something of a crazy person.
Jared's family/extended family threw me the loveliest of bridal showers on Saturday, though.
It was possibly the most beautiful party I've ever attended, with lots of bright colors and delicious finger-foods, a five-star video, and so many kind guests offering well-wishes and nice, useful gifts.
That somehow restored my sanity and perspective, and for one day, all I felt was bliss (and spider fangs in my toe) as I realized that we are so fortunate and even if I don't procure an idea for the world's most fantastic table centerpieces by Saturday, we will be married and all will be spiffy.
Yes, spiffy.
And seven days from now we'll be in Germany! Which realization actually caused my sanity to come crumbling back down because I forgot that that's the sort of thing that one should shop and pack for.
And my brothers are itching for me to leave so they can take over my room, so I guess I need to pack and move all that, too. And finish planning this wedding, I suppose. With hair appointments and temple trips and court appearances and major holiday celebrations on the side.
This is why I spent an hour this evening rolled up in a ball on my floor, nibbling slices of turkey and talking to my fiance over the phone about the trauma that is my inability to find my class notes from a course I took three semesters ago that would allow me to dissect his Arizona dialect. Anything to stall the hang-up, because that would mean it would be time to face real life.
Yes, the crazy person has emerged. At least wedding-week Laura doesn't reflect Bridezilla so much as she does an ultra hyperactively jittery version of herself that uses unnecessarily long words and blabbers on and on about nothing and everything all at the same time.
Hey look, school notebook spotting on the top shelf!
Dialectology awaits me.
Next time, I'll return saner and with smaller words and more pictures.
5 DAYS, PEOPLE!!
Life's so great.
Go buy yourself a snowcone and eat it by yourself on a swing.
Because nothing's better than alone time with a heaping pile of sugar-snow whilst watching children play tag.
You may call me Ramby the Rambunctious Rambler.
Jared's family/extended family threw me the loveliest of bridal showers on Saturday, though.
It was possibly the most beautiful party I've ever attended, with lots of bright colors and delicious finger-foods, a five-star video, and so many kind guests offering well-wishes and nice, useful gifts.
That somehow restored my sanity and perspective, and for one day, all I felt was bliss (and spider fangs in my toe) as I realized that we are so fortunate and even if I don't procure an idea for the world's most fantastic table centerpieces by Saturday, we will be married and all will be spiffy.
Yes, spiffy.
And seven days from now we'll be in Germany! Which realization actually caused my sanity to come crumbling back down because I forgot that that's the sort of thing that one should shop and pack for.
And my brothers are itching for me to leave so they can take over my room, so I guess I need to pack and move all that, too. And finish planning this wedding, I suppose. With hair appointments and temple trips and court appearances and major holiday celebrations on the side.
This is why I spent an hour this evening rolled up in a ball on my floor, nibbling slices of turkey and talking to my fiance over the phone about the trauma that is my inability to find my class notes from a course I took three semesters ago that would allow me to dissect his Arizona dialect. Anything to stall the hang-up, because that would mean it would be time to face real life.
Yes, the crazy person has emerged. At least wedding-week Laura doesn't reflect Bridezilla so much as she does an ultra hyperactively jittery version of herself that uses unnecessarily long words and blabbers on and on about nothing and everything all at the same time.
Hey look, school notebook spotting on the top shelf!
Dialectology awaits me.
Next time, I'll return saner and with smaller words and more pictures.
5 DAYS, PEOPLE!!
Life's so great.
Go buy yourself a snowcone and eat it by yourself on a swing.
Because nothing's better than alone time with a heaping pile of sugar-snow whilst watching children play tag.
You may call me Ramby the Rambunctious Rambler.
Can I make an awful confession that no one wants to hear?
Well, I'm gonna.
Confession: Wedding planning is not very fun. I mean, sometimes it's crazy fun, but it often seems like a lot of deadlines and stress and wanting to please other people. This is probably because I should have been more on-the-ball four months ago when I was wasting my precious class-skipping hours by playing pranks on people instead of choosing napkin colors. Don't do that.
Here are some things I wish I had been told in the pre-engagement/early engagement days:
1. Even if you're not dating anyone, plan your wedding like a half-crazed high-schooler. I always had this attitude of, "Hey, why jump the gun? I'm not the girl whose entire life is centered around Pinterest boards dedicated to my marriage to a man I haven't yet met." However, my favorite engagement planning moments were when I realized that A) I had a picture of a flashy gold wedding cake saved to my desktop that I'd committed myself to at age 18 B) I knew exactly how to go about ordering my flowers, and C) The temple had already been booked three weeks prior to the ring on the fing.
The less you have to think about, the better off you'll be. Because eventually you'll get to this point of, "Oh good, I do not care if my dress catches fire or the groomsmen show up wearing manpris. I could neglect all decorating and all would be good. I have my man. Let's be done with this nonsense."
2. Hit the big stuff first. Venue, photographer, engagement photo-shoot, announcements, dress, etc. On second thought, all the stuff's the big stuff. But for the record, I haven't yet even begun planning out reception decorations, and I get married in eight days. And I do not regret that, because it's one of the few things that can be put off that long.
3. Diet and exercise plan? Good luck with that. It's going to fly out the window.
Engagement Diet: Eat anything placed in front of you with the most sincere gratitude you have ever experienced. All other times, you will get so caught up with researching skirts and blingy shoes that you will forget to eat unless you happen to squeeze in a date night with your honey. But please don't forget to hydrate. MIGRAINE.
Engagement Exercise Plan: 4 hours shopping. 2 hours making lists and hyperventilating. School and work hustle and bustle. Repeat.
These patterns have, for me, been unavoidable and more effective than any others on the market. Although I can't wait to ditch them.
3b. Please oh please don't let the dreaded doctor's appointment scare you. Give it some time. Nausea will subside. Everything will be great.
4. Being engaged is going to become really taxing after a couple months. Not necessarily for "physical reasons" (I feel like that's the only reason I had ever been given to avoid a long engagement), but for mental reasons. Your mind's going to start playing funny games with you. It's going to get annoying to have to plan times to see your man.
Life would be so much more convenient if you could just hang out with him all the time instead of trying to strike this weird balance of giving each other time and space to work on your own things, even though you're pretty much communicating and working together like married people already. And you're going to start noticing things about married people that you never have before. Some good, some scary. But in the end it's all good and you'll wish you could just be getting married already so your brain can stop going four trillion miles per hour.
We really are enjoying these months (days), though.
As busy as things are, life has never been better.
Tonight we licked jawbreakers as we sat on massage chairs in the middle of the mall.
And that was a welcome date night.
And it was severely awesome.
Well, I'm gonna.
Confession: Wedding planning is not very fun. I mean, sometimes it's crazy fun, but it often seems like a lot of deadlines and stress and wanting to please other people. This is probably because I should have been more on-the-ball four months ago when I was wasting my precious class-skipping hours by playing pranks on people instead of choosing napkin colors. Don't do that.
Here are some things I wish I had been told in the pre-engagement/early engagement days:
1. Even if you're not dating anyone, plan your wedding like a half-crazed high-schooler. I always had this attitude of, "Hey, why jump the gun? I'm not the girl whose entire life is centered around Pinterest boards dedicated to my marriage to a man I haven't yet met." However, my favorite engagement planning moments were when I realized that A) I had a picture of a flashy gold wedding cake saved to my desktop that I'd committed myself to at age 18 B) I knew exactly how to go about ordering my flowers, and C) The temple had already been booked three weeks prior to the ring on the fing.
The less you have to think about, the better off you'll be. Because eventually you'll get to this point of, "Oh good, I do not care if my dress catches fire or the groomsmen show up wearing manpris. I could neglect all decorating and all would be good. I have my man. Let's be done with this nonsense."
3. Diet and exercise plan? Good luck with that. It's going to fly out the window.
Engagement Diet: Eat anything placed in front of you with the most sincere gratitude you have ever experienced. All other times, you will get so caught up with researching skirts and blingy shoes that you will forget to eat unless you happen to squeeze in a date night with your honey. But please don't forget to hydrate. MIGRAINE.
Engagement Exercise Plan: 4 hours shopping. 2 hours making lists and hyperventilating. School and work hustle and bustle. Repeat.
These patterns have, for me, been unavoidable and more effective than any others on the market. Although I can't wait to ditch them.
3b. Please oh please don't let the dreaded doctor's appointment scare you. Give it some time. Nausea will subside. Everything will be great.
4. Being engaged is going to become really taxing after a couple months. Not necessarily for "physical reasons" (I feel like that's the only reason I had ever been given to avoid a long engagement), but for mental reasons. Your mind's going to start playing funny games with you. It's going to get annoying to have to plan times to see your man.
Life would be so much more convenient if you could just hang out with him all the time instead of trying to strike this weird balance of giving each other time and space to work on your own things, even though you're pretty much communicating and working together like married people already. And you're going to start noticing things about married people that you never have before. Some good, some scary. But in the end it's all good and you'll wish you could just be getting married already so your brain can stop going four trillion miles per hour.
As busy as things are, life has never been better.
Tonight we licked jawbreakers as we sat on massage chairs in the middle of the mall.
And that was a welcome date night.
And it was severely awesome.
Jared and I took our groomal pictures this week.
We nearly ruined my dress and did ruin his brand new shoes (oops--don't worry, they let him return them) as we tromped through a forest and waded through a river, but they came out amazing.
Our photographer is Kate Benson. She's so talented--probably one of the most in the state. And with the help of my cheesy jokes, she helped me get Jared to smile some amazing smiles that we're going to print out life-size for our reception. Legit, guys. Life. Size. You better come check it out.
As much as I love you all though, this is probably the most you're going to get in the way of sneak peaks. I'm having the Campus Floral florist put together my actual wedding bouquet, but I wanted to take a stab at getting some peonies into my bouquet for the groomals. I knew peonies were going to start shriveling and dying in early June, so I cut them while they were still buds from my grandma's garden and stored them in her fridge for two weeks. And they. Were. Perfection! This is the bouquet I put together the morning of:
Flower obsession. I've got it bad
We nearly ruined my dress and did ruin his brand new shoes (oops--don't worry, they let him return them) as we tromped through a forest and waded through a river, but they came out amazing.
Our photographer is Kate Benson. She's so talented--probably one of the most in the state. And with the help of my cheesy jokes, she helped me get Jared to smile some amazing smiles that we're going to print out life-size for our reception. Legit, guys. Life. Size. You better come check it out.
As much as I love you all though, this is probably the most you're going to get in the way of sneak peaks. I'm having the Campus Floral florist put together my actual wedding bouquet, but I wanted to take a stab at getting some peonies into my bouquet for the groomals. I knew peonies were going to start shriveling and dying in early June, so I cut them while they were still buds from my grandma's garden and stored them in her fridge for two weeks. And they. Were. Perfection! This is the bouquet I put together the morning of:
This girl on the right has been my saint of a roommate since freshman year:
I love both these girls (picture snapped at bridal shower). Sarah has seriously been a God-send for me in college.
I remember freshman year when, even though we'd just met, we'd stay up for hours talking in our darkened room, and we went crazy together in the law library. You may remember other classic moves like the time we camped out on asphalt for frozen yogurt and the time we baked notes into bread as a clever way to ask out boys. Funnest college year ever.
I remember sophomore year when she would hide gifts under my pillow. We had our first RM boyfriends (ooooh) and shared plenty of late-at-night rainy break-up runs to the Marriott Center.
I remember junior year when we loved waking up to the natural light flooding into our little town-house bedroom. All of a sudden we seemed so much more grown up (seemed...), and would talk about big adult scary things as we lived them. For weeks and weeks, Sarah was probably the only one besides my parents who knew I was turning my mission papers in. She was there as I fell in love and fell into an inner conflict. She talked me through it and listened, and brought me sanity (which proves we've come a long way since freshman year). I was there when she worked her tail off and didn't sleep for months so she could get accepted into the BYU Graphic Design Program (HUGE accomplishment). I was there when she somehow worked even more and slept even less and was accepted into the BFA program (even HUGER accomplish--she's a design genius).
And now she's going to Sweden. And I'm getting married.
And it's weird. And it's scary. And I'm feeling nostalgic.
But anyway, the point I was trying to make when I started this post was that even before I was engaged, she told me that even though she wouldn't take my pictures (bummer), she wanted to design my wedding announcement for me. And she did. And it's more beautiful and perfect than I ever hoped for. And it's coming to many of you in the mail right now!
So again, if you want one, I have like 50 extra lying around. Drop me your address! It won't be weird.
I'll post it on here in like a week, after everyone gets their hard copy in the mail.
Teaser: It's got our love story written all over the back, which is somehow something I neglected to write here . . . sorry guys.
16 days. Huh.
Introducing my best friend in the whole wide world, via a classy girls' camp picture:
Surprise! Just kidding, you already know Julie's my BFF. We tight. You tight. We all tight.
Everybody tight wif Julie.
She threw me a bridal shower like a week ago, and it was the greatest thing I've ever experienced.
Do you want to know why?
Fine, I'll tell you why:
It's because the party colors were rainbow and clear.
(I have better pictures but they're not loading!)
Any of my close friends can tell you that I always desired a wedding with a color scheme of rainbow and clear.
However, parentals weren't as keen on the idea of clear dresses with rainbow undertones, hand-chiseled ice sculptures of my face, and a skittles cake, so I had to opt out of that one.
(Actually the parentals probably would have been supportive. I don't know why I didn't just go for it.)
Soooooo, Julie schemed it into the partay! And she and her mom put together the best party with the best clear-and-rainbow decorations, the best breakfast, and the best game featuring 15 minutes of my other best friend in the whole world's face. Now you can see how much of a handsome creep he is. It's long but you'll like it:
p.s. I definitely wanted to become a professional gymnast when I was a small child. And I don't think I've ever done a legit handstand in my life.
...and he knows my first impression of him was that I thought he was a preppy boy. So I don't know what that lie was all about. But now I know he's just a tender-hearted stallion.
...and he knows my first impression of him was that I thought he was a preppy boy. So I don't know what that lie was all about. But now I know he's just a tender-hearted stallion.
What up pawty peepo?????
I'm waking up in 3 hours to drive 3 more hours to go fly-fishing.
My life is cray. Not like cray-cray, but just like straight-up cray.
But it doesn't matter, cuz I feel great!
I ain't got no time fo' dis, but here is possibly like my favorite picture.
Let's all say it on 3:
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .
"The back of yo' head is rah-dic-uh-luss."
I'm waking up in 3 hours to drive 3 more hours to go fly-fishing.
My life is cray. Not like cray-cray, but just like straight-up cray.
But it doesn't matter, cuz I feel great!
I ain't got no time fo' dis, but here is possibly like my favorite picture.
Let's all say it on 3:
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . .
"The back of yo' head is rah-dic-uh-luss."
Happy "We're Finally Sending Out Announcements and Oh Ya We're Getting Married in Twenty-One Days" Day.
Leave your address if you want one, cause we've got 500 of 'em. <---favorite all="" commercial="" favorite--="" of="" time="">
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