Our Peace Corps Story Part 2

So I know that I kind of left you hanging with my first post about our Peace Corps story. We had just found out that we were nominated to go to Asia. We were nominated to teach English on my part, and Hal was nominated for Water and Sanitaion. The countries that the Peace Corps goes to in it's Asian region are Thailand, Cambodia, China, Phillippines, and Indonesia.

The next step in the process is medical. We had to visit our family practice doctor, get some shots, and since I didn't really have any record of what shots I had already recieved, we were super lucky that our insurance was willing to pay for a Titers test, which tells you what you're immune to for vaccinations, so thankfully I was able to avoid getting ones I had already had. That's actually where this post about shots came from.

We also had to go to the dentist and have them fill out a ton of paperwork. They had to do this awful test where they had to poke each tooth's gum line in three places with this awful painful pokey tool. It's to test if you have receeding gums. I had to have my obgyn fill out a ton of paperwork also. It takes a while for them to complete the medical review, so you have to get it done as soon as possible. We were able to be medically and legally cleared in December. After this we waited for a really long time to hear anything.

We were finally asked to update our resumes and our file moved on to our placement officer. We didn't hear anything for a long time after that. When we finally heard we thought it was real bad. Hal got an e-mail about his construction experience. For his job he tests construction, he doesn't actually construct things. But this was his experience in lieu of a Bachelors Degree. Our placement officer said that even though in Water & Sanitation you don't often actually build anything, you have to have actual construction experience. Hal was really bummed and thought it was because of him we weren't going to go. I reminded him he has a ton of non-commercial construction experience, so we filled out an addendum form and we turned it in. At this point we were really down. We just wanted someone to take a chance on us, and not be super bureaucratic.

This was around the time of the Congress budget crisis. We had our final interview with our Placement Officer and he seemed really nice after we actually got to talk to him. He said that he could clear us for service. YAHOO! but, because of the budget crisis OH NO! he can't offer us an invitation, and had no idea when they would start inviting people again. Oh boo.

We were really bummed about this. We started making plans to perhaps go next year, or maybe not go at all. We decided to not really do anything until we got back from our vacation in California. Then we would start looking at new apartments, new jobs, and perhaps going back to school.

While in California we got an e-mail saying that our Peace Corps status was updated. We got an invitation!! But we were in California. We called our placement officer and he said we would have to wait for our package to come in the mail. So we waited. We came back from California and waited some more. We were dying to hear.

The Thursday after we got home from vacation we recieved our package. We ate dinner together and then sat down and opened it together. We both just looked at each other and said CAMBODIA! JULY!?

Wedding Wednesday - The Colors

Back for another rousing rendition of Wedding Wednesday. This is pretty exciting since my friend is getting married in 2 days and I get to be in her wedding. This week is all about the colors!

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

The main colors that I used for my wedding were red and white and poka dots, but I also used ivory and black.

I knew from the start what my flowers were going to be. I have loved Calla Lilies for as long as I can remember. I had seen in a magazine a picture of a bouquet wrapped with big leaves instead of ribbon. I really didn't want the ugly ribbon in my bouquet, so I went with giant calla lillies for me and my bridesmaids, and then a rolled red rose petal, which actually doesn't really look like it sounds, at least not to me anyway.

above photos by Duston Todd

below photos by Amy Hansen

I thew in one little splash of yellow to honor my mother who was there in spirit. It turned out so great to use that bright red because even though you never know what Utah weather is going to be like in September, the weather was just perfect, everything was still so vibrant and beautiful.

Our Peace Corps Story Part 1

Let me start this by saying that Hal and I have found out finally what is going to happen with the Peace Corps, whether we are going to serve, or not join at all. But, I'm not going to tell you that just yet. I want you guys to go on the journey with us. So that when I tell you the end result, you can feel how we were feeling. The application process of the Peace Corps is very difficult, and it seriously has been a roller coaster ride over the past year since we applied. So here is our Peace Corps Story.

Hal and I decided that we really wanted to do something service oriented, and we wanted to do it before we had children. We just wanted to go away and serve people, and have an adventure before starting a family . We looked at a few different organizations, but we didn't want to loose money while we served, so we looked for a service organization that would at least pay for us to live while we served. I'm sure there are more than just the Peace Corps that pay for your cost of living, but it's the one that we decided on. We were back and forth for a while, because well, Hal is still in school and it's a 27 month commitment. 27 months is a long time, but they really invest a lot in their volunteers, so of course they want to get their moneys worth.

We decided to start the application process. Their application is the most thorough thing that I have ever filled out. They ask for everything. Even everything medical. You have to write two essays, and have 3 people fill out recommendations for you. Hal and I lucked out, we finished our application a few days before the April 1st deadline, we went to submit our application, and realized oh crap, recommendations. We didn't realize they had to be filled out before you application can be submitted. You fill out their name and e-mail address, and they have to go to a website and fill out a whole lot of information about you. You need a recommendation from a boss, a friend that you've known for more than a year, and a volunteer leader. And we had like umm, 2 days for them to do this. We hopped on our phones and were so lucky that we had people who rallied for us. Seriously we had 6 people who last minute filled out all of this information for us. We were so lucky that people were so kind and willing to do all of that, and amazingly, our application was sent in on time.

Soon after we heard from our fabulous recruiter Nick Hake. In the beginning we weren't sure what to think, but he turned out being so great! We were waiting to hear about the next round of nominations that were coming up in May or June. At this point we had the craziest interview I've ever done. It seriously was hours long. I talked on the phone with Nick for I think an hour and a half, and then Hal came to my work and met up with me, and we had a 45 minute couples interview with him, and then Hal had his hour and a half interview. They asked you so many questions like "Can you think of a time where you had rules unfairly placed upon you, and how did you react" Things like that. Like you had to come up with the answers on the spot. And they're typing up everything that you're saying. Let's just say it was intense.

Now here's the problem with Hal and I. We are married. And it's a lot harder to serve in the Peace Corps if you're married. Actually, the Peace Corps is really competitive right now, so it's hard for anyone to serve. When they have an opening for a volunteer in a certain place, there is a committee that looks at what the opening is for (teaching English, health awareness, water and sanitation, HIV awareness etc) and then they look at everyone who has been nominated, and pick the most qualified candidate for that position. So in our case, we have to wait for two spots to open up in the same village, with our exact skill sets. See why it's harder for couples to serve?

The second problem for us, is that Hal doesn't have his Bachelors Degree yet. You have to have a Bachelors Degree to serve in the Peace Corps, unless you have some serious experience. Luckily, Hal has a ton of construction experience, so we were banking on that.

In June we heard back that we didn't receive a nomination for that round. The next round wasn't until September. We were bummed. At this point we didn't really like our recruiter, mainly because we felt like he didn't like us. Or really, because he didn't give us a nomination. Right after we found out we didn't get the nomination we were invited to a dinner our recruiter was hosting where lots of past volunteers, or hopefuls like ourselves get to meet, eat, and talk. I didn't want to go. I was seriously bummed. It was called a nomination party and we didn't get a nomination. But we went.(if you're in the application process and are invited to one of these, go! They are so informative and helpful. We've been to a few and loved all of them.)

And it was amazing. We heard so many cool stories. We met another potential volunteer who only had one arm. You would think that would be his medical problem of why he couldn't go when he was supposed to, but no, it was a problem with his eyes. It was nice to talk to someone else who was just waiting to hear and see if they were going to go. It was so nice to talk to people who had served in so many different places.

As we were leaving our recruiter told us that if I could pass a Spanish test, he thought he had a place for us. Oh man, right then we started liking him a lot more. Out of the 3 options I had, it seemed like taking the CLEP was my best bet. Why Spanish you may be wondering. It's because Hal is fluent in Spanish, and they don't send couples where one knows the language and the other doesn't. I blogged a few times about the CLEP, you might remember, here, here or here. After months of studying and brushing up on my Spanish I took the CLEP. I took it the day before we left to celebrate our 2 year anniversary, because I just wanted to be able to relax.

Some of you may remember, that I didn't pass. I needed a score of 50, and I received a score of 46. Yes, I know, I was so close. I felt so proud of myself that I didn't cry. I drove home, and Hal got home right as I was getting on the computer because I had an e-mail from the Peace Corps saying my account was updated. I thought I had e-mailed my score to our recruiter, but apparently I sent it to Hal on accident instead. So when he came in the house I was about to fall apart. I was logging into the computer and seriously as I was about to melt, I looked at our updated status and saw. You were nominated on September 17, 2011. WHAT?! Our amazing recruiter nominated us before he even found out the results from my test. It is so amazing to finally feel like someone was willing to take a chance on us.

We had to wait almost a week to find out where we were nominated to, because our recruiter was out of town. I remember exactly where I was when I got the call. I was standing in DownEast, at the Gateway Mall waiting for my friend to try on a shirt. Hal called me, both of us had missed the call, but he checked his voicemail first. I just screamed out ASIA in the middle of the store. Then my friend started screeching from the dressing room ASIA?

Please stick around for Part 2.

California - In Sacramento

Alright, here is my last post about California!

In Sacramento we found some cool things to do. I love animals so went to the Sacramento Zoo. It was a bad day to go, because the pollen was out in full force. Hal and his brother were both dying he whole time because of their allergies.

I love zoos. Almost every time we go on vacation we go to the Zoo. I did not really like Sacramento Zoo. Mainly because it was really small, and the tickets were expensive. I did like that they had wild calla lilies growing in the zoo. The best part of the zoo? On the walk back to the car we found this amazing little "rock garden" from the street it just looks like a tiny random little garden with a small trail through it. Once you start going through it you realize it's huge, and it's amazing. There were so many plants that I had never seen before growing in there, and it's so well kept. The smells were amazing and the sights were beautiful. So, don't go to the zoo, drive like you're going to the zoo, but go to this garden instead.

 

 After the rock garden and the zoo Beck took us for a drive around some really cool neighborhoods in Sacramento. Then he was so kind, and took us out for some yummy frozen yogurt (they had a flavor called taro which tasted like a buttered popcorn jelly belly). We ate our yummy yogurt while we walked around this beautiful rose garden. They had so many varieties of roses in so many colors. Don't ask why on a day of really bad pollen we went to two different gardens. I'm pretty sure they both were sneezing every few minutes.

 After the rose garden Beck took us to Old Sac. SO cool. Seriously, it looks like it's the set of an old western movie with lots of saloons. It's right along the American river. We walked down to the river and walked over to this cool old river boat that is permanently docked on the river. It's a hotel/restaurant. How cool is that? There's a smaller one next to it that still goes up and down the river.

 

This is Hal's grandpa. We call him CD. Don't tell him we call him that though. It's more of a joke, although he does like to be called CD. He's getting older now, he's almost 90, we are afraid that he won't be alive by the time that we have children. He has the most amazing voice and laugh of anyone I've ever met. So I bought a recordable storybook and brought it with us. He recorded Goodnight Moon for us. It was one of my favorite when I was little. Hal asked him if he had his trusty swiss army knife on him, so he could open the thing and save the recording. After he used it, CD did something amazing. He gave Hal his swiss army knife. You know how some people are known for things? CD is known for his blue jump suits, his laugh, and always having his swiss army knife. We thought we had left it at Beck's house and he said he would mail it. We were wrong. Airport security found it in the mad mess that was our suitcase stuffed to the rafters. Oops. I thought we were going to get tased or something, but we didn't.

CDs a funny guy. He has a crush on me. I don't know what it is about old men and me. At church every week an old guy comes up and shakes my hand and says his day has been made. He told me he likes my husband's taste in women, but he questions my taste in men. Hal's grandpa has told me this exact thing before. CD likes to make flirty comments at me all of the time. In fact, the whole reason we went to California was to go to Hal's cousin's wedding. When we got there and found CD he told me I was the prettiest girl there...and we were at his granddaughter's wedding. Hehe, he's so cute.

So the wedding, the whole reason we went to California. Hal's cousin married a man who is Sikh, and she is Catholic, so they had two different wedding receptions. Hal and I weren't able to go to the Sikh ceremony, but I heard it was really cool. Hal's dad was able to be apart of the ceremony! That's what this picture is.

After the Sikh ceremony they had a Catholic ceremony by the most amazing retired Irish priest. Their ceremony and reception was at the Trentadue Winery in Gyserville, CA. We had the most amazing drive through Napa and Sonoma up into Gyserville. It was literally wineries the entire way. It was beautiful. The Trentadue Winery was also just stunning. 

 

They served the most amazing Indian food the entire night. So good! And oh man, once they started playing Indian music, everyone was out on that dance floor. Their wedding was a lot of fun, and I was able to meet a lot of Hal's family that I had never met before.

We had so much fun in California. Next trip? Hopefully back to California to see the redwoods!

Wedding Wednesday: Engagements/Bridal Pictures

Yesterday I shared some of the amazing pictures of one of my favorite photographers, Duston Todd. Today you get to see even more of his amazing work, because well, he took my engagements and my bridals. Oh man, I wish that there were two numbers for this because there are so many amazing picture that he took that I want to share with all of you. But I'll limit myself.

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

First I'll start with a few engagements:

And a few of my favorite bridals:

Something amazing about Duston Todd that I forgot to mention is that he works only with film. So I have literally every picture that he took, and so he gets all of these with one shot. Going through all of these again made me fall in love with them all over again.

Utah Wedding Photographer: Duston Todd

I have been meaning to do this post forever! Here is the last of my favorite Utah Wedding Photographer posts, and I definitely saved one of the best for last! Of course I have to think that he's the best, I picked him to photograph my own wedding, and I must say that he did an absolutely fabulous job! Lots of people told me that I should keep looking at photographers, and would suggest someone they knew who would do it for cheaper. But my photography was something I wasn't willing to compromise on. That's all that you have to look back on after that day and I wanted to pick a photographer that I knew would be able to capture my wedding day the way I wanted it captured. I looked at SO many photographers before I decided on the amazing Duston Todd.

I have worked with him a little bit since my wedding, if you remember, he took my picture for the Sleep Portraits he was doing.

Now I don't want to spoil too much, because tomorrow is Wedding Wednesday, and it's engagements/bridal time, so I have lots more Duston Todd pictures to show, but I wanted to showcase him before I posted those pictures, because he definitely deserves a whole post dedicated to his work. I'll just post a few favorites from my wedding day, but seriously, go visit his website, he has some amazing work posted on there. Also, how I fell in love with him, was his old blog which he has a ton of work posted on.

 

I really felt like he captured the feel of my wedding exactly. In this last picture, he was so nice. Our time was up with him, but it started raining, and I wanted more than anything to dance in the rain on my wedding day, so Hal and I just started practicing our wedding dance in the rain, and he stopped leaving and started taking these pictures. I'm so glad that I have pictures of us dancing in the rain.

He is starting to do more commercial work, which you can see on his new blog (which is different from the other blog link I posted). I am extremely happy I didn't let anyone talk me out of  working with Duston. Both Hal and I couldn't be happier with the way our pictures turned out. I loved them so much we had an album made by Duston, which we are pretty much in love with and will show to anyone who will sit at our house long enough for us to pull it out. I couldn't give a better recommendation than Duston, so go see for yourself, go visit his website.

Day trips from Sacramento

On our trip to California, we stayed in Sacramento. Hal's brother lives there. They were so accommodating, and seriously decked out their house just for our stay. It was wonderful.

While we were there, we did quite a few day trips outside of Sacramento.

On one of the days we went to see Hal's grandmother's grave. I believe it's just outside of Dixon, in their veteran's cemetery. I've never seen a veteran's cemetery before, so it was really cool to see all of the wars that the different people fought in. His grandmother was a nurse in WWII.

I only met his grandmother once before she passed away. It was only a few months before she died, and she had very advanced Alzheimers, as well as diabetes, but it was so nice that she told me she loved my name and always wished she could name one of her daughters Samantha Jane. Kind of crazy that Hal just happened to marry a Samantha Jane. It's been 3 years since she died, and it's so sweet to see how much his grandfather still misses her.

After visiting the cemetery, we headed to Fairfield to visit the Jelly Belly Factory!

It was interesting to see all of the machines they use and how they make it. And they give you Jelly Bellys as you watch the little videos about their history and how things are made. The best part? The little shop that you can go to after the tour. The Jelly Bellys are really cheap, AND you can buy a huge bag of "belly flops" for I think it was $9...but if you buy 3 bags you get 3 free...Hal and I were buying one, and his brother Beck was already buying one, so we ended 12 pounds of Jelly Bellys. Can you believe that? By the time we left California we had gone through almost 2 bags and were so sick of them! Hal and Beck would get angry every time they saw a big chunk of tutti fruity. Apparently that is the worst flavor, and apparently as belly flops, they are always stuck together.

On Sunday Hal and I took a little trip by ourselves. We drove Beck's partner's car: a mini cooper. That thing was like a space ship! We took a little trip to Muir Woods. Once we got there though, it was crazy crowded. There was no where to park anywhere near the entrance, so we skipped Muir Woods and headed for Muir Beach.

via

It seemed like it was the first really warm Sunday of the spring, and there were a lot of people out. Hal and I sat up against a log, ate our lunch that we had bought at the farmer's market that morning (Sacramento has amazing farmer's markets) and people watched. I love people watching, and this was a really good place to do just that! It was so nice to soak up the sun in sunny warm California while it was snowing here in Utah. 

One more thing: check out Beck's cat, this thing is hilarious.

His name is Dexter Wheezington and he is a flat faced cat! He woke us up one morning, by coming in the room and just sniffing, because his sniffing is so loud. If you want entertainment just from looking at a cat, get yourself one of these flat faced, tiny nosed cats.

Wedding Wednesday - The ring

Alright, I admit it, I haven't been the best blogger lately. Hal and I got some big news within the last week, so that's kept us pretty darn busy. But don't worry, I'll be sure to blog about it soon enough. But for today, I'll be a good blogger and post! Today is all about THE RING

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

Ok, so maybe I had some Lord of the Rings quotes pop into my head at the thought of THE RING. But this post isn't about that. This post is about my ring, well, and Hal's ring too.

I love my ring, I wouldn't trade it for any other ring. It's exactly what I wanted. I wanted a vintage style ring, with the center diamond, and then all of the little diamonds around it. I was really bummed when right before I got engaged this 1920s style ring came into style. I had wanted it for years, and now everyone has a 1920s style ring. But there's one thing that my ring has that not one other ring has. My husband had my ring made. We didn't go ring shopping together. We didn't go to a million jewelry stores so I could show him what I liked. I told him I wanted the 1920s style, and pretty much that was that.

Ever heard of the Tiffany's ring called Legacy? It's almost exactly what my ring looks like.
What's awesome about having my ring made? Well, my husband could tell them to do whatever he wanted. So he took the picture of that Tiffany's ring and changed what he didn't like. So the underneath part of my ring looks different from that Legacy ring. What's also cool? Normal stores won't make center diamonds flush with the diamonds that surround it. I love that my 1920s ring is one of the only ones that has the diamond flush, which is how they used to do it back then.

The other nice thing about having my ring made? We did it from this amazing place, I think you have to have a referral to buy a ring from there, because they do wholesale prices. We were so lucky and paid less than half of what my ring is appraised for. So...if you're in the market for a ring, and live in Utah, contact me and we can give you a referral!

I think I've counted how many diamonds are in my ring a million times, and I always forget. There are a lot of really small diamonds on my ring, so it's easy to forget. It's white gold, and I haven't taken it in to get plated since we got married, but it's stayed very silver so far! I had 2 small diamonds fall out right before we got married, but the place we got my ring was super nice and replaced them for free!

I don't have a wedding band. I've thought about it, but since my ring has diamonds underneath, I decided against it, because those are pretty and I didn't want to cover them up, and really, I like the way my ring looks without an extra band.

 This was my ring tied to the calla lily before it made it's way onto my finger.

Hal's ring is a whole other story for a different post. His ring is tungsten and is brushed in the middle and has beveled edges that are shiny, and he picked it out himself. For that we did do a lot of ring shopping, since he knew what he wanted, and after looking at a million places we finally found this one.

With the amount that I wrote about Hal's ring v.s mine, you would think that my ring has more of a story than his, but just wait until I post about why Hal has two wedding rings.

What to do in San Francisco with less than 24 hours

My trip to California was SO much fun. It felt like we did a crazy amount of things that we were there for like 2 weeks instead of just a few days. Northern California is so much fun! We flew into Oakland airport even though we were staying in Sacramento, but it was way cheaper to fly into Oakland, and since we had to be at the airport at like 5:30 am, the only thing that could make us feel better was spending the day in San Fransisco.

Here is my guide on what to do when you have less than 24 hours in San Fransisco.

Start out in the morning with a breakfast at Mama's.

OMG. Mama's is amazing. It was possibly the best place that we ate, on the whole trip. They make everything there in their little restaurant, including their jam. Everyone loved what they ordered, but everyone loved what Hal and I ordered the most. Hal ordered the Northern, an olemette, and I ordered the Pan Dore, a french toast with baguette and lots and lots of butter. We all loved it so much that we asked how they made it and recreated it the next morning. Delicious.

After that we walked down to the church just down the street where my father in law's sisters were married. I couldn't see most of the outside because it was under construction, but inside it was amazing. It was so beautiful. All I got was a picture of the doorway, but even that was pretty.

After the church we went to see Lombard street. I had never heard of this street before, but apparently other people had, because it was the most touristy area that we went to that day. If you don't know what it is, it's a street on a hill that is too steep to just drive down, so they had to make the road curvy. The houses along this street were super fancy!

After that we drove around looking at painted ladies..

Alamo Square was one of my favorite places! It was a beautiful big park, and on half of the park is a dog park. Yay, I love doggies, but they didn't pay attention to me, so I was bummed. Around this area of town there are so many painted lady style houses! Really, they're all over San Fran. My Father in Law brought up a good point, San Fransisco pretty much burned to the ground 100 years ago, which allowed them to rebuild the city in this way, and to have the city very victorian like this. Although they lost, I'm sure some amazing buildings, it's cool that the city has the feel that all of these houses create.

After this we went right back by Mama's, to China Town. So I would suggest to go to Alamo Square after China Town. China Town wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. I don't really know what I was expecting, but Hal won't stop making jokes about the live turtles that we saw flailing on their backs awaiting their doom. I had turtles for years, ok! It's not funny. We were in the non-touristy, market part of China Town where we didn't see a single white person. The grocery shops were cool and filled with so much fresh produce. My mother in law said we had to see the gate, the entry way into China Town. We saw a lot of China Town walking around trying to find the gate.

Suggestion: if you see a Chinese Bakery...Don't go in there. Don't do it. Chinese + Bakery = :(   (anyone see that on 30 Rock?) Oh man, they had the most disgusting "moon pie" ever, and the most disgusting sugar cookie ever. The only thing that was ok was the boba tea, but yeah...not good.

We left China Town to go shopping. We only went to a few stores in a short amount of time, but it was a very successful trip, thanks to Zara, Aldo, and H&M.

By this point we were all starving again, so my brother in law who goes into the city a lot took us to a few places in the Haight Ashbury area. We chose Ploy II, a Thai restaurant. If you didn't have someone tell you about this place you would never find it. It's just a blue door sandwiched in-between shops. It's a really cool place though. It's an old flat that they have turned into a restaurant and the people who run it are adorable. But oh man, the food was delicious!! So if you're going down Haight Street, look for this:

After this we walked down to the edge of the Golden Gate Park. Which holy cow, I had no idea that it was so big! It's huge. We drove along the outskirts of it to find the house where my father in law grew up (he grew up in San Fran, how cool is that?!) The park was just beautiful.

The Haight Ashbury area is the place to people watch. There are a crazy amount of boutiques and vintage shops and really just a crazy huge amount of people. I was pretty excited because we saw 3 of the puppies that we want while walking around!

And this was the end of our less than 24 hours in San Fransisco. It was SO much fun. We were able to see and do so much. It was fun even to just drive around the city with my mouth open staring. It was so different from our last trip there. San Fransisco is one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. Seriously, go there on your vacation!

Wedding Wednesday - The Proposal

Sorry I have been kind of MIA for a week. I was in California!! Yay, my trip was so lovely, I'll be sure to blog about it soon, but for now, it's Wedding Wednesday, and this week is all about the proposal

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

After much searching I finally found the video that was taken of when we got engaged. My friend thought she was taking pictures, but she was actually taking video, so they aren't the best quality, but they're still treasured to me.

So here is the story of my proposal. It's nothing exciting or outrageous, but it's sweet and it's mine. Hal's grandmother had just died and he was leaving for San Fransisco on Saturday morning. I told him he better propose to me before leaving me for a week. And he did. I got engaged on a Friday. My friend, Monica and I were helping, oddly enough, to set up a wedding. A couple was getting married, my sister and I set them up, it was her husband's cousin, and my neighbor who were getting married and my friend Monica was their wedding planner. I took that day off of work, and helped set up for the wedding. We went to get a snow cone in our runnings around, and I remember telling her that I thought Hal was going to propose to me that night, but I had no idea when he was going to do it. Funnily enough, right after that Monica got the call, to be there tonight or miss out because Hal was going to propose. I then went and bought a new dress, because I wanted to have a pretty dress, just in case he did propose.

That night I had planned a big dinner with all of my close friends. I love planning big fancy dinners with my friends, so I was really excited about this. This is why I was so confused, because I didn't know when he was going to do it, since we had the reception to go to, and then the dinner. When he met me at the reception he was going crazy. That is the most nervous I have ever seen Hal, ever, even to this day.

After the reception we went to dinner with all of our friends. I literally didn't suspect a thing. I was bummed that two of our friends had ditched out, and even more bummed later when I found out that they new I was getting engaged and still didn't come. How lame is that? Ok, back to the awesomeness of the story. We were all just chatting and playing with my friend's baby and ordered our food. Looking back on this, I can't believe I didn't suspect anything. This picture was taken literally seconds before he proposed.

Well, they brought out everyone's food except for mine. She apologized for it not being ready, but I didn't care, so I sat there patiently waiting. I really can't believe I didn't see it coming, or see it on anyone's face as the waitress brought out a giant calla lily (my favorite flower) with red and white poka dotted ribbon (which I was using as my wedding colors) tied around it, and at the very top, tied in a bow was my ring.

I'm pretty sure that my eyes were probably about to bug out of my face at this point. I was not suspecting a thing! Then Hal got down on one knee, and I literally don't remember a word that he said except for "Will You Marry Me?" Apparently it was so loud in there that he didn't even hear my response, he just saw me shaking my head. He was still shaking so bad, he couldn't untie the ribbon to get the ring off, so I had to untie it, and then give him to put on my finger. After that I had so many butterflies in my tummy that I couldn't eat any of my dinner.

So Backstory that I found out after the engagement: Hal had driven down to my friend's in law's house and left the ring in the care of my good friend who was supposed to bring it to the restaurant and talk to the waitress. Her and another good friend worked together to find the perfect ribbon and get everything ready. It's so nice that we had so many people who love us and wanted to help us start our life together.

Ok, here are the videos of that night. I don't think there is any sound on them, but they're still cute.