{ Life } Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love decorating up the house and planning out my costume. For the last five years (I think!), my brother and I have thrown a Halloween party for our friends that are the highlight of my fall. I always look forward to Halloween baking, cooking, and playing dress up. This year was no different! I was especially excited for Halloween this year -- Last year Carl and I were driving across the country to start our new life together on the 31st! While I was sad to miss the celebrations, I was celebrating my own new favorite holiday -- the anniversary of Carl making the huge leap to move from New York to Minnesota. Halloween just got a little more special! Here are a few of the costumes from the parties over the years I've worn. You'll notice the pirate seems to come out whenever I just feel like wearing a costume! It's my fall back costume for everything!

2006 The first year of the pirate with my college 'roommates' - We all lived in singles, but pretty much together :)

 

2007, the pirate returns for a Halloween comedy club appearance

  

2007, my actual costume for the Halloween party -- Hermione Granger

2008, my dark literature side comes out -- I was Alex DeLarge from a Clockwork Orange

 

 2009, I was originally trying to be Penny from Dr. Horrible's Sing a Long Blog, but ended up being Snow White

2011, the pirate comes out for the Halloween party at work... 

But then I switched into my actual costume for the year -- Kaylee from Firefly.

Carl and me -- Jayne Cobb and Kaylee Frye (my first costume of the night)

Then I became a black cat...

And finally a blue wig because... why not? It's Halloween!

I morphed a lot last night, but it was a great party. I'm already thinking about a costume for next year... Perhaps a Raptor pilot from Battlestar Galactica? If so, I better start on the costume now...

Happy Halloween everyone!

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Five

To bring you up to speed with this last installment, we had left a beautiful tree for a secluded area on our way to the U of M pedestrian bridge thingy, then we were on our way to Stone Arch Bridge, but found another spot we liked better. Finally, we reached the end of the trail: Mill City Park.

The Mill City ruins are pretty cool. From the Mill City website:

Mill City Museum is built into the ruins of the Washburn A Mill, along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The original A Mill, built in 1874, was leveled by a flour dust explosion that claimed 18 lives. That explosion and the resulting fire destroyed much of the riverfront business area, cutting Minneapolis’ milling capacity in half.

So, basically, it exploded and now we have this pretty park area with it's historically preserved remnants. History geekery? Yep. I dig it.

We wandered around and found a spot to set our last section of pictures. Here we go!

We had a great time taking pictures with Kate. It was a long day with a lot of walking and clothes changing (this was another fun spot in which I wiggled into a dress, trying to be subtle, while people walked around on the bridge above us, and Carl changed his pants behind a chunk of the ruins... I think by the end of the day we were pro at it! After all the walking and photos, we rounded out the night with a nice German meal at the Black Forest Inn. It was a rewarding meal after our journey!

Check out Kate's website! She's stellar and we loved working with our friend on these great photos.

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Four

Catching up, we had left a beautiful tree for a secluded area on our way to the U of M pedestrian bridge thingy, and now we were on our way to Stone Arch Bridge.

We stumbled over the end of the Minneapolis Slut Walk and found our way to the main bridge when we spotted something even better... A little wooden bridge surrounded by trees down closer to the Mississippi river.

A search for the entrance ensued! When we found it and made our way to the bridges, Kate snapped these great photos:

 

After we were done here, we had one last stop to make... Stick around for our final set!

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Three

So we started in a tree, found a secluded area, and then headed to our next destination: the U of M pedestrian bridge thingy (like my technical name for it? Can you tell I went to an out of state college?).

It was crowded there that day. It might have been that it was possibly the last nice day in fall, or it might have been all the new students still eager to run around campus on that 'back in school' high. Or it might have been a fire drill... who knows.

I love the Minneapolis skyline, so Kate framed us with the skyline in the picture and caught these fun photos:

We were then headed off to the Minneapolis Stone Arch Bridge, but as we got on the bridge, we saw something that might have been better...

Stick around for part four!

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part Two

After we left our tree, we wandered to our second destination, still on the University campus. On the way, we found a quiet little spot that made for some awesome photos. Cue changing in public because the building next to us was locked... Good thing high school gym locker rooms made me a pro at doing this covertly!

While I was playing around with creating our photo guestbook just for funzies, I made these:

Tee hee! Look at me giggle like a little school girl. Full color! Some color! Pretty fun.

Anyway... After this quick little session, it was time for another quick change and we moved along to our third destination.

Stick around for part three!

{ Photos } Engagement Pictures, Part One

I've had these photos for a week, but I've been too busy to blog them. It's been killing me! I've wanted to post them all over the interwebs since the second I got them, but alas, work has been draining this week, so my evenings have been a routine of me coming home late and passing out early. But here we are -- it's Saturday morning, and I'm revealing to you the first set of our engagement photos!

Kate was a ton of fun to work with. It was relaxing for Carl and I to do our photos with her because we all know each other and are comfortable together. I'll link you all to her work when I'm done posting the e-pics, but I don't want you to skip ahead and ruin the surprise! We're quite happy with how these photos turned out.

We started out our day by heading to the University of Minnesota campus. Unfortunately, on the way there we ran into HUGE road construction that killed almost 45 minutes. Normally the full drive is 25 from home. I'm not patient in traffic, and I was anxious to see where Kate was going to lead us!

We finally got on campus and wandered around til we found this courtyard. We goofed around a bit, and eventually, Kate suggested we climb up this neat, branchy tree. Ever the tomboy, skirt be damned, I climbed that thing and Carl followed. Here are the results!

 I love how boyish Carl looks!

 Kate is clever -- the title of this photo has to be "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" haha!

 Awwwwh...

I think I'm blushing...

This one feels dreamy!!

After a few shots in the tree, we decided it was time to move on. Getting out of the tree was not nearly as graceful as the climb up. It involved me almost falling, and Carl catching me like the man he is... But I'm pretty sure I flashed anyone who walked by. Whoops -- thankfully I wore cute undies...

Stick around for part two!

{ In Love } It's the Little Things

This past week was rough. It was high paced and frustrating. By the end of Monday, I was already looking at my calendar begging it to be Friday as soon as possible.

 Image Source / Laurent Duveau

Work was hectic, I hadn't slept through the night in two weeks, and I was just burning out all over. On Friday, it all culminated. I was cranky, tired, and just wanted to hide under a rock. Carl let me scream and vent to him. He suggested some more Big Bang Theory and a beer to add a high note to the crummy past few days.

While we were getting dinner upstairs, I sighed, "I think I want wine instead of beer. A nice big glass of red wine. Want to join me?"

Carl replied "Not really. I'm not in the mood for it tonight."

"Right - you don't like red wine. Never mind. It's not worth it to open a whole bottle and waste it for just one glass. I'll just have a beer." I said as I filled my plate.

Carl, without pausing said, "No, baby. I'll have a glass with you so it's worth it. If that's what will make you feel better, I'll have a glass with you."

It's the little things. The little bits that make me swoon a little and realize just how much he loves me. Carl has this way of making sure I am always taken care of, even in the tiniest little gesture or comments... And I can't believe how wonderful that makes this girl feel. I'm so thankful for that selfless love he gives me. I only hope he feels that I give him the same love and care in return. Even writing this, I have a big, warm smile on my face.

What are some of the little things your significant other does that make you thankful for them?

{ Life } SQUEEEEEEE!!!

So, normally I have a pretty structured plan as to what and when I am going to post each week. Sometimes little things throw my train off the thought track... But sometimes...

A kinda big thing does.

Kinda. Maybe. Sort of...

Chrissy (MOH) emailed me this afternoon. She had been scrolling through Wedding Bee (my wedding addiction) and happened to notice something. That something was this:

 Image Source / Screen shot from Wedding Bee

Know what that is?? It's me! And Carl!! It's my bio on Wedding Bee, and it was featured as the Bio of the Week! How cool is that? I feel like the little kid whose teacher just gave her a gold star and a cookie.I had been working on updating it to make it shiny... and the work paid off! I even got a special blog badge for being featured. Seriously... I say to thee once again - how cool is that?!

When I left this morning, it wasn't there... this afternoon, I just skimmed my Google Reader feed and I must have just missed it. I checked the time that it was posted and it must have been put up somewhere between my morning website check and my lunchtime newsfeed catch up! I'm so glad Chrissy emailed me!

So now, I intend to have a celebratory beer and relax all night with some Big Bang Theory and snuggles with Carl.

{ Photos } Engagement Photos

Today's the day!

We're heading out to take our engagement photos. The colors are just starting to turn here, the sky is bright blue, the sun is shining... and I'm so excited!

Look what I snagged at Target! Carl thought  it was ridiculously cute. It even caught Dagny's eye.

Still a little miffed at my horrible tan, but that's what Photoshop is for, right? (PS: The Jergens worked wonders... until it all washed off randomly one day.)

Can't wait to head out! I'm off to get my ring cleaned!

{ Attire } Planning for E-Pics

Saturday Carl and I are starting the journey of taking our engagement photos. I think I have put the idea of a Save the Date out of my mind until I have the e-pics back. I haven't even been thinking about what the STDs will look like!

But, what I have been obsessing about is Carl and my clothing for our pictures. That's right... I've become THAT fiance. The one who is planning the outfits and being a little too Type-A... I already said to Carl that I think I am going to have to bring a duffel bag for all the clothes that MIGHT work that day. Oh, and I went to Target and spent a good hour or two in the men's department where I finally bought Carl a bunch of neutral tone, plain colored shirts... Because he has none. And I'm crazy. I promise I won't be this crazy when it comes to having children and wearing matching outfits for family portraits. I promise!

I've been laying out possible options for me... So far we have the dresses:

Then we have the semi-casusal tops:

And last, the super casual, fun tops:

I love my t-rex shirt. And I bought Carl a Mountain Dew shirt. Oh god. I've lost my mind, haven't I?

Did you pick multiple outfits for your e-pics? How did you narrow down your options? Were you happy with your choices, looking back at your photos?