Getting closer...

So it's been a busy few weeks...

Brett graduated last weekend!! :)

With honors I might add :)

His parents came down on Friday night and stayed till Sunday... we had a cook out on Saturday evening and got to hang out with everyone. It's so weird to think about people starting to move away and begin their own lives. I can honestly say that I don't miss much about high school... but I really will miss college. We've had lots of good times... lots of late nights... so many good memories...

I also had my lingerie shower which was really fun... I don't have any pictures of that yet because I didn't take any! I'm just counting on stealing them from everyone else. I got some really cute stuff though... now I just need to get myself a husband :)

So according to my facebook countdown we're only 78 days away from the wedding. That kind of sounds like a lot until you say 78 days = 11 weeks. And 11 weeks doesn't sound like much at all. I've made some good progress on little details though. I've figured out how I want to make the programs so now we just have to crank them out. Brett is in Atlantic City with his guys right now but when they get back we'll have a program assembly line. I bought my flowergirl basket and my shoes, scheduled our engagement pictures for next week. I'm really excited about those... our photographers are really creative so I'm excited to see what we end up doing. I'll go next week to get measured for my dress hem-job. I've given the final approval on the invitations, so those should be here in the next week or so. Everything is coming together!

My family shower will be on May 25th... my ringbearer's mom and grandmother are putting on a tea party with all of their china and silver and everything. I'm excited to see how it all turns out :)

The Great Wolf Lodge trip was really fun. We went to Busch Gardens one day and then spent the next day at the Lodge. Aaand we ate at Uno's which is one of my newer favorite restaurants. The water park has different types of slides and pools for every age group. Watch the video of my favorite slide...

Last night I stayed up and read Macel Falwell's book about Jerry. It was actually really interesting to see her perspective on so many of their family's life events. I think my favorite story was about how she has always been scared of thunderstorms. She said that during their entire marriage, anytime it started to thunder or look like a storm was coming, Dr. Falwell would excuse himself from whatever meeting he was in at the time and come home to be with her. I don't care what you think about him... Can we all say "awww"?

I'm watching Ace of Cakes on Food Network right now... one of my late night guilty pleasures. Their shop is in Baltimore so I wanted to have them do our wedding cake but they were already completely booked for our whole week.

Okay well it's my dinner time so I'm off to raid the kitchen...

Trying to stay awake.

I've had five glorious days off of work, but it's back to the real world tomorrow. We had a really fun weekend and Brett didn't have any homework so we were able to spend a lot of time together. Saturday was Megan's birthday cook-out so we drove out to her new house and visited for awhile. Nate had a friend in town from Atlanta, so we spent the evening with them... ate dinner at Schmokies, watched a ridiculously bad movie, and played a rather competitive game of Scene-It. Today we went to church and then had another pre-marital counseling session with Mr. Hyland. Ate a late lunch at O'Charleys, fell asleep on the couch for awhile, and then just relaxed with my sweetie. I'm getting sleepy... but I'm trying to stay awake to get my schedule changed back around for work.

This week will be busy but we've got alot of good stuff going on...

My wedding dress is supposed to come in! I'm really excited to try it on again...

Brett's intramural soccer team is undefeated so far and playoffs start this week...

I have an appointment on Friday for wedding hair practice...

Jonno is coming into town this weekend...

My lingerie shower is on Friday night!

Sunday I'm going to Williamsburg with a girl from work and her daughter... we're going to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge for two nights.

So it's looking like a good week.

I'm sleepy. And hungry. I think I'll go take care of both of those situations : )

Our backyard is fantastic...

Brettski and I had quite an adventurous day... but before I talk about it, I have to give a shout out to the case of pink eye that made it all possible.


Tuesday afternoon when I woke up my right eye felt kind of funny. By Wednesday morning I was sitting at the eye doctor getting eye drops for pink eye... conjunctivitis if you will. "Is this particular case contagious?" "Oh yes absolutely" says the doctor...


Translation = Sarah gets the next two nights of work off. The hospital doesn't want you spreading it around...


So because of these extra days off, I was able to turn my sleep schedule around for a few days and actually see the sunlight! Which brings us to today....


Brett was inducted into the Business Honor Society today... I forget what the Greek letters are. But anyways he was only 1 of 17 people in his entire business senior class to be chosen. It requires excellent academics, but is also based off of faculty nominations. I am so proud of his hard work and good grades... but I'm even more proud of his character and testimony. He definitely deserves this honor and I was so excited for him to be recognized in such a special way...


The weather today was amazing... a summer tease. It was in the upper 80's all afternoon, but the wind was blowing some so it wasn't too hot. Perfect...


So after Brett's induction ceremony, he and I decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and go exploring. We found the creek that feeds the pond behind our house... then we hiked through the woods and water just to see where we would end up. I felt like we were 10 years old again... we had a really good time.


We stopped and got our first snowcones of the year which were de-licious.


Then we decided that we were going to go buy rollerblades. We've been talking about this all week because we thought they would be fun to use around the pond... so we went to Dick's and bought some. Brett wasn't crazy about his so we drove across town to Play It Again Sports to look for some more. They didn't have rollerblades but they did have discs for frisbee golf... something else we've been wanting to try. So 45 minutes later, we left with two sets of drivers, mid-range discs, and putters for frisbee golf.


We came back home to try out the rollerblades... I had bought some that were supposed to be for kids because my foot is small and they were cheaper. I thought I was getting a great deal... turns out they are also SLOWER. I was working my arse off just to keep up with Brett... they reminded me of those little Fisher Price beginner skates that make the terrible clicking sound. Not quite that slow... but pretty slow. So anyways... we went back to Dick's and exchanged them for a real grown up pair. The guy undercharged me by $10... I realized it and felt bad because I didn't want the kid to get in trouble... so I tried to go back inside and make it right. He said thanks for the honesty but don't worry about it. Sweet.


Then we went to Sonic for drinks and rented Lars & the Real Girl. Very random movie but I would definitely recommend it. Had a Totino's for dinner. Triple pepperoni. Yum.


So a fun day all around... we seriously have such a good time together :)


Now it's 4 a.m. and I still need to do my little exercise routine. I'm tired but I skipped yesterday so I really need to do it tonight... Aaand then the pillow is calling my name.


P.S. My neighbor started crying today because her dog wouldn't stop barking. It was just awkward.

duck. duck. goose.

We have a pond behind our house with ducks and a flock of geese living in it. Are groups of geese called flocks? I'm not sure but it sounds reasonable. Anyways one of them had babies this week so there are four little fluffy balls floating around in the pond now. And it makes me happy.

It's getting close to bridal shower time and I'm excited. In the past four years almost all of my good friends have gotten married... which means I've become an expert bridesmaid. I've loved being behind the scenes of everyone's big day, and it's given me lots of ideas for my own wedding. Aaand now it's my turn! Our wedding party is full of the most amazing people... I'm thankful to be surrounded by them and all of our family for that weekend.

I've rededicated myself to Pilates. It's definitely my favorite workout program... and I know if I'm faithful between now and the wedding I will definitely see results. I'm not worried about losing any weight... I just want to tone up for bathing suit/wedding season. And I also want to run around the pond when I get home from work every few days... I've started working 8 hour shifts instead of 12, so I don't feel as much like I want to die when I get home in the mornings. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous... and my eating habits aren't the best. People in my family seem to die of heart attacks rather often, and I'd like to be around to actually enjoy my new marriage... so some sort of cardiac activity seems like a good idea. I've found that exercising makes me feel like eating better... and eating better makes me feel more like exercising... it's a beautiful circle if I can just get it started. Our beach trip in 6 weeks is good motivation.

In other news...

Brettski is graduating in less than a month! I'm so proud of him... his class schedule this year has been really tough.

I think I'm meeting with Linwood tomorrow to pick out our wedding music so that should be fun.

Alley ate duck poop on her walk today. Again. So she's probably going to get sick. Again.

I made baked beans tonight using one of my co-workers recipes... let's just say it involves almost a whole box of brown sugar. And them beans was good.

Brett left me a card on my steering wheel tonight that I found on my way to work... and it was the best :)

That's all for now kids.

Dear blog, I still love you.

My "blog archive" is somewhat of a joke. I posted in July, August (3 times!!), October, November, and January. And now April. If I keep it up, I might squeeze in at least 12 entries this year. My little sister Hannah recently jumped on the blog wagon, so I've been inspired to try again... with pictures and everything!

I promised to write down engagement details, so here we are 5 months later...

Brett and I were celebrating our 3 year dating anniversary... so Saturday night he took me to North Carolina to Macaroni Grill which is my favorite restaurant ever... (all of this was a surprise by the way....)

The next morning we woke up super early and went for a hot air balloon ride! It was such a fun surprise... I had always talked about how I would like to do that one day. The weather was great... it's so quiet when you're up there. Virginia really is beautiful in the fall...

They let us get inside the balloon while it was blowing up...

I thought maybe he would propose on the balloon but he didn't... so we had breakfast and drove back to my house. By this point I had pretty much given up on the whole proposal idea... but when I got home there were roses on the table and a cd I had been wanting... aaand there was something in one of my roses!!!

So Brett got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :)

I said yes :)

Mom was there to take pictures of the whole thing... it was perfect. I love that he waited until we got home because I was totally surprised and that's exactly what I wanted :)

And for your viewing pleasure, I'm now the proud owner of a smoking hot ring... please play close attention to my fabulously manicured nails...

After our engagement, I had girlfriends tell me to keep a journal of these months because time would pass so quickly. They were right. This past year has FLOWN by... I can't believe we have less than four months until the wedding. The whole thing has seemed so abstract... like I'm planning for this big event that is never actually going to get here. I was a wedding planning machine for a few months but lately I've been a slacker. I'm starting to realize now how close we really are to being Mr and Mrs!! And it's really exciting... I'm excited about the wedding itself because I really think/hope it's going to be fun. I want it to be beautiful and memorable and all of that, but I also really want it to be fun! We're celebrating the start of something fantastic and that deserves an amazing party :)

I'm also excited about the honeymoon... we're going to Belize and neither of us have traveled anywhere outside of the country except Mexico (which just doesn't count). I'm excited about what this next year holds for us even though much of that is a mystery right now. I'm excited about beginning a new life with the most incredible man I've ever known... and seeing where God takes us together.

So wedding plans are coming together... I have a long list of little details that we need to take care of, but a majority of the big stuff is done and ready. The church is gorgeous, the boat is just awesome, the cake will be delicious, my dress is HOT, our ring bearer and flower girl are precious, our wedding party is full of good looking people, our photographers are so talented, our DJ will be perfect, the menu sounds de-licious... overall it's shaping up to be a good time.

We're halfway through our marriage counseling with Mr. Hyland... the discussions we've had with him have been really encouraging. Every issue he has brought up is something that Brett and I have already spent time talking through at some point in our relationship. He's given us good insights to think about and discuss and lots of good reading material... but everything we've talked about has given Brett and I even more affirmation about our relationship and this path that we are taking. When I think of a great marriage and a Christ centered relationship, Mr. Hyland and his wife always come to my mind... he has been such a great friend and mentor over the years that we have known him.

So much has been going on lately.. I don't even know how to type it all out! My baby brother moved to Nashville in the fall... he's had a lot of great opportunities with his music so far, and I'm excited to see what God has planned for his life and drumming career. Mom and I moved into a new townhouse a few weeks ago that we really love... we're starting to get settled in and Alley is figuring out her new routine. Hannah has been knocking out college like it's her job, so we've missed being able to see her as much lately...

Our friends Ryan and Cortnie got married in October... the wedding was on Kent Island right on the Chesapeake Bay... it was so classy and gorgeous. Brettski was a groomsman...


Brett's housemate Josh and his girlfriend Hillary joined the world of fiance's in March! It's been great really getting to know them and the rest of the house family this year. I'm so glad that the guys were able to move off campus... it gave us all a chance to spend more time together and we've had such a fun year.

Hannah and I celebrated our birthdays in February with dinner and tubing at Wintergreen! Jon came into town to help us celebrate with Brett and mom. Good times...

I discovered my random talent at Guitar Hero... this picture was taken back in my novice days. I have to stand up to play now if I'm really being serious :) Any challengers out there? No one around here wants to play me anymore because I always win. Oh snap.



Brett and I are seriously considering moving to Colorado! It's such a big move, but we're really excited about the idea... We actually visited CO in January. One of Brett's best friends from high school/groomsmen moved out there recently, so we made a group trip out to visit him. The difference in my asthma was incredible... I can't even explain the relief to go an entire day and not even think about using my inhaler. The areas that we visited were so beautiful... the weather is awesome... the skiing and snowboarding is delicious. So we started thinking... and then we thought some more... and now we're seriously considering going out there. I don't know if we'll stay forever... maybe we'll fall in love and never want to leave. Or maybe we'll spend a few years out there and then decide it was fun, but we want to be closer to our families when we have kids... who knows. But it's definitely exciting to think about...

Work has been going pretty well... I really enjoy nursing as a profession. I love getting to know people in such an intimate way and helping them through tough times... I seriously meet some of the most precious people. I've learned so much working in the ICU and I'm so glad I started here... but I think I'm ready for a change. Working night shift is certainly part of the problem... my body is on a totally different timetable than the rest of the world. At first I didn't mind it, but the schedule is definitely starting to wear on me. I miss being outside when the sun is out! No matter how much I sleep, I never feel rested except in the middle of the night (which explains why I'm writing this at 5:30 in the morning!). The extra money from my shift differential is nice and I love the atmosphere of night shift, but I'm wearing out. After we get married, day shift will be the main criteria of my job hunt :) I'm not sure what type of nursing I want to do next... I think I would enjoy an ICU with a higher acuity than we have in Lynchburg. It's pretty common for me have one patient who is truly critical and then another patient that really could be on a regular floor. I've toyed with the idea of switching over to obstetrics of some sort... but that is just a whole different ball game. I would really be starting over in my general knowledge base. I love working with special needs kids, so something that involved that would be cool. I also think I would enjoy teaching nursing in the future, but I need to get my Masters for that and going back to school does not sound good right now!! We'll see what happens... these sorts of options are one of the great things about nursing in my opinion...

Brett and I made our first big purchase together!! We bought a car... it's actually for him to drive because his truck was on it's last leg and my car is only a few yars old. It's a little race car and we love it... Subaru Impreza WRX STi...


Well I guess this is getting a little long... and I should probably try and get some sleep so that I'm not brain dead at church this morning. One final thought that I just want to write down for my own memory...

Brett and I were talking the other day about wedding to-do's... and I mentioned that I needed to figure out what I wanted to get for my wedding gift to him. He immediately said "Oh I already know what I'm getting you... I've spent alot of time thinking about it and already have it all figured out." That was so precious to me! Knowing that he has put thought into something so far in advance because he wants it to be special for me is priceless and I love him for it. I always say how lucky I am to have found him... but I truly wish I could just write a book about this guy! The way he demonstrates his love to me on a daily basis is so humbling... he has such a sweet spirit and is so patient with my wants and needs. He tells me on a daily basis the things that he loves about me and about our relationship. He's respectful, chivalrous, and supportive. He's physically strong, HOT, and extremely athletic, and I love that. He's a hard worker, an excellent communicator, and doesn't mind being the first to apologize if he feels he has wronged someone. He's passionate about the people and things that he loves, and anyone would be fortunate to have him as a friend. The fact that I get to have him for my very best friend is overwhelming. I could not ask for a better teammate for this lifetime and I'm so incredibly thankful that God has placed us together.

Bedtime.

Love you all.

Miracles...

I'm not a very faithful blogger and therefore do not have many faithful blog readers! But for those of you who are still out there...

Please take some time to read this family's story and lift up a prayer for them. I've never met them personally... friend's of a friend of a friend : )

Read their story... you'll fall in love with them and your heart will be touched by God's work in their lives. Leave them a note of encouragement... and try not to get in trouble at work for checking their page so many times every day! : )

http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/

love you all.

best weekend everrrr.

so today my best friend and the most incredible guy in world officially asked me to marry him : )

it was an awesome three year anniversary weekend... seriously amazing.

details later. just had to mark the date : )

love him.