Happy Halloween!!

YAY!! Happy Halloween! I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween, things are scary and slutty, and I don't really appreciate either - I had work all day and Chad worked all night, so we ended up not doing anything together :( Pretty much story of our lives lately. We are so consumed with work and school, that we don't have time to enjoy eachother. Thankfully we know this is just a phase, and I am SOOO excited for it to be over! I miss my carefree, stressfree, happy, laid back Chad. Anyways. After I got off work I went up to our good friends Fred& Terri's place and relaxed there for a couple hours - It was fun to see everyone dressed up and happy, I got to spend some time with Jenni & Phil Romero, BTW, Jenni makes ADORABLE hair, jewelry and outfit accessories - PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out her blog - its on the lower left hand side of my page "Jennifer Elizabeth"...you will NOT be disapointed! I was sooooo excited to look through her stuff, but then I totally forgot! She is very talented and a pleasure to be around, so really, go look at her goodies :)

Another exciting thing about this halloween, I got to look through all 700 + pictures that Terri took from our Save The Date picture time, now I just need to pick the final few so she can start photoshoping them! EEK!!

Oh, and 172 days until I marry the man of my dreams.

Save The Date

We had our SaveTheDate, (STD ahaha) pictures taken by a close friend of ours Terri Fairbanks; (Her blog is one of my favorites on the lower left side of this page- Check her out and set up a session!) I cannot wait to see the rest of the pictures she took- Here is, for your viewing pleasure, just one! I don't want to spoil the surprise. Hopefully, if you are reading this, and if you want one, I have your address because these guys are getting mailed out SOON.

**facepalm**

I walk into the kitchen. Theres a bouquet of flowers sitting on the counter that Chad unwraps and starts to snip.
Me: What are those?
Chad: Uhm, there flowers.
Me: Well,..why?
Chad: Because I was in Costco, and I saw them and thought of you.


**facepalm** (DUH!)
Me: OHHHHHH, BABY!! Thank you!!





Whats adorable is that Chad loves the bright flowers (pictures previously for our Anniversary) but he knows how much I love fall and autumn colors - so he got the ones I love. See the little pumpkins :) Reason #459929834098557373 why Chads soooo amazing.

I love the name Shirley, and I love the Temple.

So, it would be obvious to say that I LOVE ShirleyTemples. Reason #348760938123059864 why I love Chad? He brought me home a ShirleyTemple last night and I wasn't feeling good so it disapeared. I came home from class today to find it sitting in the fridge, nice and chilly. At the bottom. 10 of my favorite cherries. What a keeper :)

Should I spin in circles and then just point to pick?

I can't decide on wedding colors. I had originally planned on picking colors and letting everything else fall into place, however. I recently came upon some good advice. Someone advised me to pick the venue first. Ug. I just don't know what colors to put on our Save The Date. Oh well.
The biggest debate: I've always wanted a October/November wedding with Dark Brown and Rasberry Red.
BUT, because we are poor college students, and both our families are out of state. We decided to give ourselves some time to plan and save. Heres what my cake would have been like: Aren't those colors BEAUTIFUL? I keep thinking I still want to do them in the Spring, even though my idol Martha Stewart said same colors for same season.





We have mutually decided on April. SO, i thought Id go with something soft and pastel, fell in love with: (of course Chad doesn't like. Go figure huh?)


Chad, on the other hand wants to do something BRIGHT: This picture is from a friends wedding. I thought it was put together BEAUTIFULLY, it was very fun and bright. Its just not, ME.


Who wins? How do we compromise?

Birthday week with Momma

I'm so thankful my mother was able to come out for several days to spend some time wedding planning and to help celebrate my birthday. I don't know how the world would keep spinning without mothers. I don't know what I'd do without this woman. Shes my hero, the most beautiful person I've ever seen, my go to, secret teller, advice giver, cookie maker, back scratching, chick flick watching, bestest mother ever. The lord placed us together for a reason, shes my one. She flew into town on Tuesday and napped while I was in class, then we went to dinner in Manteca with my grandparents, came home and watch FireProof. On Wednesday I went to work, Chad invited her to Ceramics class with him.




Later that day momma showed up at work and my boss let me go an hour early, we ran some errands and watched Letter to Juliet. On thursday I had class, and a docters appointment and we did some wedding planning. Friday I had the day off so we did some wedding planning, shopping and we made these:

My mom can make anything, shes so talented, creative and can make and put together anything!!

We originally just did 2 blinds:

But, mother knows best and we ended up doing three:


Haha, we thought about doing some curtains in this, just to see Chads reaction :) Haha, I thought it was perfect and festive!



It was great to see Mom, I can't wait for Christmas when my whole family is spending the week in San Jose, I'm saving up sick days so I can spend several full days with them. I'm so thankful I was raised in such an amazing family. I am so excited to have Chad be a part of my family, and so excited to be a part of his!

the final four

These are the "final four" pictures I turned in for my photography project - the class really liked them, and one is even the background on a phone! I'm no Ansel Adams, but I love taking pictures :)

Once Chad becomes a dentist, I am going to open a Salon out of our home, and take pictures for a living. I can't wait.

Anniversary gift..

After 5 years, my Sugarplum knows EXACTLY what makes me happy. Love notes, dark chocolate and bright flowers :)

Good job lova

My song of the day

I LOVED the season of American Idol with Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Matt Giraud, Megan Corkey. Seriously best season I've EVER SEEN! I couldn't even watch this years because it stunk soooo bad. I was listening to my favorite Matt Giraud today and fell in love allll over again with this song. ENJOY!!

This video makes me SOOOOO happy :)

10-10-10

What an AWESOME day! I wish I could have planned a wedding soon enough! :) My friend Stephanie got married today (lucky girl!) It was a good day for US today though. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary! Heres a quick picture from each year!

YEAR ONE: This was actually our 3rd date - a last minute 10 day cruise to Mexico. I tricked him into dating me while at sea :) He loves me for it now.

YEAR 2: I lived in San Jose and Chad was in Stockton and he would come down often to suprise me with chocolate and roses!


YEAR THREE : I started in California, moved to Nebraska, and then moved back.

YEAR FOUR: After Chad moved me back to be together. Our cute little fam :)

YEAR FIVE: Our good friend Terri took some pictures of us




And tonight at 10:10 pm, on 10/10/10 We kissed and celebrated 5 glorious years!!

I promise to only fight as cute as these kids for the next 5:

I promise...

We decided on the date 4.22.11 - Exciting right? I was bummed it wasn't a cool date like 9-02-10, or my friends wedding tomorrow 10-10-10. BUT, of course I found something to make myself feel better. Backwards the date is 11.22.4. SO, 1+1 (2) and 2+2 (4), GET IT? 1+1=2+2=4. I DID IT!! I was pretty excited. Anyways. I PROMISE not to countdown everyday, until it gets close. But officially we have got 194 days. Man. That seems like forever.

On a lighter note. Chad left me a love note yesterday. It made me melt. Its a great feeling knowing someone is going to be by your side for the rest of your life, and forever after that. I'm a lucky, lucky girl to have such an amazing man.

I love this picture. Taken 11-06-2007 at the Zoo.

I admit.

SO. I have an addiction, and I will be the first to admit it. I don't think anyone except for Chad and my family in Nebraska saw me this dark. I was just thinking about how white I am and found these dark pictures to prove it. Man, I miss it :( Because of my surgery I have officially gone 84 days without fake baking. I LOVE TANNING. It makes me happy. I love the smell of tanning lotion, the warm bed, listening to music, taking a nap, and coming out just a tad bronzer. While I was in Nebraska I got a little dark:


This is my brother Nic and I.

My friend Chelsea. This was the last night before I moved back to California
This is my favorite picture. These are my girls. See, I'm not the only one dark!! I'm in the middle, with the pink earrings. So, its not just me who had tanning fever in Nebraska.

Because of the surgery, I am not allowed to tan because it will make my scars fade improperly, and I don't want uglier than they need to be scars. So, only 281 days before I can tan again (they recommended 1 year). Bummer I have to be nice and bronze for the wedding.

1/4 Classic Nude Photography Class Assignment

My photography project due in a few weeks is on light (described in previous post), only 2 more class periods before the critique left! I developed two rolls of film today and finished 1 print in the darkroom. Here it is: Only 3 more to go! I'm hooked - I think I found my nitch :)

Hitting the road for Jack.

Were hitting the road for Jack tomorrow. Hopefully the rain decides to stay away. Rain and I do NOT mix. We've had tickets since March and can't wait!!! We are leaving tomorrow as soon as Chad gets out of class - driving to Berkeley to hopefully sit and study and relax in the nice California sun until the concert starts. No Ponchos. No Ponchos. No Ponchos.

Chad and his Ceramics

I just have to embarass my incredible FIANCE and show some of his ceramics stuff. At UOP Chad is taking a Ceramics class. He needs it after Organic Chemistry and Genetics, what a fun class! This is only his second project and he already looks like a pro! Here are some of the bowls he's working on. Hes got some finishing touches to do but I had to post an update of how proud I am of him! He's the best in his class! Thats my man! Impressive huh? Oh, and reason number billion why I love the iphone - all of these pictures where taken on one. love.

Riskay Lighting

I am taking a photography class at Delta, and our current project is on LIGHT. We have to demonstrate proper use of light and different use of light. Can be natural, harsh, soft, flashlight, real light. Whatever. The tricky part is that this all has to be done on a film camera. No way to see what your doing. Well. I cheated. I met up with a friend from class, Steven and his BEAUTIFUL girlfriend Lyndz. We used his digital to help figure out the settings for my manual camera. A friend of Stevens is a DJ/Photographer and he has his own studio in his house - so we used his lights and backdrop. It was INCREDIBLE - definitely something I want to continue as a hobby.

Shout out : to Steven and Lyndz. Thank you for not flaking and for being so open. Lyndz you are absolutely GORGEOUS and absolutely tiny. I am day 1 of my tic tac only diet. Kidding. Really though, Lyndz was eating pizza before/during/and after we were taking serious pictures - she was so flexible and so laid back. Shes going places - I know it.

These are some of the ones Steven took from his digital- hopefully mine turn out similair. I'm developing and playing in the darkroom on Thursday!


This one is my favorite, curled up in a fetal position. I got several close ups - between the shoulder blades, hip, etc.

This one looks a little dark - but a little lighter will be my second favorite! Lyndz is laying on her back with her legs in the air - one wrapped around the other.
This was Lyndz idea and I LOVE IT! Hopefully I can get it a little lighter developing so that you can see a bit more definition:
OKAY. These back pictures are INCREDIBLE!! I cannot wait to develop these. They are PERFECT.
Yep. She makes me want to start my tic-tac only diet. Skini Mini.
We played with the light on this one - Lyndz is sooo tiny her stomach looks INCREDIBLE here! You can't really see it on this one - but i got a few close ups.

So, there you go! The project is due on my Birthday - October 21st. So I will post pictures of the final result! EEK!!

Thanks again Steven and Lyndz. And Scott for letting us use your home and equipment and for all the expert tips! Over and Out.

-another reason why I love the iPhone-

I love the iPhone, I'm still crazy about it. One of my favorite parts, other than Facebook of course: You can make your own ringtones! Heres the ringtones I've got on my phone:

Begin Again (Reggae Version) - Colbie Caillet
Blood Red Summer - Coheed & Cambria
Crazy Love - Michael Buble
Daughters - John Mayer
Everybody - Ingrid Michelson
Everything - Michael Buble (love that man!!)
Flightless Bird, American Mouth - Iron & Wine
Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
King of Anything - Sarah Barailles
Lucky - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillet
Make You Crazy - Brett Dennen
Never Say Never - The Fray
Part-Time Lover - Matt Giraud
Rock & Roll - Eric Hutchinson
So She Dances - Josh Groban (Yumm)
Tik Tok - Ke$ha
Turn the Lights Down Low - Megan Joy Corkey
Uncharted - Sarah Barailles

SO, Call me so I can hear them!! :) Ringtones make me happy! Its sooo much fun picking the 30 seconds you want to hear, I love it. I will probably make a million! Oh, and If you have an iPhone and want to know how - let me know - theres an App thats easy to follow (free) that teaches you!!

Welcome October!

Can you believe its October already! This entire year has FLOWN by. Its the most wonderful time of the year! (I can't wait to bust out my Garth Brooks Christmas CD) Don't get me wrong, I love Summer. I love bikinis, and tanning, and oil, and boating, wakeboarding, board shorts, slushies, short shorts, flip flops. Chad wishes it was Summer alll year round! He's a boy meant to be in the sun. I, on the other hand, LOVE LOVE LOVE Fall. I love the beautiful colors, the smells. Pumpkin smoothies at Jamba Juice, Pumpkin Starbucks, Spiced Cider candles at work, cinnamon, cozy jackets, warm fires, christmas carols, boots, wool socks, pea-coat jackets. I'm sooo read to bust out the jackets and boots, I can't wait! Good bye Summer - I will see you next year to get my tan back!