Blush and Bashful

If you were not aware the title of this post is a reference to Steel Magnolias. Fantastic movie, highly recommended to those of you who enjoy Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton before her plastic surgeries.

A few weeks ago Nathan and I visited the paint section of Wal-Mart and picked out our weddings colors.

drumrollplease

please try to ignore the fact that my right eye is creepily looking through the hole of that paint sample.

Anywho, what we came up with is 'sunflower yellow', 'from the heart pink' and cream (which is not pictured here). I know, I know, I am getting married in winter. I think the bright colors I have chosen proves that I may or may not be a bit in denial about the time of year I am getting married in. I always dreamed of a summer wedding.

But alas.

It's going to be bright and pretty and most likely there will be snow outside, but hey, that's alright.

Weddin' Boots and Other News

     On the quest for the perfect cowboy boot to wear to my wedding the above two were the ones that I found to be the most desirable.  I will be the first one to admit that I have a bit of a fascination with cowboy boots. Unfortunately for me they are too expensive to be a collectible item and so I only have four pairs (maybe that is a lot??). Anyway, all of my old pairs are pretty worn and tattered considering I wear them every where I go. In fact you should see the soles of my riding boots:

     A little sad. They need to be taken to the boot repair shop. So needless to say I have been searching for a pair of pretty, decorative boots to be wed in, something not yet scuffed up and covered in mud with my big toe poking through the leather.

     I am pretty sure I am going to be ordering the black and pink pair. Nathan says they are 'dangerous', and that is not a typical adjective people use to describe me so I think it would be kind of fun to venture out of my comfort zone and be a little bit more edgy.

Aye aye aye. 

     In other news I accidentally swallowed my bagel wrong today and it went up my nose. It was quite discomforting.

     In other other news I skipped all my classes and rescheduled a cleaning appointment because I had a bit of an emotional break down this morning and decided to stay in my red thermals and finally get to wedding planning that I have been neglecting and take some much needed quiet time to myself. I hardly get to be alone anymore.

     And that's ok. HORT 232 will go on without me, so will REL 201.

     Also I need to admit that before I was engaged I hardly touched pinterest, but now it has literally become my best friend. We spend countless hours together.

A Sneak Peak

Salt and Vinegar Chips

I have this issue. It's called - if I were to die tomorrow then all I would eat today is salt and vinegar chips and diet Dr. Pepper. And lots of it.

It's a serious problem. Those two things and french fries are my vices. And I love them. Yum yum.

And then when I wake up tomorrow and find that I have a gigantorous canker sore due to the excess of acidic-ness that I have ingested I will be kicking myself in the pants. But until then I will salt and vinegar it up.

In other news I have been trying to figure out how I would like to do my hair for my much anticipated wedding day. Here are some of my ideas.

I have a veil that's about seventy miles long, so I was thinkin' putting it up and then sticking the veil at the bottom of the up do.

Love this. Minus the Grecian head band. This is a wedding for heaven sake's, not a toga party.

Pretty.

So we shall see. Planning a wedding and being in school at the exact same time has proved a challenge, but certainly not impossible. It has been done many a time before, after all. Nathan and I made a chain last night to count down the days until we are marriaged. 54 days, people!!! So close. Cannot wait.

Kiss Me

The First Kiss 6/23/12

My pant legs were rolled up to the knee and my bare feet were in the water, my toes curling into the sandy bottom of pack saddle lake. Nathan was sitting on the dirt up on the hill.

We were fishin'.

I stood there letting the sun beat on my face, enjoying the beautiful surroundings and the handsome man I had for company. However there was one thing I could not stop thinking about.

When the heck is he gonna kiss me?!

I had brought my extra soft chap stick and had been continually re-applying it all afternoon. Could he not see that my lips were extra voluptuous today?!?! How could he have possibly resisted me all morning and now well past noon?! 

Despite my frustrations I continued to fish. 

After several hours of fishing with absolutely no luck we decided to four-wheeler on up higher into the mountains to start a fire and roast some hot dogs and mallows we'd brought.

We stood there by the fire, drinking cola and talking.

tick tock tick tock tick tock

kissmealreadydangit!

An hour passes - nothing.

"I have a cool place that I'd like to take you before we head back down the the truck." -Nathan

Okey dokey, says I. but wherever we're going you better kiss me

We put our little camp fire out and hopped back on the fourwheeler and zoomed on up. 

                                                                                                             and up

                                                                                          and up

                                                                 and up

                                                  and up

to ze very top of ze mountain.

"I thought we could come up here and watch the sunset!" - Nathan

The wind began to blow and sent shivers down my spine. My teeth chattered.

"You're cold!" *proceeds to put arm around me*

yeah!!!

I turn to look Nathan in the eyes. This is it. This is the moment. The moment I've been waiting for. The wind blows the hair around my face, the sun is setting gently on the horizon, glowing red and pink. We're here at the top of the world, sitting on the fourwheeler, wrapped in each other's arms.

It is right then that I hear the roar of another fourwheeler humming in the background.

shoot, I think. this is going to ruin everything. this perfect moment is going to be destroyed by unexpected company.

"I dare you to kiss me right when this four wheeler drives by," says Nathan.

ok.....  I think to myself, this might not be the most romantic pick up line, but how can I say no?

Alright.

The hum of the four wheeler gets closer and closer. I put my hand on Nathan's face, and right then, as the four wheeler drives past us, right at the top of the entire world, the most beautiful sunset framing us in the background.......

The First Date

We last left our story when Nathan had first gotten my number...

*swirly dream clouds appear, within the haze you see me standing in the distance holding my phone*

"Oh, why yes I would love to go on a date with you!...friday night?. ..  yeah that sounds great.. . . see ya then . . . "

Friday Night

party night

The time is 7:00, one half of an hour before handsome man will be to pick me up. I frantically run through my apartment screaming at my roommates, hands flailing in the air.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! He's coming!!! He's coming!!!!

I experience a variety of similar symptoms that occurred when I first met this man.

Sweaty palms, dry mouth, dizzy head, weak knees, butterflies within stomach.

I am a mess.

But a good looking one. 

I just spent three hours on my hair after all. Duh. 

I pace the kitchen over and over again, complaining about how I will probably vomit out of nervousness.

*knock knock*

Heart stops.

I reach for door knob, my hands shaking. Am I even physically capable of opening the door knob at this point? Hands. stop. shaking.

ok! ha, got it! *opens door*

*faints* . . . . jk.

Handsome man and I walk out to big old pick up truck, we then zoom down the street to Applebee's where we share in pleasant conversation and good food. Somehow I have managed not to throw up yet, my nervous symptoms seem to have died down enough where I am able to form full sentences. 

After dinner we roll on down to play pool at the local bowling alley. I beat him. 

Thus far it has been a good date, however I had not yet been overly impressed, but rather just floating on air because he was so darn cute. 

THEN.

We go and purchase a tub of ice cream and drive out to a farm on the east side of down. We roll down a dirt farm road and back the truck up to face the city lights. We pull the tailgate down and sit side by side, nestling closer to each other due to the combined cold-ness of the ice cream along with the 50 degree june evening weather. Nathan goes into the back of his truck and pulls out a big quilt and wraps it around the both of us.

*butterflies erupt in stomach* ahhhhhhh we are sitting so close to each other!!! this is practically cuddling!!! I think to myself.

As we eat our ice cream, shiver, snuggle and crack jokes with each other I suddenly realize that I am quite at ease with this boy. I enjoy his company. He is making me laugh, and what else is that he enjoy the same types of things that I do. He is simple, a little shy, but also sweet.

Midnight rolls around and right before our carriage is about to turn into a pumpkin he drops me off at home.

I nestle under my covers that night with a smile. 

Thinking silently to myself that, that was simply the best first date I have ever been on. Praying that he will ask me out again.

Actual excerpt from my journal:

6/15/12

. . . I didn't want the night to end! Oh man he is sooo cute. It is killing me. Like honestly. I hope he asks me out again. I really, really want him to. Nathan Hartshorn please ask me out again. I think you're a cutie. . . 

Something tells me that I'm into something gooood. Woot woot.

It all began with a dance.

It all began with a dance.

It was wednesday night, country dancin' night. I was trying to think of every excuse in the world not to go but for whatever reason my friend Ashley drug me out anyway. I was leanin' up against the wall, the steel guitar and the sounds of stomping boot heels in the background, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted something.

Something 6'3", blond, scruffy and handsome. Boots, jeans and t-shirt.

Hmmm he's handsome I thought to myself.

The man inches closer to me and out of the corner of his mouth with a country drawl says So do you know how to Cowboy Cha-cha?

My stomach dropped, hands started getting sweaty, light headedness. Either I'm about to pass out or I think this guy's cute.

I manage to squeak out a response.

And so for the next 45 minutes we proceed to chat and to dance, and to dance some more.

wowireallylikehim, heissupercute and other such things are racing through my brain.

And so I left.

yes. I left.

what the heck is wrong with me?! I know.

But after about an hour I said to this handsome man, "Well, it was nice talking with you, but I will let you dance with some other girls now!!" and I walked away.

I mean what the FREAKING HECK. 

Why did I do that?!

So for the rest of the dance I kept this guy in the corner of my eye, praying that he would look past my stupidity and hopefully not take me leaving him as a sign of disinterest and hopefully *cross fingers* ask me to dance again.

But he didn't! And after the dance I moped all the way home, and when I walked into the apartment I fell face down onto the carpet of our living room and pouted and cried some more about how the cutest boy in the world talked to me at the dance and how I would probably never see him again. I was devastated. Never had something so tragic ever occurred. I was heartbroken. The end of the world surely was near after this terrible event.

I slumped down the hall to my room and got on my best pair of cut off sweats, a holey t-shirt, put on my glasses and washed my makeup off. As I am doing this I hear voices out in the kitchen. I realize it must be my roommate and her date who also happened to go country dancing and I figured I better go out there and talk with them and see how the date went.

So with a sullen face I walk into my kitchen.

I talk to my roommate and her date and then slowly my head turns to the kitchen table and what do I see sitting there but the handsome man from the dance!!!!!!!!

Completely disregarding the fact that I currently looked homeless in my holey t-shirt I pull my glasses closer to my face, walk right up to the man sitting at my table, poke his chest with my pointer finger and in disbelief say "Nate?!?!? Is that you!?! How did you get to my house?!?!?"

It was as if he was a long lost friend. Or cute puppy.

I come to find out that he had seen me talking to my roommate at the dance, and also miraculously happened to be friends with the guy she was on a date with, so he oh-so-slyly tagged along with them after the dance to the apartment on the off chance that he might get to see me again.

This would be a good moment to tell you that he asked for my number and we fell in love from there.

But he didn't.

In fact we sat there at the kitchen table for a good hour and half and he said hardly 3 words.

He left the apartment disappointing me again.

What a poopface.

Is he interested or not?! I thought. 

It wasn't until three days later and after he somehow found out through Emi that I thought he was a hunk of burning love that he finally asked for my number.

And then asked me out on our first date three days after that!

(coming up. . . . The First Date)

This Kind of Love

 

is what I dreamed about.