5 wonderful years

One week ago tonight, I flew out to Disney World for one heck of a weekend doing a 10k race! I have tons of pictures and stories for another post but let's just say, my abs finally stopped hurting from laughter and I can finally walk up and down the stairs again post race. It's good to be back but boy, do I miss Disney World/Florida badly!

Top: Our first Disney World trip. June 2009.

Bottom: Right after he proposed: June 5, 2013

Today also marks 5 years since Jonathan and I officially started dating. We have a lot of little anniversaries we celebrate, like the first day we met (February 9, 2008) or our first date (March 7, 2008). So if we met and had our first date within a month's span, 6 years ago, how is our anniversary 5 years ago? Well, the answer to that is somewhat simple and can be explained in mathematical terms. You take 1 confused 22 year old + 1 determined 24 year old and you get 1 interesting year. There was a lot of ups and downs in 2008 but what I remember the most is how Jonathan was always there, even when he had to reluctantly step down and be "just a friend", though he likes to say he was never just a friend, and that is true! When I briefly dated someone else that summer, he never faded out of the picture. We hung out all the time regardless. In fact, my mom used to tell me she felt like I had two boyfriends. Huge, huge wake up call. Of course, the other thing didn't work out and God worked his mysterious ways and things just fell into place. It did take a year for things to happen but I now see that was a blessing in disguise. Since we went through every early relationship obstacle there was to have in that first year when we were not exclusive, we never really had a reason to have any big arguments when we got together. We had already seen the good, the bad and the ugly! 

That is why we really like to celebrate today. It had felt like we won a marathon by the time we got together! His grandmother, who would have been 91 this week, told him once that she had prayed we would get together. That is just the selfless kind of woman she was.

The event of making it official was so low-key, you would think there would have been some big hoopla when it happened, but nope! I had been talking to two dear friends of ours, Anthony and Gina (who are now married) all week but most especially the night before. Little did I know, they were talking to him and giving him encouragement too! I remember specifically Anthony asking me why wasn't I giving my best friend a chance. Another huge wake up call. I made up my mind that night that the following day I would ask him to be official. So, that's just what I did. :-)

I thought it would be appropriate to use the flashback picture from our 1st Disney World trip. To say we really love that place is an understatement! It's a good way to get to really know someone. You can see how they handle the heat and long lines, haha. I remember coming home from that trip and thinking, wow we just spent 4 nights and 5 days straight together, and I'm not sick of him yet. I thought that was a great sign. It's still true to this day :-D

Okay, that's enough mush for one post, lol. This has been a busy wedding planning week so plenty of updates in the next post :)

Getting things done!

Some miscellaneous wedding news:

- Two days ago, Jonathan spoke to Fr. Kevin over the phone, who became the new pastor of St. Sebastian's just last week and he was more than happy to marry us! Sweet! What's really ironic about all that is he was the priest I first had in mind to marry us anyway, but I figured it would be easier to use a current priest. Then Mnsgr. Hardiman surprised us by ending his run at our parish. When I heard Fr. Kevin was coming back as the new pastor, I was like no waaaay. Funny how it all played out! It was always important to me that one of us would be familiar with the priest and we both are, so that just worked really well.

- My wedding dress came in! And the veil as well! My mom and I were going to go this past Monday but if you're in New York, you know we're getting hit with snow day after snow days so there was no way we were venturing out in it. We rescheduled for this coming Monday, yippee!

- I settled on a bridesmaid dress but the hard part is finding a store that carries it for a decent price. Macy's has it for $265 and that's before alterations! I had to a double take. I am finding out quickly what's the norm nowadays for the cost of certain wedding things. It's crazy! There are a few stores  that carry it for a better price so this month's big "to-do" is finding a store that can tailor to all the girls' budget and location. I know I posted the picture in the last post but here is a visual reminder:

- I have my hair trial this month with Angela of Angela's Hair Design. I drool over her work that I see on her Instagram page. I'm not 100% sure what I want (can't decide if I want it all up or half up) but I trust she'll do a great job either way. Her website is here: Angela's Hair Design 

- Speaking of hair, my headpiece came in right on time. Thanks to my amazing mom for this beauty!

- We have another invitation appointment on March 1st with a company I'm really excited about, out in LI. Check out their website: Whimsy B. Designs (Isn't that crazy we have to start thinking about invitations already?!)

- On March 10th, we have the food tasting at our venue. Few things get us as excited as food does, lol.  

- I ordered our unity candle from a vendor named JaxDesigns27. Click the name to see her work! I know unity candles seem like a waste of a purchase when you're only going to use them once but I have a hard time saying "no" to anything personalized! She sent me the proof and I love love love it. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

- At the end of January, we attended a Sip & Scan event at the Macy's in Herald Square. I came prepared with a list of what we'd need but they also provided us with one when we arrived. The drinks were not cocktails but they were still very good (I guess they don't want you to be stumbling around their store drunk!), and small finger sandwiches and snacks. I did not plan to register 9 months out, but when I heard about the event, I said why not. I'd say it was exciting for about the first hour then we lost steam, lol. Luckily it's easy to manage online so going into the store every time you want to add or delete something is not necessary.