Engagements

Yesterday morning we braved the snowy weather and headed up to Salt Lake to get our engagement pictures taken. Our photographer, Nataly Harris, did a great job and was a lot of fun to work with. We started out at a used bookstore where Bergen and I had gone on a date once. Nataly got some shots of us between the shelves and books and then we took some pictures in the ally behind the bookstore. Once we were thoroughly frozen from the cold and falling snow, we headed over to Anthony's Antiques. This is by far, the coolest antique store I have ever been in. The pieces they have are from all over the world and  look like they should be in a museum. Bergen is working on a project at his internship for the owner and his son so he was able to get us in. We changed into something a bit more dressy and got some really creative and classy pictures there.

It was a lot of fun to be a model for a morning and I can't wait to see the pictures (I'll just have to put it at the back of my mind for 2-3 weeks till we get the pictures or I'll drive myself crazy!). Nataly had a lot of creative ideas and I'm sure they'll be beautiful photographs. We'll keep you posted.

Wedding Invitations!

Caitlyn and I designed our own wedding invitations and I we will be getting them letter-pressed (click to see what that is) by Bjorn Letterpress Studio in Provo. We thought the guy who owns it did really good work for a great price. We wanted to make an invitation that fit the vintage antique style of our wedding. We are really happy with what we came up with. We are going to include a photo of us as well.

We want everyone who wants an invitation to have one. We are hoping to get our address lists completed soon. We made a website were you can enter your name and address to receive an invitation. So if you have not already done that make sure you click here and enter your address.

Its been really fun seeing how our styles have been able to fit into our wedding designs. Caitlyn has a good eye for design and her suggestions are always good ones.

I am glad she has had time to work on wedding stuff because I have been so busy with homework and tests. Being engaged has been a distraction and its been hard to get motivated when it comes to writing papers and take tests. I think I have managed fairly well so far. It's going to be exciting when I graduate in April. Going to college has been a great experience for me and it has effected my life for good in so many ways. Had I not gone to college and joined the advertising program I would have never met Caitlyn . It feels good to know I made the right choice.

Another Month Down

Time is flying by and the wedding is getting closer and closer. I can't believe it is already the last week of February! Life has been busy lately. Bergen has been busy with studying for midterms and I have been getting adjusted to my new job.

We went to another bridal show on Saturday here in Provo. It had a lot of the same vendors that were at the last one we went to but still had fun filling up on crepes, sneaking kisses in the photo booth, and looking at different decor ideas.

This upcoming Saturday we'll be heading up to Salt Lake to get our engagements done. I've been emailing back and forth with our photographer, Nataly Harris, and she has a lot of great ideas. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to Saturday. I just have to figure out what I'm going to wear.

Our First Valentines Day Together

Before this year, I was a bit anti Valentine's Day. I had never had a valentine before and I'll admit I was a tad bitter about it. (Last year I actually went to California that weekend with some friends and skipped it all together.) But, being engaged did something to me this year and I was really excited to spend Valentine's Day with Bergen.

About a week ago, I was up in the Wilk on campus and stopped in at the craft and flower shop to look around. The paper fanatic in me saw all of the cute Valentine paper and couldn't resist. It had been so long since I did any scrapbooking or card making! I rushed home with my paper and started working on it. My favorite thing about card making is finding different textures to use and mix and match. It's also just a fun, creative outlet for me. On his valentine, I used American Crafts I Love You Cutie Pie paper line, some self adhesive cork (I bought it a while ago because I thought it was really cool. I think it's Karen Foster), tulle, ribbons, mm chipboard letters, and flower brads. I thought it turned out pretty cute, if I may say so!

The same day I made his valentine, I got his gift in the mail. It took everything in me not to tell him about it! I guess I get that from my mom. Keeping gifts a surprise is so hard! A few weeks ago Bergen showed me some drawings he had done on his iPad and mentioned sometime he'd like to get a Wacom tablet to use on his computer. I love to see him be creative and thought that would be perfect to get him for Valentine's Day.

Yesterday morning, I snuck down to the parking garage across from where Bergen works and stuck paper hearts on his car windows and put my valentine to him across his windshield. He usually calls me when he gets off so it was fun to be on the phone with him when he discovered it.

After Bergen got out of class he came and picked me up. We went over to his apartment and exchanged gifts. He gave me two of my favorite Ritter Sport candy bars (dark chocolate hazelnut and raisin hazelnut), a card with some sweet things written in it, and a little voucher to Thai Pan Trading Company to get something to decorate our future home with. After he plugged in his Wacom tablet to test it out, we headed up to Thai Pan. He helped me pick out these cute ceramic birds and jar that I think will look nice on a book case or shelf somewhere.

Afterward, we went back to his apartment and had Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, and Caesar salad for dinner. For dessert, he placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle of my bowl, put a mint Oreo on either side as wings, and drew stripes and little antennas on it to make it look like a bumble bee. Little, goofy things like this are why I love him. 

Bergen always does such a good job making me feel loved and made me feel especially loved and special yesterday. I told him Valentine's Day may just be one of my new favorite holidays.

Hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day!

Graduate

I got my diploma in the mail last week so I feel like an official graduate! It's amazing how one piece of paper can give you such a sense of accomplishment. Since BYU doesn't have a graduation ceremony in December, Bergen and I will get to walk together in April.

Graduating has been an interesting change for me. Up to this point, I always had a plan as to what was next in life for me. Now, I'm learning to adjust to life after college and make new plans and goals. The job search has been a difficult process but it has given me the opportunity to really look at what I want in life and set my priorities. I've learned a lot about myself and really appreciated all of Bergen's pep talks and support. Last week, I did get a job offer for a position on the SEO team of a online marketing company and am excited to put my degree to use.

Cake Caitlyn made tonight.

This is an excellent recipe. Caitlyn made it tonight when we ate at her sister's house for dinner. It was all around good cooking tonight. Try this recipe though, it's amazing cake.

Some of the things we like to do together!

Some of the fun things Caitlyn and I like to do.

We have certain television shows we like to watch. We like The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, Outsourced, Glee and No Ordinary Family. Sometimes we have to watch them a couple days later on Hulu but we always catch up.

We enjoy food. We do a lot of cooking, and when I say we I mostly mean Caitlyn. She is such a good cook. We enjoy going to the store, planning out meals and making cookies. I made Caitlyn a cookbook for christmas. I will have to post another blog just about about that.

We love antique stores and thrift shops. We go to the D.I. more than once a week. We just like looking at other peoples garbage. We talk about the crummy furniture and how we could make it look nice. We browse the books and small things and look for glass candy dishes for centerpieces for our wedding. We went to a place in downtown Salt Lake a couple weeks ago called Anthony’s Antiques. You had to be be a millionaire to buy their 17th and 18th century french furniture but it was a lot of fun to look at.

We have played racquetball but Caitlyn needs to get a little better to keep up. (sorry babe).

We like going to the mall or furniture stores just to look around and talk about the different styles we like, what we want our house to look like and what colors we like.

We go to church together everyweek. One week in my ward and the other in hers. It’s really nice to go to church with Caitlyn.

These are just a couple of the things we like to do together. :)

Bergen's Ring

Today I bought Bergen's ring! After checking out the selection at a few different places around we ended up back at Sierra West where he bought my ring. We wanted to find something that was similar in color to mine and incorporated milgrain. With tungsten being so popular right now, our selection seemed a bit limited. We had been in to Sierra West a few times before but the sales guy today seemed to know exactly what we were looking for. The first ring he pulled out was a palladium band with a hammered finish and milgrain around the edge. When Bergen put it on, I knew that was it!

 The nice thing about palladium is since it is in the platinum family, it will keep its silver color without having to have the rhodium replated (like white gold rings do). It's also a pretty durable metal. What sold me on the ring was the detail of the hammered finish and milgrain edging. It just looked so nice compared to the other rings we had been considering.

Quick plug for Sierra West: Our entire experience with them--everything from looking at rings and purchasing them to going in and getting mine cleaned-- has been great. The salesmen are very  knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful. I would definitely recommend them to anyone in the area looking to buy jewelry.

Another thing I can cross off my to do list...

Center of Attention

Bergen and I have a few favorite cheap dates, namely going to Costco to get hot dogs and going to DI. A couple of weeks ago while we were at DI, inspiration struck and we began gathering things for our centerpieces. We got 5 large vases and 4 small vases for flowers and 5 vintage looking candy dishes to be filled with purple candies. For $14 we got enough glassware for half of our tables!

I wanted to get something to give the different pieces various heights and had seen on some blogs where people used old books to do that. We went back to DI the following day in search of books. As we were going through the shelves, Bergen found some books that matched the purples in our colors. We began looking for more, at which point I got a little distracted by another book, and when I turned around Bergen had an entire stack of purple books. At the register he asked the cashier if we could get a discount and we walked out of DI with a great deal and success once again.

I found the frames at Ikea which is another one of our favorite cheap dates. Swedish meatballs anyone? I'm planning on putting a picture of us or the Seattle temple in them. I just thought they looked really cool and I liked how you can see the picture from both sides.

I found the little "k's" at Hobby Lobby and am going to spray paint them green.

We're still in search of candy dishes and small vases. Last weekend we went to three different DI's in the area and couldn't find anymore. But, I think if we keep checking back over the next few weeks something will turn up. If you see any, let us know. I found some online and at Hobby Lobby so I can get them there if we can't find them at DI.