yessssssssss

Ok. It's official. We know where we're doing for our honeymoon:
NEW YORK CITY!
I'm a little bit more than excited. Fiance's been and loved it but I have not yet and I've been dying to go. it's going to be amazing.

Yes I understand it will be cold (first week of March). but we both love cold weather. it'll be romantic to be all bundled up and wander. The hotel is in Manhattan, 2 blocks from Central Park. All the rooms have city views.

I've been trying not to go overboard with the plans for that week. Siteseeing is not the goal of a honeymoon, am I right? ;) The nice thing is, NYC is a place we will definitely visit again, so there's no need to cram a bunch of things in. So we spent some time the other night prioritizing what is important to us and what we love experiencing together:
Food, obviously. I've got a running list of restaurant and cafe recommendations from friends.
A Knicks game at Madison Square Garden for my sports obssessed Fiance.
The Empire State Building and the Flatiron Building for the Engineering nerd in me.
Phantom of the Opera. Because we love getting dressed up and it's the only musical that Fiance accepts.
Coney Island. Because we have to get a Nathan's Hot Dog (among other reasons).
Rockefeller Plaza, because we love 30 Rock.
Times Square because its awesome.

I'm so excited to get to spend this time with Fiance in an amazing city! We're typically homebodies and not the go-go-go type, so we're always in somewhat of a relaxed state. A low-key honeymoon getaway was never really something we considered, we've always been looking at something more urban since that is out-of-the-box for us.

rolling along

I love my little apartment, my kitchenette and my cooking items in all their mismatched glory. But I think I really understand the joy of a wedding registry now. brand new, shiny, high-quality things that all work properly and are in colors and patterns of our choosing... things that will be OURS and not just hand-me-downs or cheapie items that don't quite work. Also that we don't have to necessarily pay for. And I've decided that I WILL use all the fancy stuff we registered for. Like that china? Dude it's Tuesday night, bust it out. And the super nice wine glasses, um, it's saturday afternoon? I don't believe in shoving stuff away in storage for someday. I'm using it now! Also why sometimes I put on a nice fancy dress to sit around and watch movies in...silly i suppose.

We're really rolling on wedding to-dos. My mom will be contacting the florist. Fiance's mom is waiting on quotes from the caterers and rental company and confirmation for the honeymoon. I've contacted the darling pastor of the church we'll be married in so we can meet up and start planning the ceremony when Fiance and i visit home next month.

Fiance and I still get giddy about being engaged. it's been over 8 months, with less than 7 to go now!

And work is going marvelously, I love my job. I could work there for the rest of my life and be totally happy.

clue 1

I"m gone all day today for work so I will leave you with a wonderfully peaceful and relaxing photo taken by miss shanny lee.

classy pair

my brain is still mush from school and that possessive entity is demanding yet more of my time. So for now I daydream about running off on our honeymoon in 9.5 months. Hopefully looking like this:

(punam bean photography)

hmmm a ferry ride is quite relevant to those plans as well. more clues coming.

luna de miel

I apologize I left you hanging on the honeymoon topic. Our plans aren't set in stone yet and we're still confirming availability. But I will start with our options and why we didn't decide on those places. Then maybe some clues until we for sure have plans!

When Fiance first showed me the timeshare website, I must have squealed with delight. So many locations to look at, and pictures to ogle. I'll tell you we nixed New York and Chicago right off the bat. We both really want to visit those locations, but we knew they'd be under a few feet of snow in February and decided that probably wasn't a good plan.

The world seemed to stop spinning when I discovered the "Europe" tab. Free hotel in Europe? That makes it totally affordable right?! I locked in on two locations in particular. Aberdeen, Scotland and Cortona, Tuscany, Italy. But long story short, we'll only have a week and it will be snowing in both locations that time of year. Next time I go to europe I refuse to spend half of the trip en route.

Until we receive confirmation I'll let you know that we'll be going somewhere in North America...

honeymoon - part I

honeymoon update:
Fiance's parents have given us a wonderful gift. They just bought a time share here in california. Along with it they bought points, which you earn through staying at your (and various other locations in the network) timeshare. We get to use the points for our honeymoon. Free 5-star luxury hotel/resort for one full week. At a compatible location (and there are many). And since they are points and not just trading the assigned time share week, the week after our wedding is definitely available.

So excited!! All we have to do now is pay for transportation and food/activities.

I'll return with our destination of choice soon. =D

=DDDDDDDD

So Fiance and I received some super exciting honeymoon related news this week. I won't jump the gun until we figure out the details, but let's just say we have a lot more options than we originally were planning for.

Now to try and study instead of researching honeymoons...that is the difficulty.

spoon

So we're young. and poor. He's a boy and both he and his roommate are really simple/messy boys. i.e. they don't really own hangers or a mixing bowl, they don't really cook. fiancee owns one pair of jeans that he wears until they have holes, then buys a new pair. I live with my uncle. So I have access to an entire household of items but I only own the clothes in my closet and knick knacks essentially. I don't even own the furniture in my room. So basically we don't have much to our names.

The plan right now is for me to move from orange county to LA after I graduate in june. Then fiancee will move in closer to the wedding in February. Except he's the one who has the most household items (namely a couch and a king size mattress-just a mattress though, no bed frame). So what will I do? If all goes well, my degree should guarantee me a comfortable income, though I would like to save as much as possible until at least after the honeymoon.

There's so many amazing options out there for registeries these days. Honestly we would love to just set up some sort of charity and have people give money if they feel so inclined. Confession: I hate asking for people to give me things. But with the place we're at in our lives right now, we kind of need forks and blenders and plates and cups. It will be fun to pick all those things out and fiancee is of course stoked about a scanner gun. But it still feels funny asking people to buy us a whisk.

Then along comes a big blessing. My dear uncle got engaged last weekend (so excited for them!). It is both their second wedding, and they each have a household filled to the brim. They will be eventually consolidating to one house and will have a lot to get rid of. So my uncle said he'd give fiancee and I dibs on anything. Kitchen stuff, furniture, etc. Amazing!

We started talking about how much money we'll save, and how many fewer items we'll potentially need to register for. We're hoping to set up a honeymoon registry, where people can donate toward a specific thing such as a dinner out or a play or transportation. Maybe we'll be able to actually leave the state! I know if you set up your registry through wedding channel, they will donate a percentage toward a charity of your choice as well.

love

fiancee and i went out to dinner on friday since he had to work all weekend, so i'll be spending the day doing homework. but it's no big deal, valentine's day is a little too much for me. yes it's fun to get flowers and such, but the emphasis that this is the ONLY day of the year to show someone you really love them? um, no thanks. Our anniversary is in 2 weeks, so we usually celebrate that one. plus, it's a pain to try and go out to dinner ON valentine's day anyway. we're not the most patient, combine that with hunger and you're in trouble! So I still got to dress up, wear high heels and curl my hair, enjoy a delicious meal and a glass of white zinfindel with my future husband.

Let's talk honeymoon. It will be dependent on how much money we've got. Our parents are amazing and will be covering the wedding for us, but it will be a set budget (which we haven't decided yet).
Currently in the running:
northern california coast road trip: monterey, san francisco, bodega bay, possibly all the way up to mendocino. little B&Bs, cold foggy mornings, hole in the wall restaurants, fireplaces.

seattle, WA. the pacific northwest. cold, rainy. cityscape.

victoria, vancouver island, canada. i'm pretty adamant about this one. if we can swing it financially. vancouver island is actually fairly temperate, so although it'll be winter, the temp rarely drops below 45 F, just lots of rain. B&Bs/inns with fireplaces. beautiful scenery. day trips to vancouver to frolic in the city (which i hear has amazing and diverse food culture, we're all about food!).

New York City. Fiancee went after we graduated high school. and loves it. I've NEVER been, and it is very very high on my list of places to visit. i feel i might be overwhelmed by how many things there are to do there. but it would be so fun.

DREAM: England. i have a giant crush on England ever since studying abroad at Cambridge a few years ago. i would pack up and move in a second if i had the opportunity. it's just an unspeakable, indescribable feeling i have about that whole country, particularly London, Bath and Cambridge. I really want to share it with fiancee. I just don't think it's quite in the budget yet. It will definitely be a line item in my budget though, perhaps after a couple years we'll make it over the pond.