Wedding Fever

Last Tuesday marked 13 months until our wedding!!

And I couldn't help but get a little bit of wedding fever.

It doesn't help that Miss Kayla is getting married this Saturday!!

I'm so happy for you and Caleb, girl!

So what did I do?

I encouraged my wedding fever!

When you got married, did you create a profile at theknot.com?

I did, and on Tuesday I worked on our wedding website.

See what I've done so far here!

There are a few pages that I haven't touched yet.

There are so many wedding things running through my head it's crazy!

The other day I reserved a park shelter for a cookout to celebrate our engagement, kind of.

It's more just so the families and bridal party can get to know each other. 

Zach and I know each other's families pretty well, but our parents have never met each other in the past 5 years of us dating. Weird, right? I know. 

I was also thinking that I need to make a to-do list to keep with me, so I don't have to keep a wedding book with me at all times.

Makes sense, right? 'Kay.

And we need to reserve our caterer ASAP, because if we do it now, the caterer will hold this year's prices for us for next year. Which is awesome! 

Current prices are under $10 a person for a hot buffet dinner!

Score!

Anniversary!

As I mentioned yesterday, Zach and I's 5 year anniversary was on Sunday. 

Every year we have a tradition of going back to the place where he asked me to be his girlfriend, and this year was no different.

The Fraze Pavilion is beautiful. 

It has fountains, lots of flowers, and a separate pond where the ducks and geese like to spend their time.

While we were walking the grounds, Zach had my phone and was taking pictures...

...of me. 

There were worse pictures than these, but none of them were really that bad. 

He's actually a great photographer.

But anyway, I'm getting off topic.

After The Fraze, we went to dinner and I was able to get pictures of him.

He was singing as I was snapping away.

We went to A&W for dinner. I know, classy right? ;)

We didn't get root beer floats because I wanted Dairy Queen.

Yummy stuff!

We weren't able to get together until after 5 since Zach had to work, but I didn't care. 

I was just happy spending any time with him.
I love him so much and I can't wait to be his wife!

Do you have any anniversary traditions?

P.S. Check out what my future husband had to tell me. ;)

From my Future Husband

(This post was intended for Sunday, our 5 year anniversary, but obviously that didn't happen.)

My Dearest Jessica:

To complete a poem, a work of art or a musical composition takes time, patience, and the ability to weave 

together the strands of creative thought with that of emotions and soul of the artist. There is beauty within this process, and elegance in the finished product that exhibits the artist’s polished idea. At the same time, in the process of polishing and editing, some of the charm is stripped away from that original idea, the photograph of the idea’s inception.

With that, I want to walk away from the sculpted idea present in previous poems written for you in previous years and go with the organic ideas as they come.

It’s been five years since I asked you out at the Fraze Pavilion on that rainy night, blindfolded by the black and white tie (which you still have), and not a day passes that I don’t think about that day. I think of myself as one of the luckiest guys in the world, which is so cliché, but how true it is. So many things could have happened that may have altered the course of events that led up to that night, a minor change like a delay of a minute of double checking if we were going to meet for ice cream or telling you I liked you may have meant us never dating. Beyond that, I also find myself incredibly fortunate (and lucky) to have found somebody who can just tolerate me and occasionally enable my bizarre, odd, strange, eccentric, and over the top creative behavior. Not an easy feat, yet somehow you pull it off. Speaking of that, I really have no idea how you put up with that, like seriously. You allow me to continue to be myself, without toning down any traits or qualities. You allow me to maintain the me that’s me for me. I can never thank you enough for that.

Saying I love you is such an understatement. One day I will think of a word (or create one) that describes the level of my love, but for now all I can say is I love you more than you will ever know. You’re such an amazing, beautiful, caring, outstanding and, dare I say it, gorgeous fiancée and I cannot wait till the day we are together for good and you can’t trade me in for a better or more sane model. Happy anniversary, my dear. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done and will do. I love you so very much. 

...

Isn't he the sweetest?!?! I freaking love this man! And I can't wait to be his wife!

As mentioned above, our anniversary was on Sunday.

Be ready for a recap of our celebrations tomorrow!

Moms

I had planned on getting this posted this morning, but that didn't happen.

I feel like I have the best mom(s) in the world.

Yes, more than one.

My parents are divorced and they each remarried in 1995.

 So I have my mom and my stepmom.

My mom is the greatest.

I know, I know we all say that and to each of us, our mothers are the greatest.

Mine really is amazing. 

I don't always see her or talk to her, but she is there whenever I need her.

I can talk to her about anything.

I can tell her all my secrets.

She's more than my mom, she's my friend.

And I don't know what I would do without her.

My stepmom is my second mom.

I was 9 when she married my dad.

Of course, when you're 9 and you have a stepmom you think of Cinderella's evil stepmother, but she isn't.

She's awesome. 

She's my friend and I love her.

And today is also her birthday.

I hope all you moms out there have a wonderful day.

Extra Money

Okay, this is one of those posts where I'm asking for your thoughts.

I've been thinking of ways I can make extra cash that don't interfere with my work schedule.
I just want to be able to save for the wedding and have a few extra dollars in my pocket.

I googled "internet jobs" the other day and a whole bunch of online survey sites came up.

And I wondered how well they really work.

You know, you see the ads on websites and whatnot, and you can't tell me that you're not the least bit intrigued by them. 

Who isn't?!? Earning money from home? Doesn't that sound awesome?

But I wonder how legitimate they really are.

This is where you come in.

Do you have any thoughts about online survey taking? 

Do you know anyone who does this?

How do they do?
What are your thoughts about online survey taking?