Changes They are a Comin'!

It's been a little while!!

Since the last time I wrote we had a great engagement party with family and friends. Everyone brought a dish to share and the recipe that we will now put in a recipe book! I had a blast and I will put a couple pictures up!!
Wedding
I had a revelation yesterday. I am spending an awful lot on this wedding...which I would not mind if we had the money but....we dont. So I am in the process of making some major changes. I am still keeping the same venue, caterer, photographer and a couple other things but I am looking into doing most of the stuff myself! It will cut cost tremendously and make it more personable.

I am sooo excited for things to come! Megan...my maid of honor and bestie has volunteered to help with a lot of it and I am soo happy that she is enthusiastic about it! :)
Life
Soo the semester ends this week. I have numerous take home finals and what not that i intend to get done today and tomorrow! Wish me luck!
Brycen and I are currently in super save mode and are getting our lives on track which is awesome!!!!

Not a whole lot going on right now! Yun and Andy will be here this Wednesday and I have vaca from my crazy ass job so I can't wait to spend a little time with my friends!



20 days till Christmas!
xoxo

Making it Official

Hey! I know its been a while, forgive me but school is super hectic.

So I am registered on the know and it gives me a little checklist of things to do over the next year to prepare for my wedding. One of the things I am behind on is researching an officiant for our wedding.

HELP!

Here's the deal...we need someone who is legally able to do a ceremony BUT will not involve religion. We were both raised in similar yet different denominations and have decided we want to keep it purely secular. It just fits us. We want to focus more on us and our love than the heavens above. I am not a heathen but that's just the way we feel.

So with that being said we are looking for someone. And the knot is NOT a lot of help on this particular subject. If anyone knows ANYONE that would be willing to be flexible like this please let us know. Trying to keep my ducks in a row and this one just keeps wandering off.

Other News....
Im 22. Yup. Celebrated this past week with family and friends the good ol' double deuce. Not as exciting as 21 but I did not expect it to be. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I am also knees deep in this semester with 5 projects on the board to do before the end of the semester totaling at about 52 pages. Yaaahoooo! As you can see I will be VERY busy but will make room for updates.

XoXo
Danielle

Our Story

Today I thought I would retell our story in Paris leading up to his proposal. Enjoy!

March 16:
We were in our hotel room planning for the next day. We were going to Versailles early in the morning and spending the whole day at the chateau and the town. While eating our gyro/kebab/doener....whatever you may call it, we planned our train ride and our way through the chateau. After dinner we decided to head to bed early...or at least I did. Brycen stayed up writing a journal entry and listening to his Ipod. A time or two I would hear him sing "green eyes" by coldplay and just smile at me. The lights went out after an hour or so, once he got bored watching House in French, we went to sleep.

March 17:
We woke up bright and early, grabbed a bit of breakfast at the bakery and got ready. He told me to wear something nice so I did. He dressed up as well. We set out on the train enjoying our ride to Versailles. It took us a while to find the Chateau because we were on the wrong end of town but once we did it was like a dream. In the process of getting our tickets the fire alarm went off and we were asked to evacuate the building. Finally once they figured out what was going on we were able to leave and enjoy Versailles.

We went through crowded halls and open gardens. This time I was not so interested in the palace itself but more so the gardens and Marie Antoinettes estate. As we headed towards the main fountain I got a little nervous. Brycen had mentioned earlier in the trip that he had something he wanted to give me. I honestly thought it was going to be a nice necklace or bracelette to match the beautiful earrings he got me for christmas so needless to say I wanted to find out.

We stopped for a nice lunch along the lake before the grand canal. He had eggs and french fries while I had an amazing croque monsieur. We had a bit of ice cream and talked for a while. This was hands down the best lunch we had in Paris. It was amazing!

Afterwards we headed to the queens estate. Last time I was there I only got as far as the Triannon so I wanted to make a point to get past that and to the farm. We headed quickly from lunch towards the triannon but something came over me. I HAD to know what he wanted to give me. My stomach was is knots. Could it be? He didnt have enough time to get anything before we left...and he didnt even know what I had looked at.

I stopped him half way downt the grand canal and said I cant do this anymore , what do you have to give me.I sat down on a small bridge and he gave me a note...the same note he had written the night before. i sat down got half way through then realized what it was...and what he was trying to say..I looked up he was on one knee smiling and took out a box.

You can pretty much assume what happened then. I have been thinking about this a lot recently and how much I love Brycen. How much I cannot wait to have our prefect day and spend our lives together. Call me sappy but its just how I feel recently.

Love,Danielle

Future Plans

So we have been talking about what we would like to do after we get married. I will by then have a degree in French and Communications so I will need to seek solid employment and after about a year, grad school. Brycen intends on finding a job and going back for his undergrad. What will we do then? Where will we be? We want to live on a coast...pretty much wherever my job takes me but we prefer to be in Washington state.

Honestly, I cant wait to see where the future takes us. We both have so much yet to do and to look forward to.
Not too many updates on the wedding or health front. We will be having an Engagement Party towards the end of November so look for updates.

Love,Danielle

Kitten Photo Shoot

I have the cutest most photogenic amazing cats in the world...I thought I would share them with you! Enjoy!

King Nero

Princess Nori

Sittin' Pretty

Giving you the look

Oh paparazzi stop!

Nero testing out his Wii Fitness skills

Silly update...mostly for your viewing pleasure and so I can gloat about my wonderful babies!
love!

The Ongoing To-do List

I am writing to you with a kitten on my lap who refuses to leave. Love my Nori-New!!

Alors.
Do you ever feel that as you get older the endless idea of "yeah...ill get to that" just gets out of hand? I definitely have hit the constant business and always having to do something. Sometimes I wish I could take a step back from it all for a bit.

Right now though I feel the to-dos are good things though. So what better than to make a small list of the main things:

• Lose weight
• Finish my degree
• Get all of my doctors appointments taken care of
• Plan and have the engagement party
• Save save save!
• Go thrift store shopping (little fun one)
• Get Nori front declaw done before I have a mangled couch

There we go! Basics. Day by day hopefully I will start checking them off.

No news worthy updates honestly. Just an update to distract me from homework. This weekend I will have one that is read worthy! :)
Love you!

Mind Wandering

DISCLAIMER: I will let you know ahead of time what you are about to read is a result of my mind refusing to shut down and going every which way on every single subject. I just need to get some of it out...enjoy!

Language Learning
so I am not going to lie but i have grown a little bored of the romance and classical languages. I love speaking them but hate the whole literature part. I want to learn something new now...something different and learn it at an accelerated level. Which ones you ask? Japanese, Russian, ANYTHING! I would love to focus on those two though.

Travel
I have been having flashbacks of past travels and visits to friends. I always go to sleep seeing the sun in the backyard of my french families home and see me in boots with Manue in the middle of the field in front of their house.
I also think about walking through the streets of the busiest city in the world..Tokyo. I remember the train rides and dancing on the platform. The amazing hospitality and some amazing conversations.
Its not that I want to travel...I need to! It is who I am. A traveler just wanting to expand my knowledge through experience. I miss it. I just need to take a year and go for it...travel all around!

I just had to get some of this out. I will have a real update probably tomorrow.
Love you!