The Current and The Future

As I’ve mentioned before, Mr. H’s sister is getting married this weekend. Mr. H’s sister is named Emily. Now I bet you are saying, “Wait, I thought you, dear blogger, are named Emily.” Yep. Mr. H’s sister and fiancée have the same name. I’m a traditionalist and will become Mrs. H on September 12.  So essentially, I will take over my future-sister-in-law’s former name. Weird, huh?

This year our families spent Christmas together and we spent a long time trying to figure out what our nicknames should be. She didn’t like “Sister Emily” because she’s no nun. And what’s the companion to Sister Emily? Lover Emily? Ew. We talked about Emily A and Emily B, which happen to be our initials. Also, Emily 1 and Emily 2, but that isn’t fair to me (being 2). We finally decided on “The Current” and “The Future.” This system worked pretty well for us for 4 months.

After this weekend, The Current will no longer be The Current. Will she be The Former? And what happens on September 12? Do I become The Current? Raise your hand if you’re confused.

24!

No, not the show. My age! Today I'm another year older and I feel great. I've never been one of those people who dreads birthdays. Hello?! It's one day a year that is dedicated to you! I guess it's easy to say I love birthdays when that "another year older" still puts me in my mid-20s.

Each year I like to look back on the highlights of the previous year, be it good or bad.

* Mr. H and I settled into our first home.
* My family gathered in Austin for my cousin's wedding.
* The other side of my family gathered in the Missouri Wine Country (yes it exists) to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday.
* My uncle lost his short battle with lung cancer. We miss you Uncle Sam!
* Traveled to Denver for Great American Beer Fest.
* Crossed 3 more states off of my "to visit" list: Colorado, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
* Obama became President of the United States.
* Became Mr. H's fiancee.
* Welcomed my first niece to the world. (Well, Mr. H's first niece. We were engaged when she was born so I say it counts.)
* The H's met my quirky family and didn't demand that Mr. H find a new mate.

Happiest day of the year. We're engaged!

23 was a good year. I have a feeling 24 will be even better. Cheers!

Lions v. Broncos

Obviously, I was bummed to hear that Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno would not be returning to my beloved Georgia Bulldogs for the 2009 season. But today, I'm a proud Dog. Stafford was selected as the #1 draft pick today and will be joining the Detroit Lions in the Fall. As my diehard yellow jacket Mr. H pointed out, "He'll be throwing to Calvin Johnson."

Just a few picks later, Moreno was selected by the Denver Broncos as the #12 draft pick.



So which NFL team do I cheer for this year? Lions? Broncos? Mr. H's Falcons? Or remain apathetic to the NFL for yet another season?

Wannabe Yogi

About 4 months ago, I started taking yoga once or twice a week. I'm hooked. The stretching and strength poses bring awareness of what my body is capable of. The relaxation part is pretty good too. Yesterday during lunchtime yoga, I conquered a new pose. One that was once so easy (age 5) but is waaaaay more difficult at 23. The inversion.
Ok, so I wasn't in paradise, I had a spot, and my body most certainly doesn't look like that. But damn I'm proud of myself.

109 and a bottle of wine

Next weekend, Mr. H's sister is getting married. I am so happy for her and her fiance and cannot wait until the wedding and our mini-trip to the Southeast. Casually in conversation, it came up that it is opening weekend for a new luxury hotel 1.5 mi from the wedding venue downtown. And they are offering rooms for, you guessed it, $109 and a bottle of wine. So naturally we booked a room for a night because we can't afford NOT to!

Instead of a trundle bed at the H's in the suburbs, we get this:
White linens, plush blanket, space, an oversized bathtub, and did I mention a bottle of wine? Should we bring our own corkscrew?

Geometric v. Flowy

Tonight's great wedding debate: Geometric v. Flowy.

Yes, we're talking about wedding invitations. Can't you tell. Apparently the contemporary floral invitations I like are "flowy," while Mr. H much prefers Geometric. Mr. H failed to find an example of this type of invitation.

My favorite flowy invitation...

In other news, Mr. H googled "in-room liquor dispenser Cabo" to find the best honeymoon resort. He was saddened to know that only the Riu has this option.

Fickle

This weekend has been packed with wedding planning. Mostly because we've either been out of town or had visitors for the past 3 weekends and the same is true for the next few. Our goals for the weekend were to...
* Meet with a travel agent about honeymoon
* Pick out invitations
* Pick out tuxes for the men in the wedding party
* Order bridesmaids dresses

Simple enough, right? Well Friday morning I went to the bridal store to place my order. In the back of my mind I knew that claret wasn't the right color choice. So I pick cherry (pun semi-intended). When I show the swatch to Mr. H, he says, "well that's a really bright red." Yes, yes it is.

In the meantime, we meet with a travel agent to discuss our honeymoon options. We're trying to avoid the hurricane belt for our mid-September honeymoon. By the time we leave her office we've decided we'll either go to St. Lucia or Hawaii. Saturday morning, I decided St. Lucia was the best option-- in the Caribbean, but out of the hurricane belt, can get there quickly, remote, lots of natural adventures. Done! We'll book this afternoon and then find a kick-ass resort (with a private plunge pool puhhh-leease).

Then we drag ourselves to Mens Wearhouse where I am further convinced that the monsoon that sat over Austin on Friday morning affected my eyesight and my taste. I hate this cherry red. And ya know what? I don't like any reds. Let's switch to plum. So we do. Right there in the middle of MW with the tux consultant, we switch our wedding colors. Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic because plum was always an accent color, but now it is THE color. And I love it.

After all that excitement, we go home and try to book our flight using my dad's (very generous) frequent flyer miles. St. Lucia or Bust! What? No seats? You stop flying there 2 weeks before our honeymoon? Cue tears and melodramatic "we're never gonna have a good honeymoon"wailing. Yes, Mr. H really loves me roller-coaster emotions and all.

What kind of spoiled brat am I that I'm crying over a free flight to Hawaii!? Or Mexico. It's all still up in the air. Hopefully, just hopefully, we'll make a decision this week before ALL the frequent flyer fares are gone.

Why Row 53

(first photo Mr. H and I took together)

To clarify the title of my blog, let me tell you the story about how I met Mr. H.

For some inexplicable reason, this Georgia Bulldog decided to attend a Georgia Tech study abroad trip to New Zealand and Australia. Thankfully Mr. H also decided to attend this trip. I first met Mr. H (along with about 20 other people) in the LA airport where we were all anxiously awaiting our flight's departure. We chatted, played Hearts, and got some NZ cash before boarding the plane. When I took my middle seat on Row 53, the window and aisle seats were vacant. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, Mr. H approached Row 53 and took his seat at the window (lucky guy). We spent the next 13 hours getting to know each other, stomaching airplane food, and watching the in-flight movies "Just Like Heaven" and "Dukes of Hazzard." Cheers to random seat assignments!

Over the next three months, we jetsetted around New Zealand and Australia and had the most wonderful adventure--kayaking, hiking, caving, whitewater rafting, zorbing, snorkeling, sailing, SCUBA diving, surfing and even fleeing the coast for higher ground during Cyclone Larry. Falling in love in paradise wasn't too bad either.

Exactly 3 years after the day we me, we set the date for our wedding by putting down a deposit for our wedding venue. September 12, 2009!

Uh oh

As if I needed another computer-related distraction, here it goes. I've started a blog (obviously). I make no promises for how long I keep this up, but I sure am going to try. Let's take a look at my track record with related activities.

* 1995: Family trip to Austria. I kept a journal for about 75% of the trip.

* 1998: Family trip to Hawaii. I kept a journal for the first week of the two week trip.

* 2006: College study abroad trip. I wrote detailed entries every day for the first 15 days. Then I started spending my free time with Mr. H. Four weeks later, we moved to the second country on the trip and Mr. H felt bad that I didn't have a journal. So he bought me a new one. I wrote in it for 2 weeks.

It's not looking good for me to keep up with blogging, but I hope that I can at least post 3 to 4 times per week until the wedding. Life is about to get very interesting and I'd love to have a written record of it.

So, welcome to my blog! Please follow me so I don't feel like a loser.