One year ago today ...

Chris asked me the question that changed my life.

I love you, Baby!

Closer to Love

All photos and slideshow by Daron Short. Didn't he do a FANTASTIC job?

Mr. and Mrs.

Two weeks ago I married the man of my dreams.
Then we went on a dream vacation.
Lucky, lucky me.

(I'll be back soon with lots more.)

Hurry Up, Sunday

OHMYGOSHIMGETTINGMARRIEDTHISWEEK!!!

That is all.

Unforgettable

My wedding plans keep getting ruined by people who do it first and make the news, rendering any attempt at surprise completely useless.

First, there was my idea* to have the wedding party dance down the aisle. But good thing someone else did it first cause we all know what a bomb that was.

But now I can't even break a record with my dress . (And the last-minute alterations are going to cost a ton.)

So much for an unforgettable wedding.

---

*Okay that wasn't technically my idea.

Details, Schmetails

Ohmigosh things are getting KER-AY-ZEE around here! I'm sure you can tell by the waning blog posts. I'm trying to keep up with everything, but dang. It's hard.

12 days left, people. Twelve. That's it. One dozen.

I went down to The Fine Arts Center today after work to nail down details and figure out the placement of everything ... where the tables will go, what the setup will look like, what time things will happen, who will do what, blah, blah, blah. So many details. Millions of them. They never end. And we all know details aren't really my thing. (By the way, Melissa, the wedding coordinator at The Fine Arts Center? Frickin' amazing.)

One of the things I found out today is that if it rains - wait a sec - where the heck have I been the last three weeks? I mean when the daily downpour and accompanying electrical storm arrive, the ceremony will be held in the gallery instead of the courtyard. Which actually would be REALLY cool. (Oh except that there's this neon colored, slightly larger than life, sculpture of Will Rogers on a horse that would be our ceremony backdrop. COOL. We are already betting that the Botero exhibit currently on display might make some waves.)

Anyway where was I? Oh yes. So Chris and I will likely make our vows under the watchful gazes of Will Rogers and some obese naked people. My good friend Skip is doing the honors and although he's been a pastor for a long time, this will be the first wedding he gets to officiate! This fact makes it extra special.

After the ceremony, we get our party on.

We have chosen this GREAT song to dance to for our first dance and do you want to know the coolest part? My cousin Abbey is going to sing it live for us!!! Chris gets all the credit for this one. It was totally his idea. So we're going to do the 8th Grade Shuffle (also known as the Hug'n'sway) as Abbey wows everyone with her pipes.

Then we attempt say hello to everyone. Even though I'm a complete extrovert, I'm actually dreading this part. I get ADD when I know too many people and I feel like I can't give anyone my full attention. So I can't imagine how a less extroverted person will deal with it.

Anyway after we make our rounds, we'll bust a few more moves on the dance floor, shove some cake into each others' faces, exit through a sparkler-lit walkway and jet off to Greece.

Happily ever after. I can't wait!

Dreaming ...

God's Timing

Chris and I recently discovered something about God's involvement in our story that totally blew us away.

Check this out.

The other night we were talking about many of our single friends. I mentioned how back in early 2005, I had a very revolutionary experience in my journey as a single woman. Being married was something I had desired for many years and I struggled with trying to truly be content to wait on God while still deeply desiring a husband. I felt like every time I prayed about it, I was in a way telling God I wasn't content. The thing was, though, there was no use pretending it wasn't constantly on my mind. It was.

As 2005 started, I made a decision that instead of pretending that it wasn't constantly on my mind, I'd acknowledge that it was and then give that to God. I made a commitment to pray every day for my husband - whoever he was and wherever he might be. Beginning January 1, 2005, I spent my 20 minute drive to work each day praying for my husband. I prayed for his heart for God. I prayed for his job. I prayed for his family. I prayed for his thought life. I prayed for his fears. I prayed for his dreams.

Even though nothing changed outwardly in my dating life, my attitude changed because I felt like I was finally doing something. It was empowering to be able to openly admit my desire and give it up to God.

I prayed very consistently from several months. Around the beginning of April, as summer approached, life got busier and I prayed with less frequency. However, for those three months, my prayer life had come alive in a way it never had before. And my struggle with being single took on a new purpose.

I mentioned this to Chris the other night. He got this knowing smile on his face and told me he wasn't surprised.

Because on April 24, 2005, after several months of soul searching, Chris surrendered his life to God.

Party Time!

Tomorrow we have our party-for-the-wedding-that's-not-a-shower. There will be men there, specifically Chris, and I've been informed that men "don't do showers."

So it's a ... party. Yeah. A party.

I told him there would be lots of food there and that convinced him. He said he'd eat himself into a coma.

Seriously, though, I'm finally getting excited! Things are beginning. I'm sure when we open our first wedding gift it will really hit home.

Last night was my mom's 60th birthday and my cousin Peter's 24th birthday. We celebrated it with a traditional Tschamler/Moore family party - BBQ in the backyard, followed by coffee, several desserts (including my dad's homemade ice cream) and presents.

Here are a few photos of the fun...

The birthday king and queen.

The BEST chocolate cake I've ever eaten. Seriously.

Cody and Uncle Peter.

Present time!

We gave mom an engraved jewelry box. You know. For all her jewels.

We sang the Happy Birthday song loudly and completely off-key.

"Sure." - Jonah

Jon thought the game was Hit Uncle Jon's Hand. Jonah disagreed.

Jonah discovered beans picked right out of the garden.

My dad's famous ice cream. Coffee Oreo. It was delish.

The Worm. All those years we had the wrong cousin.
Good times. I love family.

The Pause at the Tippy Top

Fear not, my followers, I have not abandoned you! I've just been a little busy, is all.

Actually, what I feel like is that for the past couple months I've been slowly chugging up a very tall roller coaster hill and now I'm perched at the very tippy top. You know how you actually pause for a few seconds before you plunge over the edge into a near free fall? Yeah. That's how I feel.

I have discovered that the problem with not updating the blog as frequently is that I now have bloads to update you on! So let me try to fill you in in a somewhat coherent manner.

Vacation
Chris and I spent last weekend in Phoenix. Since the 4th of July fell on a Saturday this year, we had Friday off, so we made a long weekend of it.

Yes, we are crazy. We went to the desert in July. It was hot. 110 DEGREES hot.

We went down there to visit his aunt, uncle and cousin. It was a wonderful vacation. We spent a lot of our weekend sleeping, eating, reading and hanging out by the pool working on our tans. And also avoiding being pounced on by Roxie, the Michael Phelps of the Dog World.

It was fun to get a glimpse of Chris' childhood. I had a chance to see a bunch of old photos and I was able to verify a few things.

1. Chris was a cute child. But even as a teenager he was totally adorable. It seems he was born that way.

2. His aunt, uncle and cousin were a very important part of his life. He's in, like, every photo album they own.

3. There was a time when he sported a mullet. A bleached mullet.

Sweetness.

Uh, Mom? One quick thing. We need to talk about destroying some old family photos. Stat! Specifically The Dorky Years.

Anyway, after spending four days in AZ, my conclusion? Chris comes from good people and I'm a very lucky girl to be marrying into a family like his.

Wedding
I have some very exciting news! Danny Oertli has agreed to do the music for our wedding! I'd asked him a few months ago knowing it was a long shot that he'd actually be able to, but I'm happy to tell you that he's agreed! Here's the best part. Unbeknownst to him, Danny was actually a part of our story. You see, it was at one of his concerts that Chris first heard about Compassion. He sponsored a boy that night, who he later went to Kenya to visit. While in Kenya he met Gayle who told him about a job opening she was hiring for at Compassion. He applied and got the job and ... well ... you know the rest of the story. So Danny was a part of the beginning of our story and now he will be a part of our big day. Thanks, Danny!

Also we've managed to secure highly talented Dominican videographer. He is a friend of my sister's and graciously agreed to fly out from NY to film the day. Thanks, Roman. Eres muy generoso, amigo!

In other news, I finally got the invitations in the mail this week. It took a while, but it was SO worth the wait! (Not unlike my love story, actually.) My brother, a.k.a. brilliant graphic designer, made them. They are PERFECT. Exactly what I envisioned.

(Speaking of invitations, whoever came up with the idea of leaving four weeks to RSVP? Really. It takes five seconds, people.)

Anyway, there are a lot of details that are waiting on final numbers, so I've been anxious to get these out and start getting a better idea of how big this thing will be.

A few weekends ago we registered for some gifts. Chris agreed to do this for me. (Thanks, honey. Way to score some major points.) But I want to tell you about something else we're doing. We want to use our wedding to fund a project with Healing Waters International. The water project we are funding is in Barrio George in the Dominican Republic. It is actually connected to a Compassion project, which makes it extra special for us. So if any of you want to help us do this and make a donation, please mention our names in the comment section of the donation form.

Finally, and perhaps the news I'm MOST excited about, I picked up my dress yesterday! Three words for you: I. LOVE. IT. Seriously, if it were possible to be in love with an inanimate object, I would be smitten.

According to our trusty wedding web site countdown thing, there are 38 days until THE day. So tell me, at what point do I start getting nervous?

Finally. A Slideshow.

I know you've all seen these already but here's the slideshow I wanted to post this past weekend. It used to have personalized music, but it seems to be having technical difficulties and I've already put too much time into it. So I just left the vertical pictures in the post below and now the rest are here.

Happy Birthdayversary!

Today is Chris' birthday. (Happy Birthday, Baby!)
It also happens to be a year ago was our first date. (Happy Anniversary, too!)

In honor of that, I will post my favorites of the engagement photos we took recently.





Our friend Sara took the pictures. Aren't they great?

A Wedding Update

Wow, how is it Saturday already? Time is flying, people. Flying.

Chris and I went to a wedding this morning for a girl that we work with. It feels very different ... attending a wedding after you're engaged. Before, every time I was at a wedding, I thought "Oh it would be fun to do this someday. Someday far in the future." Today, as the wedding started, it was like "This will be US in a few weeks. Holy crap."

We both got a little nervous for a while. :)

Plans are coming along. The biggest question mark right now is the catering. We're trying to pick a caterer and choose what kind of food we're going to provide. This may not seem like a big decision, but believe me ... it is. Both Chris and I really like to eat and want to have creative, high class food, but this gets very pricey very quickly. It's a challenge to balance quality and presentation and stick to our budget.

Another thing I'm finding challenging is choosing bridesmaid dresses. I've heard the jokes about horrendous bridesmaid dresses, but now I kind of understand why it happens. Really, how does one go about finding a dress that works for four completely different body types? On top of that, the bridesmaids are in three different states so it would be best if I find them at a store found in all three states. On top of THAT, I don't want strapless, which for some reason is the trend in bridesmaid dresses and so non-strapless choices are severely limited.

That's all I've got to update you on right now. You'd think with the infrequent posts I'd have more to share, but really, I'm not even sure you want to hear all this stuff.

Ah well. If a blog is truly an online journal I should write about whatever is on my mind, right? And right now, we all know what's on my mind these days.

It's All In the Details

It's a drizzly, gray Saturday morning. It's not a depressing kind of drizzle, though. It's very peaceful. The perfect day to stay in my pajamas a read all day.

(By the way, I just this morning finished the best book I've ever read. If you want a quick, easy yet deeply profound book, check out The Wet Engine by Brian Doyle. My cousin Peter recommended it. It's my new favorite. Thanks, Pete!)

But I can't have a lazy day. I have lots to do! I have appointments today at two bridal shops to try on dresses. My friend Amber is coming with me, and I'm so glad, because all of my bridesmaids (including all three sisters and my BFF) and my mom are currently in other states. And I can't think of many things I'd like to do alone less than shop for a wedding dress.

I've very thankful for Amber. She's already done SO much to help me plan this wedding! She's done all kinds of research and come up with a long list of ideas.

Unique ideas. Crazy ideas.

Like the other day I told her I had no idea where to start with decorations. She hopped online and soon sent me this ...

It's all in the details! Replace the toilet paper in the bathroom stalls at the reception venue with our stylish Damask Toilet Paper. A beautiful design to further add style and elegance to your wedding day! Available in Black & White, Silver, or Gold.

Oh! And no need to worry about chaffing ...

Our toilet paper is 3 ply and a roll contains 200 sheets.

Wedding planning ... it's all in the details, people.

96 Days

As if my life weren't busy enough before, I have added full-time wedding planner to it. Because I'm not exaggerating when I say it's a full-time job.

Oh but good news! We finally figured out the date ... August 16.

Of 2009.

Yes, I'm serious. 96 days, people. I'm trying not to freak out. I have woken up in the middle of the night for three consecutive nights with a thousand things running through my head. I have to keep a notepad on the table beside my bed so I can get some sleep.

I am super excited about where we're getting married! I really wanted to hold it somewhere I'd never attended a wedding before, and living here so long, those places are few and far between. But this is the first and only place we looked at. We loved it.

We got our wedding rings a couple weeks ago. That was fun and
totally spontaneous. One day after church, instead of heading to my place like we normally do, Chris turned the truck the other way and drove to Jared's. Within 30 minutes, we had picked both of our rings. Mine is absolutely gorgeous and it made me even more excited to get married. (As if that's possible.)

My first foray into dress shopping will be this weekend. I've made appointments at four different places over the course of two days. I'm sure I'll have lots to share from that experience, based on my previous experiences doing this with sisters and friends.

Basically at this point we both eat, drink and breathe wedding stuff. 24/7. We actually have to purposely designate times not to talk about the wedding. Chris has been great with all this, especially considering the fact that he was not too crazy about the idea of fitting it all into three months. He hasn't said "I told you so" once, although I'm sure he's been tempted to. I'm hoping that things will slow down soon once we get a few more things figured out.

You know ... stuff like flowers, catering, band, vows, colors, cake, decorations, invitations, musicians, ceremony, wedding dress, attendant gifts.

Oh my gosh what the heck am I doing writing on this blog?

I have a wedding to plan.

Stop the Roller Coaster

I feel like I'm on a roller coaster that's going way too fast. It's making me nauseous. Can it be stopped to let me off, please?

I [[heart]] being engaged! I'm way excited to plan the wedding. We kind of started the process, but with so much family stuff going on, it's suddenly had to take a backseat for a while. I'm okay with that, though. There are more important things than my wedding.

Following my brother's daily updates from Reno is rough. I feel absolutely helpless and even though I'm praying for him pretty much non-stop, it feels like I should be doing something. And I'm not. I can't.

I'm having a hard time not being angry at God. I'm struggling because I know how powerful He is. I know He could heal him. Today. Within the hour. Right this second. But He's not. And that makes me angry.

Blech. I feel like I just threw up on you.

I've always hated roller coasters.

I Think I Need a Dummies Guide

So ... ummm ... how exactly does one go about planning a wedding? I sort of thought that once I was engaged, I'd just, ya know, know. Isn't that what happens when you become a parent for the first time? You're born with the parental instincts and they magically appear when you have a kid?

During my last semester of college, I did an internship at the National PTA headquarters in Chicago. I worked with their head event planner to plan the national conference. It was a very enlightening four months. I had thought that I wanted to have a career in event planning, but I learned quickly that I am not cut out to go anywhere near that field. It was the inattention to detail thing, I think. (Are any of you potential invitees getting nervous about what type of catastrophe may befall the big day?) :)

So a couple nights ago I Googled "how to plan a wedding" and 67,000,000,000,000 links came up, most of them having something to do with The Knot. (Incidentally, what the heck did people ever do before the internet? That's a serious question - I honestly can't remember life before the internet. I'd be lost, for sure. Kind of sad, actually, how dependent I am on it.) Anyway. Seems like The Knot web site completely dominates the world of wedding planning.

But you know what? I'm not going to create a wedding page on The Knot. It's the principle of the thing, really. (My contrarian fiance ought to appreciate that.) Besides the fact that I don't want to be lost among the thousands of other digital fairy tales being recorded there for all the world to read, I also don't want to deal with the loads of junk mail they will inevitably send me to try to tell me all the things I need to make my wedding successful.

Also, my brother's good at designing things. He's a little busy at the moment, but I'm sure he'll come up with some awesomely unique way to share our story. Until then, this blog'll do.

I'll try not to overwhelm you with too many posts about wedding stuff. I'm sure this topic gets old quickly for anyone not directly involved (read: anyone except me). But I've waited a long time to be here, so I'm not about to let it pass me by.

If any of you Marrieds out there has good advice for me, I'd love to hear it. Is there anything you did, that, if you did it again you'd make sure NOT to do? Or anything you wish you did differently? What was your favorite part?

He Asked and I Said Yes

I have some exciting news. CHRIS AND I ARE ENGAGED!

I know, right? I didn't see it coming either. Want to hear the story? (Warning: It's kind of long, so if you're interested in the details, read on. For you bottom line types ... he asked and I said yes.)

The Story
Chris and I have always thought it would be fun to take a random vacation day. Not for anything in particular ... just a day off. So not too long ago, we decided on Friday, April 24th and the plan was to take a day trip to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs.

Then last weekend, Chris got sick. I'm talking really SICK - cough, head cold, muscle aches, chills, seriously high fever - the works. He kept getting worse, so on Sunday we went to Emergicare, where they took his temperature (103.3 degrees!) and told him he had the Flu and Pneumonia. So he spent all last week at home, most of the time sleeping. By the time Thursday night rolled around, he was feeling somewhat better, but was still really weak. We decided to call the spontaneous vacation day off until he was feeling better, but late Thursday night, he sent me a text that said "Keep the vacation day. You need a day of fun and I intend to give you one."

We decided, however, against the Mt. Princeton plan. Since he had just spent a week with a fever, Chris didn't really like the idea of spending the day sitting in water that would elevate his body temperature again. The weather forecast was very warm, and we still needed something non-strenuous, so we decided to take the dogs and spend the day up at a park in Denver. We packed a lunch, sunscreen, a blanket and a bunch of books.

We got to Denver about 11 am. Chris parked the truck and, instead of unloading the dogs and picnic stuff, said, "Let's go this way" and headed in the opposite direction. Then he says, "Um we're not actually going to the dog park" and we walk up to a day spa. He had booked us four hours of spa time! (Yeah ... I got a good one.) We did a saltwater floatation thing, a facial and a hot stone massage. It. Was. Awesome.

When we're done, we got the dogs and headed down to the lake a few blocks away and then to the real dog park to let them run. (Welcome to our life with three dogs.)

Then we went to dinner at Bang, this funky little restaurant in the Highlands. After dinner, we wandered a few shops down to this wine shop, where they are having a wine tasting, so of course, we tasted. We popped into the gourmet cheese store next door, then poked around in a used book store.

After we wandered around a while, we hopped in the truck and headed over to Bonnie Brae to get ice cream cones. (It was at this point that I finally started taking pictures. I thought I'd get a good photo or two for my photo blog.)


After ice cream we walked around the neighborhood pointing out what we like or don't like about people's houses. Finally we headed back to the truck.

He pulled into Wash Park as the sun is going down and says, "Let's go walk." So we headed down towards the lake. As we got closer to the water, there were huge clouds of mosquitoes. (I'm not sure WHAT they were doing since this is Colorado, the land of no bugs.) But anyway, we quickly left the water and moved up to this open grassy area. I decided it's a good spot for pictures, so I started taking some and he got goofy.



After a few minutes, he said, "So ..." and then stops. I'm not oblivious ... I know what's coming, so I said, "So ... what?" And he said, "We should go."

So I'm like, "YES I will! Wait ... what?" (Okay that response was all in my head.) But suddenly I'm doubting what I had thought had been obviously coming and I feel stupid for even thinking he's going to propose.

As we walked back to the truck, he saw a cement picnic table and suggested we sit on it. Then he told me that the day is very special to him because four years before was the day he had become a Christian. Um ... WOW. We talked about that for a few minutes and then he got up. I got up to follow him to the truck and he said, "Sit back down!" Then he got on his knee and handed me the ring and said, "Will you be my wife?" I said "Yes" and put the ring on.

It fits perfectly.

The Crazy God Part
A while back, when Chris and I were just starting to get serious, I decided that since I had never even looked at diamond rings, I should probably look at least a little to figure out what I like. So one day I looked at a few web sites and saved a couple pictures of rings I thought were pretty.

Not long after that, I asked Chris if he wanted my input whenever the time might come when he chooses a ring and he said no. He wanted to pick it himself. So after that conversation, I decided not to look anymore so as not get my hopes set on something in particular.

Chris had picked out a certain ring, but then a couple months ago, God woke him up in the middle of the night and told him to get this other one (the one above.) He thought the setting resembled an ichthus fish, symbolic of the fact that he was planning to propose on the day he accepted Christ.

Well look at the ring that I had saved on my computer way so long ago ... the one Chris never saw.
God completely blows me away.

He Chose Me

Every once in a while I get completely overwhelmed with the people that God has chosen to put into my life. Does that ever happen to you? It happened for me tonight.

I haven't talked much about my boyfriend Chris on this blog. We were coworkers first before we were dating, and many of our mutual coworkers read this blog, so it's always felt a little weird to get all mushy about him here. But I feel like it's long overdue. After tonight, I couldn't NOT write about him. (Coworkers, consider yourself warned.)

I'll try to keep the mush factor to a minimum in this post, but you guys, he is seriously unbelievable. I am in awe that God has decided that we're right for each other. I don't deserve him. Here's an example ...

Tonight, I was having one "those" nights. Nothing major happened, but for some reason I was in a funk. I felt burdened by life, annoyed at the world, frustrated with my dog, crampy, tired, and irritable. I know I was not pleasant company. On top of all that, tonight is Monday, which means we had dance class (a.k.a. our weekly fight.)

There were so many reasons for Chris to get frustrated with me. But you know what? He didn't.

He didn't say "I told you so" when my dog ignored me, even though he HAS told me many times exactly how to train her. He didn't get impatient with me when I messed up the dance steps. Over and over again. He didn't try to pull me out of my funk or fix anything - he was just there with me while I was in it. He allowed me to be grouchy without allowing it to affect him. He listened to me and hugged me and encouraged me and told me I was lovely.

This man was a perfect reflection of Christ to me tonight. And do you want to know the most amazing part? He is like that a lot. Even in those times when he gets stressed or angry or frustrated, he somehow manages to keep God in focus. I've never met anyone who is able to do that like he does.

There's so much more I want to say about him, but I'll save that for another post. Suffice it to say I feel incredibly lucky - no, incredibly blessed - that he thinks I'm worth loving.

I'm honored that he's chosen me.

Thursday Thoughts

Well, that didn't last long.

Apparently Anoop is gone. I didn't watch the show, but from the recap I read, I didn't miss much. In fact, with the new elimination format they are using, I can finally say that I'm so over American Idol.

In other news, we leave a week from today for New York for my sister's wedding. Yesterday my dad texted this picture from Sara's backyard ...
It's gonna be a cold five days.

Anyway, Sara's the third (and last) of my siblings to get married. Did you know I'm the oldest of four? This might sound kind of weird, but I always had a strong feeling that I'd be the last to get married. So, Sara, I guess I should say thanks for not waiting too long.

My turn now?