Bridezilla!

     Despite my title I am not a bridezilla nor am I turning into one! But I now realize why so many wonderful, normal girls can turn into such a beast once they are engaged (or for some even before!). The cake must be this flavor and this many tiers and feed the entire city because the more people you have at your wedding the more you gifts you get, I mean the more you are loved. There are a million and one ways to get caught up into wedding myths!

     But I would like to challenge them, who says I have to spend thousands of dollars on a party that only lasts a few hours? Who says I have to have a cinderella-esq dress or that my prince charming must lose his arm and leg to buy me a big rock to wear on my finger? According to a 2005 CNNMoney article the average wedding costs is close to $27,000!!!! Yikes! This is pure craziness.
     I should stop here and point out that I am not at all against weddings and their traditions, but I do question why we have some of these traditions. Why do we spend so much money? Don't get me wrong it is a wonderful wonderful thing to celebrate; the marriage of two people who love each other enough to commit to saying I do a million plus times over the course of the rest of their lives. It is going to be my joy to celebrate with my family and friends the union of Doug and I, but we are not going to go into debt doing it.
    I suppose I am ranting about this all because it is so easy to get caught up in thinking I have to have certain things for my wedding to be any good. I looked at pictures and saw the beautifully decorated tables, centerpieces, guest books that are more than just a book, gifts for the guests, lights, three course meals...on and on and on! It overwhelmed me. But I stopped, paused and took a deep breath. Those things are just things. I needed to decide what was most important to me about a wedding. I discovered that nicely decorated tables were near the bottom of my list. As I am recovering from all the images of white dresses, cake, flower arrangements and cute flower girls I am finding out what Doug and I want our wedding to look like, and how much we are able to spend on it to make it a wonderful day for all in attendance.
     So my prayer is that we (mostly me) would not get caught up in what everyone else in America is doing, and focus on what is going to bring God the most glory out of our wedding day. And I don't think what the cake looks like is at the top of His list either! If you have any advice, ideas, tips, hints, stories, anything you think of, PLEASE share it with me! ...and thanks for letting me rant a little. I just needed to get that all out.


"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." -Colossians 3:1-2

Breakfast Time!

Yesterday morning before our days began, Doug and I went to breakfast at Jimmy's Egg. Neither one of us had been there before, but we had bought a Groupon (a sweet deal we paid $5 and got $10 worth of food). When we walked in and seated ourselves our waitress was right there to offer us the amazing array of breakfast items for our choosing. After receiving our water and delicious in house roasted and brewed coffee we both made our final decisions...

Doug choose the classic, but always delicious Belgian Waffle.

I was super excited to try their Banana Pecan Pancakes! And they did not disappoint.

 Two very full and satisfied Jimmy's Egg customers.

After our wonderful morning meal, Doug went to class and I went to work with the kiddos. I work for a church's mom's day out program called Kids Day In Christ. I have loved every minute of working there! I hope that even after I find a "real" job that I can continue working here because it's not work, its my play time!

On a side note: I am currently ringless for a week or two while my engagement ring is being resized (just big enough that it worries me enough about losing it). So we headed to the jewelry store which happens to be at the mall right next to Auntie Anne's Pretzels. I happened to have a buy one get one coupon and we happened to both buy the cinnamon and sugar pretzels. We may have happened to devour them both. But just look at it! 

Sigh. Such sugary mouth watering goodness.

a perfect ten (short version)

I realize that the previous proposal story is lengthy. Here is the short and sweet version.
                                         

10.10.10
Wichita. Doug ran a race. 

Hutchinson. 

Surprise breakfast for his mom's birthday with the whole family. 

Rain. Ruined proposal attempt #1. 

Wichita. Rain. 

Successful proposal attempt #2. 

Happiness. Ice Cream. Rainbows.

A Perfect Ten Part Deux

If you can handle any more excitement...
10.18.10 I took my nursing board exam.
10.20.10 A short 10 days after getting engaged, I PASSED NLCEX!!

What a relief. See I graduated from nursing school in May, took the boards end of June. Failed. God picked me up and I studied some more, did more questions, watched more videos, gave me an incredible gift of taking the Kaplan course (basically this is what I needed in the first place, it shows you what the test is looking for). Now I am in the process of finding a job. Applied to all the local hospitals, next step is kindly pursuing the HR people :)
To celebrate Doug and I went out for ice cream (I had a coupon that needed to be used soon!).

I choose a delicious pumpkin with graham crackers mixed in. Doug dislikes pumpkin, so to "show me" he got coffee with toffee bits mixed in (I love coffee but not ice cream coffee). So loving ;)

A Perfect Ten

So much happened in 10 days.

10.10.10
     Early morning I rolled out of bed and trekked to down town Wichita to cheer on Doug as he raced in the Prairie Fire 5K.
     After showering we went to Hutchinson, KS to meet up with Doug's siblings for a surprise early birthday celebration for his mom. What a special gift to give, the whole family came from all around Kansas! Off to the Dillon Nature Center for a family photo. Thankfully the rain held off so we could get this shot.

Introducing my soon to be family!

 

     Doug was exhausted by this point. He had worked from 10pm-6am, ran a race at 7am, breakfast celebration in Hutchinson (which is an hour away), family photos... so he wants to get going. I agree, its getting colder and rain is in the very near future. Once in the car he reminds me that he was going to show me around Kansas Bible Camp where he attended and worked at during the summers growing up. So after a quick stop at Hastings (like a small town Barnes&Noble) for some hot cocoa we drove over to the camp.
     As we drive up we see all these cars parked, but being adventurous we head out in the rain. Well my adventurous side had to be persuaded! Sometime in the last 2 years while Doug has been in Africa, the camp built this really neat...how do I describe it? Like a tri level gazebo tree house minus the tree. Anyways we head to the top level to get out of the rain and snuggle up with our hot chocolate. Doug was about thirty seconds away from pulling out the box and starting the proposal (I find this out later of course) when we hear footsteps bounding up the stairs! Invasion of the retreaters, all those cars actually had people in them roaming around the camp!
     Mood is ruined he says, so we return to Wichita where we watch a few episodes of Psych, our favorite TV show as of late. He surprises me by not going and taking a nap afterward, remember he worked all night and had to go to work again later, but he asks me to go for walk at our nature center. I don't really want to, its still rainy and cold outside. But he insists and I wasn't really that against it, so I borrow his over sized, red Chiefs jacket because it has a hood.
     We head over to our beloved Nature Center, where it was only drizzly and the clouds were thinning out casting a really neat light effect over the changing foliage (yes, foliage, it's a fun word.). I was in a silly mood, Doug was on the quiet side today as we strolled along taking short pointless videos and pictures. We come to a bridge that has some built in benches where I frequently would do my quite times when I lived in Wichita, or whenever I had to stay in town. So Doug says he wants to take one more video, sets the camera on the ledge and we sit down on the bench. I suspected nothing.
    He tells me a beautiful story about this beautiful green box from Kenya he bought about 8 years ago when he was there.Starting to wonder where this was going. After the story, which made me cry, he tells me that this box is for me but it comes with a question. By this point I was definitely understanding what was happening! Doug gets on one knee, opens the box and inside wrapped in tissue paper is the most beautiful ring. Of course you know the question he asked and by now you know my answer! I nodded and said of course, he slipped that beautiful ring on my finger and I gave him a smooch ;)
    Walking back to our cars I noticed a little green Volkswagen, my sister was there to take pictures! Such a wonderful surprise. All three of us trek over to Coldstone Creamery for some delicious ice cream where I gushed all the details to my sister. Doug also made this amazing video of pictures, short video clips, verses and songs that we watched. Sigh, he sure knows how to make me feel loved.

     After all the amazing events of the day we return to the nature center to pick up Doug's car, we drove together for ice cream, and there in the sky was a brilliant double rainbow. I like to think it was placed there just for us, God's way of letting us know he is with us always.
     Thank you for making it through my little engagement story, I am hoping to keep everyone updated on how the wedding plans are going and other random thoughts that pop into my head. So keep stopping by!

Shine

Wow internet blogger friends, a lot has happened this past week, a lot. But I don't have the time/energy to write about it but I thought I would share this fantastic video from David Crowder* Band's album Church Music.

How to smell like a monster.

Today's post will be a light and fluffy one.

Watch this Old Spice commercial


Now watch this Sesame Street version


I hope this makes you smile.

Beginning

To be a blogger, one must actually blog? Okay here we go.

I have a feeling these first many will be boring and pointless, so you are more than welcome to skip them and come back when I actually have something worthwhile to say, assuming that ever happens!

Today started out with a major sneezing attack as my body continually fights off allergens. I now sit here, a tissue box within arms reach, and a growing pile of used tissues. Don't worry I am not going to give you a play by play of my daily events, so you can move your little arrow away from the close button! I just wanted to post a picture from my phone and see if it actually worked! And it did, yay!

I thought I would share something that we talked about in the latest group I am visiting as we study about love, and why its the mark of a Christian.Our exercise was really interesting and I encourage you to take some time to do this too: Read the following passages and create a definition of love based on what these verses reveal to us and then leave a comment please :)

• John 13: 34-35
• 1 John 4: 7-8
• 1 Corinthians 13:13
• Romans 13:8a
• Matthew 22: 37-40

Then think about how you and the church (as a whole) are doing with this. This is not an exercise in feeling bad for ourselves, my leader listed off tons of encouraging things the christian community does in the name of love, hospitals built, orphanages begun, shelters, soup kitchens, etc... Rather it is just a checking point for us to see how we are doing according to God's definition of love found in the above verses and especially in 1 Corinthian 13: 4-7,

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud
It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

I know that I struggle greatly with showing love as love is supposed to be shown. I do not always trust people, I do keep record of wrongs done to me, I lose hope sometimes, I need God to remind me and help me to love like he loves. God is love. I am so grateful for a God who doesn't not demand that I be perfect at loving those around me. He is always working on me, and though it is painful at times, it is always always for my good.

side note: it took me about an hour and a half to write this...I kept getting distracted. I need to get better at time management.

If you are new or a returning friend

Hi friends,
Welcome to my blog. Yes you may notice that I have had it for 2 years (ahem...post below!) But I just want to direct you back to the first post to help you make sense of the name fruitage. Thanks!

I've had this thing for 2 years?

Oh friends, if I have any that actually read this blog, it has been over a year since I blogged. And I realized that I created this over 2 years ago but have never been faithful with it. I have had several friends and family start blogs and are extremely good at them. I thought I would get back into the whole blogging thing. More of a personal way to remember things. Plus I am on the computer a lot anyways and Doug suggested I blog again. So I am going to post this and just this for now. I have been having lots of ideas float around in my head so we will see what I come up with! Excited to be back :) Oh and thats my wonderful boyfriend Doug in the picture (yes he is holding a pink trashcan....but it was only $1.50!) I will post much better photos soon, this was the only one readily available.