OctoberFestivities!

10.29.10
Final Friday
     My lovely sister, Jackie, (check out her amazing blog here) is an intern for Tangent Labs, one of many studios that participate in Final Fridays. So Friday she asked me if we would come hang out with her for a few hours with her. Doug and I were just eating mac-n-cheese with no great plans for the rest of the night, so we said yes! We enjoyed the different displays and the mostly eaten but still yummy goodies.

 Contemplating art. It's what we do.

Three warm art connoisseurs. 

10.30.10

Murder Among the Mateys

    Jackie had a birthday at the beginning of October, which I had planned for this amazing party to take place then. It had to be postponed until the 30th for various reasons. BUT, nevertheless the party did in deed commence. What better way to celebrate my dear sisters birthday than to host a pirate murder mystery? 

     A great website "night of mystery" gave me all the materials I would need to host such a party. I bought the package back in July and have began planning it and putting it together in September. So much fun to read through and figure out which characters would fit our guests! With pirate love triangles, a lost treasure to be found, bottles of root beer, eye patches and bad accents all around, we had a spectacular night of surprising plot twists. 

I made this video (my first time ever!) to show the pictures instead of having you scroll forever.

The pirate party was so much fun to plan and to see everyone getting into character. Happy Birthday Jackie!

10.31.10

3 mile walk is sensible.

     Phew friends, almost done with the weekend, hang in there we're almost done. Sunday after church Doug and I go back to our beloved nature center for a walk. He takes me the "back way" in and then we have hours of fun finding short cuts and walking the bike path all the way to Woodlawn and down 29th back into the nature center! All in all we walked close to 3 miles and enjoyed every step, it was gorgeous out. Later that day after leaving Doug to take is pre-work nap, I headed over to my friend Jennie's house for a night of Jane Austen. We had a fabulous time eating brownies,cheese, crackers, apples and not a piece of candy in sight, as we watched my new favorite Austen film, Sense and Sensibility. Such a fun halloween night!

     What a fun filled weekend to close out the great month of October. What has been some of you favorite times in October? Past or present!

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!