Mr & Mrs Hermano de Dios

On April 29th, two of my favorite people in the world got engaged.  After the best half decade of his life, Austin decided it was time to take Shawna off the market officially.  Also I hear there was a royal wedding that day?  I had not noticed.

Austin is one of Ryan's childhood friends.  They rode bikes into the pool together.  They had 90210 gab sessions together every morning during the summer.  (It's a wonder they're getting married to females, isn't it?)  They struck out with chicks on the daily at Bikini Beach together.  They played baseball together.  They took the AOL world by storm together.  They stashed a bunch of empty beer cans under Austin's bed together. (Unless Austin's parents are reading this - then yes, it was definitely just Ryan).  I absolutely adore Austin and am so glad to have found a fiance who comes with such great friend accessories.

I joke on our wedding website that Shawna is the best thing I've gotten out of Ryan & I's relationship and that is probably really only about a half joke.  While it started out with me being scared to death of her due to a facebook wall post gone awry, I am so appreciative of our friendship now.  Probably due to all those long 90210 talks, our significant others are eerily similar and I know that if there's one person who will be able to relate to (or at least help make fun of) anything that Ryan says - it's Shawna.  Not to mention she's super fun.  Long story short- if things ever went south, I'm keeping Shawna.      

Austin asked in December for some advice in case he you know, hypothetically, "wanted to buy a diamond ring for like his Mom or something."  I think I got that email December 9th,which was conveniently right before I spent 2 weekends with Shawna and a host of adult beverages celebrating Mrs. Jenn Gartz's wedding.  Luckily I kept my big trap shut.  I say Austin asked for advice but really he just wanted to know what to stay away from and he picked out an absolutely stunning ring completely by himself. 

He proposed in their beautiful backyard and afterwards we went over to deliver the essentials - bridal mags, champagne and a ballon shaped like a sombrero that said "FIESTA" and to celebrate.  I am so, so very happy for you two and can't imagine a better person for each of you.  I look forward to a lifetime of intense "what if" games, lake weekends and Ebay home decorating.   

Bringing the celebration essentials- beer, an aptitude for double fisting and...

... a tasty sombrero?

The future Sumerlins

Revelers.

Aged mama juana even < fresh mama juana

Proud mama in law

Yay for getting a daughter!

Engagements inspire choreographed dancing.  True story.

Beth also secured herself a new soulmate that night- Mr. Jasper.

Blonde sandwich.

Sixteen Candles... er... Celebrations

Smack dab in the middle of my busiest month came my favorite day of the whole year - the day that my beloved future hubby can no longer call me a cougar... for the next 5.5 months at least.  Ryan turned 28 on April 18th and for those of you keeping score, that makes him approximately 6.5 months younger than me.  What?  You could tell I was older just because I'm so much wiser and more mature?  Oh, go on. 

Ryan reminds me of this minor age gap on a regular basis during those 6.5 months via such terms of endearment as "cradle-robber" and "cougar."  He is such a romantic.  As those of you near and dear to me are aware- I've been pretty busy this month but I refused to have a repeat performance of last year... where I did not even acknowledge Ryan's birthday until June.  This year he got spoiled with about 27 separate celebrations.  So perhaps I exaggerate slightly but I would say that we definitely made up for lost time.

First, the Saturday before his birthday his dear friend Jimmer and his lovely wife Beth were kind enough to have Ryan & the abbreviated crew over to celebrate.  We were all treated to the most mouth-watering fajitas ever, a fabulous cookie cake and even more fabulous company - capped off by watching their adorable boxer, Shiner, open the door BY HIMSELF.  Thank you so much to Jimmer & Beth - Ryan may have had poor choice in hairstyles as a child, but at least he had great taste in friends.

Shawna is very excited about cookie cake.

21 again.  It's a special time in a young man's life, indeed.

The next day we went over to Ryan's parents house to celebrate with the Martin folk.  At casa Martin we indulged in some excellent reality TV a la TLC's The Lottery Changed My Life.  We all learned a valuable lesson and that lesson is that if you are a lottery winner and you have a yellow lamborghini, that does not mean that your dog will not take a leak on it for all of America to see.  In addition to acquiring such sage wisdom, we were also spoiled with fabulous roast beef and an amazing homemade spice cake.  Ryan scored some much-needed home owner essentials for his present... drum roll please... a HOSE and a bucket.  If you'd have told me when I was 5 and I got a bike for Christmas that one day getting a hose would elicit the same level of excitement I'd have thought you were on drugs.  Life is funny.  I love my future in-laws. 

Oh, did you  need that eye?

Mmmhmmm... cutest niece ever.

Singing Happy Birthday.  Obvi.

Sometimes you age 7 years over night.

You's a hose.  Yup, went there.

Ryan's gift to himself, apparently.

The Thursday after his birthday I arranged a low-key birthday HH for Ryan at the Cellar.  Then, true to form, I got caught up at work and missed nearly all of the HH.  I arrived approximately 30 minutes before the birthday boy requested a chariot take him to Jack in the Box immediately.  I did get to see some people I haven't seen in a long time- even if only for a few minutes.  Thank you to everyone who showed up!  Sorry I was tardy for the party. 

The Friday after his birthday (which was Good Friday), we met at the Cheesecake Factory in the Woodlands to celebrate with my family.  If you read my most recent installment of Nuptial News, you may be putting together that this is the day that we bought Ryan's ring and he made me propose to him.  We had a fantastic dinner with the family and then went home to celebrate with cupcakes, brownies and re-gifted Nintendo 64s.  Thank you family for lots of laughs and even more calories.

Wishing for a proposal.

Finally on April 30th, Ryan's good friend and old roommate, David, hosted the (I believe) 3rd sporadically-annual Herntin bash.  David's birthday is the 28th and Ryan is the 18th so it's a perfect opportunity to double the birthday and double the celebration.  David hosted a big group of crazy 20 somethings at his beautiful new house.  Good times and bad beerpong were enjoyed by all.  Thank you David for being brave enough to have us all over!

All in all, I would say that it was a pretty good birthday for the future hubs.  Thank you to everyone who made it that way... Happy Birthday again lova- I look forward to looooots more!  

Nuptial News: Installment Eleven

I usually write these things by doing the bullet points first and then adding in words around them.  In reading Ryan's contributions below, if you do not know him (or perhaps even if you do...), I can see how you might wonder what I think I'm doing with my life.  Please note that I do not always put all of his contributions in here- he actually is a wonderful man who keeps me sane and helps me immensely... but you don't want to hear about that, do you?    

Things Accomplished:

• Had my first dress fitting
• Purchased Ryan's engagement ring wedding band
• Ordered my wedding band
• Started stuffing wedding invitations
• Attended our first marriage counseling session (and are still under the impression this whole marriage thing is a good idea)
• Ordered flower girl basket
• Ordered flower girl shoes
• Ordered groomsmen pocket squares
• Came up with a plan for table numbers
• Made* some table overlays

Things in the Pipeline:

•  Programs
•  Escort cards

Ryan's Contributions:

• Ordered a used marriage counseling book off of Amazon.  Gotta love his thriftiness.  Until you realize that the person selling it actually filled in their own answers.
• Made me propose to him in front of my whole family at the Cheesecake factory after we purchased his "engagement ring" on what he now refers to as his "engagement weekend."

I AM SO EXCITED!


* By "made" I actually mean "cut a huge bolt of fabric."

Today I don't feel like doing anything...

.... I just wanna lay in my bed.  The past few days this has become my anthem.  Except rather than laying in my bed I've been at Hobby Lobby, marriage counseling or work.  Kinda the same, right?

Hi again world!  As of 8:00 pm on Monday my last busy season client is F-I-L-E-D.  I experienced approximately 4 hours of relief mingled with relaxation and then I realized... it's May.  That means I have a bachelorette party to get ready for, a shower to plan, a wedding to plan, a bachelorette party to plan and oodles of other fun things to do.  Cue the panic.

This weekend I'm treating myself to a day off so that I can go to the lake and have a monster wedding workshop with the family.  Ryan is also coming so I have a feeling said "workshop" might be littered with talk of sports, shotgunning and just general distraction.  I will prevail though- don't you worry.

High on my to do list is getting cauuuught up on this bad boy.  While I've been busy tying out 10-K's galore, and sharpening red & blue pencils to my heart's content Ryan had a birthday and one of our good friends got engaged.  So, clearly I have a lot to catch my little time capsule up on.  I need to do it quickly too because Mr. Martin's birthday is coming up and my bachelorette party is next weekend.  Where does life go?! 

If you are thinking to yourself- did she put this up here just to keep herself honest and make sure she gets up to date in a reasonable amount of time?  You WIN.  I did.  I think you should treat yourself to a self-given high five. 

Look forward to some updates in the very near future... Happy Cinco de Mayo hotties!

Because you know how I feel about picture-less posts and I'm on my work computer.  If my crazy fiance in a silly hat singing to a stuffed sheep doesn't make you want a marg, I just don't know what will.