The Third Trimester...

Trimester #3
Many of you are aware that the time of our engagement to marriage is approximately 18 months (18 months + 1 week to be exact). Consequently, it can be broken down into three trimesters, with each lasting 6 months (or 2x the length of a pregnancy trimester or academic trimester), For those of you who have experienced the child-bearing and birthing process or are currently at a high school that uses that calendar, you'll know that this is the last hoo-rah. Using that terminology, Thomas and I are officially in our last trimester of our engagement. With that said, we are working to put the finishing touches on both wedding and marriage details (not that the marriage details won't be constant work-in-progress, but still...).

A little romance...
    A few weeks back, I received a couple voicemails on my cell. The first was regarding a flower delivery. So, I was thinking, how in the world would a Rochester flower shop get my cell number and know my name. Meanwhile, I listened to the second voicemail which said there was a mistake and that they didn't have a flower delivery to make.
   Seeing as I was driving at the time, I had plenty of time to ponder the meaning behind the messages. First, I was pretty sure Thomas was up to something (either that or I had a secret admirer who also happened to know my address and cell number), but I had no clue what day he picked out as significant. My ensuing thoughts led me to believe I should expect flowers either the next day (Monday, Jan 10) or on our engagement anniversary (Sunday, Jan 16). Or, Thomas was really on the ball for Valentine's Day or even for my birthday in JULY!
    Yeah...needless to say, I really had absolutely no clue what was going on...(I did opt to share the story of the voicemails with Thomas, and he managed to leave me in the dark [good job Thomas! I like surprises]).
    Today after church, I received a phone call about a flower delivery. Thomas overheard my conversation, but he didn't know what the phone call was about. To appease his curiosity, he asked me "so what's going on?" I simply retorted back, "I don't know Thomas. Why don't you tell me what's going on?"
    Leaving it at that, Thomas and I had our Sunday dinner together before going to continue working on our wedding registry details. Before heading out to complete that task, Thomas opted to do the dishes (yes, he loves doing dishes :-)), so I meandered into my living room. As I looked out the window, there was a flower delivery vehicle pulling in my driveway. Me, myself, and I knew who that was for...and I was really excited to see what Thomas (or my secret admirer) got for me. I left my apartment and answered the outer door as the gentleman was approaching. He proceeded to give me the flowers, and I went back up to my apartment and tried to sneak in without Thomas noticing (I failed!...although he pretended not to notice).
   Sure enough, Thomas got me flowers!

Thomas knows I like to support local businesses (especially produce) as much as possible, and so you can see he made sure to get these from a Rochester-based shop opposed to the online flower deliveries (through the mail/UPS).

As Thomas drives back to New Prague, I want to give a shout out: THANKS THOMAS!
 I love you!!!

Cold Feet!!!

No, I'm not getting cold feet for my wedding...but I am getting cold feet from the weather.

Check out these temperatures (remember I'm in MN)! When I got up this morning (~5 am) and went outside, the thermometer read -26 F + windchill = [chatter teeth and say] "BUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

Happy New Year...it's been ONE year!

It has been ONE month since my last post, and coincidentally enough, it has been ONE year since Thomas popped the question (and I said "yes"...:-)).
If you want the full story, you should read Thomas' note on Facebook*.  
*I'm not sure if this link will work if you don't have a Facebook account. I will ask Thomas to change the settings to allow those without Facebook to access the brief story.

Last year, right after Thomas popped the question. Yes, it was FREEZING!

The next day (1/17/10) we took this picture. It seemed appropriate.

Earlier this week, many organizations were noting the nifty date. The date was 1/11/11. ESPN had the NCAA DI men's basketball 24-hr conference opener coverage, and the announcers were mentioning how #1 Kalin Lucas and #11 Jordan Taylor were key players in the UW-MSU match-up. All of this hype got me thinking, 11/11/11 would be a much more interesting date. It's the type of date that people like to get married on. So, I began wondering why Thomas and I weren't picking that date....then, I realized...WE WILL ALREADY BE MARRIED!!!! Craziness!

Tuxedos
Today, Thomas and I solidified the tuxes at Men's Wearhouse. We have until the beginning of July to truly finalize the tux choice(s), but we wanted to get our names "in the books." So, that is one more thing to check off of the to-do list.

Wedding Registry
Also, it hit me that Thomas and I need to begin our wedding registry because the bridal shower(s) are ~9 weeks away. So today, Thomas and I also spent a significant amount of time getting registries set up. As soon as we have them finalized, we will post the information here.