About Me

I am a:

fiancee 

daughter

cousin

niece

granddaughter

friend

dog mom

I love to share my passions and interests with others. I am into gardening, design, arts and crafts, and planning my wedding!

I am currently a student at a private Christian liberal arts college and will be graduating in December with a degree in Mass Communications with an emphasis on Journalism and Public Relations!

Weekend Adventure

This last weekend, Jon came for a visit and we decided to go for a hike! We have plans of going backpacking sometime this summer, so we wanted to get our new backpacks all figured out and to see how they will feel hiking with them. We had a great time. It was our favorite kind of hike- the kind where you can enjoy the path or take detours, explore, and be adventurous. We definitely took our time on the way there, stopping to take pictures, fish, and look at the skeleton of a dead horse on the side of the path (super strange), but we sort of hurried on the way back. This might have been because we (O.K., I) had a little bear scare. We had stopped to eat our lunch and were seated right at the bottom of a little canyon, with a river on one side and a grassy hill covered in trees on the other. I heard a noise. Now, if you know me, you know that I am kind of a big chicken, but trust me, I actually thought it was something this time. ;) I walked as quickly as I could almost halfway back trying to not look like I was shaking in my boots, but I think he could see right through me. After I was satisfied with the distance away from the "bear" that we had traveled, we sat again and finished our lunch. It sounds pretty silly now to think back on it, because it probably wasn't a bear roaring like I thought it was. I was not about to risk it though!  All in all, it was a great day. Can't wait to do some real backpacking sometime soon! 

An old wood stove from a cabin that used to be out here.

My sweet boys.

I love the reflection in the water!

Before the bear scare. [I still had a smile on my face! :)]

Carving something into the stone...

Awww :)

My man fishing in the river.

Our little mountain goat.

My mountain man.

My turn! Casting out.

Meaningful Monday

 "The Lord says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you."

Psalm 32:8 

Source

Sunflower Sunday

Sunflowers, tomatoes, onions, eggplant, zucchini, squash, corn, cucumber, strawberries, peppers, chives, lavender, succulents, and cilantro. 

All of these things make up my new summer project at the local community garden! It was supposed to be a birthday present for Jon (he grew all kinds of things in garden boxes when he was living at his parents' house during college), but now that he is gone, I was left to manage this whole thing by myself! Actually, I am really excited. 

Sunflower Sundays will most likely include picture updates on my garden or just other gardens that inspire me!

The very first thing that was planted in our new garden.

Jon planting the tomatoes.

Here it is! Next week I'll post the updated photo with all of our stuff planted in it.

Photography Friday

These are all photos I took at the Rhododendron Garden in Portland when Jon and I went home for his birthday weekend. 

Bittersweet Reality

It's official. I miss my boys. I've never been good at math, but I definitely know this:

 long distance round two = no fun

 Long distance round one was pretty hard. Well, at first anyway. Mostly because the relationship was so new. We had only been together for a summer, and being 4 hours and one state away kind of complicated things. It definitely strengthened our communication skills, and I think we enjoyed our time together that much more when we did get to see each other, but the weeks were long.

This time, we've been together for 1 year and 11 months. Things are different now. Better of course, but hard in different ways. For example:

• Since he had moved to be where I was during the school year, I had gotten used to him being here. We had our own routine. Places we ate, had fun at, and visited often, sadly, do not feel the same anymore.
• I know the job he got is great. It's a blessing, really. This way, he'll be all settled and prepared by the time I finish school and move back home.  But, now that we are engaged, I feel like this is the time we should be together, of all times. I mean, it's not like we won't be together, I'll see him most weekends, but it's kind of hard to prepare for a wedding and enjoy being engaged when the main stars of the show are not together. 
• I don't know how many times I have been told, "Wait to get a dog until after you are married." I think they were telling me that because it would be a lot of hard work, etc., but looking back on it now, I think they were right for a different reason. Charlie went with Jon during the move. I miss my dog. Like you wouldn't believe! And just that alone, missing my little baby, is hard enough as it is.
• Round two will be over the summer mostly. Our summers are normally spent going to the beach, hiking, eating at new places, camping, doing crafty things together, fishing, spending time with family and friends, playing tennis, swimming, etc. This one will be spent indoors...he at his job and me at mine. Get up, go to work, come home, eat diner, work out, talk to each other on the phone before bed, go to bed, and then do it all over again. 

I am starting to realize that it's not just this long distance thing I am dreading, it's starting my adult life. OK, dreading isn't the right word. It's just that, I have never been one for change, and that is definitely what the next nine months will bring. In the next nine months, I will have completed long distance round two, I will have graduated college, and I will be married. I am so excited to get married, graduate school and get a job, [ok, mostly just to get married :)] but it will be bittersweet saying goodbye to my carefree days and saying, "Hello Real World." That is all for now.

Wedding Wednesday

This is my first time doing Wedding Wednesday. I plan on also doing Photography Friday, Sunflower Sunday, and Meaningful Monday. I am not going to limit myself to these categories, but I will plan on doing these four each week. 

I suppose I should try to define what Wedding Wednesday posts will be like, but at the same time, I want it to be open to not just my wedding plans and ideas, but other styles and DIY projects I see and like. 

I've never stuck to blogging before. I did it once as a project for a Photojournalism class I had, but once the class was over, I completely forgot about it. I am going to try my hardest to keep up with it  and get into this whole blogging world. You see, I am graduating in December from college with a Mass Communications Degree with an emphasis on Public Relations and Journalism. I figured blogging was bound to happen sooner or later, so I decided to jump right on into it. Because I am so new to it, you'll have to forgive me as things will probably be changing as I figure out how to use this thing.

For this first Wedding Wednesday post, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you a little bit about who I am, what the plan for my wedding is so far, and some of my general interests.

My wedding colors will be eggplant and chartreuse, thus the name of my blog. I love the words eggplant and chartreuse. Purple and green just won't do. One of the first things I was asked when I got engaged was, "What will your colors be?" I proudly said, "Eggplant and Chartreuse," as I pulled out two color swatches from my purse to show them. When I informed my own fiancé, he had no idea what I was talking about. "Men," I thought. "He probably can't even tell the difference between navy and black." 

Let's just put it this way. I. Love. Succulents. No, that's not me in the picture (obviously) but I definitely want some succulents in my hair on my wedding day. Actually, succulents won't just be in my hair... they will be in my bouquet, on the tables, and sent home as favors. 

We will be having sort of a country/barn/nature themed wedding, but I'll tell you more about that next week. I'll also be sharing with you about growing succulents sometime in the near future. 

I'm really excited to get this blogging thing going, so I hope you check back with me on Friday to see some of my own photography!