Mission Control: We have a date!

Yes! The answer to the FAQ is here! We have picked a date for our wedding. Before we announce it, we have to send a big thank you to our mentors, guides, and cheerleaders during this whole process: Dad and Brenda. They made the decision to come help us and spend some time in our neck of the woods. It was amazing to have them around. They even had dinner at our apartment as we hosted a small get together for them and our friends. They were excited to be with us and we felt the same way. Okay, so here it goes. Brian and I will be getting married June 14, 2014! Yes, 364 days away. We were panicking about how long we would have to wait, but, then we started realizing that it takes a lot of the pressure off when it comes to losing weight, the fact that I will be off from school, and the fact that more people will be able to attend if we do it in the summer. It is very important to me to have my brothers there, and the summer date makes it easier on them. Here's the other important piece of information. The wedding will be taking place in Gainesville. Venue information will be disclosed at a later date. Wow! That sounded official. BECAUSE IT IS! Let the countdown begin!

Friends Are Awesome

If I have learned anything from this engagement so far it has been that people love hearing good news! We have been showered with well wishes, cards, and gifts. We already knew we had some awesome people in our lives, but they have gone the extra mile to let us know how happy they are for us. After the last blog, I felt a need to share the positive side of announcing the engagement. We have received beautiful cards from my fellow teachers at school, and from our families. We have received cute little duckies from our Weight Watcher Family. Our good friends Kat and Mike left flowers in the apartment along with some friendly advice in our dry-erase board. Inbal and Asaf gave us a wonderful gift: they gave us a notebook to keep record of this wonderful time. The message inside was moving, and the Converse keychain that came with it made us feel like our friends accept our weirdness. Brian and I are feeling quite loved and appreciate all the thoughts and words coming our way. We are lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.

20 Questions

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but, I really don't have everything figured out for the wedding just yet. I know! Shocker! Oh, who am I kidding? I'm going little by little and I don't really know what I'm going. BUT! I have great friends who have gone through this before and they will help me along the way. However, there is one thing I have noticed. People love to ask you questions about your wedding. And hey! That's totally normal. Though there is one question that boggles my mind. Not because of what the question actually is, but of the timing people choose to ask it. I got engaged May 6th, and on May 7th, just as I went back to school, the first question from everyone was "DO YOU HAVE A DATE???!!!" Now let's think about this. On May 7th I had been engaged for less than 24 hours. Yes, super exciting! No, I don't have a date. In the 24 hours I have not called the Parish, checked venues, checked with possible wedding party for availability, or anything else. I have no idea when my wedding is at this point. How am I supposed to know that in 24 hours?! I understand that people are just happy! That's the normal thing to ask I'm sure. But with each time the question was asked, my nervousness increased. It occurred to me, "Oh crap!" maybe I should have a date already! But how?? It JUST happened. So with this I tell you all, a date is coming. I will let you know as soon as I have it. I will shout it from the rooftops! I will hire a plane to sky-write it! (No, that's ridiculously expensive) For right now, I will tell you: we are shooting for Spring 2014. Any other questions?

Big Decisions

Yesterday Brian and I went to my uncle's house in Ocala for my cousin's First Communion. As a surprise, my mother and grandmother had flown in for this event. I was very happy to see my mom, who I hadn't seen since December. We took this event as an opportunity to tell my grandmother of the engagement. She was very happy to hear it! First grandchild to get engaged has that effect on grandmothers, or so I've learned. The ring I wear right now is from Premier Jewelry Designs. My grandmother has offered to use her wedding set for us us to use. The ring will be sized and given to us soon. It's a wonderful way to express her love and her blessing. Once I have the ring, I will post pictures of it. The other thing that surprised us was the fact that she said it would be better for us to have the wedding here, in Florida. THat's the biggest question that we have to answer. Where will our wedding be? Puerto Rico or Florida? Right now, the possibility of Florida gets bigger and bigger. Personally, I would love to have it here. This is where our friends, our new family, are. My uncle went as far as to offer up his house as the venue. What a wonderful thing! So God willing, my paternal grandparents will make the trip. If they can't make the trip, we will have to discuss the fact that the wedding might just have to be in Puerto Rico. We took another step towards wedding preparations today. We called the Catholic Parish of St. Augustine's to ask about their wedding process. Hopefully we get to have an appointment this week to discuss the steps necessary. Brian has agreed to convert if necessary. He's more than I could ever ask for. More to come soon!

We Are Engaged!

We are engaged! Yes. Crazy but true! Check outside, pigs might be flying. It must be cold in hell. But yes, after five years of dating, Brian finally listened to Beyonce and put a ring on it. It happened on May 6th, 2013: the five-year anniversary of "I love you" day. Brian and I said I love you to each other on May 6th, 2008 while visiting Epcot. While there, we decided to take a picture in front of every country. Dorky sure, but it was adorable. So, on May 6th, 2013 he decided we should go to Epcot again. He convinced me to take a picture in front of every country again and then convinced me to email the pics to him. I did it just to shut him up. What I didn't know is that he was secretly sending the picture to our friend Adam who was including them in a video he had made previously. Around 7pm, he sat me down in the exact same spot he first said I love you five years ago. We sat down on the fountain directly in front of Spaceship Earth. He put headphones on me and made me watch a video on his phone. The video featured him in the spot of our first kiss telling me how much he loved me. Then a slideshow of pictures of us together started, to the tune of our song "My Funny Valentine" by Frank Sinatra. He had included the pictures from five years ago, and right after each one of those pictures was the one we had taken that very day right behind it. It was the most beautiful Before and After album I had ever seen. I was so surprised I started to cry. After all pictures were done, he came back on screen to say "Oh! And one more thing!". After that, the video was over and when I looked up from the phone, there he was, on his knee holding a ring and asking me to marry him. And I said YES! People clapped all around us and cheered us on. It was magical. We got a couple of "Just Engaged!" Disney buttons that we will treasure forever. We called our family and friends and they were happy for us. The drive back to Gainesville flew by as I realized...oh wow...I am going to marry the love of my life. And I wouldn't have it any other way.