One Year Ago...

Exactly once year ago today I was eating brunch in the revolving restaurant at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA. I remember I had chicken stuffed with local cheese and some wonderful tiramisu for dessert. I enjoyed the 360 degree view of Seattle and the bay. I was sitting there thinking that it was just, you know, one of those ordinary, run-of-the-mill days.

And then I saw our waiter coming to our table with a silver tray carrying... smoke? huh?

surprise!

yippeee!!

Brandon's favorite pic from the trip

my favorite!

so sparkly!

It was such a wonderful trip and even more wonderful moment. And things just keep getting better :)



PS. It was also exactly one year ago today that Sam Bradford had the season ending shoulder injury at the 2009 Cotton Bowl, thus ending his football career at OU. After you dance around and shout with joy over our engagement-iversary, I would like you all to take a moment of silence for Sammie and our 2009 season. Thanks.

My favorite thing right now..

Look at my super cute new return address stamp! I got it off Etsy, where all the cool things are. Even though we are only renting our house for a short while, I couldn't resist getting this!

I just received it in the mail yesterday and it was the perfect thing to make my sick day brighter. I love the damask border :)

Check out the Etsy shop I got it from here.

Surprise Day Off!

So this Wednesday I got an unexpected day off from my rotation. Yay! I decided to not waste the day away by just sleeping and watching TV, which is what an almost overwhelming part of me actually wanted to do.

I actually got some things done! Not really things as in "cross of my to-do list" necessarily, but more like real life, keep your sanity types of things that tend to get pushed aside.

I went to lunch with a long lost friend. I love catching up with my friends that I don't get to see very often!

I also had a successful Day Two of working out again! Day One consisted of going running AND biking. I am really hoping these waves of motivation to go work out keep on coming!

And one to cross off my to do list - I got my new drivers license with my official new name!

I feel like this week is basically over (I barely count "jeans Friday" as a real workday), and I am already looking forward to the weekend! Opening hockey game for the new OKC team with some of my all time favorite people, Race for the Cure alongside approx. 12,000 other people wearing pink, and Sunday Kayaking on the Oklahoma River with Momma!


PS. its day 12 in a row of not seeing Brandon :( and 8 days until I get to see him again!

OU/TX

I think my shirt today says it all.....

Thank you, Coach Switzer

Also, take a look at these cute little brownie bites I made for the watch party. They have a mini Reeses cups inside of them! Chocolate and peanut butter - the perfect combo. I got the recipe from, where else, the Pioneer Woman. Find it here.

However, if you make these - be warned - don't fill the cups to full! Or they will look like this -

And you will have to eat the weird tall ones yourself because they are not pretty enough to bring out in public.

I also made my Mom's classic bar cookies, always a safe bet.

Off to watch my Sooners!

Blue Dome Diner

Something that I think most people know about me is that I frequently choose restaurants based on Urbanspoon's rating. It started as a way to help my indecisiveness in choosing places to eat but now I love to stay up to date on all of the new and popular restaurants in OKC and Tulsa. One of the "districts" in Tulsa that I had seen during my browsings was called the Blue Dome District but I never knew where/what it was. So yesterday when we decided to go out to eat for breakfast and Brandon mentioned how people are always talking about this Blue Dome Diner place, I got really excited. Trying new local places is one of my favorite things!

The Blue Dome District is located near downtown Tulsa, which I assumed would be a shady area but it actually reminded me a lot of downtown OKC with all the cool lofts and old churches all over the place.

After MUCH deliberation, I decided to go with the 2 scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, bacon and pancakes. It was a ton of food. Seriously, what we got could have fed like 7 people. However, I managed to eat almost all of the pancakes because they were some of the best ones I have ever had in my entire life!

You'll have to excuse the bad photos, I only had my iphone and it was really bright in the restaurant. 

So. Much. Food.

Best. Pancakes. Ever.

oh my gosh.

This place has a very casual diner feel. I swear there is some secret ingredient in the pancakes that makes them so good. However, when you go here, you will smell like a diner for the rest of the day. But, it's so worth it.

Our Stories

After we chose a venue and set the date for the wedding, Brandon and I set up our wedding website. I probably wouldn't have done it, but Brandon had read "his" and "hers" relationship stories on a friend's wedding website and he really wanted to get "his" side of the story out there. Apparently I had been trying to leave parts of it out or something. Or maybe I wasn't highlighting the correct parts. I don't know, but after we wrote everything and made the website, it basically just sat there. I forgot to put it on facebook, didn't really think to tell anyone about it, and neglected it. Since we both actually worked on these stories, I thought I would actually give you all a chance to read them :)

At Chateau Ste. Michelle, right after the proposal

Brandon's Version

DISCLAIMER: Jenny will disagree with the parts where she initially ignored me.

After completing my first year of Medical School, I decided to get a summer job in a Pediatric Rheumatology Lab on campus. Business as usual was the story until a couple weeks into the summer when I was introduced to the new undergraduate assistant, Jenny Stacey. Obviously she is beautiful, but at that time I never knew what was in store. We worked together the first half of the summer and my attraction grew daily. Unfortunately it seemed that no matter what I did, I hit a brick wall. Then the day came when I decided to start texting Jenny from under the table during a lab meeting. When started as normal conversation eventually grew into flirtexting. As the summer drew closer to an end, I finally got the courage to ask Jenny out. It was July 4th 2007. The reason I remember that date so well is because my friends and I had figured out how to sneak on top of the Presbyterian Foundation building to watch the downtown OKC fireworks. I just knew that I could win her over with this devilish task. I picked up my phone, made the call, and proceeded to get shutdown... again. Luckily giving up has never been a quality of mine. Shortly before having to leave the lab and head back to class, I made one last “Hail Mary” effort. If I would have known this whole time that it would only take a round of putt-putt golf at Celebration Station to steal her heart, I may have used that card sooner. If I recall we were somewhere on the back nine, between the clown and the windmill, when I bet her for a kiss. It was one of those win-win, “I make it you kiss me, you make it I kiss you” deals. She went for it and I don’t remember who make the shot but I for sure won the bet. We finished the night in true high roller style, which is with Grape Slushies from Sonic. From then on the best words I can use to describe our relationship is a “beautiful mess”. Jenny stood by me when I was grouchy studying for boards, grouchy from sleep deprivation on General Surgery, grouchy trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and just plain grouchy. Unconditional love is what she gave me and I will always try my best to give it in return. At the beginning of 4th year, we are required to do away rotations to get a feel for other hospitals than our own. I decided to spend my month in Corpus Christi, TX. It was a good experience. I learned a lot about medicine, but the most import thing I learned that month was that I could not imagine spending another day of my life apart from Jenny. After 30 days in South Texas, I was making the 11-hour drive home when I called Jenny’s best friend PJ to tell her that I was ready to make the most important purchase of my life, her engagement ring. Next thing I knew, PJ was crying in the middle of Target. The ring search was initially meant to begin slowly from August until December when I planned on proposing during Christmas. But the more I thought about Marrying Jenny, the more excited I got and I had a ring in my possession by the end of August. I sat on the ring for a few months while trying to figure out the perfect proposal idea. After having a talk with Jenny about how much she wanted to visit the North West, I knew where I would do it. On top of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA. On October 17th 2009, with Sam Bradford on the bench injured and OU getting beat by Texas, from the top of the Space Needle cafe, I told Jenny exactly how I felt and asked if she would spend the rest of her life with me. She does not remember any of this happening, but she did say yes. I love Jenny with all my heart. To me she is so beautiful that she makes flowers jealous and sunsets insecure. I am happy to start this new chapter with her and I am happy to share it will all my friends and family.

___________________________________________________________

Jenny's Version

So Brandon and I do disagree slightly on the details of how we first began dating. I don’t think there was as much ignoring (on my part) and getting shut down (on his part) as he remembers. He also remembers putt-putt as being our first date but I’m pretty certain it was a drive-in movie in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Oh well, I’ll let him have that one. I think he got the rest of the story pretty accurately. But maybe he wasn’t quite as grouchy as he made himself out to be. I think he also forgot to talk about all of my grouchy days but if he didn’t go into it then neither will I…. I had mentioned several times over the years that I wanted to visit Seattle, Washington. My Mom is from there and I grew up playing Seattlopoly with my cousins at Holidays so I’ve always wanted to visit the major landmarks like Pike Place and the Space Needle that my shoe (or ski?) always seemed to land on during these games. Brandon originally brought up the idea of taking a little trip over one of my rare three day weekend from school. This 3 day weekend just happened to be OU/TX weekend and I thought it was a little strange (well, a lot strange) that he was willingly missing the game but I didn’t think too much of it because I was so freakin excited! As a person who likes to plan things, it took me about two days to have multiple activities and sight seeing adventures planned out for us. The one thing that Brandon insisted on from the very beginning was that we should have lunch at the revolving restaurant on the Space Needle. And who am I to turn down a good view and good food? I thought it was a great idea. When we finally got to the Space Needle on October 17th, I was just really excited about going to such a landmark, even though it was rainy and cloudy and I never did see that darn Mt. Rainier. We had a lovely three-course meal and a lovely time looking out over the beautiful city of Seattle. I remember the dessert being sooo yummy but I was too full to finish it all. After the waiter cleared our plates I saw him carrying something on a platter towards our table. I thought, another dessert? I don’t think I can handle it! But as he came closer, I saw that the silver platter was covered in clouds of… dry ice? Yep. As the smoke started clearing, I got confused/shocked/suddenly overwhelmed. There was a sparkly shiny thing sitting on a pedestal. I turned to Brandon. He said “Jenny……” Okay, so here is another part that Brandon is right about. I really can’t remember what exactly he said when he proposed. But I’m pretty sure he threw in an “I love you” and a “Will you marry me?” in there at some point. I do, however, remember saying YES! Or maybe I skipped that step and went for the agreement kiss. At any rate, I definitely agreed. So here we are! Even though we have had to deal with completely different schedules, different schools, different towns and lots of uncertainty in our career/school choices, we have always supported each other and wanted what was best for the other person. I think that is what makes loving him so easy. There is no question that he just wants what’s best for me and for us. I am excited to continue on with our adventures of marriage, finishing school, starting careers and finding out everything life has in store for us!

My favorite thing right now..

I want a trench coat soooo badly! It's the perfect time of year for one and every fall I say that I have to have one. I think that this might be the year! I love the classic look of the tortoise shell buttons on this one..