YUM!

my friend lauren always says "yum" at the most inappropriate times. [like if you see a dead cat on the side of the road. or if you have a hairy, nasty old man as a contra dancing partner...]

i totally stole it from her. j. thinks it's hilarious and has started doing it as well. sometimes i say it when he's sweaty after track practice. sometimes he says it when we see a gross looking person on a movie. etc. etc.

anyway, all kidding aside, i made something this morning that is SO SO delicious! i got the recipe/idea from meliss, who i think got it from her mom: loaded baked potato salad.

seriously: YUM!

here are some photos and the lowdown:
5 pounds potatoes, cut into small cubes [roughly one inch]
1 8 oz. container sour cream
bacon bits [i cheated here. meliss uses real bacon, but it's a pain to clean up!]
salt
scallions
broccoli
cheddar cheese, cut into cubes
ranch dip mix [the powder kind]

boil the potatoes till they're soft, adding salt during the process. drain potatoes and stir sour cream into the bowl with them. chop up the scallions/cheese. steam the broccoli just a little bit, then chop into small pieces. once the potatoes are covered with the sour cream, add more salt if needed & add some ranch dip mix to taste. let the potatoes/sour cream mixture sit in the fridge until cool. add other ingredients and mix.

selling-out

three weeks into this wedding planning process, i've already done two things i said i would never do:
1. register at target AND bed, bath, beyond [i like to call it B squared, but i'll type it 3B]
2. try on dresses @ david's bridal

i'm such a sell-out. [although, does it really count if i'm only selling out to myself?]

we registered for really awesome stuff at both target & 3B. the dresses at DB were cute. the only real reasons i didn't want to do those 2 things are because they're "normal". everyone else does them. which is a lame reason to not do something. of course, it's a lame reason to do something, too.

i'm telling myself that it's fine. especially because i did something not-so-trendy and got bridesmaids dresses from target. which are AMAZING, if i do say so myself. which i do.

blog love!

so i read this blog called "my cakies". who the hay knows where i stumbled across the site, but i love the cutie craftiness found here. [and who doesn't adore darling children?!]

anyway, there's an awesome giveaway for another blog/etsy shop here. i love all the headbands & hair pins. soooooooo darling! check them both out~

[images from muchloveilly etsy]

my new love

three weeks ago i found a new love: contra dancing!!!

we have a place locally that hosts contra dancing on thursday nights. they do a 30 minute tutorial, then you just join the 40-80 other people dancing the night away. this video is from the place where we go.

i admit i was nervous at first... i don't always love formal dancing & i'm a bit self-conscious about my lack of coordination. but the crowd is SO enthusiastic and welcoming and accepting. lots of semi-professionals asked me to dance, so all i had to do was follow their lead.

if any of you are looking for a fun, new, exciting way to get exercise, find a place to try contra dancing near you! it's wicked fun*

i love my students

yesterday afternoon the following conversation took place between myself and my student esther:

e: miss kelly, did you paint your hair?
k: no. sometimes it just gets lighter in the sun. does it look lighter or darker?
e: it looks beautiful
k: oh! wow! thank you. um. uh... thanks.

rules of engagement 2

1. when your fiance registers for 5 packs of batteries & a nose/ear hair trimmer, just laugh. be glad he's participating in planning for your future together. allow him to be his funny self. have fun together. after all, he allowed you to be completely OCD about things like soft white towels & a blender/food processor.

2. excitedly share plans with people if they ask but do not talk about your wedding 24/7. it's obnoxious. remember when you were the spectator? but also, don't be paranoid that people aren't interested in your life.

start at the very beginning

one year ago [yesterday] joel and i met for the first time.

i went to talk to his world cultures classes about japan. we ate together in the cafeteria. the kids were super obvious/hilarious/not smooth. j. and i chatted and before i left he suggested i add him as a facebook friend b/c sometimes he had bbqs with his roommate and i might want to join them. i was intrigued-- this guy was cute and a good teacher. but i waited a few days [playing hard to get... or at least playing it cool...?!] before i added him. we messaged a couple times. two weeks later he asked me out to coffee. i thought the date was a lot of fun.

he left to paint in michigan for the summer. he didn't message me nearly enough for my liking, but i wasn't too devastated. we started going out once a weekend at the end of august. he never really announced that he liked me or said that we were dating. he just continued to show interest and pursued getting to know me. i feel like the time he made it obvious was when he invited me to that halloween party [taking me out in public is confirmation in my mind~]. and eventually he called himself my boyfriend so i knew for sure, haha.

this past weekend he told me that may 18th was the one year mark from when we met. he found it in his agenda book. last night we forgot to celebrate the milestone, but i remembered when i got home and grinned happily as i fell asleep. what a wild & crazy year it's been. i can't even imagine what's to come*

[he's so nice to put up with my ridiculous photo poses!]

got e-bay?

i've never been a big e-bay shopper. sometimes i get in the mood to browse and i remember [over & over again!!] what bargains exist in the cyber-shopping world. so i search and ooh and ahh. and sometimes i attempt to purchase something.

but i hate being out-bid. and i hate how much junk shows up whenever i search for something not-quite-specific enough. ok, my biggest problem is actually being out-bid. i'm wicked competitive.

and then the cycle starts again... i see on some blog that somebody cool bought something rad on e-bay and i get the itch. i feel like i might want to try winning a bidding war and having a cute little number to wear that i can proudly say i bought on e-bay.

like maybe a wedding dress.

[probably not. it's a big risk b/c i wouldn't be able to try it on. but i'm a tiny bit tempted.]

another great quote

yesterday i met j. at his track meet after work. i was sitting with another coach while j. raked the long jump pit. the coach said to one kid: "do you know the future kelly alberts?"

<3

rules of engagement 1

now that i'm engaged and [already] caught up in the chaos of wedding planning, i've established a few guidelines/rules for myself:

1. do not stress about the details. the day is about celebrating marriage. with my loved ones. and about having loads of fun.
2. my fiance is my teammate. not my opponent.
3. it's not all about me
4. spend more time building our future marriage than i spend planning the party.
5. when a brick wall appears, turn and go in a different direction. don't run headlong into the wall & then complain of having a headache.


and i've also developed some rules for other people:

1. don't joke about eloping. i already tried this and j. said no. we're going forward with this crazy november wedding scheme so lets all try to enjoy the process.
2. this is your day, too. feel free to give advice lovingly. and feel free to not be offended if i don't take it. haha.
3. be patient with me. planning a wedding on top of the reality of committing my life to another person is scary stuff.
4. ask me questions. make me laugh. give me hugs. and do the same for the husband-to-be. it's his wedding, too.

reflections on a ring

i'm taking a quick break from studying for my algebra final [dad, don't tease about tests!] to share some of the thoughts running through my busy brain lately.

this morning i helped sam lay mulch for a couple hours. before starting, i took off my engagement ring for the first time since i put it on my finger. i immediately noticed that my finger felt different and caught myself rubbing the spot where my ring should be with my thumb. [& the second i washed the grime off my hands, i put it back on again!]

yesterday j. was holding my hand while we walked through pennypack. all of a sudden he looked at my hand with a shocked face! i quickly reassured him that my ring is worn on my other hand.

it's bizarre how much this ring has already become a part of me. a few months ago when we first started talking about the future, i sometimes thought "i don't care about a stupid ring! i just wish we could move forward with the reality that we're getting married" and "why does a ring on my finger automatically mean we're officially engaged?"

and i still basically feel the same way: engagement rings aren't necessary. except now i have a slightly different perspective. to me, the ring represents j's attention to detail and his desire to show me he cares. it represents a financial sacrifice he made and the risk he took in asking for my hand.

and feeling it on my finger causes me to think about him intentionally. don't get me wrong, i thought about him all the time even before i was wearing the ring [heck, for the last 9 months basically]. but now that we're "official", i notice my ring and dwell on the fact that he's my teammate, my friend, my future husband...

thanks, mom!

for being the best mom ever. seriously, you're awesome.
thanks for being a good listener. thanks for putting up with my goofy antics. thanks for teaching me how to be a nice big sister. thanks for being honest.

thanks for encouraging me in my relationship with joel. thanks for loving my daddio. thanks for asking questions.

thanks for passing on your love of adventure. thanks for leading by example. thanks for sending emails & taking great pictures.

thanks for laughing so freely. thanks for being excited when i'm excited. thanks for being sad when i'm sad.

i love you, momma*

still on cloud 9

i've been engaged for 6 days now. it hasn't lost its luster at all. even though the week was busy, it was awesome. i have felt SO loved by people who are excited about my news-- facebook exploded once we posted our engaged relationship status. my students freaked out. j's students added me as a "friend" on facebook. i still gaze at my ring multiple times each day.

oh, speaking of my ring...
i feel like no picture really does it justice, but my ring is so rad. i love the shape, the thin-ness, the way it feels on my finger. last night when we prayed at dinner, meliss held my hand for the first time since i had a diamond on it. awesome~

yesterday joel said something about "our house"... i'm like "OH yeah, i guess it is officially our house now!!" he said, "yeah, i bought you that house, babe". oi vey, i'm so blessed*

aftermath: saturday & sunday

we celebrated with kyle & lydia by illegally drinking champagne at the state park. we joked that j. would announce his engagement at school and be immediately fired for criminal charges :)

i was basically in shock and kept laughing and holding his hand. j. was grinning and kissing my cheek and touching my ring/finger/hand. he filled me in on all the details of his recent scheming-- he thought things through so carefully and figured out how to make it all work perfectly!!

we hung out at the park for about 30 more minutes and then realized we were wicked hot and hungry so we headed back to kyle & lydia's place. j. called his parents & i called mine. everyone was excited and so so so loving!

after dinner, on the way home, we called our closest friends and other relatives. it was awesome to hear j. tell the propsal story and to see his excitement and happiness. we took a couple funny pics in the car and had a photo shoot with j's roommate carson later.

it was lovely to relax together on saturday night. we talked about the future and practiced calling each other fiance, fiancee, future wife, future husband, etc... we both agreed that it hadn't really sunk in yet that we're getting married.

sunday was more of the same: telling people, sending text messages, telling the propsal story, and showing off my ring. j. and i did homework all afternoon and he cooked dinner while i edited his final grad school paper. then we had a little time to rest and talk and revel in our engagement.

as much fun as it was to get engaged and be celebrating with friends/family, my favorite part of the process so far has been living real life together! even working on hw, doing chores and eating meals together is so much fun. j. said something about how natural it is for him to want to be with me forever & how excited he is that we're gonna be teammates for life. i agree wholeheartedly*

it's official!

i've been on cloud nine for about 48 hours now.

on saturday around 4pm the love of my life asked me to marry him. of course i said yes. and of course i freaked out [he says i hyperventilated!]. and of course i can't wait to spend my life with him.

so here's how it went down...

last weekend j. asked if i wanted to go to delaware to hang out with his friends kyle & lydia. he suggested playing frisbee golf at a park near their house. i thought that sounded like a great idea. we planned that i would come over between 2 and 3 on saturday, then we'd drive 45 minutes to delaware. j. called me twice on saturday before i arrived. [clue #1 i should have noticed. he doesn't ever bug me by calling repeatedly] he told me that he was going to bring his backpack b/c kyle & lydia wanted to have a picnic at the park and sit on a blanket and drink wine.

on the drive to delaware we discussed the fact that state parks usually prohibit alcohol but i didn't worry about it. we picked up our friends and got the frisbees. j. wore his backpack the whole time we played the first three holes [clue # 2. that's sorta weird, huh?]. i was wearing flip flops not at all conducive to competitive play.

on the third hole j. threw the frisbee down a hill and it landed in the middle of some weeds. j. immediately went to get it. i thought he was just protecting my bare feet, but he said later that he wanted to throw it again so it would land in an opportune spot! we ran down the hill and j. was standing near this cutie little stream. he said "kell, come over here" i went over and put my feet in the water and then turned around to talk to him. he was ruffling through his backpack.

my stomach dropped & i knew.

he goes, "i've got something for you" and i said, "oh, you do?!"

all of a sudden he was on his knee, holding out a jewelry box with an awesome ring, asking me to marry him.

i squealed and jumped and laughed and smiled. i said YES [duh!]. and kissed him like a crazy woman.

it was so precious and exciting and breathtaking and perfect. the proposal, the ring, and the man are way beyond what i ever hoped for. i'm so so grateful~

[next post: after the proposal. ring close-ups. the announcements. the conversations. my sentiments.]