Mountain Love

As mentioned in my April post, we found the BEST photographers for our wedding, Fox & Owl Studio. An adorable husband/wife team that shoots beautiful, natural, quirky photos.  As a part of our wedding package, we got a free engagement session so we decided to go as close to the original engagement setting as possible - a mountain top.

We went up to Black Balsam on the Blue Ridge Parkway for our shoot. It was a lovely mix of a day...a tad warm, a tad sunny, a tad cloudy, and a tad rainy. We had a little bit of everything for the shoot which was challenging, but a lot of fun. We started up on Black Balsam in the woods. It was awkward trying to figure out what to do but Shannon and Andrew (we'll call him Horton to avoid confusion), our photographers, were so fun yet calming, so they made it really easy. We were just ourselves and they did all the work.

After a bit it started to rain so we decided to go shoot in a tunnel near-bye. Horton gave me his hat to borrow since it was drizzling.  The rain hadn't hit the tunnel yet so we decided to hike on top to take a few shots. Then, of course, it started pouring...so in to the tunnel we ran haha. It was pretty fun trying to take shots as cars drove by.

After some time there we headed back to Black Balsam to finish off the shoot with some mountain views. It was so much fun. We just played around together and Shannon and Horton captured it. At one point a butterfly even landed on me...and of course they captured that too. So neat!

The shots turned out fantastic - a perfect depiction of Andrew and I's relationship. Goofy and in love.  The experience definitely made me excited to work with them for the wedding. So take a look and let me know what you think!!

5 Steps to Find The Perfect Ring

So after almost a year and a half of searching, I finally have it - my perfect wedding ring! It was a long journey (as described in this post) but it's finally here and on my finger! So I thought I would take a moment and jot down what I learned from this experience so that I could pass on my "wisdom".  Here are the top 5 things I learned when hunting for the perfect ring...

1) Don't go with the first thing you find...or even the second or third...give yourself some time to think about it.  If you can't stop thinking about a certain ring, and it's been a few months, that's it.  When you find "the one", find a way...because you won't stop thinking about it...ever.

2)   Take some time to find some alternative options that might help with the price - ex: hire a local jeweler to recreate it using alternate metals, stones types, smaller stones, or maybe different colored stones.

3) Make it an investment. Now I didn't pay what some might say is "normal" pricing for a ring (the average cost in the US is apparently $5,200)...I was happily on a budget...however, I did decide at the end that my expectations were unreasonable and I needed to splurge just a tad to get something I wouldn't ever want to take off. So I spent a bit more, but I know I wouldn't change a thing about the final product.  I also took advantage of heirlooms so that helped a ton with the price ;)


4) Involve your family and fiance in the decision.  If your fiance decides to let you choose, then invite everyone to be a part of the process! I really enjoyed discussing ideas with family and friends and having a support group. If your family is overly opinionated, or doesn't get your style, then you might not want to do this...but I really enjoyed everyone's input.

5) Trust your jeweler! Maybe the stones you love won't work well in everyday jewelry, or maybe that setting won't look good on your finger...who knows...just trust them.  They do this for a living, so they know what they are doing :) A good jeweler will work with you to find the best thing for you in your price range.

So there ya have it. I finally found the ring :) I'm so glad that I stuck to what I wanted and didn't settle...and I'm so glad I don't have to ever take this ring off...YAY!

SE Asia, Here We Come!

So there's been a change of plans...After years of hoping, I've finally been chosen to go on a monitoring and evaluation trip with my job at Stop Hunger Now!  But there was a problem...or well, a hurdle...I'm getting married in the fall.  They wanted to send me to SE Asia, specifically to Vietnam and Cambodia, but the director of Vietnams program was only going to be there from the end of September to the beginning of October...my honeymoon dates.  After thinking about it and talking with Andrew...we decided to make some big changes to our plans to visit Greece and Turkey and attach our honeymoon on to my monitoring and evaluation trip to SE Asia!

Angor Wat

The plan is to leave after the wedding and head straight to Vietnam. We'll do some evaluation visits with our amazing partners at Children of Vietnam and take a few days for touring around. From there, we'll fly over to Cambodia to visit our partners through Reach Now International. We'll be there for about a week since these partners are ones we haven't visited before.  I cannot WAIT to see Angor Wat! So excited! 

The last stop will be Thailand...specifically for our honeymoon.  We haven't determined the itinerary just yet but I have a feeling we will be staying somewhere in Phuket...gorgeous. The hotels are absolutely amazing and cost wayyyy too little. I am particularly excited about riding an elephant!!!! Andrew is excited about going to some shooting range he heard of to shoot off crazy guns....That will be interesting. 

Phuket

The whole thing is just so overwhelming. I can't believe we're going to get to go to SE Asia! It was the orignial plan to go to Thailand but we decided the flights were just too expensive. With this - I have most of my way (besides Thailand) paid for by Stop Hunger Now...so all we pay for is Andrew's flight and food. It's going to be hard working doing all of the planning, evaluating, and follow-up reports...but talk about a life changing experience!  I'm SO excited to share this with Andrew. It will be my first trip seeing our Stop Hunger Now meals in action and I get to share it with the person I love most in the world. I feel beyond blessed.  Tune in for more updates on our trip planning! Yay SE Asia!

Yay for Wedding Rings!

So I've been engaged since January of 2013. Andrew asked me to marry him with a beautiful ring that his grandmother gave us.  The ring was initially meant to be place holder until I found something I wanted (because Andrew know's I'm picky) but after months and months of searching I just couldn't make a decision on what to buy! At the beginning of the hunt I found a gorgeous ring...the ring that I thought was "the one"...along with a few other ones I also thought were worthy of my purchase...so I emailed the company and asked for a quote and what they sent back made me cringe. $4,500-10,000 depending on the stones. Ummmmm no thanks. Sooooo I decided, maybe not...I can find something else.

After months and months of antique hunting and shopping online I found some that were ok, some that I really liked but wouldn't size well, and just recently I found a beautiful ring that was way within my price range so I decided to purchase it.  Got the ring, not in love. So I sent it back. The ring was lovely, but my fingers are really small and the setting just felt weird. I was starting to feel defeated.

The gorgeous ring I originally wanted from Mociun

A few weekends ago I went up to the mountains to visit my family and celebrate my best friends birthday. I woke up early on Saturday (thank you dogs) and decided to go take my dog for a walk downtown with my mom. We got over there a bit before anything opened and wandered through the windy, freezing, streets of Hendersonville. As we were walking through, mom noticed a woman setting up the window display in a jewelry store, so she knocked on the window and made some crazy hand motions asking what time they opened. Five minutes. So we went to put the dog in the car, drove around to the store, and decided to take a look.

The girl in the store was extremely nice, Lindsey at Shelleys Jewelry, and she showed us allll around the store pointing out the pieces I might like. After looking through everything she came to the conclusion that what I wanted was something unique and told me all kinds of antique stores I could check out. She said she was the Santa on Miracle on 34th St. who tells everyone to go somewhere else. I told her that I knew what I wanted - I just didn't way to pay for it...A beautiful designer in New York makes these gorgeous rings that I just can't afford (photo above). So I took out my phone to show her a picture and she said..."Oh we can do something like that!"

The inspiration for my band

So it was decided...they're going to make my dream ring (for a fraction of the cost)! I went home and immediately started planning my ring. My mom has a gorgeous diamond that belonged to a family member, and after asking the boys for their permission, they agreed I could use it! So I'm going to do a gorgeous diamond in the center with some turquoise (my favorite!!), a tourmaline on the side, and some sapphires trickling along the sides. They're also going to create a band for me...probably one like this one that's simple with little etches in the gold.

So there ya have it!  In a a few weeks I'm going in to town to approve the final stones and have Andrew give his stamp of approval. From there, they will get to work!  I don't want to give away too much...but keep an eye out for my photoshoot from Fox and Owl Studios at the end of May...the ring will be done by then! So excited!

Engaged on a Mountain Top in New Zealand!

So today...I got engaged :)

It all started in the morning when my meetings were canceled and it was a lovely sunny day.  Andrew decided that today was the day that we would hike up Little Mount Peel.  He grew up on his grandfathers farm below the mountain.  On the drive he talked about his family and growing up there...very cute.  We stopped at the info hut and decided what trail to take...on average...A 3 HOUR UP AND 3 HOUR DOWN HIKE. Kill me.  So off we went on the hike...it was absolutely beautiful...hiking through the trees...and in the mudd.  My hiking boots sure did get some use.  We were behind a couple as we were walking...and then met them again at a hugeeee puddle blocking the trail.  They had decided to give up.  We decided to march through the brush and make it work.  Didn't get wet at all ;) So up and up we climbed....Andrew promised I would 'set the pace' so he let me walk in front. And stop every 5 minutes. I am so not in shape...

At about half way, maybe a little less, the tree's cleared and we were in a bunch of brush.  Eventually getting lower and lower until it was just views all around us as we hiked on the ridge.  So cool.  This is a picture of where we were heading from the half-way point.  I thought he was kidding when he said "that's where we're going"...he wasn't.  So after the many times of stopping, we ran in to a group of dads with their kids.  It was then that I decided if kids can make it, I can make it.

We were (as Andrew says it) a "stones throw away" and I almost gave up.  I could feel my body getting super angry at me...getting light headed.  So we took a break for a bit, ate some granola bars, and kept on trekking up the ridiculously steep hill.




We finally got to the top and it was beautiful.  You could see all of the mountains and all the way to the ocean.   I had to sit and catch my breath...felt like I was dying.  And then Andrew says this is it...this is where I'm from, and this is all that I am...and he asked me to stand up.  Then he got down on one knee.  I literally answered him yes, no, yes, no, really? YES!  I'm a mess...I couldn't believe it was actually happening :) He gave me his grandmothers ring...she lent it to us until we could find one that we both liked, that is ours.  Its so gorgeous...and as everyone noticed, kind of looks like a NZ fern...how appropriate ;)

And to top it all off THE TOP HAS WATER! I was so excited about the water...my water bottle was just about empty and we still had a 3 hour hike down.  My mom laughed when I called and told her, saying "It's a good thing you said yes or that would have been a horrible hike back"...no kidding haha. So we stayed at the top for a while...signed the guest book that is in the cabin at the top.  Sat around and took it all in for a bit...watched the lucky lady bugs crawl around (Andrew said he saw a few on the hike up and hoped it was luck haha). Then we hiked back down so we could make it for dinner...which is much nicer hike than up.

On the way down we had silly conversations of wedding colors and who we want in our bridal party...where will we have the wedding...when will we have the wedding.  So many things go in to these things!  Definitely made time fly!

Once we were allllmost at the bottom it started to rain...so we started to pick up the pace...and then it rained harder...so we picked up the pace even more...and then the rain turned to sleet! So we started to run! It was so cold! And all around us there wasn't a cloud in sight...except for right over our mountain.  So crazy! And such a mess! But so much fun running through the rain and the mud back to the car...then off we went to find some celebration beer.  Some of that Apricot Wheat beer...which is a pain in the butt to find.  It would be that our favorite beer on the island is the most difficult to find...but we found it ;)

Overall a fantastic day, fantastic moment, and I will never forget it for as long as I live...I am engaged...wow...