Dan and I were at the baby shower of a mutual friend on May 3rd, 2008. I noticed him, he noticed me. I left for dinner plans before he had a chance to approach me. He asked our friend for my number and we connected on myspace a week later. About a week or so after that, we went on our first date to Cheesecake Factory. He was kind and quiet, nothing like his tough exterior. I didn't realize it at the time, but he skipped school on Tuesdays to take me out. We went out for dinners, mini-golfing, and went to see the baby that brought us together.
In July, we became exclusive, and were pretty much inseparable by then. We spent weekends hanging out, seeing friends, and enjoying falling in love. We celebrated his 24th birthday with dinner and cake at home and exchanged our first "I Love You's." I had a calm sense about knowing that he was just the right guy for me. Everything about my relationship with him was different from everything else to that point, in the best possible ways.
For our first Christmas, Dan came down from Phoenix to Tucson and spent about 3 days with my family, hiking, going to see Christmas lights, and just hanging out. It really impressed me that he was willing to come spend a whole weekend with people he barely knew and that he did that for me. On Christmas night, we went to look at lights in a neighborhood that goes all out with decorating. One of the homes in the neighborhood had a wishing tree. Strips of paper and a stapler were set out and the idea was to write a Christmas wish on the paper and then staple the strip onto the end of the chain. As neither of us is good with secrets, we shared ours. Mine: "to love him always." His: "win the lottery and be with her forever." That was the first time we'd talked really long term, and we spent the rest of the evening whispering about what it meant for us. We knew we wanted to get marriedand it was so exciting to talk about the future.
Dan proposed exactly a month later on January 25th, 2009 after asking for my parents' blessing the evening before. We were in our pajamas. We made dinner and shared a bottle of our favorite wine. After we ate, he asked me to dance - right there in our living room. After dancing slowly for a few minutes, he looked deeply into my eyes and got down on one knee. He asked me to marry him and of course I said "yes." We were so excited. We called our parents and siblings, then sat back in our excitement and just enjoyed this new chapter in our lives.
We set a wedding date of October 16th, 2009. As cheesy as it may be, we liked the idea of saying "I Love You Forever" on the anniversary of the first expression of our love for each other. We planned a wedding that was uniquely us, yet still traditionally and fully heartfelt. We both thoroughly enjoyed wedding planning, I think, and had fun meeting with the DJ, tasting cake, and finding ways to put our personalities into the day. I did a lot of it myself, and really enjoyed doing the favors, programs, and other little details. Over the next few days, I'll show you pictures from our wedding and show how it was just perfect for us.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Anniversary Week Giveaway #1: Michaelangela
Welcome to the Kingston Castle Anniversary Week!! I'm ridiculously excited about this week. Not only is our anniversary on Saturday, but so is Dan's birthday. And I love birthdays. A lot. I haven't quite figured out what to get him yet, but we're planning on a BBQ at his parents' house with family, friends, food, and anniversary cake. Sweet!
Anyway, on to the giveaway. When I got married 360 days ago, I just had to have an awesome bride hoodie. I didn't want to go too overboard with it, and wanted something I could wear after the wedding. I found Michaelangela on Etsy and worked with her to create my awesome monogram hoodie, as seen here:
Anyway, on to the giveaway. When I got married 360 days ago, I just had to have an awesome bride hoodie. I didn't want to go too overboard with it, and wanted something I could wear after the wedding. I found Michaelangela on Etsy and worked with her to create my awesome monogram hoodie, as seen here:
She was an absolutely joy to work with. She didn't currently have a design like my hoodie, but was more than willing to show me samples of fonts and colors and ideas and we nailed down exactly what I was thinking in my head.
I'm absolutely honored that she is willing to sponsor a giveaway on my blog! One lucky winner will receive a $30 gift card to use in her shop. Since I was a bride, she's expanded her inventory and now does custom embroidered monogramming on everything from shirts and totes bags, to robes and slippers, to cosmetic cases, to sweet wedding essentials like hankies, dress tags, and bouquet ribbons. Here are a few pics of her stuff:
Even if you're not a bride to be, there's something in her shop for everyone. This would be a great gift idea for someone, as well.
So here's the deal for how to win (one comment with multiple entries per person is fine):
- Go to Michaelangela's shop and come back and leave a comment telling me what you would use your gift card for. (1 entry)
- Become a new follower here or on Twitter (button up at the top right), or let me know that you already follow me (2 entries each)
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a link in the comments (3 entries)
I'll draw a random winner about this time next Monday morning, October 18th. Good luck!!
Friday, October 8, 2010
And the winner is....
Shana!! Congratulations! You are the proud future owner of 3 dozen candy corn cookies. Email me at kingstonsqueen@gmail.com so we can arrange the shipping and all that good stuff.
Next week is Anniversary Week in the Kingston Castle, so there'll be wedding recaps and 3 giveaways sponsored by some of my very favorite Etsy sellers starting on Monday. Have an excellent weekend!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
New Blog
Psssst! Check it out! The Purple Castle Confections blog has been launched!
A huge thanks to Salt for designing my logo. She's the bestest!
A huge thanks to Salt for designing my logo. She's the bestest!
The Dirty Thirty Inventory
I found this this morning at Fumbling Towards Normalcy - Shana stole it from Krysten at After I Do, who stole it from Glamour magazine. As I'm about 9 months from my 30th birthday, I thoght it would be fun to take inventory of the 15 things Glamour says every 30-year-old should have. Here goes:
1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come. Half of this is easy. I most definitely have a boyfriend who reminds me of how far I've come. In fact, I have more than one. I definitely don't have one I'd go back to, though. They're all exes for a reason, and I married the man I married because he was nothing like any of them in the greatest possible ways. Call the answer a cop-out, but it's true.
2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by someone else in your family. Check. I've been fortunate enough to have been gifted most of my "adult" furniture, including my bedroom set, couch, and kitchen table. Dan I bought our first custom pieces of furniture earlier this year.
3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour. Hmmmm, I've got the man of my dreams outfit covered, but I'm in need of a new business suit. However, if I were to switch careers and some fabulous bakery were to call and want me, I've got aprons. We'll call this one a 75% check.
4. A purse, suitcase, and umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying. Sure. Got it. I've got a number of under-stated handbags. I'm not embarrassed of any of them. I used to travel for work, so I'm set on suitcases. And umbrella? I've got a simple black one somewhere in my car. We don't have much need for them here.
5. A youth you're content to move beyond. Absolutely. The best parts of my life are ahead. Consider me moved on.
6. A past juicy enough that you're looking forward to it in your old age. I wouldn't say I had a scandalous or juicy past as a whol, but I had my moments. I've got some good stories that'll knock my future old lady friends off their rockers, literally.
7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age - and some money set aside to help fund it. Yes, I'm aware I will get old. Dan and I will someday be grandparents and we'll probably wear matching terry track suits at some point. Hard to envision, but it will happen. I've been working on the 401K since I started working 5 years ago, so the money aspect is a WIP.
8. An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account- all of which no one has access to but you. Check, check, check. Part of this is trust in my relationship. I don't have access to Dan's email, facebook, etc., and he doesn't have access to mine. Our money sharing habits have already been documented. My checking account is mine, and mine alone.
9. A resume that is not the slightest bit padded: I'm fortunate to have gotten great experience and been given a good amount of responsibility so far in my career. No padding needed.
10. One friend who makes you laugh and one who lets you cry. I definitely have more than one of each of these. I may not have a huge group of girl friends, but I have a handful of truly exceptional ladies in my life.
11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra. Surprisingly, the one I don't have is the black lace bra. Hmmmm.
12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it. Perhaps my car qualifies, though it wasn't terribly overly expensive (it's a car, after all) and I don't feel I deserve it, per se. I'm a cheap-ass, so I don't spend a lot of money on myself. I can't even think of what I would buy that would qualify as "ridiculously expensive." FAIL.
13. The belief that you deserve it. I probably do. I work hard. But I also believe that me AND my husband deserve peace of mind and the house we want to buy with our current sacrifice. Expensive purchases will come in time, and we'll deserve them then.
14. A skin-care regimen, and exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30. Yeah, here's where I fail. I've been blessed with incredible skin, truly. I wash it daily, but I don't do things like exfoliating or facials. I don't exercise. I need to, and now that the weather is nice, I've been taking the pups on longer walks. I always say I'm going to do better, but let's face reality. I suck. As for the "other facets," I'm a believer that a little nip, tuck, and lift later in life can be a wonderful gift of self love for any woman. I know people won't agree, but I'm not opposed to a little rejuvenation in my later years.
15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better. While I don't really know that tax is what I want to do the rest of my life, it does the trick for now and the forseeable future. I have a great marriage with Dan, and by the time I'm 30, I hope some other things will be falling in to place, like a house and a family. I'm off to a good start.
So I didn't do so bad. I've mostly nailed it, but I've got a little bit of room for improvement. I'm certainly further along than 21-year-old me or even 26-year-old me would have believed. My 30's certainly seem to hold some promise.
1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come. Half of this is easy. I most definitely have a boyfriend who reminds me of how far I've come. In fact, I have more than one. I definitely don't have one I'd go back to, though. They're all exes for a reason, and I married the man I married because he was nothing like any of them in the greatest possible ways. Call the answer a cop-out, but it's true.
2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by someone else in your family. Check. I've been fortunate enough to have been gifted most of my "adult" furniture, including my bedroom set, couch, and kitchen table. Dan I bought our first custom pieces of furniture earlier this year.
3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour. Hmmmm, I've got the man of my dreams outfit covered, but I'm in need of a new business suit. However, if I were to switch careers and some fabulous bakery were to call and want me, I've got aprons. We'll call this one a 75% check.
4. A purse, suitcase, and umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying. Sure. Got it. I've got a number of under-stated handbags. I'm not embarrassed of any of them. I used to travel for work, so I'm set on suitcases. And umbrella? I've got a simple black one somewhere in my car. We don't have much need for them here.
5. A youth you're content to move beyond. Absolutely. The best parts of my life are ahead. Consider me moved on.
6. A past juicy enough that you're looking forward to it in your old age. I wouldn't say I had a scandalous or juicy past as a whol, but I had my moments. I've got some good stories that'll knock my future old lady friends off their rockers, literally.
7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age - and some money set aside to help fund it. Yes, I'm aware I will get old. Dan and I will someday be grandparents and we'll probably wear matching terry track suits at some point. Hard to envision, but it will happen. I've been working on the 401K since I started working 5 years ago, so the money aspect is a WIP.
8. An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account- all of which no one has access to but you. Check, check, check. Part of this is trust in my relationship. I don't have access to Dan's email, facebook, etc., and he doesn't have access to mine. Our money sharing habits have already been documented. My checking account is mine, and mine alone.
9. A resume that is not the slightest bit padded: I'm fortunate to have gotten great experience and been given a good amount of responsibility so far in my career. No padding needed.
10. One friend who makes you laugh and one who lets you cry. I definitely have more than one of each of these. I may not have a huge group of girl friends, but I have a handful of truly exceptional ladies in my life.
11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra. Surprisingly, the one I don't have is the black lace bra. Hmmmm.
12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it. Perhaps my car qualifies, though it wasn't terribly overly expensive (it's a car, after all) and I don't feel I deserve it, per se. I'm a cheap-ass, so I don't spend a lot of money on myself. I can't even think of what I would buy that would qualify as "ridiculously expensive." FAIL.
13. The belief that you deserve it. I probably do. I work hard. But I also believe that me AND my husband deserve peace of mind and the house we want to buy with our current sacrifice. Expensive purchases will come in time, and we'll deserve them then.
14. A skin-care regimen, and exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30. Yeah, here's where I fail. I've been blessed with incredible skin, truly. I wash it daily, but I don't do things like exfoliating or facials. I don't exercise. I need to, and now that the weather is nice, I've been taking the pups on longer walks. I always say I'm going to do better, but let's face reality. I suck. As for the "other facets," I'm a believer that a little nip, tuck, and lift later in life can be a wonderful gift of self love for any woman. I know people won't agree, but I'm not opposed to a little rejuvenation in my later years.
15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better. While I don't really know that tax is what I want to do the rest of my life, it does the trick for now and the forseeable future. I have a great marriage with Dan, and by the time I'm 30, I hope some other things will be falling in to place, like a house and a family. I'm off to a good start.
So I didn't do so bad. I've mostly nailed it, but I've got a little bit of room for improvement. I'm certainly further along than 21-year-old me or even 26-year-old me would have believed. My 30's certainly seem to hold some promise.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Not so Wordless Wednesday
Yesterday, the weather in Phoenix went a little psycho. Like, Lindsay Lohan meets Amber from Teen Mom meets Kathy Bates in Misery psycho. The Weather Channel told me winds were reaching 60 miles per hour, planes were grounded, and there was mention of a tornado. In Arizona. That's why we live here - no tornados. When I looked out the window at 4:30, it looked like it was 8:00 at night: dark and doomy and gloomy. I texted Dan and told him to be careful driving home, and he sent back this:
That's the windshield of Dan's car. And that's just the damage to the driver's side. There are about 5 more of those spidery glass breaks on the other side. The car also looks like it was hit with little ball peen hammers on every surface. There are dents everywhere, and I truly mean everywhere, I'm not exaggerating. I'm so thankful he's okay. It could have been so much worse. We've called the insurance company and we'll hopefully be able to get it inspected and have the glass replaced quickly. There's so much damage to so much of the car, that it may be totaled. We'll just have to wait and see.
UPDATE: Dan talked to the insurance company, and the car is a total loss. Poor Altima. I'm a little sad, but good things will come out of this. It needed some front end work and had about 170K miles on it. We'll be able to take the pay-out and get something that will last us longer (hopefully). Not to mention, we'll be able to insure the new car (the Altima was on my parents' policy) with the Murano and save money. Silver linings, I suppose.
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Don't forget to enter the #250 Post cookie giveaway. The winner will be chosen Friday morning and all you have to do is leave a comment with your Halloween plans for a chance to win 3 dozen Halloween cookies.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Godsmack kind of day
In my 29 years of life, I've gone through plenty of music phases. I did the obligatory "OMFG New Kids On the Block! I heart Joey! must have the sleeping bag!" thing in about 5th grade. I thought I was awesome sauce when I grew past that and fell for the local oldies station, singing along to 50's songs and asking my friends if they'd heard such-and-such song oblivious to the fact that they'd been out for 30 years. I was way Cool, clearly.
Then in about 8th grade, I fell for country. Ugh. Those were my awkward years. I played endless Clint Black, George Straight, Martina McBride, and Garth Brooks. At least I liked country when country was really good, right? My first concert ever was Reba. I was excited for weeks, and I think my dad bought me a Western shirt for the concert. I may or may not have worn a cowboy hat, I don't remember. But yeah, I was wicked excited, and bragged about my amazing concert experience to my friends the next day while they rolled their eyes and went back to their Beastie Boys.
I dropped the country crap and went the route of rock for a while. Metallica, Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins. Then I realized I didn't so much have to stick to just one genre and added rap and hip hop to the mix. That's when I really started to love music. I still had preferences, but at least I was open minded. When I was in college, I worked at American Eagle, a store that always had cool music on their Muzak playlist and I broadened my horizons even more to bands like O.A.R., Coheed and Cambria, Iron and Wine, and individual artists who I can't even think of right now.
When I dated my ex before I met Dan, he made fun of my love for metal so I didn't listen to it much. So it's no surprise that the second we broke up, I was all hard rock and metal, all the time. I blared Rage Against the Machine, Nonpoint, Cannibal Corpse, Mastodon, System of a Down, Slipknot, and Five Finger Death Punch pretty much constantly. The louder, the screamier, the angstier, the better.
Now that I have a husband who fully supports my love for the Devil's Music and has introduced me to even more awesome artists, I've calmed down some. I don't try to appear all bad ass all the time as much as I may have before in my efforts to rebel against my ex's hatred for what I liked. I definitely use music to set my mood at work. If it's a fun kind of Friday, I'll play Soulja Boy, Amy Winehouse, Dropkick Murphys or let Pandora have at it and discover new artists.
Today, however, is a Godsmack kind of day. The kind of day when I have to get things done, and perhaps people or the pressure of month-end are irking me just a bit. I put on my Godsmack and go to town and get stuff done. You'd think it would make me angry, but it keeps me going. I actually end up liking Godsmack kind of days - tuning out and letting the music take the pressure eases me, and I go home a happy kind of girl.
What kind of music do you usually tune into? What do you listen stressful days? Anyone else having a Godsmack kind of day?
Then in about 8th grade, I fell for country. Ugh. Those were my awkward years. I played endless Clint Black, George Straight, Martina McBride, and Garth Brooks. At least I liked country when country was really good, right? My first concert ever was Reba. I was excited for weeks, and I think my dad bought me a Western shirt for the concert. I may or may not have worn a cowboy hat, I don't remember. But yeah, I was wicked excited, and bragged about my amazing concert experience to my friends the next day while they rolled their eyes and went back to their Beastie Boys.
I dropped the country crap and went the route of rock for a while. Metallica, Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins. Then I realized I didn't so much have to stick to just one genre and added rap and hip hop to the mix. That's when I really started to love music. I still had preferences, but at least I was open minded. When I was in college, I worked at American Eagle, a store that always had cool music on their Muzak playlist and I broadened my horizons even more to bands like O.A.R., Coheed and Cambria, Iron and Wine, and individual artists who I can't even think of right now.
When I dated my ex before I met Dan, he made fun of my love for metal so I didn't listen to it much. So it's no surprise that the second we broke up, I was all hard rock and metal, all the time. I blared Rage Against the Machine, Nonpoint, Cannibal Corpse, Mastodon, System of a Down, Slipknot, and Five Finger Death Punch pretty much constantly. The louder, the screamier, the angstier, the better.
Now that I have a husband who fully supports my love for the Devil's Music and has introduced me to even more awesome artists, I've calmed down some. I don't try to appear all bad ass all the time as much as I may have before in my efforts to rebel against my ex's hatred for what I liked. I definitely use music to set my mood at work. If it's a fun kind of Friday, I'll play Soulja Boy, Amy Winehouse, Dropkick Murphys or let Pandora have at it and discover new artists.
Today, however, is a Godsmack kind of day. The kind of day when I have to get things done, and perhaps people or the pressure of month-end are irking me just a bit. I put on my Godsmack and go to town and get stuff done. You'd think it would make me angry, but it keeps me going. I actually end up liking Godsmack kind of days - tuning out and letting the music take the pressure eases me, and I go home a happy kind of girl.
What kind of music do you usually tune into? What do you listen stressful days? Anyone else having a Godsmack kind of day?
Monday, October 4, 2010
Wanna win something else?
As I mentioned in my mom's birthday post, she's the director of a really awesome preschool and kindergarten that specilializes in early childhood language development. As the school is a non-profit organization it depends on tuition, grants, and fundraising to support its programs. This year the school is doing a raffle and there's a pretty sweet grand prize:
A golf cart! Not this exact golf cart, but a golf cart that goes about 25mph and is street legal. Imagine the wind blowing through your hair as you ride this puppy through the streets of your neighborhood to run errands. Or, you can take $2,000 cash instead of the golf cart. 2nd prize is a 42" flat screen HD TV, and 3rd prize is $250 in cash. There are only 1,500 tickets being sold, which makes your chances way better than either winning the lottery or being attacked by a shark. Cool right?
You can check out the school's website here and if you're interested in a raffle ticket ($20 for one, $100 for 6), email me at kingstonsqueen@gmail.com
Thanks!
A golf cart! Not this exact golf cart, but a golf cart that goes about 25mph and is street legal. Imagine the wind blowing through your hair as you ride this puppy through the streets of your neighborhood to run errands. Or, you can take $2,000 cash instead of the golf cart. 2nd prize is a 42" flat screen HD TV, and 3rd prize is $250 in cash. There are only 1,500 tickets being sold, which makes your chances way better than either winning the lottery or being attacked by a shark. Cool right?
You can check out the school's website here and if you're interested in a raffle ticket ($20 for one, $100 for 6), email me at kingstonsqueen@gmail.com
Thanks!
#250: Giveaway!
Can you believe it? This is my 250th post on this blog! I can hardly believe I've written 250 posts about everything from wedding planning to cooking and baking to broken air conditioning units.
So, to reward my wonderful readers for their loaylty over the last 250 posts, I've got a little home-baked giveaway. I will bake, decorate, package and ship 3 dozen candy corn cookies to one lucky winner... just in time to celebrate Halloween! Here's a picture of last year's candy corn cookies - luckily, I've gotten much better at my cookie decorating skills and yours will be phenomenal, and packaged with cute Halloween-y ribbon to serve at your Halloween party or to win over coworkers at the office :)
So here's how to win: just leave me a comment and tell me your Halloween plans. I'm just doing one entry per person on this one - I'm not trying to drum up new readers, just reward those of you who've stuck with me. I'll draw the random winner on Friday and your cookies will be shipped out early next week.
Good luck and thank you to my wonderful followers!
So, to reward my wonderful readers for their loaylty over the last 250 posts, I've got a little home-baked giveaway. I will bake, decorate, package and ship 3 dozen candy corn cookies to one lucky winner... just in time to celebrate Halloween! Here's a picture of last year's candy corn cookies - luckily, I've gotten much better at my cookie decorating skills and yours will be phenomenal, and packaged with cute Halloween-y ribbon to serve at your Halloween party or to win over coworkers at the office :)
So here's how to win: just leave me a comment and tell me your Halloween plans. I'm just doing one entry per person on this one - I'm not trying to drum up new readers, just reward those of you who've stuck with me. I'll draw the random winner on Friday and your cookies will be shipped out early next week.
Good luck and thank you to my wonderful followers!
Meal Plan Monday: 10/4
So last week, Dan had a couple of changes in my meal plan. So not everything I planned on last week got made. This week is kind of playing catch-up:
Monday: Mushroom Crock Pot Chicken
Tuesday: Chili
Wednesday: Chicken and cheese enchiladas
Thursday: Leftover Chili, enchiladas, whatever. Fend for yourselves, The Office is on :)
Friday: Probably Dos Gringos
Monday: Mushroom Crock Pot Chicken
Tuesday: Chili
Wednesday: Chicken and cheese enchiladas
Thursday: Leftover Chili, enchiladas, whatever. Fend for yourselves, The Office is on :)
Friday: Probably Dos Gringos
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