Etsy Shopping Spree

I guess blogging goes by the wayside when you're a busy med student trying to plan a wedding while interviewing for residencies! This past month has definitely been crazy, but mostly in a good way.

I got to visit my future in-laws when I interviewed at Wake Forest a couple of weeks ago and had some great times looking at pictures of Ben when he was a pudgy baby, as a 7 year old rockin' his awesome 80's outfits, as an awkward pre-teen and beyond. It was a little strange looking at those old pictures realizing that the little boy staring back at me would eventually ask me to marry him and ultimately be my husband. I am so thankful that all of Ben's family have been supportive, loving, and encouraging during our engagement. I think his mom might be slightly more excited for us than I am! Haha.

I had my last residency interview on the 21st and I couldn't be happier it's all over. Paying for flights, hotels, cars, and food to visit programs all over the country got very, very expensive. Hopefully it all pays off - I'll find out on March 16th. Pray for Wake Forest!!

I've been hitting the wedding planning pretty hard for the last week or so. I've found some amazing ideas on Pinterest and Etsy and my wedding is going to be ridiculously more creative and fun thanks to some of those photos! In the past few days my list of DIY wedding projects has expanded dramatically. My crafty soul is rejoicing! :-)

While looking for a cake server on etsy, I found some stamped forks and spoons that were gorgeous. I hadn't planned on it initially, but I think that it would be so much fun to have a special place setting for Ben and me at our wedding reception. I haven't gotten everything together yet, but I did purchase a few items tonight! Here are some pictures. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Cake, Caterers and Tuxes

Well, things definitely got busy! Between Ben starting work and my rotations in full swing again, our free time has dwindled. I'm definitely missing the holidays and hours I could just spend with my sweetie.

Rotations and work aside, wedding planning is in full swing and I'm having a blast! My mom and I went to a bridal show this past weekend in Austin and it was crazy, exciting, overwhelming, fun, and wonderful. Someone should have told us not to eat lunch before we went because every caterer seemed to have a sample of their food and every SINGLE bakery had tables of tiny cupcakes or 15 sheet cakes behind the booth. It was insane. Thankfully we already have a venue, photographer and DJ so we weren't shopping around for too much and we may have found a few vendors for catering, flowers and the cake!! I left with a whole bag full of business cards along with a full belly and sugar high.

We ate dinner I gave my mom 2 groupons for a chateaubriand dinner at the Emerald Restaurant in Lakeway for Christmas and she decided to use one for us after our wedding extravaganza. I always remembered her and my dad coming home from an anniversary dinner there with foil swans of their leftovers...really cool memories! We met a great couple that was sitting next to us and we began talking about the wedding, their kids, and all kinds of stuff. The chef (who had come out to serve the chateaubriand) heard our conversations and started joking with us as well. It was a wonderful, special night already, but then as we were about to leave the chef set a bottle of mead on our table. Thinking he was trying to sell us something, I began to say we weren't interested. He stopped me and said, "It's a gift for your wedding night. Read the back. It will all make sense." I started reading and learned the origin of the word 'honeymoon!' In Ireland, basically the bride and groom would drink a glass of mead (which was made with honey) every night for a month...hence honey + moon. Here's a link to a more extensive explanation. I was seriously touched.

This weekend I also tried on wedding dresses! It was SO much fun!! Getting to play dress-up in a store full of gorgeous dresses surely has to be almost every girl's dream. It's at least mine!!! Haha. No pictures/descriptions/hints on facebook or the blog (Ben is a sneaky, sneaky man), but I think I've found THE dress. I can say, however, that it is beautiful, I look beautiful in it, and when I'm wearing it I feel beautiful. What more can you want in a dress?

2012...Forecast says "epic times ahead"

It's 2012!! What a fantastic beginning! Last year brought Ben and I so many wonderful memories and growth, and I'm so excited to see all that God has planned for 2012. With getting married, graduating from med school, moving, and starting residency, this year is already shaping up to be huge! We spent the past few days working on our goals and intentions for the new year. More than resolutions, these exercises have been a good way to start molding our attitudes and will help us make lasting, positive change in our lives. One of the things we did this year was make a vision board. I'd never done this before, so it was kind of interesting. I just found pictures and words in magazines that represent my goals and expectations for this year and ripped them out (kind of therapeutic!!). We then glued all of those things to a piece of foam board and set them in a prominent place. I would encourage everyone to make a vision board this year. I had so much fun making mine and I already feel more motivated and focused!

Before toasting in the new year with some of Ben's family's friends, we spent the first part of NYE night babysitting Ben's nephews. Since our photographer is in Austin and we needed to crank out some Save the Dates, Ben's sister Alli agreed to take some photos of us while we were over at her house. Some of my favorites of the shoot are below! Now I'm even more excited to have our "official" engagement photo shoot!

In wedding news, we have set our date for May 12, 2012 at the Rancho Mirando in Fischer, TX (by Wimberley, south of Austin). It's a BEAUTIFUL ranch with gorgeous views of the Texas Hill Country. The whole place just screams "fun" and has an eclectic, understated elegance to it...and there are peacocks! SCORE! The website is ranchomirando.com if anyone wants to check it out! Please mark May 12 on your calendars - we would LOVE to have you there!

Welcome 2012!! May God's blessings fall on us with abundance!

The future Mrs./Dr. Lawson :-)

Engaged!!

We're ENGAGED!!!!! I can't even begin to describe how happy or excited we are. Every precious moment reminds me of the boundless love of God and how much I don't deserve the gifts and blessings that have been given to me through my relationship with Ben. And now I get to spend my life waking up to my best friend's face beside me and traveling through life making a difference in this world with a man I respect, value and love. My soul is singing, my heart is overjoyed!

We had been talking about getting married for quite a while before Ben proposed and I had secretly hoped (and expected) that we would get engaged on Christmas. The holidays are such a magical, special time and Ben definitely understands the significance to me. However, a few days before Christmas he told me point-blank that a proposal in the next few weeks would not be possible. He created an impressively elaborate story about problems with shipping on the ring and stated he only told me about it so I wouldn't get my hopes up for a Christmas engagement. I tried to not let my disappointment get to me and was still pretty flippin excited about spending some quality time together with his family and mine.

On Christmas Eve, the city of Midland looked like a Christmas card with blankets of snow on houses, trees, and fields. The snow continued to fall softly, transforming the West Texas desert into a winter wonderland. Ben and I had decided to work on wrapping Christmas presents for his family and just spend the rest of the time celebrating the holiday by ourselves. He was very secretive the whole morning with "Christmas surprises," something I took to mean Christmas presents that he hadn't wrapped. The only clue he gave was mentioning a Christmas letter he wanted to write for me and continue the tradition every year. Other than looking forward to reading what he had to say, I didn't give it a second thought.

After I came inside from straightening up my car, Ben led me into the living room and handed me a folded letter. Standing by the blazing fire, surrounded by Christmas decorations and a beautiful tree, I read his thoughts about the meaning of Christmas and the light Christ brought into the winter of humanity. I was crying by the time I finished his letter, but I couldn't stop myself from crying so much more when he took my hand, got on one knee, opened a small dark blue box, and asked me to be his wife.

The proposal and the rest of Christmas Eve were more perfect than I could possibly have imagined...and we perfectly filled the rest of the afternoon with snowball fights, snow ice cream, dreaming about our future, Arrested Development and homemade broccoli cheese and rice soup.

What an amazing, unforgettable Christmas! Ben and I are officially engaged and more than ready to begin our life together as husband and wife!!!