Last

So today was fulfilling to say the least.

I had a much needed breakfast date at Layers! My gosh is this place delish. The gluten free lemon blueberry scones are heavenly =] My date was my best friend and soon to be Mrs. Tanner Thetford. Holy crap am I excited for this girl. She has been waiting for this day for years and is seriously going to make the best wifey! She cooks, loves to clean (gasp! I know right?!) is passionate, loves to talk and listen, refurbishes furniture, has the voice of an angel, and the heart of one too. I'm starting to tear up now as I right this. Mostly because I know my time with her is limited. It saddens me that she will be leaving soon, but I know this new journey is going to blow her mind! I can't wait to see how the wedding turns out, and how her and her hubby are going to go to farmer's markets and pick out berries and chocolate on their honeymoon, and get snowed in, and sleep*, and settle in their new home in a pretty legit cute town called Silver City. I can't wait to visit her there and ride bikes with her down Main Street and eat Caribbean food with her there!


Next order of business,.a bed set. My goodness is furniture hard to pick out. How do you tell the quality??? We've been asking people at Pottery Barn, Ashley Furniture, and RC Willey and it seems like people don't really understand quality either. UGH! A little frustrating...

Adieu

Bonjour! (finally)

Hello all!

So, updates:

The wedding was GREAT!! The best day of my life :D

The honeymoon-- EVEN better! Jamaica was awesome. So needless to say a storm kept us from going to St. Lucia. God must be humorous considering all of the last minute hoops we had to jump through to make everything happen.

Our First Christmas was so much fun. I'm the new certified baker in the Lorenz family. Good thing no one really makes desserts besides me- no one to compare to! They loved my banana nut, apricot, cranberry bread; chocolate covered cherries; and orange cranberry chocolate chip scones :)

New Years was memorable (I'll leave it at that. My friends are insane!)

And we just got back from Brianhead last night. My gosh, I LOVE roadtrips!!! Especially in the snow. The sparkling flakes were beautiful :) I made an itsy bitsy mistake and forgot our skiing bag so we didn't end up skiing, but staying cuddled up indoors was awesome ;)


Next order of business you ask?
My best friend's wedding!! (Not the Julia Roberts film!)

Woo hoo!!!

And Congrats on the baby Chelsea!!!

Out of my hands

Most people probably don't know this about me, but I'm kind of a control freak. I'm not sure where I learned this unappealing habit from but I wish I could get rid of it. I have not blogged in a while because this very habit- or lack of having any control has been consuming my life for the past week now. So for the last nine months my wonderul fiancé and I have been planning to have our wedding reception at his uncle's house. Did I mention his uncle is an architect and the house is insane; complete with a downstairs cellar full of wine racks, a two lane cosmic bowling alley, an amazing view, an outdoor bath on the roof, and so much more incredible features? So needless to say Max and I were so excited to have our reception here- plus it had always been Max's dream to have his wedding reception at his uncles house once it was done being built.

So nine months worth of planning were going amazingly well (seriously, not one issue at all!) until last Saturday night. Max's uncle had us meet him for wine- and then an atomic bomb was dropped on us. The house would not be ready in time for the wedding (it's been a 4 yr long project!) and we just stared at eachother dumbfounded. We could not believe it. So Max and his uncle sat at the table discussing alternative options for what seemed like forever, and I just sat there not speaking because if I did i knew i would start the ugly cry- you know the one where no one can understand you and you're voice suddenly drops deeply? So I sat there and nodded my head while the guys talked and it was time to leave. As Max and I walked to the car the tears started swelling up in my eyes and raced down my cheek. Then we got in the car and Max told me everything was going to be okay and that he was sad too. The whole car ride home was spent with me crying in his lap.

Why was this happening? Every married woman says something will go wrong when planning wedding stuff, but i was hoping it would be that I would spill wine on my dress or my mom would show up late- not this.


I just remember thinking to myself that this was a test from God and that I was going to try to handle it with as much grace as possible and try to over come this with my fiancé right beside me.


And you know what? That's exactly what we did. Four days after doomsday we booked a venue 3 min away from our ceremony venue. Of course it's not as nice as the mansion we were going to
have it at but Max and I are convinced that's why this all happened. My Mom and mother-in-law both said that the focus would probably have been on the crazy, awesome house instead of on the fact that God was uniting Max and I as a married couple. Aha- another lesson on humility. Darn it!


Even though I probably used all of the tears I had in stock for 2010, I am glad this experience happened. It brought my future husband and I so much closer and really paved the way for how we are going to handle crazy moments in life: with insane amounts of prayer and faith that God will provide, with grace, with humility, and maybe even some tears along the way.

Adieu!

(15 more days btw!)

30 days

So I cannot believe I will officially be MRS. Lorenz in 30 days! I am so stoked. How did you feel when you were a month out? Were you nervous? Excited? Worried? For me, I am overcome with peace, excitement, and JOY! I know this is the best decision I have ever made.

Another thing I'm excited for? My cheesy Sandals honeymoon! I have never had an extravagant vacation where I could indulge in anything I wanted. Skiing in Vancouver was awesome but nothing close to what I will be experiencing I'm sure.

Any advice?

I'm open to anything you think would help a sista out ;)


I'm so so so excited!!!!


Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

Parti de Mariee (Bridal Shower!)

Earlier this month I had my bridal shower. So you know how when those incredible days that are all about you are finally here (like your 18th birthday, graduation day, blah blah blah all that crap along with those other beautiful days...) and you think you are going to wake up and little blue birds are going to fly through your window and quietly chirp into your ear to wake you up. and Oprah is there with her whole film crew to document this special day. Well, my day didn't start off this way...  it's like I just woke up in this funk. I had absolutely NO reason to be mad, or sad, or whatever I was. I just couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with me. Then I started to talk to myself to try to get pumped up.

                                    Me: "Drea, what's wrong?"

                                        ---"I don't know."

                                    Me: "Well you're acting like there is something up your butt, so cut it out."

                                      ---"I'm trying, geez."

                                    Me: "Why does you're face look like someone just plucked out ten of your noise hairs."

                                      ---"I haven't the slightest idea, I'm happy."
                                    Me: "Well, smile then."

                                   --- "That's the fakest smile I've ever seen."

                                   Me: "Bite me."


 So after this pathetic conversation with myself I asked God if he could make me happy because this was a very big day in my life. If you know me, you know I'm HORRIBLE at hiding my emotions, like its the worst acting job you've ever seen - I could never win an Emmy =(   so as I pulled up to my future mother-in-laws house I began to regroup and genuinely get excited for opening all of my presents seeing all my wonderful girlfriends and eat yummy food.

My besties did the BEST job capturing a French 1940's feel- which is exactly what I wanted. Thank you girls!!!

look at those presents... WOO HOO!!

I'm so dumb

Future mommy-in-law!

I know, I know..were I'm adorable

love that girl!

Thanks to everyone that helped with this. I seriously love you.

And to anyone that wants to come to my bachelorette party, you're invited! Even if you can't make it to the wedding. Send me a message if you want to come =]

Goals Before I Turn 30

The day I turned 21, my brother did not greet me with a "Happy Birthday Drea!" like most people did that day. Instead he said, "Only nine more years until you're thirty."  Can you believe that?! The nerve. That really got me thinking. Whether it was insecurity or something innately prodding to think about my future, my mind began to race. I began to think of all of the things I HAD to do before I turned 30. Why I decided thirty I have no idea. It's not like life ends after thirty. In fact, my mom says that life gets fabulous at thirty. She says you start to really understand that you don't have to take crap from people- that you have a choice in the matter and you truly begin to know what is most important and aren't afraid to vocalize it. I guess I decided on thirty because some of my goals are physically demanding and for some reason I think my body won't last that long- like all of the running I have done in my life has made me fragile. Well, I'm not going down without a fight if that is the case. I want to be the sixty year old woman that is still doing half marathons and that does jazzercise. Wouldn't that be awesome to watch?  Here's my To-Do Before I'm 30.

                                                          1. Go to the Ballet

2. Go scuba diving in St. Lucia

3. Ride a train in Boston

4. Eat pizza in Sicily

5. Run a full marathon in Napa Valley and drink wine after!

6. Swim in Greece

7. Walk in a vineyard in Tuscany

8. Go to Germany during Oktoberfest

9. Go to France during Christmas

10. Surprise Max with a trip to Pittsburgh to see a Steeler's game

11. Make a full on Thanksgiving meal for my friends

12. Give Alicia Keys a hug

13. Pet an elephant

14. Go Skydiving

Just a little glimpse into my brain. Do you have any goals you want to accomplish in your lifetime?

Adieu

Just got my license- marriage license that is!

So this is how Thursday went:

Max and I headed down to Water Street to get our marriage license! Craaazy stuff. It's all coming together so well. I can't believe I'm getting married next month. I haven't been down to Water Street for about a year. It still has the same old town, dingy appearance but it felt different this time around. There was a kind of energy that has never been there before. Maybe because I was excited for what we were about to do, but I noticed things I never had before. Like a cute antique shop that looked about 100 years old right on the corner of Lake Mead and Water Street. Or the Farmer's Market that was going on right in front of City Hall with stands full baskets full of bright, red strawberries, tie-dyed shirts, homemade trail mixes and salsas, and even a stand that sold Tacizzos ( perfect mixture of a taco and a pizza..)

Plus there was this cute little boy that was having the time of his life running through those areas that shoot water out of the ground after you press a button. I mean, this felt like a cozy, California day and not the desert.

Needless to say I had a great day that got me SUPER excited for my big day. Here's some pictures of my CA Bridal shower that my WONDERFUL mom and sisters threw me. I had a blast and can't wait for my bridal shower here next Sunday. I know my BM and FMIL have some great things up their sleeves.

Can you believe my mom made these? She's the BEST caterer ever!

Sangria... mmmmm.

Adieu jolie!