Our Rehearsal Dinner

Ben and I decided to have our rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's, the place where we had our first date on January 10, 2010. That first date was such a magical night for both of us. Ben arrived first but sat in his car until he saw me walk up and sit down at the patio. He made me wait for a couple minutes! I was sitting there playing with my phone, pretending I was busy, not just some loser waiting for a date ;)

Then after those couple minutes passed I saw the guy I had been chatting to online with via Match.com. He was sooo handsome and he was carrying gorgeous pink tulips. I still remember what he was wearing...dark jeans and a black shirt that had light pinstripes (the shirt he wore to the rehearsal dinner! coincidence? I think not!). I nearly jumped out of my seat with excitement. I had been a chronic online dater for several years, trying it on and off and I had never met anyone like Ben online before. We had great online email conversations and we were about to embark on the best adventure of my life-literally! Since meeting Ben we have traveled to Mammoth, Cambria, the Salton Sea, St. Louis (twice), Chicago, the Bahamas, the Mojave Desert, and for our honeymoon we went to Costa Rica! We just finished backpacking 26 miles in the southern Sierras. Life with Ben is anything but boring! We've ziplined, white water rafted, fished, hunted (well he did the hunting), snorkeled, hiked, biked, climbed, and explored. But for our rehearsal dinner we took it back to where it all started--Maggiano's. Where the red wine, flowers, and great conversation swept me off my feet! Oh yeah, and the fact that he looks like Brad Pitt does help a bit ;)

Here are some pictures of the rehearsal dinner!

Ben and I getting excited!

My mom and Ben's cousin, Kristin, with her boyfriend, Greg

Ben's uncles, Wes and Stu, with my dad.

Aunt Alicia and Uncle Jim

Uncle Leo, Aunt Marilyn, and cousin, Greg

My cousin, Heather, her husband, Greg, and their kids

Me passing out gifts to our wedding party

Mama and Me

James, the cutest baby boy ever!

My sister-in-law, Melissa and her kids, Landon and Paige

Ben's Uncle Guy, Aunt Karla, & Aaron

My sister and her boyfriend, Jeremy

Ben's groomsmen, Paul and Erick, and Erick's girlfriend, Bianca

Ben's parents, Laurie and Gary

Our wedding wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful without my amazing wedding planner and friend, Annette, and her friend (now mine too!), Roxy. Thanks ladies!

June 15th-Medley's arrive

Sooo, I'm going back in time now to retell the last month of my life. On June 15th, Ben's family arrived in California so they could share with us one of the most important days of our lives--our wedding day! On Wednesday, we took them to In N' Out since they don't have them in Missouri and then we hung out and let them relax after their flight.

Thursday morning we all gathered at their hotel and took everyone to Malibu for a beach and hiking day. It happened to be freezing at the beach that morning which was a shame since some of Ben's cousins had never seen the ocean! But, thankfully, they went again on their own when it wasn't quite as cold. The hike was about 2.5 miles and it overlooked the ocean. A perfect way to start our rehearsal dinner day! That night was the rehearsal dinner which I will blog about later :)

Friday I made sure to rest and have some girl time with my mom, Jan, my mother-in-law, Laurie, my sister, Bree, and two friends, Annette and Roxy who helped plan my wedding. We went to Flemmings for Happy Hour and then I went back to my parent's house for the night and tried (tried being the operative word) to sleep even though I was super excited about every moment of the following day.

I've included some pictures here of our time with the Medley's. I am so excited to be a part of their family and to have a new sister-in-law, Melissa, brother-in-law, Scott, and two nieces, Paige and Sabrina, and two nephews, Logan and Landon. What a big and loving family I have added to my small, loving family!

My adorable nephew, Landon! He looks so much like Ben did when he was little!

Beach Day with the Medleys!

Ben and I waiting to go hiking with his family!

Annette, Roxy, & Me at Flemmings

Coming soon...

Okay, so I've been in wedding and post-wedding/honeymoon bliss for the past month, but I'd love to share all my adventures with you now that I've returned, but I obviously can't tell all in a single post.

Here is what's to come:

1. Medley's arrive in California!
2. The Rehearsal Dinner
3. Pre-wedding happy hour @ Flemmings
4. Our wedding!
5. Costa Rican Honeymoon adventures
6. Trip to St. Louis
7. Backpacking trip (26 miles through the southern end of the Sierras)

I hope to get on this soon, but I'm also cleaning, organizing our house, lesson planning, and having plenty of fun hanging out with my new husband. I'll make sure to put my posts on Facebook as reminders!

Many reasons to be grateful...

Last night I lay in bed thinking just how lucky I am. In the past few years I've found reasons not to be grateful...like the fact that I bought my condo in 2007 and that it's worth over $100,000 less than I paid for it or when I lost my job, had a tree fall through my roof, or when I was in my car accident.

But when I think of the truly wonderful blessings in my life, I'm so amazed and grateful. Since I was 16, I have done so much traveling! I've been to Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, Mexico, the Carribean, the Bahamas, England, France, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Ireland. Soon I'll be going to Costa Rica with Ben on our honeymoon.

After losing my job in 2009, I was given the wonderful opportunity to work at Chaminade Middle School and just a few months later I met Ben. Since meeting Ben we've gone on so many adventures but the greatest adventure has been the adventure of our hearts. And the greatest adventure of all lies ahead...in 5 days we will be man and wife. It's really all I can think about now and I am so happy. Most of my early 20s were spent wondering when I would meet this man who I'd spend the rest of my life with. Most of my diary entries were about my desire to meet my future husband...and now I'm getting married. It's the answer the years of prayers and I am so joyful. <3

1 week till I'm Mrs. Medley!!

Wow...I'm one week away from being a married woman! 2 years ago at this time I'd never believe it...I hadn't even met Ben yet, and here I am, getting married. I am so excited about the wedding. After all the hard work we've putting in, I can finally see it all coming together, all the details and finishing touches I've been trying to add to make it a nice day for all!

Ben's upstairs tying his boutineers (sp?) for himself, the groomsmen, the dads, a few of his family members, and Logan and Landon, our ring bearers (Ben's nephews). I've been cleaning but the place still looks like a disaster...between laundry and trying to pack there's stuff everywhere. Hopefully it'll look decent by the time Ben's family arrives!

Most of the wedding stuff that I can do is done but I do have a few errands to run today (can you tell I'm avoiding them). Must finish a few gifts for people, get some cards, and shop for some food to hold us over for the week. Neither one of us has been eating very well. Maybe the stress and amount of work we have to get done? I'm hoping now that school is out, I will start to unwind a bit. It's nice knowing I don't have to grade any more papers for a while!

Well, I better go attend to the workload. By the way, I started a creative writing blog for the new class I'll be teaching next year (well, it's new to me). It's called writingalive.blogspot.com. Check it out! Enjoy!

7 days...and counting!!

My bachelorette girl's night!

Last night my friends, Shannon, Erika, Emila, and Priscilla, took me out to Flemming's for my bachelorette party. We went to happy hour, which I'm super excited about, because it's such a great date night for people on a budget. Their $6 menu is awesome. All drinks and appetizers on the Happy Hour list are only $6/each. I tried their mojito, very good, but the best was the tropical flavored martini...so yummy. They have an appetizer burger which is NOT appetizer size...it's a big juicy burger! We also tried the calimari which was A-mazing!

But, of course, the best part is never the food--it's the time spent with friends. Before going to Flemming's, Shannon, who will be my make-up artist at the wedding, did a test run for the wedding make-up. It was so much fun and we had a great time sharing my last single girl's night out on the town.

I'm 27!

It's hard to believe I'm 27 years old. In some ways it feels like I just turned 21 getting ready to leave for Europe for a month. In other ways, that feels like a lifetime ago. So much has happened in the past year, the past two years, and when I think back to three years ago my life was completely different. Since turning 25, I started teaching @ Chaminade Middle School, after being laid off from Reseda High School due to the recession. I met Ben a few months later and since meeting Ben life has been full of adventures: first dates, mini-trips, a birthday in Cambria last summer, Ben's proposal in December during our vacation in the Bahamas.

And here we are now. June 1, 2011. I'm 27 years old. On Saturday, some of my girlfriends are taking me out for a little "bachelorette" party...Happy Hour at Flemmings...yay! There are so many exciting things just around the corner.

Today, I felt very blessed at work. We had a fun luncheon for the Religion department. They gave me a card for my upcoming wedding with two giftcards--one to Chile's and one for the AMC theaters! My students brought me brownies, cookies, and cake along with a balloon and a flower pot! I also got cards and warm wishes from my colleagues and students...very nice way to spend the day :)

Last night when Ben got home late from work (2am!) he had brought beautiful pink roses home with a card, and when I woke up this morning for work I got to wake up to them...so nice!

I am very blessed and thank everyone who has made this day special. To a wonderful year and a wonderful life ahead! For me and all of you :)