Takes True Lovers To Be Silly

Here's a little slideshow for you....except you're gonna hafta be imaginative and pretend that I actually went to any real trouble to make this.
Just play the song and scroll through the pictures. That's all you gotta do. It's not difficult, I promise. And if it is, please get yourself checked. Really.

And now the lovely images of loveliness!

I lied. Must put words inbetween some

You can't tell it, but the reason I look like I'm sobbing over the death of my long-lost childhood kitten is because I'm sopping. freaking. wet. And we were just getting to the big drop! It was ridiculous. Never been in the front before. Never been in the front with the heavy people all in the front as well.
Never. Again. Never, I say.

There's a reason we were made for each other.

Oh, beautiful. We can look like humans. Genius.

His face. Kills me.
Slaying me with his smile....that's a song, right? Please tell me that's a song. Because dang it if that's not poetry and if I'm the first to come up with it, then that's just pathetic.

We tried. We really did. But cuteness could not be found. Only sillies.
(Recognize it? That's where he proposed <happyspasm> ahahaha!!)

It was cold. And pretty sour. That's all.

So the little cottage was eating his head away. No big deal.

It was a little bright. And I'm a good, caring fiance. Look at me go. Woot.

Dearest best friend Allie is a genius and the brainchild of this brilliant photo. Considering 'once upon a time' I wasn't Mark's biggest fan. 

Sometimes though, there are no words.

Again. No words.

Immediately following this picture;
"Can we look happy now, please?"
"Fine."

<heartskip>
Yeah, pretty happy I'd say :)


Just a small taste of what the picture montage will be like at our wedding.
Cuz I'm having a WEDDING!!!
Great freaking balls of fire.
How fun is that?

"He's more myself than I am. 

Whatever our two souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

--Emily Bronte

Genius of the Day

'Hocus Pocus' is the best thing Sarah Jessica Parker has done or ever will do. End of story.

Toll House cookies are SO MUCH BETTER after you've left them on the counter for three days.

I kid you not. 

Pasta Alfredo with hotdog is a meal for only the strong-stomached...and starving. 

Only demi-gods can afford to have their wedding reception in the Disneyland Park.

Also? Way to make my life really difficult. Thanks.

Be sure to check the month those block-out dates are listed in. Otherwise, you will has a heart attack, panic attack and sad attack all at once.*

For no reason.

I appreciate the effort, oh dear guest, but PUT THE DISHES DOWN AND GO ON YOUR WAY.

It's my job, let me do it.

Do I need to stab you in the eye with my engagement ring? Stop hugging me like my dog just died and I need to cry on your shoulder for an hour.

Awkward hug is awkward.

Dear City Bus; it's ok. I hate you, too. thlbhpghthphblph :P

*sooo, in my last post I mentioned fiance and best buddies are coming into town this weekend. As a cast member I can bring 3 people into the park with me. So life is good, no?

There are these things called "block-out dates", which are when there's an anticipated heavy flow of guest attendance and they won't allow us to bring people in.

These dates are also completely "subject to change". Up until this week, I been checkin' on 'em almost constantly (cuz I'm paranoid) and today I picked up a cast member reference guide and saw to my utter dread that the dates read "21-23".

I seriously almost cried.

Then later I looked again because I was miserable and the only solution to misery is keep looking at what makes you miserable, correct? 

Oh. Whoops. November 21-23....heh.

False alarm! Whew!

CakeCakeCake

["...she's so skinny. I hate her.../cake!"]




Gearing up for battle is never easy. It's exciting to be doing something, going on another adventure (despite that adventure being, well, a daily occurence...still) and finding maybe you are a productive human! But, let's be honest, it's battle for goodness' sake. That's scary, and tiring. Make that exhausting. Except I'm not a mom so maybe I'm not allowed to use the word 'exhausted'. It's staying, though. So deal.
In any case, stepping into the porcelain tub, carefully drawing the curtain shut because fail-pole just balances precariously between the two shower walls and turning on a cold shower is NOT a good pre-work practice. Starting off on a bad foot; bad. 
knock-knock!
"Hope, can you hurry? I need to be at TDA by such-and-such time...."
Superspeedyawesomeshower!!
Except not awesome. Because I didn't wash my face or shave. Incomplete morning routine? Prepare for EPIC-FAIL-MELTDOWN.


Made up for it with leftover pizza. So all is well.
I'm pretty sure I'm legit-diagnostic-batty-crazy (just looked up 'diagnostic'....still not sure I'm using it correctly...) because there's no other way I would submit myself to the torture of biking to and from work. Firstly, it's humid. Hello nasty sweaty body before I even get to said 'battlefield'. Secondly? Tragically, a fellow college program member was killed riding her bicycle to the parks and naturally, that makes me kinda nervous about the practice. 
But thus far, my trusty redheaded[maned?] steed Smith (title generously provided by none other than JT) has served me well. Any ungraceful accidents have been the fault of my own inability to balance and steer. I'm sure poor Smithy will throw a tantrum and refuse to budge soon enough. But until then....
I better get some major life points for being all active and dedicated and junk.


Dear Smelly-Dirty-Nasty-Peasants (aka homeless); NO. No, I will not screech to a stop on my bike just to talk to you and let you ask for money for your drugs and other such life-debilitating habits. Sorry.
Dear Small Children; let's go for some common sense and maybe all of you could pick a side of the sidewalk to crowd. Otherwise, Y'ALL IS GETTIN' MOWED OVER.
Dear City Bus; that's right. I got here in the same amount of time. WASSUP!! ...actually, that might not be so awesome as I'm imagining. Hm.
Enter the fighting arena. Nod submissively at shiny metal arch nemesis (don't worry Alex. You're still my #1 enemy) and crack neck. Snap on gloves then facepalm and take them back off. Put on apron first then pull on gloves (ever tried to tie a knot behind your back with sticky plasticy fingers? I didn't think so. Stop judging). Slip on immensely attractive hairnet and face opponent. 
Wielding my bottle of Pan Dandy and the superduper power sprayer of death and the scalding hot tub of roiling sickening-yellow water; these pans have NO. HOPE.
Which is pretty darn ironic, if you think about it.
But seriously. I am the Hope-inator in that kitchen. For realzies. 
Today was especially epic.
And obnoxious.
Being a tuesday, in off-season and also a halloween party night (meaning that there's not much to do and then at night there's really nothing to do because only the small food places are open), I was by myself in the pot room. The Lone Obliterator of food scum. No sidekick for Hope (that may or may not be an extremely deep comment....think on that and get back to me). I was blasting my way through everything they threw at me. Piles of pots and stacks of oversized cookie sheets with crusty nasty unidentifiable much burnt on to such a degree, it has quite possibly been fossilized (which I realize is not possible, so before you flip out on me [ahem, Leah Fran--Wrightson] just let me use that word to mean 'THE FOOD IS REALLY STUCK AND HARD'). But nothing the Hope-inator can't handle. 
And suddenly! The sudsy bubbles rise up in mutiny and rebellion! They overpower the dishes and begin to sludge over the edge of the sink and extend the very boundaries they have been set in. But like a boss, I aim the power sprayer in their general direction and beat them back with the force of my tiny little water-droplet minions. 
Confession: I did in fact, make explosion, "pew-pew" and light saber-esque noises as I forced the bubbles into submission. They surrendered. Obviously. It was inevitable. 
And yet! Curse their sneaky dastardly plan. The bubbles were merely a distraction! A coy ploy to fill my head with ego and overconfidence. Now the pot has taken the force of my steaming spray and reflected it back into my eyes, blinding me and weakening my defenses! Plus it's super hot and uncomfortable and I'm pretty sure I will legit go blind because of the soap and food particles and nastiness that is being shoved into my poor eye sockets. 
I shake my fist at thee, wretched pot.

(that's me as the warrior of kitchendom...

except my sword is a stream of water.

Imagination people; it's a good thing)

And that is what I do to pass the time at work when I'm bored. My life; dramaticized just for your entertainment. But that's a lie. It's for my own entertainment. I only share it with you because well, I'm dedicated to you guys.
:P


Today was long and boring. And I just really want it to be friday, at least. I mean honestly, life. You could at least do that for me. Make if friday already. That's all I ask for. Sigh.
Fiance, best friend, and previously  mentioned #1 arch nemesis are coming into town for a whole TWO days (:D) and we're gonna party it up in the parks cuz I AM LEGIT. 
True story.
And I admit, about 27% of me is excited for this weekend merely because it means I'll be sleeping in the hotel room they are staying in and THAT means I can take a glorious hot shower!!! Don't judge me until you've gone 3 months without one after living a life generously blessed with hot showers. Then go ahead, I know I'm a wimp and pathetic. But I accept that. 
But the other 5billion% of me is excited because um, it's two days with my future-hubby and the bestest friend that I could cry because I miss her so much.
I can't wait to laugh so hard it's ugly.
I can't wait to snort too much, it's annoying.
CanNOT wait to "chonchy chonch" and "whoo-hoo!" and quote all the things no one understands here.
Plus that one kid. He's pretty cool, too ;)
And now it's rounding on 2 am and I have work in 10 hours and the whole 8 hours of sleep is growing on me. I likes me sleeeep.


oh! the title. Yeah, got free cake and cheesecake and bacon at work. 
Most awesome job EVAR? 
Don't be an imbecile. Of course it is.

I Need a Therapist

It would be really, really convenient if my brain would realize I'm engaged.
Or that 'single' is not synonymous with 'unmarried', and only means that. What exactly am I saying? I'm saying there would be a lot less awkward situations prevalent in my life. Such as going to the grocery store to buy groceries cuz I haven't been in two weeks and that means my edible stockpile was getting low...
But due to the fact that I has not been keeping up with muh pantry, I had to buy a lot of stuff. And I don't have a car. Only my bike. So $100 worth of groceries fills up a bicycle pretty fast.
And increases the likelihood of crashing and dying or merely maiming oneself to the point of irrepairability (apparently that's not a word but really. It should be).
So I was just going to walk my overflowing-with-plastic-bags bike the two blocks home and call it a day! No harm done!
Except there's a group of people that hang out outside the Starbucks and Subway right next to the grocery store which is right where I hafta walk.
And when I say 'group of people' I mean weird conglomerate smattering of weirdos including but not limited to homeless, druggie, drunk and incoherent humans.
Up till now I have traversed this "social leper" zone safely and walked away with only the burning stares engraved into the back of my head and behind my eyes. Today though; a tall black man with the appearance of cleanliness passed by going the other way as I was making my way home.....
Him: [acknowledge nod] Hey...
Me: [eye contact] Hi...
Dang it! Dear Line-of-eyesight, STOP IT.
Him: How you doin' today?
Me: Fine.
Too many groceries, can't run away...keep walking, keep walking!
Him: [taking steps to keep eyes trained on my face] Hey...hey, are you single?

Now, lemme just put in a disclaimer and explain why I'm stupid. In my head, "single" has always meant unmarried. I'm taken, yes but I'm not a MRS. so therefore, I'm single. I am a single person. Not helped by the fact that I never referred to my first boyfriend as 'boyfriend' and my second boyfriend and I were hardly 'officialized' (as in never actually called each other 'boyfriend & girlfriend') viewing myself as not single is not something that comes easily to my mind.
And so that is how I said...

Me: Yes.
Wait, no! I'm not! I'm engaged!! What the heck??!? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT, STOOPID??!
Him: [almost speaks]
Me: [sputtering] Well, no I mean--I...well, I just...I'm not married....(yet)
Him: Well until you're married, you're single...[looks far too satisfied with self]
[weak laugh]
Him: Would you date a black man?
Me: [not hearing correctly] No...
Him: ....nn--
Me: [catching up] Oh! Yeah--well, no I....
Just give up idiot. Walking away now.
Him: [calling after me] Can I get your number?!
Me: No.
[look over shoulder] oh no. oh no, no, no don't follow me! Don't be a creeper! Why are you on your phone and grinning at me? Are you calling your cronies to drive by in their white van and snatch me? I don't wanna be sold as a prostitute!!


Thank you "Taken" for utterly ruining my inherent faith in strangers.
To clarify; Um. No. I am not ashamed of being engaged or of my relationship with Mark. YES, words just spit out of my mouth sometimes even if they're completely NOT AT ALL what I meant to say.

It's a problem.

My life. In a nutshell.

Bottom of the Thought Barrel

Holy moly I just seriously screwed up my blog...
I don't even know what happened. Went to dashboard and found this nifty little pop-up;
"Here! Try this new awesome thing! It's new, and awesome!"


So I did.
And now my blogface is all boring and bleeeeeh and lost all the changes I'd worked really hard to get right for all these months and turns out with this new dumb template you can't really personalize a whole lot of it.
What the stupid??!? In any case, I'm a tad bit upset. But I'll figure it out later and probably maybe even like it more. Who knows.
Just cuz Steve Jobs DIED doesn't mean we gotta keep everything super new all the time. Change everything! It must all be awesome because that's Steve's dream!
Too soon? Eh.

I got ready for work an hour too early. I thought I was gonna be heading to the bus stop at 2 because that's what my brain came up with but turns out it's really only 3 that I gotta be there.
So now I can blog! Happy day.
There have indeed, been moments recently where I've thought to myself, "Oh! I must blog about this later!" but then I get home and all I wanna do is NOT think about how my day went. So I don't blog.
Like the time I was finally up bussing in the park for my first real legit time! Yay! Wootsauce! Except for it means I'm super nervous cuz now I don't have a trainer to be like, "NO stupid, do it like THIS," and teach me. So what happens? It rains.
Not cute little arizona rain where the clouds are all, "Oh whoo-hoooo! Rain rain rain, here! Have some water!" for like, ten minutes. It was steady, wet, cold rain all freaking day. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it. It just made doing my job a little difficult. Considering I work in French Market, where we don't have covered seating. Well, it's technically 'covered' but only by long draping pieces of fabric that soak up the water and create little mini waterfalls all throughout the dining area. And especially where we bussers stand to put away all the junk we pick up from the tables. Wiping off plates and roof-water dripping into my shirt? Lovely.
I did in fact get sick from that ordeal. Due to the fact that personal jackets are not 'Disney Look' and you need to check those out from costuming if ya need one and also the fact that I did not know this, I spent the day looking like a drowned rat in a frilly yet saggy, drenched blouse made from Grandma's couch. But I persevered! My coworkers kept calling me a 'trooper'....which might have been a compliment if it wasn't because of their silly lazy wimpiness that kept them hiding under the roof overhang and talking to each other the entire time that allowed me to even be the trooper because I was picking up all the slack.
Boo.
Good thing it was raining or I'd have been in a foul mood for sure.
Wait, what?
Exactly. Super conundrum, ftw.

Or the time I witnessed two little girls and their Grandpa get up and start dancing to our live band, "Royal Street Bachelors" and just about wanted to cry from happiness.
Or spending the last 15 minutes of my shift sitting on the Dream Suite private entrance steps talking to 5 year old Joel to keep him in one place as we tried to locate his parents. He loves Space Mountain and playing with the Dinosaur bones at preschool and broke his arm playing on the monkey bars. Oh, and he's from arizona! Small world ;) Rest assured y'all...we found mommy and daddy. I don't think Joel even understood that he was lost. Or if he did, just didn't care all that much. He just kept asking about all the scaffolding and why it was there.
"Why is that construction?" ...you sure you're 5? I'm pretty positive I was nowhere near knowing the word 'construction' at age 5...
"Are they fixing it cuz it's broken? Are the pirates broken?"
He kind of made my day.

Or discovering that 'complaint humor' (aka jokingly making a complaint to break the ice with a guest) is completely and utterly lost on a youth motivational speaker. Oh, what luck have I.
"I'm an adolescent motivational speaker counselor person and I get kids complaining all the time and I just tell them, blah blah blah..." Dude. I was just making a joke. Calm down. I don't think I'm entitled to anything and I'm working for my life. Thank you and have a nice day.

Or the ride on the bus to work that trumped all the awkward uncomfortableness as experienced yet. I usually like to sit in the front of the bus just cuz the seats are right there and it's easy to get off from there. But it was fairly full a couple days ago, except for an empty seat next to a decent looking black man. But I didn't want to squeeze in there with my backpack and everything so I headed for nearer the middle, even as said black man goes, "Here, have a seat young lady..."
I put up my hand and said, "I'm fine. Thanks," and sat halfway back the bus. Didn't think anything of it.
Until a couple stops later when he followed me back and sat directly across the aisle, facing me (since those seats are up against the wall) and smiles at me.
Him: "How are you today, sister?"
Me: Oh, I'm doing pretty good...
Him: Has God blessed you, today?
Me: I'm alive aren't I? Yes he has...um, how bout you?
(I mean honestly, how do you reply to that?)
Him: Oh, he has blessed me greatly.

And then spouts off into this long tirade about God and Jesus and Job.
Him: Are you Christian?
Me (hardly paying attention, caught off guard by question directed at me): Uh..yeah...
Him: Are you ashamed of being Christian?
Me: No, sir.
Except I already know and feel that my expression hardened at being asked that because it feels so rude. Don't sit there and judge me because I'm uncomfortable talking to you about my beliefs and myself in general. I don't know you. And you're creepy.
He asked my name. When I told him 'Hope' he kind of raised his eyebrows and goes,
"Oh, so is it you we're supposed to hope in, and not Jesus?" In the most accusatory manner I've ever heard! It's my name. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I mean, what??!
At this point, people sitting around us are casting their eyes to the side, glancing at him and me and only raising the uncomfortable because no one will say anything. Someone please, help me!

Him: Now you, as a woman, I know. I know it's distracting to look around and see all of us lovely, gorgeous, handsome men around...I know you just wanna jump over here on top of me right now, because I'm so sexy but you gotta control yourself. Keep Jesus in your countenance.
Unfortunately, I'm not kidding. That came out of his mouth.
He went into talking about the "urges" and "passions" that we as humans are given. That it's our bodies, and man and woman alike are given the "same feelings". Through the entire thing it was obvious that he was subliminally referring to himself and me when saying "man and woman". The awkward sidelong stares increased and I even started trying to make eye contact.
But people are dumb.
Thankfully, my ride to work is barely 10 minutes at most and that cut our conversation, or rather lecture, a tad short. Weirdest flirtation of my life? Quite possibly, yes.

Not to mention the socially awkward elevator kid. Laughed in my head because we got off the bus at the same time and he took off, goin' like he was trying to fast walk away from a serial killer. Caught up with him at a crosswalk. He took off again. Caught up again at the elevator in our building.
Silly.
Next morning, got on the bus talking to some kid. Turns out it was him and I didn't remember but he remembered me from the elevator. Oops. Asked my name, the quintessential awkward--
"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"
Why does that matter?

Funny how being engaged completely nullifies awkward flirting. I just don't care. Go ahead and flirt. I don't feel obligated to try and protect their feelings anymore. Because I'm spoken for and that obliterates their chances. Not my fault they're seriously oblivious.
In other news; highly recommended!

• Hunger Games (yes. It's now my turn to rave about the books)
• Castle (Nathan Fillion and....well, honestly. What more do I have to say? Nathan Fillion)

I just started both of these incredibly awesome things and just want to spread them a little more. Go find happiness. It's out there :)

Totes Faves

Naps. 

Anytime. Anywhere....pretty much.

Rain

Thunder & Lightening

Rolling clouds

Sunlight

Breath clouds

Disneyland

...in the rain :)

Free hot chocolate

at work

Free hot chocolate with

free loads of 

caramel sauce

Referring to Mark as
"my fiance"

in normal conversation

Puppies

....and their jitters

My ring

Music

but mostly piano

Flowers

and other various

foliage

Long mermaid hair

Self esteem dresses

Dirt

preferably mud

Inside jokes

and giggle fits

Speaking of which,

"chonchy chonch"

Prayers

and kneeling

Learning & Growing

Colors

(apparently)

Making plans

Cake

Loving

Someone

Working hard

and sweating

Moosen

Late night adventures

and fast food

and stars

LIFE <3

Julie Andrews had it spot on; "When I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad." While yes, it's first grade rhyming, it's just that simple of a fix it doesn't need elaborate fancy words. 

Today has been completely, perfectly, utterly normal but has also left me in this bizarrely fantastic mood. I'm so sunny on the inside it's sickening. Not to worry, folks. It's completely dreary outside so the world balances out my disgusting optimism. Funnily enough, it's the weather that probably spurred this mood of mine. I may just come down with pneumonia but hey, no big deal. 

Except for aforementioned fiance has forbidden that I get any sort of sick so.../shrug. Guess dying isn't an option. 

Wouldn't that be unfortunate o_O To die now. 

Disclaimer!: Dear Karma, this is a completely hypothetical situation. Just go sit in a corner somewhere and ignore everything I'm about to say.

Suppose I do die in the timeline of "soon", would someone please ensure that my tombstone reads;

"SOML"

That is all.

And maybe the silhouette of a moose head or something. Just a little classy touch.

[knock on wood]

Ok, hypothetical death musing finished.

Anyway. This is what I do when I'm finding myself slumping in a rut. What do y'all do? Think about it and maybe you should probably go out and do some of those things.

Can't think of anything? Try something new :)

More Dreams...

I should take naps more often. Really. Cuz then I'll actually have a story for you guys other than, "Disneyland, wootsauce" or "WORLD OF COLOOOOOR" or "Hey guess what, rings and love and such". Like now. So I'll just hop right into it.

I took a nap today. Went to class 8:30-11:30, had "brunch" with some almost friend-peeps and then came home and sacked out. It felt really nice.
But here's the thing; when I sleep, I dream. And dreams are weird. Because once I go subconscious and there's nothing holding my brain back it can just leak strangeness at it's own leisure. And so that would be how I dreamt about working at Jurassic Park instead of Disneyland.
Firstly; way to go brain. You just one-upped my seemingly top-of-the-line entertainment job.
Disney is the coolest place to work for EVAR!
Just kidding. I stand corrected.
Pretty much the only thing I remember is after having clocked in I walked through that massive pterodactyl cage thing to get to my 'location' and happened to pass by the velociraptor fighting cage attraction.
(Kay, you kidding me computer? 'velociraptor' is definitely a word. Stop underlining it in red. Way to fail and ensure my speedy death by said ferocious cretacious creature)
At the time, one of the velociraptor's had stuck it's head and long neck through the apparently poorly thought out fence and was screaming in the faces of the crowd standing around; particularly a very frightened child. I whipped out my phone and took a picture to send to one of my friends. For good measure, the velociraptor then looked over in my direction and I got another picture of it staring straight into the camera...or my soul. Either or, I'm not sure which.
Then it kinda morphed into a giant falcon and the animals were still fighting and it was still such a win I had to wake up before I slipped into a win-coma.
There was that awkward half-reality moment where I was conscious but still totally convinced I had that picture on my phone and was fishing for it in my pile of stuff up on my bunk so I could send out the darn picture but then I realized my mistake and literally felt my happiness level plummet.
aka the feeling of disappointment.
So I was sad.
But the dream was totally awesome.
Woot being a crazy head.

Dear _______,

Dear Hulu,
I am very much disappoint. Bad move. Bad.

</3, Me


Secret of NIMH and The Pebble and the Penguin are no longer available on hulu. Sad Hope is sad.
There is quite a lot of stuff going on in this head o' mine. And not all of it has to do with a 'sparkly' and certain pictures posted all over my social networking profiles. If I could, I'd want to be huddled under a heavy blanket, listening to rain pour down through the open front door in my fiance's front living room and watch a movie. I'd be good with just a movie right now. But hulu's dumb. And I can't go rent a redbox since I am trying to keep the Sabbath as holy as possible while I'm out here. Not to mention I'm not sure I'd wanna deal with renting anything right now, considering one of the things on my brain is coming home with any sort of profit from this adventure. With around $60 to live on each week I'm not gaining much money at all. But welcome to life, right?
And I would really like to take a nap. But it's already 10:20pm and that's either too early or too late for sleeping.
I guess I feel kinda restless. And anxious about the upcoming months and how much I'm not going to enjoy life once october is over. Because then holiday season will really kick in and the kitchen will be mi-ser-a-ble. Woohoooo. It doesn't help that all the people who've been around are saying stuff like,
"Enjoy the down time while you can!"
"Just wait till November..."
"Be ready to hate life."

/sigh
Way to give me an anxiety attack.
And I just miss people! It really is annoying connecting with the people closest to you through the warm, sticky phone pressed up against your face or the hot, humming laptop burning your thighs and technology just isn't as good as flesh, bones and facial features. In my own opinion, at least. And this is an important stage in my life. I want my people around me. People who can appreciate what this really means to me.  People who know me! I'm just a stranger with a pretty ring on over here. Nobody gets how special it is that there was the whole accidental 'Tangled' theme to the proposal.
It's just annoying.
But then I think about how that day went and it's ok :)

On another note, I forgot how silly us Mormon's are with our super short engagements until I began telling people, "Yeah! I got engaged on friday....the big date? Oh we're thinking March..."
and they're like,
"Whaaa!?? o_O"
I was explaining it to my coworkers on saturday and told them about how we originally were planning on May but were thinking about moving it up to March and one of 'em goes,
"Whoa, that's fast..."
Me: uh, no. That's Mormon.
Him: You guys must be horny...
Me: [gives look] Again, Mormon.

The other guy in the room laughed and remarked, "It makes sense." Well yeah it does. I mean honestly, we were all thinkin' it.
"May?? Really? Ok, sure Mark & Hope, have fun with that....."

Dear Married Couples,
Appreciate your loved ones for me. Because I'm much too far away from mine for my liking and right at this moment it's all I could want to just be living in my own house with my very own hunny and our spunky little puppy. So look at the person you committed your life to, remember your story and your love and smile in that rush of pure joy I know you'll get.
Enjoy it for me, please :)

das all <3

I have always sympathized with Jeremy on this :) "ooh! a sparkly!"

And guess what!
I haz one nao x]

(don't laugh at my poor gimp pinky, hahaha)

To my Pinterest friends...recognize it?

I pinned this exact ring quite a few months ago. FABULOUS! It really is huge. Which is definitely not something I'm used to. I don't really wear jewelry and when I do it's usually earrings or a necklace...maybe some bangles. I'm not too adventurous in the bling category. But now I HAZ A SPARKLY. For real. 

Fiance can testify, after he put it on my finger (cuz he liked it so he put a ring on it) the next hour or so consisted of me laughing and gesturing in exaggerated motions with my hand how heavy it felt. But this morning when I woke up without it on I immediately knew something was missing.

I absolutely love it. And him. And this whole situation :) 

Baha I can't stop staring at it and examining the glittering awesomeness that is mine. Be jealous, y'all!! ;)

Dreams & Miracles

My fairytale, brought to you by the magic of Disneyland theme parks :)

I am here to testify to you that perfect days do exist. Days that could never possibly be planned by any living human. I know because I just lived one. 

If you follow this blog you know that firstly, I had the day off today.

Perfect #1

Then secondly, boyfriend drove six straight hours to get here just before midnight on Thursday. 

Perfect #Everything

Not to mention I was totally expecting him to not be in town until 3am or later even! Before midnight??!? The phone conversation was kind of awkward. But can you blame me? I had no time to prepare myself to at least act semi-cool about it.

11:30ish~

BF: [texting] Sooo...how do I get into this place, again?

Me: [grabs phone and speed-dials BF] You're here? Are you here? You're seriously here right now? What?!

BF: Uh, yeah?

Me: .....seriously?

BF: [laughing uncomfortably] Yes, I am.

Me: Um, I'm coming down then....I guess....you're here?? Like, out front??

(at this point I'm halfway down the stairs and out the door)

BF: [laughs] No, I'm not.

Me: [stops dead in tracks] Wait, what?!

BF: I'm kidding! I'm kidding, I'm here!!

Me: Mark! You can't mess with me right now...

I walk out the doors and naturally the kid didn't have the decency to make himself visible or known so I'm standing there awkwardly holding that phone to my face and turning around in circles trying to not let on how frantically I'm looking for him. Because I know he's watching me somewhere around a corner or something.

I finally find him in his bright orange shirt that I maybe should've seen first thing stepping out the doors, but whatevs. I'm oblivious. 

Yeah, ok, we hugged for an obscene amount of time. Hush. 

But that's not the story. Today is the story :)

Had my phone set to go off at 8:30am so we could get ready, go eat breakfast and get in the parks ASAP and still getting at least some sleep. But I popped awake at 7:15 and I might as well have been a 5 year old on Christmas morning finding a batch of pretty, ribboned candy canes on my pillow except it was in the form of a boyfriend on the couch. I could (and would and shall) get used to mornings with that kid.

He was awake, too. 

Though he pretended to not be.

But I knew he was, cuz he totally was not wearing his sleeping face. Which is unfairly serene, btw. My sleeping face is about as attractive as a dead zebra with his tongue lolled out his mouth and I'm not sure why the dead zebra is a 'he'. Boyfriend looks peaceful and tidy and just too gosh darn attractive. In his sleep. Tis unfair, I tell you.

Anyway, we got ready but still didn't exactly leave the apartment till a little after 9. 

We ate at IHOP, which was quite nice--

After we silenced our grumbling tummies, went on a small mini-adventure trying to find the correct parking lot. Typical. Oh, did I mention legit free parking? ahem-hem, yeah I'm just kinda cool is all.

First ticket to Disneyland EVAR. And it was completely free. How awesome do you get? Not much more awesome, I tell ya what.
(oh, little funny fact; for a few really funny seconds he could not remember Pluto's name. I laughed)

Pin all the things!!!

This eased both of us on concerns for terrible looking awkward possible engagement photos. Tis reassuring that we can look normal and gasp! even cute!

Oh, Splash Mountain. You look so good on even the best of us.

He didn't appreciate all the picture taking. But boy's gotta get used to it!!

Plus, then I would never catch such beauties as that :)

And he took plenty, as well.

So this scared me. We rode Star Tours and it seemed like he enjoyed it well enough. The ride ended, I took my 3D glasses off and look over at him ready to 'discuss' the ride and I'm shocked to see that he looks extremely sweaty, dazed, and I realize as I take his hand he's really clammy. He really looked like he was gonna be sick. But he remained adamant that he was 'fine'. We walked out of the ride and he was immediately getting better but still kind of wobbley.
Got him some water, got to sit down for awhile and just blah for a minute. Luckily, it helped and his bout of motion sickeness went away. He figured it was just the intensely amazing 3D mixed with the sudden backwards feel of the ride...
Whoooeeee. Scared me silly!

Speaking of scary.....o_O

[laughs].....[laughs more].....I'll just leave it at that.

It rained! With the sun out! Right on top of Town Square and the castle basically. Perfect much??

Jumping a bit straight into 'GUESS WHAT WE'RE ENGAGED YAY'.
Discovered this room the same week he came and I took him in there to see the Toy Story zoetrope. But it happens to be connected to this random huge room with a bunch of projection screens...

We watched the zoetrope for awhile. Got major headache. There was a Tangled poster in the room and I looked up at boyfriend and said, "How much will you hate me if I make us dance to I See the Light from Tangled??"

He said he wouldn't. In fact he said he'd like that :)

We walk back into the screen-room (I don't know what it's really called, sorry! haha) and a cute little 'Up' video comes on, summarizing Mr. & Mrs. Fredricksen; the beginning ("You don't talk much...I like you!"), the marriage, the saving up money for stuff but using it for fix-ups, the series of ties that she puts on him, they get old, she collapses on the hill, she dies....the whole thing.

And he's standing behind me squeezing my shoulders tighter and tighter as their life flashes before our eyes. I can't speak for him but in my head I was thinking, "Yup. I could live a whole life with him....I really could." 

It went to Lady and the Tramp next. We watched a little bit and were just about to head out when it ended and transitioned to Tangled.

Now, understand this; I am obsessed with Tangled. Rapunzel is my idol and by some miraculous twist of fate, I get told I'm like her from a lot of people who know me quite well :) tis fantastic. I get giddy just hearing or seeing any mention of the movie. So the song "I See the Light" comes on--foreshadowing on my part, much?! ha! :D and those images pictured above.

Me: "Just kidding! Let's stay a couple more minutes!!"

BF: [smiles]

We walk over to where we're out of peoples' way and just hug. So very tight. I've missed him so much and he hasn't stopped reminding me how much he missed me and loves me all day. Still hugging, we slowly begin to rock back and forth, almost like slow dancing.

I feel his head shift over close to my ear and I hear him, emotion clogging his voice, "Hope, I love you so much and I have something to ask you...."

The moment he said my name, my heart immediately began racing. 

He kneels down and....there are no words. Simply no words. I've always scoffed at the people that gush, "Oh no one else exists in the world when I'm around him/her!! oh smoochy smoochy mushy barf love!" I can no more scoff because that happened. There were people all over but they disappeared in my reality. All I knew was there was this extremely handsome man I love kneeling before me with the most tender smile I have ever witnessed holding out this box with something very shiny in it.

And all I had to say was

"YES."

I was not expecting it, I did not see it coming, I was completely surprised. He hid it so well! He's terrible at keeping secrets! But he was amazing. Only shook a teensy little bit putting the ring on my finger.

So I'm a fiance now :)

After that, I lost my voice on Tower of Terror and then we saw World of Color. Once again, that show did not let me down and totally rocked Mark's socks off! He was totally amazed. Which says a lot coming from my dear analytical, critical and maybe just a tad judgemental boyfr--fiance. 

I am still geeking out about how absolutely perfect the day went. Things really just fell into place. The rides went smoother, the show was complete and whole even for me, now knowing all the things I do. Mark loved the entire experience, which was something I absolutely adored seeing. His smile, his excited eyes trying to take in everything and figure it all out. 

The rain.

The timing! I mean 'Tangled'?? FOR REALZIES!!?

World of freaking Color.

Disney magic is legit, people. Le-git.

All in all....

That's all I have to say about today.