Monday, August 24, 2009
Arlo's Proposal Post, Punctuality a Plus!
It may have taken him a while, but he finished his post today! Check it out here at http://arlosbloggitybloggyblog-blog.blogspot.com/ I have to say, it's awesome! It goes into a fair amount more detail than mine, but it really is his story to tell, so this makes sense. I highly recommend checking it out for some he said/she said comparison, and a view into the incredible effort and thought Arlo put into creating a wonderful proposal (ooohh, and the pictures!). Not only that, but stick around for Arlo's reviews of movies, music, and all things pop culture. Take care, y'all and talk to you soon!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The End of Summer in Wisconsin
Hello, it's like, 50 degrees outside right now. It's August! This has supposedly been the coldest weather in Wisconsin in something like 10 years, and I am here for it. My tomatoes finally started growing, and because they are heirloom, they can take 90 days to mature, so that means, November? We'll have several feet of snow by then. Alas, it is still August, and I am really hoping that the warm(ish) weather sticks around for at least a bit longer. Arlo and I have some fun activities coming up, and after being alone pretty much the last three weeks, I could use some enjoyable times with him. We get engaged and I don't see him anymore! Wait, I hope that doesn't mean something...
Anyway, this next weekend we will be heading up to Spring Green to see an outdoor play at the American Players Theater. The play is on Sunday and so we are either going to be camping or checking out a local bed and breakfast to make a weekend of it. That decision will be made once we have a better idea of what is happening with our crazy weather, so that we are not camping in the 40's. The weekend after that is Labor Day weekend, and we are heading to his mom's and his sister's places in Lacrosse. Hmmm...what else are we looking forward to? Well, in September we have Brewfest in Racine with Arlo's dad, Jerry, where we will drink lots of beer and eat awesomely bad for you but delicious midwest food. Then, we have Apple Festival in Gaysmills, Wisconsin (Bill, insert jokes here). This is an annual Horton tradition, complete with flea market, loads of apples, and a pancake breakfast! I actually feel sorry for people on the East Coast who do not to get have Honeycrisp apples, which are so good that Arlo used to get them shipped to him when he lived in Maryland.
October has Wendy visiting for the first weekend, with a Ladies Weekend in Madison. It will be fun exploring an area I'm not really familiar with, with the lovely lady, Wendy. The next weekend is Andrew Bird in concert, and I think the third weekend may be a trip to the East Coast, though I haven't shared this possibility with Arlo yet. I really think we need to come back to Maryland before Thanksgiving, because I don't want to choose a caterer without trying their food, and I am thinking that we could come and check out caterers and other vendors who need to be booked SOON! Speaking of vendors, I think we may have a location. I still need to check out a few more places, but Fiore, which is definitely in the budget and way cool, is available on June 12, so that could be the place and the date. If this works out, then we can start planning around that, and send out Save the Date cards (STD cards if you're nasty). Anyway, as has been happening lately, I have completely digressed and started off on a tangent about the wedding. This has been happening A LOT. I have determined that all of the books, magazines, and websites have become wedding porn for me. I'm completely addicted.
Back to the immediate future plans! November, we are going to visit my dad in Florida, which will be awesome! Arlo's never met my dad, and I am super excited for the two of them to connect and get to know each other. No other plans for November at this point, but sometime in the October/November region my mom will be visiting. I keep telling her that sooner is better than later, as she has already experienced Wisconsin in the winter, but she maintains that this is when she wants to visit. She has been warned! December I will be home for Christmas, probably for an extended vacation.
So, that's the plan for the next few months. The summer has definitely been fun-filled and busy. I have not quite made the progress on Christmas gifts that I had wanted, but I am slowly knitting my way forward. I started to re-think things when Amanda suggested that perhaps I not do home-made Christmas gifts this year, and I think that perhaps not everyone will be getting something home-made (Kevin, of course will, as he demands it). I figure I will be making plenty for the wedding, so it may be better not to stress about Christmas.
This post has been way longer than I intended, and it's getting late, so I should be going. After all, I still need to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, and take M dawg out for a W-A-L-K. I hope you are all well, and talk to you soon!!!!! Oh, and for those of you who say, Jen, you have posted twice, and Arlo STILL hasn't posted about the engagement, what gives?...I rationalize this by saying that Arlo just got home from Spring Green with his dad yesterday, worked last night, tonight, and will work tomorrow, so he probably won't post until Monday. However, check back then!
Anyway, this next weekend we will be heading up to Spring Green to see an outdoor play at the American Players Theater. The play is on Sunday and so we are either going to be camping or checking out a local bed and breakfast to make a weekend of it. That decision will be made once we have a better idea of what is happening with our crazy weather, so that we are not camping in the 40's. The weekend after that is Labor Day weekend, and we are heading to his mom's and his sister's places in Lacrosse. Hmmm...what else are we looking forward to? Well, in September we have Brewfest in Racine with Arlo's dad, Jerry, where we will drink lots of beer and eat awesomely bad for you but delicious midwest food. Then, we have Apple Festival in Gaysmills, Wisconsin (Bill, insert jokes here). This is an annual Horton tradition, complete with flea market, loads of apples, and a pancake breakfast! I actually feel sorry for people on the East Coast who do not to get have Honeycrisp apples, which are so good that Arlo used to get them shipped to him when he lived in Maryland.
October has Wendy visiting for the first weekend, with a Ladies Weekend in Madison. It will be fun exploring an area I'm not really familiar with, with the lovely lady, Wendy. The next weekend is Andrew Bird in concert, and I think the third weekend may be a trip to the East Coast, though I haven't shared this possibility with Arlo yet. I really think we need to come back to Maryland before Thanksgiving, because I don't want to choose a caterer without trying their food, and I am thinking that we could come and check out caterers and other vendors who need to be booked SOON! Speaking of vendors, I think we may have a location. I still need to check out a few more places, but Fiore, which is definitely in the budget and way cool, is available on June 12, so that could be the place and the date. If this works out, then we can start planning around that, and send out Save the Date cards (STD cards if you're nasty). Anyway, as has been happening lately, I have completely digressed and started off on a tangent about the wedding. This has been happening A LOT. I have determined that all of the books, magazines, and websites have become wedding porn for me. I'm completely addicted.
Back to the immediate future plans! November, we are going to visit my dad in Florida, which will be awesome! Arlo's never met my dad, and I am super excited for the two of them to connect and get to know each other. No other plans for November at this point, but sometime in the October/November region my mom will be visiting. I keep telling her that sooner is better than later, as she has already experienced Wisconsin in the winter, but she maintains that this is when she wants to visit. She has been warned! December I will be home for Christmas, probably for an extended vacation.
So, that's the plan for the next few months. The summer has definitely been fun-filled and busy. I have not quite made the progress on Christmas gifts that I had wanted, but I am slowly knitting my way forward. I started to re-think things when Amanda suggested that perhaps I not do home-made Christmas gifts this year, and I think that perhaps not everyone will be getting something home-made (Kevin, of course will, as he demands it). I figure I will be making plenty for the wedding, so it may be better not to stress about Christmas.
This post has been way longer than I intended, and it's getting late, so I should be going. After all, I still need to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, and take M dawg out for a W-A-L-K. I hope you are all well, and talk to you soon!!!!! Oh, and for those of you who say, Jen, you have posted twice, and Arlo STILL hasn't posted about the engagement, what gives?...I rationalize this by saying that Arlo just got home from Spring Green with his dad yesterday, worked last night, tonight, and will work tomorrow, so he probably won't post until Monday. However, check back then!
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Proposal! (Not The Movie)
I was completely going to wait until Arlo could post his blog about the proposal first, but then I went and got really excited and am doing it now. After all, he's at Lollapalooza and I don't really feel well, so I don't feel like doing anything, and therefore it seems the perfect time to post. I highly recommend all of you read Arlo's post as well, when he writes it, so you can get the whole, his and hers perspectives of it all. Plus, he will definitely be able to describe more the premise behind it, planning, et
c. I was just the lucky recipient. :)
As most of you know, he's had the ring for a while, which has caused some (mostly my mom) people consternation. Arlo kept telling me he needed a whole day, and I really didn't know why, but I figured that if he said that, it must be true. Looking at our upcoming few weeks, I realized that there was no way we were going to get a complete day to ourselves with nothing else, so I suggested that perhaps I take a day off, thinking he totally wouldn't go for it, because then it wouldn't be expected. He loved the idea! We decided on Wednesday, because Thursday he would be getting ready for Lollapalooza.
Tuesday night I was so excited it was hard to sleep. Wednesday morning, we woke up, had a quick breakfast and got ready for the day. Arlo wanted to dress up, so he donned a button-down and
a tie. I decided on a dress, the same one I wore for the going-away party. Arlo had me sit on the couch so he could explain what was going to happen. I apologize if you were one of the people who heard this already and now must read it again, so, you can skip to the section starting with, "Lo and behold " for the amended version.
Arlo informed me that we would be going to a variety of places that day. He had created a list of 30 to be exact, 15 places, 15 bars/restaurants, all within the Milwaukee area, and all having to do with us in some way. Each place had 3 trivia questions and a challenge. There were point values, etc, and I will let you consult Arlo's blog for the details on that. I earned points for correct answers and achieving the challenge. The goal: To reach 135 points (the number of weeks we've been together). Wherever that happened, he would propose.
I'm guessing many of you are saying, "Well, that's interesting..." and some may even be saying, "That's mean..." to make me work so hard for the ring. Why not take me to some nice, expensive mea
l and let me get all dressed up, and then take a ride on a horse-drawn carriage? Because that's so not Arlo's style. Like pretty much everything else in our relationship, he wanted to make this fun, creative, and memorable. He did add a clause that if at any time I had ceased having fun, we would stop and I would be declared a victor and he would propose. Good idea, because I almost used it on the second challenge when I was sweaty, out of breath, and holding a broken kite, but I digress. Anyway, he achieved his purpose. It was creative, fun, and memorable. The event took about 5 hours, so basically we did need a whole day. And it was nice knowing that he didn't have to run off to work, so we could celebrate with margaritas and tacos. Alas, I have not spoken about the actual proposal!
Throughout the day, I changed my facebook status, found a cookie, flew a kite, beat him at pool, tried to find a beer he hadn't tried, tried to find out which artists are coming to Shank Hall in Octob
er (notice the two "tried"s, didn't accomplish those), and answered numerous trivia questions correctly. I nearly lost it (again) at the end, when I realized that unless I played it perfectly, I wouldn't get to 135 points at the location that I wanted, Bradford Beach. I am, after all, a stickler for rules, so if it was 134 points, despite Arlo already saying that it wouldn't matter, I was convinced I'd end up getting proposed to a the Downer Theater.
Lo and behold, we were a mere 8 points away (I think) from the 135, and we pulled up to the beach. It was packed! Not what I had been expecting when I pictured his romantic proposal. We parked and Arlo suggested we walk a bit away from the beach. We chose a spot on the rocks, sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan, and he asked the final three questions. Then, having gotten them all right, he asked one more- If I would marry him. He actually said more than that, but you get the picture. He got down on one knee and put the ring
on my finger. I don't think he actually waited for an answer, but I said yes anyway, and then we kissed. It was perfect. We walked back to the car, hand-in-hand, officially engaged.
Driving home, we decided that we wanted to go out and celebrate some more. We decided against the fancy restaurant on the lake, choosing instead the more casual Mexican restaurant down the street from our place. We changed our clothes and then biked there, stopping (of course) to call my mom and grandparents.
Sadly, I couldn't tell anyone at work, because I thought it would look susp
icious if I called in sick and came in the next day with a ring on. I felt naked already not being able to wear it to work for two days, and now it's on my hand all sparkly and shiny.
I am so happy to be engaged to Arlo. I look forward to our life together and all that is to come. I know that, like the proposal, our life will be anything but boring.
P.S. I am aware that all of these pictures are of the ring, my hand, and me, but the other pics are on Arlo's camera, and will be uploaded soon. We got some good, "just engaged" pics!
UPDATE!!! I've entered us in the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding contest, and the way to become a finalist is to get as many votes as possible. Here's where you come in.
If you liked our proposal story and want to try to help us out, please vote for our entry in the "Ultimate Wedding Contest" by clicking here or copying the following link:
http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/28351
Thank you so much for your help!
c. I was just the lucky recipient. :)As most of you know, he's had the ring for a while, which has caused some (mostly my mom) people consternation. Arlo kept telling me he needed a whole day, and I really didn't know why, but I figured that if he said that, it must be true. Looking at our upcoming few weeks, I realized that there was no way we were going to get a complete day to ourselves with nothing else, so I suggested that perhaps I take a day off, thinking he totally wouldn't go for it, because then it wouldn't be expected. He loved the idea! We decided on Wednesday, because Thursday he would be getting ready for Lollapalooza.
Tuesday night I was so excited it was hard to sleep. Wednesday morning, we woke up, had a quick breakfast and got ready for the day. Arlo wanted to dress up, so he donned a button-down and
a tie. I decided on a dress, the same one I wore for the going-away party. Arlo had me sit on the couch so he could explain what was going to happen. I apologize if you were one of the people who heard this already and now must read it again, so, you can skip to the section starting with, "Lo and behold " for the amended version.Arlo informed me that we would be going to a variety of places that day. He had created a list of 30 to be exact, 15 places, 15 bars/restaurants, all within the Milwaukee area, and all having to do with us in some way. Each place had 3 trivia questions and a challenge. There were point values, etc, and I will let you consult Arlo's blog for the details on that. I earned points for correct answers and achieving the challenge. The goal: To reach 135 points (the number of weeks we've been together). Wherever that happened, he would propose.
I'm guessing many of you are saying, "Well, that's interesting..." and some may even be saying, "That's mean..." to make me work so hard for the ring. Why not take me to some nice, expensive mea
l and let me get all dressed up, and then take a ride on a horse-drawn carriage? Because that's so not Arlo's style. Like pretty much everything else in our relationship, he wanted to make this fun, creative, and memorable. He did add a clause that if at any time I had ceased having fun, we would stop and I would be declared a victor and he would propose. Good idea, because I almost used it on the second challenge when I was sweaty, out of breath, and holding a broken kite, but I digress. Anyway, he achieved his purpose. It was creative, fun, and memorable. The event took about 5 hours, so basically we did need a whole day. And it was nice knowing that he didn't have to run off to work, so we could celebrate with margaritas and tacos. Alas, I have not spoken about the actual proposal!Throughout the day, I changed my facebook status, found a cookie, flew a kite, beat him at pool, tried to find a beer he hadn't tried, tried to find out which artists are coming to Shank Hall in Octob
er (notice the two "tried"s, didn't accomplish those), and answered numerous trivia questions correctly. I nearly lost it (again) at the end, when I realized that unless I played it perfectly, I wouldn't get to 135 points at the location that I wanted, Bradford Beach. I am, after all, a stickler for rules, so if it was 134 points, despite Arlo already saying that it wouldn't matter, I was convinced I'd end up getting proposed to a the Downer Theater.Lo and behold, we were a mere 8 points away (I think) from the 135, and we pulled up to the beach. It was packed! Not what I had been expecting when I pictured his romantic proposal. We parked and Arlo suggested we walk a bit away from the beach. We chose a spot on the rocks, sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan, and he asked the final three questions. Then, having gotten them all right, he asked one more- If I would marry him. He actually said more than that, but you get the picture. He got down on one knee and put the ring
on my finger. I don't think he actually waited for an answer, but I said yes anyway, and then we kissed. It was perfect. We walked back to the car, hand-in-hand, officially engaged.Driving home, we decided that we wanted to go out and celebrate some more. We decided against the fancy restaurant on the lake, choosing instead the more casual Mexican restaurant down the street from our place. We changed our clothes and then biked there, stopping (of course) to call my mom and grandparents.
Sadly, I couldn't tell anyone at work, because I thought it would look susp
icious if I called in sick and came in the next day with a ring on. I felt naked already not being able to wear it to work for two days, and now it's on my hand all sparkly and shiny.I am so happy to be engaged to Arlo. I look forward to our life together and all that is to come. I know that, like the proposal, our life will be anything but boring.
P.S. I am aware that all of these pictures are of the ring, my hand, and me, but the other pics are on Arlo's camera, and will be uploaded soon. We got some good, "just engaged" pics!
UPDATE!!! I've entered us in the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding contest, and the way to become a finalist is to get as many votes as possible. Here's where you come in.
If you liked our proposal story and want to try to help us out, please vote for our entry in the "Ultimate Wedding Contest" by clicking here or copying the following link:
http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/28351
Thank you so much for your help!
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