Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The Grand Master Post

Hey everyone!

We got back from Disneyland a little over a week ago, and since then we have been extremely busy (but what else is new?). I flew home from Michigan on the 11th, I worked the 12th & 13th and then we left for Disneyland. The day after we got home, Patrick flew to Florida for work and stayed there until Saturday. That Saturday, we had a Rocky show to do, so really our moment of rest was Sunday... which was the day of my coworker's baby shower. We have both worked every day this week, so we really haven't had much down time, which brings me to my point: This post (as usual) is overdue. However, it is important. It's the most important post I will have written up until this point.

Valentine's Day was also our anniversary, which I badgered Patrick about until he booked a weekend for us in Disneyland (mostly because I wanted an opportunity to wear the "Happy Anniversary" pins that they hand out in the park). So that Thursday after I got off of work, we drove down to Anaheim and spent the evening resting up for our weekend in the park. Friday was mostly the usual Disneyland stuff, except the park was busting with couples celebrating, and the next day wasn't any less crowded because who would expect a mid-80's day in the middle of February? I even got a little bit sun burnt. Thursday night, we exchanged gifts. Patrick got me an adorable little statue of Minnie & Mickey that says "When my heart found you, it knew," and now it lives on my nightstand. For our anniversary, Patrick bought me an early present a few weeks ago, which was an N64 plus games. Awesome! And lastly, for my birthday, Patrick bought me the plane ticket home but also got me the second season of Criminal Minds. For Patrick's present, I made him a cool scrapbook of our first year together. It included pictures, plane tickets, cards, and little notes from random days together that I saved knowing I would make this scrapbook at some point. It took 4 months of planning, prepping, and creating to have the book ready for our anniversary weekend.

First day in the park

& first anniversary! It merited a heart picture.

Bob & Ellen! Oops, shhhh. I mean, Mr. Incredible & Elastigirl 

Pooh Bear!

Feeding the ducks :)


I asked Patrick to bring our last few pieces of bread to Disneyland with us so I could hand feed the ducks. It was one of my favorite parts because I just love ducks for whatever reason.

The next day, Patrick nearly broke my legs by making me run, not walk, to Princess Breakfast, where we would have breakfast together while the princesses came around for a meet and greet. We were the first ones in line. We walked down the spiral staircase into Ariel's Grotto, where Ariel met us at the bottom for a picture, which was when Patrick started talking.

No big deal, because I'm used to Patrick talking a lot, especially in Disneyland. At first it started out as him talking to Ariel, but it slowly shifted into speech mode towards me. When Patrick started making all sorts of Disney references in his speech, I knew something was up, and my heart caught in my throat. Up until that point, I had been paying attention but shifting my eyes because that was his conversation with Ariel, not with me. But from that point on, I never looked away from Patrick as he spoke to me about love, life, and finding Ohana.

By the time he got down on one knee, tears were streaming down my face and I was holding my breath.

And when he asked "Will you be my princess?", I said yes.

What started out as a normal day was now a mind-blowingly exciting one because now we were engaged. Still, I cannot stop staring at my ring and I cannot believe that we are one step closer to being married. I am so overjoyed and so in awe of how perfect Patrick made everything for that morning. All of the strings he pulled and all of the steps he had to take to make sure our engagement was flawless-- I couldn't be luckier.




First selfie with my fiancĂ©

Snow White wanted to see my ring as soon as Patrick told her that he proposed that morning




 The statue Patrick had to have because it was our engagement weekend. It has 24kt. gold paint!

On Sunday we headed home early so that we could take care of things that we needed to do before he was going to be gone for a week. And now that he is home, sitting next to me playing The Lego Movie: The Game, I can't help but smile and be thankful for the wonderful man I've fallen in love with and the wonderful life he's giving me.

One week after we got engaged, we found out that our two wonderful friends, Mandy and Brook (yes, I've finally met a name twin!), are finally going to have a baby after what seems like ages of trying. I cannot think of two more wonderful people to be parents. That little one is going to be so spoiled!

Congrats you two! All the love in the world :)


I want to thank you all for the well-wishes and congratulations that we've received since our engagement. Everyone's support means the world to us!


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

First Home Visit

Hey everyone!

I know this post is extremely overdue. My last post was over two months ago. I glazed over Christmas, NYE, and so many other events that I could have posted about, but the absolute truth is that I'm exhausted. I have been working a lot and I have been avoiding my blog because I didn't want to let anyone on to the following information that many of you already know...

I GOT TO GO BACK TO MICHIGAN!

Patrick (the best boyfriend on the planet) bought me a round trip ticket back to the mitten surrounding my birthday. I wanted to surprise several people, so less than 8 or so people back in Michigan knew that I was coming back. I gave myself 1 week (from Tuesday, Feb. 4 to Tuesday, Feb 11) and did as much planning as I could to make sure that I got a chance to see as many people as I could that I miss so dearly. The trip was a complete blur. From sun up to sun down I was running around, seeing people and having lunches and dinners and whatnot. I got to see my closest family members and my very best friends, plus a few friends who were awesome enough to show up to the party I threw on Friday night to celebrate my 22nd birthday. Seeing my loved ones and getting a break from my crazy work schedule was just what I needed: right when I needed it. This was my first trip back to Michigan since I left home for my life-changing road trip on June 25th, 2013. Because I know that it would be extremely boring for me to recap every day of my trip home, I'll just give you a bunch of heart warming photos for your viewing pleasure!

Sisters: Ella (4 1/2), Brook (22), & Christina (8 3/4)

Grandma Bev :)

Pop :)


My mommy :)


Great Grandma aka Babcia (Busha). 94 at the end of this month and still able to kick your butt!


The girls playing with the sticker houses I bought them :)

Ella walking to school. I dropped her off and then picked her and her sister up when they were done and we went out for ice cream :)

 On Wednesdays, we wear pink. (Dropping Ella off at Pre School. This was unplanned and brilliant.)

She fell asleep waiting for Christina, though.

Erin, my best friend since we were just 4 & 5 years old. My very first sister <3

4 generations of tiny Polish women. Babcia, Grandma Bev, my mom, and myself. I am the tallest woman in my family at 5'4




Not even blood related to Erin and they're still all the same!

Zach and Austin, my very best guy friends!

Angel! We've been friends since we were 12. She was my very first friend I made in middle school!

Chels! I met her at Greenwood Acres when we were about 13!

 Megan and I have been friends since we were 12 :)

Zach at Hibachi, a Japanese Buffet that he and Austin and I traditionally go to. 

Austin and I with our chopstick-sushi-grape-pineapple-napkin sailboat. The waiter just loved us. 

 Austin has obvious chopstick skills. That's ice cream...

I MISSED VERNORS

AND NOODLES & CO.

AND CONEY ISLANDS.

Grandma Charlie!

Grandpa Gary!

 I forgot how close you could be to snow, deer, and trees at my grandparents' house :)

And my plane ride home (don't worry, the phone was on airplane mode).

It was so wonderful to see everyone. Next time I will take a longer amount of time to stay in town and I will let more people know that I'm there so that I can see more of everyone. I'm so grateful to have been able to get the time off of work and spend my birthday with so many people that I love and cherish. See you next time, Michigan!