going for a strong title...

like WORST blogger ever.  LAZIEST blogger ever.  absolutely-zero-to-say blogger!
all of these are slightly accurate, but the truth is, between work where we're writing a grant and learning to be tai chi instructors, and all things wedding, i just haven't had the mental capacity to sit down and share thoughts.  because my thoughts are all over the board right now.  nothing i could want to write will cohesively go together, but hey....we'll give it a shot!

last week was one of those weeks where the world just seemed like a vile place.  one where you just wonder "What the hell is wrong with people" over and over again.  first thing, which if you live in okc i'm sure you've heard, but an off duty police officer was beaten so badly his neck is broken.  he has a wife and three children and now he's lying in a hospital bed with the very real possibility of never walking again.  it all happened because he was trying to appease the bar staff where he was watching the Thunder game with his dad and deal with some unruly patrons, when they just decided they could do whatever they're pea sized brain wanted to do.  these people are the epitome of trash.  just complete douchebags.  it is most definitely a moment, without even knowing any of those involved, where the anger and sadness takes over and it seems like the world is just a mean and awful place.  there is absolutely zero sense to this whole tragedy.

then, i'm driving home the other day and there are cops surrounding a bank near my house.  come to find out someone robbed it just a few short hours after they attempted to rob another bank a couple miles away. WHY, WHY, WHY do people think that they can take what isn't theirs.  thieves run a close second to people who harm others or animals in my mind.  (and yes, i put animals and people in the same category which is a whole post for another day.  but today, just go with it.)  i can not comprehend why people think that they have the right to take what is not theirs.  for someone to work incredibly hard to live the life they want to, just to have some thug come and take it...UGH, it infuriates me.  i've had my purse stolen, joe has had his golf clubs stolen, my brother has had his tv stolen...although all different, they all piss me off to no end!

after all of this anger i'm spewing, i'm going to do my best to go into this week a happy person and look for the good in the world.  in spite of the crap i've listed, i know that the good IS out there and it is important to look towards that, without turning a blind eye to the bad.

TLC...you scare me

Today is a big day in the steps to getting married.  it's dress shopping day!  i'm excited and nervous, but hope it will be a good experience.
i have a few reservations.  mainly, i am nowhere where i need to be body-wise.  i haven't really jumped on the dieting/exercising wagon that is staring me in the face.  i need to.  i know that.  but i guess i'm putting it off just a bit because i know once i start, that's it.  i have got to go at it hard core!  but, today, i'm not there.  so i'm hoping that i can envision what these dresses WILL look like on in shape, tan tyler!
secondly.  i watched say yes to the dress last night.  i've never watched this show before.  it was kind of fun.  but kind of daunting.  but the thing about this episode was that it was brides and moms disagreeing. now, janice and i don't always agree on things.  i know, shock!  but it's true.  i just hope we can find something that we all (keithley too) like!  i think we will, i'm just hoping it's not a long, drawn out process! everyone says you'll know when you know.  i hope so.  that's how i felt when i walked into my house before i bought it.  i just felt it.  so, let's hope this is like that too!

wish us luck!

back to life, back to reality

hi my friends-

we did indeed get a snow day yesterday.  although i was slightly disappointed with the weatherman's inaccuracy, it was enough to keep us home.  i did enjoy some laziness, but amazingly got some things done too!

girlfriend helped me with my taxes

this was after she got rid of some pent up energy....



hauling ass!


i also made some wedding related phone calls.  can't say that i got very far, but what can you do?  i'm  trying to be organized (which is not a 'tyler' word) and keep everything straight, but it's proving more difficult than you would imagine.  even with a planner, calendar, notebook, sticky notes, and mags-out-the-you-know-what, some form of a.d.d kicks in.  i'll start looking up flowers and before you know it i'm trying to find good honeymoon spots for october!  (ps...any suggestions?) 


today was back to work, and even though we opened 2 hours late, i am dragging!  i have not had a full 5-day work week in four weeks and it is going to has completely spoiled me.  next week should be interesting.  you might want to stay far, far away from me!

here we snow again....

ba-dum bum!
i know....corny.  but, here in oklahoma we like to do fun word things with our weather.  i.e. snowmagedon, ice storm 2009, 2010. blizzard.  you know.  real creative things! 

after our snow action last week and pretty much the whole state shutting down, we are getting ready to have another fight tomorrow.  i'm okay with this.  we get to do some of this....

and wear some of these...

don't let that look fool you...he LOVES it

while this is going on....

maybe.  we shall see i guess!

i should probably get some things done with the time, like my taxes, maybe some wedding planning...but sometimes doing nothing is so much better!

speaking of planning, we're moving right along. 
date-check.
venue-check.
photographer-check.
now on to everything else!
i'm hoping that it will be less stressful from now on.  trying to decide on where we wanted it to take place was brutal!  between our indecisiveness and places being booked, i was becoming a bit grumpy!  (me?  never!)
but i'm super happy with how it turned out and hope everything just falls into place!

Stay safe, dry & warm!

later

a long, way overdue post-trip update

hi my friends!  i have been meaning to write this post for some time now, and i have no other excuse except that  my mind has been elsewhere.  i have most definitely had the time since oklahoma (and much of the country) has been dominated by snow!



our trip to crested butte.  AMAZING!  even without the engagement, it was a perfect trip.  if you have never been there, i highly recommend.  even if you aren't a snow person.  something about that town just makes you happy.

to begin our trip, we drove.  which we swore we would NEVER do again.  but, sometimes plans just don't work out.  so we left OKC at about 3:30-4ish and headed west on I-40.   we didn't even make it out of the metro area when we saw our first "road trip sighting"  and it was a good one.  in the median of I-40 were two horses, cowboys on back, looking over a rather large, black mound.  we get closer and see that the cowboys (seriously...real life cowboys) have ropes in hand and have roped a big cow!  now....i don't really do rodeos, at least not the roping part.  it makes me sad.  BUT, this appeared to be a happy roping experience.  from what we could tell, this cow had escaped from somewhere, was cruising I-40, which is NOT a place for a cow, and these lovely cowboys stepped in and helped!  joe assured me that the cow was okay, that the roping wouldn't hurt him.  it was quite a sight and one of those moments when you remember that people ARE good.

we continue on our way....west to the Oklahoma/Texas border, and then start to veer northwest.  the fun thing about our road trip was that blake, gena, carrie, brendan and james were about an hour or so behind us, so we were non-stop communicating via text with updates on our trip and what they could expect, so it was kind of like we were all together.  somewhere in the middle of the texas panhandle, we see flashing lights in the rearview mirror.  awesome.  seriously....this was a prime example of a bored cop.  there was nothing around but fields of who knows what!  (it was dark at this point).  but, he was nice and gave us a warning and sent us on our way.  6 miles after that, stopped in a town for water and restrooms, got back on the road, and i am not kidding you, within 2 minutes we saw flashing lights again!  we were not speeding this time....for real!  this fellow was a highway patrol and really just wanted to warn us of the weather we were getting ready to encounter.  we told him we had just had a lovely visit with another law enforcement gentleman and he was actually irritated that someone else was on his turf!  HA!

cut to somewhere in the middle of New Mexico.  WHITEOUT conditions.  the blowing snow at this point was unbelievable and i don't know how joe did it because i almost had a heart attack every few minutes.  it would be okay....and then nothing but white.  to add to this lovely experience it was a 2 lane highway with construction!  awful.

we finally made it to our pit stop in canon city....at about 2:30 am...local time.  we were exhausted.
the next morning we were up and at em and ready to make the significantly shorter drive on to crested butte.  PLUS, it was scenic so it was so much better.....

leaving canon city

loved these guys

so bizarre...there were houses and little towns in the middle of these mountains, close to nothing

Monarch's Pass....gorge!

after a few hours, we made it to crested butte....

one of the shuttles.  no need for a car here

the town is just littered with cuteness

our hotel (or lodge)
LOVE

i am not so much a winter weather vacation girl, but i was instantly in love with this place.  

 we went and met the bride and groom at a place within the lodge complex called Butte 66 (which us okies kept referring to as Route 66).  we ate, had a drink and then headed into town to celebrate the kickoff of the wedding festivities.

this bride danced her bootie off!

i hated seeing this moose on the wall, but had to show him some love and let him know i would never do such a thing to him

 the rest of the weekend was spent shopping, drinking, eating and enjoying the company and surroundings.  it was perfect.

the wedding was wonderful as well.  the couple looked like they stepped out of a magazine and were so happy!  i wish i had more pictures of that night, but i was busy celebrating the occasion!  a side note here....in crested butte, no one gets dolled up.  which was awesome!  but the night of the wedding we all looked a fool in our dresses and heels, suits and ties!  but it was cool, we like to stand out and make a statement!

scott loved him some champagne

cute family

The next morning joe and i got up and headed to Colorado Springs, where we relaxed, ate, went up pike's peak, went to the Garden of the God's, tasted the spring water in Manitou Springs (ick!) and just enjoyed our new engagement!

that sticker would be two elks humping

frozen lake about 6 miles up Pike's Peak

SCARY!  driving along an icy ledge.  joe kept saying, "if we go over, the trees will stop us"
comforting

13 miles up!  the rest of the way was closed due to weather.  (thank goodness!)

it was a wonderful, perfect trip! i really hope we can repeat it soon!

getting to spend that much time with joe was pretty awesome.  but coming home to reality not so much.  :)

Sorry for the world's longest post EVER!