It's our "Negative One Year Anniversary"

One year from this date, Aaron and I will be getting married!! It's a very exciting day for us (well, me at least!!) I'm planning on going dress shopping in a few weeks, which I'm uber excited about. I also get to see my aunt, who is a florist, tomorrow and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk flowers for at least a few minutes (but I don't want to take any glory away from my cousin at her baby shower). Right now, I have absolutely no idea what I want for flowers though (which, if you ask Aaron, you'll find out is rare, because I'm full of ideas!!), so I'm anxious to get some expert advice.

By the way though, have I mentioned that I'm getting married one year from today?!? Yippee!!!!

Ring update: It's still very sparkly and I still love to stare at it. My gloves with a "ring hole" are in progress, but I haven't figured out how to get the hole from getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, so I haven't started wearing them yet. If it sparkles just right, the dogs think it's a fun toy and try to eat it. That would not go over well...

But, the good news is, I'm getting married to the love of my love one year from today!! Geez Petes I'm lucky!!

It really works!!

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

We're not turning our heat on!!

Aaron and I are on the budget plan for our utilities, so we pay a set amount every month. This amount is determined based on the previous year's usage, so we're determined to save next year by not turning on our heat until absolutely necessary this year!! We originally said we wouldn't turn it on before November 1st. I think we can make it past that though. We recently won a king size down comforter from work that has become our 'couch blanket.' We also have a down blanket and a down comforter on our bed. To top it all off, Aaron got us down robes from Overstock.com, and when paired with hooded sweatshirts, we always stay toasty warm!!

(And we look so spiffy!!)

I know that our resolve will be tested in the next couple weeks, but I think we can do it!! I'd like to thank my mom for keeping our house at an insanely cold temperature, correctly preparing me to save money in my own home!!

As a bride-to-be

I'm having my first "crisis" as a bride-to-be, although any guy will say that it's not a big deal. I can't find a place to have the actual wedding on the date we've picked!! Aaron, my brother, and my stepdad are all telling me that it will be fine and we'll find somewhere to have it. Luckily, my brother's fiance assured me that she went through a similar sort of problem, so I feel a little bit less like I'm overreacting to the situation. I keep saying that if I can just get the date set, with a reception site and a ceremony site, that everything else will be fine, although I'm sure there will be other issues along the way.

Other than the ceremony site issue, being engaged has been wonderful!! I'll admit, I often sit around just looking at my ring and have found that the lighting in 001 Carver and in Audubon's makes the ring extra sparkly. White getting ready to start Run for the Roses (where we did some great walking!!) Becky and I decided that we should make winter gloves with a "ring hole" so that it doesn't have to be covered up!! Just let us know if you need a pair :-D

I said "YES!!"

Aaron is the most amazing guy ever. I came home after class yesterday and found rose petals and roses scattered all over our house, but since he's such a romantic guy, I didn't even think it was a proposal until the end!!

So I already said there were rose petals and roses...Well, each of the roses had a card attached to it, summarizing one of the 12 months we've been together.

(This is July...talks about celebrating the 4th "Slater style" and other fun stuff)

The summaries were very pretty and I could tell that he took a lot of time not only writing them, but also "crafting" them. The month of September was propped against the office door and started out with "I started looking for an engagement ring for you..." and that's when it finally hit me. This wasn't just another sweet thing Aaron was doing for me, this was a proposal!!

I opened the door and saw Aaron in the middle of the room with another dozen roses for me. He pulled me into the room, got down on one knee, and told me how much he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was crying by this point and forgot to say yes!! I just pulled him up, gave him a big kiss, and told him how much I loved him. He asked if that was a yes, and I excitedly told him it was!!

He had everything planned to a tee. He started a playlist of songs that were important to us and we danced for a few songs, grinning the whole time, with me sneaking as many glances at my ring as possible!!

(This is my beautiful ring-.8 Karats, Princess Cut, Platinum Cathedral Setting)

After watching the webcam video of the proposal a couple times and soaking it all in, we headed up to my parent's house. My mom knew the proposal was coming, as Aaron talked to her and Steve on Thursday of last week, but they thought it was going to be tomorrow (our 1 yr. anniversary). Aaron, as usual, was thoughtful enough to propose early though, because my parents are going out of town tomorrow morning and he knew I'd want to share this with them. My Steven took this wonderful picture of us while we were over there.

(Notice how the hand with the ring is beautifully featured in this picture :-D)

We're already starting to make plans. My mom called in and booked the reception site today, which is how people at work found out I got engaged (I was working in the Sales Office at Gateway). I can't wait to keep planning so we can make this whole deal even more official!!

My tuition is paying for what??

I'm taking a few classes this semester in which I don't care for my professors. I like the course, which makes it that much more disappointing. The one that annoys me most, though, is my Sociology 330 (Race and Ethnic Relations) professor. First off, it's the first time he's taught this course and he doesn't seem to really know what he's talking about. I could let that slide under normal conditions, because someone has to be the guinea pig for professors. The part that really irks me is the fact that he can't show up to class on time or show up to his office hours. 2 out of the 3 times that I've tried to go to his office hours so far, he hasn't been there. I've waited 20 or 30 minutes into the hour, and he still doesn't show up. Then he tries to lie about it and say he was only gone for 5 or 10 minutes!! Every day, he's about 5 minutes late for class and then quite often can't get his powerpoint to work, causing class to be delayed another 5 minutes. By the end of class, when he's 15 or 20 minutes behind, he tries to cram it all in in the last 5 minutes and generally ends class late. Today, class started, the professor announced that he was going to start a video for us and then 'run back to his office real quick' to grab tests and papers that he still needs to hand back. Now, his office is only 2 buildings away and he's been gone for over 30 minutes now. Why do I have to pay to take a class from this man?!?

P.S.-Happy Birthday to my mommy!!