You left us with no choice...

We're in crunch time for our fundraising efforts. The Susan G. Komen 5K is coming up on April 29th!

We figured it out - you're not going to donate until we bet on something are you? That's fine, we're totally down and are starting the following competition;

Kylee vs. Nate

Part One

Whomever raises $100 first in donations has to wear a pink tutu during the event

Part Two

Whomever raises the most will receive a 20 minute foot massage

So the question is, who do you want to see in a pink tutu more? 

And who do you think deserves a foot massage more? 

Once you know the answer, visit our team's page by clicking HERE to place a donation. You will need to select to donate on behalf of either me or Nate to make the donation count towards our bets above (it's the only way we can fairly track this). You can do this by clicking on one of our names, then select "Donate to Kylee (or Nate)".  

It doesn't matter how big or small your donation is - $5 could definitely make all the difference! And all joking aside, any donation is so very appreciated by our entire team as this is a very personal cause for us. We just thought this would be a fun way to spice it up!

So help us get started by donating today and check back often to see how we're doing!

THANK YOU!!

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The fine print:

1. Any donation made by me or Nate will not count towards the bets. 
2. You are more than welcome to make as many donations as you would like (for any of you that are thinking strategy here). 
3. The pink tutu must be worn the entire time you walk/run the 5K. 
4. The foot massage must be given by the "loser" and it must be done by May 6, 2012. 
5. The "winner" cannot force the "loser" to give the massage after the run, that's just gross! Clean feet is required. 

Terry's Got Talent!

Wanted to take a quick moment to brag about our friend Terry aka "TB".

We went to visit him, Tara and their adorable baby boy Calan this past weekend. Tara and I decided we'd just chill at their place and have dinner. She said Terry was cooking and I knew instantly it was going to be awesome. He can't just throw together something simple without thought. He has to create these masterpieces because, well, he's damn good at it! So we just sat there as he kept bringing out one course after another!

Here was his lovely email to get us REALLY excited for what he had in mind for dinner:

I would like to confirm your dinner reservations for tomorrow afternoon at TB 1102.
We take pride in providing the finest in customer service. The owner Tara, will see to your every need and what she can not do, she will have our resident Hillbilly servant, take care of.

Our entertainment staff will keep you laughing with Big A, Little A what begins with A; If your Happy and you know it, Clap your hands; as well as providing endless amounts of slobber filled kisses.
The head chef will provide an endless supply of food starting with "Devilish Good Eggs" and ending with a home made dessert. He will try his best not to have you leaving for the Emergency Room.

Menu will be Country, WV Style.
Turnip Green Salad with wild onion grass
Sweet and Sour Squirrel Feet
Fried Green Tomatoes on a mound of Okra
Smashed Potatoes "slightly bruised for flavor"
Fresh Deer "brought in from I-95 this morning"
Dessert will be Buttered Bread with Maple Syrup
Un-sweet Red Kool-Aid "sorry had to use the sugar on the Squirrel Feet"
We look forward to having you!
See you real soon now! You hear!


Yummmm, right?! Well we did get those devilish good eggs (they're my favorite!), but what we ended up with didn't quite match the menu;

Jumbo coconut shrimp with his own glaze (crap, forgot what he said it was... I think I just nodding as he was explaining it but I was way too busy scarfing them down).

Seriously?! Salads in individual bisquick bowls?! This had a delicious citrus vinaigrette dressing too.

Little Calan man hanging out with us

Main course: filet with more deliciousness on it, steamed veggies and homemade potatoes.

We were stuffed! But Terry wasn't done...

Homemade berry tart desert with ice cream! YUM YUM YUM!!

We're really trying to figure out a way Terry could prepare our reception dinner (without actually having to work), he's the best!

Can't believe little Calan man is running around now!

He thought it was awesome he was in the camera .... and apparently so did I.

Cheese!!

The next night we ran over to have a quick BBQ with the Jacksons. We told them all about Terry's skills and I think it inspired Jonathan to make his own masterpiece :)

First Wedding Nightmare

Last night I had my first wedding nightmare. It ended up being a good and bad thing all at once.

We were getting married somewhere that was a cross of a lobby at a water park and a barn/church for the ceremony. Weird, I know, but in dreamland anything's possible.

Since we were at some water park of sorts, I was worried Nate would see me before walking down the aisle. So I went into hiding, all by myself. Then I noticed family and friends arrive, I got the nervous yet oh-so excited jitters and went back into hiding. Then I noticed silence.

I walked closer and realized everyone was in the barn/church all ready to go. I turned and bumped into Nate. I got so sad because he saw me before walking down the aisle. Then I got sad that our wedding party was already inside and I didn't even know what was going on.

Then the officiate came out and asked us what we were doing. I explained I was hiding, Nate said he was looking for some ice cream. The officiate got rude and said well hurry it up, we only have 5 minutes before the next wedding.

So I pushed Nate into the barn/church and the officiate said no, he's supposed to walk you down the aisle. I got upset and said absolutely not, I'm supposed to walk down the aisle to him. The officiate said too bad, my way or the highway. I then looked around and realized there were no flowers, no decorations, nothing we had planned was in place.

A very heartbroken form of bridezilla came out. I told him this is not how we wanted it and tried to explain to him how important it was that I NOT walk down the aisle with Nate. He stood his ground and said too bad. Then Nate got all scary groomsmen on him and said you don't talk to her that way, you messed all of this up. I've seen her before we get married and that's bad. I want nothing to do with you. And he stormed off into the bathroom (alongside the children running in and out in their bathing suits ... because we were at a water park).

Nate refused to come out until the officiate gave me what I wanted (he's sweet in dreams too). The officiate said too bad, either you get him out or no wedding. I had to go to the barn/church and signal to Jonathan to come help talk Nate out of the bathroom. He tried, and I woke up after hearing Nate say no! and I didn't even get my ice cream!

Awesome right?

The bad part is I'm already having nightmares and felt awful when I woke up. Good part is I was so excited when I woke up and realized it was just a dream!

We've been talking about the wedding a lot already and trying to sort out some details. We'd like a beach wedding, but one of my concerns is people randomly walking around, behind, through our ceremony (hence the water park part of the dream and kids in bathing suits being kids everywhere).

We've also toyed with the idea of doing pictures before the ceremony, not after. We can't decide if Nate seeing me before the ceremony is a big deal to us or not. Clearly the dream made that a little apparent for me!

No idea where the barn/church came from. Probably left field.

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Anyone else have wedding nightmares??

Total Derailment

I received an email from Daily Mile that started with "it's been 13 days since your last workout". YIKES!

Yup, completely fell off schedule and let go just a little too much! The week leading up to vacation required some longer hours in prep both at work and at home. That was my excuse for that first week.

Second week my excuse list included the following;

• I never take a long vacation with just Nate, I want to spend all my time with him.
• I deserve a break.
• If I injure myself on vacation, that would really put a damper on things. 
• I don't want to be sore on my vacation. 
• Crap, can't run after I've had rum runners. 
• Shouldn't run after mimosas. 
• Even though this pina colada is making running sound fun, probably isn't the best idea. 
• It's too hot here to run. 
• If I run into an iguana, it could get ugly.
• I have a new, pretty ring. Wouldn't want to get it dirty working out.  

So we stuck to playing basketball and putt-putt golf as any form of working out. I guess swimming sorta counts? And walking on the beach takes some work too. 

I've been meaning to get back into it since we got back, but clearly "acclimating ourselves back to reality" was a justifiable excuse this round. 

So I hopped on the treadmill for the first time this week. 10 minutes into it - "when is this mile going to be over?!" I'm really scared I nearly have to start all over! Wah, but I did it to myself so I need to get myself out of it. 

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Has anyone else had trouble or success getting back into running after a long break?

Back to Reality

We're still holding on to our cloud 9 experience, but coming home definitely challenged that.

In the last post I mentioned it was an adventure. Traveling can always be a pain, but this one was extra special.

We left St. Thomas under the assumption we had one layover in Miami. We then learned there was a stop in San Juan. While we would have to change planes in San Juan, we would not have to in Miami. I guess that's ok.

San Juan went easily. Getting ready to descend into Miami, they announce that those going to DC would indeed have to change planes. Great. But not the end of the world. We land on time and learn that we have an hour before the other flight.

Then we sit. And sit. And sit. And we sit some more. We were sitting in airplane traffic that could apparently compete with the traffic on 495. So much so we were pulling into the gate 25 minutes before our next flight takes off. And we learn our next flight is 40 gates away. This should be fun.

They make an announcement to all those whose final destination is Miami to please let those that have connecting flights off first since we were so late. Great thought in concept, usually difficult to pull off.

They then decide to go even further - "for those of you connecting to Cancun or Minnesota, your planes are not holding and you need to hustle to make you flight. Please everyone let these passengers off first." Ok, now we've gone a little too far. What about DC people? We have 40 gates to go in now less than 25 minutes when they had 2 gates to go in 5 minutes.

Again, great concept but nearly impossible to pull off. How is the guy in the aisle going to step out, let us out, us step back in to let Cancun/Minnesota out going to make any of this go faster? It's not. While we appreciate the effort, it caused pure pandemonium.

People were pissed. Pushing started, yelling started, and for a brief minute I truly thought we were going to have to stand back and duck as a riot started. In reality, the announcements caused a cluster of confusion and fighting, resulting in the deplaning taking longer than it would have if everyone just got off.

Finally get off the plane. I was ahead of Nate making our way through the walkway thingy. The Cancun/Minnesota group were ahead of us. So was a sweet old lady to the right, trying to stay out of everyone's way. Then I hear her yell "ouch, please stop" and I look up to see those jerks nearly tossing her into the wall and yelling "get out of our way". And that's when saucy Kylee came out.

I don't usually get into others' business, especially strangers, but I had enough. So I started yelling at them "back off and calm down, we all have flights we might miss, how dare you push her around!" While they left her alone, they didn't apologize and kept rushing forward. She was yelling out "yeah, what jerk does that to an 85 year old lady?! Can you believe those people?" Poor thing.

We make it out - 12 minutes until our flight leaves, 40 gates to go. RUN!

Get to the gate 2 minutes before take off and there's still a ticket agent at the desk. We run up, tell her our situation, she looks us up and says "yes, Bailey and Meredith... but wait, we have a problem" ...of course we do.

Agent: "It says that you're already on the plane sir." Silence as she stares at Nate, expecting him to say what, I'm not sure.
Nate: "Well clearly we're not, so......"
Agent: "Ok fine, you can board." Really? That's it?
Nate: "What seats?"
Agent: "24 E and F."

Something told me to wait while Nate was rushing to board. I ask her "are you sure 24 E and F? Should we take printed tickets with us?"

Agent: "Yeah, you should. I'm printing them now, here you go."

Tickets said 35 E and F. Awesome. Could you imagine if we had boarded and told whomever was sitting in 24 E&F that they were in our seats when we didn't even have printed tickets?

All that mattered was that we made it. Land in DC and no surprise, our luggage didn't make it. Fill out the form for them to deliver it the next morning.

Home sweet home! Our travels started at 12:30pm that day and it was 12:13am as we climbed into bed. Exhausted doesn't begin to explain how we felt.

3:34am - every smoke detector in the house is going off.

In total panic we run downstairs. Nothing. No smoke, no indication of anything to set the alarms off and then they stopped. We checked everything to be sure, found nothing. Back to bed.

Then they started to go off every 5 minutes for the next 25 minutes. We checked the manuals, the detectors, googled it, nothing. Finally at 4:10am we're able to go back to sleep.

4:35am - phone rings. "Yeah, I have your luggage, I'll be there in the next hour."

5:16am - phone rings. "I'm downstairs with your luggage."

5:17am - attempt to sleep some more!


Never easy coming home from a vacation. But we survived. It's been fun sharing the story at work. And look what Andrew Church did to Nate's office... he's just so sweet and incredibly thoughtful!

PS - my boss totally nailed it with celebration champagne! She gifted us one of our favorite champagnes that we enjoyed out in Napa! Thank you Carrie!

Our Engagement-Moon

Engagement-moon: a trip planned for a proposal. 

We're back! It was, ya know, your average vacation by the beach. Ok, maybe not. It was THE most amazing vacation so far in my entire life.

This post is going to be disgustingly long, I apologize for it's length in advance. Grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, rum runner (gosh I miss those!) and/or an entire meal to enjoy because there's a lot to cover.

Where to start? Let's rewind back to the airport leaving DC. We were packed, ready to go all ahead of time. And, like I mentioned before, I wanted to get to the airport in plenty of time. We did. Nate did not enjoy that fact. He twiddled his thumbs, took a tour of the airport that he knows like the back of his hand, but I was happy to not have to worry :)

We went all out and upgraded to first class, holler!!

We landed in St. Thomas shortly after 9pm which ended up making the next morning more magical. We had no idea what anything looked like in the daytime. They showed us to the room, told us it was oceanfront, and we wondered around, grabbed a late dinner, and settled in for an amazing vacation!

Waking up was like Christmas morning. We closed the dark, heavy curtains so that we could reveal our balcony view in the morning. Seriously an amazing moment. We opened the curtains to a complete panoramic view of the east side of the St. Thomas shoreline, facing St. John.

 

That's St. John island

 

Crystal clear water, here we come!

At that point, I didn't care what happened the rest of the trip. This view and ocean breeze was perfect for me!

We headed off to explore the resort, starting with the breakfast buffet at "Manor House" which was the dining room that had the same view as our balcony. We did the all inclusive package, so we could eat and drink as much as we wanted and never had to worry about paying or even tipping as that was discouraged since it was included in the package. Talk about a worry-free stay!

Here are some pictures from wondering around the resort's grounds...

 Walking through the Relaxation Garden

 Sign for Iguana crossing. Little did we know that was going to be a valuable warning later in the trip!

 All the hallways have these little peek outs to the turquoise below!

Then we also stumbled upon this little gem on the rooftop - 

A little wedding spot overlooking the same view as from our balcony, simply gorgeous! It's called the St. John Terrace since it overlooks St. John island. Naturally I gave Nate the eyes *hint, hint* and he just smiled back. I had decided to not think about the fact that Nate and I weren't engaged yet because it would make me a little sad the rest of the trip.

We then went down to the pool area which consisted of three pools that flowed into each other with waterfalls with a view of Sugar Bay, which is where our resort's private beach was located. 

View as you walk down to the pool and beach. 

Gorgeous flowers, trees, landscaping everywhere.

 

The pool area also had Mangrove Restaurant where they had just started their brunch buffet. We had the wristbands to eat and drink as much as we wanted, so what the heck. We piled plates full of more food, loaded up on pina coladas, and enjoyed the sun and pool.

It was beach time after that and I was so excited when I saw this beaut - 

I love, love, love palm trees! This was the only one on the beach and no one under it, so we set up camp and spent the rest of our first day underneath it. We couldn't get enough of the view from the beach!

So that was our first day! Fun in the sun and pure bliss!

We headed off to get cleaned up and went to dinner at the Manor House, enjoying a warm yummy dinner. We checked out the casino for a bit, there was a strange dance party going on at the DJ section which gave countless amounts of entertainment and then Nate said let's go for a walk back to the pool and the beach.

On our walk back to the pool//beach, Nate says let's go back up to the St. John Terrace to check out the night view. I thought, well that's kinda silly it's pitch black out and windy, we won't be able to see anything or really enjoy being up there. My idiot difficult moment #1. Nate didn't argue since what I said made sense, so we continued on to the beach. 

We get there and he says let's go walk down to the water. I said absolutely not. The hotel warned us about the noseeums which are these awful sand fleas that come out at night on the beach. They bite and it's not a fun experience. I did not want to get bitten up. My idiot difficult moment #2. Nate didn't argue since it made sense, so we just stood there looking at our perfect little palm tree that we spent all day under.

He started talking about our memories from past vacations and how I always take a picture (or six!) hugging a palm tree. He said that was a special memory, and we should do it "forever." I thought that sounded really nice, though I was getting a little confused why he was so focused in on palm trees.

Everything after that is a bit of a blur. But it definitely involved him saying that we should make sure we would keep making memories forever, getting down on one knee, pulling out a shiny rock, and ASKING ME TO MARRY HIM!!!! I was totally shocked. My throat closed, my heart and breathing stopped, and my mouth dropped wide open.

Then... I.Started.Balling. Not little teary eyes, full blown crying with the shoulder shakes and all. I think I nodded yes and Nate attempted to put the ring on my shaky finger. We had to sit on the lounge chairs next to the pool before my knees gave out. We sat there hugging, laughing, (me) sobbing, and I was trying to look at the ring through my watery eyes. I could tell I was really going to love it when I could clear my eyes and actually be able to see it.

Here are some photos at nighttime around the pool/beach area to give a better idea of the proposal setting...

We went back to the room where Nate had secretly ordered a bottle of champagne to be delivered. So sneaky! 

 

We sat out on our balcony listening to the ocean, sipping champagne and started talking about how his plan came together. I'm going to let him tell this part...

A vacation was really the only plausible way to pull off a surprise on Kylee. We had to be somewhere where everything was out of the ordinary, because otherwise she would have immediately realized something was up. Likewise, I had to keep the ring both away from her and in my possession for as little time as possible; otherwise, she would have sniffed it out. So I arranged to have it delivered to my office Friday, and knew the key to my effort would be to get it on her finger as quickly as reasonably possible. Fortunately, I was able to pull off all of the above and catch her completely off-guard.

Nate's co-worker, Claudia, captured these pictures of the moment he opened the package containing the ring at his office (the day before we left). Thank you Claudia, these are priceless!

Then we made a few phone calls to share the news. Honestly, I barely remember details of those calls. No, not due to any alcohol, we were well controlled. But for the first time in my life I finally understood the full "cloud 9" feeling. I truly felt like I was floating around, barely comprehending any details, enjoying and taking in one of the happiest moments of my life!

So the next morning, our balcony view had just a few new additions....

I couldn't have picked out a more perfect ring for me. From the dainty band, cathedral setting, to it's simplicity and it's understated perfection, I am so in love and impressed with Nate's pick. GREAT JOB BABE!!

So what happened next? We headed right back to that palm tree to spend another care-free day in the sun. Ready to walk out the door, Nate reminded me it probably wasn't a good idea to take the ring with us to the beach. It is slightly too big on me and with a violent shake or a freak accident (which I am prone to), that ring would fly right off. 

I was so sad. Here I am after trying to reason with him... "but....but...I just got the ring and now I have to take it off?!" He was right though, not worth the risk, so the ring had to stay tucked in the room each day for the rest of our adventures.

Later we went back up to the St. John Terrace and started picturing a wedding at a place as beautiful as that spot is. 

And then Nate took off to enjoy the view ... and to start screaming "I'm king of the world!" Long attention span that one has.

The views from the terrace were amazing, here are a few more....

We learned a few interesting things about the island. Like there are cats.... everywhere.

Same thing with iguanas. They are actually protected, so they are all over the place and no one can touch them. Every morning they have a feeding hour when you can help feed them some lettuce. Nate was the lucky one to go first.

This is after the first attempt when the mean little guy snapped at Nate. Impressed he tried again! I know they like their lettuce and all, but there's something about a reptile with a built-in mohawk that doesn't make me trust their intentions.

We were just hanging out, looking at the ones still hanging out in the tree and the others that were eating...

....and then all of a sudden we hear this huge splash in the pond next to us and I look down to see this guy swimming at me full speed and come climbing up about a foot away from my feet....

They plop out of the trees and swim over for feeding time. Scary little suckers. 

I decided to get away from the ones dropping out of the trees and attract my own group. 

They even provided lots of entertainment at the pool and beach. We were laying at the pool, heard a scream and then this lady fell into the pool, scared from one that went scurrying past her. It ran right under our lounge chairs, out to the beach. They crouch down when they sense someone walking by. This enables them to completely surprise people as they are walking along the beach and almost step on this....

Should've had the cameras rolling, people's surprised reactions were hilarious!

We spent one day over on St. John, which we absolutely loved.  

Pulling into the marina on the ferry.

 Their local 7-Eleven

The beaches on St. John were beyond perfect! Absolutely breathtaking and so much better than we had imagined.

This beach is where they shot the 2010 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Nate was real bummed we were a few years behind. It was an amazing location!

After a month of tanning, I still managed to blend in with the white sand!

Creative, I know.

We got back to St. Thomas just before a quick rainstorm hit. Beautiful double rainbow behind "our" palm tree!

After getting cleaned up, it was live band night on the deck and they were awesome!

They even let one VERY enthusiastic fan join in on the spoons. He kept us so very entertained!

And just because we were in St. Thomas, we were not about to miss and MSU game. So we sat out on the deck, beach in the background, live band jamming away, and were able to watch the game right at our seats on the big screen.

Then the waitress came by with two beers and said they're from the gentleman at the front table. Odd. Never had anyone send each of us a beer. So we wandered over there and it was a UofM fan. Resisting the urge to roll our eyes and walk away, we chatted for a bit. Turns out he and his wife are very nice UofM fans and said from one great MI team to another, this beer's on us! We thought about sending a painkiller (very nice rum drink) back to them saying it was to help drown the pain we've caused UofM (4 years!!). But we decided to be equally as nice and send another drink of what they were already having.

Then the zero fun, disappointing loss happened. Good thing we were somewhere that quickly distracted us from our sadness.

Our last morning we lounged at the pool and beach, then ran around and took a bunch of pictures of ourselves (Nate's attempt at getting out of having to take "engagement" photos). A much needed photo of me with the palm tree was top on the list.

Here's the trouble with enlisting strangers to take very important pictures of you - they usually suck at it! We tried to get the very spot where Nate proposed (below), but clearly the guy lacked the ability to capture a good picture....

Let's try a different person at a different spot....

Clearly getting a majority of the wooden post vs. the ocean behind us more important. Let's try a third time...

Again, capturing most of the wall makes more sense than the ocean. Duh. So we went back to taking our own.

Me lounging and trying to permanently burn the image of the water into my brain before we leave.

Last cocktails of the trip!

Then we started our journey home. Nate calling Jonathan to be sure he could pick us up later. 

"Crap, yeah, I guess we are headed back."

Oh adventure home. I do not miss you. I don't have the energy for that story right now. I'll post it later. It was special!

Other than amazing memories, we also brought home some awesome looking bug bites. Remember the noseeums that I mentioned before and was afraid of going on the beach at night because of? Yeah, pretty sure they attacked us. This is the worst one and was painful and hot to the touch - probably not a good sign. But we're watching it to be sure it's not infected.

Nate's leg received a lovely array of bites too. We both were covered in random bites and came home looking like we contracted some strange form of chicken pox. If you go, wear repellent!

Despite the bites, the trip was flawless and I am just so happy right now! I know the adventures of planning a wedding will be some good times. Our hope and goal is to have as stress-free of a planning process as possible and an amazing wedding!

Cheers!