Twenty Fourteen.

So I must admit that I am surprised that I haven't been blogging this much over Christmas.  I thought I would be full of little Christmas DIYs and gifts... but honestly I spiraled from my insane semester into a Downtown Abbey Coma.  And I'm ok with that.
Christmas was wonderful, had about a week full (I mean full) of seeing family and friends.  Cal and I got a bunch of appliances and things for the apartment which will help a ton for when he moves out. The new year has come and we are now in full time wedding planning mode: playing hard ball with vendors, meeting with the DJ, and figuring out which champagne glasses we really want to use.  With Cal and I pretty distracted with all that, it's pretty easy to forget to slow each down and be with each other... which is why we are doing all this, so we can be with each other forever!  So we've decided that and sit-down get-to-know-each-other date was in order. Pronto.
I love how Cal can remind me to slow down and enjoy life just by a simple smile, or giving long hugs right when I walk in the door.  And man could I use the reminders, too.  I am planning a wedding, my wedding with the man of my dreams, and I want to soak up every moment.  So although there may not be too many DIYs here in the near future (I pretty much have a DIY wedding on my hands here), I want to blog more.  To enjoy more.  To cherish more.
Bring it on 2014, you are gonna be the most exciting year of my life.

Ice-skating on New Years! ...goofiest picture ever.

With love,

The Good Life

So I know it's been a while.  Life has been... busy, to say the least. (I actually should be writing a paper on climate change right now... why would I ever want to put that off??) This has been an insane semester for me... 20 credits and 3 studio classes for me and a full time (big boy) banking job for Cal.  We get to see each other most evenings while I'm buried in my home work and he's calling venues and caterers (he's the best fiance ever).  But you know what? I love it.

Sometimes Cal and I get too caught up in whats ahead.  How AWESOME will it be to go home together instead of parting separate ways at the end of each night.  How amazing will it be to wake up next to each other.  How we can cook oriental foods together and watch New Girl or do whatever we want because we won't be distracted with boat loads of work.  The good life. But then we have to remind each other how awesome our life is now too.  There is only this point in our life once.  We are only going to be engaged for a short time, and then we'll be married till we're old and gray (which will be awesome in it's own way).  This is such a special time in our life and so was dating.  It was when we became friends, when there wasn't the other stresses of marriage.  And I know that being in school is awesome, too.  I have done so many projects that I just love and enjoyed, and I have loved collaborating and working with other people.  I need to stop wanting to rushing it along and wishing for whats ahead.  I want to love every single minute of this life.  And also not be too naive about the future.  I know that marriage will not be a "... and they all lived happily ever after.." and will present it's own challenges, but I know God has given us the tools to face those challenges.  So here's to a non-idealized future and a messy but perfect present.

The Good Life.

With Love,

And I am going to marry that man.

Sometimes, he just blows me away.  It doesn't always hit me at first, sometimes it's in the drive home at night when I really think about how loving and selfless  and all around awesome he really is.  And it's in so many ways.

It's in the way he will volunteer to do something even though it scares him half to death because he feels God told him to do it... and then he ends up nailing it.

It's in the way he will not only give a homeless man money at McDonalds, but will talk with him about his journey and his past.

It's in the way he will use his day off to look for internships for me online.

It's the way he loves to play trivia in the car on long car rides.

It's in the way that all he requests for his birthday is that I watch the Star Wars Saga with him.

It's in the way people come up to me and tell me what a blessing he is.

..... and I am going to marry that man.

 

Happy birthday to the best man on the planet.

With -MUCH- Love,

Engagement Story

So as many of you probably already know, Cal and I are engaged!! Here is our engagement story:

So Cal and I have been talking and planning on getting married for a long time... as in around 2 years.  So with this long of time to plan and wish for getting engaged and getting hitched, it would be hard to not see this coming.. but somehow Cal managed to surprise me - big time.  It was around a week before the July holiday weekend when I suggested that we go on a picnic to the beach rather than going to the parade which we always do on the Fourth.  He agreed, and we loosely made plans for our excursion.  The weather threatened to rain out our fun, but it thankfully held off and we made some wraps and snacks and headed out toward the beach.  Now he was super chill and on the fly about the whole thing, so I had nooo clue at all.  I seriously said during lunch "Yano, I wish we could talk more about this whole engagement thing, I hate not being able to talk really at all about it. Like I almost thought you were going to do it today, but there is NO way, since your not nervous or making sure everything is going along to plan."  Literally. But he still gave no hints!

We then went to another beach that we had both been to together, and had fun memories there in the past.  We laughed and talked and looked out over the water.  A little while later, when we were both quietly taking in the view, he said he had a gift for me.  He described the gift, saying it was like me, unique and different on the outside, but once you really get to know it and look deeper into it, you see really how beautiful it is.  I still had no clue. I laughed and said maybe I should see the gift so I could understand it better.  He smiled and said I had to wait a little bit.  He then pulled out a little book out of his pocket and said it was a flip book and he wanted me to flip through it.  I saw that he drew a ring and a heart on the cover, and I started to sit up a little straighter and my heart started to beat a little faster.  As I flipped through it spelled out: "Will you marry me?" As I was reading this he got on one knee and said "Cathy, will you marry me?" At this point I am freaking out.  I am taking in the book, the gorgeous ring in front of me, and the love of my life asking me to be with him to the day we die.  I gasp and smile and eventually say yes, which he said felt like eternity.. which was probably a few seconds. We laughed and giggled and hugged and he placed the ring on my finger. We laughed and talked and had to pinch each other to see if it all was really real. It was a sweet moment of happiness that I will never forget.

It kind of blows my mind how faithful God has been to our prayers.  It somewhat seems like it has been a long time coming, yet I am nervously excited for this short time in our lives while we are engaged.  God has given me the man of my dreams, the man knows how to take me at my worst and encourages me to be my best. I am so blessed.

This cutiepatootie reenacted it for me :)

Thank you for all the love and support, the encouragement has blown us away!  We truly appreciate it.

With love
Cath and Cal

Maybe when we're 80 things will slow down...

You know, one thing I really like about blogging is that you can make all your recent memories stand still with a single blog post.  Cal and I were talking about how if we don't really take time to soak in and enjoy the happy little things around us, life is just going to fly by without really knowing what hit us.  So here is just a pile of recent pictures and memories of things that I don't want to forget...

Cal and I went out to ice cream last weekend with my family.  We joked and laughed and played games all night and it was wonderful.  I love when we're all just goofs! Side note: figured out that sundaes are just not my thing - the plainer the better for this girl! (lol I know it's sad that it took me 20 years to figure this out.)

 Fishing is the must boring/frustrating/rewarding thing one can do.  I enjoy to fish because it reminds me of fishing when I was a little girl with my daddy.  Good times!

Bahaha and Cal makes some pretty accurate (and hilarious!) fishy faces!

A warm and cuddly little max.  Mmmm.

Campfires with my bestie on summer nights. Now that's what I'm talking about.  Also - that is an awful fire.  Paper and logs apparently doesn't really work.  Gasoline? Now were talking...

I love this man more than words could say.  This picture reminds that even when things get tough, or busy, or confusing that I have the most wonderful man for me on this planet.  I am so blessed to have him.

 And here's a little video of us being goofs and showing off our "moves."  I think this one will make me laugh for years! :)

With Love,

Lately.

    Well I can finally crawl out from underneath my large pile of assignments, study flashcards, and final projects and make a blog post.  I finished my last final today and it feels wonderful.  All I want to do is create, photograph, spend long hours on the beach drinking on an Arnold Palmer, and do DIY projects galore. Thankfully, I have all summer to do so!

Our last Tuesday Lunch together

Cal will be graduating in a couple of days and it makes me pretty emotional when I start to think about it.  It's been so nice having my best friend, lunch buddy, and one I complain to about my insane professors with right there with me.  He added a smile to the middle of my day, when I'm all stressed out.  BUT! I couldn't be more proud of him!  You're GRADUATING baby!  I couldn't be more happy for you. You are one dedicated little turtle (sorry couldn't think of a better animal), and your hard work sure has paid off.

Other than school, Cal and I have been hanging out in all the in between times. It's been so nice.  We love to dream and talk about the future on nice spring night walks on the canal.

Also... my brother got married!! I am so happy for the both of them! It was such a beautiful wedding - so nice to see family and get down on the dance floor.  If there's one thing you need to know about me and Cal it's that we love to get funky on the dance floor at a wedding! And of course, me and my family LOVED the photo booth!

Arrriba!

LOL! Me and Dad! <3

~FAMILY~

It's been crazy but so so good.  God has been so faithful to both me and Cal.  We've had some relationship and personal things to pray about and work on and God continues to show how faithful He is to us.  So glad that we have his constant and eternal love to be grounded in.  It's so awesome that the closer you grow to God the closer you grow to each other.

Alright well I think I am going to celebrate finishing up this semester with a cheesy Netflix movie! Peace!

With Love,

DIY Family Map Sign!

  So my immediate family lives all around the country, and Cal came up with this wonderful idea to show the closeness of family is not measured in miles (hey.. that should be added to the sign!).  So anyways, he got the states and the sign, and I, well, made it pretty. Here's a few tips so you can do this on your own!  I must say it's a great conversational piece, because you get to talk about your family or those close to you.

• Don't have a map of the US that you're willing to cut up? Neither did we! Check out THIS website, with individual maps of each state!

• For the paper I just used scrapbook paper, that is found at Micheals. Other material you could use: newspaper, brown bag or paper, or black paper with a white paint pen to give it that "chalkboard" feel.

• I also put the number of miles and the amount of time to get to each place, just to keep it interesting
• The quote: "Family like branches on a tree we may grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one"

 This was all put in a 16x24 frame.  Hope you enjoyed this little project - would love to know any of your ideas or interpretations!

With Love,

Valentine's Weekend

So Cal and I got to spend a WHOLE Saturday together last weekend - it was a blast!  We of course had to plan a fun day, because we are hardcore planners.  Like seriously, I have like 5 calendars filling things down 6 months in advance... Anyways, we went and got a bunch of men's white T's and got teal, purple, and green dye and tie and dyed till we turned blue - literally!

We then made some supper that was SO good! It was just ravioli (cal calls them pillows, haha) and some broccoli but oh so yummy.

Oh and let me not forget to tell about our little gifts to each other.  I made us a "to go" box filled with "personal" would you rather cards and other games, to have in the car with us for when we travel.  And then Cal got me a silver heart necklace (which I've barely taken off since!) and a "Our First Home Video" with all our special recordings we've had of us together with all our favorite songs!! Oh my word I cried and laughed.. I've never been given something so so sweet.  I love these special and so sweet gestures he does to show much how he cares about me.  I have never shared such a deep special with anyone else and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So thanks, Love, for the best V-day so far!!

With Love,

Public Market

Cal and I headed out in this 20 something degree weather to go to one of our favorite things in Rochester - the Public Market!

Cal got in his I-will-get-those-strawberries-resonably-priced-if-it's-the-last-thing-I-do mode.

Aaand I just really like bagels.

And cream cheese. Oh boy.

Love this guy!

Public marketing it up!

I just love building art.

Otherwise Cal and I have been really busy with the first week of school.  Just hope that stats doesn't kick my butt.  It's cal's last semester which calls for some pretty hefty classes.  But we got this!

With Love,

January

We have both been on break and it has been (hmm in one word..) wonderful.  I, Cathy, have laughed so much in the past few days that my mouth literally aches. I could say the same for myself (Caleb). Being able to hang out with friends, seeing old friends that came back from college for the holidays, and going to some parties made the "break" an eventful but overall relaxing break from the college grind.

Here's a few photos and stories from January!

#thuglyfe #skoolzout #swagger ...... #Claires. Yeah.

Cathy surprised me with this hat at one of our many Tim Horton coffee dates over the break. She made it with yarn that we bought on Black Friday. I remember dropping a hint that I wanted one for Christmas, but she had already gotten me a gift. I was so happy to get this hat! It looks great!

Brushing our pearly whites for the pearly gates! (Church. :) )
Can't wait for this to be every morning...

And this brings us up to today.  Eating garbage plates at Jimmy Z's. Not that hardcore. But we like to think we are.  Also can we talk about this phone quality? Man.

Through spending so much time together we have fallen even deeper in love with each other.  Gotten to know how certain situations effect us and what we like to do, even when we're cranky.  We've both gotten into The Lumineers, found that we both LOVE iced mint chocolate coffee, and become fierce at a round of pinochle.

God Bless!

With Love,
Cath and Cal