Christmas is coming, guess who's getting fat?

 Dez is bigger than the tree

 Me and my Father-in Law decorating the tree

 wow, real cute huh

 Our niece that dez likes to take pictures of and say is his daughter. haha

Thanks to Jamie Santa can come down a chimney

 The Christmas ornaments we brought home from Germany last year

Oh yeah and to top it all off.... WE'RE HAVING A BABY! (no we didn't hang the test on the tree)

Netflix this: FOOD MATTERS

So I watched this the other day and think everyone should too. Its been a struggle to find something to cook every night, let alone something that wont end up killing us in the not so long run.  I want to buy local food but its so dang expensive. I'm making Dez take me to the farm and teach me his ways.  (he says he grew up on the farm and so I need to make him teach me!) I'm going to try and grow whatever I can at the ward farm (if they let me).  Out here is cool because they have plots of land that they let people grow food for their families. My dream list for my future house keeps getting longer and longer.  So far I want a garden, a compost bin, nice washers and dryers(that are not communal and do not have other people's POOP in them. GAG), a laundry line for the sunny days, solar panels... and that's it so far.

Lean and Mean

Due to our limited pan situation, Brinner (breakfast for dinner) has become a trial and error process.  Bacon on the Forman grill was Dez's idea. (didn't do it for me) I later adapted the idea to accommodate french toast and pancakes. They turned out pretty dope looking and I deem a success. hey a grillz a grill!

He gets it

So naturally we have all had to do some(ok ALOT) of adjusting the past couple months since marriage.  I'd been missing the bay a lot and feeling kinda down. I'm real good at holding things in, until I hit my limit and need to vent and shed some tears.  Today was that day, and after Dez survived the melt down, I came home to this.  He may not understand why I do the things I do, but at least he wont stop trying to make me smile. He even used 4 colors, whatta swell guy.

I deactivated my Facebook today for some time so I can focus on who I am with and where I am now rather than the things going on that I feel like I'm missing.  So we'll see how life is with that book closed.  I think this will be good for me and help me get more active and involved here in my new life in Hawaii. So if you need something, email me or call me! (I have a new 808 number now btw) Hopefully I'll be writing a lot more here and in general, starve my gossip desire and focus on more important things...like Thank you cards for all our wedding gifts.

And for the record I have started my Thank you notes from the wedding festivities... and they ARE coming.  Between island time and adjusting to married life, I'll be lucky to have them out by Christmas... haha the thought counts even if its a little later than ideal right?

Schoolin' Em

This week Dez made the decision to go back to school to get his degree. He walked over to campus, talk to a few people and walked home practically a new student. It's true when they say "Its all about who you know" out here. We still have a few details to work out but he should be starting in January. This is important for several reasons. First of all a degree will be an awesome accomplishment and also we get to stay in campus housing after I graduate in December eliminating a lot of questions that we would have to answer in the next 3 months. Although it seems like it costs bouk-o bucks to go to school, it costs even more to live in Hawaii, off campus and not be in school.  So come December I get to be the suga mama and work while Dez studies. It'll be yet another adjustment but a great opportunity! 

 

Wednesday I start my final semester at BYUH and will be glad to hand the pencil off to Dez.   

 

After almost 2 months, we finally got our official marriage certificate so I get to go into town and stand in line at the Social Security office, DMV, bank and then back to school to change my name.  The new glorious beginning of married hassels.

Happily so far after...

July 17, 2010, Kona,HI

Aye Corumba

I've returned 3 of 4 wedding dresses and am sticking with the first one. I've tweaked it yet again to make it work (for now) and I got the most amazing deal on some L.A.M.B. couture heels (list price: $425 Nordstrom rack price: $256, my price: $66) Feelin good about the day's accomplishments.


To top it off Dez and I were accepted into the Temple View Housing Apartments which we were originally 150 on the waiting list.


Things are finally falling into place.

Bye new dress

I got the Neiman Marcus dress yesterday and I'm ready for my refund already. It was just too dark of a color and just not right. Like I said, my dream wedding dress is just that, a dream. It does not exist. Well I havent given up and have 2 more on the way from a vintage style LA shop. They at least have my size which is a good start. So now we wait again. The place I ordered the two dresses from is Unique Vintage . Aye yai yai.

On the bright side I just scored some major scholarships to take care of the rest of school, which happens to be December. My classes for Spring Term are actually enjoyable and not too stressful which is a nice way to ease into my first break in a year starting in June. (I'm taking Multicultural Woman's Studies, Anthropology: Material Culture, and New Testament.) Then the final stretch July to December.

Also may I recommend Green & Black's Organic Chocolate

This post is all over the place, just like my life!

I've been hyper sensitve to consumption and "stuff" lately due to my material culture class and am trying to SIMPLIFY.

old dress...meet new dress

Yup, I found a different one. And no Dez doesn't know I have 2 now. and yes it's going to stay that way until we take our pictures. This one is completely different,  but I love it. I don't want to post pictures of it yet, but it's short.  not traditional at all. and it's from Neiman Marcus so you know it's classy (or just cost was too much than it's actually worth). 

we've gotten some wedding presents in the mail now that our announcements are out and I'm way more excited than Dez is when they come. He'll appreciate it all later when we actually have a place of our own to put it all.

Hi Wedding Dress...Meet My Best Friend Scissors.

SOoo I got my wedding dress in the mail. I was immediately disappointed in the packaging when I saw it. It was in a small bag type package and I didn't understand how a wedding dress could fit in there. I mean I know I'm small and everything, but I was expecting at least a box.  The disappointment continues. The top part of the dress is covered in this beading and sequence and rhinestones. I think I'm the first bride ever to immediately take scissors to her new wedding dress. After I cut off all the junk on top I felt ALOT better. The dress looked a lot classier and gave me hope for it's future. Now I'm working little by little to make my dream dress. The factory that made it did do the changes that I want which was a miracle considering the language barrier.  So I'm glad to at least have something to work with.  Don't get me wrong, it's pretty, but now I get the chance to make it me, and then I'll be really happy.

Not so Ugly...

After searching long and hard, far and wide, I found a dress. Props to Google Products. I covered all search grounds possible I think.... Here's some of the searches I tried:

• modest wedding dresses
• modest wedding gowns
• lds wedding dresses
• lds wedding gowns
• Temple Wedding Dresses
• wedding dresses with sleeves
• wedding gowns with sleeves
• wedding dresses with cap sleeves
• wedding dresses with shirt sleeves

It's all about the wording... and after searching through hundreds of google product pages(which takes products from any sites that sell) I found this one. 
If you know me, you know that I couldn't just wear any ol wedding dress, and to be honest, I thought wedding dresses were UGLY when I started to look. Well, I proved myself wrong because I ordered a far from ugly dress, which hopefully arrives and fits!  They took my custom measurements and were more than willing to make the changes I needed to make sure it would be modest enough.  Once it does come and I'm satisfied THEN I may or may not recommend the place I ordered it from. It should be coming this week!


In other news, Megan has finished our announcement design and I'm going to have those printed this week in between my finals and such. Dez got a side job while him and the boys were off from their other job for a couple weeks. Things are finally falling into place and plans are solidifying! Mom and Mike have their tickets to come from Germany, and all of Dez's family is booked for Kona. 102 days left!

Finally some photo proof!

Saturday Dez's sister Jamie took us out to do our engagement photos. We banged out over 200 photos in an just one hour including travel time to and from the location.  We're so blessed to live on such a beautiful island. Despite the monsterous winds that decided to blow during our shoot) We had a great time and glad we got some good ones out of the process.  I've sent my top 20 choices out to my sister Megan who has become quite the photoshoper, who is designing our announcements.  It's aweome (and economically beneficial) to have such talented family memebers! Maybe I shouldn't say that until after I see the announcements. hahah just kidding.

A Common Question

One of the common quesitons/reactions I get once people find out I'm marrying a Hawaiian/Samoan is "He must be massive compared to you!?" Well most of you know how tall my dad is, and how big my brother Mike is...If you couldn't tell by the HI shirt and the tan, Dez is towering EVERYONE in the picture on the left standing at 6'3". I'm 5'4". I'm glad I can still wear heels around him. I can't wait till we get to CA in june so everyone can meet him!

(I just re started this blog and there are a lot of fun stories and memories in between our meeting and now so I'm going to be a little non linear with this blog and skip back and forth in time)

How Else Would You Expect Me to Pick Wedding Colors?

Check our colors by clicking on this link! Enesa Wedding Colors

Rock SOLID!

He picked it out all by himself but once tax returns came in I knew it was coming. Dez wasn't very sly when he told me he had something for me, then rolled up as un announced as possible with with his duel exhaust truck .  He walked straight into my house and sat down next to me trying to play it casual with some small talk. That didn't last long. He kissed me and pulled something out of his pocket. I tried so hard not to look down at his hand even though I knew exactly what it was. Then he said "OK" took a deep breath, opend the box and said "will you marry me?". I grabbed his face and said "YES!". Then he let out a huge sigh of relief and said "I'm glad thats over with!" He told me to tell everyone that we taking a romantic walk on the beach during sunset. Two minutes later my roommate woke up from her nap 10 feet away. I flashed my rock and she gave me a confused glazed look like "what the heck is that". Then it clicked.  The whole thing was perfect. No tears, no mushy sentimental fluff, just straight to the rock. Keepin it real. Thats how it's always been and will continue to be. July 17th 2010, we're getting married in the temple!