The final stretch...

We have hit it, the one month mark. No more counting down months, as now we focus on weeks and days. Soon enough it will be hours. I can honesty say I had no idea how fast a year would go!

The sad part of today is that I am celebrating alone, with Kyle being gone to India for another week. I grilled my first turkey burgers by myself (and they came in a two-pack, rub it in why don't ya!), I am toasting myself, and I am going to watch some Arizona Highways in honor of Kyle.

Dinner for me! (See, minus the cookie, still being healthy).

This week has made me realize that I am very, very excited to marry Kyle, because I really miss him (now that the chaos of my shower weekend is over at least) and I realize when he is gone how much I love to be around him. Everything is more fun when Kyle is around. And although I was excited a week ago to have some down time to get all my work accomplished, I have barely made a dent in that list, and I don't know where my time has gone! So really, it must not be his distractions alone that cause my procrastination.

I also have so, so much left to do, and everyone is being so nice and offering to help, but really there isn't much I can pass on to others. The last tasks involve gifts for friends and family, things to buy, and personalization of items. And I don't want to give away every surprise for our wedding!

So here's to one final month of the stress and single life! (Let's get real, I haven't been living single for many, many years). But for some reason, I am so excited to have the title of "married" officially!

I LOVE AND MISS YOU, KYLE.

Hello from India!

Kyle is in India

So, you know how you wanted to freak out the month before the wedding because of the long list of things to do, and felt like it would never get accomplished?! Thank God your husband-to-be was there to help, along with friends and family.


Or not.


India. That is right, Kyle left today to go to India until September 5. That means I have 2 full weeks of wedding planning chaos that I will have to do on my own. Luckily, I have my mom and sisters in town this upcoming weekend to help figure out some of the more artistic details.

I took a picture of Kyle's lucky travel Buddha so he could "take it with him"

I know I have influence when he has a typed checklist...

Should I be worried this trip required shots?

What is worse than not having help is just not having him around, though. I will be bored, not know what to do with my evenings, have to make dinner for one, learn how to grill a good chicken breast, and make sure I keep up on household chores on my own.

Wait a second here, I may be on to something...

Without Kyle running interference, I might ACTUALLY get some of these things done! No more putting grading off because he wants to go out. No more waiting to go to the gym so we can go together until after he is done with work. I can eat dinner before 8! I can get into bed before 11! (I know he will say that I can do all these things while he is here, but you all know that is much easier said than done when you're working on 2 separate schedules).

I get 2 weeks of chick flicks and "Bride Nights". 2 weeks of down time. This may be the best thing to happen to our marriage as of yet.

Productivity. Here I come...




As soon as Kyle finally gets on the plane. Right now I will just keep talking to him and get my fix of gushy love talk. I really will miss him.

To Take a Man Shopping

The usual routine for shopping in this house is 1. Erica goes shopping and browses. 2. Kyle asks for something. 3. Erica buys that something, or the alternative is to take Kyle directly to that item and make him try it on, make a quick decision, buy, leave. When it comes to online shopping, Kyle will search multiple sites, research on CNet, compare pricing, and order from Amazon.

Registering was going to be a challenge.

I first decided to bribe him by choosing REI as one of our stores. We don't necessarily need anything, but what other time is better for splurging than choosing wedding gifts. We started our registry journey at the local REI store, because online wasn't as fun as "using the gun". Well, REI's "gun" is a little tiny scanner, about the size of a stopwatch, on a lanyard. Super fun. Super tempting.

2 hours later... we may be getting a few knives, some camping cookware, and binoculars.

Checking out the good in REI

Our favorite! See, we still look happy!

Then it was on to my number one pick, Target. I must say that we were a little disappointed because there was not nearly enough junk to pick out! The problem is most likely due to fact that I shop at Target too often as a form of stress reduction, and already own much of what I need from there. At Target, we killed the battery on the gun.

The glorious gun!

Finally going to be able to put Pinterest recipes to good use!

2 hours later... I took a chance and asked if there was a possibility we could browse through one, last store. Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Oh shoot! We should have begun our day at B, B, and B. It is paradise. I've been there many times, but never to seriously shop for more than one item at a time (a towel or two here, a bathmat there, some utensil...) They give a us a book to pick out our "China" (we did not go for the bone-quality), and we don't even have to move from our comfortable chairs. They bring us water, offer us a snack, and tell us about their incentives program to win FREE stuff!

Then we see the kitchen knives, all I've wanted (besides a crock pot) since I knew I was getting married. Oh good quality Calphalon knives, you will change my life. To chop a vegetable without exertion, to cut through bread as though it were the butter, to eat steak without your knife bending in half from the pressure.

Luckily there was a monsoon outside, so we had no incentive to leave, and then registered once again at a third store.

Oh the joy! At least B, B and B is prepared.

10 hours total, Kyle was getting really grumpy and tired, but we survived, and now we have accomplished one more challenge of preparing for our wedding!

Check out or super cool combined registry site: www.amazingregistry.com/JensenDavisWedding

The More Men the Merrier!

Inappropriate for a bride-to-be to say?

Well, today we showcase Kyle's oldest friend in the wedding party, Dave. If the world were to end tomorrow, I think Kyle would rather spend it with Dave than me. Not only have Kyle and Dave been in each other's lives for years, but Dave is absolutely one of the nicest men I have ever met. He has a great attitude, takes care of Kyle (and his family), and is really skilled and creative when it comes to working on household projects. (What other incredibly nice things can I say about him so that he'll help us redo the master bathroom after we finish with this whole wedding project?!)

Dave and Kyle swam together when they were kids, went through freshmen year of college as roommates at the University of Arizona, and have stayed in touch even after marriage and children. (Obviously not ours, yet). Dave's wife Jo is an incredibly talented designer, so I seek inspiration from their house. Dave's daughter Marin is one of the cutest kids on this planet, who totally inherited her dad's quirky energy.

We are so luck that Dave agreed to be a part of the wedding party and I am just glad that someone responsible will help Kyle to arrive to our ceremony on time!

At Dave's wedding with mutual good childhood friend, Patrick

Losing teeth at a meet

So sweet! 

Meet more of the boys!

I know that I started to blog awhile back about the men in our wedding party. I have been a bit distracted by other exciting moments, but don't want to completely ignore the other half of the wedding party!

A little bit of background first: Kyle had a really, really hard time deciding on his groomsmen. He was torn between a group of childhood friends, his family and soon-to-be-family, his current close friends who he spends most of his time with, and a plethora of other important guys. It must suck to have so many friends...

Having these two groomsmen, Jared and Jon, in the wedding just feels natural. These two crazy kooks have somehow managed to keep Kyle out of trouble (for the most part) while at the same time being negative influences (at times). From the casino, to Teakwoods, to hikes and camping, these two seem to be not just Kyle's buddies, but our buddies as a couple. I never know what will happen when the three guys get together, or when we go over to Jared and his wife Bev's house for game night, or when Jon and his wife Lindsay have us over for a pool day. What I can say is that the nights with these two always end in laughs, and even with children they've still allowed us to be a part of their lives! (Kyle, sometimes, does not behave the best in front of impressionable young ones!)

So glad to celebrate our wedding with you two, like we got to be there on your special days.

Jon and Kyle at Jon's wedding

Erica and Jared

Ummm... Jon's typical face.

At Jared's Wedding

Kyle and Jared