Valentine's Day 2013

Not one to usually celebrate Valentine's Day (it is Arizona's birthday!), I gave in and went out searching this year for a "husband" Valentine card because I could! But, alas, any card that says "To My Husband" is either ridiculously cliche (AKA, not funny) or disgustingly sentimental. So I stuck with a fun one that said "I heart you more" and then inside "And yes, it is a competition." This suits us much more!

However, you know that the wedding is over and that we've let ourselves off the hook for being quite so healthy, since we BOTH bought sugary sweets for the other.

It was a quick night for us, as Kyle had ultimate Frisbee league, and I had grading and am still getting over the flu, but we still made time for each other and had a nice dinner at Arriba.

Oh yes, and my Fry's roses! :)

Sprinkles! Good thing Kyle works next door.

Red velvet, salted caramel, raspberry chocolate, and carrot

And the motherload- GC cookies for Kyle!!

Happy Birthday to my Husband!!

That's right... husband...

Waiting for me to come down the aisle!

Cheers! Photo courtesy of Devon Adams.

Here's to many, many more birthdays together!

Starting off right!

Well, people say that romance is dead. Perhaps it is, although I refuse to believe it, but our Christmas gift does not really help the argument.

We got each other kitchen cabinets.

Wow!

So romantic.

But, in a pinch, we came through for each other and got special gifts after we had decided on not spending more money on each other. I got Kyle the newest O.A.R. Live at Redrocks CD (a romantic vacation I took him on in 2007), and he got me an authentic Indian wedding sari.

Romance is ALIVE!

To add to the romance, I wanted to share what Kyle and I did for each other before the wedding to make sure we wouldn't be distracted from the real reason we wanted to get married.

Here are some pictures of the days before our wedding when Kyle and I snuck out for some alone time.

Signing the official Summit County wedding register at the court house!

Courthouse visit! Breckenridge, CO

We got massages, then went to Beaver Creek for a short fall color hike

It is so important, brides out there, to find time to be with the one you love and to not get too caught up in the wedding itself. I remember these moments even more than the wedding itself.

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

100 Days Until our Wedding!

I am so excited that we have reached this major milestone. It is a great relief to know that I have crossed the threshold and the wedding will be here before we know it! One, because I am excited to have more free time without having to plan a wedding. Two, because I am still actually excited to marry Kyle. Who would have thought?! We have survived nearly a year of our engagement with minimal wedding-related conflicts.

Our last weekend in Colorado, besides actually getting stuff done for the wedding, we got to have a lot of fun! We attended the Frisco Barbecue Festival, and avoided the temptation of many treats (although we still ate some meat), the Breckenridge Kingdom Days Outhouse Races, and trivia night at our favorite bar, The Cala Inn. We love spending time in Colorado, and always seem to get along the best with the beautiful atmosphere of the mountains. Perhaps it is the fresh air and peaceful sound of the breeze through the trees, which don't exist in Phoenix.

As a part of our pre-wedding fitness plan, we made sure that we got our work outs in each day! Here are some pictures that commemorated our weekend away.

On Hoosier Pass Loop

Relaxing with our healthy snacks at the end of the trail.

Kyle "reflecting" on the landscape :)

We were laughing at where the GPS showed our arrow. Notice all the surrounding civilization on the map...

This little lady stalked us and held us hostage by hiding under our car, and on the tire, for over 10 minutes!

We added a new pass to our database (we take pictures at all the pass signs we drive over!) It was sleeting on us!

At the top of an unnamed mountain along the Continental Divide Trail near Loveland Pass. It was REALLY windy.

With Grey's and Torrey's in the background

The mountain we just climbed as we drove down Loveland Pass. It was a lot higher than this picture looks. 1000 feet elevation gain!

Wedding planning week continued...

The rest of wedding planning week in Colorado was so fabulous!!! I told you already about my visit with the florist, who I am so excited to work with to help achieve my vision of my wedding venue. I am so much more excited for the wedding now that I've consulted with various other vendors, too.

First, I met with my planner, Johnna, who is a gem. She is so genuine in her anticipation and excitement for our wedding, that I am not feeling anxiety at all, but rather pure excitement for the results, and reassurance that she is on the same page as me! She is so vital in the planning process, and will assure that I have no worries wedding weekend, (like that is possible) but will allow for me to feel like I am taking a wedding "vacation" instead of just putting on a huge event with a lot of pressure attached to it.

Then I met with our DJ, Courtney, for a walk-through of the venue. It helped me to remember the set up and gave me a spatial idea of what the layout for the reception could be. I also met with her with Kyle, so she can really cater to our style throughout the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. She is super willing to work with our vision (ok, it is really MY vision), and is willing to try new things like with our slide show.

After all this, I had the opportunity to shop for tuxes with Kyle finally, and we chose one for our groomsmen! It was so easy, it was almost sad that it took us as long as we did to start to look.

On top of all of this, I designed the invitations, ordered our favors, planned the outline for the day of the wedding, tasted the rehearsal dinner options, set the contract with the hotel for the weekend of the wedding, and took in the mountain atmosphere (both figuratively and literally), enjoyed a Rockies game with my brother and his girlfriend, AND maintained my diet!!! I couldn't be more happy at the conclusion of the week.

I feel a total sense of accomplishment.

Rockies game! They have a gluten-free food stand!

We had some storm clouds but no real storms

More to come on the tuxes and the troubles, and the weekend of fun Kyle and I spent in the mountains!

4 Months 'til the Big Day!

The time has honestly flown by this past 11 months! I cannot imagine people who can plan their entire weddings in the time span we have left, as I am still completely overwhelmed by what is to be done and feel like absolutely nothing has been crossed off the list as of yet. (I know that isn't exactly true, as the previous 100 or so posts can prove... but it still feels like the "to-do" list is much longer than the "done" list).

Our newest journey towards marriage, as I introduced last week in Wednesday's wish, is the hardest one yet. One would think that courtship, dating, and the road to engagement, added to wedding planning, would put the most stress on the relationship. I challenge that claim. Have you ever tried training with your fiance? This new fitness journey has proven to be an obstacle that Kyle and I will need to work through with more patience and understanding than I've been naturally blessed with. I am not against getting fit and healthy, or even paying someone to help, but an entirely new challenge is posed when the level of competition is present. I am not a competitive person by nature, nor do I do well when others dictate decisions such as what to eat for breakfast for me, so my natural defense mechanism has proven to be getting angry that I have to sacrifice so much time, deliciousness, and relaxed muscles in lieu of eating proteins all day, scheduling my days around working out instead of work, and feeling sore on a pretty consistent basis. However, in the moment while I am at the gym, I feel pretty great, and after eating a solid healthy meal, I still feel satisfied. I just have to get past the initial shock of saying goodbye to cookies or pasta.

On the positive side, Kyle and I kicked off this fitness journey with a literal journey this past weekend. Our weekend consisted of somewhere between 21 and 29 miles of hiking the back country of Arizona in Aravaipa Canyon. A 5 mile hike in with at least 25 pounds on my back in record time, headlamp assistance needed, was the Friday night cardio kickoff. Saturday we ventured down Hell's Hole Canyon and added another 10 miles or so to our total for the weekend. Sunday was the reverse of the Friday night hike in. This is the 3rd time I've done this hiking trip with Kyle, and I really have enjoyed the tradition, sore muscles, blisters and all! We were joined by some good friends and groomsmen. Thank you for REI for supplying our gear (and future registry) and the military for the MREs! Here are pictures to commemorate the weekend, our last 11 months of engagement, and to kick off the final push (to use a mountain climbing term) towards our wedding day .

Right before we hiked out of the canyon- a little dirty but in great shape!

Sun setting on the river and canyon walls

A waterfall at the end of a canyon hike

Lunch Break! Representing the Alma Maters!

Photo courtesy of Jared Ross- Groomsman

Hiking through the river with the lush green landscape

The walls of Hell's Hole Canyon- so appropriate for my literary passion

Wishing today...

I wish for more fun traditions with Kyle after we get married (perhaps starting with the wedding day!) like the one we just partook in this past evening- attending concerts together!

Back in the day when I was in high school, I fell in love (kind of literally) with live music. My first major boyfriend was a base player. Attending his concerts in coffee shops with twenty people in attendance was my gateway into a much deeper passion for live music that I now feel.

Fast forward to meeting Kyle, we found that we both shared this love for music and we have the same taste in bands. (Ok, maybe he won't go see Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga with me, but Incubus or Dave, no problem!). Kyle and I have now attended nearly twenty live shows over our relationship, from local shows at Tempe Town Lake, to destinations like Red Rocks.

Last night, we attended our 7th O.A.R. concert together. Kyle's is the true fan, having followed them since before college, but he has turned me into just as big a fan throughout our time together. I remember him picking me up in his red Honda Accord with the gray door and key that wouldn't ever come out of the ignition, listening to O.A.R. CDs on repeat, and soon after I had memorized the entire song "Crazy Game of Poker" (or just "Poker" to true fans).

So here's to one of my favorite traditions so far. It is these shared experiences that make our relationship unique and special to us, and that help us keep our dates fun and exciting! I believe this wish for more fun traditions will come true for us!

O.A.R. at the Marquee in Tempe

Mumford and Sons Railroad Revival Tour- April 2011

Happy Birthday to my Love!

I want to wish Kyle a very happy 32nd birthday. Since 32 is my lucky number, it only makes sense that he is going to marry me this year, and make me the luckiest girl alive! For his birthday, we went out for 2 wonderful dinners, and one delicious brunch, visited 2 favorite bars, and watched our favorite football teams. But I think his favorite gift would have to be the couples' massage I scheduled for us! We both needed it!

Who wouldn't love this bearded hottie?! By the way the background is the Silverthorne Ice Castle.

I learned through our couple's massage experience that we will definitely need a session the week of our wedding, and I think I'll spring for the 2 hour massage for that one. I have come to love the power of a good massage over the past few months of wedding planning. In fact, I sprang for the monthly massage to get the preferred customer price (the nice thing is that if we don't use it one month, the cost we pay rolls over and then we can get a longer massage or add a facial the next month if we want.) Kyle also can use my account so we can treat each other as times get stressful closer to the big day.

So beyond being a birthday wish and gift, my point is that I recommend finding a good masseuse nearby and treating yourself without feeling bad about it for one minute! It is totally worth the extra time and cash to relieve the tension while planning for anything in life, or even when not planning anything at all.

Ok, I'll admit to having a teary moment...

I've been strong, held it together, and continued to insist that weddings (my wedding to be specific) are CELEBRATIONS not tear-fests. I've not cried at many weddings myself, although a good Hollywood movie wedding filled with pathos and irony can often get me, but in real life I find it hard to cry about something so darn good!

I had a teary moment.

One of the best moments of this engagement thus far, however. In fact, one of the best moments of my relationship, I'd venture to say!

I had been asking Kyle to write up a blurb about me for our wedding website (still a work in progress) as I wrote the "About the Groom" section and thought it would be fun if we told each other's stories. He, being busy and mathematically minded, was putting it off until I begged him to help me mark off items on my to-do list.

And then he wrote the most touching, funny, and true paragraph with words I thought only Hollywood could come up with.

And once again, wishes, fairy tales, and maybe even Hollywood movie weddings CAN come true! And DO!

Tear.

The most cheesy romantic cliche photo I could find... butterflies in my stomach! :)

Wishes do come true!

Well, my biggest wish as of late was for Kyle to help out with our wedding planning by getting some addresses together for me, then deciding on his groomsmen. Love you honey, but really, procrastination does not work so well when we have to send SAVE THE DATES. The date will be passed by the time you get a hold of that long lost high school buddy to get his latest nomadic address.

Good news, that wish has come true! I think Kyle is feeling bad for me as I've been under the weather for the past week.

Even though I now have addresses and groomsmen, it will still probably be awhile before all have been sent and notified, but I am going to count my blessings today, not just my wishes!

Via Pinterest