love love love!

Things are bittersweet here.

Nathan and I had the most incredible weekend last weekend together. Nothing planned, but we went home to see my mom and actually pretty much spent the weekend alone! We got to cuddle, talk late into the night, laugh a lot, eat cupcakes, cruise the mall, AND on Sunday we actually got our wedding bands! Mine are (I got 2 ahh!) shiny and beautiful and vintage and amazing, and his is gorgeous and manly, and simple and so him. It warmed my very heart to see that ring on his finger! I'm used to seeing mine since I have had my shiny for a few months! I can't wait to make that man my husband! 

I passed all but one of my nursing tests (I failed by 2 points, something that I am actually relieved by after taking that research test... Dang).  I found my bridesmaids! Three sweet ladies from my nursing class are going to help me walk down the aisle! Who would have thought?! I have to get in hardcore saving mode.

Also, when I went home, the scale read 125 point something, but 125! Also, since then I have been a little lax eating Oreos and cream puffs from work! Work kills my diet. They are always making tasty treats! So, I actually bought a 400-calorie meal thing from Barnes and Noble this weekend, and I'm going to get back on track.

OH! And we had our engagement pictures made! They are beautiful! Well, the 3 preview pictures we had!
Our friend Carrie-Ann (who co-owns In Sienk Photography with her husband, Scott) took them, and they look wonderful! I cannot wait to get the rest back :)

Ahh! <3

With the ups, there are always downs, and we hit a low this week. I have unspoken prayer requests for my Mom and Dad. Financial trouble has been a HUGE burden on my family the last few years, and it doesn't seem to be lightening up anytime soon. Prayers are needed and appreciated! Also, Nathan's parents need some prayers too. We just need prayers all around!

Nathan and I are going to marriage counseling again next Saturday! I can't wait! But that also means that I need to get on the ball with my reading. I'm such a procrastinator it hurts. But, this really, really opened doors for us and I can't wait to learn and talk more with these Godly people and each other. This is going to do us wonders before we get married!

Speaking of which, yesterday was 13 months to the day of our marriage! Ahhh! I'll leave this post with that :)

whirlwind!

Life since getting engaged to my best friend life has been crazy busy!

We both have realized how expensive weddings are and how easily the cost can add up. However, we have found a beautiful venue :) We are getting married next October at Densmore Farms in Cleveland, GA. It's BEAUTIFUL! The barn is amazing and totally DIY, the areas surrounding it is beautiful with trails... we love it! I have been on the search for the perfect photographer.

If there is any one thing that I want to spend money on, it's a good photographer. After it's all said and done, that is the only real evidence that we will have of that day (besides us and our wedding rings)! I found a fantastic cinematographer and someone to do makeup AND my dress. Oh, I wish I could describe it, but my husband to be will read and will know and we can't have that. :)

I'm ENGAGED

I never thought I'd say it! Ever!

Nathan asked me to marry him! I am the happiest woman in the world, and I'm still in shock. It feels like a dream.

It's not the typical story where the man goes out and gets flowers and takes her out to dinner and says sweet nothings in her ear and then asks her to be with him forever.

Mine was different.

Nathan came over after working all day, and we were both tired and I was slightly irritable. We went to the mall to pick up his tux for his friend's wedding this Sunday. It was more than he expected, and he was in a foul mood after that. After we got back home to my house, we sat on the couch and broke down in tears. Both of us. I had started to give up on the thought of being engaged based solely on the fact that we don't have enough money to live together after the fact. Nathan felt awful, and I felt awful and we cried and cried. I told him I wanted nothing more than to marry him, but I just didn't see it happening anytime soon because of our situation. I told him we could go to the courthouse and get married and that I didn't need special. He told me that he didn't want that for me. He wanted to see me walk down an aisle in a dress and be his wife. We cried and cried.

Finally, we were both spent from crying, hugged and said I love you'd and he left. About 2 minutes later, I heard someone unlocking the door. I thought maybe he forgot something, and I guess in a way he did.

He came in and got on the floor. Both knees, mind you, and crying, asked me if I would marry him. I couldn't even think straight. I just started crying. I couldn't breathe! All I saw was this amazing man that I loved holding a gorgeous ring, all for me. I said yes.

The rest of the night involved calling parents and grandparents and informing everyone on Facebook.

It still feels like a dream. I'm his FIANCÉ. I'm going to be his WIFE. He picked me and I picked him. We are going to be forever together. Family.

I am beyond words as to how I feel. I hear Nathan call me his fiancé and I smile so big it hurts my cheeks. I look at the beautiful ring on my finger and think about how much he must have saved up and for how long. How long he must have known that he wanted to marry me, and I smile huge again.

Even though it wasn't an engagement like in the movies, I couldn't have asked for a better one. After seeing me angry, and bare faced, and unkempt with bloodshot, soaked eyes, he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. In that raw, vulnerable state, he saw me for me at one of my worst times, and he still wanted me. He didn't even wait a day after picking that ring up. He wanted me to be his, and he didn't hesitate.

Knowing that makes me love him more than any kind of wedding could ever symbolize. But we can sure try.

In a little more than a year, I will be Mrs. Nathan O'Brien, and God couldn't have blessed me with a better man to spend the rest of my days with.