Johnny Depp makes an odd Willy Wonka

Ladies and Gentleman...

[or, as my father would proclaim:]

"Ladies and Germs"

[Some] of our engagement pictures have arrived!

The cold noses, frozen finger tips and excessive amount of time spent on blow-drying my hair [okay, so maybe it was just a normal amount of time but we all know how much I detest showering...who's counting!?] paid off! Our photographer has delivered us a perfectly bundled package of classic/not-so-classic, just-artsy-enough, at sunset, killer back drops combined with an even more killer eye for the usually unusual and picture-esuqe-- this concoction of adjectives thus describes our engagement photos. Now, we've been provided with 25 edits and will receive a second disk that holds the full array of un-edits to do with as we wish. Since our initial for-fun photos illuminate brightness and summer-time I think it's pretty awesome and time-line-ish that our actual engagements depict an appropriate at-dusk, fall time theme. We thought we would share a few for kicks and giggles.. . .

.. . ..we can't exactly tie ACTUAL knots with our fingers..so this is the most accurate portrayal of "tangled" that we could get.

.. . .just standing under a weeping willow..staring [adoringly]

.. .Pondering @ Grant Park

. .I kind of threw out the whole "to be or not to be" train of thought..it's all relative...and not as much fun as clumsily destroying a perfectly good bow-tie for the sake of a kiss...

<--ENGAGED. Like, Duh!

.. .please note that my dress was a size too big and caused a bulge in the belly. Also, this is Zach's favorite

And, of course...you remember [or maybe you don't] our previous introductory blog-photo that looked like something out of a J Crew add..minus that my eyes were still debating on whether or not they wanted to open...

. .okay, so that concludes YOUR sneak preview. I left my absolute favorites out of the mix as to not prematurely expose them. Oh, and, the new-new blog title photo is also an example of engagement madness...I love that the Krogg Street bridge backdrop adorns an "EVERYTHING LASTS FOREVER" banner. Kind of fitting, eh?

In an abbreviated update: 

• we survived "Snowpocalypse 2011," unscathed. We occupied ourselves with working out, and sledding at all hours of the night [thought: why is it that all of the havoc we wreak happens AFTER the sun sets. Are we fang-less vampires? Or hairless Werewolves? Food for thought.] and lots of movies. I've got some photos and blurbs to post concerning such topics-- in due time. 
• Some butt hole bought our discounted Crate and Barrel couch a mere 12 hours after we'd decided that it was THE couch. We should have been less concerned about the road conditions and more concerned about someone snatching up our goods. Ya snooze Ya lose. That being said: after A LOT of pouting and a decent amount of disappointment--we're on the hunt again! 
• I've lost over 10 pounds since this time last year [seriously] and only have 8 more to lose before I'm at my wedding goal weight. I'm going to continue gorging myself on Chick Fil A for about another month or so-- I figure, I'll start getting obsessively serious once the New Years Resolution-ers realize that they're out of steam. Of course, I'm still running like a mad-woman. Speaking of, my room mate and I are running a half marathon in Tennessee at the end of April. 

Stay tuned.. .we've got a potential snow boarding trip in the works, invitations just waiting to be designed and ordered [our goal is to get that done this week...procrastinate much?] and a wedding to attend.. .after I work a sickening amount of over-time in order to bring my case load up to date after 3 snow days. Thanks Mother Nature! 

Until next time...

Z+M

Comp Day[s], Mini-Road Trips and Fishies.. *

I think I'm starting to get the hang of this whole "big girl job" thing. It feels good [sometimes] to be out of my pull-ups and into fancy-meant to be pressed [but aren't because I woke up too late]-slacks. Mainly because I've experienced the beauty of comp-days and being salaried. I can't stay away from biochemistry forever but until I'm fit to make my return, it's fun to dabble in that of the totally unrelated. I took this past Friday off with the intention of ordering wedding invitations and wreaking some havoc with my fine fiancee... .we were going to get so much done and have the satisfaction of knocking numerous tasks off of our forever growing to-do list....in theory. What actually happened was breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, unsuccessfully lurking around A Paper Affair for an embarrassingly small amount of time before bolting for Chattanooga. As in Tennessee. As in the Tennessee Aquarium. Our main motivation for our great escape from Georgia was to feast our hungry eyes on Tahitian Wave featuring Kelly Slater via IMAX. We arrived roughly an hour prior to show time which enabled us to hang with those with gills and fins for a while...we were more entertained with petting rays, pestering penguins and climbing man-made rock walls than we were with the actual fish.. .. .... .

Tahitian Wave immediately had us both lusting for salt water, the tangible concept of an endless summer and natural Kelly Slater-esque surf abilities. I think we are both way too much of weenies to attempt to conquer any form of a Tahitian wave so we'll stick to dreaming and watching delicious documentaries. Speaking of delicious, we may or may not have shamelessly [over] indulged in some Buffalo Wild Wings....if you haven't tried the Asian Zing sauce.. I recommend it. 

Next: Pre-Registering-Window-Shopping at Lenox! We decided that before we are armed with the magical beepy scanny device, we should take mental inventory of a few stores to ensure that.. . 

A) we pick the stores most fitting to us and 

B) we don't prematurely go beepy scanny device happy and register for a sleuth of things we don't need or that don't go together.

While innocently exploring Crate and Barrel we found our future couch--upholstered in buttery dark brown leather and constructed with the concept of rejuvenating naps in mind. The best part of our soon-to-be-seating is that it is not only 50% off it's original price of $2,700 but it is an additional few hundred dollars off for the floor sample. It's 88 inches in length and is deep and glorious. We would have taken 'er home by now but on account of the snow and icy road conditions, Crate and Barrel has been closed. Mark my words-- if they open their doors tomorrow, you can bet your lucky stars that Zach and I will be anxiously waiting with check book in hand... 

I'm incredibly anxious to get moved into our new home so I can start decorating and see how everything will look all set-up and what not. And of course, share some personal photos rather than click and drag internet thumbnails. It will be interesting to see how our new baby fits in our living room considering that the measurements of said new baby just barely made the cut. We really wanted a nice leather piece for our main living room-- leather is just timeless to me, it can work in virtually any set-up and under any version of decor. So, while it will presently serve as our main living room couch-- it could down the road be great seating in an office or a secondary living area. Next up we'll be in the market for some nice chairs and an accommodating end table to top off the living room seating. We've found a great mirror that we love at Pottery Barn [also severely discounted but it has yet to be purchased. Do we need it?] and have some other minor wall ornamentation but we don't want to take away from the focal point[s] of our living room....which incidentally also serves as our entrance hall-- we have a killer fireplace above which we will hang our TV. Here's the thing-- the painful reality: Zach and I like nice stuff.. Who doesn't? Unfortunately, nice stuff=$$$. But because I am my mother's daughter and am very conscious of what's a reasonable price and what's a ridiculous one and also my father's daughter who like him, believes in spending a little more on excellent quality-- well... it's a pretty good balance so far. We'll see how many boxes of Ramen noodles I go through to promote plans for furnishing and remodeling our soon-to-be-home.

Enough with the house stuff, right? 

We're going on day 3 of being snowed in [with the exception of a few runs to the gym and to RedBox.. I have a new appreciation for German engineering with all wheel drive]. More to come on that later.. .until then, I'm going to snuggle with my husband-to-be and watch movies until our eyes are red and strained, after which we'll attempt to make the most enormous of snowmen-- in the dark.

Until next time....

Z+M