Compliments and Cochella

What an pleasantly odd day today was. I spent all day shopping for a client with one of my co-workers. It was so much fun! We went crazy and basically filled my co-worker's Jeep Cherokee to the top with pillows, vases, art and other nick-knacks for the installation tomorrow.

Something weird happened to me while I was at Home Goods though.
My co-worker was talking to our boss on the phone and I was left in charge of our cart. I was following her down an aisle when this employee walks up to me. He stood there looking at me and instead of asking me if I was finding everything ok (like I expected him to), he asks me if I'm Canadian. At first I didn't think I heard him right but he asked me again and I answered, "Nooo.... I'm American..." I must have looked like a total douche in my confusion, but he sweetly and nervously replied, "Well you look wonderful."
I felt so bad! I said thank you and awkwardly maneuvered the cart away.
I'm such a dummy sometimes. So if that kid is reading this, seriously, thank you for the compliment. You really did make my morning.

In other news, anyone going to Cochella? By some miracle, Alex scored us some tickets for week two and I cannot be more excited! Tegan and Sarah, Modest Mouse, Vampire Weekend, RHCP... Woo!
You going?

Happy New Year!

Hello, I'm back! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and New Year! I know I did!

21 days after our 4 year anniversary and 4 days before I left for Christmas in Denver, Alex asked me to marry him! I was not expecting him to propose (even though we've been talking about it for a while) but it was definitely an awesome surprise! And great timing too because as Alex put it, he could not send me all the way to my grandma's house without a ring! Almost every Sunday for the past year or so, Bubba would ask me when we were getting engaged and all I could say was, "Ask Alex!"
Needless to say, Bubba and the rest of my family were incredibly happy for us. During my vacation, Bubba kept saying, "See! I yipped at you on Sunday and Alex proposed a week later!" So thank you Bubba, for inspiring Alex to propose. :)
Alex's family was on a whole other level of excitement about the news! We went to his grandparents' house for his family's Christmas celebration after I came back from Denver. As we pulled up the drive way, Alex's whole family came rushing out of the house with a video camera singing "Here Comes the Bride" and greeted us with hugs, kisses and congratulations. It was really awesome and such a great way to be welcomed into the family. 

Anywho, getting engaged: a great way to end a year that started out super crappy.
I have a lot to be thankful for in 2012. I got out of a job that wasn't fulfilling, interned for an architect, got hired as a designer for an interior designer/general contractor and got engaged to my very best friend. I'm really excited for what 2013 has in store for us. On to the wedding planning!!!

Christmas Decorating!

Alex and I are huge fans of the Christmas Spirit. We love the lights, the ornaments, the egg nog... you name it, we like it. We are also the type of people who buy our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Here is our apartment's transformation over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here is our messy living room before:


We headed to a little Chirstmas tree lot by our house. They had cheap trees, free delivery and we were helping out a little boy scout troop.


After a stroll around the lot, we found our tree.


After the awesome boy scouts lugged the tree up to our apartment, we threw on the lights and ornaments and the room started to glow.


But that's not all... we decorated our mantle* too! Christmas mantle!!


We weren't sure if we were allowed to put lights up outside**, but we figured it's better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.


* Thanks to my mom for letting me use her decorations! She doesn't use them too much anymore and has an excellent collection of little Santas and vintage glass ornaments.
** We received a newsletter from the complex that said it's OK to decorate so... woo hoo!

Happy Holidays everybody!