Wedding planning fun

For a few weeks now we had planned to have both my parents and Mark's mom come down to Austin the 2nd weekend in March to meet each other. Little did I know they all planned to come down the weekend after we got engaged to meet! So two weekends ago right after we got engaged we started wedding planning! Mark and I knew we wanted to get married this year. The DAY AFTER we got engaged my little wedding planner (Mark) got busy calling the church and reception sites. There were a few available dates for the church this fall, and the only one that would with with an evening time available was October 15, 2011. That happened to be a UT home football game weekend which worried my mom with traffic etc. Lots of things fell into place and by God's grace we ended up with the most amazing reception site!

Now the only things left to plan are: the photographer (have a mtg scheduled this week), cake (tasteing tonight!), flowers, order invites (already designed), send out save the dates, register (this week!)

Mark also made our reservations for our honeymoon last week. We're going to Maui! My beach experience is limited but I hear Maui is beautiful and I am soooo excited to sit on the beach for 8 days! !

Mark and I are so excited to be getting married. We are so perfect for each other. I never ever thought I would meet such an amazing man like him, much less have him ask me to marry him!!!

We're Getting Married!!!

The ring in all it's glory :)

2 weeks late on this post but things have been super busy! On Valentine's day Mark proposed! I was absolutely shocked! I had told him to suprise me on Valentines day by picking out a resturant for dinner, but this was definitly the best suprise ever! Below is the proposal story from our wedding website:


Mark took Elizabeth to a lovely Valentine's Day dinner at Uchiko, a new resturant in Austin. A few day's prior Mark told Elizabeth that his best friend Brian was coming to town on Valentine's day for work, and he wanted to meet up with for a few drinks. So that was the plan, romantic dinner followed by drinks.

After dinner they made their way over to the Hilton Downtown where Brian was supposedly staying. Mark said Brian told him to valet the car and charge it to his room, which Elizabeth thought was a little strange. They walked up to room 2303, and as they approached the door Mark pulled out a key. Elizabeth knew at this point Brian wasn't in the room or even in Texas for that matter. They walked in and on the table was champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, the curtains were open and the room had a stunning view of downtown Austin. They enjoyed the strawberries and champagne, and then Mark went into the other room and told Elizabeth she couldn't come in yet. After a few minutes he invited her in, and she saw something that she recognized on the bed*.

*About 2 months back Mark asked Elizabeth to go online and pick out some kind of basket or box that they could keep their love letters/cards in. She did, and inquired a few weeks back if it had arrived in the mail yet, Mark told her that it was on back order.

She also noticed a big flat thing against the wall in red wrapping paper. Mark told her she could open that later. Elizabeth opened the box and inside was a Valentines card and the first letter she ever wrote him. After reading the card Mark made her leave the room again. When he invited her back in the room he told her that she could open up the red wrapped thing now. He was standing next to her while she tore off the paper, and inside was an enlarged framed picture of Elizabeth when she was about 3 years old wearing a dress up wedding dress, complete with a bouqet and vail. At that point she knew what was about to happen. Mark got down on his knee, pulled out a beautiful ring and asked Elizabeth to spend the rest of her life with him.
She said YES!

little of this and that

The slumber party turned out to be an overwhelming success, as it normally is with Miss Ellers. I even made it to Redeemer Lutheran before her class made the (what feels like a mile long) journey to the "Rainbow Room" (over the river and through the woods). Catie confirmed this doesn't happen often, and Elle seemed quite confused as to why the kids were lining up, I call this a successful morning! Ellie shared with Mark and I a riveting film called "Barbie Princess of Swan Lake", it was moving let me tell you...

Evidence of Mark and Elle intrigued by the movie:

This past Saturday Mark and I made the 2 hour drive through Llano to Enchanted Rock. It is a huge pink granite rock sticking out of the ground just begging for thousands of people to kill their thighs walking up it each day! (after a 6 dollar entrance fee that is...) It really was beautiful though, and the weather was lovely! The climb up turned out to be a tad more difficult that I thought. It reminded me of going up a ski lift, you think your about to be at the top of the mountain when all of the sudden you see ANOTHER level to go up! We packed a picnic lunch, and after getting lost on the "Loop Trail" we found our way back to the picnic grounds and enjoyed it. It was a lovely afternoon spent with my lovely man!

Tonight we have a Valentine's day dinner planned, well Mark does, it's a surprise for me! Can't wait until I find out where we're going! Mark's BFF from Jersey is in town tonight so after dinner we're planning to meet up with Brian for a few drinks! Mark doesn't get to see him often as he is a busy financial guy up in NYC so this is a special treat!

I shall report on the V-day dinner surprise later this week!

What is up with this weather?

Seriously, it was in the teens last week with snow, hovered around 70 with sun this weekend, and now its below freezing again with ICE on the ground! It's no wonder everyone is getting sick. I'm desperate for some warmth and sun.

I've been bugging Mark about going back to Florida this spring, so hopefully come April we will be sitting beach side here for a few days:

Until then I will just dream! (and work out because I'm seriously not ready for swim suit season yet).

In other news, my niece Ellie will be coming over for a slumber party tonight :) Since I moved to central Austin, Elle stays with me about once every other week and I love it! We watch movies and normally stay up too late. Eric and Cate are going out for a night on the town with a friend of theirs and I think they're crazy because it's going to be so cold tonight!

That's about all I've got today- I'll report on the slumber party manana!

Mt. Bonnell

Saturday Mark and I went over to Mt. Bonnell. It's right across Mopac from where we live, about a 5 minute drive. The weather was beautiful, about 65 degrees and sunny, quite a change from the snow/ice the day before.

We brought Barkley the dog with us as well and he loved every minute of it. There is a steep set of stairs leading up the hill, and the you can walk to the right or left and explore and take in the beautiful views! We had a great time getting outside and being active. I told Mark I want to continue to explore Austin and be active like this throughout the summer, it's fun!

Snow Day 2011

This past Friday marks the first snow day I have ever experienced in Austin. Most of the city shut down when temperature dipped well below freezing and snow (and ice!) started to fall. Our office was basically shut down for the day, everyone working from home.

Mark was on his way home from Houston Friday and didn't really get to play in the snow with me. He had been traveling all week for "road shows", ending a very long contract negotiation process for his airline. (he is almost done with this, yay!!!) I went outside around 7am to find the whole Triangle park blanketed with snow, it was beautiful. The snow hadn't been disturbed yet by dogs, footprints, or little snow angels. It was quiet, cold, and serene just walking around outside before dawn hearing the snow crunch under my feet. Lovely! It really made me miss going to Colorado to ski, I haven't been in a few years and I am desperate to get back, maybe next year!

Here are a few pictures from our Snow Day 2011 in Austin!

New Year, New Blog

This will be my second attempt at starting a blog, the key this time is maintaing it! I am starting my 5th year working in Pharmaceutical Research and I still enjoy it. I recently started a new position within my company working on resourcing for our division. This is has been a much needed change for me, and has brought some new challenges to my day! I wanted to start this blog to document my life as a working girl, and the time out side work spent with my other half Mark (the pilot)!

Enjoy!