Step One

Being engaged is a lot of work! We've only been engaged a week and I'm already stressing about the wedding! Ben is amazingly understanding though and is good at calming me down and telling me everything will work out! And following me around to Michael's, Home Depot, Ross.....

Needless to say, we had a busy weekend.

The first thing we are trying to figure out is a venue for the wedding. We have a small budget and a large guest lists. The two don't work very well together. But after lots of research on both our parts (Ben is also very helpful, finding lots of good ideas!) and recommendations from family and facebook friends, we visited some venues this weekend. Here are the places we have looked at/thought about so far:



Beazell Memorial Forest in Philomath. Beautiful. Rustic. Natural. I love this place. $750 to rent, includes tables and chairs for up to 80 people. You can fit up to 120 if you arrange parking somewhere else. If my family wasn't so big and we didn't have a billion people to invite, we would be having it here. Perfection!





Scappoose Creek Inn. Lovely and quaint and adorable. Llamas and chickens wandering around. $650 ncludes tables and chairs and use of the barn and outside area. They also have a restaurant on premise and can include bar service for $100. Really pretty, but again, too many people. This would have been our second choice though!




Mt. Tabor Amphitheater. Beautiful setting, only like $322. Doesn't include tables though, and is in a public park. Read: people playing basketball and running around while we're saying our vows. Can fit up to 300 people. But would incur a lot of other costs to rent tables, chairs, get insurance and permits. Lots of space though!





Stein-Boozier Barn in Wilsonville. Rustic, beautiful, cheap. Only fits 98 people max :(


We did tons of research and looked at lots of options. We had almost decided to go with the Scappoose Creek Inn when Helen suggested we look at a place in Independence. Looking at the info online, it seemed too good to be true! But I emailed them, and after waiting three days finally heard back. It really WAS all true!


And now, the piece de resistance:

The Rogue Brewery hopyard. Fits up to 200 people (perfect!). You can use their catering if you want, and if you do they don't charge for the venue. If you don't use their catering, its only $500. Includes tables, chairs, tableware, set up and tear down of tables and chairs. They are a brewery, so you can serve their yummy beer. It is also beautiful. Or so I've been told. I actually have never seen the place, but Kevin and Helen seem to love it, and the pictures I found online seem beautiful. So we booked it without seeing it! We'll go look at it this weekend, and if we hate it can cancel. But sounds like we'll be saying "I do" there on September 1st!

Wedding ceremony/reception venue? Check! Now on to the next million things on the list...but mostly wedding dress shopping next weekend :)


If anyone has had/been to a wedding at the Rogue Hopyard and has pictures, I'd love to see them!

Frozen yogurt....and other things.

So, let me tell you about my day last Saturday. It was a pretty decent one.

The day started out with me doing homework and coupon shopping. Neither things exactly fun, but necessary nonetheless! I told Ben I was going to finish up some final studying and then come over to his place. He told me that his mom was going to come down that afternoon and wanted to take us to a late lunch/early dinner and then go suit shopping for him. Sounded like fun to me!

His mom showed up and we piled into the little pickup to head to Henry's (a place that Ben chose, which was surprising as he had previously sworn to never return after a couple bad experiences there!) for happy hour. We all ordered our food, had a nice time chatting, then headed to Men's Wearhouse. Ben has a potential job interview lined up and so they said they wanted to get him a suit to wear if it pans out. Sounded legit to me, nothing suspect!

Boy was I wrong. After having some severe sticker shock at the suits there, we headed for some frozen yogurt. Now, I love frozen yogurt. I would eat it every day if I could. Ben and I have been to froyo many times during our ten months together. So again, nothing suspicious! We went in to the frozen yogurt shop in Pioneer Square (Chef Fresh), where Ben's mom (Debbie) distracted me by asking questions about the sign outside the shop, asking if those were the specials for the day. When we walked in, Ben handed me a container to fill up with frozen yogurt.

Nothing suspicious again (although I almost handed it to his mom, since he didn't have one for her!). I grabbed the container and headed to fill it up.

Let's backtrack for a minute. Ben was acting a little odd all day. He was super giddy when I was facebook chatting telling him I was on my way to his place. Then a little quiet and distant once I showed up. Then happy again. Then, on our way out the door, he grabbed his giant gym bag. This sucker is giant. It was a Christmas present from me, and I probably should have gotten the next size down. I think I could fit in it. Anyway, I asked him why the heck he was bringing his bag. He mumbled something about having the things he needed for the day, and the game he wanted to play with my parents, even though he knew my parents had decided not to come up for the day. Anyway, I let it go (good thing). And we now return to where I left off....

I grabbed the container and headed to fill it up. Except I felt something weird on the bottom of the cup. I was standing right by Ben and turned the cup over asking, what is this? He said....I don't know.....as I unpeeled the tape on the cup.

I'm not sure what happened next. He either dropped to his knee or I saw a beautiful diamond ring. Things got a little hazy. I also don't know if he popped the question or explained the original plan first. Whatever order things happened in, I found a beautiful diamond engagement ring, Ben got on one knee and asked me to marry him, he explained his original plan for proposing (which I ruined!), his mom told him to re-do the proposal since she hadn't had time to get her camera out to record it. Oh and I said yes. Oh and also there was frozen-yogurt-eating mixed in there somewhere.

Even after ruining his carefully thought-out plan! Here is how things were supposed to go. Debbie held up her end of the deal: she was to distract me while Ben went into the shop and talked to the girls (who already knew he was coming since he had called days earlier to talk to them!) making sure they knew what they were supposed to do. When I got in there, he handed me the previously-prepared yogurt container and I was supposed to fill it up with whatever my heart desired. When it came time to pay, the girls were going to tell me I owed like $13 because it weighed so much. I was going to freak out a little, try to figure out why it weighed so much and then find the ring. By this time, Debbie would have her camera ready, Ben would get down on one knee and we would live happily ever after! Such a wonderful and adorable plan! Well, things happened a little differently!

But, the moral of the story: I got engaged!!!!!





So now we're in the whirlwind of planning. First trying to figure out then when, where and who. Then all the other details. We know we want to have the wedding this summer, but we aren't sure exactly when...it kind of depends on the place we find and when its available. We aren't super-rushing, but six months even is still a short time to plan a wedding. So we don't really get to just enjoy being engaged, but have to hurry and figure everything out! But we are still enjoying it and having fun planning together. Ben is really helpful and is always sending me places he found, tips he got from friends and coworkers, etc.

Anyway, yay for being a fiance! Now I just have to get through my last term of school and plan a wedding, then we'll be married :)

squash + brownies + pasta = ?

So I love to cook. And my go-to recipe source for cooking is the Pioneer Woman (either her website or her new cookbook I got for Christmas thanks to Kevin and Helen!!). I love this woman. I often consider buying a cattle ranch and moving to Oklahoma or wherever she lives just so I can be her neighbor and cook with her (and/or eat her yummy food!). Okay, not really. But I do love her! I have made so many of her recipes and haven't found a bad one yet!

So yesterday when we were grocery shopping and Ben spotted Acorn squash at Albertson's, I bought one and came home to look at her website for a recipe. We have both had Acorn squash with butter and brown sugar. And that's pretty hard to beat. But then I found this recipe for Sweet Roasted Rosemary Acorn Squash Wedges. I love rosemary. I love acorn squash. I love butter and brown sugar. What could go wrong?!?!

But first, there were brownies to bake. You see, the night before Ben and I had made an impromptu stop at Panera Bread Company for a goodie. And I got the Best Brownie Ever. So when Ben brought up how good that brownie was last night, I decided I needed another brownie. So once again I turned to the Pioneer Woman (this time in her cookbook!) for a mocha brownie recipe. While I didn't have unsweetened chocolate baking squares so instead cooked with a hershey's bar (which led to pretty mildly chocolate-tasting brownies), I happened to have everything else on hand. And the mile of mocha frosting piled on top of the brownies made it not matter one bit how mild the brownies were. It also made me almost throw up because it was so sweet. But that didn't stop me from finishing it.

So after the brownies were done and cooling, I started on the squash. And thought I'd cook up some chicken. And then decided on some pasta. I sprinkled the chicken with some more rosemary and cooked some pasta. I didn't really have a plan for the pasta until I remembered the Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce I'd had before and loved. So I just heated up a can of tomato sauce and poured in some half-and-half. But it just didn't quite do it for me.

Now, occasionally I branch out from Pioneer Woman to see what else the world of food blogging has to offer. Smitten Kitchen is another great website full of wonderful (although sometimes more complicated) recipes. A while ago I was perusing that website and found a recipe for Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter. Butter? Butter. I don't know why I never thought of it before. Butter makes everything better. Trust me. I remembered this recipe as I was pondering what else I could add to the simple tomato sauce I had made. So I threw in a little butter. Oh. My. Goodness. Who would have thought what a difference it could make. I don't think I will ever make another tomato sauce again. So incredibly simple. And so amazingly delicious. Add a little parmesan on top and you've got the best pasta dish ever!

Anyway, the morals of the story are:
-the Pioneer woman is amazing
-I had a cooking spree inspired by brownies and acorn squash (they don't go together, you say? I say you're wrong.)
-Butter is the best thing on the earth.
-one can tomato sauce + a little half-and-half + a little butter = AMAZING.
-I'm not very good at measuring when I'm cooking sans recipe....see above.
-don't use a hershey's bar in place of baking chocolate. Unless you are making a gallon of frosting.
-don't get impatient and cut the brownies before the frosting has cooled and set. It will be a disaster.


I'm eating a brownie as I type this. Despite the barely-cooked, hardly-chocolate-tasting brownie, and the mile of frosting that oozed over the side where it then set, it is amazing. I might eat the whole pan.

Nobody ever shop at Gap again.

Dear GAP:

I realize that most of your customers don't purchase "tall" jeans. And that those that do probably wear certain sizes. But there are those of us who wear other sizes. So when you decide that you aren't going to make your "tall" jeans in my size anymore, that means I can't buy jeans from you. And you were one of the two stores where I could buy jeans. (Although I just looked at the other store's website and online they don't show that they sell the XXL length anymore....so I might just never be able to buy jeans again from anywhere. Thanks to you too, Buckle. Hopefully you still sell those in the stores...). I can still apparently buy jeans in my size from your sister store Old Navy. If I want them to fall apart in a week. But I prefer my jeans to last a little longer. So either I need to gain enough weight to go up a full size, or you need to bring back my size. I vote for the latter as the former will be nearly impossible. I would really like the option of paying less than $100 for a pair of jeans at the other store....so bring it back!

Sincerely,
Amy Lee




I'm gonna be pissed if I go to Buckle today and they don't have XXL length jeans. Real. Pissed.


UPDATE: I went to Buckle and they did in fact have XXL in the store still. In like two styles. So I checked out the gap website again and found one pair in my size. Better than nothing....

Happppppy New Year!!!

Here is my New Year's Eve 2011/2012 experience:

1.) Sometimes you show up to a wedding 15 minutes late and miss the ENTIRE ceremony.
2.) Other times you sneak champagne into a movie theater.
3.) You should probably watch Sherlock Holmes 1 before watching Sherlock Holmes 2.
4.) With enough champagne, it doesn't really matter.
5.) If you're in a movie theater at midnight on NYE, you should set an alarm so you know when it is actually midnight. (A non-noisy alarm anyway). That way you can get your New Year's kiss! Start the year off right! :)

6.) Happy New Year! Wishing everyone a blessed 2012!

I like cheap dates

I mean, dates that are inexpensive. Or anything inexpensive for that reason. Because of my love of free and/or cheap things, I love Groupon. You haven't heard of it, you say? You're missing out! Groupon (and sites like it, like Eversave and Living Social) offers a daily deal-anything from a restaurant to a vacation. On top of the daily deals, Groupon has "Groupon Now" deals, a Groupon you can buy and have to use in the same day. We have done some of both kinds and loved it all!

If Ben and I go on an actual date, like go out in public and everything, it's usually because we have a Groupon (or gift cards from wonderful friends and family that we got for Christmas!!! Yay thank you everyone!). A night in watching Dexter (we're almost through the current season...what are we going to do when it's over?!?!?!) and making some yummy food is fun too and is our usual! But sometimes we like to go try some fun ethnic food or watch a movie. And that's where Groupon comes in handy! Here are some Groupon deals we have snatched up:

Half off at Dingo's Mexican Grill in SE Portland. The food was good, although nothing spectacular. And the margaritas were a little bland. But the cheesy bean dip was worth it all, sooooo good! We got a good amount of food and if I remember correctly all we had to pay for was a tip after our Groupon.

We also got a great deal on dinner at Peemkaew Thai restaurant in the Pearl. Amaaaaazing Thai food. I've never been to a Thai restaurant and not ordered Pad Thai, but we skipped that this time and got some other delicious things instead. And I (almost) didn't even miss the Pad Thai, everything was that good! This was an extra good deal, since I somehow was given a $10 Groupon credit from the magical Groupon fairies. It just showed up! So we actually only paid $5 for $20 worth of food (although we did order a little more than $20 of food!).

We also got half off at PBJ's Grilled, a food cart in the Pearl. Where we ordered amazing grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then had to immediately try to replicate them ourselves!

I also got a great deal at Honest-1 Auto Care. I was getting terrible gas mileage and needed to get my car checked out (turns out I'm just doing way too much downtown driving!), so this Groupon popped up just in time. I paid $60 and get 3 oil changes, a tire rotation, a discount on any service and a diagnostic check. The guys at the Stark St. location were great and really knew what they were talking about. They got things done really quickly and didn't try to convince me I needed to get a bunch more things done. They also had a nice comfy waiting area with Wifi!

We've also purchased movie tickets online for half off a couple times. And I got two haircuts for the price of one recently. I also got a nearly free subscription to a cooking magazine. And a good deal on wine tasting. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of things we've purchased, but those are a few of them! You should all sign up for Groupon by going here, I guarantee that you will find a deal in the near future that you will want!

It's beginning to look a lot like......!

I should be doing homework. But I don't want to. I still have two terms left of school after this one, and am already soooo ready to be done. And I only have one final this term, and had no midterms, but still can't motivate myself to do anything!

Anyway, last night I was craving a little Christmas spirit. So Ben and I watched Elf (I don't know why I love that movie so much, but I've watched it a million times and could watch it a million more!) and drank some hot chocolate with marshmallows (left over from Halloween rice crispy treat ingredients!). And now I'm so ready for Christmas!



I don't know why I love Christmas so much, but it is just my absolute favorite time of the year. Even though the weather sucks (come on, why can't it just snow if its going to be cold and wet?!), and I have no money to buy good gifts for everyone, I just love it. The decorations, the food, the shopping, the food, the family get-togethers, the planning, the fun events, the food, etc. I've always been single during the holidays (or...always...) and so I'm even more excited to have a special someone to share the holidays with this year! Makes it even better! Although coordinating family holiday events is not exactly easy...

To kick off the Christmas shopping season this year I may even do some Black Friday shopping. Why, you ask? I have no idea. I hate Black Friday shopping. But I don't have to work Friday (at least I don't think I do....schedules are subject to change at any given time at my work) and figure maybe I can snag some good deals. Although I may end up murdering people because I don't really like malls at normal times of the year, much less when they are FULL of PSYCHOS. But, I'm all about the budget shopping, and what better time to do it? Plus, I need some socks.



P.S. Google image search "Elf." There are some interesting things out there. Especially this.