I know you all want to hear Ben's voice on this one too...

*What are your middle names?

Ann and Scott-I concur

*How long have you been together?

4 years, since my Senior year in high school. By the time we get married it will be almost 5!

*How long did you know each other before you started dating?

We have known of each other since Middle School but we started working together about 2 years before we started dating.

*Who asked who out?

Ben definitely asked me out. He was so shy when he did it (Chipotle before play practice)!-I like to think of it as being "cautious." And I wasn't sure if she liked to eat food.

*Whose siblings do you see the most?

Even though we live in different states, we definitely see mine more, since Ben's brother lives in Boston.

*Do you have any children?

Nope! But we can't wait to start a family when we move back to Cali! Not that either of us know of.

*What about pets?

Neither of us are big animal people...

*Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?

Right now it's definitely the distance. Even though we've done this for three years, it doesn't really get any easier! At least not until recently. We're in the homestretch now!

*Did you go to school together?

Middle and High School

*Are you from the same hometown?

Kind of, same area

*Who is the smartest?

We're both pretty smart, but I'd have to say him. He's more booksmart than I could ever hope to be! My kids will be born smarter than me, I'm sure. Clearly, she's emotionally smarter. Booksmarts are overrated. Our kids are going to be a world of compassionate, and it's all coming from her.

*Who's the most sensitive?

I'd have to say me, my feelings get hurt easily and I take things personally.

*Where do you eat out most as a couple?

When we're together I'd have to say Freebirds (employee discount!!)

*Who has the craziest ex?

Huh. I think we both know we tie in this area. Don't let her lie to you. She does.

*Who has the worse temper?

I don't really think either of us has a temper, but if we're talking about which one gets the most frustrated first, it'd be me. She does.

*Who does the cooking?

Ben will, since it's a passion of his. He LOVES to grill. Unless we're eating enchiladas. <3

*Who is more social?

We both have the same personality this way--we both can carry on a conversation at a party with people we don't know, but we'd rather not. We're content with each other and other anti-social people =)

*Who is the neat freak?

LOL Ben, absolutely, but only with a few particulars. Like shoes on my bed.

*Who is more stubborn?

No question, Me. Definitely me.

*Where was your first date?

Chipotle, in Redlands.

*Who has the bigger family?

Me, by 4. A biased question. I have the quieter family. Isn't that work anything?

*Do you get flowers often?

Yes! Ben is really great about this. Never ='(

*How do you spend the holidays?

Right now we do all three families in one day. Not sure how this year will work. Wrapping presents in our amazing new wrapping paper and decorating our apartment in our new discount decorations. We win.

*Who is more jealous?

? I don't really think this has been a problem. Me. For sure.

*How long did it take to get serious?

Maybe a year? I think after a year we both knew we were in it for good. About a week. When you find one this good you gotta lock it up.

*Who eats more?

Ben By about a monster and a half.

*Who's better with the computer?

We work well together: I'm better with Macs and he's better with PCs. I'm better with computers, she's better with Facebook.

*Who drives when you are together?

Ben, most of the time. Driving can make me nervous. Me, with lots of coaching from her.

Flowers!!!!

Today, Pauline, Ashley and I went to the LA Flower District to look at flowers for my wedding. I've been wanting to see if it would be cheaper to do them myself (with the help of my bridesmaids) or if the convenience of having someone else do them was worth it.  After not being able to find very many of the actual flowers I wanted, I decided I liked these dusty deep red roses. Ashley found this amazing greenery that I had seen on TheKnot.com a lot recently and I've also always really liked these coffee bean looking type berries.

I wanted to make my bridal bouquet, a bridesmaid bouquet and a boutonnière if possible. I'll reveal how much it was later ;)

All of the materials laid out!

I stripped the roses while Pauline wired them. She was SO helpful when it came to putting these together--she used to work for a florist and so she knew all of these tricks--like wireing the roses so the heads on the roses didn't droop.

Pauline starting on my bouquet.

Almost done!

These are what the groomsmen's boutineers will look like. It looks like there's a rose attached, but there isn't. It was just lying on the table. I thought the berries looked really elegant with the green. Very simple and not too girly for the guys =)

Ben's boutinnere. His will be the only one with a rose, and the rose in it will be cut from my bouquet. Very special.

Ashley with her bouquet! After we took this, we actually cut down the stems so it's much shorter now.

Me with my finished bouquet! We will definitley be wrapping all the bouquets with orange and red ribbion, and putting pear stick pins up the sides of both. I haven't decided whether or not I want to keep the bows or not.

Very successful outing! Any guesses as to how much for all? You'll never guess. $17!! 24 roses were $10 and the greenery and berries were $7. I guess we know what we're doing. FTW.

How happy is the blameless vessels's lot; the world forgiving by the world forgot.

I posted this on 12/7/08 and re-read it today. It's unbelievable to read it and see where I was only a few short months ago compared to how I feel today:

Sometimes I marvel at the amount of hurt in the world. It's amazing to me that we're so readily capable of it, and it makes sense to me that the earth not be a contained physical element--we'd clog it up with all of our emotional crap.

It seems everyday I am hearing something else that makes me think, "That's the worst thing I've ever heard," only to be outdone not 24 hours later. I read about how prevalent cancer is, I see how quickly people sever loyalties, I hear things I should never have heard.

"The dark night of the soul" is not uncommon, or so I read. I'm slowly coming out of it, like a child from a closet who has been hiding from a parent-not too sure I want to come out, not sure I want to see Him again. Which is ironic since I have felt like God has been hiding from ME. I believe that this sorrow I feel in general and personally can be conqured by small steps-bringing cookies to people who need to smile more often, turning the car arond to give that kid who's having trouble walking in 24 degree weather a ride to class. They are small things, but they are something.

People seem so messy, so violent, so unpredictable, so harsh. It almost made me cry to see it snow today. There are not many things that make me gape and wonder, but this did. I was in awe to see something fall so softly, so quiet, so beautiful. It's a gift Texas gave me, a good omen.

Everything you ever wanted to know about us

I definitely stole this from Punk Rock Mom and Amy =)

*What are your middle names?

Ann and Scott

*How long have you been together?

4 years, since my Senior year in high school. By the time we get married it will be almost 5!

*How long did you know each other before you started dating?

We have known of each other since Middle School but we  started working together about 2 years before we started dating.

*Who asked who out?

Ben definitely asked me out. He was so shy when he did it (Chipotle before play practice)!

*Whose siblings do you see the most?

Even though we live in different states, we definitely see mine more, since Ben's brother lives in Boston.

*Do you have any children?

Nope! But we can't wait to start a family when we move back to Cali!

*What about pets?

Neither of us are big animal people...

*Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?

Right now it's definitely the distance. Even though we've done this for three years, it doesn't really get any easier! At least not until recently. We're in the homestretch now!

*Did you go to school together?

Middle and High School

*Are you from the same hometown?

Kind of, same area

*Who is the smartest?

We're both pretty smart, but I'd have to say him. He's more booksmart than I could ever hope to be! My kids will be born smarter than me, I'm sure.

*Who's the most sensitive?

I'd have to say me, my feelings get hurt easily and I take things personally.

*Where do you eat out most as a couple?

When we're together I'd have to say Freebirds (employee discount!!)

*Who has the craziest ex?

Huh. I think we both know we tie in this area.

*Who has the worse temper?

I don't really think either of us has a temper, but if we're talking about which one gets the most frustrated first, it'd be me.

*Who does the cooking?

Ben will, since it's a passion of his. He LOVES to grill.

*Who is more social?

We both have the same personality this way--we both can carry on a conversation at a party with people we don't know, but we'd rather not. We're content with each other and other anti-social people =)

*Who is the neat freak?

LOL Ben, absolutely, but only with a few particulars.

*Who is more stubborn?

No question, Me.

*Where was your first date?

Chipotle, in Redlands.

*Who has the bigger family?

Me, by 4.

*Do you get flowers often?

Yes! Ben is really great about this.

*How do you spend the holidays?

Right now we do all three families in one day. Not sure how this year will work.

*Who is more jealous?

? I don't really think this has been a problem.

*How long did it take to get serious?

Maybe a year? I think after a year we both knew we were in it for good.

*Who eats more?

Ben

*Who's better with the computer?

We work well together: I'm better with Macs and he's better with PCs.

*Who drives when you are together?

Ben, most of the time. Driving can make me nervous.

Back again

Flying back to California last night was one of the roughest times I've had. In terms of how things usually go when I fly back, I was much more emotional, not really being able to keep myself from crying once I was checked in.

When I arrived at DFW last Thursday, Ben greeted me with a big smile and a "Welcome home!" I really am starting to feel like Dallas is my home. Coming back was more of a drudgery than a pleasure, even though it's my birthday on Sunday. I love my family and friends here, but I miss Ben so badly. Only about 3 more months until I can be out with him for good. I can't wait, even if I have to waitress for the first few months and it means we eat Freebirds and pizza every other day =)

The apartment saga continues!

 The bathroom:

We couldn't believe how big the tub was! The best part is that it's a shower too. I love tubs that are designed like this because I have more room--I don't feel like I'm showering with the shower curtain.

Also, don't let this medicine cabinet fool you, it was SO DEEP! This was a common theme carried out thorugh the entire apartment--cabinet space, with deep deep room. It's great. 

The kitchen...

was very quaint and perfect size. After the kitchens in Crestview, anything seems huge.

We really liked the fact that this apt comes with a fridge, stove and microwave. The only thing we have to come up with on our own are a washer and dryer. We're thinking we could easily do that. So exciting!!!

Dreams becoming reality

I can't express how exciting it feels to be counting down the days until I'm in Dallas. Here's a picture of Ben and I at my favorite chicken finger place--Raising Cane's! This was right after he picked me up at the airport. I'd been asleep for 3 hours (my flight was at 6:15am Cali time) and it was already time for lunch! After this we went back to Ben's apartment where he caught up on some homework while I slept for a bit. Then we went to Half-Price Books in Dallas near SMU so I could sell some books and buy some more (our favorite thing to do).

Today, we went apartment shopping. Since I'll be moving here right aft

er graduation, we have to start looking now. This is the last trip out to Dallas that I'l

l take before I move out.  All that to say this was our only chance to check out apartments together! We are trying to stay pretty local so we can commute easily no matter where we work. We decided to look in Plano, a suburb of Dallas. First we went to Hunter's Glen.

They were okay. We decided that since these were the first ones we were looking at, these could be our fallback. On the advice of our friend Jake, we checked out the cars in this complex. They were on par with cars one would find at a college. All in all, this one was a maybe.

Next we went to Madison at Chase Oaks.

The gate required a remote so we had to go inside and meet with a leasing person. We gave her all of our preferences and she showed us a 1 bed/1 bath unit.

This was the outside of the apartments. The complex was full of nice cars =)

This is one view of the 1 bed/1 bath. It was small, but we expected that. Something like this in CA would easily go for $900 a month. The price as it stands right now is $630/month. In this picture, Ben is standing in the dining room. The wall to his left are mirrors to make it look bigger. You might be able to tell if you click on the pic so it enlarges, but the crown molding was what impressed me in this unit.

This is the bedroom. I loved the big window here, and especially loved the walk-in closet. It was pretty good size as well. The picture below is the same room, only the view from the closet. The door on the left leads to the living room and kitchen and the one on the right leads to the bathroom.

We LOVED this apartment. I had actually wanted one with a fireplace. The units on the third level have these, and we did go to see it. The fireplace was weirdly placed and the washer and dryer were in the entryway. I'd post the rest of the pictures of this apartment right now, but it's 11:47 Texas time and I'm exhausted! More tomorrow!