I definitely have not seen or heard any evil lately, as our lives are just full of events and fortunately, a lot of good news. However, it's definitely been a long time since I have spoken of anything on this blog, and I'm feeling the need to start things up again. Want a recap on the majors since May? Here it is:
Summer 2009We were so excited to move back into the Portland area, and realized right away, what a good decision it was. Our summer was full of friends, family, wedding planning,
wild b-day celebrations, others' weddings, the 80's, superheros, a
rodeo, and more...
Wedding Updates{ We chose a
venue! }
{ We have an awesome
wedding party! }
{ I bought my
dress!!!! }
At the end of June, we started searching, and finally when things were looking down, we (re)discovered the
Historic Octagonal Barn at
McMenamin's Cornelius Pass Roadhouse and . The name still makes me laugh every time I say it, because I think of
Roadhouse, the movie. Anyways, they say that you feel it... and that's pretty much been our motto this summer. I think we knew right away, or at least I did. It had everything we were looking for; top of that being the vibe (warm, charming, open & not overwhelming), and closely behind was $$ (they provide almost every item you'd normally have to rent, including all food/beverage & if you're familiar w/ McMenamin's you know the beverages are great). We've been back multiple times since, to have dinner & show others, and we've never doubted that we found the right location for us. I can't wait!
One of our visits back out there was to show our friends the location and ask them to be in our wedding party, which luckily they accepted. ;) We've had such a great summer with our friends & family and couldn't think of any better people to support us through this process.... BM: Jess' brother,
Taylor; MOH(s): Jess' sisters
Lindsay & Lacey (friend); and our great friends
Jesse, Trey, Geoffrey, Stefanie, Ashley & Lisa.
And the most recent update..... my
DRESS! Whoohoo! My first time trying on dresses occurred last week and it was such a great experience. I went in very skeptical and nervous, due to budget and the original idea I wanted to redesign/wear my Mom's dress; but it was an entirely different experience. My two mothers (own & future MIL) and my two MOH's joined me, and surprised me with wine & snacks. I will provide more details later on the experience and maybe dress designer... But, by the end of the night, I was in tears and so certain that I had found the dress that I wanted to wear on my wedding day. Again, back to the 'you'll feel when it's right' scenario. I am so lucky & excited! To end this little story, I will remind all why I want to marry this man.... a few hours before I went to the dress store Jeff called me to see how I was doing (he knew I was nervous), and immediately started giving me all these words of encouragement about how it was going to go; reminding me that I should have fun, not to worry, and find something that 'I' really love. He then made me promise that I would send him a picture of me in a dress (not 'the' dress, but any one, just so he could see). I just LOVE that guy! :)
Fall 2009Excitement thus far.... we're buying a
HOUSE!! We finally made the plunge in early September to start looking for a house, with the hope that we could take advantage of the first-time home buyer tax credit. All I can say is,
eye-opening! It looked really grim for awhile; anything really new was way outside our budget, and anything older (which we would've loved) needed WAY way way too much work for what we could do/afford in the near future. And then a month later, while driving around with Gail one afternoon, we found this:
{don't worry about the pink, it will be repainted this week to the blue below}
{courtesy of Behr paint} 
{love the last pic of Jeff and his Grandma!}Well, that's all I can squeeze in for now. You should be hearing more from me now.
Love ~J
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