Good News!

On Friday Nick had his board of evaluators. This meeting was to determine whether or not he passed his finals. I know he was nervous and so was I. He called me on the way home to tell me that he passed with flying colors! MPO (Master Police Officer) Mann was his evaluator and he said that Nick was "pretty good," which is very high praise coming from Mann, apparently. That night Nick was given his own squad car and was pretty much on his own. MPO Mann showed up at a few of his calls, but Nick did everything on his own and that is the way it will be from now on. Nick was on cloud 9 and still is, while I . . . well I am nervous, but I know it will just take a little while to get used to the idea of Nick being by himself. He can handle it, but it's still a bit nerve-wracking. Now we begin the rest of his probationary period, which will end at around the last week of November.

In other news, I am on spring break and Nick has a few days off during this week, so we are going to be taking a few trips. Tomorrow we are going to Leavenworth (at least, that's the plan). We're going to take the scenic route and take lots of pictures and just be together, which is very exciting for us. We really need to get away. The real vacation begins on Thursday though. Nick will work Tuesday night and Wednesday night and then we are going to . . . wait for it . . . HOOD RIVER! Haha, like that's a big surprise to anyone who knows us. We always go to Hood River, but we always have a great time, so why break tradition? 

I almost booked us a last minute flight to Vegas, but with just 3 days off, it wasn't going to be enough time, especially since Nick's never been before. Instead, we will be staying in the historic Hood River Hotel for the millionth time. We got a great deal on a riverview room, which looks out onto the Columbia River. The Book Stop and Artifacts Books are on our to-do list, of course, along with the vintage clothing store and 3 Rivers Grill. But the thing I am most excited for is the ricotta blintzes at the Cornerstone Cafe in the hotel. Best breakfast ever! And now for some photos of our favorite vacation spot.

Here's Mount Hood, visible from anywhere in Hood River:

This is Multnomah Falls, one of the beautiful waterfalls on the way to Hood River:
This is part of downtown on the hill, looking toward the Columbia River:
This is the front of the Hood River Hotel, established in the early 1900s and voted one of the most romantic getaway places to stay in the Pacific Northwest:
Here's a view of downtown from the one of the surrounding hills:
A restaurant and bar on the hill. Behind this is the residential section of Hood River, where Nick and I are hoping to buy a vacation home one day:
The main street in Hood River:

The toll bridge connecting Oregon and Washington across the Columbia:

If you like history, museums, bookstores, antiques, and anything on the river (we love kayaking!), Hood River is a great place to go. We are so excited to go back!

Bee in my bonnet!

Cake ideas:

I would incorporate burgundy flowers into this cascading mass if I were to do a cake like this. 

I love the idea of having holly and evergreen bows on the cake. Even though this is a November wedding, Thornewood will be filled with Christmas trees and twinkle lights, so these decorations would fit.

Centerpieces:

This one is close to what I would like at our wedding. The candles and pine cones are a nice touch, but I would also add the coffee beans into the vases. I LOVE the smell of coffee!

If I could have any smell besides coffee at the wedding, it would be the smell of evergreen trees. What a pleasant and home-y scent to add to the festivities!

Bouquet:

Reds, burgundy, and holly

Favors:

These are similar to the favors I am going to make. The velvet will be burgundy or chocolate and the ends will be clamped with fall leaves or vintage costume jewelry. Even if the guest isn't a reader, this is an elegant and beautiful idea for favors, one that I hope may encourage a few of them to pick up a book . . . ahh, the English teacher in me. 

Something fun:

I was looking at hair styles for the wedding and came across this one from the movie Steel Magnolias, one of my mother's and my favorites. This was Shelby's (ie: Julie Roberts) bridal hair and, while a little too "Southern" for me, I do like the general concept of some pouf and a lot of curls.

These are the moments . . . just looking at this photo makes me tear up for the day that I will be leaving my Mar-Mar. She's my best friend and I am going to miss her (even though I will probably see her all the time and I know I will talk to her every day). I am even planning on bringing the kids and the dogs over for frequent sleepovers when Nick is working the graveyard shift. I will always be close to my family.

It's been too long since I browsed a bunch of wedding sites! I'm going to miss this diversion when I am married. But I am so excited to be Mrs. Pritchett!

Sneak Peek!

Here's THE dress! Just a quick preview of the gown before I walk down the aisle. I get excited just looking at it now! 243 days to go!

Angry-Face

Ok, how do you get your caterer to communicate with you like they are supposed to? Our contract was inaccurate so I emailed our caterer to get it fixed so I could sign it and send them the down payment. 2 weeks later, still no new contract . . . and I'm starting to get really angry. I want this nailed down so I don't have to worry about it anymore and I don't appreciate having to chase after them to get it done. NOT my job.

My job is dealing with my students, although in the last 3 weeks, I've taken 3 days off. One was for the anniversary of Nana's passing, one for a migraine, and one to spend time with Nick. We drove up to North Bend and had lunch at a really cute little restaurant. Then we went up to Snoqualmie Falls, did some kissing, and took the scenic way home. It was a really nice day; we don't get to spend enough time together anymore. Graveyard shift has been hard on us, although Nick is loving it and it's definitely better than swings when I didn't see him except for the 10-15 minutes I could stay awake to hear about his day when he got home at 11 pm. Now he is just working on getting enough good sleep. Since working ambulance in 24-hour shifts, his sleep pattern is really messed up and he wakes up very easily. As a result, he is sleeping all day long before his shifts, so I'm only seeing him for an hour or two every day. This is going to be a tough schedule when we have kids . . . 

In other news pertaining to Nick's job, we are only 3 weeks away from being off FTO, which means that Nick has almost passed this stage of observation and will soon be in his own squad car. He's very excited. I don't think about it so I can maintain my sanity. He's doing wonderful and I'm very proud of him!

2 Years!

Yesterday was our 2-year anniversary. It's been 2 years since the night we met, which makes this the longest relationship for both Nick and I. I can honestly say that it feels like we've been together forever; it feels like he's always been a part of my life. We're very blessed!

256 days until I am Mrs. Nicholas Pritchett!

Food!

Well, we had our tasting yesterday. It was a little strange! They send a chef out to your house to cook the menu for you. The food is mostly prepared, it just needs to be heated through. So the guy shows up to our house. He's very skinny, shaved head, and covered in tattoos. I have to say, I was a little nervous! After chatting with him for a while, we found out that he is a really nice guy and much less scary than his appearance suggested. 

Even better than him being a great guy, he is a wonderful cook. Mom, Jake, Nick, and I were served turkey, spiced apple stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes (not yams, but chunks of potatoes covered in a maple glaze-SO good!), and our mixed greens salad with candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, and pear vinaigrette. We also have corn and rolls on the menu, plus a smoked salmon appetizer and a cheese platter, which we didn't need to taste. We were very happy with the tasting and now I need to set up a time to pay the down payment and iron out our itemized contract. Woohoo!

Still to do:

*Appraisal for the rings

*Wedding bands for Nick and I

*Finalize our guest list (we're at 98 now-although we know some aren't coming)

*Save the date magnets and invitations

*Honeymoon stuff--we need a travel agent!

*Figuring out flowers

*Veil, shoes, undergarments

That's it for now . . . as far as I know. It's all so much to deal with!

Cute story (that has nothing to do with the wedding): I had all my 10th graders do a positives list. They had to write one positive thing about everyone else in their class. Then I compiled the lists for each student so that it was completely anonymous. At the end of each list, I wrote something special for each individual student. It took about an hour for every 5 students and I have about 85 kids, very labor-intensive. I read my note to each student at their request, which made many of them cry. At the end of 6th period, after I had read my notes, the kids surprised me with a positives list they had created for me. They had typed it up and put some clip art on it and then had it laminated. 

This gift is one that I get to cherish after I'm done with teaching, and for that I'm grateful. I truly have some wonderful kids this year. And part of that wonderfulness is the fact that they know I truly care about them. I want them to succeed and some of them had never had anyone believe in them like they know I do. It makes them shine and they actually try to do better. It's amazing what believing in someone can do for his or her confidence. Life lesson.

Tasting and other "stuff"

Our tasting with Gallucci's is set for Thursday at 5. Hopefully all goes well and we can get this booked and done.

We've also been looking at cruises for the honeymoon, but the more I look at that, the more I think that isn't the route I want to go. I don't want to spend a whole day at sea and not doing anything but hanging out on the boat with the hundreds of other people on the cruise. That doesn't sound romantic. I want to stay in Cozumel and go out to the Mayan ruins on more than one day. If we don't do Mexico, I want to go to Paris. Period. There are tons of flight and hotel deals that allow you to add on tours and secondary travel locations (London for a few days!). Europe is the dream and I'm going to really push for it. We can do a cruise anytime.

We just added our massage therapist to our list of guests. She came over today to give everyone massages and we showed her the dress. (Side note: I thought I was going to keep the dress under wraps and secret, but I've been showing everyone lately . . . ) She said she wanted to come to the wedding and my mom and I both said okay! She's so sweet and we just love her, so it makes sense to have her there. It's crazy how many people we've been able to add. This was supposed to be family only, but our "family" is a lot more extended than we realized!

Other, non-wedding news: Nick's brother Joel and his wife Cheryl are pregnant and they just found out that they are having a GIRL! Nick swore that Pritchett boys can only father boys, as there are only a few girls in the family on his dad's side. This is proof that it can be done. There's hope! We are all so excited now and I get to buy everything pink for them!