The Hunt Begins

This past weekend was a busy one. My best friend from college, Kerby came for a visit. On Friday, we went to the casino and I won $50.00!!! I was super excited about that.

On Saturday, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to drag our butts to Atchison for the launch of the BodyPump class at the Y. It was a great class, but my body was so shakey and I was SO sore.

After the class, we headed to Seneca so I could try on wedding dresses! I was very nervous and unsure of what to expect. The two ladies there were very helpful and put me in some goregous dresses. I explained which parts of each dress I liked and they decided on "the dress" that I wanted. They put me in "the dress" and didn't tell me how much it cost. Well, of course I fell in LOVE with the dress and its WAY out of my budget! This little beauty is about $1,300.

Kerby and I left the bridal shop, and I'll admit I was a bit disappointed. Here, I found this dress that I love and it is way out of my budget. When when returned home I started googling dresses that are simlar the the Adorae. I'm happy to report that DaVinci makes a dress that is very similar for about $800.

The weekend ended with an afternoon at the Topeka Bridal Fair on Sunday. I didn't win anything, but I did get lots of great info.

Announcing Our Engagement

Riley proposed the day before the last day of school before Christmas Break. (Does that make sense? Read it slow, that helps me!) I was excited to share my news with my students.

When my 8th graders came in, I handed each one of them a word scramble and let them solve it. The first person in my class to figure it out was a sweet girl named Carly. I'll never forget what she did. She looked at me, she looked back at the paper, she ran up to me and asked, "Is this for real, Ms. Wellman?!" So priceless!

I had SO much fun seeing my students' reactions to my little secret message. I have 6 different classes and they all had such fun reactions. They were so excited for me!

One boy, sitting at the back table, came up to me at the front of the classroom and high-fived me and said, "You Go Girl!" Of course, all the girls wanted to know the story with all the details; they oooed and awwed. They all wanted to see the "Bling" and made the connection that he must be "rich" because his name is Richling and he got "big bling!" :)

It was so much fun and a great way to end the semester before enjoying Christmas break with my fiance.

It's Not Official Until It's Facebook Official

As everyone knows, nothing is official until it's Facebook official, at least in today's world. I was very excited to make our engagement official by announcing it to Facebook. I couldn't do it right away because we had to make sure that all of our family knew. I had to work the following day, so I went to work and gave Riley that responsibility. While I was at school teaching, Riley made sure to tell the last few family members that we didn't want to call so late at night the prior evening.

Once I got the okay from Riley, I was ready to post!

My big announcement said:
Riley always gives me a hard time about my lowest grade in college, which was a B+ in Marriage and Family. Well, apparently a B+ is good enough for him because he proposed!!! :D

Wedding Planning-The Very Beginning Stage

I have started planning and I have a to-do list a mile long.

Cathy, the librarian at the middle school, gave me this awesome magazine. My FIRST wedding magazine. Let the planning begin.

source

To update you, over the weekend Riley and I went and met with our photographer, Lisa Marie. We got lots of good info and saw awesome products that we want to buy. Cost is obviously a factor, a huge factor actually. Riley said he would sell plasma-haha what a caring fiance!

Today was MLK Day, so we enjoyed a 3-day weekend. We did get the reception hall booked. It was actually a little less than expected, so that was a nice surprise. We also worked on some small DIY projects together.

I never knew that wedding planning could be this overwhelming. I think I've already suggested eloping several times already ;) I'm excited to be planning and am having fun searching for ideas.

Bridal Show Winner

I went to Manhattan to visit Riley this weekend. On Sunday, I drug him to a Bridal Fair. Actually, I really didn't have to drag him which was very surprising :)

I wasn't feeling very well all morning. I spent most of the morning in my pjs with an upset tummy. I took a little nap and we headed to the Bridal Fair at about 2:00. Throughout the fair, I wasn't feeling much better but I did make it to the 4:00 fashion show... well kind of. In the middle of the fashion show, I got sick. I almost made it to the bathroom, but was slightly mortified as I threw up in the lobby and all over in the bathroom. :S

After, I felt much better and was determined to make it through the fashion show because they were giving away DJs at the end. I didn't win a DJ, but I did win a PHOTOGRAPHER. Riley and I were so excited. Every photographer we saw at the fair was way out of our price range. I was secretly dreaming that we could afford photographers like the ones we saw. Then my name was called for an $800 photography package.

2 of a Kind Design Photography

These two ladies are the photographers who gave away such an awesome package!

I'm very excited for them to shoot our wedding!!!

Photo Source

Date Set

Riley and I have a date set for the big day!

We met with Father Earl on December 27th. It is very important to me to be able to get married in the church that I grew up in. We will be tieing the knot on the 1st of June in 2013. That gives us plenty of time to plan and hopefully time for me to find a job closer to him.

We (probably mostly me) have lots to do before the big day. I'm very excited and I'm sure it will be perfectly organized with a hint of chaos :)

The Proposal

This is definitely a story I don't want to forget...

On Sunday afternoon, I helped Riley to load his car to head back to Manhattan for the week. I watched him drive off, thinking he was headed back so he could work the next day. Little did I know, he had surprise plans for the following day. Instead of going to Manhattan, he went back to his parents’ house.

The next day, I was staying after school to help students with missing homework assignments. At about 4:00, I turned on my phone and saw a text message from Riley saying, "Do you have a warm coat with you?" Needless to say, I was confused so I text back saying "At school? Yes." Riley sent a text saying "Well put it on and lets go!" More text messages were exchanged with me questioning what they heck was going on and Riley not giving any details. I knew something was up, so I got my things ready to go and rushed my last student out by 4:30.

When I reached the school parking lot, Riley was there waiting for me. He asked for my GPS and put in an address, but wouldn't let me see where we were going. I started looking around the car to try to figure out where they were going. In the backseat of the car were several of my coats, a pair of jeans, tennis shoes, boots, and gloves.

Riley drove me to Kansas City. I requested that we eat at Taco Bell on the way because I was starving to death. (We laugh a lot about this choice now, because Riley took me to Taco Bell for our 5 year anniversary last year.) I really had no idea where we were going the entire time as I'm not familiar with Kansas City. He ended up taking me to The Plaza. The drive was rainy, but he was hoping it would turn to snow so they could take a horse carriage ride and he could propose then. Instead, we walked around The Plaza looking at the Christmas lights in the rain. I had an umbrella so I was quiet content, but Riley did not. Eventually after a cold and wet walk, we stopped in front of a fountain. Riley got down on one knee in the pouring rain and asked (twice!) if I would marry him. I said YES!

Perfection--Yes!!!
(My best friend proposed with a gorgeous ring in the pouring rain.)


Chaos--Yes!!!
(The rain ruined his snowy carriage ride plans.

The check engine light came on in his car and we had to stop at a gas station in the ghetto so he could get a quart of oil.

Nobody would answer my phone calls to tell our news.

The weather back home was getting bad, so the drive home was a bit stressful and very long.)

Hello 2012!

One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to start and maintain a personal/family/life blog.

Riley proposed on December 19, 2011 and we are very excited to start the next chapter in our lives. I hope to use this blog to share the ups and downs, laughs and screams, perfections and chaos as we begin merging our lives together.

Currently, Riley is finishing up his degree at Kansas State University majoring in agromony. He is set to graduate in May of 2013.

I'm teaching math and reading to 8th grade students. I'm hoping to find a new job for next school year closer to Riley.

"Perfectly Organized Chaos"

I chose this name for my blog because it just seemed to fit my personality. I love everything to be perfect and organized. However, no matter how much I plan there always has to be a little chaos involved!