Rings & Noms & Beads ♥

Mondays, more often than not trigger this reaction from me:

[thank you, natalie dee]

Seriously. It's a 50/50 on whether or not I'll crawl home from the day or bounce out like a triumphant Olympian. Today, I came out on top :)

yes, we can! 

I received a phone call early on today that my ring [over which I've been mildly stressing] was finished and returned to the jeweler, now in the correct size that will stay put on my finger :). I gathered Sydni up after work and together we went in for the pick-up. I handed off the $4 temporary ring I'd been wearing to Sydni, and immediately realized she needed one her own size.

And so we did :)

hers... & mini hers! ♥

She loves it. And I love.. that she loves it. She's too stinkin' cute for her own good.. sheesh.

At home, it was dinner: Chicken, potatoes and spinach. I seriously don't know what people do without staple foods!

it's now gone. every bit of it. ;) 

After dinner, Sydni and I went to work on one of the fun things Rob & I picked up for her at Ikea over the weekend. I had one of these as a kid, and I could bet there are still little plastic beads tucked in the nooks & crannies at my parents' house.

in progress.... 

We meticulously placed these, and when done, I broke out the iron and heat paper to create the final product: a heart medallion and one happy little goober:

syd.. that cheesy smile... i just... i love you ;) ♥

Syd, kiddo you're hilarious.
Thank you for making me smile - you have no idea how much we love you!

For the rest of my blogbots out there, happy Monday! Make it a great week!!

xo | cmd

I. SAID. YES!

Today was.... LOADED.

Holy friggin' COW, ya'll... I'M ENGAGED!!!!

Nononono....

WE .. are ENGAGED!!!!!!

WHAT?! YES... I SAID YES!!

Let me slow down for a moment and start at the beginning of what is now officially one of the greatest days of my life:

First things first, Santa - bless his jolly soul and all the overtime he's putting in this year ;) - well, he made another stop as expected last night here to the Dren Lodge, and what Sydni found under the tree this morning was a stockpile of wrapped goodies!

santa was here!!!! :D 

As is customary with Christmas presents, very little time was wasted before it was all hands on deck for the mass demolitions of paper, bows and packaging. Fortunately, Sydni's got a firm understanding of the "take turns" concept, which is very difficult to follow when it comes to spoils from Santa - I was very proud of her patience this morning!

nana & pappy took their turns :) 

sydni's biggest gift - a 4.5 ft tall dollhouse! O.o 

To say that Sydni was beside herself is a HUGE understatement; even we were impressed with the elaborate design - and size! - of this dollhouse that my sister and parents found asked Santa to get Sydni :) :).

Here's the part I did NOT see coming. I usually have a pretty good intuition about these things, and it is very difficult to surprise me [it's a curse more than a blessing, most of the time], but my man delivered and managed to blast my expectations of the day completely out of the park.

Guys Guys Guyssssss.....

♥WE ARE ENGAGED!!♥

How it happened [an entirely "us" story, too]:
I stood with Rob's arm around my shoulder as we watched my mom & Sydni tear into the dollhouse box. Dad, off to the side, had purposefully removed himself from the pit of the action, a move I of course didn't find peculiar. Rob kissed the side of my unceremoniously bunned up head and said, "I love you," as we often tell each other. I thought nothing of it, even when he repeated the phrase and hugged me tighter. I smiled at noone in particular, engrossed in the bliss of being with my family, in my parents' home, celebrating Christmas.

And then came out the box. He pulled it casually out of his pocket and held it in front of my face, to which I did what every movie-perfect recipient of a diamond ring does:

I cupped my perfectly-manicured hands over my pristinely-madeup face and nodded an emphatic Yes, YES! while tears welled up against my life-proof mascara, backed by the frizz-free, symmetrical waves of my red carpet hair. 

Uh.... yeah.

So what happens in real life in situations like this looked a lot more like what actually went down here this morning:

He held out the ring. I immediately started crying, but not the type of crying that makes you wish you looked like Rachel McAdams from The Notebook. Nope. The kind of crying I did was more like the ugly crying that Fat Amy does in Pitch Perfect when Bumper hits her with a flying burrito.

yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes &....... yes. 

That's not an exaggeration. I buried my makeup-free [thank HEAVENS] face into Rob's shirt and sobbed. Snot and all. This is life, guys. This is real life. I bawled, for lack of a more sane response, because I could not process the idea that this man wanted to commit everything in him to one person for as long as he walks this planet.. and that that one person is somehow... me.

xbox one controller | dollhouse piano | engagement ring
looks like we all got the best for this year! ♥♥♥

I cried. Mom, who is more the emotional basket-case in the feely situations, stopped what she was doing and started crying. That's now two of us ugly crying. Sydni, who's now been left to her own devices to destroy the dollhouse packaging, slips and cuts [the.tiniest.cut.ever,btw..] her finger on a stray cardboard edge, and starts her crying, for the obvious & entirely unrelated reason. Dad, who by this point doesn't know if he's tearing up because of the engagement or because of Sydni, just stands there in between the two decisions.

Rob,
This is our life... welcome to it ♥♥
Hahaha... This was exactly how everything transpired, and in hindsight several hours later, I can honestly say that I would not have changed it. I'm one heck of a lucky girl, and when it actually hits me that I'm marrying this insanely amazing guy, I'll really start freaking out :).

For now, it was a morning to be envied here at The Dren Lodge: Mom's breakfast, followed by the sun pouring in through the gable windows to illuminate a Christmas morning marked by the sounds of my happy family.

dad & sydni : card games! 

Thanks to Rob's dedication to the cause for three hours, the dollhouse was finally erected and moved to its home in Sydni's room. The addition of nearly four boxes of my Barbie stuff from my younger years completed the furnishing of the new house, which was complete with a campground, thanks to the tents, grills and miscellaneous outdoor accessories. 

the house. + side garage. +campground. 

^ Oh, and the cards were moved outside to of course accomodate the horses, which obviously took precedence in residing in the garage stable. She's my mother's grandchild, I can say that much ;).

Mom & Dad took a short trip out together to complete a few errands and one of Mom's petsitting stops; we stayed back to hold down the fort, which added to the perfectly made-up agenda for today.

tickle. giggle. belly laugh.
repeat. 

[just] hangin' out @ the dren lodge! ♥

I'm still not over today. I won't be for a very long time.
I'm here in the house that [literally] built me, in which another irreplaceable memory was made today. I wouldn't have chosen any other place on planet earth for that to happen, but I didn't know that until it happened today. I'm here now, nestled in a bundle of blankets and tiny toes, surrounded by my family. This is perfect.

Good night from here, and from the proud-to-be future Mrs. Stokes! ;)
[it'll set in, eventually!]

xo | cmd

I'm Awesome At Shopping!

.. That's a total lie. I'm about as good at shopping as I am at basketball.

& ice hockey.

& juggling hand grenades.

& cooking any sort of red meat.

You get it.

Shopping ≠ My strong suit.
It's okay.

Anyway, today after work, I embarked on day 1 of my mission to find a "semi formal" dress for the event I'm attending next weekend. I'm not a dressy girl by nature, so that in and of itself was the first hurdle. I figured it wouldn't be hard at all to find a piece to fit the bill.

 

Either I'm insanely picky, or I just... honestly... do not know how to do this.

^ found that online somewhere, made me laugh.. totally applicable.

So to my frustration this evening at dress shopping, and to the actual idea of dressing up in the first place, I say... not now. Just. Not. Now. I'll deal with you tomorrow. For now..

Here are some things that make me happy, that share my affinity for craftiness and avoiding big stores unless absolutely necessary. I'm drafting Christmas present ideas.

1. Jewelry. I have a lot of women [& men, too] in my family who admire and appreciate fun, quirky accessories. I just.. I have this really hard time spending exorbitant amounts of money on things unless there's an appropriate occasion [not saying that Christmas is anything less than that, however]; I simply like to give a lot, to a lot, so frugality is never a bad thing. 


via Tzunuum, Etsy
fun. definitely could add my own spin on it.

adore.

no, not mine... but doable.

... and so forth.

2. Scarves! I went on a huge knitting spree two years ago - remember that? Well, at the time I found a blog that I started obsessing over; it was one of those tutorial blogs that shows you how to knit and all that jazz. I found pictures [since I'm too lazy to go find the ones I took sporadically in 2011] of each of my four favorite stitches I learned and completed. I think.... it's gonna be another knitting year!

bring on the needles & yarn! i just got excited again...


3. Foooooooood. Duh. Food. I'd be here until next Christmas if I tried telling you all my favorite goodies for the holiday season, but I think at the top of that list is something I also learned while in Illinois: Gorilla Bread. It's a curse that I have no need for recipe instruction, but that I can recall it from memory. Pretty sad. Haha. Whatever.. I will be making mini versions of this for.... all ya'll this year. Be ready. Be hungry.


drooling already.

... So maybe my failed attempt at shopping today was a good thing, after all. I just caught my second wind of inspiration to actually do some of this stuff this year.

Gears are turnin'....

xo | cmd

Diamonds & Delusions

I’m not bragging when I post this. Well, I am, but not in the way you’d be inclined to think. I know there are bigger, flashier rings out there. The thing is, I don’t like flashy, and if the circles on my finger were any bigger, I would feel pretentious. The ring on my hand and the man who gave it to me are both perfect, for me. ‘Nuff said.

♥

I’m not going to call this bragging. I’m going to call this an expression of pride in the blessings God has given me, my family, and my life. As a little girl, I was blessed with parents who taught me that the core of a marriage shouldn’t start with the seeds of materialism. Presents are fun, but they don’t offer an inkling of a substitute for raw emotion, genuine love, and unwavering loyalty. An object-focused lifestyle can only accommodate the body, not the soul. My parents showed me that truth. I know now that while the flowers are beautiful, the dinners out are delicious, and jewels are exquisite, there is nothing like knowing that the ring on my finger represents so much more than metal and gems.

Today, I’m sick. Literally. I have some sort of weird cold thing that won’t leave me alone, and so far hasn’t shown any mercy. My daughter is starting to get a runny nose, and my husband – my truly inspiring husband – is five states away working his tail off to make the cut for the Air Force Soccer team. It’s a little lonely here, but I don’t, for even a millisecond, have to second-guess the validity of my marriage. I’m blessed.

With this ring, we did wed.
With this ring, we did promise.

With this ring, we are leading our family.
With this ring, we dedicate our lives to being godly examples to each other and the world.
With this ring, we are: Mr. & Mrs. Dills.

Thank you to our parents, our friends, our church family, and those we’ve known at any point that are other outstanding examples of love’s power to dispel the material myths. You are inspiring to us, and we know that your blessings are a result of what you do and who you are.

*Just thought I would share.

xo | cmd