Wisdom Wednesday

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per usual...my man, The Buddha, makes all the sense in the world.

enough said.

overthinking is the root of most of my problems in life. simplify simplify simplify!

President Obama for another 4 years AND the marriage amendment didn't pass in Minnesota!
 It was a great day yesterday - both for MN and for America! 

i've always believed we have both light and darkness in us....but it's up to US to choose which part we act on!

i love writing. plain & simple. it is my outlet.

i've learned to be quite good at avoiding drama. it's just not worth my precious time. :)

Voted!

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My fiance and I voted early this morning.. (GO US!)

and although I've never been very political....

this election has definitely made me more passionate on what I do and don't believe in.

I'm very fortunate that Andrew and I share the exact same political stance, 

especially on the amendments that matter the most.

We are proud Obama supporters! 

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We also voted NO on the voter ID Amendment. WHY?

 The amendment would stop students, people with housing instability, communities of color, people with disabilities, rural Minnesotans, older Minnesotans, active-duty service members, and veterans from having a voice in our democracy - and would eliminate absentee voting and same-day registration as we know it. 

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We also voted NO on the proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in Minnesota. WHY?

Voting no on this amendment isn't about politics for me. It's about allowing someone to marry the love of their life! It's about love....it's about two people being a family...and having the same rights as any straight couple. I get to marry the love of my life, and I can't imagine being told I wasn't allowed to because of people being incapable of change. If you don't vote no, you are contributing to the ever present judgement of people who are different from you. This isn't about sanity of marriage! The 50% of people getting divorced or having affairs doesn't ruin the sanity of marriage? Call it what it what it really is...discrimination! Judge people on the basis of their character, not the color of their skin, sexual orientation, or anything else that doesn't coincide with "societies standards." Two people in love with each other...whether it's a man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman...that's a BEAUTIFUL thing!

I also blogged about this a few months ago {here.}

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Whatever the turn out will be...

it's all left up to the American people.

NOW GO OUT AND VOTE!

Friday's Letters

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my pig and hot dog for Halloween :)

Dear fiance, oh my gosh...I get to call you my FIANCE! How cool is that?? Dear Bella and Zoë, you guys rocked your Halloween costumes like whoa! Well done you two. Dear money (or lack-thereof), I'm trying to plan a wedding, so it would be really nice if there was more of you. Dear Minnesota cold, I know that it's now November, but I'm really not ready for this cold weather! Dear home sweet home, due to the craziness of the past couple of weeks, it would be totally awesome if you learned to clean yourself. Just sayin'. Dear friends, Happy Hour was great yesterday. I am always in awe of how truly blessed I am to have such amazing and kick ass friends. Dear fiance, have I mentioned how excited I am to be marrying you? :)  

Oh, How Pinteresting

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things that have inspired me. . .

Birthdays, Concerts, Best Friends, Care Bears

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Not only did I just get engaged two weeks ago...

and if there wasn't enough excitement between the proposal, 

my fiance having surgery 10 hours after getting engaged...etc. etc. etc.

It was my 26th birthday last week,

my best friend and I went to a concert,

my (other) best friend visited from Colorado,

and it was Halloween weekend.

WHEW!

For my birthday, I just had my family and closest friends over to our condo for apps, wine, and food. I'm so blessed to have the people I have in my life...words cannot even describe it!

my fiance and parents :)

cake time!

I of course had to leave one candle lit for my fiance :)

my girls (wearing their Halloween costumes of course. Because...why not)

The next day, my best friend and I went to a Joshua Radin concert. Now, if you've never heard of him...stop reading this and go listen to his music! He's AMAZING! 

We went last year to see him, and were front row.
This year we found it more important to be able to be closer to the bar. Whoops.

This just had to be thrown in here...

and yes I'm that annoying woman who takes photos of her ring...

but I don't care. I'm a proud fiance!

Friday night, my other best friend, was visiting from Colorado.
Anytime I get to see her, my heart is just a little lighter. 

my sister/soul mate (yes I call my best friend my soul mate...because she is)

Great friends! :)

Saturday night was "Halloween night."

 And a group of my friends (8 to be exact)

 came up with the amazing idea to be....CARE BEARS! What a brilliant idea, right??

Cheer Bear, Daydraem Bear, Laugh-a-lot Bear, and Harmony Bear :)

We walked to bar dressed like this. YES...that happened.

Care Bears with Loofahs (they were great!!)

What a whirl-wind couple of weeks it has been!

Let the Wedding Planning Begin

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Now that we're engaged, we can officially begin planning our big day!

Now, if you know me at all, I'm a big planner and like to get things "done."

So of course, within just a week of being engaged:

• we visited three wedding venues
• set up a meeting with our videographer
• been in contact with four different photographers
• decided on our wedding party
• picked our color schemes 
• decided the theme for our wedding

Thankfully, my fiance agrees with everything thus far!
 (and has been pretty incredible and flexible despite having surgery almost two weeks ago)

Here's some inspiration I've found on {Pinterest} thus far. . .
We're going with a classic, yet modern theme... with perhaps some vintage details.

classic black & white

my fiance is jewish, and although we won't be having a traditional jewish wedding, we definitely want to add traditional elements...this is called a chuppah (prounounced "huppah") It essentially symbolizes the coming together of the bride and groom and the new home the couple will build together.

love the black and green details with white flowers.

i love the effortlessly chic look of this bride and groom.

baby's breath details.

black elements for the reception.

this is another jewish tradition, called the Horo (or chair dance) I'm pretty pumped for this, because..well...it's awesome.

I cannot wait to marry the love of my life,

and to soon become. . .

Mrs. Cathryn Ross

We're Engaged!

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What does four words, a ring, and a surgery have in common? 

Our engagement story!

*I've known Andrew was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with for years, but leave it up to him for having the most memorable engagement story to add to our crazy beautiful journey!*

It all started Tuesday morning when Andrew asked me if I wanted to take the girls to Minnehaha Falls Dog Park. He explained to me how it was going to be one of the last beautiful fall day’s in Minnesota and that we should take advantage of it. Ironically, I was having a not so good week and so I grumpily said sure.

So, after work we grabbed the girls and headed to the dog park

Andrew was right; it was an absolutely gorgeous fall day! 

Before I had any clue what was about to happen...

About half way through our walk, I was ahead of him, when he said, “Cathryn…” 

I turned around to see Andrew on one knee. *From that point on, it's a blur and a bit surreal*

From what I remember, Andrew said something along the lines of how much he loves me…that I’m the love of his life…that we can make it through anything…and that he wants to spend the rest of my life with me. I remember saying, “Is this REALLY happening?” And then he uttered those four perfect words,

“Will you marry me?”

At this point, I was crying and completely speechless. From what Andrew tells me, there was about a 10 second pause…when he finally goes, “You have to say yes or no babe!” After shaking, laughing, and crying… I of course said,“YES!” *like he had anything to worry about!*

I then looked down at my left finger and saw this beautiful, perfect ring staring back at me. I've always thought that it’s really not about the ring, but more of the symbolic meaning behind it…solidifying the fact that two people are committing the rest of their lives together. But WOW! My fiancé did good!

 It’s classic, yet modern. Which is pretty much me in a nutshell.

As we walked back through the dog park, I was in shock still. I kept staring at my brand new fiancé, and kept laughing and crying. I do remember saying to the girls,

“Your daddy finally made it official…you’re no longer bastard children!” haha

We got in the car and Andrew said we should call my parents. I knew my parents were going to freak out, because they've been waiting for this moment forever. Andrew then proceeded to tell me that he actually talked to my dad earlier that day to ask for his permission to marry his daughter. 

*insert more tears on my end* 

So although my parents knew it was most likely going to happen later that day, that didn't stop them from being completely overjoyed with excitement! When I hung up the phone…I'm pretty sure I heard my mom just start screaming with joy! We then proceeded to call the rest of our family and friends to tell them the perfect news! His mother and sister were the two that really brought happy tears to my eyes… his mom told me how from the moment I walked into their kitchen the first time I met them (nearly 7 years ago) she knew I would someday become Andrew’s wife....and how his sister kept telling me through her tears, that I love her brother more than she could ever ask for and how perfect we are together...it was like a dream.

*Funny side note: So before we went to the dog park (when I had no clue what was about to happen) we talked about how we needed to do a Target run…you know, to get fun stuff…like deodorant and socks. So we drove to Target while talking to everyone and sat in the Target parking lot for nearly 45 minutes while we finished our calls. We then proceeded to go into Target, while I couldn't stop laughing and staring at my ring…and taking pictures in the Target aisles. Totally normal, right?*

THAT happened.

The night ended with a couple of celebratory drinks with (most) of our closest friends! It was the most overwhelming and perfect day! As Andrew had put it before to me...

"I want the day we get engaged to be the third best day of your life. The second being when we get married and the first being when we have children." Well babe, you’re on the right track!

BUT….

The story doesn't end there. The night ended and we went home to cuddle up with our girls. Around 4:30AM though…I was awoken by my new fiancé complaining of lower right stomach pain. Now, if you know Andrew, he’s a bit of a Hypochondriac…always worried something is worse than it really is, so I didn't think anything of it. But about 20 minutes later, he tells me that he really thinks we should go to the hospital. So off we go to the ER at 5AM.

 Andrew suspected that it could be appendicitis, as the pain was coming from exactly where the appendix is. The hospital ordered a CT Scan and some blood work…and then we waited…and waited. 

The whole time we were laughing and being like “Really? Are we really in the ER only 10 hours after getting engaged?” We would laugh and tell all the nurses and doctors the big news that had just happened. They all found it highly entertaining needless to say!

Before we got the bad news.

Well, fast forward over four hours later, we find out…Andrew has appendicitis and needs to have surgery that afternoon.  What a punch to the gut. I felt horrible for Andrew who did NOT like the sound of surgery. I just wanted to be able to celebrate our engagement and not have to deal with the stress of surgery and everything that went along with it.

Thankfully the surgery went perfectly and he was in recovery by that night. And although ending up in the hospital for appendicitis is not ideal for anyone (let alone the day after getting engaged) that’s what love and family is all about. Being there through the ups AND downs.

We obviously didn't have a chance to announce our engagement on Facebook, but the morning after Andrew's surgery (2 days after we got engaged) Andrew surprised me by posting this. My fiance' is the sweetest! :)

Now that all the craziness is over, and once my fiancé heals, I can’t WAIT to start planning our big day!

I’m so blessed and excited to be marrying the love of my life! 

The future Mr. and Mrs. Ross!!