hot one day, snowy the next!

for the past few days i've been in sundance, utah - a resort owned by robert redford, in the middle of the mountains in ski country.  its beautiful!  so nice to see "new england" foliage, since in san francisco the colors never change, and neither does the season, really.  i'm not complaining but it is nice to see something that reminds you of home every once in a while.

as we drove in to the resort, the view was so beautiful - 80 and sunny too!

then, the next day, the weather did a complete 180 and it was a huge snowstorm, something else i havent seen since living back east (but i'm OK with that!!)

 

maybe if things go according to plan, i'll get snowed in :)

colors!

my cous courtney is an inspiration to any bride planning her wedding - check out her blog here: http://courtneyandjohnforever.blogspot.com/

every detail was taken care of from the color scheme to the flowers to the steel drum band and it was perfect!

now as i move along in the planning process i am starting to look in to colors as well - if before october, i'm thinking of these:

this is inspired by the beach roses i love so much that remind me of summers by the shore.

 

the engagement!

here's the details!

i travel a lot for work - by a lot, i mean a LOT - i'm gone sometimes a few days a week for a few weeks each month, and my schedule hasn't gotten much better...


so this being said, pat told me to clear my schedule for last friday (9/18) and that he was going to take me out to dinner.  i thought this was a little odd, since this rarely happens (not that we don't go out, but not so planned ahead), but didn't think too much of it and instead got excited for a night on the town with my love.  

on that friday i got my work done and set to cleaning the apartment, which had my stuff all over the place, from packing and unpacking suitcases, unopened mail, etc.  pat's golf clubs were also left out from the day before, as he had a tournament, so i heaved them back in to position in our very "page" organized front closet - it was no easy feat!


when pat got home, i was getting ready and he asked where his golf clubs were - i told him i put them in the front closet and he said ok, i want to put them in the garage, which i thought was strange - didn't he know how much it took for me to put them back in the closet?  :).

when he returned, i was all ready to go and he asked if i wanted to go up to the rooftop - our roof overlooks the san francisco bay and the golden gate bridge, along with the whole city skyline - for once, there was no fog and it was a perfectly clear night.  when we got up there, i saw candles and i got a little nervous, saying "i think someone's already up here!"  he continued to lead me to the ledge where as we got closer, i saw a bottle of champagne we've been saving for almost a year, for a special occasion...that's when i got nervous!  next thing i knew, pat was on one knee saying wonderful things (all i remember hearing was "san francisco" - as my listening skills shut down because i was in shock!) - and he pulled the ring box out of his pocket, put a gorgeous ring (the perfect one!) on my finger and i could not have been any happier!  i was in shock, smiling, crying, just so happy....  pat opened the bottle of champagne and popped the cork all the way across the street, we had some champagne with a gorgeous view, enjoyed the moment, then with shaky legs, made our way back down the stairs to our apartment. 

although we both live in San Francisco, our families and friends all live back east, so pat did this early enough so we could call my parents and his before it was too late, so we got back in and made 2 special phone calls (received with cheers and happiness from both ends!), and next thing you know, we had a limo waiting for us to take us to a great jazz restaurant, Bix, located in downtown SF.

it was the most perfect night of my life and thinking about it still puts a smile on my face.  :)

about us...

pat and i met at the university of rhode island during our freshman year in 1999.  i lived in a dorm where many of my guy friends pledged the same fraternity as pat, and we became friends through our mutual friends.  neither one of us remembers how we actually ever were introduced to each other, but what we do remember is that from the moment we met, we never forgot each other.

pat and his roommate phil "regis philbin" decandido were my friends all through college and it was always fun catching up with them on the weekends or on campus, all the way through graduation in 2003.

after URI we all went our separate ways - i stayed in rhode island and worked/lived in newport with some friends and pat went back to new jersey.  soon after, i moved to australia to live/work/travel for about a year and when i came back, it was time to move on to the real world.  i got a job in greenwich, CT, and commuted everyday from my hometown in guilford, CT.

after a few emails and phone calls through the years with phil, we finally made plans for me to go down and visit pat and phil in hoboken for a weekend.  our other good friend jon "billiam" hill came along as well.  we all went out for a little rhody reunion and that was all she wrote - 3 weeks later i moved to hoboken and we have been together ever since!

i will use this blog to post ideas and keep everyone up to date as we plan our wedding - as an event planner at heart, i've been waiting for this for my whole life, and i can't wait to get going!