let's talk about June.

The first 8 days of June*, specifically.

What's so great about that, you might ask. Well, what's so great is that during that time we will be on our honeymoon in Hawaii! Which I am pretty damn stoked about. I've always wanted to go to there (thanks, Liz Lemon), and I recently checked a guidebook out from the library which is making my excitement approximately 400% worse.

We will be hanging out on Oahu for 4 days, and then Maui for 4 days. We are flying in to Honolulu on the first, and staying at a pretty sweet hotel in Waikiki:

Our room should look something like this ^

With a sweet kitchenette thing, like this ^

And a view, something like this!

While we are there, we plan to dine at some of the awesome places I found in said guidebook, and go on lots of fun adventures. Some of the things we plan on hitting up so far include the Dole pineapple plantation (yummm), the Sea Life Park (where I DEMAND to swim with dolphins, this is expensive non-negotiable), visit the Pearl Harbor area/memorial (I expect this to be really surreal), and head up to the north shore for beachy goodness.

After we've lived it up on Oahu, we are moving on to Maui. We'll be getting on one of those terrifying mini planes of doom, which I'm not really pumped about, but whatevs. We are staying on the west coast of Maui, and I do mean ON the coast (75 feet away, actually):

I will be lounging at this pool. Which seems redundant, being right next to the ocean and all.

I can't find a picture of the room, but it is an ocean front suite, so that means AWESOME. On Maui, we will be attending a luau (booze + buffet + a show!), parasailing, and visiting a volcano, which I think everyone can figure out will be the best part, since I...like rocks.

I think this post is making my anxious-ness (is that a word? anxiety seems negative) worse.

*side funny note: one of my grad student friends is getting married on the same day, to a girl in the same grad program as Chad, and is then honeymooning in the same places as us at the same time. No, we did not plan this. Yes, we are meeting up for mai tais in Maui.

hey, what's up?

I have not posted in FOR. EV. ER. Trying to get back in the swing of it, though.

So what's changed since August...hmm:
- finished another semester of grad school, despite completely forgetting one of my finals even existed (4.0, woo)
- Thanksgiving (family visiting, delicious feast, etc.)
- bunch o'wedding vendors booked (more on that later)
- Christmas (absolute disaster re: family, but our little personal celebration between my parents, Chad, and I was great)
- read a few books
- rescued a puppy eating out of a bag in the middle of a busy road
- one of my bffs/MOH came to visit in September (shenanigans, etc.)
- checked a few things off the 101 list (check the sidebar for dates if you are curious!)
- scheduled surgery for March
- New Year's Eve, spent playing Texas hold 'em/bullshit at my mom's boss' house...
- only like 128 days or something until we get married. WHEN did that happen?!

some photographic evidence (mostly via crappy iphone photos, apologies):

Thanksgiving feast

Chad's post-feast and wine stupor

Glass artist we watched for like an hour straight when my bff/MOH was here

bff/MOH singin' in the rain...in my CSU hoodie. Who vacays in CO and doesn't bring a coat?

We also visited the Stanley in Estes Park (hotel from "The Shining")

Cupcakes we tasted for the wedding...snickerdoodle, red velvet, cherry vanilla, and mexican hot chocolate.

puppy we rescued! she was a mess. with red hair. but she is the sweetest thing ever.

she poops herself out pretty quick when you play with her though. on my grandparents' stylish rug.

Christmas tree!

my pocketfold-making station. finished product pictures to come later.

Ta-da! pictures. And I promise I'm working on posting more often. I shall share more wedding excitement and other fun with you later this week.