Marcel Drew, my love

Today we had a pre-marital counseling session on a Sunday morning where I work, so our morning looked like this: Marcel drops me off at work, goes to church alone, finds stuff to kill almost an hour and a half (sometimes its 2 hours) before coming to pick me back up.

Today, he went to the Goodwill Outlet store near my work, and when he picked me up this is what our conversation mostly went like:

"I went to that Goodwill store today and met a really nice black lady from Forest Grove." (In this area you don't see many different races)

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, and she had bought a lot of stuff and was taking the bus back to town (FYI: I give myself about 30 minutes to drive to work, so on the bus it would be even longer), so I offered to bring her stuff to her."

"Stories like that make me wanna cry!"

Well after counseling--on money, it was a fun one!-- Marcel took a weird turn, all because he was the one to remember we had a stranger's things in my trunk. We got to her house and she invited us in, and was very disappointed that we couldn't stay longer than just meeting her family. Marcel has her phone number and strict orders for us to come by soon!

I know it before this event today, but my fiance (and husband in 90 days!) is an amazing person. He takes simple actions and turns them into a way of showing God to others. It wasn't out of our way to stop by her house, but he would have done it anyway, because it was such an easy way to help someone in need. I just have to say that I love him more now because of my realization!

Cake Tasting

Yesterday Marcel went to Tacoma for Pacific's girls basketball playoff game. After the game, he was able to stop by his house and pick up some cake samples that our wedding cake baker sent with Marcel's mom (We know the baker through Coco--they work together).

Today we had a date to eat some cake! I was surprised to see that we had 3 decent sized cakes, not just small pieces of each kind. I can't explain why, but 2 of them were the same flavor, but it happened to be the kind we liked: Strawberry Swirl. It is very similar to what we had told him we wanted, just a little fancier than the out-of-a-box kind we're used to. We had our first experience with Red Velvet cake, which neither of us liked.

Enjoy the pictures; they can't be as good as the cake, but I hope they suffice!

Our 3 cakes!

Before the tasting!

Yummy Strawberry Swirl!

No longer private

Awhile ago my facebook was hacked into and I soon after made my blog private, but I am missing so many email addresses so no one could read it--isn't that counterproductive?

So today I made a decision--there isn't much on my blog that is too "private" so I may as well have an all access blog again. Maybe one day down the road I'll go private again but for now, feel free to enjoy staying caught up with everything new and exciting going on in my life.

Valentine's Day 2009

Marcel and I realized that this was the first time in 3 years that we've actually spent Valentine's Day together. Last year I got to play with dead people (I was in the cadaver lab as part of my anatomy class) and I can't remember our first one. We had a marathon day planned out, as I was getting my Super Bowl bet as well as a Valentine's date, but Marcel ended up leading worship that morning and I also ended up taking an open shift at the gym. By the time we were date-ready, it was much later than we had planned.

Our day ended up looking like this:

*Lunch at Olive Garden--a place we love but rarely go to because it's too far from Forest Grove

*Trying to find the ice skating rink--we ended up finding it just as public skate time ended

*Movie--we just showed up at the theater hoping to see He's Just Not That Into You, and luckily enough, we were just a few minutes early!

*My vow writing while Marcel was at a school basketball game

*Marcel opened my small gift for him (the whole day was my present)

*We postponed McMenamin's Soaking Pool until tonight, so our Valentine's Day still isn't over!

Me at the computer working on draft #2 of my vows

We're not very good at taking pictures at places anymore, but this is after a great day of being together

Marcel enjoying "Slate" cologne from Banana Republic

a favorite of both of ours

Kissy faces, I'm trying to make mine a perfect circle like Marcel's

House Search

The last few weeks it seemed everyone I talked to had one question for me...

"Where will you and Marcel live?"

All I could tell them was that we want/need to stay in Forest Grove so Marcel can get back and forth to school on his mo-ped or bike when I'm working. Plus, I'm just not quite ready to live somewhere else! Everytime I thought about it, it stressed me out. I called on an apartment Tuesday and went driving around Wednesday looking for places for rent. I did find quite a few places, but Thursday morning I got a call back from the only place I called with a message of having an empty apartment starting the first week in April, just the timeline we were hoping for!

My lease is up in May before the wedding and graduation so students won't have vacated their apartments, thus the April timeframe. Plus, my mom already had tentative plans of bringing out my wedding dress in April so now she can come help move. We're so lucky!

We have now turned in our applications and should know Monday or Tuesday if they were approved. I was told the only reason they ever get denied is outstanding rent (we have none!), a felony charge (we have none!), or a violent misdemeanor that would threaten the safety of other residents (we have none!).

Seems our house search is over just as quick as it started!

107 and Counting

About 3 or so weeks ago, I got really excited about making a chain countdown to May 30, 2009, just like little kids do for Christmas. I cut some paper we bought for our invitations into the infamous strips. I started with 110 strips, but messed up 2 of them by writing the wrong number on them, so I had a 108 link chain hanging around my room. I felt silly leaving it up this whole time without being able to rip any down, but the day finally came! I was finally able to rip one down last night, officially starting my countdown (it has been going in my head since about 125 days!) I guess now I need to get my butt in gear on planning the rest of our big day!

Enjoy some pictures I managed to get of the pretty pink and orange chain...

All 108 links

The first one I tore down

6-1

Today, Marcel and I were lucky enough to watch the Super Bowl with some of his closest friends (who have a very nice new house that I'd love to have when I have a family with lots of kids and its my own house). We had a great time and it was nice for him to be able to catch up with old friends.

The main reason for this post though is not for rekindling friendships, but to let it be known that my winning streak is back on! 6-1 and counting! I got a phone call early one morning (maybe afternoon, but it was early for me) and on the other end was Marcel claiming the Arizona Cardinals as his pick for Super Bowl XLIII, leaving me with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I at first didn't want to take the bet, but decided that wasn't in the spirit of our betting history. Normally the prize is something related to the bet (SYTYCD tour tickets for the winner of our SYTYCD bet) or planning a surprise date but this time we each picked a date we wanted to go on. Marcel picked to go to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) to see the Da Vinci exhibit. I picked ice cream, ice skating and a night at the soaking pool.

I'm sure Marcel will be very grateful for his warm hat and gloves from Christmas on an upcoming day at the ice rink.

98.7 or 105.1

The one big difference between Marcel and I is our musical selection. Over the last 32 months (the math is easy with wedding being at the 3 year mark!) we have always disagreed over what station to listen to while driving. Marcel is into the more Top-40 stuff and I'm a huge fan of country. We have generally listened to Christian to keep us both happy.

Well over the last week that has changed dramatically. It was only ever on country music. After a few days I called Marcel on his new musical appreciation to which he replied, "well listening to it can't kill me and if you really like it and it makes you happy, it makes me happy."

I'm treated like a princess and in less than 4 months I'll finally be his queen!

Month Overdue

I feel like I've always done pretty well about keeping my blog up-to-date, but somehow this month has just gotten away from me. I blame it on the fact that the month has been just pretty average.

I'm still working 2 part-time jobs just barely enough to cover expenses. It's definitely teaching me to watch my money more carefully, a skill I already claimed to have, but am learning so much better! The one thing I'm not enjoying about my work situation is the common 4 hour windows in between my shifts. Do I go back to Forest Grove or stay out near my jobs; is it enough time to justify the drive or not?

Wedding planning is fitting in my life here and there. We've met with catering and still don't have a menu, talked with the florist and it opened up question after question about the big day. Marcel has written his vows already, and I haven't started. Invitations have been designed, now onto printing and hand-making them, something I'm really looking forward to! We have plane tickets for our honeymoon. That list makes me feel very accomplished, so I don't want to think about everything else we have left to do. Marcel and I are both trying to find a happy balance on what we want and don't want (we don't want frilly, floofy, fluffy, the 3 F-words). We've decided that we really just care about writing our own vows and attire and although we do realize other things are important we don't want the stress of it.

On a more positive note, I'm finding great joy in scrapbooking our journey. I want to have our 3 years (well it is officially 3 years 8 days before our wedding) scrapbooked to have at our wedding--that's my goal and so far I'm doing really well. The amount of pictures Marcel has been taking of each event has drastically decreased since my birthday and the proposal so it should be getting quicker and quicker to complete.

My Perfect Guy!

Since returning from Idaho, Marcel has gone over and beyond the call of duty in my house and he's slightly embarrased about me telling people, but like I said before he doesn't read this!

Each day when I've returned from work I discovered something domestic he had done. The first day he had cleaned the whole kitchen: stove, microwave, fridge and counters and even managed to mop the floors! The second day he had vacuumed the living room, did the dishes and even made lunch in time to have it ready for when I got home. Because he is worried about his domestic skills ruining his reputation, he told me to tell my roommmates that I did everything, but I'm not taking credit, because he did everything on his own without my asking!! A few weeks ago at pre-marital counseling, I re-remembered that he'd love to stay at home later in life when kids are in the picture, and after this week I think he'd do great :)

Tradition for Shoemaker Girls

I said in my last post that going home allowed our tradition to continue and the truth is that it is a fairly new tradition but we've enjoyed doing it each year.

We always try to coordinate our outfits, which is harder than it seems because we have to plan it far in advance since me and Hannah both fly home for Christmas and don't have our entire wardrobe to select from...

2008

2007

2006

Christmas in Idaho

Marcel and I were able to go to Idaho the 27th early early to spend Christmas with my family. I did have to leave Marcel behind 2 days so that I could go wedding dress shopping. Needless to say it was productive because I found "the perfect one" (as my sister wants me to say) and it is now at my mom's house waiting to be delivered to me in the spring in time for the big day in May! Going home also allowed the tradition of sister pictures to continue--see the newer post!

Some of the best!

Mom's Christmas tree

Marcel Drew & MaryBeth--again in Idaho!

Sisters having fun shopping

Wedding dress shopping!

It's okay to be on the web because:

1) Marcel doesn't read my blog and now that it is "private" he hasn't been invited yet. Oops :)

2) It is a very ugly dress from the first place we went that had about 5 choices ;(