Photo of the Week: Week 7

This week, Aaron and I celebrated our engagement anniversary with a little time in the happiest place on Earth. :) Here are a few photos from our trip...

Our first night there, waiting for the fireworks!

Celebrating Valentine's Day! Happy Engagement Anniversary!

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen with the Meeces. 

View of Paradise Pier from the (stationary) Ferris Wheel car. 

Cheesin' for the camera!

The last ride of the trip.
Splash Mountain in the pouring down rain! 

Adventures in Gettin' Married: A Halcyonic Honeymoon

At first Aaron and I thought we could forgo the traditional honeymoon. But, if you know me, you know I really cannot pass up the opportunity to go somewhere cool!

Aaron and I tossed around several ideas. Paris. Hawaii. Mexico. Puerto Rico. Tahiti. To be honest, I would be happy going just about anywhere so long as I am with my (future) husband. I've always wanted to go to Paris. After much discussion, Aaron and I decided that a tour of Paris would be a little more "busy" than we were looking forward to. (Note: he did pinky-promise to take me someday. You are now my psuedo-witness!)

Diane von Furstenberg once said, "Go to a place where you're not going to be stressed, because a honeymoon itself can be a stressful thing." While I certainly hope the honeymoon is not stressful, we decided we wanted a calm, relaxing, sittin' on the beach kinda excursion. Several friends honeymooned and/or vacationed in Puerto Rico and loved it. I would love to go there and check out the rum distillaries. But, we realized that Puerto Rico and other Gulf Coast destinations were not a great choice due to the fact that September is peak hurricane season.

Not wanting to fight hurricanes on our honeymoon, we started exploring several Pacific Coast paradises. Both Aaron and I had been to Mexico. And while we both enjoyed our prospective vacations, we decided Mexico wasn't the right place for us. We have two sets of friends getting married this summer, and both have decided to honeymoon in Tahiti. While both beautiful and intriguing, Tahiti was a bit much for our budget and time limitations. (Note: Future anniversary trip to Tahiti? Yes please!)

Hawaii was a natural choice. There are so many islands and wonderful places to choose from! Aaron and I had both been to the islands before; he visited Maui with his brother and I visited Oahu with my girlfriends. We were looking into a fabulous trip to the beautiful isle of Kauai, with a possible hop over to the Big Island of Hawaii. I was all set to book out trip, but I was hesitant. I really, not so secretly, wanted to find somewhere new and different. Somewhere neither of us have ever been to before. Somewhere that would require the use of my soon-to-expire passport. That is when my good friend Heather suggested Aruba.  (Cue Beach Boys Musical Interlude.)

Aruba is an island of beautiful white sand beaches and clear blue waters. While it is not a lush tropical island like Hawaii, or other Caribbean islands, it is said to be very laid back (and outside of the hurricane belt!). It sounds like there will be plenty to do including snorkeling, jet skiing, and ATV rides should we get bored with sitting on the beach. Better yet, the island boasts great reviews of all inclusive packages -- one less thing to worry about. It sounds like a one stop shop for peace and happiness to me.

Aruba. One happy island. Kristina. One happy future-wifey. ♥

Here is a taste of what we have to look forward to...

PS This post was completed on my new Acer Iconia Tablet with Tegra 2. An awesome birthday gift from my awesome future-hubby. Thanks, Aaron! ♥


PPS Halcyonic [hal-see-on-ik] means happy and carefree. Just the way I like to be! 

Adventures in Gettin' Married: Dress to Impress

Most girls dream of getting married. Each dream is a little different. But most dreams begin as we find Prince Charming and end as he matrimonially twirls us around, and dips us into a sweet and loving kiss, thus providing a perfect beginning to our new lives together as Prince & Princess Charming, or the Future Mr. and Mrs. Plattner, or {place you and your preferred partner here}. Each dream has a different setting and a different cast of characters. But in every dream, there is one thing that remains the same. THE DRESS.  


Just as any giddy, overly-excited, newly-engaged girl does -- I began searching for gowns immediately upon receipt of the ring. I mean, next to the ring, the dress is the most important thing, right? (Okay, fine, the groom is kind of important, too. Just kidding, Mr. Plattner. Seriously, I would get married in an orange burlap sack, if I had to, in order to marry you. Yes, burlap, which I imagine to be quite itchy. And you know how much I love orange. And being itchy.) 


As I searched for inspiration, I realized that my tastes had changed over the years. In the past, I wanted to be Belle as she walked down the stair-well to meet the Beast. I used to want the big, puffy princess gown. But I found I was not drawn to the bigger, more regal dresses. As I looked in magazines and online, I was intrigued by unadorned elegance. I found beauty in simplicity. 


I knew that in searching for my gown, I didn't want a lot of people there. I didn't want the parade of people some brides bring with them like you might see on television. I didn't need a posse of women to ooh and aah. I needed one or two sane and honest voices. I asked my mom and my matron of honor for assistance. On our first excursion, I didn't know what to expect. I knew that I needed to try on a variety of silhouettes. I knew that even though it wasn't my favorite on the hanger, things always look different draped on a woman's curves. 


With that said.... I tried on A LOT of dresses. Some things I put on and would take right off, not walking out of the dressing room... I just knew they were not for me. I giggled profusely at the sight of me standing there in a few of the dresses. There were a few gowns I really loved for one reason or another: I loved the bodice of one dress; I loved the train on another; I loved the silhouette of yet another. I even tried on a "Belle" dress. As soon as I put it on, I knew that it wasn't for me. And interestingly enough, I wasn't disappointed or saddened, I was excited to keep looking. 


On the same day we went to a second bridal boutique. I brought a printed copy of my 'Inspiration Page' and the ladies quickly got to work bringing me a variety of styles and dresses. One of our bridal assistants told us that a bride typically chooses the first dress or the last dress. I really, really liked the first gown. But... For me, it was the last dress. It was kind of funny because just prior to the last dress I tried on a gown I really liked. It was fashionable, it looked awesome, and it was down-right cheap. The assistant turned to me and said, "so I don't need to bring out the last one?" To which I replied that she should because it couldn't hurt to look at one more dress. That one additional dress turned out to be THE DRESS. This gown had everything I loved about the other dresses, beautifully combined in one gown. I was nervous. Here I was, yet again, taking the plunge on what seemed like a last-minute choice. I had only been trying on dresses for a few hours! I had only been to two stores! But, just as I had known with our venue, I knew that this was it. This was my dress. THE DRESS. 


Can you guess which dress it is? ♥

Adventures in Gettin' Married: Location, Location, Location!

Guess what?! I am getting MARRIED! 

I wasn't engaged for more than probably an hour before I started thinking about where I wanted to get married. With Aaron's family in Iowa, my extended family in Oregon, and our friends and my immediately family in California we had an unlimited number of choices. 

We tossed around the idea of destination wedding. Hawaii. Mexico. Even New Orleans. But then we decided that we did not want everyone to have to pay a huge amount of money to make it to the wedding. We just hoped our friends and family would attend! 

That led us back to California, which I love! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't want to get married in the valley. Yes, I live in the valley. I work here. People are super nice --- but if we are going to have out-of-state friends and family fly in, it should be to somewhere cool. Lake Tahoe. Disneyland. San Francisco. Monterey. 

My mom graciously bought me a Northern California Bride. I used the venue descriptions and websites as a springboard. I found a lot of really cool places! But when I called inquiring about pricing and such, I found out that they want to know your wedding date. Randomly looking at a calendar, I decided to inquire about October 1, 2011. 10/1/11. Aaron and I met on 10/1/08 and I thought it would be fitting and pretty cool to get married on the same day! And of course, everything was booked. Literally nowhere had that date available. 

I started looking into dates outside of 2011, when one venue I was really eager to look at happened to have an opening on September 3, 2001. This was the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. And it was only a little over six months away. Aaron and I decided that it wouldn't hurt to check it out, plus it might be nice for travelers to have an extra day to see the sights!  Twelve days after getting engaged, Aaron and I embarked on an adventure to look for wedding venues. 

We knew that the venue was 'under construction.' Essentially, looking at the venue was like looking into the future: we had to imagine the possibilities. While there were quite a few things that were still being worked on, it was easy to imagine the beauty the construction masked. The house was remarkable! It is a historic Monterey landmark -- a Victorian home -- originally built in 1860 by a whaling ship captain. When it was renovated in the late 1960's the neighboring carriage house was remodeled with a beautiful vaulted stained glass ceiling, an art piece rumored to have been purchased at a junk yard! The small, intimate building is located minutes away from Cannery Row, and is within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf. The view from the balcony was astonishing, as you could clearly see all the way across Monterey Bay. 

As we toured the facilities, I got really nervous.  I wasn't nervous because I wasn't sure about what it would look like, or anything like that. I was nervous because I really, really loved it, and it was only the first place we had been to!

After the official tour Aaron and I walked around on our own a bit, discussing what could be -- when I heard the couple below us ask about 'our date.' It hit me. I knew it was crazy. I knew it was soon. But as I stood on the stairway, looking out over the garden, I saw it. I saw myself standing there in my white dress anxiously hoping I wouldn't trip down the stairs trying to get to my future-husband. After I awoke from my day-dream, there was Aaron smiling and nodding. He knew it, too. 

Pictures from The Perry House, Monterey, California

The view from the balcony at night. 

Inside the Carriage House, note the hint of
the beautiful stained glass. 

The view from the balcony during the day. 

Adventures in Love ♥

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
— Dr. Seuss ♥

Every day I wake up and wonder how I got so lucky. I have found a man that, for me, is practically perfect in every way. He is extremely intelligent. He is remarkably kind. He is astoundingly handsome. And he is my future husband. Here is our story....

Valentine's Day. New Orleans. The sun was shining and the weather was beautiful! We decided to have a romantic Valentine's Day breakfast at the Café du Monde. I was so excited to have the delicious café au lait and beignets. 

I didn't think the morning could get any more perfect. And then he presented my Valentine's Day gift...

And that is how I became the future Mrs. Aaron Plattner. ♥