Author: Ali Carras

In working from home I certainly don’t socialize enough but this weekend I got out and made some new friends!

This is Marissa, she is a hair dresser who is so obsessed with Paul Mitchell she had his name tattooed on her neck.

This is Tammy. She raises pit bulls.

I didn’t get to chat with all of their friends but the one
with the dreadlocks was really nice…

Cdawg said the other day “You’ve officially become a bride.” I barfed in my mouth then thought to myself…”what did I do?!?!” Well, let me tell ya (this is a bit of a confessional).

1.) We are planning a super super uneventful event. Not inviting more than 40 people…and keeping it to immediate family and close close friends. Even with a super uneventful event we need to make it semi worth it for those who do come which means a teeny tiny bit of planning. So, for the teeny tiny bit of planning I guess I get a little caught up and the man has to reign me in…a lot.

2.) I bought this:

and this

(For those who don’t know, these are paper doll cut outs with lots of different outfits to dress the characters in). I purchased these primarily for the kids to play with during the luncheon portion of our uneventful event but they are also my one SUUUPER girlie attempt at this whole wedding thing. But really, don’t you just want to dress something in this?

3.) I’ve asked two 5 year olds, a 2.5 year old and 3 month old to be my “bridesmaids.” They won’t actually have to do anything but I thought it would fun for these girls to say they’ve been bridesmaids before…when they were as tall as an adult’s kneecap. One note: my 5 year old niece said she didn’t want to be a bridesmaid but preferred the role of flower girl. So she is officially a flower girl who won’t be holding any flowers (I don’t think). I asked her what she is going to wear and she said “My most flower-y dress and maybe I’ll put a butterfly in my hair like the butterfly has landed on a flower.” I love her.

4.) The UPS man comes just about every day. Translation: Finding something to clothe myself in has been PAINFUL. I’ve made appointments at 5 different bridal stores but canceled each one. I won’t go in. Makes me sweat and feel all itchy just thinking about going into a bridal store. (side note: I’ve had this same reaction at ring shops too. Man alive). So, I’ve had the “bridal store” come to me. But, this has not been a fun process for those who are trying to help me because just about every day I send a new photo of a different dress.  And this is driving people crazy. I even got Cooper involved. I feel bad about that. The issue is I don’t really care but at the same time I guess I also put too much pressure on myself. Plus I don’t want to feel like “a bride” or look super bridal. I bought this dress and thought “this could do” now I think it is too bridal-y. (obviously, I won’t be wearing this so if anyone wants to buy it from me I’ll sell it to you for cheap!).

I still don’t know what I’m going to wear. Expect a burlap sack creation with “I’m a Bride” written on it. Ha!

Have I mentioned I’m a senior citizen in a 30 year old body? Yes, I have? Oh, right…I seem to forget things. Well, to add to “I am an old person” list I have to share something: my old women shoes.

They look ridiculous, are quite ugly and don’t “fit in” in California (they can pass in Colorado but certainly not California). Cooper makes fun of me because of my Dr. Scholl’s shoes with the boat bottom sole but I have to profess to the world that these shoes are AMAZINGLY  comfortable. I tried them on in the store (for fun) and was instantly in love. Not for a moment have I had any need to break them in…I can wear them for hours and hours and hours and still feel so incredible. AND I think they may help my posture and my back pain. These things have changed my life and I’m now addicted to orthotics. HA!

What do three grown men do on Christmas morn? They dress in their red long underwear and pose on a kid’s playset. Then we go for a walk around the neighborhood…still in the long underwear. THAT is what I call a merry Christmas.

This is delayed (what isn’t on this blog?!?!) but I’ve been meaning to share a little drive through the clouds (aka the stretch through Wyoming on our road trip in the middle of winter from Colorado to California with -10 degree weather):

Don’t you truly feel like you are a character in “The Neverending Story“…riding on Falcor’s back? I sure did (but I was driving Falcor…aka my car…and couldn’t see if there was ice on the road and at times couldn’t tell if there was a truck in front of me or not). I also have a few really good photos to share from the holidays. Sit tight!

This makes my millenium (however, I prefer maple glazed please):

Photo courtesy of The Jealous Curator

So, the past two Sundays Cooper and I have splurged. We’ve gone out for donuts one weekend and cinnamon rolls the next. These weekends of indulgences spawned from 1.) seeing this store front:

and 2.) A groupon. Little did we know both the donut place and the cinnamon roll spot, Cinnaholic, were 100% VEGAN. Not bashing vegan eating but I totally thought we were splurging (but also secretly happy that it wasn’t the full deal). Both were great…think salted caramel donuts and cinnamon rolls with maple frosting…but the one thing they were lacking was a good cup of cows milk to wash it all down. Silk just didn’t do it for me.

Ok, I know people don’t really care about donuts or cinnamon rolls…what you really want to know are the other juicy details. The one bit of news Cooper and I have kept semi quiet is that we are engaged. We’ve actually have been engaged for a good month and a half now but it wasn’t until yesterday that I said to Cooper “Are you going to change your Facebook status, ha ha ha?” His reply: “I don’t know, are you?” My reply: “Not until after you do it.” Then I got an e-mail asking me to accept an engagement invitation. Oh, Facebook. Yes, we’ve told our families…we’ve just been enjoying the world of engagementhood in slow and simple steps. But now it is out there and I know many of our close friends and family they are thinking: It is about damn time. We’ve actually been talking about “making it official” or as we like to say “having a special celebration” for about a year…but with our 10 year anniversary approaching in April we thought around then would be appropriate. I’ve told several folks over the many years that I’ve either dreamt or read about a culture where the couple celebrates after years of being together (i.e. waits until they are bald and wrinkly) before they make it “official.” I have kind of liked this notion and am really glad we’ll get to celebrate after hitting our 10 years milestone and Cooper will still have some hair and our wrinkles are not too deep yet. Whoo hoo! Win win all around. We plan to do something suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper small (like just immediate family) and suuuuuuper low key. We hope to take some of our own wedding portraits after all is said and done (as well succumb to the challenge of hiring a wedding photographer for the day of stuff) so I’ll be sure to share a photo or two.

The engagement story (since people have asked!) is simple and sweet (and perfect). Before daylight savings began in November the bay area had some of the most amazing sunsets known to man. Throughout all of our years in the east bay one of our favorite things to do on warm summer nights is to go to an overlook in the Berkeley hills and have dinner as the sun sets. The view from up here is awesome. So, on November 4th, Cooper said “Hey, woman…why don’t we have dinner at the overlook tonight?” My response was “Absolutely, Sir!” (ok, he didn’t say “Hey, woman” and I didn’t call him Sir… I added that in there for the effect). So we did. And it was a beautiful night:

Once we finished our meal and all the other spectators left Cooper popped the question.

And it was an awesome moment. And we couldn’t be happier. And our dog was there. And as we lived in the moment Oslo (the dog) started chewing through his leash and almost ran away from us because we were so mushy gushy (seriously, we caught him just in time). And life is really good and has been for a long time and I genuinely feel really really lucky.

So, that is the story. Simple and sweet and just right. We are not really a traditional couple and if he had bent down on one knee or dished out a big fancy ring I probably would have felt a little ill. Instead I felt just great.

I have three two and a half bits of news to share but I can’t share any of it because they are all in the works and can’t be dished…yet. But, two good words of note: I’ve framed my mustached man photo. I plan to put this framed work of wonder over the toilet paper holder in the loo but so far it is just on our massive 20 foot photo ledge. That, and I started sewing again. It feels really good.

Also, how cute is my niece? Yes, she is a hipster in the making and I love it.

It has been confirmed that my dog belongs to me. I recently brought home an accordion from a garage sale (yes, that is how I spend my money) and upon first hitting the chords Oslo decided he wanted to sing along. So now, everyday we have a little jam session and he LOVES it! (please overlook the butt licking).

Accordion sing along from Ali Beckord on Vimeo.