An ENGAGING story (get it?!)

It's official! We're engaged! Rings and everything!

Mandy called dibs on proposing (things you have to think about in girlxgirl relationships; there's no set standard for who proposes!) and so while we started plans for a wedding we knew was going to happen - picking rings, finding a venue and photographer - I waited for Mandy to propose. I kind of knew it would happen on our anniversary. She wasn't subtle about our plans for our anniversary being a surprise and "wait until July." Plus she's a romantic cheeseball so our anniversary makes sense.

The day started off with flowers from both of us to the other. Aaaawwww!

We headed downtown and parked near the waterfront then waited by the fountain at Waterfront Park before boarding the Portland Spirit River Cruise.

Stepped up in front of the photographer to take the souvenier photo and Mandy got down on her knee.

Nobody cried. Definitely not. That would be silly.

Then we sat down at our table and she put the ring on me and said really, really sweet things. Then we cried. And then I got out my own box for her.

Mandy loves the movie "Up" and Michael Giacchino (its composer) is one of her favorites. So I painted a box to look like the adventure book from the movie.

 Then there was some more crying. Because we're matching wrecks who cry.

After crying, we ate a lovely dinner. The waiters sang a song before food service and there was a pianist that played. Very cool!

After tasty food, we headed to the upper deck. It had been a little warm when we were waiting to board, but with the sun setting and a nice breeze from the moving boat, it was perfect. The view was awesome and we loved looking at the houses on the shore, the people having picnics on the little islands in the middle of the river, and watching the other passengers.

Speaking of people watching, as we were sitting, there was a big group of people trying to take group pictures and kept having to leave someone out of it. After we watched them struggle for a bit, I got up and asked if they wanted me to take a picture of them all together. I took the guys phone and as he gestured to what button to press, I noticed some Hangul (Korean script) in the corner. So I asked him if he was Korean ("Hangugsaram?"). He was very excited and then the whole group was really excited when I counted to three in Korean and they demanded to know how I knew Korean (you know... the 5 or so words I remember). Then they had to take pictures with us because why not?

After that exciting interlude, we got to go back to being all cuddly and romantic, watching the scenery pass by.

It's such a pretty cruise. I've never seen the city from that view before. I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to live in such a great city and to be in love with such a wonderful woman (who loves me back!? and wants to spend the rest of her life with me!?). To be honest, I spent a long time thinking I wouldn't ever be in this position. But here I am! An amazing lady by my side, willing to put up with me, and loving and supporting me. My friend told me in mock disgust once how lucky I've been in my life and she is totally right. I'm so blessed to have met Mandy and to have been welcomed into her life.

I have to admit, I was a little worried. Like I said, Mandy is a bit of a romantic cheeseball. A romantic cheeseball with access to bands, choirs, and other musical peoples. I was a tad worried there would be serenading and I would love her for being her but feel awkward as heck. The song "What do you do with your arms?" comes to mind. But my amazing lady knows me and how much her stopping the Pride parade in front of me and proposing while backed up by the Gay Freedom Band (that she directs) would be not ideal for me.

The night ended with a beautiful full moon - that refused to photograph well - but we tried. Feeling pretty special right now and excited for this next life adventure. <3

End of year 3!

Today was the last day of school in my 3rd year of being a school counselor!! Wow, I both can't believe it's already been three years and then again it REALLY FEELS like three years. I've been in my career for as long as I was in graduate school now!

Per tradition, I colored my hair PINK! Love my summer hair-do!

You can't really tell in the photo, but my shirt says, "Dear parents, Tag... you're it!!! Love, teachers."

On my way to school, I saw my dad driving the crew truck back to the airport. Hey, Dad!

He was sweet enough to stop by the school and bring hot chocolate and chai tea (hot chocolate for the secretaries and my favorite chai tea for me!) and a cake to the school! So sweet! 

 I had to run away really quick to help hand out attendance awards at the talent show (the parts I got to see were fabulous!).

The day went by quickly. This was the first year I came close to crying when I said goodbye to some of my kiddos, especially one of my 5th graders. Hoo boy...

Ended the day with the traditional water fight (okay... the teachers spray the kids with water guns as they leave... it's not really a "fight" since it's pretty much one sided). I decided last night around 7pm that I did, in fact, need a new water gun so I headed to Target and got a pack of 3 to share. They were fabulous! My favorite part is when the parents drive their car around, roll the back windows down, and honk their horn to get us to spray the kids in the backseat. The kids laugh and scream while they try to get the windows to roll back up (of course the parents have it locked from the driver seat)!

Worked on cleaning out cabinets after kiddos left and then went out to hang with some coworkers. Got home around 6:30 and I immediately knew that my lovely padre had stopped by earlier in the day: my guard goose was on the wrong side of the door.

Oh no...

Came in and, yes, my padre had come over. He took all of the stuffed animals that I have hidden in my office (to prevent Missy from STEALING them) and laid them all out on my stairs.

Dad... no.

What a fabulous way to end my third year! I really feel like this year I have really come into my own as a school counselor. My first year was ROUGH, second year was tough, and while there were definitely hard days (I got bit by my first kid! Milestone!), I feel like I've started to really proactively DO my job rather than always just reacting. Go me! *high five*

Here's to many more!

Well, at least I have muddy buddies, now...

Today I had an unintentional cooking adventure. I did not set out to have an adventure, but adventure found me.

Muddy buddies. I assumed this was going to an easy thing to make. I finally mastered melting chocolate around Thanksgiving last year (it had eluded me for a long time) and that is the hardest part of making muddy buddies.

I think it went wrong when I tried to use a... "creative" double boiler.

I thought I had a double boiler, but it turned out a don't. What I DO have is a steamer and a microwaveable bowl. At first I was going to just balance the bowl in my smaller pot, but the bowl was too small (it fell in) so I had the bright idea to put the bowl IN THE STEAMER. Boom! Perfect!

And it worked great! Melted that butter, chocolate, and peanut butter into a melty deliciousness.

I realized I had a problem when it came time to pour the chocolate onto the chex.

How do I get the bowl out of the steamer?

I couldn't just grab it (it was just boiling for, like ten minutes). So I decided to wrap my hands in a towel and pull it out.

That is when things went horribly, horribly wrong.

As I was fanangling the bowl out of the steamer, I flipped the bowl sideways, spilling chocolate into the steamer which is a bit like a strainer.

As you know, strainers are well known for their ability to NOT contain liquid. This is also true for melted chocolate. I hurriedly carried the dripping strainer over to the chex and threw it in (some of the chex might be a little more crushed than one might hope) before grabbing the bowl and doing the same.

Here are some pictures of the resulting mess:

Not pictured are my sleeves, the pot holder that was in between me and the chex, my pants, my apron, and (somehow?) my hair. You also can't really tell, but there's a nice mess on the floor, as well.

But now I have muddy buddies for our road trip tomorrow!

That doesn't look to appetizing, let's look inside the bag.

That looks more tasty.