37 days to go........

We are back in New Zealand for this post. I'll be honest, I wish we were back in New Zealand now! I heart New Zealand. When we went to NZ it was August 2005 which made it their winter time. Which is why most of our pictures we are in jackets and long pants. We only visited the North island which has winters pretty comparable to Southern California. Have I already said all this stuff? I should go back and read my other NZ posts to see if I'm repeating things here. Please hold...........nope, I'm not repeating myself.

So, since it was slightly cold and rainy in NZ we always had our jackets and umbrellas handy. We were walking along trying to find Karangahape Road when it started to rain. Rain it did, a little harder than we wanted to be walking through. Luckily, we just happened to be in front of the cutest little cafe ever. A Starbucks it was not! They had some covered seating on the side walk so we grabbed a seat and Lance went in and ordered us some coffee. Now, I am not the biggest coffee drinker ever. When I used to start my Disney job at 4am I used to drink it a lot! But that's because Wendy is a bad influence! =) Now that I start my Northrop job at 7am, I very rarely drink it. Wait, I'm off track, back to NZ! So we've established, I don't drink coffee. But this latte was the best latte EVER.

Look how cool! Are these people artists or what!?!?! Looking at it right now, I want to dive right in and drink it up. Except for the fact it's 80 degrees outside right now! If it weren't so darn warm outside I'd want to jump right in and drink it all up!

This was the perfect moment! I was sitting on the sidewalk in NZ watching the rain, drinking a fabulous looking and tasting latte, sitting with my boyfriend, (who obviously is now my fiance' yippee!!!) hanging out in NZ. How awesome. We just sat there, talked and took in the sights and sounds of the town. I don't know if that moment can ever be recreated. I hope so. I hope so, because it was just too fabulous to only happen once in a lifetime!

Love,
Suzanne

38 days to go........

I love Vegas. The end.

Just kidding there's more! But I do love Vegas! This trip to Vegas was especially memorable to me because we were able to meet up with Lance's family. I believe it was Emma's first time to Vegas as well. It's fun to go to Vegas with people who have never been there, or people who haven't been there in years because they are so awe struck!

I know this picture doesn't scream Vegas, oh well, just trust me. I promise it's in Vegas. And clearly we are super self absorbed because I cannot find any pictures from that trip that have us with the family. I remember taking them, I just can't seem to find them!

Vegas is also a special place because that's where Lance told me for the first time he loved me. At the Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood) standing in line to buy chapstick. AAHHH how cute! Vegas is also the place he left me stranded at the MGM after a Cher concert all alone when he promised he would be back to pick me up. Yup, I'm still bitter! =) But the happy memories out way that time I wanted to slug him!!

Hopefully after every extra dime we have stops going to the wedding fund, we can go back to Vegas and have some fun! I know we are both itching to go! And it doesn't take us very long to talk Ronnie and Sherry into meeting us there either! ;-)

Love,
Suzanne

39 days to go......

Oh.My.Goodness. We are in the 30's! And can you believe I have posted 10 blogs in a row?? I know some of you were skeptics out there in blogger land! I don't blame you! Most of the time we don't have all that much going on! Lately, things have been picking up speed! I'm about to marry my best friend, so of course I'm going to be blogging a lot to let you all know how much I love him!

I think in a previous post, I mentioned something about my hatred toward heat and humidity. Now, heat by itself is ok. I'm a "dry heat" kind of girl! I heard a million times growing up about people talking about the East Coast and the humidity and the story about taking a shower, walking outside and feeling like you needed to take another shower. I had heard it all. But it's hard to comprehend, when you've never lived it.

In August 2006 we decided to go on a cruise to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. The boat would be departing out of Miami. I had only been to the East Coast two times up until that point. Both times to Florida, one time in January and one time in September. Both visits were very lovely, and I didn't have to deal with any suffocating humidity. Well, this trip to Florida was different. It was in August, and we were going to be spending a few days in Miami sightseeing before boarding our cruise ship.

Miami sucks. Let me rephrase that. Miami in August sucks. I was miserable. How do people live there? Lance and I went walking to the beach after checking into our hotel. I couldn't wait to jump in the water and get cooled off. Did I mention I was miserable? I set my stuff down, took off my flips flops and went to the waters edge to get some relief. When my foot touched that water I wanted to cry. It was freaking bath water. Warm, warm bath water. It never dawned on me that the water wouldn't be cold like our ocean back home. When you are at our beach, laying out getting a tan and you get hot, you go cool off in the ocean. How do people live here?

Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering, what does this have to do with loving Lance!?!?! I would be lying if I said I was a perfect angel who never got snippy or annoyed or just down right aggravated that even at 11 o'clock at night it was still 95 degrees with 100% humidity. I may have snipped or snapped a time or two before boarding that boat, but Lance still tried to make things better. And hey, he snipped and snapped a time or two himself! I'm just being real here!

I actually do like Miami. We had a great time there exploring the city. I just didn't know what I was in for. Now I do. And you won't see me visiting the other coast during the summer again if I can at all avoid it!

This picture was right before the realization that the Atlantic ocean was a hot tub. Just look at us, we look so naive!

Love,
Suzanne

40 days to go.......

Lance and I ended up meeting thanks in part to the fact that we both worked at Disneyland. When I met him, he had already quit, but I was still there. I think he put in 12 years and I put in 8 years. And though there were some good times and some bad times, overall we both really liked it. We were just talking last night with Cat on the fact that we all miss it there, but yet, we still don't want to go back! hahaha We all agreed we miss seeing the people that we worked with everyday, but we don't really miss the politics, the hours, and the working every weekend and holiday!

Since I was still at Disney while Lance and I were dating we were able to enjoy the annual Holiday Party. This was definitely one of the perks for working there! I love Disneyland at Christmas time. It's my favorite time of year there!

The year this picture was taken it rained, so our pictures didn't turn out all that great; but I love this spot! New Orleans Square is the prettiest spot in the park and the coolest part of the park to work in.

I quit Disney in October 2006 and we haven't been back since. It's kind of sad now that I think of it, but I really needed the break! Looking at this picture reminds me of all the good times I had at Disneyland with Lance. I can't wait until we can start bringing our kids there. Oddly enough, Disneyland turned out to be a special place for the both of us!

Love,
Suzanne

41 days to go.....

I don't have any pictures for this post, but it stands out as a favorite moment in our relationship. When Lance and I first met, it was on a blind date with my sister and her then boyfriend. I could tell on that date that he was a nice guy and that if he asked me out again I would say yes. 

The story of him finally getting around to asking me out is another blog for another time, but we did end up finally going out on our first official date. After that date we went back to his apartment to hang out and talk some more. It was the first time I was able to meet Murphy and Bean who pretty much hid the entire time I was there. I think a few hours after hanging out and talking they made an appearance to start forming their opinions about me! =) 

When we first started dating I was working at Disney and my start time was 4am. Well, after talking with Lance for a few hours I was getting really tired and I kept asking him what time it was. Every time he would say, it's only 10pm. I caught onto his game after asking him for the second time and it was still amazingly only 10pm. He really made me laugh and we were having such a good time getting to know each other.

That night getting to know each other has stayed with us. And it's become an inside joke to always tell each other that it's only 10pm. That night, I pretty much went home, showered and went to work. I was tired, but he was worth it!

Love,

Suzanne

42 days to go....

I haven't done laundry in a year and a half.....................

I love this man. I appreciate his helpfulness. I am sooooooo lucky to have him. Have I mentioned I haven't done laundry in a year and a half??? Thanks Sherry and Ronnie for raising such a caring, awesome man! He knows if he does the laundry it's one less thing I have to worry about getting done and for that, I am truly grateful!

Love, 

Suzanne

43 days to go.......

Well we are back in New Zealand for this post; oh how I love New Zealand! Our travels first took us to Auckland where we were able to explore that city up and down, left and right. We did so much walking on that trip we came home skinnier than when we left! I love those kinds of vacations! =)

This picture is in front of Auckland Museum, and it always makes me laugh!

This picture was taken as proof that we made it.....and as proof that I didn't physically harm Lance on the way to the museum! Here's the back story....we had a New Zealand book that we dog eared and high lighted and made notes on before we left of all the places and things we wanted to see while we were there. One of those sites was the Auckland Museum. Before we left our hotel room that morning we planned out our day. We would hit a few places before the museum, then end up at the museum, then end up back at our hotel that evening. It was a perfect circle of activities for the day. Until we got lost.

I remember distinctively at one point begging to hop on a bus because according to my map, we had a very long distance to go. But no. According to Lance all we needed to do was "cut through here" and the museum would be just on the other side. Now ladies, if your boyfriend, fiance', husband, brother, father, homeless man on the street ever tells you that you just need to "cut through here", ignore them. They are lying, and they have no idea where they are going. And they surely do not want to ask for directions.

I considered just getting on a bus by myself but then the thoughts of my father flying to New Zealand to yell at me for "not staying with Lance" prevented me from doing that. I'm pretty sure before we left my dad said "take care of her". That must mean don't get on a bus by yourself. So cutting through Lance's short cut is what I did. 5 miles and a dead end later we turned around and headed back to the road we were originally on. Oh. my. goodness. our relationship was so tested that day! We ended up finding it, it was actually just around the corner from where we turned off to take our detour. We finally made it and nobody died! And we had a great time.

This blog post may sound like I'm contradicting my "we travel well together" blog, but I'm not. I swear! We do travel great together! I learned a lot on our little detour. I learned that I could still love him after wanting to hurt him because he wouldn't just listen to me. And hopefully, he learned to just listen to me. Hello.....hello.....(tap, tap, tap) is this thing on????

Love,
Suzanne