87. Go on a Dessert Date

This is a continuation from goal 55. Go Ice Skating...so if you want the full story, you've got to read both posts. 

After we were done with our engagement pictures, we went home and popped open some champagne to celebrate.  Brian's original intention during this "break" was to cook us surf and turf which was also a surprise to me.  Unfortunately, we weren't very hungry as we had a large lunch so we postponed that dinner and had it the next evening.  I was very happy to just hang out and sip champagne with my love, however he informed me that the day was not over and that he had one more surprise in store for me. 

We headed towards downtown and as we were driving past all the storefronts, we passed a certain one that tipped me off to what we were doing.  We were going on a Dessert Date at DBar!  And our friends Ben and Megan , along with Ben's brother Elijah, were meeting us there!  At this point, nobody knew about our engagement as we were going to try to keep it a secret until Dave could edit a picture for us.  Brian asked me if we should announce it to them or let them figure it out.  I opted for B, let them figure it out.  I was wearing my ring, so it shouldn't have been too difficult.

This being a dessert date, we had dessert first and then decided to have some savory morsels after.  I ordered "Smashing Pumpkins" which was a fancy pumpkin cheesecake.  Brian ordered D=MC squared which was a presentation of chocolate with peanut butter served 3 different ways.  Both desserts were very good, very rich and very worth it! 

Picture of me eating my dessert and wearing my new engagement ring :) 

Picture of Smashing Pumpkins, partially eaten

Picture of D=MC Squared, partially eaten

After dessert, we each had dinner which ended up being way too much food.  As we wrapped up the evening, Megan had finally noticed my ring and had been giving me looks for about 20 minutes before Brian asked her what the furrowed brow was for.  She mentioned my new sparkly bauble on my hand and at that moment, we revealed we were engaged!  I recounted the story for them as we left the restaurant and we hugged them goodbye as they sent us on our way with well wishes and warm fuzzies.  All in all, this date was a sweet treat indeed! 

55. Go Ice Skating

I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that this will be my most exciting goal accomplished to tell everyone about!

Brian and I regularly do "date nights" so it wasn't at all strange to me that he wanted to take me on a "date day".  He told me very few details about what we were doing, all I knew was that we needed to be somewhere around noon, he wanted me to curl my hair so I looked cute and he wanted me to wear my nice coat "in case we took a pretty walk".  I kindly obliged, grabbed my camera and away we went! 

First up?  A fancy lunch at Three Tomatoes at Fossil Trace Golf Course.  The meal was really good and the mussels that the waiter recommended were super delicious.  We also got to say hi and congratulate our friend Jaime on her recent engagement so it worked as double duty.  During lunch I had been "bugging" Brian about going to try on rings and go shopping for jeans, to which he pretty much blew me off since he had other plans... 

After we were done with lunch, we were off to another spot, another surprise.  As we drove up the hill on I-70, I could see the Mother Cabrini shrine off in the distance and thought for sure that's where our pretty walk was going to be to, especially since we've talked about going to check it out and haven't done it yet.  As we drove past the exit, it was now clear to me that we were going somewhere else.  I kept quiet, though very difficult, as Brian struggled with directions to his surprise location.  Finally, we turned the corner and I saw Evergreen Lakehouse - we were going ice skating!  And then I saw a sign that said "Evergreen Winter Ice Fest"...ummm, not really expecting that in addition to the 300 people that came along with it.  Now normally, I wouldn't care that there were 300 people there, however this was my first time ever ice skating so I was a bit scared/anxious that I wasn't going to be able to do it and be mortified in front of all these people. 

As we walked into the Lakehouse to get our skates, the queue was ridiculously long.  I turned to Brian, with attitude in my voice, and said "Are you sure you want to do this?  Cause I'd really rather be shopping right now".  He talked me into staying and skating, being the voice of reason that he is, and I shortly got over it and decided to seize the moment.  Once the skates were on, I wasn't as nervous...it was sort of like rollerblading, but much harder.  It was really hard to stay upright on the thin little blades and I found myself getting tired pretty quickly.  A few times I wondered how the heck ice skaters do jumps and flips...they've got to be a little crazy and definitely super athletic!  While there, we even ran into one of our neighbors who was also on a date with his girlfriend.  This was the perfect moment to get a picture of us for this blog post...

Picture taken by our neighbor, Alex

By this point, I was getting tired and mentioned it to Brian.  He talked me into taking one more lap around the ice and I once again obliged...it was pretty fun, so why not?!  As we concluded this lap, Brian slipped and fell down.  I legitimately thought this was a real fall, but as it turns out, he was faking.  As I reached down to help him up, he turned towards me, got on one knee and pulled a ring out of his jacket pocket!  I couldn't believe it!!   All I remember saying was "Oh my god, are you serious? Are you serious?" as tears of joy and happiness streamed down my face.  I only vaguely remember what he said to me as the moment felt like time had stopped yet also flew by all at once.  I know he said something along the lines of being his perfect partner in life and would I be his partner forever.  I do know he had to ask me "is that a yes?" as I was in such shock I hadn't answered him.  Haha!  YES!!!  As the people around us ooh'ed and aah'ed and clapped and yelled congratulations, I said to Brian "we need to get a picture!"  He laughed and told me that he had that taken care of...he had planted a professional photographer friend of ours in the crowd who had captured the whole thing!  I was astonished and could not stop smiling! 

After the big proposal, we decided to take some "engagement" photos and spent the better part of the next couple hours kissing, frolicking and playing in the snow while Dave captured the magical happiness of the day.  This "date day" was simply amazing and beyond anything I could have ever imagined!  I am so incredibly blessed to be marrying this man and can't wait to see what future adventures this life has in store for us!

Shea and Brian...Engagement Photo Slideshow

http://vimeo.com/davidlynnphotography courtesy of David Townsend, David Lynn Photography

Now, just when you think this is the end of the "date day" story...it's not.  It keeps going...see next post.    

64. Bake Christmas Cookies

I didn't realize how many of my goals could be accomplished in one holiday weekend, but it makes me feel good to be checking some things off my list, especially as my first year comes near it's end.  As of today, I've "used up" 362 days of 1,001 days, which leaves me with 639 days to finish the goals on this list.  (Is it sick that I've already started my next 101 goals list??) 

Back to the completed goal - Bake Christmas Cookies!  The reason this goal is on my list is not because I've never done it before.  I was lucky enough to have a good friend invite me to her house to make cookies a few years ago and I had so much fun with her, I've been dying to do it again, but make it more of a tradition.  With the sisters, bro-in-laws and nieces in nephews in town for Christmas, I couldn't think of a better time to do it, especially since Santa needed some cookies anyways. 

So we split into 3 teams:
Team Peanut Butter - Ashlee, Casey and Taylor
Team Gingerbread - Niki, Justin and Tate
Team Sugar Cookie - Shea, Brian and Joey

Joey didn't really want to be on our team, but she wisened up when she realized she was going to get to crack the eggs and do more on our team than if she went with her mom and brother.  We all worked pretty hard on mixing our oil and water into our pre-made cookie mix (scratch baking will have to come another year, we don't have the patience for that right now).  When we were done, each team was in charge of their batches going in and out of the oven.  The PB team was the first to get a batch done, followed quickly by team Sugar and then by team Ginger.  We used the sugar cookie and gingerbread dough to make shapes with cookie cutters so the kids could use sprinkles and frosting and really do it up.  They also each made a special cookie for Santa.  It was a lot of fun and it really brought us all a little closer! 

Joey's Cookies

Tate's Cookies

Taylor's Cookies - and she was so excited, this is her way of saying "cheese", haha!

52. Colorado Christmas With the Family

We did it!  We survived a Colorado Christmas with my family.  My sisters, their significant others, my 2 nieces and my nephew were able to join us this Christmas and we had a great time!  Of course we had somewhat of an agenda to make sure that we weren't all bored to death for 4 straight days.  The first day, we went to a place called JumpStreet and we jumped around and got crazy with the kiddos.  It was a lot of fun and we will definitely go back there again! 

Everybody's Jumping Around!

The next day's activity was my niece Taylor's 2 Year Birthday party.  We celebrated by having our neighbors over and chowing down on lasagna and cake.  I luckily had about an hour to myself earlier in the day so I was able to get the house decorated while everyone was last minute shopping and taking naps.  When they all saw the decor, it made it a little more special for them as it was a good surprise for everybody.  We opted to leave the decor up, minus the Happy Birthday signs, for the rest of the weekend. 

On Christmas Eve day, we tried to take it easy and relax a little in anticipation of the Big Guy's arrival that night.  We watched movies and later in the day we made Christmas cookies for Santa.  We separated into 3 teams for cookie making - Team Peanut Butter, Team Gingerbread and Team Sugar Cookie.  That turned out to be a great way to do it as each kid got 2 adults to help them and we all got to be involved.  The cookies turned out pretty yummy but we discovered the best way to eat them was to mix the gingerbread with the sugar cookie and bake together.  We will definitely be making cookies for Santa again!  We opened our presents on Christmas Eve, after an awesome dinner of Indian Tacos (which all of the kids ate faster than any other meal thru the weekend!)  The following morning, the kids opened the presents Santa left for them and away they all went, back to South Dakota.  All in all, it was a great holiday and I hope that we were able to start building our own traditions and that we can keep them alive as we all grow up and grow older. 

Colorado Christmas - Our Family

56. Buy a Sewing Machine

I technically did not accomplish this goal on my own as my wonderfully awesome partner bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas!  He was looking for ideas on what to get me, so I told him to check out my 101 Goals list and see if there was anything on it he could help with.  He picked the one thing that will help me accomplish several other goals.  I was completely surprised when I opened my gift but super excited as I've wanted to start sewing for awhile now.  My first project is going to be curtains for my bedroom which I'm ready to get started on very shortly!  The sky's the limit once I figure out how to work my new Singer 5500.  :)  Wish me luck on this new adventure into sewing-ville! 

8. Start a Business

Well, I managed to do this one without totally stressing myself out and I was going to wait to hit the one year mark before I officially called it a "business", just to make sure it was going to work out.  However, after a very successful holiday season, I am proud to say that ShadyWolfDesigns is officially a profitable business!  Watch for many new designs to come out this year as well as other product lines, like handmade cards, jewelry storage units and possibly some sewn projects (I got a new sewing machine for Christmas that is itching to be used!)  Thank you all for your support and encouragement during the first 11 months of business!  I look forward to continuing to build these strong relationships throughout 2013 and beyond! 

Visit my etsy shop!  www.etsy.com/shop/shadywolfdesigns