South Mountain

A few weeks ago, Sam & I met up with an old friend of his for lunch.  He hadn't seen Tammy since highschool, but they've gotten back in touch through the wonders of Facebook.  We finished lunch, and Tammy was on her way to meet up with round two of old friends.  Sam & I didn't feel like going home, so we decided to take a little drive up to South Mountain.  It has been on our very long "must do" list, so I was happy to finally get something checked off! :)  We've been here for over a year now, and yet I feel like there's so much that we haven't seen or done yet! 

I consulted my trusty iPhone for directions, and we were on our way.  I don't know where the iPhone was directing me to, but we wound up driving around aimlessly through a subdivision at the base of South Mountain.  I plugged the address in again, got the correct directions, and we quickly got back on track.

The drive was absolutely gorgeous.  I was glad that Sam was the driver, and I got to admire the views.  After quite awhile, we finally got to the top of the windy road, and got out to admire the view.

Obviously, I really liked that shot. :)

Disregard my irritated looking expression.  I really did enjoy myself!

It was a fun afternoon, and I'm really glad that we decided to go.  We'll definitely be going back when it's not quite so hot outside! 

Anniversary Celebration

We decided to go pretty low key this year.  We thought about going away somewhere for the weekend, or another "stay-cation".  But ultimately, we're saving our pennies for our Disneyland trip with Rachael. 


Wednesday, Sam brought me a dozen hot pink roses to my work.  Poor guy is always trying to surprise me, and it always gets foiled.  It's kind of funny, but I do feel bad for him.  That day, my two work bff's (Michelle & Monica) and I decided to go to the store on our lunch break.  As we were coming back, Michelle pulled into one of our parking lots, and parked right there, was Sam.  I pointed that out to the girls, and they looked & saw he had flowers.  So then they decided that I should just get out of the car, and run in the building so as not to spoil his surprise.  I jumped out, and went into the building.  I just kind of stayed in the lobby, as I work in a secured building, which you need a badge to get in.  Our receptionist was also on her lunch break, so there was no one there to open the door for Sam, other than me.  The buzzer went off, and I opened the door for my poor hubby who had his surprise foiled again.  But it was worth it, as the flowers were (and still are) gorgeous!

Saturday night was the night that we decided to celebrate officially.  We went to dinner at The Keg.  Due to a series of miscommunications, resulting in a long wait for our server & Sam having to change his order, we wound up being comped our appetizer & cocktails.  It's kind of funny, as nearly everytime we've gone to The Keg, we wind up being comped something.  Once our entire meal, as they messed up Sam's prime rib.  Another time, we got a $75 gift card, because of a bad experience where I may have written a letter to the manager in regards to it. 

All in all, it was a nice anniversary celebration.  Low key, but perfect.  :)


In honor of our recent anniversary, here are some more of our wedding photos.  Because I love any excuse to show them off! :)  Of course, all wedding photos are by Amber Roberts Photography

Story of Us Part Deux

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

Sam moved to Washington in September 2005.  He lived in Poulsbo with his parents, as he was looking for a job and all that fun stuff.  So, he would take the ferry over to Seattle every weekend, so we could spend time together.  It was hard, but we made it work.  We dated for two years, always talking about our future together.  We both knew that we wanted to spend the rest of lives together, I just didn't know when that would begin! 

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

I turned 30 on October 22, 2006.  Sam had something planned for me the weekend after my birthday, but he wanted to keep it a surprise.  Turned out he had a weekend planned for us at our favorite hotel in Bellingham - The Hotel Bellwether.

Hotel Bellwether

On October 28, 2006, Sam & I went to dinner, and then he decided he wanted dessert when we got back to the hotel.  Not wanting to leave again, he decided we should just have dessert at the hotel restaurant.  So we go to the restaurant, and Sam checks in.  They bring us to our table.  Which was in their private wine cellar room, that we had all to ourselves.  I was kind of wondering what was going on, but Sam likes to do big romantic gestures from time to time, so it wasn't that far out of place for him.

Our private wine cellar at Harborside Bistro

The hostess seated us, but "forgot" the dessert menu.  She came back in with just one.  (which should have been a tip off, and yet it wasn't).  She handed it to Sam, who proceeded to look it over, and then hand it to me so I could decide what I wanted.  I perused the menu, and at the bottom there was a message addressing me.  Saying how he loves me, wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and asking if I'd marry him.  I look up, just in time to see him getting down on one knee on the other side of the table.  Of course, tears, and hugs, and a chorus of "yes, yes, yes" ensued.  The ring was placed, and we were officially engaged!

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

And so the wedding planning began.  I never wanted the big wedding.  Honestly, all I wanted was to get married on a beach, with just family, and close friends, and that's it.  However that all went out the window, when I fell in love with the son of two pastors.  So, a church wedding it was!

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

We had long ago decided to get married at this quaint little church in Port Gamble, WA.  We got that booked, and the rest just sort of fell into place. 

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

It was a challenge, as most of our guests were coming from the Seattle area, or Eastern Washington, so our venue involved a ferry ride.  And if you know anything about the WA ferries in the summer... you know there's often times a very long wait.  Luckily, that didn't seem to be too much of an issue, and we had a great turnout. 

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

Our wedding day was amazing.  It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so many close family and friends all at one time.  We were truly blessed.  I am in awe that it really was 3 years ago.  It's crazy how time flies!  In that time, we've survived a lengthy unemployment run, had my Dad live with us, moved 1500 miles away from our friends and family, adopted 2 fur babies, and are so much stronger.  Everything we've been dealt, we've conquered it together, and I couldn't ask for anyone better to do that with!  Happy anniversary to us!

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

So, there it is... The story of Sam & Shawna.  :)

Photo by Amber Roberts Photography

And just for funsies... Here's a link to our wedding slide show the photographer put together for us.  I still love it! 

The Story of Us

Tomorrow, Sam & I will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary.  In honor of our anniversary, I thought I would recap our story.  Well, I guess maybe "recap" isn't quite the right word, as I haven't ever talked about it on here, but you get the drift!

I had been single for awhile, after finally ending an on again off again relationship.  I was living in Seattle, and enjoying my time with my girlfriends.  I had been partaking in online dating, and joined a couple different sites.  Some I liked better than others, but overall, not a whole lot of luck.  I had decided to kind of take a break from online dating, and just get out "there", do things I liked, and if I met someone, great.  If not, at least I was having fun, right? 

On July 13, 2005 my "bad" luck had ended.  I got a notification that I had received a message from someone named Sam.  Actually, I'm pretty sure his screen name was "samborn71".  Because that's his screen name/sign on for pretty much everything.  Now, this notification was sent to the email address I used specifically for online dating.  One that my last name wasn't listed, so in case I decided to give out my email, I wouldn't have a creeper having access to all my info.  Because I had taken a break from online dating, it was a fluke that I had even checked that email account.  I think it had been a good couple months worth of emails I was cleaning out.  The other fluke?  The notification was from a site that I didn't really like, and wouldn't normally even open their messages.  The guys were usually all on the east coast, or significantly older than me(we're talking old enough to be my Dad!), or just not what I was looking for.  But for some reason, I decided to open that email, and I thought this guy looked kind of cute.  Turned out "samborn71" was 34 years old, living in southern California.  His parents had moved up to WA about 10 years, prior, and he was planning on moving to Seattle in the next few months.  We emailed back and forth for about a week or so, and then decided to take it to the next level... the phone!  His emails kept me cracking up.  I would get so excited every time I got another email from him, so I was glad that it was just an extension of the hilarity in the emails. 

About a month later, he came up to Washington to visit his parents.  We met up at a mall, and walked across the street to a park  

Bellevue Downtown Park & Rose Garden

After a few hours, we met up with his parents for dinner.  Yes, I met my now in-laws the same day I met (in person) my husband.  The rest of the week was kind of a blur.  He was trying to juggle time with me, as well as time with his parents.  We did some sightseeing, he met my family, we took the ferry back over to his parent's side of the sound, and did more sightseeing over there.  I hadn't ever been to the cute little town they live in.  Unfortunately, it was soon time to say goodbye, and he had to go back home to California.  But it was only for another month, before he'd be moving up to Washington permanently.

 

...tomorrow, our engagement story & wedding recap! 

My Week in iPhone Photos

Time to get up

Makings of my coffee.  Delicious!

Lunch... check, coffee... check!

Time to go to work.One last look in the only full length mirror in our place right now-Hubby's studio

My desk at work.  Yes, that is a princess tiara on my monitor

Potluck at work.  I brought Oreo Truffles.  They were a huge hit.

photo

I met up with Vanessa for some shopping and dinner.

Sam enjoying his first Bahama Bucks shaved ice

We took a drive up to South Mountain park

Self portrait

Sam walked down to explore

Enjoying the scenery

And that's about it... Pretty low key week. 

I've Been Awarded!

I've recently been awarded the Sugar Doll Blogger Award by 3 different fabulous ladies.  Shelly at The Family BLT,  Jenn  at Becoming Mrs. Lindauer & Lacey from Live, Laugh, Read.  I'm totally honored that they'd think of me!  Lil' ol' me! :)

Anyhoo... this is how it works (I almost said this is how we do it, but then the Montell Jordan song came roaring through my head, and I thought I'd spare my readers! Whoops, guess I didn't spare y'all after all!)

• Thank and link to the person that gave you the award
• Share 10 things about yourself
• Pass the award along to 10 other bloggers who you think are something special
• Contact the bloggers you picked to let them know about the Award

Easy Peasy, right?

Okay, so 10 things about myself...

1.   I come from a large family. My mom had 6 brothers & sisters.  They all had kids.  Growing up I LOVED going to Eastern WA to visit my grandparents, and all my cousins. 

2.   I am fairly shy, and (as other bloggers have said as well) I fear I may come off as rude or indifferent when meeting people for the first time. I've gotten better, but I suck at initiating conversation.  You come up to me?  I'll talk, no problem.

3.   I think of, and miss my 2 adorable nephews every.single.day.  They were most definitely the hardest part of leaving WA. 

4.   I am a great listener.  I am a horrible talker.  By that, I mean if my friends have problems, I'm there  100%.  They know that they can call any day, any time and I will gladly listen, commiserate, laugh, be angry, whatever they need... I'm there.  But if roles are reversed?  I'm hesitant to call my peeps.  Not because they're not "there" for me, but because I don't want to bother them.  Dumb, huh?  Good thing I've got Sam! :)

5.   I have excellent penmanship.  I am also a little OCD about it.  Teachers in school loved me for this.  If it was my personal notes?  No big deal, I would scrawl quickly and it didn't matter what it looked like. If it was a paper to be turned in, even a math assignment?  It would be done very neatly.  If I messed up, I would oftentimes re do the entire thing.  Thank goodness for computers now!  Gotta love the backspace key.

6.   One of my closest friends is a guy that I met on an online dating website.  We initially started talking, and decided we were best suited as friends.  We've never met in person, but we were each invited to the others weddings.

7.   Speaking of online dating... I met my husband on a dating website. 

8.   I have several friends, but there's really only one (not counting Sam) that I am truly myself with, and tell her absolutely everything. 

9.   I have a crazy insane fear of insects.  Any kind of insects.  Ladybugs?  Yuck.  Butterflies?  I can admire from afar, but they better keep their six legs offa me!  Though, I love reptiles.  Am fascinated with them.

10.  I once went on a road trip from Eastern WA to Las Vegas with these two ladies.  It was the most fun in a car ever.  We all laughed so hard that some may have peed their pants.  They are the best!  My Mama & my "sousin" Sister/cousin.  No, we're not inbred.  We're just more like sisters than cousins, and we dubbed ourselves sousins.  Yes, we are quite silly.  It's a pre-requisite to be in our family!

Phew!  That was more difficult than I thought it would be!  There ya have it... 10 random things about me! 
I'm not going to pass it along, as I'm pretty sure there's been many nominations floating around!