Wouldn't it be awful if your last name was Whitehead?

It's a real name. gross.

Speaking of gross, why is everything at the mall so gross? People cannot honestly buy/wear 80% of what they're selling. No more mall for me. I'm sticking with JCrew (sales of course).

I had my first midterm today. Poly Sci. I think it went alright.

I guess this is a wrap up post.

10 days ago Matt and I drove to San Bernadino for our marriage license. We spent the night in St George with two London-y married people Josh and Misty Everett. Lovely to see them, but in the morning at 245a Matt and I were on the road to CA. We were in California for a total of 1.25 hours before we were back on the road. Matt drove 15 hours that day (he wouldn't let me drive his car :p).

It's kind of autumny. The leaves are changing colors. I love autumn so freaking much. No other season is even .05% as good as fall. I could live all year long in perpetual fall. I really really could.

I've had very little work lately so not a lot of money which equals not a lot of food. But today I spent $12 and bought things to make a really delicious dinner:

Sage-Rosemary Chicken stuffed with...

Apple, Cranberry, Hazelnut stuffing. (bread courtesy of old cheesy biscuits) This is honestly the best stuffing. I had too much for the chicken, so while that is cooking I'm just munching on the stuffing. Love love love!


I hate school this semester. But I am determined to do just as well, because being engaged is not an excuse. And right now I'm blogging instead of studying. Boo.

Has anyone ever died of being engaged?

What a horrible infliction -similar to teenage years. A pulling stuck feeling where you don't belong before it and you can't yet belong after it.


ready for marriage

12 September

10 September 2009 I decided that I couldn't handle going back to BYU, that I needed to return to London and finish Le Cordon Bleu.

When I was leaving my Intro to Folklore class later that day, some boy walked up to me (and hit me on the arm) and said, "You going to India Fest?" I replied "Maybe, if I don't have to work." He said, "Want to go with me?" Again, "If I don't have to work."

10 minutes later (still talking and me getting annoyed that he hadn't introduced himself yet) I said, "I'm Lana, by the way."

"Oh, I'm Matthew Cole. Nice to meet you."


It was not love.

12 September 2009 we went to India Fest together. 

Thus began the awkward three months of, are we dating? hm, I'm not really interested? Why are we holding hands? Why are we kissing? What's going on? We can't be friends anymore, I'm not going to keep taking you out for nothing. You're my best friend. We're a couple now.

12 September 2010, we're engaged and happy and trying to figure out how to get everything done for the wedding while going to school.


12 September 2010, it's definitely love.

Texas- pronounced Tey-hass

Contrary to popular belief -my belief- Texas is not all desert. Here in Flower Mound it is very, very green. It's so weird to be a fiance. I love it, but it's weird. It's weird because it's now ok to say things like 'Matt and my kids, will look like etc' or 'When we're married, etc.' I love it. I love meeting my in-laws. I love Matthew so much. The separation right after engagement was a really terrible idea though, because now I just want to be married RIGHT now. I don't want to sleep alone anymore. I don't want to be Lana Pewitt. I want to be Lana Cole.

Today we went to a huge water park. At said park was a giant swing contraption where you are harnessed and a rope pulls you up 15 stories or so and then you free fall and then swing. It was terrifying. But it was also so much fun.

Have I mentioned I'm in love? Absolutely I am, Right now I get to baby sit an adorable baby. So blogpost over.

On Engagements

I did love Matthew quite a bit before we were engaged. And the act of proposing and accepting, in and of itself, is no remarkable physical action. But since I've said 'yes' and have worn this ring, everything feels different. I feel more attached to Matt, not like in an obsessive way at all, but in a we're linked together by the official intent to marry sort of way. I can only imagine what sort of sealing feeling there is to being married. I had to take the ring off today to do a lot of really gross dishes at work and I instantly felt weird. My hand felt odd and I kept rubbing my ring finger where I should feel (even if dissipated by sensory adaptation) that little circlet of gold. It's only been on for 3 days. Pathetic. :p

He's hiking mountains in New Mexico and I wont be able to talk to him for at least 10 days. I'll certainly get a lot of reading and wedding planning done, though.

Engaged!

Last night, July 26th Matthew asked me to marry him.

He is leaving for Philmont for 2 weeks and I wont be able to talk to him or see him, or even text him the entire time. He kept telling me he wanted to have one more real date before he left. Yesterday was the day he planned. He kept every detail of the date secret, he likes to do that, but it started to rain and he had to say, if it rains my plans will be ruined. Without further clues I guessed that we were going to go on the lake in paddle boats and have a picnic. He was really disappointed that I guessed it (with frustrating accuracy he says), and he seemed a bit put off. We went to the lake anyway but after waiting a very long time dealing with Alpine Rentals we discovered that the paddle boats were all broken! Someone had some in and trashed them. Poor Matt! All his plans gone awry! 

We sat by the lake and had our picnic anyway. We talked about how lovely the overcast sky was and how it would be nice to live near a body of water. We threw bread to/at the ducks. I told him that I was really sorry that I had ruined his plans by guessing them. He said, "You didn't guess all my plans." I asked him what other plans he had and everything went still and he said, "Lana, will you marry me?" Without even responding, I took the ring from his hand and sobbed on his neck. I managed to choke out 'yes' but mostly I was crying.

 

This ring is perfect. It's rose gold with wheat scrolling on the sides and it's from Provo from around 1900. The diamond is the diamond that Matt's dad used to propose to Matt's mom. It's an antique, it's an heirloom, it fits perfectly, and I love it.

I feel just awful though because earlier that day I had a 'serious' talk with Matt about not taking positive steps forward toward getting engaged. I think I would have made him feel bad if he hadn't had all this in cache. I feel so badly about it now. He loves it because he thinks it's funny, and because it proves that he's sneaky and that I really can't guess all his plans.

I'm in love. It's super weird being engaged. I've wanted this for a long time, but it's very strange being there suddenly. I know we'll be wonderful together. The date is December 21. We'll have a reception in Redding, and a reception in Flower Mound.