Will you...

Here is my amazing engagement story that I promised to share a couple months ago!!!

I knew that I was going to get engaged this fall/winter. My boyfriend and I had talked about it a lot and about where we saw the two of us going. He was leaving in January to go to grad school, and we didn't want to live far away from each other for long. So we knew that we would be getting married in 2011 at some point so that I could move to Alabama with him (from Texas...8.5 hours away). Well I am THAT girl that is so sneaky and so snoopy AND never lets anybody surprise her, so poor Taylor had to try and propose to me while enduring my sly ways. Well, he pulled it off.



I found out that he was supposed to propose on October 10th a couple days before that. When I say he was supposed to, I mean that he had planned it all out, and then had to cancel because my parents couldn't be there. Yes...I found this out. I'm telling you...sneaky, snoopy and sly = me!



Well at that point I knew it shouldn't be too long after when he was going to do it. I mean

1. He had a ring

B. He was ready

3rd. He knew how anxious I was getting



I just KNEW I had figured it out. It was going to be Halloween weekend without a doubt! Friends would be in town for the football game, it was Halloween so I wouldn't suspect a thing. I was wrong. Ha.



On October 17th I woke up to a text message from my roommate asking me if I had already left for church. I hadn't because I didn't go to Sunday School that day (please no judgement). She said that she needed a huge favor and wanted to see if I could help. I said of course and asked what she needed.

A little back story: My roommate is engaged herself, and had just had her engagement photos taken a couple weeks prior. Well she had been complaining to me all this week about how her photographer never sent her engagement photos to her. That she had been calling and email ALL week, and still nothing. Back to the story

So, she told me that her mom had already paid for an engagement annoucement in the Dallas Newspaper (which is expensive) and that they HAD to have a picture turned in that night or they lost their spot. Well Caitlyn knows I have a good camera and that I LOVE to take pictures, so she asked if I would be willing to take some photos of her and her finace on campus that day after church. I said I would love to!

We went to church as always, sat with some of my best friends as always. We went to eat lunch together at McAllisters. At the end of lunch Taylor (boyfriend at the time) received a phone call from his boss reminding him that he was late for a work meeting on campus. So he said he would just ride with us to campus and then go to his meeting once we got there. Well the four of us headed to campus and he went to his meeting and we started taking photos. If you are an Aggie then you know about the large Aggie Ring, so we took pictures there, then at the Century Tree (where my roommate was engaged) and then Kirk let me know that he wanted to take pictures at his favorite spot on campus. This place is known to him and other corps guys as Meatball Track. Well I knew that Meatball track was right behind the Administration Building (aka the place that I have always wanted to be proposed to at), BUT I didn't think much of it. It did cross my mind, but I thought surely he wouldn't say the Meatball track in an effort to through me off...yes my brain was doing this...I also did not want to get my hopes up as I had many times previously in the semester thinking that THIS IS IT! (and obviously it never was ha).

We headed over to the Meatball track and noticed there was a lot of construction going on, so I told them we should just take picutres at the actual Administration Building. They were all for it so we headed that way. As we got closer to the side of the building I saw somebody I recognized. It was one of my very closest guy friends, and one of Taylor's very good friends and buddies in the corps, Casey. He was standing there all dressed up with a rose. I couldn't believe it, and I didn't, so I just stopped in my tracks and kept saying "No....no way...no". Caitlyn (my roommate) took my purse and camera and ran around the building with her finace. Casey gave me a huge rose, an even bigger hug and said "Are you ready?". At this point I was sobbing ( I do that a LOT). I just cried and cried the whole way around the building and all the way to the saber arch that was waiting for me on the steps of my favorite spot on campus. Casey let me go and I begin to walk up the stairs through the saber arch. A dream come true really. I looked at each of the RV's in the arch and realized I knew all of them. They all were special to Taylor or I in some way which made it even better.

When I got to the top of the stairs Taylor gave me a big hug and told me the most amazing things I have ever heard. They were so special and so perfect. After telling me just how much he truly loved me, he got down on one knee and pulled out a Vera Bradley traveling jewelry case (Side note again: I had been BEGGING him to buy me this case for about 8 months at this point. He always said no because he said $30 was too much for a jewelry traveling case I would barely use, so this was SUPER special to see he had purchased it). He asked me to be his wife....I know I was crying, screaming, yelling, crying some more, and I said YES!) He stood up and we hugged and kissed and then began our journey down the steps back through the saber arch. We reached the bottom and I couldn't help but just scream YES! All of our friends and family that were there rushed up to hug and congratulate us. So many of my closest girlfriends were there. Some couldn't make it on account of being out of state, but so many were there! Our familes were there to hug us and tell us how happy they were for us. We tooks LOTS of photos and then headed to a Bed & Breakfast that Taylor's dad stays at when he comes in town for a little party! We had cake and food and champagne and just visited with each other about the exciting time.

After the party Taylor & I went to my house with two cookie cakes in hand. I was able to ask both of my best friends to be my CO-Maid of Honors! They said yes! *Whew* Haha. Then Taylor & I went to go and make it official!

We changed our status on Facebook OF COURSE! We then went and had dinner with his dad, step mom and brother and just talked about the upcoming plans.

From there it has been the most exciting time of our lives. We have made some plans...which I'll talk about later in other posts, BUT we are most looking forward to our lives ahead of us! We cannot wait to see where the Lord will lead us and what He has in store for us. I just cannot wait to be his wife!!!

I hope you think about the day you got engaged, or the day you will!

A book

My name is Paige, which if you ask anybody they would probably say is a good name for an author. Of course in some cheesy way, but none the less, it is kind of humorous...that is IF you have my sense of humor. Which from experience I do not think most people do. For example, when I watch TV with multiple people, I am normally the only one to laugh out loud. But this was not the point of the post...moving on.

The point is, as I said in the last post, I want to write a book. I want to write a book about my life and the struggles in it and the many victories that have come along with it. I know that every single person in the whole world could write a book about just that in their own lives, so there is my dilemma. How do I make mine different? How do I make mine stand out? If it recommends I am some writer with an extensive vocabulary and elegant speech...then I'm out. If it recommends I tell my story the way others want me to tell it or how they wish to hear it...I'm out. The only way I can make this work is if the people want to read a true story, about a real life, about real obstacles - large and small, about overcoming those obstacles AND all from a 24 year old who has only written high school and college level essays. Which, when you think about it...I really haven't seen all that much. I hopefully have only lived a quarter of my life, but it has been a very jam packed quarter. When I read an autobiography...which this is to an extent, they never really start from the beginning of a person's life. They all start with a story about themselves at a turning point in their lives. They also all seem to have been famous for one thing or another; they were the President, or an Oscar winning movie star or some serial killer. Me...well again, I'm just your average mid twenties young woman who has survived life to this point. I haven't had a disease that almost took my life, or one huge life changing moment, I've just had life. I know you all know what I'm talking about, life.

You know...life. It kicks you down, makes you think you can get back up and then knocks you down again. Sometimes it even DOES let you up...and just when you think you've got it all figured out it trips you again. (Side note: I believe in the Heavenly Father above, and I do not believe in karma or that is it actually "LIFE" that does these things, I know that the Lord above has a plan - my plan? No. But He has a plan - life as I am describing it) This is where I start to confuse you and myself. I am not saying that God is who knocks us down, just to trip us again. I'm just saying that sometimes the plan we are on, the path God has given us has a lot more potholes than we are expecting. I am saying that just because we love God, believe in Him and serve Him does not mean that life is going to be easy, simple or always enjoyable. What I can tell you though is that after this life, after these potholes and the hard times...we will have a time that is always easy, simple & enjoyable with Him in Heaven. No, I am not trying to preach, but I am hoping that after you read some more, you will see why I love Him ever so much and why I believe that His plan is the BEST plan there is.

This isn't an introduction, just something to get my juices flowing. Hopefully this'll do something. If I do write a book, this is the best way for me to start. Just writing. Just writing about different parts of my life. When I think about it, sometimes I think my life would be better portrayed as a soap opera rather than a book, but oh well. For now we'll work on it being a blog. I'll just write memories, scenarios - the good, the bad and the very ugly. Let's see how this goes!

Making a Difference

My whole life all I have ever wanted (besides falling in love and living happily ever after) was to make a difference. I want my life to mean something. So here lately, as I sit at my 8-4 desk job I have been trying to think of ways that I can do just that - make a difference. Here's what I've come up with.



1. I could...get a degree in psychology and be a school counselor for children who don't have anybody else to talk. OR just be a non-profit after school counselor. How neat would that be? To be able to counsel children who don't have anybody else to talk to about what is going on in their lives? I was one of those children who needed somebody to talk. I remember all of my school counselors. All 5 of them, from all the moving I did. I also remember every other counselor the court made me go talk to growing up. There was one in a church that I went to with my mother, and then I would leave while she continued to talk. There was another across the street from a K Mart that I would go talk to alone. I also had another that I went to for a short time because I didn't like him, so I didn't talk. And then I had one all through high school that I loved. Though my issues in high school were not anywhere as deep as they were when I was a child, it was so nice having somebody to talk to that I knew I could trust with everything I told her. I had best friends in high school, but we all remember how those went. They STILL told SOMEBODY. A counselor couldn't tell anybody and it was wonderful. Sometimes I think about being that for somebody. That could make a difference. That would make my life mean something.
(side note: I do have a degree now, it is just in Communication, so I would need to get another degree or a masters...or both, however that works)



OR



2. I could...get a degree in education and become a high school speech teacher. I would LOVE that. To be able to interact with teenagers in a classroom. It would be a challenge alright, but I would love to be able to teach them how to speak in the real world. How to fill out applications, how to write a resume for an organization or job, how to speak in an interview. I just think it would be so beneficial to be able to do that. To teach young teenagers how to speak in public. How to give a formal, informal, how to, lesson speech in public. Whether that is to 2 people, or 500. I think that could make a difference, and my life would mean something.



OR



3. I could...go to law school like I always dreamed and get back on the path for politics. From the time I was three years old I wanted to work in politics and government. From the age of 3 until 6th grade I wanted to be the first woman president (think I'm going to get beat to it, I still have 11 years before I'm even eligible haha). From 6th grade to freshmen year I wanted to be Governor of Texas (I'm not sure Rick Perry will ever leave) and then from freshman year in high school until about sophomore year of college I wanted to be a US Senator. I wanted to be a US Senator because I wanted to make a difference. The more I learned about politics, aka the more I was old enough to understand them, I realized they turned good people dirty and if they didn't, they hurt more people than they help. I also realized that year that I did just LOVE school. I loved being in college, but I didn't like the studying part so I didn't think Law School was for me. Now if I really wanted to make a difference, I'm sure I could find a way in politics, and I could just buckle down and work my tail off for a while in law school...but that's pretty far down on the list.

OR

4. I could...work for a non profit of some type. Try to find news way to benefit the non profit. Find ways to raise money, to help the organization we work for, ways to make life better for those we are working to help. I lived in a non-profit all through high school, it was a Children's home in a very small town in Texas. I never realized how much it took to run that place, but that was because we never were threatened with it shutting down, or not having food or the resources we needed. I would love to work for a place like that, to help make a difference, make my life mean something. I would just have to search. You might be thinking, well then why don't you go work for that children's home...well its about 4 hours from where I live now and it will be about 12 hours from where I will be living in August. So this is a big possibility. Sounds like the most attainable goal on the list thus far.

OR

5. I could...write a book. I have always always always wanted to write a book. Not a short book either. I have always wanted to just sit down to my computer and start writing. And I have tried in the past. I'm just not good at finding a starting point. I want to write a book about not giving up, about succeeding when you aren't supposed to, about being the YOU that you want to be not who you're supposed to be...I want to write a book about life. My next post will be more about this. This is what I want to do more than anything. But so does a huge chunk of the population, all waiting for publishers to pick them up, all waiting to be discovered. So as much as I want this one to be how I make a difference and how I make my life mean something...it'll probably always just be a dream. I will probably go for something like this:

6. I will...get married to the man of my dreams. We will struggle but always love and support each other at the end of the day. We will start a family and raise that family to know and love the Lord above. We will grow old together, always treating others with love and teaching our family to do the same. All the while we will pray for those that we know and those that we don't. We will have the life that we weren't' supposed to have. We will have a happy marriage with a wonderful family that two people from broken families are not supposed to produce. My husband will be the husband and father that a boy from a broken marriage isn't supposed to be. And I will be the wife and mother that a girl from an abusive mother and broken family isn't supposed to be. And that is how we will make a difference. We will always give, even when we don't' have any to give and we will always love. There's how I'll make sure my life means something.

You don't have to do anything extreme, its a lot like the quote by Gandhi "Be the change you want to see in the world", just do what you think will make a difference and what will make your life mean something. I'm not giving up on my dreams, I am still thinking and brainstorming on what I can do, and I'll find it. Sooner or later!

MIA

So I have been MIA for almost NINE months...that is ridiculous. I don't know what happened. One day I was writing super long blog posts about my life and all the fun adventures I have had and the next I got busy and forgot to write. I love writing which is so crazy that I just stopped. I will say I did get busy at work, which is where a lot of my writing takes place, buuuuuuuut, still no excuse. SO much has happened since March. SO much.

I am now 24! Had a birthday and loved every second of it. It might have been the BEST birthday yet. Which is funny because I didn't think I would enjoy any more birthdays after 21, oh but I was wrong! My friends joke that I like to have a birthday month...I don't really, just a birthday week. I mean is that too much to ask for? When else do you have an excuse to eat whatever you want, do whatever you want, and buy whatever you want? Never, unless its your birthday. And ONE day is not long enough to take care of all of that, so you just turn it into a week. I like it better when my birthday is at the end of the week because then it is almost valid to have a whole week's worth of celebration. Which is what I did. My birthday was on a Saturday, but we celebrated Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday! LOVED IT! I will have to write a post just about my birthday and everything we did! Because, like I said, it was FANTASTIC!

I GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean my birthday was great and all BUT getting engaged was the best day of my life! I will definitely write a post ALL about that because it is just one day that I will never forget ANY of the details about. I have been wedding planning since then, and I will not make my blog all about wedding planning but I will be talking about my wedding and some decisions I'm making. You know, place (well I have that), colors, details, all the fun stuff that goes into a wedding! We even picked a date: August 6th 2011!!! I am so ready for that day to be here, but also not ready because I feel like I need MORE time to plan. I have not been the bride I thought I was going to be. I figured that I would have everything done within a week of getting engaged (which was on October 17th!)....and it is now December 3rd and I have booked are the place, caterer, photographer, minister & paper goods. So yes, I still need to find a DJ, Baker & Florist among things like my wedding dress, bridesmaid's dresses and anything else I'm forgetting. I have asked ALMOST all of my bridesmaids so far! I have asked 7....yeah we are having 10. Crazy, I know, but my fiance and I both have been so blessed with amazing friends in college that we cannot imagine not having them as a part of our day. But...like I said I will talk about that more in other posts. AND soon enough we will have our wedding website up and I will put a link to it on here as well! Yay!

I received a raise/promotion at work! Really, just happened today but has been so exciting. It really just made my day/week/month! As I said earlier I was SUPER busy there for a while. I hired 104 people in a month and a half time span...busy. Ha. It just is such a great feeling to know that all of your hard work has been noticed. So yay!

Well I can already tell that I have written a lot. I'm not sure if a blog is the spot for me or not. I could write all day long. I'm not an excellent writer by any means, I just like to talk and so I write as I would talk to a friend, or even a stranger.

It feels good to be back and I cannot wait to keep up with my posts from now on. I hope everybody has had a great nine months and is looking forward to the holiday season! God Bless!