Wednesday, July 31, 2013

The First AND Second Muskies of my Life

[this was the first one i've ever seen so up close and personal & even had the privilege of netting for lee]
[the happy first muskie of my life picture!!!]

Since the first summer I started dating Lee, we have been after muskies together & until the other night been muskie-less. Clarification: he's caught plenty, but never once have I been with as net girl or caught one of my own. Though I love fishing with Lee, I wimp out on him and the fish quite easily and usually resort to reading a book or flipping through Pinterest to take away the pain of not seeing any fish. With muskies I become even more of a wimp 1/ because the lures are large and so heavy to cast and 2/ because they are a hard species of fish to come by and since (until this past weekend) I had never experienced the thrill of catching one I usually have no desire to continue casting when my arm is about to fall off. Now I know the feeling & maybe just maybe it will help me to be less of a wimpy fisher-girl next time ;) 

Monday, July 29, 2013

A Happy 4 Years Date to PF Changs


We dressed up. We ate yummy chinese food. We reminisced on highs & lows of the year. We got super excited thinking about 
the fact that next year at this time we will be married & living under the same roof (whatever that might look like). We promised 
that we'd still always make this "dating" anniversary a special day. We ate ice cream. We rented a RedBox. We took these 
photos with my mama as the photog - thanks mom! Year five: we look forward to you & the major life milestones you 
have awaiting us. It's going to be a good one!

P.S. my dress is an H&M dress from goodwill - you would never have guessed! 


Monday, July 22, 2013

4 Years...

[Our 1 year anniversary trip to Duluth - so little!]

Today marks 4 years with the man I will soon (in 11 short months) call my husband. 4 years of laughs, frustrations, delicious food, getting to know the others quirks, big fish AND little fish, adventures, tears, & most of all a love so deep. Thank you for trying to figure this broken girl out and for being so patient and forgiving of me.  I love loving you Mr. Z. Next year at this time I will be Mrs. Z woo hoo! And we'll start all over again with this whole anniversary thing. Happy 7/22 babe!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

We Heart Auctions

About a month ago, Lee & I attended our very first auction and now we are officially addicted!! It was the greatest way to spend a rainy sunday afternoon - surrounded by a bunch of hill billy red-necks fighting for the oddest of treasures. We ended up winning 55 antique blue ball mason jars for our wedding centerpieces & the desk pictured above. We beat an old lady in the bidding war and got it for $20. I sanded it down and stained it with Minwax's "Jacobean" color. The hardest part was choosing the stain color and wondering just how it would react with the wood of the desk, but I am so pleased with the results! I added a fun drawer pull & Lee painted a layer of polyurethane over the surface so that it looks and feels like a brand new desk. After we finished I said to Lee, "this will be the desk I study for the CPA exam on next year... exciting!" Everybody needs a cute desk to study accounting on right?! 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Picture Inspo

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

In one short week, Lee & I will be in the process of taking these bad boys. Yippeeeeee!!! 
It's finally time to put the 3 years of pinterest inspiration to good use. They are going to be shot
 somewhere in the MN woods & will be taken by our wedding day photographer, Matt Lien
We can't wait to kiss over & over again on camera without being ashamed of the PDA ;) 
& also get to know Matt and his shooting style a little bit better before the big day!
Here are some of my favorite pins & shots from around the web. Enjoy!



Friday, July 12, 2013

Itasca State Park



Over the 4th, Lee & I decided to take a day trip to the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi [as I typed that just now i sang in my head M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I]. We had both been before, but seeing the world together is a whole lot better. Creating "us" memories as I like to call them. We rented beach cruiser bikes & rode all around the park. We only had one minor accident - one in which I saw my entire life flash before my eyes. The story goes like this:

Lee braked abruptly in front of me to do a trick & had no clue that I was directly behind him because usually I'm quite slow, so I had to hit my brakes fast and went flying through the handle bars as a crowd of about 10 was gathered to peek at the map nearby... I cried mostly due to embarrassment...A lady in that crowd brought us her first aid kit and another kind woman brought us an ice cold water bottle...MN nice I tell ya...He bought me DQ on our way home...My knees are nearly healed. 

Exploring this big beautiful world on day trip's with this boy as a fiance makes me so excited for real vacations as a married couple where we can stay the night or week anywhere we please.