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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Will You? I do!

I'm trying to motivate myself to write in a blog more since later this year we're going away  on a holiday, so I'd like to be able to write in here, but first I want to get us to the present time. hopefully one day I'll elaborate more.

My birthday, August 21st 2009. The day before my birthday Dave asked me to have the day off for a special birthday surprise. I was lucky enough to go horseback riding! We went on a trail with a very nice guide. I hadn't been on a horse in years ( summer camp when I was 8) but I love horses so much. It was tough at first, but Dave was a natural! I don't think he had ever been on a horse before. It was a beautiful view in the Canyon. I had the most lovely time.

This is where it gets interesting.

After sweating like crazy ( it was a particularly hot day in LA), and smelling like horse, just before we went into the car to head home, Dave told me to wait. I had a feeling that this was the moment I needed to remember, because It was the most important day of my life up to that point.
He called me over and I hugged him and thanked him for the wonderful day, and I just wanted to keep hugging him. He said "I love you" and I said "I love you too", he said "And you know what else? Will you marry me?" I looked up, and he was trying to show me this little box and I didn't understand what he was doing because he was still standing ( He didn't know about the kneeling down part haha) and then I saw it. I saw this lovely ring that was for me.
Of course I said YES!!! And I cried and kissed him about a hundred times! A beautiful sunset shared in a moment that couldn't have been more perfect!
August 20th 2009, the day we got engaged <3



On the drive home I made the necessary phone calls, and then we decided we wanted to be married as soon as possible!
The next day was my birthday August 21st,  and my best friend Graham flew from Vegas to be there ( who knew it would be the last birthday of mine we'd spend together for a long while?) I had a low-key party, our landlords helped us cook burgers on the barbecue which was nice of them. (Quick mention that they are the best landlords EVER!!! Like family)
My amazing bumblebee Birthday Cake!
My friends Akiliy, Kevin, Derek, Tracey, my mom and her best friend ( my second mother) Manuella, my sister Kim, Ben, and I can't remember who else so if I forgot you please say so!
My honey drove all the way to Chinatown from Monrovia to get the cake ( Thanks to Graham for pitching in on it with Dave!) and picked up Graham from the airport. It was such a lovely day. It was luau themed but barely anyone went in the pool, funny enough. We just laughed and talked until the late hours of the night.
The next day, Graham had to fly back home to his amazing wife ( Hi Ashley!) but we went to the movies first to see the most kick-ass movie, Inglorious bastards.
( I am mentioning that when I get back to present time I am doing a movie review feature! Hooray!)
We couldn't find a Pinkberry which was sad because Graham wanted it since they didn't exist in Vegas ( now they have Yogurtland which is way better!)
Brother From another mother
ON his flight home, Graham's flight had some big problems and Graham though he was going to die. I'm so sorry that he had to go through that and his wife too, he called her on the plane to let her know. It was so scary to heard about that after the fact. Glad everything went okay after all!!!

A few weeks later, Dave and I decided we would be getting married!

We got married on September 14th, 2009.
We wrote a letter to his family in Australia to let them know we didn't not want to exclude them, we would be having a ceremony on our anniversary a few years down the line so that both of our families could meet.
I had booked us in for Wee Kirk 'O The Heather in Las Vegas, so that my Graham could give me away and we could have a very small ceremony with a handful of friends. ( My mother and sister were not there, I told them they were welcome but I sort of wanted them to be at the big ceremony with the rest of the family when we did it.)
In attendance Were Rachael, Graham and his wife Ashley, Brian and his then-girlfriend Maureen ( it was Brian's birthday!), Ross and Tracey. I found my dress at Bloomingdales at The Beverly Center Mall it was perfect! I had been looking at Betsey Johnson but didn't find anything I liked. My dress was Creme and Had a nice big black waist belt sewn on it with a huge black bow to finish the backless dress. It was very 40s-50s, which was what I was going for. I love that dress, still to this day. Rachael was my Maid of Honor and Graham gave me away. ( My father passed away when I was 8, but I'm sure he was there in spirit).
The day before the wedding I got a tattoo on my left wrist for Rachael, one of my oldest and still one of my dearest friends. It's a pineapple ( our love of pineapples really brought us together) with her initials in it. RDL. I still look at it every day and love it just as much! It was done by Ross at DownTown Tattoo in Las Vegas. Ross is a great artist! Thanks again dude!

The day of the wedding, we got our license, among a bunch of other future Mr. and Mrs.s, some not in love but doing it for their future child, others from other countries, but a few of them were in love too. I knew standing in that line that we would be one of the few couples there that would make it. The lady that helped us seemed confident we would too, because she wished us good luck with a genuine smile, something I did not see for anyone else but us. It was really heartwarming. We were practically married!
Rachael and I hurried to get our nails done while Dave spent ages in traffic to check into the hotel, by the time we were done with our nails he hadn't checked into the Luxor yet so I frantically asked Ashley to pick us up, while she was on her way I called the Chapel, they casually mentioned they couldn't marry us anymore ( WTF????? Can't they call us when we've reserved the minister???) And told us their Minister ( or his wife) Went into labor and they didn't have a back up ( another dumb move...you're a wedding chapel in LAS VEGAS) anyway, Tracey quickly called her  concierge at the Wynn and they found The Chapel of The Bells could do it at 8:30.
We hurried with Ashley to the Luxor and got ready so darn fast! Then we were stuck in Traffic and we over an hour late for our own wedding!! Graham spent the entire time talking to the owner and begged him to wait, because they lady I spoke with had given me awful directions to take Las Vegas BLVD which took ten times longer than the freeway which I didn't know...We finally made it at 9:30 or so, and calmed down, took a deep breath, and I started to walk down the aisle. Graham said something that made me laugh ( Graham do you remember what you said?) and then I saw my honey. Dressed in a suit and wearing my favorite tie that belonged to my father, wearing his BMX shoes (I loved that), and a huge smile on his face, my eyes started tearing up instantly. The room was well lit and not tacky at all, which was a surprise. The minister was a very nice older man, he kept everything simple but sweet and personal even though he didn't know us, and Dave said some lovely vows that but me on the bring of sobs because he was so wonderful in the way he spoke, that I couldn't bring myself to say anything more than "I love you, and I do". I forgot to mention that The whole thing was voice recorded, but to this day I haven't listened to it and neither has Dave, because we're terrified we're going to laugh at ourselves and ow silly we sounded. Maybe one day when we're older...
We said our I Dos and we were officially husband and wife! Mrs. and Mrs. David Wood.



It was just so perfect and simple, exactly what we wanted. I will admit that I'm still excited for the day when we do have a renewal of vows ceremony in front of our families, because at least this time I'll be composed enough to actually say some vows with things I would love to say to my honey.
We went to the Peppermill for a nice vegas-style dinner with everyone after, Graham helped us get a quick change of waitresses because the first one was rude and didn't know who Patrick Swayze was and that he died that day...Anyway, we had some champagne and a nice dinner, Graham said a few very nice words. We took a few photos in front of the Las Vegas sign on the way back to the Luxor, had a couple of drinks and Tracey and I played on the slot machines, and Dave and I went to our lovely egyptian themed room.

We had to wake up at the crack of dawn the next morning because I had to work the next day! Lame..=[
We really wanted to take advantage of the awesome pool there. Maybe someday..

Dave's cousin Mitch when we met up during his visit to LA
About a month later was halloween! Dave was the Big Bad Wolf and I was little red riding hood. We got our costumes on the day, and I'm glad we did! We paid a total of $30 for both! We went to a friend's party for a bit, nothing too crazy.

A few days later we did something a big crazy.

Dave's visa was up and He had been told by the US consulate in Sydney that he could leave the country for a day and be allowed back into the US for another 6 months. We planned on moving to Australia by March, so we figured that would work out well for us. We had already turned in our paperwork so it was just a waiting game after that.
We decided to go to Tijuana so that Dave could see Mexico. Obviously NOT the best place to go to see Mexico, but it was interesting nonetheless.On the way down we were a bit nervous We got Sombreros in San Diego. Then we were at the border.  Well, it was quite the experience, let me tell you. We parked out car on the American side of the border and walked across. The turnstiles were kind of scary, some girls tried to pick a fight with me, and when we crossed there were men with machine guns just standing around. We went into an office and tried to give them Dave's white page stapled to his passport. they wouldn't take it. So we walked until we found a taxi that would take us to the hotel. Good thing I know enough spanish to get by, so we didn't get cheated on taxi fare. the Marriott was nice, we had the pool and jacuzzi to ourselves, the food was nice and the drinks were cheap. On tv at 9pm there were some STRANGE things on tv...let me tell you.


Working hard, obviously.





The next day, we went exploring a little we tried to check out a museum but it was closed for a function set-up, so we went looking around in shopping centers and such. I got a few kinder surprises! It was a big culture shock for Dave. Dogs running around unattended, smog, crazy drivers, it was pretty wild. We went back to the hotel, then prepared for our journey home the next day. That morning was just scary. We took the taxi as far as it would take us, walked for a little while, then found the US government office. We we so lucky the officer we got was nice. He could have told Dave "too bad" and made him leave back to Australia straight from TJ airport. But after talking for quite a while, he gave him a 3 DAY extension. So this meant that he had to organize a flight back home within 3 days. We packed his stuff and it all seemed so surreal, then I took him to the airport 2 days later. I missed my honey so much so fast. I booked a flight to Brisbane for the 1st week of xmas. In november, I went to Vegas for the last time before I left so spend Graham's birthday with him and his family and friend and Thanksgiving too! It was just what I needed. It had been a few years running that I spent Thanksgiving with Graham and his family ( my surrogate family). It was wonderful time! I left my job at Hot Topic after 4 years of working there. I frantically packed all of our stuff out of the place we lived in, organized for a shipping company to send our stuff on a pallet on a boat, and donated the rest to Out of The Closet. (Thanks again to my mom and all her friends for taking care of the leftover stuff and donating it). I had a going away party at my friends Tony, Andrew, and Aaron's place ( thanks again guys!)

Then I was off to my new adventure...At least for my 3 months tourist visa, since my paperwork hadn't come through.
The bird lady

More coming very soon, I promise!

2 comments:

  1. This post made me happy, then sad.

    We really miss you guys...

    ReplyDelete
  2. We miss you guys a lot too! Hopefully everything will work out and we will meet up in europe in a few months <3

    ReplyDelete