Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Sweetest Place on Earth. . .

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, that would be Hershey, Pennsylvania! (hehe, get it?!) This weekend my parents drove down from New Hampshire so that we could all start on the wedding preparations! For the most part things went really well, and once I get the final "OKAY" From Dear olde Dad, I'll be ready to put a deposit on our dream wedding reception location-- the Hotel Hershey. 

I can't wait to welcome our out-of-town family and friends to Hershey in grande style! The Hotel will be the perfect place to celebrate our love and dance the night away with everyone who is important to us and helped us along in this journey called life so far! 

It was a fun weekend with my parents and Andrew and I even had a chance to get our engagement pictures taken! I've only seen a few of them so far, but I am absolutely in love with them! Shannon's good friend, Amy (another Amy--- they are seriously dominating my life lately; but I kinda like it!) agreed to do our photo shoot last minute (since that's the only way the Army lets us plan anything) and they really came out great. The last location was a field near the State Game Lands and I was only in a short sleeved shirt, so I was freezing cold, but she did an amazing job capturing us and the goofy goons that we are!

So on to more wedding planning for me. I am starting to have an image in my mind of how everything will be, and let me tell you, I AM LOVING WHAT I SEE! This long engagement is turing out to be a blessing in disguise because I don't have to stress about time lines or anything yet. Once I book the Church (still up in the air) and the Hotel I really don't have to start doing anything for nearly a year; but knowing me, I'll definitely want to start diving into this right as soon as the deployment starts!

The one and only hang up we are having is the notion of the Saber Arch. I think it is the most romantic part of a military wedding, and I drool over the pictures we could get from it! (here is a sneak peek I found on Google):


Unfortunately, my groom is not too keen on this idea, but lucky me; I've got 20+ months to convince him otherwise! Plus we have a picture of my grandparents walking out of their wedding in the middle of The Second World War underneath a sword/saber arch (not sure which they call it in German). It's a beautiful tradition and gosh, the pictures would be to die for!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

My Very First Dolan Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving week is always hectic and full of stressors, and believe me, this year was no exception. I had agreed to go home to New Hampshire to begin some preliminary wedding discussions with my parents the weekend before the holiday, which left me little time to do all of the holiday prep that needed to be done. In the three days between the weekend and Turkey day I had quite a few things on my to-do list. To name a few:
  1. Shop for ingredients and prepare 2 stuffings (My grandmother's recipe and a great way to begin integrating Dolan/Olsen traditions)
  2. Pre-Bowl since I wouldn't be able to make it to bowling on Tuesday
  3. Michael Buble Concert in Hershey on Tuesday night
  4. Get my nails done (I know, it's not a must-do; but come on! I have to look good for the holidays AND plus Andrew was coming home
  5. Help to get the house ready for Turkey Day/my parents' visit
  6. Bears Game on Wednesday night
  7. Pick up my Raaaaaaaanger from the airport
Not to mention, working Monday through Wednesday until at least 5! I was having a difficult time trying to figure out how I was going to make everything happen in such a short week, but then Andrew reminded me that I stay up late most nights anyways, so instead of relaxing, just cross things off the list one by one!
  
So I did! After work on Monday, I pre-bowled with Aunt Mary (and got a 149 on my first game, AWESOME!), then stopped at the grocery store before heading home. Andrew's mom gave me a $50 Giant Gift Card to buy everything I needed; and the grand total of my groceries was $48.60. Pretty perfect if you ask me! I came home to 3 of Andrew's cousins and his uncle and dad moving the huge sectional couch out of the basement! It was quite the project, but it's nice to have big strong men around to do those jobs that otherwise I would have been helping with!


I quickly ate dinner then began on the first stuffing-- My Grandmother's Sausage and Wild Rice Dressing. It sounds gross, but generally its a hit! I cooked for 3 1/2 hours on both stuffings and then Andrew's mom helped me clean the kitchen (which was a huge mess!) and then we opened a bottle of wine.... at 11:30 at night. Totally deserved that special treat! We talked for a long time about wedding plans and the upcoming deployment! I haven't been home in so many weekends and life has been going so fast lately, it was so nice to just sit down with her and just talk. I had really missed that. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I have been so blessed with my future in-laws. I don't know what I did to deserve them, but they are already like family to me.
It was late to bed on Monday night, but it was worth it for all the fun we had laughing and talking! On Tuesday we went to see Michael Buble in Hershey and it was seriously an amazing show. There were lots of couples so it left me really missing Andrew, but I knew I would see him the next night! Tuesday was another late night, by the time he played for almost 2 hours and we got home it was already close to midnight, but if you know anything about me, you know I can never go right to bed. 

Wednesday Andrew found out around 2 that he was able to switch flights and get into Harrisburg 4 hours earlier than we had planned! SCORE! Plus Sean and I decided to shut the office down an hour early, which gave me a lot of extra time to help get the house ready and get my nails done before the Hockey Game! So even though I thought I had a huge, daunting list ahead of me, I managed to get everything done! I'm pretty impressed with myself!
  
Thanksgiving day when off without a hitch! Everyone had a blast, the kids were excellently behaved (per usual) and the food was excellent! We had dinner around 1 with the Dolans, watched some football (Patriots kicked butt!) and then went over to Uncle Doug's around 6 to send some time with the Hummer's! It was such a great day! 

Tomorrow my parents are coming into town and we are all going over to the Hotel Hershey to look at it for a wedding venue! This means as of tomorrow we will have OFFICIALLY started the wedding planning process! I'm so excited!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Cheer, Cheer for Ole' Notre Dame!

Andrew and I just got back from a great weekend at Notre Dame! It was kind of a spur of the moment thing (well as much as it can be, with airlines and travel arrangements needing to be made) but it ended up being such a great weekend.
 
I am so thankful that I have been getting so much time to spend with Andrew before he deploys. I am pretty much dead broke at this point, but I keep telling Andrew, we can always make more money, but we can't always make up for the memories that we didn't make. 

Dierks Bentley (another country guy) has a great song called "Can't Live It Down" and my favorite line is: 
"There's times I've wasted money cause I know that I can always make more cash; but wasted time is something, man, when it's gone you can't get it back" 
So that is my motto for the moment. I'm just living it up and soaking it in as long as I can... and MAN oh man, am I enjoying life!


BUT that is all beside the point! Andrew and I had a great weekend in South Bend. I woke up at a ridiculous 4:45 AM to make my 6 AM flight in Harrisburg to get to Louisville by 10. Then we went to the gym, showered and drove the entire length of the state of Indiana to get up to South Bend by dinner time! The GPS said it was a 4.5 hour drive, but IT LIED! It's okay though, we had lots of fun on the trip! This is what we saw for most of the time:

  We got up to South Bend after a stop at the Cracker Barrel for lunch just in time to eat right across the street from campus with Uncle Dan and Matt. Then we went over to the first Basketball game of the season at the new Purcell Pavillion and watched the Irish absolutely STOMP on Georgia Southern. We headed to bed pretty early cause tailgating was to start early the next morning.
  
... and it did start early; for the boys :) Anne Michelle and I went over around noon after the guys had started around 7:30. I love tailgating with all of them! One of Sean's buddies from college lives in South Bend so they call him Townie. A few years ago he bough an old ambulance and that is now their official tailgating vehicle! It's pretty awesome! Unfortunately, Andrew, Matt and Uncle Dan went out to get some Keystone light and ended up with the most horrid beer in the world. It's called BEER light. On the box it asks "what time is it? BEER 30." It comes in a purple can and nobody (except Anne Michelle; cause she's a champ-- and later Townie because he is Townie) could finish a whole can. So we ended up selling half of the case to some Utah fans (gross) for ten bucks. Horrible deal for them! 

The game was FREEZING and it started raining just as we were wrapping up the tailgate and going into the stadium, but it was still all a part of the experience. Andrew and I sat up near the press boxes for the first half and then took Matt and Anne Michelle's seats three rows back from the 40 yard line. It was definitely an amazing experience, and the Irish were unstoppable. They beat Utah 28-3; their first win against a ranked opponent since 2005.

  
After the game, we went to grab takeout at Rocco's (a family tradition) and then had dinner at Matt and Anne Michelle's which was great. The plan was to continue the party and go out to the bars that night, but Matt was in Sweatpants and Andrew fell asleep on the couch so that was a no-go. (I still hate that term a little; I think it's one of those things from Ranger School that will always stick with me). Andrew and I drove home the next day and another great weekend was in the books.

Or so I thought. Instead of flying back home at 6:10, I decided to switch my flight, stay the night in Louisville and fly back the next day. Great decision! The Patriots kicked the Steeler's butts and we had a few beers and all had a grand olde time! Dierks Bentley really got the right; and I can't live it down... and I don't want to.





Sunday, November 7, 2010

Louisville. . . . FINALLY






Well believe it or not I actually made it to Louisville this weekend! It was definitely not the route (or amount of time) I was intending to take, but nevertheless I got there in one piece and got to spend a delightful weekend with my fiancée! I was a little worried about how Andrew and I would find each other since he didn't have a phone, but our timing was perfect! Right as I was walking out of the terminal he was pulling up in his truck! I felt like I was in a movie-- honestly it was THAT perfect.


I ended up getting in two or three hours later than I was supposed to arrive so we just watched an episode or two of How I Met Your Mother intend of going out. This is a show I've loved for years but could never get Andrew into. Turns out his roommate had a few of the seasons on DVD so he's been getting curious about what he has been missing all these years! It was fun to laugh with him!



On Saturday he made Chocolate chip pancakes (my favorite) for breakfast and then we ran a million errands!! I love running errands together... Getting stuff done but not really feeling like we have anything to do! We also went to get massages on Saturday afternoon-- a gift I had promised him for his bday in June (in my defense he WAS in ranger school at the time) that we only mow had time to fit into our schedule! When we see each other there is hardly ever any down time... We just love to soak up all the time we have together and make as many memories as possible :)

We also picked out a bed frame for Andrew's new queen sized bed! That was exciting but going to the furniture store made me really wish the guys had something other than full sized mattress toppers with bean bags on them and a fitted sheet over top for a couch! I suppose it doesn't make much sense to buy a couch when they will just be leaving for a yeAr in less than two months. Wow; this deployment is really starting to sneak up on us! Yikes!

Let's see- other than that we had a really fun weekend! Saw a movie, ate at some great places and even caught up with an old buddy who went to college with us and is stationed at Knox for his BOLC class. It was great to see him again and great to see Weiss too after becoming pretty good friends with him this summer when Andrew was at Ranger School.

We all had a fun night at Buffalo Wild Wings and got a little tipsy but all in all it was a good night and an amazing weekend. Can't wait for our trip to South Bend next weekend! YAY!!!

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Friday, November 5, 2010

It almost doesn't even phase me at this point

Well it's happened again. Flight delayed. Ughhhhhh doesn't even begin to relay to you my frustrations.

So here I sit in HIA trying to figure out how in the world a simple flight to Cleveland could possibly be delayed for a horrifying THREE HOURS. You know, I knew my luck with flights lately was too good to be true. Something had to give, and unfortunately it looks like that "something" is Louisville, Kentucky. I am devastated, but thanks to the free wifi (score) here at the airport, at least I can vent about it.

I was so looking forward to this trip, it was more than just another weekend with my fiance. While Andrew was at Ranger School this summer I helped his roommate Weiss pick an apartment in Kentucky for the guys to call home for the next three(ish) years. I sent down dishes, utensils, decorations, even bean bag chairs and stuffed animals (at Andrew's mom's request.... We found an old beanie baby in storage and she thought maybe Weiss needed a friend). I did everything I could to make this place as much of a home for Andrew as I could before he even go there.

I have visions of the place and the city but I have no idea what to expect. I have been looking forward to seeing this apartment for four full months now and what do ya know.... Flight delays come rushing back into my live. Bah humbug.

The worst part is that Andrew lost his cell phone last weekend so I have no way to communicate any of these changes with him. Slightly stressful but I'm doing my best to keep my chin up. One thing I learned from my mom is to never get too worked up over travel. If it works out, great, you had an awesome trip, just as you planned! If When the poop hits the fan (which it almost always does), oh well, it's only temporary and you'll get a helluva story outta it!

So they just booked me on a flight to Newark and get into Louisville only an hour behind schedule. I sure do hope Andrew gets all of the facebook messages and emails I sent him with these new plans!

Yikes.

Pray about everything, right Luke Bryan!?




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