Engagement Photos!

Sunday, my friend Emerald took engagement pictures for Darby and me at Hardin-Simmons. She is an amazing photographer. There were so many great pictures! Here's one of my favorites:
You can see the rest on Emerald's blog. Thank you so much, Em!

Another Shower

Well, my dad told me I should update, since I haven't in a while. Things have been going well lately. Last week, Brittany and I hosted Emerald's lingerie shower. It was "tastefully scandalous." We had a romance novel theme because Em likes to read them. Brittany and I think we are the only ones to ever use books for decorations at a lingerie shower. What can we say? Here's a couple pictures from the shower:

The hostesses (Me, Britt, Olivia) and Em

The lingerie cake. We didn't make it: McKay's did. Isn't it awesome?

I think the shower was a success. And it was very stress-free. Brittany and I delegated a lot of the jobs out, so all we had to do the day of was clean and finish up decorating. Em's wedding is in three weeks, which is crazy. This semester is flying by, as usual.

0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16

Monday night Darby got initiated into the strange world of women's sizes. Here was the conversation, more or less.

Me: I bought a new pair of jeans today. I gave in and bought a size 6 because the 4 didn't fit.
Darby: How did you go from a 4 to a 6?
Me: 6 is the next size above 4.
Darby: What about 5?
Me: They don't make 5's. Well, sometimes they do. Brands either have even or odd sizes. So, a 1 corresponds to a 2, a 3 to a 4, a 5 to a 6, etc.
Darby: That's crazy. What does that number stand for? The waist measurement?
Me: Nope...it's just the size. It includes waist, hips, and inseam.
Darby: That's ridiculous.
Me: Yep.

Now he knows why it's so hard for girls to find jeans that fit them. Who knows what the numbers mean? Things would be so much easier if they sized them like guys' jeans. But I guess most women might have a problem actually seeing their waist size in inches on the sticker. At least they should have some sort of standard, so that a 6 is the same in all brands. I doubt that'll ever happen. I'm just happy they started carrying curvy jeans at GAP and Old Navy. Try them; they'll change your life.

10 months...

from this minute, Darby and I will probably be leaving our wedding reception on our way to Dallas, then Niagara Falls, Canada for our honeymoon! Yay! (I say probably because I don't know exactly what time we will leave the reception, not because I don't know if we will get married : )

So, classes are going pretty well. I'm only taking 11 hours. I'm working about 18 hours a week at Camps and Alpha Academic Services, so it's still a pretty light load. The two English classes I'm in, Shakespeare and American Lit before 1860, are pretty interesting. They're a nice change of pace from last semester, when I had to read 20 novels, plus hundreds of pages of poetry in fifteen weeks. They are more lecture-based, rather than class discussion, which I actually enjoy. I'm paying thousands of dollars for these classes. I don't want to hear what my fellow students think. I want to hear the experts. Other than that, I'm just taking Bible (which is kind of weird...Bible majors, ugh!), Cross Training, and an honors colloquium on women's movements in third world countries. I think the colloquium will be really interesting, but a ton of work! It's only one hour credit, but we have two big papers and a 30-minute presentation, plus all the readings. Aaahh! At least it's a subject I'm interested in.

A Very Close Call

So, Darby and I had an interesting trip to Wal-Mart last night. We got run over by a gas tanker. Yes, seriously. But, thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. He and I were getting gas at the little gas station beside Wal-Mart. That place is always super crowded, and last night was no exception. There was a tanker parked along the curb almost directly in front of us, but a little to the left, and another car at the pump to the left of us. I was just going to turn right to avoid all the congestion, but the driver of the truck waved me to come on. So I turned out. When I got about halfway of the length of the truck, he started moving! The tank just kept getting closer and closer to us. I tried to honk, but he couldn't hear me because of his engine. He hit the passenger side and dragged us just a little bit before he stopped. It was so surreal; I was eerily calm the whole time. I was just thinking, "This guy is going to hit us. Yep, he hit us." I turned off the car and Darby crawled out my side. We were both totally fine. And there was surprisingly little damage; I guess because we were both going so slow. I'll probably have to get a new hood, front passenger door, bumper, and antenna, but there doesn't appear to be any internal damage. It's still driveable, which is good. I'm just so glad Darby is okay. It's so weird to see a huge gas truck inches away from your fiance. The truck driver was really nice and apologetic. He admitted that it was his fault; he just thought we were already past him. I felt sorry for him because before this he had a perfect driving record. The Abilene police department was not so nice. They took FOREVER to get there; then, the officer didn't even introduce himself. He was really rude. I think he was probably ticked that he had to take care of filing the report; evidently if a commercial vehicle is involved, it's a lot longer process. Still, I think he could have shown a little bit of compassion for us. We weren't hurt, but it was still scary. Anyway, that was my first wreck, and I have been thanking God that it wasn't worse than it was. And I'm so glad Darby was there with me; otherwise, I probably would have freaked out. As it was, we just drove over to Wal-Mart and got our groceries like any other night.