sugar lips groomzilla

my sweet fiance, nick, is turning out to be quite the little wedding diva.

:) and I love him for it. 

you don't really expect him to say thing like...

"for our engagement pictures, i want to wear at least two outfits and i will not wear jeans with a black shirt... boooring" 

It's hilarious!!  and he thinks it's pretty funny when i call him groomzilla.

I'm happy that he wants to be so involved in the wedding planning. 

afterall, he has probably been to more weddings that I have!

tomorrow my love turns 25! 

mmmmm..... and check out our options for our 4-course prix-fixe menu for his birthday dinner

New Year’s Eve 2009 

Dinner Menu

Starter

Tenderloin Tamale with a Pecan Mash 

Soup or Salad

Wedge Salad with Pico Vinaigrette and Bleu Cheese Crumbles  

Mixed Field Green Salad with a Sherry Wine Vinaigrette Dressing and San Saba Pecans 

Lobster Bisque 

Mains

6 oz. Tenderloin with Cognac Peppercorn Sauce and a Stuffed Lobster Tail

14 oz. Charbroiled Rib Eye with Cook’s Butter

10 oz. Pepper Crusted Tenderloin with Port Wine Sauce

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with a Sweet Corn Broth

Cajun Stuffed Quail with a Cranberry and Sage Relish

Dessert

Molten Chocolate Cake with Drunken Berries and Vanilla Cream 

Flan with a Prickly Pear Sauce 

doesn't this ALL sound delicious?!?!?

better get some sleep tonight, 

because tomorrow we are going out on the town!

all smiles

Hope your Christmas was merry and bright.

Still all smiles when I think of the proposal and the exciting life Nicholas and I are going to have together. 

Round one of wedding planning is well on it's way:

We are aiming for a August-September wedding in DFW!! 

it was so hard to go back to work today after such a 

dream-like holiday. 

but, i'm not going to lie... i did enjoy showing off my ring!

Since we've been back in town we have 

skimmed through some wedding magazines, 

spent the evening shopping for a party dress for NYE 

and had some good conversations about our wedding like 

indoors or outdoors? 

Catholic or protestant? 

Yellow or navy or gray? 

etc. 

Still so much to think about and for us to discuss, but I find joy and comfort in knowing that we both want to approach this as a team and that we love each other. And no matter what, we are GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for all the sweet comments. 

I love hearing from you.

I have to admit, I left out a VERY BIG PART of the proposal... Nick's travels and feelings about the whole thing. We'll fix that soon with a post from him.

Looking forward to Nicholas's birthday on Thursday and wearing my new dress from Anthropologie:

{pretty, huh?}

Just a few days left in 2009. 

time flies when you're in love and covered in diamonds. :)

Christmas Eve Proposal.

Christmas Eve 2009.

I will never forget this day because yesterday, on Christmas Eve,

Nicholas asked me to be his wife.

I said yes, by the way.

Actually, I think it was more like "YYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Here's what happened, in a {large} nutshell:

I went to Thanksgiving with Nicholas to see his family in Omaha. So of course, I thought it was just fair that he come down with me to visit my family for Christmas. Beginning in November, I asked him just about everyday to come home with me... but he always said no.

So on Sunday, he left for Nebraska and on Tuesday I left for home. 

On Tuesday, I talked to him throughout the day... "Oh, man. It's snowing pretty bad here..." and "Just running errands with my dad" and "I'm going ice fishing tomorrow with the boys..." Pretty typical stuff. 

Christmas Eve morning we texted back and forth:

Nick: Gone fishing. I'll call u when we get done and our bellies are filled with trout! Love you so much, wish we were together.

Lacey: Haha catch the big one for me :)

{couple hours laters...}

Nick: It's cold!!!! Brrrrr. u cozy in bed?

Lacey: No i got up at 9. it's colder here today.... 67 now. will be in the mid 70s later. catch anything yet??

Nick: Couple of small boys... no big boys yet. .... K my hands are cold. I'll call you later, love u!

Lacey: love u 2

Seems innocent enough, huh!?!

{unsuspecting, taking Christmas pictures with my brothers}

{shorty}

Well around 12:30 or 1, my dad went out for a few last minute grogercies. I asked for Lemonade and Diet Coke. About an hour later, Dad got back home and said, "Hey Bess {my nickname}, I left the Diet Cokes in the car, will you go get them? It's open..."

I walked outside, down the driveway to my Dad's car. As soon as I got close... Nick's head popped up from the passenger seat!!!! I did a triple-take to make sure it was actually him, then ran over to his side of the car. I was SOOOOOOOO HAPPPPY to see him.

Then he said to me, "Wait, I have an even bigger surprise."

He pulled a little blue box out of his pocket, got down on one knee, and asked,

"Lacey, will you marry me?"

I still can't believe it. I was just so shocked and in awe and thrilled and excited... so many feelings at once. I don't even remember saying yes. I just kept hugging Nicholas and kissing him and hugging him some more.

My parents and brothers were all in on the surprise. And my grandparents...and Nick's family. Pretty much everyone knew!!

After lots of hugs and a champagne toast, we called our friends and family to share the wonderful news!

Since then, I've been all smiles.

I'm going to marry my best friend.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

And, my ring is GORGEOUS!! Nicholas did a fanastic job.

{designed by Nicholas, made just for me!}

Ahhhh... it's more beautiful than I even imagined!!

Let the wedding planning begin. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

My new look

My mother, the hair dresser, gave me an awesome new look today!

This was on a whim, but I'm really liking it.

I feel like Zooey Deschanel in The Happening...

Here I am rocking the bangs when I was little...

What do you think?!?!?!?

is it too late for one of these??

Although my Christmas Wish List was completed earlier this month,  I just found somethings I want to add to it.

So... If anyone is just searching for the perfect last minute gift {or gifts} for me, this would be fantastic.

Or, if by any chance I get some moolah, I'll know what to do with it. 

Disclosure: I don't actually expect to get all the things I've listed on my wish lists... but, hey, a girl can dream. 

Holga Camera from here

{Oh, and I'll need the 120mm film, too!}

This camera takes the most interesting, beautiful, dreamy pictures.

Sample pictures here

or how about these Hunter Rain Boots in Forest Green

And I just love these coffee mugs and plates from Anthropologie. 

_______________

Flying home in a few hours. 

I'm so so so excited to see my family. 

Allen is driving in from Corpus today, too.

Can't wait to give my parents their Christmas present. 

I think they'll love it!

merry early christmas to me!

What a relaxing day off! Today I treated myself to a lovely manicure/pedicure. It was FABULOUS. Because we've been in a recession, I haven't gotten my nails done in about 9 months. 

That {and going to Starbucks} were two of the things that I really cut back on. 

{Except, I lied about the Starbucks. I didn't really cut back... I'm just drinking more coffee at home in addition to the Starbucks!}

But, wow, did I splurge today!!?!? Yes, sir. 75 bucks worth of pampering. And while I don't think that's too too much, Nicholas about gave birth to a baby cow when I told him. haha. 

I went with solar nails... which I haven't done in a long time. Except, I didn't get the tips put on, so my nails are the same length as usual {short} but are just... reinforced and uniform and realllllyyyy shiny! On my toes... I went with black. Well, it's actually a deep blue-grey by OPI {Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees}, but it basically looks black. Not really the most festive color for this holiday season, but I just love it. 

Very chic. 

Also did some online shopping. But not the fun kind, the downright annoying kind..... Shopping for car insurance quotes. UGH, it pains me to spend so much money on car insurance!!! NOT one of the things I like most about being an adult. But, I'll survive.

Now I'm just packing up my suitcase.

Thank goodness bags still fly free on Southwest!

El valle.... here I come.

daydreaming...

warm weather

water all around

a panino and wine

kissing Nicholas in the middle of Piazza San Marco

museums

history

getting lost

standing on the Ponte di Rialto at night

gelato

gondola ride

live music

italian accents

Guess where I am right now...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 Venice, Italy

Well, not literally 

{unfortunatley}

Nicholas is 700 miles away and I worked 10 hours today. 

So as soon as I got home, I plopped down on the couch with a glass of red wine and {mentally} went straight to Venice. 

Very relaxing. 

There's just something about Europe that is so alluring, romantic, exotic, lively... 

especially Italy.

I'm ready to go back... with darling Nicholas this time though!

Enjoy this sampling of pictures from my 2008 trip.

arrivederci . ciao . a presto . buona notte 

Chippendales

Nick's Christmas present is complete!! 

That's what I've been spending all my computer time on. 

This year we decided not to buy each other gifts 

{because we'd rather save our money for traveling in 2010}

I still wanted to give him something though... so I put my creativity and pathological picture taking to good use. I made a slideshow/movie/video scrapbook of all the great pictures we've taken in 2009. I used iMovie and iDVD on my Mac and it turned out great. 

I had this great plan of mailing it to him while he was in Nebraska so he could open it on Christmas Day. But, I got {way too} excited about it and gave it to him last night as soon as he got back from San Jose. I just couldn't hold back! 

{he loved it, by the way}

Because it's really long and I'm not sure how to put it on here... I made a little something-something today after work. This is hilarious!! 

For your viewing pleasure...

I would like to introduce...

My brothers, Allen and Austin

--

My Dad

--

My sweetheart, Nicholas 

--

And Brad Pitt {because I needed a 5th head}

Enjoy!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

M.I.A.

I feel like I've been a little M.I.A. from my blog this week.

I have something up my sleeve that I've been working on.

{sneaky}

Can't give away too many details now.

But I'll share soon...

8 days until Christmas. 

Time flies when you're having fun.

tis the season

Flying home for Christmas 1 week from today... 

Had our Secret Santa and Dietitian's Holiday Lunch today. I got a cute holiday mug, a gift card to starbucks and some hot cocoa mix! I love it! 

We went to Mac's on 7th in Fort Worth & I had the guacamole burger {yes, with fries} and it was sooooooo good. 

Mexican food is by far my favorite type of food, but burgers and fries are 2nd. 

{yes, I'm a dietitian.} 

Nicholas is flying to San Jose, California Thursday morning for business.  He is such a rock star at work these days! I'm gonna miss him. Wish I could go, too. It would be great to fly out there and spend the weekend in San Francisco and see all the Christmas decorations in the city. Nick has never been to California... wish I could go with him for his first time. Don't think he'll be able to get out to San Fran though. 

He'll get back Friday night, but then he's probably driving up to Omaha on Saturday or Sunday {depending on the weather} and I'm working this weekend. 

STILL trying to convince him to come home with me for Christmas... 

60 degrees and palm trees and the best Mexican food ever 

{OR}

snow drifts and shoveling snow and no Lacey

????????? 

He's not giving in.

I've been working really hard lately and i can feel it taking a toll on my body. I need to get some more sleep and be sure to eat my fruit and veggies. 

My throat has been a little scratchy today... :(  Hopefully, I don't get sick.

Better get some rest...

Chappy birthday!

Friday night we pulled off a successful surprise party for 

Krista's 25th birthday!  

Justine orchestrated the whole thing and it turned out fabulous. 

We had a back room at Bodega Wine Bar in Dallas... 

{SUUURRRRPPPRRIIIISSSSEEEE}

{pretty birthday girl}

{i got her a "Happy Birthday" wine glass}

{unfortunately, it looks like "Chappy birthday"... so that's what we said all night}

{oh.my.god. this cake was delicious}

{best friends}

{you two are such good sports}

{cute}

{i thought this was a pretty cool picture}

by the way, there were a lot of other people there too, not just us...

but I didn't take pictures of them. :)

Krista, I hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration!

I'm so happy I could be there. xoxoxox.