One Year- Small Steps

It has been one year since I said “Yes”.  To what is considered a very important question.  A question every girl waits to hear.  And her parents just hope she hears that question from someone they like.  Luckily I can check off all of the above. 

A year ago (July 30, 2011) Brennan proposed.  I can’t believe it has been a year.  How quick the time goes.  In that year we have made many more great memories and I can officially say not much progress in the way of actually getting married.  Woops. My plan was to basically be done planning- but with a new job, coaching, training (sometimes) and just enjoying life. I have not really done that much in the way of actually planning our dream wedding.

I can official say let the planning begin. I filled out all the paper work for the church and placed a deposit.  They confirmed our date.  Then gave us all the information need for our pre-marriage workbooks and classes. Just have to turn in all Brennan's certificates (which are sitting on the kitchen table).  That was the first positive step. 

Then with our busy schedules we made time to spend a Sunday in Redlands (my hometown) to check out the last option for our wedding reception.  I was pretty sure that we would leave with what seemed like the right place.  Turns out I was right.  

We spent about two hours Brennan, myself, my parents and our family friend Sandy touring all the options of the University of Redlands.  Turned out the hot walk was well worth it because we found where we want to have our reception. I had been to a wedding at the Alumni House and thought it might work but needed Brennan's approval.  Turns out he was thinking exactly what I was thinking. Maybe we do think alike :).  

Once Brennan saw it he was also sold. After a fun time of looking around and starting to talk about idea's.  And we have some great ideas. Plus the University of Redlands has many beautiful backdrops.  Backdrops in which we will be able to take many pictures at.  Because lets be honest I want amazing pictures.  Remember a picture is worth a thousand words.  I want tons and tons of pictures.  After getting a basic idea of how we wanted the reception set up we headed back to my parents’ house to discuss more details and have a great BBQ with friends.  So in just about a year we have made baby steps of progress.  I am still waiting for a contract from the University of Redlands for our reception.  So cannot confirm our date till that happens- but we are moving forward. 

Then this last weekend we picked colors for the wedding.  What colors the bridesmaids and the groomsmen will wear.  Decided what Brennan will be wearing.  I already have my dress :).  Then working on our wedding website. Once that is finished we will send out the link!

I am not sure what our next steps of progress will be- but I think once our contract is finalized it will be easier to plan my next move of attack.  Like hearing what they say about lighting, tables, those things.  Then I can plan for decoration. Just want to start with all the information before I have to back track. 

Brennan and I debated on making one of our classic home made videos while we toured the University of Redlands venues. But decided against it.  Thought we should maybe seem like grown up's.  Do not worry though we decided the old school save the dates are over rated.  We will be sending you a video of us announcing our wedding date!! Kind of excited for that!

Stay tuned for updates and information for Brennan and Jamie wedding of 2013. I also want to mention Brennan who loves excel and creating charts/ spreadsheets has made this amazing spreadsheet that we will use for tracking our invitations. It has categories for mailing address, email, then will calculate for us how many people we are inviting then when we start getting RSVP the math for that.  Then I am sure it does all kinds of other great things that will help us keep organized between the two families. I can’t thank him enough for just deciding this was something that we needed. Basically he is going to keep all that organized and simple.

Well I may not have planned much in the last year.  But we have had a great engagement thus far with more adventures to come.  As well as a lot of planning! 

IN University

Always fun to give back.  Last summer I helped out at the Insulindependence Camp.  I was lucky enough to be asked back.  Again I ran the swim portion- I guess people think I know what I am talking about.  It would consist of one open water swim and two pool training sessions.  I would also join the group for a nice ride along the coast over the weekend.

The week was very hectic for Brennan since he works for the organization and they had over 40 members and even more board members in town to take part in the week long learning and training camp.  Lucky for me it meant I could watch whatever I wanted on TV.  I caught up on a few shows  :D


The first training session I put on was at La Jolla cove.  A bit nerve raking when you have never seen some of these people swim and you are taking them into the ocean.  I should also tell you some of these people had never swum in the Ocean.  However it went smooth. Gave them a great speech on land about race day preparation as well as how to sight buoys and all that good stuff. Also warned them about the sting rays that hangout in LA Jolla.  Always enter the water shuffling those feet!  I think they all enjoyed the swim some going to the quarter mile buoy and others out to the half mile buoy.  Was nice because I also got in a nice workout early early before work.


The other two sessions would be held at the JCC much more controlled situation in the pool.  Everyone did really well at the first session since it was mostly about getting in some yards.  Though having everyone at different levels does make coaching a bit more difficult (even if Brennan was always yelling at me for the next set.. Love you hunny!). 


The last swim session of the week I think the group I was working with the triathletes were exhausted they had been at camp almost a week.  That morning we had rode from Solana Beach up to Carlsbad and back.  Got them lunch and headed to the pool.  Once at the pool I could see they were not exactly looking forward to more swimming.  I was also supposed to film them yet turns out that camera’s were not charged. Woops! However I got in the water and was able to help with a lot of stroke technique so that was good.


I still need to create a quick sheet of racing tips, and swim skills for the individuals. I should do that soon.


Another good event! I was happy to help out Insulindependence.

As you can tell me Brennan LOVES listening to me give advice!!

Off we go!!