light up the sky

A few weeks ago, I was at work like any normal day. Michael and I had a conversation via gchat that went something like this:

Me: "Hey honey. I am making turkey sandwiches for dinner tonight. Aren't you so glad you're dating a food blogger? Want to come over?"

Michael: "Can we have turkey sandwiches to go?"

Me: "That makes no sense. If we are 'going' then let's buy real food."

Michael: "Well I have a surprise! I will pick you up at 6:00 tonight."

Me: "Yay! Okay! What should I wear?"

Michael: "Your adventure clothes."

While I was contemplating buying a scuba suit or hiking boots, I went home after work so excited for our date night. After dinner (at Chipotle!!!) he started driving West on roads I had never seen in my life.

We stopped in the very random town of Greenbackville, Maryland... where I think there is nothing but a crab shack and this beautiful section of the Chesapeake Bay.

I love water in any form. I am so happy Delaware has bays, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams and the Atlantic Ocean.

We caught a killer sunset along with some obvious making out in the car. Let's be honest. (194 days until we get married!!!!!!!!)

I thought the killer sunset was my surprise, but he kept driving on roads I had never been on before and we ended up in Wallops Island, Virginia across Oyster Bay from NASA Wallops... to watch a rocket launch!

NASA was launching the Minotaur 1 rocket with the ORS 1 Satellite that will be used for Air Force defense. We were only about 1.2 miles from the launch pad with the best view ever.

This is right after it launched. It all happened so fast and was so loud, I can't believe I even got a picture!

We were listening to the Launch Commander on the radio. He said within seconds, the rocket was 900 miles away going 12,000 miles per hour. I can't even understand it!

Top 5 coolest thing I've ever seen. For real.

Here is Michael's photo. He set his camera on a long shutter speed to capture the whole thing.

He dropped me off at home around 1:30 am on a weekday. I was tired at work the next day, but it was so worth it.

We are only a little under 2 hours from NASA Wallops. I want to keep checking their website to go again. I would love to see a shuttle launch! Does that make me a huge nerd?

"people spread awesome content"

My job has been keeping me busy lately, which is great! I am loving every minute of this busy summer season with lots of tourists coming to Southern Delaware and our lovely beaches. Last week, I attended a marketing conference in Baltimore, Maryland at the beautiful Marriott Waterfront hotel in the Harbor.

It was my first time spending the night in a hotel alone! I am always with friends or family... never by myself. My biggest dilemma was picking which bed to sleep in - the one by the door or the one by the window. It's a pretty major situation, right?

I ended up eating room service for dinner and watching TV in the bed by the bathroom, then sleeping in the bed by the window (read: air conditioning). Win/win.

The conference was put on by Vocus, the PR software we use at work. It was mostly all about social media, which was awesome for me. I am in charge of the Twitter account for Southern Delaware Tourism, and updates on our website. But the older people in the room kept shaking their heads and muttering to each other, "What is a re-tweet?"

I was in a room full of 400 marketing pros for 2 days. I learned that marketing people are pretty cool - they are creative and love technology.

Nobody said, "Please turn off your phones." It was all about us turning ON our phones so we could take pictures and tweet about it. That is my kind of rule.

One of my favorite speakers was the first keynote, Scott Stratten. He talked about how we should focus on quality, not quantity. People don't spread things that are mediocre across the web, they spread things that are awesome. Marketing used to be email based, but now we can "like" things on facebook and tweet about things on Twitter. People share raw opinions in real time through social media, it's an amazing thing if you can harness it and use it.

It was great information. So great that I typed up an 8-page report from my notes to hand in to my boss on the following Monday morning.

The Social Media Director from Kelly Blue Book was there talking to us about measuring our goals.

If you're anything like me (which you are because you are a food blog junkie too), you are probably wondering about the food at this conference. Well, let me tell you - it did not disappoint.

We had snacks all day long - veggie shots, bowls full of bottles of Naked juice, homemade cookies, energy bars, candy, smoothies...

Chocolate covered strawberries, rice krispie treats and chocolate milk... I was all over that. And of course I took an artsy picture by the water. You're welcome.

Lunch was a 3-course meal. Salad with fresh asparagus, tomatoes, goat cheese and lemon vinaigrette. Mustard chicken with roasted tomatoes and risotto. Chocolate dipped mini cheesecake with chocolate sauce.

It was very impressive, to say the least.

The view wasn't too bad either. A+ Baltimore.

I had the pleasure of meeting the event planner and logistics wonder woman, Susan Brooks. She did a wonderful job with this conference. If you ever need help planning a corporate event on the East Coast, she is your woman.

Be back to our regularly scheduled program soon! Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.

helper in the kitchen

One of my dear friends from college came to visit me this past weekend! He's been living in the city for awhile but moving back to California in a few weeks, so I asked if he could take the train down to Delaware to visit me before he moved to the other side of the country.

Chris is the most hysterical, outgoing person you will ever meet. I had a blast showing him around my town and going to the beach.

We went to my favorite coffee shop for breakfast, and ate it while sitting on a boat dock by the Canal in Lewes Beach.

 

We rode rides on the boardwalk. I can't remember the last time I rode the carousel. And I almost peed my pants laughing on the tea cups. Chris had no idea how violently they spin... it's actually kind of frightening.

We had a great day. It was so refreshing to enjoy being outside with such a wonderful friend.

Saturday night, he told me he wanted to bake with me in the kitchen and it had to be "very ambitious." So we decided on homemade cinnamon rolls.

After getting some things at the store (not this jar of pure lard)... we went home to bake!

 

It was fun having a helper! I would say, "Okay now add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar" and stand back and watch the baking happen before my eyes.

The cinnamon rolls turned out FANTASTIC. They were the best I've ever had, truly. But the recipe was so... involved. There are a lot of steps so it's best to make them when you have a whole afternoon to devote to deliciousness.

See? Totally worth it. Recipe coming soon!

It's so interesting when my college life in New York and my now settled-about-to-get-married life in Delaware connect somehow. I love it when my college friends come visit me at home... and I also love taking Michael up to the city to experience what my life was like there.

It's hard to imagine that I used to live in Manhattan. There are times when I miss it so much. But right now I'm sitting, staring out my window at all the lush green grass and trees around me. I get to enjoy lots of open spaces, beautiful beaches and fresh air. Plus there's my future husband... that's kind of great too.

will you marry me?

I'm writing this on Friday morning and thinking that this time last week, I had no clue that the very next day would be the best of my whole life. I've had a week to process what happened and sort through my very happy thoughts. I am so thankful to everyone that was there with us to share our engagement, and to those who have sent us kind messages. Changing my relationship status to "engaged" on facebook brought on an army of happy wishes from our dear friends. It was incredible in every way. Here is how it happened.

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Saturday March 12, 2011

I had to go to a baby shower that afternoon for one of Michael's cousins. My sister Ashley asked to pick me up at my house that morning so we could go shopping for a gift then go to the shower together. Michael had arranged this with her to get me out of the house and so that I would be without my car so I couldn't drive home and ruin the surprise.

After the baby shower, Michael picked me up and announced, "Let's go to the boardwalk."

I absolutely love the beach, especially this time of year. It's quiet, peaceful and beautiful. On the way to the boardwalk, we stopped at a cute little cafe to get drinks and pastries. After that, we reached the boardwalk. I told Michael I thought it was a little too crowded and suggested we go to Whiskey Beach, which is a little farther North. It's a beautiful beach with rock jetties and old war towers. It's always been my favorite.

When he agreed, it threw me off a little. I had a slight suspicion he might propose when he suggested going to the beach. But I thought he had made his plans at the boardwalk, so when he agreed to my change of plans, I started to think it probably wasn't happening that night.

I found out later that part was actually his plan. He knows me so well, he knew I would suggest going to Whiskey Beach instead. He had actually driven to that beach that afternoon while I was at the baby shower to pick out the perfect spot and plan his proposal.

We get to the beach and he gets out his camera equipment.  He tells me he wants to take pictures of the sunset, which was so beautiful that night.

He sets his camera up in a certain spot (that he had picked earlier that day) and takes some test pictures.

Little did I know that he was setting up the camera to take pictures of his proposal! This is the spot where it happened.

He asks me to go stand in front of the camera because he wanted to take my picture.

Please take note of my shoes. I was wearing cute black flats that night and when he suggested a walk on the beach, I didn't want to get sand in them. I went barefoot for about 7 seconds before my feet froze. Michael gave me his shoes to wear to keep my feet warm. So in these photos, I have clown feet and it looks pretty silly. But it is cute and authentic.

Then he tells me he wants us to take a picture together. At this point, I started getting a little suspicious. I mean, it was the most perfect setting and he was being so adamant about getting all these pictures. I was working up quite a bit of excitement.

Does he look nervous? Because he's about to propose.

We take the first picture, he runs back to his camera to check the settings. He sets the timer again, runs to my side and falls down on his knee beside me.

He says, "I love you so much, Jenna. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

I sort of thought he was kidding. Then I saw that he had a ring. In my head I was thinking, "Oh my gosh. He HAS a ring. That is a ring. Oh my gosh."

I forgot I had to say yes, so I just kind of stuck my hand down with wide eyes. After about 5 second of being completely shocked, I very happily said yes.

The best part was when he put the ring on my finger, stood up and hugged me. In that moment, I fully realized what had just happened. I was holding him tight and listening to him whisper in my ear, "I love you so much. I love you so much."

I could hear the waves crashing on the beach. The sunset was producing beautiful colors in the sky. It was so real to me in that moment that Michael wanted to marry me and be with me forever.

I realized I was hugging the most amazing man on the planet and how incredibly blessed we are to have found each other.

We were both crying and smiling and laughing. So happy.

After we left the beach, I told him I couldn't wait to call my mom. He said she already knew, because he had gone last month to ask my father for permission to marry me. True gentleman.

He suggested we wait until we got to my house to show my parents. So I very anxiously waited in his car while we drove home.

 When I walked in the house, it was full of people! All of our loved ones. His family, my family, our friends. All there to celebrate our engagement. Michael had planned all of it, because he knew I would want to show everyone all at once. He knows that my heart is to share moments like that with the people I love.

And to top it all off, he arranged for my very best friends from college to drive down from New York to surprise me!

I was so overwhelmed. All I could do was cry and hug everyone and tell them how much I loved them.

I was feeling so many things - pure joy and excitement. I hope I never forget the way I felt that night.

So many people helped Michael put the party together. My amazing mother baked mini cupcakes and cookies. She set this cute dessert table up and put pictures of Michael and I throughout the house. My Nana and Aunt Debby made homemade peanut butter cups and chocolate dipped pretzels. Nana also bought those darling plates that said, "A perfect pair" and napkins that said, "Made for each other."

It was the sweetest thing. I was so overwhelmed and thankful that my family put this together for us.

We got gifts too!

I remember not wanting to say good bye to him that night when the party was over. I kept telling him, "We are getting married! Yay!"

My friends visiting from New York spent the night and left after breakfast the next morning. I was sad to see them go, but we are meeting up again in a few weeks for our friend Rachel's wedding in Arkansas! Friendships like that remain. They are incredible people.

That afternoon, Michael and I went back to the beach (the boardwalk this time!) with some of our friends for lunch.

One of my favorite restaurants is open for the season now, so we went there.

By the way, my ring is incredible. The most beautiful ring I've ever seen in my whole life. It has tons of detail on the sides. It has this tiny metal beading called milgrain, which is surrounding little diamonds lined up on every side of the ring. I can't stop staring at it. I'm looking at it right now actually.

We so enjoyed the day after our engagement. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and we were all so happy. Lunch was delicious, we had smoothies and grilled sandwiches.

That's my future husband up there.

After lunch, we went for a walk on the beach. It was a perfect day.

The celebrations have continued and the wedding planning has started!

I know this is super long. Thank you for hanging in until the end.

Basically, I've never felt so happy or excited for life. We are thrilled to start our lives together. I absolutely cannot wait to marry this man, have his babies and grow old and wrinkly with him.

There are no words I have in my vocabulary to thank my family and friends for everything. I have never felt so loved in my whole life. All I can say is - thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

And as for you, Michael. I never thought I would have a man kneel down on his knee in front of me and ask to be with me forever. Thank you for loving me exactly as I am. I cannot wait to walk down the aisle, take your hands and promise forever to each other.