in my best dress, fearless

this one's for my boyfriend

i know true love don't love like anybody else. 

& i know your heart don't beat like anybody else. 

miss you xx

babysitters club

it's amazing how entertaining Photo Booth on my Mac can be, even to the kiddos! 

this week

So, it's been two weeks (feels like 2 months) since I've seen David and I feel like half my brain is missing! My advice...Never, ever separate yourself from your fiance.

Side note, I am on a health kick. As of today. Thirty days of strict exercise and eating right! Woo hoo! I am really pumped about it. I got my motivation trying on swimsuits today at Everything But Water :/

This weekend I'm off to Lake Powell with Kenna! So excited to just relax and get some sun!



                                                          

dad's day

happy father's day pops! thank you for your constant love and support.

i don't know how you put up with all the expenses and frills that come along with 4 girls! 

you did an amazing job.   

i love you always!

its kinda like christmas eve

So I made it safely (thankfully) to LA! Without sleeping a wink on the 12-hours-too-long flight,

I was flat-lining when Kristen and my Mom picked me up at 7am.

However, I got a good second wind after they took me out for bagels (it's been so long) and a nice, overdue pedicure! Aw, I love when us girls get together!

And tonight is kinda like Christmas Eve for me...

who wouldn't be over-joyed to see these two adroable kids, after going

a long six months without holding them in your arms?!

They are coming to Cali tomorrow with Kaylynn and Ryan to join in on our california-cation.

oh summertime, i've missed you so.

AND NOT TO MENTION,

I'll be picking up Miss McKenna in Orange County tomorrow too!

Talk about my favorite people gettin together!

Oh happy day!  

...if only my fiance were here, blahh! Hurry up David and get over here,

i need you.  

home sweet home

tomorrow morning i leave australia... 

13 hours later i arrive in LA.

and then the wedding planning can (finally) begin! well after a a few beach days with my family and my bestest Mckenna, of course. 

with only 8 weeks to go? i must be crazy,  heaven help me plan this! 

Ps. 

i miss you already darlin'.

(6 weeks apart=makes the heart grow fonder).

cleanin' out the iphone

random findings from david's iphone:

me, with blonde hair (big mistake) cookin' dinner! 

 

seeing double! ben and david as Clark Kent. 

move over Louis Lane. 

me (as wonder woman) with david (superman).

where'd my neck go? i sure can make cute faces.

david, starting to look like a troll doll, before we cut his hair. 

carrot and zuccini love messages on a cutting board.

david, after the basketball easter competition, 

holding some tikki trophey!

way to go babe! 

aw, carolyn's first day in australia.

we took her to mt. koot-tha to see all of brisbane.

taking care of carolyn's louis bag. 

"guard it with your life!" 

sun rays coming down at burleigh beach. 

whatta B-E-A-UTIFUL day it was! 

mmm..chocolate chip, my fave! 

pancakes on the rox in sydney--PHENOMENAL! 

(peep my portrait of david, i'm good hey?)

unfortunately, this is the only picture 

we got in front of the sydney opera house.

notice my cute face again...

 

hiked to the bottom of the blue mountain waterfalls.

so fun and pretty! 

ok i think that's good. 

So, our engagement party was on Saturday and it was a success! We had such a good time seeing everybody and just having a nice evening with friends and family. Thanks to everyone who could make it! We love you all and wish you could come to the wedding! Oh well, to put it in david's words, "better come next time!" haha, next time david, seriously?! Whoops! ;) 

Only one week til I'm back in the US of A! YIKES! It's creeping up on me! But I am VERY excited, so much wedding planning to do! 

Holy Moly Me Oh My, you're the apple of my eye

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros 

i really love this band right now! 

especially their song "home" 

it makes me smile, and kinda reminds me of david and i. 

they're lyrics are so funky and cute i can't stop singing along!!! 

and these two!

Angus and Julia Stone.  

they are the most adorable brother/sister duo ever. 

I really love their song "Just a Boy" 

i highly recommend you listen to these two bands, or at the very least, these two songs.

you'll fall in love, i promise! 

things happened and things happening

So, I had my very own hen's night (aka bachelorette party #1, australian style)! To recap, it was sweet! From the sparkling bubbly with the err--weird shaped straws, to the "blind-folded stripper" game, to the amazing dinner and dancing, it was an all around good time! Thanks so much to my girl Kiersten for planning it all for me! Aw, what a great friend! She sure knows how to throw a party! Now, I'm only a single lady for 11 more weeks! woo hoo!  **hopefully i can put up some pictures soon, as soon as I steal them from Kier--I think there are some gems!


David and I just sent out our engagement party invites only a WEEK BEFORE THE PARTY. Hmmm, very Courtney-and-David-like. Our friends worry about us. I do too. Oh well, hopefully everyone can still make it because it will be ahhhhmazing!


I only have one week left of work (holla) and 3 weeks til I come home (hells yea)!




annnnnnnnnnnnnnd that's all for now, folks.

Missing a painted desert called Arizona

Maybe you had to leave in order to really miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was. 

Jodi Picoult 

Happy Mother's Day!

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my mother."

Abraham Lincoln 

This goes out to my very own, special, Mommy Dearest 

Remember when I was really little, Dad would hug you tight and say to me "My Moma..." and I would get so angry at him and I would tell him "No, that's MY Moma!"? Well, I'm still that much of a  Moma's girl! 

Or how about in 5th grade you would always bring me Subway or Taco Bell for lunch? You were so awesome. And now you are sending me packages of my clothes and even Jolly Ranchers for David, you are officially the awesome-ist. 

Remember when I called you from the other side of the world, just to tell you I was really sick with the flu, and how I wished more than anything you were here to make me cinnamon&sugar toast, and get me a lemon-lime gatorade like you always do? Maybe even go to Blockbuster and pick out a few movies. You spoiled us so badly when we were under the weather, I feel bad for our husbands, they have some mighty, big shoes to fill! 

Or how about recently when you came to visit me in Australia, and we had so much fun at the beach, and in the city, and with the kangaroos, and cuddling the koalas, and seeing Sydney? Well, I was so sad when you had to leave!

You know what I remember the most? The way you have always been a constant source of support and love to me and my sisters. The way you took care of everything in our lives growing up; dinner on the table, dentist appointments, school shopping, family vacations, late night hospital visits, soccer games, etc. How sometimes you and I talk like sisters, and I feel lucky we get along like we do. I learned the importance of being a good listener, and how it is the key to a wonderful friendship. And last, but not least, I know from you how important it is to follow your own bliss. 

I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day! 

Love, Courtney 

diamonds are a gurl's BF

For those of you who don't know, when David proposed to me, he did it with a fake ring! Ok-- "fake" sounds pretty bad, I should probably say temporary. But that was only because he was having my real engagement ring made back in Arizona by a wonderful jeweler, James Elliot. So this whole engagement so far, I've been waiting (impatiently) for it to arrive. Well luckily James finished just before my Mom and Debbie were about to fly down under to see me! So they picked it up and brought it here. When David and I went to meet them at the airport, I gave my mom a big ol' hug, then hastily demanded to have my ring (I can't remember which of the two I did first...). At that moment, David intervened and said I had to wait, because he wanted to give it to me in a special way. UGH, THE NERVE! I wasn't very happy about that.

Fast forward a day later... David, my Mom, and me were all walking along the Burleigh Beach headland trail when we passed a rock where we had taken one of our engagement pictures. David asked me to sit up on it and reenact our engagement photo for my mom. I said I was too hungry. Then he pulled out the ring, bribing me to do it. OF COURSE I HOPPED RIGHT UP ON THAT ROCK! Then he pulled out the most beautiful, amazing, perfect ring I have ever seen and slipped it on my finger! It was almost as good as when he first proposed, almost! 

Aw, I love it. 

But to be honest, I could have had my "fake" ring and still been the happiest girl ever! I'm so lucky to have David. 

So, in other news, my mom and Deb have been here for 6 days now and it's been ahhmazing! I love having some family here, even though it is only for a week. They're really loving Australia, except for the expensive-ness! Tonight, we are going to Sydney for the weekend! YAY! Can you believe I have been here 8 months and have never been outside Brisbane!?! I can't wait, we are going to do all the real touristy things and best of all, visit David's sister Karen, her husband, Asa, and the cutest boys ever, Will, Euine, and Brynn...my to-be nephews (wow)! 

Happy Weekend!!!

    

engagement pictures {just a few} woot! woot!

14 weeks away...

sneak peek

We finally got our good friend and up-in-coming photographer, Ben Hurt, to take our engagement pictures yesterday at our favorite spot in the Goldcoast, Burleigh Beach! It is so beautiful there and we had such a good time shooting the photos! Ben did an AMAZING job! I can't wait to see them all finished! I'll post em' as soon as I get em'...until then, enjoy this one of David and I getting all smoochy ;)

Dear David

I fail to see your reasoning behind why we cannot get a dog. 

....

Okay, okay. I know we don't have a house with a nice backyard, and our apartment will not allow pets, 

but when I see something like this 

I just really want us to be doggy parents. 

love you madly music

Frank will definitely be in attendance at our wedding. 

Spoiler Alert(!!!)

We're dancing to one of his most beautiful 

and timeless songs for our first dance! 

I'm a little in love as well as inspired by the music in the notebook (not to mention the time era). 

Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller...you're going on our playlist fo sho!

Now, where do I get me a jazz band?!  

it's official!

08.07.10

{yayyy!}

go pick out a white dress

David and I are engaged!!!!

tear-jerkers

In the last week or so, we have watched three movies, in a row, that have had me bawling my eyes out by the end credits: 

Cast Away (with one of my fave actors, Tom Hanks).

This is the part where I completely lose it, every time. I can't even discuss it with David afterward because I start crying all over again. Why can't he just be with his wife!?

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas. 

This was the first time I had ever seen this movie. It's about a little german boy who befriends a jewish boy, victim to the holocaust.  

It is such a great film. But if you ever see it, I'm warning you--you'll need tissues! 

Seven Pounds is so interesting and beautiful. I love movies about good people. 

So now that David and I have become a little depressed due to these tear-jerkers we keep watching, I think this weekend calls for some happier forms of entertainment!