Celebrating Two Years of Wedded Bliss

See that photo? -----> This is the photo that peaked my interest in the man who I now proudly call "husband". This photo was one of his profile pics on okcupid, and it made me think, "This man is silly...this is good." It's the photo that made me answer his initial message, and the one I kept peeking at whenever I logged on to see if he'd sent me anything new. Happily, we quickly moved past the friendly banter on the dating site and exchanged actual email addresses. Soon we were talking on the phone (which if you know me, you know I hate doing!) and set up a coffee date. I emailed my friend in Australia to tell how nervous I was to meet him in person. I couldn't figure out why I was nervous... I'd been at this whole dating thing a while, and had pretty much gotten past letting it freak me out. Something about Ames was different, though. We met at Stella's on Pearl on a wonderfully warm and sunny Sept (the 7th) day. I parked about a half a block up and checked myself over to make sure nothing was amok. Deep breath. Concentrate on NOT tripping as I walked towards him. I remember laughing a little because my heart was beating so hard I could feel it in my neck. I managed to make it up the two steps and shake his hand and speak a full sentence without A)giggling like an idiot B)spitting on him C)mucking up the correct order of the words coming out of my mouth. Yay for me! Those hours we sat talking flew by, and suddenly it was time to go and pick up our respective children from their other parental units. He walked me to my car and asked if he could fix dinner for me. No kiss happened then and though I was mighty curious (he has delicious lips), I was happy it didn't happen there on the sidewalk. A couple of never ending/time stood still/what am I going to wear days later, I went to his house for dinner. He gave me the tour and this was in his room. --->

It projects the time on to the ceiling!! I don't know why that goofy Batman clock made me so giddy, but it did. It said a lot about who Ames is. He embraces his inner geek. I quickly grew to love this quirky man- in fact, I fell head over heels watching him recite the lines to The Dark Knight. I looked over at this grown man sitting on the edge of his movie theater seat and sank deep into a rainbows, tweeting birds, butterflies flitting, unicorns and puppy filled love. I didn't tell him for another month, though:) My life since I met Ames has been full of happiness, silliness, long talks, lots of hand holding, laughter and a deep kind of love I really didn't think existed.

Blogging about one of my favorite people!

Meet Dawn Ackerman, owner of Hillside Consultants, Inc. based in Colorado Springs, CO. Dawn is an amazing artist using flowers as her medium. Dawn is also one of the coolest people I have ever met:)

Dawn has been bringing floral joy to folks for well over a decade, and loves every moment of doing so. I have met a lot of people in this biz, and Dawn never ceases to amaze me; not only with her flowers, but with her personality. You cannot help but grin and laugh around this woman.



(love these, Dawn!)






I got married last December and Dawn stepped in and took care of the flowers for us. She asked me a ton of questions about colors and favorite flowers and theme... and then kept it all a surprise! You brides out there, imagine this... not knowing what your bouquet is going to look like. I had no idea what she was going to do, but I can honestly say that there was not a single moment I was worried about it!

This is my reaction when I walked into the room------>


Because Dawn had done this on the tables!



And, oh my, our bouquets!!!


She had twisted wire all through them (and out of the centers of some!) and on these wires were lots of little Steampunk-ish elements! Our girls and I felt like princesses:)


You can find out all about Dawn and her company here:
www.hillside-consultants.com
In addition to savvy business owner and florist extraordinaire, Dawn is also the wedding flower expert for the Colorado Springs Examiner. You can read her tips here:
www.examiner.com/wedding-flowers-in-colorado-springs/dawn-ackerman

Fabulous photo of Dawn is courtesy of Real Photography: www.realphotography.com
My wedding photos are courtesy of JasonG Photography: www.jason-g.com