Goodbye 10 minute skillet meals... Hello home cookin!

The other day I was at Sam's with my mom and we were looking at the book section. Believe it or not the stacks of books that immediately got my attention? The cookbooks. Yes, you read that correctly. I, Amanda Leigh Gorsuch, actually TOUCHED a cookbook. Pretty shocking if you know me well. ;)

I have never been very interested in the art of cooking. Honestly, the only recipe under my belt that does not involve boxes/bags from the freezer section, is fettucini alfredo. I actually know how to make the sauce from scratch! But, I think Ryan and I would be in trouble if this delicious pasta dish was on the menu every night of the week, haha.

So, this is why I have decided that Miss Amanda Gorsuch (soon to be MRS. Sergeant K) is in desperate need of a domestic makeover. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, yours truly is going to attempt to cook. I am very lucky to have a fiance that is an AMAZING cook. He absolutely LOVES to cook and is always tweaking recipes. You should have seen him when we hit the kitchen areas at Bed, Bath and Beyond. WOW. Like a kid in a candy store.

So, yes, it will be wonderful having a husband that cooks a lot of tasty food and the fact that he enjoys it is an added bonus. However, he can't do ALL of the cooking. I need to learn and I need to be able to cook for him too!

I bought the book "Fix It and Enjoy It Healthy Cookbook" from Sam's the other day. It has tons of recipes that are ALL very low in fat, cholesterol, calories, etc. Ryan loves to cook but he also loves to cook not-so-healthy food. So, I figure he can fix our sinful comfort foods and I will cook our healthy meals. :) Most of the reviews on the book were positive and said the recipes actually taste good. Of course Ryan is kind of a picky eater so I am going to MAKE him try things he has not tried since he was a kid or that he has never tried before. That means LOTS of veggies!

I have already gone through and marked lots of recipes with tabs that I want to try! I move into my new apartment in two weeks. That is when my new adventure with pots, pans, spatulas, and more will begin. Just call me Julia Child..... hahahahahaha.

Jillian Michaels is the devil

So I started my first morning of the 30 Day Shred DVD workout with Jillian Michaels. WOW. That lady is a monster. LOL. She kicked my behind today. And she will kick it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day and the next.......



I am trying to get my body in shape for our honeymoon. I really need to tone up my tummy, arms and legs. And Jillian is here to do just that! When she started telling me "Don't quit now!!" I seriously wanted to throw my 5 pound weight at the TV. ;)

I am canceling my membership at the gym to save money, so this is the alternative. Well, this DVD and lots of cardio around Lake Hefner when I move to my new place on the 10th of July. :)

Well, that is all. I just had to share my delightful workout story. LATER!

Goin the to chapel........

The chapel we are getting married at is absolutely beautiful AND it is perfect for what we need! The packages they offer are perfect for us. They include catering, ceremony and reception setup and cleanup, DJ, 2 cakes, linens and flatware and glasses, bartender and servers, etc. They also have some other decor we get to use for our centerpieces as well. For food we are having a spread of fruits, cheeses, sandwiches, 2 hot hors d'oeuvres and 2 cold hors d'oeuvres. Hmmmm is that even spelled right? Seriously. I googled it and found several different spellings for that "h" word.... LOL. Whateva, you get the drift. ;)




So anyway.... I am pretty sure we are doing white tablecloths with white chaircovers and then black chair bows/sashes. The pink will be found in the flowers we pick. I have NO idea what kind or how many. Flowers are a foreign world to me. So that is the next big thing we need to do..... make appointments with florists to figure out this flower arrangement business!

Mom and I met with the photographer last night. John Huntington is his name. He was the photog at my friend Lauren's wedding as well and he did a great job and was very fun to work with. :) Pictures are a huge deal to me. I have them everywhere and I take my camera with me wherever I go! I am really excited that we chose John as our photographer.

Well I guess that is about it. Just wanted to write a little about the chapel and how things are coming along. Now I am going to get back to my Lean Cuisine. OH joy. :)

I remember when.. I remember... when I lost my mind.......

After we got engaged life turned into a whirlwind of decisions to make, tasks to complete, and people to meet and greet!

Just a few days after Ryan proposed we celebrated our 1 year anniversary since our first date on Tuesday, June 8th. We went to Cafe Pranzo and Ryan made sure we had the same funny waiter that served us last year on our first date. :) It was a delicious and special dinner. My, how time goes by.

Earlier that evening mom and I went to check out Rose Briar Place Chapel in OKC. We ended up falling in love with this venue for the wedding ceremony and reception. It is a gorgeous chapel with a rustic decor and romantic feel. A few days later we had Sunday, August 22nd booked as our wedding date. Just a few months to plan, but that is how we wanted it. We would much rather spend more time together as a married couple before Ryan deploys instead of planning a wedding for 5 or 6 months. Our marriage is MUCH more important than the actual wedding.


That next weekend we attended a "goodbye" cookout for our friends and newlyweds, Robert and Lauren. They are moving to Texas today actually. It was a fun night and it was great being around them and their families. :)




The next day we went to Ryan's grandfather's 80th birthday. I got to meet so many of his relatives and celebrate such a special day for a special man. Ryan's family is just wonderful. I absolutely love them to pieces!



Once the venue was booked, things started falling into place. Mom, Lauren and I went to Bella Rose in Edmond to hopefully find a wedding dress. Sure enough, I did! It was the 3rd dress I tried on. A Morilee ivory dress that is just perfect for me. Not too simple and not over the top. I absolutely LOVE it. :) Hopefully Ryan will as well!

I was so excited last week to have a girl's night with the "J"s (Julia, Joy, and Jenny). Jenny got married in April and moved away to Arizona. She was in town for just a few days so it was wonderful to see her. I have missed her so much!

I also figured out our photographers for the engagement pics and wedding pics. Mom and I meet with the wedding photog on Tuesday of this week to sign the contract. Ryan and I will do our engagement pictures on Thursday, July 1st in the evening.

Our colors are going to be black and pink. Simple and pretty. :) We also bought invitations and printed them off ourselves. Wow, was that an adventure. Let's just say a much needed margarita was needed by the end of that task! We decided to go with white, simple invitations. We already sent out some of the invites but still have some more to go. It is not easy creating a guest list. I want to invite EVERYONE that is in my life and that is not so easy when your limit is 150 people, haha. I am sure most brides have trouble with guest lists. I think that has been the most difficult part so far!

Well wait...... we did attempt to register for gifts yesterday. WOW. I always heard registering is supposed to be FUN. Hmm.... Ryan and I would like to disagree with whoever says that. (haha). It took us about FOUR hours to get through HALF of the store. We have decided to only register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Much easier than registering at 2 or 3 places and everything is right there in the store! It was just a bit overwhelming for us.



Today was a great day. We celebrated Father's Day by going out to eat at Charleston's. Mmmmm their garlic mashed potatoes are just super. :)

My plans for this week: meet with photographer, contact caterer to find out when we pick out cakes and food items, contact minister about premarital counseling, and figure out what to wear for our engagement pictures!

Cheers!

It was a hot, sticky June evening...........

Ryan proposed on Saturday, June 5th, 2010.

Did I know it was going to happen once he got back from Annual Training for 2 weeks? Well, I had a feeling it would happen in June or July. We had talked about getting married before the end of the year quite a bit, so I figured the question would be coming sometime in the summer. Did I know he was going to do it less than 48 hours after he got home? Ummm nope! I had no idea!

We spent the morning and early afternoon at an FRG (Family Readiness Group) cookout. I was able to meet his ARMY buddies along with their spouses. It was extremely HOT and yes, it was outside. If you know me well, you know that the heat makes me uncomfortable. Feeling that uncomfortable makes me cranky. Me being cranky = one whiny young lady! Well, for Ryan's sake, I wasn't cranky at all that day. However, I did nearly die of heat stroke. (Please ignore the ridiculous exaggeration I just typed).
Anyways, I am just trying to explain how HOT it was that day. And humid, of course. It is Oklahoma after all.

Ryan randomly decided that we should go hang out with our friends Joy and Joe that evening for a game night. I did not think anything of it since we do game night a lot with them, but it was a little random since Ryan never makes plans. He usually leaves that up to me. ;)

So the evening started out pretty normal. We had some cocktails and played Rock Band. I did think it was weird that he brought a Scrabble game with him, but he said he wanted us all to play since him and Joe always play that Words with Friends (similar to Scrabble) on his I-phone with Joe all the time. The boys decided it was time to play and that we were going to play outside. I was not too happy about going outside (refer back to my near death experience earlier in the day with heat stroke). So I put my hair in a ponytail (which I would regret later) and Joy showed me some of her wedding stuff while the boys set up the game.



We went out to the backyard and there was Ryan, in the dark, standing next to the table with candles and the Scrabble board. I walked over and saw that the board said "Will You Marry Me" in Scrabble letters. I had to stare at it for a minute to really "get" what was going on. I started freaking out. Ryan got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. Of course I said yes somewhere in-between the "Oh my gosh" and "What on earth?" and "How did you....?" and "They were in on this??" and "I can't believe this!". Okay and yes there may have been a few expletives in there somewhere...... cut me some slack, i was in shock!



Then there was crying and kissing and crying and hugging, you get the jist of it. ;)



Joe and Joy bought us champagne and had us sign the champagne bottles. I think maybe sake and shots out of chocolate shot glasses may have been involved as well... needless to say we celebrated! It was an amazing and memorable night with people I love. So thank you, Joy and Joe, for helping Ryan make that night even more special! And thank you Ryan, for giving me such an amazing night to remember!



(I know, I know, what is up with all of this cheese?) But you have to love this last picture.... the two engaged girls with their now-empty-pocket fiance's haha.

Once Upon A Time......

So maybe some of you are wondering how Ryan and I met? Some of you probably already know or don't really care to know. Well, too bad, I am going to tell ya anyways!

Ryan and I actually met at the beginning of March in 2009. I was in no way interested in a relationship or even dating anyone at that time. I met him through a mutual group of friends: Lauren, Rob, Mike, and Theo. Mike was having a housewarming get together and we both were there. However, we did not talk much that night. I took one look at him and figured he was a typical arrogant womanizer, and apparently he thought I was out of his league (haha). Turns out we were both wrong. ;)



Over the next few months him and I became friends and hung out nearly every weekend with the gang. It was soon apparent that we both had the same ridiculously childish sense of humor that made most people annoyed. Oh yes, we somehow bonded over the Shamwow. You think I am joking? I will have to post some pictures of Ryan imitating Vince on the Shamwow infomercial. Ummm yeah. We are two very special people. And don't forget the night he baked a cake and then threw it in my face..... no, I am not joking. Oh excuse me, don't forget about the TWO nights he did this. Yes, he put a cake in my face, TWICE! There is nothing like bonding over funfetti toes and frosting up the nose.

It is also important to note the fact that Ryan and I have very different personalities. Yes, we share the same bizarre humor, but he is actually quite shy and more passive. And me on the other hand, well, yeah, I'm the loud, obnoxious one. We definitely balance each other out!

On June 8th, 2009, I finally let this boy take me on a date! We went to Cafe Pranzo in Oklahoma City and shared a bottle of Esmerelda spanish wine. It was a wonderful first date, even though we were both nervous. Even our waiter was just as quirky as us!

That summer was a special time for us. Ryan, Alex, Paul, Jenny, and I went to Las Vegas at the end of June and had a blast. In August I went with Ryan, his sister Allison, her friend Lauren, and Paul to St. Kitts in the Caribbean. This was my first time to go out of the country and I enjoyed every last minute of it. I knew I was falling in love with the boy right around this time. Some may think that is soon, but when you know, you know.

Last year I met his family, who I absolutely adore! Ryan met my family as well (excluding my brother, his wife, and my twin nieces who are in NYC) and they love him to pieces! I think I have met most of Ryan's friends and he has met most of mine. Everyone seems to get along quite nicely. :)

So there ya go, ladies and gents! You got to read the story of how we met and fell in love. I know, cheesy and sappy, but cut me some slack, ok? ;)

I will be sure to post again soon!

Here we go again......

This is approximately my third attempt at creating and updating a blog. I always seem excited about it at first, and then eventually forget it even exists. ;)

Ryan, my fiance, and I plan to update the blog for our family and friends, especially those far away. Of course, Ryan is currently unaware that I created a blog for us...... so I am sure this will mainly be my little baby. :)

Posting pictures and funny stories will hopefully keep this site from becoming dull and boring to any readers we my have. I am sure I will have lots to talk about.... engagement, wedding, honeymoon, new apartment, etc. And I am sure you all are just dying to read all about it! (come on guys, at least pretend to be enthused)

I have lots to post about how Ryan and I met and how he proposed so I will try to write more soon!