Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Quick! I need your help!!

Okay loyal readers, I need some help. As you know, I'm starting my event planning business(!)

I'm starting a blog (and website) for said business and I want to regularly post 2-3 posts per week. I want to have the same type of post on the same day each week. For example, Utahbrideblog.com has 'flower Friday' every Friday (obviously).

So what 'themes' should I have? And on what days?

Thanks!! You're the bestest!!

Xoxoxo

Monday, June 20, 2011

Oui oui

I was turned on to my favorite blog, Jordan Ferney's Oh Happy Day, by toadie about two years ago. Until I started reading it, planning parties for a living and filling life with beautiful things was something I had never thought I could do. It was for fancier people with fancier, more fantastic lives than mine. I had an epiphany one day after reading a post of hers--nothing is stopping me from doing these things. The only person holding me back was me.

So, two years later, I'm following my dream--trying to build my business as a party planner and filling my life and our home with pretty things. Oh happy day(s) indeed:)

Here's hoping I can meet my life-changing hero in Paris later this year! She's running a contest and will fly the winner to Paris to meet her and share all the fun places she's been finding while living there with her husband and two cute little boys. Check out her blog (and don't feel weird if you go through every page, I totally did--she's an inspiration!) right here: http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris/

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Ugh.

I am sooo cranky today. I have no idea why. Just miss cranky pants for no reason:|

I need a nap I think. Maybe that will help. I have exciting news that I just can't share while this grumpy.



Thursday, May 26, 2011

Welcome to the Ratliff home. Probably don't breathe while you're here.


True story. Ugh. We can't both be sick!!! This is the worst idea in the history of ideas.

Back back back

I am ashamed. I keep letting letting letting myself not blog, saying I'll do it tomorrow, I have nothing to say today. Well to that I say, "bs self. You literally always have something(s) on your mind.". So. I'm back. From outer space. Or just the real world. And here is my first blog back:

"God expects you to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects you not simply to face the future (that sounds pretty grim and stoic); He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities.

God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe." -Jeffrey R. Holland

Did you just get the chills in the 'holy-cow-i-need-to-stop-holding-myself-back' style? I totally did. So if you don't kind, I'm going to get to dreaming:)

See you tomorrow--PROMISE.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

i love rainbows! and stars!

here's some big news:



i quit my job on monday.  it feels really good to just be able to...be...for a little bit:)

also: i'm thinking about throwing in a business ed minor.  any uvu-ers have advice on business classes/professors to take/avoid??

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

what is the scariest thing you ever saw?

answer:

[nataliedee.com]

the only thing scarier would be if it also had spider legs.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

would you like to see some photos?

i knew you would:)

[look at my handsome husband!!!]


i cannot wait to see more!

additionally: i hereby swear to begin blogging everyday.  but only if you swear to comment and/or care.

[also: stay tuned for news about Risceptions--the coolest event planning business on the block!]

Monday, February 28, 2011

11 days

sometimes i am overwhelmed with how lucky i am.  i feel like i'm full of warm sparkly rainbows.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

hey winter, what's up?

not much here.  just hanging out, planning the wedding, going to school...you know, the usual.  listen...i think we should break up.  it's nothing personal...it's just...well, it's 18 degrees outside and you've just been really cold lately.  and...i've found someone new...

[it's not you, it's me.  wanting to not be so cold my skin bleeds.]
i hope we can still be friends.  or passing acquaintances.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sneak peek of our engagements!!!

[Check out my handsome man:)  Click the picture to see more!]


Tiffany Jane is incredible, amazing, fantastic, and awesome!!!

Monday, January 10, 2011

fact




i have the best fiance ever.  tevan is taking such good care of me.  fingers crossed he doesn't get this too!

Monday, December 27, 2010

i'm craving this tonight...

[whaddaya say tevan, 5x5 right when you get here?  mmm, those fries look divine!]

Saturday, December 25, 2010

engaged!!!

december has been off the chains cuh-razy, so i apologize for the lack of blog posts.  however, i've had a ton on my mind since mid-november that i've been *dying* to talk about and now can, so you can be expecting a deluge of posts:)

first of all, i think you need to know:  you are now reading the blog of an engaged woman!!!  that's right, tevan got me the best present ever for my birthday...a big fat sparkly ring!!:)  this is what i've been dying to post about since mid-november!!!  and now i can finally talk about!!!  that's why i haven't been posting much--i was afraid i'd give it away.  anyways, we started talking about it in the middle of november and found "the ring" right before thanksgiving.  it's perfect!  princess cut, with a delicate band, white gold.  it's beautiful!  the problem is, is i have teeny, tiny baby hands.  my ring size is a 4.5 and the one at the store is a 6.5.  if they'd resized it, because it was that big of a resize, the diamonds would have fallen out.  so we had to order me a brand new one to be made.  so.  we had found the ring.  and we decided since christmas would be the first time we'd be apart in the entire time we've been together (four whole days--kill me), we'd get engaged before christmas.  but i had *no idea* when it was coming.

i really wanted jaz and brianon there so i didn't have to re-tell how it happened, i could just immediately be freaking out.  tevan knew this, but kept saying he didn't know how he was going to do it.  (meanwhile, he had decided around thanksgiving how he was going to do it.)  and jaz and b kept asking when tevan was going to talk to them.  (he already had, but jaz says once she started lying to me, she couldn't stop.)  so...the scene is set.

open:  my birthday.  tevan woke me up with breakfast sandwiches, which was a perfect way to start the day:)  this rainbow party from jordan ferney's blog was what i wanted (well, that plus everyone wearing party hats!) so brianon and kristina spent all day making me the coolest cake, 10 horizontal layers, each layer a different color.  and it was beautiful!  i went and got my hair done and felt super pretty and then we went to dinner at noodles and co for *the best* mac and cheese in my whole life.  so many of my friends were there and there were about fifty brightly colored balloons all around our table.  plus everyone was wearing dinosaur party hats.  it was *exactly* what i wanted:)



[balloons!]

[i gave a ballon to every little kid in the restaurant and they were flipping out:)]

[friends!  i love your stinking guts!  thanks for making my b-day so special!]

after dinner, we went to see "tangled" at my favorite movie theatre.  it was awesome!  might even be my favorite princess movie now, it was *that* good.  if you haven't, go see it.  stat.  anyways, jaz and b left about twenty minutes before the end.  i thought they were just going to the bathroom but they never came back.  after the movie was over, i looked at my phone and there was a cryptic text from b:  "emergency at stadium terrace, i will call when i know more details.  i'm sorry! but the house is clean and the cake is ready and janell will be there to 'run' things."  now, you need to know:  the last time there was an emergency at stadium terrace, a girl had driven through stadium terrace with her car and pinned a girl to the sink and the girl was in the hospital.  so.  i'm freaking out that something equally bad had happened and neither b or jaz are texting/calling me back.  tevan manages to calm me down finally and we head home.  OH!  also, the plan was for everyone to come to my house after the movie for cake. 

so we drive to my house and no one's there.  it was really weird because we had been the last ones to leave the theatre.  so i was like, "oh no! brianon spent all day making that cake, she's going to be so disappointed no one came, we'll have to eat that whole cake," blah blah blah.  and tevan just said something about how we probably just beat them all home.  and i went to grab the balloons (we had almost all of them in the car with us) and tevan just told me to leave them and we'd come back to them.  i was kind of confused because brianon had told us to bring them in, but i let tevan lead me down to my door.  the house was totally dark and he asked me if i wanted my birthday present right then.  i said "yes!" and he pulled me onto the grass and handed me an odd shaped package, wrapped in target ads.  [nice touch, i love target:)] i opened it and it was one of those camelback water bottles, in blue, that i've been wanting since about august.  i was pretty excited about that until he pointed out there was a note on it that said 'open'.  i opened it and there was a note in it.  i pulled it out and it was an arrow, pointing at tevan.  i looked at him and he had a laser pointer in his hand.  [now, you need to know a few things.  1-one of the first times we hung out, tevan and i watched a meteor shower.  we almost cuddled but he was too big of a chicken;)  anyways, we had talked a little about green laser pointers which are so powerful you can see the beam and point out constellations and stuff.  way cool.  2-andrea got me a laser pointer for my last birthday, a normal red one, and i like to shine it on sparkly rings and make the light bounce everywhere.  tevan knows this:)  3-we won a normal red laser pointer a few weeks before this on a date to the nickelcade and have been playing with it lots.]  i was pretty stinking excited about that and was shining it all over the place.  it was the most fun and irresponsible gift he could have gotten me (and i told him that). :) 

so i'm shining it all over the place and tevan says, "want to see something else cool?" and i look over at him and he's got a ring box in his hand and is going on one knee.  i start jumping up and down, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!" and he takes the laser pointer and opens the ring box and shines it on the ring and light goes everywhere.  he says, "will you marry me?" and i says "yes yes yes!!!" and about knock him over, hugging and kissing him.  then i hear a *pop* and out of the corner of my eye see...confetti?  [a little more background info.  a couple weeks before, we had been watching an episode of glee and sue had some confetti cannons and it was totally awesome.  it became an inside joke for us to say, 'you know what this *whatever* needs?  a confetti cannon.']  tevan had made me a confetti cannon!!!  and jaz and brianon were on the balcony above our door, recording us getting engaged and firing the confetti cannon.

it was awesome!!!!!!!!  afterwards, we went over to joanna and janell's house and had cake.  it was rainbow-y delicious:)  i couldn't stop smiling for hours.  not only was it my first birthday with a boyfriend, it was my first (and only) with a fiance!  definitely the best birthday i've ever had, by far:)   


[look at that handsome guy:)]

[rainbow cake!  and you can see my ring!]
so, just so you guys know:  the big day is march 12!!!  you thought you were bothered by me not blogging, now try me blogging incessantly about the wedding.  you can't wait:)

now i just had finals and joanna and matt's reception to worry about.  finals were stressful, to say the least.  i ended up with a c, two bs, and an a minus (in wwII -- so proud about that one!).  it's nice to not have to worry about school for a while.  then we had matt and joanna's reception.  it went soooo perfectly!  i even got props from an apostle!  dallin h. oaks came (apparently he's an uncle of joanna's) and said it was beautiful and that i had done an amazing job.  and matt and joanna loved it.  and that's what really matters:)  it was incredible watching my dream come to fruition.  and the people having their reception there the next night paid to keep the lights up -- $75.  pretty awesome, huh?  the success reinforced how much i love planning parties:)  i'm all in with my business, for sure.  i even have a name!  ready?  risceptions.  and the tag line is:  risceptions, parties & more...  like it?  i love it:)



[this is the best picture so far, janell has only posted 30 on facebook.]

and now it's christmas!  it's totally awesome being home with the whole family (even danny's here!).  and brianon came home with us because she couldn't afford the plane ticket home, so it's fun having her here as well.  but it SUCKS being away from tevan.  he went home for christmas, and it's only four days, but it's the first time we've spent even a day apart from each other.  and i HATE it.  i don't ever want to be apart from him again, it's the worst feeling ever:(  so i'm trying not to focus on it.  i'm trying to keep myself busy reading and hanging out with my family.  it's working a little, but i cannot wait to be with him again.

so...i think that catches us up! 

Saturday, December 4, 2010

member how i'm crazy about this boy?

[he sure is handsome:)]
i know i haven't been posting everyday.  here is a makeup post saying what has been going on the past little bit:

tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school 
school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school 
school school school school school school school school school school school school school school school 
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan teva
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work
work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work
work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work
work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan  
tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan tevan 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 
joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception joanna's reception 

so.  there's a little peek in my brain.  

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

haaaaarrrrrrryyyyyyy potterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

so we went to see hp7 tonight and it was totally awesome!!! the best part was that we went two hours early and almost no one came to the movie.  we could have come ten minutes before and probably got the same seats - but that's okay.  i needed the guarantee of sitting by the bar in the front so i could put my feet up :)

in other news, the weather is supposed to be awful tomorrow.  this might make it so we can't leave tomorrow.  in fact, my mom is basically having a panic attack about us driving at all tomorrow, so it's looking like wednesday is the day!  fingers crossed it will clear up by then!!

today i got to spend some fun time shopping with b and it was the best ever:)

how do you guys feel about:

*bright events*

Monday, November 22, 2010

i'm in love i'm in love and i don't care who knows it!

so i've received several complaints that not only am i not blogging everyday, i continue to write posts about how i'm going to try and start doing it everyday and then don't.  i want to apologize for that.  i've been a weird combination of lazy and too busy.  i know that's a contradiction, but it's the truth.  so.  here is my official re-commitment to blogging everyday.
fair warning: my posts might be about tevan.  every single day.  here's why...

[to: tevan      from: me]

i've also got my first client for my yet-to-be-named event planning business!!!!!  i'm currently planning a wedding reception in mid-december.  it's coming together incredibly well and i'm super excited about everything:)  i'm really in need of a name though!  what are your thoughts on "bright idea events"?

guys, i'm having the time of my life doing this and i want to keep it going.  please please please recommend me!!!

also: can't wait to go home this week!!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

no way november what

wow.  last night was totally totally awesome:)  i feel like this:

*exploding rainbows + confetti canon*

additionally, i just remembered the list of 25 things i was going to do before i'm (gulp) 25.  here is an update. 

25 things before i'm 25

1. go to hawaii
2. read the book of mormon
3. throw someone i love a giant surprise party
4. read pride and prejudice
5. get a 4.0 spring semester
6. pay off 1/3 of my debt
7. go to the dentist
8. throw a christmas party
9. get a massage
10. get in touch with my best friends from high school
11. get into the education program
12. run a 5k
13. make a music video with jazmin
14. learn to like fruit
15. do something fun for halloween
16. throw a murder mystery party
17. go to the temple at least once a month
18. throw an awesome backyard tea party
19. go to disneyland (for free!)
20. read 2 classic books
21. see 2 classic movies
22. go fishing
23. compete in a ballroom competition
24. reboot game night2.0
25. be freaking awesome

it's funny how i have a lot of different priorities since i made this.  i know i won't get some of them done, but i'm going to do some.  my birthday is in 22 days, so i better get crack a lackin...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010