new house news!

So, Alan and I finally decided that we were ready to take the home owning plunge. Apparently, now that the wedding is over, we needed something else expensive and stressful in our life. :) After a lot of prayer and research and advice from our friends, we decided to build a Veridian home here in Madison. It is so exciting! We just signed the contracts, and are scheduled to close on my birthday, August 27th. I bet we have already driven by our lot 30 times. We will have plenty of room, and once the house is built, our friends and family are always welcome.

If you have a second, check out the generic house plan template on Veridian's website:
http://www.veridianhomes.com/files/homeplanpdf/Stewart2.pdf

We have made quite a few changes, but you will get the jist of it. Last week we picked out all the appliances, tonight we pick the lighting, and on Friday we pick just about everything else. Alan tells me that will have satiate my shopping bug for awhile since now I am on a homeowner's saving budget! The builders are Energy Star certified, so it feels good knowing our house will be super efficient and have minimal wasted energy and lower bills.

Can't wait to post pictures of breaking ground soon!

i think we're back

It has been awhile since my last post.  Now that the wedding is over and life is getting back to normal, we DeBaene's hope to use this blog to keep anyone that still reads it up to date on our life.  

Alan & Kate are engaged!!!!

We're engaged!!! Alan proposed to me on December 29, 2007 on Coronado Island, CA. It was , so far the best day of my life, but with a life ahead of me with this amazing guy, I am sure there will be many more amazing days to come. I was totally surprised and I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day. Alan took me to the pier at sunset, got down on one knee, and asked me to spend forever with him. I whole heartedly and excitedly said yes...well, not really said "yes", but nodded my head repeatedly because I was crying too much. Alan had a gondola ride waiting for us, and we enjoyed a gondola tour of the bay at sunset, while being serenaded with love songs and eating chocolate covered strawberries. We finished off the night with an AMAZING dinner right on the water. I have the privilege of marrying the love of my life on November 1, 2008. I am so excited and blessed beyond belief. Enjoy some of the photos!

chicago trip & back door slam

for those of you still reading...thank you :). it means the world that you check faithfully, and even comment from time to time, when i give nothing in return. life has been quite busy. alan and i always have something going on, and work is ridiculous right now, so i am really looking forward to christmas and the holiday break.

here are a few pictures from a month ago when we went to chicago to see the band back door slam. amazing!!! you really must check them out, as they are fantastic, specifically davy knowles who met and took pictures with. we also met up with lauren ireland, one of my best friends from college. lauren and i shared a drink bigger than our heads...it didn't go so well for us and no, we didn't finish. much fun was had by all!

martin sexton concert

halloween sad/confused pumpkin

a group of friends and i got together to pumpkin carve this year. while rob felt the need to have battery/power operated carving tools, my $2.99 walrgreens kit sufficed. this was the result. i think my pumpkin was confused on why he was sad.

picture taking

across the universe

www.acrosstheuniverse.com

i am so excited for this movie. i am even more excited for the soundtrack. this looks so awesome, i definitely think you should check it out. beautiful.

just a few thoughts

so today i turned 25. i had an absolutely wonderful birthday weekend and day thanks to all of the love from my family [that are friends] and friends [that are family]. i was reflecting on the last 25 years with some desire to be able to pull some profound words of knowledge or experience out of them. truth be told, at 10:00 on a Monday night, I don't think that is going to happen. but a thought does enter my head...of something i read awhile back written by a pastor named kyle lake. i think of it often and it moves me, so i would like to share it with you.

"Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own. If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."

congrats rob & megan!

Alan and I at the beautiful Monona Terrace at Rob & Megan Carlon's wedding.

This is the incredible view of the lake from the reception.

Our friends Mara and Adam at The Great Dane post wedding.

Our friends Kate and Jenn at The Great Dane.

Our friend Nick - who will be marrying the lovely Kate pictured above in just a few weeks - prepared for anything with his shout wipes.

Table shots.

Jenn with the dinner menu that she helped Megan cut out at a crafting under the influence night.

cute

the Epicnic @ Devils Lake

life is always better when my mom is around

it's true. my momma came up to visit me this weekend...just us girls...and we had such a great time. we went to an art fair, went to the pool, ate some delicious food, did a little bit of shopping, watched some girly movies, read some girly magazines, and cleaned my loft top to bottom!

i am gone a lot, for work and for personal. and when i am home, cleaning is often the last thing i want to do. this week was a little crazy at work, so i was kind of a clean house slacker this week. luckily, my momma showed up and we cleaned all sorts of stuff that doesn't usually get touched. i knew we where on a roll when at 7:30 this morning, i was vacuuming my air conditioner filter and was cleaning out my vacuum filter. good stuff. it was such a blessing though, because when i come back from denver this week, i will walk into a spic and span house, with all my laundry done and put in its place. i even got a chance to clean my office and car this week, so every area of life seems to have a semblance of order.

i just love my mom. i am a mommas girl. she is my best friend, and even though i get to see her often, i still had crocodile tears in my eyes and she drove away today. moms are the best!

one of my favorite things in the world...

is a white funfetti cake with pink funfetti frosting. it is awesome. and ever since my lovely friend shelaine made me a funfetti cake when i was in the QC's last, i have been craving it. so tonight, i decided, what the heck, i'll bake a cake. at 11:00. unfortunately, swimsuit season and a delicious cake all my own don't mix, so i decided to put my "cooking light magazine" tips to work and make it as low fat as possible. i used egg whites instead of whole eggs and applesauce instead of oil, and so far it looks awesome. i have been go go go for the last few months, and it is really nice to have a night to get groceries, clean my house, bake, and watch some girly movies all by myself. loving it. :)

this week at work, they gave us a hummer h3 for our rental...and so we took it up 14000 feet and did some off roading

hope you enjoyed the pics of me and my coworker Patrick, Mt Evans at 14500 feet, some random mud roads, and of course, the most ridiculous rental car ever!

seth's wedding

Pinning on the corsage.

It was a hot one at the beautiful rose garden.

Looking nervous. :)

Aww. He got to kiss his beautiful bride.

The Mom & Dad. These two had Alan and I laughing all weekend long!

My mom is so cute!

Father & son. The guy on the left is my Uncle Steve - the Godfather as I like to call him! :)

What a good looking family - Seth, Tara, Elle, & Dalton. I love my cousins!

A picture of my Aunt Jan - who I don't see nearly enough - and me.

This is a picture of me and Seth. He sure is my favorite and was like a brother to me growing up. We got in our fair share of trouble together. People say we look alike, but I just don't see it. I am so proud of him!

Alan and I were definitely showing off our moves on the dance floor. All I remember of this picture is that Alan was spinning me like crazy, and I kept saying, "I'm gonna throw up, but I like it!" He has some killer moves out there.

i travel a lot

i mean a lot. like 2 or 3 weeks a month. what that boils down to is a lot of mini bottles of water, airplane pretzels, kids kicking my seat, old men drooling on me, delays in airport lounges, and times i need to park my car in the airport parking garage at the dane county airport. and one would think that any reasonably intelligent girl would have come up with a way to track where she has left her car...or rather...that she would have taken 2 minutes to add it to her pda. but no. not this airplane peanut.

every monday morning, i drive into the airport parking structure, take about 10 laps because every epic employee and their brother is flying out, and finally find a spot. i spend time standing in front of the spot, saying to myself..."this is where you parked. 4 days. you only need to remember this for 4 days...can you do it chica?" i start to feel good about it. i start to make up poems and point out landmarks to help me remember. i am in a good place.

flash forward to about 11:27 on Thursday night. it's a familiar scene. i roll my bag out to the parking structure, and stand in front of the elevator like a deer in the headlights. nothing. 4 floors of possibility. i can usually not even narrow it down to that, more or less a general section, aisle, or stall. so what i do. this depleted wanderlust walks aimlessly up and down the aisles pressing my car panic button until i hear the blaring noise and see the flashing lights to let me know my car is near. really, i am an awkward spectacle. i am glad someone still loves this mess.

"You have given me more than
I could ever have wanted!
I want to give you my heart and my soul"

Memorial Day

Remember when I had a blog that I updated? Well, life has been really crazy busy lately, but I wanted to post a few shots of Memorial Day fun. We were with Alan's friends and family for a BBQ, playing some bags, taking some 4 wheeler rides, watching the cutey little one, and being amazed by the bottle opener in the bottom of Alan's shoe. I promise I will be better at updating this blog. :) Love to you all!

so i joined the world of facebook...

nothing like putting yourself out there. :) all these friend requests. finding people you haven't talked to in forever, hoping they remember you, blown away that they are married with children. i think i have officially put myself on a train straight to the bad place. i know this because i have already been browsing facebook for an hour, sending friend requests, writing on walls, trying to find out what it means to "poke" someone, and trying to figure out how to add myself to an augustana alum network (or any network for that matter). so if you are out there, come be my friend. :)

a sublime flashback

tonight i was hanging out at borders with my friend juli. we were looking through cd's and i restumbled on sublime. i hadn't thought about that band in years, specifically since high school and the early part of college. and then i started listening and reminiscing, and it reminded me of my best friend from the day, Spey. so i went home, downloaded some sublime, and rocked out down memory lane. and spey, if you are reading this, i miss you buddy! especially our senior skip day and the fishing and the online cribbage and the cookout that broke dave-o's grill. and ps, i know because of krs one.

seriously, if you are reading this and looking for a good song, you should download "rivers of babylon" by sublime. fantastic.

because i am a geek

this excites me.