The proposal

I actually sat down to write this post weeks ago, but never got around to finishing it.


Hopefully if you're reading this blog, you're aware by now that I'm engaged! Steven surprised me in Washington, DC on July 1 with a proposal. And, you've probably already read about how he did it by reading the President General of DAR's blog (http://blog.dar.org/2011/07/02/a-surprise-marriage-proposal-at-continental-congress/).... but I figured I should probably tell everyone (and put down in writing) my side of the story... so here goes...

I left for Washington, DC for DAR Continental Congress (our annual national meeting) on Friday, June 24 with plans to return back to Texas on Sunday, July 3. Because of the current position I hold on the National level (National Vice Chairman of the Junior Shoppe), I have to be in DC for that long. Set-up for the Shoppe began on Saturday morning and continued through Sunday and then the Shoppe was open for business from Monday-Saturday from 8 am-4 pm. In the Shoppe we sell various DAR products (think embroidered bath robes, patriotic jewelry, notepads, etc.) to raise money for the Helen Pouch Memorial Fund which supports the DAR Schools (there are 6 schools across the country which DAR supports). This summer we did a little over 54,000 in sells in 6 days.

As you can see, I was a busy girl. Managing the Shoppe required me to be at the hall no later than 7:45 am and to leave sometimes not until 6 pm. Talk about long days on vacation! My evenings were full, too. I either attended meetings or made plans with friends who live in the DC area, or DAR friends whom I don't get to see very often. I tell you all of this so you can understand just how surprised I was to see Steven when I walked into the President General's Reception Room.

Friday was no exception to the busy days at DAR. I spent the morning working at the Shoppe and then we had the official Congress Page picture with the President General. Following the Congress Page picture, I went to lunch with the Texas girls at Cosi up the street. We always plan this lunch on Friday because there are quite a few of us, and we've all got various duties and positions, so this is a time we can all meet and socialize. After our lunch, I returned to the Shoppe to work for a bit before the Junior Membership committee report. When a National Chairman gives her report, the Vice Chairmen of the committee are invited to be seated in the President General's box in the auditorium, so they can be recognized at the end of the report. They run that box like clockwork! You are escorted in at the beginning for your Chairman's report, you listen for the two minutes, stand at the end, and then are escorted out of the box.

As I exited the Hall after leaving the box, my friend Lindsey grabbed my arm and said that Zia needed to see me in the President General's Reception Room. Zia is a page in the Reception Room, so that's where you would normally find her. She had been "sick" all day, so I immediately thought something horrible had happened. Little did I know that she had just been pretending to be "sick" all day just to have a reason to get me into the room!

I come into the Reception Room and I see Zia, standing in a line with a number of other Texas DAR ladies. She looks perfectly fine, and the professional photographer Marshall is there, so I think that we must be taking some kind of picture that I wasn't aware of. After many years of picture taking, I take my cue and go to the end of the line to be in the picture.

At this point, my DAR mother Pamela, looks at me and asks if I'm okay. I tell her yes, I'm great; I've just been in the PG's box for Morgan's report and now I'm here (I was a little perplexed because I was supposed to be meeting her at Hamilton to look at pins at 2, which was right then). At that point, the waters parted and the ladies revealed a handsome fella in a suit sitting in a chair. After a second, I realized that it was my handsome fella!

I think it took a few seconds for me to process that Steven was sitting there because he was supposed to be in Houston visiting his parents for his Dad's birthday. I had been too busy that day to even think about calling him, so I had no idea he had actually spent the morning on a plane to surprise me in DC!

He says I immediately started crying when I saw him, and I believe him, though I can't really remember. Figuring he shouldn't waste any time before he loses his nerve, he grabs my hand and drops to one knee and proposed, though neither of us can really remember what was said. I know that he said "Jamie Perry Durham, this has been the best year of my life..." but that's all I've got.

It was a beautiful proposal, and quite a surprise(which was what Steven wanted most for our marriage proposal)! Afterwards, I found out just how many people had been in on the secret and how long they had kept it from me. Let's just say I won't be playing poker with any of these DAR ladies anytime soon.

I walked out of the Reception Room with a look of shock on my face and word began to spread that I had been proposed to at DAR. Our afternoon was filled with lots of phone calls to family and friends, lots of introductions to various DAR ladies, and then a fun evening of celebrating with some dear friends. Couldn't have been more perfect if I'd planned it myself!

And there you have it, our proposal : )

Assault at a Mall.

I was assaulted today while shopping on my lunch break at a local mall in Austin.

I had just walked out of a store and was looking at a window in the next store when BAM! The Italian hair straightening woman came after me. She asked a few questions and before I knew it, she had taken a piece of my curly hair and straightened it.

Now I would have looked silly walking around with one piece of hair straightened and the rest curly, so when she offered to do all of my hair, I had to agree. All of this was to pitch me this super amazing straightener for the low, low price of $200. Of course, I passed. And then I fled the mall as quickly as possible.

This is what I get for trying to avoid eye contact with the sea salt people. I walked right into the Italian ladies hands. I'd much rather have super soft hands than super straight hair right now.

You're welcome?

I got a text on Thursday evening from two of Jay's friends, Jesse and Kevin (okay, so they're also my friends, too). They planned on coming to Austin for the weekend with their girlfriends Jessica and Jenn to go skydiving for their 28th birthdays. I guess they figured 28 was enough birthdays? Anyways, they wanted to stay at Hotel de Jamie, so of course I said yes.

They managed to wake me up at 3 am on both Friday and Saturday nights. The first night, they were having problems with my key. That's because they were at the wrong apartment. My complex splits the street, so there's a 922 on both sides of the street. Luckily, they didn't wake anyone up in the wrong apartment. The second night, they were having problems getting my gate to function. Fortunately, they were able to follow another car in. For my troubles, they left me a nice little gift card to Target and this completely awesome and random thank you note...

And... done!

This picture pretty much describes my week:

Session ended on Monday! And we went back into Special Session on Tuesday! Talk about annoying. Luckily for me, the hours aren't long in this special session as my boss and my committee have nothing to do with what's on the Governor's call. Woohoo!

I've enjoyed being able to return to "normal" life. I went grocery shopping for the first time in MONTHS on Tuesday. I've gotten to work out every day. I've done some cleaning around my apartment (though there's still TONS to do more). I've gotten to hang out with friends. It's the small stuff you appreciate after months of craziness.

Headed to Ltown this weekend for a big family reunion (I mean even bigger than our regular get togethers). Looking forward to hugging and kissing on all of the sweet kids in my life that I haven't seen in AGES. There are 6th and 4th and 2nd birthdays to celebrate! I'm making the trip sans one boyfriend because he must stay behind to attend a funeral. I'm sad he won't be making the trip, especially considering the circumstances, but it will be just a little nice to soak up all of my family time by myself. I just wonder how many times my niece will ask where he is...

The light at the end of the tunnel...

It's almost here. I can see that little glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel as we race towards the end of Session. And, with every passing day it seems more and more possible that we may not have to spend the summer in Special Session, too! It's so exciting to know that my life is almost mine again!

My work is winding down. We held our last hearing this past Monday and last meeting on Wednesday and I turned in my final Committee Reports yesterday. We celebrated the end of our meetings with a lovely committee dinner on Wednesday night. I'm going to kind of miss seeing all of our members on a weekly basis, but not enough to wish us back into Session.

It's almost 10 am on a Saturday morning and I'm at work. I was here late last night, too. It's exhausting, but I find the floor debate fascinating (because we all know I'm a giant nerd), so I don't mind it. Just 9 more days, friends. 9. more. days!

Unplugged.

I'm house sitting for my Great Aunt this week. She's vacationing in Destin with her travel friends. The ladies have been taking trips all over the world for the last 30 years. So fun!

It just so happens that a few months ago one of my friends from Jr. League moved in two doors down from my Great Aunt. I let her know that we would be neighbors for the week and we planned to get together upon my arrival. Well, then I hurt my hip. And then I ended up working late the last few nights.

The House concluded their business around 5:30 last night so I was excited to get away from the Capitol at a decent hour. On top of that, the anti-inflammatories I'm taking actually started working and my hip is no longer hurting. I took that opportunity to got visit my Liz and her husband and sit out by their pool and just relax for an evening.

And now we get to where the title of this blog comes from, "unplugged". I needed to charge my phone, so I left my phone at home, along with my watch when I went to visit my friends. I can't think of the last time I ever ventured to do something so bold. No cell phone? No watch? Just an evening of enjoying good conversation with no worries as to how late it is and if someone's trying to reach me. And it was wonderful. Of course, I probably wouldn't have stayed out until 11 pm if I'd had my watch on (I'm old, I need my sleep), but I highly recommend that everyone unplugs every now and then. It's refreshing.

Not. my. month.

Wow, it's been awhile. April has not been my month, dear friends, which is why I've been so absent.

For starters, it's that crazy time of year at work... longer days on top of longer days. I've got my eye on the prize though, and very much looking forward to May 30! The four days off for Easter was exactly what I needed to rejuvenate me for this last little stretch. Because to be honest with you, I was hanging by a thread all last week. Such is life, though.

Since my last post, I've had a small banking crisis when a personal check was stolen from my account. It's a pretty long story and I won't bore you with the details but after 22 days, I think we've got everything wrapped up... minus one police report that has yet to be filed. I've been debit card and checkless for the better part of this month, which has been super annoying. I've now got my handy new debit card and am just itching to use it, ha!

Right around the same time I came down with tonsillitis. That was so not fun. It's the second time I've had tonsillitis in my life, the first time I wasn't even 2. I was miserable for about a week and on antibiotics for almost 2 weeks. I think the boyfriend is the most happiest that I am well, apparently I'm not the most pleasant to be around when I'm sick.

Made a trip to Lufkin to see the fam. We put together some pretty adorable Easter baskets for all of the kiddos. The most popular item were the bunny ears that I got for $1. Ella was the only one who didn't want to have anything to do with them. I was shocked when even Eric put them on and wore them for our egg hunt! My nephew is smiling these days, and it's the cutest thing.

Attended C.A.R. National Convention. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more had there not been so much going on at work. It was great to see old friends, though. And the kiddos did a great job with their paging and aiding.

There have been multiple crisis involving various members of my fam. Once again, I'll spare you the details, but some illness and some sad circumstances have occupied the last few weeks.

And then apparently I'm getting old. I'd like to say that I injured myself doing something dangerous or somewhat exciting, but alas I can not. On Sunday evening I went for a walk in the boyfriend's neighborhood while he did some work in the yard. And now I can barely walk. I've hurt my hip. Walking. This was after I went for a run on Friday and was FINE! I was looking forward to turning 30 in a few months, but if this is what comes along with it.... I may have to reconsider.