My best friend asked me to marry him!

You heard it right, I am no longer waiting to get engaged, because yesterday Nathan took the plunge and asked me to marry him! Just when I honestly let it go, and was content with placing the subject on the back burner, the boy pulls off the ultimate surprise. Let me tell you all about it...as I recall. March 13, we had plans to go to Nathan's parents house on the lake to take their brand new boat for a cruise and have dinner. A totally typical Sunday for us during the summer. My proposal instincts were not heightened, nor peaked in the least. As a matter of fact, the weather was not as glorious as it has been, so yours truly even suggested we rain check and go in a couple weeks. What a mistake that would have been! Nathan let me know that there was still dinner planned despite the weather, and we were on our way. Everything is completely normal. Terry normal, Laurie normal, Nathan normal, G and Daisy-NORMAL. We go take a look at the new boat, then go inside and visit for about an hour. Then Nathan suggests in front of his parents that he and I take the boat out, by ourselves. I pause, and look at them, and politely remind him that it is his dad brand spanking new boat and that I think they were wanting to join us. Right? Right? Goodness the boat was put in the water 24 hours ago! Laurie, his mom, starts pulling items out of the fridge and casually says she is going to start preparing dinner. His dad says he has some work stuff he needs to handle and we of course can take it for spin. WOW. However, this still does not tip me off....at all. We grab our bag and G-the boxer, and Terry pushes us out of the slip. Behind a fake smile, I am talking to Nathan, asking how in the heck did he get his dad to do this? Smile Smile Smile...he is watching us from the shore, nervously. Nathan tells me that his mom did the convincing and that was that. I was happy. Lake cruising on an amazing boat, with Nathan and G. The sun even peaked out and I could not ask for a better Sunday...or could I? After a while we put the boat in neutral and decide to hang out for a bit before going back. There are captains chairs towards the front of the boat so I take a seat. Ahhhhhh, this is the life. Nathan and I had joked about which house would be ours some day and I joked about a wedding location on the lake. Hind sight, not the best thing to say. I did not sense he was nervous at all. After a few minutes, he asked me to see what G was getting into behind my seat. I turn completely around and let him know there was a rope and G was just looking at it, good dog. I twirl back around, and my best friend, my boyfriend, my confidant, my roomy, my everything is right in front of me and I barely recognize him because he is down on one knee with the most amazing ring. I remember seeing the box first, white, then him opening it and then the next few moments are blurry. I know I threw my hands over my mouth and muttered/screamed, "Oh my Gosh!" There was a, "Will you marry me?" Then I shreeled again, "Oh my Gosh! What?!" (imagine the highest octave a female voice can go) Another, "Will you marry me?!" (a little panicked) And another "Oh my Gosh! Really?!" And a final, "BABE, will YOU marry ME?!" And a "YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!" I jumped up as he stood up and kissed him. Somewhere in there Nathan tried to put the ring on my shaking hand and I grabbed it from him and shoved it on my finger. More screams, more kisses, and lots of hugging and smiling, and screaming, and oooohhhing and awwwwwing. The best moment of my life. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life. Sneaky Laurie and Terry were in on the whole thing! They had packed us a bottle of champagne and flutes in a cooler hidden under the seat. As soon as we gained our composure, Nathan popped the bottle and we toasted. So perfect. So stinking perfect. Just then a boat drove by and I waved with my left hand, palm facing me. Like a total dork. It felt surreal. I have dreamt about "the proposal" and then I wake up. Snap, it is all gone. It felt like a dream, a living dream. Once we finally had a moment of silence, I noticed Nathan was staring off. I asked him if he was okay and he answered, "Yes, I need a minute...I just got engaged." The huge smile on his face reassured me that he too, was excited, in a manly kind of way, of course. We got back to the house and Terry was waiting for us to assist with putting the baby back in the slip. Atlas, I see why and how he agreed to letting us take out the boat--his contribution as he called it. The neighbors were there too, and congratulated us. Laurie met me at the door and both of our water works turned on. I made all the appropriate phone calls, Mom & Dad, Sister, and Dani--screams across the board. Nathan blasted out a man text letting everybody know I said Yes! Turns out he has had the ring for quite some time and was just waiting for the perfect time to do it. I honestly had no idea. No idea. It was the best proposal ever. It was perfect to me. He told me he had other ideas tossed around too, but I personally am glad he did it the way he did. I am so happy his parents were a part of our special day. I am still so shocked that I am engaged to my best friend, and more so shocked he actually surprised me. To many more surprises and moments like this...Pictures to come!
Right before he asked me!

His Best mate:

I can not wait to be his wife one day!

Better late than never! Snow in Texas Feb-2011

How could I forget to put in the blog that we got snow in Texas, yes, two inches of snow in San Antonio! Not nearly as much as the rest of the country or our northern sister Dallas, but dang it we made the best of it! Here are a few pics:
The Hizzy

Sexy Dexy didn't know what to think

Finally got Nathan and Kupa to join in!

Snow Woman Powell

Maybe we will get some more snow next year...

USAA—Now I get what all the hype is about!

Nathan was right, 2011 brought new opportunities, new outlook, and new perspective to me! Right after the New Year one of Nathan’s peers brought a job to me at a company here in San Antonio called USAA. USAA is everywhere in San Antonio. It employees, well pretty much everybody in SA and has a VERY solid reputation. I have driven past the mile long building on numerous occasions. I have seen the security covered entrances and the endless lines of cars coming in and out. USAA was never a company I considered working at. Now, that seems downright ignorant with hind sight. USAA supports our veterans in finance, investments, and insurance. It is colossal. It is intimidating. There are 22,000 employees and just to give you an idea of the size of this place, it is bigger than the pentagon at 4.2 MILLION square feet. How and where could little ole me fit into such a giant corporation? Nathan presented the opportunity to me and everything seemed too good to be true. The next thing I knew I had the interview lined up. Before I knew it, I was inside the belly of the beast waiting in the staffing center lobby to meet with two women who I now call Tammie and JD, my team leader and my Director perspectively. The interview went amazing and I did not even get out of the parking lot before I was gushing to Nathan about how much I wanted to be a part of that organization and praying to God, just please please please give me this chance! As I am driving home, I get a call from the hospital. Another interview! What? This can’t be happening. Now, I had an interview the very next morning. As I am getting ready for the interview the next day, Nathan gets word that I got the job at USAA. All I am thinking about in the hospital interview is how excited I am about USAA. I end up getting an offer letter from Baptist as well, but ultimately I took the job at USAA. There was some deliberation there and stress but now I know made exactly the right choice. I started on February 9 and have been thoroughly impressed, intrigued, and motivated since my first day. The building: intimidating. The staff: not so much. Every person is great so far. Lindsey is my trainer and partner. She is a blessing! I am on my third week and have caught on 100 % thanks to her and my team. As for what I do: I am on the Candidate Care Team in the Talent Acquisitions Department. We are the recruiting force behind USAA’s superior staff. I love my job. I am not kidding, I love my job. I work with a fantabulous comedian and she too was at a not so fair place of employment prior to making the switch. She summed it up perfectly: “It’s like going from an abusive relationship to a really nice guy….” I could not have said it better myself! To conclude this post, I had a revelation. I was thinking too big and I deep down I am a very simple person with simple goals and dreams. I want a stable life, not a fast one. I want to be a part of the community, have a happy successful marriage, and start a loving family. If I have got that, then I have got it all.

Let’s catch up to speed: 2011 is MY YEAR!

As I stated there has not been too many monumental moments to blog about so I will give you the short version of what I recall about the end of the year. I was laid off on July 29, 2010 and so the grueling process of a) figuring out what direction I wanted to head in, and b) finding a J.O.B. Neither, I had a clue about. I mean this silly naïve girl (at one time) thought she would grow old with the old company. HA! That would have been a huge mistake. Liberation…. So my days were filled with endless websites, job boards, phone calls, Oprah, etc. Thank goodness for Nathan. He definitely led me in the right direction. I ended up getting excruciatingly bored so I volunteered at the hospital in our neighborhood. North Central Baptist Hospital. I loved it there, especially my volunteer director Lisa. She was a firecracker! This was all a part of the fact that I thought I wanted to enter the health care industry. Everything was aligning and I was applying to endless jobs at the hospital and surrounding health care systems. I even had a couple interviews but for one reason or another it did not work out. During this time was my 27th birthday. I was not exactly excited about it since I honestly was not where I wanted to be turning 27. Actually let me take that back, I was exactly where I wanted to be, I just did not have a job. Working is a big part of who I am. I like working; I like the structure and the value it adds to us. I like contributing to my household and my family. That night, Nathan took me for a nice romantic dinner at the Vineyard, my favorite restaurant, complete with lots of flowers. YUM. My girlfriends took me to a wine and painting class, so much fun! But overall very low key. Then there was Christmas. Again something that I normally am so cheesy and giddy and excited about, but this year I just had a dark cloud over my holiday season and that was the fact that I was closing a year and more importantly starting a new one, not really knowing what the heck I was in for. Nathan would reassure me that the New Year would bring more jobs and new opportunities. My parents were in town for quite some time during December, so that is always appreciated. My sister and I mended our last fall out and it feels good have her back in my life, especially the little man too! Everything was good. New Years Eve we attended an 80’s themed party and definitely rocked out the 2010 year. So long 2010! Helllllooooo 2011!

“You have a blog?” ($%8!, I need to update my blog!)

So, as you can see it has been A LONG TIME since I have posted anything. I started the blog so that my friends and family could see what I am up to, but mostly so I can look back on it down the road and reflect. Reflect on what I have been through, dealt with and have a visual time line. If you know me well, you know I have a horrible memory. I stink at remember dates and chronological events. When it comes down to it though, I suck at blogging. I never remember to post anything, and when I do think of something to talk about, I think it is silly, who is going to want to read that? I promise to get better. Well, I take that back. I promise to be inconsistent, confusing, silly, irrational, and unreliable when it comes to this blog.

I have been avoiding my blog!

Every time I have gotten on here to update my blog I think, well nothing monumental has really happened. Then I have to remind myself my blog is titled "NO MOMENT" not "NO MILESTONE" therefore admittedly I have some catching up to do! When I read other people's blogs, they are all primarily happy and sunshine items. I have decided to post both, however I will sum up the bad as they are not worthy of much time per say, and I need to move on. I am going to break up the good things in separate postings. As you all know I left that awful terrible company and they are still proving to be monsters to this day. (IE they have decided not to pay my final check, which is not detrimental, but a nasty character if you ask me.) Over that. Second, I found a great job with a hospital chain here in San Antonio. Everything was in order and I was set to start. Celebrations took place, all the calls to friends and family, and BIG PLANS! I was set to start and received a call the day before I was to start, the job was no longer going to happen. There was a huge miscommunication and the job I had been so looking forward to starting, did not work out. Everybody on the inside tried to continue on the path, but in the end I did not go where I thought I was going. This was devastating to me, all my plans, all my contingencies, and all my sunshine was lost. My outlook crashed. I am 100% sure this is why I was not fond of blogging at that time. Everybody in my life was so caring, and encouraging and it was honestly very very hard for me to see the silver lining in the situation, and I suffered quite a bit for a few weeks. SO, needless to say, "Hello square one, I am Kate, and I desperately did not want to meet you again..."

They say bad luck comes in 3's. For me, it comes in more. The morning of July 29, when I was still with the company we don't speak of, I had taken my car into Nissan as she was having some issues. Without even a formal diagnosis, the blunt mechanic said this little sentence, "Yep, you need a new transmission." Then this sentence, "That will cost you about $4000." I swallowed, let my denial kick in, tried to smile, thanked him for his time, ran out the door. He managed to get in this last little stab, so it felt to me, "When it leaves you, it's gonna leave ya!" I drove back to my then work. 15 minutes after I walked in the door, my AGHEM-HOLE of a boss came into my office picked an incredible fight with me and let me go. Not the best day of my life, but at the same time THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

Fast forward, get fantastic job, "loose" fantastic job, and GET REAR ENDED!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, it was by the sweetest woman in the world and was not my fault. Everything was pretty standard. Took my sick Nissan to the body shop and had her repaired. I was given a gorgeous rental car, so those two weeks were spared in hind sight. I go to pick my car up on a Friday afternoon. Nathan was in Anaheim CA for work. I made just to the entrance of my neighborhood in traffic. Everybody goes, I step on the gas, it goes to the floor and my heart drops. It left me. On a 50 MPH road I traveled about 8 MPH and thank my lucky stars Maxy the Maxima made it to my driveway. I am sure Nathan was thrilled to get the text. "My car is done."

It is probably better that I have waited a month before blogging as it would have been filled of profanity. Keeping my cool is not my best quality at times....ON TO THE GOOD.

We were gone for 15 minutes...

I meant to add this the other day, and before I forget, here it is now. Nathan and I ran to the gas station and Blockbuster Video. We decided to try Kupa behind the gate in the laundery room, rather than in his crate. This was the result. Please note Dexter's questioning stare to his brother. I can hear, "Why did you do this???" coming from him. Dexter is just as guilty! He loves to shread toys, and this was a beloved oversized, bed, stuffed animal. How could they not? In the first post, I summed up the last few years. This sums us up now. This is the epitomy of our household. Gotta love dogs.