…not a real jungle, but sometimes it looks that way. You would think that working in Tampa you would be surrounded by the concrete jungle, but I got lucky! I sit by a huge window wall & theres a big lake with a fountain in it surrounded by the woods….but it doesn’t sound like the jungle. I hear airplanes all day & ambulances, like, every 5 minutes. Well, we have some interesting creatures that like to show up in our jungle & my boss, who is a …how shall I say….hefty man….likes to run down the hall trying to take pictures of our friends outside. So far, I have had a turkey stare me down while I eat a turkey sandwich (literally, his beak was almost touching the window), a lizard that watches me allllll day long & apparently I don’t pay enough attention to him cause he likes to tap on the widow (seriously!), a snake that scares the living daylights out of my coworker when it sneaks up on him, a family of otters (my FAV!) that like to chirp at each other, & an albino turtle…oh, & some kind of massive fish that likes to scour the edges of the lake. As long as its not an alligator that is trying to eat me, I like all the friends!

So, some updates…like usual!
· My sister had her baby boy! Logan Cole is his name & looks so much like both my sister & BIL. I can’t wait to hold him! Erin had a grueling 15-20 labor cause she was induced, but she did a great job. This was my first conversation with her on the phone after she was induced: Me, “hey sis! How are y…” Erin, “hi, don’t EVER have an induction. Gross.” Guess that answers my question of how she’s doing!
· Got free tickets from a sweet man at church to see Frank Caliendo in Orlando…we were in the 3rd row! He was hilarious & he didn’t say a single curse word! Nice!
· The next morning after being in Orlando late, we got up at 5am to go tubing down the Ichetucknee river (yeah, I had to look that up..) with a big group of people from church. I was numb from the waist down, but it was loads of fun!
· Wedding plans are coming along fabulously. Mom & I got a lot done this weekend, but we still have a lot of fun stuff to do! It’s comin’ fast!
· Jeremy moved in to our apartment & we set up our IKEA goodies. We registered, which was overwhelmingly awesomely fun! September is booked with showers & parties…I have zero free weekends next month. Z-E-R-O. Better enjoy it now! I know it will be a blast & fly by!
· Jeremy booked our honeymoon. Wanna know where we’re goin? Well, we threw some ideas out there & one day he called me with this awesome question, “So, you wanna go to Costa Rica?” Uuuuhhhh…..YEAH! We’ll be right at the bottom of a volcano & we get to do the zip line tour of the rainforest canopy. Um, I. AM. STOKED!

Enough updates, I know! Y’all play nice now & let me know how you’re doing!
Cheers!

It’s been a while, so I thought I’d catch you up on what’s been going on around here!
!WARNING! You may get bored….I mean, I’m no rock star! Here goes:

· I was in my 11th wedding in May, which was loads of fun. But there was “pre wedding activities” like, almost every weekend before the wedding day!

· My youngest nephew, Ryan, turned 2. His favorite present was the “a-tar”. Translation = guitar. What’s his favorite song to play on the a-tar? Jesus Loves me….and not only does he play this….he rocks out to it! He IS a Jesus Christ Superstar!! It kills me! How a 2 year old knows to head bang or slide on his knees to play, I have no idea!

· My dad was in a car accident. A semi hit him from behind on the interstate, he slammed into a concrete barrier, the trailer of soil he was pulling some how unhooked, & he flipped onto his roof & slid into traffic………and he walked away with out a scratch or a bruise. The Lord is truly amazing! But get this, the semi driver is claiming it’s my dad’s fault! How? I don’t know! The thing that got me was when my dad came home & said, “I’m just one day closer to walking my little girl down the aisle,”……cue the waterworks! I’ll say it again….the Lord is truly amazing!

· My sis came down for her baby showers & we had a blast! She got a lot of really cute stuff & her nursery is already set & waiting for little Wetzel bit to get here! She’s due in 17 days!!

· While my sis was here, me, my mom, & all my sisters went dress shopping & I finally found it! I just had to suck it up & choose one. Being a designer is terrible when it comes to stuff like this! I like so many different things, but I had to keep in mind what I would still like in 20+ years when I look at these pictures. We had a blast!

· Had an incredibly awesome engagement photo shoot at the University of Tampa while Kyle was down here visiting! It included, but is not limited to: rain, frizzy hair (a result from the rain), climbing out a window onto a fire escape, no AC in the school, hats, the nasty banks of the Hillsborough river, a big rat, graffiti, climbing around a locked fence, dirty & wet butts, & me not being able to do a serious face. Jeremy & I had a blast, Kyle! Thank you!!

· Wedding plans are coming along! Jeremy moves into our apartment next Friday, so we are both very excited! We went to IKEA a couple of weeks ago & got some fun stuff. Now we just can’t wait to register! Less than 100 days now!

I’ve realized it takes me forever to post, that’s why they’re all so long! Thanks for hanging in there….if you actually read all of it! Y’all be safe!

Oh, I’m sorry….were you waiting for an engagement story?! Well, here goes…

Thursday, February 28th I wasn’t feelin’ so hot & had gone over to Jeremy’s house after work & then went home pretty early so I could sleep. Well, Jeremy was being very sweet to me (which isn’t unusual) & asked if I wanted him to cook me dinner the next night so naturally I agreed! I mean, what woman doesn’t want a man to cook for her? (if he can really cook, that is!) My mom had been in South Carolina since Christmas cause my grandpa had surgery so I was givin Jeremy a hard time that day cause he hadn’t been by to see her….well, he hadn’t seen her that I knew of anyway! While we were talking about getting married he said he wanted to talk to them both before he proposed & she had only been home a couple of days so I didn’t expect ANYTHING…

Friday comes & I’m at work, getting sick of looking at floor plans & Jeremy kept texting me askin if I was excited about our date….ooooooof course?! So its about 4:10, I get off at 4:30 & time was just c r e e p i n g by. I notice someone had come around my cubicle…well first, let me tell you this: I LOVE surprises. LOVE THEM. The good kind, not the upsetting kind! So Jeremy said that he knew the proposal had to catch me completely off guard. Also, ever since we had first started dating he would tell me he would come rescue me from school or work when I didn’t want to be there & carry me out…dressed in his fireman uniform, of course!! So, at 4:10 I noticed someone had come around my cubicle & I turned & looked & the first thing I saw was just Jeremy’s face so I was like “HEY! You drove all this way…..” and then I stopped & realized he was in his FULL FIREMAN GET UP!! Next thing I knew he had dropped to one knee in front of me & was sayin’ “Hey sweetheart, I came to rescue you…” this is when he pulled out the gorgeous ring, “…from a life of being single!” OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I can’t even tell you what all was racing through my mind at that moment! I was bouncing up & down laughing cause it was just so cute & a complete surprise, I was thinking ‘is this really happening to me?!’, I was on the verge of crying, & I just wanted to hug him! So he said “Is that a yes?!” YES, it’s a yes!! Then what’s the next thing that comes out of my mouth? “Did you ask my dad?!” He just laughed & said of course. (Later he was laughin cause he thought it was funny that THAT was the first thing to come out of my mouth) So the lady that works next to me started clapping & taking pictures & I went home early!

This is getting long, but oh well! So, we had to go search out my family (his was out of town) around Brandon cause I wanted to tell them right away! We found my parents at Burlington Coat Factory in the men’s underwear section (nice, huh?!) & we all laughed & cried & hugged….one of my sisters was in the Walmart parking lot as well as one of my brothers in law (I had called them to ask where they were…I don’t just hang out in parking lots!), my other sister was working at a store so we went & saw her, & I called my sis & b.i.l. in Alabama! We had different ways of telling each of them & it was fun to see their reactions! Then we went to his house & he cooked me chili & had a fire in the fireplace & made dessert & we had a fun night just talking & being excited! We have some pretty interesting stories of that day…but I wouldn’t change it for the world!! The date is set for later this year so we’re starting to plan….oh, I am SO excited to be marrying my best friend!!
Thanks for hangin’ in there if you are still reading this! If someone can help me post pics, I’ll put up some of the proposal & my beautiful ring! Cheers!

So, I can’t believe I’m writing this on here….I never thought I would….but ladies & gentlemen it happened. That’s right! I, Amber Kristine Lowe will become a Queen later this year because I have a rock on my left hand that is fit for a queen!

I’m engaged!!

Jeremy proposed to me a week ago Friday (Queen is his last name, by the way….& yes, I will milk that for ALLLLL it’s worth!) Pictures & story to come soon, hopefully! We are so very excited to start this new adventure together & can’t believe we grew up knowing each other but not knowing we would be spending the rest of our lives together. Who knew?! It’s amazing, this feeling of actually finding the right one when for years it was just the mediocre one that you’ve been dating. How refreshing!!

Stay tuned for the story…..cheers!!

Do you ever feel like just not working, no matter how much you have to get done? Yeah, that’s me today…..& I fear tomorrow since both my boss & supervisor are gone. Girls day at the office! Alright!

So our trip to Alabama was really good…..fast but good! We wish we could have stayed longer & seen my sister & eric more, but we had to do what we had to do. We made our super pizza at the restaurant & um, “helped” them a little….if that’s what you want to call it! We wanted to try to make a double decker pizza (like at Babe’s pizza, if any of you have ever been there), but my brother-in-law advised against it seeing as we had no idea how to make it– slacker. On Saturday Jeremy & I went to Oak Mountain State park & hiked to a waterfall – I’ll post pics once I figure out how! Once we got down there we decided to make our own trail….scaling rocks….in shoes with no tread…..niiiiice. It actually wasn’t too bad, but my legs were feelin it later that night! Sunday we went to a church my sister had never been to, & of course we were late cause we weren’t sure where it was. Guess where the only seats were? That’s right, in the very, very, very, very front row in the middle of the church. And it just had to be one of the moments where the announcer paused & looked up so, naturally, the whole congregation looked at us traipsing down the aisle in wet clothes cause it was storming outside. I love those awkward moments!

To explain the heading of this post: Who has seen 27 Dresses? (Cute movie, by the way) A couple of weeks ago we had a girls night & went to see it, & even though I’m not always a chick flick kind of girl, I knew I would like this movie. Why you ask? Thanks for asking! Cause I TOTALLY felt it! When she opens up her closet & all those bridesmaids dresses are spilling out I couldn’t contain my laughter. On Valentine’s day a very good friend of mine got engaged & asked me to be a bridesmaid, which I happily accepted. This makes a total of……..drumroll please………..11 weddings I’ve been in! My closet in the spare room looks very similar to hers in the movie….except the dresses aren’t quite as crazy or hideous (although I will say a couple are close…). It really has never bothered me cause I’ve been content where I am & I know I have someone that loves me very much…..I just like to see peoples reactions when I say that :) My mom expecially loves it! When I told her I was in another one, I had to wait for her to stop laughing so I could tell her who wedding it would be. Thanks, mom!

Cheers!