The Palm Trees Are Here!

Sorry for the lame title, folks: I'm just too excited to think straight and if left to their own devices, my fingers would type:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was at work when I received my email from Mrs. Penguin so I could only squeal so much. I put my technological skillz to work, though, and started blowing people up the ways that I could: inter-office IM, GChat, email. "I'M A BEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was pretty much the gist of it. I am so excited to be a part of this community and to share everything with you all.

Let's get the obvious out of the way, shall we: why Miss Palm Tree? Let's not lie, all of the icons are adorable, no matter which generation. In the interest of full disclosure, I had my eye on Miss Fairy from way back when, but it wasn't my time. When I saw the Honeymoon generation and first laid eyes on the Palm Tree, it was the end game. The be-all, end-all. I'm a beach and sun loving Pisces who was born in Las Vegas, palm trees all around her, currently living in the pine-and-other-green-tree land of Pittsburgh. Does it get any more 'meant to be' than that? ;) I love palm trees so much, in fact, that:

personal photo | Yes, folks, that is a Palm Tree on my ankle  (and yes, those are TOMS - more on those later, I promise!). Apologies for the sock indentations, dry skin and uggo carpet. This was taken in stealth mode at work. ;)

Mr. Palm Tree and I are kind-of high school sweethearts, with a little twist. The long and short of it is: girl moves with family into new town, across the street from boy. Girl's younger sister and boy's younger sister become best friends, girl has no girls her own age to play with so she follows the boys around, who hate her; boy teases girl relentlessly and makes her cry on a daily basis, girl doesn't give up and relentlessly continues to bug the boys.

Girl's family moves across town and years pass. Girl starts high school and starts running into boy, who is two years older, EVERYWHERE: hallways, lunch, before and after school. Boy eventually acknowledges girl, they become friends. Girl has Feelings and all but stalks boy, boy gives in and stops Girl in a hallway in May of 2004 to ask her to be his girlfriend.

The rest, folks, is History.

personal photo | Palm Trees at Mr. Palm Tree's senior prom in 2004

personal photo | Palm Trees at my senior prom in 2007

Mr. Palm Tree and I are Super Goobers. I'm talking Disney loving, karaoke singing, Time Warp dancing, nickname using, grocery shopping enthusiasts who are all about Pittsburgh (the best city EVER, of course), spending time with our friends and, of course, cats.

personal  photo| Three of our four kitties - the one in the middle is the Momma.

Individually, Mr. Palm Tree and I are almost completely different. I love to read, write and talk and he likes to fish, hunt and play video games. I have absolutely zero athletic skills and am one of the clumsiest people imaginable, while he is literally good at everything he does, pretty much from the first time he does it. His favorite character on 30 Rock is Tracy Jordan while I'm clearly such a Liz Lemon. ;) Together, though, we make a hilarious team that results in hours of laughter (both 'at' and 'with' us) and a whole lot of love.

We're planning a large wedding for approximately 200 guests in May, almost exactly nine years after the first question was popped in the hallway. Funnily enough, even though 200ish is large by today's standards, it's not by ours at all - we were pretty strict with our guest list. I wouldn't exactly call us low-budget, but we certainly aren't making it rain. Our wedding is turning out to be more 'traditional' than I would have predicted, but we're making it super personalized and putting little touches of 'us' all over the place. 

I am seriously over the freakin' moon to be a Bee, you guys. I cannot wait to start sharing the details of our wedding planning and I truly cannot wait to interact with you all. 

Photo from Limelight-Images | One of Mr. Palm Tree's and my engagement pictures