The Honeymoon Adventure!

Day 1: Portland, Oregon --> Dallas, Texas --> San Jose, Costa rica.

We had a long, long day of traveling. We watched a grainy rendition of How to Train Your Dragon, laughed at all of the ridiculous* products in Sky Mall, and slept on each other's shoulders.

(*I did however fall in love with the dishwasher decal that is Van Gogh's Starry Night)

We arrived that night in San Jose. We were picked up by my cousin Agustin and some other family members. They drove us to a local hotel where they surprised us with embroidered safari hats that were pretty sweet.

Day 2: EXPLORE THE CAPITAL CITY AND BUS RIDE TO MONTEVERDE!

Leah, Agustin, & Tony
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then met Agustin for a tour of San Jose. We visited many of the historic landmarks such as the Teatro Nacional. After exploring the city Agustin led us to the bus stop where we bought our tickets to Monteverde. The prices for public transit were unbelievable, for the four hour bus ride it cost less than $10 for both Tony and I to go. Agustin taught Tony a little bit of conversational Spanish to buy the tickets.

Day 3-5: MONTEVERDE CLOUD FORESTS

The ride up to Monteverde was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a cute, little, eco-friendly hotel, Poco A Poco. There are many activities in town, it is a known hot spot for 'thrill seekers' to do extreme zip lines and tarzan swings. Tony and I debated all of the options and decided to do a tamer, but incredible suspension bridge tour. 

We traveled through the very top of the cloud forest canopy. It is incredible to see how alive the rainforest is. Each tree is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna growing on it, in it, around it... you get the drill. 

There are so many different layers of plant life on this tree - it is amazing!

Day 6-10: MANUEL ANTONIO (best beach in the world)

 I swear it is the animal mecca of Costa Rica. Everywhere you turned there was some critter hanging about.

Sloths

White-Faced Monkeys

Howler Monkeys

Lizards

Agouti

Crocodiles

Deer

Turtles

Frogs

(you can see video/pictures in our honeymoon video)

Sadly we did not get footage of the Coatimundi, Kinkajou, and Wooly Opossums, but we saw them :)

Day 11: LEAVE SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA --> PORTLAND, OR

After living large and with barely a dollar in change left in our name we made it to the airport. Tony spotted a donation box to save wildlife on some island and I tossed our last few coins in. We strolled up to the check-in counter where we got asked, "Where are your exit tax forms?" 

Huh?

Little did Tony and I know that Costa Rica charges you to leave the country. Uh oh. We literally did not have a cent, or anyway to get money. Our option... miss our non-refundable flight and figure out someway to get a hold of family to wire us money... or... try to beg for $52 from random strangers.

Luckily, Tony had a $50 VISA gift card in his wallet (that was only valid in the U.S.) as a bargaining chip. We felt like such scam artists approaching people trying to ask them to trade this mysterious gift card for $52 in cash. Amazingly, we encountered a philanthropic gang of surfer dudes who were more than happy to help us out.

Tony and I got on board, and many, many hours later made it back stateside. We had an absolutely amazing trip. We can't wait to go again! However this time be a little more prepared...

HOLY COW

August 1st is almost here! I can't believe it! Most of the preparations are done. All we have left to do is figure out how many people are coming so we can get food accordingly. So if you have not RSVP'd yet, please do! We want to be able to feed you!

We are finishing some of the final details for our Costa Rica adventure. I can't believe that at this time in two weeks I am going to be in the MonteVerde cloud forest. So exciting! Well, love to you all :) and see you soon!

2 MONTHS-ISH!

And we will be getting married!

I didn't realize how close it was until my little sister Carlie mentioned it the other day. I panicked thinking that I had so much to do... but it's pretty much all put together (except for me continuing to forget to send out invitations!!!).

I am excited. It is going to be a blast. I am looking more and more forward to it everyday. I feel like it isn't fitting to say that I am going to 'start' my life with Tony... it is more like 'continue' my life with him :) and I hope all of you can be there in this celebration.

I will be updating this site with more info that you need to know for the day, like where to park.. what to wear... etc.

Invitations...

Being printed as I type.... :)

After several frustrating formatting issues - we are on our way!

I am a photographer :)

www.floresimagespdx.com 

Check it out! 
This is my passion!

The Honeymoon Adventure!

Links to hotels:

Poco a Poco: 
http://www.hotelpocoapoco.com/main.cfm

Hotel Villas Gaia: 
http://www.villasgaia.com/

Oxbow: Behind the Scenes

I visited the wedding site, Oxbow Regional Park, this past weekend with my mom and Carlie. We had a blast visualizing how it will all look! It really is a beautiful place as you will see from all of the pictures. Also, I am SO glad I will be getting married in the summer because it was so cold when we visited! We were all freezing cold and by the end we all had numb toes.

The picnic shelter.

Backdrop for saying "I Do?"

Wedding crasher.

Decormania

This morning I visited Oxbow with my mother and my little sister Carlie. After some brainstorming we were off! We just got back to my parents' house for a late Easter dinner. I am shocked to say - that we almost have all of the decorations! I don't want to give too much away, but one of my most exciting finds was a box of 800 crayons at Goodwill for $7.00. What I don't use I will donate to my work, Catholic Community Services, an amazing organization that works with children in the Portland area.

Hmmmm. I've realized that not everyone might know what Tony and I are up to when we are not wedding planning - so here is a brief idea of who we are and what we do!

Tony: Currently a full-time student at Concordia University majoring in both History and English. He works at the university as a security guard. After he graduates with his Bachelor's this coming December, he will be starting his Master's Degree in Teaching the following year. When he grows up he wants to be a high school history teacher and football coach.

Leah: Graduated this past December from Concordia University with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Humanities and Psychology. I work at Catholic Community Services as a Community Support Specialist. I work within a therapeutic team to provide support to children and families who are going through difficult times. It is a very fulfilling job. When I grow up I want to be a professional photographer and continue working in the social services field.

Ta Da!

Oxbow Regional Park

We have officially chosen a venue and a date for the wedding! We will be getting married August 1, 2010 at Oxbow Regional Park in Gresham, Oregon. Tony and I visited the site last week and we will be visiting again soon with some family and friends to get an idea of how everything is going to come together.

Destination: Costa Rica

My wonderful mother is organizing an amazing adventure for Tony and I. One day we were talking about what Tony and I should register for. The problem is - from living independently for the past five years and living in dorms, we have the typical registry items.

Toaster? Check. Blender? Check. Mixer? Check.


So, my mom brought up to me this fantastic idea of registering for a honeymoon. Originally Tony and I were planning on spending a few nights camping or going somewhere local... now we are thinking Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is such a beautiful place. For those of you who do not know, my father is Costa Rican (hence the last name Flores). I visited there when I was a child and fell in love. I am so excited to be able to share this beautiful place with Tony.

So what we are going to do is create a honeymoon registry page and family and friends can gift a part of our trip. For example, you can send us snorkeling! Tony and I will post pictures of us enjoying your gift and personally thank you! I will post a link when the site is made. I am very excited for this and it would be such a meaningful gift to us both. 

I spent today looking at wedding websites like www.offbeatbride.com with my friend Amber. We found really fun ideas like wrapping tables in construction paper and having crayons on each table for guests to doodle. Anyways, that is all for today. Hope everyone is doing well!

Check it out :)

My Photography Blog!

Tomorrow..

Tony and I are going to be visiting some possible venues! I am excited! I think we are going to be looking at two parks.

A question...

Hey guys, so I have gotten tons of positive feedback from this blog! Thank you! So, now that I know people are reading this.... I would like to ask some advice. So COMMENT! This is meant to be an interactive blog :)

Where should Tony and I get married???

Things that are important to us:

1. Outdoors - we are talking state parks, campgrounds, backyards... we are not looking for some immaculate, well-manicured place - it needs some character :) so, do you know some amazing, little gem of a park or someone that has some property that is wedding friendly?

2. Trees. The bigger, the greener, the better.

3. Close to a river, lake, creek, or something of the sort.

4. We need to find somewhere that can handle 100+ people.

5. Picnic tables. Please.

6. Electricity.

7. Parking.

8. Dog friendly.

Wedding Ideas

Here are the thoughts so far...

• Outdoor. We currently looking at Milo McIver State Park which is about 45 minutes outside of Portland. Camping themed wedding? I think so.

• Hanging lanters, string lights, and all sorts of artsy illumination

• Dog friendly :) This is my dog Gunnar who will be in attendance. Sadly, our venue is in a protected wildlife area so no pets are allowed :(

Our Story

My and Tony's story is of the most dramatic, soap-opera caliber. He was my roommate's ex-boyfriend. Yes, that is as terrible of an idea as it sounds and all sorts of drama ensued, but it turned out alright in the end :)

See, this particular roommate had already been with a new boyfriend for several months and had even made the comment, "Tony is such a great guy I would be so happy if any of you dated him." I didn't give it a second thought as I had never even met the guy. My other roommate however one day came to me and said, "Leah, I kind of have a crush on Tony. What do you think?" I thought about it, and then replied, "Well, she said she would be happy if any of us dated him, but you remember how upset she was when they broke up; it's probably not a good idea."

Five months later I had my first date with Tony. Whoops.

The summer between my sophomore and junior year of college I was at my parents' home and was horribly sick. I spent an entire week in bed and surfed the internet on my laptop to keep myself occupied. I happened to come across Tony's facebook profile and added him as a friend. He then sent me a quick note and told me that I had been his awesome tour guide a few years ago when he came to visit the college. I replied...

Leah Flores Hey, thanks for the great tour review! How is your summer going?

June 25, 2007 at 8:20pm  

Tony Michael Ell It's going pretty dang well, just hanging out, working and playing basketball. How is yours? Did you stay in Portland for the summer?

June 25, 2007 at 9:56pm

 
These brief comments soon turned into full paragraphs, then messages, then phone calls, and me obsessively checking my email every five seconds and asking friends "Does he like me? I don't know... do you think so? I think he likes me, I hope he likes me. Didn't the way he typed 'hi' made it sound like he likes me?" I was insufferable.


Our first date was going to see the movie Die Hard 4: Die Hard or Die Trying. I drove to the wrong parking lot and face planted on the stairs. We sat in the parking lot talking for hours until a vespa-riding security guard kicked us out for it was the wee hours of the morning and they were closed.


The next month was a whirlwind. We both worked during the week, and then would squeeze every second out of the weekend being together. We went on hikes, to the movies, the Scottish Highlands Festival, the Oregon Zoo, the Apecaves, and every time I came home I asked the obvious, "Do you think he likes me, he wouldn't ask me to do all of this stuff if he didn't like me, right? Maybe he is just friendly... Maybe he doesn't like me at all and I am being stupid. Maybe we are just being good friends."

Our first picture together using night vision on my camera while in the Ape Caves.

One month later he invited me to go camping with his family. His cousin asked if I was his girlfriend, he replied quickly, "Oh, she is just a friend." I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me... I was just a friend! This situation would be remedied before the day wore out. At the campfire that night he asked if I would like to go on a walk with him. There was a beautiful, full moon and we walked through the quiet campgrounds without the aid of a flashlight. He reached for my hand and we strolled by the lake, our fingers interlocked. We found canoes overturned on the bank which are rented out during the day to campers. Tony asked if I wanted to take it out on the lake. I said yes (However, I was terrified because I thought we were going to get yelled at for taking the boats without permission - but in the midst of my internal conflict, weighing the risks and rewards - I decided to get in the boat with the very cute boy).

We pushed the boat into the lake and got engulfed into the mist. It was truly the perfect moment for a first kiss <3 He then said, "I have really enjoyed spending the last several weeks with you and I wanted to know... if I could see you... a little more permanently." I grinned and said, "I would like that."

It has been 2 years, 7 months, and 12 days since that night.

2007 - Toys 4 Tots Benefit Dance

 2008 - Looking suave before a hike in the Columbia Gorge

 2009 - Just being us :)

2010 - Hiking through old logging trails in Washington State.

P.S. Here is an adorable picture of my man and soon-to-be brothers. Can you guess which one is Tony?

 

We're Engaged!

Hello everyone,

My boyfriend, Tony Ell, proposed to me this past weekend. I thought that starting a blog would be a great way to keep everybody updated on the planning, any details, and just keeping in touch! We are very excited and planning on getting married August 1st, 2010. We are searching for a venue right now and are trying to keep it within one hour of the Portland Metro area. I will be updating this regularly so please stop by and check often! Feel free to comment - share ideas and love!

Tony proposed at Wildlife Safari, and animal park in Winston, Oregon. It was amazing! It is a drive-through park where you are in the enclosures with ostriches, zebras, camels, giraffes, etc. It was pretty fantastic and a pretty amazing place to be proposed to at :)  Oh! I love the ring! I am not a jewelry kind of girl and wanted something much more organic. Tony found a beautiful ring that is made out of Maple wood and is locally crafted in Portland, Oregon! A little nontraditional, but I love it!