Unzippable Dress

Collin and Katie celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary Saturday. They were able to take a short weekend trip to Colorado Springs, so they had a good weekend together. The funny thing is, when they arrived at their hotel, they had two double beds rather than one queen size bed, so they slept in separate beds. Katie said, “It’s the best sleep we’ve had in five years.”

I’m sure you’ve been waiting in suspense for Collin and Katie’s wedding story. If you’ve been following my blogs, you’ve read about the missing ring incident that occurred at my sister’s wedding. Aunt Jan saved that day, but that wasn’t the first time she was my saving grace at a wedding. Go back with me five years to September 27, 2003.

Collin and Katie got engaged and married within three months. Shannon, my mom and I all lived in Kearney. Katie, Collin and Katie’s family lived in Colorado. Katie’s sister, Angie, was living in Wisconsin. About two months before the wedding, we planned a weekend when all of us could meet in Denver to do some major shopping. We needed bridesmaid’s dresses, shoes, a ring for Collin, dresses and shoes for the mother’s and a wedding dress. We had one day to do it, so all nine of us met in Denver one Saturday morning and shopped till we couldn’t shop anymore.

First on the list was three bridesmaid dresses. Angie is 4’ 10” (or something short like that) and very petite. Shan is tall and lean. I’m taller than Angie but certainly not lean. It was going to be hard to find a dress to fit all three of us, but miraculously, we found a fabulous dress we all liked. They only had three dresses left, and they were in our three sizes. Size 4 for Angie, size 8 for Shan and size 12 for me. It was a miracle! And even better, the dresses were on sale. My dress was a tad too tight, but it was doable and I had no other choice.

Fast forward two months from that day. It’s now wedding day, and I haven’t tried on my dress since we bought it. Pictures are to begin in 45 minutes, so we’re all frantically running around trying to get ready. I have my hair and makeup done, so next is to put on the dress. I slip it over my head and my mom tries to zip it up. No luck. Let me first explain that the dress had a side zipper. It also had a seam right around the chest area. My mom could get it zipped part way, but the seam was causing some complications. And to top it off, I must have gained a few pounds between buying the dress and wedding day. So, needless to say, my mom was having problems getting the dress zipped.

We changed positions. I put my arms up in the air. That didn’t work. I lay down on the bed. That didn’t work. I twisted the dress so the zipper was in back. That worked, but then I couldn’t turn the dress the right way. I knelt down on my knees so my mom had a better angle. That didn’t work. I am not kidding, for 30 minutes, my mom, grandma, Aunt Lisa and Shannon tried to zip my dress. I was sweating. My grandma was praying. I was almost in tears. My mom was thinking of ways to wear the dress without actually zipping it up. We even went as far to say that I was going to have to wear a different dress than Shannon and Angie. We were getting frantic.

Then came Aunt Jan to the rescue. She came into the room to tell us it was time to go. I had sweat dripping down my face, my mom had given up. If you remember, Jan is the same aunt who saved the day on Shannon’s wedding and found the ring in my underwear. Jan told us all to calm down. She got down on her knees eye level with the zipper. Zip, up it went.

The dress was so tight I could barely breathe, but I lasted through the wedding and part of the reception before having to change my clothes. We were so relieved that Aunt Jan had saved the day. The ring incident happened two years later, where she once again saved the day. My mom tells me all the time that Aunt Jan is going to have to be my personal attendant at my wedding. She says, “I can only imagine what is going to happen on your wedding day, Shiloh.”
At the rate I’m going, however, there might not be a wedding for a very long time.

Drama in the Dating Department

Everyone likes to read a little bit of drama, right? I’ll be the first to admit that one of the reasons I read other people’s blogs is to see what is going on in their life. That’s why you read my blog, right? Hopefully my life thus far has not bored you because my life is relatively drama free most of the time. That’s not to say that a little excitement doesn’t creep into my life here and there, but for the most part, I lead a pretty simple life.

My dating life, especially, has always been drama free. How is it possible to have drama in that department when there’s no guy in that department? That is, up until recently. The story I am about to tell you has become quite comical to me and my friends. I’m flattered, to say the least, but I never expected the story to end the way it does.

Almost a year ago, I went to Cancun, Mexico, with my dear friends, Abby and Kari. On the airplane, I met a guy. We’ll call him A. A and I hit it off right away. We found out we lived and worked in the same area, so phone numbers were exchanged, and we even spent a small amount of time together in Mexico. Once back from Mexico, we started dating. We dated from November through January. One night I got a call from A. He said his ex-girlfriend wanted him back, and he didn’t know what he should do. He liked me and enjoyed spending time with me, BUT he had been with his ex for four years, he had loved her at one point, and he just couldn’t decide who he wanted to be with. I, being as understanding as possible, told him to take some time to make a decision and call me when he was ready to talk about it.

I never heard from him again. I went through a lot of emotions during that time. I had really liked A, I missed hanging out with him, and we had a lot of fun together. On the flip side, I was a little angry at him. I thought he was a coward for not manning up to his decision to obviously choosing his ex over me.

Four months went by. I deleted his number and forgot about him (for the most part). One day my phone rang at work. I didn’t recognize the number, so I answered. Much to my surprise, it was A. He missed me, he wanted to work on our relationship again, he was sorry, he had screwed up, was I willing to have dinner with him? I did have dinner with him. I was very honest with him and told him how I felt and where I stood. I told him if we started hanging out again, it wouldn’t be like it was before. I told him he had to earn my trust again.

We hung out for another two months, and then he disappeared again. No phone call, no explanation. He just vanished. This time wasn’t as hard to move on because I hadn’t allowed myself to get that close to him this time. Several months went by and I got a text from him. He asked how my bike ride was. I gave a friendly reply back. That was in June.

Two weeks ago, he called a left a message. He said he missed me and wanted to talk. He wanted to hear about school, see how I was doing and possibly hang out with me again. I was angry by this phone call. Who does he think he is, just calling when he feels like it? I didn’t call him back, but I did send him a text and asked him why he was calling me. He replied back that he missed me, I was a cool girl, he had screwed up, he wanted to hang out with me again, would I forgive him? I thought long and hard about what I wanted. I prayed a lot about my decision. Did I see myself with A? Did he deserve to be with me? Did I want to date A again? Did God want me to be with A? After a lot of thinking and praying, I decided that, no, I do not see myself with A. He had hurt me several times, and while I held no hard feelings toward him, I also didn’t owe him anything. He was a coward who couldn’t even call me to tell me he didn’t want to date. So I decided to ignore him.

Last week, I got a text from him that said, “So you’re not going to call me back, huh?” I felt I had to take care of this once and for all, so I texted back and said, “I’m sure you can understand why I’m not going to call. Timing has never been right for us. I wish you the best in everything you do.” No reply, so I was grateful the situation was over. But, two days ago, I got another text from him that said, “Well, the timing is right for me right now. Do you have a boyfriend?” By this time, I’m really annoyed at A. Why can’t he leave me alone? Doesn’t he understand that we’re not going to be together? Doesn’t he understand that he messed up? He has to realize that he lost me because of his poor decisions.

I sent him a text back that said, “I don’t have feelings for you anymore. I am dating someone and I’m very happy with him. I hope you’re happy as well.” I felt like I needed to be firm, but I also wanted to be friendly. While I am dating someone, I would have made this decison with or without that person in my life. Hopefully this time he got the message. As weird as this sounds, I am so happy with my decision, and I know that we weren’t meant to be together. God has given me a peace about this choice, and I feel quite proud to be the one making the decision this time. I won’t allow a guy to hurt me and come back when it’s convenient for HIM.

I wish A the best, and I continue to ask God to lead me to the right guy. I’ve learned a lot through this situation with A, and I continue to be in prayer about the man I am supposed to be with. As much as I desire to find a great guy, I will not compromise and be with just any regular guy. He has to be pretty spectacular to hang with my family and friends.

No News is Good News

This week has been busy, so sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I experienced my first parent teacher conferences this week, and they went really well. All the parents were really nice and I didn't get yelled at once.

The one student that I've been trying to connect with came to conferences with his mom, and while he said English wasn't his favorite class, he really likes me as a teacher and he promised me he would do his homework (he's the really smart one that's failing b/c he doesn't do the work). But this week, he's been smiling and making jokes with me, so that's cool.

I've had some time to hang out with a few friends, so that's been neat. Tonight, I'm going on a bike ride with Kari, so I'm really excited for that. I haven't ridden a lot since our ride in June, so this will be good for us to get some exercise on this beautiful fall day.

I'm sorry I don't have anything exciting to report. I'll for sure have some stuff to write about this weekend, I'm sure. Until then, my life is pretty boring.

Why I Love CO

My parents were here for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, so my family headed to Estes Park Saturday morning to spend the day in the mountains. We found a beautiful lake at the top of some mountain, so we unpacked and had a BBQ picnic.

I got a new mini grill last Christmas, so I brought it along to grill brats. When we took it out of the box, it took my dad, my brother and me about 25 minutes to put it together.

We were all starving by that time, so those brats (when done) tasted unusually yummy. Carson, Kye and Case fed the ducks. We also took a family picture, so everyone will see that in the Nichols' Annual Christmas letter.

We then headed to Loveland for the remainder of the day where we ate pizza and watched football.

Today, we all went to church together (I LOVE my church). Kari and Sonya came over and we grilled salmon, chicken and steak and had a fabulous lunch together. Katie and Collin got me a fashionable laptop bag, and my parents got me a mini fridge to put in my classroom once I get a job. Shan and Jeff got me a cooler, so I used that to keep our drinks cold. I'm all set until Christmas.


Mom and dad just left to head back to NE. Kari and Sonya stayed for a while and we watched some football together. They left to go workout and do fun stuff while I'm sitting at home doing homework and school work. I think I might steal away from the computer for a while and go on a bike ride. It has been a beautiful weekend, and I need to get outside to think.

Three Hot Firemen

Grades were due today at 3pm, so I spent the entire day finishing grading papers and entering them into the grade book. I was right on track. The final bell for the day rang at 2:35. I had 25 mins to finish my task.

A kid pulled the fire alarm at 2:40, and the entire school had to be evacuated. Not only that, but since it was unplanned, we had to wait outside until the fire department arrived. They weren't very quick, so we were outside for over 20 minutes.

To top it all off, I was supposed to be home at 3:30pm in order to watch Case. Now I was in a dilemma. I was standing outside with 1,700 students, my phone was inside, my grades had to be posted by 3pm and I had to be home by 3:30. It was 3pm.

My day did start to brighten up about the same time the three cute firemen arrived. They were all dressed up in their attire, carrying an ax, oxygen, and the works. They perused the school, found that there was no fire and left. We got to go back into the school. I waved goodbye as they drove away.

Once back inside, I called Shan, who ended up dropping Case off at my school. I watched Case while I finished entering my grades (they gave us an extension).

Carrie Underwood

My friend, Kari, got six FREE tickets to see Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis, so we headed to the Pepsi Center last night for a fun show. It was a lot of fun, and Carrie is the most amazing singer I think I've ever heard. She was pretty amazing. And so beautiful.

There were two drunk ladies that sat behind us. They talked the ENTIRE time. And they knew every single word to every single song, so there were times when I couldn't hear Carrie at all; rather, all I could hear was the off-tune lady belting it out behind me. She was also making hand movements to all the songs. It was funny, but annoying. To make matters worse, she said the "F" word about every other word. I kid you not, she thought Carrie was the best thing to ever walk this world. This lady said about 50 times (I'm not exagerating) how F****** amazing Carrie was. This lady was even crying. She had tears streaming down her face through several of Carrie's ballads.

Other than those two ladies, we had a good time. Thanks, Kari, for the free tickets! I can hook us up with a cheaper rental car...Wait, that sucks. I'll work on my freebies.

Wine, Cheesecake, Margarita's and Friends

My friends and I had a great weekend. Friday night, we were supposed to go to Six Flags Theme Park, but it was raining and cold, so it was postponed until a few more week. Instead, we went to dinner at Cherry Cricket and got drinks at Govner's Park. Kari and Sonya got me the most fabulous clutch ever. It's orange, and I love itSaturday night, Kari, Sonya and I got dessert at the Cheesecake Factory, paired with a glass of wine. Then we went to The Rio for their classic margarita and ended up dancing the rest of the night away at The Cowboy Lounge, one of our favorite dance spots. Sunday after church, I came home and did hours and hours of school work and homework. I also watched my two favorite teams (Broncos and Steelers) win! I love great weekends.