The Future Mr. and Mrs. Cooper

Well, as most of you know already, we have some very exciting news! Aaron and I are engaged!

I finished my finals Friday morning (praise the Lord by the way), so Aaron took me out Friday evening to celebrate! I got to his house where he had a dozen red roses waiting for me. We went to eat at In The Raw (a local sushi restaurant) in Bricktown. ITR is my favorite restaurant in the tri-state area. ;)

After a great dinner, Aaron took me to the Myriad Gardens (the botanical gardens in downtown OKC) to look at the Christmas lights. They were gorgeous!

We walked further downtown to the Civic Center where there was an outdoor ice skating rink set up. We got a cup of hot chocolate and watched the skaters for a bit. They were rocking some 80s music, so of course I loved it. :)

Then came the sneaky part. I was a bit suspicious throughout the night, so needless to say I was quite disappointed when he said it was time to go home. We walked back to our car, which was parked on Main Street. Next thing I know, Aaron detours a little, turns me to face him, and asked if I remembered what special thing had happened there before. I said I did remember, a bit skeptical that he actually did. We were downtown by the Art Museum where we'd gone on our first "official" date (besides that unofficial date to the Oklahoma State Fair). On that date, after the museum, we stood outside for a while, talked, and kissed for the first time.

So back to the present, Aaron reminded me of this and then said something to the effect that now we'd have another story and new beginning there. He dropped to his knee, asked me to marry him, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It was so exciting. I was a bit astonished and caught-off guard. As a girl, you always dream about that moment and wonder what you'll feel like. You want to remember that feeling forever. To tell your kids, and grandkids, listen to how your Dad proposed. But the problem with living in the moment is retaining the details. I was so astonished, and surprised and excited, it was sort of just a sweet blur. Aaron keeps reminding me what he actually said (which was exceedingly more romantic and sweet than I can do credit by re-telling the story).

We went home, had some champagne, and called family and friends, which was so fun. My parents were thrilled, and so were his. Right before he called his mom, he said, "You ready to make Bettye Cooper cry?" In fact, she called him back the next morning to just check and make sure she didn't dream the whole thing up!

I'd give you more details, but then nobody would want to talk about it in person, and I like to talk too much to give that up.

Thanks for all the Congratulations!

Sushi!

Christmas lights at Myriad Gardens

The ice skating rink. How beautiful is that!

I'm just glad we didn't ice skate. I'd have said yes on a broken foot.

Yes!

The relieved affianced.

How great did he do!!!

Cheers!

Such a beautiful ring. Such a great fiance!

Ever After.

Less than 24 hours

My last final is tomorrow morning at 9am. I am so ready for this to be over with. I haven't been able to force myself to focus and study for this last one near as much. As I have nothing interesting to say that doesn't have to do with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, I will let you get back to your lives and stop reading this post. Till tomorrow, when it's over!

It's almost here...

... Finals that is. I have my first law school final tomorrow. I know I'm stressed because when I woke up this morning, instead of focusing like a good student, I had an obsessive need to clean my room. Thankfully, it's quite clean now, smells lovely, and is ready for some intense studying.

Anyway, sorry I haven't written lately. Have been busy studying. Will update the world wide web on how the finals went when they're over on Dec. 19th.

On another note, congrats to Kat and Austin on their engagement!

A bit of humor

Disclaimer: Just came across this. The author of this post does not claim these views as her own.*




*I don't necessarily disagree though.

Saturday Morning Fun

Constitutional law analysis at the library. If you don't get it, no worries. Neither do I.






-- Post From My iPhone

Veteran's Day

I just wanted to take a moment and thank our Veterans for their service. I talked to a WWII veteran at Panera Bread yesterday while we were both getting our coffee. He told me he wished they had coffee bars like that in the Pacific theater back in 1941. We talked a bit about his time over there and he told me he'd do it again if he could. It was a humbling moment. So to all of our veterans, including the many in my family (Grandaddy Roman and Uncle Vic among others), thank you again for your service! We owe so much to you.

My first OU game.

Well, it's happened. No, I'm not an avid fan or anything. But, I did go to an OU game here in Norman Saturday night. It wasn't half bad. Just kidding, we had fun. Aaron and I went with my friend from law school, Jennifer, and her husband.

Although the Sooners got off to a quick start, it slowed down for a while in the middle of the game, leaving plentiful time for people watching. And boy were there a lot to see. We picked a great night to go, as pretty much the whole game the cameras scanned the crowd for crazy Halloween costumes. If anybody out there was at the game and knows what the guy in the big gold outfit was supposed to be, please let me know. It's a mystery...



-- Post From My iPhone

A Rodeo of a Birthday!

The son of our good friends, Greg and Maressa, turned 2 last weekend, so they had a fun little hoe-down party out at the Express Clydesdale Barn in Yukon. It was so much fun! Aaron and I (ahem, read just me) were in charge of the bracelet making station. Clearly someone didn't know about my severe lack of dexterity. But it all went well and we had a blast with the Treats and everyone else!

The Birthday boy and his dad, Greg:

The best station at the party: bracelet making a la Liz:

Mason, less than enthused about my bracelet: Cake!

Sweet...

Aaron being friends with the Clydesdales.

Checking out a gift:

A workbench! And some stellar present opening skills:

Mason and Maressa:

That's the toy saw Aaron and I got Mason!

Awwwwww....

U2 and the Black Eyed Peas

I'm a little behind on this post, so I'll keep it short and sweet. Aaron and I got to go to the U2 concert here in Norman a few weeks ago. It was awesome! Some of my best friends from Fayetteville, Rachael, Michelle, Kara and Louise, came in, so we had a weekend full of fun!

What an unbelievable stage... so cool!

They definitely put on their dancing shoes!

The screen had some awesome abilities to expand...

The final bow... U2 is awesome!

Oh yeah, the Black Eyed Peas were the opening act. It's Fergie!!

French Family Petting Zoo (Video!)

I can't help it, we have such cute little animals in our family... I have to brag! Since I keep replaying the videos they send because they're so cute, I figure I will share them with you!! Hopefully, they'll make you smile too...

Gracie, Lexington, and "To be Determined:"


I'm a little rascal (and so is my paper towel providing Aunt Mary):


PS If you're one of the few who get the posts emailed, make sure and check it online, because the videos are the only reason to read this...

Puppy Boy French

My mom has a new baby... not a real one of course, but a puppy. For the past 24 hours, we've gotten several emails with pics of the pup with subject lines reading "the new love of my life" or "my new favorite," and other such statements to elicit jealousy. But today topped it off, we got a video of the little bugger. Now, I'm not jealous of being replaced by a dog as my mom's favorite, I just want one too! He's so adorable. He doesn't quite have a name yet, and we've been informed (or at least I have), that we have only suggestive rights, not veto power over the name.

Check out mom's video of the little guy:




I am so cute!!!

It's been a year?

Well, I'll make this one short and sweet so as to not gross anyone out! Aaron and I have been officially dating a year as of this weekend! I just wanted to show you what he got me.

That, my friends, is a beautiful phalaenopsis orchid. I'm trying to learn how to care for it, but if you happen to know the secret of success, please let me know.

Much less creative, this is what I got Aaron:


Although you can't really tell, that's an OU trashcan with Dr. Pepper in it. It had a lot more stuff in it, but I suspect the Dr. Pepper and the trash can were the high points. He used the trashcan as a drum throughout the OU game the next day, so it was worth it and made me laugh.

Anyway, we went out to a delicious little tapas restaurant in Bricktown called Bolero. It's not quite as yummy as Jaleo's in DC, but it's not too shabby either.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Till next time, this has been afrenchvue.

Some days are like this, even in Australia...

I haven't had a chance to blog about my latest injury, so this is just a quick update.

Thursday afternoon after class I ran out to the car in the rain and hurriedly tried to throw my backpack in the trunk. Unfortunately, the trunk wasn't all the way open and a gust of wind caught it, blowing it smack onto my face. I didn't even know what happened at first. All I felt was a sharp jolt run through my face and jaw. It hit me on the bridge of my nose, right between the eyes as they say. It began to bleed profusely, so it was a good thing I had my emergency jacket that my dad makes me keep in the car for blizzards and the whatnot to stop the bleeding.

While still in shock, I took a picture of my face blood and all and sent it to my mom and Aaron for advice on whether to go to the doctor. Aaron lovingly described it as my "mug shot," so I won't be posting that.

I went home and tried to sleep it off for a while, and then decided on the urging of my mom to go to an Urgent Care to get it looked at. The doctor didn't stitch it for fear of a cross-ways scar, but glued my face together with a strip of gauze or tape or something. I made quite the fashion statement at school the next day.

It was already a gross, rainy day that was only saved by Aaron meeting me at the doc with a sonic cherry vanilla diet coke, and then fixing me dinner while watching the office. He also brought me this, which cheered me immensely: (video)

This one's for mom...

... everyone else can disregard.

All Dogs Go To Heaven

The French family has had a bit of sad news in the past few days. Our sweet Golden Retriever, Sport, passed away yesterday. He had gotten very sick in the past month or so with cancer and lost a lot of weight, so he had to be put to sleep. Sport was a wonderful dog who was a member of the family. I had every intention of writing a sweet, meaningful blog in his honor, but just got a text from my sister saying that he was probably up in Heaven playing cards with our recently deceased cats, Tabby and Tiger, and that hopefully he would watch his back because Tabby's probably a card shark. And I lost my sweet train of thought. I'm glad for the distraction, though, because it really has been hard to lose him. He was very young and a good friend, as much as a dog can be.

Apparently to deal with our recent losses, first of Tigger, then Tabby, and now Sport, my family has taken to imagining a poker game in the nearby woods (or Heaven) where they're all kicking back, enjoying a few cold ones, and having some laughs together. Apparently, the French family's idea of pet heaven is something akin to this:

But Sport's too sweet to be cheating in that mix. Anyway, I personally do believe that all dogs go to heaven, and I'm sure Sport's up there with Luke and the cats right about now.

Sport dog with his duckie enjoying a few minutes out of the rain.

Playin fetch, one of his favorite pasttimes:

A Junk Affair

So I realize the title may be a little misleading, but the occasion referenced in this post was actually a wonderful event. My good friend and former D.C. roommate, Kathryn Heisten, married Michael Junk a few weeks ago in Tulsa. I just wanted to post a few pictures from the event! It was great to see all of my friends from D.C., even if for just a short amount of time.

A picture of the bride and groom from their hoe-down of a rehearsal dinner (complete with mechanical bull!):

Cowboy Cooper and French at the event:

The beautiful bride with her bridesmaids:

A few of me and Aaron from the reception:

Dancing fools!

2009 Oklahoma State Fair

It's my favorite time of the year... The state fair's going on! Aaron and I went with some friends last week and then again last evening.

It's not easy to go to the fair with a member of the French family. We have been religiously attending state fairs for as long as I remember. And we don't just do the midway. We're into the real thing fair: rodeo, livestock auction, and, my favorite, the animal birthing center.

Aaron was a great sport and indulged my wish to see the newborn animals twice this year. Although, I'll admit I manipulated the circumstances a bit. When we went to the fair the first time it was with our good friends and their almost two year old son Mason. He mentioned something about horsies early on and I knew that was my in! Everytime he said anything the rest of the night, I interpreted it to the group as wanting to go see the animals. It was well worth the effort, although I think some of us might be permanently scarred by seeing that pig in labor.

All in all, we ate delicious food, did some serious people watching, and had a great time!

Cute pic of Mason and a baby goat.



Another of Mason and Maressa with a pony.



Finally in honor of our extremely romantic semi first date at the 2008 state fair, aaron and i indulged in some Oklahoma wine and chocolate covered strawberries.



-- Post From My iPhone

Choctoberfest!

Aaron and I went to the world famous Oktoberfest in Choctaw, Oklahoma on Thursday. It was a great time complete with yodelers, schnitzel, and a wide array of German biers!




Schnitzel sandwhich and beer braut.





Yummie strudel.



Can't wait till next year!


-- Post From My iPhone