Fun weekend!

The bridal shower was really fun! Jen did an awesome job with the munchies, and we had mimosas as well. The girls gave me so many awesome pieces of lingerie! I couldn't believe there were no duplicates, too! I have so much lingerie now that I can surprise Brian with a new outfit every day for a long time! Thanks, Ladies, for an awesome time, and Thanks Jen for being an awesome hostess.
Brian and I had dinner at Firebowl and then came home to watch a movie. A couple of our friends were throwing a party at Jennifer's house down the street from us and we had a group of friends stop by our house prior to the party for a drink and to hang out. I finally showed Tara my unibrow pictures from when I was a kid, and my big 80's hair pictures from when I was a hairdresser. I'd talked them up quite a bit but when she saw them she said I really wasn't exaggerating. It's good to keep some embarassing pictures handy so people can really see how you've improved.
Around 11pm we headed to the party. It was great to see so many of our friends and Brian and I had a lot of fun hanging out with them. Apparently I had on my invisibility cloak because the host never made eye contact with me and appeared to look everywhere but AT me. Strange, I've been nothing but polite and friendly to her when I see her, so this treatment came as a bit of a surprise, but whatever. Jenn and I had fun "mini dancing" and taking weasley pictures with those around us, and Julia showed us some of her pole dancing moves with me as the pole!

Today Brian went to play racquetball with Mike, and I did a little retail therapy. I found the perfect white bathing suit for our trip to D.R, and a big gaudy belt that seems to be all the rage right now. It actually looks good with my camouflage skirt and black top, but it does look like the 80's are back! The rest of our evening will be spent cuddling on the couch in front of the telly, with any luck :-)

Friday ramblings

Work's been stressing me out a bit lately. I'm usually very even keeled and not much gets my knickers in a twist. And outwardly I'm not freaking out, but inwardly I must be because I had a nightmare about work on Thursday night. It happens so rarely that I dream about work that when I do it makes me stop and take stock of the situation and try to figure out a way to de-stress. Yesterday at 4pm, Brian, Mike, and I left work because we couldn't find a vacant conference room in our building and we were supposed to meet at 3. We went to Sherlock's Pub where they have free Wireless Internet, and we had our meeting over a pitcher of beer (and 2 gin and tonics). Surprisingly, it was very productive. We each finished writing up our patents submissions.

After our meeting Tara met up with us and we hung out at Sherlock's for another hour or so, then Brian and I headed to Shooters to see Andi and Brian play, and to meet up with Barbie and Scott. We played a few games of shuffleboard and Barbie and I had an awesome run towards the end when we got the hang of it. Barbie scored 10 and I scored 9 in the same round! Crazy!

Today, Saturday, my friends are throwing me a lingerie shower! I'm very excited.

More engagement pictures

We got our images back from the photographer today. I've posted them in our photo gallery: [click here]
This small set represents a good cross section of all the pictures. There is one that I absolutely love that I've not included here. But keep an eye on your mailbox in the near future ;-)

This is the one we got enlarged as an art piece to hang in our house:

Have a nice day!

We went to the Bon Jovi concert in Houston on Tuesday night. IT FRICKIN' ROCKED!

As the concert started and the band came onstage, I didn't see Jon on the stage but I could hear him singing. Suddenly I realized he wasn't on the stage but in the middle of the crowd on a small platform. I felt like I could reach out and touch him. It seemed like they were alternating between songs from their new album "Have a Nice Day", and their older stuff. I knew every word to every song, and it felt like the whole room disappeared and they were singing just for me. During "Bed of Roses" Jon was in the crowd again but in a different location. On a small platform in the crowd. People were reaching up to touch him and I closed my eyes for just a second and reached out. As I did I felt someone take my hand. I didn't dare open my eyes because I wanted it to be him... and I felt an arm go around me and warm breath in my face, and when I opened my eyes Jon Bon Jovi was singing to me! He stepped down from the platform and lead me by the hand through the crowd and up to the stage, where the band started playing one of my favourite songs from their new album "Who said you can't go home". And as he sang I found myself performing the female vocals part of the song in perfect harmony with Jon. At the end of the song the crowd went nuts! And as I stepped down from the stage and returned to my seat in a sea of surreal "high fives". The band continued to play for what seemed like hours and I remained in this dream-like state unable to believe what had just happened to me. And as they tooke the stage for their encore and instructed the crowd to stand for "our national anthem", I arose from my seat and woke up from my dream to the lyrics "I'm a cowboy on a steel horse I ride. I'm wanted dead or alive".

As for what really happened at the concert, well, that's between me and Bon Jovi ;-)

Weekend Highlights

Aside from Brian's amazing marathon yesterday, we had a good weekend all round. On Friday night we went to happy hour at Bone Daddy's with a group of friends, then headed to Rhino and Jock's where Andi and Brian were playing. Brian was in rare form that night. A girl came up and handed them an entire list of songs and Brian said (over the mic.) "that's the biggest request I've ever seen without money in the tip jar!". Michelle and I almost fell over laughing! Then the tip jar mysteriously started to get a few bills in it ;-)
Erin requested "Sweet child of mine" and somehow I got talked into singing it! I thought I did a horrible job, but people were very kind and said it was good.
On Saturday, Brian and I headed down to the Expo to pick up our race packets. We did a little browsing through all the stalls looking for a top for Brian that had pockets for Cliff Shots, etc. but didn't find anything. We headed to Academy and found the perfect shirt for $17, though.
Brian's parents arrived around 1pm and Joan and I headed to the mall, then to Special Occasion dresses to find her a dress to wear for the wedding. We didn't find the perfect dress, but we did find the perfect style, but the dress had a small flaw in it so she didn't get it. I found several candidates for Barbie to wear for the wedding, though, and we'll go shopping next weekend to find it.
Meanwhile, Brian and his dad headed to Costco to pick up some ribs for our pre-race BBQ. Barbie, Scott, Mike and Tara came over and we grilled ribs and I made some green beans with garlic, and some cheesy mashed potatoes. A great pre-race dinner.

We got to bed pretty early. Around 10:30 so we could be refreshed for the Marathon.

Dusting the marathon course

3:46

Three hours and fourty six minutes (gun time).

That's how long it took Brian to finish his first marathon!

It was well below freezing for a portion of the race, and Brian, being a hater of cold weather, did not complain once. Jenny V and I ran the first half with Brian, keeping him on pace and making sure he didn't go out too fast and hit the wall early. At mile 11 or so Brian broke away and followed the 3:50 pace group while Jenny V and I finished strong for a sub-2 hour half marathon (GO US!)

Brian's parents met me at the finish line and we headed downtown to cheer on our runner. We parked at San Antonio and Ceasar Chavez, which was perfect because it was close to the finish, and right near the 22 mile marker. We saw the 3:15 pace group pass as we arrived. We stayed and cheered everyone on and drank Starbucks. Brian showed up right after the 3:40 pace group!! we were so proud. He had made a 10 minute increase in his pace since mile 11.!! WAY TO GO BRIAN! As he passed he said "head to the finish! I'm gonna need it!" He looked like he was in a little pain.

We headed for the finish line and positioned ourselves to spot him rounding the corner to the finishers chute. As he passed us we could see the pain on his face, but he kept going and pulled out a sprint at the end! almost 3 years and he still very frequently finds a way to completely amaze me :-) I'm SO PROUD OF HIM!

We headed over to meet him as he came out of the finisher's area and everyone gave him a big congratulatory hug! Next order of business, NXNW for a burger!

The rest of our day was spent in front of the fire watching movies. We pulled the futon mattress downstairs so we could both lay flat. Both of us were very sore after the race.

Congratulations, Brian, on not only meeting your goal, but blowing it out of the water!

oooh la la!

Here's a little taste of what our engagement photo shoot went :-) WE LIKEY A LOT!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love is in the air! Tonight we're having my favourite food. SUSHI!

On Saturday, Brian and I (finally - like almost a year later) got our engagement pictures done. They are AWESOME. Our photographer, Andrew Sterling, is a true professional and an amazing artist. His studio is filled with amazing and powerful emotion-provoking images. We had so much fun during our photo session, and there are some truly artistic shots of us. It's hard to decide which one we will get blown up to hang on our wall. We might use one of the images for our wedding announcements. I have an artsy fartsy idea in mind :-)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Wedding update

I'm excited because 25 people are now booked for the Dominican Republic trip for our wedding. Brian's friend Benoit from Switzerland is now booked and Brian has asked him to be a groomsman, and of course, he accepted :-)

Of course, Barbie is the logical choice as Maid of Honour for me, but Darryl and I have always said that we would be in each other's wedding. Last year I had the honour of being the best man at his wedding. This year Darryl will have the honour of being a bridesmaid in mine! Maybe we should change his title to "Man of Honour" since it's less girly. hehe. I did toy with the idea of making him wear a dress, as per our agreement when we were young. But I thought I'd give him a break and let him keep his dignity. So I'm getting him an ocean blue guayabera shirt and white trousers so he can match both me and Barbie. I'm really excited about the decision to have Daz in our wedding.

This week we're getting our engagement pics done, and then I get to create our announcements, which I think are supposed to be mailed out the day we leave for our trip. This whole wedding ettiquette thing escapes me completely, and there isn't much info on destination wedding ettiquette so I guess I'll make my own rules! YAY! Anyway, I have an idea of what our announcements should look like, I just need to buy the paper, etc.

Anyway, enough wedding drivel.
Amanda out.

What we did in New York

Saturday, January 28th

We arrived in New York around noon and were taken to our hotel in a Limosine! The ride was about 25 minutes and when we arrived at our hotel, I requested a high floor with a good view. Our room wasn't quite ready so we stopped at a local deli for some New York pizza, which was awesome, then we went to Times Square and stood in line at TKTS to get tickets for a Saturday night show. We got tickets to Chicago for 8pm!
We went back to the hotel and got our room keys. Our room was on the 37th floor and faced Madison Square Gardens and downtown. The room was small, but clean.
Before the show we went to the Heartland Grill in the Theatre district for appetizers and a drink before the show.
The show was great. Pretty much what I expected, except that there were little to no costume changes, and the set never changed. Brian and I both felt a bit ripped off because for a show on Broadway you expect to see some fluff and fanfare, and while the content was great, it could have been greatly improved by a change of scenery. I imagine they spent their whole budget on two somewhat famous people to be in the cast, though to be honest, the show would have been just as good with no-name actors.
After the show we went to Haku on Times Square, which is a sushi bar. I had the most wonferful Chirashi dish, while Brian had his usual of Tuna and Tamago.

Sunday, January 29th

We got up relatively late (9am) and went for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, then made our way to the Empire State Building, which was only a block from our hotel. It was rainy and cloudy so the pictures we took were not the best but it was a good representation of what we saw. I called my parents from the top of the Empire state, but of course the signal is awful up there!

Next we headed to Chinatown and SoHo to take a look around. We stopped in Chinatown for lunch at a small restaurant. i was extremely happy to see that almost all of the patrons were Asian, which is always a good sign. Many of them were local and appeared to have just gotten out of church. There didn't seem to be any tourists except for us. The place was packed, too. I had some wonton soup and Brian had orange chicken.
As we made our way through Chinatown we found ourselves in the middle of a parade. It was Chinese New Year! how lucky! We followed the crowd through the streets. People were playing drums and popping off confetti cannons. There were several dragons (well, not really, but you know what I mean) dancing in the street. In all it was a very festive time.

After chinatown we headed back to our hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to a restaurant on 46th street called Brazil Brazil, which is a Churrascaria, meaning that a bunch of waiters with meat on large skewers come to your table and cut off a piece for you. They keep coming until you turn over the little indicator on the table to say you're done. There were 11 kinds of meat and most were amazing!
After dinner we went to an irish bar near Times Square and had a few drinks before returning to our hotel.

Monday, January 30th
We got up early today and headed uptown on the Subway to the Natural History Museum. I was amazed by the space exhibit and we both wished we had more time to spend there because there is so much to see. I would recommend dedicating at least 4 hours here, but we only had 2.
Next we headed all the way down to Battery Park where we purchased tickets for a tour of the Statue of Liberty.
Before the tour started we ran into the financial district and found a pizza place and took a slice to go. We ate on the ferry over to the statue. The view of New York from the ferry was awesome! Brian took the audio tour of the statue, but he said he didn't recommend it. Most of the things on the audio tour were written on plaques that you can read anyway. It was very interesting to see how the statue was constructed and the tools used. Nobody is allowed to go up into the actual statue anymore, but you can get as far as the pedestal it stands on and look up through the glass ceiling up inside the statue. We skipped the Ellis Island tour because there were other things we wanted to see. When we got back to Manhattan we headed to Wall St. to see the Stock Exchange but, sadly, we weren't able to go in. Since the terrorist attacks they have stopped the tours of many things. Brian felt quite disappointed that he gave up Ellis Island for the stock exchange and then couldn't go in.

Next we headed for the Bodies The Exhibition (http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/). This was the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. They use real human bodies (from people who donated themselves to science when they died) and showed all aspects of the human anatomy using real human parts. My favourite part was the circulatory system exhibit. It looked like art and was completely amazing. The process to preserve the bodies was what amazed me the most. for the bodies they removed all of the water/moisture from the tissue and then replaced it with a polymer solution that hardens and effectively turns the tissue into plastic and preserves it forever. What was more amazing was how they so accurately and painstakingly dissected the different systems to make them visible and removing all other thing around it while keeping ti completely intact. For the circulatory system they injected coloured solution into the veins, which then hardened and preserved it. They then dissolved and cut away the surrounding tissue so that all that was left was the veins, then they suspended that in a clear solution that looked like water, but probably was something else. The way it was lit and presented made it so beautiful. I was just completely awestruck.

After the Bodies exhibit we headed to Canal street to do a little shopping, then headed to Little Italy for dinner. We chose a tiny Italian restaurant with a wonderfully warm atmosphere. I had linguini alla vongolette (linguini with clams) and brian had a chiken breast stuffed with mozerella and proscuito.
After dinner we headed to Times Square for some New York Cheesecake, then headed to an Irish bar near our hotel to finish off the evening.

Tuesday, January 31st.

We got up early and headed out for a quick breakfast at Cafe 34, which is right next to Madison Square Gardens. Then we headed up 35th street for a little shopping before heading home. We didn't get a chance to spend much time in Macy's but I at least got to take a quick peek. That place is HUGE.

We called the same limo driver that picked us up at the airport when we arrived to pick us up at our hotel. Her name is Rosa and I have her number if you're ever in New York. She's very reasonably priced. At 10:30 our limo picked us up and took us to the airport. We arrived a little earlier than expected because traffic was good, so we flew standby and arrived home an hour earlier than our original schedule.

We finished off our vacation with a trip to Papasito's for dinner. And now we're back to real life again.

We had a blast! You can view pictures by clicking here.