Oh My!

I woke up VERY early this morning, all things considered. 8am. Couldn't sleep anymore. Surprisingly I didn't have a major hang over from last night's activities. I can probably thank Michelle for the bright idea of a 3am breakfast. Just a bit of a funny stomach for most of the day. Nothing helps a weird hangover stomach like a trip to the local chinese buffet, though. Mmmmmm.
God Damn we had so much fun last night. I was a total ROCK STAR!

Brian had a fun night as well, though he's not giving up any details and Kev's lips are sealed. As with all good bachellor and bachellorette parties, details should never be divulged to the significant other.

A big thank you to my best friend, Barbie, for not putting me in a condom adorned veil and "suck for a buck" t-shirt. And a big thank you to all the girls that made the night so FRICKING FUN!

I am a lucky girl indeed :-)

Fitness update

well it's been about 9 months since I joined the gym. I've been going consistently 3 or 4 times a week as well as mixing in some runs and dance classes, and the scale was showing a mere 4lb difference. I moved the scale into the other bathroom because I wouldn't be tempted to weigh every day, and I've stayed off it for a while now. Over the last several weeks I've made some minor changes to my eating habits, too.

Today I got on the scale and of course the weight hasn't changed much, but something did. My body fat percentage. It's dropped by 6% since the last time I checked it, which was about 6 months ago. I'm doing a litte happy dance in my "doesn't my ass look tiny" jeans right now.
YAY!

Yard Work

These three day weekends seem to go by in a blur! Yesterday we spent most of the day doing yard work... Brian and Nick rented an airator from Home Depot and airated the lawns. Following the advice from the True Green guy, we re-seeded the lawn with Bermuda Grass and fertilized. Now we have to water for 14 days to get the seeds to start. Hopefully this will give us a green lawn to work with, and the St. Augustine from patches that are alive might eventually take over the lawn, but the True Green guy said that a mixture was probably the best way to go. Bermuda is also less of a water hog and does well in direct sun. So we'll see.
I spent my sunday morning running on Town Lake, followed by mowing the lawns and removing that cheesy little flower bed the previous home owners put in. It was hard work but I have a nice tan on my back (of course I used SPF 50 on my rosey English skin).
On Saturday we spent a little time at the mall picking out clothes for Brian to wear on vacation. The hotel is very European, and that means that people dress for dinner. I'm so looking forward to that. Living in a very casual city like Austin, you don't get a chance to dress up much.

Good Friday Indeed....

I remember once my mum asking me on the phone what I was doing for easter. After composing myself from the hilarious laughter that broke out I informed her that I didn't celebrate easter, and that I also didn't belive in god. It was then that she (I hope) jokingly informed me that I'd go to hell. And of course my response to that was that I'm looking forward to the family reunion when I get there, then ;-)

Anyway this easter is being spent in the usual heathen manner. We got Friday off, which was a nice surprise. We spent the day doing yard work. Brian trimmed the tree in the back yard and I went at the bushes outside with the electric trimmer. The True Green lawn guy came by and basically told us we'd have to start over on the lawn. It's awful. Mostly weeds and bald spots.

For dinner we headed to Sushi Sake with Jay & Erin, Tiff, Nick, & Andy. After dinner we went to Shooters to see Brian and Andi play and meet up with Michelle and Barbie. We stopped in on our friend Eric on the way. His bike store is opening next week and he and his partner were working late to build all the bikes. The shop looks awesome! I'm so proud of him.

Dear Daz....

Now that you've had a few days to adjust to your new age. I'd like to take this opportunity to say:

Welcome
to
Middle Age, Old Man!

I'm writing in this large font because it's easier for OLDER people to read. That's just how considerate of a friend I am.

Pooh patrol!

Not the cute and cuddle bear kind of pooh...
We babysat Ethan on Thursday, and had a great time as always. We took him for a run in his jogger and had such a great time out in the beautiful weather.
When Ethan's nappy needed changing, I made an attempt. This was my first time to change a poopy baby. I got as far as taking of the nappy and a couple of wipes and then the gag-reflex kicked in. Brian came to the rescue like my knight in shining armour. He took care of the rest of the poop and we put on a clean nappy. Poor Ethan must have thought we were such ameteurs.
He's such an awesome kid. He never throws fits when he's around us, and does everything he's told, and he's SO polite. He accidentally hit my hand with his toy Spiderman, and of course it didn't hurt and was NO big deal... but he came to me and said "Auntie... I'm sorry I hit your hand with spiderman! I'm sorry auntie." It was SO frickin' cute! Brian and I were SO impressed with his manners.

Smelling the roses for a moment...

I LOVE LIFE!
I'm usually so busy living life that I don't always spend the time to stop and appreciate just how great my life really is. When spring comes and I find myself spending time outside with friends, the sun shining on us and a cool breeze blowing, it really makes me take stock of my life. There are 2 sides to every life, the things you sacrifice and the things you pursue.... I've sacrificed living in my home country near my family, which sometimes takes its toll on me, to pursue a life in America. I miss them dearly. I overcome my homesickness by focusing on the great things in my life. I have the most wonderful friends. A core group of girls who I can truly be myself with. Andi and I were talking about that today. We're all like sisters and we can really just be our goofy selves, no pretenses, around each other. I miss my "real" sisters so very much, and I'm sometimes envious of their friendship, but I chose this life and I chose all the girls who I now call my sisters here. As if that wasn't enough, I have Brian. Truly the most wonderful, sweet, caring man I've ever met. Funny, gorgeous, romantic, silly... The list goes on. In 41 short days Brian will be my husband! it just sounds so funny to say it. And as the day approaches, people ask me if I'm nervous. The answer is no I'm not nervous. There's no doubt in my mind at all that Brian is the one want to be with forever. I'm excited and optimistic about the future. I'm looking forward to marrying him on the beach surrounded by everyone we love. I'm looking forward to being his wife. I'm looking forward to being a parent. I'm even looking forward to being a grandparent. I'm also looking forward to the day we both retire and buy a sail boat to live on and sail around the world.
{inhaling deeply} those are some great smelling roses :-)

Drinks in Cuba, then half way round the world

Ok, so not literally... Barbie and I headed downtown to Cuba Libre for happy hour last night. We drank $3 cosmos, and we ate plantain chips and pot stickers.
After happy hour we headed over to the Fox and Hound to meet up with Ben and a bunch of people from the Austin Yacht Club (I think). Some of you have heard of Ben, he's a very dear friend of Barbie's who cashed in his suit and tie and boring desk job and pursued his dream of sailing around the world in his boat, the Gypsy Soul. Ben has amazing stories and we watched last night as he captivated his audience with a slide show of his travels. Along with every picture came a wonderful story and we could have listened to him for hours. You'd expect someone who is pursuing his dream to be driven and passionate, and I guess Ben is in a subtle way, but what strikes you the most about him, is how laid back he is. We had a great time. We met some cool people too.
I think something I ate disagreed with me, though... by the time I got home I had the worst heartburn I've ever had in my life and my stomach was in knots. After I threw up I felt better.

Awesome wedding!

Our friends Jay and Julia got married this weekend. The wedding was out in the hill country at a ranch near the small town of Wimberley. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen, set outside against a backdrop of woods and nature. There was a peacock roaming the grounds that seemed very proud of his colourful plumage. We also spotted two other peacocks that looked like albino peacocks, if there is such a thing. The ceremony was short and sweet, Julia looked absolutely amazing in her wedding dress and Jay, handsome of course in his tux, had never looked more proud and happy. Being an April 1st wedding, the ceremony wasn't without its humour. What stands out in particular was the reference to Julia's cooking skills, and to Jay's air mileage status, which if you know them is very appropriate. Their friend (and ours), Gary, performed the ceremony and did a wonderful job of injecting his own flavour of humour into the ceremony as well. And the funniest part was when one of the readings turned out to be the Pulp Fiction version of Ezekiel 25:17.
The reception was an absolute blast. The food was really good, lots of fresh vegetables, salmon, and chicken. We hung out with all of our friends and also met some of Jay's old room mates and friends from college. They were a very fun bunch! Amy and Brian made a deal with each other that whenever we are all together at a function that has dancing involved, they'd sit out and let me and Gary tear up the dance floor since we both like to dance ;-). I danced with Julia's infamous uncle John, and we hung out with the groomsmen and their friends. We got invited to an after party at Jessie's cabin but with Brian needing to stay sober so he could drive us home, he started to get a little tired, so we gracefully declined and spent a while saying our goodbyes to everyone.
We had a wonderful time, sullied only by a moment of bad judgement on my part in which I unintentionally offended someone. All in all, though, a great evening full of good friends, good food, good wine, good stories, and now, good memories.

Congratulations, Jay and Julia!

fun at the latino bar

Last night was interesting. So my dance instructor has put together a team of girls to go out to clubs and dance, kinda like the go-go dancers at studio 54. You know, girls scattered about the club on podiums shaking their groove thing. Only this would involve a pole. Her first gig was at this latino bar called Rodeo (row-DAY-oh) and she said it wasn't quite like she had in mind but was using this as a test to get a feel for if it would work, and to advertise her business as an instructor. Anyway, Tiff and I wanted to check it out to see if it was something we'd be interested in doing for fun.
So after happy hour we headed home for a while and then met up at midnight to drive down to Rodeo. We brought Brett and Brian with us for obvious reasons. We entered the club and took a quick tour around the room to see if we could spot Nicole. It was the most bizarre feeling because people were staring at us. We headed to a bar and got beers and found a spot to sit and observe the crowd. Nicole showed up a while later with her portable stage and pole. She had brought a girl from Sugars named Emily with her. It wasn't quite what we expected, and certainly nothing that we would consider doing ourselves. The two girls came out to the dance floor and did a sortof strip-tease but only down to a bathing suit, and then they took turns dancing on the pole. Of course Nicole was amazing. Emily was not so amazing, but the crowd seemed to enjoy her. Most likely because her boobs wouldn't stay in her outfit and she didn't seem to care or notice. Very soon after the girls finisehed we left.

So bottom line, it wasn't what we expected, and certainly not for us. I could be a go-go dancer, but not this. No way.

Wedding chatter

Ok, it's been a while since I've done any wedding chatter, so today is all about that! Brian and I submitted all of our paperwork to the Domincan Republic Embassy and have received all of the legalized and translated documentation back.

Brian scanned the documents and emailed me a PDF (thank you Brian) and I sent that to our wedding planner, Melanie, at the resort. She said that it all is in order and we are now legally ready to marry in the Dominican Republic. What a relief that is. the process to get all of the paperwork was actually quite easy and painless, thanks to Isabel Gonzales of WeDo.com.

Today Melanie confirmed our reception in the Marlin restaurant, which is upstairs and is open air (though it does have a roof) and has a gorgeous ocean view. We had other options and other menu choices, but Brian and I liked this one the best. You can view the menu by clicking here.

I just have to gush a little about working with Melanie. She's been super responsive to all of my emails and questions (which actually weren't that many - but promptness counts), and she even waived the fee for our reception because of the large number of people attending. That's a nice bit of savings that we can apply to our wedding photographer or something.

I said at the beginning of all this that I will consider my wedding planning venture a success if the only tears I shed are tears of joy during the ceremony. So far this has held true!

I am a Zen bride :-)

Facial update

Thanks to everyone for your kind words and concern regarding my traumatic dermatologist visit. I thought I'd give you all a little update since people keep asking how it's doing. The last few days I've kind of felt like wearing a bag over my head and keeping an emergency supply of *etiquette bags on hand in case my head-bag fell off.
I have always had pretty clear skin so I'm not used to wearing a lot of make up, and because my face is covered in red blotches I've actually had to wear foundation! ACK! it looked ok from a distance because it disguised the red blotches, but from about 3 feet away you could see the peeling skin. I am definately going to complain when I go in for my next microderm treatment next week. They should have prepared me for this. I would have either said no, or at least chosen a different date to do it.
GAH!

*etiquette bag: home made sick bag taken along on car/bus rides. Usually comprised of an opaque paper bag, lined with a plastic grocery bag ;-)

Bad facial

I'm going to reveal a secret. I've been having a series of microdermabrasion done to help remove some of the sun damage (dark spots and freckles) from my face, and to remove these little white heads that seemed to have appeared on my cheekbones and around my eyes. It's been going really well, aside from the fact that the extractions of those little white dots are a bit painful because they have to prick them with a needle, and then use an extractor tool to kinda push them out. The next day and for several days after, I have little red bumps that kinda look like zits in the areas where they extracted. I can live with a little bit of ugliness in the short-term if the long-term affects are beautiful and youthful skin.
However....
Yesterday I had a new aesthetician do my facial. She cranked up the pressure on the microdermabrasion machine and it stung a little more than usual, which is fine. I can handle a little pain if it means I'll have a beautiful and youthful complexion. And the extractions went well. This is where it gets a little hairy... she then put a "light peel" on my face without preparing me for a) how it would feel, and b) what I'd look like afterwards or the next day.
So here's how it went:
"Oh MY GOD! it's stinging! OOOOWWW! it hurts. Why is it burning? it feels like a million fire ants on my face! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP! OOOOOWWWWW!"
So she finally puts something on my face to neutralize the burning sensation and then moisturizes me and sends me on my way. And for the rest of the evening I'm RED and splotchy and extremely self-concious. AND to make things worse, I had dinner plans for Tiff's birthday and had to go and show my face in public! ACK!
Today I woke up and almost died when I looked in the mirror and saw Auntie Winnie. Those of you who have met her know what I mean when I say it's not a good thing. Those who haven't seen Auntie Winnie, just consider yourself lucky that the image isn't forever burned into your mind's eye. Anyway, my skin was all crusty and dry and WRINKLY from sleeping on my face. It was AWFUL. I got in the shower and I guess the heat and steam must have loosened the dry skin and it all started peeling.
Now I look like I have some weird peeling disease. And it hurts to smile.

I'm a little pissed off that they didn't prepare me for how this would feel and how it would look for the next few days. I'm feeling very ugly at the moment, and embarassed by my peeling face, and of course completely self conscious!

This had better be worth it!

oh, and if it's not bad enough that they made me look like a burn victim, the BOTOX issue came up again. Yea. Botox at my age? WTF? WHY would I purposefully inject my face with BOTULISM? WHY?
Don't get me started.

It seems like I only ever update this to talk about my weekends. No exception today. It's late Sunday night. We've spent the weekend with friends, running errands, and doing chores. Friday night was spent having dinner then drinks with Mike, Tara, Erin, & Tiff at Little Woodrows. It was St. Patrick's day. What's funny about St. Patrick's day here in America is that everyone seems to celebrate it. Yet you can go into a pub in Ireland on St. Paddy's and it's the same as any other day.
On Saturday I took Jenn downtown to retrieve her car. An excellent decision to leave it there after a few too many drinks. I will help any of my friends who need a sober ride home or a ride to retrieve a car the next day if it means they don't drive drunk.
When I got back Brian and I did a little shopping for a bridal shower gift for our friends who are getting married on April Fools day. Brian had a soccer game in the afternoon in the rain, and I headed to the gym to get a head start on burning all the calories I would consume at Salt Lick later on. The bridal shower was wonderful! we met so many great new people, and got to hang out with Amy, who I hadn't seen in forever, and meet her man. We didn't gorge ourselves like we usually do at Salt Lick, though, and we left with an unusual pleansantly satisfied feeling in our bellies, which is not our usual state when leaving there. We stopped for ice cream on the way home.
Today we headed to Cosco for our normal staples and headed home for some house cleaning, followed by movies and cuddling, dinner, and more movies and cuddling. We did make an attempt to contact the lady we're hoping will be our maid, but with no luck. I'll try again tomorrow. I keep putting it off but honestly, the time I spend cleaning the house is much better spent in pursuit of fun or the perfect pair of sandals. Life's too short to spend it cleaning.
There's a band of storms coming through the area as I write. Tornado watches in effect until 4am. I love a good storm, so long as it doesn't damage my house or hurt anybody.

Busy weekend again

We just try to cram so much into our weekends. I find myself living for the weekends. This weekend is no exception. On Friday night we went to Red Robin to celebrate Brian's birthday. We had a great group for dinner and the burgers were really good. We had the patio pretty much to ourselves. After dinner we headed to Graham Central Station where several more of our friends were waiting for us. No trip to GCS is complete without some Kareoke. Though my voice is completely fried from this stupid bronchitis. I sang Aretha Franklin's "Chain of fools". Tiff showed her pole dancing skills in the Coyote Ugly-knock-off bar and the crowd was pretty impressed. Someone gave her a tip.

On Saturday morning Brian played soccer and I went to the Texas Rodeo to see Ethan run his very first race. It was a hot day and a great turnout for the kids' 1K run. Jenn ran with Ethan while I stood by with the stroller and both cameras at the ready. Ethan finished the race on his own two feet, which is more than I observed of most of the other kids in his age group who were carried over the line by parents or in thier strollers. Not my Ethan. Jenn said he did throw a bit of a fit though because he wanted me to run too. Awh! he loves his auntie.

Afterwards Brian and I went to a little coffee shop bakery where our friend Stephen works as a pastry chef. We had lunch and spent some time chatting with Stephen before returning home to do some chores. I cleaned house while Brian weeded the lawn which was much needed since ours looks like the crappiest lawn on the block.

Around 5:30 we headed downtown to meet our friends for sushi at Kyoto, then we went to Fado for a round of Irish Car Bombs which are awesome! They're a pint of Guness and a shot of Baileys and Jaimeson Whiskey. You drop the shot into the guiness and drink it fast. It kinda tasted like chocolate milk. Afterwards we headed to Stubbs for the Matisyahu concert. It was a great concert. Brian and I had only heard one of his songs and assumed he was jamaican, however, he was completely NOT jamaican and was in fact an ascetic jew!! we were not expecting that. It worked, though. He was awesome. We also saw Brian's friend Tracey at the concert. She went up to the front to get a few pics with her new camera. They came out really well! My feet were killing me by the end of the night because we stood at the concert for hours! Brian had to drive home because my feet hurt so bad.

Sunday was another eventful day. We ran errands and Brian took care of the lawn. He overhauled the lawnmower by changing the oil and putting in a new blade, then he fertilized the lawn and watered it, then took care of the seals on the top of his car. Meanwhile I put the finisheing touches on my wedding dress, which was to finish sewing the bustle loop on it and reinforce the halter straps. The bustle loop came out better than I'd imagined. It's virtually invisible when down and looks beautiful when up.

I had a little freak out moment yesterday too. Mostly about weight gain. I'm not eating excessively, and I"m working out consistently and employing all the techniques my friend Jason told me to do. But I still have this little fat roll around my waist that will not go away! I'm going to monitor my diet for the next month or so with a spreadsheet and see where I'm going wrong. Of course, my freak out included a 2 hour trip to the gym to try and get a head start on getting rid of it.

We rounded off the weekend with a thin crust pizza from costco (only 720 cals for whole pizza) and watched a movie.

Oh HAPPY DAY!

Ruby Sue came back from the body shop yesterday. She looks better than new and drives like a dream. Of course, I've been driving a shitty rental for a month so the comparison I have to go with is quite low-end, but MAN! that baby drives like a dream! Tight steering, solid suspension, responsive gas peddle, and of course, it looks good! I sure did miss my Ruby.

We had a couple of visitors last night. Jay came over to drop off a paper cutter that Julia has loaned to me. He had a list of "Honey do's" to get done. Brian thought that was really funny until I informed him that his day was approaching ;-)
Erin came over for a haircut. Erin has the most gorgous curly hair you've ever seen and I always have to touch it when I see her, purely because it's the exact opposite of my own stick straight hair. I gave her long layers and it was absolutely stunning! I hope she likes it too. It was fun to hang out with her. Hair cutting is another creative outlet for me, kinda like my art. Only it's on someone's head. So of course, I did warn her that every time I see her now I'm gonna be checking it out to see how I can do it differently next time, and don't be surprised if I show up with a pair of scissors saying "let me just get that one piece". I imagine picasso was a perfectionist, too :-)

Poor Brian had a horrible night again. Coughing uncontrolably, and it sounded painful. Hopefully it will pass soon.
Today marks the next to last day our good friend Eric will be working for IBM. He is opening his own bike store and we're so excited for him! we're going to Sherlock's with Eric this evening to celebrate for happy hour.
And tomorrow, Brian will be 25!!! Happy Birthday (early) Gummy Bear!

Ouiji!

Saturday was another awesome day/night. Barbie and I worked out at the gym together in the early afternoon, then took a quick tour through Walgreens where Barbie entertained fellow shoppers with her musical talents ;-) I cleaned out the pantry, fridge, and junk drawer, met Barbie to help her shop for something to wear, then got ready for an evening out with the girls.

We headed down to Frank and Angies Pizza on 6th. Jenn, Barbie, Tara, Tania, and me, and Tania's husband Jason, whose band was playing at Momo's ate dinner there. After dinner we headed over to Momo's. The band was awesome, and we all got a CD of their new single. Also, there was a camera crew there from Taste of Texas TV show. Jenn did an interview with them about Momo's and katz's. After Ouiji finished playing, we all headed to Donn's Depot to round off our evening with some Murphy's Inlaws. I love that when I go to Donn's everyone makes a huge fuss of me, gives me tons of hugs. Michael and Craig were amazing as always, and when I requested Led Zeplin's "Whole Lotta Love" for the final song they obliged me, and even Donn was rocking out! God damn they're great musicians! You shouldn't just take my word for it, though. Go see them for yourself at Donns on a Thursday night. I saw Winker, who I hadn't seen in forever, and got to dance with a nice young man from Arkansas.

Another very late night. I made it to bed finally around 3am. Today I was dragging quite a bit and woke up with an extremely sore throat and weird cough. I spent most of the day taking it easy on the couch with the cats. While I like to spend time by myself, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my weekend, I sure do miss Brian.

Night on the town

Oh My! we had a fun night last night. Andi, Tara, and I headed down to Donns Depot to hang with Barbie while she worked and I needed to talk to Donn about his web site. After Donn's we headed downtown to "The Dirty Dog" where a friend of Andi's was playing with his band. It's actually a snowboarder/wakeboarder type bar. The music was pretty good. Brian would have loved it judging by the songs on his MP3 player ;-). We also scored the sweetest parking spot ever! Right at the corner of 5th and Neches, only 200 yards from where we were going.

The bar tender hooked us up with Jello shots and Tara did her first jello shot ever! I know Brian will be most upset that he wasn't there for that. We met another of Andi's friends at the bar and played some pool, Tara and Me against Andi and Roger. Around 1:30 we headed out of the bar to go to Coyote Ugly, and bumped into Travis on the way out! We did a round of shots, and Tara did her first shot ever! hehe, Brian and Mike missed out! Note to self: Red Bull and Bacardi O = REALLY GREAT DRINK!

We finally made it to Coyote Ugly around 1:45 and practically got mobbed by a bunch of horny mexicans wanting to dance with us. After disentangling them from us and issuing a few warnings that I in NO WAY welcome a man grinding his testicles onto my ass, we fled back out to the street where we realized it was 2am and time for all the drunkards to get on the road.

On the way home we got a craving for French Fries and headed to the Whataburger near the house where we each ate a large portion of fries! We finally rolled in to the driveway at 3:15. An awesome night! and we came home with the same amount of money we left with! ;-) It's good to be girls.

Torn

This weekend a very dear friend is having her bachelorette party in Las Vegas. I had to make the decision to not go. I waited till the very last minute to make my decision becauseI was just in denial, or hoping that I'd find a way to justify it. I'm extremely torn about the decision. I feel like I am not being very supportive of my friend by my absence, though I know she completely understands. At the same time I feel left out. It's just a very weird place to be.

I do hope they have an absolute blast, though, and I sincerely hope that what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas in this case, and finds its way to my ears by way of great stories, and my eyes by way of many, many pictures.

I'll be there in spirit! Viva Las Vegas, Ladies!!

I do plan to have a full weekend, though. Brian's heading to Houston to help his dad with the yard work, and to go to the Rodeo. That's one thing you will not find me going to. A rodeo. I find the roping and humiliating of animals for entertainment to be quite appaling. The one time I did see a rodeo I spent my time peeking through my fingers, sobbing because the animals looked so frightened, and furiously hoping that those mean and stupid men would get trampled or gored!
Right in the testicles. Serves them right. Bastards. Not that I feel strongly about this at all ;-)

While Bri's away I am going to spend some quality time with the girls, and by myself.

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.

if you thought my birthday coudn't get any better.....

You were dead wrong!

Brian is taking me to New York City for the weekend. We leave on Saturday morning! Our hotel is right near Times Square and we're going to go to a couple of broadway shows. I'm so frickin' excited!
I have to thank Brian's dad for the idea. He sent us an email that JetBlue was doing trips to NYC for $79 each way. But when we went to book it, that fare wasn't available. But good old Expedia came through with an awesome deal.
I'm excited. I can't wait to go shopping in Soho, and do a long run in Central Park :-) Wooohooooo!

In other news, I just completed 12 grueling miles of running in the rain. No walking, no water stops, no whining. I'm glad to be done. Brian went out to do another 8 or 10. Brian hates to run in the rain, and he also hates the cold, so todays run is a huge character building exercise for him! I'm so proud of him for his tenacity.

Best Birthday Ever!

Ok, maybe not ever, but as much as I can remember. And because I'm old, the ones I can remember are becoming fewer. Anyway, this was a wonderful birthday despite the rocky day I had the day before.

I woke up with quite a bit of soreness from the accident, but nothing too bad that a couple of Ibuprofen and the heat pad couldn't handle. I did, however, choose to work from home from the comfort of my couch because I needed to de-stress, and not sit in my uncomfortable office chair all day. I had lunch with Brian and his friend Ben at Sushi Sake, which is my favourite restaurant of all time. Ben brought me a small white birthday cake. How sweet! We didn't get to eat it right away because Ben had to run, I had some when I got home and it is damn near the best cake I've ever tasted.

My mum called me to wish me a happy birthday and to see if I got her flowers yet, which had not yet arrived. Later in the day I got two deliveries of flowers! one from mum and dad and one from my sisters, Sheila and Paula.

At 6, Brian picked me up and took me to Freda's Seafood Grille, which is a place I've been dying to try. Brian had reserved the private room and as luck would have it, it was the restaurant's 3rd anniversary and they were giving out free champaign! wooo! The food at Freda's was wonderful. We all tried many different appetizers and some of us ordered dinner. I had a wonderful time surrounded by all of my friends. So many people came to celebrate with me and I was completely touched. I have such a great group of friends. I won't get all sappy but I feel truly lucky. While I ran to the bathroom with the girls, Brian brought in a cake and when I got back there were candles all over a cake with a Union Jack on it! it was AWESOME! and the frosting on the cake was my favourite, so I ate my frosting, Brian's, and Barbies! Jen has a picture of me with blue frosting all over my teeth. hehe!

After dinner/appetizers we said our goodbyes to those who had to leave, and a big group of us went to Shenanigan's, which is a local hole in the wall bar, where we spent the evening dominating the kareoke. Andi did Prince's "Kiss" and it was by far the best performance of the night. I sang Holiday by Madonna, and Andi and I did a duet of Elton John and Kiki Dee's "don't go breakin' my heart". Emma and Paul did the Partridge Family "I think I love you", which was SO cute! Eric did Devo's "Whip it", and Reba did that "old time rock and roll" and it totally ROCKED! I did Evanescense's "Bring me to life", and I was so thrilled that I impressed Andi, my rock star friend :-). Andi and Renee did the Shoop song by Salt and Peppa, and Renee nailed it! she was a total rock star! And the icing on the cake? Jen sang "We are family" with me, despite her tremendous stage fright. I had no idea she had such a beautiful voice.

We got home shortly after midnight and ate a little more birthday cake. Brian did the most wonderful job of making my birthday so special. And of course he had a lot of help from Barbie, who advised Brian on how to plan a party ;-)

So a big fat thank you to all of my friends who made my Birthday so very special. You can view pictures by clicking here.

Pre-birthday trauma

Yesterday was a crappy day all round. I had my yearly review from my old manager, and got a rating that was less than I was hoping for. I expressed my disappointment to him and sent an e-mail to him asking for more explaination. In the afternoon I took Brian to pick up his car from Honda, where it was getting a service and inspection. On my way home, and only 2 miles from the house, I got rear-ended by a guy going quite a bit faster than me. I was doing about 30 because someone ahead of me made a right turn, but the guy behind me never slowed down, and was going about 55 or so.

I was on the phone to Daz at the time and it came as a complete surprise to me. It knocked the phone out of my hands, and whipped my head forward then back quite violently. We both stopped and I realized we were in major traffic so I gestured for the guy who hit me to follow me to a side street, which he did. As I got out of the car I was shaking so bad. I checked that he was ok, and actually found myself thanking him for stopping! I guess my lack of faith in humanity has jaded me into thinking that most people would have just drove off.

We assessed the damage to our cars and exchanged insurance information. A police officer was at the gas station nearby and he came over to ask if we had called the police. We said no and he said he didn't think it would be necessary because we had exchanged information. After I left the scene I went home and immediately called my insurance company, then made a claim on his insurance.

And then I sat down and just got totally overwhelmed by my crappy day and by the time Brian got home I was a big snotty, bug-eyed, sobbing wreck. Poor Brian. He looked mortified when he saw me and his mind immediately went to the animals, thinking that something happened to one of the cats or the fish. Thankfully it was something easily fixed. I wasn't upset about the car. It's just stuff and it will get fixed. I guess I was just stressed out from a bad day that got worse.

After I had calmed down we went for a run, and all the negative energy from my day manifested itself into a great run.

When we got back Daz called to check on me. I guess it's pretty scary to be talking to someone on the phone and hear them get into an accident. Anyway, thanks, Daz, for calling. That's a record! 2 calls in one day. It's almost like it's my birthday or something ;-)

Anyway, we called Joan (Brian's mum) for some advice on what to do next and she was very helpful. Then we went to Papasito's for margaritas and fajitas and I tried to forget the stress of the day.

Today I woke up with back and neck pain, which was expected. Though it's not really bad, and I can it's just muscular pain. I am uncomfortable, though. Right now I'm sitting on the couch with a heat pad on my back.

I'm hoping that my bad day yesterday was karma's way of ending my year by flushing out the bad things that could happen to me and clearing the plate for a great year full of good karma.

On the bright side of things, althoug poor Ruby Sue (my car) is a bit mangled, at least I'll get the bumper fixed from that time that stupid woman backed into me in the Target parking lot!

Well, happy birthday to me.

Honorable mention

Just a quick note to say "Hello" to my friend Wassim in Canada. I hope you're enjoying that cheesecake! ;-)

Staring down the barrel....

Less than a week! I'm once again staring down the barrel of the birthday cannon. Last year I promised that I would celebrate every birthday like it was my last. So with that in mind, I'm thorougly looking forward to this year's birthday! Those of you who know me know how old I'll be, and for those of you who don't know, well, I'm as old as you think I am :-P.

In the spirit of celebrating like it's your last, I'm issuing a blanket pardon to those who have wronged me in the past. It hurts my heart to feel badly about people who used to be close to me. You know who you are, and let's face it we both know you're reading this. And I want you to know that although you've acted in a manner that has hurt me deeply, I want to forgive you.

And finally, as I'm at such a wise old age, I feel it's appropriate to dispense a few pearls of wisdom that I've learned over the past year. And here they are:

• Surround yourself with people who are important to you.
  
• Take care of your skin. Don't cheap out on a good moisturizer and ALWAYS wear at least SPF 8.
  
• Drink lots of water. You may think you drink enough, but you don't.
  
• No matter how close a friend you are, honesty is not always the best thing.
• If it's important for you to express yourself, then express yourself. Don't invalidate your own feelings by dismissing them as silly, and don't tolerate others invalidating your feelings.
• Pets help relieve stress. If you are in the market for a pet, ensure that you adopt from a local shelter.
  
• Make every effort to stay in contact with your friends who are far away. Distance shouldn't be a hinderance with true friends.
  
• If you think you're too fat, stop whining about it and get your ass to the gym our out for a run. If you don't do either of these and you still complain, make sure it's not to me.
  
• Make time for yourself and keep your commitments to yourself.
  
• Don't stress out about minor details. Keep a little perspective.
  

So here's to another great year! Happy Frickin' Birthday to me! ;-)

Engagement pictures

Brian and I found a photographer to do our engagement pictures. I know it's a little after the fact, but I'm a procrastinator, so it's not surprising. Anyway, we have an appointment at the end of this month.

I'm a huge art fan, and I have some great creative ideas for what I want, and very distinct ideas on what I don't want. I've been to hundreds of photographer's web sites and seen thousands of engagement pictures and it's completely UNDERWHELMING. I'm looking for an amazing piece of art in which Brian and I are the subject, and the setting/background is completely irrelevant. So we're going to do it in a studio, rather than out at some garden or on location. After I spoke to the photographer I'm very excited. He said he had some great ideas, and instructed us to bring several changes of clothes, something vibrant, and something just plain black should be included. He said he always uses music during his shoot and we can bring whatever we want to listen to, though he has an extensive library.

This is going to be SO MUCH FUN! WOOO!

Handy hubby

Brian's becoming SO handy! Over the weekend he used his xmas present to change the oil in my car. This is the first time he's done mine, he usually changes his own oil in the Honda. The new jack and safety stands I got him for xmas worked like a charm and we save lots of money on the oil change. Of course, it'll be a few years worth of oil changes before it offsets the cost of the equipment, but it makes him happy, and that's what matters.

In other news, this evening we're having Andi, Mike, and Cameron, Jenn, Ethan and Steve over for dinner. I'm trying out a new dish. Pasta with pesto and feta cheese, with chicken, feta, and spinnich sausage. MMMMMM! I'll post the recipe to my recipe page if it's good.

Busy weekend!

So Jenn found me the perfect hairdo for our wedding. It won't be a traditional up-do like most brides, but then I'm not a traditional bride ;-). So thanks, Jenn, for being so helpful. I had a hair appointment on Friday afternoon and got a trim, mostly took out some of the bulk around the bottom and hopefully my hair can grow about 2.5 inches by May to pull off this style.

Friday evening we met Tara, Mike, Tiff, and Brett at Mesa Rosa for happy hour, then went to Sushi Sake with Tiff and Brett. They are as enthusiastic about sushi as me! afterwards, Brian and I headed down town to meet Andi, Barbie, Scott, Michelle and Brian at Cedar Street to watch Andi's husband, Mike's band play. They were really good! It was a bit cool because Cedar Street's stage is outside, but they do have heaters outside.

On Saturday morning Brian went an played soccer at Zilker and I hung out around the house and watched The Learning Channel, which is my Saturday morning ritual, then I headed to the mall to find some hair jewels that would go with my wedding dress. I found them at a little cart in the mall, though I'm not sure how they will stay in my hair unless I rat it up a bit. We'll see.

Saturday evening we went over to Mike and Tara's for an impromtu BBQ. It was a pretty good turn out of people, too. We grilled steaks and drank wine/beer and the boys played some pool.

On Sunday Brian and I went to Town Lake for our weekly long run. Brian ran 17 miles and I ran 10. After we had showered we went to Costco to pick up some necessities, then headed home and relaxed for most of the day. Sunday evening we had Eric and Reba over for dinner. I made Chicken Parmesan and Reba made a pecan pie for dessert.

A great weekend full of close friends. What more can we ask for?

Mystery smell

We've been having the weirdest problem with out new fish tank. So after we set it up on New Year's eve, and put the fish in, we went about our business as usual. A couple of days later we came home from running errands and Oh-My-God the house STUNK like cat pee. So of course we accuse the cats and start sniffing around, but no... it wasn't the cats. It was THE FISH! I am serious when I say that the water in the fish tank smelled like cat pee so bad that it burned our eyes. So I took a sample of the water to Petsmart, where they tested it and said there was technically nothing wrong with the water, except the nitrate levels were a little elevated, but they did smell it. In fact when she took the lid off the water bottle she almost fainted.

.... so we set up their old tank, put them back in and I cleaned out the new tank and all the accessories with bleach water, per their instructions at Petsmart. After thoroughly rinsing out all the bleach water we set it back up, put water in it, ran the filter for a day, and returned the fish to their new tank.

Oh you think it's all over? no. 2 dyas later, deja vu. The smell is BACK! WTF? So we did a partial water change but it didn't really help.

I called an aquarium shop and the guy said it might be plastic eating bacteria from the accessories sitting in a closet for years, and to get rid of all the plastic plants, ornaments, etc.

So again, we set up the old aquarium, and we transfer the fish. And I dispose of everything from the new tank, except the gravel, which I rinsed thoroughly with hot water. We then put the gravel back in, and all the water, and are now letting the filter run for a few days. However, this morning, there was a faint smell again. I'm going to see if it gets worse over the next few days. If the smell does come back, the only conclusion I can draw at this point is that the bag of gravel we got from Petsmart is causing it!

Poor William and Harry. This morning when I went to feed them they were completely uninterested and just cuddled up together at the bottom of the tank. They have no plants and no big rock house to hide in and I'm sure they're completely freaked out. If the smell is back tomorrow, I guess I'll have to buy new gravel and set it all back up again!... that is, if William and Harry don't die first. :-(

I'm frustrated, and I'm afraid that my boys might not make it because I wanted to give them a bigger house, which will cause me enormous guilt. Even though they're just fish. I can't stand to think that I killed them.

wedding hair woes

I just have no idea what to do with my hair for our wedding. It's inbetween medium and short at the moment, and won't curl, or stay up in any kind of hair holdy-up-thingy, because it's too "glassy" (as described my numerous hair stylists). Am I doomed to have my usual hair do? do I just slap a veil on and go with it? I tried a veil/tiara combo and it looks ridiculous. Bah!

Note to Self:

Eat (more) fruit. At least one piece of fruit a day. Don't think about it, just do it.

Hello 2006!

New year's eve was awesome!
We started off the day with a long run on Town Lake. Brian did 14 miles and I did 11. Then we spent the afternoon setting up the fish tank that Brian's parents had given us.

I had called my parents at 6pm to wish them a happy new year, listen to Big Ben, and listen to my mum describe the fireworks in London as I desperately tried to find a new station that would show it. I was disappointed to find that nobody aired it. Mum did a great job with her description, though.

My one requirement for New Year's Eve was to be surrounded by my real friends. Mission accomplished (only a couple of people were missing).

It was a gathering of about 15 or so people, all of whom are very special to me. We ate yummy appetizers, including some that Brian made on our badass new grill, drank beer, wine, apple martinis, and of course, champagne. Mike and Tara had been saving a good bottle of champagne for a special occasion, and so had I (it turns out we had the same one). This seemed to be a good time to crack 'em open. We toasted in the new year and I got some smooches from my man, who said to me "welcome to the year that you become my wife" (or something very close to that). Awh!

I'm happy to report that, although I had consumed my fair share of booze, I was not hung over the next day. We ran some errands on New Year's Day, and went to the gym, then spent a low-key evening watching movies and making dinner. A great start to 2006.

Goodbye 2005

It's here! My favourite day of the year. New Year's Eve. The reason I love this holiday more than any other is because it's surrounded by positiveness. A new year signifies new beginnings and clean slates, and almost everyone is thinking about ways in which they can improve themselves for the coming year. It's a day full of positive energy and good intentions. Though I try to keep a positive attitude year round, I feel especially uplifted on New Year's Eve.

Today we finished off the year with a long run on Town Lake.

It's been a great year! Brian and I have been on three great vacations. I got to go home to England for a week on the company's money and spend some time with my famuly. Brian and I got engaged, we ran hundreds of miles together, I've learned a new language: I completed Spanish 1. We've learned how to do fakies on the wakeboard, and learned how to snow board. We've made many new friends and found out who our true friends are.

As I write this there is 35 minutes of 2005 left for my family in England. As is tradition, I'm going to give them a call at 6pm (midnight for them) and listen to Big Ben chime, toast the new year, and send lots of love over the phone :-)

I have no regrets for 2005 and I'm really looking forward to 2006. Here are my new year's resolutions (in no particular order):

- boldly go where I have never gone before (mentally, emotionally, and physically) ;-)
- sing every day
- continue learning Spanish
- be a wonderful wife to Brian
- become a mother ;-)

HAPPY HOGMANAY!

Lean, Mean Grillin' Machine...

Yesterday we picked up the grill from Lowes that Brian's parents bought us for xmas. Joan picked out the exact one I would have picked from the brochure, and it's awesome! Kev and I spent an hour assembling it on the patio while Brian worked. We were all eagre to grill on it so as I went to the airport to pick up Tiff, who was returning from xmas with her family in California, the boys went to the store to pick up things to grill. A side note: Tiff got 10 inches of her hair cut off, and donated it. Her hair looks great!
When I got back, the boys had made the most awesome garlic bread on the grill and had made burgers for them, and bought some Mahi-Mahi for me. We grilled some portobello mushrooms, too. Everything turned out delicious and we can't wait to grill some more stuff!

Reflecting on last year's resolutions...

Here's what I posted to my journal on January 1st, 2005:

1. Call my sisters more often
2. Pay more attention to my finances
3. Focus more at work
4. Be more organized at work
5. Be more consistent with my Kung Fu classes

One thing I really do need to change:
I need to accept that I'm in my 30's and start celebrating every birthday, rather than being depressed about my age and trying to direct attention elsewhere on my birhtday. So I will celebrate my upcoming 33rd birthday and be damn proud of it!"

So how did I do?

1. I added a calling plan to my cell phone, and I did call more often. I have noticed, however, that my family isn't calling me as often.
   
2. I have made an effort to pay more attention to finances this year. Brian and I have a joint checking account now and pay all our bills automatically out of it. Recently we added an additional payment to principal to the mortgage payment.
   
3. I am not sure if I focused more at work... I still get distracted easily, but I delivered on time, and within budget, so I guess it's not all bad.
   
4. I failed miserably at being more organized at work. I'll try again this year.
   
5. You could say I became more consistent with Kung Fu... in that I stopped going. They increased the monthly fees by quite a lot, and in keeping with resolution #2, I cut it out.
   

I did celebrate my birthday this year with a ski trip to New Mexico with friends. We had an awesome time, and I'm looking forward to my next birthday where, hopefully, I'll be skiing again.

I haven't given too much thought to my 2006 resolutions yet, though when I reflect on this year a couple of things come to mind. More to come on that subject later.

Post-xmas post

Xmas with the Baumans was good. The decorating of the xmas tree ritual started around 4pm on Xmas eve. In this ritual, Brian's dad carefully unwraps the xmas ornaments, one for each person, for each year, and hands them out in chronological order. Each person hangs their ornament on the tree and usually a short skip down memory lane accompanies it. The first year I spent xmas with them I got the free ornament from the buy 2 get 1 free offer, and this year we noticed that I didn't get an ornamed for my second year, so Kevin made me one from the tab of his Coke can. This is probably my favourite ornament on the tree now! This year's ornament for Brian and me was Shrek and Fiona. Fitting, n'est pas?
After the tree trimming Brian's parents' friends, Doug and Debbie Rambin, and Debbie's mum came over for xmas dinner. A feast of honey baked ham, garlic mash, sweet potato casarole, asparagus, and rolls was shared by all, along with wine. For dessert, Brian's mum made Chocolate Raspberry Torte. MMMMM!
After dinner we sat around the xmas tree and exchanged gifts. All were very thoughtful and fitting, but the prize for weird gift goes to Kevin, who gave Brian a skydiver tissue box cover. Very unusual. We were both surprised and overwhelmed by the gift that Brian and I received from his parents. A stainless steel propane grill, and grill cover. I can't wait until we get it and can start grilling!
Brian and I got up late on xmas day and lounged around for most of it. We opened presents by the fireplace that had been left by Santa. Brian's mum did a wonderful job of informing Santa of what we all liked. Xmas day dinner was great, we had salmon and even Brian ate it and said he enjoyed it. Stop everything and call the media! the pickiest eater in the world enjoyed FISH!
Boxing day was spent shopping at Katy Mills. I was looking for a coat but never found one I liked. I did, however, find some great trousers at Banana Republic. That evening we went to The Taste of Texas steak house and had a fabulous steak dinner. I had a filet with garlic butter and lemon pepper, and a portobella mushroom. For dessert we all shared a Guinnes Ginger Cake. After dinner I set off for the drive back to Austin. The cats were very happy to have their mum back :-)

As most of you know, xmas is my least favourite holiday, but I have to say a huge thank you to Brian and his family, who for the past 3 years have made it enjoyable for me. Maybe this Grinch's heart is growing a few sizes.

I'm looking forward to the new year, and all that it brings... including another birthday! ACK!

Season's Greetings!

I'm heading to Houston tomorrow to spend xmas with Brian and his family. Kev is home for the holidays and I know that more than anything, Brian is looking forward to spending time with his brother :-). Brian left today so he can spend extra time with Kev since he rarely sees him now. Meanwhile I've washed Ruby, and am now contemplating a quick run to help keep those extra holiday calories from sticking to my arse.

This evening I get to play Santa to Ethan and drop of a large number of Spiderman-related gifts. Ethan's very much into Spiderman right now so everything I got him has Spiderman on it, including the gift wrap :-) I can't wait to see him. Afterwards I'm heading over to Barbie's to hang out with her and her dad, Dave, who drove in from Iowa yesterday. I love Barbie's dad. He's delightfully inappropriate, unfiltered, and genuine. He always makes me laugh. I just wish Brian had got to meet him, too.

Last night Brian and I exchanged gifts after a wonderful home cooked meal, followed by two sumptious desserts at Freda's. We both got exactly what we had hoped for :-). We reserved one gift each to exchange with the family on Xmas eve.

To all my friends and family back home... I miss you terribly around the holidays, and I really wish I could see you. I'm sending you much love and high hopes for the new year!

Festivus for the rest of us!

Last night Tara and I started a new tradition. We joined forces to bring our friends a new holiday tradition. FESTIVUS!
If you've watched Seinfeld you might know that Festivus is a holiday made up by Frank Costanza. The Internet has this to say about Festivus:

Festivus is a non-denominational alternate Christmas-time holiday featured on episode No. 166 "The Strike" on the sitcom Seinfeld. Festivus was created by Frank Costanza after getting into a fight in a toy store when he and another man both grabbed for the last doll in the place. Frustrated at the commercialization of Christmas, Frank created Festivus.
Celebrated on December 23rd, the pseudo-festival had a traditional undecorated eight-foot aluminum pole (no tinsel, or ornaments), a father-son wrestling match ("The Feats of Strength") and the The Airing of Grievances, when each member at the gathering sat around the dinner table and insultingly counted down the reasons why other family members were such a disappointment throughout that year. The main Festivus meal consisted of spaghetti (or what looked like meatloaf?) covered in a red sauce.

No gifts are exchanged at Festivus. Mike supplied the traditional festivus pole and we added our own Festivus tradition, the wearing of the Ugly Christmas Sweater. Anyone not participating in this new Festivus tradition had to wear the Festivus Antlers of Shame.

Almost everyone was in the Festivus spirit, sporting their Ugly Christmas Sweater, or Festivus Antlers of Shame. Upon arrival, guests had their photograph taken with the Festivus Pole.
We drank wine and beer, ate the traditional Festivus meal of spagetti covered in red sauce, and of course aired our grievances with Mike's new Festivus Airing of the Grievances game, which was expertly duct taped to the Festivus Pole for the occasion.

After the last of our Festivus Guests left, Tara and I declared Festivus a complete success to be repeated on a yearly basis.

Happy Frickin' Festivus, Y'all!

Ski Trip Report

Our ski trip was wonderful! Here's how it went:

Friday, Dec 9th:
We left Austin at 6am and arrived in Denver around 10:30 after a brief layover in Phoenix. Our flights were uneventful, thankfully. We got an awesome deal on a rental car with our IBM discount and were shortly on our way to Keystone. The trip from Denver to Keystone was beautiful once we got into the mountains. I was really surprised at how flat Denver was, though. On the way to Keytstone we stopped in Dillon to buy some chips, water, and cokes for the room, and of course picked up some Crown Royal. We arrived at our hotel around 1:30 and I requested a room with a view of the slopes and on a high floor so we could get the best experience. Our hotel was in the Mountain House village. There are three main villages at Keystone. Our new room wasn't quite ready so we headed over to the next village, River Run, to pick up our skis. When we returned our room was ready. We had a wonderful view from our room, which you can see if you check out our photo album.

Because we couldn't ski on Friday, we decided to go soak in the hot tub, which was right next to our room. We met two guys from Hawaii in the hot tub and talked to them for what seemed like hours. After a few hours and a crown and coke in the tub we got ready and headed out for dinner. We went to the Bighorn Steakhouse, which was a recommendation in the Hotel's guide. It was just OK, though the prices were ridiculous. I had lamb and Brian had a steak. Afterwards, we headed to the shops to see if I could pick up some smaller goggles. The ones I had purchased in Austin were too big. We found some pink ones to match my outfit, afterall, looking good on the slopes is as important as how you ski, right? ;-)
After dinner we relaxed in our room and had another drink, and suddenly I felt extremely ill. I seem to have gotten food poisoning because the next few moments can only be described as a quandry as to which end to put over the toilet. A fine way to start the vacation. And it was going so well!

Saturday, December 10th:
We awoke to beautiful blue skies and the sun rising over the slopes. We got up and had breakfast at The Goat, which is a popular snowboarder's hang out right next to our hotel. Afterwards we got in our first day of skiing. It felt awkward at first. We did all greens today because we wanted to get our feet under us. After a while it felt as natural as running, it seemed. Though I did have a pretty bad fall early on, which looked like it would have broken my left leg, but it just gave me a bit of a bruise, thankfully.
We ate lunch at Edgewater Cafe in Lakeside Village then decided to take a trip into Dillon to pick up some groceries. There was a fridge in our room and we thought we would pick up breakfast and sandwiches. After we returned from the store we went skiing again. This was our first night to go Night Skiing.
I really enjoyed night skiing. It might have been because I was getting comfortable on my skis, but it felt peacful. There were less people. In some spots we were the only people on the mountain, it seemed. Depth perception is a bit off in the dark, so the slopes seemed less intimidating somehow. We stopped in at Fritz's Bistro in River Run for a drink and a rest before we continued our night skiing.
After a hard day of skiing we soaked in the hot tub for about 30 minutes and then got ready for dinner. We ran an errand in Dillon (to pick up new gloves for me), and the teller at Target recommended the Old Dillon Inn. We decided to take his recommendation. As we sat down and were served chips and salsa, Brian and I looked at each other and realized that our expectations for mexican food would make this an interesting meal. We ordered a "burritalada", which was best described as completely gross! After we left, Brian got ice cream at Cold Stone and we headed back. Thankfully, no food poisoning.

Sunday, Dec 11th:
Today we took our snowboarding lesson. We got up early and traded our skis for snowboards and made our way to the ski school on the "Discovery" hill. Our instructor was named Pete and he seemed really cool. Only one other person was in our class, Kristin, who lived in Hawaii (though had lived in Austin for 6 years prior to moving there 3 years ago). It seemed like a private lesson because it was just us three and Kristin had taken lessons 3 years ago and was just getting a refresher. We all seemed to catch on very quickly and Pete was really pleased. He taught us to get on and off the lift while strapped in to our boards with one foot, go down the hill both heelside, meaning heels facing up the mountain, and toe side, meaning toes facing up the mountain. Part way through our lesson someone else joined us. His name was Sean. He didn't seem to get the hang of it, though, and when we broke for lunch he decided to quit.
We ate lunch with Pete and Kristin at the food court nearby the slope, and Kristin asked if Pete would perhaps take us up to Schoolmarm for the rest of the lesson. He said usually they don't take new boarders up the greens but he thought we had progressed so quickly that he would make an exception. So up we went. The rest of the lesson was awesome, we learned to do S turns, Garlands, and Falling Leaf, and put it all together to get down a slope gracefully. We all fell many times and by the end of the lesson my tail bone was suffering so bad I could barely walk back to our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel I iced my tail bone for a while, then we got ready and headed for dinner. Piasano's in River Run was our choice for the night. Dinner was good, though I don't recommend the Lasagna at that place. Very strange. Brian's dish was awesome, though. He had the pasta aglio e olio. After dinner we went to Kickapoo tavern in River Run. They had some great microbrews. We took the free shuttle back to our hotel and chatted with the bus driver about snowboarding and snowbiking for a while. Afterwards in the hotel room I had to ice my tailbone and my left wrist, which was swolen. Ack!

Monday, Dec 12th:
We met up with our new friend, Kristin, and her parents at Starbuck's in Dillon. We had arranged to follow them to Vail. The trip to Vail in our Chevy Aveo was pretty funny. On the up hills I had to floor it and the car would drop down into 2nd gear and rev like crazy, but pretty much not do anything. We arrived at Vail around 9:30 and Kristin, Brian and I made a few trips down the learning hill at the top to get our feet under us on the board.
We all seemed to be doing really well, however, Vail doesn't have many (any) good green trails for snowboarders. Pretty much all of them had a ton of Cat Trails on them, which means you have to take a foot out of the bindings and scoot your board till you get back to a downhill. Somewhere on the way down Brian took a huge spill and landed right on his tail bone. When he fell he screamed in pain and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was HIM screaming. Needless to say that put an end to our day of skiing. Brian wouldn't let me call the medics to come get him down, though, and he struggled down the mountain and ended up in the fetal position when we got to the bottom. So today was his turn to ice his tail bone.

We left Kristin and her family at Vail and made the drive back to the hotel and iced down our aching parts. Later on we headed to Kickapoo Tavern for dinner, and later on Kristin and her sistyer Corey met us there.
We had an awesome time sitting by the fire and chatting. Afterwards, we drove the girl's back to their condo, after briefly getting lost, and made our way back to the hotel.

Tuesday, Dec 13th:
Today we switched our snowboards in for skis so that we could rest our broken tailbones, and after a run down Schoolmarm, our favourite green, we explored the other side of the mountain. There are no green trails on the other side of the mountain, but we both felt very comfortable skiing the blue trails, though some of the blue trails seemed equivolent to the Black trails we had seen in Ruidoso. Our final run of the day was NO FUN though. We went down Wild Irishman, with the intention of meeting up with Toads, which was a green trail, because I wanted to do an easy run for my last run, however, Toads was closed for grooming and it turns out that the Wild Irishman was ALL MOGLES! ACK! not just a few on one side of the slope. No, the whole thing, for 2 miles, was MOGLES! I kept falling over and finally got pissed and threw off my skis and walked till it eventually met another trail that was smooth. After that we headed back to our hotel and Brian poured me a stiff Crown and Coke and we went to the hot tub. We met two guys from Nebraska in the hot tub. They were so much fun, and kept refilling our glasses with cheap whisky and coke. We must have stayed in there chatting to them for an hour or so before we decided to go in search of dinner.

For dinner we tried the Summit Seafood Company, which was conveniently located in our hotel. Brian had a steak because he doesn't eat fish, and I had the Crab Stuffed Sole, which was awesome!

Wednesday, Dec 14th:
This morning we traded in our skis and got snowboards for our final day of fun! On our first trip down Schoolmarm, however, Brian took a major tumble and pretty much ended his snowboarding career. At least for this trip. I took Brian back to the hotel and prepared him an ice pack and we ate lunch.
After lunch I headed out to the slopes by myself. My first run up started off on the wrong foot. The gondola stopped twice on the ascent and we were left hanging for several minutes. After about 2 minutes on Shcoolmarm, I took a tumble that ended my snowboarding career, too. While going toe side, meaning I had my back to the downhill, the back edge of my board caught and dumped me over so fast that my head hit the ground with some major force, enough to pop the lens right out of my glasses. As I laid there assessing the damage, I had to check to make sure I still had all my teeth. My head had hit with such force that my teeth made the most awful cracking sound. Fortunately, they were all intact. And thankully, I was wearing a helmet. I dread to think how that might have turned out without it. After about 5 minutes of laying there I opened my eyes and realized I was missing a lens. I spotted it about 10 feet away from me up the hill, but a snowboarder went right over it. I scooted up to where I had seen it and dug around a bit and retrieved it. I sat on the mountain for a good while collecting myself as people whizzed by me. Nobody stopped to ask me if I was ok. I found that disturbing. I took a picture from my landing site.
After that, I gingerly started going again but the pain in my head and tail bone were too much and I decided to call it a day. It took me quite some time and a few more falls to get down the mountain. After that fall, all of my snowboarding confidence had left me.

I returned to the hotel around 2:30 and Brian made me a stiff drink and I iced my tail bone.

At 3 we headed out to Lakeside Village for our Sleigh Ride. A bus took us to Keystone Ranch where a sleigh with two huge Belgian Horses were waiting for us. There were probably 10 people on the sleigh ride and it was freezing cold and snowing, but the sleigh was equipped with fleece blankets to keep us warm. The driver was extremely knowledgable about the horses and the sleigh ride took us to a very quaint area of the ranch where we got off the sleigh and had hot cider and pet the horses. The horses were beautiful, though I couldn't help but feel bad for them because it was SO cold. The driver assured me that they were fine with this weather, though.

After the sleigh ride, we headed back to our room to warm up and relax for a while, then headed out for dinner at The Goat. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and watched TV and relaxed our aching bodies.

Thursday, Dec 15th: Today we are returning home. We got up and had a leasurely morning of packing and taking final pictures. We took some shots from the Hottub by our room, and then headed down to the river to take some shots there. The snow machine on the slope adjacent to us was causing a very strange looking cloud to form. I guess technically Keystone resort was making its own weather.

After we checked out we headed to Dillon where there are factory outlets. We decided to do a little shopping before we left. On the way to the airport it looked like we might run out of gas. It got a little hairy for a while and we had to put the car in neutral and coast down the mountains. We finally came to a gas station just in time!

We had a long layover in Phoenix so we settled in at a bar and had a beer and some dinner before continuing to our final destination. Austin. Home sweet home! Our cats were SO happy to see us. I finally slept. For the first time in a week.

This was an absolutely awesome trip! we got a great deal on the flight, hotel, car, and ski rental. We learned that snowboarding is WAY cooler and more fun than skiing, and we got to spend 7 days together, just the two of us. Sigh. The pefect end to a really great year!

Winter's Here!

Finally! it's cold! Yesterday I met an English guy in the elevator. He said "blimey, this weather's mad! two days ago I was in shorts and today it's freezing!" and I said in my best southern drawl "welcome to Texas". It's so true. Here in Texas the weather seems to have mood swings. There's no gradual change to get you acclamated. BAM! it's cold. Two days from now it will be back in the 60's. You watch.
Anyway, with winter comes winter activities. Tomorrow Brian and I are heading out for our ski vacation to Keystone, Colorado. We arrive in Denver at about 10:30 am, and will take a rental car to the ski resort. We've already got our skis and snowboards rented, we have our lift tickets, and we're staying in an awesome hotel that is only a few yards away from the ski lifts. Tomorrow night we will get to do some night skiing. Then on Saturday we will take lessons in Snowboarding. We plan to try snowboarding for the whole weekend because it takes a while to learn and the slopes will be quite packed on the weekend. The good skiing starts on Monday, when the slopes will be less crowded.
In addition to skiing, we'll be soaking our aching bodies in the roof top jaccuzis and of course, spending time at the local pubs. There's also fun activities like snowbiking, and tubing down the slopes. We plan to do it all!

I hope to get good at snowboarding so I can hang with Mike when we go in January.

I just checked the mountain cam... it looks like a beautiful day! http://keystone.snow.com/mountaincamslg.asp?camera_id=4

Broken

It's so silly how your mind and your emotions catalog a date and on it's anniversary all the memories of that day come flooding back. It's like I have some weird chronological marker in my psyche that makes me, on the anniversary of a traumatic event, relive it. This week marks a year since Ember's passing. I can't even count how many times I've relived the events leading up to his final trip to the vet. I'd give anything to have had one more day, hour, minute with him. Every time I drive down Anderson Mill (which is almost daily), I relive the drive to the vet, Ember in my lap, me sobbing all over him, and Em was being so brave, even though he was in such pain. I remember the song on the radio. Broken, by Seether. I've never been able to hear that song without crying since then. This Friday is one year since that drive. Thankfully, I'll be completely distracted because we'll be traveling.

"Broken"

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
‘Cause I’m broken when I’m lonesome
And I don’t feel right when you’re gone away

You've gone away, you don't feel me here, anymore

The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There’s so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don’t feel like I am strong enough
‘Cause I’m broken when I’m lonesome
And I don’t feel right when you’re gone away

'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

You've gone away
You don't feel me here anymore