Room to breathe

The fact that my last diary entry was over 2 weeks ago is not an indication that I've tired of blogging. No. It's an indication that I have been a slave to work lately. On Friday, though, even though work was demanding, and timing was inappropriate, I took the afternoon off for a much needed retail therapy session with Barbie. It was awesome. We went to the new outlet mall in Round Rock, and spent entirely too much money at Banana Republic, Gap, Guess, and Papaya. I helped Barbie pick out several new and versitile options to "step it up a notch" in her professional image. Mission accomplished, Barbie, you looked great in your new clothes and definately polished and professional.
Despite the fact that work has snaked its way into my weekends in the form of "bug crawl" conference calls, I still feel like I've had a relaxing weekend, puncuated by some accomplishments in gardening, and quality time with friends. Brian and I finally finished operation "Cover up the fence". Not that it's covered, but it will be in a couple of years when things grow in. We added edging that pinned down the weed blocker and it looks damn good out there.
On Saturday evening we went to sushi with a small group of friends, followed by a movie at the Alamo - Talladega Nights.
This morning I took a much needed run on Town Lake with Jen. Much needed because I haven't seen her in way too long, and because I have been very remiss on my running schedule lately. Though I'm happy to report that I haven't lost my running mojo, it's just been on snooze for a while. Aside from some stomach cramping issues, I had a good run, and as always, great conversation.
This evening I'll go and watch my hubby play indoor soccer, followed by some quality time in front of the telly, and possibly some ice cream :-)

Anyway, I haven't fallen off the earth, I'm just busy. So to all of you who I've been unable to spend time with lately, just try to wedge yourself into my schedule here and there in the form of a quick lunch or stop n' chat. I miss my girls.

Quick mid-week update

Happy birthday to my wonderful mum on Tuesday 8/2. I'm glad you liked the pressie and I hope you had a wonderful evening.

Work is balls to the wall crazy. I don't even have time to pee. I'm constantly in meetings and have to multi-task because I have way too much to do to pay attention (companywide problem, it seems).

The HOA "improved" the land behind our fence by removing a giant mound of dirt. It looks shitty and as a result of said mound being removed we can now see the road through the fence. So we went to Red Barn yesterday to pick up plants to plant along fenceline to cover up the fence. Problem is that there's a lot of rock under ground here. So we got a pick-axe. I'm gonna go help my hubby smash some rocks now, followed by dance class this evening.

Exciting, isn't it?

Priceless

I just received a disk full of pictures from my Dad. This picture perfectly captures one of my favourite memories from our Domincan Republic trip. We had ended our girl's night with a skinny dip in the ocean, while my Aunt Glenys was "guarding" the clothes. Our boys came and stole our clothes right from under Glenys's nose and sent a bunch of spectators from the bar to come and look at all the naked chics. One of which was my mother! Notice that we are all wearing men's clothing, except for Marie, whose clothes were the only ones left behind in the heist. And best of all, Marie is protecting my virtue with her stick-on bra. Now that's a true friend!
What an awesome night and a great memory.

Great weekend and mid-week girl's night

The past weekend was wonderfully stress-free and filled with friends. On friday night we went to dinner and a move with Mike and Tara. You, me and Dupree. We raided Albertson's clearance on candy and snook it into the theatre. It was a funny movie, but what was more funny was Brian's very loud laughing throughout the movie. Satuday Brian took me on a romantic date for our 2 month anniversary. It's been the most wonderful 2 months of marriage, even the first few weeks where Brian had to do everything for me because I couldn't walk. I wouldn't change a thing.
On Sunday we spent most of the day on the lake. I went wakeboarding for the first time since my injury. I didn't attempt any jumps, but practiced fakies (where you turn the board so you're riding with the opposite leg in front). My ankle feels great and I am totally ready to get back into boarding!
After we put the boat away we headed home for an impromptu grilling. Brian made fajitas on the grill and everyone brought a little something to contribute. Erin made her amazing salsa and Dave brought a variety of very fattening, but delicious, ice cream bars.
We had video taped our day of wakeboarding so that we could see what we were doing wrong/right and hopefully improve our techniqes, so after dinner we watched the footage. Dave had rode my board with no bindings and had some really funny looking crashes. An awesome end to an awesome weekend.

Last night the girls and I headed to Ladies' night at Dallas night club. I'm not one to listen to country music, and I can't two-step, but the last time we went there was for Michelle's bachelorette party, which was 3 years ago. So it was time. We had an absolute blast! I loved the breaks in country music where they played hip/hop and dance music. We all got out and shook our asses and acted totally goofy. Nobody asked me to two-step, but Renee's cousin Mike and I taught eachother and did a pretty good job.

Sigh. I love my girls :-)

What happened in vegas....

We had a wonderful time in Vegas. Just in time to celebrate our 2 month aniversary! The heat was incredible. We had managed to land on the hottest day of the year. 112 degrees!

We met up with Kevin briefly on Saturday and Kev showed Brian how to bet on the horses and get free drinks. A very important detail for the Bauman brothers. On saturday night we had dinner at a swanky steahouse and then saw Folies Bergere. It was a typical Vegas show and very entertaining. On Sunday our day was a complete blur. We love the deli at NY NY, they have the best Pastrami! Sunday night we had the buffet at Aladdin, which was pretty good. A lot of variety, then we headed to Freemont street to see the light show, which was super cool. We spent some time in the casinos. I really like Freemont street. I like the atmosphere in the old casinos. They seem more relaxed and easy going. We played some Blackjack, but as an ex-dealer, I find it hard to play. We lost about $35 overall but I was entertained so it was worth it. We rode "The Deuce" back to our hotel, which was a fun experience, though it takes ages. I'd recommend the monorail instead.
On Monday we had breakfast in Venice and then met Kev at his hotel, which was at the extreme other end of the strip. We walked the whole way and it took us what seemed to be a very long time. We never did get a run in on this trip, but we walked far enough to compensate for it. We met Daurice (not sure about the spelling, so she's D from here on out), when she arrived at the hotel and quickly set off for the thrill ride "The Drive". It's not a typical thrill ride. It's a race track and off-road course. For $10 you can drive any 2 cars. High-end sports cars and SUVs such as Hummer. Brian was in his element. We all got in a Caddillac with him and he took us for a spin around the course. We were all amazed at Brian's driving skills. He really pushed the limits of the car and our nerves, but impressed the professional driver that was in the car with us. I drove a hummer over some really cool obstacles that you'd never imagine you could get over. At one point we were looking at the ground at an almost verticle angle from the driver's seat. Very, very cool.
D and I rode the rides on top of the Stratosphere, and made a couple of cute new friends, Adam and Shane, who couldn't have been older than 14. They opened doors for us and watched us on all the rides. Such nice young gentlemen. Monday evening we headed to Treasure island for the Sirens show, but sadly it got cancelled due to inclement weather. Incelment weather in Vegas? We went to the buffet in TI. It was awesome! way better than Aladdin. They had a sushi section and the sushi was actually good! didn't expect that.
After we left the buffet it was raining. We headed to Ceasar's Palace to see the Atlantis show and do a little browsing in the forum shops. We rounded off the night with a drink in Paris.
On Monday we met for breakfast in NY and headed to M & M world and a few souveneir shops to round out our trip.

1st town lake run

We had a great weekend. We had out usual happy hour on Friday, then on Saturday morning we went to Ethan's 3rd birthday party at Brushy Creek Park. Saturday afternoon I relaxed and watched a movie (rumour has it) while Brian watched footy (soccer to you Americans), waxed off some unwanted hair (thanks, Barbie), and cuddled with the cat. Saturday night we had an impromtu dinner date at Kobe Steaks.
On Sunday I went for my first run on town lake since my injury. It was wonderful to run and chat with Jen. I really missed her. And we did a 5 mile loop which is the longest I've ran since about May 13th! ACK! Brian did some wakeboarding while I relaxed at home and then did some retail therapy.
The maid's coming today, so of course we spent some time picking up clutter so she can actually clean rather than tidy :-)

4 days till Vegas! We're thinking we will go see Jubilee, and possibly Zumanity. I've seen 2 Cirque Du Soleil shows. I loved "O". Tickets are unreasonably high, though. Can't wait to see Kev and meet Dorise (sp?).

Do they have a 4th of July in England?

You'd be surprised how many times I've been asked "do they have 4th of July in England?". Well of course we do. Do you think we just wrote that date out of the calendar and go directly from 3rd to 5th? YES we have a July 4th. No, we do not celebrate America's independence from the British.
I'm glad we cleared that up.
This year's 4th of July weekend was, as usual, full of friends and BBQs and a new addition to the Bauman household... temporarily. On Friday night we headed downtown to Romeo's with Andi and Mike. Followed by a nightcap at the starlight lounge. Romeo's was pretty good, and we were so happy with our find of this tiny bar upstairs at Starlight, where there were couches and comfy chairs and conversation nooks all over the place, with just the right mood lighting and level of music. Andi and I tried wines we hadn't tried before. Very nice!

On Saturday, Mike and Tara dropped off our houseguest, Maverick. He stayed with us all weekend while they went to New Orleans for a spontanous trip. The cats were a little disturbed, especially Onyx. Nikki just freaked momentarily then went about her business like he wasn't there. On Saturday night we joined Nick and Kitty over at Jay and Erin's house for grillin' and drinkin'. They had just bought a new grill and wanted to break it in. I'm very fussy about my steak and I can't stand it overdone. It was delicious! Jay had some special seasoning made by a friend in his home town. It was top notch.
On Sunday we headed over to Bob's house for a pool party. Too many people to list here were there, though two people I didn't expect to see, Tracey and Erin were there. They had met Bob at the boat party last week and came to the pool party. That was a nice surprise. Two kegs later and a very drunk Brian, we happily headed home with Maverick, who had a wonderful time fetching the ball for anyone who would throw it for him.
On Monday Brian went to test drive cars with Nick, while I ran some errands and did some stuff around the house. Somewhere during the weekend we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to spend some gift cards and came home with a hammock and stand for the back yard. Late Monday afernoon we headed down south to Brian's friend Brett's wedding. It was in a catholic church somewhere of Wm. Cannon. Thankfully they cut most of the catholic stuff out and the ceremony only lasted 45 minutes. And I didn't burst into flames when I entered the church. That would have been awkward ;-)
The reception was held at Vintage Villas and was a lot of fun. I didn't know anyone there except for the bride and Joe and Terri, but by the end of it I had made many new friends and had a great time swing dancing with Joe. Afterwards, Joe, Terri, Brian and I headed to Carlos and Charlies to end the evening and ran into... you guessed it... Tracey! She is everywhere! We hung out with Tracey and her friends and also ran into Freddis, a guy I know from the elevator at work, who it turns out also knows Brian from indoor soccer, but didn't know we were married. Was pretty funny to see him put 2 and 2 together.
On Tuesday we had busy day, cleaning house, Brian did the front and back yards, our lawns look so good! he's been so dedicated to making the grass look good and it's really paying off. Tuesday evening we had a BBQ at our house. Skewers of beef and shrimp marinated in lime, olive oil, garlic and cilantro, and skewers of chicken marinated with Jamaican Jerk sauce. The food was awesome and I'm happy to say that Brian's grilling skills are coming along nicely. I made my famous guacamole and stole Erin's recipe for roasted potatoes, and Kerey brought a patriotic dessert of strawberry shortcake with blueberries. We finished off the night out in the back yard in the rain and it made my whole weekend complete to get soaked and watch fireworks against a backdrop of black clouds and lightening.

Happy independence day, y'all.

Death and rememberance

A friend and co-worker's father died yesterday. It wasn't completely unexpected, but painful for her nontheless. I'm not religous by any means, and I absolutely don't believe there's a heaven or hell, or that people's souls linger on after death and haunt us. What I do believe, though, is that people live on in our hearts and in our memories. They're never really gone as long as we remember them.

Whenever someone close to me passes away, I dedicate a tree or a plant to their memory. Each time I water it or prune it, or even pass by it, it reminds me of that person. As it grows and thrives, so does my memory of that person.

With this sentiment, I sent my friend a flowering bonsai. I hope she likes it.

First run

Last night I went for a run for the first time since my injury. 5 weeks of no running is taking it's toll on my body and my sense of well-being. We took a real easy jog for about 2 miles and I'm happy to report that my foot feels fine, though it doesn't feel the same as the left one. It feels different, but not painful. Can't put my finger on it.
Despite what my doctor said, I have been using the cross trainer at the gym to try and maintain my level of cardio fitness, but it's not the same, which became evident by the first 200 yards of the run. I felt more winded than usual, which is frustrating. But I'll get back up to 5 miles a day in no time.

Post-wedding thoughts

The boat party was so much fun! We had the perfect amount of booze, a little too many waters and soft drinks, though. I guess that tells us that our friends are BOOZERS! Rudy's did an awesome job of catering and we had only a small amount of leftovers, which we accidentally left out and Onyx enjoyed and then threw up near the door.
We're so happy with the way everything turned out for our wedding. It was as far from tradition as you can get, which is why it was easy, stress free planning. It was simple and beautiful and my dream of marrying my soul mate barefoot on a white sandy beach was fulfilled. The reception was an amazing spread of food and the only decision I had to make was chocolate or vanilla cake. I didn't have to stress over napkin rings or centerpieces, not that I would anyway because I'm not that detail oriented. Our wedding reception was just a boat party on beautiful Lake Travis where all of our friends could eat, drink, and relax.
We saved thousands of dollars by not doing a traditional wedding, and the money we saved will go towards traveling and enjoying our life together, in particular, our honeymoon in Asia in September.
With our wedding behind us and a bright future ahead of us, I feel like these last few years have been the happiest in my life, and I'm optomistic that it will continue this way for a very long time.

Post-haircut

I went to Ann Kelso, purely because I had a gift certificate from Brian from V-day. I wasn't intending to use it on a haircut but I got desperate. I probably won't go back. Though the stylist did give me something very similar to the picture I showed him, he cut the top layer WAY too short. So yet again, I get to grow out another haircut into something more acceptable to me.

I'm underwhelmed to say the least. It's not as bad as my last one, though. And it doesn't look bad. I guess it's because I'm a perfectionist when it comes to expressions of creativity and I believe that a haircut is an opportunity to make someone looke their best. It's an opportunity to create a haircut that takes full advantage of the texture of the hair, and not cause the wearer to have to fight against it to get the cut to lay properly. I swear I'm going to an Asian next time. I see all these Asians at the sushi bars and they have hair JUST like mine and they always have the best haircuts.

Frustrated! DAMN you Deakins for you awful straight and limp hair! Why couldn't I have gotten my mother's hair? HUH? is it too much to ask?

Hair cut?

It's that time! I've tried growing my hair, and when it gets to my shoulders I realize how I hate my hair long. It's thin, and it's straight. Not straight like most peoples. No, I'm afflicted with the kind of straight hair that if I didn't put a round brush on it, I'd be sporting that cocaine chic looks that was so popular in the late 90s, but with an extra 20lbs.

Looking at pictures it seems that my hair looks best just below chin length. So I guess I'll just go with that again.

I've given up going to my regular hair stylist because I got a bad haircut last time. It's been since March of 2005 since my last haircut, unless you count the times I've cut it myself, which is at least 3 times.

I hate going to the hairdresser. I think I'd rather go to the gynacologist than the hairdresser.

About Beckham....

"you throw him down and I'll sit on his face"

Can you guess which one of my girl friends said that?

Yay for the gym

I've been able to resume a somewhat normal workout routine at least with regard to weights. Tonight Brian and I are going out for a walk to see how I do. If I do ok, then I can try the cross trainer at the gym.
Monday night was fun. Brian had a few people over for world cup watching. Typical scenario when sports are playing, unless it's Longhorn football, is the girls drinking wine and chatting around the table, while the men scratch themselves, eat whatever's in front of them, and yell at the TV. We had a great night though.
Last night Brian took me for my favourite food, sushi. I had Spicy Tekka Don, which is raw tuna over a bed of sushi rice, covered with a spicy sauce. Very good. I also had sushi on Monday with Jack. mmmmmmm.... sushi.
We're heading to Houston on Saturday to spend some time with the in-laws, and of course celebrate Father's Day. I'm missing a very awesome sounding party on Saturday night. I hope there's a hidden camera in the champaign room ;-)

Irrefutable evidence

After receiving the pics from Daz and Mel's camera (Thanks you two), I've discovered irrefutable evidence that I did, indeed, injur myself during a trapeze incident, and not during snorkeling as my husband would have everyone believe ;-)

There are pictures from Thursday night's hen party that, upon close inspection, reveal a swollen ankle and discolouration of the foot. We didn't go snorkelling until Friday morning. One mystery solved. There is another mystery, though... how come I didn't feel it until Friday afternoon? Maybe it wasn't so bad and the snokelling aggrevated it. Maybe it was dulled by the tequila. I didn't discover the damage until I was shaving my legs in the shower, at which point I said "OMG! I have a CANKLE!!"

Foot update

I'm off the crutches!! yay! I was a little sad after I saw the doctor, though, because she said I can't do ANY cardio for 2 months. I can't even do the cross trainer or recumbent bike. I have to wear a brace in my shoe (no cast because it's too restrictive), which means I can only wear running/athletic shoes. That's gonna look good at J and E's wedding this weekend :-( She said I can only walk, no running, and not to even try running for 2 months.
Yesterday I went to the gym to work out for the first time since the injury. I did upper body, abs, and was actually able to comfortably do hamstrings and quads, so I guess it's better than nothing.

My hubby (eeee!) has been so wonderful through all this. When I was on crutches he did everything around the house, fetched things for me, fed me, watered me, pushed me around the grocery store and Cosco in a wheelchair, drove me everywhere, and rubbed my calf every night. It really sucks to lose your independence, but he made it bearable. I have to also give credit to my wonderful brother, Kev, who called Brian to tell him that Bath and Body Works was having a huge sale and it would probably cheer me up if he took me shopping. Which he did last night.

I still can't drive yet, but at least I can walk so now I can actually contribute to household chores. Today I'm going in to the office for the first time in many weeks. I do like working from home but I need to see my boy, Jack. I missed him.

Argh!

Rant:
I'm SO sick of being on crutches!!! I can't do anything for myself. I can't even make a cup of tea and take it to the coffee table! It's getting REALLY old!
The good news is that the bruising is now turning to a nice green and yellow, the purple and black areas are now only purple so that's progress, and it hasn't swollen up in a few days, probably because I'm staying off it. I have an appointment on Monday (it shoud be Thursday but I'm too impatient to wait) to see if I can get a cast so I can fricking walk on it!

I'm so bummed out. No running for 2 months. How am I going to live?

Mr. & Mrs. Brian Bauman present....

For your viewing pleasure....

Click here for Wedding pictures

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Wedding, etc...

We're back from the Dominican Republic. We're hitched. It was the most perfect wedding I've ever been to, of course ;-)
A few minor setbacks including an injury and a jellyfish sting, but it truly was the best day of our lives. Our wedding pictures are amazing.
I'm still in "Island mode" and can't quite bring myself to write up a blog on the whole experience because there's SO MUCH to say. But I will... soon. So stay tuned.

The cats are happy to see us. Big thank you to Jenn and Tiff for all they did for us while we were gone.

it's wakeboarding season...

...and with it comes a brand new boat to play in!

Mike, Tara and I headed for the lake on Tuesday after work. Poor Brian was stuck at work so he didn't get to go. I was expecting the water to be freezing, but it was a balmy 74 degrees! And given that the heat index was 101 degrees yesterday, the water was refreshing. Mike taught me how to drive the boat for wakeboarding, and return to the boarder when he's down without running them over, which is kinda important.
I was rather timid my first time out on the board. I felt stable and confident with riding my board, but doing fakies was a little hairy at first. I got it in the end, but it'll take me a few runs to get my confidence from the end of last season up. I could very nearly clear the wake last season... This season's goal... clear the wake, smooth landing on the other side. After I master that, then I'm going for a wake-clearing jump with a fakie combo. Yea, I'm a badass, it's ok. You can say it :-)

Brian's in Houston for the next 3 days for the Grand Prix. He's super excited! All the cars he's really interested in are racing and he's got excellent seats and is armed with out new camera. The cats and I will spend the next few days chillin' around the house (well, mostly them since I'll be working). I miss Brian already :-(

Tick... tick...tick...

After a brief freak out last week things are calm... at least with regard to our trip to the Dominican Republic. It's too late to worry if I've forgotten to take care of something. Only fun stuff left to do, like shop. Speaking of shopping, Brian and I got a new camera yesterday. Same brand as our old one, Canon. I like Canon's small digital cameras, but for an SLR I prefer Nikon. No reason, other than I own a few Nikons and lenses, therefore if I got a D70 for xmas (hint, hint), I'd already have lenses that work with it :-) Cameras make me happy.
Work has been stressing me out. This week I need to just focus on making sure nobody needs me while I'm away. And try not to think about the massive amounts of email that await me when I return.
In other good news, if the weather doesn't turn south I might get a chance to fly on my wakeboard today. eeeeeeeeeee!

Gaaaaaaaaaah!

It's only 12 days until we leave for the Domnican Republic. I keep getting this naggin feeling that I've forgotten something, and it's freaking me out because we've ran out of time to fix it. All the superficial stuff is set, things that don't really matter, like groomsmen shirts, dresses, etc... if we forget to take those the world won't end and the wedding will go on... but this nagging feeling is more about paperwork or some detail that will either prevent us from getting there, or prevent someone important to us to get there, or prevent the wedding alltogether. I'm sure it's just nerves, and I'm trying to just ride it out... maybe I need a checklist.

Recurring dreams are getting worse. The one where I lose my luggage or miss my plane/bus/boat. The only silver lining to this is that at least I'm actually getting into REM sleep. I've woken up feeling well rested the last 2 days.

Congrats to J and A

Congratulations Jen and Aaron!

The wedding was wonderful, and Jen was the most gorgeous bride I've ever seen! Brian and I had a great time in El Paso hanging out with friends and meeting Jen and Aaron's family.

Big exciting weekend

This weekend my friends Jen and Aaron are getting married! We're flying to El Paso, Texas to go to the wedding. There isn't much to do in El Paso, but that's ok because most of our time will be spent on wedding stuff anyway. Being a bridesmaid makes things really easy because I didn't have to frantically search for an outfit to wear :-)

In other news, this week has been a bit hectic, especially for Brian who put in several very long days in a row due to work commitments. But the end of the tunnel is approaching.

A quick update on the lawn: it's green (Yay!) but we're not exactly sure what the green stuff is. It's not St. Augustine, and it's not Bermuda. It must be a weed, but whatever. It's green so we'll keep it. It looks nice when mowed.

Last night we went to the Clay Pit for dinner with Amy and Gary. We ordered three wonderful dishes: Lamb Vindaloo, Karoos-e-tursh, and Seafood in Garlic and Wine sauce. All were REALLY good, though we all agreed that next time we'd kick it up a notch on the spices. After dinner we headed to Donn's Depot where we met up with Barbie, Michelle, and Brian. Our friends Michael and Craig (Murphy's Inlaws) were playing and previously they had given me much crap about them not meeting Brian yet. So last nighth I satisfied the requirement that my "uncles" meet him before we marry. They liked him, but then who doesn't?

oh, and yesterday I had a mini freak out because upon a little investigation, it turns out we didn't have a flight back from the Dominican Republic. Due to some rescheduling by the airline the DR -> miami portion of our trip was dropped!! it's all sorted now. On the bright side of that, if we had to be stuck some place with no flight, the Dominican Republic is not too shabby.

"All's well that ends well, that's what I say" ~ Wallace.

Geeky Big News!

Brian has become the newest developer to receive commit rights to Eclipse's PDE component. I know it means absolutely nothing to most of you unless you're completely nerdy... But rest assured that this is quite a very nice achievement!

Thanks to our wonderful friend, Wassim, Brian's picture and announcement of his achievement is front page of Planet Eclipse: http://planet.eclipse.org/planet/

Congratulations, Brian!!!

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.