Leg work with Larry

So I was at the gym yesterday, just trying to get through my weights work out as fast as possible. I was almost done and was on the leg press machine when this guy in a weight belt came over and said "can I give you a tip?". I'm not one to refuse helpful hints so of course I welcomed the information. So this guy repositions me on the machine and makes me do 10 reps. Yea, that's more difficult. I'm gonna feel this tomorrow. So then this guy, who then introduces himself as Larry, offered to show me some other exercises that would maximize my limited time at the gym and help me get the sculpted ass that all women want. How can I refuse that??

So Larry takes me over to the squat machine. The one where you lift the dumb bell but it's on a track, so you can't drop it or get stuck under it. And he shows me the right way to use it. Positioning me just so, and boy! did I feel it! Then he showed me an exercise for my calfs, and then how to use the leg press machine properly, and then an exercise on the ball that is damn near impossible, that he made look super easy. Oh, and then that awful torture machine that does the hip abductors. Yea. I'd been doing that wrong this whole time. And 5 minutes doing those machines the right way is like spending 30 minutes doing it the way I had been!

So 30 minutes later, I was sweating like a hog, and had a fabulous work out with some random guy at the gym who used to be a personal trainer. It turns out he works for IBM now. Small world. Larry offered to show me any machine I liked whenever I was at the gym. How lucky is that? people pay lots of money for that kind of help at the gym!

So I know you're thinking that this guy was probably trying to get into my pants. That's the first thing Brian thought, too ;-) but actually he's married and mentioned his wife and kid on numerous occasions during our workout. He was genuinely just helping me because he was a nice person. How refreshing is that?

Party like a rock star!

Jeezus! I've been eating like crap over the last couple of days. I feel the need to confess all the bad food I've eaten, or booze I've drank. I'm embarassed, but I feel like if I confess, I can start today with a clean slate. On Thursday I ate a Wendy's chicken sandwich, fries, and a 1/4 of a vanilla frosty. And I had 2 glasses of wine. On Friday, I ate a molten chocolate lava cake and vanilla ice cream for dinner. On Saturday I ate a fried egg sandwich at Waterloo and on Saturday night I had vietnamese noodles, 1 wine, 2 beers, 2 cosmopolitans, and 1 dirty martini, followed by a slice of Roppolo's pizza at 1:30 in the morning, and THEN fries from Whataburger on the way home. I obviously need to go to the gym today!
Brian's in Houston this weekend, and I spent all day saturday with friends. I had a great day. It included a huge amount of greasy food, booze, and shopping. What more could a girl want? Fabulous ass jeans! that's what. I bought a pair of jeans from Buckle. There is nothing more satisfying than a pair of jeans that make a woman actually like her booty.

Pfft! I knew that!

So now I can tell people that my singing in the car is just my way of expressing how intelligent I am....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

7 miles of fun

My run on Sunday was awesome. Andi and I did a 7 mile loop and it seemed quite effortless. When we were done, we both felt like we hadn't ran 7 miles. During our runs, we solve the world's problems. At least those problems in our world. Ok, maybe not solve them. But definately share them and the old saying "a problem shared is a problem halved" really seems to hold true. I always feel lighter after a good run. In both senses ;-)

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel at work now. And only 2 weeks until we leave for our honeymoon. A few days ago, the field guide for my new Nikon arrived. It's extremely helpful. I feel all the stuff I learned about photography so many years ago (thank you, Mark) flooding back when I read it. And today my new Nikon 70-300mm lens arrived! I've read great reviews about the lens, and the only negative is that it searches for a while in low light. Easily remedied by flipping it to manual control and focusing yourself.

It's not like me to be proactive and a planner when I take a trip. I usually like to just figure it out as I go, so it might suprise people to learn that for this trip I put together what is now a 12 page document, complete with all the embassy information in each country we will visit, and things to do based on my internet research on frommers.com, fodors.com, and lonelyplanet.com, and of course suggestions from people who've been there. The reason I'm putting so much effort into it is because I don't want to waste a moment of our time their trying to figure out how to get around or where to go, or what to do. One of the things I'm most excited about is the food. I love Asian food. At least America's rendition of it. I can't wait to sample the real thing, though.

14 days and counting down.....

White and Nerdy

Weird Al's version of Camillionaire's "Riding" is so funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw

Random thoughts

Only 3 weeks until we go on our trip. In preparation, we ordered me a wedding ring. Just a plain band so that I don't have sparkly, come mug me and cut my finger off written on my forehead during our travels. It arrived yesterday and I like it a lot. I also ordered a new zoom lens for our new digital Nikon, which is totally badass, by the way! I ordered a 70-300mm Nikkor lens from Amazon.com. It got great reviews and I can't wait to try it out.
I used the camera and the 18-55mm that came with the camera last weekend when we went wake boarding. The autofocus is extremely fast! I got some awesome shots of Mike doing jumps at 2 frames per second! you do not miss a thing with this camera! Speaking of wakeboarding, I managed to face plant twice. The first one knocked the snot out of me and pulled me right out of my bindings. We captured some good footage of Brian so that we can see what he needs to change to make it all the way across the wake.
This weekend I finished up the floor tiling project in the upstairs loft closet. It looks a million times better and smells better, too.

This weekend has been full of friends, as always. Friday we did happy hour at Mesa Rosa, followed by Donn's Depot. Brian was pretty wasted from the two massive 'rita's at happy hour, which made for a very entertaining time. Saturday night we tried a new place for burgers - Casino El Camino on 6th. Don't recommend the burgers, but it's definately an interesting place for people watching. On Sunday we grilled with friends.

Brian's been playing a lot of football (soccer to you yankies). He's playing on 3 different teams. 2 indoor teams and one regular. Tara and I went to watch 2 of his indoor games on Sunday night.

I'm considering going back to martial arts and learning an internal form - Tai Chi. I noticed during my run on Sunday morning that Andi is way more flexible than me and I used to be way more flexible than I am now when I was going to Kung Fu. It's not good to be so stiff. So after we get back from our honeymoon, I plan to check out my old school's (Shaolin Do) Tai Chi program. I think it will also be good for me mentally as well as physically.

As for running, I've done a couple of 7 mile runs. I have absolutely no desire to run a marathon this year. I might consider the half marathon, though, because I love training for a half and there are some great races for that distance in Austin.

Tonight I have a hot date with Barbie to go see the new Jackass movie. I imagine we're going to be completely grossed out!

Tomorrow I'm volunteering at Goodwill, where I will be dismantling computers and salvaging parts. Sounds like a nerdy and fun time!

Thailand

Well, we met with our wonderful travel agent today to discuss options for our honeymoon in the wake of the much hyped-up coup in Thailand. It seems that things returned to normal within hours of the military taking over, and tourists and locals alike are unconcerned. We weighed our options and have decided to continue with our honeymoon as planned. Which makes me extremely happy because the main reason for us choosing this intinerary was because of my fascination with Thailand.
So our honeymoon pictures might have tanks in them, and that's kinda cool. I've read reports that the military were very friendly to tourists and would pose for pictures, so I hope to get some good photo opportunities.

Mum and Dad, I know you're probably concerned for our safety, and rest assured that we will take any and all measures to ensure we don't get into any trouble or bad situations. Plus, you know my big strong hubby will protect me :-) Here are a few links to read that might put your mind at ease:
http://www.visiting-asia.com/asia/thailand/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293920-i5037-k798193-l4884159-Phuket.html#4884159

So YIPEEEE! We're back on!

In other news, work is still stressing me out, and one very minor health issue has arisen, but a blissful home life with the cats and hubby help keep my stress level manageable.

Amanda out.

HoneyDoom?

Brian and I are so excited about our upcoming honeymoon to Southeast Asia. However, recent developments have thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. Due to the coup in Thialand, and specifically Bangkok, which is to be our first city to visit, we might have to consider other options. Our travel agent is investigating our options now. So of course, we're still going on our trip, we just might have a different city than Bangkok on the itinerary. Travel advisories from the embassies are urging people to reconsider their travel plans, but I've been reading many news articles and tourist reports that say otherwise.
So I guess we'll wait for a few more weeks and see how this thing shakes out. I won't be too mortified if we have to spend 3 extra days in Bali, though :-)

Remembering

You never recover from the loss of a loved one. Even a pet. Things that happen around you remind you of them. For me, Onyx serves as a constant reminder of my beloved Ember. Every day I see her display a mannerism that is like Ember's and for a split second I see him. It makes me smile because he's still alive in my heart. There are other times, though, when the memory makes me cry. Like today. A friend's precious dog just lost the fight for life and she had to make an awful decision to let go. And as I followed the progress and hoped for good news, I relived every moment of Ember's last few days. And when I read the news that her sweet doggie had gone, I became a bawling, snot-covered, tear-stained mess. Crying both for her, because I know how she must be feeling, and for me because the memory is still so fresh in my mind, even after almost 2 years.
Just the other day, I was talking to my mum about pets and she still hasn't recovered from Tootsie, our first cat that we got when I was 5. Tootsie died when I was 23.
Even after 2 years, I stil can't talk about my Ember without coming dangerously close to crying. Even when I'm recalling great memories.
I sometimes wonder if it's worth opening your heart to a pet when I think about all the sadness when you lose them, but then I remeber all the joy Ember gave me, and all the joy I get from kissing the top of the sweet kitty heads and rubbing those soft kitty bellies of Nikki and Onyx every day, and I realize it's more than worth it.

Going back to my roots....

Literally. Last night I changed my hair colour from it's usual red to a brown very close to my natural colour. Semi-permanently, of course. Red is so yesterday.

In other news, I think I'm developing an ulcer. I've been pushed over the edge of my stress tolerance over the last couple of days, to the point where I feel physically sick. I am now unable to politely simmer inside while outwardly maintaining an ever so nice and patient facade, which is so very English. No, instead I'm given to short outburts of indignation, incredulousness, and then physical fury. I have become a New Yorker.

My new mantra: "Seriously! What the fuck???"

Current mood: PISSED OFF

The weeks are just flying!

It's been a rough week at work. Someone who I need to be able to rely on has let me down again. I'm not surprised, though. Just disappointed. I find myself constantly having to figure out a way out of a resource hole because the project isn't appropriately funded. It's testing my patience and my problem solving skills. Fortunately, there are some members of my team that I can always count on and that's what keeps me going to work every day :-) Anyway, enough work drivel! What have I been doing with myself over the last week or so?
Last weekend was Labour Day weekend and we had Friday and Monday off, which was much needed and ever so nice! We threw a party on Friday night for Jen, who turned 30 and fabulous! We had so much fun! we grilled fajitas, drank magaritas, and opened my special brew of Mamajuana (it's a drink from the Dominican Republic) that I've been tweaking over the last 3 months. It was perfect. Tasted exactly like we remembered it from the D.R. And despite the fact that most attendees at the party were in their 30's or approaching, we still managed to not go to bed until 4am!
Saturday was spent recovering from the night before. Not that I was majorly hung over, but I didn't get much sleep and my stomach was a bit dodgy the next day. Brian headed over to Terri and Joe's for a BBQ while I laid on the couch recovering. I did start to feel better and completely lazy around 6pm so I went for a run. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't think it was such a good idea! Saturday night, my wonderful husband took me out for a date. Dinner and a movie. Dinner was at some Mexican restaurant on I35 I've been wanting to try, then we saw the movie "Crank". It didn't have much of a plot, and I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but Jason Statham is hot, and there is a lot of gratuitous naked arse, and if there's one thing Jason is good for, it's a nice bum shot. Ok, so I have a crush on him. What's not to like? he's got a smokin' body, an awesome ass, and an English accent [droooooooool]. So thank you, Brian, for indulging my silly crush :-)
Since this was such a long weekend and we were in town, I felt I couldn't let an opportunity for DIY to slip by, so Brian and I replaced the flooring in the downstairs and one upstairs bathroom on Sunday and Monday. We had one small misshap when we were tiling around the toilet and Brian accidentally tried to give me a nose job with his foot! no real damage, just a little painful for a few days, and I think he actually straightened my nose out. There used to be a bump on the right side that seems to have disappeared since the incident. The bathrooms look so much better! We have one more bathroom and a small closet to do and we'll be done with our floor replacement project.
Monday evening was spent with friends in the traditional holiday weekend manner, grilling and stuffing our faces.
In other news, our new camera should have been shipped today. Brian got a great deal on it and almost $100 off the price because we used a coupon and credit card points. I'm now reading John Hedgcoe's book of photography to brush up on my mad photography skillz in preparation for our amazing honeymoon.
Even though this has been a short week at work, I'm so happy that it's friday. Today I met with Danna over lunch and we went for pedicures. My toenails look so pretty with the pink polish and little white daisies! Very much needed girly time. Now if only I could find a massage therapist to work this burning knot out of my shoulder!

Honeymoon!

We booked our honeymoon! We have the best travel agent. She is putting together a list of things to do and places to visit in each country, and of course advice on where to shop, what things cost, etc. I have been so impressed with all my dealings with Tramex travel.

Here's what our trip looks like:
Austin - LA - Hong Kong - Bangkok (this is going to be a long 2 days.)
3 nights at the Marriott Royal Spa and Resort
Tour of the city on day 2

Bangkok to Singapore
3 nights at the Shangri la Hotel
Tour of the city on day 2

Singapore to Denpasar, Bali
4 nights at the Bali Hilton
Tour of city on day 2
2 days on the beach :-)

Bali to Hong kong
3 Nights at the Harbour Plaza
Tour of city on day 2

Hong Kong -LA - Austin

We're so excited!

Weekend Camera Shopping

The weekend, as usual, passed by in a blur. I'm happy to say, though, that work did not infiltrate this one. Crunch time is over for now and things are back to a normal schedule. We spent our weekend with friends, including some lake time, discovered a new (to us) restaurant downtown, and attended a friend's birthday party at a bar downtown.
Brian did his husbandly duty on Sunday and changed the oil in both our cars while I went for a great run on town lake with the girls. Later on we went shopping for a new SLR camera. I've discovered that things that look like a good deal online at first glance, are not when you look a little closer. For example, the camera I'm looking at is selling at one retailer for about $500, which seems like an awesome price for this particular camera and lens, however, on closer inspection, it turns out they're holding the battery and charger ransome for $129 and $179, respectively. Which makes it actually more expensive than if I just ent to Ritz or Best Buy.
I've lost a couple of Ebay auctions for a camera and 2 lenses, which on closer inspection was a good thing because it turns out to be a factory floor model, and the warranty is only for 90 days, as opposed to the 1 year warranty on the new one.
Another thing I've learned is that Nikinions.org and Photo.net forums are full of friendly and helpful people who know a lot about photography. I'm so excited to get back into the art of photography. I mean, my trusty Canon digital is a perfectly good camera, and takes awesome pictures, but nothing beats the feeling of a nice Nikon SLR in your hand.

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.