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.