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....

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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!