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

Note:
You will need to register to view the pictures.

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.