back from Minnesota

I spent a couple days in Minnesota this week - my company threw a party for our numerous guests out there and a bunch of us were able to go and have a good time. I got up at the ripe hour of 4:15am Tuesday morning and headed to the airport, with luggage, purse, and laptop in hand. Our direct flight was very easy, (I was a little nervous, after watching a few plane crashes over the last couple of weeks) we landed safely on the ground on time. We gathered up our team (14 of us!) and headed over to our new office.

Once there, my wonderful supervisor had bagels and coffee ready to go. I was able to do some work before having to set up for the party, which was good that I didn't lose an entire day of work.

The party started at 3:30 with a tour of the new office, then we headed to some presentation that discussed the impact of the economy on our businesses. Very interesting. Then it was time to eat, drink and be merry!

Clients were happy, had a good time and said some really nice things about us. (Phew!) Even though my one client was incredibly inappropriate the entire time (I don't think she has many friends), it was a good time! I'm so glad I was able to "bond" with her on a social level. Definitely helps the professional relationship.

The party ended abruptly at 9:00pm CST, and our team headed to the bar for some more drinks and some more food! (Have I mentioned lately how much I love my company!?) We got back to our hotel rooms around 11:00 CST, so it was time for bed. At this point, I had been up for 19 hours! Wow...I was surprised I actually hung in there!

The next morning, we promptly left the hotel at 8:15 and headed to the office to do some work before heading to the airport at 9:30. Got some work done, said buh-bye to my fellow co-workers and headed back en route to Rochester. We made it to Detroit on time and got to our gate and made it back to Rochester safely and on time again. Props to easy traveling.

Got home, hung out with Steve for a little bit, waited for Nick to come into town and then headed to the auto show. We saw some amazing cars there and had a good time! Today is my Friday too. Steve has the day off tomorrow and Nick is coming back into town from California tomorrow morning, so I decided to take the day off and hang with them.

So, I'm trying to get through today and then 3 day weekend here I come!

Wedding updates: I was finally able to ask Jami to be a bridesmaid! OMG I have been waiting for MONTHS to be able to ask her and she said yes! Steve and I took Kyle, Jami, and Korin out to Cheesecake Factory last Friday to a) ask Kyle and Jami to be in our wedding and b) thank them for saying yes. We knew it'd be a little expensive to treat everyone, but in all reality, they are going to be sacrificing and spending some money to be in our wedding too, so we thought it'd be a nice gesture to treat them. Kyle also said yes, no surprise there! It was really fun asking them. Steve is going to ask Nick to be his best man too sometime this weekend...I can't wait!

We also put our deposit down for the DJ. One more thing to cross off my list. Yay!

Valentine's Day

We don't normally do anything outrageous for Valentine's Day. We never have. We generally do a simple card and I get some flowers and chocolate.

This year I asked Steve if there was something particular he wanted, and he replied "meatballs and sauce" (I have to get used to this answer, considering I'm about to marry an Italian man!) So I started my grocery list right away of all the stuff I'd need. You see, Grandpa Teenie's meatballs and sauce are special, very special and therefore needs special ingredients. I got up Saturday morning knowing that I'd be battling the crowds at Wegmans. I try not to go to Wegmans on the weekends, knowing how insane it can get. Or, I go when I don't have plans that day, so I can spend my time fighting for space in the aisles, finding the picked over items that I desperately need, etc. This Saturday though, I was on a mission.

I spent two hours at Wegmans and made it home by 11:00am. I started cooking right away. The meatballs and sauce taste so much better after it's been cooking for a few hours. I spent the next 3 hours leisurely making about 150 meatballs and like 14 gallons of sauce (ok, maybe not that much, but a lot!) I was going to try to make it to Michael's and Target, but I'll have to tackle those later in the week.

Steve had to work until 5pm, so that gave me plenty of time to get ready. I picked up a card and chocolate truffles and two movies. We planned on keeping it very low key. Just the way I like it. Steve made it home and we snuggled in to our movie time. We watched Wall-E (AWESOME) and The Strangers (not awesome at all). I have to say, the food was awesome as well, I wasn't sure if I had nailed the taste, but Steve said it was so close, he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference! That made me super happy, to be able to make these dishes the way Grandpa did.

Steve bought me roses, chocolate and a card. I love his cards. I love how he takes the time to write stuff in them. I keep them all in my "Steve box" that I have upstairs...it's getting full, but I hope to go back in that box when we're 90 and look back on our old memories.

Then Sunday, I got up early and hopped on the treadmill. I was showered and ready to rock by 9:30am. Korin and Jaime were coming over at 11:30 to go to bridal show together. It was held at Casa Larga, which was cool, but there were SO many people there! It was unbelievable! You have to register before going, and it seemed like they registered far too many people. As soon as we walked in, we got bombarded with vendors trying to talk to us. It was quite overwhelming, but good at the same time. I have already booked most of the services that vendors were there for. I already booked the florist, so I didn't need to stop at that booth. Same thing for venues, DJ, dresses etc. It was a good time though and we signed up for another show on March 15.

We're booking our DJ this week and sending in our $75 deposit. One more thing to cross off the list!

3 pounds

Finally. I've lost 3 pounds. This 3 pounds have been gone since Wednesday night. After all the complaining I did about not seeing any results. This is just a teaser. My pants definitely feel looser, the pants that have never felt loose, feel loose. This is good. Just. Gotta. Keep. It. Up. If things continue to go how they are going, I should be reaching my goal weight by May. Just in time for our engagement photo session, my boudoir pics and summer!

I'm also going to be trying this ACAI berry drink. It's supposed to be this new super food if you will. Loads of antioxidants, and all that good shit. It's supposed to help with skin issues, metabolism, energy, etc. Let's see how it goes. I have one bottle that will last me about 1.5 weeks. If I like the taste, I'm going to buy a case that should last me a month.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I'm cooking sauce and meatballs for Steve. Then I think we're going to rent a movie and hang out.

Sunday I'm going to a bridal show at Casa Larga with Korin - who by the way asked me to be in her wedding! I'm so excited that I get to share this journey with her! Her wedding isn't until October 2011, but we've been friends for life, so we know we'll always be there for each other. I can't wait to go through this with one of the most amazing, selfless people I know. It's going to be great sharing ideas, destressing each other etc. We need each other. Her fiance is going to Iraq soon and will be home at the end of this year, that's partially why they want to wait until 2011...so as soon as he gets home it's not "ok, now you're back, let's plan this wedding!" It'll give them a chance to live together as a couple and be "engaged" together before they get married.

So many things going on in the near future! I love it!

Progress?

I'm on week #4 with the treadmill. I haven't lost any weight, but my scale probably isn't the best. I want to go this weeked to buy a digital scale.

I'm not discouraged...yet...but I swear, I better see some results soon. Do my pants fit better? Yes, a little. Do I have more energy? Yes, I have to say I do. But honestly, I wanted to lose about 1 pound per week...and I haven't. I've been watching what I eat, not snacking as much etc. but it doesn't seem to be helping! I know, losing weight isn't something that happens quickly, but seriously? 3 full weeks and NO results?

Instead of going by pounds, I've been told to get a tape measure and do it by inches.

I'm going to up the ante. I'm going to stop treadmilling every other day and start doing it every day. I'll give myself a break on the weekends, but I'm going to start doing it Monday through Friday. And I'm going to go out and buy some DVDs on weight lifting so I can add that into my routine as well. I don't want to bulk up until I've gotten to my goal weight, so I don't get discouraged by gaining muscle weight.

Hopefully the next weight update will be good news. I have to do it. I'm getting boudoir photos taken in Spring for Steve. I have to look good. We're going to Bora Bora for our honeymoon. I have to be able to wear a bikini.

I think we've decided on our honeymoon. Really.

We've gone back and forth with ideas on where to go for our honeymoon. The most rational idea is to go to Hawaii since my Aunt Vivian owns a condo there. We'd be able to spend 1 week at her condo free of charge, then hop on over to another island and stay there for about a week or so.


But then...Steve mentioned how he wanted to "splurge" - like really splurge. He mentioned Bora Bora. It's been an idea floating in our heads for a couple months now, but I think we're really going to do it. We are pinching our pennies and hoping for the best. Now that it's in our heads though, we don't want to settle for anything less. It's going to be expensive. We know that. But we also know that we will probably never be able to take a vacation like that again.

I looked online recently to see what types of packages they offer and found a 11 day, 10 night honeymoon deal. 4 nights in Moorea, 3 nights in Bora Bora, and 3 nights in Manihi (all in those awesome huts!) There are little additions you can add to your package, like a private sunset cruise, private dinner on the beach, etc. I'm getting so excited looking at all of this! I even looked at flights (for THIS May because, well, 2010 calendars aren't out yet). I'm thinking though, if we book early enough and use a travel agent, we might be able to shave some costs off of what I researched. We might be able to get some kind of deal. We'll see.

a few wedding updates

I'm sure I've mentioned that we'll be visiting Casa Larga this weekend to go see the DJ company perform at an actual wedding. I'm excited. I'm hoping we love what we hear and are able to book them next week.

I've also always known what I wanted to do for favors. I want to somehow include my heritage into our wedding without making it a huge, red, Chinese wedding. So, I've decided on these:

Take out containers as favors filled with cookies. I will be using a white box with blue ribbon. Maybe I'll add a monogram sticker. (I already bought 200 of these boxes! They were on sale for .29 each!)

Here are the placecard holders I want. So cute!

Tonight Steve and I are going to send our deposit in for Pastor Jack and get that all settled. I have the agreement form, I just need Steve to initial and sign it. So, hopefully by next week, we'll really have all the big stuff booked and done with. I'm still looking for a white archway to stand under during the ceremony, but I'm not having any luck. My florist (Wegmans) does not have them and other florists are hesistant to rent out something if they aren't "dressing" it. So we'll see. Maybe I'll scratch the whole archway idea. We'll see.

And Fatima (Nick's mom) will be taking me to Michael's to check out the stuff they have there for centerpieces. I can't wait. We're going to go in early March, when the new stuff will be out.

Moto GP

Steve and I have never taken a vacation together - just us. I mean, never. We've gone camping for a few days together, but that's not really vacation...at least not to me. When we went out to California for his sister's wedding, we met up with Nick, Dan and of course his parents where there as well. So, lately, I've been bugging Steve to take a vacation with me. Just a little one. Nothing insane, nothing crazy, nothing too expensive. I mean, we ARE saving for a wedding here. So something random came up one day when Steve was watching motorcycling racing on TV. I asked if he'd be interested in actually going to one of these races. Of course, the answer was yes. Even though I'm not totally into bike racing...I think it'll be fun! I hopped on the computer to find the nearest race. There are only 2 in the US. Most of the races happen in Europe, where motorcycle racing is much more popular.

Hmmmm...the one in Laguna? That seems to be either sold out or tickets aren't available. I mean...a trip to California would be nice...but Laguna seems expensive. Our only other choice is the Moto GP in Indianapolis at the end of August. We're kind of using the excuse of our anniversary for this trip. By the time of this trip, we will have celebrated our 4 year anniversary! I can't believe it's been almost 4 years already!

So for the past week or so, I've been busy digging up details for this potential trip. To fly there, it'd be about $500 for the two of us. Gas would be about $150 each way if we chose to drive...and it'd save us about $200. Hotels in downtown Indianapolis aren't cheap by any means. We don't want to stay in a Super 8 Motel either by the way. We want to enjoy our hotel room. We don't want to feel like we have to rip the sheets and comforter off the bed and sleep fully clothed so as to keep the bed bugs away. This has proven not to be an easy task.

I have found that there seems to be a lot to do in downtown Indianapolis. So I think we'll have plenty to do if we decide to go.

Stay tuned.