Happy Valentine's Day! (Part 2)

What a great day we had yesterday!  First we had a quick lunch at Jimmy John's before going to see a movie.  Since Troy took me to "Friday the 13th" on Friday, he said he would go see "He's Just Not That Into You" with me, so we headed to the movies to see that movie.  It's mostly a cute chick flick, but there were some funny parts in it so it didn't totally bore Troy (or so he says).  

After the movies, the big "surprise" for the night was a dinner at The Melting Pot.  Neither of us had been there, but I know of a few people that have gone there and loved it.  All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and we left there so uncomfortably full that we couldn't eat another bite.  First we started off with a cheese fondue (Spinach and Artichoke was our choice).  They gave us unlimited bread, apple slices, and veggies to dip in!  YUM!

Then we had a Cherry Blossom salad and then it was time for the meat course.  The server combined chicken broth with some wine, garlic, scallions, mushrooms, etc. and then brought us lobster tail, shrimp, portabella mushrooms, duck, filet mignon, chicken breast, and pork to cook in the pot of all the liquid, to marinate and cook it all at the same time.  We also had unlimited potatoes, broccoli, mushroom caps to add to it.

The last part of the meal was a chocolate fondue for dessert.  Although I am not a huge chocolate fan, this was absolutely delectable!  We got a tiramisu fondue and were given bananas, strawberries, brownie bites, cheesecake, cinnamon sticks, oreo covered marshmallows, graham cracker covered marshmallows, and rice krispie treats to dip in the chocolate!  Troy and I were about half way done when we hit "the wall".  That feeling in your stomach (above and beyond a Thanksgiving dinner) that tells you that you can't eat any more.  The feeling that makes it hard just to breathe, let alone talk!  So, we sat there a little bit, made room for a few more, and sadly, left the cheesecake slice and a few other pieces on the plate.  We couldn't do it!  

So, after our wonderful dinner, we wobbled to the car and came home, to lay down and let our stomach settle!  The Melting Pot is definitely a great place to go, and would recommend it to everyone if you haven't gone yet.  Just be sure you don't eat for the entire day so you have enough room to eat all this wonderful food!  We hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day as we had a very nice one ourselves!

Happy Valentine's Day!

What a wonderful morning it has been so far!  I woke up to get to my spinning class, and when I got home, I saw a beautiful surprise waiting for me on the kitchen table...

Since Troy is always the one to spoil me, today it is my day to make the plans for something new for us to do this afternoon/evening.  More to share later (as I don't want to ruin the surprise if Troy looks on here before we go)..

It's in -- It's in!!!

Well, some of you may have heard, but I got a phone call the other day that my dress is FINALLY in. I know, I still have about 5.5 months until the big day, but it'll be nice to know that I don't have to "worry" about my dress anymore. So, for those of you who would like to go, I plan on being at the store (Dior Bridal Salon) at 6pm next Friday. I am just going to try it on and make sure it is the right general size, style, etc. No fittings until much closer to the big day, so it'll be a quick 10-15 minute stop. Anyone is welcome to come, so please let me know if you'd like to... (sorry, I'm still not providing any pictures of the dress on the blog, for obvious reasons!) =)

Dress update

A few of you have been asking about the status of my dress, and since I can't get it out of my head, I decided to call and see what they had to say.  The woman looked in the computer and apparently it'll be shipping on January 22.  She said it should be in within 2 weeks of that day.  I also inquired about the headband I ordered at a trunk show back in November (which is being handmade...yes, I'm trying to be patient), and she said that the woman that took orders that night has slowly been bringing the pieces in.  So, she guessed that my headpiece would be in right around the time my dress comes in.  Anyone wanna come with me when it comes in -- when I get to try the final product on??

Only 6 months away!!

Can you believe that in 6 months we'll be in Mexico? Of course I know many of you wish we were there now because of this frigid weather, but time is flying, so in no time, we'll be at the pool with a drink (a free drink at that) in hand!

This week, I had a cherry popped. I went to my first Metallica concert! I can't say I was a huge Metallica fan, or even listened to much of their music at all, until I met Troy. But through the years, he introduced me to more and more of their music, and I actually enjoyed it. So, since they were coming to town, he insisted that I experience my first Metallica concert with him. He invited a long-time military friend, Steve (who lives in Key West -- lucky him that he could return to 65 degree weather afterwards) who also loves Metallica and we went to their concert on Tuesday night. Although I would never consider myself a true "metal-head" as they call themselves, I did have a good time and they put on a good show, head-banging and all! The only unfortunate thing about it was that it was on a Tuesday night and I not only worked all day, but had to be up bright and early the next day.

Besides the concert, this week has been pretty laid-back, catching up on sleep and getting back into the swing of things at work. As far as our wedding planning goes, we have most of it done with the exception of a few small things. This weekend, Troy and I are going to look at our photographer/videographer options and after that, we just have to wait until closer to the actual date to finalize a few other things. I am really trying to be patient with my wedding dress. I ordered it back in September and they said it would take around 16 weeks, which my mom was so nice to inform me that 16 weeks was up the day after Christmas. Well, with the holidays, I figured some shipping may be delayed, but since Christmas was 3 weeks ago, I think it might be safe for me to call and inquire about it?!?!? I can't wait to see what it looks like in the right size and color (I tried a pink dress of the same style on for size)! Aside from that, its just a matter of time. I'm so glad to have heard from many of you about your arrangements and it seems like many of us are flying out together, so that'll be awesome to share a flight out there. I hope everyone is looking forward to the trip as much as we are. Especially with all this cold weather, it seems like that is all I can think about!

Happy 2009!

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful end to 2008.  2009 is the year of many exciting things to come -- of course our wedding (which is in 196 days), a new president, and hopefully an improvement to the sad economy we have right now.  

Last night we had a nice and relaxing but fun night.  Val, Derek, Nicole, Mark, and little Morgan came over to bring in the new year with us.  We chatted for a while, played with Morgan, and hung out early in the night.  Unfortunately, since Morgan isn't old enough to have the desire or ability to stay up until midnight, Nicole and Mark took her home to get her to bed, but we're very happy they stopped by for the time they could.  Around 10:30pm, it was time to bust out Rockband!  This was the first time Val played drums, so she got a good kick out of that one!!

Shaun and I played lead and bass guitar to start out with and then we switched the roles up so Troy played some drums and Derek played some guitar.  With the high level of concentration we needed to do well with the song, it might not look like we were having a lot of fun, but we were!

It was about 3am when we decided to call it a night.  We had to get to bed so that we could get up today at a half-way decent time so we could watch the Red Wings game and the various football bowl games.  So, that's where we are today. 

Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe new year with hopes of a happy and healthy 2009!

Merry Christmas...almost..

We've never been very good at waiting until Christmas to open gifts.  This morning we thought we'd wait until midnight tonight to open gifts -- when it would officially be Christmas.  Well, as we were eating dinner, Troy said "What difference does it make if we open gifts now or if we wait 5.5 hours until midnight?"  So, by 7pm, we were opening gifts!  I'd have to say we must have been pretty good this year to get what we did!!

One funny story is about one of my gifts that I got.  One thing I wanted for Christmas was a North Face sweatshirt/hoodie.  Well, Troy ordered the hoodie and when he got it in the mail he realized the bag looked quite big.  Feeling the bag, he knew it wasn't the hoodie...it was way too heavy.  So, he opened the bag it was mailed in and saw fur.  Definitely not what he ordered.  When he took it out of the bag, he saw a brown, down North Face jacket.  He didn't know what to do because it obviously wasn't what I asked for, but it was my size, and it was a nice jacket.  He checked the packaging slip -- they only charged him for the hoodie...not the $200 jacket they shipped.  He checked his bank account -- they only took the amount of the hoodie out of his account.  So, he told me the story, asked if I liked the jacket (and I did), so it definitely worked in our favor...heck, I got an item 3 times the price that Troy was charged.  Go me!