We'll be married...

We're now 3 months out from our wedding day in Italy and in less than 3 months we'll be legally married in Houston (shhh we'll officially keep the 28th as our anniversary date).

I find myself realizing and saying out loud to D:

When that movie (i.e. The Dark Knight/Indiana Jones) comes out, we'll be married.
When the Yankees play the Astros, we'll be married.
When you, (D), start filming, we'll be married.
At my next birthday, I'll be married.

It's the craziest thing. I've been with D for over 11 years so at times it feels like we're already married, but the idea of us being legally married and sharing a lastname is so surreal.

I can't wait! But first, there is sooo much to do. I hate the planning process. :)

In Sickness and In Health

Well D had to go to the ER Thursday evening.


He woke up in the middle of night, suffering from what he thought was his acid reflux and thought he had forgotten to take his medication. Later that morning he had nausea, upset stomach, stomach pains, and burning in his stomach. He tried taking some pepto bismol, but he couldn't keep that down. He was becoming dehydrated so our doctor asked that I take him to the ER (this is his 2nd visit in 1 year, last June he was admitted to the hospital for severe migraines and some tests were done to rule out an aneurysm). They gave him an IV and through the IV they gave him some nausea medication and sodium chloride to re-hydrate him, they also gave him some liquid called "G.I. cocktail" to help settle his stomach. They took his blood and they noticed he had slightly elevated white blood cells which means he had some sort of infection, which they thought could be Gastroenteritis.

But he's feeling much better now. I started feeling sick to my stomach last night and so we've both been on the BRAT diet, mainly eating toast, bananas, broth and gatorade.

Even Sissy is having some sort of stomach sickness.

What a family! :-)

Shabu-Shabu for New Year's Eve!

D & I FINALLY found a Japanese market in Houston (Nippon Daido). WOOHOO!
While living in Newport Beach (Orange County) we would frequent the Mitsuwa Marketplace. Our market is not nearly as big as the one in Cali., but it will do for now. We were able to find a few items D needed and the meat to make Shabu-Shabu so we decided that we would ring in the New Year with one of our favorite meals! We first experienced Shabu-Shabu at a restaurant in Pasadena called The Boiling Pot. It is so yummy!

Our Shabu pot with a piece of Nori inside--ready to boil.

Chili Oil and some other hot spices we use for our Shabu Ponzu dipping sauce

The thinly-sliced ribeye meat--YUM!

Napa Cabbage

Green Onion, Shitake Mushrooms & Carrots

All ready to start!

Quick snapshot before we dig in!

We throw some veggies in first
(carrots always take a little while to become tender)

I place my slice of meat in--and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.

Dip meat into sauce, then place it
(along with some veg) in a bowl of rice.
Eat and Enjoy!

The next day we enjoyed a delicious Baked Brunch French Toast!
We got the recipe from a fellow "knottie". Thanks Lisa!

Happy New Year!

2008 will be a great year for us!

We're FINALLY getting married this year! This year we will celebrate our 12 year dating anniversary and what a better way to celebrate than amongst our family and friends exchanging vows in Italy.



Just before and after our wedding (honeymoon) we will travel through Europe. Our stops include: Paris, London (to be visited with my parents), the Amalfi Coast (including Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, Sorrento, Capri), Rome, Tuscany & back to Paris!

In either May or June, we hope to have an AHR (at home reception) in Houston (at future-in-law's house) to celebrate our wedding with friends and family.

D will be filming one maybe two feature films later this year! So that means we'll have to temporarily move to two different locations: North Texas--at future-in-law's farmhouse and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'm not looking forward to the temporary moves, but it will be alright.

And June 13-15 the Yankees will be in Houston! I can't wait! My two favorite MLB teams will meet. :)