My lovely wedding cake topper

Thanks to the lovely Sarita, I found someone who could make a cute wedding cake topper for us. I just LOVE it! Do you see Baby Dan & Sissy?!

The first pic is the almost final product. I'm asking that the groom have more rectangular glasses and she added more flowers to the base.

The second pic is the first one she showed us--I asked that my groom's hair be darker, no top hat, add some glasses and add some detail to my bodice. I just love how it really does look like my dress--pleated bodice and all!

Recently, Laura (etsy seller oilpainta) blogged about our cake topper in her blog One Happy Hubbard. You'll notice that the glasses are different in the picture in her blog--it was before she changed them to a different metal and there are less flowers on the base.

What do you think?

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. :)

The Tamale Tradition

Every year my mom and her 3 sisters get together and make tamales. I think it is very important for us to be able to pass on this tradition to our children. This year D and I decided this was a great year to learn how to make tamales from my mom.


The below pics were taken on November 30th, we made 20 dozen that night. And were there for only about 4 hours.

Don't mind my bandana, it's a requirement when making tamales. :)
I helped my mom with the masa--
she added the ingredients, while I mixed it all together.

It's harder than it looks...
We couldn't get a hang of putting the masa on the corn husks.

We were taking too long on getting them done,
thank goodness Mom was there or we would've been there all night!

D found what he was best at--flavoring the pork and deer
and filling the husks with the meat.

All done!

My neck & back were aching from mixing that masa. :)

D, Me & my Mom

Then, we made more on December 8th. We made ~50 dozen that night. It was a long day this time around, we were there for about 8 hours!

D doing what he does best!

Me & my dad--he decided he was going to help this time!

Even though I look really uncomfortable in this pic,
I finally got the hang of filling the husks with masa!

We made a mess!

We had been there all night and began to hallucinate a little bit. ;)

I've gotta say our tamales are the best I've ever had! Usually my mom & her sister's tamales are really great, but ours were spiced perfectly (thanks to D!). We gave a few dozen to D's parents and to some of his co-workers. And we still have a few dozen in our freezer. ;)

The most fun of this whole experience was getting to reminisce with my mom about the past and hearing her stories about making tamales with her mom.

We love you Mom! Thanks for the lesson! We look forward to doing it again next year. XOXOXO

Our Christmas

We woke up around 8am and started preparing for the day. D of course did most of the work and I kept the house clean and ready for our family.

D checking on something in the oven and I'm taking an Airborne.

Mmmm food!

Yum--duck!

Tree, Gifts, my beautiful Poinsettia and that poundcake was fabulous!

My sis' and nieces--it's rare when Gabi (on right) smiles!

My sis' and her family!

Yum, green beans & pancetta, carrots & parsnips, dressing, & mashed potatoes!

D--plating up ham etc.

Is there a doctor in the house? My nephew Ethan.

How about a nurse? My niece Sofia.

My bro and his family (2 oldest are from his wife's 1st marriage)

My wonderful parents!

Passing out gifts

The kids patiently waiting to open gifts!

Sofia loved the gift we gave her!

My oldest niece loves Tinkerbell.

Anything green

And Pirates of the Caribbean. Also, she's into BMX--which scares me that she's doing.

See no smile, but loves purses and she quickly changed into the shirt we bought her.
It reads Naughty or Nice I still get what I want :)

Me & my sibs

Me & my family

The whole family & D's bro Chris(he's practically family by now)

Me & D