No More Federal Loans!

Yay! I just paid off my Student Federal Loans!!! So excited about that! I just saved myself like $2,000 in interest that I would have had to pay, had I kept on the "typical" payment plan. I was always paying more than the minimum anyway, so maybe I really only saved myself $1,500 in interest...but still! Wahhooo!!!

I still have one small little loan to pay off, but it is without interest so I am taking my time paying it back and using the money to gain interest in the bank.

Ok, I'm tired and want to go to bed. My little puppy had me up at 5:50am and we are both so sleep. G'night!

The Cuica

This past week and weekend I spent most of my time with Dulcinea. Christian was helping out with an family activity that his work put on for the kids and so he was quite busy all week. He was also at work all day on Saturday for the actual event. So it was me a Dulcinea. Mommy and daughter.

It's surprising that we've only had her for 1 week today. I feel like it has been forever already, but nope--only 7 days. We already expect so much out of her, the poor thing, but we are realizing that she won't be trained over night. We were giving her tap water in her bowl and noticed that she didn't like to drink it. So we would wet her food each time she ate so that she would get some water at least. Then we decided to give her some mineral water (sin gas, of course) to see if she'd drink it and guess what? She loves it. Christian's reaction: "OMG, she's so cuica!". (For those of you who don't speak Chilean, cuica is like stuck-up or richy-rich, someone who always has to have the best of everything.)

Well, we can't really do anything about it, but give her the water she likes. But it really makes me wonder what is in the tap water that even a dog won't drink it. Maybe I should stop drinking it?! We could look into getting a filter for the water...

Today, we put on her harness and had her first lesson of walking on the leash. Since she can't go outside yet (doesn't have all her shots and I def don't want her to get sick from all those stray dogs in Santiago), we decided to practice in the hallway of our apartment floor. Here are some candid pictures, thanks to Christian B Photography, of the little one getting her walk on. She did surprisingly well, probably because "treats" were involved in the process. But that is how they learn. Anyway, her treats are just her food. Now on to the pics:

Walking just like a big girl.

I love the way her head is cocked to one side.

Looking up at Mommy to see what to do next.

My Little Regalona

This little girl is already spoiled!!!! She made being sick much better just because of all the love she gave me the past two days. Today I am feeling better but still not 100%.


So far, the hardest thing with her is getting her to not bite our hands. She loves them! It's not like she doesn't have toys to chew on, she just loves our hands for some reason. She still doesn't understand "no" yet, but we're working on it. We have the Dog Whisper's book, so hopefully that'll give us some good tips!

And now more baby pics:

She loves it when I hold her bone.

For sizing comparison--although she is a bit crunched up in this picture, that gives you an idea of how small she is. About the size of my slipper, just a bit longer.

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Qué riiiiiccccccaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick & With Licencia for the Rest of the Week

Ugf......apart from dealing with our little newborn last night, I woke up at 5am puking. No fun. I won't go into further details, but that isn't the only thing that happened this morning.

In Chile, if you miss a day of work because you are sick, you have to go to the doctor and get a "license" saying that you really are sick and giving you a certain number of days that you can stay home. This is then sent to your insurance company after you turn it into your place of work and the insurance company actually pays your salary for those days you are out.

When I went to the doctor, she said I have a stomach/intestine sickness....could be viral or could have been thanks to the piece of cake we ate last night (perhaps the cream was going bad). Either way it sucks. They gave me an IV to rehydrate me and I was connected for like an hour, man those things are slow. Of course, my lovely husband took me and stayed with me the whole 2.5 hours at the hospital, except for when he went to my office to drop off my license. He picked me up some jello, gatorade, and crackers...! Today is our civil marriage anniversary--1 year and 5 months.

Dulcinea stayed in bed with me all day pretty much. She slept at my side and chewed on her toys when she was awake. It probably isn't good to have her on the bed so much, but I definitely can't been running behind her on the floor to see what she is getting into.

Well now it is time to try to sleep and get some liquids.

Our Baby & A New Blog Design

Yesterday we welcomed the newest addition to our little family, Dulcinea. She's a long-haired miniature dachshund and was born on June 3, 2009. We had a heck of a time finding her in Chile because as Christian puts it "her race is practically extinct". But, in all truth, they are not very common dogs at all and thus she was a hard one to find.

The first night home was ok. She wasn't used to being alone at all and so she cried every time we left the room. We finally got her to bed around 11pm. When I tried to put her down around 10ish, she wanted nothing to do with it--all play no más. Turns out that is a sign that she is over tired. Anyhow, she woke up crying at 2ish and it took us a while to get her back to sleep because again, all she wanted to do was play. And then again at 5am she was wandering about the room. I picked her up and put her on my chest in bed where she slept with me for about another hour before my alarm clock rang.

Today was her first day home alone. She did really well! We tired her out in the morning before leaving for work so she fell asleep right before Christian left the house. Then we both came home for lunch to check on her and play with her. It was fun to have that break during the day. I came home tonight to her, while Christian was at his English classes, and all was well. She was playing in "her room" (ie. our bathroom). She had done her business on the newspaper that we left for her (she is a quick learner) and was soooooo excited to see me. Our neighbors, who also have a dachshund puppy, came up to meet her but she didn't want anything to do with Panchito (their puppy).

Tonight we played with her while cooking dinner and lunch for tomorrow. She is quite a handful, always running around, sometimes too quick for your eyes to catch where she goes. Right now she is snuggled up on my lap and sleeping as I write. We tried to keep her awake longer, but when she is over tired, she gets destructive....so I guess it's better to let her sleep.

I wish she'd stay this size forever, she is the most adorable thing ever!!! But, she'll still be really small when she is adult (8lbs or less)! Her beautiful long hair is already showing on her little ears and she has a fun personality once she warms up to you. It's now time to sign off and enjoy her when she sleeps, my little cosita linda.








P.S. I thought the blog could use a new look, so I've been working on this new design for quite some time. Hope you like it!

Go With the Expensive One

I went to the doctor today to get the xray done that he wanted of my pelvis to see if there were calcifications on my ischial tuberosity. Luckily the xray came out right away and I was able to swing by the doctor's office so he could take a look. The result? There is nothing and so he prescribed me some heat treatments and pushed me out the door. I felt like he didn't even hear what I was trying to say. I have been in excrutiating pain all day long and wanted to explain that. Especially since when I saw him last week, my leg wasn't bothering me that much. He also didn't even take the time to explain the treatment that he had prescribed to me. In any case I was pissed. My leg is killing me, I have been super uncomfortable all day and the damn doctor doesn't really want to help.

So what do I do?

Go with the typical plan of going to an expensive doctor at a good clinic. Normally I take this route always (my gyno is at Clinica Las Condes) because well, there are just too many crappy doctors & crappy resources here in Chile and I don't want to take my chances on out-of-date medicine. But this time I figured I'd give the Colmena clinic a try since it is my insurance and would be cheaper. It is also relatively close to my work, but it costs about $1200 pesos in taxi to get there because of the location. Let's just say that is the last time I go the cheapest route just for the heck of it. Actually, I did get a recommendation for the clinic from another gringa, but since I am not happy with how he treated me I am going to the specialized clinic tonight: Meds. It is a sports-specific clinic with some of the best doctors and specialists in the country. I am hoping the doctor who sees me tonight will actually give me the time of day to explain the pain I am having, the injury itself and everything in between. Wish me luck.

Some Days....

...I hate living in Chile and today is one of those days.

News Article About Jake Swartwood

The Pueblo Chieftain published an article about Jake Swartwood's death. You can find it here. Although it is quite short, the details demonstrate the wonderful kind of person Jake was and how the loss of his life will affect the Colorado City-Rye community.

Again, my heart goes out to his family.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 3 year anniversary of our 1st kiss and when we started pololeando! It is also the 2 month anniversary of our US wedding!

I can't believe how fast the past three years have gone and I can't possibly imagine what I would have done if I had never met Christian. He is the reason the stars aligned and destined me to come to Chile. And every minute we are apart, I miss him. There is nothing better than spending my whole day accompanied by him.

Tonight we are celebrating by making a yummy Mexican dinner for two. Ooo I might just have to pick up some ingredients to make margaritas too!


Te amo Christian!!!

Week(end) en Resumen

We've had a lot going on in the last week which has been quite entertaining. I thought I'd share a bit...

Friday afternoon my work had a "Recreation Day" where we all left work at noon to go to Ciudad Deportiva Ivan Zamorano in La Reina to play games like soccer, paintball, ping pong, fooze ball, and karaoke. I did the latter three of that list because even through I wanted to play paintball, my leg was killing me and I knew I wouldn't be able to run much. It was a fun day nonetheless and I love the fact that my company plans things like this! They had Dominó sponser lunch (boo for me cuz I hate completos, but still cool to get free food) and there were cocktails (the non-alcohol type) in the afternoon.

Saturday we went to our Cuban friend's house in Quillicura for some delicious Cuban food. Oh man was it good! Our friend Jorge came to pick us up with his girlfriend, who is from Argentina, since his house is quite far from where we live and it is almost necessary to have a car to get there. Jorge is an ex-coworker of Christian's and along with his parents, who cooked the amazing lunch, another coworker of Christian's came and a couple who also knows Jorge. We left our house around 1pm and seriously didn't get home until like 7:30pm! We really enjoyed spending time with Jorge and his family--they are just so much fun to be around. I definitely hope we go back sometime soon. Saturday night we went to a gringa friend's bday party and met quite a few new people. It was fun, but we called it a pretty early night b/c we were exhausted from eating and drinking so much at Jorge's house.

Sunday we took a break and did the normal--sleep in, go to the grocery store, cook for the week.

Monday I had a happy hour with some gringa friends. It was great to see them and catch up a bit more. We went to El Huerto, which is this yummy veggie restaurant in Providencia, but I was a bit disappointed with the guacamole they served us and the fact that every 5 seconds the waitresses wanted to take our plates even though we weren't done eating. Not sure what the deal was with them.

Tuesday my husband decided to be romantic and came to pick me up at work. I stayed late because it was my boss' last day before her vacation so we had a lot of stuff to go over before I left. One of the things we had to do was review my goals that we had established earlier this year to see how I am doing and see if we needed to add/remove anything. I'm thrilled to report that I got an excellent review from my boss who said that she is so happy with my performance and has nothing but high expectations for me. Even though most people hate doing their goals and stuff like that, I find incredibly helpful because it gives me the feedback that I need to hear every once in a while. Sometimes I feel like I still have to ask too many questions or don't know enough, and to hear that I am above the level I am expected to be at makes me realize that I am a lot harder on myself than others are with me. Not that I am going to stop being auto-exigente, but it really gives me a new found motivation to strive for even more at work when I get that positive feedback. After work, I met Christian down below and he had bought me 3 pink roses!!! He's so cute :) We went to Akai Sushi on Carmencita and had a nice dinner together. It was fun. I love our date night.

Today I went to the traumatologo to see what the deal is with my leg. It started hurting a lot last week and frankly I am sick of it. I just want to be able to work out and do stuff without it hurting so much. It hurts to sit all day, to lay down in bed, to do everything...and it sucks. The doctor was really nice and wanted to speak English with me the whole time (which is fine). He ordered me to get an x-ray to see if there are calcifications in the area where my injury is. He said that typically with these type of injuries the calcifications that grow can cause the pain. We'll see what the final verdict is, but I'm guess from what I have researched that I will need to do some physical therapy and then continue with the exercises so that the muscles never loose strength. I'll keep you posted.

On a sad note, a close friend of my sister's was killed in a rock climbing accident yesterday. He was only like 21 or so. I don't have more details, but please just keep the Swartwood family, as well as his friends & our community, in your thoughts & prayers. It is really unfortunate.

P.S. Why the hell are plane tickets in December so freaking expensive?!!! I need the crisis causing the low prices to come back....

Wedding Inspiration Blog List

I started following a million wedding blogs during my year-long wedding planning process. I now need to take them off my Google Reader because I hardly ever read the posts anymore. Not that they stopped being awesome, but my interests have shifted somewhat and my Google Reader needs a thorough review to eliminate unnecessary blogs. But I definitely want to give props to these bloggers and provide an all-in-one place to find awesome blogs for those of you in the wedding planning process. So brides-to-be, have at ‘em & enjoy!!!

2000 Dollar Budget Wedding

A $10,000 Wedding

A Backyard Wedding

A Farmhouse Wedding

A Practical Wedding

Bridal Buzz

Budget Savvy Bride’s Weblog

Classic Bride

Green Wedding Shoes

Lo & Co. Blog

Lovely Morning

Mason Jar Bride

Offbeat Bride

Once Wed Blog

Pearls Events

Snippet & Ink: Daily Wedding Inspiration

Something Old, Something New

Style Me Pretty: The Ultimate Wedding

The Bride’s Café Blog

The Bride’s Guide

Tying the Knot

VintageGlam Weddings

Weddingbee

Weddingbee PRO

With This Ring...

Chilespouse Anniv Dinner Sans Photos

Monday night was the Chilespouse Anniversary dinner. I went straight from work with my boss, a co-worker and another gringa over to Zanzibar, a top restaurant in Vitacura that I have been dying to go to. A few weeks ago, when I put the dinner plans on my calendar, I thought "I better take my camera with me. This'll be a great dinner". And low and behold...guess what was the one thing I didn't take with me? Yes, my camera.

Boo.

I was already at work when I realized I left my camera at home and it was too late to run back home and get it. Heck, it was about time to leave for the dinner when I rememberd. Oh well.
Lucky for me, someone else did not forget their camera and not only that, she wrote an awesome article about our group. Check it out at Cachando Chile .

It really was a fab evening. Got to see a lot of peopla that I haven't seen in months. Met some new faces. Ate yummy curry (although I seriously think we need a side of rice to go along with that dish). I even won a doorprize. Can't wait till next year. The 10 year anniversary will be a blow out I'm sure!

Crossing My Fingers!

Have you ever noticed that when you really, really, really want something in particular....it seems like it takes forever to find the perfect one??!! I've contact a million people about my little something and every minute that passes is like an eternity waiting for an answer!!! Gahh...I need to focus on other things!

Date Night

Life has been quite busy since we got back from our wonderful trip to the US and Mexico. I was worried that I would have post-vacation depression. I mean, how can you not have it after being in the beautiful Colorado summer, with family, eating comida rica and of course having a dream honeymoon and then having to come home to work long hours, to cold, smoggy and cloudy days?! But I am quite surprised that my anticipated depression is much less than what I thought it would be. It is true that lately I have been missing home and sometimes I wish it was still June, but overall I have been too busy to notice the difference. It just seems like June was a dream that you remember vividly....but I can say the same that when I was in the US, life in Chile seemed like a dream too. Like it never really existed.

In any case the whole point is that Christian and I have been occupied with catching up with friends, seeing family, working, and taking care of our (more like MY) Chile to-do list. What we both have missed is spending all day, every day with each other like we did for all of June. It really affects our relationship to be able to spend so much time together and then barely see each other. So we decided to have a date night once a week where we don't get on our computers after work, we don't watch TV (unless we are planning on seeing a movie together) and we just spend some quality time together. We decided that it doesn't have to be anything fancy like going out to eat, because the point is to be together and if we can do that here at home, it's all good.

We started last Monday and made dinner together. Yesterday we made once and watched Twilight (Crepúsculo). It was a good movie! Tonight we kind of had an impromptu date night because we decided to go get some food after work which gave us time to chat about the various decisions that we need to be making (paint our apartment, look for a new apartment, Christmas plans with my parents, our interview with a possible nana tomorrow, etc.). Right now of course we are both on our computers....but since it wasn't official date night I guess that is ok! I had to translate a friend's CV into English and Christian is working on the new project. We should be unveiling it pretty soon so keep close!

Update on Joaquin--He's Going Home Tomorrow!

Little Joaquin is doing much better after his first surgery. He wasn't able to go home last Monday after his surgery because they could only operate on 1 vocal chord and still had the other one to do. He also had to stabilize a bit because when they took his breathing tubes out last Saturday, he was running a fever for several days. They did every sort of test on him that they could and everything was coming out normal, but with a fever, they couldn't operate again. Finally on Tues. or Wed. they figured out that it was a urinary tract infection causing the fever which on one hand was great news because it wasn't something respiratory and it is easy to take care of.

So Saturday they took him to surgery to see how his throat was healing. I guess they found him in good condition because they decided to operate on his other vocal chord and now he really does get to go home tomorrow! This is wonderful news as he has been in the hospital, in ICU, for 3 weeks now. He still has a long road of recovery ahead...he has to learn how to walk again, etc. because the paralyzing drugs really took their toll on him. But he is past the worst. He can't go back to jardín (pre-school) because of the high risk of getting sick from the other children, so now he will stay at home with a nana while Silvana works. We are all so happy that Joaquin made it through and thanks to you all who kept him and Silvana in your thoughts!!!

Wedding Recap: Our Photographs & Photographer

Ok, so I was going to try and write about wedding topics in some sort of chronological order and leave the pictures for last...but I just CAN’T hold off any more!!! We are so pumped about our pictures that I just have to share.

For us, our wedding photography was a priority because we wanted someone who would capture every moment of our special day in a creative and beautiful way. We decided that we would “splurge” on the photography because it was that important to us. And let me tell you, we have NOT been disappointed. We were in Mexico on our honeymoon when Krista sent us the link to her blog where she had posted some of our wedding pictures. We about screamed when we saw them...they are amazing and totally worth everything we paid...in fact, they are worth more than that. They are priceless.

I have nothing but praise for our wedding photographer Krista, of Artessa Photography. We choose her after comparing many photographers and taking our time reviewing their websites and getting in contact with them. We asked Krista to meet with us over Skype when we had narrowed it down to her as our first choice and were so happy when we just clicked! She is the same age as me, but she’s got so much experience behind her belt plus a natural talent that just can’t be beat. In fact, if we had gotten married here in Chile versus in Colorado, we TOTALLY would have flown her down here! She is THAT good. She is easy to work with, super nice, very professional and just does all around astounding work.

Ok, enough chatter, here are some of my faves from her blog:

I asked for this picture to be taken because I love the shoe pictures that I saw on wedding blogs. I searched up and down to find Christian those socks!

Krista, we just wanted to say THANK YOU for doing such an amazing job. We are pumped to see the rest of the images! You are awesome!!!

P.S. Krista also posted some pictures from our engagement session that we had the week before our wedding. We took them at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Here are a couple of my favorites from that shoot too:

I really like this picture because I think it is a great shot, but I also find it kind of funny because I look possessed thanks to the angle of my eyes. Hahaha...

Making Progress One Check At A Time

When we arrived in Santiago after our joyous trip to the US, one of the first things I did was to make a list of all the things I needed to take care of. My huge wedding to-do list had been swapped out for a Chile to-do list. I’ve been working on the list since the beginning of the month and am making some progress, but seriously, some things me dan lata and others drive me up the wall. Like trying to figure out why my bank is all of the sudden charging me a large monthly fee when supposedly I have a plan with a convenio because I signed up through my work. This entails me calling my ejecutiva repeatedly and asking her what the hell the charge is for. Ok, so the first time I called 2 weeks ago, I was perfectly nice about it and I asked her to check into it because they aren’t supposed to be charging me a dime, er, peso. Never heard anything. So I called again this morning. “Oh, they never sent you an email?” she said, acting surprised. “No, I never received an email. What is the deal with this charge?” I asked politely. And then she proceeded to give me some crap answer...and while she was talking I looked at my account online and saw they had charged me again. So I told her, in a patience-less voice “They charged me again. I think it is a lot of money and I am not happy about paying it since this is supposed to be a free bank account. Please check into it and get them to reverse the charges or I will return to my other bank.” Supposedly I will be getting a phone call from her with more explanations and results of her work. However, I have already put on my calendar that on Friday morning I need to call her and find out what the deal is.

Then there is trying to get my AFP situation straightened out. Oh god what a mess. I swear to you and the whole world that anyone who works for AFP Provida is a freaking idiot. I am SO sick of that damn AFP. I just wish I could tell them to shove it (not like it would matter to them)...but I can’t change AFP until everything with my account gets fixed.

Luckily, sending off my application for Permanent Residency went well (or at least I think it did, I am waiting for them to get back to me) and adding pages to my passport was super easy. One thing I really need to get done, but really don’t want to have to do, is find a nana. Yes, I have sold out. I am getting a nana to come clean my house once per week because I abhor cleaning. So if I can pay someone else to do it, all the better. The problem is that I don’t want to call the list of possible nanas I made and see if they are available, willing to work the hours we are asking (which admittedly are a bit out of the norm), etc. In fact, if you know a nana who is willing to work one day a week at my house, around 3 or 4 hours, just doing cleaning (no cooking needed), either during the weekday evenings (like 6:30ish) or on a Sunday evening…let me know! I know they are strange hours but 1. I prefer not to have a stranger who only comes over once per week alone in my house when my husband or I am not there (and obviously with keys to the house) and 2. we prefer not to have them come on a Saturday because we travel to Viña sometimes so we’d always be rescheduling. Ideally it would be a weekday evening, heck we might even be able to spread it out over 2 nights. And we are willing to pay well for the hours being a bit outside the normal working hours.

Ok, that was my nana plug. I better get busy. Christian and I have got a great project in the works...I’ll let you in on the secret soon!

I hate it when it rains in Chile

Well, let me re-phrase that, I ate it when it rains in Chile AND I actually have to leave my house and go somewhere. Why? Because you inevitably get wet and never get to dry off. I had to actually take a shower when I got home to warm up! Gotta love winters with no "real" heaters.

On the flip side, the air I breath tomorrow (assuming it is done raining) will be so fresh and clean that I will forget I live in one of the most contaminated cities in the world.

Wedding Recap: Bachelorette Party & Bridal Shower

Now, I just have to say that I have great friends and family who planned me awesome an awesome bachelorette party and a wonderful bridal shower! Both events really made me feel special and to tell you the truth, it is so awesome to feel that way before the wedding. Why? Because normally the bride is doing so much preparation work that sometimes it is easy to feel a bit forgotten. Like “OMG the table clothes have to be perfect and that silverware isn’t the right design, and jeeze I’m never going to find the right candle color!” It is easy to forget that people just want to celebrate in the joyous event that is your wedding because they love you...not all the little details. So thank you to Heather who did a great job with the bach party here in Chile, the girls who came to the party (it was great to see you all!), to my Mother who slaved over the Bridal Shower, Sherry & Nina who helped my mom with the preparations, and my Bridesmaids who did a great job at helping with the shower and not to mention the fun games!!!

Bachelorette Party
Date: May 8, 2009
Location: Catedral Restaurant/Bar, Santiago, Chile

The best thing about this party was getting to see my favorite girlfriends! It had literally been months (since 2008!) since I had seen Emily, Sarah, and Lydia which is just kind of crazy considering we all live in the same city (well, except for Lydia). I guess 2009 just started off as a crazy-busy year for everyone...but I was so glad that they all took the time to come celebrate with me. Luckily, I get to see Heather and Verónica on a fairly frequent basis and Rochelle, a fellow CU Buff & Deltasig, even stopped by which was great.

(L-R: Me, Heather, Verónica, Lydia)

It was a chill bachelorette party, just what I was hoping for, with fun conversation, great food, delish drinks and complete with the feather boas, mardi gras beads and penis straws & leis. Let me just say that the pisco sours at Catedral were to die for and while I liked the taste of the Ceaser salad, it did not like me very much as it gave me at stomach ache later in the evening. We also got an order of French fries (my vice in this country) and those just topped off the evening.

The girls all gave me a cute little card with beautiful messages inside, some sexy black lingerie and chocolate!

(L-R: Sarah, Rochelle, Emily)

Bridal Shower
Date: May 31, 2009
Location: Sherry’s House, Colorado, USA

(L-R: my sister, me, my mom)

I told my mom and bridesmaids from the beginning that I didn’t want to know a thing about the Bridal Shower...I wanted a complete surprise and while that might have made them nervous, they did such an amazing job and I loved it all!!!

(L-R: Staci, me, Nichelle, my sister)

My parents’ neighbors, who are good family friends, took me with them to the shower since it was about an hour away from where my parents live. My mom and sister went early to set up and I didn’t want to go with them because that would have obviously ruined the surprise. So we pulled up to Sherry’s house and walked in to the beautifully decorated living room. The shower’s theme was like spring picnic, and they had thought of it all! The tables had beautiful flower centerpieces, with little favors for each lady that were mini ceramic pots and a packet of flower seeds as well as a little ladybug magnet. My mom also came up with this creative idea to get everyone to sign a piece of fabric with their name and also write a message if they wanted, which I believe will all be going onto a quilt.

(Flower pots for each guest)

(Fabric signing)

I had bought a new dress for the shower and had to go change into it since I didn’t want to get it all wrinkly in the car. While I was finishing getting ready, my cousin Nichelle came in to ask me some questions and observe what I was wearing. It was for some games that she had planned in which gifts would be given away to the winners. She told me that there would be a game where I would have to pose in front of everyone so they could see what I was wearing, etc. and that before I got up, to change my engagement ring to a different finger.

Again, the best part about this shower was all of the people who came—friends who I have known since 5th grade who drove 3 hours just to come, aunts, grandmas, cousins and other friends who I hadn’t seen in at least a year, if not more. We had a really good turn out, I think around 25 ladies came.

(L-R: Danielle, Rhonda, Emily, Me, Staci)

For lunch, we had sandwiches that each person could make & personalize along with veggies and fruit. My mom made this bomb fruit dip from cream cheese and probably lots of sugar....it was to die for. She had also made a spinach dip for the veggies and crackers. Oh man...I couldn’t keep my hands out of it! To drink, they had brewed several different kinds of iced tea. My favorite was the strawberry-kiwi, but as you know anything strawberry is my fave.

After lunch we began to play some games. Sherry handed out pens and Nichelle instructed me to do my little pose and turn so the ladies could observe me and then I had to leave the room. She then proceeded to ask everyone what I was wearing, if I had on earrings, if so, what did they look like, how was my hair done, what color of shoes was I wearing, and where was my engagement ring. The person who got the most right would win a gift. So after everyone had written their answers, I came back in so Nichelle could read off the answers and prove what I was wearing. Hahaha...the fact that I had changed my ring onto a different finger threw everyone off and was hilarious.

The next game we played was one in which we had to all sit in a circle. There were a couple wrapped gifts that would be passed around to the right or left according to when Nichelle would say those words in the story she was about to tell. The story was called “Mr. Right” or something like that and although it was generic, she had tailored it a bit more to fit me and Christian’s story. The combination of the two was quite funny. When the end of the story came around, the people who had the gifts in hand were the winners.

After the Mr. Right game, it was time for dessert. Ohhh did my mom go over the top for dessert! She had made 4 different pies, each one to die for. There was a frozen yogurt pie with blackberries on top, a cherry cheesecake, a frozen pink lemonade pie, and a lemon pie with blueberries on top. I ate two slices the pink lemonade pie. I wish I would have tried the others too, but I just couldn’t eat any more after lunch and the other two pieces.

(Bridesmaids Nichelle & Staci serving up pie)

While the guests were eating dessert (I had long finished), it was time to open up gifts. Most were cards with giftcards to my favorite stores (hooray for shopping!), and some were wrapped gifts. Paula gave me this awesome wine connoisseur basket that had a bottle of wine, some beautifully painted wine glasses (she did it herself), pot holders, kitchen towels and I don’t even know what else...but all with little wine designs. It was amazing! My Aunt Shane & cousin Michala gave me a beautiful photo album and some bath products. My second-cousin Eileen gave me a beautiful wedding scrapbook from Hallmark. My sister found some cute pink lingerie and my mom, just the opposite, a flannel robe. She had wanted to find like head-to-toe flannel pajamas as a gag gift, but those sorts of pjs aren’t really in the stores in May. I do love the robe though because I actually didn’t have one and it is def necessary in winter time in Chile. Sherry gave me some beautiful damask printed things—two coffee mugs, a clutch wallet and an apron (love it all!). My best friend Staci bought me a beautiful heart-shaped pink keychain made of ostrich leather all the way from South Africa. Nichelle gave me a beautiful apron that is brown with pink polka dots. I bought it to Chile with me. And the gift that got the most laughs was from my good friend Rhonda, who decided to go the kinky route :) She got me some super sexy black and red lingerie, some boxers for Christian (that are like miniature in size and you put them in water and they grow), some Hershey’s chocolate syrup and some whipped cream in a can. I about died of laughter when opening up that one.

(Left: lingerie from my sister; Right: robe from my mom)

After the gifts had been unwrapped, there were a few more games to play. This time, though, the joke was on me. Nichelle had contacted Christian and asked him 13 questions and now she was going to ask me the same questions and I had to respond with what I thought Christian told her. If I got any questions wrong, I had to chew a piece of bubblegum (and keep adding more bubblegum if I missed more questions). I ended up having to eat 4 pieces of gum, which out of 13, I don’t think is that bad...hahahaha. What a good one. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. Sometimes I edited myself from saying what I really thought he had said and sure enough, I should have just gone with my gut feeling.

(About the 3rd piece of gum)

All in all it was an awesome afternoon. Staci & Nichelle made everyone some cute bookmarks to take with them in addition to their flower pots. I got to take pictures with everyone who had come and was so happy to see them all.

Update on Joaquin's Status

Good news is on the way!

Joaquin's surger went well on Wednesday night, better than what the doctors had anticipated. Originally they had planned on keeping him on the ventilator until Monday and then seeing if he could breathe on his own, but after the surgery they said it would be Saturday (tomorrow) instead. Of course, we don't want to get our hopes up, but the fact that the surgery went well and the doctors are anticipating a faster recovery with respect to breathing on his own is a good sign.

Once they take him off the ventilator, he will still have to be in the hospital a few more days to make sure all is well before going home. So although we aren't in the clear-all phase....we're getting there. Silvana is doing much better as well. It was pure torture for her to see her son so sick.

Please continue to think about these two and keep them in your prayers. There is a long road of recovery ahead of them both, but so far so good. :)