I was just in the middle of a dream.

Hello! Good morning!

Last Thursday night, Jesse and I were sitting to his grand birthday dinner at a lovely, fancy, expensive steakhouse when I realized that part of the reason we were even there was because of you. Yes, you. To any of those who voted for Jesse and me in Channing Johnson's photo contest - thank you! That gift certificate we won afforded us the night out.

Those pictures are above are of us heading out to dinner that night, and I'm kind of in love with the picture of the birthday boy. It's my iPhone wallpaper, admitted. 

He flew off the next day for some shows in the Midwest, so my weekend was spent galavanting about with my extremely amazing friends. I also made a new blog header! Check it out! What do you think? And how was your weekend? And - and! - again, thanks!

And now we've realigned the edges.

Hola! I remembered I have a couple of FormSpring questions to attend to!

You mentioned your parents had a love story similar to the Colin Firth (Jamie)/Lucia Moniz (Aurelia) storyline from Love Actually. Do Tell!

OH DEAR. Okay, I wrote it out once, about four years ago, but only spent about ten minutes on it. I was about to copy/paste it here but wow, it's embarassing writing. I plan on one day really carving out the story, but I have no time to do so at the moment. I will give you the gist!

My dad, James, was in the US Army stationed in Panama in 1981, when he met my mother, Maria (a local Panamanian), one night at the Officer's Club. They danced and tried to communicate - but my dad didn't know Spanish and my mother didn't know English. However, three days later, he proposed to her. Four months later, they were married in Panama! Oh, and they were both engaged to other people when they met...

They've been together coming on 28 years now (and learned each other's languages!) and they are still as happy as can be - anybody who has met them can attest to that!

Here they are dancing the night away last August at the rehearsal dinner (photo by Jiscilla!) --

I really enjoy reading your blog, for no other reason than you just seem like such a sweetheart and an interesting person. but I actually do have a real question, what do you do for a living?

Thank you! I tend to keep my job on the down low here, but that was the first question I got! Read my response HERE! The only thing that has changed is that my team moved from the Footwear & Accessories floor.

I'm including this here, as I continue to make myself accountable for my gym-frequenting through this blog - Ang asked me if I made it to the gym this morning --

YES! I'm still waking up at 5:45 every morning before work, and I have since Thursday the 14th. I'm feeling grand! Thanks for the all the music suggestions, too! Um, why didn't I think of Garbage before?! And Thrice?! Liz has posted her own stellar work-out playlist, and I was surprised to see that Alexa reads while she's on the elliptical! VERY INTERESTING! I may try this - though we all know I do plenty of reading on my commute! Expect another playlist this Friday, and I'm heeding all your comments, for sure. Thank you for the input!

And finally, I'd just like to mention (as I did via my Twitter) that my wonderful wedding photographer - you all remember Channing Johnson?! - is hosting a contest on his blog regarding the best wedding photos of 2009 and Jesse and I are up for this photo of me walking down the stairs past all my family photos --

All of his photos are lovely, and I couldn't be happier with the photos Channing took of our wedding day! Check him out if you happen to be in the market for a truly superb wedding photographer. And, if you get a chance, vote! Thank you so very much!

Tomorrow I take leave.

I've pretty much packed everything I need for my trip tomorrow. I still don't know where Jesse is leading me to - I just know we have to be at JFK in the morning!

The whirlwind that's taken over the last week of my life is dying down; I'm restless to start relaxing tomorrow.

There are some posts ready to go up in the next couple of days, I hope you like them. There's a lot of barftime heading your way. If you don't like weddings, love, friendship, getting cuted out - you probably shouldn't read while I'm away. Ha. I think I'll be able to check the internet where we are going - but who knows?!

Also, our wedding photographer, the brilliant Channing Johnson, posted a preview of our wedding on his blog. The pictures look immaculate, and I can't wait to see the rest. You'll see them again in future posts!