Christmas at the Compound

We had a great time on our winter vacation this year! This year, we spent Christmas with Alex's family in Chestertown, Md. It was lovely meeting The Ray's! John, Betsy, Ben, Trixie, Sharon, Michele, Kyle and Scotchy were extremely welcoming and made me feel right at home. It was a little different for me as this was my first Christmas away from my family. Being that they are so special and kind, The Rays didn't forget anything and even Darcy got a gift to play with on Christmas Day! We spent the afternoon eating, drinking Sherry and watching home videos of Mr. Ray in his Penn days...The slide show was great also....they warned me that it was long, but I didn't care....I wanted to see all 25 slides of Ben, Alex and Trixie and their vacations every year in the Bahamas. Such a lovely piece of their family that they shared with me and now it is part of my Christmas tradition as well. I'm already looking forward to next year and those rum drinks!!!

Living in Sin is so scandalous!!!!

Alex moved into my apartment a few weeks ago. Week 1 was pretty easy as Alex was away on business 4 out of the 7 days. Heeehhheeee. Once he got back, we had a few days to spend together and then Week 2 was already over due to each of us going home for Thanksgiving...Once we got back we were finally able to settle in and get down to business.  I was able to reorganize the closet, shift some shelves around and make room so that the both of us could have plenty of space for our things. Since that has happened, Weeks 3 and 4 have been wonderful. We are both getting used to the idea of coming home every night to each other. We've had some kinks here and there...Alex opening the blinds and pulling down the curtains and rod that Jenny and I just installed. Within 5 minutes of that happening, Alex broke the handle off of the toilet so we couldn't flush the normal way for about 3 days. Then there are the banana peels. Alex eats bananas like its nobodies business. I fully support this, however, he has a habit of leaving banana peels around the house. In the kitchen and on the coffee table...banana peels...I don't think he even realizes he does it..and its actually pretty funny when you think about it because I'm sure every girl out there has their own banana peel story.
In any case, I did not flip out about it...I simply asked if he could do his best to make a point to throw them away. He said yes and whats done is done.

Its wonderful waking up to the person you love. I never knew what anyone meant when they said this. One of the greatest parts of my day starts in the morning waking up with him and ends at night when we go to sleep. We have meals together, work out together, go out together and don't get sick of each other. How is that possible? Whatever the case, its simply wonderful and I couldn't be happier.

In addition to our happiness, the real winner in all of this is Darcy. Darcy and Alex are best buds. She goes simply nuts for him and literally starts barking as soon as he gets off of the elevator because she is so excited to see him.
Fun and games time usually is in the morning and again when Alex gets home at night. She has literally nudged her way in so that she is between the both of us at all times. While we sleep she burrows herself in the bed and makes sure she is under the covers so that she is strategically placed between us.

So far we are all big fans of living together.....its a preview of our new family and I'm looking forward to it expanding!!!!

Redskins vs. Broncos

Well we had a great time in Maryland meeting the family. Mom, Dad, Alex and I arrived in Gaithersburg around 4 pm. We sat down, had cocktails and started chatting. It was obvious that Alex felt very comfortable and that Mom and Dad liked him so much. Within a few hours we sat down to a great dinner of steak, twice baked potatoes, salad and asparagus. Mom went all out and even made FLAN for dinner. She told me that it was something she used to make for us all the time. It's been so long that I don't even remember the last time we had it! In addition to her house being the cleanest I've ever seen it, she even asked me my choice of how I wanted the dinner napkins folded. How funny and so great. Thanks Mom you did such a wonderful job and the food was delicious! Sunday morning we woke up to a pancake filled breakfast and eventually made our way to FedEx Field. We couldn't have had a better day for a football game. It was 75 degrees and sunny in Maryland and our seats were beyond amazing. Thanks to Drew in my office for helping me with them. As you know this was Alex's birthday present so we went all out. Our seats were literally 8 rows back from the end zone and we got there early because according to Dad and Alex, that's what "true fans" do. It was well worth it though- we could literally see them warming up and once the game started we got to see Brandon Marshall catch a touchdown pass in the end zone! It was so great to be up that close! Unfortunately, for Alex the Broncos didn't pull off a win, but I was super proud of The Skins for their performance that day. Alex was even happy for me, because "he can deal with the Skins" (don't even bring up the Ravens) We ended up getting home that evening after the game and couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

 Happy Birthday Alex!

just looking......

Ok I did it...I told Niki about 1st Quarter 2010 and we both got so excited that she decided to take me browsing for rings....I was hesitant at first. After  years of wondering when I was going to find "the one" I would never partake in this type of activity. But finally, I accepted and boy I'm sure glad I did. We started our journey off at Tiffany's. The mecca of diamonds and that gorgeous little blue box. It was a lovely experience and I was able to try on several rings.I had no idea what I was looking for but i started with some basic styles: Solitaire, Cushion cut, Princess cut, legacy, etc. There are so many I couldn't keep track. Niki said it was important to try on a ring that was too big for my hand just so that I could see what would fit me perfectly. After Tiffany, we moved onto Michael C Fina. We found a Stu Schwartz look a like and he started to show us different rings. I began to find that while I love the solitaire shape, my heart belongs to a ring with a "halo." This gives the appearance of a square shape but it has either a round or square shaped diamond within. The next day we ventured out to Cartier and Harry Winston. Yes, I said Harry Winston. Obviously, I'm not getting a Harry Winston ring, but its ok to look and its not harming anyone so just calm down out there. Ever since we went to Michael C Fina, I have been dreaming about this ring.

It has everything I have ever wanted and the setting is just divine. It has small diamonds all around it and has the halo that I'm looking for. It's just me. Unlike the other stores, Michael C Fina didn't have different carat sizes, so I was teased by the 2.5 carat ring that they had on display. This ring is so gorgeous that I seriously don't care what size it comes in, I just want to stare at it all day long....In the end, it was just for fun. Niki and I had such a good time and after all, we were just looking.........

omgomgmogmogmogmgomgmgomogomgomgomgomomg

Alex and I had another conversation last night....and this time around we discussed "our future." Apparently, I've known all of this information, but being the analytical person that I am, I asked Alex to spell it out for me!!!

Alex is moving out of his apartment on Friday and is temporarily going to be staying with me. Our travels this month will start right at Thanksgiving for Alex as he is taking his dad's boat down to the Bahamas. I am going to meet him and fly down to the Bahamas on Christmas Eve. We will be returning in the new year and will soon start to make decisions about our life together.
This brought us to the topic of Marriage! and while I had to have Alex repeat it to me a few times, we have decided that our goal is to get engaged 1st Quarter of 2010!!!
As you can probably figure out this was a very exciting thing to  hear and quite a lot of information although Alex swears I already knew this. "I thought we discussed this !" He kept saying..It was music to my ears and all I wanted was for him to say it over and over again.

We have been on the same page for a long time and are so happy that each of us has found each other. 

I am "The One" for him and he is "The One" for me....It's official!!!

Deep Breaths from here on out!!!!!

Busy, busy, busy

Lots of things to share in the next few weeks! Coming up Alex and I have a very busy November. We have come up with some travel plans and they are as follows.

November 14-15th - Heading to Maryland for the Redskins vs. Broncos game.
We will be heading to the compound first and it will be my first official visit to Chestertown! I get the privilege of meeting Alex's parents for the very first time! We won't have much time together, but I'm certainly excited. After lunch, we are going to head to Maryland to stay with the Huntington's! This will be Alex's first visit to GBurg and I know he 's looking forward to this. He has already made a special request for mom's empanadas (imagine him saying this with no annunciation)...I told Mechy and she 100% committed to buying them from the Spanish lady down the street. Awesome! From there we will travel to Fed Ex Field and enjoy the Redskins getting creamed by the Denver Broncos. Dad has promised to look for his Redskins jersey that says Huntington on the back for me and even made a promise to look for the Denver Broncos vest Lucy and I used to wear to school when we lived in Colorado. Alex loved this idea and he's looking forward to meeting Dad so much. From what he's heard, he just thinks, "Dad sounds like a super nice guy"
Awwwwwwww.

The  next weekend we will be both heading to our respective households for Thanksgiving. Alex to the Compound and Linda to the Burg. We will get to spend time with our families and then Alex is going to ship off (literally)for a few weeks and get the boat ready for us. His dad said that we can sail the boat down to Florida/Bahamas and we are going to take him up on his offer. This means that we will be apart for a bit, but as a bonus we will get to spend the end of December, my birthday and New Years together in the Bahamas!!!!

This brings me to 2010...can you believe it??? With that being said, I am happy to announce that I will be joining the Ray's this year on their annual family trip to the Bahamas!!!!! I wanted to go so badly last year, but Alex and I had just started dating....I'm so excited to get to spend time with him and his family away from everyone else and in the Bahamas!!!! Alex's family had a house growing up in the Abaco Islands. They have since sold the us but continue to vacation there every year and this year...I'm the newest addition to the group. Words can not describe how happy this makes me.

More to come....

No New Adventures

Thanks Sondi for the great idea and title of this entry! Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Ray (our dining reservation name) have been under the weather for the last few weeks. Alex had a bad cold and I had a terrible bladder infection leaving  us both with no good stories to share. On the flip side, our austerity plan has been going quite well. We have spent most of our weekends in and I have gotten the opportunity to cook lots of dinners for Alex. He continues to say "everything you make is great" but I'm not certain that's the truth. I mean lets face it- the other day, I made blueberry pancakes and I burned most of them. (That damn cast iron pan Lucy got me gets me every time!!!! Although I love it and will continue to endure a smoke filled apartment every time I use it.)
Anyway, he ate every last bite of them....which as a cook is always nice to see. We always have Darcy to clean up the scraps too.
The next few weeks are going to be very adventurous...We have lots to do and several different outings with our friends and family. Our tentative Thanksgiving plans include me visiting the Maryland compound to finally meet The Fun Bunch. I'm super excited and hoping that Alex's mom will teach me to make one of her famous pies. Baking is a big weak point for me and Alex constantly talks about those pies. Til next time. xoxoxoxo

Hello, My name is Harry Winston

Alex and I had another great weekend! When Alex went to England a few weeks ago, he was able to spend some time with his old boss Colin. (Pronounced Collin-  not Colin- like Colin Powell) Colin and his girlfriend Nicole, were planning to visit NYC this past weekend and wanted to have dinner with us. While in England, Alex sent me an email saying he was talking me up a bit and wanted a great, new trendy restaurant for the four of us to go to. He asked if I was up for the challenge....I of course, was ALL OVER IT.
We started out with drinks outside at one of our favorite venues- The Cooper Square Hotel. After a week of clean living, those cocktails sure did taste good....Colin and Nicole met us and we soon made our way over to the restaurant. My choice for the evening was  Hotel Griffou. It was incredible! Very trendy with a secret doorway, guest list and unlisted phone number. Exactly the challenge I was looking for when trying to make a reservation for our English friends.
As we sat down an ordered our drinks, Colin made a toast saying that Congratulations were in order. (back story on this that Alex will never admit to) He had just announced that he and Nicole had gotten engaged a few days before and our evening together was a great chance to celebrate! The conversation soon turned to engagement rings. Colin and Nicole had spent their afternoon going into Harry Winston and Debeers to try and get an idea of what they wanted. They were flabbergasted at the cost of some of these rings....548k, 399k...two months salary? WHAT? for who? Madonna? "It was more for fun" they said. It was great to see them so excited!

Colin quickly segued the conversation to me then asked me what type of ring I was looking for???? Wait! Hello! Set up the tee for me!!! Well done Colin!!!! Usually, a girl dating a boyfriend of a year would squirm at this conversation...but I loved it! Thank you Colin! I soon gave my dream ring/ideas/qualifications just in case...
p.s. We aren't getting married............yet.

Clean Living

Alex, Darcy and I had a great weekend....Since Alex has been back from London, we have decided that our motto for the next few weeks will be "clean living." No booze, no bad food and lots of exercise! We spent Friday in and spent Saturday morning challenging ourselves to a walk. We started on the FDR, made our way down and across the Brooklyn Bridge, around the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Dumbo and back over the Manhattan Bridge. Once back in Manhattan, we walked through Chinatown and the Lower East Side back over to the FDR and up to 23rd Street.
See our route here

Needless to say, we were exhausted! Our first order of business when we got home was to bathe, eat and rest. Darcy went into the tub for a bath first and we soon followed.
After we had cleaned up, Alex and I both stepped on the scale...he was down 4 lbs and I was down 2lbs. Clean living continues this week as we both try and reach our goals!

Los Angeles and San Francisco

Miami Part Deux

Puerto Rico and the land of Derek Jeter

Puerto Rico has got to be one of my favorite trips. Not only did we make the right choice by staying an extra day this time, but we also booked our stay at....you guessed it....The Ritz Carlton Puerto Rico. The accommodations were incredible. Il Mulino, BLT Steak, Salsa Dancing and Yankees. We were enjoying our evening celebrating OUR Valentine's Day. (Alex was going to be away in the Bahamas on the actual day so we had to improvise) I took Alex to Il Mulino to enjoy the most delicious Italian...the block of cheese never disappoints. After we had finished up our meals, we decided to go to listen to some salsa music in the lobby. One of Alex's favorite parts of the evening....He will tell you that he secretly thinks he is Spanish. Of Spain descent...not South American. As we were sipping cocktails and listening to the music, we decided to call it a night.  As we were walking to the elevator, someone approached us and said, "Did you see Derek Jeter in the casino?" (we had heard they were there at the pool earlier) "NO!" I screamed with a bold smile on my face..."he's in the casino all the way down and to the left sitting at a table," I made a decision to sprint out of the elevator in my stilettos and made my way to the casino. I just wanted to do a lap and see him once. Alex held my hand and let me do my thing...I walked down the hall, owned the area and made a loop. There was Derek, Jorge Posada and her....Minka Kelly...aka girl giving me the stink eye. Alright, I was trying to steal her man, but it wasn't for real...it was only in my head what did she have to worry about?
Regardless, I made my loop and then left. It was great seeing the worlds greatest baseball team in the flesh!
All in all, my favorite trip and one of my favorite Ritz Carlton's!