Me, myself and I: October 2006

Monday, October 30, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Shower, Flooring and Wedding, oh my!

I am so happy this weekend is over but it was soooooo wonderful! I hate being the center of attention but my first wedding shower was just wonderful. As you know it was in Ohio and hosted by my sister Kari and my mom Karen. Mat's family came in from all over and we had such a great time. My mom and sister planned a different kind of shower at my mom's school. Some of you know this already so sorry if it's a repeat! Mat's family provided the greenware dishes that Mat and I had chosen. My family provided the 6 glazes that Mat and I had chosen (2 blues, 2 greens and an orange). All the ladies that attended the shower glazed (painted) a complete table setting of dishes for us!

My mom fired the dishes last night and I can't wait to see them! My parents are going to bring them down with the rest of the shower gift in a couple weeks. These dishes will be our "everyday dishes" which will make for quite a colorful dinner table. It was so great to see Mat's family. Some I haven't seen for over a year since I was gone in London. Mat and I got lots of wedding stuff accomplished and I am already working on all my thank you notes. I can't believe this is all happening!! It's so great to spend so much time with family and friends.

Moving on, we got back to Atlanta late last night and Mat's condo (aka Tiny House) has new wood flooring and tile!!! I can't believe how good it looks. It was kind of a surprise but then he was so excited that he let it slip! Anyway, we are going to rent it as soon as we move out of there. We are supposed to close on out house next week (Halloween) and we are moving in the next day (Nov. 1). The following day (Nov. 2) Mat leaves for his all important bachelor party in Vegas!! So an exciting couple weeks coming up.

Lasik, House, Florida, Wedding

Lasik is going really well. I had to have PRK which is different than Lasik. Most people do it one eye at a time but I chose to just get them both done and over with. Same cost but more pain and longer recovery time. The pain the first couple days was really really bad but then by the 3rd day it wasn't so bad. Within a week I was driving and today is my first day with makeup. But I am about 95% at this point and they said almost one month from the day that you got the surgery, you should be able to see 100%. I am really glad that I got it done. And both eyes done at the same time. Yeah, it was more time off work but in the end, I think it was the better solution.

This past weekend was a big weekend for me and Quickie. We are currently under contact for our first house (together)! The offer is in and they accepted. We are set to close on November 1. Yes, now we have 3 properties but I will probably be selling my soon, maybe. Who knows! It's a 3 bedroom/2 bath so plenty of room for visitors. It has a nice big backyard with a deck. No renovations, just move right in. I am super super nervous but keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes through!!

Jose, Pavan, Quickie and I went to Gainesville this weekend for the game. The weekend was good. The Gators won and it was an amazing game. I ran in the Gator Gallup which is a run that kicks off the Homecoming Parade. So fun!

We got home and went straight to the shops and finally finished registering. I know alot of you have been asking so we are registered at Crate & Barrel, Bed Bath & Beyond and we have towels at Macy's cause we love them so much! Mat was in "scan gun heaven" and now he doesn't want to look at another kitchen utensil for the rest of his life! But we had a good time.

We finished our invitations which was also a relief. Last week I had a little invitation party and the girls came over and we pumped out as many as we could. Addressing, tying, folding, taping, etc, etc. I was just glad a couple of my friends have nice handwriting cause mine sucks! Anyway, Mat and I worked on them Sunday night and last night and have them all finished! Mat was taping and stuffing, licking and sealing. He did a good job and I was happy that he helped. They went out in the mail today!! Yours still had your Charleston address so I changed that and yours will go out tomorrow. Can't wait for you to see our creation.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Home Sweet Home

Take a look at the house we just put an offer on!! We are scheduled to close on Halloween....SPOOKY!!

Weekend Twenty-eight / Switzerland

Our Switzerland trip started off with a bad start. I lost my Ipod on the plane ride to Geneva. We tried to go back to look for it but it was long gone. But from there, it only looked up. The trip was an amazing success due to my fabulous planning skills! And Mat’s comprehension of the Swiss travel system. Thank goodness he figured it out!! We fly into Geneva and took a train around Lake Geneva to Montreux. We had lunch here and that was about it. Oh yeah, we did have time to hit the Casino Montreux and Mat won a nice bit of Swiss Franks! We took the Golden Pass which is a panoramic train to Interlaken. It had huge windows and upper windows that let in lots of light and scenery. We checked into our hotel and hung out until dinner. The next day we got up bright and early to go canyonning. Definition of canyoning: Canyoning (also known as canyoneering) is traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques that may include walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, abseiling, and/or swimming. Scariest, freakiest thing I have ever done.

Tried and hungry, we rented a scooter and rode around town plus we took a trip to Grindelwald. We took a hike up to see the lowest accessible glacier; yes we had to climb 980 steps! After the glacier we took a gondola over to those luging track and raced around that which was pretty funny.

That night we watched the cow’s parade through the town center heading to the William tell show. We had yet another fabulous dinner and crashed. Sore but excited we booked our paragliding trip. It was a short ride in a VW bus and we were at the top looking down. It was a great ride and probably the closest we will be to flying. Mat took some fabulous pictures of me “flying”.

After paragliding we headed into the mountains. For the next three days we stayed in Gimmelwald. The population of Gimmelwald is 130 and no cars. The only way to get to the city is by going up and down in a gondola. Literally took us 10 mins to walk from one end to the other. We dropped out stuff off at the Pension where we were staying and headed back down the mountain. Trummelbach Falls is unique, in that seven of its 10 cascades are inside a mountain. A lift takes you up inside the mountain, and you start climbing up to the cascades. The tunnels and stairs that lead to the cascades are dimly lit and damp, with water dripping everywhere. I can't tell you 20,000 liters per second sounds like but it was LOUD!!!

The next day we headed up to the Schilthorn. At 2,970 meters high summit there is a 360 degree moving restaurant at the top. The James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Service"- was filmed here on the Schilthorn. We stopped off in Birg for some photo opportunities or the three big mountains in this region. Jungfrau, Munch, Eiger. Heading down we stopped in Murren for a hike.

Another town that took us about 15 mins to walk from one end to the other. It's more of a ski resort town. On the hike I did a little “the hills are alive with the sound of music”. Mat did a little serenading of the cows. We saw a great waterfall and ate some local cheese.

We had dinner in Murren which was yet another great meal (Thanks Rick Steves!!). The next day we headed up to the big one, Jungfraujoch. At an elevation of 3,454 meters is the highest railway station in Europe. The Jungfraujoch is often called the "Top of Europe".

We went sled riding and went into an ice palace. It was pretty hard to breath at that elevation but you just had to take it easy. That pretty much took all day but after another short hike we were home. On our last night we stopped for a walking tour of Bern which was a really nice city. Very clean with lots of little interested tid bits.