The Weekender

Thursday, November 24, 2005

San Daminao Retreat House in Danville

posted by The Weekender @ 8:34 PM 0 comments

ENGAGED ENCOUNTER WEEKEND

As some of you know, Awsome and I are getting married in a Catholic Church. And for most churches, they request for you to go through marriage preparation classes. Oh yeah, I spoke of this in my last post. DUH. Anyways, last weekend we finally went. It was held at San Damiano Retreat House in Danville. This place is BEAUTIFUL, up in the hills of Danville.

We arrived Friday evening and found our rooms, that's plural, seperate rooms w/ a roommate. Met our roommates, and by the way, my roommate has the same wedding date as me! HOW FUNNY IS THAT! Too weird. Our retreat was going to be led by 2 couples who have been married 38+ years and Father Tom. Some of you know how emotional I can get. So when it came down to introducing myself and Awsome and what led me to him..can we just say my voice started to crack and tears just started running down my face. Good grief.... I told Awsome if we were to ever write our own vows and say them out loud, I don't think anyone would be able to understand what I'm saying or if i'd even be able to finish. hahahhaha

Anyways, if you've ever gone on a retreat before, there's alot of reflecting and writing. And I would suggest for you to bring along a Dr. Grip Fine Point pen if you ever go on a retreat. We were left to write w/ your regular paper-mate pen that made my hand cramp. I've never written this much since college.

So what was this retreat about? It's about you and your fiance. About what your marriage will entail. That it's not just about you exchanging vows and having a big party in the end. It's about communication, becoming one, sexual intimacy, becoming a family, forgiveness....etc.... I'm sure we've heard all of these words before, but it was nice to hear the couples stories and Father Tom's input and how Awsome and I relate and express these to each other.

I thank you Voodoo for encouraging us to do this over night retreat. If we were to do the once a week class or even the Sat & Sun 8am-5pm it would not be the same. I can see myself constantly looking at my watch waiting for the retreat to end, thinking of what we were going to do after the retreat. I don't believe we would have been there mentally. It was nice being away from your everyday things, no TV, no radios no computers.... It's just you and your fiance being together... I have to admit though, that Awsome and I were mentallyand physically exhausted, which was surprising because all we did was sit and right and talk to each other.

After the retreat was over, it was kind of sad to see everyone go, but Awsome and I got so much out of this retreat. We hope that in maybe 5-10 years to go to another retreat, but for married couples. It was soooooooooooooooooo worth it... and the food was good too!!!!!

posted by The Weekender @ 7:33 PM 3 comments

Monday, November 07, 2005

HARD HAT WALK-THROUGH

Yes!!! October 22nd was our first time to walk into the building or land that Awsome and I will be living in as husband and wife! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! We've been pretty lucky I'd say. In the beginning of the year, you know we got engaged and had planned to live w/ my mom for awhile. Well after a couple of weeks of just testing it out ( w/ Awsome pretty much just stayin on weekends), we decided that it wasn't going to work. Or at least I knew it wasn't goin to work. It's my MOM'S home, HER kitchen, HER furniture. And as a newly married couple, you want to be able to feel at home. Be able to leave a mess once in awhile and clean up later. We came to realize that the only place we'd be able to feel at home would be in the confines of my bedroom which is roughly 600sqft. estimately.... And that's no way to live.

So in the beginning of the year, we started looking around and surfing the internet. Good grief, has property definitely gone up since Awsome and his brother bought their condo over a year ago. We started signing up on newletter announcements on newly built condos or townhomes within Alameda and Contra Costa County. Why not go w/ an older home? At least we can say we own the house and wouldn't have to deal w/ HOA's. The upkeep is why..... That means... older home...more upkeep... more problems...more money out of our pockets... And of course this is just temporary. We hopefully plan on buying a home when we start our own family. 2 years guys..2 years... or maybe 3...... hahahahhaha

We landed a loft in downtown Oakland. Only a block away where Awsome currently resides. We've been driving by every now and then to take a look at what progress they've made, only to try to peer thru the wire fences..... So close but yet so far.. Yes..Downtown Oakland folks! Yes.. I know Oakland has a bad rap and it's going to take awhile for it to really clean up, but w/ the implementation of Jerry Brown's 10k Project... It's cleanin up pretty well... It's starting to turn into what SOMA has become... full of young entrepreuners, couples, business folks and artists moving into the community. Driving around the other night we noticed a whole bunch of new dive bars/clubs poppin up, boutiques and nice restaurants. Pretty cool!

So at first I wasn't so hot on the idea.. of course being...ALOT OF CHANGES.... I'm getting married & moving out of my home that i've known for the past 18 years!!!! Thank god we're only 20 minutes away from home...w/o traffic on the Bay Bridge. But the idea or should I say the move is growing on me and i'm loving Oakland. Don't get me wrong..nothing beats SF, but we're excited to move into our home. Of course if it's finished before we get married, Awsome will be moving in first. I'm not moving in till after we're married! hee hee hee... I know... Gotta keep somethin traditional right???

So we finally get to walk into our loft...our actual loft and whoh nelly...high ceilings. Of course our bedroom is on the 2nd floor and whoh..I'm goin to have to get over my feer of heights.. I'm not totally scared, but I get a little woozy for a bit. We get morning sun which is pretty nice. Hopefully where we live, they don't build a huge building that'll block it. We drove by the other day and they're finally putting paint on the outside. There was no sheet rock or anything when we walked thru, but I think it'll be good for the both of us. EXCITING!!!! I'll keep you posted on the developments.. Hopefully I'll be able to post pix.

posted by The Weekender @ 6:49 PM 2 comments

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Update on the Wedding!!!

Ok the dress and veil are in!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!! What happened to the 4-6 month wait. Dang it. That means I have to pay for my dress in full now! UGH!!! j/k.... But it would have been nice though you know... Am I excited?? Yes and no... That means i'm goin to probably want to try the dress every now and then and that means I have to be careful not to get it dirty. The other thing is that Awsome's goin to wanna poke around and sneak a peak.. although I know he's really good about not doin such a thing.. hahahha So yeah it came in about 2-3 weeks ago now and I still have yet to pick it up. Probably next week!!!! I still have to find shoes if i'm goin to have it altered there too??? We'll see....

The other up side is that we had our first tasting for cakes!!! YUM!!!! We met w/ Chef Michael over at Perfect Endings in Napa. Far huh? Well we thought we'd make it a day trip for the both of us. We could have done it at the Waterfront at the Pier but eeeeeeeeeeeeh....NAPA OUTLETS!!!! HAHAHHAHA Let's just say this is our front runner so far. We have another tasting this Saturday! MORE FREE CAKE!!!! Hey...here's a tip for you folks, if you ever become engaged...take advantage of all the free stuff that comes along with it!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! We also had our tasting at Blakes last week and that was really good!!!! I just hope it tastes just as good the day of. I may be busy as a bee that day and barely get to eat..but if I remember my salad at my cotillion which was god..13 year ago... tasting like there were pieces of dirt in it...then i'll probably notice the food at our wedding.. hahahhaha

So what else is there left to do??? LOTS!!! Thank god Awsome has been very helpful. I LOVE IT! That's one of the reasons i'm marrying this man! hee hee hee... I swear... it's so surprising how he's really paricipating in EVERYTHING regarding our wedding. I thought it would be one of those things where "oh sure..go right ahead..whatever you pick as long as within budget." But actually it's like..."well..what if we do it like this? or how about this instead? or yeah..that's great! I like that much better." Which is soooooooo cool! I was so tempted for him to help me pick out my dress...but we both didn't want him to see it till I walk down that aisle. hee hee hee..I KNOW..SUCH CHEESE HUH???

Another big step that we're taking is our Engaged Encounter Retreat which is comin up in 2 weeks. What is it you ask? Well the Diocese of Oakland gave us 3 choices. Well when you plan on getting married, you have to go thru these preparation classes for marriage. What they're all about.. I have no clue... I have an idea though.. The first choice was to go to a class once a month till April I think, second choice was to go to a class held Sat/Sun of one weekend from 8-5pm, and third was to go to a retreat from Friday-Sunday. We opted for door number 3!!! Pretty exciting! I received the rules of the retreat and since we're suppose to bring snacks, we're not able to bring drugs or alcohol....HAHAHHAHAH HILARIOUS!!! Ooooooooooooooook...what kind of people have they had comin to these things.... Anyhow, i'll keep you all posted on the cake tasting this Saturday. I'm goin back to my wedding research online... hahhahahaha

posted by The Weekender @ 10:03 PM 0 comments

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Name: Voodoo Child
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