Wonderful Fiance

So my wonderful fiance took me out on a real life date last night. It was so sweet. He called me told me to put on a dress and get freshened up and he would be home to take me out. He surprised me with a date at the Clay Pit in downtown Austin. I have never had Indian food, but I had always wanted to try it. It was great! I LOVED it!

We sat and chatted about all the foods with the waitress, who was super excited about me trying Indian food for the first time. I was even daring and had some semi spicy curry options. It was all so wonderful. What was super thoughtful was that Parker knew I had wanted to got there for a long time, but that I had not mentioned it for maybe 6 moths. He remembers things like that and that is just so wonderful!

If you ever want a good alternative option to the traditional dinner out I highly recommend this as a place to try. It was super fresh and super yummy! Two thumbs up from me!

Thank you wonderful fiance!

Pet Peeve - Office Bathroom Ediquite

OK, so I think everyone hates to go to the bathroom at the office. Its always awkward if your coworker is in there and they want to chat and I just don't like to chat then. Then you have to worry if you keep chatting while peeing? I am all please stop talking to me, this is my moment not our moment. Do your business and I will do mine.

Also I have noticed that a lot of the older ladies in my office linger in the bathroom. They stand there and chat to each other and stuff. I am all, in and out. I don't want to hang out in other peoples peeing radius. It is gross don't you think?

Going to the bathroom in public is horrible and I hate it. It is exacerbated by the fact that I then have to chat with said coworkers before during and after. Just weird.

Anyway back to work.

Dinner with great friends

So tonight I cooked dinner for my great girlfriends Kelly Wylie, Whitney (Wheeler) Black and Kelly Daniel. I think it was quite a success. The food was great and I got a chance to catch up with some great friends. It was the first time I had a chance to catch up with the new Mrs. Black and hear all about her wonderful honeymoon in Italy. While getting the lowdown on that and many other juicy details from both Kelly's.

On the menu for tonight, first an Apple and Carrot salad that turned out to be wonderful and delish. It was one weight watchers point per serving AWESOME! I of course was super liberal with my servings! The recipe goes as follows:

	2 large apple(s), 1 red and 1 green, cored, thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks
	1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or less to taste
	3 cup(s) carrot(s), cut into matchsticks (many stores sell these precut)
	1/4 cup(s) chives, chopped
	1 tbsp olive oil
	1 tsp sugar
	1/2 tsp table salt
	1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste
	2 oz feta cheese, French-variety suggested, crumbled

Instructions

• Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. Add carrots, chives, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cheese; toss to mix thoroughly. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.

For a second dish I tried a meal I found on Gina's Weight Watchers recipes blog. It was made with Spaghetti and Zucchini. Yummy summer pasta I loved. Here is the recipe:

Angel Hair with Zucchini and Tomatoes
Tonight I was in the mood for pasta so I decided to make something quick and light. This turned out delicious! Zucchini is a great summer vegetable and happens to be one of my favorite veggies.
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 servings • Time: 10 minutes • Points: 5 ww points

• 2 zucchini, julienne or cut into ribbons
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 4 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• 8 oz (1/2 lb) Barilla plus angel hair pasta
• 1/4 cup fat free chicken or vegetable broth
  

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to instructions.
While pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan, heat pan on medium-high flame, add oil when pan is hot. Add garlic and shallots to the pan and saute about 1 minute. Add zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes, add tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, parsley, chicken broth and adjust salt and pepper. Stir for another minute. Remove from flame.
Drain pasta when done and mix well with zucchini. Serve with Parmesan.


Thanks to my wonderful assistant Kelly Daniel, who consistently said, "Why god don't you have a food processor!?" as I gave her another thing to cut. Love you!

Very exciting news!

There is a lady in my office who's daughter works at Old Navy. Every once in a while she sends me 30% off friends and family coupons. They are AMAZING. You can use this thing over and over again at all of the Gap stores and use it online.

The promotion goes from July 30th to August 2nd this time. I am giving my card number out to you all just in case you would like to benefit from this great deal! You will only be able to use it online, but still not bad at all. The number is:

PBF7KBZ24RX8

The great thing is you can tell your significant others or your own mind that this is for a good cause. The rep that earns the most sales from the use of her cards will get to give a donation to charity in the name of GAP inc. Pretty nice! See I am doing good for the world. And I can always use the excuse, but its for the honeymoon...

Update on Venues

Hello all. Good news. I think Parker and I found a really great option for the wedding. The Stephen F Austin Intercontinental was awesome. The people who worked there were totally willing to work with us on what we wanted and I think we could have a great party there. Parker and I are going to take a couple of days to think about it and we have agreed to come back to the conversation in a few days. I think we should defiantly have a place by our August engagement party.

An effort to document my crazy life

So after much success of my friends' blogs I thought I would get in on the act. I want to record my wedding planning, my engagement and my life as a newly wed. I think it should be a lot of fun and it will be a great way for you all to get in on the act and maybe get to know more about me.

In case you don't know me. I moved to Austin a few years ago and met and fell in love with two great men. Harry my dog and Parker my fiance. I work in downtown Austin and hope to be one of the lucky few that gets to stay here and raise my family here. I have a pregnant sister who also lives in Texas and wonderful parents who live in a far away place called Alaska!

So now that you have had the brief synopsis of my life lets get to the wedding. First off I am currently working on a venue for Parker and I's wedding. We are working with a pretty tight budget but I think we have some wonderful options and with a little creativity and a whole lotta help from our friends and family I know it is going to be great.

First off we have Mandola's Vineyard and Winery: http://www.mandolawines.com/
Let me just say this, Parker and I love this location, it is amazing. We would have booked it already but it is by far and away the most expensive option so we continue to look.
Second we have Hamilton Twelve Pool: http://www.hamiltontwelve.com/
This option is super cute and very reasonable. We really like this place too. I think everyone would have a great time dancing the night away here!
Third we have the Stephen F Austin Intercontinental Hotel: http://austin.intercontinental.com/
Parker and I are going to take a look at this place tonight. We will let you know what we think . I am hoping it will be just the combination of Austin and ease we have been looking for.

So far that is all I have. I will let you know how the visit goes tomorrow!