A Cameo Appearance

Despite the fact today is Valentine's day, Chris and I celebrated on Friday February 12th. Since he was leaving on Saturday evening for his trip to Panama, Friday night was our time to celebrate .. and we had so much to celebrate, indeed!

We had a lovely, decadent dinner at Prime in Huntington. The food was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere was beautiful. It was my first time going there and I'd heard such wonderful things about it. I'm here to tell you: all true. It was really lovely and Chris and I discovered a Riesling that we really loved. Everything from appetizers, to sushi, to the fish, steak, and desert was excellent. I highly recommend it for special occasions!

Then Chris bought me a present as well. It was definitely a surprise considering I thought the engagement was gift enough! But he bought me an absolutely beautiful cameo. He bought it, without me knowing, when him and I went to a large antique show at the Huntington Hilton. It's my first and it's gorgeous. The detail is beautiful and it's such a lovely piece. I pinned it to the collar of my black sweater while seated at the table, and it absolutely popped. He did a wonderful job picking it!

Saturday afternoon Chris and I visited his father, who greeted us with open arms, at the Thatched Cottage, where he is owner and chef. He was overjoyed at our engagement, bestowing us with a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and then we set a date! Since we're busy real-estate hunting right now, we planned on a longer engagement. We wanted a year and half to be able to take our time and really enjoy the planning process. So we're going to be married on September 4th, 2011. It'll be a Sunday evening wedding, as that Monday is Labor Day. Which allows our out-of-town guests to enjoy the wedding without having to travel on the day of. We still need to meet with the priest of his family's parish to confirm the date, but barring there is no conflict, we're set. My cousin, Peter, is a pastor and he will be performing the ceremony. I spoke with him last week and he's excited about the news and as soon as Chris returns from vacation, we'll be having dinner with him to discuss. He presided over his parent's (my Aunt Rita and Uncle Pete) 50th wedding anniversary where they renewed their vows. Peter gave a beautiful mass, really personalizing it, and I cannot wait for him to do the same for us. Chris and I will be the first from our family that Peter has officially married and we're so honored!

Saturday evening, unfortunately, we packed Chris up and sent him along on this travels. He's currently waiting at a layover in Georgia but will be arriving in Panama this evening. I'm excited for him, but at the same time ... how much longer!?

So, back to real-estate!

While Chris is away, I've recruited my dad to help out and visit some homes with me. Tomorrow him and I are driving out to Huntington and visiting 3 homes that all fit the bill. The realtor we're using right now is really great- she's on top of the ball! So I spent the day speaking with Chris via g-chat and taking virtual tours of the homes and the street views. Definitely some potential.

So tomorrow we'll be getting up early and taking lots and lots of pictures of the houses to keep Chris up to date until he returns. I also have several phone-calls to make, which will keep me busy, all involving various processes of home-ownership. It's a lot of paperwork! Nobody tells you that when you're envisioning picket fences and flower boxes! But, it will keep me busy until it's time to pick Chris up from the airport and bring him home.

On a side note: I've started Weight-Watchers once again. What better reasoning than to go dress shopping could there be!? So, I'll be throwing on a tally of of my lost-weight in here as well. Today we (my parents are joining this venture as well) made whole-wheat dough for salsa-pizzas! Then we paired it with a potato and leek soup from the W.W recipe book. So far .. it's not torture yet. I also bought a bike at a garage sale Chris and I went to a few weeks ago. For $3 ... who could resist!? So I'm going to be adding biking to my list of things to do each day.

I believe that's it for now. Still have some other possibilities for houses and in a few days we'll know more. But it's getting exciting because we're finally narrowing it down and just around the corner, we'll be home-owners! Or, so we plan ;-)

Yours truly and his soon-to-be newly,

Amanda

--Yes, I'll be sure I make Chris post once in a while, hehe.