2 Things

Cosa Número Uno

Tuesday was Roberto's 28th birthday. Woohoo! He really is the easiest person to shop for because he's so dang cheap that he won't buy himself stuff that he wants. Unlike myself, who will splurge on unnecessary garbage. He made it very clear that he wanted a microscope. Not sure what he plans on observing under one, but he only seems to appreciate educational gifts. However, I wanted to get him something a little more meaningful, a little unexpected.

So, I thought, what else does Rob like? Well, there's baseball, but I just gave him that baseball bachelor party as a wedding gift. Oh, nature, that's always a winner. Lessee. He's always said how he's never been on a real hike. After a few hours of deliberation and internet research, I decided on a four day mini-vacation in Shenandoah Valley Virginia where Rob can hike his little heart out. We'll be there August 23-26.

We're staying at the Skyland Resort, at 3,680 feet, in a room with a view.



I gathered a crap-load of hiking-related items (ranging from freeze-dried ice cream, to an emergency kit, to cushiony hiking socks) and wrapped them all up. Still, after 11 gifts, he thought he was getting a microscope! Then I handed him an envelope with the trip details and he flipped, in a good way. I think he's most surprised that I would be willing to go hiking with him. Me - the indoor, nap-taking, fast food-eating, make-up-wearing, internet-surfing queen. I think it's going to be a great time! Just me, my husband, 300-500 black bears, and loads of bugs. Awesome.


Cosa Número Dos

I'm going to stop dawdling and start thinking about what I want out of my life, professionally. Sure, sure, my job is fine. Better than most, I'll bet. But the point of taking a creatively-stifling job in exchange for a decent paycheck is so I can live comfortably while focusing on creativity in my spare time. Well, I haven't been doing much of that! I haven't done anything crafty lately. I haven't even been reading up on my field. I basically get home and veg out. Bad Melissa! Bad! So in an attempt to get back on track, I ordered myself a portfolio book:



Ain't it purty? It's kind of pathetic, but I'm a designer that doesn't have a portfolio together. I started working here while I was still in college, so I never put much pressure on myself to get one together. Four years later, I'm thinking it might be a good idea. I don't know what is going to happen or when it's going to happen, but I'd like to start creating some things that I'm proud of.

*Bonus thing: A street cleaner yesterday told me that I had a beautiful smile and I made his day. I wanted to run over and give him a big smooch for his kindness! Turns out he made my day.

Thursday Night with the Phillies

Thursday afternoon I got offered free tickets to the Phillies game versus the Padres. The seats were in the outfield, but they were second row, which is sweet homerun territory. If it were up to me, I would have passed. I had a big weekend ahead of me, and I would have much preferred a relaxing evening at home. But I know Rob would divorce me if I ever passed on a baseball game, so I called him up and asked. After a few minutes of debating, only because our car situation was inconvenient, he decided he wanted to go. That's fine. Free tickets don't pop up too often.

Luckily the weather was gorgeous. Could not have been better. And it turned out to be a fun evening out! The game was lackluster, and the Phillies lost, but sitting outside, enjoying some ballpark food with my best friend is not bad at all.

I've been carrying around my crappy camera lately. Just because it's tiny. Makes my nicer camera feel too bulky for my skinny arms.

I grabbed a Frappuccino and parked my butt on a bench. This was my view.




And this was my view down. I bought new shoes, aren't they cute? Haha.




Here I am annoying the bejeezus out of Rob.




Goofing off before the game.




Mmmm, crab fries. I don't even really like them, but I enjoy waiting in line for 25 minutes to buy some $7 french fries.







That silly "what" bubble follows me around.










The Philly Phanatic

Our Big Day

I probably emailed this link to everyone who reads my blog, but in case you're a snooper and you'd like to see my wedding pictures, checka check it out.

Our Wedding Photos

I need to do some minor touch-up action to a few of them, especially the ones of me later in the day. I have some hair and makeup issues going on. It was all the kissy stuff the photographers made us do. It's weird to see those pictures because we aren't PDA people.

Post-wedding stuff is going well. I'm feeling pretty stress-free at the moment. I need to go through all the paperwork and do some name changing soon. It's still all so strange to me!

Thanks for peeking!

The Conference Aftermath

I had too much to say and too many photos to post. So I made up a Trip Diary.

You can view it here:
Vegas Trip Diary

And view my photos from the conference here:
Vegas Photos - Part I

and here:
Vegas Photos - Part II


Photos of the wedding will be coming later. I'm waiting on the photographer right now.

I hope you enjoy it! :-)

Everyone wishes they were engaged to me!

Since I am the best fiancé in the world, I wanted to get Rob a nice gift before the wedding. The difficult thing is that Rob hates stuff. But what he loves is baseball. So I had planned to buy a pack of tickets and give Rob a "guy's night" with some of his friends and family. Well, thanks to my awesome company, who I love to death, I was able to use their luxury box for the Memorial Day Phillies game! (Fully catered, by the way.) Gosh, I'm lucky. So after many weeks of stressful planning, 15 of Rob's closest friends and family were there to meet him.

He was stunned! My plan had worked! He thought he was going to a game with three of his friends and sitting in the 300 level. He waited in the lot for his friends to show up, and all his other friends started walking up. He said he was really confused. At this point, he thought Hunter had thrown him a bachelor party, and he had no clue that I was behind it all. As they go to the gate, Rob says, "We can't go in this way, this is for suites only." Then Hunter handed him the envelope with his suite ticket and a letter from me, explaining how I did this all as a gift for him because I love him dearly. And then when he walked into the suite, his dad and brothers and uncles and cousin were in there! He loved it!

Anyway, enough blabbing, here are some photos!




Eric, RJ and Samir, donning their felt bowties, in honor of Rob.




Hunter, cheering for the Phillies.




This is the shirt that Eric made for Rob. And I didn't say no strippers. I said no "female" strippers. ;-)






Thank goodness he wore the shirt that I gave him instead. A Phillies t-shirt with "GROOM" and "06" on the back.








Group shot!

June Fifteenth

Hi there! I needed a little wedding de-stress so I threw together a very, very simple wedding website. It's not the greatest, but it'll do. It just has some of the details and such, and I'm going to post the wedding pictures up here after the hooplah.

Take a look!

June Fifteenth

April 29th NYC Peace Rally

Rob had been planning on attending this event since he first heard about it. Throughout the day he took 13 rolls of film, and here are some of his favorite results.

Making a list and checkin' it twice.

Howdy partners! How's life treating ya'll? I'm a little tuckered out. Rob and I saw Ben Folds last night and didn't get home until after midnight. That's way past my bedtime, but it was worth it because it was an awesome show! I love seeing Ben Folds because he cracks me up and his stories alone are entertaining enough. But put it with his music and I'm blown away! He always has such a rapport with the audience. I don't know how he doesn't get annoyed when people shout things at him throughout the show, but he doesn't seem to mind and he always takes requests. I heard many of my favorites, including "The Luckiest", which is Rob's and my wedding song...if we actually have a wedding song.

Speaking of weddings, we went to Rob's uncle's wedding last Saturday. It was a good time! Here are some photos from the event.

A photo of the lovely bride and groom:




Here I am before the ceremony:




Here's a shot of Rob with his father and brothers:




And me and Rob at the end of the night, looking slightly weary:



Our wedding stuff is moving along. I ordered our favors, I bought some shoes. I'm feeling a little bit better about the guestlist. I think that if we do go over 30, it'll only be by a few people. Also, I had some email communication with my photographer yesterday. She's so great. Really, really helpful. I can tell that she wants to do a good job for us. We were going to have them for an hour after the ceremony and then three hours in the Skyloft, but now that's changed. They'll come 30 minutes prior to the ceremony to get those sappy "getting ready" shots and then we'll take approx 40 minutes of group shots afterwards. Then she wants to take us around the hotel for some nice photos of the two of us. And we'll have them there for 2 hours in the Skyloft instead of 3. I'm really getting excited now! 49 days!!!

Another thing I've been working on is the song list. This is the one area of the wedding where Rob wants some input. I'm a little concerned because I know if it were up to him, it'd be an all old-school-rap wedding. I threw a little in. Some "Dowhatchalike" at the request of Jeope. A little Young MC, a little Tribe, a little Beastie Boys. But I don't want to alienate our older guests, so I made sure to throw in some James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Devo, Parliament. You know, mix it up. If Rob vetoes my Earth Wind and Fire, there's gonna be hell to pay. If you people have any requests or suggestions, post 'em in my comments!