I am still here. This year got off to a roaring start. I wasn't planning to take a blogging/social media break, but other than a little Fac.ebook here and there, I just needed to focus on a few things with more priority.
First, we got our wedding website up and running in January. I am really happy with it. One compromise that I made with Mr. Mixologist is that it is password protected. It has a lot of personal information about us both. The story of how we met, how he proposed, intimate pictures, etc. not to mention specific details about the wedding. He just doesn't want random people to be able to goo.gle our names and find it. So I definitely understood. He is way more private than I am, but this is OUR wedding and OUR marriage, so I respect his feelings. I did probably 70% of the writing on the site but he did contribute some and he helped with photo selection and I got the music from him ( New Orleans native Trombone Shorty !). I knew he thought it turned out nice, but when we sent the link to his parents and his aunts and uncles to preview, his reaction was just priceless to me. His mother LOVED the site & called us both separately to tell us just how much & that she had already emailed the link AND the password to all of her friends (even people who aren't invited LOL) ! My love was beaming about her reaction. You can tell she is very proud and that made him feel proud, it was a blessing to see that in his eyes.
Another big thing that happened recently, is I was involved in a car accident. I was on my way to the Airport to pick up my love's brother, when I got creamed by a little old blue haired lady in a parking lot ! I was just riding along minding my own business coming down the aisle & she was cutting through spaces and pulled right out in front of me, I tried to miss her by swerving to the left, but it was too late. The bad news is that she totaled my car. The good news is she was at fault and neither of us was injured. But I loved my little cream puff Toyota Camry. It was paid for, clean inside and out, well maintained, never had any major mechanical problems with it and had low, low miles. However, the insurance company was very fair with me. So I have no complaints. I got 5 days in a rental car after they gave me my settlement money and my love found me a new vehicle with 2 days to spare ! The best part about it is, I took the same money that I got from the insurance company and paid for the new vehicle. Mr. Mixologist did the negotiation with the seller. We both hate car payments & I did not want to have to dip into the wedding fund for a new car. Mission accomplished. We did have to spend gas money to drive to Dallas to pick up the vehicle, but it was well worth it. I love the new ride. It's a Mitsubishi Endeavor, a sport utility vehicle. It's newer than my other car and has low, low miles (less than 10K per model year) and it's more comfortable and luxurious (leather seats, premium sound system & sunroof) than my Camry which I truly loved.
I went from this.....
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| My poor little baby ! |
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| My new baby ! |
To this.....
We made a day trip to Dallas in the middle of the week to pick up the new car. Of course we had to make a mandatory stop at a Cigar Lounge. LOL We chilled for a couple of hours at Elite Cigar Cafe had lunch and my love enjoyed a nice Cigar before we headed back to Houston. It is a very cool spot with great food, nice large patio, lots of inside seating and a pretty large humidor. They even had a stage for live entertainment in the evenings. We had a wonderful Cuban Sandwich for lunch. Mr. Mixologist was also impressed with the prices and selection of the sticks. If you are ever in the Dallas area looking for a nice Cigar Lounge, this is the place. Check out my Yelp review.
January was also the month for the Annual Cigar Event. That's why my love's brother flew in from Chicago to attend with us. It is hosted by Serious Cigars and we invite a bunch of friends to hang out. My love and I met in January, so we jokingly refer to this as our "unofficial" Anniversary party. Here are some pics...
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| My love and his brother |
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| My BFF |
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| TiffanyinHouston & her Hubby ! |
Also this month, my sister and I finally decided on the "Save the Dates". There is a cool site called Wedding Paper Divas that we used. I couldn't decide on what pics to use, since we are not taking our engagement photos until the summer so I just picked from some past events. We decided to use a photo from the very first wedding we ever attended together (Shout out to TiffanyinHouston !) and another pic from a nice Wine Bar called The Tasting Room that we like to hang out at. But I was happy with how they turned out. We chose a refrigerator magnet so that people can put it somewhere & keep it on their minds. They sent me the proof for final approval a couple of days ago & they will be here on Monday. I am sending them out this week, exactly 8 months before our wedding date, so that people can start making their travel arrangements now. There is also a link to our wedding website on the Save the Date so our guests can get information about where to stay and what to do, while in New Orleans.
Here is the final draft...
Valentine's was very low key for us this year since we are trying to be wedding budget minded LOL. We exchanged cards ( I did get candy and a teddy bear). I picked up my love's favorite dinner (Brisket) and we watched "The Coalition" DVD written by blogger Monica Mingo & Terrell Suggs (Mr. Mixologist being raised in Baltimore is a huge Raven's fan) and just relaxed all evening. We enjoyed the film. It has been exciting to watch Monica see her dreams come to fruition ! Congratulations on a job well done.
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| My personal copy |
What is going on in your world ?
Did you do anything special for Valentine's Day ?
How has your 2013 been so far ?
Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?
Beautifully Complex
