The Wedding & Honeymoon

Finally, Saturday, July 14, 2008 arrived. The day we got married! It was a wonderful, sunny day in Tacoma (no rain tent needed!). The day and night was a whirl for both of us. I can't even remember who I talked to. We loved seeing all the pictures because it would remind us of things that happened.

We had an awesome bartender who was giving out bottles of the champagne and a wonderful DJ who looked about 17, but I kept dancing all night long! Afterwords, off to the bars we went (with the wedding party in the fancy duds). Liz (the maid of honor) and I saw their high school soccer teacher at the bar. He's retired now and chatted them up for a long time. Too bad he's the reason they quit soccer!

We almost made it to the closing of the bars, but at 1:30 AM, I hit a wall and was ready to take the 20 pound dress off. It was all we could do to make it to our room. All-in-all, it was a fabulous time and I'm glad hubby wouldn't let them elope in Las Vegas the way I had wanted to. I'm is still happy it's all over and they have wonderful memories of the day!

Then, the following Friday, off to Costa Rica for a two week honeymoon. Five nights were spent in San Jose, the capital of the country. Day tours were made out of San Jose where we took a river ride, zip lined, saw volcanoes, and saw the rain forest. We fell in love with the sodas (small deli like restaurants) for about 3 days. At that point hubby ate something at the soda his stomach did not like. Can we say stay away from the meat special?

After the 5 lovely nights in San Jose (which is FULL of prostitutes since it is legal in Costa Rica), we picked up a rental car to which there was not roof rack and insurance was required (over $1000 down the tube!). With hubby's surfboards sandwiched into their little Rav4 like SUV, they were off to the Pacific coast. We stayed in Playa Hermosa, which just so happens to be the big surfing beach. Hubby took care of the accommodations (he swears that he didn't know it was THE surfing beach).

Many adventures occurred here including two lizards that took up residence in our honeymoon suite. We also drove around to the Nicoya Peninsula and spent one night in Santa Teresa and another night in Moctezuma. We decided on our next trip we're just going to rent a car and drive looking for places to stay.

Sadly, we left Costa Rica and headed back home where we spent the next year paying off all our debt and saving our pennies. Then, on August 25, 2008 we closed on our very first home. Goodbye rent, hello mortgage! Here's a pic of our little home on Jamestown Court in the North Clairemont neighborhood.

How the Peas Came to Be

So my wonderful friends have hounded me about a blog lately since there have been so many life changes. I travel so much for work and keeping everybody updated on my engagement (was it really over 2 years ago?), wedding (was it really over 1 year ago?) and recent purchase of our house has been hard to do. Everyone wants pictures and updates and it's hard to update people 50 individual times so here's my solution.

A little information regarding us before we get started. Hubby is 34 years old, and I am 29. Hubby works as GIS Analyst for a small company, and I am a Senior Clinical Research Associate for the largest global contract research organization company. I travels a lot auditing physician's clinical research work. There are no kids between us, but we do have shared custody of a cat, Little Mookie who thinks he's King Sh*t on Turd Mountain. Obviously Little Mookie does not share in the household responsibilities, but spends his days napping on my expensive purses.

It all started in August 2001 when I met hubby's sister on a business trip to San Diego. She just wanted the free trip so that she could visit her brother who was living there. We met during dinner with hubby's sister and the sparks flew. I returned to Tacoma where I was living near my family and childhood friends. How did hubby win me over you ask? When I asked hubby what he did for a living, he stated, "I'm waiting to get layed off so I can surf and collect unemployment." How did he know the way to a girl's heart?

Over the next year a relationship grew between the two with several trips back and forth (at least once a month). I knew it was love when I agreed to a backpacking trip through the Hoh National Rain Forest for 3 nights with no shower and a billion mosquitoes. Each one decided to take a bite out of me, but only 10 took bites out of the hubby. Both used DEET spray. Hubby knew it was love when he had mosquito bait to keep himself out of the line of fire.

Then during the one year anniversary of when we met, hubby spoke those magical words on the deck of my apartment in Tacoma, "I Love You." Even though I was covered head-to-toe in mosquito bites, somehow hubby thought I was still beautiful and poured his heart out to me. One month later, I decided to pick up and move to San Diego to be with him.

We spent the next five years hanging out at the beach, bars, camping in the mountains and desert, and having fun with friends. There were many trips to both our families as a couple (hubby's family in Maryland with his Mom in Florida, my family in Tacoma).Then in 2006, after many dollars spent and all vacation hours used for our families, we decided to be a little selfish and take a REAL vacation, just the two of them to Hawaii. Hubby could surf, I could be a beach bunny, everybody wins.

On our second night in Maui, after a long, leisurely drive to Hana where many wonderful waterfalls and clear ponds were seen and swam in, we decided to go to dinner at Mama's Fish House on the North shore of Maui near the town of Pa'ia. The food and drinks were wonderful, ambiance romantic and beautiful, and the service was even better. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, but hubby spent the evening getting up and going to the bathroom several times.

After dinner, we sat on a little bench at the restuarant's cove surrounded by Tiki torches to enjoy the surf. Here, hubby proposed to me and I said yes.

My mom was called at 3 AM Tacoma time to be informed that her little girl was engaged to the man of her dreams. My mom had started a pool at her work and all the employees I have known since I was pre-double digits in age betted on which day I would get engaged. As it turned out, hubby had called my mom to ask for permission to marry me. This was the only person in the world who knew hubby was going to propose to me. What a way to win my mom over!

The rest of the Hawaii was filled with much fun including at trip up over 3,000 very steep stairs called the Haiku Stairs (Stairway to Heaven), a helicopter ride in which I experienced air sickness, MUCH snorkeling, many wonderful sunsets, and a flat tire on the east side of Maui where the rental car was expressly NOT to be driven.

Once back in San Diego, everyone was informed accordingly and the wedding plans began. During this time, I was awarded the President's Circle Award at Quintiles and we were flown on an all expenses paid trip to St. Thomas for a week! We called this our pre-moon honeymoon. For one week we lived the life of the rich and the famous. Everything was covered and everyone was at our beck and call (along with 100 other winners and their guests). We only spent $50 during the entire trip AND flew first class! Hubby even got to learn how to sail a Hobby Cat! Returning to reality was rough. It was hard not to have someone hand me a cold towel and bottle of water and say "Whatever you like" or "My pleasure". Instead, it was back to work.

Stay tuned for the next installment where we get married and enjoy our Costa Rican Honeymoon!