on the go

It's been exactly one month since my last post, and out of the last 7 weeks, I've only been home for one weekend. I have to say that living out of a suitcase is overrated, but all in all it's been good to see family and friends.

Colorado (June 6-13) -- My second time to wear the wedding dress, this time for my parents and family. We hosted a reception dinner at a quaint Victorian house/restaurant in Breckenridge. Before dinner, my parents, Rick and I went to a studio for some wedding photos and then joined the brothers, sisters, their spouses and kids and my aunt and uncle at the dinner. The nieces were really cute, wanting to take pictures of me in my "princess dress."

A few days later, Rick returned to Seattle to go back to work and I stayed the rest of the week hanging out with the fam. The only disappointment was that the weather was quite chilly, and so was a dramatic change from what we'd enjoyed while in Puerto Rico. Yes, it was snowing in June!

Minnesota (June 17-22) -- Rick's annual golf tournament was timed perfectly with the visit to see his family for our "reception" with them. There's a small park in Lanesboro that was perfect for our low key gathering. Rick took care of the catering which turned out nicely -- kabobs with some side salad and of course, our third wedding/celebration cake. Rick's grandma's brothers and sisters were able to make it down and so it was a great mix of family as well and some of his friends from the area.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to the golf tournament, and while he was at the course, I got to spend some time with Rick's aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and mom. We couldn't resist using our last day in Minnesota to take a look at some properties out there, and found a couple of places in our price range which were out in the country and had some nice land to offer (for Rick's personal chipping green). We're thinking that 2010 is in our sights for a move to Minneapolis.

I also had a chance to reunited with a couple of high school friends who I went to school with in Malaysia. It was so great to see them both and I'm looking forward to having some ready-made friends there.

Whistler -- So again another weekend away from home. We're leaving this afternoon to drive up to Canada. Another wedding trip, although this time it's not ours. My friend Stephanie who set Rick and I up on our blind date is getting married this weekend. We're going to pit stop in Vancouver tonight with an old friend/former client from my PR agency days, and then we're getting up bright and early to drive to Whistler. Rick's going to play the Jack Nicklaus course, and I'm going to have tea with the bride. Tomorrow night is a dinner, and then Sunday is the wedding. It will definitely be a long drive home that evening, but well worth it to be there for their wedding.

And if there wasn't enough going on, the two weeks we were home between Puerto Rico and Colorado, we traded in Rick's Audi and bought a new Subaru Outback. Seems that the costs to repair the Audi exceeded it's value and so it was time to throw in the towel and get a new car (and car payment). Rick will be breaking it in on the drive to Whistler this weekend while I write Thank You notes.

Name Change
The last frontier of the wedding stuff. Almost. We do have a party on July 18 here in Seattle, so still need to plan that, but the big thing looming right now is the name change. Since we're both changing our last names to be his mother's maiden name (and the name of the grandparents that raised Rick), we both have to go to court to petition the legal name change. Hoping we get a chance to do that in the next few weeks, and then start the process with SSN, DMV, banks, bills, employers, etc. Good times!

Forgive me if you haven't heard from me in awhile. It's just been a little busy around here... :)