A Fun Weekend at "Home"

We had a great weekend! Most of our excitement happened today (Sunday), but we got to sleep in for a while yesterday and that was heavenly! :) We also were able to just spend some time together chatting which is so nice but not a frequent occurence with Mark's busy schedule.

As for today, our activities included running all of our usual errands. This is actually worth mentioning because our trip to the grocery store was very fruitful! MeLissa had seen an orchid called the "pansy" orchid on Martha Stewart's show and had to have one, but alas, all the places she could find them sold them for no less than $50. $50 is a lot for something you might kill. :) She's been faithfully checking the orchids at Trader Joe's when we go grocery shopping and believe it or not, she found one today for $12.99!!! How cool is that? She's so proud of her little orchid...now she just has to keep it alive. And, now she can move on to finding the second one she really really wants which is a Nun's Cap orchid which supposedly smells like roses and is very pretty. She's actually questioning whether she found one today...

After we'd finished our errands and had some lunch we went to see Elias Pereda perform in Newark, California. Elias, as you may remember, is the jazz performer who is helping MeLissa break into the big band scene. The concert was great - lots of Sinatra and other goodies from the golden era. MeLissa's confident that Elias will be making some of her clients very happy at wedding receptions and parties in the future!

Speaking of the band, MeLissa has been given clearance at work to audition and to sing with them for at least a couple of months. This was a bit questionable since they primarily perform and practice on Wednesday afternoons. She's agreed to work a few hours here and there at work to make up for the time she's away. There's only one snag left - Mark's eyes may need another operation (sigh) and that might make it difficult for her to commit at this time. Sooner or later, though, she fully intends to take advantage of this opportunity! We'll know more about the eyes and the band after Mark's doctor appointment on Tuesday.

After the concert, we took a little break from our "date" day and came home to work on Mark's Gynecology paper on....breasts. We're guessing there are a lot of guys out there that are snickering right now (as well as a lot of women rolling their eyes). We have to tell you he didn't pick the topic and it isn't anything titalating (ha! had to throw that in!) at all. In fact, we're thinking since it has some great information, we may just post it here (for a very long read) once it's complete - stay tuned for that.

After a couple of hours of that, we left for our next section of our date - dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Good stuff (thanks Mom and Dad Rocco for the celebratory donation) and definitely a good place to go to celebrate. Mark chose the place since we were celebrating his being a smartie and passing his board exams! We enjoyed salad, a porterhouse steak for two, and mushrooms. All were very good. :)

We topped off our dinner with a visit to Gelatoria Naia where we enjoyed a plethora of samples (well, two a piece actually) and then bought 3 pints of gelato - St. Honore, Marscapone and Chocolate Marzipan and a couple of cups (Dark Chocolate and Macadamia Nut for MeLissa/Keoke Coffee and Chocolate Coconut for Mark) for right then and there. If you have a chance to go to Naia (they have several locations in the Bay Area and more coming soon) definitely go, but don't forget your cash because credit and checks receive a cold icy stare. (Not really - they just tell you "Sorry we only take cash"). We still don't get this trend in the Bay Area, but whatever.

Now here's the amusing part about our gelato purchase - we think MeLissa's allergic to it. Oops. Yeah, it kind of slipped our minds that gelato (we think) has eggs in it. She had a heck of a reaction while driving home - what fun! So, we have three pints of itchy scratch gelato and although, perhaps, it's not the smartest thing, MeLissa doesn't care! She's gonna eat that gelato (with Mark's assistance of course) and enjoy it...itchy scratchy skin/eyes/nose, sneezing, almost migraines and all. At least it didn't cause an asthma attack like the carrots. ;) What a rebel she can be! :)

So, other than that, it has been a good week. MeLissa finished another course for her Professional Development Course to become a Professional Bridal Consultant (a trademarked title!) and she also received both her seller's permit and her DBA statement approvals in the mail for her business. She's set up a partnership with a great favor company called Beaucoup and is currently in the process of becoming a dealer for Encore Studios (an invitation manufacturer). She's very excited about these two opportunities. Her logo and website are also on their way in the able hands of a great freelance designer she met through a friend. Great things are happening daily here in Roccoland and now you're up-to-date on them!