Colorado Pictures - Part I

Here's our solution to blogger being a pain and not letting us post pictures in the post. Buggers.

Here's Mark the last night of our trip eating the last of the allergy-causing gelato.









Here's Chris at dinner our first night in Colorado. We went for the uber-classy Village Inn just so we could enjoy one last meal in the "Non-Smoking section that has more smoke in it than the Smoking section which is all of 20 feet away." We're not going to miss it when we come back for Christmas (God willing) and we don't have to answer the question "smoking or non?" (Colorado has been smoke-free for 3 days folks!)




Here's Mark, Laura and MeLissa at the CSU-Pueblo Alumni office.







Here's a picture of "The Doug" from our shopping trip to Whole Foods. We have a picture of "The Leah" but it doesn't do her justice so we're keeping it to ourselves. Perhaps in part two we'll put up one from our wedding of her...






Here's the lovely velociraptor we drove by every time we returned to Christopher's house in Canon...he's ferocious.








View from the cute house with baggage that we saw in Canon City. Perty, eh?








Mom at the house with baggage.








Dad at the house with too much baggage.









Grandma








Mark and Christopher







More to come in Part II (blogger won't let us add anymore to this post).

Our Adventure to Lovely Colorado...and what we've been up to since.

:P Blogger is yet again preventing the upload of pictures so another post with the pretties will be forthcoming. Grr.
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We had a wonderful time in Colorado visiting family and friends. Our only complaint about our trip? It was, as usual, much to short. We missed a few people and so we'll just have to come back and do it again. ;) We were in Colorado from June 20 through June 27, but we have some pre- and post-trip photos we think you'll also enjoy including this one of Mark enjoying the last of the allergy-causing gelato. We think it was the marscarpone flavor.

And now, on to the trip - we flew out Tuesday morning. Our flight was a bit late and MeLissa wasn't feeling so well. We made it to Phoenix for our lay over and MeLissa went out to see what our next gate was. Denver, Denver, Denver she was saying as she looked for it. She found the gate and since we had a 20 minute window to make our next flight we started hot-footing it. We made it to what MeLissa thought was the correct gate and then she realized we were next door to the appropriate one. We maneuvered over and the flight attendant said they'd start boarding for Denver. Has anyone yet caught on that we were in the wrong place?

Yep. We were supposed to be flying to Colorado Springs. We tried, but we didn't make it to the right gate in time. Ooops. We had to go stand-by for our next flight. Thankfully, we made it on that flight and didn't have to wait for the next one which would have been arriving pretty late. During our wait, we decided we should eat something. Silly us, though, we didn't actually bring much food with us so we had to go through the torture of finding something - anything - that MeLissa could eat.

This food foraging was no easy task (surprise, surprise!). We know you're all just amazed about that one. ;) MeLissa bought Mark a sandwich from Quizzno's. And, then, after searching high and low, she found Nachoes with "normal" (rather than processed) cheese at the Fox Sports bar in the airport. MeLissa did her usual grilling of the waitress and was assured that there was no garlic on the grilled chicken. So she ordered them. Naturally, when they arrived (as is frequently the case), MeLissa immediately smelled garlic, but she was hungry so she ate them knowing that that next flight was not going to be a fun time. And, it wasn't. Nausea and an allergic reaction...not a good combo, friends.

We finally made it to Colorado where MeLissa handsome little brother, Christopher, (dressed in his dress whites which we really should have gotten a better picture of - darn it all!) was waiting at the airport to pick us up. He took us to his house where we began to settle in.

Anyhow, we hung out and then went to dinner and came home and watched Wedding Crashers. Very funny flick....and perfect for MeLissa, right? We watched another, Just Like Heaven, a couple of nights later and it is one of MeLissa's favorites now.

We think it was the first night that MeLissa also took the ASVAB just for kicks. Chris been pretty frustrated with the potential recruits lately. He had one person get an 8. You need a 35 to get into the Navy. These are not hard questions folks. We're talking basic vocabulary, paying attention and math skills for the most part. At any rate, MeLissa took the test late at night when tired and scored a 90. She qualifies for nuclear stuff. Very cool. ;) Chris had other setbacks that week as far as recruiting went. He had two guys ready to go in and then one came down with gall stones and the other's father wouldn't sign the consent form. We felt pretty bad for the guy. He is seriously missing his ship!

The next day (Wednesday) we went to Pueblo to visit people from MeLissa's college including Laura in the Alumni office who kindly gave MeLissa an Alumni T-shirt, sticker and bandana. Then we had a nice visit and dinner at a Mexican restaurant with some of MeLissa's friends - Amy and Doug. They had just had a baby a couple of days before. Little Nathan and his big sister Olivia came along for dinner, too!

The other activity for the day was outfitting the brother's kitchen with a bunch of useful stuff like baking dishes, mixing bowls, etc. He was a happy camper when he saw all that....especially the grilling tools!

On Thursday, we went to Colorado Springs (so much for MeLissa not having to drive all over during this trip - she did almost every day) and visited an Optometrist that specializes in low vision aids just to see if there was something he could recommend for Mark. Unfortunately, there wasn't, but we're looking forward to networking with him when we get back. The interesting thing about this doctor is that he is actually losing his vision. He is legally blind like Mark, but just like Mark he hasn't let that stop him. In fact, he just won Optometrist of the Year in Colorado...how's that for inspiration folks?

We then had lunch with Marilyn at Mimi's Cafe (yum, yum, yum!). Before lunch, MeLissa found a couple of really cute purses for $10 total. Gotta love it. We then made a visit to Pat, another friend of ours. Finally, we visited Aunt Jo and Uncle Clyde. They had some koi living in a water fountain and were a little grumpy that raccoons were coming to feast. Mark tells the story well - be sure to ask him about it! He definitely found humor in that first meeting!

The next day, we headed back up to Colorado Springs for another day of fun. My youngest brother, Doug, and his adorable girlfriend, Leah (whom we also don't have a great picture of other than from our wedding), came with us. We took a tour of the north end of Colorado Springs which is much further north than it used to be and visited a coffee shop owned by one of our friends for a little Italian Soda (he actually provided these for our wedding). We also made a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory to pick up some caramel apples - one of our favorite treats! We then stopped by Whole Foods and grabbed stuff for dinner and our BBQ the next day. We ate dinner and sent them on their way.

On Saturday MeLissa's family came up from Lamar and we had a little BBQ and Christmas in June. It was fun getting to open Christmas and wedding presents that they'd been saving for us. We roasted a chicken on the grill and made pasta salad, cucumber salad, zucchini and other goodies to accompany it. It was an attempt to show MeLissa's dear family that despite her allergies, she's hardly starving! :) It was a great day - we even went on a little drive and found this cute little homestead (which we've since learned comes with some unwanted baggage).

On Sunday, we headed to Denver to see MeLissa's buddy Laura and her mom. We bummed around Park Meadows mall (one of MeLissa's favorites!) and then after a bit we returned to Colorado Springs (with a stop at the outlet mall in Castle Rock where we partook of some Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory goodies) to see another set of friends, Buck and Lyndsay, who'd just had a baby boy, Ridge. Apparently boys are "in" this year. ;) It took us a while to get there since traffic was pretty bad due to a couple of accidents on the highway. We made use of our time by snapping various shots of beautiful Colorado (and the top of the car, noses, fingers, etc. - Mark was taking photos and it yielded some amusing things). :) We stayed at Buck and Lyndsays pretty late and then drove back to Canon City in a really icky rain storm. It was a little scary...but we made it okay. We were sure tired when we got there.

On Monday were back in Colorado Springs again (as you can see, MeLissa's goal to minimize travel all over pretty much was a bust). We visited with a few people on this day. First, we visited with a chiropractor (Dr. Scott) that Mark considers one of his mentors. Then, we caught a glimpse of Brent, a friend who handles graduation stationery and what not for most of the southeastern part of Colorado. Then we took a little visit out to Peyton, Colorado to see Sarah who was the MOH in our wedding. She, too, had a new baby boy - Bryson. What's different about her story is that they were expecting a girl! Apparently Bryson is a trickster (or very modest) and did a great job of hiding a very important part of his anatomy during ultrasounds and what not. He and his brother Carsen were fun to watch and it was nice visiting with Sarah in their new home.

Then was the best part of the day - we had dinner with MeLissa's parents. This was our solution to keep grandma from totally going nuts on Saturday (she was quite eager to get home!). We enjoyed a nice long talk after and got home pretty late, but it was worth it.

We came back to California the next day after lunch with Pat. She gave us a lovely pillow (that MeLissa thinks she might try to make a few more of) as a belated-wedding present. With respect to the trip home, things were a bit tense at times (late flights and such), but everything worked out okay and we made it home, if a little late. We're not too sure we'll be flying US Airways again after all the fiascos, though...

When we came home, we found Pixie pacing the floors as usual. She gets to be a bit neurotic when we're gone, but thankfully, our sweet friend Bonnie had volunteered to visit her and feed her daily while we were away. Bonnie was rewarded with an assortment of Rocky Mountain Chocolates (what else?!) and our gratitude. Pixie was rewarded with a lot of petting from Mark. According to Mark she's gotten all the petting she's going to get for the next 3 months. ;)

One of the most exciting things that has happened since we returned is MeLissa now has a business card. It has a couple of little tweaks that need to be taken care of but that is it. It is just perfect for the image she wants to portray and will really make a great website design, too, with minor modifications. We're very excited about that and we'll share at some point.

This weekend, we were very productive (it's not over yet, but we were!). Yesterday we bought a GPS system (which MeLissa then proceeded to show how much she needed by getting lost twice in the next two hours) and a freezer for the half of a cow that should be coming to stay with us (cut and ready to eat - yum!) in the next week or so. We were pretty fortunate on the freezer (we didn't do too poorly with the GPS either) because we found a clearance model at Home Depot.

The only issue was that they couldn't deliver it. You had to haul it yourself using one of their rental trucks (or your own if you had it, but we don't!) and so we did that. This provided MeLissa's first opportunity to demonstrate that the GPS unit was a good buy. We made it home, unloaded the freezer with the help of Ladarrin our newest neighbor (who's earned himself a good steak). We were very fortunate that he came out when he did because the dolly we'd bought to get the freezer out of the truck had a flat tire. This wasn't the only fiasco related to the freezer, though. Before that, we'd realized we'd left our "clicker" in the Saturn and therefore had to wait for someone to open the gate to our community and, since MeLissa doesn't have a key to the house on her keychain (she just uses the clicker usually), we were going to have to leave it in the driveway. Silly gooses that we are.

On our way to returning the truck was when we got lost the first time (not much but a little) and then, when we were coming home was the second. We figure there will be a lot less of that with MeLissa's new toy which we figured we'd better get her since she's going to be driving all over for the wedding and event business.

We hope you enjoyed this dissertation about our trip and what's been going on since. We'll try to be a little more timely in posting things in the future. :)

Picture Recap - Last Day at Work...

We haven't yet shared the pictures of MeLissa's last day at the office (June 15, 2006) so here goes. Next up will be a recap complete with pictures of our trip to Colorado. On to the photo show!

First up, here's what MeLissa saw as she walked from the parking lot into the office every morning. It really was a pretty nice building. The shame is that we don't have a picture of the courtyard area...very pretty place that. A fountain, lots of flowers and all the squirrels you could ever desire (to look at not to eat) for those of you who know that one gets to the cafeteria via the courtyard.

On her last day, MeLissa's coworkers treated her to lunch at Sweet Tomaotes (a salad bar buffet place). In this picture you see (from left to right) Diane, Regina, MeLissa (of course!), Mina and Amy. Roger was behind the camera...

That afternoon, the tax team treated her to a little farewell party complete with cake she shouldn't have eaten, but did. It was pretty good cake...perhaps because she hadn't had a piece of cake for almost a year! Here's a picture with most of the team - Amy, Regina, Mark (MeLissa's boss!), Spiro, Regina-2, MeLissa, Laurie and the elusive (at lunch) Roger! This time Gary, the VP was behind the camera and several other camera shy people opted to not jump in the photo.

So, there you have it - a few of the best photos from MeLissa's last day as an employee of someone other than herself!

A Tribute to Uncle Bob and Aunt Ruth...

Sad news in Roccoland today. We just learned that around 1ish Colorado-time, MeLissa Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob died in a fatal car accident. Rather than lament their passing, we're going to celebrate their lives with happy memories and stories. And, to do so, MeLissa's popping back into first person because it's just weird to write in the third about your beloved aunt and uncle.

These two people whom I spent more time with as a child than most children have a chance to spend time with are dear to me despite their flaws. I won't say that sometimes I was very frustrated over those flaws, but despite them, they loved me and they were people I could count on if ever in need. They were so good to my family, too. I don't remember ever feeling anything but acceptance and love from them and I appreciate that so much.

When I was young, I remember they lived in a house on a street which I can not remember (Parmenter maybe?), but I remember the house and would recognize it should I ever drive by. My aunt and uncle let me come stay and play with them. My aunt taught me how to macrame. I believe it was she who helped me finish my first plant hanger... I also remember baking cookies and even finding a snake (of which I was deathly afraid - just a garter snake, but still!) with her.

I remember that when my family fell on difficult times (when weren't times difficult actually?), they graciously accepted us as guests for Thanksgiving. I remember my aunt's pumpkin roll...a dream come true of a dessert that we could never get enogh of. And then, there was that mocha cinnamon cake. Can you say to die for? We never left hungry when we came to visit my aunt and uncle...

When I left for college, I remember the sweetness of my Aunt Ruth. She corresponded with me for a while to help me feel closer to home. I still have some of the letter, I think...

As I got older, I rarely saw them...only when I came home to visit if they happened to stop in at my father's appliance store to visit. We also were able to see them for a short time at our home-town reception for our wedding in Lamar the day after the wedding. That was the last time I saw them.

My heart is heavy knowing I'll have to wait until I go to heaven to see them again. The circumstances of their passing are not clear so I also feel sad that we have no guarantee that they died quickly and without suffering. All that we know is my uncle was thrown from the truck and it rolled. In their memory, I ask you to be cautious when driving, slow down and wear your seatbelt at all times. Do it not only for yourself, but your family.

Enjoy the fluffy clouds and sunshine and labor no more dear Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bob - you will be missed by many. Thanks for your kindness and the fond memories you leave behind.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to both of our dads - Larry and Mike! We hope you are enjoying your little giftie. Say it with us now - "Michael Savage is the bomb!"

We find ourselves on a bright sunny morning this Father's Day looking forward to seeing at least one of "the dads" in just a few days. We don't have a whole lot planned. We'll probably clean the garage out and perhaps make a run to Home Despot to buy a water pan for one of MeLissa's plants. Pixie is hiding under the quilting table, unaware that in a couple of short days she'll be left here to fend for herself. Well, not exactly, the lovely Bonnie has graciously agreed to keep Pixerella entertained and fed while we're away. MeLissa needs to write up the customary instructions which will include this time around, plant watering instructions lest we return to a balcony of dying beauties. We're hopeful she won't mind. :)

In other news, Mark passed his clinic entrance exam. We're terribly proud of him and glad that very soon he'll be able to take over MeLissa's care...there's one less medical expense to take care of (which is good because those COBRA premiums for our health insurance coverage are going to be murder we have a feeling).

Speaking of which, MeLissa made it safely through her last day of work at Safeway! Her coworkers and her boss celebrated her new cubicle-free life with lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (similar to Souper Salad for those of you familiar with that chain). Her coworkers enjoyed actually seeing her eat something since at pretty much every function she's been to at the company, she couldn't eat anything except maybe a piece of fruit. That afternoon, they also threw a farewell party complete with cake that MeLissa wasn't supposed to eat, but did much to the joy of her friends and coworkers. And, as usual, there are pictures, but blogger isn't cooperating so you'll have to wait to see them.

She is now a bonafide self-employed individual and it feels so good. She can't wait to make her mark on the wedding and event market - watch out subpar coordinators, consultants and planners, she's here to party like it's 1999. Ha ha! Seriously, though, she's very happy to finally do something that makes getting up in the morning a joy instead of something she just has to do.

This weekend we've kept busy primarily with cleaning and organizing things so that when we return "home" from Colorado we won't have to come home to a messy house (a major pet peeve of MeLissa's). Stay tuned for more details. :)

We have pictures - finally!

Of course they don't seem to wish to go into the post about Felisia and Kenneth's wedding so we've put them in their own. We're a flexible bunch here (and persistent!).

Here's MeLissa in her utterly fabulous dress and shoes...












Here's the guestbook table - decorate by MeLissa...



















Here's the gift table - decorated by (you guessed it!) MeLissa:










Here's what the tables looked like (MeLissa can only take partial credit for decorating here):












Here's a picture of the a cocktail table with used glasses from guests (MeLissa thought it was a pretty picture with all the colors and, of course, Martini glasses which she adores!). They served fruity cocktails made with Italian soda syrups and vodka.









Much as we'd love to tell you more, that seems to be all that Blogger is willing to post. It's a good sampling of some of the best decor pictures so we'll go with that. Hope you enjoyed them!

Haunted by a Dowl

A quote from Mark this morning: "Sometimes if you listen quietly, you can hear the sounds - the sounds of the dowl."

Yes, we dear friends and family, have a dowl at our house. Not familiar with the dowl are you? Pull up a chair and acquaint yourself....

The dowl is half dove and half owl. It came into existence many moons ago, but was only recently discovered by us. We originally thought we had an owl at our house. It said "hoo hoo" every morning and frequently in the evening also. We thought it was cool, but we never saw him. Then one day, while at work, MeLissa heard the familiar call, looked up and saw a dove in a tree...no owls in sight. She relayed this to Mark who wouldn't hear of it. He insisted we have an owl. Not really much fun to squabble about a bird (though in the days of Robin, we have done so) and so we just let it be...until one day, MeLissa heard the faint call of the "owl" outside the house, looked up and saw a dove...just like the one she saw at work. Mark still wouldn't hear of it and so we compromised as any happily married couple would and began referring to our little friend as the dowl. Perhaps if you visit us, you too will have the calming experience (or the frustration if our friend decides to coo or hoo at a much too early hour!).

In other news, today is MeLissa's last day at work and Mark's last day of finals! He's retaking his clinic entrance. They snipered him with a bunch of radiology questions he wasn't expecting and didn't study for. No worries, we're sure he'll ace it this time around! In preparation for his test, we did a bit of studying this morning and, in the process, made Pixie a little confused and a bit silly. MeLissa's watch happened to catch the sun and create a reflection on the ceiling that caught the eye of the dear Pixie cat. She was quite frustrated that she couldn't reach it. Throughout our short study session, as the light moved in response to MeLissa turning a page or whatever, Pixie chased and cavorted as best as she could. We think we need to find her laser light pen again...

This evening, rather than celebrating like we probably should (we will eventually, but there's bills to pay and less income to pay them with right at the moment!), we're going to visit the pet store. Pixie needs a new litter box (this is exciting isn't it - not everything can be as intriguing as the dowl, you know!) to prevent her from pottying outside of it. For some reason, she is having an issue understanding that she needs to get her little booty fully into the box, lately. We're very glad we have a plastic mat up next to her box to prevent her from ruining the carpet. At least she actually tries to use the box...

We hope you all have a great weekend if we don't make it back to post again. We're heading to Colorado this coming Tuesday so it will probably be a bit calm around here for a while... :)

Monday Amusements

For those (read Christopher and Douglas!) who were completely and totally addicted to Nintendo in their younger years, this will bring back wonderful (or painful perhaps) memories. Enjoy (and then come back and tell us what you've heard!)

A Wedding Story...

Note: There are pictures to go with this post, but blogger won't let me post them. So, as is often the case, I will add them when I can. :)
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Yesterday was a very exciting day for MeLissa! She helped coordinate a wedding reception for somewhere around 300 people! The reception celebrated the marriage of Felisia and her beau Kenneth - a truly beautiful couple!

This was a great experience for MeLissa in so many ways. Now that she's approaching her last week in the corporate world and will be coordinating weddings full-time, she is very excited for opportunities to gain experience. This was a wonderful opportunity to practice her skills, gain confidence and see what her new career will truly be like. She loved every minute of it even if she did come home with a very achy body (um, yeah, Mark's going to have to start cracking the whip on her a little bit more!).

Her first task actually was accomplished a couple of days prior. She needed to find the perfect ensemble that would allow her to work while blending in with the guests. She and her friend Loan found just the right one at Macy's. Its brown iridescent fabric was sure to be a hit (and the fact that it was on sale made it a great buy)! The only problem? Now she needed a pair of shoes as well. The girls found a cute pair of sandals by Ecco that matched vey well. She planned to wear the pearl accessories she wore to her own wedding to complete the ensemble.

On Saturday morning, MeLissa arrived at the Oakland City Center Rotunda venue to find that there was a bit of confusion surrounding how many tables were to be set up and where to put them. After much discussion between the head coordinator and the vendue coordinator, the tables were placed and everyone (the head coordiator, MeLissa and another assistant coordinator and various wedding party members and relatives) got to work on setting up the room. MeLissa began with folding napkins. Soon, she had trained half a dozen bridal party members on how to do the task and they were all doing great - it didn't take long before all the napkins were folded and ready for the tables. We did some additional decorating and then MeLissa was asked by the head coordinator to take care of the cocktail reception area.

MeLissa was happy to take on this challenge. She set up the guest book table and the gift table and added the finishing touches to the cocktail rounds (including using a little "magic" to ensure that the lampshades would stay in place even if a table was jostled. She even finished the set up of several manequins which displayed dresses worn by women important to the bride and groom. As you can see, she has a flair for table decor, though, she did make a few adjustments after the first picture was taken and she learned that the crystal lamp was destined for the bride and groom's table. :)

At about 3:30 that afternoon, MeLissa rushed home to finally eat something and get dressed for the main event. She attended to her toilette, donned her fabulous dress and had a quick bite to eat. Shortly thereafter, she was rushing out the door to the reception where she quickly jumped into her role as an authority figure and made sure that everything was flawless and ready for the bride and groom's arrival!

As the evening went on, she kept busy greeting guests and ensuring they had everything they needed to enjoy themselves. We must mention that one of the guests was noneother than one of her previous bosses (from PG&E). Mark was having a grand ol' time dancing and enjoying the show (we don't have a picture, but there was even an arial acrobat to entertain the guests!). We have some rather amusing photos and video of Mark shaking his groove thang, but we're not sharing! :)

MeLissa took this as an opportunity to shine during the evening and made a great impression on the venue's coordinator and the bride's mother who is also a wedding coordinator. Both of these fine ladies are looking forward to helping MeLissa launch her career and have offered their assistance whereever possible. One significant bit of help from Zina, the bride's mother, is that she's promised to give MeLissa a few pictures from the wedding to use in her portfolio. This is very thrilling indeed.

MeLissa also was able to make some other great connections through the wedding experience. She now knows a great band, a terrific DJ, and a marvelous massage therapist (for when Mark's unavailable, of course!). She's also soon to receive information about the catering company (owned by the bride's cousin and wonderful!), a potential client and a potential assistant. Most of these professionals thought MeLissa did an awesome job and are hoping to send clients her way.

Today, we slept in to let MeLissa recover from her late night (she was in bed by about 3) and then awoke and did some chiro-studying. We also made our way down to Fry's (an electronics store) where we purchased a new camera MeLissa can use to take pictures of decor elements that come out a bit better than the ones she has here (we're sure you noticed that many of these are a bit dark!). We actually took a tip from Mark's brother and bought the camera he has. It's a nice compact camera that's waterproof up to 10 ft. and shock proof when dropped from 5 feet or less. In the process, MeLissa was able to provide a few cards to the employee that helped her who was very excited about her service. She's actually going to have to order so more temporary cards because she's running low! :)

We hope you had a great weekend, too! Only 4 more workdays until MeLissa is her own boss!

Extra! Extra!

This breaking news just in!!

Mark and MeLissa will be coming to Colorado in a matter of weeks! Prepare yourselves for the thrill of a lifetime!

We're very excited to let you all know that we'll be gracing MeLissa's home state beginning June 20 and continuing through June 27. We're hoping we'll be able to visit as many of our friends and family members as we possibly can. One slight logistical problem is that we need a/some volunteer(s) to fetch us from the airport (Colo. Springs) on Tuesday June 20 in the morning and keep us occupied until MeLissa's brother Christopher (the Navy recruiter) comes and picks us to shuttle us to his house in Canon City where we'll be spending most of our nights. Friends in Pueblo - your time has come! :)

Anyone who is willing to visit us in Pueblo, we'd really appreciate it. We're hoping to do as little driving as possible to avoid putting tons of miles on Christopher's car. We'd love it if we could get a big bunch of you together for a potluck or an ice cream social on Saturday the 24th in Canon (or in Pueblo or Colorado Springs if someone would like to volunteer their backyard or suggest a good park or other location) - anybody game for an impromptu and fun gathering? If so, let us know (and Jenny, you and Craig are invited if you're interested just FYI) so we can work out logisitics. We're okay with multiple gatherings if that works out better, but let's space them out shall we? Oh, and lest you feel slighted dear Denver and further north friends, we could probably be talked into a Sunday afternoon "thing" if you'd like to help MeLissa work out details for a gathering of your own. :)

For those who can't make it to one of our little "group meetings," we're going to see what we can do about making visits in Colorado Springs and Denver (probably somewhere near Park Meadows) and possibly even Lamar (we're really hoping to talk the parents in to coming to see us to avoid that driving thing). Whatever our final plans, we're looking forward to seeing you all (or as many of you as we can) very soon! Stay tuned for updates...

Success!

The sink is fixed! Yippie!!!

Upon taking everything out and turning the water on again, it was discovered that one of the upper nuts had come loose. Easy fix - MeLissa tightened it, turned the water back on and voila! One working sink. We thought you might enjoy a before and after picture...

Of course, we didn't actually think of this until tonight so the before picture is of Mark's sink (pay attention to the stopper thingie while you're hiding your eyes from the ugly faucet):



And here is the new faucet at MeLissa's sink area (Mark's will, of course, get its makeover this weekend) including the ridiculously hideous tub stopper in place of the drain stopper that should be there but isn't. :( Notice how it shines and is devoid of the nasty plastic ball thing (MeLissa hates these things...not sure why, but she does!):

Isn't it the most beautiful faucet you've ever seen? You've never really thought of it that way have you? Well, to us it is a beautiful monument. A testament, if you will, to how we as a team are undefeatable with or without 2 sets of perfect eyes!

And now, MeLissa can finally brush her teeth at her own sink again (Mark has said he'll miss sharing with her) and maybe even she'll get into the habit of flossing more regularly. She visited the dentist today and was (as is typical, we're sad to say) admonished for not flossing enough. It's on her list of things to improve after leaving the corporate life.

Overall, though, the dentist visit was good. Her gums have improved since the last visit which is probably due to the improvement in her neurological health since then (the last check up was the day after the whole blood vessel in the brain spasm thing). Apparently, the motorized toothbrush she's using is also making a difference which is good because she still dislikes it...even if it doesn't make her face go numb like it did after the brain thing. ;)

She's getting a new toy, too, which brings along with it the chance to increase her teeth impressions count...unfortunately, she stopped counting them a few years ago, but we're thinking we're in the 10-12 range given all the impressions she had taken during her orthodontia adventures in middle school, high school and college (oh yes, her smile is worth a good amount of change). The impressions are so that they can make a new mouthguard for her to help with some issues she has with clenching and grinding her teeth as well as her TMJ. Fun, we know - you all want one don't you? The real question here, though, is whether she gets to choose a color and a flavor like she did for the teeth shifter thingies she had to wear for a while (they were sort of like the mouth guards people wear to box only bulkier!). We're guessing not...how sad. :)

And, actually, we probably should mention that she actually had something of this sort called a splint a few years ago. But, um, well, it only lasted about 6 months at which point MeLissa's jaws of steel broke it. Thankfully she was awake when it happened and didn't choke on the piece of acrylic/plastic stuff that broke off. It shouldn't be any wonder that she's got some achiness in her jaws and portions of her teeth with a bite like that, is it? Ah well, nobody's perfect.

And, now for the news you've truly all been waiting for - Mark thinks he passed his test, but we don't know for sure. Sorry, that's the best we can do for now! We'll know for sure by the end of the day on Friday so tune back in then!

Clinic Entrance Exam

This evening Mark will attempt to jump another hurdle in his quest to become Dr. Mark Rocco (we love how that sounds, don't you?). His first opportunity to enter the clinic as a chiropractic intern is at hand.

As an intern, Mark will be able to begin practicing his craft and perfecting his technique. If you'd like to benefit from his talents, drop us a note and we'll tell you how you can be one of his first patients. If you know Mark, you better hurry - he'll soon have a full schedule!

So, adding to the suspense surrounding the sink which is in the same condition and the next round of cookies which are still in dough form, we have our fingers crossed for Mark's success....which we're pretty sure will be forthcoming. :)

In other news, MeLissa has the opportunity to help coordinate a wedding with 300 guests this weekend. She's very excited to see how other consultants work.

Finally, MeLissa went to the dentist today. Very exciting, we know you'll agree. Next week she'll be fitted for a new mouth guard to (hopefully) help her TMJ and to (hopefully) help with some tenderness she's been experiencing. We're also hoping it won't do what the last "splint" she had did - break. She is such a powerful biter/grinder she actually broke the one her orthodontist gave her...silly goose that she is. :)

The Exciting Weekend Adventures of.....

MeLissa the Builder (who is posting in first person because it just makes the story so much more amusing!). Sing along with me now, will you?

MeLissa the Builder!
Can we fix it?!
MeLissa the Builder!
Yes we can! (maybe).

Erhem, okay...it's out of my system for a little bit. I guess that's all you can hope for given how Tyler, my nephew, has trained me. :) But, I wonder, should I be calling myself MeLissa the Toolwoman? I'll let you be the judge...

This was my big exciting weekend accomplishment (or it would have been). Now it is probably going to be my exciting Monday accomplishment...maybe (unless I have to go get teflon tape which I am sure we actually have, but which I can not find for the life of me). You're all confused now...I know it's true. You have no idea what I'm talking about. That's because I think we forgot to tell you about my exciting teeth brushing story from sometime last week. I can't even remember what day it was. I was a little pre-occupied with how things were going to go when I resigned....

Anyhow, one day last week, I went to brush my teeth as I do every morning before I go to work. I picked up my toothbrush, went to wet it under the faucet and voila, the handle came off in my hand. Um, yeah....not a good thing. It appears that our bathroom is determined to make a plumber out of me yet. I resisted with the toilet, but the faucet is similar to the kitchen faucet I changed (with the help of 'the French guy' whom I was dating at the time) a few years ago. So, I figured this was going to be fairly easy...after all, I'm in California now and do not have to worry about a massive build up of calcium to make the faucet a real "witch" to get off, right? Wrong. It was still murder...and it's a good thing that Mark can feel his way around or I'd probably still be laying under the sink doing my best impersonation of Yosemite Sam (reckin' shrekin' no good....you get the idea).

Lucky me, though, my wonderful prince charming husband rescued me and got the lines loose because he's brilliant and decided to go for the nuts that connect into the water supply rather than the ones that connected to the faucet and were cemented on with plumber's putty (which I only know the name of because it was mentioned in the faucet assembly instructions and I'm putting two and two together). Anyhoo....

We got it out of there and then the real fun began because he unscrewed the top of the drain popper thingie (a technical plumbing term, I assure you) and, of course, it went down into the sink drain. Darn it all. So, I forgot about it for a bit, got the sink in place with some additional help from my dear hubby and then decided (because I'm stubborn and because two trips to Home Despot - so named because it is a tyranical ruler guilty of torturing countless wives and girlfirends throughout the country and maybe the world - in one weekend is just torture even if you do find an absolutely wonderful Plumeria plant to add to your wonderful deck arrangement!) to at least try to get the connecting lines apart from the old faucet. I gave up pretty quickly and tabled the sink repair until Sunday. Oh, but we did get the stupid piece out of the drain and I tried to hook up the thing that puts the stopper up and down (this is going to be a long post - perhaps longer than normal I just realized).

So, Sunday, we went back to Home Despot, visited the friendly and yet sort of creepy guy in the plumbing department that lauds me with compliments on my beauty and talks about how great he is (with my husband standing right there - hello!?! Poor vision or no, buddy, you cross the line and he'll kick your keester...) which, of course, prompts my dear Mark to joke for the rest of the weekend about how many goats I am worth as a persian princess and how many pickled goat's feet our kitty Pixie is not worth. He's quite a loon, but I love him (my husband, not the creepy Home Depot guy). Oh, and yeah, to finish my thought, we bought the lines necessary to hook everything up.

After a trip to the grocery store, I set myself back to fixin' things. It seems easy enough. Screw these two little thingies together and turn on the water and voila. But, no...it isn't that easy. It never is with me. First, I screwed everything on and then I turned on the water....and got wet. Oops. Oh, yeah, you think I should tighten those with a pair of pliers, eh? Yeah, well, that probably would be good, but I was kind of hoping that I could hand tighten them so we could actually get them off again if necessary. Never mind...tighten, tighten, tighten. Turn on. More leaks. Darn it. Tighten U-Joint which I also forgot to tighten with the pipe wrench. Goodness, I'm an idiot sometimes. Turn on the water again. Still a bit of dripping in the back - dry it with towel and see if it stops. Yes. Amazing. I think we have it folks! And, then....

The sound of clanging metal. Never a good sound...and in this case signifying that the blasted stopper puller upper and pusher downer (I think it's called a pop-up sink valve) had "fallen" apart. So, to be wise, I turned off the water, took that apart, did more tightening with the pliers and put everything back together...

Now as an aside, I actually wanted to also replace the pop-up valve part of the sink. The faucet assembly came with a replacement and it excited me because the prior owner of our house whom I frequently refer to as the "bird murderer" because he left a glue board under the stove without telling us and my parakeet, Woodstock, managed to escape from his cage, find it and die trying to get off of it (God rest his little soul), but I digress. The bird murder also replaced the original pop-up stopper thingie (again, a technical term that I use a lot when it comes to home repairs) with one that should have went in a tub. But, I didn't replace it because to do so would have required plumber's putty and much more plumbing knowledge than I ever care to possess. And, yes, I hear you - why not just replace the stopper part. I thought of that, too...unfortunately, it is too big. Kind of amusing if you think about it - a stopper for a tub fits, but one for a sink is too big. Aye Carumba.

Okay, so anyhow, I put everything back under the sink and went about my merry way. I made dinner (a terrifically tasty cold pasta salad with chicken) and cookies which taste terrific but definitely should be refrigerated as long as Martha tells you to...and no substituting time in the freezer isn't good enough, but I wanted cookies and I wanted them last night...not sometime this week. I will make a second attempt with the remaining dough this evening. Then I helped Mark study, almost finished the laundry (I can't wait until I can do this in between my daily work stuff) and then it was time for bed and teeth brushing. Now if you were paying attention here, you're saying, but....but...

If you're like me and weren't paying attention, you won't think anything of the fact that I grabbed my brush and excitedly went to turn on the water...until I say that nothing came out of the faucet...absolutely nothing. Oh, drat, I forgot to turn the water back on. This is either going to be no big deal or a real mess I thought to myself so I reached under the sink where all my stuff had been nicely stored again and slowly turned on the water only to immediately turn it right back off because something was leaking. Darn it all. I think maybe there's a little water that built up in the pipe. So, tonight I have to take everything out from under the sink and turn the water back on, hope that I don't have to go through a whole hullabaloo to get the leaking to stop yet again and then put all the crap back (or go to someplace and buy teflon tape since ours is lost). Then, I will finally get to brush my teeth using my sink again....

But, this is not the end of the story, my dear friends and family...nope. I get to do this a second time this coming weekend because since I hated the faucets anyhow, it seemed like a good and rational thing to replace them both. After all, they need to match right?...despite the bizarre layout of our home. Our bathroom has one sink in it. Then on the other side of the wall in the entry to our Master Bedroom, there is another sink. Who came up with this design? They're weird...that's all I'm saying, but it does prove useful regularly. Regardless, the pair must match so I get to do this all over again. I sure hope I learned a few things the first time around and that it won't be as much of a fiasco...but at least it provides good blogging fodder. ;)

Other exciting news - I think I have my first client! :) Our dear friend Penny is going to let me help plan husband Brent's birthday party. How exciting! More details on that to come, I'm sure. But for now, I'm going back into third person land so that our little blog reads more like a story. :) We hope you enjoyed the break!

And how was your weekend?

And So, The Countdown Begins

Well, today was an exciting (and nerve-wracking!) day. MeLissa spoke to her boss this afternoon and gave her two weeks notice. June 15 will be her last day in the corporate world (well, sort of - she did agree to come back and help every-so-often when necessary). It's a very exciting and yet somewhat scary time!

As MeLissa makes her entrepreneurial debut, we hope you'll all support her by sending clients her way! She'll soon have a website (scheduled to launch in July 2006) and will be offering the following general categories of products and services:

• Full and partial planning services for weddings and social events
• Hourly planning consultations
• Proposal consultations
• Newlywed financial planning
• Invitations for weddings, social occasions and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs
• Birth announcements

She looks forward to serving you and your friends and family! Please visit www.winsomeevents.blogspot.com for additional information.

Memorial Day Weekend

This wonderful three day weekend celebrating all those who so generously gave of their time and lives to keep the United States and the American dream alive and well, found the inhabitants of Roccoland busily scurrying this way and that. :)

On Saturday, MeLissa started off her day by making some much-needed "renovations" to our deck area. After serving as the home of Banshee, our errant kitty, for a few months and after a long and rainy "winter" (it very very rarely snows here so we use the term winter loosely), the deck was looking mighty messy. So messy that we wouldn't even take a "before" picture to show you! (We rarely think to take before pictures, though, regardless of the state of affairs so this doesn't really mean much.) After a few hours of pruning, sweeping, organizing and more sweeping, we are happy to unveil the result!

Of course, it no longer looks like this either. MeLissa made a few small adjustments so that it would look even better and so that it would be inviting. Perhaps we'll get a picture of this in the near future. Until then, perhaps you would enjoy pictures of our beautiful hydrangea blossom (a plant gift from Mark's mom!) and our cute little Winnie the Pooh bird bath which was one of MeLissa's favorite wedding gifts given to us by Mark's Uncle Timmy and Aunt Michiko. If we ever remember to buy some more seed mix, we'll take the plants out and feed the birdies that live in the tree beside our deck! Oh, and anyone who has a suggestion of how to remove the mossy green color from our deck easily, please let us know. MeLissa "mopped" it off with lysol and bleach last year but really would prefer and easier method this time around.

After MeLissa was pleased with the preliminary deck results, we went out for some errands. We headed to Office Max to see if they had something that would hold and allow MeLissa to cart around her invitation books. She's now a proud dealer of the Encore Studios line of wedding and social invitations (including Bar and Bat Mitzvah invites) as well as their birth announcements. The catalogs are exquisite and quite large so it was tricky finding something that they would fit in. Office Max wasn't the place. We took a detour to look at GPS units at Best Buy (we're thinking MeLissa might need one of these to find all these nifty vendors and sites she needs to visit in the next couple of months as she gets things up and running). We found a couple that should meet her needs, but we want to do a little more homework before we buy one.

Then, based on a tip from the salesperson at Office Max, we ventured to Target to see what we could find as far as storage solutions. We made a quick pit stop in Cost Plus World Market where we found (believe it or not!) a brand of chocolate that did not have soy in it. Sadly, it did not taste very good so we're limited to Trader Joe's offerings. At Target, we found some great storage units (we bought 3 huge purple bins), but none that rolled which is what MeLissa was hoping for (seriously, these books are huge!). So, we visited Newpark mall to check on the other tip - VIP luggage.

Here, we hit the jackpot. We found a great suitcase that is large enough to hold several albums and rolls. And, the customer service - wonderful! As a bonus, MeLissa was stopped by a couple of young ladies who wanted to see her invitation album and who took her card to tell their friends about her. She may have been right on when she first saw the albums and said these invitations could possibly sell themselves! Oh, and we also found a cute strapless top at American Eagle to liven up MeLissa's wardrobe. ;)

Sunday, we took it a little easier and pretty much only made it to the grocery store. We also got some laundry done...nothing too exciting!

Today, though, MeLissa was again on her game. She did a little moving about of things in the master and guest bed rooms, implemented a few tricks she learned from her buddy, Martha Stewart, and voila - two great looking rooms that are very inviting! She also took a little look to see when it might be feasible for us to go to Colorado and Maui in celebration of her freeing herself from Cubicle Land. That's right folks, she's planning to break the sad news to her employer this week - in order to be more flexible to meet Mark's needs in the coming months (and to, in general, enjoy her life more!), MeLissa is venturing out as a full-time wedding and event consultant beginning June 16 (this is the day that Mark's summer break begins). We found some great options as far as traveling, but we need a volunteer to take care of little Miss Pixie while we're away. Any volunteers?

And, that, dear friends and family is what we did with our weekend. We hope that you had a lovely weekend as well! The countdown to freedom is 17 days today (Monday) and 16 tomorrow when most of you will read this. Please keep us in your prayers and send as many clients as you can MeLissa's way! Oh, and worry not, we've saved quite a bit of resources over the past couple of months preparing for this. We should be able to live and eat for at least a few months even without any income (which is unlikely given all the great ideas we have to get MeLissa's business booming). We appreciate your support!

Dance Dance Evolution

This is a pretty funny clip that MeLissa found on a friend's blog. It's long, and if you're not one to listen to recent music you may be lost toward the end, but it's cute. We hope you enjoy it!

Update: We moved this little gem to its own page because we figured some of you were going to boycott us if you had to listen to it one more time (never could find a way to not have it start playing immediately upon landing on the page). Click the link below and enjoy!

Dance with Me!

Surgery Results

Well, Mark is recovering from yesterday's surgery - the poor dear. He is in a lot of pain which is unusual. He actually took Tylenol. MeLissa actually had to go buy Tylenol! We don't usually even have this sort of thing in our house...and he's never had to take anything after a surgery, but then, this is a different surgery than all that have come before.

It's different because it was performed on an eye that is giving up. Yes, you read right. Mark's right eye, according to the doctor, is in the beginning stages of decline - it is changing shape and has begun to shrink in size. So, we are now facing a future together that is nothing like we expected. We're both doing our best to be strong for each other.

We visited the doctor this morning for his first post operative visit and he confirmed that there really wasn't anything more that could be done for Mark's eyes. He was very apologetic - it was apparent that he wished he could do something, but that he'd run out of options. We actually feel compassion for him in addition to gratitude - he made a great effort. He mentioned that maybe doing nothing at the beginning would have let Mark have vision for longer, but I think we all agree that being proactive was more our style. To sit idly by and wait for a negative outcome is just not something we could have done.

Mark is being referred to a low vision/blind individual organization that will help evaluate and train him for the challenges he'll face as a fully blind individual. The dog he's been interested in having may be joining our family sooner than expected...we're already amusing ourselves considering how our dear kitty will react - she is deathly afraid of dogs that are half her size. We had planned to get one as a puppy and let it grow with her, but it looks like that plan may be scrapped. Everybody will have lots of adjusting to do...

So, we're sorry for such a "bummer" post here, but we thought you'd all want to know what was going on. Mark is again in the face down position for a week or so. The doctor wants to do everything possible to prolong Mark's visual capabilities.

For those who may be wondering, MeLissa still plans to pursue her new career and her chance to perform with the big band (though this may be postponed for a bit). Mark wouldn't have it any other way. In the long run, we believe it will actually afford us a level of flexibility that a standard 8 to 5 job does not allow.

We thank you for your thoughts and prayers over the past few months and hope that you will continue to pray for us as we travel down this newest path that has been set before us. We're hopeful that despite the adversity we're experiencing. And, we're trying to stay focused on MeLissa's favorite movie quote:

"It's the character that is the strongest that God gives the most challenges to. You can take that as a compliment." (from the Movie Return to Me). Blessings and love to you all - we appreciate your standing strong for us during this difficult time.

Maui Madness

We've updated this post with pictures! We had a tough time weeding out great shots so they may not exactly line up with the text they accompany. You'll forgive us for that won't you? Have a look at all the fun we had! :)

We're back from an unplanned, spur of the moment suprise visit to Maui (how about them adjectives!). We went to visit Mark's family to help them (and us) cope with some rather sad news we received last week at Mark's eye appointment.

We're sorry to report that Mark's eyes are not cooperating as we had hoped they would. They retinas in both eyes have detached and the left eye is actually degenerating. It is not expected to hang in there much longer so he'll just have one viable eye left. For this reason, the doctor (and we!) decided our best course of action is to try to save the right eye and "sacrifice" the left. So, tomorrow will be retinal surgery number 3. With each surgery, the likelihood of a positive outcome decreases. Consequently, we've been advised that we should plan for Mark becoming fully blind or at least much lower vision than he is currently.

On Saturday, we took a little respite from dealing with all of these heavy things and went to the Hawaiian Festival in Pleasanton. We had a great time visiting with friends - Penny, Nola, Nerisse and family! - and eating Hawaiian Shave Ice and even shopping for a few choice Hawaiian books including one on how to properly use Pidgin. Hee hee! It's actually a pretty intersting book with a lot of history. Maybe we'll treat you to a lesson some time. :) Once we'd had our fill of Musubi (well, actually, only Mark eats spam treats), good music and Ducks and Squirrel eating Cheetos (seriously, we have pictures - you just wait!), we headed to the grocery store.

On the way, MeLissa told Mark that since she'd saved a lot of money (to help out when she pursues her business full-time), he should choose where in the world he would want to visit just in case he does lose his vision and she would make it happen. She had suggested going to Hawaii earlier, but at that point he didn't say yes. After thinking about this for a while, though, he realized he really wanted/needed to go home and that his parents probably needed to have him near, too (what a good son, eh?). So, on the way home from the grocery store, he asked if we could go to Maui this weekend.

The next morning (Mother's Day) we were on a plane headed to beautiful Maui where his unsuspecting parents were enjoying an "ordinary" weekend (is any weekend truly ordinary when you live in Maui?). We had let his brother (who is currently at home learning the mortgage business from his dad) know we were coming to make sure that they'd be home when we got there.

We arrived that morning at their house and made quite an entrance (once everybody recognized who we were!). Everyone was shocked and thrilled to see Mark and give him hugs....and they were thrilled with MeLissa for making it happen - especially on such short notice! We're guessing this will go down in history as one of Mom and Grammy's favorite Mother's Days!

We made good use of our time while we were there. We visited Mom and Dad Rocco's new house in Kula which is still a work in process but is sure to be fabulous. It has some great views for them to enjoy if nothing else! We also were able to take a peak at another almost finished home that has the neatest entry way tile. On our way back to the house, Mark posed for us on the "surf board" road divider - he was one knarly dude! That evening, we enjoyed a Mother's Day feast at the Makawao steak house as well as a visit from a couple of friends - Keola and Angelique.

On Monday, our big adventure involved the beach. First, though, we went to Queen Ka'Ahumanu Center for a a little shopping and to get our wedding rings cleaned. We finally were able to get a duplicate of a little Hawaiian statue Mark's parents had purchased for our wedding reception home safe. This was the third attempt - previous ones by MeLissa's parents and Mark's parents had failed. So, we're thrilled to have it home safe!

Our other finds include MeLissa's favorite glycerine soaps, and a couple of shirts at the Ainokea (pronounced I No K-Uh) shop which is owned by a friend of Mark and Michael. MeLissa's shirt has a definition of the term which we'll try to remember to add to this post when we add the pictures. We also found a cool pair of shades for Grammy and one for MeLissa. Once we'd finished shopping and had enjoyed some lunch, we had a little tour of Grammy's new daytime home and then it was off to the beach!

We went first to Makenna beach to frolic and play in the water and sand with Mark's brother. Michael practiced skimming with his new board which features a picture of the Maui flag - it was custom made just for him. Skimming involves "surfing" on the wet sand and tides as waves come into the beach. Later in the day, we were joined by Mark's parents, Keola and Angelique's son Kye. Once we'd had our fill of fun at Makenna, we packed up our gear, grabbed some snacks and headed over to our favorite beach for a wonderful Maui sunset. This is Ulua Beach and it is the place where Mark proposed at sunrise on July 5, 2003 (We're standing there in our picture above)! A visit to Maui just wouldn't be complete without setting foot on it! For dinner that night, we ate in. Michael grilled some steak and MeLissa made some yummy Mexican Crab and bean dips for everyone to enjoy. Then we enjoyed looking at the stars in the hot tub.

This morning, we headed to Kula Lodge for breakfast and a beautiful view of the Maui coastline. We highly recommend this spot! We enjoyed a short walk in the gardens while we were waiting for our food to be served and then savored every bite! :) MeLissa's only regret is that she couldn't have her favorite - Macadamia Nut Pancakes with coconut syrup. You can eat them for her the next time you go!

Once breakfast was over, we went back to the house to finish packing and enjoyed a quick visit with our friends Betsy and Louis (we were actually engaged on the day of their wedding!). And, then it was off to the airport to catch our plane and return our rental car....

We made it home safely to a neurotic and lonely kitty who will probably drive us crazy for a few days with non-stop meowing - her form of scolding us for leaving her home with "unfresh" food while we enjoy beautiful beaches, great food and more fun that it should be legal to have! We're sure she'll appreciate it that Mark will be home for the next week or so laying face down because it puts him in perfect position to pet her. ;)

Please keep Mark in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow. He goes in for surgery at 9 a.m. PST. It will probably be another 4 to 5 hour surgery. MeLissa's got a stack of wedding and other magazines to keep her company....

This just in:

Avian Flu has hit a trailer park in Florida!



Garden gnomes in the area are now living in fear. ;)

Good Gelato News...

Well, in the ongoing gelato saga here, we've discovered that the gelato did not have eggs in it. Which is good. And, MeLissa partook of some yummy Marscarpone flavor last night to celebrate. The only problem is now we have no idea why she had that horrible reaction. Not good.

For now, we're assuming that the cocoa powder they used in the dark chocolate sorbet had soy in it. It's either that or something to do with dinner. So, MeLissa's going to avoid (for a little while at least) the Chocolate Marzipan flavor. It's also looking like she needs to ditch pineapple again. It seems to have caused a mild reaction this morning. She's thinking maybe she'll just quite trying to reintroduce stuff for a while.

Rethinking Last Night's Gelato Pledge...

MeLissa woke up this morning feeling pretty awful - killer scratchy throat, headache like you wouldn't believe and just utterly feeling "icky." (One of those technical terms Mark's learning in school, we assure you).

So, yeah. She's thinking that the gelato is all Mark's. No matter how good the stuff is, it isn't worth this. And, yet, she's not willing to just give up. Nope. She's emailed the gelateria to see if the stuff does indeed have eggs in it. After all, maybe there was stealth garlic at dinner last night. ;)

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!

Drum Roll Please.....

We have EXCITING news!!! Mark passed his Chiropractic Board Exams!!!! Can we get a woo hoo for our new "Quarter-Doc" (MeLissa's new nickname for him since he's 25% of the way through his boards)?

He did really well and passed every section with flying colors. His best two scores were in General Anatomy and Pathology. Overall, his lowest score was a 421 in Spinal Anatomy. He needed 375 to pass.

We're so VERY happy that he's jumped this hurdle! Go Mark! Go Mark! Go!

We haven't quite decided how we'll celebrate this accomplishment yet, but we're sure we'll think of something. ;)

The next big hurdle - Passing the Clinic Entrance Exam which, for our super savvy doctor-to-be, will be a piece of cake!

Congratulations Mark!

Let's Send a Clear Message

We understand that some people who read our blog may not agree with us politically, but hear us out. If you still don't agree, do nothing, but if you do...then make today National Shopping Day.

That's right friends, we want you all to go out and buy something....anything. Whether it is groceries, that fabulous new pair of spring sling-backs you've been drooling over or an origami book, buy it today. Here's why:

1. The stores should be less crowded making checkout faster.

2. Why put off shopping until tomorrow when you can do it today?

And most important of all...

3. It will send a clear message that our U.S. economy can not be hijacked by a group of people who do not appreciate our values, do not appreciate that it is a priviledge to live and work here...not a right, and who choose not to become Americans through the legal immigration process but wish to enjoy all the benefits without any of the costs.

Let them know that we're not going to sit back idly and let another country's citizens tell us how we should run our country. Whether that country is in the Middle East or South of the Border doesn't really matter to us.

We do want to say, though, that we truly appreciate the contributions that those who come here legally and with good intentions make to our society. They should not be penalized for they have done nothing wrong. They have done what is necessary to become a part of our society and to become Americans - to learn our language, embrace our culture and values, pay taxes and contribute to all that is good about the United States. Embrace them...tell them they are welcome here and that we appreciate the sacrifices they have made, as we all have, for the good of our country and the world.

Please do a bit of shopping today. It would be preferrable if you could make your purchase at a business that is not well-known for hiring illegal immigrants - we need to send a message to these businesses that we don't appreciate their attempts to undermine our laws and to encourage illegal activity. MeLissa will be making a short trip to Borders at lunch to stock up on origami and wedding style books.

We hope you and your friends and family will join us in celebrating National Shopping Day!