So, not too much took place over the weekend really. I went to an organization meeting for the non-profit volunteer managers that our agency belongs to and it was there that one of the officers approached me and asked if I was interested in submitting my name for considering as an officer next year. I said, why not?! So, we’ll see what happens when the voting is done. I spoke to Margaret my supervisor and she told me to go for it so I have the backing of the agency.
We ran a bunch of errands on Saturday which was good. Anna needed to find an ivory colored pair of the shoe to go with her wedding dress and she found two. Needless to say, she’s a very happy camper. Anna’s sister (Gretchen) and boyfriend (Travis) were in town so we had dinner with them. Anna had to leave to set up because her band was playing at this really popular bar. I tagged along with Gretchen and Travis while they went to another bar to meet up with some friends. 45 minutes before her band was supposed to start, I received a text from Anna letting me know that it was already standing room only and there were no tables available. Well, we made it to the bar and the place was packed and hopping. Brian was there, and I snagged a table with him while Gretchen and Travis were closer to where the band was playing. This was the first time they heard the group and thought they were really good. Later that night, they sat with us and everyone got to meet one another. Brian and Travis definitely hit it off which comes as no surprise to me whatsoever! I shudder to think what these two guys will pull off for my bachelor party. Travis suggested that I come to Chicago for a weekend with Brian and we’ll make that my bachelor party away from Joel and Kevin. We’ll see how that goes.
That’s pretty much the weekend. This week will be pretty busy. Anna and I will be going to a play entitled August: Osage County. It won the Pulitzer Prize for best play two years ago and it’s supposed to be really good. We’re both looking forward to it. On Thursday, the young adults will be going out for dinner at a very eclectic restaurant called Jasmine Bowl. This guy is originally from Nigeria and he met his wife who is from Thailand when both of them were in culinary school. They opened up a restaurant that serves a bunch of food from different parts of the world. It should be pretty darn exciting to try this place. On Friday, Joel and I will be going to a classical concert by this artist, Poulenc Trio and they are amazing. Can’t wait for that. On Saturday, Fr. Jim, will be leading a bible discussion through the books of Psalms that it’ll be a lot of fun. My hunch is that there will be a good number of people from St. Kate’s there. Later that night, Anna and I will be going to a concert at a community college and the artists are vocal jazz artists. Sunday, Faculty Lounge will be putting on a benefits concert for the people of Haiti. They will be joined by three other DSM area groups that play the same kind of music that they do. What a great way to enjoy wonderful music, and raise money for the people in Haiti. It’s definitely going to be a busy week and weekend for us, but it’ll be a lot of fun for sure.
I guess that’s all the news from me for this time.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Valentine's Weekend.
Sorry for the late note. Monday was a federal holiday and our agency closed to observe it. Yesterday, it was about playing catch up at the office. Today, I’m at a good point so I can write.
Not too much happened last week. Joel and I had a presentation at a university on Thursday and that went really well. Later that evening, Anna and I met up with some friends for dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant. She and her husband had pho in NYC, but did not know where they could find good pho in DSM which is why I brought them to my restaurant. They loved it! We’ve not seen them in quite some time because they stopped coming to church at St. Kate’s. Prior to dinner, Anna and I met with our parish priest to fill out the marriage paperwork that’s required by the diocese. Looks like we are set on that front.
Friday was the start of Valentine’s weekend. The restaurant was expecting a lot of people and I have to say that we were busy, but never overwhelmed. The three servers who worked did a fine job and I did not need to take any tables until later in the night when I let them go. Anna went to bed early because she had to be in school for an all day piano festival the next day.
It was a pretty laid back day for me. I went to the library before heading to the monthly guy’s breakfast/brunch. We had a blast! Once that was done, I went to Anna’s school to drop off something for her to eat since she could not really leave the festival. For Valentine’s day, I had gotten her a singing valentine from Drake. Basically, two Drake students who sing in the choir would go to where she was and sing her a song. They also brought her a dozen roses. The funniest part is the song they chose was one of the songs her students had in their repertoire of songs to sing for their singing valentine. She kind of chuckled when the Drake students started singing. Needless to say, she really appreciated it. I then went back home to watch a couple of dvds while waiting for her to come home. I had thought of cooking, but that was just for a second. I decided we would go out to eat and called a restaurant close to home to see if they had an opening. Lo and behold, they had a cancellation and we managed to get that reservation. The dinner was OK, but I had an issue with my dish. It’s a long story and I’m not going to bore you with it. Hey, as long as Anna thought her meal was fine, that’s all that really matters.
After Mass on Sunday, I worked at the restaurant, but it was not too busy. The others informed me that the night before, they were slammed which was to be expected since it was Valentine’s weekend. Aaron had scheduled four servers for Sunday dinner. At 5PM, there was no one at the restaurant so he let me off since I had worked from noon. I’m not sure how busy the restaurant got that night. Anna had told me earlier that she was going to be cooking me dinner. She made some friend potatoes, green beans, and a cheese stuffed chicken. Most of it turned out OK, except for the potatoes because some of it were not cooked. Hey, she tried her very best and succeeded. Oh, she also made some brownies for dessert and they turned out very well. We ended up watching a movie that night.
Both of us had Monday off so we had breakfast and got more wedding stuff taken care off. We’ve finalized the people who will have a role to play at the wedding Mass and also selected the music. Later that morning, we went to a store to register for our wedding gifts. Trust me, we did not register for a lot of stuff. I watched move dvds while she had her piano lessons with her students.
Yesterday was our one year anniversary of my proposal and we went out for dinner at the restaurant where I proposed. I had requested the table where I popped the question, but someone else was already sitting there so they sat us at a different table. Our regular server had the evening off which was kind of a bummer, but later that evening, he actually came in so we got to chat with him. He’s actually headed to Los Angeles to work at the same restaurant and is looking forward to it. Anna had scallops while I had duck. Both were very good and we more than thoroughly enjoyed our meal. I gave her a couple more gifts to commemorate our anniversary.
That was pretty much the week and weekend that ended. Nothing too extravagant or exciting to say the least.
Not too much happened last week. Joel and I had a presentation at a university on Thursday and that went really well. Later that evening, Anna and I met up with some friends for dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant. She and her husband had pho in NYC, but did not know where they could find good pho in DSM which is why I brought them to my restaurant. They loved it! We’ve not seen them in quite some time because they stopped coming to church at St. Kate’s. Prior to dinner, Anna and I met with our parish priest to fill out the marriage paperwork that’s required by the diocese. Looks like we are set on that front.
Friday was the start of Valentine’s weekend. The restaurant was expecting a lot of people and I have to say that we were busy, but never overwhelmed. The three servers who worked did a fine job and I did not need to take any tables until later in the night when I let them go. Anna went to bed early because she had to be in school for an all day piano festival the next day.
It was a pretty laid back day for me. I went to the library before heading to the monthly guy’s breakfast/brunch. We had a blast! Once that was done, I went to Anna’s school to drop off something for her to eat since she could not really leave the festival. For Valentine’s day, I had gotten her a singing valentine from Drake. Basically, two Drake students who sing in the choir would go to where she was and sing her a song. They also brought her a dozen roses. The funniest part is the song they chose was one of the songs her students had in their repertoire of songs to sing for their singing valentine. She kind of chuckled when the Drake students started singing. Needless to say, she really appreciated it. I then went back home to watch a couple of dvds while waiting for her to come home. I had thought of cooking, but that was just for a second. I decided we would go out to eat and called a restaurant close to home to see if they had an opening. Lo and behold, they had a cancellation and we managed to get that reservation. The dinner was OK, but I had an issue with my dish. It’s a long story and I’m not going to bore you with it. Hey, as long as Anna thought her meal was fine, that’s all that really matters.
After Mass on Sunday, I worked at the restaurant, but it was not too busy. The others informed me that the night before, they were slammed which was to be expected since it was Valentine’s weekend. Aaron had scheduled four servers for Sunday dinner. At 5PM, there was no one at the restaurant so he let me off since I had worked from noon. I’m not sure how busy the restaurant got that night. Anna had told me earlier that she was going to be cooking me dinner. She made some friend potatoes, green beans, and a cheese stuffed chicken. Most of it turned out OK, except for the potatoes because some of it were not cooked. Hey, she tried her very best and succeeded. Oh, she also made some brownies for dessert and they turned out very well. We ended up watching a movie that night.
Both of us had Monday off so we had breakfast and got more wedding stuff taken care off. We’ve finalized the people who will have a role to play at the wedding Mass and also selected the music. Later that morning, we went to a store to register for our wedding gifts. Trust me, we did not register for a lot of stuff. I watched move dvds while she had her piano lessons with her students.
Yesterday was our one year anniversary of my proposal and we went out for dinner at the restaurant where I proposed. I had requested the table where I popped the question, but someone else was already sitting there so they sat us at a different table. Our regular server had the evening off which was kind of a bummer, but later that evening, he actually came in so we got to chat with him. He’s actually headed to Los Angeles to work at the same restaurant and is looking forward to it. Anna had scallops while I had duck. Both were very good and we more than thoroughly enjoyed our meal. I gave her a couple more gifts to commemorate our anniversary.
That was pretty much the week and weekend that ended. Nothing too extravagant or exciting to say the least.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Updates from a couple of weeks.
Well, it’s been quite some time since I wrote to give all of you updates. It’s time.
There really has not been too much to report. Anna and I went to two concerts – Russell Malone and the DM Symphony. Both were pretty darn amazing especially Russell Malone who is an accomplished jazz artist. I have been working a couple of evenings staffing a table to some volunteer fairs. One of those fairs took place at Drake which was nice. I got to interact with the students and also saw a number of people who belonged to the same professional organization our agency belongs to.
Hoover High School had a choir festival one day and Anna was busy preparing for that. It was a good concert and the students got to listen to a group called the Des Moines Vocal Ensemble and they were very good and inspirational for the students. We met up with Anna’s sister’s boyfriend who was in town for a basketball game. Gretchen was supposed to be in town too, but one of her friend’s father died so she went back to Bismarck, ND for the funeral. Anna and I had a great time catching up with Travis and his parents who went to the game. The night before, we got a text message from Anna’s friend asking if we were going to the game because she was traveling with a group of fans from Omaha to the game. We would have loved to have gone to the game, but that evening we had tickets to the symphony. Lo and behold, the restaurant where we had dinner was the same restaurant the traveling fans had dinner! So, we got to see her and chat with her for a while. What a small world!
On Thursday, February 4th, Anna and I got our marriage license. John was our witness. All we needed to do was to fill out an application and have a witness be present. The license basically gives us the right to marry. Once the ceremony is completed, we’ll have to sign the form together with John who is the priest and mail it back in. The marriage certificate will be mailed to us after they received it. John commented that he’s been a witness at numerous weddings, but he’s never been a witness for a couple applying for their marriage license. He’s such an awesome guy! Later that evening, the young adults had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant that opened less than a month ago and it’s been getting rave reviews. The food was pretty darn amazing, and I’m sure we’ll be headed back there again.
That’s really all the things that have been going on the past couple of weeks. Nothing too exciting, yet at the same time, not too boring either!
There really has not been too much to report. Anna and I went to two concerts – Russell Malone and the DM Symphony. Both were pretty darn amazing especially Russell Malone who is an accomplished jazz artist. I have been working a couple of evenings staffing a table to some volunteer fairs. One of those fairs took place at Drake which was nice. I got to interact with the students and also saw a number of people who belonged to the same professional organization our agency belongs to.
Hoover High School had a choir festival one day and Anna was busy preparing for that. It was a good concert and the students got to listen to a group called the Des Moines Vocal Ensemble and they were very good and inspirational for the students. We met up with Anna’s sister’s boyfriend who was in town for a basketball game. Gretchen was supposed to be in town too, but one of her friend’s father died so she went back to Bismarck, ND for the funeral. Anna and I had a great time catching up with Travis and his parents who went to the game. The night before, we got a text message from Anna’s friend asking if we were going to the game because she was traveling with a group of fans from Omaha to the game. We would have loved to have gone to the game, but that evening we had tickets to the symphony. Lo and behold, the restaurant where we had dinner was the same restaurant the traveling fans had dinner! So, we got to see her and chat with her for a while. What a small world!
On Thursday, February 4th, Anna and I got our marriage license. John was our witness. All we needed to do was to fill out an application and have a witness be present. The license basically gives us the right to marry. Once the ceremony is completed, we’ll have to sign the form together with John who is the priest and mail it back in. The marriage certificate will be mailed to us after they received it. John commented that he’s been a witness at numerous weddings, but he’s never been a witness for a couple applying for their marriage license. He’s such an awesome guy! Later that evening, the young adults had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant that opened less than a month ago and it’s been getting rave reviews. The food was pretty darn amazing, and I’m sure we’ll be headed back there again.
That’s really all the things that have been going on the past couple of weeks. Nothing too exciting, yet at the same time, not too boring either!
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