Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... hio!

Last week me and gary flew over to ohio to look at housing! (litterally 3 days nonstop)

We got a pretty sweet deal on the flight/hotel/car rental off priceline ^^ and off we went for 4 days!

It was 55 degree's when we arrived there, and everyone kept commenting what a beautiful weather they were having! hahah O_O I was totally freezing! But thankfully it warmed up (within one day) to 90 degrees! crazy huh?

What we were looking in for a house
1. Convienience to Case Western (pref walking/biking distance)
2. Heat/air conditioning included?
3. Dogs allowed (can't wait to get a puppy!! EEEEEEEEE ^___^ )
4. Laundry? gym
5. Covered parking space provided


Some highlights of the trip!

Thursday:
we looked at housing and I instantly fell in love with the first place we looked at: kensington gardens. It was beautiful and clean and had a gym! and the one bedroom that was avaliable allows you to have share relatively large private grassy courtyard with 2 other people!! (perfect for puppy!!) hehe The other places we looked at next.. were a bit gettoer, and we learned about radiators, and shoveling snow in the winter. haha =)


For dinner we ate at Lolitas! A resturant owned by iron chef michael Symon! we yelped it, and it got pretty good reviews! So we ordered an appetizer meatballs ($7) and their "famous" mac and cheese.($15) BUUTT!! oh my goodness the meatballs get here... and i was imagineing maybe 2 or 3 large 4 inch in diameter meatballs, you know like you normally get on a meat ball patter right? BUt no! the meatballs come.. and they are on this tiny dish.. there are four 1 inch in diameter TINY meatballs!! hahahah me and gary nearly laughed our heads off. Granted they were lamb meatballs and very very delicious... but hhaha stil =)





Friday:
Visited 5 more places, and we learned about radiators.. and how its really important to find a place that has covered parking (so you don't have to shovel out your car) and includes heat and air conditioning, or else your electricity cost will skyrocket

heres a video we took that day so you can get a feel of what the housing looks like in cleveland =)



Saturday:
Found a place were in LOVE with 5 min walking distance from case. Parklanevilla.com, the building is SOOOO NICE! and they allow pets! But they have such an intense waiting list T__T i really hope that we can get it!

Bridal Shower

The Bridal Shower was amazing!! I felt so incredibly love and blessed. My bridesmaids are the most amazing girls in the world. Everything fell together so beautifully. Jeanna was the ring leader, coordinated everything with emails, Joann put together all the amazing food, Joy put together all the favors and balloons, my little sister came up with all sorts of neat ideas for favors/games, Tiffy came up with all the games, Ihui managed all the music. AMAZING! ^^

I was so touched just by everyone who ended up making it! My mom, sister, steph, steph and brandy drove from OC. My Future mommy, lydia joanne and sabrina (future cousins and sisters) drove 8 hours from norcal! It really meant so much to me that everyone came ^^

We had a bit of time to chill and hang out before we officially started and ate yummy food! THen we started out with a game, where Tiffany asked Gary a series of question to see how well i would match up if i answered the same exact questions such as "what are your favorite physical features of gary" or if "michelle had one grapefruit and gary had one grapefruit how many grapefruits would michelle have in the end" hahahahah

FREAKISHLY we matched answers almost 100% WORD FOR WORD lol. ie. My favorite physical features of gary are his wavy hair, and that when he smiles he has cute little happy crinkles in his eyes. and.. i would end up with zero grapefruit because i don't like grapefruit and would give it to gary to eat. hehehe >_< (gary said "michelle would probably not have any.. because she would give it to me to eat") We then played a "price is right" game where I was "vanna white" and everyone had to guess the price of a household item, and if they got it right, they could keep the item (ie a orange peeler, or a kitchen timer) AND they would have to share a favorite memory with me =) =) And the most overwhelmingly sweet part of the day was.. gifts! wow. really. I've never received so many generous gifts in my entire life. I didn't even know how to respond. I now have.. he.he.he.... 2 weeks supply of lingerie. my goodness. haha =) But by far.. my most favorite gift was the scrapbook. Everyone attending made a page for me, it was so sweet and so cute. It was so awesome to see everyone's personalities and creativity in each page. It almost put me to tears. T_T Anyways! pictures speak so much louder than words.. =) some to preview, and the rest here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1042056@N25/

Bridesmaidsy workout

haha so in order to get in tip-top shape for the wedding, me and ihui have been exercising every morning and night, doing weights and........ DDR!!

its actually surprisingly intense! last night Jeanna got to join us too (after bible study) haha but I think we worked out to late.. and we got so energized we couldn't sleep till like 3 in the morning!
















Gary has also been working out! and running 3 miles every monday with mike and (sometimes) steve and jamie.

Candy!

I'm researching candy :)

so this past weekend, we went up to norcal and had our third session in marriage counseling with pastor victor and his wife, jenny. It went really well. Michelle and I learned more about ourselves and each other. We talked about our marriage expectations and our personalities. Pastor victor shared with us his experiences and we talked about our differences and how they can complement each other. Our marriage expectations seem pretty down to earth (according to victor) and it was a good sign! There was one question that was interesting. It was Do you think you still have the same romantic expectations after couple years? The answer is no simply because feelings change and we change as people but love doesn't change. (I answered yes! michelle andwered correctly with a no) I later recalled with michelle that when we first started dating we would after our honeymoon we would have another one for 99 more years! haha we both got a good laught out of it.

Anyways marriage counseling is pretty fun and actually helps get out feelings and thoughts in a safe way. I'm really enjoying these counseling sessions and learning a lot about both of us.