Saying Goodbye

As I may have mentioned before, when Bryan and I went on our first date, he told me that if the weather was nice he would pick me up in his Camaro. I was a little worried as I thought he would have faded denim jeans, a concert t-shirt and possibly a mullet. He never informed me that it was the new Camaro so I was pleasantly surprised when he arrived. Sure, it is not my style but he loves that car. Love, love, loves it.

In the past he mentioned selling it when we talked about money, but I did not think it would ever happen. The other night he came to me and told me he made a decision and was going to trade it in. I repeatedly asked him if he was certain of his decision. Did I mention he loves this car? He said he was sure. The boys can't fit in it (car seats will not fit), his golf clubs won't fit, he can only drive it maybe once a week, and it costs a fortune, so he was sure this was the right thing to do. As long as he was ok with giving up something he worked so hard for, I was ok with his decision.

Last night we went to look at cars. Originally, he wanted another BMW but they would not work with him so we went to look at Audi's last night and he found one he liked. He made his decision, and today he is on his way to get the Audi and to say goodbye to the Camaro. Before he left, the boys went for one last ride. We took pictures of course:

Yes, they hugged it goodbye. I am proud of Bryan for making this decision. It had to be a hard one but I think he really likes the new car. It is fast (even if it is a 4 door) and he said it is a lot of fun to drive. I am a little sad that the car we went on our first date is no longer with us though :(

Confession

I love Bryan, I really do. I think he is amazing, and super foxy. Does this mean I can't drool over people I will never ever meet? Why am I bringing this up? Two words: Michael Buble...

Last night my mom and I went to his concert. I only know a few songs, but I went anyway. Two hours of staring at hotness is worth it in my book. He is adorable, he can sing, and did I mention he is adorable? I did wonder if he ever gets tired of wearing suits. It is like Barney on How I Met Your Mother-always wearing suits. From what I see, he wears a black suit with a black tie. Makes for easy planning and packing I would assume.

When looking for pictures of him for this post, I came across this photo:

My first thought was wow, he must not sleep in suits. My second thought was hey, it looks like he is saying, "Dani, come here. Let's spoon." I of course blush knowing we are both engaged to other people, but ponder spooning. After all, he is Michael Buble. Hubba Hubba (not as foxy as Bryan of course.) Oh how adorable this man is.

The concert began with a group called Naturally Seven. I thought, WHO?! Little did I know, I was about to be amazed. It is an all acapella group that uses their voices to sing and make the sounds of instruments. A-MA-ZING. They did Phil Collins In the Air of the Night song and with his voice, one of the guys did that awesome drum solo. Unreal. I could have listened to them all night. They received a standing ovation and said they would be in Section 104 after the show. I planned on going over there. Of course I forgot my camera. WHAT?! Yes, I, Danielle, forgot my camera. I was one of those people I hate who use their cell phones to take pictures (come on, get a real camera people). When we arrived at the concert, there was a cardboard cut out of MB and I really wanted to get my picture taken with him. My mom said to "get outta here" and kept on walking. I took that as a no. Anyway, back to the group. Bottom line is they were fantastic. Extremely talented. They finished and then MB came on at 9. Did I mention he is adorable? He talked about how he is now engaged, talked to the crowd, was surprisingly funny and incredibly charming (Are you sensing my mad crush on him). He asked if we liked the opening act. Everyone clapped and said, "Good, but that sh*t is expensive. Start passing around the collection plate." Pretty funny. When there was a pause, one woman yelled out, "I want to have your baby!" Another person said, "I LOVE YOU!" to which he replied, "I love you too, stranger."  He was very humble and seems genuinely appreciative and surprised that people come to see him. He said he wishes he could let everyone feel what he gets to feel when he is on stage. This of course got me thinking about singing. As many of you know (or all 4 of you who read this blog)-I do not sing. Ever. I may mouth words but I don't sing. This often makes me wonder, what if I am a really good singer?  What if I missed my calling (people often tell me I should have acted. Should I have?) This kind of thinking often gets me into funks. Did I really follow my dreams? Is my life what I want it to be or will I have regrets? What if I could have easily blown away the American Idol judges when I was young enough to do so, and right now, I could be on stages all over the world performing for people? These thoughts get my mind racing. Thankfully I had his Royal Hotness to distract me.

I thought it was cool that people were dancing in the aisles. I missed Bryan, and wished he were there so we could do that, but then I realized wait, he does not dance. Of course there were the annoying people, those who would not take their seat and just sat there in the aisle with their drinks, waiting to sit. MOVE IT PEOPLE! There was the one majorly drunk guy flailing (aka dancing) in his seat. Everyone else was sitting. There was the woman in the third room who yelled when NYC was mentioned. She also obnoxiously stood up on her chair several times trying to get Michael's attention (yes, I will call him Michael) as if he is going to stop singing and say oh hey older lady. Let me ditch my fiance and we will get out of here.

My mom was not that impressed with our seats. I don't think she realizes how much concerts cost. There are TV screens that show him perfectly (thank you HD TV) For a concert they were decent. Sure, not fabulous, but do you really need to spend $250 to sit right in front of him? This was the first concert I have ever been to where 95% of the time, people are sitting down. Odd.

After his encore, the show was over and we were headed out. I wanted to go see the opening act so I made my way to Section 104. Surprisingly the line was shorter than I have seen it for Mickey Mouse at Disney World. I got in line, excited to take pictures (on my lame phone) with them-you know, just in case they make it big and I can say yeah, we used to hang back in the day. I made my way through and I turned around to hand my mom the phone only to realize, she was not with me. I got out of line to see her hanging by the trash can. I guess she was not interested. So no picture with cardboard MB, and no pictures with Naturally Seven. Oh well. Dreams often get shattered ;)

The concert was over at 11 and we headed home. I was looking forward to sleep, but Torrin had a high fever and was up all night. He got out of bed at 5:00 and had been up ever since. He told me at 11:30 that he was ready for bed. I put him down and he came down at 12:30. I don't think so. I put him back to bed and I am hoping he stays asleep. The phone just rang so I doubt he will stay asleep.

On another completely random note, Bryan has new neighbors who I believe are Indian. Forgive me if that is politically incorrect terminology. She wears the full dress and has jewels on right now. The weird thing is, every day she is on her deck with her kids, who are always in their pajamas no matter what time of day it is. I would hate to have to get that dressed up while the kids are able to have jammie day all day.

Well, I am exhausted so I am signing off for now. I hope to write more soon about the wedding plans.

Justin Turns 8

About three weeks ago (yes, I am a bit behind) my third oldest nephew turned 8. Where did the time go?  I remember being on recess duty getting the call that my sister in law was in labor. I rushed to the hospital and made it just in time for him to arrive. He did not have a name for awhile because my brother and sister in law could not agree on a name. Eventually they decided on Justin Patrick. When he was born, he had dark skin, and black hair. I did not think he was a Diak. Eventually his hair fell out, went blond and now it is back to being dark. Before I moved to NJ, he was my buddy. When I moved it hurt to be away from him, but he talked to me on the phone, sent me pictures, and was so excited to see me when I came back to visit. Now that he is older, his Tanta (me) is not exciting to him. He does not talk to me all that much, and Legos, Bakugan and the computer have replaced me. It makes me sad and I miss the days of snuggling, the kisses and him saying, "You came all the way from New Jesus to see me?!" Now he is in 2nd grade!

For his birthday we had a sort of Mario themed party. Here are some pictures from his family party!

Noelle made a cake, which Torrin really enjoyed:

After the party, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Let me just say I am thrilled that Camden and Torrin love their soon to be cousins. Torrin adores Ethan, and they genuinely adore my other nephews and niece. Torrin calls Kaya his girlfriend. I guess this is ok because they are not blood related but still, they will be step cousins. Torrin is always trying to make a move on Kaya. Usually is starts with a hug:

Sometimes, a belly bump:

Then he usually goes for the kisses:

She looks like she is telling him Um, I don't think so. She lets him down easy:

They have such a good time together, and they are super cute and funny when they get around each other.

One of my favorite photos from that night is this picture:

Is it not because it is a good picture, but because after we took it, I had to look at it, and I noticed my brother jumped into it to be funny. It made me laugh.

Justin was sang to and of course he was embarrassed. At least he posed for a pic! Have a great year monkey! I love you so much!

We Registered!

After many people asking where we were registered and not having an answer, we decided to go on Friday night and register. We started at Bed Bath and Beyond. Bryan was hoping for a gun, but we got a low battery scanner. Not that exciting. Something about Bed Bath and Beyond stresses me out. I think it is how much stuff is crammed into a very small store. Regardless, we went about our way and scanned the things we need. Being in our 30's we have most everything we need, and since it is tacky to say Hey, we just want cash, we scanned quite a bit of things. I had to later go back and remove some items because no one needs to get us a margarita machine ($240 bucks), a beach towel that looks like a big tattoo (Bryan's doing) or Bumpits. Although I am intrigued by Bumpits, I do not need someone else getting it for us.  We found bedding we liked, but it was partially white, and we fear it will be destroyed by a little messy child also known as Torrin. We decided to wait on shower curtains, bedding and possible dishes. There was nothing that excited us all that much. Plus it was a tad bit overwhelming. Pictures had to be taken, of course:

Bryan scanning our first item. Cereal containers. I know, we are wild and crazy like that!

My first time scanning. A bundt pan...

After we were finished at Bed Bath and Beyond we went to Target. It was snowing so we thought about skipping it but we needed to get Easter candy (for the Easter Bunny of course. We are his helpers.) Target was where we planned on getting the fun things. Board games (we have none unless it is a child's), Wii games, and several other things. Bryan was so excited because at Target, they have "guns" as their scanners. He was ready to rock:

What did Bryan want to register for? 

Yes, a 35 dart Nerf gun. Sure, it isn't practical but he wants it. Later on we thought we should go back and register for 3 more so we can have a family Nerf fight. Something to think about.

On the other hand, I was a tad bit more practical. I want a small photo printer. Not likely something someone would buy, but hey, why not register and see what happens.

I would love to register other places, but I don't want to go overboard. We wanted to do a honeymoon registry but we have no idea when and where we are going to go. For most registries, you need to have the hotel picked, activities, flights, etc and we are nowhere near that point. We also looked into doing a "wishing well" where people can contribute to a house, honeymoon, etc. fund. Sure, it sounds great, but whoever contributes is charged a 7.5% fee. No thanks. We will just pray for cash :)

We had a lot of fun registering and maybe we will register somewhere else just so we can do it again!