Old and New Friendships

A couple of weekends ago, CD and I hopped on the I-35 and drove South to meet up with Chung family. We made it into San Antonio in time for late dinner (prepared by J&K) and to spend some time with their beautiful three children and K's parents. I haven't seen J&K since D&P's wedding 3 years ago, but we picked up right where we left off, and the conversation flowed until the wee hours of the night. Saturday morning, we woke up to yummy smells of breakfast already well on the way, and took our time sipping our coffees and playing with the children. Around noon, us four adults headed out to Austin (woohoo! an adult weekend!). :)

Austin was so much fun! Oddest fact was that it took traveling to Austin for CD's first experience with Pho and Dim Sum! We also met up with CD's fraternity brother TB who met us all prepared with fabulous suggestions for dinner and drinks for the night. All of us got along great whether we've just met or have known each other for 15+ years. CD has a great philosophy that one should always surround him/herself with great people - that weekend, five people met in a stranger's city, and rekindled and newly formed long-lasting, lifetime friendships. I am so lucky to have found my life's partner in such a great man that not only brings great new friends for me, but also appreciates mine.

  

*After Sunday Dim Sum with J&K*

Missing: TB

The Great Plains

~1800 miles + 10 States + 3 days = 1 long a$$ road trip!
Having your beau with you the whole time and in Dallas for an extended period? = Priceless! Joyous! Happiness! Woohoo!


What a weekend! We pretty much spent the entire weekend in a car. The map above sums it up!

My ever so thoughtful and loving FI decided to move down to Dallas for 6-8 weeks to be with me; but, before he moved, we had to make a bit of detour. Unfortunately, my place in Dallas does not allow dogs...so...we had to take the ladies to his sister's place in Fargo. I flew up to Chicago on Wednesday night, we headed to Fargo on Thursday morning (bright and early), got a bit of time to spend with FSIL and FBIL, left Fargo on Friday afternoon, stopped at Topeka, KS, for a night, then made the rest of the trip to Dallas on Saturday.

  

FSIL w/ the ladies
  

FSIL, FBIL, their new pup Boggs, and CD
[Good old Molly was beside me]
  

CD and I are very excited about our time together and looking forward to our adventure in Dallas; however, it was incredibly difficult to leave our girls behind...(I think we will have a real hard time in the future if we ever need to send our kids away to camp, to grandparents', or college!) Well, at the least, they won't be bored with Boggs chasing them around and Molly will keep them in line! And, most fortunately, my FSIL is one heck of a 'dog whisperer' - total, complete, utmost trust in her that they will be great in her care. We are so grateful that she (and her hubby) have taken them in. :)

Perils of LDR

CD was suppose to fly in on past Friday - ETA ~11:50PM. Starting about 7PM, text messages started to flow, and FB updates made it painfully clear that Mid-West was already hit with a Tornado. O'Hare pretty much closes down when there is a bit of drizzle, so we both knew this was not looking good. After many delays after delays, his flight was canceled at about 1AM...

Add hours at the Airport customer service line + taxi line + being on hold on the reservation phone line...fortunately for me, he was able to find a flight to Dallas on Saturday - ETA ~2PM. Throw in another dash of delay, he was finally here at ~4PM on Saturday.

Thankfully, from that point on, it was a blissful day and a half!

We grabbed some chips and salsa (+ a few margaritas) at Primos; met up with his former colleague who showed us around a couple of neighborhood bars (Ginger Man & Londoner); brunch with my colleagues; watched 'Hangover' once again (it was just as funny the second time around!); and even got to squeeze in our very first wedding-related activity! We happened to walk by Paper Source, so we looked at some stationery and picked out two colors that are forerunners in becoming our wedding colors. :)

We hit a bit of speedbump when we checked out the restaurant Fish - no link to Fish because it was absolutely the worst Sushi restaurant we've ever been to. The atmosphere is better than fine - cool mix of black and red decor. But, the Sashimi was tasteless - obviously frozen and thawed multiple times. (I was actually really worried that we might get sick!) The appetizer, beef wrapped avocado, was too heavy (seemed like a novel idea, but the two just didn't harmonize in taste); the spicy yellowtail roll was bland; and tempura was too greasy. I was none too thrilled that our weekend had to end with that meal.

Nonetheless, we enjoyed the rest of the evening in each other's company. This morning, it was difficult dropping him off at the airport - I mean, it was really difficult: we had to leave my place at 5:15AM; I got us lost twice (well, made detours) at the airport; and ended up dropping him off at a wrong gate...and all this on his BIRTHDAY! (Happy Birthday, Honey!)

It's his birthday but all I know is that I was the one showered with gifts this weekend - his visit! Oh, and did I mention I miserably failed and couldn't find a gift for him in time? (Yes, I know. I seriously need to do better...)...

BTW, shout out to J&A - thank you for Pug-sitting!

Rendezvous @ ORD

On Tuesday, I flew out of BUF, made a stop at ORD, then came home to DFW. For some reason, I had completely forgotten my layover was at Chicago (thought it was in St. Louis or LaGuardia); and the layover was ~2 hrs giving us (or should have given us) plenty of time to meet up and have dinner. It was a pleasant surprise (?) and I was so ecstatic.

...

Then, the rain came to Chicago. We all know O'Hare when it drizzles, nevermind a storm. My incoming flight was suspended in the air and we circled for over 40 min! And as the luck will have it, my outbound flight was only delayed by 15 min. This gave us about 45 minutes to sit down together.

...

It felt "funny" having to meet my very own FI at an airport for a quick bite and having to be on my way again. You do this sort of a thing with friends or relatives who live afar and/or don't see often...this isn't the way to get in the "face time" with your own FIANCE! Well, unfortunately, that is the situation for us right now and we are learning to appreciate every minute we get to share - Time is a treasure.