we're engaged!!!

So... JR and I are engaged! He proposed in the most amazing and romantic way. I've written a little something up about it for a wedding website I'm putting together, but it's in the third person. Rather than leave the news off the site for another second, I decided to just publish it as is.



The day before Valentine's Day, John whisked Ashley off on a surprise trip. He told her he'd arranged the time off with her boss, and they were headed to Southern California, so "pack for warm weather." Once they reached LAX (Los Angeles International), he surprised her again by telling her this wasn't their final destination. He then walked her to a boarding area with 5 gates, and asked her, "Where do you want to go?" The choices were New York City, St. Louis, Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii. "No way! We're going to Hawaii?!?!" After much hugging and jumping, they boarded the flight to Kona, Hawaii - The Big Island.

They arrived late at night, and luckily John had rented a car months ago, because the island had NO rental cars left. What did they end up with? A Ridiculously Red Hummer H3. They drove to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, checked into their incredible room ("Wow! They must've upgraded us... I read in the reviews that they do that sometimes." It was no upgrade - it was all a part of his carefully orchestrated plan.

When they got up the next morning, they did some shopping, ate a fabulous breakfast (coconut syrup is heaven!), then went for a walk on the beach. They stopped at a spot overlooking magnificent waves crashing onto lava rocks below, arms around each other, talking about being in the most beautiful place in the world, together, on Valentine's Day. John then stepped back and said, "This isn't the only reason I brought you here..." He got down on one knee, pulled a box from his pocket, and opened it to show her the ring. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" They put the ring on her finger (they were both shaking a little), and then there was much hugging and kissing and happy tears and laughing, marveling at being so lucky to have found the other. Startled all of a sudden, Ashley asked, "I said yes, right?" John laughed and confirmed that she had, in fact, said yes.

A few minutes later, two couples trekking along the shoreline came by. When they said "Good morning!" Ashley blurted out, "We just got engaged!" The women shouted, "We thought so! We could see from down the beach, and we cheered! But we wanted to give you two some time alone before we came by." They were kind enough to take some great pictures to remember the moment by. John had heard them cheer, but Ashley didn't hear the cheering at all. The world had focused down to just John at that moment.

They called their immediate families to share the news, and then, being the technophiles they are, they took a pic of their hands with the engagement ring and the blue ocean in the background, and twittered the pic and the happy announcement to all their friends.



So that's the story of Ashley and John's engagement on Valentine's Day, 2009. They haven't set the date yet, but you will hear from them once they do.

halloween 2008

It was quite a Halloween this year. We went to a great party just down the street, hosted by a couple of our friends. If you want the whole boring story of how it came to pass, it's below. But, with no further ado: my Halloween 2008 photoset.

          

JR already had a costume planned, since his was a team effort. I, on the other hand, had no idea what I was going to be. Last weekend we tried a costume store in Lower Haight, but it was so crowded and everything was just jumbled up, and since I didn't have a plan, I couldn't pick anything that was right. Anything that did strike my fancy wasn't even near the right size. I saw an incredible Marie Antoinette wig strung with pearls, but they didn't have any matching costumes, so we left. I bought some orange/black striped tights in the hope that I could come up with something simple around that.

By 10am on Thursday, I was really starting to panic. My aunt and uncle were coming in that night, so I'd have zero time to work on a costume the night before. Then JR sent me a link to a costume more my size on buycostumes.com. The clouds parted and a ray of light shined down upon me. They had tons of costumes that would (should) fit, and if I ordered by 3pm, it was guaranteed to arrive by 3pm on Halloween. I can't say enough great things about buycostumes.com. USE THEM!

Then I spent forever trying to decide which costume to go for. They even had some sexy ones, and I was kind of leaning towards that. In the end, I chose two from two different sizing systems, to be sure that if one didn't fit, the other hopefully would. I ended up with a pirate costume, and a Marie Antoinette costume. The catch: they were sold out of decent wigs. They had some really crappy ones that looked like they were made out of the same material they sell for you to stretch all over the place into cobwebs, but no way! I got my order in, and then I had to get back to work. I'd have to leave the wig hunt for Friday.

The package needed to be signed for, so I worked from home, and miracle of miracles, it arrived before 11am. The delivery guy joked about how I was cutting it a little close. No kidding! I tried them both on. Marie fit. Then I tried on the Pirate. Explain this to me: how can an XL be so enormous on top that it won't even stay up, but so tight in the bottom that it won't stay down? Then I put on the wrap-around corset-like middle thing, and it literally wouldn't lace up. That's not very good for the ego, I can tell you that much.

So Marie it was. Now a mad search for a wig. I knew the Haight shop had one the weekend before, but it was doubtful it would still be there, and they'd already set up lines in expectation of the crowds to come. Oh well. Best bet. There was a long line out front, but it went pretty quickly. And they had ONE wig left - the one I fell in love with. We got JR a wig too, and some glasses. And me some tanga pants. And then a gold mask too. We finally got out of there, fully prepared to costume up. Yay!

JR & I in the NY Times: same day, same page

we're *both* in the NY Times!!!, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

JR and I are on the *same page* of the NYtimes, in completely unrelated articles. His name is right above my photo. His photo appears on the continuation of his article on page 8. (Unfortunately, I don't get named...)

He'd been interviewed on the zipcar Low-Car Diet program, and they came out and took photos of him, and we knew that if he made the final cut of the article, it would be in the SundayStyle section. So we go buy the Sunday paper ($5!!!) and look for the article, and when we find it, the BlogHer photo that I'm in is right below his article!!! That's creepy weird, right?

he's down with the sickness

Poor JR. Since I got home from work on Wednesday, he's been terribly ill. His throat got really sore again, he was coughing, and his back was aching.

And then his back REALLY started hurting. He tossed and turned all night that night, moaning with every movement. And his fever started going up. And up. Despite periodic dosing with Tylenol, it topped out that night at 101.7. It's been swinging up and down ever since.

He felt a little better part of yesterday, so being the clean freak he is, instead of resting up and getting better, he did a ton of laundry, washing all the sheets and blankets, even ones he's only looked at while passing by. I'm sure that level of activity really helped. It helped the damn virus come on full strength all over again.

Last night he was all twitchy, shaking the bed constantly, and he insisted on going out to sleep on the couch so he didn't keep me awake. I protested, but he was right - I did finally get to sleep. He finally came back to bed this morning, and I'm lying here while he tosses and turns and mumbles and moans next to me. At least his fever is finally dropping. Just a little over an hour ago it was still at 100, but it's dropped to 99.6 on the most recent reading.

So remember the scary JR from a couple of posts ago? He's baaaaaaaaack.

we gotta pay the rent

Silly mid-day chat between me and my man. Background: Winston is our not-the-sharpest-tool-in-the-shed 11 year old dog, and Mercury is our wily, calculating 2 year old cat.

Winston		Mercury

me: ok
          let's not forget the rent
John: wont
me: i wish we could just call and get winston to take care of it
          ;D
John: lol
          thats rediculous
me: yeah - mercury would be better...
          but i don't trust him with the $$$
John: i dont trust him with the ladies
          but i trust him with the moola

our drive to TX: an excerpt

I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into the first leg of our drive to Texas, from SF to Phoenix:

meow. meow. meow. meeeow. meooow. meow. meow. meowwwwww. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meeeow. meooow. meow. meow. meowwwwww. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meeeow. meooow. meow. meow. meowwwwww. meow. meow. meow. meow. meooooooooow. meow. meow. meeeow. meooow. meow. meow. meowwwwww. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meooooooooow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow.

and also, a dialogue:

mercury: meow.
me: be quiet.
mercury: meow.
me: be quiet.
mercury: meow.
me: be quiet.
mercury: meow.
me: be quiet.
mercury: meow.
me: OH MY GOD!!!
mercury: meow.
me: be QUIET.
mercury: meow.
me: be QUIET.
mercury: meow.
me: BE QUIET.
mercury: meow.
me: BE QUIET.
mercury: meow.
me: stop it.
mercury: meow.
me: stop it.
mercury: meow.
me: STOP IT.
mercury: meow.
me: STOP IT.
mercury: meow.
me: NO.
mercury: meow.
me: NO.
mercury: meow.
me: NO.
mercury: meow.
me: NO.
mercury: meow.
me: NO.
mercury: meow.
me: keep it up, merc. i can do this all night motherfu...
jr: for the love of christ! put your headphones on! i can't take it from both of you!
winston: (open eyes. blink.) yawn! (close eyes. fall back asleep.)

Finally, I wrapped Mercury in a soft, furry blanket and smothered cuddled him until he was quiet. Sweet relief.


Addendum (1/2/08):

I forgot to tell you about the look in his eyes as he looked up at me with just his ears, eyes, and mouth sticking out of the blanket. It was just... murderous ... no, murderous is the right word. It's amazing how a simple look can say so much:

"I will never forget this. Be ever vigilant, stifler of my cries. If you so much as nod off tonight I will kill you in your sleep. If I could free a paw I would do it right now. Breathe, Mercury. This too shall pass, and vengeance will be mine."

It was either that, or

"Thanks. Man, was I cold! ... Still murdering you in your sleep, though."

happy birthday, jr!!!

Well, we did it! We successfully pulled off a surprise party for JR tonight! Despite a close call when Shannon hadn't gotten my e-mail yet and kept saying, "Absolutely! We'll go celebrate your birthday with you on Friday night!", and Aaron kept saying, "But that's date night. We can't go.", and the back and forth of "We can do date night any night!" and "We'll see...", he was still surprised. He had no idea.

The plan was for just JR and I to go to dinner at Kookez and then to go see a movie, just the two of us. Unbeknownst to him, Deano and Shyer had made a cake, and Aaron and Shannon were waiting for us at a special table at Kookez, with balloons and everything, even a mug full of sugar-free candy. We had a nice long dinner with all our bestest friends, drinking wine and beer, and JR and I took a night off from our diet.

Deano and Shy put 31 candles on the beautiful cake Shy had made, and brought it out in a fiery blaze. :) The cake was delicious! After we had our cake, we all counted through the candles and recounted our entire lives up to this point. JR started it off, and he noted the last 2 candles as the best years, starting when he met the best girl. I'm totally keeping those 2 candles.

I love you, JR. Happy Birthday. Best years of my life too. And only more to come.

overheard: me by me

My office chair is currently serving as my in-house wheelchair. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! I IM'd JR about my brilliance:

me: i have my own wheelchair now - much safer.
        and i collected a bag of things i might need.
JR: lol
        wheelchair?
        green
me: and filled a BUILTNY 6pack thingy with water and coke
JR: good idea
me: no - the office chair
JR: heh
me: i'm all about the scooch.
JR: yea
        brb
        eat lunch?
me: AND!
        you got me a big pot pie
        i almost started crying
me: i'm getting my scooch on. :)

I'll summarize the important stuff for you:

me: i'm all about the scooch.
JR: blah blah blah (something unrelated to the scooch.)
me: i'm getting my scooch on.

Apparently, on pain medicine, I'm a hoot! (to myself.)

i am at SXSWinteractive!!

I arrived in Austin this afternoon, checked into the hotel, and headed over to registration at SXSW. It's only 3 blocks away. Registration took so long that I missed my first panel. :( I made "How to Rawk SXSW" and I'm glad I did. It was funny, and had a bunch of great tips.

Now I'm waiting for JR to arrive from his flight. I made the mistake of saying hi to a kid that sat down next to me, and now he won't shut up; he's full of punk teen attitude and boastful stories. Argh. I think I'll wait for JR back at the hotel. And then it is time to get our drink on! (Oh, and neither of us have eaten all day, so food would be good first.)

PS - I brought my camera and my brand new flash, so I should have plenty of photos to post.

joe and jr at lime

joe and jr at lime, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

Last weekend our friend Joe came to SF for Adaptive Path's MX conference. While he was here, we got to take him out on the town. We had dinner at Fresca (ask him about "horrifying fish platter"), drinks at lime, and the next night, dinner at Empress of China, on the top floor of a building in Chinatown, with a great view of the city and the bay. It was great to see him, and it made us miss our friends and family in San Antone. If only Julee could've come with him. We miss her too!

i love my geek

i love my geek, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

he sent my valentine's day roses with the card in binary. how cool is that?!? unfortunately, he typed it into a computer, assuming it would be printed out. instead, it was handwritten by some poor schmuck. even more unfortunately, the poor schmuck wrote it down wrong from the second number. but i figured it out.

feltron's personal annual report

This is amazing. Whether you like the layout/colors/font/kerning/graphics or not, there's some pretty funny stuff in there. Notably missing: Number of times got laid...

Feltron 2006 Annual Report

Makes me want to obsessively keep track of everything and create my own annual report. But here's what mine would mostly be:

• Hours/miles commuted
• Netflix movies watched vs. Netflix movies guiltily returned unwatched
  
• Outrageous number of Schmitt-Sohne Reisling bottles consumed
• Ungodly amount spent on dining out vx. Ungodly amount spent on takeout/ordering in
• Insane amount spent on rent (I don't even want to think about it.)
• Live music seen; number of artists, different venues attended, etc.
• Pie chart of total number of photos taken in relation to how many are actually uploaded to flickr.
• Number of times JR has asked that we go to Hahn's Hibachi to eat the Meat Mountain (X), and the number of times I've said no (Y). Here's a hint: X=Y.

Hmmm... maybe that would be interesting stuff to track.