Good News! and Sad News!!

Lets start with the sad news!!
As most of you know we have to schnauzers. One of two years, and another one of 5 months. Well, last week I took them to get their hair groom, and when I went back to pick them up, the lady came out with Gia (5 months),who had apparently jumped from a high table and hurt her right handwhen landed. After taking her to the vet, and giving her some pills to ease the pain, we decided to take her to get some x-rays. And sadly for us, her right hand was broken!! They requested inmediate surgery on her hand, to fix the damage. I had to take her this morning to the hospital for her to have the surgery this afternoon.
When I met with the Vet a few hours later, he said that he was going to try not to open her right arm, but it after further evaluation he thinks it will not be enough, then he will have to open her to fix the hand problem.

Now....with the Good News!!!
We found our venue!! Its beautiful!! And big and green!! Since we will not be getting married at a church, we needed a place that had both a big ballroom, and also a nice outdoor open area for the ceremony. So this weekend we went venue shopping. Some really nice, but small, others way too expensive, but then, we found the one. Both FI and I loved it!! And the place is a close 15 minute drive from downtown. It has all the amenities we want, and is an affordable price for our big day!! We still have to more places to check out, just cause, (but we are sure that this is the one) and last night we set on a date!!! As soon as we have a contract in hand, which will make the date official I will post our wedding date!!

Please pray for my puppy baby!!! and lets cross our fingers that everything goes great with our venue contract!

Under our tree!!

Well, even though its already January, and way past christmas time, given that we were going away on christmas day, we both decided not to give each other presents, but instead during our trip buy things we both wanted or needed.

And it was a great idea!! We bought so much stuff we wanted, and some we needed. We were excited with our gifts, even though they were a few days later. Though I do not have pictures of all the cloths, shoes, bags, etc we bought during our trip at Miami, I do have a few pictures of the rest of the stuff we got!! And of my wonder FI opening them!!

Enjoy!!

We got a Wii Bundle and Wii Fit Plus with lots of games!! And lots of cool things for the Wii

Stuff for the house and kitchen supplies!!

And of course!! FI playing some Wii Sports!

Time flies by so fast, when you are having fun!!

I can't believe its over!! We had such a great time!!! It had been so long since we had taken a vacation like this, plus Ale came along for all the fun!!! I'm glad that we had this time to spend with each other specially with my dad!! I'll share a few pics of our trip, but its sooo hard they are all sooo good....and we did so much..... Anyways here we go:

Thats my dad, sis and FI waiting at the airport for our flight

I wantded to take some pics of the sky!

Hahaha this is pretty much how things would work out when we went to the malls!!

This is a common picture of my sister at all the malls, while my dad carried her around

Yeah!! we went to Orlando as well!!

Outside a town call Celebration!! It was "snowing"

Did you know that Starbucks imports their coffee from...Costa Rica!! yeah!! I love our coffee!!

We went to this town called "Old Town" and they had this HUGE car!!

This is us, right outside one of the many water rides at

Universal's Island of Adventure!! It was sooo cold that day

Yep!! that's a Who!! From Dr. Seuss

It was cold while at the Island of Adventure

Next day! We went to Magic Kingdom!! It was colder that day hehe

Say hello to Minnie!!

The castle changed colors throughout the night!!

Us having dinner at Applebees, yummie!!

We also went a couple of times to minigolf!!

Back at Miami we visited Bayside! Lots of latin tunes!!

We celebrated Ale's B-day!!

With my dad

TAMALES!!

These are not the normal/ordinary mexican tamales that most americans know. These are speacial Tamales!! They are supposed to be different from country to country, and the best ones are the homemade. These are a tradition in our country for the holiday season. And a very large and awesome tradition in my family. My grandfather plans for all the whole family to be there on a certain day, and we all help out with the makings of the tamales.

My Uncle and FI mixing the tamales base

Dough was to be mix by hand to get the right consistency

My cousins cleaning and cutting the plantain leaves.

And this year it was not the exception. I had a blast, and enjoyed watching FI help around and being part of this large family tradition. At the beginning he didn't understand why so many of us had to be there, and why so early in the morning. Well, he later learned and understood why, and was happy to be part of the process of making tamales. And much more, to taste the final "product".

Preparation Table for the tamales!!

Everyone helping out!

I love my grandpa!! Here he was trying the first Tamal!!

Rushing!! I don't think so...

So we've been told to do 3 things:

• Plan a Budget
• Set a Date
• And make an estimated guest list.

Well, for us to do those three things, except for the guests list, which we are calculating is going to be around 100 people, we need to find the right venue, and then we can set a budget and date for the wedding. Ohhh!! and also the time, cause we still don't know if to do it in the morning, or in late afternoon.

So I was on a mission to find the right venue for our wedding. I bought "T.H.E Wedding Magazine" for Costa Rica, which has all the info for venues, churches, decorations, flower places, photographers, etc. I called every venue and hotel; was asked a bunch of different questions, which for all I answer, "I don't know mam' depending on the price, the cheaper it is, the sooner we'll be getting married". And so, I was emailed all these info regarding menus, budget, music, food, dates, etc.

After sitting at home on tuesday with FI, and looking at numbers, and prices, and the different options we were given, we've decided that it is time to look for a plan B.

Today's my Birthday!!

For my B-day present, FI (I love calling him Fiance :D) gave me a weekend at one of the most beautiful beaches here at CR. We drove for 4 hours on friday night, and got to this beautiful place!!

Here are some gorgeous pics of our trip, and of course of my brand new engagement ring!!

The view!! Sitting under those palm trees was heaven, it was soooo hot!!

My Ring!!

Us talking a walk by the beach

I love this pic, we were having so much fun that day!!

Our first trip after our engagement!!

White sand, clear water Playa Carrillo, Guanacaste!

And of course, you can't never go to the beach and not have a snowcone!!

Delicious!!

I’m engaged!! I’m going to be getting married!!

I still remember the first date I had with Ale. It was a long time ago, the day before my b-day. He took me to this really cool restaurant, which I remember we were both sick of our stomachs so we barely ate, we just talked and talked for hours. Later we went to the movies, and I just didn’t want the night to end. A few years later and we have been through sooooo much. We’ve had such a year, that never in my mind did I think it was going to end in such an unexpected way.
I’m so excited and thrilled to say that in a year or less I’ll be marrying my best friend. This is going to be such an interesting year; I’ll get to plan the wedding of my dreams and enjoy each and every blessing that this new adventure will bring to both of us.