Hey there, remember me?

Sorry I've been a little light on the blogging lately. Work is picking up, as is usual this time of year, and I just haven't been able to spend a lot of time on the blog. So here's an update for you of recent happenings. Enjoy!

• Amar had a birthday!
• I got a raise
• ...and a promotion
• We only have 1 more membership class until we're official
• We unpacked/decorated some more
• We took our first trip to Costco as a married couple. Exciting!?
• We saw The Illusionist
• Amar chopped his hair off
• We had two dinners with two different sets of friends. Yay!
• I finally signed the lease
• I got my new drivers license
• We sorted the mail....is this really list-worthy?
• We celebrated an engagement!
• I'm still making my way through The Chronicles...I'm all the way to "Prince Caspian"
• We used our new waffle maker...sort of
• We got tickets to the A&M/Nebraska game - whoop
• We each drove to and from work several times
• I ordered a new cell phone!

So yes. Now you're all caught up. What list-worthy things have you been up to?

The big 3-0

I'm married to a thirty-year-old ;) Happy birthday, sweetie!

Happy Anniversary

Happy 1 month anniversary to us!

Yes, we've made it this far. Why not celebrate?

Sufjan: A review, of sorts

As promised, here is my review of the Sufjan Stevens concert from Friday night.

Incredible.

Before the concert, I had only heard the little iTunes snippet of a few Sufjan songs, so I didn't really know what to expect. I only knew that a few of my friends were really excited about seeing him live. That was enough for us to sign up for the show.

The opening act: My Brightest Diamond
I had a hard time with it. I really thought the lead singer had a great voice. Crisp, clear, sweet. But the lyrics and general feel of the music were not for me at all. I think someone in the group described it as "musical torture" but I won't go that far. I'm just glad I kept my dinner down (ok, maybe I will go that far...)

The big show: Sufjan Stevens
The show began with several instrumentalists filing onto stage wearing scrubs/military jackets and big butterfly wings. The back curtains parted to reveal shiny silver decorations from floor to ceiling, parting in the middle for a projector screen.

The music started, along with a psychedelic kaleidoscope-type visual on the screen, matching the tone of the instruments. It was a bright sound, if that makes sense, which was a great contrast to what we had just sat through with the opening act.

Then Sufjan entered, wearing a similar uniform, but with much bigger wings. The crowd cheered. It was shaping up to be magical.

If you're not familiar with some of his more recent music, it'll be hard for me to describe. You've got violins, trumpets, pianos, guitars, trombones, drums and a xylophone all going at once. But rather than sounding like a train wreck, it all comes together and soothes you.

He sung with a light, almost falsetto, but it was great. The lead singer of My Brightest Diamond sung backup for most of the show, and it was a great pairing. The videos changed to match the various songs, and it was a great touch.

Personally, I love instruments. I love music. I love sitting there in the audience soaking it all in. And this was a great chance to do just that. Trina reported that the band occasionally donned sunglasses, but apparently that was only for the Saturday night show. Bummer. But to echo her review, this was definitely one of the best live shows I've seen.

All in all, it was a great show. Pleasing to the ears and the eye. If you get the chance, go check it out. Odds are that you won't be disappointed.

The hot (and cold?) topic

Well, it seems like everyone is talking about the office AC:

Things you should know

I'm easily entertained, and am currently really enjoying these. Really, enjoying anything to give my cubicle some spunk. What's more fun than turning your stapler into a whale? Awesome.

After fighting a bit with my Outlook spell check, I've decided that there are just a few words that I need to add to my dictionary:

• Muwhahahahahahaha
• Yay!
• My new last name...it's apparently not recognized by Microsoft. Boy are they are missing out.
• asap
• Eh?
• Thnaks. I always seem to have a typo when typing "thanks" so I'm just inventing the word "thnaks" - spread the word.
• Yo
• Blog. Can someone please tell my why Blogger doesn't recognize "blog" as a word? Right.

And yes, all of these are used frequently in an office setting in which I'm a valuable member. Or at least that's what the tell me :)

Oh, that reminds me. My mid-year review is coming up next week. Wish me luck. I < heart > corporate America ;)

Tonight we're off to the Sufjan Stevens concert via the ACL festival. I'm not incredibly familiar with his music, but I'm excited nonetheless. Should be a good show. I'll give a review next week. Other than that, you kids have a great weekend! What are your plans?

**Updated to add:
I think I just found a solution to the previously described issue with the office AC unit: USB-heated gloves. Are these the coolest things you've ever seen or what? And yes, before you say it, I am fully aware that I am a complete DORK! What would be even cooler of them, in my opinion, is to actually put the "home row" keys on the fingers, instead of "ABCD." That, my friends, is what I offer you: Nerdery at it's finest.

First round of pictures :)

I promise that this blog will not inundate you with wedding stuff for much longer. Please, will you hang in there? Dear, sweet, lovely readers that you are?

Seriously though, we got our "official" pictures back from our photographer Stephanie on Tuesday night. It took us awhile to get through them all, but we really liked them! They should be available on-line in a few days, but in the mean time, we wanted to treat you to some other pictures that our friend Krista took.

Krista is good people. If you don't know her yet, you should. Enough said.

We got together with Krista a few months ago to do some engagement pictures. Here are some of the fabulous results.




Then, she kindly agreed to be the unofficial photographer for our rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception. Here is some of her handiwork:





The rest of Krista's pictures are viewable on our SmugMug page.

Fast-forward catching up

I've recently been a little wary of blogging. It's not that life isn't happening, it's just that after a 2 week break, it almost seems a little intimidating to have to catch up on life that I've already experienced.

I know I have pictures to post.

But I want them to be perfectly edited before I post them.

I know I have stories to write.

But I just can't bring my hands to type it all out.

So here it is, short and sweet.

Honeymoon: Aspen
Was great! Pampering like crazy in a 5 star hotel. Hanging out at the top of Mt. Aspen every day. Countless cute eateries. Countless cute houses. Countless cute dogs. Beautiful scenery. Perfect weather. Some great hikes and some great relaxing. Highly recommend it.


First week back at work: Challenging
It's great the first 10-20 times that people come by and shout "Mrs. Rama!!" I turn around and do a slight little wave and smile, and then make small talk. The inbox wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be. Motivation is hard to come by.

Mini-vacation: San Francisco

So neat. Really short trip, but really neat. Flew over the Grand Canyon - very pretty. Scenery was foggy, but beautiful. We stayed in San Jose, drove around Stanford and super-nifty Palo Alto. We trekked the bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Golden Gate park. We took a scenic drive up Hwy 1. All in all, a lovely little getaway...

Let's see...what else?

Amar and I are settling into our apartment. Unpacking, organizing, decorating...all that good stuff. We're staying in town for awhile, which we're both thankful for. We both love traveling, but it's nice to stay put as well.

We got our official wedding pictures back last night and enjoyed looking through them, remembering the big day. Once they're on-line, I'll post a link.

Now that I'm mostly caught up, I can start posting on more timely events. But don't get your hopes up :)

My story

Today, as you know, is the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Folks around the internet are sharing their stories of where they were that day, so I thought I'd share mine. Find out more from rocksinmydryer.typepad.com. That's where I got the note about it all...

So here's my story:

I was a senior at Texas A&M University during that fall semester in 2001. I woke up that Tuesday in time to bike to campus for my 8AM class. It was Anthropology (or something like that), and we were watching a documentary about a tribe in the Amazon.

Once class was over, I headed to the business school for my next class, on the other side of campus. I made it over there with time to spare, so I stopped by the computer lab to check my email before class started. The lab was packed, but I managed to find an open computer next to a guy from Puerto Rico.

I logged on and tried to get to my email, but the computer was really slow. After waiting for a bit for the page to load, I gave up and then tried to get to CNNs page. That gave me errors. I glanced at the computer screen next to me, and the Puerto Rican guy pointed at the screen and just said "fire." I couldn't tell what he was pointing at, but we really weren't able to communicate with each other very well. Turns out he was trying to tell me what was happening in New York. It was just before 9AM CST.

It was about time for class, so I excused myself and left the lab. I walked over to the building in which my next class was supposed to be, and found that the hallways were jammed with people, at lease more so than usual. There were TVs on in the building, and people seemed to be crowding around them. I still had no idea what was going on, but I was starting to suspect something strange was happening.

I found my friend Kristi, and she asked if I had heard. "Heard what?" I said, really having no idea what was going on. She told me that planes had flown into the Trade Center towers, and then pointed to the TV screens. All I could see was billowing smoke from the two buildings. We all just stood there, mouths hanging open in disbelief, staring up at the screen, hoping that it wasn't true.

I think at this point, the first tower had collapsed.

I don't think any of us processed it all right then.

After watching for a few more minutes, I noticed that people were slowly going to their respective classrooms, so I did the same, hoping that the prof could shed some light on the situation. She just sat there. Out of a 500 person class, there were about 100 people there. We were all dumbfounded, not really knowing if we should stay glued to the TV, try to go about normal life, panic, pray, or what. She thanked us for coming, and then said that she couldn't go on. She dismissed us and we all went back to watching the TVs in the hallway.

The second tower collapsed shortly after that.

We watched for about an hour, shocked and horrified.

My next class started and I went down the hall. My prof was a Christian, and there were about 50 people there, out of 150. We had a time of prayer. Everyone was talking about what had happened and what they thought might happen next. I thought I was going to throw up.

I stayed around for a few more minutes and watched TV. Then, I think I went home and watched for the rest of the day. My roommates and I couldn't do anything else.

What's your story?

Updates, as promised: Part 1

As I alluded to the other day, I owe you, my much beloved audience, some updates. So much has happened over the past few weeks, and you, patient readers, deserve to know :)

So Amar and I got married about 3 weeks ago, August 19 to be exact. All in all, everything went so well. From friends helping out, providing support and extra hands, to family coming into town to attend...everything seemed to fall into place quite nicely. To be honest, I thought it would be crazier than it was. I thought it would be more stressful than it turned out to be. That's a surprise I'll take any day. To give credit where credit is due, we are surrounded by some incredibly amazing friends. You know who you are, and we are so thankful to have you in our lives.

Play-by-play
We had the rehearsal (pretty much) on time, and everyone was in attendance. Things went smoothly, and Amar and I really enjoyed it. The building anticipation was fun, but it was a little surreal. It went by quickly, as Noell got people where they needed to be and informed them of their various responsibilities.

Then we were off to the Clay Pit for the rehearsal dinner. A few more friends joined us and we ate some tasty Indian food. It was a bit overwhelming to hear the various toasts from friends and family. Amar and I had to keep wiping tears from our eyes, but all in all, it was great.

Afterwards, the girls then headed out for the lingerie shower at my house, which was fun. You really can't go wrong with ice cream and cupcakes as snacks, ya know? After some games and gifts, we all headed to bed at a reasonable hour. I didn't have much trouble sleeping, so that was nice.

The wedding day started early, as the girls headed to the bridesmaids brunch. It was great to have a fancy breakfast with everyone, but it still all felt like it wasn't entirely real. After a quick bite to eat, Karen and I headed down to do hair and makeup. Both of the ladies that worked on me did a fabulous job.*

Karen and I were a bit late coming out of the appointment and then we hit traffic on the way to chapel, so I started to stress out a bit. Once we arrived at the church, I wound up injuring myself with the car door, and Julie had to put makeup on my shoulder to cover it up. Nice :)

After a few pictures, a word with the pastor, and a time of prayer, we were ready. I could hear the piano and harp music, so I knew it was time to get on with the show. Everything turned out so wonderfully, and went by so quickly. Amar and I were expecting the ceremony to take 45 minutes, and it wound up taking 20. I guess that's a good thing? People thanked us for it afterwards :)

The families and wedding party stuck around for a few more pictures, and then Amar and I loaded ourselves into Tollie's car to head to the reception. I had a total blood sugar crash on the way out there and thought I might toss the few cookies that I'd eaten that day, but was able to avoid doing so...

We arrived at the reception, took some pictures, had a snack, and then joined our guests and had our first dance. We had been practicing our dance quite a bit before the wedding, but when we stepped on the dance floor, the DJ had a different version of the song than we were used to. No one seemed to notice, though, and we had a great time.

It was a great day, all in all, and we are so thankful for those who were able to be there and celebrate with us. Thanks so much for your love and support!

Coming up next: the honeymoon update :)

*The woman who did my hair was about 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time. I found out that she had her baby 4 days after the wedding. Crazy!

Updates are coming, I promise

Hey folks,
I know I 'owe' you a smattering of updates, and I do promise that they're coming. But it's like this, folks...there's almost too much to write. So I'm taking the procrastinating approach to it, apparently. It's a bit daunting, but I'm trying to set some goals :)

So I will write, hopefully within the next week, updates about the wedding, the honeymoon, the trip to San Francisco, the adjustment back to cubicle land, and other stuff that I feel like tossing in.

Until then, I must say that I was a bit shocked to hear the news about the Crocodile Hunter's passing. It made me sad. Am I alone in that? For some reason, when celebrities pass on, depending on who they are and what their work was, it kind of hits close to home for some reason.

Anyhow, Amar and I were watching the news last night and it showed footage of the barb that killed him. That thing must have been almost a foot long. I can't quite believe that, but it's real nonetheless. Thoughts?

What have you been up to lately?

Return of the Rama!!

I'm back. I'm alive (barely). And I have many a story to tell you. So, I'll probably start blogging for real come Monday, as the husband and I are jetsetting (any PR fans?) to San Jose this weekend.

Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend!!