Friday evening we went to see "The Big Bang" again, and this time we went with Anne, a colleague of mine, and her boyfriend. During the afternoon, Anne called me and said she couldn't get any energy up to even get dressed, let alone go to the show. I talked her into going, but did NOT play the guilt card and remind her that the evening was all about HER - I'd already seen the show, and the evening's activities began by asking HER to come to the show. THEN I'd asked my colleague and her BF, and if she cancelled, I still would have had to go, but wouldn't've enjoyed it nearly as much. So I talked her into going, and she showed up at my place right around 6pm, and we headed to the theater. Arrived about 7:30, and grabbed some fish tacos at the mall across the street (corn tortillas, ugh).

We all enjoyed the show, and very shortly into it, Anne said that she was SO glad she came. She was very excited! She knew one of the actors in the show from something she'd worked on a while back, and the whole evening got her jazzed about working in theater again. I was glad I talked her into going!

After the show we went to the Elephant Bar and Gordon had dinner (at 11pm!) and we got drinks and dessert and chatted for a bit. We didn't stay long since Anne had to work on Saturday, and we headed home. Saturday, I slept until 11am, which is rare for me. I must have been wiped out! Gordon was at the theater all day, so I ran some errands and went to the gym and spent 30 minutes on the elliptical machine (love that thing!) and then went home to vegetate in front of the TV. Was about halfway through a movie when Anne called and asked if my cat, Maggie, could be a blood donor. Sure. So I got dressed, ran Maggie over to the vet, and waited while she got typed. As it turned out, Maggie has one of the rarest feline blood types, so they couldn't use her for this particular cat, but they'll keep her on file for another time. Went back home and finished my movie. By this time it was nearly 11pm, and Gordon was due home any minute. I decided to start another movie even though I figured I wouldn't finish it until Sunday.

About 1:00 in the morning, I called Gordon and he was still at the theater. I finished my movie and he arrived just as it was ending, and by 2am we had crashed for the night.

Sunday, I was awake about 8am, and got up and went to yoga class. This class was good, but REALLY SLOW. I was bored to tears. Afterwards, I got on the elliptical machine for about 30 minutes, then ran to the grocery store to get stuff for lunch with Anne. Anne arrived, and we made burritos - ground lamb, mild salsa, rice cheese, spelt tortillas, and lettuce. Yum.

Then we went to pick up my future mother-in-law, and we went wedding dress shopping. I saw a larger picture of the dress that I thought I was going to get, and didn't like the beading on it. I did, though, find another one that is beautiful. I would get it without the cap sleeves. http://www.maggiesottero.com/catalog/window.php?73 Another alternative is this one: http://www.maggiesottero.com/catalog/window.php?68 After that bridal shop, we went to Saks 5th Avenue to try on a few things. I tried on a gorgeous wedding dress that cost $8,800. It was beautiful, but NOT 10 times more beautiful than any of the other dresses I've been trying on.

I dropped my future MIH off at home, and Anne and I went to grab some sushi. We were both wiped out. Got home and she wanted me to show her something online, so I pulled it up and looked over at her and she was asleep. Napped for about 40 minutes, and when she woke up I sent her home.

After Anne left, I parked myself in front of the TV and caught up on a show or two. I was starting to get a little bit of a headache. Gordon got home about 10 pm, and we were asleep by 11.

I woke up this morning with an even worse headache, so I don't know what's going on with my body right now. Even though I got 8 hours of sleep, I feel dragged out and crabby. Blah.

She's going to be 92 on December 21st, and we're all arriving for her birthday and Christmas on that day.

I called her last night to tell her that we'll be flying in on her birthday and be there until Christmas Day, and also to tell her that I think I found my wedding dress.

She asked, "So are you really getting married?"

"No, Gramma, I just took the ring for the heck of it."

She laughed, and said she wasn't sure if I was serious about getting married. What? I've waited nearly 37 years for this fabulous man and I'm going to let him get away? I don't think so!

I was only partly surprised by her reaction - she isn't all there these days, and she must have told me about her sister's 90th birthday party 6 times and how it's at the country club and she can't go because it's just too far. So for her to wonder if I'm really getting married or if we're really coming for Christmas shouldn't surprise me. But it does.

And I do think I've found my wedding dress. I found a fabulous dress last weekend that has a split front and blue and pink embroidery between the split and on the back - beautiful. And it fit me like a glove, made me look slimmer and feel terrific. My only issue with it is that our wedding colors are plum and silver, and that it wouldn't quite work for us. So I got onto the Maggie Sottero webite, and was looking at dresses there. The dresses are all named after girls, so I looked to see if there happened to be a dress named Cassandra. There is. And it's the SAME DRESS THAT I LOVED AT THE OTHER STORE, but with beadwork instead of embroidery!!!!!! How weird is that that it is the same dress? AND has MY name?

Here's the link: http://www.maggiesottero.com/catalog/window.php?59

I'm going in to the store this weekend to try it on and (probably) order it. This was the ONLY dress that I tried on last weekend that made Anne cry when she saw it on me.

Foodwise I'm doing well, probably at least 80% compliant, and that compliance level is increasing, as is the amount of exercise I'm getting. I didn't get to the gym last night, and I won't get there tonight, but I'll have time to go both days this weekend. Other than trying on wedding dresses with Anne on Sunday, I have ZERO plans this weekend. So I'm going to work out, do some cooking, and maybe rent some movies or watch some TV. I need to recharge a bit, so this will be good.

Interviewer: You got quite a bit of flack for that because no one had done it before, and you were going out on a limb.

Jonas Salk: I wasn't going out on a limb. The flack to which you refer is what taught me, very early on, not only about the human side of nature, but about the human side of science. There are three stages of truth. First is that it can't be true, and that's what they said. You couldn't immunize against polio with a killed-virus vaccine. Second phase: they say, "Well, if it's true, it's not very important." And the third stage is, 'Well, we've known it all along." What you are describing is the process that you have to go through when you come up with an idea that has not yet been tried or tested. While it is true that this involves personalities, it also involves different ways of seeing. It was not a matter of a popularity contest, it was not a matter of anything other than that my curiosity drove me to find out whether it could work or not.

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/sal0int-1

>>

Interesting, isn't it?

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So I've been to the gym two nights in a row now, and last night's yoga class was great. My back didn't like it too much last night, but I know that if I continue to do it my back will get stronger and then I won't be in pain at all. And that's a good thing!

Been eating really well, too. Cutting out sugar slowly and adding a little more protein. One step at a time!

By the way, I think I've found my wedding dress! Still need to try it on, but I'm optimistic since I tried on another one that was the same cut (but not as good quality) as this one, and it looked fantastic.

Wow. My quietest part of the day is when I'm at work, which is rather weird. (And don't get me wrong, I'm busy at work, too! Luckily, I'm a fast typist.) Between dinner with Anne and her family on Monday night, getting to the gym last night (and again tonight), researching possible wedding ceremony and reception locations, and figuring out various details of what we want for the wedding, plus Gordon and me just staying in communication in general, I have no time to unwind. I'm going to have to mark up my calendar with "Cassandra time" and make sure that I have time to read a book and hang out and NOT do anything.

Dinner with Anne and her parents on Monday was both great and difficult. Difficult because her parents (mostly her mother) are so politically biased in one particular direction that it is impossible to have a coherent discussion about it with her - she feels so strongly about it that there is no discussing it with her. I adore both of her parents, but that kind of thinking is not very compatible with having an open mind. Anne and I were looking at each other and I knew what she was thinking when the topic of conversation turned to politics. Gordon was terrific, though, deflected questions nicely, and then said, "Let's talk about religion!" (Anne's family and Gordon are all Jewish, and I was the only Christian at the table, so discussing religion was much safer than politics!) We all ended up talking about a little bit of everything, and I heard some great stories from when Anne's father got kicked out of college - one involved fire, and one involved water. Let's just say that neither story was a very good idea at the time, and resulted in the destruction of property, not to mention him getting kicked out. Oops!

At the end of the night, both of Anne's parents said how much they liked Gordon, and they could see why I fell in love with him so quickly and why we're getting married. It was a nice evening. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant in the Valley, and I had salmon with checca sauce, and it was wonderful - of course it came with spaghetti, and I tried a couple bites of it, but it was too spicy for me. I did eat some bread, too. Difficult to pass it up when I was as hungry as I was! Anne had the same exact meal, but she got mixed vegetables instead of the spinach that I got. It was a really good meal, but the next day Anne, Gordon, and I all got a headache, so we don't know if it was the food or the weather or the planetary alignment or what.

I went to the gym last night, and went to what I thought was a 6pm yoga class that ended up being a "Just PIlates" class, which was more like a crunch class than anything else. My low back was NOT happy last night, and I was moving gingerly for the rest of the night even though I made a point to be careful. This morning I feel fine, though, so that's good. Turns out the yoga class is actually at 7pm, so I will go after work again tonight and do something on the elliptical machine before class and then go to class at 7pm. Once I got home last night Gordon and I had dinner - I had a leftover chicken salad platter that was fabulous, and Gordon made a stirfry for himself.

Breakfast this morning was a leftover tuna salad sandwich without the bread. Lunch today will be at Benihana (yum!) and then dinner will probably be leftovers of something when I get home about 8:15 tonight.

Tomorrow night is acting class, Friday night is the show that Gordon is working on, and Anne is coming with me, and then the weekend will be a flurry of errand running and me making a point of taking some down time.

I'm working on getting back in shape - now that I've healed from the neck injury earlier this year and I'm getting more settled in at home and with Gordon, it's time to get back on track.

My plans to cook anything over the weekend went out the window. Friday I left work early to go to the chiropractor, then had dinner with Anne and her mother. Half a roasted chicken with carrots and broccoli. Yum.

Saturday Gordon and I went and looked at a possible wedding ceremony site. We have other places to look, but we need to get cracking and make some decisions! He's making some phone calls today to see what he can find out about a few places. Saturday night we went to the show he's been working on, and grabbed some dinner at a restaurant across the street before the show. They had the best black bean soup that I've had in a LONG time. Yummy! The show was fun, too - a musical about the history of the world. Funny stuff.

Sunday we woke up pretty early and had eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast, and then Gordon headed off to the theatre and Anne and I went wedding dress shopping. We had a ball, and may have even found THE dress! We took a break between stores and went to Starbucks (soy chai!) and then headed to another shop. At that one shop, we had a fabulous woman helping us, and I tried on dresses for about 3 hours. By the time we were done, I was exhausted. When I got home, Gordon and I decided to go to the sushi place up the street from us, and we think we've found a new favorite. The sushi was REALLY fresh, reasonably priced, and the whole place had a really cool atmosphere.

When we got back, we watched a little tv and then surrounded ourselves with wedding magazines and started hashing out some details. We nailed down the colors, the time of the ceremony, and a rough plan of what date we'd like to get married. Gordon is so fabulous - so many grooms don't know what they might want at their wedding, but he's got clear ideas and they are GREAT ones! We're already having fun planning this! At one point I looked at the clock, though, and it was nearly midnight - past my bedtime, and definitely time to put the books and mags away!

I had to order lunch for a meeting today, so I won't have to go out. Tonight we're having dinner with Anne and her parents, who haven't met Gordon yet. Should be a fun evening.