2003-07-21T00:28:00.000-07:00

OUR VOWS!!

(Fritz)
Chona, one year ago I was lost and had no idea of where my life was going or which road I was going to take, today, I am the happiest man on earth as I join my life with yours.

I am honored to be able to say that tomorrow will be the first day that I will wake up as your husband.

And though I enter into a new pase of life, I do so with joy and certainty, for I know I am finally on the road of happiness.

And so I pledge before this gathering of family and friends, to always honor and respect our love.

I promise to stand by you and to be there when you need me through all the ups and and through all the downs, as your loving husband.

Chona, let us be as one as we go down this road together.

(Chona)
There are so many things in my life that I am still uncertain of, except for my love for you.

I know that I will be honest and faithful to you as you ARE the king of my castle.

I know that without you there is no me because our love is FATE. Fortunate And Truly Everlasting.

And I know that we are going to get along just fine for my heart tells me so.

I have already given you my heart, but today, I give you my soul.

Fritz, not only do I take you to be my husband in this lifetime, but I also take you to be my soul mate for eternity.

2003-07-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

10 MORE DAYS

Yikes... I knew this day would come, but now that it is here... I don't know if I am ready. MEANING... Do I have everything I need? Aside from fixing my LOVELY tan, I hope that everything goes smoothly and I don't forget anything.

Life couldn't be any better than it is now. Well, of course it could and it will be after July 17th.

2003-05-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

FINALIZED

Okay... so everything is now set. Where we are staying, the place of the ceremony, where we are going to dinner, car and how we are getting there. Finally!

The other night, my mom and Fritz's parents got to meet each other. It was pretty cool. My mom and Fritz's mom really got along well. Which is always a good thing. They were hanging out like they knew each other for years. All in all... I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER. Not only will Fritz and I get along fine... looks like so will our families!

2003-04-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

OOOH THIS IS COOL

I forgot that they had this option... Now I am going to be adding stuff to this blog as well. =)

2003-04-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

CONFIRMED LODGING

Okay... So we have our place to stay. We got a cottage that has a hot tub, fireplace, patio and fridge. It looks really cute and cozy. At least this way we won't have to worry about having to walk in and out of a hotel for a week. This is going to be fun. I can't wait.

2003-04-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

THE STEP BACK

Plans cancelled. Not sure what the plan is now. Guess we are going to play it by year!

2003-04-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

THE PLAN

So far... we have the person who is going to perform the ceremony. Fritz and I have decided to write our own vows. This should be interesting. Can't wait to hear what he has to say. I am so excited. We have this house picked out for where we are going to stay. It is a really nice beach house. I think what sold Fritz on the place is the fact that the floor are heated. LOL Like we will need it consider it will be summer time. Everything is moving so fast and coming along perfectly. Where he has been all my life... I am not even going to worry about it because all that matter is he is here now and will be forever more.

2003-04-01T06:14:00.000-08:00

OUR MONEY

Opened our savings/wedding account the other day. And before that... opened our joint checking account. When we got our checks... I couldn't help but giggle to myself because after July, I will need to order new ones to change my name. Not to mention everything else that has Santos on it. I guess I should start practicing to sign my new last name. Whoa... I guess I better get my tribal tat soon that says Santos on it.

2003-03-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

THE DATE

July 17, 2003 in Santa Barbara! Unfortunately, it is a Thursday. But it is our anniversary. So it is set! We are currently in the motions of getting everything together. I just hope that the people we hold close to our hearts can be there.

2003-03-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

THE BEGINNING

Well... Let me start this off differently... The first weekend of March was amazing. Fritz and I both needed to get out of town and we did just that.

Let me give you a little run down. For some time now, Fritz and I have talked about getting married. But the whole money thing is always an issue. I had mentioned before about rings... but what I had told him was... if he were to draw a ring on my finger and asked me, I would of said yes! But times a change and I am very impatient. I found some really nice wedding bands that I liked and decided to buy them. Now... when to ask and how? Turns out, this was going to be the weekend. But still how?

I had asked him where he wanted to go... and all he responded with was, "surprise me". So, here I go on this on "Surprise Me, Romantic Get Away"! I was kinda stumped on where to take him. Somewhere close yet out of town, with things to do that has a romantic setting. The only thing I could think of was either San Diego or Santa Barbara. So then I thought... where are we going to stay and with gas prices... which truck to use. Then it dawned on me. He said he never rode on Amtrak... so Amtrak it was. I didn't want to go to San Diego only because we had already gone there for NFL Experience. So Santa Barbara it was. Then I had to find a hotel. I wanted one on by the beach so we didn't have to really drive around. I found a room at Santa Barbara Inn. So I booked the train tickets and room but forgot to think about when check in was. So now we have 2 hours to kill. What to do, what to do.... I found out they had wine tasting there. So now to hunt down a winery within walking distance. All I had told him was that he needed to bring his walking shoes because we would be Flinstoning it all day. But come to find out, we would need a car after all with everything else I wanted to do.

So now, I got all the plans worked out, got the rings in my possessions but need a way to ask. I was so lost... then I thought... roses. But I don't really like flowers because of how they die and all. Then having to hang them upside down in order to keep them... I don't have the patience for that. And I had to figure out how to pack them without them getting messed up. PLASTIC came to mind. I took a stroll to Michaels with the meaning of roses in hand. (Thank god for the internet.) I was there for about 30 minutes trying to find the right ones. I ended up getting 5 of them. So now... I just have to sit back and wait for Saturday to come.

We woke up at around 6 something and 7 in the morning, got ready and off we went. He still had no idea where we were going. And he had to drive. =) We got to the train station and he caught the first clue. We are taking a train... somewhere. We were in line to get out tickets and he missed out. Didn't hear where we were going. But everyone heard him bump his head. LOL We ended up hanging out for a bit and I was wondering why they weren't call us to board. I noticed that our train was boarding... so off we go down to the tracks. So this guy stops us and really loud says "SANTA BARBARA, TRACK 10". Clue number 2. We got to site see all the Los Angeles graffiti that you would normally not see... and we saw where the homeless people hang out under the 110 freeway. I started to fall asleep and took quick nap. Would figure that when I fell asleep all the good things to see would show up.

We finally got to Santa Barbara. Some dorky looking guy from Avis was there to pick us up and take us 3 blocks to the rent-a-car place. We got ourselves a cool ass shiny silver Cavalier. LOL What can I say… they were all out of convertibles. We got kinda lost looking for our hotel. But had fun trying to find it. We ended up on Stern’s Wharf. There we found the place where you could go wine tasting. Fritz tried the reds and he hasn’t tasted them considering that I love Chardonnays. He loved it… We ended up buying a bottle to take home and a bottle to drink by the water. He was craving cheese, so I gave him my wallet and he went inside to see what they had. But nothing that tickled his fancy. So we finished the bottle and off we go to check into the hotel. But… before we reached the end of the pier, I asked him for my wallet. He didn’t have it. I didn’t have it. We turned around. I ran upstairs and some old man said, “I just turned it in.” How cool is that?!?! We got lucky because I had taking out a whole lot of cash so we wouldn’t have to do it later. Fritz felt so bad it was cute.

We got to our hotel and they only had valet parking. They have 2 driveways, one coming in and one going out. Fritz pulls up through the wrong driveway. =) We checked in and the room was aight. I was looking forward to my KING size bed… not 2 queens. But, they didn’t have any opening so we had to stay. *mental note* don’t use hotel.com again! I figured that we should get started on way since we had a lot to do. We went down stairs and got on these funky bike/cars. It was cool… tiring… but cool. We rode around for a little under an hour looking for food, but ended up getting the rent-a-car and going down State Street. I guess State Street is the street to be on. It had everything. So we parked and started on a walk. Fritz saw Fat Burger and that is where we were headed. Till, we saw a sign that said restaurants and shops. We ended up at Ruby’s. Great food. After that, we went back to the room to take a nap before dinner. Mind you, it is almost 6pm and dinner is suppose to be at 8pm.

Okay… I am just going to skip to the next part. Obviously… for those who know us and knows how we take naps. We didn’t make it to dinner. =) We woke up around 10 something and it was dark outside. I mean, I could hear the water, but couldn’t see it. So I had to improvise. I told him that I was going to give him his gift now. So he was laying on his stomach on bed and I sat on the floor next to the bed.

I told him that I have silk roses but each one had a meaning. So I gave him this pink and white rose… which symbolized admirations. I told him that I admired him because of all that he has done to make our relationship great. Also, pink symbolizes thank you. Then I gave him a yellow rose. Which symbolizes, friendship… because now, he is my best friend. Then a white one. That symbolizes purity and honesty. What our relationship is now. Then I pulled out 2 red roses tied together. When he saw them… he goes, “I know what those mean… love.” I said yes and told him that it has more to it. The two roses stood for us. And how we are now connected as one. (At this point I was getting choked up) And how much in love with him I am. And that we have a 50/50 relationship so I wanted to know if he would marry me and I moved my hand and he saw the ring. He went for smiling to mouth dropping, eyes wide open excited. I took the ring off the stems and was trying to put it on his finger. I was shaking and crying so I couldn't see. I finally got it on his finger and he pulls me up, hugs and kisses me and told me that he would love to marry me.

We ended celebrating at some Irish pub on State Street. Got faded and went back to the hotel. We had to wake up early because we were going horseback riding in the morning. Morning came and we got read to go. Our appointment was at 9:30am. We were on the hunt for food and trying to make sure we made it on time. We saw Lamas on the way. That was a trip. We finally got mounted up. My little donkey’s name was Badger and Fritz had Cayenne. It was really beautiful out there. But the most of all… I finally saw a waterfall. It was small… but nonetheless, it was a waterfall. I had told Anna many years ago that the person I see a waterfall with I was going to marry. I told Fritz that and he holds up his ring and chuckles… =) I had a lot of fun.

After, we went back to the hotel for one final quick nap. Showered up and headed out. We ended up eating at this hole in the wall called La Super Rica. That places was delicious. The only way we found it was because there was a line. It has not signs on the building except for one little one on the window. We still had a couple of hours to kill. So we decided to check out the art festival thing they had going on. We decided to actually go on the beach. We walked hand in hand. And took some scenic pics. These are the ones I love, (not to say I don't like the others):

We walked all over that damn beach. Ended up back at the pier for one last bottle of wine. Had some cheese with it and Fritz made friends. There were these two birds that would not leave us alone. Considering that they knew we had food. After that, we headed to the train station. We checked in our bags and went to drop off the rental. They forgot to tell me where to park it so we parked it in the first available spot we found. As Fritz was backing up, we heard this siren. I thought it was the car next to us. Turns out it was the damn parking lot. LOL We walked back to train station and waited for our train.

All in all it was a great trip. Everything was perfect. Everything IS perfect. I may not be wealthy money… but I am definitely wealthy in love. And I will take that over money anytime! I found my best friend, my fiancé and my soul mate all in one person. I love you Fritz, more now then I did before, more later than I do now!

"We're Getting Married!!"

Without you, there is no me....