Valentine's Day
We both worked on valentine's day, so we didn't do anything special then. When he picked me up Friday night, it was already after midnight, so he gave me the candy he'd gotten me, and the flower, which instead of a traditional bouquet was a potted orchid.
His name is Stanley.
On Saturday, he brought home a copy of the Amazing Spider-Man issue with the bonus Obama comic, and a valentine's day card inside. It is the sweetest card, too. We made a very nice, one dish meal for ourselves. Four cheese tortellini, chicken, and broccoli in alfredo sauce.
Yesterday was our day off together, so we got up early and made breakfast. I made banana pancakes and ruined about half of them, but finally managed six that were edible. He made eggs. We're still learning to cook, but we get a little better every time.
After breakfast, we headed off to the Woodland Park Zoo. It's smaller than the SF zoo. They don't even have koalas. But they did have zebras! It's was a very nice day.
The aforementioned zebras. I took four pictures of them. I didn't even think about it, and I probably would have kept taking more, but one of them was walking away. Man, I like zebras.
His favorite animal. A zoo keeper came by while we were looking at other animals and told us that they were going to be moving the giraffes inside shortly, if we wanted to come watch the process. So we gathered with a small crowd as the set up the gates and walked the giraffes in. Both of them were young males (this was the second of the two) about two years old. Very pretty, and it was so cool to see them so close.
There was a bear outside the carousel there, at which point Brian mentioned how we hadn't really gotten any photos of us yet, so we stopped to take a few while there were no children (or parents) near by to make fun of us.
Brian put on his bear face for this one. Because bears are scary. Grr!
This might be one of my favorite pictures of me, ever. I think it's definitely one of the most real smiles I've ever captured on film. But then, I should be really smiling. Goodness knows, I've never been happier.
Brian shared a special moment with a kookaburra. We walked up to the glass and he flew right down in front of us. I snapped this picture shortly before they finished their conversation and the kooka flew back.
This is Cecilia, the baby zebra we bought, sitting atop Gizmo. She got wet food for putting up with this.
After the zoo, we hit Best Buy and bought the Royal Tennenbaums, which he loves and I'd never seen. We got dinner at Red Robin, which we realized was the first time we'd been out to eat since my birthday. Then we curled up on the couch with the last half of Burn Notice season one (which I've been getting him into) and followed that with the movie. I was surprised that Royal Tennenbaums is considered a comedy until I realized that to people with a slightly more normal childhood, it probably would be pretty funny. Instead, it just made me want things to be better with my brother. I'm not saying my childhood was anything like that movie, I'm just saying I can relate pretty easily to smart children with a crazy childhood.
On the wedding front, the cake is planned and almost half-way paid for. Brittany has a flower place and some basics for the bouquets/boutonnières. We might have a church, and the minister from MN who Brian wants to officiate has set up a contact here for us to do marriage counseling with. Almost all the details are worked out, much to the dismay of his mother, who would really like to be doing something for us. She's almost as excited as we are.
Love you all,
Sandra
His name is Stanley.
On Saturday, he brought home a copy of the Amazing Spider-Man issue with the bonus Obama comic, and a valentine's day card inside. It is the sweetest card, too. We made a very nice, one dish meal for ourselves. Four cheese tortellini, chicken, and broccoli in alfredo sauce.
Yesterday was our day off together, so we got up early and made breakfast. I made banana pancakes and ruined about half of them, but finally managed six that were edible. He made eggs. We're still learning to cook, but we get a little better every time.
After breakfast, we headed off to the Woodland Park Zoo. It's smaller than the SF zoo. They don't even have koalas. But they did have zebras! It's was a very nice day.
The aforementioned zebras. I took four pictures of them. I didn't even think about it, and I probably would have kept taking more, but one of them was walking away. Man, I like zebras.
His favorite animal. A zoo keeper came by while we were looking at other animals and told us that they were going to be moving the giraffes inside shortly, if we wanted to come watch the process. So we gathered with a small crowd as the set up the gates and walked the giraffes in. Both of them were young males (this was the second of the two) about two years old. Very pretty, and it was so cool to see them so close.
There was a bear outside the carousel there, at which point Brian mentioned how we hadn't really gotten any photos of us yet, so we stopped to take a few while there were no children (or parents) near by to make fun of us.
Brian put on his bear face for this one. Because bears are scary. Grr!
This might be one of my favorite pictures of me, ever. I think it's definitely one of the most real smiles I've ever captured on film. But then, I should be really smiling. Goodness knows, I've never been happier.
Brian shared a special moment with a kookaburra. We walked up to the glass and he flew right down in front of us. I snapped this picture shortly before they finished their conversation and the kooka flew back.
This is Cecilia, the baby zebra we bought, sitting atop Gizmo. She got wet food for putting up with this.
After the zoo, we hit Best Buy and bought the Royal Tennenbaums, which he loves and I'd never seen. We got dinner at Red Robin, which we realized was the first time we'd been out to eat since my birthday. Then we curled up on the couch with the last half of Burn Notice season one (which I've been getting him into) and followed that with the movie. I was surprised that Royal Tennenbaums is considered a comedy until I realized that to people with a slightly more normal childhood, it probably would be pretty funny. Instead, it just made me want things to be better with my brother. I'm not saying my childhood was anything like that movie, I'm just saying I can relate pretty easily to smart children with a crazy childhood.
On the wedding front, the cake is planned and almost half-way paid for. Brittany has a flower place and some basics for the bouquets/boutonnières. We might have a church, and the minister from MN who Brian wants to officiate has set up a contact here for us to do marriage counseling with. Almost all the details are worked out, much to the dismay of his mother, who would really like to be doing something for us. She's almost as excited as we are.
Love you all,
Sandra