Last post for 2007

This is it!  Another year down in the record books.  And what a year it was...

Things to be thankful for:

1.  Given the name of this blog, of course, getting married to beautiful Ngoc tops the list.  We weren't even engaged this time, last year, so it's amazing to see how far our relationship has come.  I'm looking forward to the happiness and fulfillment of the year ahead.

2.  Ngoc's family, especially her two daughters, Chanel and Jasmin.  They're very sweet and it's great to help them where I can.  Thankfully they have loving grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins nearby.  They're very lucky this way.

3.  My family.  Jordan got a good job at Dow Chemical in Freeport.  It's great to be closer to him and his family.  Ronnie is doing well, he bought a new car and a new house this year after straightening out his life.  Mother and Father are doing fine as well.

4.  Good health.  The last few months have seen tremendous change for me in this area.  My first priority was losing the excess weight I had accumulated.  After our honeymoon, at the beginning of October, I weighed in at 238 lbs.  This morning I weigh 194 lbs.  My goal was to be at ~195 lbs by the end of 2007.  My blood pressure is normal.  I'm running 4 to 5 miles at a stretch.  I'm eating much healthier, practicing portion control and balancing my meals with healthy vegetables and fruits.

5.  New home and neighborhood.  I moved into my current house back in April and could not be happier.  It's just the right size home for our needs and I love the location, despite the long drive to work.  I never thought I'd be living in Houston proper, but here I am.

Overall a good year this 2007.  I'll post soon on my resolutions and goals for 2008.  The list is long...

Eve of Christmas Eve

So we had a get-together-to-do at our place last night.  Guess who the centers of attention were?

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

Thanksgiving and weight

Tomorrow is the big day!  I'll be spending T-day with Ngoc's family.  We purchased a large ham and Ngoc has plans to make a variety of side dishes.  So tonight and tomorrow are going to be busy.

On an unrelated note, I am proud to announce my new and improved self.  Since we returned from our honeymoon, I have been dedicated to living a healthier lifestyle, and it's starting to pay off.  I'm an analytical type and believe you can't improve what you don't measure. Here are a few before-and-after statistics that'll give you a feel for my achievements:

My goal is to maintain my weight between 190 - 200 lbs.  Almost there!!!

Weekend update

Another busy weekend in our lives.  A good friend of Ngoc's, who happens to be named Eric, got married on Saturday.  Ngoc helped with the flower arrangements and I took photos during the ceremony and reception.  The corsage and boutonniere are courtesy of Ngoc.

Wedding photos are up!

Whew! We received 1700 digital photos from our photographer, all taken on the day of our wedding. Ngoc has already sifted through them and had some of the best developed to send with our thank you cards. Here's a sampling on our .Mac website.

You can upload your own photos from our wedding here as well.

Enjoy!

Maui Day Three

The first few days at Maui have been awesome. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect, and did very little reading/research on the island and resort. One of the biggest surprises is how dry the leeward side of the island is, which is where all the resorts are. Outside of the heavily irrigated resorts, the land is dry and the vegetation is brown, not that different from Arizona or Palm Springs.

Anyway, Ngoc and I are having a great time. Yesterday we rented snorkel gear and went out a hundred feet or so from the beach at our resort. There's a coral reef with lots of tropical fish, sea turtles, etc. Last night we traveled to another area of Maui called Wailea for dinner. Today, we're taking the trip to Hana.

Some more photos...

Maui Day one

Ngoc and I are enjoying our first day in Maui. Some photos taken today from my flickr account. Click on link below:

Day one photos

We're Married!!

Next stop: Maui.

Thanks to everyone that made our day very special.

Love,
Ngoc and Eric

Changes

Ngoc and I are getting married in less than a week. I think I can speak for her in saying that we're both looking forward to the "settling down" part of getting married. Definitely looking forward to the trip to Maui...

Today was another busy day for us. I went over to Ngoc's parent's house for lunch. We had noodle. What is noodle? For those that are white and went to college with a small budget, remember the Ramen noodle in the plastic package (10 for a dollar)? Well, there's an upgraded version of this that tastes a lot better, and then you can add whatever else is available. Eggs, sausage, ham, vegys etc. Delicious!

So that was lunch... Then we dropped off Frodo, our inherited little dog, at Petco to get a haircut. More on him later.

Then we drove to Sugarland to pick up Ngoc's wedding shoes at David's Bridal. I must admit that this is a very scary store for a guy. You walk in and are greeted by 2 ladies in business suits. "How can we help you today?" is their opening. A quick scan around the shop floor tells me that I'm the first man that walked through the doors this week. After seeing the phalanx of expensive wedding gowns, I'm not sure that "help" is the appropriate word.

After picking up the shoes, we headed over to Super Target with coupons in hand. Our house is turning into a bed-and-breakfast later this week, so we had to pick up some essentials. One thing I love about Ngoc is how we managed to walk out with $75 worth of groceries for $60, and on top of that, we scored a $5 gift card which we used at Starbucks. She takes coupon and promotional savings to another level. And now we have a year's supply of toilet paper stored in our utility room.

So we headed home with our cheap groceries, and began work on modifying our home for after marriage. We moved my home office that was in the smaller bedroom to the great room upstairs. Some may not know that I spend 1-2 days a week working at home for Dow. The monitor and laptop on the left is my Dow workstation, and the corner unit is my Mac. Sorta like left and right brain in reverse.


Then we set up Chanel's bedroom furniture in the small bedroom. She has a nice queen size bed with a cushioned headboard. I'll have to take a pic when I get a chance.

Ngoc and I picked up Chanel and Jasmin for dinner at Chili's. Jasmin had a $25 gift cert and reminded us all of last week that she needed to use it on baby back ribs. So we gave in... Suffice to say that I'll be surprised if Chili's is in business 5 years from now. Too salty, too dry, too long wait, too oily, too thick, too loud. These are not adjectives that you want associated with your food or restaurant experience.

About Frodo... We completely forgot about him until Chanel and Jasmin asked before dinner. So we called Petco to find out if he was ready. Apparently they worked on him for 3 hours. If you look at the photo in this post, this is him with short hair. When it grows longer, it turns into a white afro. Very kinky and difficult to untangle. We all have our issues I guess. Fortunately Anthony, Ngoc's brother and Frodo's original owner, was able to pick him up while we enjoyed dinner.

I'll save the story about Anthony with 103 deg fever and tiger balm on his back for another day. Get well dude.

Tomorrow we're moving the king-size bed, armoire, and Tempurpedic mattress upstairs. Quincy and Dam are coming over to help. Steaks will be served for compensation.