The name dilemma

*EDIT: Thanks for all of the feedback! Keep it coming! I should have also said I'm not really a fan of the 4 names thing. That's just way too much for me to write :) For those who might be curious, my dad also votes for Tia Neely Kauffman. I also should have mentioned that Lorraine was my paternal grandmother's middle name, in case that influences any comments.*

Unless you live under a rock, you know that I'm getting married next week (NEXT WEEK!!!).

I'm debating with to do with my name when I get married. Bryan is fine with me keeping my name or taking his, although last week when I said I was keeping my own, he wanted to know why and said it made him sad. I really was just testing him out though, and I found out that he would really like it if I changed it.

So here's the debate. Many women I know have turned their maiden name into their middle name. My best friend didn't, but "only because I hated my maiden name."

My current name: Tia Lorraine Neely
Fiance's last name: Kauffman
Should I be: Tia Lorraine Kauffman or Tia Neely Kauffman

For the record, I hate dual last names or hyphenating, so there will be no Neely-Kauffman going on. If I keep Neely, it will be strictly my middle name, and I won't walk around like Catherine Zeta Jones telling everyone to call me by 3 names.

Too true

Setting the scene:
Bryan is standing in the dining room eating a grapefruit, pouting because he just spilled grapefruit juice on his shirt.

Tia: "So I'm supposed to feel bad for you because you're surprised that when you stand up, right next to the table, and eat a grapefruit you get grapefruit juice on your shirt?"

Bryan: "You're supposed to empathize not because you think we [men] are less smart, but because we are less smart."

Ah yes, he's a keeper :)

By the numbers

2 - days my work server has been down, making me virtually unable to work
3 - more pounds I would like to lose
4 - new pairs of shorts purchased for upcoming cruise (2 for each of us)
9 - days until the braces come off
10 - number of glorious days of vacation coming up soon
16 - days until we get married
17 - days until we go on the cruise
70 - amount spent on wedding dress
78 - amount spent on new 2 piece bathing suit for the cruise
500 - discount Nissan is offering new grads (Versa?)
1,000 - discount Toyota is offering new grads (Prius?)
2,713 - miles we have to drive to get back to Portland in 6 weeks

Atkins

We're on day 4 (or is it day 5? the lack of carbs has slowed my brain) of our quasi-Aktins pre-wedding (18 days, holy lord!) slim down. And as I type this, I'm eating a burrito.

Here's what we've learned so far - we like carbs and sugar. They make us happy. When we don't have them, we spend 99.99% of our time together talking about carbs and sugar and how much we miss them. Last night on our way home from the outlet mall, we were discussing that we could not bear to eat yet another meal of eggs and meat. So we thought we'd stop at the grocery store and see how we could spice things up. The parking lot had 5,347,856 cars, and we DO NOT do crowded grocery stores.

Nearby was food heaven/hell row (depending on your outlook). Pizza Hut, Arby's, Wendy's, McDonalds. Bryan drove into the Wendy's parking lot so we could think about what to do. We sat there, like 2 drug addicts trying to score their next fix, debating what to do. In the end, we ate at Wendy's...after driving out, then making a u-turn at the bank to come back! Some genius at Wendy's headquarters decided to put the nutritional info of everyone on the menu posted right inside the door. That allowed us to make better choices, which we felt good about (and about the few carbs we were able to get....YUM! Bryan immediately wanted something with a bun, I wanted something with SUGAR). I allowed myself the child's size frosty (which is about the size of a thimble) and then PUT IT DOWN WITH HALF OF IT STILL LEFT. I know, I almost hurt my arm patting myself on the back.

The update is, me down 1 pound, Bryan down 3 pounds. I have decided that this miserable "diet" isn't worth 1 pound in 4 days. I think Bryan has slightly given in too, since he had a tuna melt for lunch. However, we can definitely continue some of the long-term positive changes we've made: more fruits and veggies, no more white carbs, avoiding carbs at every single meal, fewer desserts, no more fruit juices or non-diet soda. We go to the gym at least 3 times a week, and the other days we try and do something active. All in preparation for the gluttony of the cruise :)

Thanks for saying hi!

For those of you that have been brave enough to say hi, welcome! I have to admit, I was most curious about my loyal Canadian reader, and she was the first to "out" herself. Hi Sarah, glad you think I'm different in a good way :) I like your picture.

Jenn - Nice to meet you. I'm now a regular reader of your blog too. I'm still wishing I was in Chicago for that Cupcake Crawl, whenever it happens. I'll be passing through around May 30th on my way to Portland, but that's as close as I'll get.

Tanya - I've heard a lot about you. It's funny to me that I think all of Bryan's "significant" exes read my blog! Sorry that it looks like we won't get to connect while we're out east. Time just flew by. I hear you're quite the talented pianist. My ex graduated from Eastman in Piano Performance, so I know all about how much work goes into being a pianist! If you're ever out west for a gig we'd be happy to show you around.

I know there are others of you out there! Fess up, and make a new blog friend today :)

Food porn (or Rachel Ray you are not)

I'm not sure if it was Bryan or Krista I first heard it from, but "food porn" is a common occurance in our household. Food porn can consist of looking at restaurant menus online, watching cooking shows on the Food Network, talking about where to go out to dinner, discussing what you'd LOVE to be eating right that moment, etc.

So a couple of weeks ago Bryan and Krista were engaging in some food porn Rachel Ray style. I guess that day she was making Cubano Hash. The next day, they decided that they wanted to make it. Now it was maybe 11am, and NO preparation had been made to create this. Here is the recipe as Rachel Ray made it.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound ground pork
3/4 pound, packaged chorizo, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/3 palm full
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 bottle beer
4 Portuguese rolls or 2 sandwich sized English muffins, split and toasted
4 deli-cut slices Swiss cheese
4 dill pickles, chopped
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons butter
4 large eggs

So as they read the recipe together, this is how it went...me listening in hysterical laughter as this unfolded:
olive oil
- K: "We have that"
ground pork
- T: "We don't have that. All we have is frozen pork pieces"
- B: "That will be fine!"
Chorizo
- K: "We don't have chorizo, but I have some sausages and some strange hot sauce from Costa Rica, so that will be perfect."
Medium onion
- B: "We don't have a fresh onion, but we have frozen chopped onion with celery and red pepper in it. That should be fine."
3 cloves garlic
-K: "I have some in a jar, that will be fine."
Ground cumin
-T: "Yes, we have that in the cupboard"
Ground allspice
-K: "What's allspice?"
-B: "Beat's me!"
-T: "I think it's in the same family as cinnamon and nutmeg, but we don't have any."
-K: "Ooh, but we do have cinnamon and nutmeg. Good enough!"
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Yes, we have salt and pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
-K: "I don't have any."
-B: "Neither do we, let's just use ketchup."
1/2 bottle beer
-B: "Oh, I have one beer left! How's a pale ale?"
4 Portuguese rolls or 2 sandwich sized English muffins
-B: "We've got wheat bread, how's that?"
4 deli-cut slices Swiss cheese
-T: "I just bought some swiss cheese yesterday, lucky for you guys. This might be the only thing you'll actually do right!"
Dill pickles
-B: "I think there is a jar in the fridge that isn't too old."
Yellow mustard
-K: "We don't have yellow mustard."
-B: "I have some brown mustard. Brown isn't that far from yellow, right?"
Butter
-Margarine will have to do.
Large eggs
-B: "I think we just have 4 eggs left."

And yes, after this discussion where they had less than half of what they needed, they decided to forge ahead. If only I could explain the HORRIBLE smell this recipe made. It looked even worse (I wish I had pictures). But the verdict from the college kids....................

IT'S DELICIOUS!!!!!

Much to their dismay, I refused to try it.

Brunch

At Christmas we were given a gift card to a local Italian restaurant that has a very fancy Sunday brunch, which we finally went to today. The photo above shows the chocolate fountain, which has a caramel fountain right next to it. YUMMY! It was definitely my favorite part. There is nothing like fresh fruit in the winter, and the added bonus of chocolate was fantastic.

Here's the rest of the menu:

Made To Order Belgium Waffle Station with Fruit Toppings
Carving Station - Roast Beef, Lamb, Pork & Salmon
Create Your Own Omelet Station

Mario's Wheel-Homemade Fettuccine tossed in a Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Wheel
Grilled Chicken with Mushroom Sauce
Seasonal Vegetables
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Tortellini Alfredo
Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Marinara
Eggs Benedicto
Bacon and Sausage
20 Italian Antipasti-Caprese, Marinated mussels, Calamari Salad, Balsamic
Grilled Vegetables,
Grilled Mushrooms and Many More
Fresh Cut Fruit Display
Croissants, Danish, Bagels and Muffins
Lavish Array of Cakes, Tortes, Pastries and Cookies
Regular and Decaffeinated Coffee
Fruit Juices
Champagne Mimosas

Yep, tons of food. Some was a bit bizarre to be eating for out first meal of the day, but most of it was good. For the price ($50 for the 2 of us), we expected a bit more, but since it was free, we were more than happy :)

Who else is excited???

Enjoying the sun, not enjoying the aftermath!

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny, warmish day, so we decided to take a bike ride along the Erie canal. It is a nice paved path that runs for hundreds of miles and is relatively flat. We decided to ride from our town to the next town over, which has a really cute little village area that has some shops and ice cream. This is the canal.

So the problem is, we didn't quite recognize that our fairly regular trips to the gym DID NOT mean that we were in shape to ride our cheap-o Huffy bikes. We rode about 10 miles, which is short in the realm of bike rides, but our bodies later told us we might have ridden 100 miles. We both had trouble walking for a couple of days after!

In typical us fashion, while we were wandering around the village we just had to read the menus of the cute little restaurants along the canal. So instead of having ice cream we ended up having linner (lunch/dinner) at Aladdin's Natural Eatery, a little greek restaurant. The food was decent, and probably much better for us in the long run than Ben and Jerry's.

Us in our "geek hats" at the canal. Bryan HATES wearing a helmet, but when I assure him he only has to wear it because I love him and don't want him to get hurt, he gives in. Literally everyone I know that rides has been in an accident, and one person even cracked her helmet in half.


Although we were so tired and sore, it was so much fun hanging out together, outside, for a few hours. The bikes were sold today on Craigslist, so that will be the last ride for quite awhile.

The Story of Us

A fellow blogger Emily invited people to steal this and fill it out...so that's what I'm doing! I thought it was a good time, since we're down to just a month before the big day.

Q&A on Bryan and Tia

How long have you been together? Dating 2 years and 2 months, engaged for 5 months, to be married in a month (!)

How long did you date? A year and 8 months or so before we got engaged. I guess he figured that this time he'd better really think about it before he gave a girl a ring to make sure I was truly "the one."

How old is he? 31 (although if you asked him he'd say 29, I think he's only gotten more comfortable in his own skin and more handsome in the 2 years I've known him, so I'm telling the truth :)

How old is she? 26, and there will be the 5 year gap when we officially tie the knot.

Who eats more? Definitely Bryan, although I eat more often than he does.

Who said “I love you” first? He did, although I can guarantee you he doesn't remember it. I remember him kissing me and saying "things are about to get really complicated." I thought he was talking about me moving across the country, but then he followed it up with "because I love you." Aww.

Who is taller? He is, by about 6 inches...just perfect.

Who sings better? I really have no idea, since all we ever sing to is the radio, and neither one of us is that good at it.

Who is smarter? Hmm, I'd say him, but I'm curious to know if he'd say me. Okay, I asked him and he said he'd probably best me on the SAT's (he did), but I've made much smarter life decisions and I've been very successful my career. I do know that Bryan totally blows me out of the water when it comes to math...he is awesome at math, and I frequently refer to him as my walking calculator.

Who does the laundry? We both do, depending on who has more free time. But neither one of us irons, ever.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? (Looking at the bed, from the foot of it) I do.

Who pays the bills? Right now we pay our own bills, and I pay all of the mutual bills like rent and electricity (oh, but he pays for food). We're still trying to figure out the best way to do it when we get married. I do most of the shopping, but he's the one who manages his checkbook to the penny. Me...I'm feeling really good if I'm within $100 of what I think I have in my account.

Who cooks dinner? We both do. I definitely am more adventurous, but I can count on him for spaghetti, tacos, or anything fairly easy to make. I for sure am the baker of the two of us. I love to bake.

Who is more stubborn? Me, definitely me. But he’s no picnic. (ditto to Emily)

Who kissed who first? He kissed me, although I have given him grief since the day it happened because he doesn't remember it. It was his birthday, and I had promised him he'd get his first kiss on the day we had planned together (yep, I'm a bit of a prude and made him wait a bit for a kiss). We went hiking (where he says it happened...it didn't!), then to dinner, and while we were standing in line at the movies (Walk the Line), he said "thanks for dinner, it was wonderful" and as I turned to acknowledge him he kissed me. It was just a peck, but there was a better one at the end of the night ;)

Who asked who out? In the modern society of today, you could debate who asked who. I posted the ad on Craigslist, and he responded. We emailed back and forth for a few weeks due to busy schedules, then met up one Saturday for an all-afternoon date. It was SO much fun and I was hooked right then. He says had we been in Portland, the proposal would have re-created that first date (meeting at Powell's books, lunch at a vegetarian Chinese place, old school video games at Ground Kontrol, and cupcakes at Saint Cupcake). How cute!

Who proposed? He did. It was a moment that was totally unexpected, although the proposal itself wasn't. I'd really been expecting it a few weeks earlier on a trip to Toronto, but he says there wasn't ever a right time (and I agree). My parents were visiting, and we went to dinner at a friend's house. Bryan stayed behind because he "had to study." Turns out, what he had to do was drive to the store, buy a pumpkin, drive to 3 stores to find a carving kit (and come up empty handed), carve the pumpkin with a steak knife, and clean everything up before I got home. I got home, ran to the bathroom with a horribly upset stomach, slightly ruining his romantic plan! When I came out of the bathroom I thought it was weird that I couldn't find him, and when I opened our bedroom door there he was, on one knee, in the dark, with the lit pumpkin behind him. I think he said "will you marry me." Now, in hindsight, I wish I would have turned on the light so I could actually see him! He says I waited a bit to say yes, which made him nervous (I was too busy admiring the pumpkin, which was such a cute idea).

Who has more friends? Both of us aren't the type of people who collect friends everywhere we go. We have plenty of acquaintances, and we both have a few very close friends that we would do anything for. Who has more siblings? Well, I had 2, but since my brother passed away I have one sister. He has one sister too, so I guess we're even. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I am the only income earner, so right now I have a bit more control, but as the researcher, Bryan controls a lot of what we end up buying. I'm sure it will be even once we both have jobs.

Combination of 2 great things!

One of the things I love about Rochester is the Lilac Festival. This year, it is May 9-18th, just about the time we're getting married and headed on a fantastic cruise. Sure, I can't complain that we're missing the Lilac Festival since our other stuff is awesome. But today I read on the news online that Ingrid Michaelson will be playing. OH MAN, not only do I have to miss it, but I'm missing an up-and-comer that I really love :( (http://www.ingridmichaelson.com/ if you don't know her).

But then, I realize we're back late on May 17th. So I quickly flip through the music schedule...sure, what are the chances she would play on the one day we could make it? YES, 100% :) So not only can we make the festival our last year here in the snowy tundra, but we can hear Ingrid close out the festival, FOR FREE! WAAHOO!

Any opinions

With only having one income for the last year, plus an upcoming wedding and cross country move, spare funds for weekend entertainment are lacking. We decided to take a cue from my parents and have a little free fun and went to test drive a few cars. Either here or at the other end we're selling the Forester and buying a smaller, more gas friendly compact car. Since we had a nice sunny day here, we thought we'd go check out our favorites.

#1 Nissan Versa

This car is the only one that we both drove. It was roomy, and drove nicely. The seats were super comfy. The steering wheel had a bit too much vibration for me, but I'm thinking the better CVT engine might fix that issue. The car salesman was very nice and took us on a 10 mile test drive on the freeway (no bitchy needed...see previous post). Nissan is offering some great incentives - $1,000 off or 1.9% financing, plus $500 off for BK being a new grad. This one is a front runner, but we'd need to go back and drive the one with the CVT engine. They have some nice upgrades, including a sunroof ($600) and an upgraded speaker system ($300). BK was especially excited about the latter. These seemed like a good deal, until I read the fine print which is the speaker system requires upgrade package A, which is stupid stuff like a leather wrapped steering wheel, bluetooth capable, upgraded keyless entry which doesn't require a key to start the car, etc. Package A is $700! If you just want the sunroof, it requires the stereo package, which requires package A. Now please tell me what a sunroof has to do with a subwoofer addition??? I was very annoyed.

#2 Honda Fit

I've driven the Fit before in Oregon, and liked it a lot. This car has a HUGE trunk/cargo area. I sat in the back, which had great leg room. I should have sat in the front so I could compare the seats to the Versa. It's a zippy little car. The bummer is that Honda has no incentives or good financing, so the price is quite a bit more. Honda's hold their value better though, so this one is still in the running. The salesperson (a very non-salesperson young leggy blonde) was super nice, so no bitchy needed here either. It was a very pleasant experience.

#3 Scion xD

We went to one dealership, wandered around the lot and in the showroom and couldn't get anyone to help us, so we walked out. We went to the other dealership closer to our house. Salesperson walked us all around the lot...."oh, I guess we don't have any others, I thought we did." So we waited for the one that was out on a test drive. It was only a couple of minutes, but enough time for him to also tell us they were "out of brochures." He lets us look at the car, and hands us his card saying "I won't bug you, you can look on your own" and starts to walk away. I say "Is it possible to test drive it" and he says "You know we close in 10 minutes, right?"

I've been to TONS of dealerships, and they have always stayed after, no questions asked. No, we didn't know they closed at 5, but come on! We could have had a short test drive and been out of there by 5. This guy was such a jerk that we just walked away. Looks like no Scion xD in our future.

So have any of you owned any of these cars, or know anyone who does? Any thoughts or opinions? Both the Fit and the Versa are recommended best picks by Consumer Reports, and both get fairly equal gas mileage.

Sweet nothings at the car dealership

As we get to the dealership:
Him (getting out of the car): "I nominate you as our spokesperson, you're better at being bitchy."

Me: "Thanks for the insult."

Him: "That wasn't an insult, you're just better at being bitchy to car people."

Me: "Um, sure, that still sounds like an insult."

Him: "No way, and if my mom were here, I'd totally pick her over you because she's way better than you at being bitchy."

Trumped by the MIL once again. I think I'll let her win this one!

As we are walking back to the car at the dealership:
Him: "Is your knee still hurting from running outside? You're limping a little bit still."

Me: "Yes"

Him: "It's a good thing you aren't a horse, because with your hurt knee and sore hips I'd have to put you down."

Ah, the sweet words of someone who loves me. ;)

Stop in, say hello

I know there are quite a few of you out there who check my blog regularly, even daily. Please, introduce yourself! What brought you here? Anything you'd like to discuss? How about spring (or lack thereof)? Or the joy of artichokes? Or the hassle of moving? Or why all self tanners make people orange? Or how the rage around here is for little girls to get facials and manicures and I think that's awful? Or anything else?

Maybe, just maybe, if I know that some of you actually read this silly blog, I'll be more motivated to post regularly.