1 Month Down, Many More to Go

Today marks 1 month of wedded bliss. This month has been fabulous. I love being married. The infamous question has been, "So does it feel different?" My answer is Yes! I didn't know if it would or not being that we already lived together and bought a house together. It does feel different and I still get giddy thinking about our wedding day. It's slowly sinking in that my last name is Ferguson now. Now that we have our marriage certificate back, I'm starting the name change process. Today was the Social Security office. There was only 1 person in front of me and the whole thing took about 5 minutes. Sadly, I have the feeling I won't be as lucky at the DMV.

Easter Weekend

Another Easter weekend has come and gone. It was a little bittersweet because with the exception of the Easter Neal and I were in Mexico, this is the first one that I haven't been with a single member of my family. Sadly, this is what begins to happen as everyone grows up and gets married. I'm also vowing to take more pictures. I always have good intentions and make sure camera is packed, but this weekend ran its course without 1 single picture to show for it.

I was off on Friday. Neal had to work so we were still unsure of our weekend plans. I was attempting to sleep in just a little but the dog had other plans. Apparantely, he's on a schedule too and thought it was funny to jump on me and force me to wake up to play with him. We ended up driving to San Antonio Friday night. Poor BJ broke his leg the night before and couldn't get in to see the surgeon because of the holiday weekend. He was a trooper during the Easter festivities but the pain was very visible on his face. Saturday morning we woke up to go for our "long" run. I say "long" because at this point in the half marathon training program its only 4 miles. We decided to take Coleson with us in the jogging stroller. I just have to say that next time I see someone pushing one of these suckers at Memorial, I might just high-five them. It's definetely a lot harder than it looks. Factor in the San Antonio hills of their neighborhood. We ate a great lunch with Vanessa's family and then ended up driving back to Houston that night.

Sunday we woke up to a beautiful day. I have to admit I love all the sun we've been getting but I wouldn't mind a little rain too. Our yard sure could use it. We went to the traditional service on Sunday and were reminded what Easter is really all about. I love me some Cadbury eggs but its amazing to know that Jesus died for our sins so we can have salvation and eternal life. Good stuff!

We had a little Kim Son after church and then went home to nap. We made a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond to finish buying everything that we didn't receive off the registry. Grand total of $470 all redeemable with gift cards. Score! Even have some left over to buy other things with. Armed with Costco/HEB lists and shopping bags, we were disappointed to find both stores closed for Easter. No biggie. They deserve a day off too. I spent several hours putting away wedding gifts. Might be time for another garage sale. We're big on spending money for memories like trips rather than a bunch of stuff in our house, however it's nice to see the place getting a little facelift with all of our new things.

That's a wrap, folks!

A little this, a little that

Since we've been married almost a month, I thought it might be time to start organizing all our wedding gifts. It will be nice to have our front room back too. For the past several months, its been the wedding room. Anyway, its coming along and we have a few more things to buy off our registry. My favorite gift is the Jim Shore nativity set Mom got us. I've been wanting it for a long time. I have it out now. Who says we can't celebrate Jesus' birth all year?

Neal rode in the MS150 this past weekend for the 2nd year. Again, I was his personal chauffeur. Houston to LaGrange to Houston to LaGrange to Austin back to Houston in 2 days. I told him next year he was camping with everyone else! It's amazing to see all the riders when they arrive in Austin after their 2 day bike ride. It brought a tear to my eye a couple of times. I'm a sap for finishers of big events like marathons and 100+ mile bike rides. Sunday afternoon, we hung out in Austin with some of the Corpus crew. Neal's friend was playing a gig that afternoon. Listened to some good bluegrass music and visited for a while. We left Austin around 7 Sunday night which made for a very sleepy day on Monday. Worth every minute though!

Looks like we're going back Costa Rica on June 5. Chris and Christy were planning a trip and asked us to go with them. At first, we were thinking of a million reasons why we shouldn't go. Since we love it so much, we were both itching to go back. We finally decided that since we have the funds to do it and we don't have kids yet, why not? I can't wait to make more memories!

Here's one last piece of randomness. Neal was seeing a customer a few weeks ago and while he was waiting, this guy came up to him and told him he looked familiar. They introduced themselves and couldn't figure out where he knew him from. Then it clicked. Turns out the guy was someone from H-F that I went to school with since kindergarten. He's a facebook friend and recognized Neal from our honeymoon pictures. What a small world it really is!

Sunday in the South

Today was one of those pretty perfect days. Nothing big was planned and life just kind of happened today. Aside from our honeymoon, this was the first day since we've been back that we haven't had to set an alarm to be somewhere. We actually slept in until...wait for it...wait for it...7:30! That's actually pretty late for us. We woke and went to Taqueria Arandas for breakfast. I was disappointed in their chilaquiles but everything else I've had there has been good. We got back home and took a little disco nap before it was time to get ready for church. We haven't been to church in what seems like forever because we've been out of town so much the last few months. So we went and boy did it feel good. It warms my heart to hear Neal singing in church. And today I got to write Neal & Rebecca Ferguson in the sign in book. We came home to make the HEB/Costco grocery list. I love grocery shopping together. I know Neal is smart enough not to send me by myself since he does a lot of the cooking. This is something we've done from the very beginning. Back when we first started dating, I remember telling my school friends how much fun we had going grocery shopping. I think Terry told me "oh no, we're in trouble now!" By the way, Terry told me as soon as he met Neal that he was the one. If I had to choose 1 store to spend all my money in, it would be Costco. I love the randomness of the place. It takes lots of restraint not to buy things just because they're cool. But that place has the coolest things! Seriously. After the shopping trip, it was time to tackle our kitchen which sadly has not had much attention since the wedding. Well its sparkly now. I made some banana bread with a few bananas that were pretty beat up. Neal worked on a project and I finished our thank you notes. Our front room still looks like the wedding exploded in there, but everything will eventually find its home. Right before dark, we walked Mack around the neighborhood. We even got brave and let him off the leash to play around with the neighbor's dog while we visited with them. Although its right off of ghetto Gessner, I love our neighborhood. I love the people. I love that people play with their kids outside. I love that we have big yards with tall trees. I love that all the houses don't look the same. I love that its quiet. We came back to the house and had a gourmet dinner of guacamole with chips for dinner. Today was what life is all about. Doing life with the one you love.

Costa Rica 4~1~11

Friday morning was our last morning to wake up in Costa Rica. I went to return our beach towels to the towel hut and the Costa Rican teenager said in broken English "Oh Mrs Ferguson, you go home today? That make me sad." My sentiments exactly! Back to the Liberia Airport, home of no airconditioner. It wouldn't have been bad but several of the flights (including ours) were delayed so the place was full of sweaty, stinky people (i'm sure including us).

There were no seats available "inside" so we snagged a seat outside while we waited for the plane. It finally arrived and we boarded to come home. No extra seat this time.

So there is the story of our honeymoon and first week of marriage. Sit back and enjoy the rest of the ride!

Costa Rica 3~31~11

Thursday morning we drove the neighboring town of Tamarindo. This is the touristy section of the region. The beach was a lot busier. I enjoyed being around all the people but was still glad we chose a secluded place to spend most of our time while in Costa Rica.



Then it was back to the Paradisus. Lunch. Nap. Pool. See a pattern for our afternoons? Later in the afternoon, just before sunset, we experienced the crown jewel of our trip. Since the beach is public property, several local merchants set up camp right outside the gate of the resort everyday. One of these was Angel Hands Massage. We thought it would be a perfect honeymoon treat to get massages on the beach at sunset. With a price tag of $35 for an hour long massage, it was the best money we spent on the trip. The only English the lady knew was "the pressure, it ok?" Si senorita, es perfecto! I was laying on my stomach and thought she would just work around my swimsuit top. Nope, next thing I know she's pulling it off. After about 1 minute with her "angel hands", I had no worries in the world and didn't care if I was laying half naked on the beach getting a massage. They did make sure the important parts were covered! I can still hear the waves crashing while we were laying there. The hour was up just as the sun was setting. It was another "room service in our robes" kind of dinner night.

Costa Rica 3~30~11

Wednesday morning we actually set the alarm for 5 am so we could order room service breakfast before we left on our excursion. Heck the sun was almost up when the alarm went off. We had booked our excursion through the guys on the beach so they had a SUV with a driver waiting for us at 6:00. We filled their cooler with water and beer we snuck from the resort. By the way, Imperial is the "beer of Costa Rica" and its very good. Jeffrey was our guide and he drove us about an hour and a half up a mountain to the Buena Vista park. I didn't mind the drive because it gave me a chance to take in the country. He spoke very good English and we chatted the whole way there. Since we left early, we beat the crowds and got a private zip line tour. That guy didn't speak much English but luckily I had ziplined before and knew the drill. The jungle was amazing. I could have zipped through the trees for hours but unfortunately there were only 10 lines.




Next up was horseback riding. Again we beat the crowds so it was just us and the guide. We rode the horses down a trail. The horses were very calm and knew exactly where to go without much need for us to direct them. Thank goodness because I have a small fear of horses. Not huge, but its there.

After about a 30 minute ride, we got off the horses to hike to a waterfall. Let's just say we burned some major calories this day so I didn't feel one bit guilty for indulging in food over the week. This was my first time seeing a waterfall this big. Although I would have liked to been all romantic and gone swimming under the waterfall, this creation of God was just breathtaking.

Next it was off to sit in a natural sauna and take a mud bath. After we rinsed the mud of our bodies, we had the chance to swim in the hot springs. There were 4 or 5 different pools ranging in temperatures of about 75 to over 100. The hottest one was too hot and the coldest one was too cold. In Goldilocks style, we found one that was "just right."


The last item on the agenda was a water slide. I should have been scared when they gave me a helmet and a leather diaper to protect myself. We hiked back up the mountain to get to the top. The waterslide was a little rough. I was actually thankful I was wearing the leather diaper because my bum would have been red after this ride.


The best part of this day was that Jeffrey, the tour guide, had our camera and followed us around all day taking our picture. The place provided lunch which was a lot of fresh fruit, gallo pinto, and talapia that was caught that morning. I've already said surely Houston has a good Central American restaurant that serves Costa Rican food. So pretty much all of this happened before noon. Naturally, we both fell asleep on the ride back to the resort. Once back, we carried on our afternoon tradition of taking a nap. Also made our daily trip to the pool for a Dirty Monkey. Swim-up bars might be the best invention ever. This is cheesy but we walked down the beach to see the sunset but of course forgot the camera. Trust me, it was gorgeous. We asked the Ticos on the beach about any nearby discoteques. They told us about one and were pumped to go dancing. Until after dinner, when we decided to be an old married couple and stay in. Perfect ending to a perfect day!

Costa Rica 3~29~11

Tuesday we woke up super early thanks to the sun shining at full force by 6:00. We packed up the car with the surfboard and drove about 15 minutes to Playa Grande. Neal played around on the waves with the Ticos (what Costa Ricans call themselves) and I enjoyed some quiet time on the beach with my Kindle.



We were there an hour an a half or so then headed back to the Paradisus for breakfast. Plantains, anyone? After a morning nap, it was back to the pool for a Dirty Monkey or two or six. Another nap and then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had reservations at the Mexican restaurant. We walked out of the villa and it started raining, the only rain we saw all week. We embraced the "Pura Vida" Costa Rican lifestyle and ran throught the rain to the restaurant. Thank God for ponytails because my hair was resembling that of Monica's in the Friends' Barbados episode. I had my concerns knowing that the food wouldn't be Tex-Mex like we're used to. They met us at the door with a shot of mango tequila. Tasty! The maragaritas were pretty delicious as well. The food turned out to be excellent. They even served chips, guacamole & salsa which is rare in other countries. After dinner, we went back to the casino at Flamingo Beach. I used my same bet of 3-26-11 for Roulette. Unfortunately, this night was not as lucky and both of us lost our $20 quickly.

Costa Rica 3~28~11

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling so rested and was glad to see the sun starting to come in through the drapes. I was sure it was around 9 or so. Wrong! Try 5:30. Costa Rica does not observe daylight savings time so the sun rises about 5:30 every morning. By 6 AM,its looks like its in the middle of the day outside because its so bright. Oh well, we're morning people so no big deal. We ate breakfast and my love affair with sweet plantains began. It's like heaven in your mouth.

After breakfast, we decided to take a little walk on the beach. The beach was called Playa Conchal which means "shell beach". There were millions of tiny shells in the sand which surprisingly didn't hurt your feet to walk on. Unfortunately, my I blew out my flip flop. Neal's question of why I always pack several pairs of black flip flops was finally answered.

We visited with one of the local tour guides on the beach and booked an excursion for Wednesday. We jumped in the pool and began enjoying the swim up bar. Their speciality drink is called a "dirty monkey" and it was fabulous. This time was so much fun because we were constantly talking about the wedding. We ate lunch at the hotel and then got the car to go scope out some of the other beaches. Ended up at Playa Grande and walked on that beach for a while. When we returned, it was time for one of the many naps we took during the week. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant which had really good food. We mistakenly ordered a bottle of wine thinking it was included but were surprised when the waiter brought us a bill for $108! We learned the hard way that the glasses of wine are included but not the bottles. We chalked it up to having a fabulous meal with fabulous conversation and called it a day. We heard there was a casino in the next beach town over, so we drove to check it out. They called it a casino but it was more like a game room. One blackjack table, one poker table, a few slots and a video roulette table. We tried our hand at roulette. Neal lost his $20 pretty fast. Mine lasted a little bit longer and I eventually won back our $40. I kept betting the same numbers. 3-26-11 for our wedding date. Consistency paid off!

Costa Rica 3~27~11

So I think we made it back to the Omni around 3 on our wedding night or should I say morning of our honeymoon. We had to get up at 5 so we could run by our house to pick up suitcases and get to the airport for our early flight. My mom was a champ and was up when we got to the house and helped us get everything in the truck. I managed to take my makeup off before going to sleep at the Omni but the hair stayed. And stayed until we got to Costa Rica.

It appeared that our flight was going to be full as people kept boarding. Neal had the aisle and I had the middle seat. We kept waiting and waitng for our window friend to come. To our surprise no one ever came and we lucked out with an extra seat during the flight. Score for being able to sprawl out and sleep on the plane! I was prepared for a small airport when we arrived in Liberia and knew we would exit the plane on the actual runway. What I wasn't prepared for is that the Libera airport is literally a barn with big fans and all open air. Luckily it was quick to retrieve luggage and get through customs.

Then we took the shuttle to the rental car lot and got hooked up with our little Hyundai SUV. Perfect to tie the surf board on top!

Our first stop was a little Costa Rican restaurant that we had seen on the way.
All open air and so breezy on a beautiful day. I ordered this shrimp dish with fried yuca, which is a fruit that is to die for. I could have eaten it everyday but settled for plantains at the resort. The meal ended up costing us about $60 because we hadn't quite figured out the currency conversion but it was worth every penny, or rather colones. In the rush to leave Houston, we also both left without our sunglasses. So we stopped at a little gas station and bought crappy sunglasses. Neal's were blue and turned his face blue like a Smurf with about 30 minutes.

We drove to the Paradisus and it was just beautiful. The lobby was all open air and overlooking the mountains. They asked me to sign my name and it was weird to sign Rebecca Ferguson but I did! The resort is set on about 2400 acres. They have these little trucks everywhere to take you from place to place.

Our villa was called the Villa Elvira and it was in a rockstar location. Right next to the pool, restaurants, and the beach. There were champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us.


We made reservations for the Italian restaurant but since we arrived so late the only seating left was 9:00. Around 7, we decided we were exhausted and decided to endulge in the included room service. Room service was available 24 hours a day and the food was delicious!

We're Married

Actually have been for a little over a week now. I woke up Saturday morning crying because I was happy it was wedding day. Neal said, "bye, next time I see you will be at the wedding!" Let the waterworks begin. I thought to myself, "oh crap, this is going to be a long day if I'm already crying." Thankfully, I made it through the whole ceremony without shedding a tear. My eyes started fluttering during the vows but I kept it together. I sure didn't want all our wedding pictures to have me with red puffy eyes and make up running down my face. The wedding was perfect. Even if there were buzzards circling around during the ceremony. I didn't see them. The only face I could see coming down the "aisle" was Neal's. I could see lots of people but coulnd't make out any of their faces. Guess my eye was on the prize! God sent us beautiful weather and we had a great time celebrating with family and friends. A group of troopers even made it to the after party at Watson's. I kept my wedding dress on all night and giggled everytime somebody asked me if I had just gotten married. I eventually started responding, "no, this is just my going out attire." Of course you idiot, we just got married! We closed the place down for the 2nd night in a row. Dear Watson's was also the site of the after-rehearsal gathering. Have to take advantage when everybody you know is in the same place at th same time. Our house was grand central station all weekend which is why we wanted to have the wedding close to home so people would have a place to hang out. Jamie had mimosas waiting for us at the salon Saturday morning which was a nice treat. Rachel was with us ALL DAY LONG and took just a few photos. Something like 1000. We made it to the airport on time early on Sunday morning, surfboards and all.