Short but sweet!

Song: Life in Technicolor ii

Artist: Coldplay

Biki's Bags is now open for business! Now that I'm married and in need of health insurance, I'm going to be making CapriSun purses again to start payin' the bills! Since I have laryngitis right now and can't really do much with my time, I decided to make a new project. Today I created the very first EVER (I have never ever seen one yet to this day) CapriSun bookbag. Here are a few pictures. I'm very excited to take it out! I'm not sure I'm going to sell this one since it is a prototype, however if someone makes a good offer, I guess I can't refuse. Tell your friends! CapriSun bags are back! =)

Horray for RECYCLING! =)

It's got a seashell closure. I ran out of buttons.

Honeymoon Hiatus

Song: Help Is Round The Corner/Swallowed In The Sea

Artist: Coldplay

If you want a good read, this post is definitely for you. NY Times called this post "RIVETING!" ... j/k. It is pretty good though.

The week has been incredible for me. As all of you know, I got married last Friday. I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding! Everything went flawlessly and we had such a great time. I only wish it would have lasted longer! Time flew by super fast. Thank you, by the way, to all the awesome people who participated in it! You all made it exactly what I dreamed. I really do want to go into detail about the wedding, so I'll save that for the next post. For now, I'm just going to focus on the honeymoon for blog sake. If you've read my blogs in the past (back when I had myspace), you would probably remember my "Down with the sickness" entry (that horrifying week in Prague). Well, if you thought that was bad, read on! 

...We had the privilege of staying in the presidential suite that night at the Westin Colonnade...which was pretty flippin amazing! It was 2 stories high (the room, that is) with the bed and amazing bath upstairs and a living space and dining room downstairs. Bottom line, pure awesomeness. We enjoyed ourselves on Saturday by going to Houstons to eat (I totally pigged out) and watching some in room entertainment (aka whatever was on TV). We were still a little exhausted from the wedding. Sunday morning we woke up at 3:30 to be at the airport by 4. Our flight was destined to leave at 6:30 am, and we were ready to go! 

 Thomas and I had designed the perfect honeymoon in Peter Island that was really the whole package. Massages, snorkeling, sailing, food, everything included. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it was so much better than that! It was by far the most gorgeous place I have ever been! We took 2 connecting flights to get into Tortola, one of which was on a propeller plane (Tom's first time on one of these). When we arrived in Tortola, we were greeted by the Peter Island personnel who immediately took our bags and offered us drinks (cool!). We enjoyed some crisp Coca-Cola and proceeded to get on a 50 ft boat that would take us straight to our secluded dream island. Everything was beautiful! The water, the people, the service, EVERYTHING! We could not wait for the fun to start!...however, we arrived a little bit late on Sunday, so we decided to relax and save the beach for the next day. 

 DINNER TIME! Time to enjoy some world-renowned dining. This four diamond resort housed one amazing Executive chef, Michael Clinton. The foods were really exquisite, so I decided to be a little adventurous and try something new. The special that evening was duck. I thought, "hmm... duck.... kinda like chicken, right? I'll have that!"... along with this thought was the appetizer idea "scallops... hmm... kinda like shrimp, right? Okay!". So, my meal was set. Scallops and Duck. WHAT A MISTAKE. I'm not a fan of scallops. The texture killed me. The duck was the weirdest part. I wasn't aware that duck could be cooked "to temperature" (aka rare, med rare, well, etc). My duck was red. I guess that means it was somewhere in between medium and medium rare? Who knows. Anyway, I did not enjoy this world class cuisine. I'm just a steak and potatoes simpleton, what can I say! Well, the night wound down and we finally fell asleep after playing a round of pool and whatnot.

Around 1 o'clock AM, I ran out of bed by reflex and immediately began puking (thank goodness I made it to the toilet). That was the beginning of the end. I must have puked a good 20 times before Tom decided to tell the front desk we needed serious help. Search and rescue came to save me (since we were on a secluded private island that had no medical facility) thanks to the resort manager Mr. Mason (really cool guy!). By this time I had my head hung in the toilet, completely drained of all life. The British Virgin Island search and rescue team's arrival was such a relief for me. Finally! Some help. Poor Thomas was horrified watching me puke my life away. I felt so bad for him, but couldn't control my urge to chuck every 10 seconds. I was lifeless, couldn't move unless it was a chucking reflex, was very slow and unresponsive. I remember receiving oxygen from a rescuer named AMANDA, and being carried out by two other rescuers named TOM AND PAUL (irony, no?). They were really nice and took good care of me. 

They proceeded to take me to an inflatable boat with an engine and 4 other men.  It was pitch black darkness. From what Thomas told me (because I was laying down semi-unconscious  in the raft instead of standing like the rest), it was terribly rough seas, and very dark. Apparently their source of light in the pitch black ocean was one of the rescuers holding a household flashlight in front of the boat. YIKES! That must have been creepy. Good thing I was in O2 land. We finally made it to the shore of Tortola. They carried me into a jeep looking vehicle, and I of course immediately wanted to chuck again. I heard someone say in an adorable British accent, "Please don't chuck in the car! I just cleaned it!". I complied. I hung my head out the door and proceeded. We arrived in at the hospital in minutes, and they got me the best seat in the house. I had a room with semi-updated technology and great nurses. They started an I.V. drip to help my severe dehydration, gave me a shot to stop the nausea, and collected some blood for testing. Mr. Mason was there with us all evening to help us and make sure everything went smoothly. What a blessing! Eleven hours later, I thankfully began to feel better. They prescribed me antibiotics for my bacterial food poisoning (why I'll never eat duck or scallops again). Tom and I were scared the bill would be terrible (an I.V. at Kendall Regional once cost me $1,500...and I was only there for an hour). Thank God... the bill came to a total of $136. Amazing. Wish prices were that low here in Miami.

Later that day we were escorted back to our island on a ferry. I felt pretty decent for having been deathly ill a few hours earlier. Tom and I played some Yahtzee! and we ate some dinner (of course, all I could eat were crackers). The rest of that whole day was devoted to sleeping for Tom and I. The night before was exhausting. The terror, the physical agony, everything wore us down. We had big plans for Tuesday though! We hoped it would be a better day.

Tuesday morning was nice. I woke up feeling really good and ready to eat some pancakes (since breads were included in my diet). I ate, and it was nice! My stomach didn't think so, however. I assume that because of the trauma only a day earlier, my body completely rejected the amount of food I consumed (about 1 pancake). I fell ill, again. This time, no puking. Just the terrible nauseated like I was about to puke (just about the worst feeling in the world). I was in agonizing pain on the bathroom floor for about an hour until Tom decided to call my mom. He was panicking, and so was I. He asked me as I laid in pain if I wanted to go back to Miami. I could only mutter, "They wont refund usssssssss", knowing that like most hotels, you pay in advance and they keep your money. Like the great husband that he is, he responded, "I don't care if we don't get a penny back from these people, I just want you to get better!". It hurt me more emotionally at that moment because I knew the medical technology was better in the states, and going home would mean a better recovery. I finally decided, "Yes, please take me home asap". 

Tom proceeded to call my mom to see if her travel agent would book our flights for that very evening out of Tortola. After this, Mr. Mason's partners, Marika and Chi-Chi (don't let the name fool you, he looked a lot like Michael Clark Duncan!) came to help us in our room. They told us they knew of a good americanized clinic that could care for me better than the hospital could, so we went. Chi-Chi carried me to the car, on the boat, and so on. They pulled a lot of strings to get us instant service at the walk-in clinic (again, awesome staff at Peter Island). At this clinic, I received 2 I.V.s again, got an ultrasound to make sure I didn't have gall stones or appendicitis, had blood work done, had a shot of Phenergen (miracle!), and a shot of Zantac; both shots of which were conveniently and respectively located on separate butt cheeks (that left major bruising). This time was a bit more painful. The nurses had a hard time finding a good vein for my I.V., and must have poked each arm about 5 times (10 total). They bruised my right forearm pretty bad (bad enough for people to think I'm a druggie), but the rest of them healed up pretty well. As you probably already assumed, with Americanized service comes Americanized prices. Our bill was a bit more hefty. Luckily it was all coming to an end.

Thomas paid the bills and told me we had to leave immediately. Our bags were on the way to the hospital so we could go straight to the airport. I puked..FINALLY! It actually felt good this time. I felt instant relief at that moment. We got in the car with Marika and one of their cab drivers and went on what seemed like a crazy roller-coaster car ride. The driving was scary. Mostly because I've never been in the back of a speeding car driving on the left side of the road (Britain, woo!). It was a 2 lane road (one lane for each direction) and the driver was passing people like crazy! Thank God we got there safely. They held the plane for us thanks to Marika and we made it on board right on time.

Our connecting flight was in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we arrived, we found out that they lost our luggage. Wonderful. We could then only laugh at all the miserable situations we had been through up to that point. We were only on our honeymoon for one day until we abruptly were sent home. That's when we developed the "screw it" mentality. When a bad thing happened, "screw it" infiltrated our thoughts. We arrived in Miami and were picked up by my loving Mom. We spent the night at her house since our flight came in near midnight. The next morning, we waited for the airport to tell us when they would send us our now found luggage (apparently it was in San Juan, but someone put it in storage...wtf?). They said 8 pm. That day was pretty nice. I did have a short "episode" of puke, but nothing bad. We waited that evening for our stuff, but no one delivered. We stayed at Mom's house again (since they were delivering there). The doorbell rang at 1 AM. YAY! Screw the late hour, WE GOT OUR LUGGAGE BACK!  Thank God!

My parents decided to keep our whole endeavor a secret in order to give us "honeymoon privacy" (aka no one calling or anything like that). That is why I decided to wait until now to explain this whole thing. In reality, I am supposed to be coming home from my dream honeymoon Sunday afternoon, but have already been here since Tuesday, December 2. I asked a couple of people to keep us in prayer, and ask that when you read this, to say a short one for us too. This has been such a hard week for us newly-weds. Poor Thomas has seen things I had hoped he wouldn't have and we've been through some tough crap.  To add insult to injury, my car wont start. I got it checked out (after taking 10 minutes to get it started) and they said there is NOTHING wrong, however, my 10-15 min escapades to start the car tell me differently. Oh well. 

With all of this stuff that has happened to us, you would think we would be beyond miserable at this point. Fortunately, we are still happy as ever. Thomas and I have already planned our honeymoon 2.0 for next week in sunny Orlando, FL where we will be kicking back with Mickey Mouse and the Blue Man Group! We just decided to stick to our guns for now and do something semi-local and eventually do a honeymoon-do-over. This has been a true test for us. 

Two things that I have deducted from this experience are 1. God is great. Despite all the bad, good things did come out of it. I am feeling a lot better as of today (Saturday evening/Sunday); Also, Mr. Mason and Marika are pushing to get us a full refund! Amazing! We also have the blessings of arriving and departing and arriving again safely. God really did have his hand over us (even if we didn't feel it right away), 2. It could not have been made more clear to me what a great husband Thomas (has already been and) will be for me! He has been so supportive and loving, I could not ask for more. I love him so much, and am so thankful to God that he was given to me.

One phrase got me through this. I said it on the airplane ride there, chanted it in my head while I hung over the toilet, and repeated it on multiple occasions: "God is my sustenance and strength." I also gained a new life quote from the event, "Every day I live is because of the grace of God. He is my sustenance and His grace is sufficient. For this I am forever content."

My Last Single Blog

Song: Reign of Love

Artist: Coldplay

It is midnight... November 28, 2008. This moment marks the beginning of the greatest day of my life. In about 19 hours, I will be walking down "the aisle" and heading towards a new life. Before all of this goes down, however, I must make my last ode to singleness.... for I will only be a De Armas for a few hours longer. There is something great about being single. The best part, I believe, is the journey in finding "the one". Dating was so much fun! I met some of the coolest and weirdest people ever, went to some great places, and enjoyed a lot of new things. I always enjoyed being single and ready to mingle, but meeting Thomas was a real reality check. I was almost hesitant to date him because I knew it might become serious, and I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Well, as you can tell, I let him in. While some are disappointed that the journey ended so soon (or so young I guess), I am quite relieved. I've learned from living both lifestyles that I am more satisfied knowing that I no longer have to look for that certain someone. For my single blog followers, this is not to make you feel bad at all for not having or finding your person; its just me blogging something on my mind. The hardest part of being single, I believe, is actually FINDING that someone (among other things). It takes a lot of thought and effort to choose who we want to be with. Just when I thought it was all over for me, I realized that this relationship marks the beginning of something that will grow forever. Some think that marriage means being done with the dating game and giving good impressions all the time when in reality, it is only an extension! I've concluded that I will be spending the rest of my life doing the same thing all you single people are doing right now, which would be bending over backwards to make sure my partner is happy. In theory, any kind of dating scene, whether it be being single, dating, or married, involves some kind of effort. For that I will reconcile the two and just be simple about this... putting in effort never ends! For all of these things, hard work is required. So now, my public vow is this: I will always keep my husband first and always try to make him happy no matter what I feel like doing. Tonight will be special. I guess you never really know how special it is until you get there, but I will explain my thoughts. Tonight, I will be giving up my name, giving up my rights as an "individual", and accepting that I now care for "we" instead of me. While these things seem simple and mundane, they are quite difficult. We are all raised to be selfish (to care for ourselves and such), to  enjoy our inalienable rights, and to be proud of our name and heritage; making this a hard transition. Thankfully, I have accepted all these circumstances and am absolutely ready for what is going to happen in a few hours. I'm so thankful for Thomas. God used him to make a change in me that I thought would never happen. It's great to realize that this relationship is about to become everything God intended it to be, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us.

The countdown continues!

-Brigitte De Armas

(tear)

Engagement Photos Are UP!

If you'd like to take a peek, follow this link!..... E-Photos!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's SUPERBLOG!!!!!

Title: Shut Up and Let Me Go

Artist: The Ting Tings

Ok. Ready for the longest flippin blog ever? I have only been on a blogging hiatus for an entire month! Sheesh! Well... Here it goes! I guess I'll start where I left off.

 I went on what was supposed to be a short blogging hiatus in order to prevent spilling the great news of my brother Rey secretly coming down to Miami to propose to his lovely girlfriend (and now fiancee) Lauren! I took video while secretly hiding during the whole process. Merari, Anne Marie, Rey, and I worked together to make the most ridiculously conspicuous surprise. The great news is that Lauren still had no clue, and she totally got the breath knocked out of her. I almost cried, but Merari and I were joking around so much that I didn't (which I am totally thankful for! I love her). Congratulations to the two of them! They are a beautiful couple and I look forward to walking in their wedding. =) Shortly after this glorious occasion....

On October 11th, I had the pleasure of enjoying my very own Bridal Shower! This had to be one of the greatest experiences I've had in a long, long time! We had a lot of my favorite foods, which includes the chocolate fountain with all the extras (strawberries,  marshmallows, rice krispies, etc), mini cheeseburgers with extra bacon (compliments of my aunt Xio!... they were delish!), some awesome spinach dip derived from the Greek food spanakopita made by my aunt Maria, and so much more food, you have no idea!!! I had a great time eating, but I also had a great time playing the games! I think the best part was the toilet paper bride. People made some interesting dresses and I had a hard time making a good judgment call. The best part of the whole party, I think, was the wardrobe. Merari, the coolest photographer ever, took some great shots of what everyone wore according to my "favorite things" theme. I saw everything from biker leather (way to go, mom!) to prom dresses (again, you rock merari) to negligee (well, I think I had that covered). This party made me really happy because people looked relaxed and at least appeared to have a good time!  I had some great company and received awesome gifts! Thanks, all, again! 

Not long after this occasion....

On October 19th, I had the joy of being a bridesmaid in my friend Viv's wedding. This was a lot of fun. I arrived at her house early in the morning and immediately got to work. Her brother's girlfriend Joanna, who has the absolute COOLEST accent (love those brits!), had a small problem with her dress. It broke. I ended up sewing it up really quick which then earned me the nickname Cinderella. I got my hair done by a friend of their family and then proceeded to do some of Viv's friends hair. I think I did a pretty good job, being that the lady who did my hair offered me a job to work with her. That was unexpected, but cool! The last of my bridesmaid duties before the actual wedding was to do the Bride's makeup! That was an honor! We finally arrived at the Greek church (on kendall drive next to dadeland) and the excitement was flourishing! We prepped the bride and walked down the aisle...then stood on stage for way over an hour. That might have been the down side. After a long wait for the actual ceremony to be done, Thomas and I made our way to the reception hall at the Rusty Pelican. We had a great evening and enjoyed random drunken bridal party members doing hilarious renditions of Greek dancing! After this....

I got to enjoy some time off to take care of things for the wedding. During this time off, I got to spend time with my cousins Becca and Seth and my aunt Martha (aka "Mah Weinah"). We went to Tropical Park and enjoyed some time on the playground! I finally realized how unsafe these playground toys really are! Apparently there are no limits to childhood injuries. I bet insurance companies build them to keep themselves in business. jk! =D Anyway, after all of these shenanigans, I got to spend some time with my good friend Amanda, who really knows how to make spare time into awesomeness! We went out to Samurai for some delicious food, as well as other amazing places that can totally kill you (such as Rio Cristal [greatest cuban steak y papitas ever], Burger King [horray for junk food!], Dadeland Mall [for some food court food and Lix cupcakes], and of course My House [for some Totinos Pizza]). If it's one thing her and I know how to do besides have a good time, it's EAT! A few days after my short break....

On November 1, I went to to Eric and Lia's Wedding! This wedding was so special! I really had a great time here. Lia was such a gorgeous bride! Eric had the greatest facial expressions as she walked down the aisle! They looked ecstatic to be at their own wedding and make such a lovely couple! Later that evening, we enjoyed a time of dinner and dancing with some great people! Thomas had the great honor of being the best man and delivered a cute speech. During the reception, Lia's nephew made it his own personal responsibility to dance with me every chance he got. He was adorable... I couldn't say no! For once I was dancing with a guy who was half my size (and not the other way around). After all the festivities, Thomas and I snuck out and fled to Eric's house to decorate before the newlywed couple arrived. We lit lots of candles and laid out a lot of deep red rose petals! It was beautiful. To my surprise, when the couple arrived, I found out they had not eaten the entire evening! So Tom and I made a quick stop to K-mart and rounded up some goodies for them. I had such a great time that evening! This day was not only awesome because of the wedding though.... It was awesome because....

November 1st, 2008 marked the date that Thomas finally completed the masters program! He seemed very relieved and happy that it was all finally over, and I was so proud of him!!!! The next day, his mom threw a graduation party at his Aunt Maria and Uncle Greg's  house! We had a great time and enjoyed some great company. It's funny because I knew from this day forward, all my time would be lost somewhere in the abyss of the "last couple weeks until the wedding"... but to my surprise.... my time hasn't completely been consumed by stress! In fact, I got to spend some time with Amanda again and produce a film for one of her class projects! It was fun, and funny because the digital camera wasn't compatible with my iMovie so I produced it all with my little iCam (which is part of my laptop). In the video (take a look!), you can actually see my reflection on some windows of me holding the laptop to take video. FUNN!!!

Later that week, I got to enjoy my WEDDING GIFT just a little bit early!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Thomas decided to take me to the COLDPLAY CONCERT! It was soooooo amazing! I can't even begin to describe! The lights, the sound, the media work, the talent! It was all incredible! I had such a great time and I think it was the perfect wedding gift for me! I took a lot of video, but there is one in particular that is my favorite because of the media work that was involved in it! I'll leave this one here and post the rest later. Besides all this madness, not much else has gone on. I finished up the wedding plans and am now counting down the days! Only 11 more 'till I'm Mrs. Thomas Soucy! Cool!

 

Here are some pics from the concert =D

Oh Yeah! I forgot the last piece of my update.... I had the pleasure of receiving my 21st birthday gift from Thomas early as well! Yesterday we went to Best Buy and got GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR!!! This game is so cool! The drum set, the microphone, everything! I love it. I enjoyed playing last night and am on my way now to enjoy some more of it! WOOOOOO! That is all for this super long, superblog update!

COLDPLAY TICKETS

I still have 4 tickets left for sale....Section 316, row 2. If you're interested, holler.

The countdown begins! =)

I've Got Plans.

Song: Pink

Artist: Aerosmith

 Everyone has been asking... so here is the answer: the wedding plans are going wonderfully! Thanks to my handy-dandy planning organizer, planning has been a cinch. It has made finding things easy, and has made my life in general a lot more organized (which I definitely needed). Really, all that is left is to make sure the bridesmaids get their dresses fitted, make sure the groomsmen get their tux's fitted, and to finish counseling! Everything else is kinda just up for grabs. Besides wedding plans, all that has been going on is Bridal Shower planning. A couple of weeks ago, we (Hernandez women plus Amanda and Phyllis) had a meeting at Martha's house to plan out what we would be doing for this shower. 

Thus far, things have been wonderfully fluid. It took us a good 30 minutes to come up with some kind of theme for the party, but it worked out perfectly. Everyone had such good ideas and then I kind of morphed it into a theme! Officially, it will be the "Favorite Things" party. I guess I just thought that having a theme after a color or some show or w/e would be kinda unoriginal. Anyway, the basic thing to do for this shower is to wear all of your favorite things (and I mean all). I really hope that people participate the way I think they will.

I told the family and the b-maids already that it is important, even if their stuff doesn't match, to wear their favorite things in stead of the traditional sun dress. I figured everyone has had enough of traditional showers and needs something different just this once. I will be participating in the dress code as well. So far I have a favorite watch, bra, mini trench, PJ shorts, pink heels, and earrings. Don't ask me how that is going to work... 'cause I'm not even sure yet... but who cares! 

I think the party is going to be great and am predicting a good turn out of awkwardly matched outfits. I hope now that you all know what I'm wearing, you will feel a little more encouraged to wear something out of the ordinary. Anyway, more about the shower. Since it is a "favorite things" shower, a lot of my favorite foods will be present (from a chocolate fountain with dip-ables to mini bacon cheese burgers)!!! I'm looking forward to an exciting, indulgent afternoon. Merari is going to be taking care of the photography that day, so get ready for some great pictures!!!! As you can tell, I am so very excited for this occasion. But I'll save the rest for when I do the "post shower blog". I'm out of things to talk about right now, but I'll be back soon. I promise.