UPDATE.....

THIS IS AWESOME!!!! Literally 30 seconds after I posted my last blog explaining what is happening, Thomas called me. We have excellent news. God is in control.

#1- Thomas has always known his job was temporary... but they notified him today that he will be working at LEAST until January of next year... and probably more! AMEN!

#2- He got a $100/month pay increase... This will help cover the expenses of what we have done to remedy our situation in our home. AMEN!!!!!

#3- He got a tremendous bonus check for the year... a check so helpful that it will most probably cover the lump sum that we will need to pay to get out of our mortgage with minimal ramification. AMENNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best news we have had in a long time concerning our home situation! We are so happy and so moved that God chose this moment that we were feeling so low to bless us. Please continue to pray for us so that we can go through our short sale smoothly, for our marriage now that we will no longer be living alone, and for wisdom throughout this entire situation.

Can I just reiterate...

God is in control!!!!

Slacking on my blogging... Let's catch up!

Song: Movin' Out

Artist: Billy Joel

Hey blogsters! It's been forever. I seriously haven't blogged in like 2 years (what a shame). Crazy things have been happening in the past year... but I'll get back to that later. For now, I'd just like to touch on the present. Life has been changing for the Soucy family... changes we didn't exactly expect.

To start of, let me just clear the air and announce that I am NOT pregnant. I got a few of those texts... and started laughing. If I ever do get pregnant, be sure that I'll call you first before I tweet. Now! To get to the meat and potatoes... My husband and I are moving out of our house... not because we want to, but because of circumstances out of our control. Before you read, let me ask you to not feel bad for us, because worse things are happening in the world. All we need is prayer for patience and for mercy from the investor who owns our mortgage. Let's start from the beginning... last year: March of 2010.

Around March last year, our adjacent neighbors were super cool. It was an awesome Chinese family who were quiet, nice, and very clean. We really liked them because we never had to worry about a noise problem or a cleanliness problem. Much to our despair, they suddenly moved out after living there for about 6 months without notice. We finally found out they moved out because they thought Thomas was beating me up and it was freaking them out (It turned out to be the neighbor behind them that had an abusive relationship). After they moved out, a new set of tenants set up camp. These new tenants seemed nice. At least we thought...

The new tenants are an older set of people (around 50s-60s) who are living off disability and government checks (and food stamps). They are not the cleanest people, in fact, they do not shower often (still not sure why, our association covers our water bill). They are nice, though. We have taken one of the tenants to church with us a couple of time to try and reach out, but he says that they are all pretty much set in their ways. They all smoke... a lot (since they don't work and stay at home all day). All they do all day is sit around at home, smoke, and watch TV... which is cool... if it wasn't going to start the problem we have now. It's basically a frat house for old people with nowhere else to go. Cool. Now that I've explained their situation, let me explain ours.

Touching on the smoking thing... they literally use whatever money the have for things to smoke (cigarettes, black and mild, illegal smokables ... etc). Unfortunately, there seems to be some kind of leak in the ventilation systems, so all of their smoke (second hand) comes into our home. This means all of our clothes smell like we've been hanging at the Hard Rock Hotel. Febreeze has worked wonders for us, but you can't febreeze books (and now when I sell them on Amazon, I can't list it from a smoke free home). You wouldn't think that second had could make that much of a difference, but over time, it does! On top of that, the second hand has been affecting our health. I haven't had asthma since I was 7, but now keep an allergy inhaler in the house because the smoke is a trigger. I haven't had to use it since I take antihistamines, which is a blessing, but we are still concerned for our overall health (and you all know the damages that can be done with 2nd hand). Our neighbors try to smoke outside, but somehow, the smoke still manages to make its way into our home. Fine. We dealt with it... but wait! There's more :)

Our neighbors do not like to be clean. They will sweep, but when it comes to bugs, they do not care. They keep their sliding glass door wide open all day and night. You can imagine what kind of things come in. Roaches. All varieties... german, american, mini, big, baby, adult... RIDICULOUS! So, those roaches, like the cigarette smoke, make their way into our home via connected plumbing and through our ventilation leak. How did we narrow it down to plumbing and ventilation? We literally re-caulked all the floors in our entire home like 3 times.. changed out our carpeting to wood flooring, and foamed around literally all plumbing. Thomas even caulked all the outlets in the house. Turns out roaches CAN swim, and can also hold their breath for about 40 minutes (good to know). So, now we have roaches (as of May, 2010). Gross. We try to be very clean (and those of you who have been to our house can agree... we are clean) and keep things like this out. Roaches carry nasty diseases.... diseases we don't want. The problem got out of hand, so we called an exterminator. After a few visits, the roach appearances dwindled, but still happened. Lets flash forward to December.

In December, 2010, we bought our first Christmas tree. We found something that looked like a tick on the wall, and it was full of blood. I thought to myself, "Oh, this must be a tick that came with the tree by accident... that's okay". WRONG. Turns out, my neighbors now have BEDBUGS. Like the roaches and the smoke, the bedbugs learned how to make their way into our house. Well, guess what happened. Our neighbors finally decided to fog their house (without telling us). After they did this (on Dec. 23), they left their front door open so that all the roaches and bedbugs in their house could run outside. They decided to come into our house through tiny cracks in our weather stripping in the front door. Needless to say, Christmas eve and Christmas day were sleepless nights. We ended up using painters tape around the front door so that nothing could come in. They still made their way in through the ventilation leak. So, here's the runaround... We have 2nd hand smoke, roaches, and bed bugs. Gross. We have not had guests at our house for many months, fearing what friends could take home with them. Since then, we have had to wake up and go to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual so that we can inspect clothing and the bed for bedbugs (they like to travel). In the craziness of this all, we've lost two sets of bedsheets. The first were set on fire (by accident while checking the mattress... funny story) and the second were infested with bedbugs after not checking for 2 nights.

Now we are pretty much up to speed to present day. To date, we have spent money on the floor, recaulking, extermination for roaches, and extermination for bedbugs (850 bucks per treatment man... crazy). Our neighbors agreed to exterminate for bedbugs the same day as us so that it wouldn't be a recurring problem (and they were threatened by the association to be evicted if they didn't). Well, they didn't and we did. That means we just wasted 850 bucks. The neighbor said they wanted new estimates for prices, but they could have told us that when we gave them notice 2 weeks earlier. Our exterminator went in the neighbors house and came out doing what looked like the mexican hat dance. He said their floor was moving. Literally, moving. They still haven't exterminated. The association found out that they can't evict our neighbors because the owner of the unit has not been completely foreclosed on yet. Simply stated, the owner is being foreclosed on and is collecting money from the tenants and just pocketing it without paying her mortgage. Why would she evict them? Especially now that her unit is destroyed. We called the department of health. Turns out you cannot use the Department of Health unless you file a legal claim against the neighbors first. Crap.

So here we are. My husband has decided to short sale our house because of the health hazards that we are under. Therefore, we are now moving in to my parent's house. The pros: no more bedbugs, roaches, smoke, or neighbors. The cons: if the investor who owns our mortgage is not merciful (with our short sale price and possible lump sum to get out) with our situation, Thomas's credit will be hurt...badly. That means it will be hard for him to get a job and hard for us to buy a new home when we're ready. Other cons: we are being driven out of our home by tenants... lol. When does that happen?! This is all craziness. Everything is a work in progress, and we are living one day at a time now. We will be moving some of our clothes to my parents house this weekend to start the process.

Here's where you come in. Please pray for us. A lot. Like a lot a lot. We need prayer. Patience, wisdom, and understanding. That's all we ask. Don't feel sorry for us. Things like this happen to people all the time (or so I hear). Pray that we can get out with minimal damage and that some day (hopefully sooner than later) we can find a permanent home. We've more or less have had positive attitudes throughout this situation, which is a divine blessing. That's pretty much it. Thanks for reading. Hope to be blogging more from now on so that I don't have to bombard you with a wicked long blog!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Song: Fidelity

Artist: Regina Spektor

So, in light of it being my blogs belated birthday, I decided to return to the blogging world and give writing another shot. I've been putting off writing for months now. Similar to a friend of mine, I didn't have time to write. Then things started happening that I wanted to write about, but hadn't written so long that I wanted to catch up.... so I just never did. And here I am! So, to bring you up to par... like any diet that has ever been done, I succeeded in the short term, but failed epically in the long run. Of course we all diet and re-diet and cheat and what not, so that's of no concern. However, when it comes to my mental diet, I enjoyed an Epic Win. I have grown a lot over the past few months. My marriage, friendships, and kinship has changed drastically with my adoption of a "we may never see each other again" attitude. Even in the stupid things and the people I see all the time, I kinda enjoyed them more believing that it may be the last (even though it's probably not). On another note, I did not get in to FIU Nursing school. Long story... upon complaining, I found out that they're not even sure why I didn't get in. I was super depressed for a bit, but I didn't realize that there was a different window of opportunity being opened. To shorten it, I was invited to a better program (Physician Assistant) and am currently pursuing my career! That is pretty much all that is new. Until I start my program, I'm working in 2 clinics and dissecting cadavers for my anatomy teacher (that is a whole other story in itself). I am totally enjoying my time off and getting ready for what God had planned for me all along. That's pretty much all I've got to say for now. Until next blog, here is a list of things I never wrote about but will mention briefly:

-Got a job at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

-Threw a killer surprise party for my husband

-Went through a painstaking process of getting into nursing school (only to hear that I was never rejected in the first place...wtf? communication fail.)

-Applied for PA school... I pretty much have my seat saved. YAY!

-Enjoyed a fantastic 22nd bday eating EVERYTHING... literally ate all my favorite foods. yum!

-Quit my job @ Anthony's (May-December, not a bad run!)

-Went to Hawaii (amazing)

-Saw a lot of really cool people get engaged.

That is pretty much all... I think...

Half Way There...

Song: Livin on a Prayer

Artist: Bon Jovi

So, I've been on my detox diet for 15 days now. To say the least, it has been.... interesting. It has been pretty hard to follow the rules since no one else in my family is on the same diet. So far, here is what I have encountered:

Day 1: Amanda and my Mom agree to follow the diet. Awesome!

Day 2: Tom agrees to follow my diet. Awesome! Dinner time comes. We eat healthy food. He says, "I want cereal and milk for dessert". Cool! Problem: both the cereal and milk were expired. Tom's solution: eating a dove ice cream bar. FAIL. Those are my favorite! I kinda died inside.

Day 3: Dinner at Houstons for Rey's final family get together. Hot fudge brownie sundae for dessert. =( I passed. So did Thomas, for my sake. I am so grateful.

Day 4: Lauren's Shower. Tiramisu? A big no-no. I'm not a fan, but anything looks good when you're hungry.

Day 5: Mom and Dad invite Tom and I out to lunch at FIVE GUYS BURGERS AND FRIES. We went. They ate. Mom's diet: FAIL. I ended up eating a small quiznos sub. Torture. I'm not even sure how anyone could resist the smell of those fresh cut fries and real burgers. Night time comes... Rey's going away party. Ate a grilled cheeseburger, no bun. That wasn't so bad.

Day 6: Mom and Dad invite Tom and I to Chilis. I look at my restaurant app on my ipod, see that everything has sat. fats and are super fattening.... decide not to eat. I had mozzarella and baked corn chips for dinner that evening. BLAH

Day 7: Caffeine headaches stop. THANK GOD! Life without soda/coffee is totally possible. Later, Amanda calls and finally breaks down and tells me she cheated on her diet. I wont tell you what she ate, but to say the least, I was SUPER JEALOUS. lol. Love her still though, and she is as determined as I. She's doing really well!

Days 8-15: More or less effortless. I think the first week killed all the cravings. I still wish I could eat a french fry here or there, but hey.... I'm better off without it.

Although the beginning was hard, I'm starting to see results already! I've lost 6 pounds, and my belly is near-flat. Bikini-ready body is almost here, and I couldn't be more happy. I broke my no-soda rule yesterday by drinking a can of caffeine-free ginger ale since I ate some bad shrimp, but besides that, I think I'm getting the hang of this!  Anyway... That's about it for now. Finals are next week and I need to prepare. Lets hope things go smoothly. 

Happy birthday today to Becca, Genevie, Joanna, and Sammie!

Project Detox Has Arrived!

So, it's finally here! Project Detox.... a personalized, self-created program made to help encourage healthy habits in my spiritual, emotional, and physical life. I've really wanted to clean up my act lately but have been having trouble with my lack of accountability. As a result, I've come up with project detox, cleaning up all aspects of my life at the same time in a public manner. What helps is that it takes around 21 days to condition the body and mind in a manner that you can make something "habitual" (whatever it may be). So, for the next 30 days, here are the aspects of my life I'd like to improve:

First off... the very basic PHYSICAL aspect. I want to change my diet. Currently, I consume some form of fast food at least once a week, eat something fried with almost every meal, and drink something loaded with sugar about once every other day. To say the least, at this rate, I'm going to ruin my body in a matter of no time. The plan? Going to an extreme. While some people think, extremes don't work, they drive you insane, etc., I think that I'm just going to this extreme to develop new good habits (and doesn't mean that I will eat like this for the rest of my life). For the next thirty days, I'm going to try and follow these 10 commandments to benefit my body:

1. eliminate refined sugars (candy, ice cream, etc) and eat more natural ones (fruits/veggies)

2. stay away from fried foods (they make you bloat and also crave more fatty foods)

3. not drink soda or juice from concentrate (only fresh squeezed, no sugar added)

4. drink a ton of water

5. cook the majority of my meals at home (where I can control what is used for "flavor") 

6. not eat heavy carbs after lunch, and try to replace them with complex carbs

7. stay away from caffeine (which is super addicting)

8. supplement my losses with multivitamins 

9. stay away from super fatty foods or condiments 

10. NO FAST FOOD.

Now, I am a reasonable person. I know that a normal person could not live without breaking these rules every once in a while.... and I'm okay with that (as long as it's after these 30 days). I'm just trying to train myself to eat better, and make the things listed in the commandments more of a rarity than a commonality. The benefits will be tremendous, I'm sure. Fried foods, refined sugars, and anything listed above, generally participates in the development of "the pouch" (you all know what I'm talking about) and excess fat that no one wants. I will also be exercising daily (hopefully) for at LEAST 15 minutes. My focus will be cardio since I want to lose fat and tone muscle. My goal? I want a flat belly and firm thighs. I think that's reasonable!

Next, my spiritual life. Well, first off, I need structure. I am going to make sure I do my quiet time with God. I tend to get off track when I don't do it every day. I think that making the challenge public, however, will help me make it a real habit. I'm also going to try and do my marriage devotional with Tom every day since our relationship with God is just as important. This is not where it ends though. I think the reason I am so annoyed with some people is because they carry some of the same traits as I do. I become especially annoyed with them when they carry the same spiritual deficiency. When someone is mean, I for some reason feel the urge to be mean to that person (irony). So, for the next month, expect some blog updates with how I'm going to rid myself of these deficiencies: attitude (positive would be nice), laziness, jealousy, greed, honesty (or lack thereof), and friendliness (it counts when you represent something bigger than you).  The only way to fix these things is to confront them head on... even if it means apologizing to some people I rarely speak to. Pray for me. It's not going to be easy.

Finally, I just want to come out of this as an all around better me. I want to train myself to do these things and make them habitual. Like my brother always told me, "If you're not growing, you're dying". I want to grow, and I want to be everything I was intended to be. So, this is just a challenge, baby steps, in order to reach a  what seems to be out of reach goal. I think I can do it.... but I still need all the support I can get. Day one was a great success, but I've just begun. We'll see what happens from now to April 30th.

PROJECT DETOX COMING SOON....

Song: Everybody's changing

Artist: Keane

Project Detox is a thirty day challenge I invented to encourage a physical, emotional, and spiritual cleansing in order to enjoy true freedom from life's toxicities. Day one is April 1, 2009 (no, not an april fools joke). Expect to see more soon! =)

Finally! Some Free Time!!!!

Song: Take Me Out

Artist: Franz Ferdinand

So, It's been 1.17 months since I've blogged. It was definitely a crazy January, to say the least. Where do I start!?! How about New Years. Seems like a good way to start this blog today. Of course all of these instances will be random, and most things that happened this month will be left out due to lack of blogging/time.

New Years Eve: What a hilarious way to end a great 2008. Good food, good friends, fun times... everything went flawlessly that evening until a little after the strike of 12. A friend of ours decided to play with the fireworks and light a whole package of bottle rockets (still in the plastic wrapper, setting the wrapper that holds the fuses together on fire). I wasn't outside at that exact moment. In fact, I was inside the house making fun of how boys love to play with fire (or just people in general for that matter... I like fire too.). Amanda and I walk towards the kitchen and suddenly see in the darkness of the back yard bright lights, people ducking and dropping to the floor, and fireworks exploding around eye level. Suddenly I heard screaming, and Tati rushed into the house, bleeding in the general area of her mouth. It looked like one popped in her face. Wonderful. I quickly took her to the kitchen and commenced the "cleaning of the wound" technique. FUNNNN! She was scared, poor thing. Thank God it just cut her lip, and nothing more serious than that. As soon as I finished there, I went to the back yard to see what happened. Apparently a couple of rockets fired at my hubby as well. His was a little more humorous though. A couple hit his chest and arm, and he thought he might be on fire, so he jumped in the pool (with what I now dub the "statue of liberty" pose, since one arm was straight in the air out of the pool trying to salvage his iPhone... it worked). He walked out of that situation, thankfully, with just some singed hair, a 1st degree burn on his arm, a ruined shirt (my favorite, actually), and wet clothes. No Big. I know this is old news... but I will enjoy reminiscing when i read this blog X weeks/years from now. 

After all of this went down, things generally went back to the way they were before. I started school, Tom went back to work, so on and so forth. Ana, Lauren's mom, had a great idea to give me an internship like job at the Good News Care Center down in homestead. What a blessing! I work now every Friday, and am loving every moment of it. I get to draw blood, give shots, and take vitals! WOO! I also get to see and experience some interesting sicknesses/patients. Love that job! This, among other things, has been the source of my time consumption! School has been crazy. Today I took a really tough exam for my microbiology class. What a life ruiner! I have had my face in a book for so long, I almost forgot how to enjoy my spare time! Luckily, I've had a friend to cheer me up when I was tired of school and wanting to just drop dead. 

Some more random but awesome things that have happened this month:

We found out that my Nanu (grandma) does NOT need chemotherapy, and that hormone therapy will suffice! THANK GOD!

My dad had surgery on this lump he had behind his ear, and he is looking better by the minute. A day after his surgery he was already up and running (which I did not recommend, but its how me feels better I guess). Woo!!!

The Spiegels inherited 5 glorious puppies from their dogs Honey and Louis! They are adorable, and are all healthy and adorable. 

Becca, my maid-of-honor, started public high school mid-semester and is loving every minute! So very happy for her! She looks so much happier now too!

My mom and I have been able to spend a little more time together since Tom and my dad have been attending a Bible study every Monday night. I do love spending time with my mom. So glad we have an "appointment" every week. 

My brother has been battling the crappiest weather ever in Kentucky. I feel terrible for him. I wish I could send him a palm tree and a loaf of cuban bread. Fortunately, the school snow days are over and classes are back in session! 

Lots of random awesomeness! Now I just want to be TAKEN OUT! away from the house, the computer screen, books, notes, everything. I can't wait to get out. 1 more day till the weekend! =D

Just In Time For The New Year.....

Song: Yellow (live)

Artist: Coldplay

As you all know so well, it has been an extremely eventful year for me, my family, and my friends. Just for kicks, I decided to do a quick recap of 2008! (dont be mad...i'm not mentioning birthdays... those happen every year! I might, however, mention my own... it was important!)

1. January 14, 2008: My Blog: Part of the Color Brigitte is BORN! (Photo by Glowing Light)

2. January 19, 2008: Rey leaves for Seminary in Kentucky... what a sad day

 

3. March 29, 2008: Thomas decides to pop the question....2 weeks after our anniversary! What a sneak!

4. April 12, 2008: Kristel's Bridal Shower... Amazing!! (Photo by Merari)

 Also, May 23, 2008: her Bachelorette Party...

and finally.... May 31, 2008: her glorious wedding!

5.  April 24, 2008: Mu-Dai... and Dave Uribe's incredible work of art... (He also did graduate! which is definitely a highlight of this year, but I have no pictures)

6. May 5, 2008: The day I met FRED. Need I say more? =)

7. May 25, 2008: Amanda graduates! I bought her a matching barbie... it was a good day!

8. June 3, 2008: Thomas's birthday... he (like a good steak) had finally aged to perfection!

9. June 8, 2008: What a GREAT day for an Engagement Party! =) (Photo by Paul)

10. June 21, 2008: Thomas finds out he tore his ACL, and gets it repaired days later via arthroscopic surgery! (Photo by Paul)

11. September 27, 2008: Viv's Bridal Shower!

 October 24, 2008: .....Followed by her rehearsal dinner....

 October 26, 2008: ......and then her wedding!

12. October 4, 2008: Lia's Bridal Shower! (photo by Merari)

October 30, 2008: ...Followed by her rehearsal dinner....

November 1, 2008: ...and her wedding!

13. October 8, 2008: Rey comes down to MIA for his surprise PROPOSAL! Yay!

14. October 11, 2008: Only one of the most fun days ever! My Favorite Things BRIDAL SHOWER!

15. November 9, 2008: Only the greatest wedding gift ever received... the COLDPLAY Concert!

16. November 26, 2008: The Night of the Rehearsal Dinner! Horray for crepes!

November 29, 2008: ....followed by the wedding!

December 1, 2008:.... and the honeymoon that got cut short by 7 days. =(

17. December 4, 2008.... My 21st bday! Shared with family and friends! It was also Loli's bday!

18. December 17, 2008: Thomas graduates with his MASTERS in accounting! WOO! (photo by Paul)

19. December 28, 2008: Pepper De Armas is introduced to the family! adorable =)

20.... This will just be my list of randomness...

Among all these things, we had the opportunity to:

-See Jeff Dunham Live... hilarious!

-Enjoy our very first Christmas together!

-Get picked up by search and rescue on a private island

-Go to Orlando for our honeymoon 2.0 to enjoy magic kingdom, animal kingdom, and MGM

-Get a new 2009 Acura TL in white! Yay Thomas! Happy graduation!

-Get Guitar Hero World Tour

-Have dinner guests at our home two nights in a row! (samurai night first, then loaded fries and fritas night!)

-Plan a new years party for the very first time with some friends of ours!

and most importantly.... at this moment I am writing this blog... I am witness to a wonderful miracle. I had the wonderful opportunity to watch my grandma NANU defeat breast cancer! I've been at the hospital all night with her and she looks great! Praise God that she is doing so well.

And thus concludes this awesome eventful year... in a nutshell.

My resolutions (please hold me to them!):

1. To be an amazing wife!

2. To do something extraordinary for God

3. To get into nursing school

4. To make enough money working until nursing school to pay my health insurance for the next 3 years

5. Maintain my BMI and tone my muscles

Let's hope I stick to my guns and do a good job this year!

<3 new family

Song: Glass of Water

Artist: Coldplay

My mom decided to get her new puppy this week. I had the pleasure of naming her =) Here are a couple of pictures of the adorable Pepper De Armas. New blog coming soon!

Her body is a little smaller than my size 5 foot! She'll grow... eventually! I think Macho is beginning to like her! =)

That concludes my extremely short blog! =)

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!