We are Engaged...and we are getting married!

Hi folks,

It's been a while. Last time you heard from us we were celebrating our two-year anniversary as boyfriend and girlfriend in Harlem. Well, much has happended in the last few months. Chris and I got engaged the first weekend of April in Ann Arbor, MI. We were visiting to attend Kristi's wedding (it was beautiful :>). We have been busy planning our wedding, which will be in Lima, Peru next year. We hope you are doing well....much love, Carmen Andrea & Chris

January 19, 2008: Our two year anniversary!

We were so happy our anniversary was on a Saturday, not on a weekday. We went to Mobay's Restaurant in Harlem that a friend from work, Lauren, told us about. What a fun night it was! The place is super chic with great New Oreleans and Soul food. The place had great service, wonderful live soul/blues music, and great cocktails!

I got a bit tipsy with the yummy drinks. I printed out wallet size pictures of myself for Chris, and made a photo album for us. Chris and I had a lovely time. We remembered our first date and our first anniversary. The year before we got each other dozen roses.

New Years in Virginia!!

The day Ryan left, the 30th, we left too to make the trip to D.C. again. When we arrived we took the metro to the last stop in Virginia where Kateri and Terry, Chris’ daddy, picked us up. We drove for an hour and arrived at the house of Kateri’s sisters. It was a lovely and calm experience. We got to see Kateri’s siblings that we met at her wedding and we met a few more. The next morning, Terry, Kateri, Chris, Renee and I went on a long hike in the woods. Virginia is such a lovely state. We took lots of pictures. We watched the DVDs ‘Sam I am’ and ‘Cheaper by the Dozen.’


For New Year’s Eve, Chris and I bought champagne for the dinner. We had such a lovely time. That night they exchanged Christmas presents. Kateri and Terry gave us some lovely blooms to plant flowers! The trip was short, but we am glad we made the trip the second time to see Chris’ daddy and Kateri.

December: Traveling! Family! Andrea’s B-day! More friends

Chris and I took the Apex bus to D.C. were we met up with Patty and my parents, who made the drive from Michigan. We shared a hotel room and decorated it with our presents and our bonsai Christmas tree that we bought. We bought mini ornaments! Mini! We loved going to the Zoo because the Pandas were so cute! Unfortunately, we got rained out so we had to leave it early. It was such a fun time.

We were there for five days. We went to the Spy Museum where Chris bought me a Sneaky hoody and shirt. Then, we went to the Portrait museum to see the Presidents’ portraits. The Space museum and the Natural History museum were so awesome! Chris' knees have bee acting up so we got him a wheel chair when we had to do a lot of walking. We ate at Crisp & Juicy, a great Peruvian chain of yummy CHICKEN!

For Christmas, we ate at Patty’s place with the couple that rents out a bedroom to her. My parents cooked their famous lamb dish. Chris and I cocked five pounds of muscles. Patty’s friend, Jessica joined us for Christmas Eve dinner. On Christmas day, we opened our presents in the hotel room. We got a cool Foot massager from mom and dad. D.C has a great metro system because there are no rats! For my birthday, we ate at this cute Spaniard restaurant. It was so yummy! Unfortunately, our trip was cut short, and we made our way back home.

(For more pictures, stay tunned to our slide show section coming up next)

The day after we arrived, on the 28th, our friend, Ryan, came to visit. We ate at Lombardi’s pizza and visited the Dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum. The trip was cut short and Ryan helped us out a lot. He put our books in boxes so the exterminator could come and spray our place for bedbugs. He also helped Chris move furniture that I couldn't help with.

November: Chris' B-day and more family!!

Chris’ b-day was on a Thursday so we could not do much, because he works at least sixty hours a week, but with traveling he 'works' 15-17 hours a day. So needless to say, I knew Chris was coming home b/t 8-9pm so I made dinner and I baked a birthday cake for him. Then that weekend we went to Macy's and got him his gift, a chic suit. That same weekend our friend, Kira, came to visit us. I decided to take us out for his birthday for a proper dinner. I chose a Peruvian restaurant--no surprise there. We went to Mancora where I blew lots of money on drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts. Then we went to the movies to see American Gangster!

More family! Becky, Mike, Liam and Fin came to visit us for a weekend. Like most family trips this one went flying so fast! Cousin Sarah took us all out to dinner at a BBQ place. It was yummy. Then, we went to Toys 'R Us to ride the ferris wheel and buy Liam's Christmas present.

The next day, Chris, Mike, me and Fin went up the empire state building & ate at Jimbos, our local diner. That afternoon, went to the MOMA, but we had to rush through it. Mike really wanted to go so we went. I wish we hadbeen there longer. Chris and I got really sick baby sitting the kids while Becky and Mike went out. Their last night there, Becky, Chris and I went to a Karaoke bar. I had fun, but Chris and I were very sick. I drank water all night and sung one song that required no singing. Still, the next day Chris had a high fever and I was not feeling so hot either so I took a sick day to take care of Chris and myself. I hope Becky and Mike make the trip again soon!

October...a time for friends, family and parties

Our dear friend, Wen, took us out to Lombardi’s Pizza welcoming Chris and me to NYC. It was so nice to see Wen even if it is for a few hours. We also met up with Yukari for lunch downtown. It was a lovely day and we walked around. We ran into a street parade on what looked to be a Mexican holiday. It is sad, but everybody works crazy hours and we rarely see our friends.

Patty came to visit us at the end of October. She took the Chinatown Bus from D.C. It was a five hour trip for her and it was a rainy night. Patty, a wiz at getting around, made her way uptown and met us at our stop in Harlem. That night the three of us got ready for a night on the town. Joe and Theresa, our friends, met up with as at our place and then the five of us commenced our way downtown. Our friend, Alzeira, was having her Halloween party that night. When we got there, the place was cute but too little for all the people. Alzeira was still at work at midnight. We decided to go to a bar nearby and be merry until Alzeira got back. Unfortunately, by the time Alzeira got back it was so late. But we at least got to hug her! Our night did not end there; we went to en Egyptian hookah club and danced all night. The next day Chris took the three of us to Lombardi’s where we ate NYC's best pizza ever. Then we went to see the BODIES Exhibit; it was such a great exhibit!!! On Sunday, we went to the Latin Grammy Street Fair in Queens where we met up with Anushka, a friend from work, and her boss. We had a blast!

September 2007: Our first month in NYC!!! Jobs and Rescue Missions

On September fifth, Andrea started her work at L’Oreal, while Chris looked for jobs and wrote hundreds of cover letters and updated his resumes. Poor baby, we did not get internet installed until three ways later so Chris had to take the train to Midtown so he can use the Public Library's free wireless internet in order to look for jobs and send resumes/cover letters.
At the end of September Chris got an interview with 8x8 Construction to become an inventory manager and driver. He nailed his interview and he looked sharp with clothes he bought at Macys for a good deal. He got the job!!!! More soon to come about how the job is going!

Chris’ Rescue mission:
Barely two weeks into Sep. Chris saved a 16 year young man from jumping our 17story building. We live on the top floor and one night we heard two boys arguing. The youngest of the brothers, an 11year old boy knocked the doors asking for help. Chris and a couple other neighbors followed the young boy to the roof where his older brother was about to jump after a broken heart. Gail, Joshua and Chris tried to reason with the teen. Meanwhile, Andrea comes out of the bathroom and notices Chris is gone. She looks out the door to see the young boy crying for his brother and ten cops coming out of the elevator and going up the stairs to the roof. On the roof, just as Chris and our neighbors are making progress, the cops come rushing in and the teen begins his climb up the safety wall to jump. Chris lunges himself at the teen and bear hugs him away from the wall with all his force and hits his knee on the wall while saving the teen from death. Soon after, Chris comes home to a scared and a confused Andrea. Afterwards, our neighbors came by and nocked our door even days after the incident thanking Chris for saving the young teen's life.

The Trip to New York City: Part 2

September 1st:
Normally a five hour trip to NYC from Bethesda MD, it took us eight hours because of multiple accidents and traffic. When we arrived to Manhattan we drove right over it via George Washington Bridge and ended up in the Bronx right across the Harlem River from where our new apartment was. We called Jose and had him Google map our location and help us get home to Harlem (north Manhattan) since we did not have a good map. We arrived at 8pm.

Then the nightmare began…..it took us nine hours to unload the truck. We were unloading until 5am and woke up at 9am to finish unloading. We return the truck at 11:32am, exactly the time it was due clearing us of any fees. The rental guy had never seen that before. When we got to our apartment, we realized that we had too much stuff for a studio less than 300 square feet; it is a life size game of Tetris. We unpacked almost all of our boxes in two days, but we were finally moved in after three months after we donated some stuff and purchased things to make our apartment more habitable. After we got the bikes stands to get all five bikes off the floor, we were able to setup the art easel so Andrea could paint.

The Trip to New York City: Part 1

August 31st:
That morning was so sad as I saw Amparo and Jose, my parents, waving goodbye as Chris and I drove away. Our trip took us through Maryland, where we dropped a few boxes and Patty’s bicycle for Patty. Our trip was long, and at first I was scared to drivethe truck, but I drove a big part of the way. In Maryland, we stayed the night where we ate dinner at Dave&Busters and played games. We stayed at a swanky hotel that Patty got for us as a way to thank us for dropping off some of her stuff. We watched Beer Fest onTV. I am glad we made the trip to Maryland because the trip straight to NYC from Michigan would have been longer. The next morning, we ate at Panera and took pictures. Soon after, we embarked to NYC. To be continued...

Moving Week, the last week in August 2007

What a busy life. It is February 2, 2008. Chris and I finally have some time together as we sit on our flight to Peru. We have decided to finally start updating our blog so all of you wonderful people in our lives can see what we have been up to.

August 28-31st:It took us two days to load the truck; it was completely full. Traffic was miserable on the way east. Thank you for everybody’s help for getting us packed and loaded. Thank you for everybody for your donations.

Updated List: Please contact us for donations!

Fireproof money safe, sofa bed, Toilet brush and a plunger, small coffee table, Towels (hand, face, body), forks, knifes, spoons, Trash cans (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom), Frying pan, 2 pots (s,m,l), spatulas, cooking wear, small fire extinguisher, cutting board, Cleaning supplies (dustpan, mop etc), condiment holder, blender, Place mats, first aid kit (+ thermometor), Dry eraser for fridge, cooking knife set, Jar, Water jug filter, Picture frames, 1 Flower vase, Bicycle trailer/ little luggage cart for shopping, hand vacuum cleaner, sauce pan, teakettle, Thermos, bedding for queen bed, potato peeler, shower curtain, soap & toothbrush holde

Taking care of Carmen while she is recovering

Carmen just had tonsilectomey, adenoidectomy, and ear tubes in her ear drums. Needless to say, she is hurting. It is sad. I hate to see my baby suffer. On the upside, we get to spend more time together. We watch movies and read books together. She is a lot of fun even when she is really sick. I love her.

We have updated our list of things that we need as we have been gathering many things from our loving families and friends. Thank you to all for your generous support. We are very anxious, and increasingly excited and happy for our move. We are more confident that we can take care of each other and are able to work out our problems with ease.

I have recently ended my tenure with both Hullabaloo and the Ypsilanti Community band, and will soon leaving two of my four jobs in anticipation of our upcoming vacation to Michigan's upper peninsula for my mom's annual family reunion and subsequent move to NYC.

Stuff we need

Hello,

Chris and I came up with a list of things we need to get for NYC. We have little money available so we are hoping people have extra things that they don't need that they are willing to sell for cheap or donate. Things that we already own have the symbol * next to it. Some things we don't really need, but as you can see from the list there are things that we need.

Chris y yo amos escrito una lista con cosas que nesesitamos para Nueva York.

1. Queen size bed (including mattress) *
2. Two dressers *
3. Dinning room set
4. At least one couch (fold up couch)
5. Small coffee table
6. Plates, bowls, cups, mugs, glasses, forks, knifes, spoons
7. Frying pan
8. Spatulas
9. Cutting board
10. Condiment holder
11. A Whizzer
12. Cooking knife set
13. Jar
14. Water jug filter
15. Flower vase
16. Wall clock
17. Standing lamp *
18. Book case *
19. Two desks
20. Vacuum cleaner
21. Sauce pan
22. Big pot
23. Coffee maker
24. Espresso maker
25. TV
26. Flat Screen monitor (For Chris, but if no TV it will be a shared cost)
27. Bathroom curtain, soap holder, toothbrush holder
28. Scale
29. Stereo remote
30. Microwave (fortunate)
31. Toilet brush and a plunger
32. Towels: hand, washcloth, face, body
33. Iron and iron board (little) *
34. Trash cans: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom
35. File cabinet (Andrea)
36. Paper shredder
37. Fireproof Safe
38. Small fire extinguisher
39. Cleaning supplies: broom, dustpan, mop
40. Windex and pledge
41. Place mats
42. Bulletin board
43. Dry eraser for fridge
44. Laundry hamper
45. Digital camera
46. Keyboard
47. Picture frames
48. Toaster
49. Throws
50. Bicycle trailer/ little luggage cart for shopping
51. Web cam (Carmen)
52. Kettle
53. Thermos
54. Phone (landline?)

Planning for our move to NYC

Hi family and Friends. This is our blog since we will be leaving Michigan in a August to move to New York City. There will be many new obstacles in front of us, but there will also be many new opportunities as well. Christopher and I are excited, but also a bit sad and scared. By the way, our title in English means "Two squirrels in love."

Peace,
Andrea