The Westin Resort beach in St. John. This is where Ricky proposed. Imagine it dark, at night, bathed in moonlight. Torches of fire lit the brick pathway and only sparsely lighting the beach. We were snuggling on one of the beach chairs, where it wasn't entirely dark but just out of reach of the firelight. So we had a lot of privacy, it was really sweet.

saturday, april 30 2005 - Poker Face

Today I played my first game of poker, Ray and Andrej vey patiently taught me, Ricky and Elaine how to play. They even especially went to buy new chips for us to play with, such great friends. After a couple of rounds, I think I became totally addicted to the game. Although I am still not a good payer (by far) it is a lot of fun. I now finally know what call, raise and fold means. I also landed a hand of straight flush, which I was told is a rarity inthe poker playing world. That, was pretty cool. I got so into playing that I was kinda upset when we had to stop because Euhan and Elaine had to go eat dinner. But hey, I know, people got to eat. We ended up playing a couple rounds of Big Two before calling it quits.

I must say, I really got to work on my poker face though. Always smiling and singing works great (I think) when you are just hanging out with friends, but doesn't work at the poker table. I really love hanging out with friends. In Leadership class, we were told that Introverts like to be alone with they have very good or very bad news. Extroverts are just the opposite. I think I must be an extrovert, since I always seem to enjoy myself so much more when I am surrounded by others. I definitely know how to value my time alone, but the most fun comes from being with others.

All in all, it was an entirely unproductive (if you don't count the Revlon 5K as productive) but very fun day.

april 29 2005 - Va Tutto

I went shopping! I wasn't supposed to, but then I had lunch with Ricky downtown and couldn't resist heading over the South Street Seaport for a stroll. After that, I headed over to Century 21 to browse for shoes. Of course, I didn't really buy anything, but shopping itself is quite fun.

Anabela, an old friend from TAS was in town so we had dinner with her and a bunch of her old NYU friends at Va Tuttto. We waited for an hour for the food, but the restaurant gave us a free bottle of wine to make up for the wait, that really made things all better. I then headed home, have to wake up early tomorrow.

The Engagment

This is my engagement ring. I tried putting it on my hand to take the picture, but then the pores in my fingers looked like something out of a horror movie. So I decided to put it on my pebble fruit plate. This was a wedding present from Nancy and Richard, I love it. It has the effect of pebbles underwater.

Ricky and I got engaged on August 18th in St. John. The trip had been planned for a while so it was not a surprise, but it is worth it to mention that I was in Hong Kong for like 2 months prior because I had some time off after I had quit my job and before school started, so there was som planning on his part! On like the third day after we got there he took me to the beach after dinner. We walked along for a while and he suggested we stay and sit on one of the beach chairs. There we just cuddled and chatted for a while, listening to the sounds of the waves and the reflection of the moon in the ocean. It was really quiet on the beach at that time of the night, the only light came from the moon and the torchfires that lit the walk way which we had carefully avoided. At some point, he started talking about the engagement ring I wanted, I stuck to my guns and said, 3 carats!

He said: " I can't afford that"
I said: "You better or I won't marry you!"
He said: "But I bought the ring already!"
I said: "No way, I don't believe you."
He said: "I'll show you!" and pulled out a small velvet black box...
I said: "No way! Bu*lsh*t." Sigh...I have such a potty mouth....

... after what felt like eternity, he actually asked the question. I said... woah...um, ok! Haha.. not quite the script I had rehearsed but the idea was there. After the ring was on my finger, we walked to the beach cafe to have the best warm chocolate cake ever. And the rest is history!

By the way, it was too dark on the beach for me to cross examine the diamond itself. But it turned out to be pretty impressive all the same... PASS!

Canang Sari, this is where my wedding will be on June 3rd. 

This is my baby: Brownie 

thursday, april 18 2005 - party cloudy

I'm a student at Columbia Business School and took my Macroeconomics final this morning. Needless to say, it was a painful experience. Not only did I almost run out of time, I also failed to discuss in detail the full implications of the overheating economy in China I probably also shifted the IS or LM or FE curve in the wrong direction.

Anyways, this is the last time in my life I would need to take an exam in economics...if I can help it! A burden has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel much more relaxed now.