We know this update is LONG overdue…our apologies. The time since we became engaged has just flown by, it’s been a busy 9 months! Our original goal was to post lots of updates about all the wedding planning and just life in general along the way, but it looks like we are going to just write up a brief re-cap now – better late than never right? So here’s what has been happening with us…
We went to
Our friend Grant got tickets to the Tennis US Open, 
so we flew out there for a few days. We saw two really neat exhibits at MOMA: one on films that Dali made (who knew he did film too?) and another on different models of pre-fabricated houses. We also walked across the
check out the pictures we took in ny! http://picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/USOpenAndNYTrip#
A puppy joined our family!
Technically, Lola belongs to Martin’s mom, but she sure spends a lot of time at our house
(where she has her own basket of toys, food dishes and bed). She is from the pound, who tells us she is an Australian Shepherd, but she looks kind of like a beagle. She is super cute, very smart and trying very hard to be a well-behaved little dog. Martin is for sure her favorite – probably because he takes her out running in the rain and lets her sit on his desk while he is working.
We went to
We just got back from a little weekend trip to see Annie, and as always, we had such a wonderful time – even though she made us pick up trash for 2 hours. (Annie was in charge of one portion of the California Coastal Clean-up Project so we got to take a harbor patrol boat out to the sandspit in the bay and helped clean it up). We also made pizza with our friend Dano, went to the SLO farmers market and bought some eggplants, and shared
a bottle of wine on the beach. And while we were at the beach we saw quite a few jelly-fish washed up on the shore! 
They are definitely not quite as pretty as the ones on our invitation, but they are quite unique creatures in their own way. And after successfully rescuing one of them, Martin spent time working on a sand-sculpture replicating the famous
We had a Fabulous Bachelor/Bachelorette Party!
You’d be hard pressed to find a more glamorously kitsch hotel than the Parker Palm Springs – so that’s where our closest guy/girl friends spent an afternoon lounging by the pool and an evening eating a gourmet dinner and partying the night away. Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel even made an appearance – yep we are that cool. Check out our friends pictures here: Katie's Album, Tyler's Album
A Lovely Bridal Tea was hosted for Grace!
My beautiful bridesmaids Annie, Laura and Katie, along with my wonderful aunts Bonny and Donna threw me a bridal shower at the Tea House on
We planned a wedding…almost!
While I would love to say that everything is all set and ready to go, we are not entirely finished. Luckily it is only small details that we have to finish up. And overall, aside from a minor snafu when the bakery we were planning on using closed, everything has gone pretty well. Martin bought a very handsome suit from the Barney’s sale in
