Wow, so OK...a million things have changed in the past year. In my last post I was talking about my new apartment in San Francisco, moving out, tentatively making up with Dan, and wondering what would happen in the future.

I ditched the apartment four short months after moving in. It was way too expensive, ate up all my income, and Dan was keeping his promise about being a changed man, so I ended up spending a lot of time with him in Campbell anyways. We would go up to the SF apartment about two weekends every month. For that kind of money, we could have stayed in a beautiful hotel instead. So after much deliberation and agonizing, I decided to give my doubts and fears a rest, risk being a complete sucker, and give up the apartment. Not without first warning Dan that if he ever made me regret it, I would never forgive him.

I haven't regretted it. Not like life has been perfect or anything, but Dan is indeed a changed man, and that bullshit angry behavior is gone. He is sensitive, caring and loving. I don't know what happened to that asshole guy who was around for a while, but I'm glad he's gone.

Lots of other stuff happened, but I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow description of everything that's been going on since last July. I'll stick to the important details.

On my birthday, December 13th, 2002, Dan asked me to marry him. We were in the Hotel del Sol in San Francisco, I was checking my email, and he was naked. I noticed him next to me all of a sudden, and when I turned to him I noticed that he was completely nervous, just standing there. Then he got down on one knee, opened a ring box, and said "I love you so much. Will you marry me?", and I said, "Of course!". I was sort of in shock, even though I was hoping that he would ask. It didn't really sink in for a while, and I felt all shy about it that night when we were out with friends for my birthday...like a 16 year-old girl rather than a 33 year-old woman. I was shy about showing the ring, which was a big beautiful diamond. I was shy about talking about getting married. I don't know why....I guess I didn't want to seem like a typical chick and that this was going to be the defining moment of my life, and all I ever wanted was a big rock and to snag some man. So not me.

We already had plans to go to St. Martin for New Year's, and spend 2 weeks there with my best friend Angela and her husband Vincent. My friend Brad was flying in from New York with his boyfriend Dale too, so it would be a real party! Why not make it a WEDDING party? I never wanted a traditional wedding, I always wanted to be in an exotic location, and if we could spare ourselves the whole family ordeal *and* the expense, even better. I proposed this idea to Dan, and at first he completely nixed it on account of his parents. Then, after a few days of thinking it over, with subtle persuasion from me, he agreed to it, if his parents weren't crushed by the prospect.

Far from being crushed, his parents were fine with the idea. So we went to St. Martin and got married on January 3rd, 2003. It's another long story, so just go to http://www.viviente.com/wedding and look at the pics. I'll write more about it later.

Fast forward to April. We decided to get a dog, and couldn't find one. I sent out emails asking about a whippet, and got back one email about a rescue dog named Bugs who was half whippet and half black lab, 3.5 years old. We picked him up the same day we looked at him (April 11), fell in love, and he has been the apple of our eyes ever since. http://www.viviente.com/bugsonline

Now fast forward to two weeks ago. I had been going to my acupuncturist for some terrible allergies and skin rashes that I was having. She had been doing a great job. I went in for my last treatment, and she told me that my pulse was very different from my previous visits...faster and stronger. She asked me what was going on with me. Nothing, I replied. I felt great! Problems? Hmmm....no the only problem that I could think of was my irregular period pattern for the past month. I had had two periods almost back-to-back, then nothing since. Was the first period the real one and the second one just spotting? If so, I was overdue for the next period. If the second period *was* a real period, then the next period should arrive in a day or two.

I was normally very regular, so this was confusing me, and I was trying to chart my cycles because Dan and I were trying to get pregnant. I had given up on this month, with all the confusion involved. I had taken a test two weeks prior, and it was negative.

Dr. Liu got that "Eureka" look and she said, "You are pregnant!" I said I didn't think so...my test came out negative. "You tested too early! Take another test now. You will be pregnant, you'll see."

I told Dan about it when I got home, almost laughingly. All those months of supposedly hitting the ovulation nail on the head...no pregnancy, and now a pregnancy when I wasn't even sure *when* I ovulated, if at all?

I had a test at home, so I put it on the counter to take the next morning. I had been having trouble sleeping, so I ended up waking up at 5:00am to pee. I took the test and it was positive! I was really quite stunned. Of course, I wanted to wake Dan up right away to tell him, or at least email my girlfriends, but I just went back to bed and thought furiously for about an hour, then fell asleep and dreamed about telling Dan for another hour.

He finally woke up, slowly, and I waited at least five minutes before I said, "Guess what?" Of course, he guessed, and gave me a big hug. I didn't get any more out of him until he had digested it a little bit, a few hours later. My...so shockingly adult! At the premature age of 33...getting married and having a baby! It's funny...everyone's like, "It's about time!" But I'm almost surprised that it's happening at all. I guess I'm a late bloomer ;-) But we're thrilled. I really can't wait to meet this baby and get to know him or her. What will he/she be like? What will he/she look like? Very exciting. My due date is around February 6th, 2004.

So I have a jewelry class right now, gotta jet. Lots of projects in the works, lots of things to do and learn before baby arrives.