Hey all!

It’s been a super busy few weeks and lots to update everyone on!

First and foremost, I have been away from golf and from my computer for the past two plus weeks. My fiancé Lisa and myself scheduled a trip to visit family and friends along the east coast (also Toronto, Canada) as well as spend a good amount of time in Saratoga Springs, NY to continue planning for our wedding early next year by meeting with our chosen vendors.

First, we flew up to Trenton, NJ to visit my sister, Jen, her husband Sam and my niece Nora (4 months old). We had a great trip here connecting with Nora and got to spend some quality time playing games and helping to take care of the little one. Here are a couple pictures from our trip to New Jersey:

We then went to Lisa’s friend’s wedding in Kingston, NY and stayed nearby in Woodstock. The weather held up for the ceremony and the reception was so much fun! Congrats to Casey and Andrew on their new lives together. The following morning we had brunch downtown and sampled some baked goodies at a local store down the block.

Then it was off to Toronto to visit Lisa’s Aunt Maija and Uncle Chris. It was quite a long drive in the minivan but we made it safely despite a good bit of traffic as we got closer to the city. We had some great food here as well thanks to Maja and Chris’ wonderful cooking skills and had the pleasure of spending some time in Lisa’s cousin’s art gallery in the city which was remarkable! She had a great selection of artists and their works and did a superb job with the lighting and the displaying of the artwork to create a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. After we said our good-byes to the family members, we hit the road again to travel back towards Saratoga Springs.

Due to the copious hours of driving that had already taken place during the prior week, we decided to make an overnight stop in Utica to get some rest and prepare for our numerous appointments we had scheduled for the next day.

Since so many things happened the proceeding days, I will give you a summary:

-Appointment with the Florist

-Cake Consultation

-Cake tasting and consultation

-Meeting with our DJ

-Tasting with our Caterer (so amazing!!!!)

-Phone call with a potential Officiate (we ended up going with her)

-Appointment to browse our venue (first time seeing it in person)

-Engagement Photo Session!

I am sure I have left something out, but you get the picture. A busy week of appointments, tastings and the like. Amidst all of that, I ended up having to go to the local Urgent Care one morning when I woke up very sick and in a lot of pain…

The good news was that I wasn’t going to need any invasive surgeries or procedures done to me despite the doctors saying it might be a possibility. An ultrasound proved it was a just some localized bacterial infection that could be solved with some antibiotics and some pain meds for the (major) discomfort. I will spare you any further details but suffice to say I am finally on the mend and almost done with my medications.

Although we were not able to go to the Saratoga Race Track on opening day due to my poorly-timed illness, we were able to go the following day. This was my first time at the track and I had a blast even though I had no clue what I was doing when strategizing my bets.

I was up a few dollars (maybe $20 or so) and ended up losing it on what I thought to be my safest and final bet of the day. Even still, a break-even effort at the track is a success to me! Not only that, but we ended up getting seats (for free!) in the clubhouse because of a giveaway that our hotel was running which made the day that much more special. Almost forgot! Lisa and I were interviewed while having our photo shoot downtown Saratoga and we ended up making it on the local 11:00 news!

It was a very memorable, but hectic, time away from home and from golf, but I loved every minute of it.

Stay tuned for an update on my tournament results!