Category Archives: life

week in the life

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I found this on Christie’s LJ… I think I want to try it. 😀

Aim of the Game: For one week, you are to post photographs taken during the day.

Rules:
1. You must take between 6 and 8 new photographs per day.
2. Your WITL must be consecutive. No skipping days.
3. You must post your photographs at the end of that day, sometime after the last picture is taken.
4. Each photograph must have the time taken beneath and a title, with no other explanation.

You must post these rules at your first entry, then link back to it for the other six days so that people will know wtf you’re doing.

Your post must say “A Week in the Life of [your name/username], Volume [whatever day you’re on].”
___
I have a feeling I will fail at this and post pictures days after I took them… but let’s not think about that. First, let’s see if I can remember to bring the camera with me to work tomorrow. 😀

dance lessons

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So Rob and I decided to take dance lessons. HEE. We thought it would make us a little more comfortable during our first dance at the wedding. 🙂

Our initial consultation was this past Saturday. Our instructors, Karen and Michael were recommended to us by our recently married friends Jimmy and Eleen. They were awesome! We shared our first dance music with them (should I reveal what it is? :D), they made suggestions about the dance style they recommend (rumba), and then they taught us a few basic steps, turns, and transitions. It was a lot of fun! But hard work — there’s so much more to think about when you’re dancing with a partner. Rob was totally sweating after the hour was up. Hehe.

When we got home that night, we tried to practice in our itty bitty living room and found that we had already forgotten most of what we learned. OOPS.

Our first official lesson is in a few weeks — let’s hope we pay better attention. Or we might end up looking like crazies in front of all our family and friends! 😛

intj + isfj

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I’m back from my long weekend in LA. And of course, I return to find that a stinky virus hit a ton of Coppermine sites — one of which is CreekCaps.com. UGH. A few people have emailed me about the problem and it’ll probably take me a few days to get the site cleaned up. I so don’t want to do this right now. Don’t these people have better things to do than mess with personal sites?!? I mean, REALLY. GAWD. Huge thanks to Mandy at Josh-Jackson.net for letting me know about the attacks.

What a pain.

Anyway.

Rob and I had a good weekend in LA visiting family and meeting with our wedding vendors. Here’s a quick rundown…

Saturday
In the morning, I visited Candi Merle, a super popular SoCal veil maker, to discuss veils (obviously). Trying on veils made me feel even more “bridal” than trying on dresses. I tried on a bunch of options from short to looooooong. The short veils seemed to make me look even shorter than I already am and the really looooooong ones had way too much fabric for me to handle. I settled on one that cascades along the side and just barely touches the floor. SQUEE. It’s supposed to arrive in a few weeks. I can’t wait to prance around the apartment in it. 😀 Just kidding. Kind of.

That night we had dinner with Rob’s friends at Hometown Buffet in honor of a late friend’s birthday. The buffet was nothing spectacular but they had some amazing cornbread. Mmm. Too bad they ran out before I had the chance to snag another piece. I think that was a sign that I should be scaling back on the carbs. 😛
We also opened the presents we’ve received so far — they’re all being delivered to Rob’s parent’s house since there is just no room here. Our friends are such generous people. *sniff* Here’s Rob with the Kitchenaid Mixer! I never thought we’d actually get this…



Sunday
Rob and I had our first Marriage Prep class. A 4 hour session on a Sunday! But as much as we were dreading it, I really feel like we got a lot out of it. We started off with the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which is a personality test designed to tell you about your yourself. I discovered that I am an ISFJ (quiet, likes order, good at responsibilities, thoughtful) and Rob is an INTJ (analytical, logical, mentally quick). The descriptions fit us perfectly. We learned how our personality types work together and were, again, totally blown away by the accuracy of the advice. For example, with my personality, I need more affection from Rob so it is suggested that he smile and look at me lovingly, especially when seeing me for the first time. BWAH! But totally on point. Seriously.

Next we took the FOCCUS, which is a survey of 189 questions(!) designed to help facilitate discussion between engaged couples. This totally made me realize that while we’re on the same page with regards to most issues, there are still some things we need to talk about, like religion and family planning. Who knew that getting married isn’t just planning a party? 😛

Finally, we had a private meeting with the Father officiating our wedding to go over the structure of the ceremony. OMG. This was the meeting that gave me the whole “butterflies” feeling. Choosing which vows we wanted to read, practicing where we’re going to stand… it’s the weirdest thing, I tell you.

Monday
We had a couple of meetings in the morning — one with our fab coordinator Angel and another at our venue to go over the details, like linens, miscellaneous stationery, timeline of the reception, lighting, etc, etc, etc. OMG, you guys. There is SO MUCH STUFF to think about. Just a year ago I had NO IDEA. Wowzers.

As a sweet treat before the drive back to the Bay, we stopped by the Pinkberry in Huntington Beach. Here I am with a LARGE (don’t worry, Rob had some too) Original Yogurt with strawberries, Captain Crunch, and mochi. Heaven.



Why is my face so ROUND? UGH.

And that was my weekend! Phew. Sorry for all the rambling… I didn’t really want to monopolize my blog with wedding planning entries but I realized that it’s taking over my life right now and my blog should reflect that…

Random — I just noticed that Mario Kart for the Nintendo Wii is being released next week. I’m SO going to get it. I love racing games. Even though I’m totally awful at them.

😀

it has begun

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Not only has the wedding taken over our finances, it has started to take over our apartment.



There’s candles/votives, ribbon, candy, petals, initial letters… and a whole lot of other stuff. And this was *before* we received a huge delivery of boxes for our invitations. EEK.

Anyway, Rob, Diesel and I are heading down to LA tonight for another weekend of wedding meetings. It’s never-ending! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

diesel’s first bday

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Diesel celebrated his first birthday last Tuesday, April 1st. Yes, he’s a little April Fool! 🙂 He’s a spoiled pup so he got a couple of new toys and a birthday cookie. I have to share some pics (please excuse the messy apartment)…

Here he is posing with his presents (a stuffed hot dog, rope tug, and a cookie!).



Eating his cookie. He totally loved it, hehe. I held it for him because I knew he would make a mess. And I didn’t want him to gobble it down too fast, like he normally does with his treats.



After eating half the cookie (I wouldn’t let him finish it). Look at the blue mess he made of his face!



I love this little guy. *hearts*

THE dress

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My wedding dress is IN!!! YAYAYAYAY.

Sadly I won’t get to try it on until my first fitting on May 27. But I totally want to go visit it before then. Admire it. Feel it. Maybe even give it a hug. Can you tell I’m excited? 😀

Too bad my excitement has now been deflated with the thought of fitting into the dress. I don’t think I’ve gained any weight but… UGH.

Time to hit the gym. BOO.

registry stalker

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So the other day I was browsing around on the Crate and Barrel website to see if there was anything I could add to our registry when I saw IT. That wonderful word in RED.

Fulfilled

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!! Someone bought us our first wedding gift(s)! WOWOWOW.

It’s really real now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so much, whoever you are. 😀

back from vegas

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I meant to post this days ago. OOPS.

I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday. And I totally sat at work on Monday doing nothing. Shhh. Don’t tell on me. I was TIRED.

I had a good time. And I’m not even that big of a Vegas person. 😀 Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend…

So my friend (and bridesmaid!) Ruby wanted to surprise her boyfriend Jason (also my good friend and colleague — I used to be his assistant and now he’s my sales rep) with a birthday trip to Vegas with friends. Rob and I arrived on Friday night (after a short delay in Oakland, of course) and after a quick change of clothes, we headed off to the Mandalay Bay to meet up with our friends to surprise the birthday boy. We were supposed to meet outside of the Orchid Lounge, which is where Ruby and Jason were having drinks. As we approached, Ruby happened to be looking in our direction and what did I do — I WAVED. OMG. I’m such a moron. Luckily, Jason was looking down and didn’t see me. Phew. Once all of us were gathered, we walked in and practically jumped all over the poor guy. 😀 After a few hours of talking and drinking (only half an Amaretto Sour for me), we went over to the Rum Jungle for more drinking (not me) and dancing (yay).

Here I am with Ruby and Jason…



And here’s the group taking shots…



Sadly, the DJ at Rum Jungle was terrible. So there was not much dancing. We finally dispersed at 3am. EEEK. It was rough getting up the next day. I am too old to be staying out that late. :/

Didn’t do much on Saturday (poor Jason had a *little* too much to drink so he was out of commission for most of the day) but I did get to check out the Wynn. I haven’t been to Vegas since it opened a few years back and wow, the lobby and the shopping esplanade are gorgeous. The casino, though, looks just like every other casino on the strip. While we were there, I dragged Rob to the Manolo Blahnik store (later I even dragged Ruby into the Jimmy Choo store at Caesar’s Palace) — all in the name of “research” for my wedding shoes. A girl can dream, right? 😀

We went to Aquanox at the Venetian for dinner. YUM-O. I had the filet mignon at a seafood restaurant. Hee. Afterwards, the guys headed off to the blackjack tables and Ruby and I took advantage of the free drink service (just cokes for me). Aaannnd that was our weekend. We hopped on a flight back to Oakland early on Sunday morning and took a nap as soon as we got home.

Good times. 🙂

In fandom news, has anyone heard/read the casting news for Prison Break season 4? WHAT THE HELL. TV Guide’s Ausiello has an interview with the executive producer if you want to read all about it. I think I might start watching again.

starbucks love

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Aww yeah. My week is OVER! Tomorrow’s a holiday at work (“Spring Friday” is our PC term for it, hehe) and I’m heading to Las Vegas for the weekend to celebrate a good friend’s birthday. Woot. I just finished packing and of course, I overpacked. Oops. What? I need options! Hee.

So I’m finally a “regular” somewhere! It only took a year but the employees at the Starbucks across the street from work finally know my name and my order. A tall nonfat peppermint mocha. 😀 When I’m standing in line and one of them sees me, they yell out my name and confirm that I’m having the mocha. Sometimes I like to freak them out and order a tall nonfat latte. Hee. And the best part is that they charge me for a tall and I always get a venti. YAYAYAY. I feel so loved. 😀 Too bad I *really* need to lay off the Starbucks cause the venti is about quadruple the calories of the tall. I should have given it up for Lent. Maybe next year…

Also, why is printing addresses on wedding invitation envelopes considered bad etiquette?! My handwriting is not pretty enough to write all the addresses. And I don’t want to pay a calligrapher (hey, I’m cheap — I have to cut corners somewhere). ARGH. Oh, wedding etiquette. I shake my fist at you.

I’m so random today.

5 months to go

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So… the wedding is in 5 months. !!! I’m not freaking out. Yet. 😀 We’ve actually been making some good progress in the past month. Let’s see, we’ve…

— Booked the videographer
— Reserved a suite at the Fairmont for “getting ready” with my bridesmaids (squee, girly fun!) and for the night of the wedding
— Booked my hair and makeup artist
— Ordered bridesmaids dresses from Jenny Yoo. They’re a lovely pink color in silk shantung fabric. My Maid of Honor and I narrowed the choices down to 3 styles and each girl chose their own dress. See how pretty!



 

— Ordered and mailed out our Save the Date postcards!



— And lastly, we’ve ordered our invitations… they’re set to arrive in a month. I don’t think I can wait. I loooove staring at them… all metallic and shiny. Is it possible to be in love with stationery? Cause I totally am. 😀

In non-wedding news, I totally failed at my Lenten sacrifice this weekend because I ate ice cream both days. OOPS. It was totally worth it, though. :/ Just LOOK!



Yesterday, Rob, Diesel and I went to 4th Street in Berkeley. I wanted to go over to my little slice of heaven, aka Paper Source, to get some inspiration for miscellaneous paper projects I have planned for the wedding. Weelll, no trip to 4th Street is complete without a stop at Sketch. The owners, Ruthie and Eric, were former pastry chefs at Aqua. They use produce/fruits that are in season so everything is packed with flavor but never too heavy or too rich. It’s just perfect. I had the Strauss plain yogurt with cocoa nib topping (on the left) and Rob had the Cocoa Nib. Mmmm. I’m drooling right now thinking about it. We’ve also tried Earl Grey (sounds weird but it’s incredible), Raspberry sorbet (a bit tart but yummy), and Burnt Caramel (*drool*).



Today’s stop on the East Bay ice cream tour was Ici, also in Berkeley. This store was opened by Mary, a former pastry chef from Chez Panisse… I think I like this trend of pastry chefs leaving top restaurants if it means MORE ICE CREAM STORES! Rob and I waited a little over half an hour to get our ice cream but boy, was it WORTH IT. YUM-O. My treat (pictured above) was the Meyer Lemon (so light, so refreshing) and Chocolate Chip with a hand-rolled cone (the cone was so good and it had a chocolate tip!). Rob had the Chocolate Chip and Milk Chocolate Almond, which was also pretty spectacular. I can’t wait to go back and try some of the other flavors, like Ginger, Honey Lemon, Coconut Sorbet, etc.

Diet? What diet? Heh. OOPS.