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.

tv catch-up

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I was trying to avoid them but those darn Girl Scouts found me today! I bought my usual Thin Mints and Samoas. 😀 YUM-O.

Rob was out of town last week so I took advantage of the fact that I had the TV all to myself and caught up on some of my girly shows! 🙂 Some brief thoughts…

Ugly Betty
I’m finding Amanda really grating and annoying this season. It might be her storyline bringing out the worst in her. Is it just me? And possibly another unpopular opinion but I think I’m starting to prefer Betty/Gio over Betty/Henry. Last season I adored Henry and was totally rooting for a relationship between him and Betty. But now that they’re a couple, they just don’t work for me anymore… they’re actually, dare I say it, a little boring. :/

One Tree Hill
I know that Peyton has been a completely unreasonable b*tch so far this season but I can’t help it… I’m still a Peyton apologist. I just love her and want her to be happy. And I take back what I said originally about Lindsey, I have decided that I am not a fan. Mostly because I don’t believe that her character is going to last long in the world of Tree Hill (I mean, come on) so quite honestly, I don’t feel the need to get invested. Anyway, I knew it — I knew Nanny Carrie was up to no good. I’m so pissed at Nathan for not doing anything or SAYING anything about her completely inappropriate behavior. ARGH. Why, Nathan?!? It’s totally going to come up again because there is no way that Carrie’s storyline is done. BOO.

Lipstick Jungle
I’ve only seen the pilot and the most recent episode and it’s marginally better than Cashmere Mafia. And that’s mostly because I like Brooke Shields, Kim Raver, and Lindsay Price (she looks exactly the same as she did on 90210) and find their friendship/personalities to be relatable and believable. (Except why is Lindsay’s character named Victory?! Really?) I never would have thought these 3 actresses would work so well together but they do. I’ll watch the show if I happen to remember that it’s on but I won’t go out of my way. It’s too bad… I really wanted to “click” with this show. Can you tell I miss Sex and the City?

I just realized that I haven’t watched the last 3 episodes of Smallville and I’m too lazy to download them… anyone want to fill me in? 🙂

YAY — NBC renewed Friday Night Lights! Woot.

Finally, voting for Diesel is still going on here. 😀

vote for diesel

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Rob and I submitted Diesel’s picture in Bissell’s Most Valuable Pet photo contest. So if you guys have a couple of seconds, would you please vote for him? He’ll give you lots of puppy kisses. 😀

You can vote for him here.

day at the gym

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I was running (well, more like jogging) on the treadmill at the gym tonight and I FELL DOWN and hit my a*s on the floor. HARD.

BWAH.

I totally thought I would be more embarassed than I was… luckily it was about 9:30 and there were maybe 3 other people there. Hehehe.

It was so silly. Somehow my iPod fell off the reading rack and found itself on the floor. I decided to pick it up. I thought I hit PAUSE on the machine, when I actually DID NOT. So I turned around slowly, not realizing that the treadmill is still going, and promptly fell on the track. And then fell again on the floor. I think I was in shock for about a second before I started laughing at myself.

My butt is going to be so bruised tomorrow. 😛

oscars 2008

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Argh, I missed the first 45 minutes or so of the Oscars. I was too busy having myself a little The OC season 4 marathon. 😀

Let’s try blogging during the show…
Javier Bardem kinda looks like Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Is it just me?

Loved the genuine speeches by Javier Bardem and Tilda Swilton (particularly her reference to George Clooney and Batman and Robin, heh).

SQUEE. Love Kristin Chenoweth! And all those songs from Enchanted.

Oohhh, that was some painful banter between Seth Rogen and the guy from Superbad.

Falling Slowly is painfully beautiful. I’m so glad it won. Although I love So Close from Enchanted.

I almost cried when the picture faded out on Heath Ledger during the In Memoriam tribute.

Wow, this show is pretty underwhelming for me… maybe because I haven’t seen any of the major nominated movies. Oops. :/ I think I’d like to start with Juno.

allergic reaction

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I am so uncomfortable right now. I was taking antibiotics after my tooth extraction a few weeks back and it turns out that I am actually ALLERGIC to the stuff. So last week, I developed an itchy rash all over my arms and legs. Fantastic. I went to the doctor, she said I am now allergic to the penicillin family, and prescribed Benadryl to combat the allergic reaction. It seems to be helping but really, all I want to do is get my claws out and scratch myself silly. ARGH.

That Snoop Dogg song, Sensual Seduction is stuck in my head. I CAN’T STAND that song.

And because this entry is MADE OF SO MUCH WIN (please note sarcasm), I want to liven it up with a (relatively) new picture of my little furry baby…



Rob was working and couldn’t play with Diesel. So he decided to throw a fit and hide under the couch. What a cutie.

first layouts

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It’s official. I am addicted to scrapbooking and there’s no cure.

I find myself wanting to go to Michaels or my local scrapbook store (Scrapbook Territory) ALL THE TIME.

Since November-ish and now, I’ve completed my first 16 layouts. 😀 And I wanted to share them here before they get packed away in an album (click for bigger!)…


My cousin, Riz, and me. Photo of us from 1997.

My best friends, Carmen, Robyn and me. Taken in the summer of 1997 before we started college.

Disneyland with Riz, Rob, and Emery. March 1999.

Pilipino American Alliance semi-formal with Rob. April 1999.

Visiting UDUB with Rob. Spring Break 2000.

Continue reading →

save the date

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6 months until our wedding. EEEK.

Our “Save the Dates” arrived this week. YAY. They’re just little postcards that I “designed” in PhotoShop. And by design, I mean that I inserted a picture and slapped some text on there. 😀 Sadly, there’s a little hiccup. The text on the back of the STD (heh, that makes me laugh — I’m obviously 5) is just a *tad* bit too small. Argh. IT DID NOT LOOK SMALL IN PHOTOSHOP! Oh well, the front of the postcard serves it purpose so I guess it doesn’t matter that our guests may not be able to read the back without a magnifying glass. Oops. :/ I’ll share a peek once we’ve sent them all out.

In other news, I watched my recording of the Eli Stone premiere. I liked it! Ok ok, it was a bordering on cheesy at times (particularly with the George Michael scenes) but I had FAITH in the show. HA. Get it?! Do you? Seriously, I haven’t met a Greg Berlanti show I didn’t like. Plus, Victor Garber’s in it — that’s a huge plus right there. I’ll have to check out the second episode before making a decision but if Eli continues to be his charming, endearing self, I might just keep this show on my already bloated TV schedule. 😀

wicked

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I’ve decided to give up BOTH fried foods and desserts/pastries for Lent. There are ALWAYS yummy cupcakes, brownies, and cookies in the kitchen at work so staying away is going to be tough! Wish me luck.

In my excitement about food in my last entry, I forgot to mention that I also went to see Wicked while I was in LA. Finally! 🙂 I found out about a 50% discount for all Tuesday through Thursday shows in January and February so when I realized we’d be in town during the week, I jumped at the chance to go. And just as I expected, I LOVED it. Glinda was my absolute favorite — Megan Hilty played her to perfection. Caissie Levy as Elphaba was also solid. But sadly, I thought Kristoffer Cusick as Fiyero was a *tad* disappointing. His voice just wasn’t quite as powerful as the 2 leading ladies and he also wasn’t a very good dancer. Maybe he had an “off” night because he seems to be a really popular Fiyero (I was doing a search on reviews of the musical a few days ago). But whatever, it was an excellent show — definitely one that I could watch many, many times (if I could afford it :D).

I thought I would share a few of my favorite songs from Wicked…

Right click, save as…
username: cookie
password: monster


Popular
Defying Gravity
For Good

I’m also reading the book at the moment… I do not love it nearly as much as the musical. It started off sloooow, and then picked up when Elphaba and Glinda went to college, and now it’s slowing down a bit again. I’m about halfway through so I’ll be sure to write some thoughts when I’m done.

Now I’m off to watch America’s Best Dance Crew. YAY. I love dance-related reality shows. 😀

wedding tasting

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I completely forgot that tomorrow is the start of Lent. Now, I may not be the best practicing Catholic but I always give something up during this time. (I guess it’s more of a habit than anything). Last year I gave up candy and chocolate. This year, I’ll probably stick with giving up some sort of food… possibly fried foods? Or maybe desserts/pastries? Hmm. I’ll make up my mind when I wake up tomorrow.

😀

So Rob and I spent the latter half of last week in LA because we had to attend a wedding tasting event that our caterer was throwing for their upcoming brides and grooms. OMG, YOU GUYS. The food is going to be so YUMMY. We tried about six salads — a fruit/walnut salad, caesar, mixed green salad, etc. But my favorite was by far the strawberry spinach salad with poppyseed dressing…



We also had 5 different entrees — chicken florentine (this was THE BEST!), caramelized chicken, prime rib, filet mignon, and shiitake encrusted halibut. Behold the yumminess of the filet and the halibut…



And of course, we had to try a few desserts — chocolate-covered strawberries, meringue cookies, and banana mandarin flambe. Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy eating!!!

Here we are with full bellies at the end of the night…



I’m definitely NOT going to be one of those brides that doesn’t have time to eat on the wedding day. I’ll be sitting down at the table chowing down along with my guests. 😀

It’s past midnight and I just made myself hungry writing this entry. Heh.