Bijoux Bleu

Disneyland Half Marathon

2009-09-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the big day. I completed my first 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles). I wasn't sure, if I could complete the entire race, and if my ankle would hold up. But I succeeded. I crossed that FINISH LINE!!!! Woohoo ME!!!!!! Although, I didn't meet my goal time, I'm still pleased, since it was my first half marathon. I definitely give mad props to folks who run full marathons. Not gonna lie, this half marathon was BRUTAL!! I still don't know how I was able to finish - considering I still hate running. Initially, I picked up running as goal to lose weight for my wedding, but still stuck with it, since it's a good work out. However, it doesn't mean that I have to love it. Nonetheless, I'm still damn proud of myself for completing 13.1 miles, considering I've only been running for one year. Anyway, back to the race. I was able to run straight through until mile 9. Then I had to take short walking breaks between my runs, since my right thigh kept cramping up. However, once I reached mile 11, I was determined to finish the remainder of the race running, which I did. Boy, was I glad when I saw that finish line. Well enough of my ramblings, here are some pictures. LoL, of course I had to take the opportunity to snap some pictures with some Disney characters, since the race entry fee of $120 didn't cover the cost to visit Disneyland afterward. Crazy, I know. Enjoy the pictures, I know there are a lot, but I had to post most of them. Oh, and I'll be taking a few days off from working out. I'm in pain!!! I'm soo sore, I can hardly walk.

Personalized Race Bib and T-shirt.

Waiting for the race to begin

Running towards Angel Stadium

Entering Angel Stadium

The long awaited Finish Line

It's been awhile....

2009-09-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been awhile since I blogged. I'll try to blog more.

Simple Red Rose

2009-08-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today, I had some to practice my photography and my photoshop skills. Now, I need your help. Which image is best? Constructive criticism is welcomed, so that I can become better.

Original Image

My attempts @ using Photoshop Cs4

Bon Appetit!

2009-08-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Everyone in my family knows that I'm not a great cool. And to be quite honest I don't really enjoy cooking. However, Mr. J has been working for the past 5 days 10h shifts, I decided to try my hand at cooking. Of course, Mr. J thinks it was delicious, but I think he's just being nice. See for yourself, if you would eat it or not.

Mediterranean bell pepper

Scrambled eggs with feta cheese, bell peppers, spinach & red onions
served with fresh fruit and two slices of cinnamon raisin toast

Spencer Donlee

2009-08-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Mr. J and I finally had the chance to visit my best friend Marlith and her hubby down in San Diego. She recently gave birth to her first child. Unfortunately, her husband Spencer missed the birth of his first born son by one day, as he was on a flight back after being underway for 6 1/2 months. But all that didn't matter after he set eyes upon his beautiful little boy.

Here's a picture of their precious little angel:

Fun in the Park

2009-07-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures I took of the kiddies, while we were at the park. We had a small picknik at the local park. It was quite fun. Naomi enjoyed herself immensely so did Jr. However, it still was extremely hot at 4:30pm, so that we only stayed for an hour. Enjoy!

Check out this little photo series of Jr. There's also no need for captions, as the pictures speak for themselves. He definitely knows what he wants. LoL

New Do

2009-07-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to change something about my hair style for awhile now. So this morning, I decided I'm going to the hair salon to do something about my crazy hair. Initially, I wanted to get a cute little bob. However Mr. J wasn't to thrilled about me chopping off my hair, so instead I got subtle streak put in and gave my hair a 3inch trim. It definitely needed it. Of course, I took some pictures. Actually, while I was sitting underneath the hair dryer I remembered that I had my point and shoot with me, so there I don't have a before picture. What do you guys think?

3 inches off and a few subtle streaks

Red, White & Blue

2009-07-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a fun filled, yet, safe weekend. I will post more about my weekend tomorrow.

******EDIT***** Weekend recap. And Pictures.

Friday July 3rd: Grandma's Beach, California:

The one and only Grandma's Beach.

Naomi & Jr.

Naomi enjoying her swimming pool at Grandma's Beach.

Of course, I had to join in the fun. =)

Aren't they adorable?!

My boss is pretty cool. He has two kids of his own, and he showed me the kiddie pool, he had bought for his kids. Once I saw it, I had to get one for my niece and nephew as well. But he offered to pick up/buy one for them. And they definitely loved it.

Saturday, July 4th:

Naomi ~ a little frightened being in a real pool

On Independence Day, we didn't really do much. We had a small BBQ and then took the kiddies to the local swimming pool and watched some fireworks later on.

Sunday, July 5th:

7th Inning ~ The bases loaded

I and Haydee

Mr. J and I in front of Angels' Stadium

Mr. J and I again on our way to our car

Typically, I find baseball games very boring. Just not my cup of tea. But some friends of ours had some free tickets and Mr. J. really wanted to see another Angel game. Of course, me being the good wife, I obliged - also because we never have been to a game together. Here are some photos.

Go Shorty! It's my Birthday!

2009-06-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Today is my birthday. It was pretty uneventful, since I'm coming down with some sort of bug. I just feel horrible and completely congested. Therefore my day has been pretty uneventful, just work and later out to dinner. I didn't even complete my work out today. Just don't have the energy to do it. However once I feel better I'll just have to work twice as hard. Anyway, here's a birthday picture of myself.

**EDIT**Still need to post picture of the beautiful flowers I received.

P90x

2009-06-24T22:07:00.001-07:00

I'm on a blogging roll. haha! I've been meaning to blog for quite some time now, but I've been soo

tired and exhausted, that all I want to do is watch mundane TV. Anyway, I finally started my new work out regime this Monday. Boy, it's definitely kicking my butt. However, I'm loving it! Can't wait to see the progress I've made after 30 days.

The P90x seems to be the latest craze, and I've jumped on the bandwagon as well. Of course, I'm still keeping up with my running (wish me luck, so that I can complete my first half marathon this September), but just needed something extra to keep me toned and lean. Not to mention, I did not want put on "my first year marriage weight". Almost every Newlywed I spoke to gained a few pounds after their first year of marriage. My P90x is a preventative measure, plus I always feel better after a good hard work out. Also, I'm no longer in my early/mid twenties, therefore my metabolism is slowing down and I simply can't eat everything and anything.
On Day 1 (Monday) I took some "before" pics of myself. And I will be brave enough to post them on here as well. However, it will have to wait until tomorrow,. I'm sweaty/stinky and just want to jump into the shower. Hopefully, I can keep up with this work out regime! It's definitely intense. Well, I'm hopefully that I will see difference in my Day 1 and Day 30 picture. Ok, I'm off to the shower and then hitting the sack.
*******EDIT UPDATE******* Mr. J took these pics of me, so excuse the shadows behind me. Not to mention I look horrible in all these photos. But I figure once I posted them online, it will remind me to stay motivated.

Utah Olympic Park

2009-06-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I traveled to Lehi, Utah, for my work. It turned out to be great business trip. As some of you know, I work in the Insurance Industry. The company I work for is medium sized Insurance Brokerage aka a Retail Insurance Agent. Anyway, I don't want to bore you guys with all this insurance mumble jumble. To make a long story short, one of the companies we work with frequently is located in Utah. Every year they put together seminar/conference/retreat for all of their Insurance Carriers/Retail Agents and Insurance Brokers. Typically Insurance conferences are pretty darn boring! Trust me, I'm not exaggerating. Right after these conference everyone runs to Happy Hour, including ME!! Naturally, I was pleasantly surprised that this business trip was actually quite fun.
While I was in Utah our host company took us to the Utah Olympic Park. It's quite an impressive park. Of course, they have several activities visitors can participate in, such as the bobsled ride (it's the second fastest track in the world). Some of the bob sled athletes reach about 80-90 mph. The zipline is another activity one can participate in. It's approximately (not quite) at the same height as the Nordic Ski Jumper. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my point and shoot, since I thought I was going to a boring Insurance seminar. I did take some photos with my my camera...but my camera is a piece of s#$% and won't let me upload any pictures. So sadly I can't post any pics of the original olympic medals, they displayed in their museum.
Nonetheless, I did find some pictures from the park online. Please enjoy.

Weekend Fun

2009-06-14T19:28:00.001-07:00

Sadly this weekend is coming to an end. It was a fun and relaxing weekend, and of course too short. I had an extremely long long work week. Perhaps, it had something to do with that fact that I just returned from our honeymoon. This weekend, Mr. J. and I decided to head out to San Diego to spend some time with my best friend Marlith, who is due with her first baby in a few weeks, and her brother Calvin. Also, to return the camcorder they had graciously lent us. Spending time with them is spending time with family! It was a lazy Saturday in San Diego, which consisted of eating way to much food, taking nap and watching movies. The cute dog in the pictures is Sydney. And she's the most adorable lil Jack Russell Terrier.

Getting our grub on.

Calvino and J. bout to go on a bike ride.

J. making a silly face.

Sadly no comments

2009-06-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

I was made aware that my new blog doesn't allow readers to post comments. No clue, why this is?! But I'm currently working on getting it fixed. Can't promise anything, but I will try my best to get it working.

One Month...

2009-06-09T16:31:00.001-07:00

It is true, once you are married time sure flies by. Happy One Month Anniversary to myself and the hubby! =) Of course, I have to post a FABULOUS photo from our equally FABULOUS photographer Christine Farah.

First Day Back...

2009-06-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Technically yesterday was my first day back at the office. And boy, it was an extremely long day. I had soo much to do, but time still crawled by. I'm sure today, it will be better.
Costa Rica was great. Even though I just returned from our two week trip, I'm ready for another vacation. I simply can't get enough of traveling. Yesterday, all I could think of was my next travel adventure. Where should Mr. J and I go? Bali, New Zealand or perhaps Australia?! We both love to travel, and we're hoping that we can take another trip this year. So far I'm optimistic.
As for next year, we're definitely planning on traveling to travel to Alaska in the summer. Mr. J's sister lives up there. Apparently, their backyard borders Denali National Park. If for some reason those plans do not work out. I would love to travel to South Africa next summer. Why South Africa?! First, who wouldn't want to go on a Safari Trip. Second, the Soccer World Cup will be held there. Third, I've never been to South Africa. Of course, there are more reasons, but these three are valid enough. What would be a blog post with our photos?! Enjoy some impressions from Costa Rica:

One of the various of Humming bird species.

Fishing boat stranded at the beach ~ it made for an interesting photo op.

One of the various butterflies

another butterfly

New Blog

2009-06-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new Blog! Ok, I jumped on the bandwagon and created a new blog. Actually, my sister is to blame, since she wanted to give my old blog an overhaulin'. So voilà, here is her debut.
It's perfect, especially since I'm a newly minted Mrs. Not to mention all the new adventure I'll be embarking on. LoL. Ok, my life is not quite that interesting, but I'm sure it will be fun, interesting and adventurous in my own way.

Disneyland Half Marathon

2009-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

I started running last October to get whip myself in shape for my wedding. Not to mention, my goal of running a full marathon one day. Since I've started running in October I've ran a 5k and 10k, and now I signed up for my first Half Marathon at Disneyland this September. I'm super excited and can't wait to begin training. I'm one step closer of reaching my goal. Yippie!
Anyway, I know it will be hard especially since I had some ankle and knee problems, but I'm confident that I'll be able to complete the 13 miles. So far I'm able to run 8 miles, but not sure if I can endure 13 miles. Even though I have picked up running as hobby, I still do not enjoy running - actually I despise it, but I get satisfaction from being able to complete and finish something so few can not. Great music also helps! On race I need to make sure I have my ipod with me, this will definitely help me along the race to the finish line.

As for now, I'm counting down the days till my honeymoon!!! On Saturday, Mr. J and I finally leave for two heavenly bliss in Costa Rica.

Studio West Video

2009-05-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received an email from our videographer to let us know that he posted a teaser from our wedding. Of course, I'm still on cloud 9 from the wedding and ran to my nearest computer see the footage. Aww....it was soo great to relive that moment. I can't wait to see the entire dvd!!! I tried to post the video on here, but I think I'm too tired to figure it our right now. Anyway, goe and check out his blog - Studio West Video Blog.

Christine Farah Photography!

2009-05-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

I HEART Crissy's work. Her work and her creativity are simply FABULOUS! She just posted a teaser pic on her blog of my wedding. Ugh, I can't wait to see the rest of the photos she took. I'm totally blog stalking her. Well, ok I confess blog stalked her prior to my wedding. I just LOVE her work. Here is the link to the photo, she posted on her blog. Go CHECK IT OUT!!!

I'm a Mrs.!

2009-05-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the Big Day! I'm officially no longer Single! I'm a married woman!!! It still seems soo weird to say that. I have so many pictures from that day that I'm still going through all of them. Just from my family I have over a 1000 pics, not to mention all the pictures my friends took. I should have copies of those hopefully by the end of the week. Now, I'm counting down the days to my Honeymoon. Mr. J and I will spend two fabulous weeks in Costa Rica.

The wedding itself was great. I'll do a recap soon. And I'll post pics once I get home from work. I think I've procrastinated enough for today, and I have soo much work to do before my honeymoon. So off I go to slave away for ungrateful clients. Stay tuned though, because tonight I'll have a few pictures up.
*************UPDATE****************** Here are finally a few photos. Actually I stole these from my best friend's blog. I have so many pictures that I haven't had time to look through them all. ENJOY!!

My Best FRIENDS!

The Parental Units

Saying our Vows!

The Delicious Cake!

Photobooth!

Busy Bee

2009-05-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

Phew, I had quite a busy weekend. With the wedding less than 6 days a way, I still had several projects to do, one of them were my escort cards. I put this particular project off, because my seating arrangements gave me such a headache. After working out the kinks in my seating chart, I slaved away this weekend completing this task, along with finishing up my wedding favors.

Escort Cards

Escort and Menu Cards ~ on the menu cards, you also can see our monogram.

Wedding Favors

Close up of Wedding Favors ~ also a good pic of our monogram

As you can see, I have been a busy bee. You should have seen my living room this weekend. Mason Jars, Cookies, fabric, paper cutter etc scattered every where. I should have taken a picture of all the mess I made, but unfortunately I didn't. Oh well. I'm sure y'all can imagine how my mess looked liked. And now just for kicks some photos of my beautiful niece and handsome nephew.

Naomi Li ~ She wanted me to take her photo by the piano before she went to bed. How cute is she?!

Jeremiah Robert aka Jr. ~ this is not the best pic of him, but he was smiling so cute...just had take a pic.

Well, I'm off to bed now. It's been a super exhausting weekend and I have to get up super early tomorrow, so that I can get my 3mile run in before work. Nighty night!

It's May!!!

2009-05-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

May is finally here!!!! I'm officially 8 days away from the big day. Yikes!!! It will definitely be a busy weekend, as I will be finishing up the last touches for the Big Day.
This Wednesday, I also had my 3rd and Final Dress Fitting. The dress looks FABULOUS!!! Can't wait to wear it next Saturday. Also, my Dad flew in from Africa yesterday,and today my older sister and her hubby arrive from VA. We're definitely going to have a full house this weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish the escort cards this weekend, as I finally finished the seating arrangements (which were a headache in itself). And first thing next week start on the wedding favors. It shouldn't take me to long to finish those up. Other than that J. and I have to practice our First Dance. Oh, I did forget something I still have to reorganize my wedding boxes and relabel everything, so that my coordinator knows where what goes.
Anyway, I need to get back to work...unfortunately when ever I'm at work, I have wedding on the brain. Therefore hardly any of my work gets done. But I have some deadlines today, so I need to stop procrastinating. Happy Friday everyone!!!

With this Ring...

2009-04-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

Three blog post in one weekend! I must be on a roll. Haha! Simply had to create a separate blog post for this. J. and my mom finally picked up my wedding band. Woohoo!!!!

Monogram created by The Paper Stylist

Sorry for the blurry picture, I was sorta in a hurry since my niece was bugging me to come outside to do some Slip-N-Slide. Talking about being a kid again. =)

Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

2009-04-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I discovered this Nature Reserve near our house. It's only 10 minute drive and then you'll find yourself in the middle of nature. This Saturday, we decided to take our niece, Naomi Li for a small hike. Initially, we had planned a weekend trip, with Naomi, to the mountains aka Big Bear. Unfortunately, the cabin we rented from a co-worker of mine had plumbing problems, so we decided to postpone the Big Bear trip. Nonetheless Naomi loved the little hike. After our excursion into nature, we took Naomi to see Monster vs. Aliens. Cute movie.

Naomi Li ~ my favorite pic of her that day!
Isn't she adorable?!

One of the many ladybugs, we saw that day.

Naomi Li simply loves the camera. Soo Cute!

A tree stump with a hole.

Naomi Li with her two favorite uncles on the west coast.

Ok, finally a picture of me. Haha!

Soon To Be Wed

2009-04-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Mr. J and I finally got our Marriage license. This means we officially can get married, since we have the proper paperwork from the government. Of course, I had to snap a photo of us with our marriage license application in our hands. We got our license at the Temecula Clerk Office, and I was prepared to wait a for at least 20 min, since we didn't make an appointment and didn't fill out the application online either. However, we were in and out of the office in record time. Please ignore the crazy puffy hair. =)

Honeymoon: Costa Rica

2009-04-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

According to theknot I have 24 days left till the Big Day! Finally! I can't wait, I just want to be done with all the wedding planning and just relax and not have to think of RSVP's, menus, programs etc... All I want to do is lay on the beach in Costa Rica, with a cocktail in my hand enjoying the beatiful Costa Rican sunset.

Image By xymox

Initially, J. and I wanted to go to Europe for our honeymoon. We both decided that we wanted to visit and explore a country, we both have never been too. With that in mind, Greece was a perfect destination. After careful calculation we had to abandon the plans for Greece. It was just not feasible for us to do.
With Greece off the table, my good friend M. suggested to rent out her husband's Stepmom's brother's apartment in Paris. We would have gotten the apt. for a heavily discounted prize. Unfortunately though the airfare prices didn't cooperate with our plans. A round trip to Paris for just one person would have cost between $1200 -1600. Hmmm.... of course, I didn't want to spend the majority of our money on airfare, because we had plans to travel to Germany from France, so that I could attend my 10yr High School reunion and meet up with some of my old HS friends. However with the airfare being so steep, we knew that we wouldn't be able to explore Europe the way we wanted to. Naturally, I was pretty bummed that we had to abandon the Paris plans as well, since I wanted to visit with some of my friends from HS, who I hadn't seen, since I moved to CA. It just wasn't meant to be.
How did we decide to honeymoon in Costa Rica?? Well, with Europe completely off the table J. and I started to look at the Caribbean and Central America for destination spots. We looked in to Jamaica, the Bahamas and Costa Rica. In addition, we both knew that we didn't want to just hand out at the beach for 2 weeks. We wanted to be active and explore things. So with that in mind, we decided on Costa Rica. Costa Rica seemed like the perfect choice. Not only does J speak fluent Spanish (which will be extremely helpful), but we are able to be active , and explore the beautiful country. At the same time though, we can be lazy and just relax at the beach. So excited about our trip. It will be the first trip J. and I go on. Unfortunately, we won't be leaving right after the wedding, but two weeks later. I don't mind it too much because it will give me some time to wrap up some insurance renewals before I head out on my two week long Honeymoon.

The Invitation Suite

2009-04-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to blog about my wedding invitations for awhile, just haven't had the time. Despite being swamped at work...I'm finally taking the time to blog them. Besides it's Friday. I don't feel like working. And I have wedding on the brain. =)
The wedding invitations were created by the talented designer from The Paper Stylist. The process was fairly easy, as I already had an idea of what I wanted. These are the inspiration pictures I sent to Anne.

from Bella Figuera Letterpress

from Smock Paper

Anne at The Paper Stylist also created my Save the Date cards, therefore I knew my invitations would turn out equally fabulous. With that said here are the picture of my wedding invitations. What do you think??

La Habra 10K Race

2009-04-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

I'm soo behind in blogging, haven't even blogged about the fabulous invitations The Paper Stylist created for me.

Anyway, last Saturday I ran my first 10k race. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to run the entire race since my knee was hurting really bad. All and all, I walked about 1 mile and ran the rest of the race. My official time is 1h15min. Even now, I'm still not quite satisfied with the time, considering I could have ran the race in exactly 1h. But I didn't want to aggravate my knee even more by running the entire race. Hopefully I'll do better next time. On a positive note though, I did improve my overall time for the 5K. So, I'm definitely excited about that.
J. took some photos of me during the race. I will blog them tomorrow. I'm beat so I'll say Good Night!
******Finally updated this post with my running photos*******

My sprint towards the finish line

Excited about to cross the finish line.

Bridal Shower

2009-03-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend! Yesterday I had my Bridal Shower hosted by my sister at my mom's house. It was soo much fun! Will post some photos tomorrow and recap the festivities tomorrow. I've been running on fumes, so I'm about to take a nap. Perhaps, my eye will stop twitching. It's been doing that for a week now.

4/01 *****UPDATE**** I'm finally taking the time to post the photos. I haven't resized the photos...therefore they look kinda huge and funny.

Aileen Secord Photography

2009-03-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my new friend Aileen, photographed her first wedding as a second shooter. Check out her Photography blog here. Not only is Aileen a new friend. She is such a sweet person, talented, easy going and simply fun to be around.

Aileen, also graciously offered to shoot a few boudoir photos for me. Thus, we met up last Sunday bright and early to shoot my boudoir photography session. I must admit it, I was a bit nervous, especially since we were shooting outdoors. Thankfully, Aileen brought her hubby along, who scouted out locations for us and stood watch to let us know if there were any hikers near by. Here's a sneak peak. To see more check out Aileen's blog.

credits: Aileen Secord Photography

Congratulations: Minnie & Ben

2009-03-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's Monday! And as always I'm procrastinating at work. ha ha! Actually I'm still trying to recuperate from this weekend. My good friend Minnie got married on Friday (2/27/2009) at the Laguna Hills Civic Center. With my help and the knowledge I gained from theknot, we were able to pull off this fun, small & intimate wedding in a matter of two weeks. Here are a few photos I took:

What do you think of the photos? Overall, I'm actually quite pleased, and I'm my own worst critic. Practice make perfect. Once my wedding madness is over, I will be able to devout more time towards my hobby. =)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

****Updated**** includes photos!!! And road trip recap.

I know I'm day late. But yesterday was such a busy day. Here's just a quick recap of the day in bullet forms:

Woke up to beautiful red roses sitting in my room, along with a small gift.

Aren't the flowers gorgeous?! The Fiance is always soo sweet and thoughtful!

My beautiful diamond necklace I received for Valentine's Day!

And here is what I got J. A heart shaped brownie cake. Unfortunately, I have to say I bought it from a bakery, and it's not self made. Trust me, you wouldn't want to eat anything I bake.

Went on a 8 mile run
Cake Tasting at It's All About The Cake ~ Two Words: Simply Delish! Our cake is going to be a combination of these two looks.

The cake will consists of four tiers, and we're having the following flavor:
1st tier ~ Vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and strawberry mousse.
2nd tier ~ Red Velvet cake with strawberry mousse
3rd tier ~ white/vanilla cake with raspberry gel and french bean vanilla cream
4th tier - marble cake - layer one chocolate mouse, layer two, raspberry gel w/french bean vanilla cream

Bought wedding band for the soon to be Hubby

Fiance was soo excited that we got his ring, he had to immediately take photo of the ring with his phone. Too Cute!!

Picked up my Wedding Dress - Wooohooo!!!!!

Admiring my dress in the mirror

Valentine's Dinner at my favorite Sushi place, then a movie.

Let's just say it was one busy day. But fun and exciting as well. I will post photos of everything tonight and will elaborate more on my V-Day. In addition, to that I still have to give everyone a recap of the move - and the road trip from MT to CA. Stay tuned! =)

****Fiance's move to California recap****

Here's a photos of me and my sweetie, from last weekend.

For some reason this is the only photo we took, while driving down to CA.

As you all know, we had to move the fiance down from the Northwest to California. It took us two days to make the trek to CA, and I'm glad I don't have to do that again. Along with way we met up with J.'s old friend Noah and his wife Stephanie in Utah. I had heard so much about Noah. It was great to finally put a face to a name. Noah and his wife Stephy are such fun couple. Can't wait to hang out with them again, and see them at our wedding.
During our stop in Las Vegas, we also decided to meet up with two of my best friends, Marlith and Dani for lunch. Unfortunately, Dani couldn't meet us at her favorite restaurant Bahama Breeze, since she had to work. It was still great seeing Marlith, especially since I hadn't seen her since Dani's wedding in November. Not to mention, that she's expecting her first child. It's Baby Boy!!!
Of course, when we get together time just flies by and J. and I had to get back on the road. However, Marlith will be moving to San Diego soon, since her hubby Spencer got stationed in San Diego again. She'll just be a car ride away. Yippie!!! Normally, I would post a photo of us, but for some reason Marlith and I both forgot to take pictures...guess we were soo excited to see each other, that we simply forgot!!!
Literally 5 minutes later, we call each other all upset that we didn't document our fun lunch with a photo. Oh well! I wanted to photshop Marlith into the above photo, but it just looked creep.y So instead, I'll just post one of her and her pregnant belly.

Marlith and her baby belly

Geez....I'm exhausted now! What a long post. Ha Ha!

Shoes

2009-02-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

Completely forgot to mention - I finally found some super cute wedding shoes. And they were on sale. Woohoo!!!! Now, I can afford to purchase these super cute, ultra fab Kate Spade shoes. Simply adore them.

The Countdown...

2009-02-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

In exactly 94 days, is the BIG DAY! Crazy, I didn't even realize I was down to the double digits. Slowly but surely I'm feeling the stress. Still haven't had a huge freak out yet, but who knows how long that will last. Actually, to be completely honest I did have mini freak out last Friday. But in my defense, I think I'm justified.
Some of you have heard about my dress problem already, since I shared my frustration on theknot message boards. But for those who haven't here's the story:
Last September I ordered my wedding dress from Neiman Marcus. When I placed my ordered my dress consultant said and I quote: "You should be receiving your dress the end of December."
Well, it's the beginning of February and I still do NOT have my dress. December is such a busy month with all the holidays and stuff, so I did not make much attention whether I had received a phone call from Neiman Marcus. January is just as hectic for me. But finally mid-January I took the time to call inquire on the status of my dress, and to schedule an appointment as to when I could pick up the dress, and have my first fitting.
To my surprise, the dress had not come in yet. Even after the sales lady looked up my order, she seemed clueless as to when my dress would arrive. So naturally, I wasn't to confident in her answer next week. Ok fine, no big deal right?!?!
At that point, I still think I have plenty of time and I will just give them a call next week again. No need to stress, right!! Boy was I wrong!! A week later, I called Neiman Marcus again to see if my dress had arrived. Anyone want to take a guess what I was told? Yup, my dress has not come in yet and wouldn't arrive until the following week. Wait?! That was the same response I received the previous week, when I made my first call to the store to inquire about the status.
This time I was a bit peeved, since I was promised a delivery date in December. Surprisingly, I still did not freak out yet at this point...perhaps because I had so much going on, I just didn't have the time and couldn't follow up on my dress status until last Friday. Of course, my dress wasn't in yet! But this time, I finally got my dress consultant on the phone! She informed my that my dress is in production, and she wouldn't hear back from my dress designer until Monday?
In production?? What the hell? I ordered my dress in September. My dress should have been place in production back in September, right?? Furthermore she explained, it would take another 3-5 days for my dress to arrive, since my dress will be shipped from New York. For that reason, she had not called me, because she didn't know exactly as to when my dress would arrive. But my consultant promised to call me on Monday to let me know the status regardless. Well Monday rolls around and I did not hear from them all day. So finally around 4:45 I call them. Of course, they didn't have any new information for me, since they hadn't heard from the designer. But by Wednesday they definitely would know more!!! Ya right! Oh and they would call me on Wedneday!! Naturally, by now I was bit irritated, upset, annoyed....you name it! As politely as possible, I told them that I moved up my wedding date up to March. Therefore I need my dress this month still, since I still need alterations. Ugh! My bridal consultant tried to assure me that I would have my dress in time for my wedding. But she wasn't very convincing and by now I don't believe a word they say anyway.
So far, I have not received a call from them yet. If tNeiman Marcus does not call me by 5pm. They will have one un-happy Bride on their hands. And I will have to unlease the BRIDEZILLA!! Beside the dress issue everything else is coming along fine. I just placed my invitation order. Super excited about the invitations!!! I just know The Paper Stylilst will create a fabulous invitation suite for me. Can't wait to see what she comes up with.

Which will it be...???

2009-01-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

Who knew it would be so difficult to decide on a First Dance Song. Since the soon to be hubby and I don't have a song together, we basically could chose any song. Naturally, we wanted the lyrics of the song to fit us as well.
Finally! After search high and low, we narrowed it down to the following songs:

You and Me by Lifehouse (acoustic version)
Follow Through by Gavin DeGraw (song is a bit fast, but hoping to find an acoustic version of it)

"You and Me" has been favorite of mine, since I first heard it on the radio. And just recently, I stumbled upon the Gavin DeGraw song, and absolutely fell in love with it. Lyrically both songs speaks to us, which makes the decision even harder.

Excerpts from my song choices:

Follow Through
Oh, this is the start of something good
Don't you agree?
I haven't felt like this in so many moons
You know what I mean?
And we can build through this destruction
As we are standing on our feet
So, since you want to be with me
You'll have to follow through
With every word you say

And I , all I really want is you
You to stick around
I;ll see you everyday
But you have to follow through
You have to follow through
...

You and Me

What day is it? And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive
I can't keep up and I can't back down
I've been losing so much time

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to lose
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you
...

Waiting on the World to change...

2009-01-20T09:51:00.000-08:00

The World has changed. America has changed. Change has come. Today Barrack Obama is/was sworn in as our 44th President. I was fortunate enough to watch the swearing in on TV. It was quite amazing to see and hear his fantastic Inauguration Speech.

"...On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

The entire speech can be found here.

Ceremony Readings

2009-01-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

My two readings I chose for the wedding. What do you guys think? Simply adore this poem by Pablo Neruda.

Love Sonnet XVII
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz, or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off. I you as certain dark things are to be loved in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers; thanks
to your love a certain solid fragrance, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or why, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without
complexities or pride; so I love you because I know no other way.

than this: where I does not exist, nor you, so close that your hand on my chest is my hand, so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

My second reading come from the Bible. It's commonly used for weddings, but still love it nonetheless.

1 Corinthian 13:1-13
I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I have nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patients, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keep no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. but where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned lie a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Most likely I will just use excerpts of the poem and the bible passage. Have not quite decided just yet.

Slowly but surely...

2009-01-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

I'm crossing things off the To-Do-List. Yippie!! Getting up early definitely has it's benefits. While I don't think I'll make a habit of getting up early on weekends. Love, love, love sleeping in!! However, I was able to accomplish a lot today. These are the items I purchased:

Waterford Toasting Flutes

Vera Wang "With Love" Cake Knife & Server Set

In addition to those items, I bought my unity candle set. Sorry no pictures. I still have to pictures of them, and can't find them online. Oh, almost forgot I also bought one of the gifts for one of my Bridal party. Woohoo! Slowly but surely... =)

Commit to be Fit

2009-01-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

"In running it doesn't matter if you come first, in the middle of the pack, or last.

You can say 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."

~ Fred Lewbow, NYC-Marathon, co-founder

One of my goals in life is to complete/run a full marathon. And wanting to get in shape and look fabulous on my Wedding Day - this was the perfect time to join a running group, instead of procrastinating, coming up with excuses why I have pursued this goal. Well, I'm not a runner. Growing up I always despised running. Yes, it is weird that I've always wanted to run a marathon, yet do not like to run. What can I say I'm full of paradoxes. Anyway, but now I actually ran out of excuses to procrastinate. Therefore, in October 2008 I joined a running group with these goals in my: Look fabulous on my Big Day and slowly morphing myself into a runner.
Naturally, I had to start in the beginners group, where we trained for a 5K. I can proudly say I completed two 5k runs within two weeks from each other. Not to mention, that I was able to improve my time tremendously from my first run. I improved my running time by 12min, which is a fantastic, considering I had just joined a running group and my first run was only two week prior.
Well, I'm still running. Yet, I don't despise it as much as use. Currently, I'm training for a 10k. However to prep myself for the 10k, I decided to run the Brea 8k in February. With that in mind our running group has been running 13 miles a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays, we (the running group) run 4 miles, and on Saturdays we run 5 miles. That's a huge increase from what I was previously running. Unfortunately though, both of my ankles have noticed the increase and they've been hurting a lot more. Hopefully with some orthopedic soles and taping up the ankles , will lessen the pain. Since we will be increasing our runs to 5 and 6 miles, in a few weeks.

Also, it's been awhile, since I posted updayed stats of my body. To see the improvements, I've made, I posted my measurements pre-running days.

August 2008:

Bust: 33.''
Waist: 27.5''
Hips: 36''
Weight: 117.5 Ibs (ugh, my heaviest I've ever been)

January 2009:

Bust: 32.5''
Waist: 27.3''
Hips: 33''
Weight: 116 Ibs

All in all, I'm quite happy with my stats, except for losing inches around my bust. Seriously?!?! My bust wasn't one of my problem areas. Ugh! As I've stated before, it's not as if my bust is well endowed. Oh well, thankfully nothing a good bra can't fix. I've lost a few inches around the waist area, not as much as I hoped for. Thinking positive though, hopefully in a few months my waist size will drop to 26.5" - just means I have to step up my side crunches.However my hips showed the greatest improvement. I went from 36" to 33". Woohoo!!! On to my weight, it appears I haven't lost too much weight, but I doubt the scale I have is correct. The scale one day tells me I'm 16Ibs and the next day it say 119Ibs. All that running I've been doing coupled with weekly gym visit and eating smaller portions, the scale tells me I've gain weight. It can't be right!

Twigs & Honey

2009-01-15T09:58:00.000-08:00

For my wedding day, I wanted to wear a Floral hair accessory. However I couldn't find anything I truly liked. But thanks to the lovely ladies on theknot L.A. board, I found Esty seller Twigs & Honey. Myra, the owner, creates these amazing custom hair pieces. I contacted her back in September and got lucky. Shortly after I contacted her, she wasn't accepting any new order until January 2009. I asked her to create a Bridal hair accessory from silk flowers and to add some swarovski crystals, so that it will match the beadings of my dress. ***drum roll*** please! Here's what she created for me.

I absolutely love it, and can't wait to wear it on the Big Day!

Invitation Wording

2009-01-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

I wish I wasn't so indecisive when it came to choosing my invitation wording. Here are the options,I'm considering:

Option A:

Mr. & Mrs. Simply Sapphira parents
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Sapphira
to
Sapphira's Fiance
son of Mr. & Mrs. Fiance parents
on May 9, 2009
at 5:30 pm
Dove Canyon Country Club
Dove Canyon, California

Option B:

Mr. & Mrs. Simply Sapphira parents
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Sapphira
to
Sapphira's Fiance
on May 9, 2009
at 5:30 pm
Dove Canyon Country Club
Dove Canyon, California

Option C:

What great thing is there
for two human souls
than to feel that they are joined
to strengthen each other
to be one with each other
in silent unspeakable memories.
Mr. & Mrs. Simply Sapphira parents
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Sapphira
to
Sapphira's Fiance
on May 9, 2009
at 5:30 pm
Dove Canyon Country Club
Dove Canyon, California

As of right now, my favorite is Options C. Option A & B are very similar. And honestly, I'm not too fond of the. I just included them in my choices, because fiance parents are a bit more traditional. What to do?? Any thoughts, just let me know.

Appointments and To Do List

2009-01-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here's my updated list of all the upcoming appointments I have. I'm sure I'll be updating the list more frequently in the next few weeks.

Jan. 24 - Scout out Location for Boudoir Photo shoot
Feb. 13 - 10 am Cake Tasting appt. @ Rockwell's Bakery
Feb. 14 - 10 am Cake Tasting appt. @ All About the Cake
Feb. 19 - 4:30pm Food Tasting @ Dove Canyon
Feb. 22 - Running the Brea 8K
Feb. 24 - 11 am Cake Tasting appt. @ Beverly's Best
Feb. 28 - Boudoir Photo Shoot
Mar. 25 - meeting with my Photographer
Mar. 31 - 2pm Pre-Wedding meeting with my DOC
Apr. 28 - 2pm Final Venue walk through with DOC
May 8th - 3pm Rehearsal
May 8th - Rehearsal Dinner, Location still unknown
May 9th - The Big Day

My To Do List:

Set up meeting with my officiant to go over the ceremony
Scout and check out restaurants to hold rehearsal dinner, preferably a place near the venue
Send in courtesy agreement back to the hotel
Choose Invitation wording.

As with the above list, I'm sure the To Do List will grow as well.

We're 4 months away!

2009-01-13T11:53:00.000-08:00

Wow! I have about 4 months until the big day. I'm slowly feeling the pressure of making sure I have everything completed and checked off. So last night, I sent out emails to most of my vendors to schedule follow appointments if necessary. Not to mention choosing readings, figuring out time schedules, looking into different restaurants for the Rehearsal Dinner, checking out and blocking off rooms at a hotel (still searching), squeezing in my gym time and running time, so that I will look FABULOUS on the Big Day. Basically I've been running around like a mad woman. ha ha!

Jan. 14 - Follow-Up appt. with Florist before setting up Flower Trial
Jan. 24 - Scout out Location for Boudoir Photo shoot
Feb. 13 - 10 am Cake Tasting appt. @ Rockwell's Bakery
Feb. 14 - 10 am Cake Tasting appt. @ All About the Cake
Feb. 22 - Running the Brea 8K
Feb. 24 - 11 am Cake Tasting appt. @ Beverly's Best
Feb. 28 - Boudoir Photo Shoot
Mar. 25 - meeting with my Photographer
Mar. 31 - 2pm Pre-Wedding meeting with my DOC
Apr. 28 - 2pm Final Venue walk through with DOC

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Wow, I can't believe it's 2009 already! 2009 will be a good year! In 4 months I will be getting married. Woohoo!! With that said I also decided to get in the habit of blogging more and keep everyone in the loop with wedding related items, personal & professional life, photography and my goals for 2009. I decided not to do any New Years Resolution, but instead to set myself goals, I want to accomplish within this year. Here's a glimpse of the goals I have set so far for myself:

Get married (05.09.09)
Run a 10 K (inprogress)
Find a better paying job (jobmarket sucks)
Take a Photography class (still searching for an evening or wkd class)

I'm sure once the year progress I'll add to the list of goals. But for now I think this will keep me busy.

Wedding Cakes

2008-12-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

For awhile there, I had taken a break from all the wedding planning. Lately though, I've had wedding planning on the brain. Perhaps, because I just received my fabulous Save the Date cards, from my designer, The Paper Stylist. Hopefully, I will be able to mail them out this weekend. So excited for all my guests to receive them!!!!
Oh, I also get to work from home tomorrow, as the FI is in town visiting. Unfortunately, I have a huge ToDoList, which needs to be completed by this Friday. Ugh! What can you do, at least I have a job in this bad economy and will be getting paid for the holidays. So, I can't really complain. But I'm sure I will be able to squeeze in some wedding planning during my work hours ;)...which reminds me I need to pick up some labels and stamps. Darn, I knew I should have taken a few labels from work. he he he.
Anyway, here are a few photos of wedding cakes that I simply adore. Still looking for more cake designs. Ideally, I would like to create something simple, yet something that still has that stunning wow factor. What do you guys think?

Love the flowers and the simple monogram.

Love the ribbons and flowers on the cake.

A similar cake as the one above, except they used Orchids.
All images from theknot

Wedding: Inspiration Board

2008-12-19T14:15:00.000-08:00

Since I just blogged about my Save the Dates, thought it would be fitting if I posted the color/combo inspiration board on here as well.

Color Palette: Red, Pale Pink (various shades), Cream & Ivory
Mood: Vintage, Soft Romance & Classy Elegance

Image Source: Snippet&Ink

Save The Dates

2008-12-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

****UPDATE****

Anne sent me a picture of my Save the Dates, so I could blog about them. So sweet of her! So here is the final product! What do you guys think?! J'adore them!! I just know she's going to do an awesome job on my invitations. For those who are looking for invitation design or anything else related to paper designs, I can highly recommend the The Paper Stylist .

I received an email from The Paper Stylist last night, my Save the Date cards are ready!! Woohoo! Can't wait to pick them up from Anne! Anne is super talented and so creative! I will blog more about them once I receive them. Check out her blog!

Make Room For Santa

2008-12-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday, I ran my 2nd 5k race. As you all know, I'm a novice when it comes to running. But just recently joined a running group to get in shape. Although I had my first 5k run on. Thanksgiving Day, this race was the official race for all the 101 runners, for the A Snails Pace running group.
Naturally, I was still super anxious to run another 5k and potentially running the race in the rain, which I was not looking forward to. Thankfully, it did not rain, but it was still freezing cold. When I left my house in the morning the thermometer displayed a whooping 37 degrees. I even had ice on my windshield. My goal for this race was to shave off at least 10 min from my previous time. And I succeeded!!!! I ran the race under 35min.
Drum roll please....my time was 33:50. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of me just yet. But the wife of my running coach took some pictures, so hopefully I will be able to get my hands on those pictures. So no pictures in this post. However, my next goal is to successfully complete a 10k in April. Training with my running group begins in January. Can't wait to begin!

Tis the Season

2008-12-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

I took pictures with good ol' Santa Clause!! I was at the Mall during my lunch, walked by Santa and thought: What the heck, why not take a picture with Santa =) Who says I'm too old for Santa. Ha Ha Ha!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

*Update: Added Pictures
Happy Thanksgiving!

My day started out really early. I decided to run a 5K this morning in support of Spinal Cord Injuries. My other reason...well, ok so I wouldn't feel guilty if I stuffed myself. =)
This was my first 5K race. Of course, I was super nervous because I told myself that I needed to run the entire race. However, I was doubtful I would succeed, as I just recently joined a running group to get in shape for my wedding. Drum roll please....ha ha ha! Can you tell, I'm super excited?! I successfully completed my first 5K race!! Not to mention, that I ran the entire race! ! I was able to run it under 45min. I will be running another 5K race with my running group next month. By then, I'm hoping to shave off at least 5min if not more of my time.
My friend Chelsea, even came out to see me run! She took a picture of me crossing the finish line. She's such a sweet gal. She stood out in the cold to watch me run! I'll post a picture once she uploads them to her facebook.

Before the Race

Look at all the runners

Waiting for the race to begin

Beginning of Race

Crossing the finish Line

Awww....I'm still super excited that I was able to run the entire race. Seriously, I really, really, didn't think I would be able to. "Running is all mental". That's a statement I hear from every runner. It's true! While I only ran a 5K, the first mile was the hardest for me. I was ready to quit and give up. However I just kept chanting to myself: "You can do it". And before I knew it, I crossed the finished line.

I'm completely stuffed and soo full. Our Thanksgiving Dinner was yummy. My mom made Turkey and Ham, and my younger sister decided she wanted to cook/make all the side dishes for our dinner. The food was simply delish, especially her Appler Pie. Simpley Devine! I'll post pictures later. Too stuffed right now. Going to pop myself on the couch and watch a bunch of movies.

Wild Fires

2008-11-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

I work 2 blocks away from where the fires were raging this past weekend. Yesterday, during lunch I drove through some of the effected areas. Thankfully, families didn't lose there homes here. However there are quite a few homes with minor structural damage. I feel for those families who have lost everything, especially those who do not have the proper Insurance coverage in place to help them rebuild.
It is even more aggravating to hear, that the fire were caused by careless individuals. Last night on the news, I heard that the Montecito Fire was caused by a bonfire. A group of young people decided to have a bonfire, but failed to check if it was completely extinguished. Come on folks! During the months of October and November, we always get hit by strong Santa Ana winds. If you chose to have a bonfire during this time, double check to see if the fire is out. I have not lived in California for that long. but even I know, that we get hit with strong Santa Ana wind during the Autumn season. Seriously, there are plenty of days in a year to have bonfires, why chose a the Fire Season?? Ok, end if rant!

Photography: Picture Perfect

2008-11-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to sit down and blog. Today though, I decided it was about time to catch up on things.

Where to start?! Oh yes, I finally have my voice back!!!For about 1 1/2 weeks I didn't have a voice. Of course, attending a wedding in Vegas didn't help either. However, I was the Maid of Honor therefore I had to attend. Not only that, I didn't want to be one of those people, who RSVP'd, then deciding last minute of not showing up. The wedding was lots of fun since I got to spend some time with my bff's from college, and we got to see an old college roommate, who we hadn't seen in 7 years. Here are some pictures. Let me know what you think. I was playing around with my photoshop. By the way, the originals are always on top.

Bride -To-Be

A touch of morning glow

Matron of Honor, Maid of Honor , Bride, and Bridesmaid
Above: Original Photo; Below: Photoshopped

Marlith (bff), I , Dani (bff), and Josie (old college roomie)

Prior to attending the wedding in Las Vegas, I had some old High School friends, from overseas , visit me as well. It was their first visit to the USA. Unfortuntaly, I wasn't able to spend that much time with them, due to my work schedule. But I was able to spend an entire Saturday with them up at the Griffith Observatory. The loved the area, and wished they had some time to hike up some of the trails. There is always next time. It was great to see them again! I haven't sbeen able to visit with many of my HS friends, since I moved out here. Life! Thank goodness for email and the internet.

Old High School Friends

Headshots

2008-11-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was my Mom's birthday and had brunch at the Mission Inn....such yummy food. While we were there I took some head shots my sister and came to the conclusion that I need to photography more often. Actually I knew that already, just need to make time for it.

Hail to the Chief

2008-11-05T09:50:00.000-08:00

The results came in last night, but I was to tired to blog. Technically I should be sleeping, as I didn't go to work today. I'm trying to fight of this cold I have and hoping to regain my voice I lost. =(

I'm so excited about last nights results. It was a historic presidential election, and America made history. Last night, America spoke and voted for our new President-Elect : Barack Obama.

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states."

Nothing else needs to be said. If you want to read the full speech, just click here.

Unfortuntaly though, the Yes on Proposition 8 campain was successful. Gay couples are not allowed to get married in California once again. It's a shame!

Vote for Change

2008-11-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since, I last blogged. I have some catching up to do. However, I will do that after I get off work. This post however is a reminder to everyone to vote. It's Election Day! The presidential race is finally coming to an end! And tonight we will find out whether John McCain or Barack Obama will be our next president. Please go out and vote!

It's pretty easy to figure out for whom I voted. The title of my post gives it away. Also,I don't mind sharing, even if others might not agree with me. It's a free country and everyone is entitled to vote for whom ever they chose, whether it's Obama or McCain.

Sneak Peak

2008-10-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Awwww..... Crissy just posted one picture of J. and I's e-session at Mission San Juan Capistrano. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the eye candy she posted on her blog. Can't hardly wait to see what else she will be posting. Check it out her blog!

Tag You're It!

2008-10-15T14:18:00.000-07:00

I received my first tag from Anne. So here are the 6 random things about me:

I have a bald spot. When I was 8 years old I got the wind knocked out of me, fell to the ground and hit my head pretty hard on concrete floor. I had to get stitches. So now, I have an itzy, bitzy, teenie, tiny bald spot on my head.

I habitually crack my knuckles. Besides my knuckles I can practically crack any joint in my body, from my neck, my back, my wrist, my elbows, my ankles ... you name it. I'm pretty sure I can crack/pop it. Gross, I know. And yes I do realize it's not good for you.

I can't leave the house with out my cellphone/blackberry. I feel naked with out it. Usually I try to turn around and grab the BB. Of course, there are time, when I simply can't turn around and fetch my phone. I cringe just thinking about it. Like I said, I feel naked with out it and usually bug my friends to borrow their phones, in order to check messages....not that I receive hundreds of phone calls. Haha! I can be a little OCD at times. ;)

I love any sort of lip balm or chapstick. However, I tend to lose them the minute I buy them. So sadly, I've given up that obsession, since it was costing me a fortune. I would seriously buy lipbalm about 3 times a week.

I hate chocolate milk, hot chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, chocolate ice cream.
I do love cholocate though, especially german or swiss chocolate. Just not the item listed above. Every time I eat those items, I automatically get a gag reflex and I want to vomit. Yes, weird indeed.

Even though I was born in the US, I grew up overseas. Preschool, Kindergarden, Elementry School, Middle School and High School I attended in Europe. I went through 5 years of High School. No, I was not held back! The school system I attended in Europe, had 5 years of High School instead of 4 year.

Those are the 6 random things you ever wanted to know about me! LoL!

The "rules" of the game are as follows:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
Now, I tag these folks....

Unfortunately though, I don't have 6 people I can tag, as most of my friends do not blog. =(

Here are the people I can tag though:

Aileen

Iman

Alicia

Zicke, Zacke...

2008-10-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Zicke, zacke, heu, heu!! Yup, we all headed out to the Old World Oktoberfest in Huntington Beach, this past Saturday. Its seems the older we get, my friends and I don't get together as often as we have in the past. So, usually during this time of the year, we try to go the Oktoberfest at least once, to hang out, drink some beers, dance and to have some fun. From the pictures I posted, this year wasn't any different!! Good Times!! Prosit!!

A Snail's Pace

2008-10-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my last post, so I figured I'd write about something... ;) With that said, here comes my boring blog entry for today. Hmmm....what could I write about?!
Oh yes, I finally joined a running group. I've been wanting to join one for quite some time now, but always found reason not to join one, such as a) it's too late, b) it cost to much money, c) I won't know anybody etc... However, since I'm getting hitched next year, I was sold and signed up for a running clinic.
My wedding was all the motivation I needed, and so far I'm not regretting the $125 bucks, I spent. We run three times a week. Tuesday and Thursday we meet at 6pm. On Saturday, we meet at the crack of dawn - 7 am!
My friends and family know that I'm not a morning person, and were a bit skeptical of me wanting to run at 7 am. I admit, getting up last Saturday was definitely a struggle, but I was determined not to waste my hard earned money. And surprisingly, I wasn't even tired after the run. I was energized the entire day.
Before I joined the running group, I started to run with a fellow knottie. She is getting married in December, which is practically around the corner. We decided to run together once a week, since its always easier to stay motivated, if you have someone pushing you along especially with another knottie, who understands the stresses of planning a wedding and wanting to look fabulous on the specialy day. I'm glad we met, as Carmela aka POG, is such a sweet girl, not to mention that we seem to have similar taste.

Life is Beautiful

2008-10-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Check out my engagement pictures! We took them on busy Melrose Avenue. Aren't they just beautiful! The pictures were taken by the very talented Alicia from The Modern Type.

www.themoderntypeblog.com

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. Can't wait to see the rest of them!

Photography

2008-09-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've blogged...guess my life isn't as exciting, as I think it is. This blog entry is to remind that I need to get of my lazy butt and practice my photography. Practice makes perfect! How am I suppose to get better, if I don't practice. Here are some pictures I shot awhile ago.

Decisions, Decision, Decisions...

2008-09-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

What a week! I'm so glad it's Friday. I've been busy, busy, busy. However, the wedding planning is moving a long great. This past Monday, I had my hair and makeup trial with Nicole Deanne Bridal Hair and Makeup. The trial went fantastic, and Nicole is such a sweet person. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of trial to post, as I forgot my camera. Nicole took pictures though, and I'm just waiting for her to email them to me, so that I can make changes to the hair and makeup, if needed. Once I receive the photos, I will post. It's exciting though to have another vendor booked. Everything is moving along quite nicely. Not to mention, Twigs & Honey will be creating my custom floral hair accessory for the wedding. I'm super stoked!!!!
Twigs & Honey has been getting great reviews on theknot and after seeing her work on etsy, I was sold. I contacted her just in time for her to accept my order. Now comes the hard part deciding how my hair piece should look. Everything she creates is simply stunning and goregours! She's one talented person. Below are some pictures of what I'm looking for...perhaps I can combine some of the styles. What do you think?

All Images from Twigs & Honey

Memories...

2008-09-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to blog a bout some old pictures I've received from an old friend last week, but haven't had the time to do so. I had a crazy week not to mention all the drama I had to deal with. Thankfully, I'm drama free this week and moving on from all the shenanigans.

Below are the pictures I received from a good friend who lives in Colorado. They are quite funny, as I haven't seen these pictures in years. Back in my younger days, I was very involved in my community youth group and we use to go on trips all over Europe. One of the trips we took was to Switzerland, where we all went Glacier Climbing in the Alps. Seeing these pictures brought back a flood of memories - me completely frustrated and bitching about the glacier because it took me longer to climb up the glacier then I thought. Not to mention, it seemed as if I were never going to reach the top.

Our hike up to the Glacier

Photo Op

That's Me! Climbing the Glacier

At the Campsite

Money, Money, Money...in a rich man's world

2008-09-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Looking for the perfect wedding dress can be stressful, considering the various different dress designers out there. Not to mention, how expensive some of these dresses can be. Unfortunately, my taste in dresses is bit on the higher side. See example below:

Kenneth Pool, Design: Vivian

I absolutely love, love this dress, just too bad money doesn't grow on trees. After taxes and alterations the cost would be around $5000 -5500. Too expensive, even for just one special day.
But this past Saturday I found at dress, which was reasonable price and won't break the bank. It's a type of dress I had not considered at first. When I walked in the Bridal Salon I tried on several different dresses, but I didn't really find anything I was wowed by. However, there was another Bride at the salon, who had this beautiful ball gown dress on. She looked beautiful in it too. That particular bride wanted to purchase "my dress", but had to wait until her mom flew into town. The good daughter she is, she decided to wait, even though it was her second visit to the Bridal Department Store.
To make a long story short, I decided to try on that particular dress, as well. To my surprise a ball gown dress did not over power my petite statue. And I was actually wowed by the dress, once the sales lady put on the veil and the blusher on as well. I actually felt like a bride. =)
So, I'm so excited and just can't hide it...(don't know the rest of the lyrics. LoL)

Designer: Anne Barge
Not to sound conceited, but I got so many compliments, wearing this particular gown. Even after I had taken off the dress, shoppers still kept coming up to me to compliment me on the beautiful dress and the radiant glow I exuded. This reaffirmed to me that I made the the right choice.

Please Don't Stop The Music...

2008-09-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

What a busy and fun weekend! Let me recap the weekend bulletin style.

Saturday:

Dress Shopping in San Diego
Drove home, grabbed my over night bag, then headed from the I.E. to Huntington Beach
Reached friends house, by then tired from all the driving, rushing to get changed - then head to head out to swanky Beverly Hills, for a 30th surprise b-day party.
Partied all night long, but still woke up at 9 am the next day.

Sunday:

Ate big breakfast- afterwards uploaded the pictures to my friend's computer.
Off to the Farmers Market - afterwards swam some laps in the pool, unfortunately no time to play Tennis.
Took shower, got dress and then off to ECO-Fair in Anaheim Hills at the Nature Center.
Side note: my friend's boyfriend is an artist and set him up with a project for my boss - 3pm appt at my boss' house.
At home now, but tired from the weekend.

What would be a post with out the picture documentations. =)

At the Avalon Hotel

Group picture

How pretty is this bird?

Hawk rescued by the Bird Sanctuary

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

Soo sad that this three day weekend is coming to an end. I love lazy weekends. No work and no traffic!!! Just hung out at home and relaxed. Yesterday though, I met up with some friends at the beach, who were BBQing and later had a Bonfire. Played some soccer and volleyball. Now, I'm all sore from all the running around. =) It was good work out though, definitely needed it after all that food I've been eating this weekend. Pictures from the beach:

Island in the Sun

2008-08-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, I traveled to Catalina Island for work, which was a nice change from sitting in the office all day. I got paid to roam around in the sun. It was a long day, but nonetheless fun.

Here are some pictures from my work excursion:

Famous Catalina Tile

Typical Mode of Transport

Looking for Nemo - Garibaldi Fish

The Habor

Father Son Moment

My boss brought a long his 4 year old son, so he could spend some quality time with his son after the work obligations were over. He is definitely one of the best behaved 4 year olds. Caught a father/son moment on my camera.

Fabulicious

2008-08-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today, during lunch I headed over to Nordstrom and found some super fabulous dresses, for me to wear for my engagement photo session in October! Did I mention that all three items were on sale. Double Yeah!! Now, hopefully I will stick with these choices, and not change my mind! Trust me, I've been shopping for different types of outfits the minute I booked my photographer back in March. So far I've returned 4 different dresses, a cute top and a pair of shoes. What can I say, at times I can be pretty darn indecisive. For now though, I'm confident I'll stick with my three outfits I picked out. Pictures will be posted tomorrow.

*Update*

Of course, I ended up returning all the dresses I bought in Nordstrom. LoL! Somehow I knew that was going to happen. I spend to much time online window shopping, therefore I keep finding better looking dresses. So, here's a picture of my new outfit for my upcoming e-pic session in October. Good thing, it's a final sale...who knows perhaps I would have exchanged this dress for another one as well. Now, I just need to find a perfect pair of stilettos to match my dress. As of right now, it's the pair you see in the picture. Check again, it might be a different one in a few weeks. Hahaha!

p.s.: The dress looks much better in person! Absolutely Fabulous!!

Move Your Body...

2008-08-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Big Day is less than 9 months away. The wedding planning itself is moving along quite well. Next week I'll sign the contract with my florist. And in September I'll have my first makeup and hair trial. Thanks again to my sister and her blog stalking skills - the stylist who styled Mrs.Pootiekins is opening up her own business. Naturally, I had to set up an appointment with her stylist, since I'm in love with Mrs.Pootiekins wedding. Two words to describe up her wedding: Gorgeous and Fabulous!
Like every Bride-To-Be, I want to look fabulous on my wedding day. With that said, I finally started my work out regiment- instead the crash diets I usually. Yes, we all know - Crash Diets never work in the long run. Yet at times, it does serve its purpose, especially if one lacks the motivation to get their lazy butt to the gym.
Usually I'm pretty consistent when it comes to working out, but the last few months I've been one lazy heffer. So now with the wedding 9 months away and the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) being around the corner, I need to get my butt in gear. And unfortunately my metabolism slowed down, since I'm in my late twenties now.
Ugh, it's soo much work losing weight the good ol' fashion way - working out consistently and portion control when it comes to food. This week marked the beginning of my new self. hahaha. I just hope I can still stick with the program until May. My wedding should be a big motivator right?! Not that I'm fat by all means, but I love good food. Well my friends and I often go out to eat. Looks, like I have to scale back on that =(.

The stats as of Monday, August 18, 2009:

Bust: 33''
Waist: 27.5''
Hips: 36''
Weight: 117.5 Ibs (ugh, my heaviest I've ever been)

Sorry folks, but I'm not posting a before and after picture of me. Maybe later. But the goal is to lose about 3 inches on waist and hips, and bring my weight down 110Ibs. Hopefully, I won't lose anything around my bust. I'm not well endowed as it is.

So it begins...

2008-08-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm in the midst of wedding planning, some how I failed to realize that my 9 month mark was rapidly approaching. Last week Saturday, my good friend J. mentioned that my wedding was exactly 9 months away. Wow! I' was proposed to in December! It's finally settling in...I'm engaged! And next May, I will be getting married to my bestfriend, my soulmate, my lover. Man, talk about a delayed reaction. haha. =)

Thanks to a very persistent sister, I would not have been so far ahead in my planning. Basically the minute I got engaged she hounded me: Start looking into venues, all the good venues will book fast. Check out this photographer! She's an up and coming photographer! Start getting quotes! See if they are booking for 2009 already etc. ...

Yes, I have a crazy sister. OMG, if anyone could have just seen her during her wedding planning days. She definitely was a Bridezilla!! lol And I quote her:

".... Move over bridezilla...her comes SISTER-zilla! I kidd I kidd. The other day, my sister was calling me literally 10x a day and asking a million questions and I thought to myself was I like this, too? My MOH said 'YES just WORSE!' What a BITCH!"

In all honesty though, if it weren't for her, the only vendor booked would have been my venue. But thanks to her obsessive compulsive behavior during her engagement. The following vendors are booked already:

Photographer
Videographer
DJ/Lighting
Florist
Date of Coordinator
Officiant
Invitations

With my wedding being 9 months away, I'm on the hunt for the perfect DRESS. Actually, I'm just waiting on my mom to return from her trip. She went to the Eastcoast to spoil her grandkids. To get an idea what type of dresses I'm interested in just check out my planning bio.

In addition to my dress hunt, I'm still haven't decided on Bridesmaids dresses yet. So far these two Jim Hjelm dresses are in the running:

Girls just wanna have FUN (SHOES)!

2008-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

Today has been a pretty lazy day. Unfortunately, I wasn't motivated enough to get my FAT BUTT to the GYM. Ugh, I wish scientist would invent a motivation pill!! Tomorrow though, I'm determined to hit the gym!!! Let's hope I still will be motivated.

Well, I wasn't entirely unproductive. I did find some place card holders, I would like to use for my wedding. Not to mention, I found these fab shoes. I'm still debating whether or not to buy them. What do you guys think?These shoes are from Steve Madden. They come in three different colors, black, purple and The purple and taupe. Can't decide which color to purchase. Help me decide! Purple or taupe??

My theme for my wedding is vintage. These are the vintage tealight place card holders, I was talking about. However, they only come in an antique white finish, but this shouldn't be a problem, as I can always paint them brown.

Here Comes The Sun...

2008-08-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to blog more, but haven't had the timely lately. So here is a quick recap of my eventful and crazy week.

Last Saturday I lost my debit card, which is highly annoying because I never ever carry any cash with me, and I do not own any credit cards. Thankfully, I was able to dash to the bank, pull some money out, report my debit card lost and hope no one depletes my account.

Monday: I checked my bank account and I have $0.00, which means someone actually used my card. Those bastards! This meant I had to ask my boss for a cash advance. I hate asking for cash advances. The reason: I haven't earned that money yet. I know the bank will reimburse me my money, but it usually takes a few days. As you can imagine, my Monday wasn't going that great.
Not to mention the earthquake, we had that day as well. Ok, we can't predict earthquakes. But in my defense, it was the first real somewhat big earthquake I experienced, since I moved to Cali. 8 years ago. Naturally, that freaked me out a bit. Good thing, I was at work because if I were home alone...who knows might have gotten a panic attack.

Tuesday: Since I don't have an ATM card I have to rely on cash to purchase things, such as gas and groceries. This was a great way to start my morning. After work on Monday, I spent my last cash at Albertson, since my fridge was empty and I had nothing to eat at home. I was planning on going to Wells Fargo afterwards, but unfortunately they were closed already. Just my luck. I hate not having an ATM card.
Anyway, I also needed to fill up my tank, but decided to go to the Cheveron Gas station before I head out to work in the morning. Good thing I have a gas card, if not I would have been screwed, I thought to myself. Unfortunately though, I have a habit of filling up the tank, when I barely have any gas left. This day was no different. To make a long story short, I went to the Chevron Station to fill my tank. Inserted my card but it wasn't working! Great, hopefully it wasn't my card! So I go inside to the attendant give him my card. He tries swiping the card but it still doesn't work. That's when he told me that their credit card system was down. It had been like that all morning. Seriously!!!! I panic because I had no money, the banks weren't open yet and I had no gas to get me to work! Of course I panic a bit and tell him that I needed my card to work. He tried again, but it still didn't work. Some guy behind me tells me that I should pull money out of the ATM. Duh, I thought of that myself, but wait...I don't have an ATM card, because I lost it!! I told everyone my story, why I was desperate. So he gave me 10 bucks, so that I could get to work. Of course, I was grateful, if not I would have been stuck there, but how embarrassing!! This whole situation made me an hour late to work!! Good thing my boss understood and our client we were meeting that day was running late.

Thursday: While working on my first DIY project for my upcoming wedding. I cut myself with dull scissors so deep, I thought I had to get my finger stitched up. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. After completing the project and cleaning up my mess I made in the living room, I burnt my arm on the still hot glue gun! Come on...what else could go wrong?! Despite all my injuries the project was worth all of it, because they turned out fabulous.

The finished floral Monograms!

Friday: I'm relieved that it's finally the weekend. Of course my co-workers and boss all laugh at me...seeing me all bandage up, and after telling my story. They agreed it definitely wasn't my week.

Viva La Vida

2008-07-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, this blog has been in existence for about a month now. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much activity on here. Hopefully this will change in the near future, as I have decided to blog more often. With that said, has anybody been to a Coldplay concert? Last weekend I went to Las Vegas to see Coldplay perform at the MGM Garden Arena. They wore definitely worth the 4h drive to Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me so I couldn't video record anything. However thanks to youtube, I was able to find this short clip (first youtube video) and to my surprise this was shot by someone who was sitting in the same area, where my friends and I were!! We had great seats! Of course, I haven't been to very many concerts in my life, but I thought we had a really great view of Coldplay and the whole arena as well. How awesome are Coldplay in concert?! The crowd was great, too!

Go Shorty...It's My Birthday!

2008-06-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

It's official! Today I turned 28 years old!! I'm another year older and wiser. Haha! Ok, I just like to believe and tell myself that I'm wiser, but who knows. However I can't deny the fact that I'm definitely another year older, which also means that I'm two years away from turning the BIG 30! Thankfully, I don't look my age. My co-worker, actually paid me a complement today. No, not just because it was my birthday. Every time we talk about age, she's always in disbelief, as to how old I am. These were her exact words: "You don't look a day older than 23!" Even if she just gave me a complement because it was my birthday, I don't care. Name one woman, who doesn't like to hear that she doesn't look her age!! Other than that my birthday was pretty uneventful. I worked a half-day, then met my family for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant, and tonight I will be heading to the movies.

However, this year my birthday celebration was low key. Normally, I head out to L.A. or Hollywood to some fancy restaurant with all my friends, and then hit up one of hot-spots to dance our butts off. For some reason this year, I didn't feel the vibe for the big birthday bash. Must be something in the air, as I'm not the only one among my friends who opted out of the big birthday celebration bashes. Some of my friends took my out to dinner at this awesome Sushi place in Costa Mesa. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that day, but i do have some photos from today, my actual birthday. =)

That is ME ~ with my new purse and the flowers I received.

The obligatory "chow mien" ~ a Chinese custom and tradition to eat chow mien on your birthday to ensure long life!

My Birthday presents.

p.s.: I apologize for not taking any pictures of the birthday cards I received.

Pictures of You

2008-06-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

"Photography... catching a moment in passing..." so this weekend I decided to grab my digital SLR, drive around in my car, and shoot - basically anything that catches my eye. I love Photography - ever since I've took a 35mm Photography class in High school and again in College. And today was the perfect day to get back into my beloved hobby. By all means though, I'm not a pro. Still an amateur, but determined to become better. Right now, I own a Nikon D40x. Hopefully sometime in the near future I can upgrade to a better one. Ok, I'll admit I do have my eye on the D300. Of course, the D40x at the moment is sufficient, but I'm sure my skills will eventually surpass my current model. Lots of practice and with some photography classes, it definitely will. And since I'm always on the lookout to practice my photography skills, tell me about good areas to shoot. Oh, below are two pictures from Saturday. Not bad for my first day taking pictures!

Fields of Fern

Ray of Light

What's my age again?

2008-06-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Due to sisterly influences I've joined the blogging world! But who knows if anyone will read my blog. My sister Nita for sure! Other than that, who knows, since I don't have many friends that blog. Wait I take that back, my friend Jennifer just created her own blog. Yeah! I do know someone besides my sister who blogs. Anyway, just in case someone else might read my blog and wonders about the title. Well, in exactly 14 days I will be turning 28! Yikes! Awwww...I'm not in my mid-twenties anymore. Slowly but surely I'm inching my way closer to the big 30. Then again, you're only as old as you feel and I don't feel a day older than 25.