Jeanne-isms

Due to my ridiculous work schedule sometimes, I've developed my own short-hand typing.  This week has been particularly harsh on me, my aging, the amount of caffiene intake, and Russ.  I'm at work by 7am; don't leave until after 8pm (sometimes not till 11 or 12); come home and think about wedding planning stuff for a bit; try to talk to Russ before he falls asleep; work for a few hours (or just go to sleep for a few hours); wake up at 4am; work till 6; get ready and go to work.  Thankfully, I'm not a total grouch at work!  :)

Black Eyed Peas and U2

Wow.  Wow.  Wow.  On Friday 10/23, Russ and I reeived an email message from our neighbor.  She had been wanting to thank us for all of our hard work for the HOA (our HOA had issues and Russ and I devoted a lot of time to help w/ it).  Anyway, her email said that she still wanted to thank us and asked if we had U2 concert tix at the Rose Bowl!!!

Pumpkin Carving Party

After the disgustingly gross spit in my hair/forehead, we headed back home.  We had excellent timing b/c we got home right around 6pm when everyone was coming over!  =)  I LOVE pumpkin carving.  It's like one of the few times when I get to exercise my control-freakishness without getting yelled at or chastised.  Besides, it totally reminds me of my childhood and makes me happy.  That might explain why I still sing that Toys R Us song!  ;)

Save The Date Pictures

Russ and I had an exciting weekend!  After his surprise to me at Susan Feniger's Street, we stayed up really really late to clean the house and get ready for the pumpkin carving (esp since I had volunteered to make pumpkin curry)!  I have a special blog just for pumkin carving!

But even before all the pumpkin carving party excitement, Russ and I asked Anita to take our save-the-date pictures.  Anita (BM) just got a SLR and she's been wanting to practice.  During her sabbatical, she practiced on her cute little nephew and niece.  And we asked her to practice on us too!  =)

Susan Feniger's Street

Russ surprised me tonight with a random date night!  I think he probably knew how stressed I was b/c of work and work and work.  Fortunately, since I've got Kelley, I'm not stressed about the wedding at all!  =)  So, we went to Susan Feniger's Street for dinner.

Dave McCall - Our Officiant!!

From the very beginning, Russ and I knew right away that we wanted a friend to marry us.  It wasn't a difficult decision b/c we love going to Bel Air Presbyterian Church, but we're not members.  We thought it might be a bit strange for a random person to marry us and paying him/her.  Besides, we wanted someone who could be humorous and make the ceremony feel really special.  ;)  We had a few friends in mind immediately.  Dave McCall was one of them!

Registering

On Saturday, 10/17, Russ and I started our registries at Bloomie's and Crate & Barrel.  I have a feeling that Russ was not all that interested in registering, but he came along anyway to keep me company!  ;)  Little did he know...it would be tons of fun!  Esp since he got to hold the zapper/scanner thing-y!  ;)

The Budget

Geez!  I thought that after we came up with the budget at the very beginning, that would be THE END of dealing with that!  But the budget keeps rearing its ugly head!  Totally sucks!  I mean, every time we look at potential vendors, the first thing I think about is whether they are within the budget.  If they are outside of our budget, I don't even consider them!

AstroBoy Premiere

On Monday night (10/19), Russ and I went to the AstroBoy premiere at the Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.  It was sooo awesome!  First, we get there and stand in the line to get our tix.  Second, we walk on the ACTUAL RED CARPET!  I *almost* felt like a star.  hahaha.

Fleuretica - Our Floral Designer!

After meeting with Fleuretica, Russ and I had a really good feeling about them.  We thought they were really nice and really listened to what we liked and didn't like.  Well, there wasn't much we didn't like and we were open to many floral options.  We just felt like we connected with them a bit more than the other florist.

Our DJ

After weeks of perusing random magazines, websites, blogs and referrals from Kelley, we finally decided on our DJ!  Actually, we had 2 DJs in mind, one was booked and one wasn't.  I really loved both equally as much (as did Russ).  I was afraid that we would meet with the un-booked DJ and find out he sucked and we would have to go back to Square 1.  We just weren't too happy with the other DJs we saw.  So, I tried to mask my excitement when we met with DJ T on October 8, 2009....

Stefan's at LA Farm

Yummy!  That was the theme of this weekend!  Eating, drinking, and just hanging out!  My tummy is soooooo full right now.  I don't think I can fit in my jeans anymore!  But Stefan's at LA Farm was delish!  We went with Malcolm, Haeli, Henry, Alex, Adrienne, Audrey, Anita, and Jason.

Make A Mark; Ujjal & Leslie; and Bottega Louie

I took Russ to Bottega Louie in Downtown this weekend.  It was soooo much fun!  Well, first we were in Pasadena for the Make A Mark event that our wedding planner put on!  It was really awesome to see so many young tweens there feeling empowered!

Make A Mark - 10/10/09

This weekend, our fantabulous planner, Kelley, is producing a tween event called Make-A-Mark.  The whole purpose of it is for girls who are in their tweens see who they are, love who they are and believe in themselves.  Remember what it was like to be at that age and not sure about who we are and wishing we looked or felt differently???  Brings back all the memories of that awkward stage!  Thank goodness I'm past that part of my life!  =)  But seriously, what an awesome idea!  I would have loved to have gone to this event!!

Random Facts About Russ #2

Russ LOVES sports.  I guess he's a stereotypical boy in that way.  He just LOVES sports!  Here are some of his fave sports and/or teams:

Random Facts About Russ #1

Even though Russ and I have been dating for 5+ years, there's still random facts that most people don't know about Russ.  So...here are some of them:

1.  Russ grew up in Northern Virginia.  He actually says he's from the DC area b/c when he says "Northern Virginia" people think he's from the deep South; but when he says "DC," people think he's from the North.  hehe.

Breakfast At Tiffany's!?!

Wow!  Check out this magazine!  It's totally awesome!  I love how it's vintage and modern all in one.  Utterly Engaged.  Fun and cool!  hehehe.

Chris Carter - Groomsman

Chris Carter I've known for all but 10 months of my life, and 11 months of his (which will be enough to tell you who's older).  We learned to crawl, read, ride bikes, drive cars all around the same schedule in growing up, and even though our families moved from being across the street from one another to separate counties, we managed to stay in touch and reunite at the University of Virginia.  Chris has come to Taiwan, Hong Kong and China with me, and I've gone to Tanzania, Africa with him, and together many places in between.

Rob Knape - Groomsman

Rob is my younger cousin by four years, and I thoroughly enjoyed beating up both him and his older brother Peter on my rare visits to Taiwan when we were all little.  Things changed around the time they hit middle school and high school... and Rob grew to be about 6'3"... and we were all too "mature" for that sort of childish behavior, hahahahaha!

Meeting with Tianyi

Sooooo, Russ and I met with Tianyi of Tiselle on Tuesday evening.  It's been really chaotic for me b/c I've been so unbelievably busy at work (like 15+ hour days and 2-4 hours of sleep).  =(

But I felt so re-energized after meeting with Tianyi and Kelley!  They have such awesome ideas and it makes me feel sooo happy that I've got a super great team of people to help make this a fantastic wedding!