When we first got engaged, I thought that I could plan the entire wedding by myself. I mean, I'm generally the planner, I'm organized, I'm a good negotiator (I think), I'm Type-A, and all my other friends planned their own weddings! ;) But then I got really busy at work, like to the point where I worked 60 hrs/week and had to delegate things to Russ, like location looking-up!
Russ gladly accepted the tasks, but it was a bit sad for me to not be involved. :( And then Russ bought me the wedding planning book. After reading the entire book, I realized that it would take way more time than I could ever possibly dedicate to planning my wedding! Not to mention, the book says that as you get closer to your wedding date, you end up spending like 160 hours/month on wedding planning!!! I nearly died! That's my minimum monthly billable requirement!! Based upon the book's calculations, I would be working 2 full time jobs from March to May!! EEEKS!!!!
That's when I decided I NEEDED a wedding planner and went on a mission to convince Russ that WE BOTH NEEDED a wedding planner and that she/he would be the best thing for OUR sanity!! =) Good thing we agreed on needing a wedding planner and found Kelley! She has made our life so much more managable!
This brings me to a bajillion e-mails. As our wedding is getting closer, we've been exchanging emails like crazy. Kelley writes us some stuff we need to take care of; we write back our responses/decisions; we write her other ideas; she responds... I'm not sure what we would do without email! I'm sure being a planner before email was extremely difficult! Can you imagine getting like 5 phone calls everyday from the same client, coming up with an answer to her/his questions, writing it down, and making sure you complete the task?!?!?
A bajillion e-mails; a bajillion decisions; a bajillion details; and having to keep track of everything! That's the glamorous life of wedding planning! And in spite of all the bajillion things, Kelley manages to keep it all straight, plan our wedding, make us happy, keep me from turning into bridezilla, and help us maintain our sanity!!! Thank goodness for Kelley and our bajillion emails! ;)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Buttermilk Truck
Well...in my random perusing of various websites, I came across the Buttermilk Truck. Their food looks so scrumptious that I immediately signed up to follow them on Twitter!! heehee. But it was a little disheartening b/c they generally serve breakfast in the SM, Downtown or El Segundo area. And their evening hours are somewhere else! So, I had to just follow them and wish that I could go...until Thurs night!
On Thurs evening, they were going to be in Culver City and I decided that Buttermilk Truck would be our dinner! =) My parents would highly disapprove b/c it was unhealthy and had no veggies. To make up for the unhealthy aspect, we ran/walked there and back. The total route was 3.4 miles!!! Not sure how many calories it burned, but hopefully it was more than we ate; or at least equal to what we ate. haha.
Since we were running, I didn't bring anything but $$ w/ me. Russ thought to bring his iPhone and we took the following awesome pics!
These are the red velvet pancake bits and the mini-brick:
On Thurs evening, they were going to be in Culver City and I decided that Buttermilk Truck would be our dinner! =) My parents would highly disapprove b/c it was unhealthy and had no veggies. To make up for the unhealthy aspect, we ran/walked there and back. The total route was 3.4 miles!!! Not sure how many calories it burned, but hopefully it was more than we ate; or at least equal to what we ate. haha.
Since we were running, I didn't bring anything but $$ w/ me. Russ thought to bring his iPhone and we took the following awesome pics!
These are the red velvet pancake bits and the mini-brick:
Red velvet pancake bites by themselves:
Mini-Brick by itself:
Breakfast Sliders:
And the breakfast sandwich with the rosemary hasbrown on the right side of it:
Check out their website for the exact contents of each item, but we definitely thought the Mini Brick or regular sized Brick was the best!! It has this country gravy on top and it tasted super yummy!! The best part was the runny egg. They warned us that the egg would be runny, but Russ didn't realize the extent of the runny-ness! When Russ took a bite, the egg yolk squirted out and Russ would say, "AAHH! Exploding Egg!!" And then it happened again and Russ said the same thing! hahaha.
We thought the sliders were just ok. I guess when I think of sliders, I think of something slightly bigger. It seems a bit salty and was missing something.
The red velvet pancake bites were really yummy though! We loved that one as much as the mini-brick. I've never had red velvet pancakes, but these were really good! A bit on the sweet side, but still delish!
And the breakfast sandwich was the next best (after the mini-brick and the pancake bites). I think it was probably b/c I like runny eggs b/c I could dip things into it.
It was a bit difficult to eat everything though b/c we are eating it outside of the food truck! So, I decided that I would try to find the "cleanest" part of the sidewalk and sit down. Russ looked appalled at what I just did. But oh well! I needed to sit and eat b/c I was afraid of the mess I would produce! After about 2 seconds, Russ sat down too and we chowed down!! Before we knew it, everyone else was sitting too! hahaha.
Fun & healthy (sort of)!! Go try Buttermilk! It's worth the calories and the mess! ;)
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Other Night...
The other night, while Russ was out galavanting and/or working, I had dinner w/ my friend, Diana, and her son, Jason. Diana was really afraid Jason would be grouchy b/c he was teething. She was also worried that Jason might get really fussy since his normal bedtime is b/t 6 and 7 and we were meeting for dinner at 630! ;)
But Jason was such a well-behaved baby! He screamed once. I think it was probably b/c Diana and I were engrossed in some random convo and we weren't paying enough attn to him. hehe. But after that, he had us trained to talk a little and then play with him. ;) Jason's super cute! Here's some pics of him that I snapped on my phone:
The funniest thing is that when Jason heard the table of ppl behind him laugh, he would start laughing and smiling too!! Jason was soooo well-behaved through our entire K-BBQ dinner! By the end of the night though, about 3 hours past his bedtime, Jason started to get a little grouchy. You could see it in his eyes. But he hung in there and had fun hanging w/ the girls!! And in spite of having no teeth, Jason wanted to eat like a big person! =) super cute! Can't wait to see Diana again at the wedding!!!
But Jason was such a well-behaved baby! He screamed once. I think it was probably b/c Diana and I were engrossed in some random convo and we weren't paying enough attn to him. hehe. But after that, he had us trained to talk a little and then play with him. ;) Jason's super cute! Here's some pics of him that I snapped on my phone:
The funniest thing is that when Jason heard the table of ppl behind him laugh, he would start laughing and smiling too!! Jason was soooo well-behaved through our entire K-BBQ dinner! By the end of the night though, about 3 hours past his bedtime, Jason started to get a little grouchy. You could see it in his eyes. But he hung in there and had fun hanging w/ the girls!! And in spite of having no teeth, Jason wanted to eat like a big person! =) super cute! Can't wait to see Diana again at the wedding!!!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
***More Important Wedding Info***
For everyone who is a late arrival to blog reading, here's the IMPORTANT wedding info that you'll need to know...
CEREMONY/RECEPTION ON May 29, 2010
Hotel Casa Del Mar
1910 Ocean Way
Santa Monica, California 90405
Our WEDDING WEBSITE is located at:
www.theknot.com
If you need the password, please email or call us and we will let you know what it is.
HOTEL INFO
Kelley has blocked special room rates for you. Please utilize them and book them promptly. We were notified that Casa Del Mar will be quite busy that weekend b/c it's Memorial weekend and b/c there are other weddings going on that day!!
1. Hotel Casa Del Mar for $285/night, does not include parking or tax. You'll have convenient access to all the wedding activities and the fun things to do in Santa Monica! Please call 800.898.6999 and reference the "Kuo-Riggins Wedding"!! They will keep our room blocks available w/ the special rate until the hotel sells out of rooms. So, please book ASAP!!!
2. Hotel Angeleno for $142/night, includes parking, but not tax. You'll also get a 20% discount if you dine at the restaurant in the hotel. This hotel is right off the 405 Freeway and Sunset Blvd. exit. It's near one of the best universities on the face of this earth -- UCLA!!! ;) It's about 8 miles from Casa Del Mar (which translates to about a 10-20 min drive, depending on traffic). Please click on this link for online reservation or else telephone the Hotel at 310.476.6411. Make sure you reference the "Kuo-Riggins Wedding" when reserving and please make your reservations by May 7, 2010!!
If you would like to stay at a hotel nearby, please feel free to do so. There are a number of great local hotels near and around Santa Monica.
ARRIVAL IN LOS ANGELES
Upon your arrival into any of these local airports - LAX, Long Beach Airport ("LGB"), Burbank Airport ("BUR"), or John Wayne Airport ("SNA") - we highly recommend renting a car. While the distance between places appear short, LA traffic is unpredictable and a car is the best method of transportation here!! LAX is the closest airport (about 9 miles from Santa Monica).
DIRECTIONS
From the 405, 110, 10 freeways,
take the I-10 West to Santa Monica.
Exit 4th Street.
Make a LEFT onto 4th Street.
Continue past two stoplights to Pico Blvd.
Make a RIGHT onto Pico Blvd.
Cross over Ocean AVENUE
Make a LEFT onto Ocean Way
Casa Del Mar will be on your RIGHT side.
Click here for the Google Map Directions.
If you have other questions, please email/call us and we'll try our best to help answer those questions!
CEREMONY/RECEPTION ON May 29, 2010
Hotel Casa Del Mar
1910 Ocean Way
Santa Monica, California 90405
Our WEDDING WEBSITE is located at:
www.theknot.com
If you need the password, please email or call us and we will let you know what it is.
HOTEL INFO
Kelley has blocked special room rates for you. Please utilize them and book them promptly. We were notified that Casa Del Mar will be quite busy that weekend b/c it's Memorial weekend and b/c there are other weddings going on that day!!
1. Hotel Casa Del Mar for $285/night, does not include parking or tax. You'll have convenient access to all the wedding activities and the fun things to do in Santa Monica! Please call 800.898.6999 and reference the "Kuo-Riggins Wedding"!! They will keep our room blocks available w/ the special rate until the hotel sells out of rooms. So, please book ASAP!!!
2. Hotel Angeleno for $142/night, includes parking, but not tax. You'll also get a 20% discount if you dine at the restaurant in the hotel. This hotel is right off the 405 Freeway and Sunset Blvd. exit. It's near one of the best universities on the face of this earth -- UCLA!!! ;) It's about 8 miles from Casa Del Mar (which translates to about a 10-20 min drive, depending on traffic). Please click on this link for online reservation or else telephone the Hotel at 310.476.6411. Make sure you reference the "Kuo-Riggins Wedding" when reserving and please make your reservations by May 7, 2010!!
If you would like to stay at a hotel nearby, please feel free to do so. There are a number of great local hotels near and around Santa Monica.
ARRIVAL IN LOS ANGELES
Upon your arrival into any of these local airports - LAX, Long Beach Airport ("LGB"), Burbank Airport ("BUR"), or John Wayne Airport ("SNA") - we highly recommend renting a car. While the distance between places appear short, LA traffic is unpredictable and a car is the best method of transportation here!! LAX is the closest airport (about 9 miles from Santa Monica).
DIRECTIONS
From the 405, 110, 10 freeways,
take the I-10 West to Santa Monica.
Exit 4th Street.
Make a LEFT onto 4th Street.
Continue past two stoplights to Pico Blvd.
Make a RIGHT onto Pico Blvd.
Cross over Ocean AVENUE
Make a LEFT onto Ocean Way
Casa Del Mar will be on your RIGHT side.
Click here for the Google Map Directions.
If you have other questions, please email/call us and we'll try our best to help answer those questions!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Our Chinese New Year / V-Day
This weekend was pretty unusual since it was not only V-day but also Chinese New Year! Happy New Year!!! We went home for new year's eve dinner and had all the traditional foods! Yummy! But I didn't take any pics of that. ;)
For V-day, Russ and I thought it would be fun to host a V-day dinner w/ all of our friends again! Last year, it was sooo much fun b/c we had just put up our dining room light and I made surf and turf. I also made hearts w/ pics in it; a heart wreath filled it w/ pics; and a V-day menu. It was soo much fun!! Well, Russ thought everything was fun except for helping me cut out giant hearts for the wreath!
This year, I recycled the big hearts w/ the pics; skipped the heart wreath, and hung little hearts all over the arches in our house and on our railing. I also made this ribbon-picture thing and hung them up too! It was super cute!!
Russ helped w/ cutting out the smaller hearts. He wasn't thrilled w/ the job again, but he survived. ;)
Anyway, here's the arch by our front door:
You'll have to ignore the complete drabbiness of our place since I haven't quite figured out what colors I want to paint everything and where I want to hang our pictures. Not to mention, Russ has prohibited me from spending $$ on our house until after the wedding! =(
And then, I saw this super cute ribbon picture thing and thought it would be fun to re-create it! I didn't realize what I giant task the ribbon-picture would be!! I wanted to have V-day ribbon, so I went to Target to look at ribbon. Turns out, that was a total waste! Target doesn't seem to have any ribbon; or at least the ghetto Target I went to! Then I trekked to Santa Monica to go to Michael's and Jo-Anns. After perusing for about an hour, I finally found some really cute ribbon!
This is the final product of the fireplace area:
If you're wondering what the orange looking thing is in the above pic, it's the "pesci" one for Haeli since she's pesci and doesn't eat meat, aside from seafood.
This was followed by pear, candied walnut, gorgonzola cheese salad from Audrey:
Then we took a break to discuss some politics, CA's impending BK, and other random "intellectual" issues. After cleaning up a bit, we moved to the living room to watch some Winter Olympics and eat Anita's delish V-day Trifle!
Our pumpkin hasn't quite deflated yet, so it still remains in our house, longing to join his brothers/sisters from our pumpkin-carving party! hahaha.
Happy Chinese New Year Valentine's Day!!
For V-day, Russ and I thought it would be fun to host a V-day dinner w/ all of our friends again! Last year, it was sooo much fun b/c we had just put up our dining room light and I made surf and turf. I also made hearts w/ pics in it; a heart wreath filled it w/ pics; and a V-day menu. It was soo much fun!! Well, Russ thought everything was fun except for helping me cut out giant hearts for the wreath!
This year, I recycled the big hearts w/ the pics; skipped the heart wreath, and hung little hearts all over the arches in our house and on our railing. I also made this ribbon-picture thing and hung them up too! It was super cute!!
Russ helped w/ cutting out the smaller hearts. He wasn't thrilled w/ the job again, but he survived. ;)
Anyway, here's the arch by our front door:
The stairway:
The arches by our kitchen and bar area:
The heart pictures on our fireplace:
And then, I saw this super cute ribbon picture thing and thought it would be fun to re-create it! I didn't realize what I giant task the ribbon-picture would be!! I wanted to have V-day ribbon, so I went to Target to look at ribbon. Turns out, that was a total waste! Target doesn't seem to have any ribbon; or at least the ghetto Target I went to! Then I trekked to Santa Monica to go to Michael's and Jo-Anns. After perusing for about an hour, I finally found some really cute ribbon!
This is the final product of the fireplace area:
And now on to the good stuff...the food!!! Everyone made a little bit of something and we provided the main course! First up was Anita and Jason with the proscuitto wrapped shrimp and scallops:
This was followed by pear, candied walnut, gorgonzola cheese salad from Audrey:
And then for the main course, we had sole en papillote!
I forgot to take a picture of it before it got un-wrapped, but basically it's a fish fillet w/ veggies, lime, and oil wrapped in parchment paper and steamed in the oven for 12 min! When it's wrapped, it looks like a half-moon. And then you open it up and it's delish (at least I hope it was!) And to top it off, it was actually quite easy to make!! The sole en papillote paired very well with Haeli's polenta:
Then we took a break to discuss some politics, CA's impending BK, and other random "intellectual" issues. After cleaning up a bit, we moved to the living room to watch some Winter Olympics and eat Anita's delish V-day Trifle!
It was extremely indulgent! There was red velvet cake, chocolate pudding, whip cream, chocolate pieces and strawberries in it. Yummy! Of course, we had some dessert leftovers and Anita scooped a cup for everyone!! ;)
And what's a party without swag bags! These weren't your typical swag bags filled w/ random goodies to use on yourself! They were swag bags filled with the edible goodies! ;) I made swag bags filled with dark chocolate M&Ms, peanut M&Ms and little Reese's. Audrey also made swag bags filled with a variety of Japanese candies!!
Our pumpkin hasn't quite deflated yet, so it still remains in our house, longing to join his brothers/sisters from our pumpkin-carving party! hahaha.
Happy Chinese New Year Valentine's Day!!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Our Honeymoon Planning...
One day, Kelley introduced me to this wedding e-zine, Utterly Engaged. Wow. After that, I was hooked! I subscribed to every issue and I read through all the prior issues.
As I was reading, I noticed that in the beginning of every issue, they have a "Ask Katie" travel section. I perused it and never thought twice about it. Until, one day, Russ comes home and tells me that his co-wkr has a friend, who is a travel planner!! And who does it turn out to be...Katie of Easy Trip!!!
So, Katie made the process unbelievably easy. She asked us a series of questions over email, such as:
Where do you want to go?
What's your budget?
Do you want more adventure or relaxing?
We answered all of her questions and less than 2 weeks later, Katie sent us a proposal for our random choices: Croatia, Turkey, or Greece & Turkey combo. It was all within our budget and it was really easy to understand!
Then we told Katie which one we wanted and she booked it all! Afterwards, she sends you all the specific details w/ your flight info, confirmation #s, rental car, hotels, and she even attached a specific instruction in Turkish that we're supposed to hand to our taxi driver in Istanbul so that he can get us to our hotel!! It was sooo easy!!
And if you're the kind of person who likes to plan your own trips, but needs just a little bit of help, well, Katie is just right for you!! She plans the "big picture" items (air travel, car rental, hotels). You plan the daily activities. So, rather than researching which hotels are clean, you're just researching what to do at each location!! =) YAY!!
So...Katie has helped book our honeymoon! We decided to go to Turkey (in case you haven't figured it out yet)!! Totally exciting! I've always wanted to go there and now we can! I'm really excited b/c it'll be a combo of a relaxing and adventurous honeymoon! And I've heard from friends and friends of friends that Turkey is beautiful! In fact, Russ' old co-wkr went on an around-the-world-in-a-year trip and when I asked him his most fave destination, he said, Turkey. YES!!!!
Want to see our "big picture" itinerary, click here! But be patient, the website is SLOOOOWWWW!!!!
And in case you're looking for someone to help plan your trip, ask Katie. She's awesome!
As I was reading, I noticed that in the beginning of every issue, they have a "Ask Katie" travel section. I perused it and never thought twice about it. Until, one day, Russ comes home and tells me that his co-wkr has a friend, who is a travel planner!! And who does it turn out to be...Katie of Easy Trip!!!
So, Katie made the process unbelievably easy. She asked us a series of questions over email, such as:
Where do you want to go?
What's your budget?
Do you want more adventure or relaxing?
We answered all of her questions and less than 2 weeks later, Katie sent us a proposal for our random choices: Croatia, Turkey, or Greece & Turkey combo. It was all within our budget and it was really easy to understand!
Then we told Katie which one we wanted and she booked it all! Afterwards, she sends you all the specific details w/ your flight info, confirmation #s, rental car, hotels, and she even attached a specific instruction in Turkish that we're supposed to hand to our taxi driver in Istanbul so that he can get us to our hotel!! It was sooo easy!!
And if you're the kind of person who likes to plan your own trips, but needs just a little bit of help, well, Katie is just right for you!! She plans the "big picture" items (air travel, car rental, hotels). You plan the daily activities. So, rather than researching which hotels are clean, you're just researching what to do at each location!! =) YAY!!
So...Katie has helped book our honeymoon! We decided to go to Turkey (in case you haven't figured it out yet)!! Totally exciting! I've always wanted to go there and now we can! I'm really excited b/c it'll be a combo of a relaxing and adventurous honeymoon! And I've heard from friends and friends of friends that Turkey is beautiful! In fact, Russ' old co-wkr went on an around-the-world-in-a-year trip and when I asked him his most fave destination, he said, Turkey. YES!!!!
Want to see our "big picture" itinerary, click here! But be patient, the website is SLOOOOWWWW!!!!
And in case you're looking for someone to help plan your trip, ask Katie. She's awesome!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Twilight
I'm way behind the curve and I only started reading the Twilight series after the rest of the world has already read it!! In fact, for bookclub, we planned to read Twilight, like a year ago, but b/c I was soo busy at work during that time, I didn't read it! :( I would have been right w/ the rest of the world, if I had read it then! Oh well!!
Anyway, I started in mid-January and I finished the first book in like 2 days. Then I forced Russ to go to every single bookstore until we found New Moon, with the traditional book jacket instead of the movie book jacket. And after scouring numerous bookstores, we finally found it at Target in hardback. Of course we HAD to buy the entire series! How could I endure not knowing what happened!
I finished the rest of the 3 books in the span of about 4 days. That would explain why I wasn't blogging. haha. Russ could not pry me away from the books! Even when we walked to dinner, I would ask Russ to carry my book! haha. He looked at me like I was crazy!! ;)
So...the whole reason for rambling on about a series is b/c I saw this pretty cool tablescape based upon the last Twilight book. If you haven't read the series yet and want to, I suggest not clicking on the link. But if you don't care if you spoil the ending, then click away!! ;) Enjoy!!!
Anyway, I started in mid-January and I finished the first book in like 2 days. Then I forced Russ to go to every single bookstore until we found New Moon, with the traditional book jacket instead of the movie book jacket. And after scouring numerous bookstores, we finally found it at Target in hardback. Of course we HAD to buy the entire series! How could I endure not knowing what happened!
I finished the rest of the 3 books in the span of about 4 days. That would explain why I wasn't blogging. haha. Russ could not pry me away from the books! Even when we walked to dinner, I would ask Russ to carry my book! haha. He looked at me like I was crazy!! ;)
So...the whole reason for rambling on about a series is b/c I saw this pretty cool tablescape based upon the last Twilight book. If you haven't read the series yet and want to, I suggest not clicking on the link. But if you don't care if you spoil the ending, then click away!! ;) Enjoy!!!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Our Invites!!!
So...Tianyi of Tiselle has been hard at work with our invites!! In our first meeting with her, we showed her all sorts of random things that we liked and didn't like.
I'm sure Tianyi was unbelievably overwhelmed since Russ and I had no coherent thoughts, plans or desires for our invites. I mean, we said, "we like polka dots, but we also like art deco." None of those things go together!! Then I said, "I don't want it to be too girly (for Russ' sake), but I don't want it to be too manly either." I'm sure Tianyi was thinking, *sigh* ;)
Luckily, we have Kelley and Tianyi on our side and their creativity went straight to work!! Kelley told Tianyi our theme and Tianyi went to work! I can't reveal our theme yet b/c I want it to be a surprise!
In the early part of January, Tianyi sent over her first designs. She came up w/ 3 different designs and she told us to mix and match what we like! WOW!!! When I opened the PDF w/ the 3 designs, I seriously almost died. They were unbelievably fantastic!!! I don't think I have the appropriate vocab to describe how awesome they are!! Here is what transpired over texts b/t me and Russ:
J: "OMG!! Did you look at our invites??
R: "What? Is there something wrong w/ them??"
J: "NO!!! They're AWESOME!!!"
I guess I didn't realize that beginning a text w/ "OMG" could be interpreted as good and bad. haha. I should be careful from now on!!
In any case, I probably did no work for the rest of the day b/c I just kept staring at the beautiful invites and debating (w/ myself) which one I liked the best and whether I would change that one. =)
Later that night, even though both Russ and I were totally beat from work, we stayed up late to discuss the invites! Total dorks, I know!! Turns out that both Russ and I liked the same things!!! [in case you can't tell, I totally am excited about these invites.]
And to top it off, Kelley emailed us like an hour after we received it from Tianyi to tell us that she LOVED the invites too and that she's already chosen her fave and would wait to see which we thought was our fave. It was a test and I was kind of stressing about having the same fave. Totally lame, but Kelley is our planner and I was worried that she would hate what we liked! :(
When we had our cake and food tastings, that's when we revealed our fave and Kelley said it was her fave too!!! That seriously made my day. Not only did we pass the test, but we're totally in-sync w/ the vision for the wedding. YAY!!!!
So...back to our invites... We let Tianyi know what we liked and how we wanted to sort of incorporate the 3 designs into one
Today, we got the 2nd design back!!! Tianyi is super fast!! And, once again, WE LOVE IT!!!! I am, again, at a total loss of words for how creative and awesome she is. We totally love it. Of course, I can't share just yet. It has to be a surprise!!
I am thrilled that Tianyi is on our wedding team and I can't wait until April to send out the invites so that EVERYONE can see and enjoy them as much as I do. =) THANKS KELLEY AND TIANYI!!!!!!
I'm sure Tianyi was unbelievably overwhelmed since Russ and I had no coherent thoughts, plans or desires for our invites. I mean, we said, "we like polka dots, but we also like art deco." None of those things go together!! Then I said, "I don't want it to be too girly (for Russ' sake), but I don't want it to be too manly either." I'm sure Tianyi was thinking, *sigh* ;)
Luckily, we have Kelley and Tianyi on our side and their creativity went straight to work!! Kelley told Tianyi our theme and Tianyi went to work! I can't reveal our theme yet b/c I want it to be a surprise!
In the early part of January, Tianyi sent over her first designs. She came up w/ 3 different designs and she told us to mix and match what we like! WOW!!! When I opened the PDF w/ the 3 designs, I seriously almost died. They were unbelievably fantastic!!! I don't think I have the appropriate vocab to describe how awesome they are!! Here is what transpired over texts b/t me and Russ:
J: "OMG!! Did you look at our invites??
R: "What? Is there something wrong w/ them??"
J: "NO!!! They're AWESOME!!!"
I guess I didn't realize that beginning a text w/ "OMG" could be interpreted as good and bad. haha. I should be careful from now on!!
In any case, I probably did no work for the rest of the day b/c I just kept staring at the beautiful invites and debating (w/ myself) which one I liked the best and whether I would change that one. =)
Later that night, even though both Russ and I were totally beat from work, we stayed up late to discuss the invites! Total dorks, I know!! Turns out that both Russ and I liked the same things!!! [in case you can't tell, I totally am excited about these invites.]
And to top it off, Kelley emailed us like an hour after we received it from Tianyi to tell us that she LOVED the invites too and that she's already chosen her fave and would wait to see which we thought was our fave. It was a test and I was kind of stressing about having the same fave. Totally lame, but Kelley is our planner and I was worried that she would hate what we liked! :(
When we had our cake and food tastings, that's when we revealed our fave and Kelley said it was her fave too!!! That seriously made my day. Not only did we pass the test, but we're totally in-sync w/ the vision for the wedding. YAY!!!!
So...back to our invites... We let Tianyi know what we liked and how we wanted to sort of incorporate the 3 designs into one
Today, we got the 2nd design back!!! Tianyi is super fast!! And, once again, WE LOVE IT!!!! I am, again, at a total loss of words for how creative and awesome she is. We totally love it. Of course, I can't share just yet. It has to be a surprise!!
I am thrilled that Tianyi is on our wedding team and I can't wait until April to send out the invites so that EVERYONE can see and enjoy them as much as I do. =) THANKS KELLEY AND TIANYI!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Blogging...
So, when I first started blogging, I used the format where you just had to keep scrolling down until you finished reading, then you clicked on the "Older Posts" tab to get to the other pages.
One day (in mid-September), when I asked Russ if he had read the blog recently, he mentioned how painful it was for him to keep scrolling down and how he prefers the way where you click on the "Read More" button.
That just sounds ultra painful to me. Seriously. Why do you want to keep clicking on different buttons to read a blog!! Isn't the point of reading a blog to just enjoy the reading?? But I thought that maybe Russ' comment had some merit and I decided to implement his way. He's right in that you can easily read and then decide which one you actually want to click on.
What do you think? clicking??? scrolling???
One day (in mid-September), when I asked Russ if he had read the blog recently, he mentioned how painful it was for him to keep scrolling down and how he prefers the way where you click on the "Read More" button.
That just sounds ultra painful to me. Seriously. Why do you want to keep clicking on different buttons to read a blog!! Isn't the point of reading a blog to just enjoy the reading?? But I thought that maybe Russ' comment had some merit and I decided to implement his way. He's right in that you can easily read and then decide which one you actually want to click on.
What do you think? clicking??? scrolling???
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Haiti
As a follow up to my prior posts on Haiti, the IRS has, on their website, the official notice that allows for your donations to Haiti to be applied to the 2009 tax year, as long as the donations are made b/t 1/11/2010 and 3/1/2010.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=218678,00.html?portlet=7
And please donate! Just b/c it's not on the news anymore, doesn't mean the ppl in Haiti don't need our help.
Here are some places to check out for donations.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=218678,00.html?portlet=7
And please donate! Just b/c it's not on the news anymore, doesn't mean the ppl in Haiti don't need our help.
Here are some places to check out for donations.
Details, Details, Details
Since having our day-long cake and food tastings + wedding planning meeting with Kelley, I have been thinking about all these different details for the wedding. Well, details + work. Sometimes, like today, the wedding details win and I do almost no work. =) As much as I love to think about the various details of the wedding, I usu pay for it by staying really late at work. =(
Oh well...it's nearly 6pm now and there's nothing I can do now...Except to BLOG about the random things I've been thinking about....
First, what kind of bouquet do I want? I see tons of pics w/ just white flowers and I see others w/ color flowers! AAHHH! What should I do?
Second, accessories. Should I wear a necklace; should I wear dangly earrings/studs; shoes; bracelets; watch??? AAHH!!! I usu get to shoes and I stop for about an hour and look at all the ridiculously beautiful shoes and the matching ridiculous prices. In fact, before I got to the "shoe" phase of the wedding, I told Anita that I wouldn't buy Christian Louboutins b/c of their extremely high price. Little did I know that I would get to the shoe phase and would want them. You're totally right, Anita!
Third, reception decor. Fleuretica came up with all sorts of ideas, but now we just need to make the decision on what we want. It's kind of hard b/c all the ideas are super cute and we have to sit there, visualize and decide. Luckily, I have become an avid blog reader and see tons of photos! So, I can easily point them out to Russ. hehehe. I think we've made our decisions, but we'll see....
Fourth, money box. Apparently, ppl now hit weddings and STEAL the money box! How unbelievably rude is that!!! If I happen to come across the person(s) who steal the money boxes, I might just have to kick their butts (in my wedding dress)! ;) But here's a cute money box I found on Etsy.
Fifth, the veil. Uuummmmm...do I want a veil? Do I want a long cathedral one like this or this or this? Do I want a medium one like this or this? Or how about a birdcage type veil like this or this? [BTW, Kelley planned that last wedding w/ Krista & Mike. hehehe.] Or maybe I should forego the veil and just use a flower! Like this or this! Or I could change from a veil at the ceremony to something different for the reception, like this!!
Not to mention, we have to decide what kind of dinner menu we want; cakes we want; ties; socks; invitations; favors; hotel accommodations... and the list goes on and on!
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Or rather, should I say...details, details, details. I'm not worried though. That's why we picked the best wedding team ever and we let them make the creative decisions. =)
Oh well...it's nearly 6pm now and there's nothing I can do now...Except to BLOG about the random things I've been thinking about....
First, what kind of bouquet do I want? I see tons of pics w/ just white flowers and I see others w/ color flowers! AAHHH! What should I do?
Second, accessories. Should I wear a necklace; should I wear dangly earrings/studs; shoes; bracelets; watch??? AAHH!!! I usu get to shoes and I stop for about an hour and look at all the ridiculously beautiful shoes and the matching ridiculous prices. In fact, before I got to the "shoe" phase of the wedding, I told Anita that I wouldn't buy Christian Louboutins b/c of their extremely high price. Little did I know that I would get to the shoe phase and would want them. You're totally right, Anita!
Third, reception decor. Fleuretica came up with all sorts of ideas, but now we just need to make the decision on what we want. It's kind of hard b/c all the ideas are super cute and we have to sit there, visualize and decide. Luckily, I have become an avid blog reader and see tons of photos! So, I can easily point them out to Russ. hehehe. I think we've made our decisions, but we'll see....
Fourth, money box. Apparently, ppl now hit weddings and STEAL the money box! How unbelievably rude is that!!! If I happen to come across the person(s) who steal the money boxes, I might just have to kick their butts (in my wedding dress)! ;) But here's a cute money box I found on Etsy.
Fifth, the veil. Uuummmmm...do I want a veil? Do I want a long cathedral one like this or this or this? Do I want a medium one like this or this? Or how about a birdcage type veil like this or this? [BTW, Kelley planned that last wedding w/ Krista & Mike. hehehe.] Or maybe I should forego the veil and just use a flower! Like this or this! Or I could change from a veil at the ceremony to something different for the reception, like this!!
Not to mention, we have to decide what kind of dinner menu we want; cakes we want; ties; socks; invitations; favors; hotel accommodations... and the list goes on and on!
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Or rather, should I say...details, details, details. I'm not worried though. That's why we picked the best wedding team ever and we let them make the creative decisions. =)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Our Tastings
On 1/27/2010, Russ and I went to our cake tastings and our food tasting! It was a day filled with constant eating!! We first went to Cake Divas and talked to the girls there. We circulated ideas, tasted cakes and fillings, and drew pictures of what our cake would look like. It felt so creative!!
Then we went to Vanilla Bake Shop and went through the same process. It was really yummy there too!! And the Vanilla Bake Shop girl was super creative too!
The best part was that every single time we showed our potential invitation designs to the cake designers, they went crazy and said they totally loved our invitation designs and it gave them tons of ideas!!
Oh and I guess I should mention, Tianyi, our invite designer, came up with the BEST invite designs!!! We can't wait to finalize it and mail them to everyone!!!
Afterwards, we went directly to Casa to talk wedding planning stuff and then did our tastings. Wow!!! The food was super delish and we couldn't finish our food b/c we were soooo full from all the cake tastings!!!
Can't wait for our wedding! It's just really exciting to see everything slowly come together!!! YAY!!!
PS. I forgot my camera (again)!! But Kelley used her iPhone to take some pics. I'll post later. ;)
Then we went to Vanilla Bake Shop and went through the same process. It was really yummy there too!! And the Vanilla Bake Shop girl was super creative too!
The best part was that every single time we showed our potential invitation designs to the cake designers, they went crazy and said they totally loved our invitation designs and it gave them tons of ideas!!
Oh and I guess I should mention, Tianyi, our invite designer, came up with the BEST invite designs!!! We can't wait to finalize it and mail them to everyone!!!
Afterwards, we went directly to Casa to talk wedding planning stuff and then did our tastings. Wow!!! The food was super delish and we couldn't finish our food b/c we were soooo full from all the cake tastings!!!
Can't wait for our wedding! It's just really exciting to see everything slowly come together!!! YAY!!!
PS. I forgot my camera (again)!! But Kelley used her iPhone to take some pics. I'll post later. ;)
This Weekend!
We had a busy first weekend of February! On Friday evening, we went to Alibi Room to eat some Kogi BBQ. Delish! And we ran into our friend Vanda. Totally random, but awesome to see Vanda!
Then on Saturday, Audrey and I went to the UCLA-Cal game!! Initially, UCLA was kicking Cal's butt. And then it just went downhill after that!!
After UCLA was introduced:
The cheer team doing a cheer:
And Joe and Josephine Bruin getting hoisted up into the air:
And me and Audrey at the game:
Go Bruins and booooo to Cal.
Later in the evening, Russ and I went to the Standard to see Henry, Steve Ngo, Tina and some of Steve's friends:
Steve wanted to celebrate our engagement, even though we got engaged like 8 months ago! Steve is a San Francisco Community College Board Trustee and he lives up north and visits rarely, but when he does, we try to see him!! Anyway, cheers to Steve, Tina, Russ and me!! =)
Then on Saturday, Audrey and I went to the UCLA-Cal game!! Initially, UCLA was kicking Cal's butt. And then it just went downhill after that!!
After UCLA was introduced:
The cheer team doing a cheer:
And me and Audrey at the game:
Go Bruins and booooo to Cal.
Later in the evening, Russ and I went to the Standard to see Henry, Steve Ngo, Tina and some of Steve's friends:
Steve wanted to celebrate our engagement, even though we got engaged like 8 months ago! Steve is a San Francisco Community College Board Trustee and he lives up north and visits rarely, but when he does, we try to see him!! Anyway, cheers to Steve, Tina, Russ and me!! =)
Happy 26th Bday Henry!!
Last Sunday, we went, with Anita, Audrey, Jason, and Haeli, to The Jar for Henry's bday. It was quite tasty and fun!! And the best part was that it was part of the DineLA thing, so we got a 3-course meal for $44 + tax + tip! Awesome!!
Henry surrounded by some beautiful chicks:
Me and Jason & Russ:
I started with a winter apple celery salad:
Here's Jason's giant iceberg wedge salad w/ bluecheese dressing:
Henry got the beet salad:
Here's my The Jar Signature Pot Roast:
Russ ordered a beef bourguignon:
Henry got the chocolate pudding as his bday cake:
This is my banana creme pie (I can't get the picture to switch to horizontal):
And then we also got some sherbert:
Yummy!!! Happy birthday Henry!!!
Henry surrounded by some beautiful chicks:
Me and Jason & Russ:
I started with a winter apple celery salad:
Here's Jason's giant iceberg wedge salad w/ bluecheese dressing:
Henry got the beet salad:
Here's my The Jar Signature Pot Roast:
Russ ordered a beef bourguignon:
Henry got the chocolate pudding as his bday cake:
This is my banana creme pie (I can't get the picture to switch to horizontal):
And then we also got some sherbert:
Yummy!!! Happy birthday Henry!!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Wow
Wow! I didn't realize that it's been soooo long since my last post. I've been obsessing with the Twlight books for about 1 week. I stayed up until 3 or 4 every morning reading them! And then I got busy at work! :( But I do have a lot to say and lots of pics. So, as soon as I get my act together, I'll share. Or maybe I won't. We'll see how I feel. =)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)