End of year rituals

In my family, we have a tradition to go to the beach and watch the last sunset of the year on December 31st. It's a wonderful way to reflect on all the things that had happened throughout the year, and a nice opportunity to kinda finalize the new year's resolution list.

Here's what the last sunset of 2010 looked like from Huntington Beach :)

Amazing, isn't it?

The rain and the wind and the confession.

I went to confession tonight, and the priest said that I don't need to do penance because I came despite having to brave the rain and wind. What more can I ask from the Lord who has forgiven my sin and not making me pay for anything in return? Such unconditional love, such merciful God.  I feel as though a load of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. It's been about 3 years since I went to confession. Even though I felt queasy and nauseous before the confession, I felt a wave of relief and at peace after the whole thing is done. Needless to say, I promised to be a better person and to not do all those bad things that I did before.

It's 5 days before Christmas, and I feel like I'm finally ready to welcome baby Jesus into my heart.

Now I Know

School is out, work is enjoyable, life is wonderful and God is good.

I woke up this morning with no worry in my mind for the first time. I'm done with the finals, and for some reason, I can accept that I have done my best and whatever the outcome, I'll be alright with it. I don't have a full-time job, but that's ok. My partnership with my sister is going good. She's so smart and professional. I need to do a better job in helping her out. My relationship with family and friends is warm and comforting. Even though I don't own a lot, I feel so blessed with countless, invaluable, immaterial things that only can be found if you just let go of your worries and just live.

I remember six years ago, crying my eyes out while saying goodbye to the life I knew back in college. Pursuing the 'American dream', I packed my two suitcases and three boxes and drove from Indiana to LA. I didn't have a place to live yet at the time, but my parents (who were along for the journey and very supportive) were optimistic and very supportive. With lots of prayers and luck, my friend found me a place to live when we were just a day away from arriving in LA. Six years later, here I am. I am still pursuing the dream, but slowly I'm realizing that I am actually already living the dream. Who would've thought that the unsure, scared 21 year old girl, would end up like this? With time I realize that the best things in life is indeed free: the smell of pine trees in the woods after a weekend of non-stop rain, the good morning kiss from a person who loves you unconditionally, even if you don't have a job. Stuff like this, you know?

This Christmas season, I would like to wish you all the true peace and joy that Christmas means to bring. Live life to the fullest. Give without expecting anything back. Love earnestly.

Bad Heat, Good Heat

Last Monday, time seem to stand still between 10am and 6pm. The air was heavy and hot and dry, and all in a bad way. What little breeze that blew through the window felt even hotter with a scent of crackling pavement heat. Can you feel the threats in the air? Surely there will be another wildfire starting soon with the bad combination of dry air, hot sun, and merciless wind.

People say California is the best place to live due to the perfect weather. Isn't that why we are paying the high cost of living around here? Speaking of which, I'm still debating if I should turn the air conditioner on or not. Well, not much further thought is needed. It's 100F outside. Yup, Heat 1, Me 0 on this battle.

Speaking of heat, my friend Domo was raving about Bikram Yoga for months now. So when a deal came up on Groupon, I didn't hesitate to grab it. It's such a great deal. It normally costs about $15-$20 to go to a class, but this deal allows you to attend 10 @90 minutes sessions for *drumroll please* $25! That's like $2.50 per class! The only downside is the class is about 30-45 minutes away from my house, but what do you expect? We live in OC anyway... 30 minutes to any destination is considered close :)

So, anyway, we attended the first class last Saturday, and I must say.... it was really fun. Exhausting, but fun. Bikram Yoga is a series of 26 poses done in a heated 90-105F room. Yikes! I don't think I ever sweat that much in my life. Seriously. But man.... after I got over the feeling of "save me... I can't go on any longer", it was actually pretty cool. I can definitely get used to this. I looked at the scale, and I actually dropped 3lbs. It's probably all the water weight from sweating that much, but it made me feel like I've accomplished something. Needless to say, we're going again this weekend. I'm hoping to make this a routine and hopefully I'll be a better healthier version of myself :)

Happy Friday!

My mom just told me a cute story yesterday. She babysits for my sister's 15 month old baby on weekdays while my sister works. It's funny how babies grows so fast. Especially when you're not looking! The last time I saw baby Liv was in February, and she was barely standing up. Now, 7 months later, they're telling me how fast she is running around the house and how they were teaching her to pray before eating her meals. The way they do it is: before meals, they would ask her to look at the cross, put her tiny hands together, and say "Amen". Well, anyway, my mom was telling me that baby Liv is very picky with her food lately. They spend a lot of time around the dinner table to coax her to eat her meals. She would ask for her favorite food: yogurt, noodles, etc. One time, after the prayer, they started feeding her some noodles. Immediately after the first bite, she put her hands together, looked at the cross, and say "thank you, Amen! OMG... how cute is that? I wonder how she were able to thank God instead of thanking the ones who were feeding her :)

What I've been up to

1. Enjoying summer
2. Stressing out over work
3. Wrapping up things at work as I end my 4 years journey there
4. Applying for full time MBA school
5. Trying to find out other way of making moola

It's such an exciting time in my life. In a way, I feel like I'm at that intersection where my decision will change everything. I think I'm making the right decision because I don't feel sad, but feel energized and excited. I'm so lucky to have such supportive friends, family and husband that supports my decision and gives me invaluable advice.

Anyway, so I thought it was funny that right after I gave my 2 weeks notice, I get this from my fortune cookie:

june six twenty-oh-ten

Last Sunday, Mr.B and I celebrated our one year anniversary. It's an important date to us, and I'm glad we get to celebrate it properly, even with all the drama and problems we have in our lives.
We went to see Chorus Line for the first time at Broadway LA. It was very interesting. The show was about 2 hours long with no intermission, and yet, when it was all over, I felt like I want more! To me, that's a sign of a good musical. Definitely in my top 10 favorites.

After the musical, we went to this place called "The Hobbit" in Orange. It's a small, quaint house 7 minutes away from our house that serves french food with a fixed menu for the day. Long story short, they basically serve a fixed fine dining menu: 7 course served over 3 hours with intermission and option for wine pairing. Needless to say, everything was very delicious and well presented. There were only 7 couples that made reservation that day, and all but one couple were celebrating their anniversaries. 2 first year anniversary, and the rest were celebrating their 26th, 29th, 35th, 46th anniversaries! What I love most about this place is not the food... nor the wine... but the atmosphere. It was our first time there, and everyone was just so nice. You can tell that they love their jobs and they want to create a really sweet dining experience for each person that goes there.

Anyway, you can read all about the hobbit at their website. For me, I'll let the pictures do the talking below:

The pics are a touch dark, but they all still look yummy, right? I'm drooling again just thinking about them...

So, since the dinner was a little long, we had so much time to stare into each others' eyes... until the food comes for us to gobble up, that is. Really, when the food comes we're just like two malnourished children of third world country, devouring the deliciousness in a blink of an eye... During the intermission, we also got a chance to relax and just take a few moment to talk without interruption. We don't get a chance to do that a lot these days. Most of the times, we're always eating our meals in a rush... or having diner in front of TV or something. I know it sounds corny, but it truly is a one of a kind romantic dinner. It kinda felt like a royal retreat. A few moments throughout the night, Mr.B would say thing that brought tears of joy to my eyes... he's just such a wonderful husband. Happy anniversary, darling! Here's to many more years of "for better and for worse" :)

End of an era...

I just realized yesterday that my first ever disneyland deluxe pass is expiring on cinco de mayo.... so we went to disneyland yesterday and we're planning to go again today... it's really too bad that we haven't used the pass as much as we could. But I think so far we've went there for 10+ times, so it's still well worth it.

I love disney.... :) should I renew the pass?

Speaking of Disney, this book has a lot of insider information that all disney lover should know:

Random

I'm posting stuff rather far and few in between nowadays... my friend, Feli, says "from my experience, lack of blogging is a sign of an exciting life on its own. " what a wise lady, and what a great friend. Miss you, Fel!

Oh my goodness! Time really flies! It's been so long since I posted anything on this blog. I've been thinking what to make out of this blog since I'm no longer obsessed about a vintage broadway wedding. And... as much as I love all things vintage and broadway, a vintage broadway life seem a bit far fetched for my kind of lifestyle. Those who know me probably know what a slacker I am inside. I don't like going out so much. I love staying at home and I love spending time with my close friends, but not so much going to parties with a lot of people. So, I think I'll just post my random recipes and design ideas and whatever stuff that comes up to mind going forward. Yup. That's all :)

Halloween

It's that time of the year again, where you dress up and go crazy with chocolate and candies.

What's your Halloween costume this year? Mine is gonna be.... mardi gras girl :) I know, I know.. not the most original idea, but it's easy and it's an available resource to me.

100

Wow! As if Friday's not a good enough reason to celebrate and run after work to the nearest and bestest happy hour place, it turns out that this is my 100th post on this blog :) Yayy!

By the way, would you ever consider decorating your wedding cake the impressionist style? I think it's pretty cool...

Source

To Sell or Not To Sell?

That is truly the question. When I first bought my wedding dress, I was so determined to sell it after the wedding is done. I mean, it's not like I'm ever going to wear the dress again, right? And if I were to pass it down to the next generation.... who's to say it'll still be in style, or whether it'll be the right size? So I was thinking, no big deal. It'll be easy to sell my dress since it's so beautiful. I didn't realize that I would have a hard time parting with it. Is that bad? It's crazy how attached I've become to this dress. So perhaps I won't be selling it in the end. We'll see :)

Swoon me like no other :)

10 things I love about you:
1. you bring pix out in the morning
2. you eat everything i make, even if they don't taste good at all
3. you don't mind that i like to sleep in the middle of the bed
4. you almost never forget to put the toilet seat down
5. you made my car look like new again :)
6. you don't mind if i bake cookies instead of making 'real' food
7. you always make time to listen to me even if lakers game is on.
8. you get me those books that i like
9. you made me a flower garden and an herb garden
10. i never ever felt so loved by anyone before.

Red

I'm finding out that I love Red on almost anything nowadays... red shoes.. red lipstick.. red nail polish... Wearing red lipstick somehow makes me feel retro and sophisticate right away. Plus, here's a secret... red lipstick makes your pearly whites look even whiter :P

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Happy Thursday, everyone. One day closer to the weekend!! :)

47minutesand15seconds

I went to Susan G Komen Race for Breast Cancer 5k walk/run thingy last Sunday.
Oh.My.Goodness.... I pretty much ran for the first 1.25 miles... then I walked (fast). then i got tired and just walked casually. then i thought to myself... man, this is taking forever!! so I started walking faster. Then... suddenly I realized that I'm .75 miles away from the finish line. so I forced myself to run, and I ran all the way to the finish line.

Wow, I what a sense of accomplishment it was just to cross the finish line. Although it took me 47 minutes, it was still a good race for a good cause. But my goodness....... the fatigue..... well, time to get back in shape, I guess. :)

Almost 4 Months

Can you believe it? Time just flies so fast. Suddenly I realized that I haven't updated this blog for a really really long time. I guess I got carried away after going on my honeymoon and catching up with work stuff etc.

So, during my 1 month hiatus, I've been working working working. Then I went to Florida for honeymoon for about 10 days. Then I worked worked worked again, then went on a mini vacation to Las Vegas, and then resume life as usual again.

The honeymoon was awesome. I love Florida seas, and I can't wait to go back there again to swim with the fishies again :)


Ahh... the joy of honeymoon. and the joy of being newlywed. The honeymoon high don't last forever, I can tell you that much. But life's too short to be on honeymoon the whole time. You want to have a complete and whole life experience with your spouse. The good and the bad. Hmm... this reminds me of that scene from sex and the city...

Samantha Jones: Relationships aren't just about being happy. I mean, how often are you happy in your relationship?
Charlotte York: Every day.
Samantha Jones: Every day?
Charlotte York: Well, not all day every day but yes, every day.

Well, it's Friday! So... happy weekend to all :)

Tying the knot

So, I was telling you about the "walk to remember" and the nuptial mass.... the music was one of the highlights in my opinion... We had a pianist, two cantors, and a harpist. Listening to the harp always make me wonder if this is what you hear when you go to heaven.....


But the real highlight was of course the part where we said our

I Do!

No word can properly express how happy we were to have reached that moment in our life, but perhaps a picture can caught a glimpse of the moment?







And... here's my absolute favorite picture that my friend, Daniel Tan, who just started his own photography company took right after we exited the church... check out more of his work here.

We're happily married!

Wedding Day Recap Part Two

OK.... well it has been 45 days (according to my website at ewedding.com) since the wedding. I guess I really better write down all the things while I can still remember.

So, where was I last time?

....

Right. So, yes, we took lots and lots of pictures of me getting ready and me with the girls and me with the parents and brothers. Throughout the entire time, somehow my veil was very problematic. It kept sliding back and basically not staying where it needs to be.


You see, the veil I always wanted was a combination of a cathedral length (which is long and prone to being stepped on by unsuspecting bystanders that's stepping by too closely) and a mantilla and a little bit of a fingertip blusher (is that what it's called?) so that Mr. B can "unveil" me later during the ceremony. So my mom's dressmaker in Indo was able to custom make one for me. Exactly the way I wanted it to be. But... at a cost: it won't stay on!

Well, thankfully my mom and bridesmaids are experts in taking care of these kinds of emergencies, and they had extra hair pin etc. I'm not sure what exactly they did in the end, but the veil ended up staying put until the wedding ceremony is over :) *phew!


So, after taking the pictures for what felt like a short period of time, the photographer suddenly looked at the time and said, "I better get to the church and start setting things up there". Off he went and we were suddenly left just standing around, waiting for the limo. The cold sweat returned to my forehead immediately as I begin to realize that the limo IS actually running late! By that time, my bridesmaids were already on to my fear of being late and they did a good job of keeping me away any type of clock or watches. Not that anyone was wearing any watch... We waited for a few more minutes outside for the limo, but the wind was too strong that we decided to go wait inside the hotel lobby. Right at that moment, the limo finally showed up and we rushed back out and got on the limo. I caught a glimpse of the time then on the radio clock and guess what time it was? 1:53pm. The ceremony's supposed to start at 2pm, so I knew we were going to be late for sure. Thankfully, the church is pretty near. We ended up arriving at 2:02. 9 minutes travel time exactly. Boy I could feel the butterflies right now as I'm writing this down, just remembering that particular moment... but we ended up NOT being too late.... right? 2 minutes is forgiveable :) and another 3 minutes to get everyone ready and there I was, my father by my side, holding his arm, and walking me down the aisle.


As I walked down the aisle, I was so nervous and I felt like my heart was exploding. There's no feeling like it. I guess it was a mixture between nervous, amazed, worried, happy, touched, sad (when looking into my father's eyes, realizing that he's in a way losing his baby girl), expectant, and so much more emotion that I can't figure out the words for. My eyes began to feel warm and I was very sure I would start crying right away. But as I walked by my father's side, I started noticing things. Like.... wow my dad walks kinda fast *gotta keep up*. Uuu... my friend D and his family is here *how cute is his new baby!*. wow, there are a lot of people! and lots of camera. Then I realized, they are all here for ME! just for me (and Mr.B, of course!). I didn't feel like crying anymore.... I felt like soaking it all in. That very moment, I felt like time just stopped and you can see everything so clearly for the very first time. I prayed to God that I can always remember that moment no matter how much time has passed....

The walk down the aisle took probably 30 seconds, but to me it felt like a lifetime. When I finally was able to caught up with time, I looked past the people and saw the one face I have been waiting to see the whole day.... Mr. B.


Doesn't he look handsome? Do you see why I was the happiest lady in the whole world at that moment? It didn't matter that the limo was late. Or that the veil kept sliding back. Or that the ceremony would last 30 minutes longer than it was supposed to be. Or the fact that the pastor pretty much 'shooed' us away and forbid us from taking pictures on the altar after the ceremony (the ceremony was too long and they were supposed to have confessions). None of it matter. Right that very moment, I was taking it all in. I was the happiest, luckiest, most blessed person breathing in the whole world, and nothing else really matter.

Anyway our Nuptial Mass was beautiful beyond my imagination. I'm not gonna go into details since there were so many elements in the mass, as it was a Catholic mass. I truly thank God for everything He has done for the two of us. Two people. Different world. Different lives. How in the world could we have been lucky enough to meet if not because of Him?

Photos

I just got my photos from the photographer last week and boy are they gorgeous :) *narcissist mode on!*

This photo from our wedding just makes my day every morning now, so I thought I'll share it with you guys...