Is it time yet? Can I send them??

So this past weekend, while out at a birthday party in the scorching heat of April, I found out that one of Rick's aunts reads my blog (hi Auntie Lola!). Now the pressure's on to post good and interesting stuff and not just ramblings of my unkempt mind. Sort of. ;)

My envelopes and embosser arrived today! I was so excited that I ripped the boxes open and started punching away and assembling. I've only made about 20 STDs, and half of them (the first half) I decided are substandard compared to the rest. So I don't think I'll be sending them out. Too bad. Such a waste of good paper. They're off center and the punched holes are too close. Anyone will tell me they're fine and to send them out anyway. So maybe I will. To those who might not notice. ;)

The embosser is my new favorite toy. Because it's customized, the envelopes look like we've had them professionally printed. Now if I could just master my handwriting skills... I've already addressed a few of the envelopes in a very fine point brown pen (this includes you, Auntie Lola). To those people, I apologize for my awful penmanship. As for the rest of them lucky ones, they'll be getting clear, computer-labeled envelopes. :) Then they'll really look professional. AHAHA!

The envelopes aren't as good as I had hoped, but they'll do. The color is pretty close to the right shade of sage, and when you order this kind of stuff online, it's hit or miss with the quality and color you expect.

I'll be sending out the STDs soon enough. I realize (again) that we're not even 365 days and counting yet - no need to rush the STDs. I hope to patiently hang on to them until July or August. *sigh* But it will give me some more time to hum and haw over whether or not to send out the slightly retarded STDs that people will just throw away anyways.

List of reminders for this month:

April 19 - Kathleen's bday party
April 25 - 27 - San Diego! Every year, Rick and I plan a mini-vacation the last week of April; a weekend getaway to celebrate our anniversary (April 30). And this year, it's a very special weekend because our wedding date will be exactly one year from then. :) Kind of a pre-wedding anniversary / last trip of our boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. And it's all coincidental because we booked our trip before we booked our wedding date.

There should be more reminders. But I can't remember them. Darn.

Gotta finish my homework before we go down to SD. Which means I should finish week 2 early this week and start on week 3 by Saturday.

Pictures of Isabella to come soon. Actually, I can post this one that I really like. This was taken just a few hours after she was born. Of course, she's already grown a foot and a couple of pounds, but she still kind of looks the same. ;)



I'll post a REALLY cute picture of her as soon as I get my brother in law to send it to me. It's totally frickin hilarious!

STD time...

No, I don't mean it's time to visit the doctor. It's time to post about Save The Date cards!!!! In wedding lingo, they're called STDs.

It's about time that I post some pictures about my crafting. I've made a couple of grocery totes, but no posts or pictures. So now that I'm on to paper crafting and will take a long time doing each set, here's the first of many wedding-related posts to come.

So I've had a lot of ideas on how to make my STDs. With all the DIY sites and projects as well as commercially printed ones, I ended up with something quite classic. And easy to do. I went through a bunch of ideas and formats, and although the ones I ended up making weren't my finalized ideals, they're much simpler and easier to make.

Here we go. My pictures aren't that great...
In progress...


My STDs consisted of a brown textured cardstock layer, then a printed sage green floral scrapbook page layer, then a printed layer of vellum, all tied together with a brown bow. Oh, and I attached a magnet on the back. :)

Here's what it looks like underneath:


I originally used tracing paper, which printed beautifully, but after cutting it down to size, about 4" x 6", the paper curled up at the edges so I had to go buy a pack of vellum instead. I wanted to create the look of the vellum without using vellum because it's so much pricier. My book of Strathmore tracing paper was less than $4. The pack of vellum for 50 sheets was $17.

And the final thing (with the vellum turned slightly because of how it's placed):


Materials:
Strathmore textured brown 80lb. cover, 19 x 25 (cut 5 x 7 pieces)
Anna Griffin sage floral scrapbook paper 12 x 12 (cut 4 x 6 pieces)
Translucent vellum by WorldWin, inkjet printable 8.5 x 11 (print in 4 quarters)
Brown satin ribbon
Magnet strip (4 foot roll)

Cost per STD:
Brown paper $0.12
Sage floral paper $0.042
Vellum: $0.085
Brown ribbon: $0.01
Magnet: $0.11
Sage green envelope with felt finish, 70lb weight (coming in the mail from Envelope Mall) @ $12.95 per 100 = $0.129

So grand total cost for one STD: $0.496, which rounded up, is 50 CENTS!!!

I paid retail for the brown textured cardstock, the vellum, and the magnets. But the floral paper and brown ribbon were on sale at Michael's (you know, those 4 for $1 type sales!). The green envelopes were the most expensive because of the heavy felt finish, but also because they're size A7 (5 x 7) and no office supply store carries these special sizes.

It still takes me a while to create each STD because I'm just picky and meticulous about the sizes being just right, and making sure I cut straight with the rotary wheel and paper cutter is tedious and time consuming. But I have so much time, I'm relishing making each one perfect!!!!

Truly Grateful

Sometimes it takes a miracle for me to realize how blessed I am. And that miracle this time was the birth of my baby niece, Isabella Grace. I don't mean miracle in that she-was-never-supposed-to-live sort of way, I mean a simple, ordinary miracle of life itself.

I'll recount the events as they unfolded yesterday:

5:50am - I get a call from my brother-in-law. They're back in the hospital (after being there the morning prior, they were sent home until my sister was "ready" to go back). I pseudo jump up and ask if she's in full labor and he says no, it's still going to be a long while. I slump back down into the bed and think about getting up.

7:00am - I finally get out of bed and gather up my gear for the day. Rick and I have an initial appointment with the priest of the church we'd like to have our wedding at at 11:00am. I don't think we'll make it since we're planning on being in the hospital all day, but just in case, I put on makeup and a nicer pair of jeans. I'm selfishly disappointed, but shake it off and say that we can meet with the priest another day and if the sites get booked, then it wasn't meant to be.

9:00am - We arrive at the hospital and my sister's stomach is enormous. She must have grown another few inches the last two weeks! She's exhausted, having not slept more than an hour in the past 48 hours due to contractions and pain. She'd just gotten her epidural when we arrived, so was slightly subdued and apparently much calmer than the previous hours. ;) But she's lost a couple centimeters in terms of "readiness".

9:20am - My sister reminds us to go feed her bird and asks that we bring her pillow back. The hospital pillows are flat and she wants her own. She tells us that it's still going to be a long while and tells us to keep our appointment with the priest. We leave to go feed her bird, get her pillow, and while we're there notice that the a/c vent in the baby's room has partially fallen down. I'm not sure if this was intentional for any reason (you'd have to know my brother-in-law) so I call and he has no idea what we're talking about. At the slightest touch, the vent completely comes out of the ceiling and the paint/drywall falls all over the crib. AACK! We tear up the house looking for tape or nails or screws. We find pushpins in the office and a plastic bag, and secure that sucker over the vent.

10:15am - We head out to the church and get there 15 minutes early. A quinceanera celebration just let out and the girl was so cute in her white ballgown. These things always seem like someone really young is getting married. Although the "bridesmaids" or attendants or whatever really could have used more appropriate hem lengths and heel heights, in MY opinion. You're in a church!

11:00 - We sit down with Father Dennis and have a chat. A lot of what went on in that office is very personal so I won't mention any details. I think I've been missing the church a lot and let down my walls as soon as I stepped into his office. It was as if I'd been waiting interminable years for a safe haven to share my thoughts and feelings. Let's just say that we "passed" with flying colors and the priest happily agreed to marry us. Unfortunately, the afternoon wedding times were all taken up, not just for OUR proposed date, but for ALL Saturdays before and after ours! ALL of them were already booked! I couldn't believe it. So we ended up choosing a noon ceremony time.

11:30 - Back in the car, I feel very loved and slightly embarrassed. We call the reception site to see if we could go down and finally put our deposit down since we got our date at the church, and we were closer by. I make a point to say, "We want to put our DEPOSIT down TODAY." The director says her next available appointment is 4:00. I *sigh* but agree, thinking I'd be back in the hospital and then have to drive back out there. I figure I can cancel later if necessary.

11:35 - In our haste to get to the church on time (haha) I left my sister's pillow on the couch. So we head back to her house instead of the hospital. The director at the reception site calls and says she's had a cancellation and she can see us at 3:00. I agree without thinking about it, but then wonder if the later time would be better if my sister has her baby soon.

12:00 - We get the pillow, grab a bite to eat, and head back to the hospital.

12:15 - My sister is really uncomfortable now, and when the nurse comes to check her we leave the room and wait to be let back in. There are no other visitors around, and many of the rooms are empty. While loitering in the hallway for just 30 seconds with Rick and my brother-in-law, another nurse comes by and asks us if she can help us. I gesture to the closed door and just mumble something about waiting. And she says shortly, "You need to wait in the waiting room" and walks away. And I roll my eyes, but think, My sister is allowed 5 people in the room with her and we've just stepped outside because she's getting her hoo-ha checked, and then we'll go back in and WAIT. OK?!" My brother-in-law laughs, and says we might as well wait in the waiting room then. So we head over. Moments later, my brother-in-law chases us down and says that his wife has asked us to go, and that he'll call me when the baby's here. He acts like he feels bad about asking us to leave, so I fake pout, the boys laugh, and Rick and I head out.

1:00 - We sit in the car and wonder what to do for two hours until our appointment. We're tired too from all the driving. I rack my brain and think about what's along the way. We've already driven more than 100 miles. [For those of you LA-ites, we live in Burbank, the hospital is in Baldwin Park, my sister's house is in Glendora, the church is in Diamond Bar, and the reception site is in Corona. Yep. Practically three different counties, and we're doing this diagonal zigzag driving pattern.] We decide to go to the Brea mall.

1:30 - We arrive at the mall and just take a stroll. There are lots of people at the mall and lots of sales. The only thing we buy is a fishing video game. :)

2:15 - We head out to the reception site and get there 15 minutes early. We poke our heads in the office to see if she's with other clients, but the ladies in there are just at their computers. So we settle in, discuss our package, Rick makes some big decisions for us, I write the giant check that is our deposit, and she takes out this giant box. Inside the box is a binder. Inside the binder are tabbed sections of everything I want or need to know about everything that comes in our package. I'm so ecstatic because I'd been asking random, detailed questions over email and getting half and unclear answers.

3:30 - While going over the details in the binder, my phone rings. Loudly. I apologize, but answer the phone - it's my brother-in-law. I say, HELLO? And he says, "When can you come back here?" in a new-father tone that only a new father has. And I laugh and share the excitement with Rick and the girls in the office.

3:40 - We rush out of there and head back to the hospital. We decide to take a different, straighter way back to the hospital, which also passes by the church. It's a great route and there are new shopping complexes on the highway - perfect for our guests to waste time between our events.

4:15 - Isabella Grace is so pretty! She's 6 lbs. 13 ounces, 21 inches of pure delight. 10 fingers, 10 toes. LOTS of hair!! I get to hold her first and she opens her eyes and looks at me and yawns. It's precious. She has the softest skin and is perfect. My mom arrives and oohs and aahs over her first granddaughter and we all take pictures. We debate about whose nose she has.

The next few hours were a blur. We left the hospital because my sister needed to breastfeed and she was exhausted and starting to get snappy. Rick and I headed back (again) to her house, packed up her bird and his accessories, stopped in San Marino for Italian fast-food to-go and a quick chat with friends, and finally got home to eat and have the bird settled in.

I climbed in the shower at 8:00pm and cried. Bawled like a baby. But for the first time in my life, this sudden outburst was not sad tears, but tears that were so happy and so grateful that my cup literally runneth over. You ever see those televised chuch gospel things where they show some lady singing with her hands raised in the air, and tears are streaming down her face as she shouts the hymn? And you wonder, what in the heck is going on? Why is she sad??? Now I get it. It's not sadness, it's an emotion so profound and so overwhelming that the only way to really soak it all in is to let it all out.

The way the whole day unfolded was a miracle, like God had planned this whole day filled with excitement and anticipation. After weeks of frustration and waiting for appointments with the church and site, and anxiety for the baby, never did I imagine that we would get both our church and reception site booked let alone a brand new life introduced to the world all on the same day. And we didn't miss anything. I am so grateful for everything and everyone I have. It definitely was a day of vulnerability for me, and Rick was by my side the whole way.

Back to the Grind... for Two Weeks

No doubt you may have noticed my wedding links have tripled over the past few weeks. At least I have. 'Cause really, who's reading this stuff besides me? I'm really just using this blog to log reminders to myself. Not as adventurous as my title claims.

Anyways, it's been almost a whole month since my last post. Really a whole month? Yep. I was busy with the last few weeks of school (SPRING BREAK! WHOO HOO! *rips bikini top off*) and then was in San Diego for a few days for the VRA conference.

Better write down my list before proceeding; otherwise I'll forget:

March 23 - Easter. We should probably go to church... Also one of my mother's birthdays... and someone else's birthday too. I know many people who have their birthdays at the end of March, all one day after the next. Can't keep up with all these Pisces-Aries kids...

March 28 - My sister's due date. If she doesn't go into labor, they will induce on the 30th.

March 31 - Begin Spring quarter: the second reference course. I have two weeks of "normal" life before I have to get back to my alternate life of schoolwork and not doing any housework or cooking. I suppose this next course is "advanced" reference... I hope it won't be too hard and that I won't have to write papers. I got lucky with the first quarter.

April 19 - Kathleen's 40th birthday party! I think they're hiring salsa dance instructors and we're having a real dance party. But she just found out that she's pregnant too, so the party will probably be a little bit more on the cautious side. They're handling the pregnancy very carefully this time around. If all goes well, that means I'll have two mamas with babies in my wedding party. :)

April 25 - San Diego anniversary trip. And if all goes as planned, this would be a coincidental, pre-wedding-to-the-day anniversary trip.

So last night as I was just about to drift off to sleep, I jarred myself awake with a shocking realization. Rick and my family structures are very alike. What I mean is - on his mother's side, he's got three aunts and one uncle. On my mother's side... I've got three aunts and one uncle. It gets crazier. I compared the offspring of each aunt/uncle on our sides respectively. 4 kids, 4 kids... 1 kid, 1 kid... 2 kids, 2 kids.......... there were two families that didn't QUITE match up, but if we bring the 4th generation into this comparison game, THE NUMBERS MATCH. It's crazy. 25 direct descendants of our grandparents on our mothers' sides.

What's more, on our paternal side, Rick's dad has one sibling, MY dad has one sibling. These sibling have 2 kids. EACH!

What does this mean???? It was slightly creepy. Because seriously, what are the odds that something like this happens?? Our maternal grandparents each had five children: 4 girls and one boy. Our paternal grandparents each had two children, and we each have 2 cousins. SERIOUSLY??! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!

So I fell asleep thinking about how cool it would be to have these family trees on giant poster boards up for the wedding. I even entertained the idea of doing a whole freakin presentation with powerpoint and laser pointers. ;) So this morning when I got up, I grabbed sheets of paper and made the family trees as similar in format as possible for comparison. It was great. Slightly creepy, but great.

The rest of today was spent throwing stuff out. We purged what felt like 200 lbs of clothes, got rid of our old TV that was sitting in the living room taking up precious space, and cleaned out old stuff that we didn't want anymore. We filled up my whole car with bags of clothes, household items, rugs... and my turtle pillow that my college roommate gave me. (ack, I just realized that it's gone! I kind of want it back... *anxiety attack*) Sadly though, after coming back from our dumping trip at the thrift shop, we looked around and there was still so much clutter. So tomorrow will be another cleaning day for me while Rick is at work.

So anyways, back to the wedding links and their tripled factor. This wedding stuff is SUCH an industry. But it's so nice to find blogs about bargain weddings and DIY stuff so I can get ideas on how to do stuff and find resources like free, already-made templates and REALLY CHEAP paper products. The only problems are that I want to DO IT NOW (and then I'd just sit and stare at them for oh, another YEAR) and the plethora of new ideas that I hadn't even thought of overwhelm me. I like having options, but this is crazy. How many ways and styles can we make our monogram? And what SHADE of brown to choose from their 100+ browns?! Should we get certain monograms for certain purposes? And are we really going to use the monogram with our wedding date on it after our wedding? It's all making my head spin.

I suppose that's why I've added those links. I can refer back to them when the time is right and I don't have to worry about losing a certain idea and having to retain all the information a year in advance. Did I mention that I still have a year to go? Just checking.

Really, the thing we need to do quite immediately before the rest of these details is set the date with our church. I've got a week before I become uber-busy again.

Reinventing the Wheel

Why do I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel with wedding planning??? A million other people have planned their weddings, done it this way or that, and lived to tell the tale. (And then often wished for their money back.)

I suppose it's because there are so many options. I know what I want and, for the most part, how I want it. But choosing between 25 different kinds of flourishes to add to the invitations, for example, is supremely difficult. I like them all. And doing it DIY style doesn't allow for me to go to The Decision Maker (Rick) to get the vetoes and yays. I have nothing in print to show him.

I'm constantly reminding myself that even though I like the look of the pretentious, vintage, ornate swirls and flourishes, that doesn't represent the (in)formality of our wedding, so I should shy away from these beautiful designs. Designs that give the impression that the wedding is going to be some very formal and extravagant event where guests must dress in their name-brand tuxes and haute-couture gowns with fancy footwear. Not so. Stainless-steel chafing dishes hardly qualify for luxurious. Yet going the more casual route can be a bit too modern for me. The wedding isn't going to be a backyard BBQ either.

I've added a few links to my blog for DIY and budget ideas. And even if they aren't cheap ($1,100 for 100 invitations? You must be joking!), I can get an idea of how I could do it myself.... which leads me to WHERE can I find these designs so I can LEARN to do it myself? And why don't I have some graphic arts friend who can do this for me for free?????? ;)

Hopefully as I browse through other women's blogs about budget weddings, DIY ideas and such, things won't be as intimidating. And it's also not necessarily the cost of things that's making me freak out (because I haven't let myself reaaaally think about my whole life savings going down the tube for ONE FREAKING DAY despite the fact that my whole life savings was started solely for this occasion, hA!) - more so that I'm waiting for our deposits to be put down so I can start crafting already. But even if I started crafting, HOW would I do it? I have pictures in my head, but no details. Cardstock, vellum, brown ribbons, pictures, even basic text... but HOW? And what font is BEST?

WHERE IS THE METADATA?!????!??!??!!!

Someone tell me what to do so I don't have to think.

Internal contemplation ... external explosion

In the days since my last post, I have probably gone through all the stressed-out emotions that probably should have occurred earlier. And I had thought I was maturing! Psh-ahh!! ;)

Valentine's Day was wonderful. The day before Vday, Rick gave me my present early (and again, I wasn't expecting anything since I've been busy since before Christmas I haven't had time to anticipate any gift giving and all that.)

After dinner, he said, "I kind of want to give you your Valentine's Day present early." I was surprised, and got up from my permanent position at the computer with my butt imprint on the task chair, and said, "Oh yeah? You got me a present???" And he replied, "Well, it's not really romantic..." and I asked, "What did you get me? Mouthwash? Socks??" AHAHAHAHAHAA..

He bought me an Optimus Prime mini remote-controlled car. How CUTE is that?! I immediately tore it open (as immediate as one can tear hardcore clear plastic packaging with seams that appear to have been heat-fused together), put in the AAA batteries, charged the car (that took some time figuring out) and zoomed it around our 3' x 3' linoleum floor kitchen. I was so happy. :) And Rick had fun watching me drive the truck around uncontrollably. It was the best present ever.

The next morning as I was rousing from sleep, Rick placed a card on my chest. I opened my eyes and saw the card, rubbed sleep from my face, put on my glasses, and opened the envelope to find a card with a cute Dalmatian sitting on a plush red heart pillow. And on the inside was the same Dalmatian, but its black spots had been photoshopped with red heart spots instead!! And in Rick's boyish handwriting was:

Can't Wait!

And I laughed out loud because I had sent him an e-card to be delivered that day, which of course he hadn't gotten yet, that had the same sentiment of "Can't wait" (to be your wife). So it was very sweet indeed.

This past weekend, my sister and I went to the Mongolian BBQ restaurant where we're having her baby shower just to check it out and taste the food. We liked it and for buffet at $5.68 per person, it was a great deal. The restaurant was small and the food was just okay, but the biggest problem was that we left there smelling like food. Like we had been in the kitchen all day slaving away over grease and soy sauce. Not the best place to have baby gifts opened up, but we figured my sister was going have to wash everything anyway before the baby gets to wear anything. We met up there with her friend, Vanessa, who is getting married this May and also in the process of moving into her new home, but her newborn nephew is not doing well, so she was in a sad mood. We had such a nice time talking and having our meal together that it wasn't until we got back in our cars that I noticed it was 1:40 and I had an appointment with a church coordinator at 2:00 that was 40 miles away!!!

I immediately grabbed my phone and called to let her know I was running late. The coordintor seemed a bit peeved that we were going to be late, but simultaneously convinced herself that it would be okay because the appointment before us was late as well, and she could meet with us at 2:30. After that phone call, everything became chaotic. My sister and I were in separate cars and we both needed to get gas, and somehow our communication broke down. After lots of driving behind slow people, freeway traffic, and pregnancy brain (and hormones) kicking in along with my own stress hormones, we finally made it back to her house so we could drive together in one car. And by then it was 2:15. We were never going to make it by 2:30.

We finally got in the car, argued some more, and then I burst into tears. My sister demanded, "WHY ARE YOU CRYING?!" and I shouted, "I'M SO EFFING TIRED!" (with the real expletive). And she was quiet for a bit. And in that one weak moment where I just needed to scream and cry, I let out all my frustrations, my stress, the irritation of my inability to finish my homework, worrying about riding the train to SD, my engagement announcement drama, getting to all of these places on time, having to get up super early the next day to take my grandparents out, and all the other minor details that on other days would just have been minor details.

That took about 60 seconds of full-on wailing. And then it was over. I didn't want to have smeared makeup all over my face at our appointments. And my sister said, quietly, "You have to tell Rick to stop waking you up so early." And I laughed through my tears. Because Rick likes to call me every half hour when he's at work and I'm home and sleeping in. He wakes me up when he gets up, when he leaves at 7:30, and then starting from 8am, the every-half-hour phone calls start. Just to see if I'm up and what I'm doing. I never get upset or anything, but there are times when a girl just needs to sleep for 10 hours without being disturbed.

When we finally arrived at the church, it was 3:00. I had called the lady again to tell her we weren't going to make it for the 2:30 appointment. She didn't give me any lip, but didn't sound very pleased. And I was upset. Not really with her, but that our situation made us late. I hate being late, and even though I'd called twice, I still found myself to be rude to be so egregiously late. My sister was on the polar opposite, saying that the lady should be the one to be flexible, she should be catering to ME, not the other way around. And while that rang partially true since I'm the one who would be potentially paying $1,450 for her services of TWO HOURS (and apparently for her leather-interior Saab sedan with sunroof), it also sounded a bit Bridezilla-y to me.

We made it to the church but the 3:00 appointment had already arrived, and the coordinator was just about to take them on a tour of the sites. She greeted us, shook our hands, and when I apologized again for being late, she just smiled and scrunched her nose at me. And I didn't really like that. She didn't say, "oh, that's alright" or anything. Just that smile/grin/chortle that conveyed that "Yes, you should be sorry."

We were there for an hour, first sitting in her office that was one of those office/trailers and after seeing the coordinator and the group get into a golf cart and drive off to the other sites, we walked around the site by ourselves and saw two of the outdoor chapels. The place was HUGE. Not the sites themselves really, but the campus was huge and there seemed to be a lot of paths. And it didn't seem very churchlike. They even had separate Bride and Groom trailers. REALLY! Are we at a church? Or are we at a place that solely does weddings?! The coordinator and the couple came back into the office, so we then got in our car and drove over to the other outdoor chapel that I was interested in, took some pictures, and talked about what we liked and didn't like about the site. For $1,450 I wasn't really impressed. The nearby freeway was VERY noisy, airplanes flew overhead, and a row of new houses sat at the top of the hill, looking down at us. Plus, it didn't feel church-like at all. The place looked nice in pictures (even my own) but in person... it left something to be desired. And I didn't even know where the Sanctuary was. So we drove back to the office and the 4:00 appointment was already there, so I just poked my head in and said we'd be taking off. She squinched her eyebrows at me and drooled, "Oh, I'm sorry," and I said, "No no, thank you for your time."

Then we got on the freeway when we finally realized that it was Presidents' Day weekend and that's why there was so much traffic. It took us 40 minutes to get to the next church, which was probably only 10 miles away. The church campus was HUGE too, brand new and very modern looking. It looked like shopping mall, really. But with a giant cross on top. We parked after driving around their enormous lots and walked the campus a bit. There were a few groups of kids doing some activities, but no one else was there. We walked around but couldn't find the chapel we were looking for. Asked around, but no one had any idea what we were asking. Their Sanctuary, which wasn't the place were looking for, was more like an auditorium, like one of those televised shows on Sundays. So we left.

After getting back on the freeway and heading INTO traffic so my sister could see our reception site, we were both a little disappointed and a little tired. With my emotional meltdown, bad traffic, snotty wedding coordinator, and being confused and lost, it was turning out to be a waste of a day. However, upon exiting the freeway and following the tranquil road to get to the golf course where the reception site was, my sister commented how nice and EASY it was to find the place. She called it "secluded" which was a great contrast to the adjectives we were calling the churches. And we couldn't hear the freeway. We were late (again, of course) so the wedding reception that we had intended to photograph prior to any of the guests arriving was already in full swing. We quickly ducked into the foyer just to get a glimpse of the appetizers and the bar and hid in the bathroom to try to figure out our next step. My super pregnant sister needed to go to the bathroom anyway and while working out a plan, we saw the bridesmaids primping.

The bridesmaids wore these hideously tight, pink, two-piece, floor-length mermaid gowns in that awfully thin, "satin" polyester fabric. The kind of cheap fabric that, in a light color such as pink, showed every bulge, every shadow, every crease of your body and undergarments, and the girls had not worn any slips underneath - probably because there was no room for it! Even the thinnest bridesmaid looked bad in her dress. All topped off with a brown satin sash that was supposed to lightly rest around their corsetted waists, but ended up being tied so tightly that the satin knots were creased. It was sad. They all looked like king-size pillows stuffed into standard-size pillowcases with belts cinched around the middle. And the poor groomsmen had on pink vests and pink ties with brown suits. Oh the madness of it all. It seemed obvious that the pink was definitely of the bride's choosing.

Anyways, please excuse my diatribe. To my own gals - don't worry, I would never make you (let alone ALLOW OR ENCOURAGE YOU) to wear such awful things. Especially on my wedding day. You're permanently in the pictures, you know. ;)

What we saw of the reception we liked. Mariachi music blaring from inside, the din of the guests having a good time, people helping themselves to the appetizers and drinks.. It all had a positive aura and feeling of warmth and celebration.

On our way out, we saw the bride and groom coming towards the banquet hall, riding in on the back of a golf cart. The bride had on her husband's jacket (it was cold!) over her dress, her crinoline pulled up on her lap so as not to drag on the ground, and oh boy, did she look happy. :) That was nice to see. Almost made up for the hideous pink dresses.

The next day I stayed home in my pajamas all day, finally finished my homework, and started on my final project. I ended up not having to take my grandparents out after all, which was a big relief. I watched Charlotte's Web in the afternoon and cried when Charlotte died. That just shows so tired I am. Then I watched The Devil Wears Prada on YouTube (the whole thing!) because I had just finished reading the book the previous night and wanted to compare. When Rick came home after a day of golf and racing, we watched 300, which was okay. A day of watching three movies made me really happy.

And then I'm back at work, on a holiday, no less. What's going on this weekend? Nothing yet.....

Lists: the bane of my existence... or my savior???

It's been a couple of weeks since the last post. Can't believe it's already February. How time flies! Since I've been uber busy lately, I've been making lists to keep organized and sane. I usually don't like lists because I find them to be restrictive and stressful. Like going to the grocery store and bringing a list makes me feel like I can only buy those things on the list, get in and get out, and I had better hurry up! However, during times of stress like now, I turn to those lists with open arms and embrace their inherent stability and guidance.

My agenda for this week:
Wednesday - finish up Week 5 lectures. Hopefully start the assignment.

Friday - off-Friday! Finish my assignment for the week, start on the Final Project that is due March 15. Alyssa's 18th birthday party!

Saturday - assemble baby shower invitations with the other hostesses over breakfast. Chinese New Year dinner with my family - and FINALLY announce our engagement. I'm nervous because announcing something like this calls attention to us. And that is not always a good thing in my family.

Sunday - I have a free ticket to the movies that expires 2/13. Better use it today. The Rose Bowl flea market is also on this day. And I want to scope out the Amtrak station in Burbank to see where it is and where I need to go when I take it next month. Being a SoCal girl who has always had private transportation via automobile, taking the bus or train is a foreign concept. I'm better at flying than riding the bus!

My list of current open projects:
- Drexel.
- Wait on student loans for 2008-2009 school year.
- Taxes. Ugh. Unfortunately, I'm in a new tax bracket. I want my money back.
- Wedding, finagling the date... this fall or next spring. Do people usually pick the date they want before finding/checking their sites?
- Church, looking for one in the Corona area that does Sunday afternoon ceremonies.
- Reception site, not available in November except for Thanksgiving weekend. Bleh.
- Baby shower prep. I'm responsible for prizes and postage stamps for the invites.
- Crafting has been on the back, back burner. But my mom has given me some tote bags and appliques to put on them. And wants some by March.

Coming up:
February 13: Film crew to make a video of us at work for the Computerworld awards. :)
February 19: Mid-year review.
March 1: Hsin's baby shower.
March 10: Carli's birthday.
March 11-14: VRA conference. I'm taking the train down to San Diego. My first conference EVER! I'm nervous. I've never spent a night in a hotel by myself before let alone three nights.
April 25-27: 11th year anniversary trip to San Diego (we planned this before I found out about the conference).

And just a week ago (feels like forever ago for me) I got a new 17" LCD monitor flat screen here at work. And a new 19" LCD television to replace the old, fat, and no-sound bedroom tv at home. Not to mention the new printer I haven't set up yet, to replace the old one that will go to my grandparents' house's guest bedroom computer. And I haven't set up my mom's computer or digital camera yet - to-do's from my Christmas list!!!!!

With all of this going on, who has time for Super Tuesday?!