Cheap wedding sign!!

Wanna see what awesome wedding sign I got for only $10?? Check out the video above!!

DIY Aisle Runner Part 1

Come peek into my DIY project!! :)

N.Y.C. Haul

Renai Photography Review

Wanna know how we really feel about our photographer?? Watch the video above to find out more about Eddy Fong of Renai Photography.

TKB local's SALE!! (Oct. 2)

I'm baaaaaack!!

A's Wedding Mixer!!

Wow, so much has happened since our last update. I guess should fill you all in on what's happened recently huh?? So here's what's been done wedding wise (in no particular order):

-Purchased my wedding shoes!!
-Met with potential printing company.
-Booked our wedding favors.
-Booked our videographer.
-Booked our D.J.
-Met with a surprise vendor.
-Started a third D.I.Y. project.
-All of our linen has arrived.
-Got the first draft of our Save the Dates from the graphics designer.
-3/5 of our bridesmaids got their dresses.
-Extended our reception an additional hour.

We also had our second wedding mixer (photo above with some of our family and friends). We all went to the Oakland A's vs. Boston Red Sox game and tailgate. It was so much fun with a good turn out. Lots of family and friends came and we had such a great time together!! Even my bridesmaid Nary came all the way from Sacramento!! She's such a sweetie!! Thank you to everyone who came (and for those who weren't able to make it, it's okay, there's always next time!!) Can't wait for the next one!!

The wedding is almost exactly 9 months away. So crazy!! We're looking to move in March/April so hopefully all goes as planned. We have so much stuff going on, we hope everything still stays on track because so far, we've been doing really good and getting a lot of stuff out of the way early. Fingers crossed for us!!

In other news, non wedding related, it's now Fall.. But boy oh boy does it feel like summer finally got around huh?? It's been bloody hot lately. Yucks!! However that may mean this Halloween may be a warm one. So for all the ladies who will be in itty bitty costumes, you won't freeze to death this year. Haha!!

Until next time everyone. Best wishes!!

A Family Filled Update!!

Recently my cousin Brit from Colorado came to visit us in California. Because of her awesome visit our other cousins from Sacramento also came on down to spend time with her as well. It was so great to see so many of them again!! We got to eat and hang out playing games at Dave and Busters in Milpitas, CA (see above photo). The last time we saw them was at my Mom's wedding last year. We love spending time with our family, they rock!! Cannot wait to see them all again next year for my Aunt Waneda's wedding in May and then again in July for our wedding!! Being with family is the absolute best!!

Speaking of family, Alex (Rey's cousin and one of our groomsmen) just had surgery last week and unfortunately he's doing worst than he was a month ago. As you may have read in my other posts he's in the hospital. We've been trying to visit him everyday and when I can, I sleep over at the hosptial so his Mom and Dad (our God Parents for the wedding) can go home to sleep. Alex is such a great kid. He's such a fun loving goofy kid. I can't wait til he feels 110% better and goes back to his normal self. It's not easy seeing someone you care and love be in so much pain. Rey and I are constantly thinking of him when we're not there with him. He's such a big part of our lives. If you can, please send good thoughts his way. He needs all the well wishes and prayers right now. Thank you.

Since the accident my neck and back has still been hurting me. On top of seeing a physical therapist, I was seeing my primary doctor once a week. It just wasn't helping enough so now I'm also seeing an acupuncturist and a chiropractor. For starters, let me just say how scared I am of needles. The thought of seeing an acupuncturist freaked me out beyond belief!! I was so nervous!! However after the fear subsided and the pinching of the needles went into my back I tried to relax and after about 15 minutes or so I was able to relax and found myself drooling. Haha!! I felt so relaxed after. It really is amazing. It definaltey made me want to sleep however I was really busy that day so I couldn't nap. I hope the next time I go there I have a less hectic day so I could see the acupuncture really can help my poor sleeping. I'm so sick of sleeping for only 2-3 hours (and in that tiny amount of time, I'm tossing and turning and waking up all the time).

The chiropractor visit was so interesting!! He ran tests on me and was able to tell me what exactly was wrong with me. So many of my disks, ligaments, and vertebraes are out of place. It's pinching my nerves which has been causing not only pain but for my legs to go numb often. There was a lot of other stuff he was telling me (how my vertebrae isn't bending/twisting at the degrees it should be, etc) it was over whelming. I even was able to feel something that was SUPER out of place!! I don't exactly remember what it was called but when he touched it on the right and then touched the other one on the left THEY DIDN'T MATCH!! The one on the left was totally dislocated (or whatever medical term he used). When he popped everything back into place the sound was crazy, and yeah some pops hurt more than others. When he popped my chest back, OMG I was huuuuuurting!! There's like 5 more pops he did that killed me, but over all it was alright. He said we've got a series of sessions to do to make my back straighten again because it's such a wreck. Ughh, I just can't wait til all this is ALL done and over with. Seriously, this car accident has put so much stress/pain/unnecessary bull crap into my life. I miss my old back. :(

I really miss being able to sleep. I miss being able to *REALLY* cuddle. I can't even hug Rey most of the time in bed because my body just doesn't twist like that. I miss being able to go out with our friends, play with the little cousins (I can't even lift them anymore!! And they can't even jump on me and play) and go dancing, exercising, swimming (esp. because it's summer time) and just doing everyday physical stuff. Everyone knows how wacky and goofy I am, and it's so hard to be that way when I'm hurting and unable to be my normal self. I'm trying hard to not let the pain get in the way of my life, but I can only handle so much A) it hurts and B) because I pay for it later at night when I'm trying to sleep.

Due to my neck and back pain, a lot of wedding planning has slowed down because I can't do as much because of the pain. I'm looking forward to when I can really do more DIY projects (so time consuming, tiring, and lots of physical work). At the moment 2/5 of our bridesmaids got their dresses. We love em and cannot wait til the other 3 girls get their dresses!! We are still on the hunt for a good (and affordable) videographer. So if you happen to know any, please send their information our way!! Thanks!!

We hope everyone has had a great summer. Fall is just around the corner, can you believe it?? Summer went by so fast, over all this whole year has just flown on by!! Pretty soon it's going to be Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, our birthdays, and then BAM!! Our wedding day will be here before you know it!! YAY!! We're getting excited!! My Facebook ticker reads 10 months XXweek/XX days. Haha!! I love it!!

Many blessings to you all!!

My New Wheels!!

Eeek!! I finally got a new (to me) car!! Here it is pictured above, and yes I do have two Buddhist charm hanging near my rear view mirror to protect me during my travels!! I'm loving my car!! It's so fun to drive!! Unfortunately I'm not driving it much because of my back/neck pains still. But it is fun to just sit in the car HAHAA!! Or even just look at it from the window, hehee!!

I'm really happy to announce my wonderful cousin Nary will be joining (and completing) our wedding party!! She's been my O.B.F. (Original Best Friend) and we share so many memories together. She was literally my very first friend ever and now she's one of my bridesmaid!! It means the world to me to have her beside me on the most special day of my life. If you'd like to get to know her more you can read more about her (and the rest of our wonderful wedding party) on the "Wedding Party" tab which is to the left.

Right now one of the things which we are working on is figuring out what linen we want. We're trying to figure out the material we want and also the color. Once we figure that out we can then start a few more DIY projects once a lot of the projects depend a lot on the color of the table clothes. Other great news about some DIY stuff we're doing is that Rey and I just finished up our *first* DIY project the other day. I'm remaining hush on what it is because I want it to be a surprise for all of our wedding guests, but I do want to say we're very happy with the way it came out. We only spent about $10-15 dollars on it when a lot of places are charging $120-200 for it!! Yippiee!! Gotta love saving money!! The way I'm seeing it is do one project at a time, just start early so we can take our time and do a good job at it so that way A) it saves us money and B) we don't get stressed off of it doing it last minute as the wedding comes along. So far so good. Rey has been very helpful and it's getting us more and more excited for our big day!!

This month has been kinda weird in the weather. I'm kinda bummed we haven't had that much of the normal "summer" weather. Let's keep our fingers crossed that next July the weather is warmer (in the 80's perhaps) once we are getting married outdoors. I want it warm, not hot and not too cold either.

Oh and I guess it's a good time to share, Rey and I have officially came to the conclusion that we're honeymooning in HAWAII!! Yippiee!! I'm really excited for us to take our "day after" (even though it'll be like a week after) wedding pictures in Hawaii with our amazing photographer Eddy Fong of Renai Photography. His work is so wonderful. Seeing our engagement photos still blow me away!! And some really cool news to share with you all, we have a bunch of our engagement photos actually show cased ON THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S WEBSITE!! Two of our photos are on the home page's slide show (once you press "enter") and if you go through his galleries a few more of our photos are sprinkled in there as well!! Go check it out!! It's so exciting!! And yes, there are a few engagement photos there which we haven't shared with anyone so if you go take a peek you'll see some "secret" photos we weren't going to share with anyone until the wedding. Hehee!! If you guys would like to see his work please go to:

www.renaiphoto.com
www.renaiphoto.com/blog

Hope everyone is doing well.

Our 6th July 4th Together!!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! This year Rey and I celebrated our 6th July 4th together!! Wow!! That sounds SO long!! Hehee!! This year we went on a cruise around San Francisco with some friends and watched the fireworks from the boat (photo above). It was freezing cold, super windy, cloudy, and I had to sit for most of the time due to my back and neck injuries from the accident, but it was so fun!!

I've been spending lots of time at the California Pediatric Medical Center lately. Alex (one of the groomsmen) Rey's younger cousin is sick so we've been visiting almost everyday. Tonight and tomorrow I'm actually sleeping at the hospital with Alex so his Mom and Dad could have a couple days off of normal sleep.

Tomorrow in the afternoon I get a break from the hospital so I could go to my first session of physical therapy. Then I'll be headed back to the hospital.

Within the next week I'll be driving in a new car (new to me at least!!). I'm excited!! Haha!!

Wedding wise, we've waiting for a lot of sample swatches in the mail to come. Before we start buying a million things we need to check all their swatches to make sure the colors are all right. Once that get's squared away we'll be unstoppable buying all sorts of wedding stuff!! I'm excited!! The wedding is def. coming together with it being less than a year away!!

Hope everyone is well and is enjoying their summer!!666666666

Happy 5 Year Anniversary To Us & The Official 1 Year Count Down Til Our Wedding!!

There it is folks!! Our many count down tickers remind us that not only is today our 5 year anniversary. Wow, how time as flown!! I can't believe it's been 5 years already!! Plus, this exact date next year we're going to be husband and wife!! The official one year count down begins today!! So very excited!! This is the beginning of getting elbow deep in the wedding planning!! The next year is just going to FLY on by!!

In other wedding related news, yesterday Rey, MOH Brea, and I all went to meet with a top secret vendor for our wedding. All I can say is, WOW!! We were so blown away and today's appointment just made us THAT much more excited for the wedding!! YAY!!

Good News and Bad News.

Rey and his Dad at the birthday party!!

The bad news first.. I got into a car accident on Friday. Boo!! The car behind me hit me going on 101 south bound and he did take full responsibly for the accident and my injuries. I also got a rental car but I swear it's horrid!! The blind spots are HUGE and the stirring wheel has this fancy thingy on it, but it literally is so slippery I can barely grip it!! This car is an accident in the making!! Seriously!! Are they wanting me to crash or something??

Anyways, some good news is that we're proud to announce our God Parents for the wedding!! To see more information on them, please look to the left and click on "Parents and God Parents". Other wedding related news is we got a bunch of stuff in the mail which we had ordered. They are all a surprise though so I can't share with you guys what it is. You'll have to wait til the big day to find out what it is!!

More good news is that today is Rey's Dad's birthday!! He's 60!! Happy birthday to him!! On Saturday there was a huge party for him at the house with a singer, DJ, tons of food, and family and friends (photo above). It was fun even though I was handicapped the whole time.

We hope everyone is doing well!! Until next time!!

Errands in San Jose.

Yesterday Rey and I ran a whole lot of errands. We woke up, got an oil change, and then headed all the way down to San Jose. Rey bought 2 sets of 3 throwing knives (pictured above), while I looked for wedding ribbon, favors, and toppers. On our agenda was also looking for a purple dress for myself. I didn't get anything that was on my shopping list which sucked, but it's okay. We've still got a lot of time til the wedding!! I did however, get the cutest summer dress which I can't wait to wear. I'm thinking to wear it to our wedding shower even though that's far off!! Haha!!

In other wedding related news, I've been working hard on organizing wedding binders. I'm making one for Rey and I, and also for MOH Brea. Inside this binder is literally everything you would need to know for our wedding. There's a calender which has important dates, appointments, money due dates, a contacts list with numbers, emails, faxes, addresses etc. of everyone who's involved in the wedding (wedding party, family of the bride and groom, wedding coordinator, venue, all vendors, and officiants)., there's also the wedding menu, the guest list, a check list, and lots of other helpful tidbits. I'm really excited to finish these binders, they are so helpful!!

We're waiting to hear back from a few prospective vendors (videographer, calligrapher, DJ). Hopefully we get those squared away soon!! Hope everyone is doing fabulous!!

Domain bought!!

We finally bought our domain for our official wedding website for all of our wedding guests!! Whoo hoo!!

Mega Update!!

Wow, it's been so long!! So much has happened!! I have no idea where to even start!! I'll just list some things that happened, however I can't put them in the order they came in because I don't remember. Haha!!

Lots of bridesmaid dress shopping has been going on. Our friend Sarah and I went together and found a few cute dresses at Kay's Bridal in Castro Valley. Later in the week Sarah finally got to meet MOH Brea as we all got together to look at BMs dresses and then hit up a few wedding appointments. Brea finally got to see the venue which she loved. We also went to look at a few reception wedding dresses. That day was very productive.

A few days after that, MOH Brea accompanied me to the 2nd annual Yelp Elite's 80's prom!! It was so much fun!! We drank spiked punch, tequila, ate yummy food, danced to good music, saw balloon arches, took prom picture, and saw a burlesque show!! Haha!! She even won the raffle and got a free night at the hotel for two people including breakfast!! She's such a sweet friend and gave it to Rey and I as a graduation gift.

Which brings me to my other good news, my high school sweetheart and I were able to graduated college together (photo above). Although he missed the deadline to sign up for graduation and wasn't expecting to be able to walk until next semester, he did it!! We weren't assigned to the same building, and weren't even suppose walk down to the ceremony together (they split up the graduates in two groups by last name so one group could walk in from the left while the other walked in from the right), let alone seat near one another but our friend Sarah (who also graduated with us!!) went and ask the director if her best friend could have her Fiancee walk beside her and have him sit with her and the director said, "I just want her to be happy, tell her that her Fiancee can come to this building and walk with her." The day was better than I could have ever imaged it!! All of our friends that graduated got to sit right next to us!! If you'd like to see graduation photos, please go take a peek in the Photo Galleries section on the left.

Rey and I also went camping!! We went with his gym!! It was lots of fun and wasn't too far away which was great. Camp Memorial Park was only 1 hour away from Millbrae. We'd def. go back, hopefully in July!!

Well, that's pretty much it for now. Now that it's summer I'll have more time to wedding plan. Looking forward to a very productive summer!!

An Update!!

Hello everyone!! Wow, it's been a while!! So much has happened. Let's see.. First off, yesterday was Mother's Day!! We were super full!! This years plans were a bit scattered, but it was still super fun. We had a late lunch with Rey's family family, then dinner with my family (photo of our dessert fondue above), then a late dinner right after with Rey's family!! So food back to back, to back!! So full!!

I've been sick for almost 2 weeks!! I had the worst flu ever!! I had bloody flem, I was throwing up 8-10 times a day, and I lost a lot of weight. It was really bad, Rey was getting so sick of my coughing and throwing up. Ughh, it was so bad!!

In wedding news, last Friday my friend Sarah and I went to 2 boutiques. It was really fun even though I was still getting over my flu a bit. Through all the coughing we still were successful in finding really cute BMs dresses!! After dress shopping, we even got to grab a bite to eat and catch up for a bit which was really nice once I haven't seen anyone in forever due to my stupid flu!! This coming Friday Sarah and MOH Brea will be meeting for the first time ever!! We're going to be meeting up for brunch and then a day filled with wedding appointments!! Brea will be going to the venue for the first time!! I'm so excited to show her the place!! Then we're heading to a few hotel tours to check out their rooms and suites, then a few boutiques, printing companies, and a few secret vendors which will be a surprise for our wedding guests!! Haha!! It's a seeeeeecret!! :)

Then this Sunday our Officiant (also my God Mom Janet) will be coming over so we can discuss wedding details. What we want our ceremony to be like, what we want her to say, time line, etc. We can't wait to see her, it's been so long!!

We hope everyone is doing well. The sun is starting to come out, the weather is warming up, and the days are getting longer. Ahhh!! Summer is almost here!! :)

A Visit From Some of the Groomsmens!!

Hey everyone!! We have been so busy lately!! As you guys know, Alvin and Anthony (both Rey's groomsmens) have recently relocated. Alvin graduated last year from UCSD and interned as an engineer and now he's moved back down to San Diego because that same company has offered him a job!! We are so proud of him!! And Anthony came back from boot camp for the Marines for a few weeks. He's done so excellent there and is such a trooper!! We got really lucky because we got to spend the past 2-3 weeks with them!! First Anthony came back, and then Alvin came back!! It was so great just hanging out with them!! (photo above is of Rey and I with our Maid of Honor Brea, Best Man Nick, and Groomsmen Anthony at the bowling alley throwing up "W" for "Wedding Party!!" Hahahahaa!!) Both Alvin and Anthony are gone now and it sucks!! But luckily Anthony gets his phone and internet on the weekends (and will be coming home about once a month) and Alvin has his phone and internet whenever he's not busy working. :)

What else is going on with our wedding party?? My fabulous MOH Brea just left early this morning to Italy!! She went with her family (and a special birthday shout out to her Mom Mrs. Aguas!!) They were actually suppose to leave Wednesday at 2 pm (I think??) but because of the volcano there, their flight got pushed back to 10 pm. And then again to about 7 am on Thursday (today). She is such a great MOH, she called me before she left asking me to give her a list of things to do for the wedding while she's on vacation. She's so funny!! I told her to just enjoy her vacation, and that we can do wedding stuff once she gets back. However, she said she was going to be bored in the 16 hour flight, so we agreed she can try to do some wedding invitation wording mock ups. I'm excited to see what she comes up with once she gets back home!! She is such a great MOH, I am so grateful to have her by our side as we plan the most important day of our new life together. Brea is so eager and ready to help out in any way she can. She's definitely a great stress reliever for me. She's organized and totally capable of anything life throws at her. I know anything she does, she's totally going to nail it because everything she does, she does it with perfection!! We hope she and her family have arrived to Italy safely. They as a family (and all individually) are so kind and caring, they deserve the best trip ever!! We can't wait to see all their photos from Italy!! We pray for their safe return back home without anymore delays due to the volcano.

In other news, I'm graduating next month!! Whoo hoo!! Not a really big deal, but I'm still proud. :)

Until next time folks!!

First Wedding Mixer: Brides & Basketball

Last night we had our very first wedding mixer!! To read more about it, go here.

A Great Pick Me Upper.

I was having a really bad morning and a bunch of my friends on Facebook were trying to help me get outta my funk. Then comes along our photographer to perk me up. :) He's the greatest!! Here are a few more!!


I just love the textures of this photo!!

I love how in this picture it looks like we're all alone in this huge place. It was so busy there, with lots of people walking around. I don't know how he happened to take a picture right when there was no one there.

This photo photo really makes me laugh. I didn't want to walk down onto the beach (parts of the walk was really really steep!!) and along the walk down I saw sour grass (or at least that's what I call it!!) and I just had to have some!! I remember eating it when I was younger and I asked DF, the photographer, and his assistant to please try it. After much speculation they ALL finally gave in and the photographer just had to capture DF trying it out for the first time. Haha!! Look at my face and how concentrated I am trying to shove the grass into his mouth, careful not to poke his eye. Totally focused!! Hehee!!

We were good sports and part took in a bit of rock climbing!!

I knew Rey would like this because it has his car in the picture.

We just love all of our photos!! They are all so unique and are so artistic!! We only have a few more days til our 3 week wait is over and we get all the photos back!! So so so excited!! We hope you all have enjoyed our teasers as much as we have!! We are so happy that Eddy surprised us with teasers 4-5 times throughout the wait, and each time he gave us teasers it was about 4-5 pictures. We have a whopping 19 teasers to date!! Whooo hooooo!! And we love each and every one of them!!

Hope everyone is doing fabulous on this gorgeous Tuesday!! Many blessings!!

More Engagement Teasers!!

We got MORE fantastic teaser engagement photos!! Yahoo!! So excited!! They look fantastic!!

A great close up!!

I love the lighting in this picture.

Love the contrast of this photo!! It reminds me of an "equal" equation YKWIM??

Hanging out in many doorways..

My friend Jenny said this one looks like a postcard, and I agree!! Hehee!!

We just love our photos and hope you do too!! Hope everyone is doing fabulous!!