Happy New Years Everyone!!

Whooo!! Happy New Years Eve everyone!! Wow, how 2009 has truly flown on by!! So much has happened in 2009, for starters, we started of 2009 with a handful of good friends!! Then I celebrated my 21st birthday with a huge birthday bash at Dave and Busters. Soon following that we had an unforgettable surprise birthday trip for Rey to Reno!! Other big things that happened in 2009 was my Mom's wedding!! And the very last thing 2009 blessed us with was with the purchase of my Mom and Shirley's new home just days before the year ended!! Seriously, 2009 has been such a blessed year and I'm totally looking forward to 2010!! 2010 will be our very last year before we become husband and wife and I just know it's going to be full of exciting wedding planning!! We are so grateful for all of the loving family and friends we've surrounded ourselves with. We are so thankful for how supportive everyone has been and how with every step of the way we are blessed to look by our side and see everyone there rooting us on. We love you guys so much and totally look forward to a kick ass 2010!! Cheers to a new decade!!

Wishing you all a fun and safe New Years. May you all be blessed with a happy and healthy 2010!!

P.S. The picture above is of Rey and I right before we were leaving the house to party!!

Booked Our First Vendor!!!!!!

Can you see the excitement in Rey's eyes?? This photo was taken of us around 2 am on Thursday. We just sent over our deposit!! We are 100% getting our dream photographer!!!!!! We just sat down together and put down our *first* deposit for ANYTHING wedding related.. And Rey held my hand as I pressed submit!! Hehee!! I know it sounds corny, funny, and silly.. But it was a big step for us especially with havnig a long engagement and researching like crazy. Can you see the excitement in Rey's eyes in the photo?? Haha!! I'm excied too, but I'm also really sleepy in the photo. We decided to go ahead and put the deposit down for our photographer, we decided to not wait to put down the deposit til after our venue deposit because our photographer has nothing to do with the venue. No matter where the venue is (although it's already chosen and once I come back from my birthday vacation we're putting down the deposit) we're still going to have the same photographer!!

No turning back now!! Already forked over a hefty amount with the deposit. OMG OMG OMG!! It's really happening, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!

And the contract is in the mail in the morning!! (Fax machine is not working right now, grrr!!)

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and will all have a fun and safe New Years. I know Rey and I will. With 2009 coming to a close, we would like to thank all of our friends and family who have supported us through everything. 2009 has been such a blessed year, we definately look forward to 2010, it's going to be the very last year before we are Mr. & Mrs. we're so excited!! 2009 has gone by so fast, as cliche as it sounds but time sure does fly when you're having fun!! I know 2010 will be over in a blink of an eye and then we'll be married!!

Merry Christmas From Us!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Above is our holiday greeting picture!! We hope you all had a great holiday with your loved ones!! We know we did!! As usual, we went to mass on Christmas Eve, then came home to have our immediate family dinner with Rey's family. Then after dinner we had some Christmas games, then opened gifts!! I got a great laptop from my Daddy, and a bazillion jackets and tops from his family!! Rey got some clothes, sweaters, and some flasks!! Our stockings has gift cards to Chili's, movie tickets, lotto tickets, gas cards, and cash. We also did a Secret Santa gift exchange between the 7 of us. We ended up going to bed after 5 am!! The next day was the big Christmas dinner for the extended family. It was a lot of fun!! So much food!! Fun gift exchange for our Secret Santa. More gift cards, money, and a beautiful bracelet from his Grandma. Rey and I decided to give each other matching custom made 49er jerseys. His jersey reads, 'Mr. Ramirez' while mine reads, 'Mrs. Ramirez' on the back!!

Over all the whole holidays was amazing, I love spending time with Rey's wonderful family.

We hope everyone is doing well. The New Year is coming, and we're so excited to enter the new year!! 2010 will be the last year of our engagement, and we're so excited to tie the knot!!

Friday was Major Wedding Planning Progress!!

Wow!! What a day Friday was!! My Mom and I had back to back to back meetings for the wedding!! Our first appointment was at our actual venue. My Mom loved it!! The wedding coordinator there was again just so sweet and helpful!! I'd say the tour of the venue was very much a success!! My Mom was able to finally see what Rey and I have been gushing about!! And a major bonus was that it was getting decorated when we got there for a Christmas party!! So great because the tables were all there (including the buffet table) so my Mom was able to see visually how the tables would be set and the amount of room left over. I was blown away by the set up of the buffet, it's literally the longest buffet set up ever!! Guests, be prepared to eat your heart out!! There's SO much food!!

After the venue tour, Mommy and I had yummy sandwiches for lunch, MmMmm!! Then we headed to the florist!! And this is where I was really blown away. My flowers.. Simply AMAZING!! It was so fun choosing flowers and making mock up bouquets to figure out the color, texture, and type of flowers matched our vision. Plus, trying to pronounce all the flowers was hilarious!! We chose what we wanted for my bride's bouquet, my brides maid's bouquets, the groom's boutonniere, the centerpieces, head table decor, and also the gazebo's flowers!! OMG so so so beautiful!! With the holidays all coming up, we get our price quote in January from them. From there we can decide if we want to chose them or not, but we're pretty sure we're choosing them. We saw someone walk in last minute to get an arrangement done. Literally minutes later it was done and it looked amazing!! I guess it's just that magic touch that you just have or don't have. They envision what they want and execute it so well!! Plus, their flowers are SO fresh!! Their arrangements stay fresh looking for weeks!!

After the florist we headed to the bridal boutique where it was literally a one stop shop type of place. They recently moved locations so they aren't open for the public yet. But they will in February!! We got to see samples from the videographer which was great. Most likely we're going to chose them (85% sure). They are very open to all of my ideas for what I want for our video and they are priced fairly well. We also discussed with them hair and make up and chair rentals (like I said, this place had it all!!). We're pretty sure which chairs we want which is good. :)

Ahh Friday was such a success for our wedding planning, we're definitely making progress!! And I love how I'm getting things down now so that way I won't have much to plan later on. We're trying to have EVERYTHING picked out and done 3 months before the wedding. The only thing we want to do for the last 3 months is send in the last of the payments. Doing all the planning with the help of Rey and my Mom (and advice and encouragement from my in laws) has been so great. Yesterday going to all these places with my Mom was intense with emotions. I was so excited and having my Mom there excited with me was such a great bonding experience. Being excited together and seeing things come together with my Mom was so much fun!! Having a mother stand by your side and beyond supportive is such a blessing. I really can't explain how happy it makes me feel, and also having your Mom come with your to these appointments makes everything feel so real!! I guess other brides know what I'm talking about!! Haha!!

After all the appointments I had to rush over to Elephant Bar to meet up Rey and his family. It was his parents 35th wedding anniversary!! Whoo hoo!! Rey's parents already seen the photos of the venue and they loved it, so today I showed them a video I recorded for them of the place and they loved it!! So now all light green and when my Mom get's back from Vegas (she's going there for the holidays for Shirley's family) we can put down the deposit for the venue. And Rey and I are putting down the deposit for our photographer within the week!! No turning back now with the deposits going out!! Hehee!!

As for the rest of the week, one of the highlights was we finally tried out the boiling crab (photo of Rey on location above)!! Rey's been there before and told me all about it, so we went together!! It's a far far drive and for him very much worth it because 1lb of shrimp goes a long way. But for me (because I'm allergic to shrimp), 1lb of crap doesn't fill you up too much. Haha!!

We hope everyone is doing fantastic!! Christmas is almost here!! We hope you all have a great holiday season surrounded by your loved ones!!

In other news, we went to eat at Boiling Crab in San Jose. Rey's been there before and told me all about it, so we went together!! It's a far far drive and for him very much worth it because 1lb of shrimp goes a long way. But for me (because I'm allergic to shrimp), 1lb of crap doesn't fill you up too much. Haha!! There's all kind of seasonings we could add, so we both got the whole sha-bang. However, I will say I got the mild (one away from the most spicy you could get) and it wasn't hot at all. Plus the seasonings were SUPER salty. But perhaps I could taste it more because I hate salt. Rey said it was fine. He loved it!! Haha!! The day we went, we found out within a matter of hours that 3 other people we knew went as well. What a small world that we all chose that far away place to eat all on the same day!! LOL!! Anyone else been??

Wedding Updates!!

Hey everyone!! So it's time for another update!! Well, as many of you know I'm wearing my Mother's wedding dress!! And the photo above is the catalog photo!! It's not much of a shocker because just about my whole family was at my Mom's wedding so they already know what it looks like!! Haha, plus her wedding photos are all over my Facebook, so everyone's seen it there as well. However, we are doing alterations on it to make it a little more "me", so you will all have to just hang tight and see it on the day of the wedding!!

In other news, tomorrow (Friday the 18th) my Mom and I are going to tour the wedding venue which has stolen our hearts!! Hopefully Rey's parents can make it too for this tour, it would be great so they can see the same vision and ask questions together, but if not it's okay. It's actually his parents 35th year anniversary that day, so I doubt they'd want to spend it looking at our venue, and I'd definitely be more than happy to go back again to show them. I just can't get enough of looking at that place!! After the tour of the venue, we're meeting with a potential florist!! Then after that, we're meeting with a potential videographer, hair and make up, and also the place where we may rent chairs. Then after all those meetings, I have to rush back to the Pennisula by 7:30 for anniversary dinner with the in laws!! Ahh, so much stuff going on now, I'm so excited!! I've been waiting forever for this day to come!! I had to make these appointments 3-4 weeks ago because my Mom was just getting surgery at the time. She's doing better now, still having a hard time walking but she's doing much better. I think she's returning to work in a week.

Aside from wedding stuff, we've just been busy with our finals. Oh and we are also taking our holiday photos this week, which like every year we'll send to everyone via email (GO GREEN!!). Last week I saw my Dad!! I got to spend time with him and my Step Mom Joy, and we also visited one of my Step Sisters Icee at her job. I also got my Christmas gift from them, but I can't open it yet!! I'm taking a stab out there and going to guess it's a laptop. It's the same size as a laptop box, it's got a plastic handle under the wrapping like a laptop, and it's also got the box opening (yes, I can tell just by touching it!!) of a laptop!! Hehee!! We shall see on Christmas Day!! We hope you all are enjoying the winter, yet staying warm!! One more week til Christmas!!

Update: I'm sick!!

A little update.. I'm sick. Like always right?? Ughh!! (you could read more on my sickness in detail on how it's effecting the planning process on the wedding blog.) Aside from being sick, what else is new?? All the Christmas decorations are up at the Millbrae house. They were putting them up since late October and early November. But all the finishing touches were added a few days ago. They've even got a bunch of gifts under the tree already!! The picture from above is one of the lit up snow mens from the Millbrae house!! On Thanksgiving his family did their annual Chris Kringle (Secret Santa, but they call it Chris Kringle) which is great because it means we just buy one person a gift and not everyone. This year were not buying a lot of people gifts, and for those we are buying gifts its not going to be anything big. We're saving money for not only the wedding but for our move in 2010.

And I just wanted to share that this coming Saturday is my Mom's birthday!! YAY!! Happy early birthday Mom!! So blessed to have her in my life. She's definatelely a wonderful woman. Wonder Woman. :)

Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time!!

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!! ;)
The photo above is Rey and his Grandma at Thanksgiving dinner!! It was delish!! We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year!! First with his family, then with mine!!

And for those of you who don't know, my Mom had surgery on Monday and is still recovering. She took 2 weeks off work, but may need to extend her leave because it's suppose to take 4 weeks for her to recover. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. Thank you.

We all hope you guys are well!! Happy holidays!!