I'm Married =)

It's been almost exactly 24 hours since I had my beautiful wedding yesterday.  It really turned out to be perfect!  I am so happy with everything, even though there were moments where we were stressed out with timing.  I'm indecisive and I can't handle so many people asking me where I want everything to go.  Then we had to get ready for photos since we were taking couples session prior to the ceremony.  We were running so late that the photographer was here waiting on us for like an hour!  He kept himself busy though with taking pictures of the setting, arrangements and accessories.  We ended up having only about an hour before the ceremony for photos.  But I think he was able to get everything he needed.  It was very gogogo though, I didn't even have time to go use the restroom!

It was also lightly sprinkling for a while about an hour before the ceremony.  But for some magical reason, the sun came out for about 30 minutes right when we were ready to walk out.  We didn't even have time to do any rehearsals before, but everyone walked out and spaced it perfectly.  I think my parasols were a big hit.  And guests were momentarily confused about my man of honor being on my side and a girl being on the other.  Hahaha.  Then my mom and I walked out to the beautiful song (seriously most perfect song I could have picked), it really was a magical moment!  I couldn't bear looking at any of the parents or wedding party though, because they were either bawling or about to.  And I knew that if I looked at them I would start crying too.  So I just focused on picking out people I recognized among the guests.  Thank God my mom held it together.  Except she wanted to bolt down the aisle and I had to hold her back!

So I guess the only faux pas was that the officiant guy turned off the mic.  He was so old I don't think he even knew.  So people couldn't hear him well, and he was also going a little fast.  But it wasn't a big enough deal.  The speeches the best man and man of honor gave were so beautiful and touching.  Our first dance was great as my new husband sang along to the song he proposed to me with.  The food was so good, drinks were awesome (my lychee drink was really popular!).  Oh yeah I did manage to cut the top of my eyelid open a little bit during the photo session when the photographer told us to throw the parasols and one landed on me.  It was a bit bloody but didn't hurt.  It missed my eye luckily!  Overall everything went extremely well and everyone kept telling me it was the most beautiful and intimate wedding they have ever been to.  Well I guess they probably just said that to be nice, but I really thought it was pretty great.  LOL!  Too bad I didn't have time to take any pictures myself of the decorations and stuff, but I guess that's what I paid the photographer for.  And all the guests will have plenty.

My photographer was pretty fast, he quickly edited some pictures and put up a slideshow at the reception!  Of course he's gonna do more work on them later on, but I thought that was pretty neat.  He also put up a teaser picture on facebook right after he got back to the hotel!  It looks amazing with the clouds in the sky and what he did to manipulate the photo.  He was hoping for cloudy weather, and I wanted a sunny ceremony, so we both got what we wanted because right after the ceremony the clouds came in and out again.  They sure do show up great in the picture!  So dramatic!

Now that I am officially married, I really don't feel that different.  But I am so glad to be able to stop worrying about wedding stuff and just enjoy life now.  Can't wait till we go on our honeymoon!  

Here is my pretty wedding band that I just took a pic of while writing this as you can see the post in the background!  =)

Today was a much better day!

We had the rehearsal dinner tonight and prepared all day for it as well as for the wedding tomorrow. But most people arrived in town today so we had lots of help and everything came together perfectly!

My fiancés step brothers came to the rescue and are ready to go with their suits. But surprisingly the guy who flaked out last night also came to his senses and decided to come today. Wow. So all the drama and stress for nothing last night.

We got into the house we rented first thing this morning. It's an amazing house with an even more amazing view! The furniture rental place delivered the rentals first thing in the morning too. So we were able to use some of the tables and chairs for the rehearsal dinner. But we kept the nice linen and table top decorations for tomorrow. And we just improvised! The red table tops are just red napkins. Look how great the weather is!











We made our own table top decorations from these vases we found around the house. Then we picked rocks and pinecones from around the house, along with the branches we clipped off the trees. Total DIY! The lady in charge of our decorations is like Mary Poppins and she pulled out these tea light candle holders that fit perfectly on the top of the vases.








So everything was perfect, the caterer had an awesome BBQ and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. The waiter and bartender were super helpful too. Plus, this was our view!






So now I feel much better about tomorrow. I feel like things are out of my hands and I now should just go with the flow. Most things are done. We just have to set up chairs and lanterns tomorrow and get ready with mimosas! It will be a long day but lots of fun!

We also finished making the love sign we were copying from a picture I saw. It turned out not bad at all if I do say so myself!








This will be our back drop at the ceremony. They will be short enough and they won't block the lake. Much better than any cheesy arches we can find as well so I'm happy with them! Just hope people don't look at them up close since we carved them out by hand and they don't look so perfect at all. Especially the round parts of the O and E. Hahaha.

Wedding Emergency... Ugh!!!

So we are here in Tahoe and everything was going well. Weather is gorgeous. My fiance's moms friend who did our decorations showed them to us and they look great. We went and checked out the beach house we rented and it looks gorgeous. Then we are having some wine about to go out to dinner and my fiancé gets a text message from one of his groomsmen saying he can no longer make it cuz his wife has to work on Sunday. Umm it's him in the wedding, not his wife. And our wedding is on Saturday so he could easily get a flight in tomorrow out on Sunday. If he wanted to make it he could find a way. Apparently he doesn't think it's a big deal!!!

So now we are short a guy on his side and he doesn't want to call and beg the guy who dropped out to come. Of course that's perfectly understandable but I kinda really feel like calling and bitching him out! He's doing this not even full 48 hours before the wedding! It sounds like he doesn't even give a shit much either because all he said in his text (not even a call) was "sorry man, we are bummed". Wtf. You are bummed????? I don't even know what to say to that. I had to ask my fiancé if this guy even knew he was in the wedding???

And we have a gift bag for him all ready to go as well as a drink named after him on the drink menu. Seriously, is having a wedding how you find out who your real friends are?! After this and my bridesmaid drama I am just so over it. I'm just ranting now...

Anyway so my fiancé is now trying to get a hold of his step brothers to see if one of them can stand in. Luckily we kept it simple for the guys so they just have to have a white shirt and black suit which most guys do have. My friend has an extra black tie they can use too. But right now we can't get a hold of either of them and they are flying out here early morning tomorrow so I guess we will see. And then my fiance will also be in a bad position to pick one step brother over the other. Worst comes worst we will just be one guy short I guess. I've always heard every wedding has an unexpected something that happens at the last minute. I hope mine stops here.

I guess I'm just frustrated now not so much because he dropped out but because of the way it happened and his attitude. I am freaking cutting his name out of the drink menu (good thing we brought a lap top) and then finding a place to re-print since I don't wanna see his name as a reminder on Saturday.

Will see what happens...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bedazzled Nails Ready for Wedding!

After last night's final effort to get everything ready, I am finally ready to drive up to Tahoe. I spent all morning refilling my lash extensions and get very bedazzled mani and pedi. Then packed up super human speed and now in the car driving through the Grape Vine! It all begins here...

Check out my nail art!!! I couldn't decide between pink (my wedding color now) and blue ( something blue) so I did both! LOL... Alternating fingers... I think it turned out so cute since both colors are so soft and don't clash. In some of these pics I think the blue show up darker than they are in person but that's how they turned out on my iPhone cam.
























- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wedding Drink Menu At Last! And Finally Picked Out Song to Walk To!

I have been working on my drink menu for my wedding forever and finally have it ready.  It was a toughy because I decided to make one drink named after each person of the wedding party, including our parents.  And I had to pick out drinks that they would like, but at the same time are not that complicated to make because the bartender we got through the caterer may not be that great.  Also, I had to make sure the drinks all had some kind of common ingredients so I don't have to go buy a whole bar.  And then I had to think of somewhat clever names for each drink, which mostly just ended up being play on names of each person's real name.  But finally I think I have it!!  I am printing them out at work tomorrow.  I don't care if that's ghetto, I don't have time to go elsewhere and I am framing it in a picture frame to put on the bar anyway!  Here's my handy Photoshop work... LOL!

And of course people can order other drinks too, not limited to these drinks only.  But I will probably be drinking different ones from this menu!

And then my fiance finally came through and picked out a pretty song for me to walk down the aisle to!  I had no idea what to pick and it was stressing me out.  I didn't really want the bridal march because it is so over done.  But he found this version of Jonathan Cain (Journey) playing it on the piano and it sounds so pretty!  It's perfect because I've been somewhat jokingly saying that I wanted to walk down to Journey, and I love and play the piano!  This is the best way to marry the two.  Yay!  Another thing crossed off the list.

Wedding Dress is Perfection Now! New Shoes & New Ambitious Project for Wedding

This has been such a crazy weekend being the weekend before my wedding.  I feel like this blog has been turning into a wedding blog.  HAHA.  Oh well, it will all be over soon enough.  I've seriously been running around with no breaks all day yesterday and today.  So unfortunately no "Sunday Funday" today, and probably not for a while since next weekend is the wedding and pretty soon after we are going on our honeymoon to Europe for most of October.

I did manage to pick up my wedding dress from the tailor yesterday though right before she closed, as I was at my waxing appointment right before that.  And oh my gosh, the dress is absolutely perfect!  I am so happy because I did not expect it to fit this well.  Now I am 100% happy with the dress I chose and I think it will look gorgeous in pictures, because it is super figure flattering.  I went to this tailor who is like a hidden gem in LA.  She works out of a hole in the wall literally, very close to the Grove.  It is very small but clean inside.  But from the outside it's easy to miss.  She does amazing jobs with wedding gowns and so many brides go to her.  She's this older Russian lady who doesn't even speak English that well, but whatevers, you just let her do her thing and it will be perfect.  Her price is reasonable too, I think?  I really don't know how these things usually run.  But my alteration was rather complex - I had to take it in at least 2 sizes all the way, shorten the strap, hem, and cut off most of the train.  I ended up paying $385 and considering the amount of work she did and 3 different fittings, I think it was reasonable.  For anyone in the area reading this, her name is Galina and her shop is called Elegant Mode Tailoring.  I'm really glad I was able to find her!  I really was not THIS thrilled with my dress until now, you know, like questioning whether I got the right dress, blah blah.  Now there is no doubt!  And it looks super glam with the fur shawl I bought.

So since my wedding will be outdoors and I have to walk through the grass, I will not be able to wear stilettos unfortunately.  It's kind of tragic really.  I was going to wear these platform shoes I got in a shop in Vegas last month.  But I've been having doubts about those and just not 100% happy with them.  So a couple weeks ago I bought these BCBGeneration Tapis sandals in pink canvas, and I think I will go with them now.  Even though they are a bit casual looking, but this only means I can wear them for other things later.  The color is a light pink with sheen, and it matches my pink wedding theme perfectly.  And they are really comfortable, so I think I can walk around the yard and dance all night long in these.  So maybe it's a blessing in disguise that I can't wear heels.

On a side note, my fiance's bought his groomsmen gifts which are these flasks with a pocket for a deck of cards.  Really cute.  You can also clip it to your belt.  

Coincidentally, these fit perfectly into the pink feather top pouches I bought to hold my bridesmaid earrings.  LOL!  Isn't it cute??

He refuses to use these though.  Sigh... so I had to just wrap them up in tissue paper and put inside of some gift bags I bought at Target today.  He still thinks these are too girly, and has to put a disclaimer to his buddies that I made these:

I spent $200 buying stuff at Target today, it's ridiculous.  I bought Papyrus cards for our wedding party and parents and those things are $$$!!!  6-7 bucks a card?  Whatever!  At least they are cute.  So I had to bite the bullet.  I bought 12 of those, soooo they sure added up!

And this is super ambitious of us, but we are working on a last project with only 2 days to go (we are driving up to Tahoe on Wednesday).  I saw this super cute cut out on one of the blogs I read, and we are now attempting to make them out of some foam boards we bought at Home Depot:

Eeek, we'll see how that turns out.  But I really would like to make something that looks like this to go as a backdrop at the ceremony, as we did not plan to have an arch or anything.  I think this would be so cool to go behind us and it will not really block the lake view.  The letters we are making are about 2 feet tall.  We actually drew out an outline on the foam boards, so next step is to cut them out.  Hopefully that part won't be too tough........ then all there is to do is to glue some roses on using a hot glue gun.  Easy breezy?  I hope?  I really hope we can make this happen!

Wedding Favors Came Today...

Back in April when Gilt was having their wedding sale, I ordered these oak tree wedding favors from the Magnolia Company.  Shortly after I placed the order, someone from the Magnolia Company called me and worked out my shipment dates, since these oak tree seeds are perishable they wanted to ship them as close to my wedding date as possible.  I was to get them a week before my wedding.  So I stopped thinking about this completely.  Then last week, TWO WEEKS BEFORE MY WEDDING, Gilt sent me an email saying my order was canceled!!!  And to compensate me for the "inconvenience", they gave me $25 credit.  OMG!  I was freaking out when I read that email, since it was so close to my wedding date!

So before I had a chance to call Gilt customer service, my fiance actually contacted the Magnolia Company.  Surprisingly enough, the order was good to go on their end still and they had no idea why Gilt canceled.  So they dealt with Gilt back and forth and I still don't understand what happened to make Gilt cancel my order.  But some kid from Gilt called me and told me he spoke with his management, and there was nothing they could do to fulfill that order after it was canceled.  And he said maybe I'd have better luck if I contacted the supplier directly.  I was at work when I answered the call, and you know on an open desk environment like the trading desk I sit on, it is a little hard to yell and bitch at someone on the phone.  So I let it go, but if it wasn't for that reason you can be sure I would have given him a piece of my mind!  In fact, I am going to contact Gilt again to discuss this issue because this is just unacceptable.  I've always like Gilt from good experiences with them before and I trusted them with this, but this time I almost got royally f'ed.

It's lucky that the Magnolia Company actually came through with my order.  The lady I dealt with was super sweet and wanted to make everything smooth for me.  So I have had a fantastic experience with this company and would highly recommend them.  They actually even shipped out my favors before the issue with Gilt was resolved because they didn't want me to worry.  They did all this without even get paid first!  And their price actually turned out to be about $60 cheaper than Gilt!!!  Wtf??  I believe this order was $240 for 60 favor boxes, and Gilt's was $300.

They were out of the color of the box I ordered originally which was green lid with ivory ribbon.  But they did have the reverse which was ivory lid with green ribbon.  Seriously I could give a shit less about the color of the lid and ribbon at this point.  They actually had pink too, which would go with my color but I just didn't think pink would look as earthy and organic as green and ivory so that's what I got.  I received them today and they are so cute!  Though A LOT smaller than I thought they would be.

Isn't it cute though?  The ribbon is the kind with wire so you can make arrange it and make it look pretty.  But from the picture I saw, I really thought the box would be maybe 3 inch by 3 inch, this is more like the size of a jewelry box.  I guess it's my own fault for not reading the specs.

This is the one I originally ordered.  I actually think I like what I got better.

So crisis averted!  I'm glad I didn't have to scramble and find other favor thingies at the last minute.  I also still really like the idea of oak tree seeds as favors since it's different and totally fits a Tahoe wedding.  I think I will stack them into kind of a pyramid shape and they will serve as decorations at the wedding too!  Hmmm I wonder if anyone will actually plant the seeds when they get home... hahaha.

Wedding Only a Week Away!! Last Minute Little Stuff...

I can't believe how fast time is going by, seriously.  My wedding is exactly a week from this coming Saturday!  That's so crazy to think about because it feels like yesterday when I was procrastinating thinking it was still months away.  And now it is so close.  Since we are having a destination wedding, we do have to be ready with everything even sooner.  We are leaving LA on Wednesday to drive up to Tahoe, so everything's gotta be done before then.  That really only gives us like 5 days.

Most of everything is done, but I've been super stressed out this week since I had to do my last minute touches.  I've been working on some crafty work pretty much every night after I get home from work and the gym.  I've been going to bed at after midnight and getting up around 5 am.  I'm the type of person that requires at least 7 hours of sleep a night in order to function.  So this really has not been fun for me.

Mostly this week I have been putting together gifts for my bridesmaids.  It sounds easy but really was time consuming, since I had to run around and gather a lot of material.  But I think at this point I am actually done with a lot of it and can take a breather.  I think I am happy with what I've done so it's all worth it at the end!

One of the presents I got my bridesmaids is these pretty pink swarovski crystal earrings.  I thought earrings were a good thing to get because they can have something sparkly to wear during the wedding (but they don't have to wear these if they don't want to), and also keep them to use for other occasions.  The earrings came in white boxes, which I wasn't too crazy about.  So instead of buying new boxes, I decided to buy some paint and glitter to personalize them and give them some life.  I stuck with my pink theme with the boxes.  I never had a wedding color, but I think now it is pink.  This is mostly because the bridesmaid dresses turned out to be pink.

So I just painted the boxes with pink acrylic paint and used this light pink glitter glue to write their names on top of the lid!  These are what I used.  Loved that little brush thingy.  I got it for 50 cents at Michaels on Monday night!

So now the pink earrings go into a pink box:

And then I decided that I needed a place to put these boxes.  Like cute little gift bags or pouches.  I was browsing online at work, and came upon this website called papermart.com and they have TONS of bags, papers, fabric, etc. for very good wholesale prices.  The company is located in Orange County and they ship same day so I ordered some cute pink mesh pouches with feathers on top.  Uber cute.  They arrived like a day or so later which was great.

This is what the pouch looks like.  It's the perfect size - about 3.5 inches high inside when closed.  I stuffed it with some shredded paper string thingies I got from Michaels to make it look fuller.

You can also pull the strings to cinch the top, which looks so cute.  This is what it looks like now with the pink earring box inside:

I now have 3 cute little bags for the girls!

I think I spent like $14 for 10 of these pouches.  They come in packets of 10 so I do have some left over.  But they are cute enough to keep around for christmas or birthday events later.

I also have my gay friend as my "man of honor".  Of course this meant that I had to get him something else.  He is not a flaming gay man and will not wear pink crystal earrings.  Lol.  

It's always hard to find presents for guys I think.  There's the generic ones you get for guys, like cuff links, flasks, ties, etc.  And it's just as hard for gay guys.  I really couldn't figure out exactly what he would have wanted, so I just got a Dolce & Gabbana money clip.  It's nothing special, but he's a brand name whore so he will probably like it!

The only thing is the picture shows black but I actually got the only color left which was navy.  I haven't even seen it since I got it online and it arrived all wrapped up.  I didn't want to open it and mess with it.  So I hope navy is really only navy under certain lights.  Though I did hear navy is "in" right now!  Hahahaha, that's what I will tell him.

I didn't want him to feel left out, so I put his name in glitter too. 

And then I also put it in the pink feathery bag!  Haha!  It barely fits, and when it's inside the bag I can't cinch it closed.  Oh well.  It will work.

So these earrings and bags are only a part of the presents I'm getting the girls.  I also got the silk robes from a long time ago that I wrote about.  And I got these faux fur wraps for them to wear when it gets colder at night.  Tahoe is nice in September - weather is in the 70s during the day, but it gets colder when the sun sets.  I got these wraps from ebay actually for only $18 each!  For that price I was like whatever.  One of them arrived tonight and it's not bad at all (I made 2 different orders), totally worth $18.  But the others are still on their way and I hope they are here before next Tuesday.

If they don't arrive before I have to leave town, at least I will have one!  Hahaha.  I like this wrap to go with my dress, since the dress has pearls on it and so does the wrap.  So it goes well.

So the day of my wedding is actually one of my bridesmaids birthday!  It was a total coincidence as I did not realize it at the time we picked the wedding date.  But she's cool enough to sacrifice her day for mine, so I thought I'd get her something else.  I bought this really cool ABS cuff for her.  It's gold with white opal.  Super cool looking and totally her style.  I actually got it on ideeli so it was like $50.  I think I might also get her a cake or some cup cakes on the day of the wedding.

I couldn't believe that this cuff didn't come with a box though.  It's a very wide cuff so I had trouble finding a jewelry box for it.  So when I was in Santa Barbara last weekend and was shopping in Nordstrom, I just asked them for a gift box.  It turned out to be the perfect size.  So it works.  I have no time to worry about getting a cuter box.

Hmm what else have I been working on?  Oh yeah, also for the girls, since I originally planned on having them wear different colored dresses I made these sashes to tie it altogether.  But since I then decided to have everyone get matching dresses, the sashes were kind of useless.  I felt like it was such a waste though!  So I cut out the organza flowers I made and made them into hair pieces!  I think it will be cute even though they are champagne colored and the dresses are pink.  We'll see how they look, it's not a big deal if they don't end up being used.

The back looks rather home made.  But well, they are home made!  And you can't see the uneven circle at all from the top of the flower, so whatevers!

I now just need to get everyone a big gift bag so I can put everything inside and make it look presentable.  See?  Still not done with gifts yet!

I made myself a hair piece too, and I used some fabric from my wedding dress.  It is still getting altered and I'm supposed to pick it up this Saturday.  But my seamstress gave me some material she cut from the bottom hem to make stuff with.  It worked out well in my hair piece.  I'm not sure if the photo shows.  But my hair piece is made of white organza sheet as well as the sheer fabric from my dress.  They look slightly different and gives the flower more depth in person.

I think I might put a little bit of ostrich feathers in it too.  But I haven't done it yet.  Will get to it tomorrow!

And then the last DIY project I've worked on this week is the flower girl basket!  I went to Michaels and got a cute little basket for $3.  Then I decided to glam it up a little so I glued some fake orchids on the sides.  And then I used the same fabric from the wedding dress to make bows on the sides and around the handle.  My flower girl is my mom's friend's daughter who is 8 years old but obsessed with weddings already.  She's uber excited to get this "job", so I wanted to make it cute for her.

You know how when you cut organza, the edges kind of become frayed?  Well, I decided to use my glitter glue, yes the same one I used to write people's names on jewelry boxes, to glue the edge of the bow.  That way the edge will not keep tearing and it will have some pink glitter on it!  I think this basket will look cute on a little girl.

I think that's about it for now.  I am still working on my drink menu!  And then we have to pick out songs for the DJ which is actually harder than it seems.  I have no idea what song to walk down the aisle in.  We have to figure out the schedule with the photographer, pick out photos to play on this digital picture frame we plan to have at the guest entry.  And then I have to attend to all my last minute beauty appointments.  Basically I don't think it will end until the very last minute.  I wish I had a couple more weeks to finish everything!  But it is what it is.  

My fiance has it worse.  He still needs to get shoes, shirt and tie for the wedding!  He's even more of a procrastinator than I am I guess.  And he doesn't even know for sure if one of his groomsmen can make it to our wedding since he just sold his house and needs to move into a new one by our wedding weekend.  So it's all a little stressful for me trying to make sure everything happens smoothly.  I guess if we end up being one man short on his side then so be it!  Good thing I'm not a bridezilla, I can see these kinds of things being disastrous for someone wanting everything to be perfect!

Back from Bachelorette Weekend in Santa Barbara

I seriously had the best weekend in Santa Barbara.  I didn't feel like doing anything crazy for my bachelorette, so my friends and I decided to go to Santa Barbara where we all went to college and visit the old abode.  When I lived in Santa Barbara, I never realized what a popular bachelorette destination it was!  I was so shocked to see at least 10 groups of girls there for their bachelorette parties.  But I guess it makes sense - it's so beautiful and it's wine country - you can rent out party buses that take you around to the bars or the wineries.  And there's lots of hot guys there!  Hahaha.  Now that I think about it, when I was going to college, we would only hit up the downtown SB bars on college nights which were Thursday nights.  That's probably why I never saw any tourists.

So we drove there on Saturday which is only an hour from my place without traffic.  My friends had bought some spa treatments so we headed straight to the spa.  Actually ended up spending 4 hours there!  It was so relaxing!  I had a body scrub and body wrap, which I had never had before.  When I was being oiled up and wrapped like a mummy then baked like a potatoe, I kept thinking how some people would hate this treatment.  My fiance for one, would be so claustrophobic!  They wrapped me so tight I could not move at all.  I don't usually get claustrophobic, but after about 15 minutes I started getting so hot and kinda started freaking out a little.  I had to give myself pep talks to calm down.  But afterwards it was all worth it because my skin was, and still is, soooooo soft!  I need to do this more often indeed.  We also spent lots of time chilling in the lounge area and drinking tea, and using the sauna, which is why we were there for so long.  But it was the perfect start!

Like I said, I did not feel like partying too much or any of the typical bachelorette stuff.  So we just had dinner and went to get a few drinks afterwards.  On our way home, we decided to stop by Isla Vista, which is the college town about 15 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara.  We visited all the old places we lived, and walked to the party street like we used to!  It was very nostalgic.  But after we saw 3 guys being carried away by ambulances, and almost got stuck in the middle of a fight, we decided we were just too old for that shit.  Oh yeah, somewhere in the mist of all the craziness I managed to lose my driver's license.  So now some happy kid at UCSB is pretending to be me and using my driver's license to buy alcohol.  Great.  Not to mention it costed me 2 hours of waiting at the DMV today to get a replacement driver's license!  If I have kids I will never let them go to a party school like Santa Barbara.  Lol.

Yesterday the weather there was perfect too.  We walked around and shopped and then headed back.  But not until after we went back to Isla Vista and got our favorite breakfast burritos!  We actually used to eat them at 3 or 4 am after a night of partying.  There is a famous burrito place called Free Birds in IV that everyone knows about.  But we prefer this other place called Rosarito.  They all open 24/7 so it's very convenient drunk food.  The portions are huge too, and the price is very reasonable!  Although I think they went up by $2 since I was going to school there.  Inflation, I suppose.

Isn't it amazing?

Steak & Egg Breakfast Burrito, with Potato, Egg, Rice, Cilantro, and Salsa... amazing!  Best breakfast burrito EVER!

I used to eat one of these all by myself.  But had to share it with one of my friends this time.  Haha, I can't eat like I used to!

I love Santa Barbara, I think central California is really a gem and very underrated.  It's the best, most beautiful place in California in my opinion.  I would move back there in a second if I could.  But there's not much of any industry there other than like wine, and tourism.  And the property values are very high so you better have money to afford it.  So most college kids don't stick around after graduation.  

I should take more day or weekend trips there since it's only about an hour drive from my place.  The drive there is along the ocean and is very beautiful, it looks like this for the most part:

Anyways, I digress, as usual.  I should probably go to bed, because I had a long day of dentist appointment, then DMV, then work.  So I will end this post with some of the stuff my friends got me this weekend that made me really happy.  Because they are so freaking cute!

These are all from Victoria's Secret:

Cute rhinestone underwear

Matching tank top - super comfy, ribbed cotton with stretch.  Long and good fit.

They even got me a tank to wear for the day after the wedding!  How cute.  It's a very light baby blue color.

Clip In Hair Extensions

I went to get my hair cut on Saturday in the attempt to make my ends look as healthy as possible prior to the wedding day.  I have pretty much decided to curl my hair and leave it down for the wedding.  I'm leaning towards half up and half down, actually.  The other idea was to put it in a low pony.  But the length that my hair is in right now, when curled it becomes even shorter and really a little too short for the look I'm going for.  So I asked my hairdresser about hair extensions, and she recommended that I get clip ins instead.  She actually had some herself and she showed me how simple it is to use.  You literally just clip them in in different layers under your hair, and you are good to go!  I decided it was a much easier and economical way to add length to my hair, so I ordered some.

I went and picked them up today.  They are 100% human hair, and they are super silky and soft.  Must admit, it kind of creeps me out a little when I think about where they came from.  So I'm just not even going to try to figure that out.  They are $200 for 10 pieces in various widths, all 18 inches long.  I didn't get the super thick kind, as I have a lot of hair naturally and do not need to add tons of thickness.  I just want length.  I have no idea if that is a good price or not, but it doesn't seem too unreasonable.  She put them in my hair and it seriously adds instant length!  I actually think 18 inches is a good length.  I was actually having second thoughts before and thought maybe I should have got 20 inches instead.  But I think 18 is perfect - it is pretty long when left straight, but once I curl it, it will be a good inch or so shorter.

My hair is like a dark brown color, with the bottom slightly lighter.  I believe that's just due to being exposed to the sun.  But it could also be due to years of coloring my hair before.  I haven't actually dyed or highlighted my hair in at least 4 years, so I'm pretty sure all the dye from before have been cut off already, but I guess there could be some lingering still.  The extensions my hairdresser had to order were like a soft black color, which is one shade darker than my hair color.  She said the one that was lighter would have been a little too light.  So I may have to dye the extensions to match my hair color perfectly.  However, she also said that it is most obvious when it's left straight.  If I curl it, it will blend in a lot better with my natural color.  I will be trying that out in the next day or so.

Anyway, she put these clip ins in my hair when I picked them up.  Here's what the result looks like - after I took this photo, I actually straightened my own hair since the extensions are super straight.  It blends better when my hair is super straight too.  But I forgot to take a picture of it before I took them off and took a shower.

So in the photo you can definitely tell where the top layer of my hair meets the extensions, as my hair kinda has a weird wave thing going on.  Though some of the color differences are due to lighting, as you can see some pieces higher up actually match the extensions perfectly in this photo.  But I think I would feel more comfortable wearing my hair curled.  It would definitely be less obvious.  And I will probably go pick up a box of hair dye and just dye the extensions myself.  I did get some test stripes that came with the hair pieces just for that reason.  I think if the ends of the extensions don't look that dark, it will look a lot more natural.

I will be practicing putting these in myself a lot for the next 2 weeks.  The last thing I want is to be walking down the aisle and a piece of my hair falls off.  LOL!  That would be so funny and not at the same time!  When I had them in tonight, they felt pretty secure as the clips are good quality.  My hairdresser teased my hair before putting the clips in, and she said that I can also hair spray after that for maximum hold.

So this is what the clip looks like, it's super easy to use - you just push it one way or another to open or close.

And then you just have to be careful where to place these, as you don't want people to see them poking out anywhere.  Though with dark hair, it hides pretty well.  

I am optimistic that these will work very well for my needs.  And of course they can be used any time after the wedding as well.  When I feel like dressing things up and having longer hair one day, I can always put them in.  How fun!

Exactly A Month Till Wedding & No DJ!

A coworker reminded me today that I'm getting married exactly a month from today - crazy!!!  I really can't believe how fast time has gone by this year.  I say this every year though.  So most of the stuff is done for the wedding, or will be soon.  We just need to finalize the decorations and the schedule for the day of.  But one kind of major thing we are still missing is a DJ!  We might have dropped the ball on this one, because now it seems everyone has been booked already.  I guess it's not something that is an absolute must have, as we can just add lots of songs to an ipod and play them ourselves.  But we kind of need someone to direct the night, which I believe DJs usually do.  What to do, what to do?  Worst comes worst, I think I will make one of my friends do it!  But anyone have any other ideas?  I'd love to hear it!

I also need to figure out what to play as the wedding party is walking down the aisle.  And if we don't have a DJ, who is going to change the music for when the procession begins, stop the music during the ceremony, and start again after the kiss?  Argh, I really hope I don't blow this one.  =/

Sunday Funday

Wow this has been a fast week! Actually every week has been lately. I can't believe I'm getting married in a month!!! That is so crazy to think. I feel like when I see people nowadays, that is the only thing they ask me. It's always the same questions too... are you excited? Are you done with everything yet? Are you nervous? I'm so tired of talking about it! Hahaha... I just can't wait to do it and then go on my amazing honeymoon!

Oh yeah, I don't think I've written about my honeymoon yet since we JUST finalized it. But it's going to be 3 crazy weeks in central Europe!!! I'm soooo excited about it! We are flying into Prague, spending 4 nights there, then taking the train to Vienna and staying there for 2 nights. Then train to Budapest for another 4 nights. Then flying to Venice for 2 nights. From there we are actually meeting up with a tour thing to Croatia and Slovenia. I don't normally like tours, but it was a good deal and it's only 9 days. At least we will have 2/3 of the trip by ourselves.

For Prague and Budapest, we got these amazing looking 5 star hotels on Jetsetter, which has become my favorite site to book hotels.  I think they have really high standard for the hotels they choose, and I'm just a big fan of the Gilt Group in general, who owns Jetsetter.  They really take care of you and they have hooked me up many times.  For example, just recently I contacted them about my Butter Click pumps that I bought from them - during the first hour of the first use, I was standing around and all of a sudden the heel of the left shoe came off half way!!!  I was so annoyed because I had just got to work, and I really liked the look of the shoes and have been looking for a pair of patent nude pumps forever!  Lucky for me, I keep a stash of shoes at work so I wasn't left limping all day long.  Gilt immediately sent me a free return shipping label and offered to give me my money back.  Not like Ruelala where the damn "concierge" was lecturing me about how their "boutique" works!  They need to take a page out of Gilt's customer service book!

Anyway!  I totally digressed, but oh well.  Now let's rein it in and get to the workouts for this week!

Monday, 8/15
What I did:  The gauntlet for about 15 minutes then weight lifting.

What I wore:  Lululemon Swiftly tank in pink mist (I've been loving this light weight tank lately since it's been so hot!), with frutie tootie Scoop Neck Bra under.  I wore my bon bon/paradise Astro Crop, even though nobody could see the waistband.  It made me feel better to know that I had a coordinating outfit in different shades of pink.  Hahaha.

Tuesday, 8/16
What I did:  Ran a mile to warm up, then lots of interval sprints and then hill running.  I have realized that I really won't be training for my half marathon in November because I just won't really have time.  I know I can finish it without training, but I really wanted to train so I can get a good time.  But with the wedding coming up in September and honeymoon pretty much all of October, I really won't have that much time.  The last half of my half is all hills, so at least I can get some hills training in and hopefully won't die during that part.  There's these treadmills at 24 Hour that have 30 incline!  It's so crazy because even if you are walking at 2.5 mph, you are huffing and puffing after a minute.  I love it though, and think that I will be using that machine a lot.

What I wore:  Lululemon Run: Energy SL and Run Fast Short.

Wednesday, 8/17

What I did:  Weightlifting for about 45 minutes, then spin bike on my own for about 25 minutes.  I have not done a spin class in the longest time, so I felt I should get some on my own.

What I wore:  Lululemon Let It Loose Tank in pink mist, and Astro Wunder Under Crop.  I FINALLY got these back from the store after the THIRD time of hemming!!!  I couldn't believe that process, and it was all because they didn't want to hem off the damn logo!  Of course first time they stitched over the logo which looked horrible so I took them back.  Second time, instead of making them shorter or longer, the tailor actually hemmed around the logo in a semi-circle so the hem wasn't even straight.  Unbelievable.  Finally they told me this time they would make an exception and pin up the hem so the logo would be hemmed off, and they are good now.  It was such a painful process though because that was what I wanted in the first place.  But I was without my crops for a whole month.  Not impressed.

So actually the logo is now on the inside of the hem, not visible from outside, but not completely hemmed off I guess...

Thursday, 8/18 - Rest day.  Ehhh actually I went for a massive happy hour with coworkers.  I think it's safe to say everyone drank a little much and blew their diets.  Hahaha.  Though I stuck with my low-cal vodka & water drink, with a splash of cranberry.  But it's always nice when our portfolio managers decide to take everyone out for happy hour food and drinks, because well, it's free first of all.  And also a good time for morale building which is always good at work.

Friday, 8/19 - Rest day.  Hmmm actually went to happy hour again after work.  This time for someone's bday.  But I only had a glass of rose and went home.  I hate drinking my calories.

Saturday, 8/20 - Rest day again!  It wasn't supposed to be.  But I was so tired from staying up late all week, and my mom was in town and wanted to go eat instead.  So, we went to eat.  C'est la vie.

Sunday, 8/21

What I did:  Today I totally made up for my previous laziness.  Woke up at 7 am to go running with some friends.  I was doing my comfortable "go all day" pace which I thought was a 10 minute mile, but ended up being 9:20.  We ran about 5 miles.  I really felt like I could go on at that speed for a good while longer.  So it makes me feel a little better about the half marathon sans training.

After that, we got some food to eat and went to pilates.  This was such a tough pilates class and I knew it as soon as I saw the sub that I had once before who was super hard!  So I was shaking after 10 minutes, and now my hips and butt are already sore.  Tomorrow will not be fun!  But in a good way hehe.

What I wore:  Well, for running I wore my Nike Dry-Fit top that I've had for literally years and love but not sure why I don't wear it much.  It's soooo lightweight!  But I don't like the big square label thingy at the bottom.  And it does ride up.  I wore my Lululemon 50 Rep bra under, and Lululemon Run: Passion crop.  I cannot express how much I love my Passion crop, which is why I wear them all the time!  I so wish I had a third pair, because I'm deathly afraid that both of the pairs I own will come apart from being used too much.  I have not met a pair of crops that were this great and flattering at the same time.  

During the first half of my run, it was a bit chilly so I wore my Lululemon pink mist Mind Over Matter pullover over it.  I love the pocket to hold my phone, but it got too hot at about 8:30 am so I had to take it off and carry it.  I hate carrying anything on me while running, not even keys!  But I had to put up with that or die of heat exhaustion.

And then, of course I changed for pilates!  I wore my Lululemon Hot Class tank and Groove pants - not too sure why I wore groove pants as it was very hot. 

Ok so that's it for this week!  Lots of pink mist and I didn't even realize it before I saw all the photos!  

We'll see how sore I get tomorrow!  Hehe.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  =)