Always & Forever*: My Love

Today's post is dedicated to the hubs, even though he doesn't read my blog. He knows I blog, but told me he refuses to read it. Why? He said blogging is "my thing" and just doesn't want to read it. Guess this can now be my safe haven when I need to vent about him without repercussion. Ha!

Any way, today's post might be a little sappy and give you the odd chill down your spine so feel free to move along to other blogs in your line up!

If you have chosen to stay (don't say I didn't warn ya), here's the dealio.  My hubby is truly the most patient man. For example, I told you previously that I don't shop for myself and the hubs does it for me. On our first trip together (Spring Break 2007 to Breckenridge, CO), I needed to purchase a pair of ski pants. Retail price - $70+. Hubby's idea - hit up Marshall's. So we went and I quickly (and by quickly I mean I briskly walked up and down the women's and the junior department's pants aisles while merely glancing). A minute later, I told the hubs they didn't have any and that we should just go to Academy and purchase a pair. Meanwhile, the hubs took his time and 30 minutes later he was able to find me a pair of ski pants. For $7 and some change.

Or when I told the hubs I needed new work clothes, but couldn't find any (read: I couldn't find anything I like <$20). He would go out shopping for me and come home with a sack full of work clothes for me. Price was not disclosed. Ha!

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Or when we have spats over something stupid, he's always the one that is level headed and approaches me with an open mind and looking for communication.

I'm definitely not a morning person + lack of sleep + hubby trying to make convo =

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and yet he's still patient and loving towards me even though he totally doesn't deserve my Mrs. Snappy Snap attitude I hurl at him. 

Or when we have to drive up separately to the shop at 2am, and I spot a cop, I'll text the hubs (in my full "I hate the world" mode) to warn him of the location and he'll respond with "ty my love". It's time like these that make me stop and put a smile on my face because I am so, so blessed to have married him. He's my best friend and I know no one else in the world could love me as much or the way he does (or even manage to put up with me for that matter! Shoo!).

Even though you don't read my blog to get this message - Babe, I love you so much and thank you for putting up with me because frankly, sometimes I don't even know how you do. You're the best! *muahz* I look forward to conquering our journey of life together. Always & Forever!

*Always & Forever is the running intro text from our wedding that was used to preface photo albums (e.g. Always & Forever: Our Story (guestbook), Always & Forever: For My Love (boudoir book), etc.)

You're late! You're late! You're late! You're very, very late!

With the clock ticking at 8 months to go, I knew I had to find us a venue - stat! I never was the girl that had her wedding planned/dreamt up at the tender age of 2. What kind of dress did I want? No idea. What kind of flowers did I want? No idea. You get the gist of it.

We consulted with both parents on what kind of wedding they expected and unanimously responded, "We don't care. Whatever y'all want to do." Is that your final answer parents? Yes.

And with that, Sothea and I decided an American wedding would be most feasible so that we didn't have to accommodate two different cultures (I'm Chinese and he's half Cambodian and half Chinese, but more Cambodian than Chinese, if that makes any sense). We took my parents to the Gaylord Texan early December 2009 to visit the ICE! exhibition

the theme was How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in case

you were wondering. And everything is made of ice.

and all I could do was be mesmerized at the beauty of the place. I kept nonchalantly commenting how nice it would be to get married there, not knowing I was going to be proposed to in a few short weeks! When we tried to decide on a venue, you bet the Gaylord Texan was my first pick. Then again, the only other place I've been to a wedding in Dallas was at The Crescent .

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I called The Gaylord Texan and inquired of the availability and price. Sept 18, 2010? It's available! Price? *big gulp* Excuse me? How much? But when I saw pictures, I knew I wanted to this place badly.

Above 4 pictures were provided via email by

Tristin Jumper, Gaylord Texan Catering Manager

No worries, I did eventually inquire of other places so I wasn't completely off my rocker. Yet. After discussing it with the hubs, we decided a small intimate wedding of about 100 people was do-able (we were paying for the whole shin-dig ourselves). Excitedly, I asked Tristin to fax me a contract. The form was all completed, and as I was about to give my John Hancock to make it official, when my cell phone rang. It was the hubs. His madre said we needed to have an Asian reception, but didn't care what we did for the ceremony. For political reasons of course, and Asian weddings are more for the parents than the bride and groom. Sigh. Not sure what washed over me, but the waterworks came instantly. Fierce and with no mercy. So this is what they mean when they say, "You can't always have what you want". Ohhhhh.

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The hubs was able to knock some sense into me and after re-composing myself, I set out to find a location that didn't charge me an arm, a leg, and a few vital organs just to rent the venue for an hour to host our ceremony. When I thought all hope was lost (sounds like a good juicy book huh?), my manager's boss inquired of wedding planning. I explained my ordeal and she graciously offered to put in a phone call to the hotel where she once presided as the Chief Financial Officer - Hilton Anatole.

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I put in contact with Cathrine New, the Food and Beverage Director at the Anatole and y'all, she is seriously the sweetest lady ever!! Communication with her was like talking to a friend. All that she did for me was above and beyond any service I could have every expected. You'll find out what exactly it was later on in my recaps. In the meantime, ladies and gentleman - we have a wedding venue!!

With that settled, I needed to find the perfect photographer stat! You know how those guys get booked up quickly!!

Did you have any issues with finding a venue? How did you overcome those and decide if it was THE venue?

Weekend Recap (Apr 9 & Apr 10)

I got off work an hour early on Friday and was super stoked about rushing home to make these bad boys

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Only to be texted by the hubby to help him make a Sam's run since he's running behind schedule. In heels. I was super mad. Not about making the Sam's run (in my heels), but not being able to make those scrumptious looking cupcakes. I totally heart chocolate with mint. *drool* Plus, I hate looking at all the shoppers face because I'm sure they're thinking, "what the crap is wrong with that girl? If she knew she was coming to Sam's to get a flatbed that's 4 feet high full of supplies, then why the hell would she wear heels?!" Because I would totally think the same damn thing if I saw someone else sporting the same do as me. And you gotta love the shoppers that stand and watch you load up the car with said supplies to see how you manage. Don't y'all have things to do? Places to be? And people to see?   No? Oh, okay. No wonder you're standing there entertained by my struggle. Thanks for offering to help by the way. I'm still a little upset about missing out an a golden mint chocolaty opportunity to make those cupcakes. Can you tell? No? Great! Moving on!

Saturday was a rough morning at the shop due to the lack of sleep (sorry hubs for being Mrs. Snappy Snap), but we got to see our foodie friends, Vandrew, for lunch over Indian food at Masala Wok. Maya over at Kinzie Says got me craving for Tikka and Butter Masala. all. week. long. thanks to her grilled tandoori post. I also got to spend some time with Andrew's grandmother and practice my Chinese with her. Boy is my Mandarin rusty. 9 years of Chinese school and I can barely hang on my own to have a conversation. Sad. Super sad. I'm sure my Cantonese isn't any better. This is a great chance to tell the hubby I must watch more TVB series and other Chinese movies! Ha! What? I gotta brush up man!!

Sunday was shop in the morning (duh!) and then we hit up the outlet mall in Allen to see if I can find me a dress for a friend's wedding in 2 weeks. Fail. On the other hand, the hubby did pick out a couple of cute shirts that I wouldn't normally wear (nor pay for) from MaxStudio!

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I really wished this top would have fit better, but instead, it made me look preggo. No bueno! At least it'll be a cute top when we do decide to start TTC!

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Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend?

Happy Friday!!

Yesterday was an uberly busy day. First off, I completed the EA Sports Active: More Workouts' 6 Week Challenge. Yay me!

Ending result of the challenge? Minus 3lbs and I am feeling awesome!! I hit the cringeworthydespisedupon weight loss plateau, so I'll really need to kick it up about eating healthier versus me working out just to eat like a pig and devour whatever I wish unsensibly and without nutrition in mind. I'm going to do the 6 Week Challenge again, and I'll let you know how round 2 goes!

At corporate job, our Montreal co-worker was in town and we hired a new contractor so the Senior VP thought it'd be perfect to do a full day of training on various topics, in which I presented on one. That went on from 10am till 4:30pm. Can someone say Starbucks Tentra please? And stat! We ended the hectic day with dinner at Rafain's with a good glass (or two) of Merlot. With all the crazy busy stuff going on at work, the get together was just what we all needed - awesome food, delightful drinks, and tons of stories that result in belly aching laughter (the alcohol might or might not have been a slight factor in what stories were shared).

And for the first time in a long, long time, the sleep gods bestowed upon me 8 hours of serene sleep. I woke up fully refreshed and might have hopped out of the shower breaking into a slight song and dance. Maybe. Ultimately, it reminded me that good company over some drinks is therapeutic for the soul.

What's your technique to unwind and relax? Happy Friday everyone, and have a fabulous weekend!

Bed of flowers!

As you may (or may not) recall, my battle with yard weeds started 3 weeks ago. I saw some improvement 2 weeks ago, but was still super embarrassed about having absolutely no curb appeal. Here's a quick lil reminder of how my (non-existent) curb appeal looked like:

Not pretty. At all.

Yesterday, Empire Landscaping made me a proud home owner by giving me this:

Y'all, I'm so excited about our flowerbed!! I could smell the fresh mulch when I opened my front door (I have a weird obsession with smelling wood at Home Depot or any lumber yard really). They planted Indian Hawthornes, Nana Nandinas,

an assortment of perennials

and 2 knockout roses

*tear* It's.so.beautiful!! And it's super easy to maintain so no more weeds in my flower bed. Ever!!! Muahahaha!


Now back to getting my washer into operating matter. I wonder if the landscaping people found any buried money??? Even if they did, they'd probably would keep it to themselves huh? D'oh!!   (>_<)

I forsee a joyous party for you in 2010

2 weeks after we got home from our annual/Christmas/Proposal vaca, we sat down to decide if we wanted a September 2010 wedding or an April/May 2011 wedding. We weighed the pros and cons of each and a quick coin toss later, September 2010 won the bet. While we aren't superstitious people, we left it up to my parents to pick an auspicious date for us. Hey, a little extra good juju wouldn't hurt! A couple weeks later, my parents announced the grand scheme of things was to take place on... dum dum dummmm - September 18, 2010*!

With the date set, I hit wedding planning with a dead on sprint y'all. I didn't even give the poor hubs time to stretch in anticipation of the sprint. Plus he was super occupied with the shop and told me to just tell him when and where to be, and the rest was up to me (hey, I rhymed! neato beneato. I did it again)!

Armed with this inspiration board...

Top to bottom, left to right:

Cake, Wedding Dress, Favor, Hair, BM Dress, Venue,

Bracelet, Venue, BM Dress, Wedding Dress, Ring,

Earrings, Favors, Cake, All floral arrangements

...wedding planning was complete. In less than a month.

Yup! Ladies and gentleman, I treated wedding planning like a business and knocked the whole thing out within a month. By myself. Sadly, that means I didn't get to fully enjoy planning our wedding nor get to do all the cute DIY projects I encountered on WeddingBee the following month! Booo! Which also means my planning posts will lack A LOT of pictures. Super sad face!

Up next, meeting the important people for the big day and the only tears I shed during wedding planning.





*We later found out in late March/early April 2010 that Sept. 18, 2010 wasn't an auspicious date after all! Oops! Good thing we're not superstitious because could you imagine the headache and chaos that would have ensued otherwise??? Oh man...

Weekend Recap (Apr 2 & Apr 3)

Lame. That was my weekend. The End.

How was yours?





If you really want to know the lame details, here's the low down on my weekend:

Our beloved washer displayed the dreaded Sud error proceeded with the F35 code. I checked the manual first to no avail so to the trusted Google I went. After some genius Googling, resources stated I need to fork over $100+ for a new part plus $300 if I want a repairman to do the manual labor. No thank you! That's what daddys and husbands are for right??? Totally! It says so on their job/life descriptions.

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It's only the beginning of April and yet, this is the third major fail in our house. Our current repair bill - just shy of $900. What the crap?! One of the tortures luxuries of being a homeowner. Aren't taxes due in a few weeks too? Is there a money tree growing on my property I don't know about?? I need to go buy a lottery ticket - stat! Or does someone have more money than they know what to do with and want to sponsor some home repairs for me??? I'll be your BFF! =D No? Okay. It was worth a try because you never know. Any way, so we spent ALL DAY Saturday after the shop washing our clothes at the laundromat. Super lame!

The shop will be down an employee tomorrow and my MIL is super awesome and has agreed to come help us out so that I don't have to work a double (work at the shop from 3am till 6am, then head to corporate job from 8am till 5pm). So Sunday was spent driving 4+ hours to go pick up her up.

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The End. Don't say I didn't warn you prior to proceeding! On the other hand, our flowerbed is getting a face lift today and I can't wait!! Happy Monday!!