tricks and treats

it's not a holiday i really embrace (it's not even a holiday) but last year, simply because i could, i dressed luna up in a han-bok, traditional korean garb that belonged to my sister when she was a baby. 

this year she's going as a wet rat. you can see she is equally unimpressed with both "costumes."

happy halloween everyone!

blog log

back in the beginning i knew wedding planning would be an arduous task, but thought it might still be relatively easy due to my preference for all things simple and plain. "it'd be another story if i wanted some elaborate ballroom affair.." i would smile to myself. oh how naive i was. 

luckily for me, the present day bride has access to an arsenal of wedding blogs at her disposal. such blogs have been the source of both nirvana (so many beautiful images!) and massive stress (how did they manage to pull together the perfect look? we'll never achieve that!) but mostly, a huge source of inspiration. thanks to sites like stylemepretty, oncewed and 100layercake, i've been able to log our top picks on this here little blog over the past 5 months and i have to say, it's been a very convenient way to observe the direction we're headed and keep track of reoccurring elements!

for example, this type of cake:

i've posted similar styles before  in august so it really helps to narrow down our preference when it's time to place our order.

i knew early on we would be incorporating kraft paper into our stationery suite, but images like this help to specify the look we aim to achieve.

and of course, florals. this one recently took my breath away. what a perfect combination of peonies, dahlias and ranunculuses (ranunculi..?)!

now, imagine all elements wrapped together under our venue's pretty little roof:

if only the execution of the final day would be as easy as putting together an inspiration board! a girl can dream, right?

beauty is in the eye

not of the beholder. in this case, just the eye. or eyes. or really, the whole package with a focus on the eyes. but you catch my drift.. don't you? the easiest way to describe to your make up artist the look you want is to show them, so i know that when it comes to our wedding day, these are the images i will be bringing with me.

  images from LV SP'12 RTW via style.com

how pretty and versatile! the models above are proof that this look works for every skin tone (not something i need to worry about, since my bridesmaids and i are all similarly tanned asians).. i really love the soft but prominent emphasis on the eyes/eyebrows, the slightly peach cheeks and the nude lip (although i prefer matte over glossy).

hopefully i'll be able to try out this look before the wedding.. perhaps for our engagement shoot? which reminds me... i need a make-up artist!

anyone out there?

poop

this story is about poop.

i repeat:

this story is about poop. 

don't look past the picture if you don't want to read a story about..

poop.

good-bye! until next time!

image via pinterest

if you're still here.. you've been warned.

i thought the worst part of my saturday was getting a papercut on my index finger. more specifically under my nail. more specifically with a thick piece of cardboard. or perhaps the worst part of my saturday was standing in my backyard at night, in my pajamas, crying, with a fistful of raw beef in my hand.. but that's a story for another time. i went to bed thinking 'tomorrow is a new day,' pat my sweet dog on the head and closed my eyes. 

i woke up to my formally sweet, now insane dog running laps in my room. jumping on my bed. clawing at the wall. whining incessantly. i groaned and told her i wish she would appreciate the fact that i prefer to sleep in on the weekends. ok, so maybe i wasn't quite that eloquent at what i thought was 6 in the morning. it actually turned out to be 3am.. which i found out because i turned on the lights and checked my clock when i heard a short, wet splat.

"what the.."

"luna.. no.."

"what on earth.."

"WHAT."

"you didn't..."

she did. a neat little splattering right on my new zara knit sweater. that sweater still had tags on it. that sweater went straight into the garbage. after i cleaned and disinfected the entire vicinity ie my entire room i called for her to take her outside, thinking she'd probably have more business to finish. but she was nowhere. not on the 2nd floor. not on the main floor. at this point i'm thinking 'ahh shoot (i didn't say shoot). i haven't checked the basement.'

nothing could've prepared me for what i was about to lay eyes on. i mean really, this could only be described as a poopsaw massacre.  yall.. it was everywhere. i'll spare you the details.. but really. everywhere.

the next 2 hours were spent cleaning. disinfecting. scrubbing furiously with clorox. thank goodness our basement is still unfinished, because by the time i was done the affected areas had a nice blue-green glow from the bleach. satisfied the cement floor was completely feces-free, i went back upstairs to check on my formally insane, sweet again dog. she was sleeping peacefully, as if that nightmarish event was long gone and buried in the past..

ha. if only.

reclaimed wood

since wedding planning isn't time consuming enough, michael and i have started to discuss interior styling for our future home.. are we french country? modern minimalist? rustic americana? asian zen? the correct answer would be none of the above, but we do have some ideas as to how we would like fill our modest little love nest. 

i've posted the image above here before, but revisiting it made me realize other features besides the book wall that i would love to incorporate into our own home! i really like the chevron flooring pattern (although it might look more dated in real life), as well as the wood dining table in the background. 

a reclaimed wood dining table would complete me. not really, because it's just a piece of wood, but you know what i mean.. it would be such an awesome piece of furniture to own!

they would add so much more character to a room than a plain old dining table, don't you think?

not to mention it being a great conversation piece.. i can just picture it now..

guest: cool table! where is it from?

me: well actually, that's an interesting story.. (insert riveting tale of tree's origins and the path that led it to our dining room, a tale that was most likely fabricated by it's mass market seller to entice fools like me)

but still. totally desirable.



first image via desire to inspire, bottom two via pinterest

dancing barefoot

just wanted to share these two images from one of my favorite wedding photographers.. 

probably in my top 5 favorite e-shoots of all time.

i love engagement shoots in unconventional places!

instacool

michael picked up his first ever apple product last friday.. the iphone 4s! while he found that many of it's functions were an improvement from his previous blackberry, ie the bigger screen, the dual core processor, stock apps, etc, i was most excited about downloading the instagram app. you see, i've always been envious of iphone users who were able to take pictures of the most mundane, ordinary things and instantly make it cool. so very cool.

like, check it out! stairs! 

 the duty free sign! have you ever seen anything so hip?

a salumi platter! which is from campagnolo, and actually quite cool even without the instagram factor. and delicious. so very delicious.

and me! don't i look cool?

ok, so maybe a true hipster wouldn't ask for affirmations on their cool factor, which automatically makes me un-hip, but don't worry yall, i've got this covered:

i'm picking up an iphone next week.

coming together

our list of vendors is growing and the elements of our wedding are slowly coming together! last night we had a tasting with our caterer and really got the ball rolling in terms of what type of meal we would like to share with our guests on our wedding day.

without giving too much away, let me just say it was amazing. not only the food, but the way it was prepared, presented, their emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, and their service. a wedding is stressful enough without having to deal with uncooperative vendors, am i right? am i right? certainly not a problem we'll be encountering with savoury chef though..

not only did they fit us in after hours, not only did they not give us grief about changing the number of guests for the tasting 15 minutes before the tasting, but they ended the meal with this:

now, obviously this picture was taken from their website because my blackberry sucks i don't have an iphone  the picture i took didn't do it justice, but that's besides the point. we received six, each of us had one on the spot and packed the remaining 3 to go*. the description reads " red currant and vanilla bean mouselline," but we tasted "heaven." they rocked!

so with our reception venue, our photographer and now our caterer, i would say that our wedding is coming along quite nicely..  

quite nicely indeed.

 

*the package may or may not have been taken home by me. the contents of the package may or may not have been consumed before reaching my destination. i may or may not have stayed up all night due to an abnormally high sugar intake that evening.

chores in code

before my dad leaves on business trips, he likes to leave instructions for mundane tasks i don't need instructions for important chores around the house and yard. such notes are usually written, read and tossed without a second thought, but this one was too funny to keep to myself..

 since i'll be moving out next year, i thought it might be helpful for my siblings who will be taking over household tasks if i deciphered this list for them to use as a reference in the future. 

"outside vase on water"

ok guys, this doesn't mean he wants you to place a floating vase on the water in our pond. we don't have a pond. heck we don't even have vases outside, he means for you to water the pots.

"floor on mopping"

he wants you to mop the floor. we don't have a mop. just use the dry swiffer. and do this everyday because he will know. i don't know how, even after being away for months at a time, but he will. don't fight it! just do it.

"lawn.. dry.. water"

you don't need to be bilingual to get the gist of what he's saying. (if the) lawn.. (is) dry.. water (it)..

hurry back dad! i miss your notes.

growing pains

 sunday we drove around prospective neighborhoods, monday we discussed dessert details with our appointed 'dessert person', yesterday we met with a mortgage broker, tomorrow we're going to a tasting with our caterer, next weekend i'll be trying on more dresses..

some of you may be thinking "it's ok, take a deep breath!"

i assure you,

it's too late. 

on our way back to michael's house for thanksgiving dinner on sunday i started feeling nauseous. light headed. my breathing became shallow and i started seeing small twinkling lights. with my eyes closed. some might say i may have been slightly overwhelmed with all of the impending changes. some might say i may have had a minor panic attack. some of you might be right.

but it's ok!

we've discovered the cure for anxiety over growing up and leaving the nest. 

chocolate.

and not just any kind.. snickers seem to work the best, although studies have shown reese's pieces and pretzel m&ms produce similar results. milky ways are always good and when i feel a little extra overwhelmed, maybe an extra large toblerone bar or a charleston chew. and i would never turn down a twix bar.. that would be wrong.

good thing halloween is coming up! if you're sitting on some chocolate, throw them my way. my waistline may suffer, but my brain, and michael, thank you strongly. 

t.g.i.a.l.w.

thank gosh-darn-diddily-dumplings it's a long weekend!

trying to beat out a sore throat and wean myself down to one cup of coffee a day has left me so eager to end this week. thankfully i'm better now and all the more ready to tackle our family's thanksgiving dinner! 

after thanksgiving we have a week to recover (yes i'm giving ourselves a full week to recover from the gorge-fest that will inevitably happen this monday) before we go pumpkin picking..

then i have to start putting together michelle's halloween costume..

before you know it christmas will be upon us all.. 

then new years..

then valentines i'll most likely be traveling to india again..

spring will fly by..

then BAM!

it'll be our wedding day.

happy turkey weekend everyone!

sweet slumber

there's something sweet about a sleeping dog..

they allow you to forget about the stresses of your day..

and remind you to stop and smile, even if for a moment.

 they invite you into their dreams..

no matter how silly they may be..

dreams of lazily paddling a boat across a river..

or ski jumping through the air..

dreams of being a show pony..

or a pretty hippopotamus.

but most of the time, they make you want to rush into your own bed and faceplant into your own soft pillows and blankets..

or a sticky corner of a hot leather couch..

whatever your preference may be.