Tuesday, August 28, 2007

More Weddings!

This past weekend we attended Alex's wedding. Now that we're in Orange County, we had to wake up pretty early to make the drive up into LA.
The ceremony was held at a Catholic church in LA. I had never seen Mariachis in a church before, so that was a first! It was nice though.
Erika looked beautiful coming down the aisle with her father.


None of us thought that Alex would be getting married as soon as he did. Erika is just a really special girl. Their vows definitely touched Erika, as she got teary as she dedicated her life to being Alex's wife.

After the ceremony, there was a reception immediately following. We hopped on the freeway again and headed out to Bel Air. Alex's friend had a home up in the hills and his parents were generous enough to offer their home up to Alex. The house was breathtaking! We were at a table with Adolfo, Lulu, Dee, Alfred, Sandra, Jon, Mario & Brenda. We had a great time. It even sprinkled for about 5 mintues, just for a little luck! :)


Their cake was super cute and matched their colors perfectly! Just had to share!




Thursday, August 23, 2007

Inspiration of the Day


At work we have a Toast Masters group that meets everything Wednesday at lunchtime. I'm not a part of it, but my direct boss, Mark, is. Each time they meet they try to get everyone to be involved. Yesterday it was Mark's turn to share the "Inspiration of the Day". Since he was super busy yesterday, he asked if I could help him find that inspiration.
I Googled "inspiration of the day" and found one really neat site . It seems like this guy writes some inspiring words for each day. Here's one that I liked:

Smile

There's a simple, easy step you can take that will exert a positive, powerful influence in a variety of situations. That simple act is a genuine smile from the heart.
Smile, and not only does it improve your appearance, it improves all of you. Smile, and you cannot avoid being more positive toward life.
Smile as you speak, and your voice will be more confident,
enthusiastic and convincing. Even when you're talking over the phone and the person at the other end can't see you, a smile adds noticeable value to the conversation.
Give a smile to others, and you instantly improve the quality
of each encounter. Smile to yourself, and new positive possibilities come clearly into view.
A smile costs you nothing, and yet it can bring so very
much. Take a look around, and you'll see that the most successful and fulfilled people are those who smile the most.
Even when you can't think of a reason to smile, smile anyway. Smile, and you'll surely create plenty of good reasons.
-- Ralph Marston

It has now been saved to my favorites and I'll try to take a look at it every now and then.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Cuong's Birthday

Yesterday was Cuong's Birthday. Since this month was so hectic, we didn't really do anything too big. After work I ran over to Hallmark to pick out the perfect card. That took a little longer than expected, but it was perfect. Next I made a stop a Dairy Queen to pick up an ice cream cake. The girl working there was nice enough to write Happy Birthday on the top. I decided not to have her write his name on there for fear of her inevitably misspelling it! Then I had to make a quick stop by home to pop the cake in the freezer.
Out again to Party City to pick up some balloons! I figured I could probably only fit about 8 balloons in my car and still be able to see okay out my back window!

I was able to get home in just enough time to write my sweet nothings (hehe) in the card, spread the balloons out in our bedroom and tidy up a bit. When he got home, he was a little surprised to see that I had decorated the room, but he was also excited to change and leave to go to dinner. We made reservations (through Dinner Broker ) at Rockin Baja Lobster in Newport Beach. We had been there once before, but in the Gaslamp District of San Diego. Cuong had loved that place, so he was excited to go back! It took us about 20 minutes to get there, and about another 20 minutes to find parking. We ended up parking about 3-4 blocks away!


They take your drink order and then come out with freshly made flour tortillas, their chile butter and two different kinds of salsa. Yum!

I got the same thing I did last time, Carne Asada and Shrimp. Shucks, it was better in SD! Cuong went for the king of buckets....the Bahia Del Mar bucket! It had slipper lobster tails, shrimp, snow crab legs, king crab legs, etc. Phew!




We ate out on the patio of the restaurant. It was nice at the beginning, but it got increasingly colder as the night went on. After we finished up our yummy dinner, we made our long walk back to the car and were on our way home!


Once we got home, we had some ice cream cake. Very tasty! Fudge and crushed oreo in the middle. Darn, should have gotten a picture of that! Now there's only about half of it left!


Monday, August 20, 2007

My First Hindu Indian Wedding

This weekend we had my friend, Seema's, wedding. It was a new experience for us, having never been to a Hindu wedding.

I had previously heard that traditionally the groom rides in on a horse. I didn't believe it until we pulled into the parking lot and saw the horse coming out of it's trailer all dressed and ready to go! When Vinnie rode up along the hotel on that horse, I swear it looked like they were filming a Hindi movie!!



Vinnie's family lead the way, dancing and celebrating.
After that portion was over, Seema's family made their way out to his family looking like they were bringing gifts.


Once Seema's parents reached the horse and he dismounted, they lead him to the mandap, where the wedding ceremony would be held. It was really unlike anything I had ever seen!

The priest who was performing the ceremony was kind enough to explain some of the different things that were going on. It was a very interesting ceremony. I liked how it was based off of Hindu rituals from over 4,000 years ago, but was still so revelant to today. It was full of respect for each family, their ancestors and them all becoming like one family. The bride and groom are now a married couple who need to depend on and respect one another but can also depend on their families for support as well.




















In between the ceremony and reception, the Grand Ballroom was transformed. We helped put the chair covers and turquoise bows and the chairs. You would have never known that the ceremony and reception happened in the same room!
Seema looked gorgeous in her reception outfit. She had designed the dress and her roommate from Hawaii made it. She had previously taken the material to India to have all of the beadwork done. She looked gorgeous! It was like an Indian Cinderella dress!


Next up....Alex and Erika's Wedding!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Another day just like the last

Cheers!! Here's to the beginning of my blog!

Lately everyday has seemed just like the day before. Wake up, lay around in bed for a while, finally get up, brush my teeth, get dressed...do my hair & make up. Check my watch, run downstairs, grab granola bars and run out the door.

At least today was slightly different. I woke up a little bit earlier than usual, did my daily routine, grabbed my chocolate chocolate chip muffin I got at Costco (yum!) and headed out the door. This time I made a little detour to Starbucks! A special little treat. Grande Java Chip Frappucino. I figured, why not! I do have about $30 in gift cards!

August is going to be a busy month for us, between birthdays and weddings, there are a lot of things going on!
11th - Cousin Melissa's Wedding
18th - Seema & Vini's Wedding
20th - Jon's Birthday
21st - Cuong's Birthday
22nd - Sandra's Birthday
23rd - Kainani's Birthday
25th - Alex & Erika's Wedding
28th - Paul's Birthday
30th - Mom's Birthday
31st - Mookie & Bokeem's Wedding

So there will definitely be some good picture opportunities! I'm looking forward to all of the weddings coming up. They're such a happy day in two peoples' lives.

Until the next time...