I can add two big fat red check marks on my list - my wedding dress and my veil.
No offense to other brides out there! But nothing could have dragged me into a bridal store - visions of squealing girls and heavy hideous gowns and crying bridezillas came to mind. I wanted to get my dress made. But at the request of john I dragged myself to Ritche on Avenue road with my parents and sister in tow yesterday morning. Let me tell you that i was more excited about having breakfast at Mcdonalds.
A lovely lady named Anna helped me out. Since I was unprepared, I flipped through a binder of dresses and marked them as i went (i never leave home without floss and post-it page markers), as the girls next door oohed and ahhed over their friend bride-to-be.
Anna brought in five dresses.
I tried on the first and second but didn't really like them.
Oh, but the third dress!
When I tried it on, I just knew. And that's when i started crying.
I didn't even have to try on the others.
Anna clamped me up and I went to show my parents. My sister (also the MOH) and mom started crying and my dad tried not to look because he wanted to reserve all his feelings for the day of.
Anna showed me some samples of veils and I fell in love with a chapel veil lined with lace. It was quite a splurge but I wanted to make sure that the veil is as translucent as possible in pictures.
I gave Anna multiple hugs, thanked her profusely and left feeling even more excited. All my prejudices of bridal stores were dissolved that Saturday afternoon.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
the dress + the veil
Thursday, December 29, 2011
wedding progress.
i haven't blogged about wedding progress at all.
and since our neighbor is inconsiderately shoveling snow and scraping ice off their driveway at this ungodly hour here it is.
january 4, 2013 is the official date!
the following are finally booked:
- church, santuario de san antonio
- reception, north forbes pavillion
- strings, leggiero
- photographer, jeff+lisa
the next big things that i would really like to cross off in our to do list:
- wedding coordinator, third party - i am really hoping that we get them. they were recommended by lisa (our photographer)
- caterer, i prefer k. by cunanan but john has other ideas
- the wedding dress - to buy or to get it custom made, that is the question. i don't want a traditional, puffy vera wangy dress. i need something that i can crazily dance in. i am definitely not changing out of it for the reception, so it has to be gorgeous and comfortable at the same time.
i know that we have a little over a year (1 year and 5 days) so why do i feel like i'm behind? i am really trying not to worry. as someone who plans events and who would like to do that as a career i can't stand it when i don't hear from vendors right away or when information is not readily available online. i have to remind myself that not everyone checks their email every 5 minutes like me and that i just need to be patient and to trust that everything is going to be okay.
i am really, super duper excited though. 5 years of ldr and in a year and 5 days we can finally close that gap between us.
and lol, just for kicks. this cartoon says it all:
Monday, October 31, 2011
YES.
john finally asked me to marry him. SWOON. FINALLY FINALLY. october 30, 2011. he asked me at the bluffs, by the water, at sunset. we have been together for 5 years now. 5 years of phone calls, skype sessions, text messages, facetime, handwritten letters, packages, weekend visits, tears at the airport. now the question is, how do you plan a wedding in a city that’s in a different time zone? i can see myself staying up late nights, just to talk to vendors. i think this is the most stressful (?) part of the planning - finding the perfect venue that can fit your guests (yikes, speaking of stressful, i think this is the huge stressor yet! the guest list!), your taste and your budget. nevertheless, on january 4, 2013 i finally get to marry the man of my dreams. :) i can’t wait to say i do.
Monday, August 15, 2011
in espana.
we are finally in madrid and it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the city. it must have been plaza de espana, or the churros con chocolate at the chocolateria de san gines or the rowdy crowd at the james joyce for the barca vs madrid game but last night did it for me.
here are some pics for now.
will follow with more.
the view from the apartment
the view from the apartment
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
3 more days
till we fly to madrid!
i am so excited.
but first things first...the packing must be done. as you know i have an aversion to packing. i don't know why. i'm looking at this heap on my bed (with a bag of miss vickie's. argh. argh) and thinking, it just can't be done. harhar.
i need one of these things:
bbt, season 2, ep 1
where does one get a contraption like that?
anyway, we've been planning this trip for months and it's now all coming to fruition. i don't think i'll be able to sleep a wink on thursday night!
benedetto y father javier, see you soon! :)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
spring cleaning.
cleaning my room never fails to drive me nuts and always takes me at least a day to do. now that life has slowed down a bit, i've decided to roll up my sleeves and tackle my room, with gretchen rubin's 10th commandment in mind: "do what ought to be done".
i'm starting off with all the visible clutter - remnants of a past crafty life, altoid tins (i don't know why i thought it would be cool to start collecting them), empty rouge coco #19 lipstick tubes (why do i keep them???), bank statements, etc....then work my way to the closet.
(confession: i have a hamper of folded clothes from when i unpacked from my vacation. in december. gak.)
it's going to be a long afternoon. so for those spring cleaners out there, have a snack, put some good tunes on (katy perry? hehehe), open the blinds and bust open that window. then start your engines.
have a pleasant weekend :)
UPDATE:
2 1/2 bags of garbage
2 bags of clothes for donating
1 pile of crafty stuff sold at a garage sale
1 clean happy room.
it took only 7 hours to do. geez.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
espana, aqui vamos!
i don't know if this is accurate, but this was taken in correigdor, philippines. according to this, madrid is only 6672 miles/kms away. for us, madrid is approximately 130+ days away!
we have finally booked our flights to madrid and put down deposits for the apartments. we are going to one of the world's biggest catholic celebrations of all time. after an awesome week in madrid with the pope and the world, we will be taking the train to barcelona, a city to me that's become synonymous with javier bardem and penelope cruz (think, vicky cristina barcelona. swoon).
this definitely gives me something to look forward to at work, especially on gray days like this (except rain = spring, so that's totally okay). i can almost taste the paella and the churros.
if you've ever been to spain (particularly madrid, barcelona and zaragoza), i'd love to hear from you. and if you're going to world youth day, see you soon! :)
Monday, March 14, 2011
little finn.
2011 started off with a dismal bang with the death of linden, our faithful cat. his ashes (yes, his ashes) are contained in a pretty jar, which sits in the display cabinet. each family member got a little paw print on terracotta and a snippet of linden's little fur. it sounds crazy, i know, but linden was like a grandpa, dog, baby all rolled into one. he's been with us for over ten years and to come home without him waiting for us by the door was just too painful. the day we had to put him down, we sat in the living room waiting to leave, and my little sister in tears, blurted out, "if it hurts so much for linden, how much more will it hurt for a human being?"
i signed his life away, and i felt culpable for his death, even though it was the right thing to do (for an animal, anyway). that day nobody wanted to go home.
the house was not the same without a pet, so after careful deliberation, we decided to get a puppy (i wanted to get another cat, but it would have never been able to fill linden's shoes. er paws.).
meet finn.
(no, not from glee)
he is 10 weeks old, loves his sock money (and the family den rug. yikes. had to pull out a chunk of it from his mouth!!!), hates his leash, goes to puppy kindergarten, taught himself to go down the stairs, wags his little tail a lot and gives kisses as much as he can.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
jollibee + bora
day 9 in the motherland.
our days are numbered. there are so many things to do, so many people to visit but so little time. i don't want to leave.
woke up at 4 today to go to mass at 4:30 am. today starts the simbang gabi a novena in preparation for christmas (mass at dawn). i love how christmas is pretty much still christmas here and not happy holidays.
i just got back from boracay and i had the greatest time. everything was amazing; the seafood, the water, the sun. i am stocking up on vitamin d for when i get back to gray, cold fast-paced toronto. i didn't take as many pictures - i had the hardest time fiddling around with the cam settings and it was too sunny that i couldn't really see what i was taking on the cam's lcd.
a summary of my bora trip:
- jollibee's before our flight: 1 burger steak+chicken joy = heaven
- 1 flight on a propeller flight + 2 bus transfers + 1 boat ride = gorgeous beachfront
- mojo potatoes at shakey's
- buko shake+papaya shake = not a good idea (but still very tasty)
- running on the beach without shoes on
- seafood under the stars and live music
- island hopping
- pukka shells on pukka beach
- sun bathing on the parao (sail boat with nets on either side that you sit on)
- breakfast of champions: garlic fried rice, over easy egg, dried fish (tuyo) with vinegar
- waking up at 5:45 am and sleeping past midnight
- starbucks runs and white chocolate sans rival (DIVINE)
- massage on the beach
- falling asleep on the beach
- firedancers
- mochi balls stuffed with ice cream
- a nice definitive tan line from my bathing suit
tomorrow's excursion involves greenhills. the quest for black, cutout flats continues.
enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend everyone!
ps: more pictures here
Saturday, December 11, 2010
mmmmanila
day 5 in the motherland.
- i am having so much fun. especially with my adorable cousins.
- still jetlagged, as you can tell. i was thisclose to falling asleep but then i had to take a shower.
- or maybe i just can't sleep on time
- i have been having wooonderful food, three times a day. unprocessed, home cooked and fresh.
- i love that when i come down there is breakfast waiting for me. sigh.
- getting used to the traffic. now i totally get why they say filipino time
- in fact, i'm loving the traffic (since i'm on vakay). i get to nap in the car.
- more on traffic: despite the horrible traffic, there's not a lot of road rage, from my experience anyway. since traffic is an accepted reality, there's really no point in getting mad.
- they don't have intersections here. they have u-turn slots! i kinda like that better.
- bought bathing suits and dresses for $137 CDN
- i am excited for bora on monday! i cannot wait to tan. can't go back without one. teehee my aunts were being funny about it..."really, that's what you want?"
tomorrow is the rosehill reunion. can't wait to see the old classmates!
