Thursday, August 27, 2009

Can it be? Hooray for the sun...


Thursday August 27th: the day the sun came out in our neighborhood

I live in the Sunset district of San Francisco. And usually, I love the foggy weather. It can be gloomy but my skin loves the coolness the fog brings. BUT after coming back home from Hawaii, I noticed that my body isn't loving the fog as much. And I've been sort of lethargic and weak all around, not wanting to do anything. And because my feet are feeling like they've been on fire, it was another reason to sulk in our TV room, wanting to do absolutely nothing. No cooking, no cleaning, no nothing. I just have been sulking. Oh yes, that also mean, not wanting to do anything wedding or work or school related either. Besides checking email, I wasn't even in the mood to blog. Just blah.

And usually, I pack my luggage WAY before we leave for a trip. And since I've been sulking, I didn't start packing for our trip until today. Mind you, we're leaving for Australia and New Zealand tomorrow. And of course, yesterday, I was telling myself that I have to snap out of my sulkiness so that I can have energy. And today, the sun helped me out by coming out in our neighborhood. It's bright and sunny and I feel like the sun is giving me some juice for the "almost out of juice" battery I have in my body. Horray for the sun! =)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Feedback from pictures

Since we got pictures from our photographers, we were able to upload some to the Picasa website. Then, we sent those 140 images to families and friends. And here are some of their feedback:

"Oh my Gosh...you are absolutely beaming! That looked like so much FUN! What a terrific collection of pictures! YOU LOOKED BEAUTIFUL! I love all the fun details...frog pillow, Chris's hat, your vail, the pineapple chairs, petal cones, the table cards, the fans...so much thoughtfulness into it! (Guess that's what so many years will do waiting for such a fantastic event!) Keep your happiness close and remember exactly how to capture it again, it will come in handy!
I'm so impressed! You go grasshoper, think you are now a butterfly instead!
Love,
Anne : )"

**************************

"Thanks for sharing... are you home or on your honeymoon still? Let me know and we can chat...
xoxo The pics are lovely and you looked beautiful and yes, your niece is the picture of you....
Larissa"

**************************

"You look absolutely beautiful! Chris looks so cute. What was the name of the place you had the ceremony? It looked like it was a private area.

Regina"

**************************

"aww. your wedding looked perfect! and you looked pretty the cake looks great, and your wedding party is really small.. wow. I like your theme color too.. it stands out. do you have pics from the reception?"

Then I sent out some more pictures and she responded with:

"those are some really really nice pictures.. and I love the color combination! you're making me really think about having a destination wedding, but i'm just scared that my grandparents won't be able to make it.

Donna"

Note: I'm so glad I was able to inspire someone to have their wedding elsewhere other than at the home base. If I had to do it over again, I would still have our wedding in Maui...

**************************

"Thank you Mrs Escobar for sharing your picture!!! Did it hit you yet? That you are indeed (Mr. JB's) property now? hahahahah! jk. Congratulation and too bad for me I missed the whole thing somehow somewhat ill make it up to you ... hehehehe!

Ning"

**************************

"I am very happy for the both of you. The pictures look great!! It also appears that the weather was kind to you as well.

I am all smiles for the both of you. Sorry, we could (not) be there.

Bobby and Olivia"

**************************

"Congratulations!!! You guys look really great, and happy :) I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures!

Josephine"

**************************

"Very nice scenery. Of course, the bride and groom look gorgeous.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. (JB)!

Enjoy your honeymoon now....

Sue"

**************************

"Thank You for sharing, how beautiful!!! Ms.JB your face was glowing and the flowers were so colorful and pretty. Yes, you will wake up for months saying wow this is my husband, enjoy!!!

Adrienne"

**************************

Of course, reading these comments made me glow some more. I have no idea if people say they like the pictures because it's a polite thing to say...BUT I like the details I put into the wedding and as Mr. JB usually says: "who cares what others think. As long as you and I loved our wedding, that's all that matters." Oi..so sweet! =)

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Broken Goods..

You know how I was feeling numb and tingly on my right side of the face and neck? Well, things got a little scary on Monday night when I was in the shower. I was shampooing my hair and I realized my fingers were feeling tingly and I couldn't really feel my fingers feeling my head. I thought it was strange. I looked at my fingers...an they were turning blue. Seriously blue. I thought I was seeing things and called Mr. JB to ask what he saw. He said they were blue too. I was worried. Normally, you'll have blue toes and fingers if you're cold. BUT I was in the shower.

I did my own physical assessment, of course. My capillary refill was longer than 3 seconds (normal is 3 seconds). So, thinking it was circulation issue, I moved my arms like crazy to make sure I had circulation going. It took a good 15 minutes to get it back to normal. Then, the capillary refill was back at less than 3 seconds. But the tingling I was feeling didn't go away. The pinky on the right hand is still feeling weird.

I decided to call Kaiser on Tuesday to make an appointment. I got an appointment with my doctor on Wedneday at 8:20.

Wednesday came and I saw my doctor. She was really cute and sweet. She's my primary physician, who took over the Nurse Practitioner I was seeing for years. Anyhoo, I told her about my symptoms plus the cough I had for weeks now. She ordered a chest x-ray, and gave me prescription for my cough. Then she said she's going to start the MRI process. I told her that I still had to do the blood work that was requested of me by the neurologist. And off I went to another building, visiting 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor. Third floor was for chest x-ray, 2nd floor was for lab and 1st floor was for pharmacy. A busy Wednesday morning.

And the lab results started to pour in yesterday night and today. I'm happy to announce that I don't have diabetes. And just now, I checked the other results and saw that for my ANA, normal result should be negative but I had positive as my result. What does it mean?

"An antinuclear antibody (ANA) test measures the amount and pattern of antibodies in your blood that work against your own body (autoimmune reaction).
The body's immune system normally attacks and destroys foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. But in disorders known as autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks and destroys the body's normal tissues. When a person has an autoimmune disease, the immune system produces antibodies that attach to the body's own cells as though they were foreign substances, often causing them to be damaged or destroyed. Rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are examples of autoimmune diseases."

"ANAs can be found also in patients with infections, cancer, lung diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, hormonal diseases, blood diseases, skin diseases, and in elderly people or people with a family history of rheumatic disease. ANAs are actually found in about 5% of the normal population.

The ANA results are just one factor in diagnosing, and must be considered together with the patient's clinical symptoms and other diagnostic tests. Medical history also plays a role because some prescription drugs can cause "drug-induced ANAs".

I have no idea what's next....or if this is really my result...

Maybe more tests? Maybe it's nothing? I dont' know...

Poor Mr. JB who is now responsible for me, the broken goods. He's such a good sport about it though. He worries and usually wake up to see if I'm doing okay during the middle of the night, while I'm having my coughing fits. Mind you, he used to sleep through the night but lately, he hasn't been able to sleep well because of my coughing. But yesterday, I took the cough syrup and went to sleep fine. Only two bouts of coughing. Not so bad.

I'll keep you posted on the lab result. I'm sure it's nothing...

Monday, August 17, 2009

We're back....

Monday August 17th:

We're back from our Hawaii trip. Our flight arrived around 8:45 p.m. yesterday and we were picked up by my brother in law O and were dropped off at our house. We dropped our bags in the office and checked on Ben and Jerry (our gold fishes). They were both alive and well (thank goodness!). Then we headed to my mom's house. It was around 10 p.m. at this time. We were on our way to see our loves.

We were so happy and estatic to see my little babies. To be away for this long from my loves was a bit tough. And as soon as I opened the door, little Bran was there. I said, "Hi baby!" and I think he remembered my voice. He knew his mama was home. He was so wiggly. And we saw Bash there too. She just came from the kitchen and was resting. Oh my stinky little girl. We rubbed and hugged them like they've never been smothered before. =) And Mr. JB and I grabbed something to eat cuz we were starving. During this time, we didn't see Skitty. I started gathering our kids' supply and starting walking to the front door and there she was! Skitty! My little love! I have no idea where she came from but was just happy that she was there.

And I looked into my mail slot and I saw a package. The first thing I thought was "I wonder what I ordered for the wedding that didn't come on time". Then I saw it was from Stewart Pinsky, our photographer. WOW...already? I told Mr. JB and he said "oh okay". I guess you don't get too excited about photos when you're a guy?

We went home and by this time, it was 11:30 p.m. I asked Mr. JB if he wanted to look at the pictures and he said to do it tomorrow. I told him that I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't look at some tonight. And we did. We had to watch it on the xBox because my computer was being dumb. And I'm so glad we looked at those pictures. All 614 of them, just in one disc. Mind you there were 4 discs that came in the package. By the time we were done with 614 pictures, it was 1:30 in the morning. Mr. JB had to work the next day. He said good night to me, while having his eyes opened a little to glance at the next disc I was viewing on my computer.

I tried to go to sleep at 2:30 but wasn't able to do so for a while. Then, I was coughing and turning and such. And today, I woke up at 8:30. So, I'm a bit tired...but I'm still viewing the pictures. Sigh. Loving all of them right now!

Friday, August 14, 2009

If I were to win the lotto...


If I were to win the lotto today, I will buy me a ranch with an open field. I want an open field so that my little Bran can run around as much as he wants and not really have to worry about running into any neighbor's yard. It'd be cool to have beach access too. Bran LOVES to dip into water whenever he can. And with the open field, I don't have to worry about him coming into the house with dirty paws. He can clean his paws as we run through the open field. Self cleaning paws as its best. ;)

I would also like to start a rescue. I'd like to rescue dogs and cats. I don't mind rescuing other type of animals but I don't know how to take care of them. Maybe there are classes that I can take to learn the basics. But no reptiles please. Eeek... they're scary.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Looking at our receipt

As you know, our reception and our ceremony was held at the Seawatch Restaurant. So, after our reception, we looked at our receipt and was a bit ... baffled. Not because they made a mistake on our bill but baffled with the guests/servers.

Before I start, let me remind you of how many people were there. There were 8 kids (age 12 and under, which included an infant). And there were 19 adults.

According to our receipt, we paid for 21 adult dinners. Uh...I only ordered 19. Why did the servers offere adult dinners to 12 years old and 10 years old? Of course they are going to choose adult dinners. They're at that age for goodness sake.

And for drinks, we decided to do open bar because we thought it was a good idea, to show our appreciation for all our guests but we didn't expect the following either:

18 Soda Pop
5 Pineapple
6 Lemonade
6 Virgin Pina Colada
17 Tropical drinks
27 Patron shots
5 Souverain SB Glass (not sure what this is)
3 Dr. Loosen Glass

The drinks alone were over $500!! Seriously??? To charge $500 for merely 26 people. Appearantly, people were ordering shots left and right and ordering more than one drink. Some people were ordering lots of tropical drinks (pina colada plus some other kinds) AND ordering soda and some other stuff. I mean, I know I said open bar but please....slow down with all the booze, would you please? I know one of our guests thought "but you already paid so we just want to make sure you get your money's worth". Uh..that's not how open bar works. You don't pre pay anything and you pay for drinks as you go along. I wonder if other people thought the same....

I'm talking to my friend about how much each shot costed and he said that's a normal price. WOW...I'm so out of the loop. $10 for a shot? CRAZY!!! May I just say I'm glad I don't drink. Drinking and being cheap don't mix. ha ha.

In all, I'm glad everyone had fun even though I was left with a sticker shock....

Sunday, August 9, 2009

My coordinator ROCKS!!!

Lori Lawrence from Tropical Maui Weddings ROCKED!!! Seriously!! She was able to put together my vision with no issues what so ever! And to top it all off, she blogged about us on her blog already. How cool is she? Just click on our names and you shall find some pictures..

Of course the pictures on there are the FIRST pictures I've seen of our wedding. And I was amazed!

I don't mean to have a big head ... BUT I was so damn BEAUTIFUL. Ha ha. Mr. JB was just alright... NOT! He was FLY! He was so handsome. We looked like we were someone else. I couldn't believe those pictures were of us.

Check them out:





Thursday, August 6, 2009

Busy day in deed..

Thursday August 6th:

Let me start out by saying that I actually woke up at 6:00 LOCAL time. Whoo hoo. No more waking up at 3 in the morning for this local girl. ;)

My quick time change came from being really really exhausted yesterday. We started our day bright and early at 8 a.m. to get a permit for our car. You need a parking permit at the condo area. Otherwise, they'll tow you away. We loaded our car with our OOT bags. After that, off we went to the post office. I still didn't know where I put the postcard stamps I brought from home. Oh well.

Off we went to see Cynthia Wolfe, who is the person that was helping us with our marriage license. Did you know that because Hawaii has a small county office, they allow their marriage license officers to work at other locations? Cynthia worked out of a small office in her house. The place was so cute and so intimate, I think.


(We're licensed to be married!)

Then, off we went to Makawao, which is about 45 minutes from Kihei. Makawao is where Lori and Jamie's residence is located. I took a quick nap on my way there because I didn't want to be sick like I was yesterday. We got to their house and let me just tell you that their house is AMAZING!!! So grand! Beautiful tiles on the ground, beautiful piano, EVERYTHING was just beautiful. And you know what else was beautiful? Lori and Jamie!! Lori was amazing and so bubbly. I liked her. We were going over the timeline. And then she said something that made me go "wow..I'm going to have a great wedding!". What do you think she said? She said: "Oh, I have some parasols that would look great here as a set up!" WHAT!! I've been looking for these dman parasols everywhere. She even said that she has ORANGE parasols! Wow!! Chris and I were just amazed. Mind you, we looked everywhere for those damn parasols and had a hard time finding them.

We gave our fan programs, petal cones, petals, favor boxes, candles and our seating chart to Lori. She was amazed at my work. Why...thanks. (sheepish smile here.) =) This was the first time anyone else, besides Mr. JB, saw my work. Let's see how other people feel when they see my items at the wedding.

After meeting Lori and Jamie, off we went to go pick up my aunts at the airport. Then, we went to Honuhula place. But guess what? My brother didn't have the code to get into the house. WHAT? What do you mean? He said, he forgot the paper for the house AND he left their camera at home. Oh! I see someone is going to have a bad day.

Luckily, I called my sister the day before to find out about the code to the big house (which didn't work, by the way). And I called her again as they were about to leave. Thank goodness they haven't left yet. We struggled with the two codes for a few minutes at the house and then we got in. WOW ... the house is amazing! I was glad I chose this house. And I was also glad we chose Maui Vista as OUR place to stay. The cottage house in the back, where my bro and family are going to stay, is cute but we liked Maui Vista better.

So, we waited for everyone to get there. My brother and family went to Costco to pick up some things; our parents, my BIL RE's family and my sister's family were delayed for three hours! Eek. Mind you, BIL RE has 4 kids and my sister has an infant. I can only imagine how stressful that might have been.

While we were waiting for them to arrive, we went to go pick up Daniel (chris's friend who is hosting the BBQ for us) so that we can go to Costco. Another Costco trip. I'm not complaining. ha ha. Then, we dropped Daniel off at his place with the food and then we went to Marriott and Palms Wailea to drop off our last OOT bags. A big sigh! I'm so glad those bags are out of our cars now. I sure hope people liked them. I worked hard on those babies.

After our last delivery at the Palms, off we went to the main house. My parents and my sister's family came in around 7:30 p.m. and Mr. JB's family was who knows where. They were missing for hours! Appearantly, they went the wrong way and then grabbed some food to eat. While we were waiting for Mr. JB's parents, my parents went to Costco to stock up. They didn't come home until about 9:00 p.m. Then the food was being cooked. Mr. JB's parents came way after 9:30. Mr. JB gave them a tour of the house and encouraged them to eat with my family and not to be shy. (They're shy peeps!) Then, we ate a little. And we had a mini-meeting with the parents to tell them what to expect. After that, we went back to our "home". We didn't get back until about 10:30 or 11:00.

You see, we did have a busy day! =)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

We're HERE!!!


(The happy couple on United 35 -- forgive my puffy eyes, which is the result of me crying the night before and not getting enough sleep)

It's 7 in the morning pacific standard time. But it's ONLY 4 in the morning! I've been up for a while now, getting my receipts together, trying to figure what else I need to do. Don't you hate how you're WIDE AWAKE because of jet leg. But it's okay because I have three extra hours to do things, unless I go back to sleep, which is what I plan to do!

Yesterday morning, my BIL (my sister's hub) picked us up at the house and then we went to go pick up our friend and her bf since they were also riding United to go to Honolulu. But we went to Noah's Bagel shop at West Portal first. Then, off we went to the airport. And because we had a big balibayan box, we were having issues. We had to get a cart at the airport. After we checked in our luggages, we had to go through their security lines. May I just say: I am still wondering why people are willing to travel United after they charge you for EVERYTHING! The lines for the security search was CRAZY! And as always, Mr. JB was pulled over to do a pat down. ha ha. He has that luck. He's the cream of the crop. =)

We got to our gate and we ate our bagels. Can I just tell you that Noah's chocolate chip bagels are the BOMB!! So good! The fact that they use an ice cream scooper to put the cream cheese on?? Ha ha. My type of place. In case you didn't know, I LOVVVVVEEEE cream cheese. You can put it almost anywhere and I'll eat it. I can eat it by itself too.

Okay, back to the trip.

We got on board. I was 28H and he was 28J. It works out because I don't like sitting at the window seat. I prefer the aisle as I need to go to the bathroom VERY often. During our 5 hours trip, I went to the bathroom 4 times. Sigh. Weak bladder! Oh yeah, we bought us a meal on United for $6! What did their "Classic" snackbox include?

- Kettle Backyard BBQ chips
- Oreo cookies
- Jelly Bell Gourment Jelly Beans
- Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers
- Sparrer Beef Salami
- Gourmet Chaeddar Cheese Spread
- Pepperidge Farm Crackers

* In case you're wondering, NO I did not remember everything that was given. I still had the menu in front of me. =)



We landed and got leid. ;)

Then Mr. JB got our luggages while I looked at the free maps and magazines. Then off we went to Alamo car rental. May I just say that it was a pain in the @$$ to take all the luggages up the shuttle bus, down the shuttle bus, then up the car you're renting? I think normally we wouldn't notice how irritating it was but because we had a big balibayan box to carry our wedding stuff, we were noticing how inconvenient it was.



Then, we got our car and off we went to my favorite store! COSTCO!! We bought several items we needed for us plus for the guests. We ate our lunch there -- polish dog with smoothie. Then off we went to Lahaina to get some cookies. I was feeling nauseous the whole ride because it was curvy! As soon as we pulled into the parking spot (which costed us $5!), there went my polish dog and smoothie. Ewww.... Nice and pinky! ha ha.



Then we got our cookies for everyone and then we were heading back to Kihei area to meet Susan, the lady that has been helping me at the restaurant. Of course, since the road to Kihei was the same way we had use to go to Lahaina, I made sure to close my eyes and take a nap. Otherwise, I don't know what else would've came out. When we were pulling up to Sea Watch, I was amazed. The greenery, the tropical feeling that you get. WOWW..PURTY!!

And because we had to give our cake topper and our orange ribbon to the cake lady (Cheryl), we had to dig into our balibayan box to get our cake topper out. What a pain it was. We were late in meeting Susan by about 5 minutes. She was cool. She should us where the seats will be and where we'll be getting married. I was SOOOO glad we arrived there around 4:15 ish because we were actually able to see how our day will look like.

Oh did I tell you that the restaurant is closed for business until August 12th? We were initially worried because we were like, uh...how about our wedding? But guess what? It's a great thing because there'll be hardly anybody there! =) Hee hee. The whole Sea Watch ground to ourselves! LOVING IT!

Then off we went to our condo. The condo is nice. I likey. It's enough for both of us and I'm glad we didn't spend almost $150-$300 a night at another place. And of course, we had to carry our boxes back and forth because we still had a lot of things that needed to be done.

We had to work on the out of towner bags and our favors and our petal cones. I put the OOT bags together with food and free maps we got while Mr. JB worked on our water bottles. So thankful he was here to help. He also helped putting the cookies in our favor boxes too. He was so in love with the favor boxes. =) And he also went to get us food at Da Kitchen while I dealt with my aunts situation. What's the situation you wonder?

Well, appearantly, my older aunt, who I gave all the paper work I received for them, claimed that she didn't have a confirmation for her and my other aunt. Then, because they each are carrying their own luggages, they won't fit with my brother who will have his family of 4, plus his mother in law in the same van. So, my sister called me to say that Mr. JB and I had to pick them up at the airport. I guess these people forgot that we, the couple who is getting married, still had a lot of stuff to do. We have to get our license and we have to meet Lori, our wedding coordinator. I was a bit annoyed but we had no choice.

I ran some maps and directions (THANK GOODNESS I BROUGHT THE LAPTOP!!) and think we can be at the aiport by 12 noon. And I definitely don't want to hear yapping from my aunts. I told my sister to tell them not to bitch. We shall see.

It's about 7:37 a.m. Pacific Standard time. I think I'm going to go shower and see where I put the darn postcard stamps...UGH!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

We're getting ready to leave...

THE song I've been playing over and over again as I get ready to go. (I tried posting the video but it was taking forever!)

Today's the day we're leaving for Maui. You know what's weird? We were WIDE AWAKE before 5 a.m. hit us. Yeap. We're too excited. I went to sleep around 11:45 or so, and was tossing and turning, thinking of things that still need to be done (thank goodness nothing really major came to mind!) and such. And I felt Mr. JB move a little. I rubbed his head and he came towards me! Gasp! He's not asleep either! I asked if he was awake and he said yes and that he couldn't sleep.

Of course, it's also weird to not have any of your kids waking you up either. Normally, as soon as we press the light button on our alarm, Brandon will wake up and stretch. As soon as we start to move a little, we will hear Skittles and she will jump on either one of us. And we can hear Bashee snoring. But today, unlike any other day, the house is very quiet. Sigh.. I'm really sad to leave my babies here. But I know I'll have a wonderful time marrying the man of my dreams.... I can't wait.

(Oh yeah, and I've been going around following Mr. JB to the closet, and to random
places and saying "this is the last time you'll be in the closet as a single man" or "this is the last time you're eating at a single man in san francisco." ha ha.)

Bye now!

Monday, August 3, 2009

A nice way to end the day?

Well, today was the day we were taking our kids to their sitters. And you remember how I told you I was having an "off" day? Well....this was no exception either.

We walked them at their favorite park. Thank goodness the weather was nice since they just got their bath on Sunday. Right after the park, we picked up my SIL at her house to take her 4-legged kid (Brownie) and ours to my cousin's. We walked in their yard and was settling in. Our kids were running around, sniffing, peeing, pooing -- things they do best. Then, it happened.....my Bran growled at one of my cousin's dogs.

My cousin has two dogs -- Billy and Teddy. Both of them are sweet and are smaller than Brandon. They're very cute. BUT they're HUMPERS. Serious humpers! Well, you know what happened, don't you? Teddy kept humping and of course that made Brandon very mad. That led to my cousin's husband (cousin-in-law aka CIL) to get upset at Brandon.

I kept my eyes on Brandon the whole time I was there. I didn't want him to be at fault for any reason. I noticed that wherever Brandon went, Teddy followed and tried to hump him. Brandon got mad. And then, he growled at Teddy. But this growl got CIL upset and he spoke up to say something to the effect of "well, that's it, Brandon can't stay here." I understood what he was feeling and saying. Eh..HELLO. I do pet sitting. Of course I knew what it's like to have a dog that doesn't get along with your dog to be over at the house. I knew something didn't feel right when he walked away the first time Brandon growled and I had to put Brandon on a time out. I thought it was my yelling that ticked him off. I kept asking my cousin in Burmese what was up and if it was okay to let Brandon stay. She said "Oh, CIL just might have gotten a headache" and "let's see". It was more like a "let's see how the dogs interact...and it's also a good thing for Brandon to say NO to Teddy".

Anyway, a few more minutes passed and it happened again. And some words came out of CIL ... (including some cursing) I was just shocked. I don't know if it was the words he chose, the way he said it, the way he made me feel by rejecting my son, his actions... I don't know. But I was just VERY VERY hurt. I held Brandon tight and just held him. Tears started to come down and I really couldn't help myself. What the heck just happened? Then, I told Mr. JB to get all of our things together so that we can leave. Then CIL said "Oh, Bashee can stay here! She's not the problem." I was shocked again. My son is the problem? My son is THAT dog -- the one that no body wants to babysit because he's bad??? I can't believe it. I'm still at a state of shock.

All I know is that I hugged my little Princess Bash good bye and took my Brandon home to my mom's. Of course, I cried my eyes out. And still did when we got home. I should point out that through this whole thing, my cousin was still being sweet. I know she was worried about Brandon -- she asked for Brandon's medical records so that she can take him to a boarding place where her dogs used to stay. But I didn't want to have Brandon or any of our other kids at any type of boarding places. So, I called my cousin in law from my mom's side, crying, hardly being able to catch my breath to tell her that I need her and my cousin to watch Brandon for us.

Don't get me wrong! I totally understand him taking the stance of not wanting to have Brandon around Teddy because of all the humping and growling. It could be a dangerous situation. I get that. Trust me. But the way he acted. He's usually a very nice person and he's very sweet. And he definitely treats my cousin like a princess. But today, I felt like he was a totally different person. Someone that was rude and mean! I NEVER ever thought he was like that. I was shocked to see that side of him. It was as if he was Dr.Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, all within a few minutes.

Then, my friend Jason IM'ed me and said he has to drop off a card and that he was going to be here in 15 minutes. He was here and of course, I cried my eyes out .. AGAIN!

Sigh...but just the thought of my friend coming over made me feel much much better. It was a nice way to end the day indeed. Oh yeah. He came over to give us a card. A card that we can't open until the wedding day. Good thing Mr. JB and I have Friday morning together to read this card.;)

Also, I can not be a good mom like this. Can you imagine how I would feel if it was a human kid? I would be crying everytime I hear that someone bullied my kid and made my kid at fault OR if someone rejected my kid. Sigh. A tough job being a parent.


*** I considered not writing this post because I was going to let my girl cousins read my blog after the wedding. I didn't know how CIL or Sue will react to this posting. But I thought about it some more and felt that this is MY blog -- where I vent out feeling and such. I also need to know things that happened as we get closer to the wedding. That event happened even though I wish it didn't.

**** Update at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday: I still dont' know what was the root of me getting so upset: CIL stating that Brandon was the trouble, Brandon being rejected, the way CIL talked or what... My wound is still fresh. I couldn't sleep last night.

UGH! Last minute crap-o-la!

So, I've been very excited about going to Old Lahaina Luau and guess what I found out today? Yeap, they're all booked! What the heck! So, I've been searching around to find out where we can all go...

Then I was going to get my eyebrows threaded and was getting ready to leave. But before I left, I checked my wallet and the card I needed to get free threading is gone!! GONE! Where the heck did it go? Did I leave it somewhere? In my jeans perhaps? I don't know...but it's gone. What does that mean? I have to tweeze my own eyebrows. Ugh. Annoying!!

OH yeah. I thought I had a 30% coupon to Borders. I checked my email and it already expired. Great!

Let's see what else can happen....

(Good thing none of these are major issues. Otherwise, I'll freak out!)

Entitlement

Why is it that when you are about to accomplish something major in your life, you feel you're entitled to certain things? I don't mean in the accomplishment in itself. I mean, with gifts and such.

For example: I wanted to get my lash extended for our wedding. I told myself: "Oh! This is your BIG day, the lash extension will make you look prettier." Then, I was deterred by the price tag. But when I was studying for NCLEX, I told myself: "When you pass the NCLEX, you should get the eye lash extended, no matter what! You've been studying your butt off and it's your reward!"

Same goes for getting my nails and feet done. "You're only getting married once....go ahead. Spoil yourself!" is what I told myself.

Same goes when I bought my expensive L.A.M.B. bag. "You're graduating. You worked so hard to come to this point in time. Go ahead. You deserve this great gift!"

I know. I'm being materialistic. I'm not like this all the time. Seriously. Ask anyone. But I guess I feel like things that I've waited for are all happening all at once and I want to be acknowledged.

Example: someone gave us $25 to Target as a wedding gift. I thought to myself: "what the?! Twenty five dollars? Seriously? It's a freaking wedding that comes once for a couple. Not a birthday that happens every year!" But of course, I pondered a bit and know that it's the thought that counts. It's not the price tag that counts. And I also know that people's financial situations may be difficult at this time and that the $25 may be all that they can afford....

I'm irritated at myself and ask myself the following question: "where do you have the balls to have this entitlement?" Seriously speaking, I'm not a materialistic person normally. But all these big changes in my life are making me feel like I'm entitled to certain things...and in reality, no one (especially me) should feel entitled to anything. Good thing that this feeling of entitlement from other people don't happen to me that often.... Otherwise, I have a big problem. =)

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Our week is here...

Why yes.... Our week is here! We've been waiting for this week for a LONG time. Two years to be exact. OH yeah baby!

When we started planning our wedding, we thought it'd be so cool to have a wedding weekend. We wanted to make sure that everyone that was coming to our wedding had fun and such. But I didn't know what we can do with the people for that long. So, we thought, it'd be cool if we had a welcome dinner, wedding dinner, and an after-wedding brunch.

Different ideas came to us -- luau, dinner cruise, water activities, etc. But we decided with Aloha Mixed Plate since it had great reviews. And we nixed the idea of having brunch the day after. We were disappointed but we had to mind our budget too. But we still wanted to enjoy a luau with the family on Saturday night. So, we invited people and most are willing to go. Awesome.

Then, Mr. JB's friend, Daniel offered to host a BBQ for us on Saturday in lieu of our wedding present. Awesome! We were very excited and humble at the same time. Wow..someone offered to host a party for us. How cool is that.

And because of that, we will now have a real wedding weekend. Here's an email I sent out to my peeps tonight:

"It's go time...=)

Just a reminder of our activities for this coming week:

-- Thursday at 5 p.m. for Welcome Dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate 1285 Front Street Lahaina, HI 96761. We're going to assume everyone's going unless you email/call us.
-- Friday: Wedding at xxx, Wailea, HI 96753. Please arrive by 4:30 p.m.
-- Saturday at 11:30 a.m.: BBQ/pool party (hosted by Daniel xxx) at xxxx, Kihei, HI 96753
-- Saturday at 5:45 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.: Old Lahaina Luau 1251 Front Street, Lahaina, HI 96761. Go to http://www.oldlahainaluau.com/ for ticket information.

*For Old Lahaina, if we have 15 or more people going and we pay on one credit card, then we can get a 10% discount. If you're interested, let me know via email. I'm hoping to book for most of us by tomorrow. If I don't hear from you by 5 p.m., I'll assume you're booking on your own or you're not going.

See you all VERY soon!"

Whoo hoo!!

Make us pretty...=)

On Wednesday, July 29th, I went to West Portal to get my nails done. I chose Silver for the hands and red for my toes. Sexy. =)

And since the lady that did my nails did a great job, I made an appointment for Mr. JB. He was very hesistant at first to have anyone doing his nails. I made an appointment for him on Saturday since I was going back to get my eyelashes done.

Saturday came and we both went to get prettied up. I left Mr. JB with Annie, the nail salon lady, while I went with Amy, the esthetician, to get my lashes done. Here are the results:


(my toes)


(Mr. JB's before manicure)


(Mr. JB's after manicure)



(before my lash extension -- notice how you can BARELY see my lashes?)

(after eyelash extension)