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! =)

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 : )"

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"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"

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"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"

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"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...

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"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"

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"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"

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

Josephine"

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

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. (JB)!

Enjoy your honeymoon now....

Sue"

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"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"

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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! =)

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...

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!

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.

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....

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: