Orange is Not the New Pink

My first attempt to use coupons

2011-10-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Why all of a sudden I'm thinking about using coupons? Well, of course I'm notorious for buying the kinds of shoes that never ever ever go on sale and equal a mortgage payment, but I started to get tired of spending so much money on everyday beauty products like body wash, toothpaste, etc.

In my first attempt, in was able to save 52% off my final bill, which I think isn't too shabby for not doing my homework. I admit, I ran straight to superfresh instead of checking prices around, but superfresh also happens to double coupons under $1. These were the products I felt I got the best deals on:

Puffs 3 pack square tissues: normally $4.29 each. Superfresh had them 2 for $6. I downloaded a $0.25 coupon to my rewards card and then used two $1 manufacture coupons. For two 3-packs, I paid $3.75.

Tampax 18count compact: normally $5.49. Store sale less $1.50, $1 coupon downloaded to my rewards card and $1 manufacture coupon. I paid $1.99.

Febreze air effects air spray: $3.79. Store sale less $1.29, $1 coupons downloaded to my rewards card and $1 manufacture coupon. I paid .50. I also like this one so much better than the normally priced $0.99 glade sprays.

Pillsbury crescent rolls: $3.59 each normally. They were 2 for $4 at the store, $0.50 downloaded to my rewards card and $0.40 coupon doubled. I paid $2.70 for two.

I'm sure with a little bit more time spent researching where the deals are, I can save a whole lot more, which will promptly go to the shoe fund!

My style

2011-06-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

My style is not one kind of style. It's unpredictable at times and inconsistent. One day, it's black suit with colorful scarf. Another day, dark pants dark shirt. But, I'm also notorious for wearing my party dresses to work - in a work appropriate way, of course :)

For instance, today was a cute dress kind of day for me. I am wearing a dress gifted to me on my birthday

If you want one for yourself, you can get it here: http://www.southmoonunder.com/gp/Charlie-Jade-Knot-Neck-Dress__146372.aspx.

I layered, with darker gray tights and a light pink long sleeve, to make it work appropriate. To bring back the fun, I'm wearing strappy silver heeled sandals (I believe a la 5 or 6 years ago Chinese Laundry). Completed my look with 3 pearl necklaces, varying in lengths and size.

So completes my fun, yet work appropriate look.

Until next time. Maybe I'll even break my out my ridiculous colorful scarf collection.

FAIL

2011-06-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Had lots of FAIL moments lately....

Blog FAIL. I tried, but I haven't totally committed myself to keep it going. It's probably because I've engrossed myself in a Restaurant Story, Bakery Story, Nightclub Story and Farm Story on the ipad. When we're out, I remind Anthony that I need to check my 'restaurant' when we get home, or the food I am 'cooking' will 'go bad'. It makes no sense at all, but I am hooked.

Traffic FAIL. Since the Phillies have a long ass homestand, traffic has been killer for me every day this week and will be almost every day next week also. Compound that with shore traffic on a Friday, I'm probably looking at at least a 2 hour drive home. Ah wells.

Shoe FAIL. I am destined to never any Louboutins since they never have my size. Never! I prefer not to preorder, since I like to look at the shoes and make sure they are the ones I actually want. I know I could probably return them and such, but after my whole episode with Saks and my wedding shoes, never again. But then again, good ole Choo always comes through and good ole Nordstrom 'most the time' has my size.

Dog Food FAIL. You know those dog food commercials where little kids feed these huge ass dogs and end up spilling like half th bag of food into a dog's bowl? Well, that was me, multiple time, pouring dog food into the dog bowls. Maybe I need to buy a new container since the lid keeps shitting on me.

To be continued....

My lines of tweeting this morning

2011-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's an 'eh' kind of day

Doesn't help that I got my eyes dilated this morning

And I squished my banana

And I don't have my house keys

Follow me: GlissandoGrp

But - book club is tonight, so I'm looking forward to spending time with ladies (and a few glasses of wine). I will be listening tonight since I didn't finish the book!

My continued ranting

2011-03-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

I promise that every single blog post from now on will not be ranting (I will recap Little Smiles Monte Carlo night at some point, as well as plug some other stuff that I'm doing), but for now, I have more to rant about!

Bad Restaurant Service: If you hate your job so much that you are not courteous to your customers or give me some kind of attitude, then don't be a server or a host. Really, I don't care what happened to you to make you so miserable, but this is your job. Take it seriously, like I take my job. If you respect me, I will respect you. Don't hate me because I only tip you 10 or 15% (most times you are lucky I leave any tip at all). You didn't deserve the normal 20-25% that I tip for good service. I don't care if you are in school or have multiple kids to raise. I've got school loans and a bunch of other crap to take care of too. If you can't do your job, why do you deserve extra from me? I got bills to pay too and I work hard to make my money.

That being said, I always try to set the standard from the onset. I thank my server for bringing my water, giving me my menu, taking my order and bringing anything else that I request. Even when I'm in a bad mood, I smile and do not take it out on my server (that's what my husband is for, haha).

Bad Dealership Service: If I were to write out all my experiences, it would take you years to read it. Instead, I will request one thing from them - "Active listening". And also, let me know what's going on. Don't let me leave the dealership thinking I got an oil change, when in fact, the oil was not changed.

Driving in the rain: OMG it's only rain! How many times do we get rain here? Often enough for you to know how to drive in it. Doesn't mean you have to drive 35 mph on the expressway. Doesn't mean you need to stop 30 feet behind the car in front of you. Doesn't mean you need to tap your breaks every 2 feet. And please, turn on your headlights. For some reason, it's the people driving 35 mph on the expressway that don't have their headlights on, and if you are driving a normal speed, you almost rear end them (and then in this wonderful state, you are always at fault for the person in front of you being a jackass).

Donating to national/worldwide organizations: Don't get me wrong, these are completely worthwhile causes, but some non-profits are already well off. I understand that $25 can go a long way (if a gazillion people donate). I completely support these organizations. But if you don't have much to give, but want to, look around you, in your own backyard. Try to help those organizations that are in your local area. By helping these causes, you are helping your own community. And that $25 - from you alone - does go a long way. Local non-profits who are actually hands on, with a volunteer staff, are the ones that need your donation the most. Those are the non-profits I look to donate to or to volunteer with (LittleSmiles.org plug!)

'til next time!

A recurring theme...

2011-03-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

That I suck at blogging. I can barely manage all my other social media vehicles, so why did I think I can even blog? I'm bad at it. The only reason I keep up with FB is that it's on my phone. I tweet when I get bored. Other than that - I am dead to the world. Or maybe my life is not exciting enough anymore to blog about. But anyways, here are a few random thoughts & rants (they may be politically correct....or not).

I was met with great relief when I discovered that I do not know or have had any iteraction with any of the priests on "the list".

I forgot to mention that we have a second furry bundle of joy. Yup, she's almost two now....how easily I forget.

People that get 'panicked' or 'overwhelemed' in the city (Philly mind you, not NY) really bother me. There's nothing to worry about. Just take a deep breath, pause and take it all in. You'll figure it out. This city is (almost) a perfect grid. Miss your street? Don't stop in the middle of the roadway. Just keep driving and go around the block. You'll get there eventually. You probably need to find parking anyways, so keep looping around the block.

Don't tell me you can't find a decent restaurant in the city and prefer your neighborhood fried food diner. WTF are you talking about?? Within 10 blocks of my house, you can find a million (well, not a million exactly...) types of restaurants. Don't make me go to Olive Garden again!

Me just merely talking to you doesn't mean I want to be your bestie. Let's leave it at that.

I happen to think the ladies in my book club are way awesome. They are all so intelligent, well rounded and have taken in the experience of 'life' to their benefit. Everyone should have friends like my book club girls!

Don't ever ask if my jewelry is real or fake. If you know me well enough, you know what it is.

Why do you assume that I'm a bad driver? Asian + woman does not equal bad driver. Stop stereotyping me (then maybe I'll stop stereotyping you). I will run your ass over. (in a good driver way)

I have no desire to move myself to the green grassy knolls of "where the eff am I that there are cowing roaming the streets" to have kids and that infamous white picket fence or whatever the hell they call it now. I will cram my 'not even thought of yet" kids into my city house with two dogs and eat ramen noodles forever to send them to a gawd expensive private school (although I will still buy my oh-so-fabulous shoes).

Following up, no, I have no desire to procreate. I love them little bastards, but only when I can give them back. I love my life way too much, which happens to be fun and fabulous. Kids will only kill that.

Besides that, I will make a terrible little league coach for my 'not thought of yet and don't want to have' kids. I'm too competitive and will get kicked off the field or cursing out the other little kids on the team for ruining the game and not letting my kid win.

Why do people always ask me twice if I want cream or sugar. I DON'T want it. I drink my coffee black (and tar-like). Ok? That doesn't make me a man (which makes no sense, because I know a lot of men who have their 'milk and sugar' with a dash of coffee).

My little brother calls me a whoa - man. That's fine. He knows what he's talking about

Stop asking me for advice if you aren't going to take it. Then I'd have to charge my hourly consulting fee....

No I did not change my last name after getting married. Nor will I ever, so stop asking. It's obviously not a deal breaker since, duh, still married. I shouldn't be forced to change my last name anyways. I happen to like it very much. I've only had it for 29 (almost 30 - gulp) years.

Why do people think something is wrong or I'm sick if I don't have any make up on. I swear I am not that scary looking without make up.

So that's my ranting for today (until tomorrow - or the next day or month or year. Don't hold your breath or you might die before I post again).

Disclaimer:
*don't judge. I know what I do for a living and I don't feel like copyediting and proofing here, so suck it and deal with my lack of caps, spelling errors and funky phrases.

The Lucky Winner

2010-11-08T11:57:00.001-08:00

This dress was the lucky winner (in a dark blue) - by Tadashi Shoji from Nodstrom. I wore it a little long, because obviously no time to get it taken up being that the Ball was the next evening....oh well. Just had to wear my tallest Christian Dior heels ever!

I think they're called Miss Dior II Platforms, which I purchased many moons ago at one of the boutiques in Vegas. Needless to say, by 3am, my feet were kinda tired!

Stay tuned for photos of "the real thing", after I get catch up on my sleepless weekend.

And the search is on!

2010-11-05T06:39:00.001-07:00

For a dress. For Little Smiles. Which is also tomorrow evening.

Nothing like leaving it to the last minute.

Here are a few thoughts via Nordstrom Website:

Not sure if I can pull the whole off-the-shoulder look though.

I really heart this next one:

I also heart this one, but it's almost similar to the one I wore last year, which was also purple, and also squishy looking. Ah well - we'll have to see if they have these for me to try on tonight, otherwise I will have to run (who am I kidding, 'drive') my fat-ass to Nicole Miller and buy that shorter dress I scoped out last weekend.

I'm baaaccckkk....

2010-11-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well, kinda not really.

I want to revive this blog, but I can't seem to even get my bedroom organized, so obviously this falls way beyond the "to do" list.

My biggest plug right now is.....

The Little Smiles Stars Ball is this Saturday at the Please Touch Museum. If you can't make it this year, definitely try to next year. It's a great night, not only for the "adults" but for the kids - the kids that are not well and may not have long to live (to put it in plain language). This night is a truly unique night for them. They get to dress up, put make up on, ride in a limo and sign autographs - like real stars. Well, in fact, they are real stars. These kids fight the horrible battle with illnesses and cancer and still are able to smile at the end of the day. Ugh - this stuff makes me emotional. I know I am lucky that I do not have a child at the moment, that is going through it. I can't even imagine how the parents feel. It is reality. But, at least, with Little Smiles, we can help fulfill whatever it is they want - whether it be an xbox or dvd, an opportunity to meet "famous" people or attend a concert, we do what we can. We can't do it without your support! Visit our website, littlesmiles.org and find out all about us and donate. "Like" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LittleSmilesPhiladelphia). Help us make this year's ball successful! I will promise to post photos next week from the ball!

Now I need to find a dress for Saturday......

I am a bad bad blogger

2009-01-14T11:57:00.001-08:00

Add to my list of "things I seem to not be able to do": blogging.

I thoroughly enjoy reading blogs and procrastinating, but I can't seem to get my act together and update this blog. Gasp - maybe - I have nothing to talk about anymore. But then again, I can be the person who talks about nothing and spend entirely too much time on Facebook.

Now I will dedicate the rest of this post to rant about my iphone.

I really dislike my phone. I'm getting a little more used to it, but I started hating it. So, we've graduated from "hate" to "dislike" now. Anthony claims I have no fingerprints, so I can't make the damn thing work. I'm not even using my nails - just fingers! And it still doesn't do what I want it to do. I can't pick up the phone or hang up with gloves on. Most the time I'm walking on the street and bundled when it's super cold outside. I don't want to have to stop, pull off my glove, put on my glove again because it's freezing, then say "hello".

And the phone lags like none other. I hit the mail button, the button goes dark, as I selected it, and now it just stares blankly at me. wtf? Go to my mail you stupid phone.

It doesn't play nicely with Outlook mail. I had to spoof my gmail account to act at a server for my work mail. I googled it and found someone with the answer! Amazing. But overall, I don't like to use MobileMe.

I can't text while walking. I always spell everything wrong. The phone does not send picture messages (I guess that's referred to MMS). It can't do video. The camera sucks big time. One ounce of shakiness, the picture turns out fuzzy. Has no flash. I have the charge it every single night or it's dead by morning.

Oh blackberry, how I miss thee.

But things I do like:
Shazam app - it's amazing. How in the world can it figure out a song that I don't know?
Facebook app - needs a little more work, but it perpetuates my fb addiction
Youtube - I can go on and find annoying music videos to bother Anthony in the middle of the night with.

And life goes on....

2008-09-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

after the wedding, that is.

All went pretty well that day, well, that depends if you count the kids table candy centerpiece caught fire. Actually, my cousin set fire to it. I'm stalking guests to see how got pictures. I was sad I missed the flames. But oh boy, you could smell the burnt sugar from the candy.

Amazingly enough, we were ahead of schedule for the entire day so we had some breathing room between all activities for the day. It was actually kind of nice to be able to just sit (and eat doughnuts and drink coffee in my wedding dress). Everyone was so worried about my dress getting dirty, even the photographer .... except for me.

Stay tuned for some details from the reception and photos!

Faith was fantastic enough to put a slideshow up online about a week and a half after the wedding. I definitely love my photographs.
www.faithwest.com/slides/hoang-kluth

Invitations

2008-08-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

Invites went out a while ago, but I'm just getting around to writing about them.

I had the text thermo'ed by a local printer in Chinatown (whose in-laws happen to be patients of my dad's, so we went with them). Turned out pretty good. The raised printing was a little less 'raised' then I expected, but nonetheless, good enough. I prepped to pocketfolds by giving the 'announcement' side an underlay of cherry blossom japanese paper from paper-source. When I got the announcement and inserts back, I felt like they were missing something. I went a little nuts and decided to give the announcement card another underlay in black metallic cardstock and also small strips along the top of the inserts, to give it some separation.

Here's the final product:

Invitation opened with announcement on the left and inserts on the right:

I also created a map in photoshop that was included:

I'm so behind....

2008-08-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

with blogging, not with wedding stuff. So this is a super long post to catch up.

I'll start off with something non-wedding related - my birthday (which btw was May 30th).

So, birthday dinner #1 was with my friend Quyen at Nectar. Food was good. Now I can't remember what I ordered, but I have a pic of my pretty drink....

and birthday dessert.

And to further impress me, they actually spelled my name correctly on the plate (good job to our Vietnamese waiter).

Birthday dinner #2 was on my actual birthday of 27-ness. We went to Tangerine for dinner and now my old-ness is taking over and I can't remember what I ate again. I think we went with the lobster risotto (always obligatory) and something chocolate for dessert.

Birthday #3 was with my friend Heather at Bertolini's - one of my favorite casual dining establishments. She also gave me a few shower gifts from Williams Sonoma - consisting of the pastry wheel I so badly wanted. She had asked me earlier if I wanted something off my registries that I didn't get, so I told her I really really wanted the $5 pastry wheel. She feel silly just giving me that, so she got me the awesome garlic press and slicer and a large steel colander. We finished with a candle in tiramisu.

Going back to the shower, which happened to take place the day after my birthday of 27-ness, I found this cute pic of me and Ant. Quyen's mom made jello and the products were the bride and groom jello and double happiness. They were really pretty.

And now to whore out my bundle of joy, Sophie, because she's oh-so cute.

And now, my next post will be wedding and planning related! (Did I also mention formatting on blogger totally sucks? Why-TF won't the return spaces stay the way I want them?!?!)

Wedding Shower!

2008-06-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

We decided to do the shower and bachelorette party on the same day since some of my girls were in town - makes for a long day!

My parents friends started the day by giving us the ceremonial rice wine:

We continued to set up my house, with tons of balloons! And you know each child went home with at least 10 balloons, hehe.

And here's the loot! Only took us about an hour to open gifts - and I did it kind of ghetto. Read name, ripped paper, next! Since we were running up against the clock for the bparty.

We got a lot of fantastic gifts off the registry. Got nearly all the glasses - I happened to register for tumblers, orange juice glasses, water glasses, beer pislners - so we're ready for a totally liquid party! We also got the indoor grill from William Sonoma which was totally cool - all the guys fawned over that one. Anthony's parents also gave us the Cuisinart 6 bottle wine cellar.

Soon to be posted: Bachelorette party!!

Breakfast Yesterday

2008-05-16T11:14:00.001-07:00

On a side note, I had an excellent breakfast at the Loews Soul Food. It was so good I had to take a picture:

It's the salmon and scrambled eggs breakfast with a side of bagel and herb cream cheese. Simply divine!

Shower Invite Pics!

2008-05-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, sneak peak, but they are in the mail!

And of course, my shower will be a circus. About 80 invites went out:

Next up: The Shower

2008-04-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, t minus, uhhh, yea. So, I need to get shower invites out, like, now! I have a roll of 41 cent stamps that are valid until May something (I think the 13th or 14th), so they must leave my house before then. Actually, they need to leave the house now since the shower is at the end of May. Nice to give people a little notice you know. Will post pics of the invite later.

Anywho, supposedly dresses are in. Dresses meaning bridesmaids and mine. We'll see how they turned out!

I've gotten pretty far. I've set up my 4 month schedule and started a preliminary timeline for the "day of". Slightly tight, but what day isn't? Well, it's only tight because of multiple outfit changes.

What's major left? The invitations. How original. I'm always procrastinating with invitations couldn't you tell?

Dresses and other stuff

2008-04-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Sooooo, I went through some drama regarding Saks and my shoes. They charged me like 3 times for the shoes. First, I went to the store and ordered them because they didn't have my size. The shoes come in and are a half size bigger than what I ordered. So, perturbed, I called them to let them know they sent me the wrong size. The dude asks me like 5 times, are you sure you ordered a 36 and not a 36 1/2. Uh, yes. 5 times yes, I ordered a 36. Then he said, ok, drop off the wrong size and I'll order you the right one and have it in the store. So, I drop off the wrong size shoes and of course, they didn't have my size in yet. A few days later, yes, they got my shoes in. So I drop by to pick them up. I also notice on my credit card they charged me twice. So I asked and 30 minutes later, they say, call my manager tomorrow. WTF. So, the next day, I receive a package in the mail from Saks with the freaking shoes! Somehow none of the sales people talk to each other, so I have to end up going back to the freaking store to return the shoes they shipped me. Total drama! I guess that's why I never bought anything at Saks.

I finally go to the outlets at Woodbury Commons, even though I was given a one hour limit (we were on the way to Boston and didn't want to hit rush hour traffic). Success! I got a pair of flat Fendi shoes (these replace the Ferragamo's I wanted) and 2 Betsey Johnson dresses.

This one is for the Rehearsal Dinner:

After Party Dress:

I totally can't wait to wear them!

Momma, being the jewelry dealer that she is, ordered my diamond wedding band:

That's it for now!

Wedding Shoes

2008-03-16T13:21:00.001-07:00

Damn it. I bought them. I closed my eyes and handed over my credit card to the ladies shoes guy and got the fuschia Jimmy Choos to wear for the wedding.

Flowers!

2008-02-19T11:47:00.001-08:00

I think these are totally adorable! How about for my bouquet?? hehe, I think mom would laugh then say no. Can you imagine me walking down the aisle with a doggie bouquet? Wouldn't be any different than me carrying around Sophie!

Other stuff!

2008-02-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

I've decided that instead of spending a fortune on alterations to my wedding dress, I'm going to fatten myself up with a pound of pasta with chips and oh so good Salsa con queso.

Off to prettier things, my Valentine's roses from Belvedere Flowers. They're also doing the wedding flowers:

My new LV wallet! Well, almost. The one I chose has the french coin, not zippered.

Shoes!

2008-02-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

So, still on the search for the perfect pair of shoes for the day. I need to find at least 4 inch heels, since I got a hollow to hem measurement.

I think these are cute:

And these, except for the heel is gold so I'm not so sure...

And, totally looove these:

Now it depends on how much I'd like to spend on shoes! Or maybe, I'll buy those Charles Davids for the after-party....

Soooo....

2007-12-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

I've been kinda distracted and haven't blogged much. I'm getting a little addicted to brides.com. So anyways, updates for venues and vendors:

Church: St. Thomas of Villanova
This is my parish church. For those who know, I put the cap on the number of priests allowed at the alter. I told my mom 3 was the max (in addition to our pastor) and one deacon. I didn't want to end up with like 15 priests up there!

Reception: Radnor Valley Country Club
The space works well for us since it has a nice lobby, which we'll be doing a receiving line in traditional dress. We're doing a 4 course meal, with soup, salad, entree and dessert.

Photographer: Faith West
She's a really nice lady, which is a quality I looked for in photographers. Being in countless weddings and dealing with border line mean photographers, I made it a point to find someone that had a nice demeanor. And plus her photos are amazing! I totally love the custom album and the coffee table magazine. The magazine album is so unique.

DJ: EBE Talent
They are also doing the lighting for the room and dance floor.

Besides that, everything else is still in limbo. Big ticket items left are my dress, flowers and cake.

I was thinking about this for the bridesmaids

I'm not a huge fan of the fabric, so they're being custom made, but using this style.

I have some ideas for my traditional dress, but the colors will be gold and red. Anthony will be in gold.

That's it for now!

The Bling and other stuff

2007-11-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

So, here's the ring

And for those who know me well enough, the prospect of wearing one ring all the time.... hmmm, yea. So now, all my other rings have to go on the right hand...

So, yay me, decided to do the announcement cards myself. We're sending them with the engagement gifts to those who couldn't make the party. Used the martha stewart line of papers. There are cheaper options out there though. Took me forever! It's three layers with vellum wrap and of course a pink bow!

Last but not least, part of the cleaning the night before the party. My doggie Sophie getting "cleaned"

Engagement is done, yay!

2007-11-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

So, after days of not sleeping until 2 or 3am, we are finally through the engagement. I took Friday off of work to attempt to finish some last minute favor bags, the announcements and clean the house. The tables and chairs were delivered from Anthony's rentals. They were quite nice. Chairs better be for like $3.50 each! Anyways, we managed to squeeze five 60 inch rounds into the family room.

Here are a few glimpses from the engagement:

I like this picture except for my necklace is inside my dress. grrr.

Here's mommy and me. The other thing is my bracelet on my right hand was turned in the whole time. That was kinda annoying too.

And, as my favorite auntie calls, here are the million dollar pictures. Don't mistake the smiles for smiles, hehe. It's actually me, my mom and my other auntie laughing. In my culture, there's no kneeling on one knee for the proposal, hence the laughing.

Anywho, will post the link for my favorite pictures soon, as there are lots and lots! Also, I'll post the new bling soon, as soon as I figure out the settings on my camera.

BTW: blogger sucks with the html editor thingie. It doesn't do as I want it. Don't have time to re-do my post in html right now, so I'll fix it later. For now, deal with the funky formatting.

Ao dai for Engagement

2007-10-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

Whew! Ordered the ao dai last week for the engagement ceremony. They assure me it'll come by the last week of October. I got them online at aodaivinh. They're really good. Just email them with any questions and they answer back. You can ask them to change the neckline on any dress too.

I ordered these two. Hopefully one will work ok. Mommy didn't like any of the ones I already had. Real pictures will come after the ceremony!

Oh yea, I guess I never explained the ceremony. Well, in my culture, I guess in most Asian cultures, traditionally, the engagement is planned by both sets of parents, hence an engagement is "scheduled." Typically, the date is selected based on time of year and horoscope stuff I don't get. But anywho, so, the groom's parents bring "gifts" to present to the bride's family. The gifts typically are champagne, tea, biscuits, and other sweets, all wrapped in cellophane. So, the groom's family brings this to the bride's family and asks for the engagement. When my parents accept, they call me down from my room and then he "proposes" which actually is just him giving me the ring. Then we serve tea and champagne (we have Moet Chandon on slate. I'm very excited). Then, in true family fashion, we eat, drink and party hardy.

We're wrapping the gifts this weekend, so I'll post them next time. They'll go in the cute pink bags I made.

Engagement gift bags and napkins

2007-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to DYI the gift bags instead of ordering them pre-printed. It saves a ton of money. I ordered paper bags with the roped handles from Paper Mart online. I highly recommend this website. You can find tons of other supplies, such as boxes, tissue paper and ribbons pretty inexpensively.

Here's what my bags look like. I made the sticker myself using photoshop. I put the date of the engagement party at the very bottom. Hard to see in the picture. I ran the label through a Xyron 510 machine (you can get much larger ones, but this one fits a max of 5 inches). The Xyron can do stickers, laminated stickers and magnets. The ones I did are laminated. You'll need like 2 cartridges for 50 4x4 labels.

I also ordered cocktail napkins from thediscountprinter.com. I found the best price for monogrammed napkins on this site. They came in pretty good. I'm satisfied with them. I might also order them for the wedding.

Wedding website

2007-10-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, to add to my list of "not updating very often" is now our official wedding website. Please visit it at mai-linhandanthony.weddings.com. I will "update" it as new information emerges.

Engagement Invitations

2007-09-28T10:17:00.001-07:00

It's official! Invitations went out last week! No going back now because I've spent good money on invitations.

I highly recommend Anna Griffin invitations if you want to DIY. Since it's only for the engagement, I didn't obsess with matching all invites, so I decided to pick my favorite ones. I went with two sets of Anna Griffin, one pink gatefold with a pink ribbon and the other was a green vellum cover with a green ribbon. Excellent paper for ink jet printing. It had to be like a 110#. These cards come at like $3.50-$3.75 a piece, so don't mess up! I used a Canon i80 printer, which only required the paper to go in one direction, so great for heavy card stock. My other choice was from Paper Prince xxox collection, two layer (brown outer layer with ecru inlay) and a vellum cover and ivory bow. Super cute. Paper also excellent. A little more cost effective at about 2 bucks a piece.

To the left is the 'green vellum' invite and to the right is the 'pink gatefold' invite.

Here's the XXOX brown and ecru invite with the vellum wrap and bow.

I do not recommend Crane's printable invitations (don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Crane's).

I got these invitations for non-family and other friends as an alternative to the "expensive" invites. While the weight is great and paper is very pretty, ink does not respond well to the paper. It ends up being kinda of light. It does look cool because of the silvery finish, but all in all, I would get these invites either laser printed or thermo'ed.

What makes you think I'll blog....

2007-09-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm enormously bad at keeping up with these things. Yes, I do have a myspace, facebook, orkut, etc., account but do I ever do anything with them? No, not really. I just happen to forget all the time that they exist. But, I've started this blog mainly because I have lots of ideas to share when it comes to event planning. This comes to light because I now am planning both my engagement and wedding at the moment. The big "engagement day" is November 3rd, which is traditional to schedule. Hence, I'm "unofficially" engaged until that date. Next blog will talk about the tradition involved and my "fun" planning to date. Welcome to my blog, or rather, lack of blogging....