Black Water Dragon pew pew pew...

Hi folks,

How's 2012 treating you? good... good.. So, I'm sitting here about to start my Thank You cards for the guests of my wedding and I'm on my 4th envelope (stamping my address) and I have the sudden urge to blog, i.e., procrastinate. It has been a long long time, but i say that in every single post so now i feel lame for saying it. Like, you ALWAYS say that, what the hell is your reason? Who cares about your reason, just get to the point already. wow, internal conflict.

I just wanted to update myself with my life. In December 2012, I got a BFP. I didn't know what a BFP meant until 1 month later, when i started reading all the pregnancy blogs and stories and forums, and i was like wow, I got a Big Freaking Positive!

This is my TTC story, which is pretty boring, but by being boring it means that I am super lucky and am blessed in my journey to have a baby in the mighty year of the dragon!! Mwu-ha-ha-ha?

Back in March or April or June of 2011 (see this is what happens when i don't post!) Well somewhere around there I had to think about if I wanted to come off the good ol' birth control pills. BCP and I have never been friends. I've either been super moody, super tired or super something. I do want to say that i had pretty sizable boobies for an asian and decent skin because of BCP. Anyway, i always knew i wanted a baby (specifically in 2012-mainly because i will be 32 years old and secondly, year of the Dragon) and people always say being on/coming off BCP effects your ovulation cycle. I wanted to get off BCP early just in case my cycle got thrown off into some sort of wack. I talked to a friend who already had a baby, and she told me to get a calendar to track my O and so on and so forth. I was of course worried i might get pregnant before the actual wedding, but there are other forms of protection ;)
So im hummed and haw-ed and talked it over with a friend who was also in a similar situation and decided to get off. I used an iPhone app that tracked my period and then told me what day i would most likely ovulate. I was extremely lucky that my period did not miss a beat and i generally was a 29 day cycle kind of girl.

A couple of months go by and i'm not too stressed out about the TTC duties because i figured i still had time. I actually wanted an October baby, because i like the month of October! So toward the end of November, i feel a little funny, like my pelvic area had a weird dull prickly feeling and i had a weird feeling that i could be pregnant. I mentioned it to my hubby and he was like really? and that was about it. I mean, people generally don't know that they are pregnant unless they took a test OR they missed their period right? In any case.. days went by, i lived life as usual. drank wine, ate pate all that good delicious stuff AND then i had my period symptoms, back aches, crampy and tired. I told my friend that i'm probably going to get my period (she always asks how our baby making is going) and she said noo... they are the same symptoms! Who knew? I didn't.

The weekend i was suppose to get AF, we went to a cabin with a couple of friends up near Skyline. I was being super cautious, so even though i ate hot dogs and pate, i did not drink any alcohol. AND THEN, i did not get my period. AND THEN, the next day, my boobs started hurting like hell. I was leaning over the side of the car to get something in back and leaned against them and i was in pain. So much pain i said OW SHIT. Yes, that much pain. I took a test, one that i've had in my sock drawer from way back when that i bought for like $1.50 and i got the double line thing. I didn't take a picture, i didn't save it i just threw it away and told my husband.

Let me tell you, once you get your BFP, the worrying begins. You worry if your pregnancy will make it pass the first trimester, (lots of miscarriages happen within the first 8 weeks), you worry if you're eating right, you worry if your baby will have xyz disease. It is crazy. Anyway, if you can do the calculation i'm due in August and i'm really hoping to post more about the whole process of it all now that i'm in my 2nd trimester.

Anyway, after ALL of this happens is when i start reading pregnancy posts/blogs and realize how hard people have it while they are TTC-ing. it makes me feel sad that these things don't happen so easily, especially when you hear young kids or people who arent even trying get pregnant! stupid how life works sometimes.

hope to share more later

-h

i survived my wedding

Right... wedding posts, wedding blog, wedding pictures... i totally failed on that one. i did however, succeed in getting married so no worries myself 30 years from now. the wedding happened, even though you did not blog diddly squat about it. the wedding planning was both hard and easy. it was possibly harder than it should've been because we procrastinated like hell. Basically, we booked the venue and bought the dress and then for months and months we didn't do anything until July. HAHHHH...

Anyway, I've read wedding blogs like weddingbee for a long time, way before i was even engaged. ALL the brides looked like they had fun planning, with the pictures! and the pictures! and the research! and the stories! Wheeeeee! I have no idea how they do it. I failed at being able to "picture" my wedding. If there are ANY brides to be out there reading this and feel like they are at a total lost of knowing what you want for your wedding you are NOT alone. Here are a list of things that annoyed the crap out of me when i was planning my wedding:

What is your wedding color? - one of the two things people ask me. really? were colors that important? what if i wanted every color in the world? i've seen pictures, it would've been pretty. anything is pretty! what if i told you my color, what would you do for me besides say "ooOoo..."

Did you find your dress yet? ick, worse shopping.experience.ever

not rsvping. damn you asians

rsvping for more than was allowed. damn you asians

telling me (not asking) that you are bringing more people. damn you asians

complaining to me (the night before the wedding) on why i didn't invite your whole family. damn you asians

planning and purchasing and not seeing a single thing come together. ever max out your credit card in one single swipe?

things you "should" do for your wedding, this type of advice comes from everybody and anyone. It's worse when it comes from the og parents, because wow, people are all about customs and how the things are suppose to be and honestly get upset that things aren't the "norm" and take it as a personal insult.

ALL past brides will tell you that it is "your day, do what you want" but you know what happens when you do what you want? you're "bridezilla". so pick and choose people.

Oh. And you won't get what you want...

but you can get pretty damn close

Bottom line, our wedding was still pretty, my pictures that i've seen so far turned out great. i had FUN. the ceremony was sweet, short and remembering (because we winged it and so many things went "wrong"). our food was actually pretty damn good and it seemed like everyone else had fun. only complaint? they ran out of alcohol!

i'll leave you with the best worst quote you will hear after you get engaged..

"it's just one day..."

Bloom

Cherry blossoms were short this year due to crappy weather :(

the Venue!

Happy March everybody! Do you know what that means? It means winter is almost over and allergies have already begun. Fun times. Well, it's been a month, but we do have our venue and the contract has been signed as of February. I just never got around on updating this blog... work has been busy and now a days work > blogging. Do you remember back in the day when blogging > work? That's why i make the big bucks now... wait.. that didn't make any sense... okay i'm rambling.. and am "writing" in long run-on sentences. BUT the point is we have the venue! AND it's already MARCH! That means only 5, i repeat 5 more months until i get married. eeek. i don't think it actually hit me until my friend said "after your married" because usually we talk about when you have your wedding.. and talk has been about the wedding.. but marriage wasn't really brought up. I know, it should be one of the same.. but somehow, "wedding" just became a huge expensive event that i am dragging my feet on planning and marriage is like EEEK, holy crap.

So that's where i am... next post, wedding dress! or should i say.. marriage dress!

On Lists & Details

While I'm awaiting for the revision of the contract for the venue, let's move on to other things shall we...??

First of all - I'm thinking that mayyyyyyyybe.. i should have some sort of check list somewhere so that I know what I want to concentrate on next. Right now, everything is jumbled in my head... colorscheme.decore.ceremony.music.dress.invites.placecards.addresses.weddingwebsite.bridesmaids??.etc.etc

I want to dwell in the pretty details... but then I feel like I will lose the big picture! Someone get me a checklist. Stat!

the Venue Part Deux

Or Part DUH!

So, can I vent a little bit? The last post I was all like, "I got a venue!!!!!!!". Today, I'm like uhh i don't really have a venue, do i have a venue? ::bangs head::

It came down to receiving our quote from our caterer. Remember the budget of fifteen thousand dollars. Well the caterer came out to be fifteen thousand dollars.. so what the?!? I had to rethink... and then all of suddenly i was searching for venues again, i found parks and someone offered up her sister's HUGE 3 acre backyard, and bbq caterers and more restaurants and and and

i thought i was done with this part!

So now I think we're back to the three original choices from before. I am going to talk to my caterer to see what we can knock off the list to lower our costs. I.E. no open bar, not having the ceremony on the pier, etc. etc. I have to decide, really really decide, what type of wedding I want to have. Can a wedding be fun if there's no dancing involved? Is it kind of lame if you just come, eat and mingle, but eat really good food and then just go home? Having a wedding is ultimately about throwing a huge party isn't it? You want your guests to enjoy themselves but you also want to have fun fun fun! Can i eat at a buffet in my wedding dress and enjoy it?! Will i have good pictures?

People always tell the bride to make sure she does what SHE wants on the wedding day. But what happens when she has no idea what she wants?!?

the Venue

Ok. So we got a venue. Writing that down made it sound sooooo easy. But it wasn't. It was hours of surfing the internet, reading reviews, emailing people, searching for photos, typing numbers into excel, opening up calendars, searching, viewing, pulling out hair, quitting and then deciding.

Originally - I wanted a destination wedding. Get married and vacation all at once? hollerz! Also, we loved Mexico the last time we were there... so i started searching and reading forums and then i finally settled on a place. It was a Dreams Resort Cancun Riviera. And I was all like yes! That's it! 3 thousand for the trip, 2.7 thousand for the wedding there, 5 thousand 7 hundred dollars. cheapest wedding ever?

No..... then we had to think about who we probably had to pay for - for them to come too, what we were putting our guests through and who would probably be left out. So we kind of scratched it off the list.

Next we started looking locally. I want to tell you that the best thing i liked out of the whole Mexico thing was that everything was all inclusive and then you buy a wedding package and BAM you're done. In the U.S., you seldom get wedding packages. You find a venue, then you find a caterer and between those two you have to calculate with your fingers that you're not spending way too much on just a room and food and alcohol, because how can my wedding NOT have alcohol??

So when I started searching I wanted to look at venues that already had a food package along with it. I found the Ceresville Mansion which had a good package AND it had discounted prices for December dates. It was an option. Then, we found a place in Manassas, which was weird, because it was part of a plaza.. and the feel of the whole thing was just weird, so i was like ehh...

Then I got kind of depressed because I didn't want the "normal" hotel/venue wedding thing. We looked into restaurants that we could book for a wedding. Maggiano's has awesome wedding packages, Chima's was willing to accommodate but then I was like do i really want a wedding in a restaurant??

Chima was actually going to be awesome. I thought $50 a person for all you can eat Brazilian Steakhouse?! But then I got the package, and yes, it is $50 a person, but add gratuity and tax and drinks on top of that, it was like $90 a person and that doesn't even include a dance floor.. so I had to think if i wanted a dance floor and of COURSE I HAD TO HAVE A DANCE FLOOR!

Okay- do you see where I'm going with this? Every time I kind of thought i had a place. I didn't. Every time i thought i might be getting a real good deal? it all came out to be about the same price... which brings it back to my previous post. Fifteen Thousand Dollars PLUS. I even considered having it at a chinese restaurant --Hello GOOD FOOD =]!! But bad decor =(

I'm not going to bore you with what my little brain went through every time i thought i had THE VENUE. so i will just show you THE VENUE that we've finally decided on the Sunset Room @ the National Harbor.

great.. now i'm craving to eat at a Brazilian Steakhouse AND chinese food.

2011 Say wikiwikiwhaaat

Okay, so i totally didn't post before the new year. OOPS.

This blog is about to get heavy duty on everything wedding. I need a place to put down all my ideas and my brain just isn't doing it for me.

After the new year, our good friend was like, YOU GUYS HAVE TO BOOK A VENUE. It's true, we had less than a year to plan this day that will cost us more than fifteen thousand dollars. You see how I made that seem like such a big important number? Because it is, because if i said 15k, people would be like oh 15k, but if i said fifteen thousand dollars that's a damn car, that's a down payment on a house, that's maybe half of a semester of college. ALL. ON. ONE. DAY.

Fifteen THOUSAND Dollars PLUS.

I'm hoping we keep at that range, but it looks like with the venue & food alone, that is what we will spend. So that doesn't even count, rings, clothes, decor, etc. etc.

The wedding industry (as pretty as it all is) is totally ridiculous!

Oh well - I should try to enjoy it.

Make it rain ya'll

------

Speaking of ka-ching ba-ling. Check out this website i just found. Asians love giving and receiving dollar dollar bills - this calculates how much. How accurate do you think it is?

http://www.theweddingenvelope.com/calculator.php

Christmas 2010

Hi All. I know I'm failing at this "more blogging" thing but the
holiday season is crazy!! I wasn't going to make Christmas cards this
season but my new job is so great and awesome I finished these in
about 3 days. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas and I
will blog before the new year :)

I AM UPSET

!

Random December

GOOD bye

Today marked another last day of another company. I believe the sun
moon and stars really tested me with this job. I've never wanted to
curse out so many people within 2 years of my life. It was a seriously
tough road to travel and although I didn't learn anything that would
help me in the program control world, I learned a lot in other things.
Patience, initiative, patience and patience. I believe some good did
come out of this place and I did meet good honest and fun people.
Luckily, I was well compensated and my boss did TRY to look out for
me. There was just too much headache and hostility to handle.
Including my own hostility.. I've started pew-pewing people behind my
cube walls in anger and frustration. I am especially surprised that I
didn't curse the crap out of B.S back in those days because boy did I
come close. See what I mean about patience? Ultimately, even with that
job, I was blessed.
Tomorrow is another day and I hope to never forget what I've been
through the last 2 years. To the future... Cheers!

Day 4

It's day 4 of being home alone... I'm STARVING... ::claws at fridge and oven::

JK, i'm not STARVING but i am hungry for something delicious and not a left over. BUT I HAVE SO MUCH LEFT OVERS IN THE FRIDGE. Gahh... sacrifice. must sacrifice.

Also - i got the Kinect for xbox. And i got the dance central game.. i'm so-so. But guys, I expect everyone to be doing the Soulja boy dance at my wedding reception. You have a few months to learn. I have every faith in you.

Youuuuuuuuu.....

4

I am aunt 4 to my nieces and nephews and when I skype with my 1 year
old nephew. I sing "tu" which means 4th so he can learn my name. What
does he do? Just dances and shakes his head to it. Cuteness overload!

•Hanh

On November 5th 2010...

On November 4th, 2010, I was at work.. and created a fabulous form through InfoPath. After creating the form and wow-ing my boss, he asked me to teach him how and I said, "SURE! Also, can I work from home tomorrow?" And he said yes. I wanted to work from home tomorrow because we were suppose to meet with friends to go camping/cabining by 5pm.

Meanwhile, I received an email from the VP, who asked when and where I can meet for an interview. Which worked out well for me since I didn't have to go into the office the next day and so i told him that i would be free all day and could do anytime.

On November 5th, 2010 I woke up, showered and put my suit on. I hate dressing up... Timmy yelled at me for not matching. I was uncomfortable. I think, I'm pretty sure, i can't fit those suit pants anymore. I sat around on the couch. I think i drank coffee, and then I left for my interview.

The interview went well... actually, i guess it went very well. Because I GOT THE JOB. You hear that? I got the freaking JOB. I can now leave my crazyass company with all the craziness and lazy s.o.bs!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO ::running man:: ::robot dance:: ::more running man:: ::jump jump jump:: Pay attention kids, HARD WORK PAYS OFF. So does patience apparently. WOOO-WOOOOOooo

I get home and do some work... eat some left over congee soup.. do some more work.

Then i got tired.. and laid down on my couch and watched CSI. Somewhere in between, Timmy calls and says he has to go buy string and asks me if i need anything. Nope. About two hours go by.. seriously? It takes two hours for string? I call to make sure Timmy is okay. And he is. He comes home about 30 minutes later with an envelope. He says it's his friend's invitation. So i'm like cool. i'm super tired at this point.. i open the envelope. The card is a shimmery purple. I LOVE PURPLE. No name/address on the envelope. The invite is weirdly flat.. i'm all like, wait, where's the response card? I admire the paper some more. I admire the design. Timmy helps me "unwrap" the card. There's nice ribbons around it. Then i read it and start tearing me. It is from Timmy and it is to me and he is proposing.

I look up and I think he's down on both knees and opens up the ring box. I think I nodded and give him a hug. He's still holding the box.. I'm like, am i suppose to pick it up? he picks it up, tells me he's not sure which hand to put it on.

My ring is beautiful. I never thought i'd have such a brilliant and HUGE ring. I am ENGAGED. Everything seems different. Everything seems more permanent? More real? I am engaged.

Sorry for the long post, but I do want to remember this day. This very very special day. Also, there's a video.

=]

Riding

A Long October

Seriously! Longest. Month. Ever.
But such a beautiful month it is. The view of my backyard from my
bedroom window.

Cube View

This is the view from my cubicle. I think I would take a window cube
over a 4 wall office any day. And yes, I use my window as a whiteboard.

All I Can Eat

Yesterday, to celebrate the fact that i ran a report to find out what my new salary was going to be, me and the boyprend went out to "celebrate". I wanted sushi.. it went from eating at a sushi joint to passion fish to red lobster... yes, we ended up at red lobster, i didn't get any sushi, but the ALL YOU CAN EAT shrimp deal was all like yelling at me.. something about this deal is too good to pass up! And I was all like, dude, i don't even like shrimp that much... but i saw the prices of the other plates and they were about the same or even more than the ALL YOU CAN EAT shrimp... so i was all like fine, fine. All I can eat it is!

I ordered 4 plates with a side of salad and a baked potato. I ordered a 5th plate, i took a bite and had to take it home.
15 minutes later i was ready to die
30 minutes later i was ready to throw up.
hearing the word shrimp makes me want to throw up
writing the word shrimp (because i have to say it in my head when i type it out) makes me want to throw up
ugh.

Dear Diary

Today, my boyfriend surprised me with a hello kitty iPhone case. Yes I
just went there. Yes, I turned 30 this year. If my LV carrying, Lexus
driving, hello kitty iphoning doesn't scream out ASIAN
girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know what will.

Hollerz

•Hanh