footprints in my heart...

dude! i'm in such a good mood right now. it's been a pretty stressful week both at work and outside of it, and i've been the biggest cranky pants, so i'm so glad i finally found a happy place today. i don't know what it is, but i feel really good, as in accomplished. as stressful as the week has been, i feel like i completed all of my mini-projects. i can even see my actual desk again. i spent a good chunk of my time yesterday being an admin-b*tch, which i normally kind of hate. but i was glad to do it, so i was able to watch over all of the copying properly and ensure the quality of the menial tasks. and i got SUCH big praise over my very professional agenda! i didn't even think it was all that, but gosh, all of the committee members were just sooo impressed! so that was a nice little ego boost. and especially nice that the director of my department was the one heading up the committee, so she was proud of me too. yayyyyy! oh and i didn't have to go to this one other location that's 15 mins farther from my usual drive. so that was a relief too. in any case, good news all around! yay!

shoot, it's ash wednesday and i had a filet-o-fish for lunch. those things are tiny, i swear. but it was very soft and warm and yummy. and it's 4pm now, and i'm hungry. i feel like i just should not have eaten at all, then i wouldn't be tempted. my stomach had gotten used to being empty so it wasn't missing food anyway. now it got a taste and wants more.

so i finally figured out what i'm gonna give up for lent. i'm gonna work on my vice of cursing. for goodness' sake, the first thing i said when he popped the ring box open was "oh shit". not the best words to come out for that very special day in my life, no?

and i'm gonna try to get back to going to church more often. not sure how realistic every day is anymore, so i'm gonna aim for twice a week at least. and adoration. i really miss those alone times with God. and i notice that i'm able to deal with stress a whole lot better when i go to church more often. so i guess i'm hungry for time with Him too.

it's always a special day for me and my family cuz it's my parent's anniversary on valentine's day! they're taking the day off from work and are having a day-long date, as usual. i called my mom to ask what they're doing and they're taking a drive up the coast to malibu. wow, how romantic, no? this year marks their 31st anniversary. and it's my dad's birthday tomorrow too. so it's always a jam-packed month and week for our family, along with the extra-specialness this year with the new fiance! my mom's so cute; as i was rushing out of the house this morning, i saw a card envelope that was addressed to "Tootsie and Henry". hehe, she got us a card, yay! can't wait to see what she wrote in it. she's always so thoughtful. and that reminds me... i'm such a lagger. i have to get my parents' anniversary card/valentine's day card. and my dad's birthday card. my brothers and i (and henry) are getting them tickets to love, the cirque du soleil show that's set to music by the beatles. they love the beatles and we were really impressed by O when we saw it. so that should be a really good show for them. we just don't know when they want to go, so i made a little coupon for them with the show's logo and said that we'll get them the tickets when they decide which date is good for them.

and thanks for all of the well-wishes, emails, instant msgs, text and phone calls! what i absolutely love about weddings is that it's a great chance to get together with friends and family. i don't see or talk to a lot of people on a regular basis, so it's been really nice to call some up here and there to tell them the good news and even catch up a bit. i'm most looking forward to spending time with you all during all of the mini-celebrations leading up to the big day!

today's mood: starting to get nervous

my aunt called me yesteday and was going on and on about what i need to do and how it's such a pain to book the church and then going through rcia and blah blah blah, and aughhh, she was making me nervous! i felt like i had to get on it already. and gosh, i'm just starting to get used to this "fiancee" feeling. henry's soo good, he's making us not start planning until next week. i think it's a really really good idea cuz just the thought of it is starting to stress me out and i just want to hang on to the super-good-feeling-high part for as long as possible!

my happy thought: when henry calls me, he says, "hello my little fiancee!" and i go, "hee hee hee!"

fi·an·cée Pronunciation[fee-ahn-sey, fee-ahn-sey]

n. a woman engaged to be married; a woman to whom a man is engaged.

[Origin: 1850–55; < F; fem. of fiancé]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.


my 2nd happy thought: my ring is beautiful scratch that, it's freaking awesome!!! i can't wait to show you!

i have a much longer post to write, but i wanted to quickly announce the best news ever!!!

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

i told henry on sunday that i know that there will be happier days than this, but for now, this is the happiest day of my life!

details and pictures to come, i promise!

1. Can you cook? yes, but do i? no.
2. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator? i'm boring. i'd just hit the emergency button and try to call someone with the phone button thingy. or use my cell phone. then i'd probably just sit down and start rummaging through my purse for something to do.
3. What talent do you wish you had? i wish i could actually sing. it sucks to hear the songs or how something should be played and not be able to physically create it.
4. Favorite place? home. there's no place like home.
5. Favorite vegetable? no real favorite, but i like most of them.
6. What was the last book you read? honestly? the multi-orgasmic woman *turning red with embarassment*
7. Are you Dirty or Clean? i'm clean. took a shower today.
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? 1 tattoo: 2 little feet for the footprints in the sand.
9. Worst Habit? biting the skin off my lips. tends to lead to bleeding, naturally.

HERE COMES THE FUN ...
1. How did we meet? through days. one of my first and fondest memories of ojay was during the BT of that batch, when i played the victim with marjo. i'll never forget his face when he started freaking out. he kept turning to the other guys saying, guys? *turns head* guys? *turns head* guys?! i miss those days.
2. What's your philosophy on life? give love, even though it hurts. be kind, be efficient. what i wish my philosophy was: slow down. take time to smell the roses.
3. Negative or Optimistic? optimistic
4. What was your dream growing up? i don't know. i asked my mom this and she just said, "well, you always liked your teachers and wanted to be just like them." that never really answered the question for me
5. Worst thing to ever happen to you? when i found out my family was a lot more soap-opera-like that i could have ever expected. i guess it could've been worse though.
6. What was your first impression of me? ojay is sweet and funny.
7. Tell me one weird fact about you: umm, i dunno. you tell me.
8. Whats your favorite memory of us? see #1
10. Have you ever kept anything from me? well, we don't talk very often, so yes.
11. What do you think of me as a Person? see #6
12. Do you think I'm sane or insane? insane, i'm sure
13. Would you cry for me if I died? yes
14. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? conscience
15. If you could change anything about me, would you? nah
16. How do you fall asleep? on my back, side, or stomach
17. Ever gotten angry with me? nope
18. Would you go on a blind date if I set you up? hmmm, maybe
19. If you had one day to live, what would you do? tell everyone important in my life that i loved them and they made a great impact in my life. then, maybe i'd jump off a plane.
20. A million bucks.. what would you do with it? buy house, pay off parents' house. i think just those 2 would clean out that million bucks. too bad it doesn't go very far these days.
21. What is your worst fear? being alone. being useless or unimportant.
22. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? wedding plan, others' weddings for now. hopefully mine in the future.
23. Can you sing or dance? i can dance, sing in groups
24. In one word, how would you describe me? Be honest.... sincere
25. Will you repost this so I can fill it out? here it is

went to wahoos for lunch and decided to try something new. so i got the enchilada meal. the lady asked me, what kind of enchiladas would you like? and i look at the menu and it says
cheese, fish, chicken, pork, steak
i asked the lady, "what's good?" she goes, "well, the most popular ones are the
cheese fish, chicken, pork, steak..."

"ummm, i'll have the steak"

oh people.

you know what sucks? all the links to pictures over 1.5 years on my sidebar don't work anymore! dang it...

dang, i know, 2 posts in one day after 3 months of nothingness... well, i'm bored. and i drank milk tea with boba. and it's gotten me very jittery. who knew there was that much caffeine in milk tea, eh?

and yea, i do have work... but it's little work, so it'd be done so quickly if i did it already... then, there'd really really be nothing to do. i suppose i could wedding work, but i kinda wanna take a little break from that, cuz i have 2 weddings 2 weeks apart and one more wedding 1 week after that in april/may. it's time to do invitations for them, so i know i'll be working a lot in the next few weeks. so a tiny break would help my eyes and my stressed out shoulders. or i could use some of my gift cards to burke williams to help out my shoulders. massage sounds really good right now... oh man, the last time i had a massage at the glen ivy day spa with my mom, the masseuse's name was hiko. at first, i thought i read hiro, from heroes, and i was totally gonna exclaim, hiro!!! but it wasn't, it was hiko. i still got a kick out of his name though, and the fact that he was japanese, just came to this country about a year ago after being an accupunturist/masseuse in japan for 10 years. oh man, he totally used his accupuncture techniques on me and it was the best massage i'd ever had. he totally knew the parts of the body, because most massages that i receive, they hit a nerve or a bone or something. but he had the body all mapped out, nothing hurt at all, and he just worked on the knots and loosened up muscle. it was deep, strong, not painful. the perfect massage. and he was nice. he talked only when i asked him questions, and i still fell asleep when i knew that he knew what he was doing. the last couple of masseuses that i've had were really really chattery! sometimes i don't mind that, but geez, in a masseuse, sometimes, you really want them to just work and be quiet.

i gotta take my car for an alignment today. oh and i finally got hubcaps. yay! henry washed my car for me, so it looks totally shiny and new. better than when i take it to the car wash place. and with my new hubcaps and the carwash, we didn't feel so ashamed to take my car when we had to work that beverly hills hotel wedding. the last time i went there for the rehearsal, i parked on the street and was soo embarassed when other people from the bridal party walked out with me and saw my filthy car with 2 missing hubcaps. shoot, i was embarassed to just drive in that city.

oh best part, 4 hubcaps cost $39.99 at pep boys. freakin dealership was quoting me $80 for 1 of them!!! crazy fools.

it's been so long since i blogged, that blogger is all new and improved! geez, now i have to sign in using my google acct... too bad i still don't really have time to blog anymore to try out the new features. but i just wanted to say hi to y'all!

superbowl was so eventful this year. our family has new friends with my cousin and her fiance getting engaged, so his family joined the festivities this year. they're from chicago, so of course, die hard bears fans. they were sooooo animated throughout the 1st half of the game when the bears were totally kicking butt. but as soon as the tides turned, oh man, they were incredibly upset. so upset, you'd really think that somebody harmed them. oh my god, the dad and the older brother stormed out, and the mom and sister-in-law were trying to hurry after them. tanya, the sis-in-law, commented to her husband, "aren't you even going to say goodbye?" and he just snapped back (within earshot of other guests), "NO, LET'S GO." oh my goodness, so she quickly said bye to my uncle who was hosting the party and ran out. henry and i just looked at each other, like oooookay. duuude, and they forgot their 5-yr-old kid! i thought they meant to leave her cuz my cousin's boyfriend (her uncle) was still there, so it was okay. but her dad came back like 10 mins later to scoop her up, so they really did forget her! craaaaaaazy! after they left, we were just kinda bewildered, like wtf? it's only a game people! and really, even all the odds were against the bears, so really, were they THAT surprised? craaaazy.

what else is up... oh man, the wedding for michelle and kevin this past saturday was absolutely beautiful! no, more than beautiful, it was lavish and extravagant. nothing less can be said about a wedding that was held at the beverly hills hotel's crystal ballroom that was likely to have cost $100k. the room was absolutely breath-taking, where the centerpieces were all different arrangements, ranging from a tree to a candelabra with flowers on top, to a giant pomander with hanging crystals. and at the entrance was a giant fake cake. and i mean, GIANT. it sat on a table, but even if it didn't it must have been 8 feet tall by itself. so there was the giant fake cake and surrounding that was the candy buffet with all white candy. she had marshmallows of course, and white chocolate jordan almonds, yogurt-covered raisins, white m&m's, white chocolate pretzels, white crystal rock candy on a stick, chocolate golf balls (hubby plays golf), and white chocolate gummy bears. the real cake was also beautiful with cascading sugar flowers one one side from top to bottom. the garden area where the ceremony was held had flowers everywhere, of course. the entrance to the garden had floral archway adorned with roses and orchids. the aisle was decorated with white tulip boxes and lemon scattered on the grass. the lemon, i thought was a bit odd and even the banquet manager asked me if there was some sort of cultural significance, but i think the decorator was trying to be stylistic. it would've worked, but i think he could have used better quality lemons. some of them were looking a little on the brown spotty side. but still, the effect was really cute. i swear, i have pictures, but it wouldn't do it justice. i really hope that the photographer gives me some photos for my portfolio. and the service was awesome too. that's what i love about working with large hotels and catering companies. i had a similar experience with Patina catering when i did noreen's sister's wedding at the walt disney concert hall. their service was just awesome. and they're super organized about everything. communication was always there between the dj, the head waiter and me, and the party was flawless, even with a few adjustments that we had to accomodate (like a dancer being a little bit late, or the party needing a pick me up here and there). anyway, it was a beautiful day, great people, and i was so happy to have helped them make it happen!