For the past few weeks I've been scared of November 20th so the boy decided to do everything in his power to make it enjoyable. On Friday I...
1) Saw "New Moon". I thought I was being clever by going in the morning and would only have to share the theater with 20 or so people. I was so wrong - it was packed full of college kids and moms. Fortunately there wasn't any screaming (except when Jacob took off his shirt because, let's be honest, how could you not). But I liked it more than "Twilight" and cannot wait to see "Eclipse".
2) Took my first SF cable car ride. I've lived in the Bay area for 8 years and never took one because the boy refused to be a tourist. But in the spirit of planning a day that that would keep me happy and distracted, we went. It was super cheesy and super fun.
3) Went to Musee Mecanique, an arcade with antique games, photo booths, and fortune tellers. Hoping to determine my fate, we definitely hit up all of the fortune tellers (including Zoltar). We followed that up with a trip to the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" museum which was more random artifacts than weird stuff, but still entertaining.
4) Pretended to be 10 years old by going to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and laughing for 5 minutes straight during the "thunderstorm".
and finally...
5) At 6:20 p.m. I found out that I PASSED THE BAR EXAM!!!
I've been on Cloud 9 all weekend and could not be more excited. Thanks to all of you who have sat through my law school rantings about studying/stress/ridiculousness - it's over!!!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
getting rid of your oldies but goodies
For the past week or so I've been doing a major sweep of my house. A little background:
The boy and I moved in together right after college graduation. Our first home was a little apartment which we loved, but it wasn't vary spacious and we knew that we wouldn't stay there for more than a year and didn't feel the need to unpack things we didn't need. Because our college makes seniors move out of the campus apartments the day after graduation (mean, I know), we didn't have a chance to do a thorough investigation of what we were taking and leaving and a lot of stuff followed us to the apartment. A year after living in the apartment I got into law school and had to move to be closer to my campus. After discussing our options, we decided to buy a house which was an exciting but daunting task and we found a home we loved and were ecstatic that it was ours. Unfortunately, we couldn't move in until the week before first year orientation which left enough time to unpack all of the essentials. The remainder of boxes/bags/suitcases full of random junk went into the basement or one of the spare rooms and we promised that we would go through it a weekend at a time until we either unpacked or gave away what we didn't want.
That was 3 years ago.
Now that I sit around the house all day and have spent the last week and a half watching the first 5 seasons of "The Office" (which, I'm sorry I ever said that show was bad. It's genius), I finally decided that the time has come to go through everything. I thought it would be easy because I would want to get rid of everything. Here I am sitting in our office, surrounded by stuff, and I don't want to let go of anything.
A few examples:
1) I really started to love clothes when I was 15. Ok, I've loved them for my entire life, but I got my first job when I was 15 and could actually buy my own stuff. In the boxes I found a bunch of slip dresses that I bought from Contempo Casuals (and had to hide from my mom) as well as some cute dresses that my grandma who I only see once a year gave me. I stopped wearing them in college because of my love of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and other late night snacks, but due to my recent weight loss, they fit me again. I know that chances are slim that I'll ever wear these again, but I have so many memories attached to them that it kills me to put them in a box to give away. I feel really selfish about this.
2) As a political science and sociology major, I was always really proud of the notes and outlines that I made for every test or paper. Apparently I had so much pride that I didn't feel the need to throw them away when the class was over. I think I convinced myself that some day I would need them. I have no idea when that day will come. I spent time going through those notebooks and laughing at things I wrote in the margins (example from undergrad ethics: wow, that girl really answered her phone in the middle of class and left the room. She thinks she's the shit. I really don't like her...) I managed to part with these notebooks as well as the insane number of handouts/cases from law school, but I couldn't get rid of the outlines. Yes, I have them on my computer but I scribbled in the margins in marker while I studied and somehow I think they're important. I did put them in binders though, so I guess that's an accomplishment.
3) I love girlie magazines (Glamour, Elle, Allure, etc) and one of the best ways for me to relax is to chill in bed reading them and marking the pages of outfits that I love but can't afford but will find a way to recreate. This is all well and good, but then I save them in case I want to reference them later on. Does this happen? Of course not. I know they need to go because they take up a ridiculous amount of space, but I wonder if I should rip out those pages I marked. Will I really look at them? I have no idea. I guess if I'm questioning it, the answer is no.
4) I've gone to a ridiculous number of concerts and back in high school and early college, a large portion of my wardrobe consisted of band tshirts. When seeing a band that I really loved, I always bought a shirt. I have 6 Blink 182 shirts...and that's just the beginning. I decided that I can't part with these. When I was younger I loved looking at my dad's band merch and I'm hoping the some day my kids will do the same. Or think I'm silly. Either way I'm ok with it.
5) Being in a sorority = more tshirts/pins/pictures/pens than I could ever need. They're all in a box on a shelf in my closet next to the band shirts. Don't think I can part with them either.
6) We've managed to acquire a lot of random trinkets in the past 8 years from various holidays or just because. I definitely have memories associated with 80% of them, but I'll never use/look at them, but I feel guilty giving them away.
Am I the only one with this problem? I've actually parted with a lot of stuff, but I know I can get rid of a lot more. What to do, what to do...
The boy and I moved in together right after college graduation. Our first home was a little apartment which we loved, but it wasn't vary spacious and we knew that we wouldn't stay there for more than a year and didn't feel the need to unpack things we didn't need. Because our college makes seniors move out of the campus apartments the day after graduation (mean, I know), we didn't have a chance to do a thorough investigation of what we were taking and leaving and a lot of stuff followed us to the apartment. A year after living in the apartment I got into law school and had to move to be closer to my campus. After discussing our options, we decided to buy a house which was an exciting but daunting task and we found a home we loved and were ecstatic that it was ours. Unfortunately, we couldn't move in until the week before first year orientation which left enough time to unpack all of the essentials. The remainder of boxes/bags/suitcases full of random junk went into the basement or one of the spare rooms and we promised that we would go through it a weekend at a time until we either unpacked or gave away what we didn't want.
That was 3 years ago.
Now that I sit around the house all day and have spent the last week and a half watching the first 5 seasons of "The Office" (which, I'm sorry I ever said that show was bad. It's genius), I finally decided that the time has come to go through everything. I thought it would be easy because I would want to get rid of everything. Here I am sitting in our office, surrounded by stuff, and I don't want to let go of anything.
A few examples:
1) I really started to love clothes when I was 15. Ok, I've loved them for my entire life, but I got my first job when I was 15 and could actually buy my own stuff. In the boxes I found a bunch of slip dresses that I bought from Contempo Casuals (and had to hide from my mom) as well as some cute dresses that my grandma who I only see once a year gave me. I stopped wearing them in college because of my love of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and other late night snacks, but due to my recent weight loss, they fit me again. I know that chances are slim that I'll ever wear these again, but I have so many memories attached to them that it kills me to put them in a box to give away. I feel really selfish about this.
2) As a political science and sociology major, I was always really proud of the notes and outlines that I made for every test or paper. Apparently I had so much pride that I didn't feel the need to throw them away when the class was over. I think I convinced myself that some day I would need them. I have no idea when that day will come. I spent time going through those notebooks and laughing at things I wrote in the margins (example from undergrad ethics: wow, that girl really answered her phone in the middle of class and left the room. She thinks she's the shit. I really don't like her...) I managed to part with these notebooks as well as the insane number of handouts/cases from law school, but I couldn't get rid of the outlines. Yes, I have them on my computer but I scribbled in the margins in marker while I studied and somehow I think they're important. I did put them in binders though, so I guess that's an accomplishment.
3) I love girlie magazines (Glamour, Elle, Allure, etc) and one of the best ways for me to relax is to chill in bed reading them and marking the pages of outfits that I love but can't afford but will find a way to recreate. This is all well and good, but then I save them in case I want to reference them later on. Does this happen? Of course not. I know they need to go because they take up a ridiculous amount of space, but I wonder if I should rip out those pages I marked. Will I really look at them? I have no idea. I guess if I'm questioning it, the answer is no.
4) I've gone to a ridiculous number of concerts and back in high school and early college, a large portion of my wardrobe consisted of band tshirts. When seeing a band that I really loved, I always bought a shirt. I have 6 Blink 182 shirts...and that's just the beginning. I decided that I can't part with these. When I was younger I loved looking at my dad's band merch and I'm hoping the some day my kids will do the same. Or think I'm silly. Either way I'm ok with it.
5) Being in a sorority = more tshirts/pins/pictures/pens than I could ever need. They're all in a box on a shelf in my closet next to the band shirts. Don't think I can part with them either.
6) We've managed to acquire a lot of random trinkets in the past 8 years from various holidays or just because. I definitely have memories associated with 80% of them, but I'll never use/look at them, but I feel guilty giving them away.
Am I the only one with this problem? I've actually parted with a lot of stuff, but I know I can get rid of a lot more. What to do, what to do...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
let's get physical
After Halloween and the many mini-snickers/milky way/kit-kat bars that come with it, I've decided that I really need to get back on my "healthy" kick. It's not so much the eating well that's hard for me. Once I clean house and get unhealthy things out of my kitchen, I find that I enjoy the fruit and granola that replace the mint milanos (which are dangerous - I could definitely eat an entire bag by myself. Bad, bad, bad) What I really hate is going to the gym. Though I occasionally enjoy jamming to my ipod while on the elliptical, I'm usually over it in 20 minutes.
Though I get that I need to suck it up and go to the gym, I'd also like to come up with different means of exercise:
1) While figuring out what I want to do with my life, I've decided to do a major overhaul on the house. The boy and I have so many boxes that we moved over here after college that haven't been opened since we graduated in 2005. I've spent so many hours lifting boxes, going through them, moving some things into different rooms while throwing others away, etc. Since I'm a girl who doesn't like to sit in silence, I've been playing old dance music from the 90's that has me dancing around in between running up and down the stairs with boxes. Does that count as exercise? And do I get bonus points for singing and dancing while running around? I think so.
2) I used to be a dancer (jazz, modern, ballet, and tap) from when I was 3-16 years old. When some of these 90's gems come on, I remember certain routines that I did in past recitals and for some reason I can remember entire routines, which is pretty rad. I'm thinking of enrolling in a weekly dance class because 1) I miss it a ton and 2) I was never in better shape than when I was taking those classes.
3) Even though the doctor doesn't like it, this week the weather has been amazing in SF so I've taken Brodie on a few runs around the neighborhood. Though my back problems may get worse if I make this a habit, I've really enjoyed the time outside. I wonder if there are any other good outside activities that could be considered exercise.
4) There was a 1 month period during the bar exam that I was really into "Wii Active" and though it had a tendency to get boring, I actually think some of the exercises worked. Maybe I should use it again?
5) Anyone remember Eric Nies from the first season of "The Real World"? Anyone remember that he used to host "The Grind"? If you've made it this far, maybe you know they had "The Grind" workout videos...which I'm sad to say, I purchased when I was 12 and felt compelled to workout (silly Bianca...you barely had any fat on you back then). Upon telling my mom about how I need to put some excitement into my workout, she offered to send these back to me. While I have no desire to do these tapes again, I know that a lot of people are into the Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred". Does it work?
Alright my healthy friends, send suggestions this way!
Though I get that I need to suck it up and go to the gym, I'd also like to come up with different means of exercise:
1) While figuring out what I want to do with my life, I've decided to do a major overhaul on the house. The boy and I have so many boxes that we moved over here after college that haven't been opened since we graduated in 2005. I've spent so many hours lifting boxes, going through them, moving some things into different rooms while throwing others away, etc. Since I'm a girl who doesn't like to sit in silence, I've been playing old dance music from the 90's that has me dancing around in between running up and down the stairs with boxes. Does that count as exercise? And do I get bonus points for singing and dancing while running around? I think so.
2) I used to be a dancer (jazz, modern, ballet, and tap) from when I was 3-16 years old. When some of these 90's gems come on, I remember certain routines that I did in past recitals and for some reason I can remember entire routines, which is pretty rad. I'm thinking of enrolling in a weekly dance class because 1) I miss it a ton and 2) I was never in better shape than when I was taking those classes.
3) Even though the doctor doesn't like it, this week the weather has been amazing in SF so I've taken Brodie on a few runs around the neighborhood. Though my back problems may get worse if I make this a habit, I've really enjoyed the time outside. I wonder if there are any other good outside activities that could be considered exercise.
4) There was a 1 month period during the bar exam that I was really into "Wii Active" and though it had a tendency to get boring, I actually think some of the exercises worked. Maybe I should use it again?
5) Anyone remember Eric Nies from the first season of "The Real World"? Anyone remember that he used to host "The Grind"? If you've made it this far, maybe you know they had "The Grind" workout videos...which I'm sad to say, I purchased when I was 12 and felt compelled to workout (silly Bianca...you barely had any fat on you back then). Upon telling my mom about how I need to put some excitement into my workout, she offered to send these back to me. While I have no desire to do these tapes again, I know that a lot of people are into the Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred". Does it work?
Alright my healthy friends, send suggestions this way!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
honeymoon!!!
I can't really blog about the wedding if I don't blog about the honeymoon, right? That's what I thought...
The boy and I waited a few days after the wedding to say goodbye to all of our family who flew in for the wedding before we took off for our trip. We knew we couldn't get a direct flight, so we decided to take the red eye to Charlotte thinking that we would sleep on the plane. Of course, the boy and everyone else on the plane fell asleep but me. There was quite a bit of turbulence and since I'm scared of flying, I only managed to get 20 minutes of sleep. Needless to say, I was crabby when we landed. However, I was pumped for breakfast (since I rarely wake up early enough to have it at home) and I decided that after months of dieting, I was going to treat myself to a sausage and cheese biscuit from McDonalds (my breakfast choice of youth - I always had them before my AYSO soccer games on Saturday mornings). Giddy and excited, we walked off the plane and walk around...and discover that there's no McDonalds. The carb gods were trying to tell me to stay strong. Boo. Since we make a point of trying the random chains when we go out of town, Matt decided to try Bojangles (chicken and biscuits - he was in heaven) while I settled for a bagel (take that carb gods!) We managed to fall asleep at our gate and before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to...JAMAICA!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was for a trip that involved nothing but reading magazines and books while drinking pina coladas by the pool/beach. After getting off the plane, we were greeting by resort employees who promptly handed us 2 Red Stripes - fabulous. The drive to the resort took about 2 hours in which the driver played Bob Marley the entire time. We thought this was specifically for us since we're tourists. However, we heard Bob Marley every day, everywhere we went. I'm not gonna lie, after 10 days I was over it.
After checking it, we walked up to this room, opened the balcony door and were greeted with this:
No joke, I started jumping up and down cheering "yay, yay, yay!!!" when I saw it. I loved being one of the rooms surrounding the pool - it made me feel very "Melrose Place" except without all the drama and scandal.
The resort had a crazy amount of activities and water sports, though we spent most of our time hanging out on the beach being couple-y. Regardless, here are some pics/stories of what we saw/did:
1) A lot of our trip was spent doing this:
or this:
Amazing.
2) Our resort was "Couples Tower Isle". While it looked pretty from afar, we actually didn't go to the island because it's an "all nude" part of the resort. I've done the topless thing, but I don't think I could go all out. We did get a closeup peek of the island during one of our boat rides...and the people on the island decided to moon us. Nice.
3) We took several boat rides during our trip - once for a catamaran cruise (where I was d.r.u.n.k.) and to go snorkeling/scuba diving. I could not get over how clear and blue the water was and it was my fist time swimming with fish - an interesting experience for a girl who often says "I don't do nature", but it was fun. I didn't scuba with Matt since I wasn't comfortable with breathing underwater, but I did snorkel above him so I got to watch everything he did. Not fun - When we got back on the boat, I started to feel sick and my muscles tensed up and I couldn't move them. Turns out I was showing symptoms of the bends - yes, leave it to the girl who didn't actually scuba to get sick. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in bed watching "The Tyra Show", "Wendy Williams", "Extra", and other bad talk shows.
Me and the boy on the Catamaran
Where they took us to snorkel/scuba
I love that this fish was camera ready
4) I also ate...a lot. This is the benefit/drawback of all-inclusive resorts. In addition to the buffet, they had 2 fancy restaurants as well as 2 more casual restaurants, juice/veggie bar, and a poolside grill. Being the dork that I am, I definitely took pictures of food, especially since some of the meals were the most beautifully plated meals I've ever seen, but I won't bore you guys with those.
5) Ever since I can remember, whenever I've been on the beach, I've written "Bianca <3 *insert current crush*". So of course, I did that in Jamaica.
Time flew by way too fast and before I knew it, we were at the Montego Bay airport which I have to say was awesome because they had the Official Jamaican Bobsled Team store complete with the actual bobsled they used. The best part is that they were playing "Cool Runnings" on loop. I used to LOVE that movie!
Looking through these pics makes me want to be back on the beach...think I can convince the boy to go somewhere tropical for Christmas?
The boy and I waited a few days after the wedding to say goodbye to all of our family who flew in for the wedding before we took off for our trip. We knew we couldn't get a direct flight, so we decided to take the red eye to Charlotte thinking that we would sleep on the plane. Of course, the boy and everyone else on the plane fell asleep but me. There was quite a bit of turbulence and since I'm scared of flying, I only managed to get 20 minutes of sleep. Needless to say, I was crabby when we landed. However, I was pumped for breakfast (since I rarely wake up early enough to have it at home) and I decided that after months of dieting, I was going to treat myself to a sausage and cheese biscuit from McDonalds (my breakfast choice of youth - I always had them before my AYSO soccer games on Saturday mornings). Giddy and excited, we walked off the plane and walk around...and discover that there's no McDonalds. The carb gods were trying to tell me to stay strong. Boo. Since we make a point of trying the random chains when we go out of town, Matt decided to try Bojangles (chicken and biscuits - he was in heaven) while I settled for a bagel (take that carb gods!) We managed to fall asleep at our gate and before we knew it, it was time to board our flight to...JAMAICA!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was for a trip that involved nothing but reading magazines and books while drinking pina coladas by the pool/beach. After getting off the plane, we were greeting by resort employees who promptly handed us 2 Red Stripes - fabulous. The drive to the resort took about 2 hours in which the driver played Bob Marley the entire time. We thought this was specifically for us since we're tourists. However, we heard Bob Marley every day, everywhere we went. I'm not gonna lie, after 10 days I was over it.
After checking it, we walked up to this room, opened the balcony door and were greeted with this:
No joke, I started jumping up and down cheering "yay, yay, yay!!!" when I saw it. I loved being one of the rooms surrounding the pool - it made me feel very "Melrose Place" except without all the drama and scandal.
The resort had a crazy amount of activities and water sports, though we spent most of our time hanging out on the beach being couple-y. Regardless, here are some pics/stories of what we saw/did:
1) A lot of our trip was spent doing this:
or this:
Amazing.
2) Our resort was "Couples Tower Isle". While it looked pretty from afar, we actually didn't go to the island because it's an "all nude" part of the resort. I've done the topless thing, but I don't think I could go all out. We did get a closeup peek of the island during one of our boat rides...and the people on the island decided to moon us. Nice.
3) We took several boat rides during our trip - once for a catamaran cruise (where I was d.r.u.n.k.) and to go snorkeling/scuba diving. I could not get over how clear and blue the water was and it was my fist time swimming with fish - an interesting experience for a girl who often says "I don't do nature", but it was fun. I didn't scuba with Matt since I wasn't comfortable with breathing underwater, but I did snorkel above him so I got to watch everything he did. Not fun - When we got back on the boat, I started to feel sick and my muscles tensed up and I couldn't move them. Turns out I was showing symptoms of the bends - yes, leave it to the girl who didn't actually scuba to get sick. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in bed watching "The Tyra Show", "Wendy Williams", "Extra", and other bad talk shows.
Me and the boy on the Catamaran
Where they took us to snorkel/scuba
I love that this fish was camera ready
4) I also ate...a lot. This is the benefit/drawback of all-inclusive resorts. In addition to the buffet, they had 2 fancy restaurants as well as 2 more casual restaurants, juice/veggie bar, and a poolside grill. Being the dork that I am, I definitely took pictures of food, especially since some of the meals were the most beautifully plated meals I've ever seen, but I won't bore you guys with those.
5) Ever since I can remember, whenever I've been on the beach, I've written "Bianca <3 *insert current crush*". So of course, I did that in Jamaica.
Time flew by way too fast and before I knew it, we were at the Montego Bay airport which I have to say was awesome because they had the Official Jamaican Bobsled Team store complete with the actual bobsled they used. The best part is that they were playing "Cool Runnings" on loop. I used to LOVE that movie!
Looking through these pics makes me want to be back on the beach...think I can convince the boy to go somewhere tropical for Christmas?
Monday, October 26, 2009
My Wedding!
The boy and I have been back from the honeymoon for 2 weeks now and I realized that today I have been married for 1 month...which means I should finally blog about it. And while I wanted to wait until I had the digital files for my wedding pics to post pics, some of you have asked to see some so I'm going to post some that my friends took.
I'm proud to say that I remained pretty calm throughout the wedding planning process. I guess after going to law school and studying/taking the bar exam, nothing can be more stressful. Plus it helped that Tiffany, aka, the BEST maid of honor ever, flew out a few days early to help with last minute details. Since we had a long engagement, I was able to space out details pretty well and fortunately we only had 1 unexpected thing go wrong (candle holder drama) so I didn't have to deal with too much before the big day. The rehearsal (which went smoothly after everyone finally got there due to ridiculous SF traffic) was fast and the dinner was lovely. We all ate too much and happy. Here's Tiff and I right before dessert. I was in LOVE with my vintage 1950's dress that I got at Shangri-La Vintage in Chicago. I love it there!
After the rehearsal Tiff and I went back to my house where we painted our nails and I watched Tivoed talk shows until I finally fell asleep. I woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and watched an episode of "Clean House" before taking my shower - typical Bianca.
My bridesmaids and I all went out to breakfast before heading to the venue where we were all getting our hair and makeup done. We were greeted with champagne and juice which we drank while getting pampered for 4 hours. Lovely. Time flew by super fast and before I knew it I had to put my dress on and go outside for pics. When we walked outside, we were shocked. It was 90 degrees outside which is hot for the Bay Area and even worse considering it was late September. My dress fit perfectly, but that also meant there was little breathing room and I was pretty sure I was going to faint. Fortunately that didn't happen. Here are some pics of me and my bridesmaids:
The girls helping me with my dress
Group portrait for the photographer
The photos didn't take too long and after relaxing for 20 minutes and having a group dance party to "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus (don't judge us) it was time to walk down the aisle. The ceremony was quick (15 minutes or so) but it was beautiful and everything I wanted it to be:
Walking down the aisle to a string version of "Pictures of You" by the Cure
Saying our vows
Yay, we're married! Walking back to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes
The reception was fabulous. My colors were pink and champagne and while it was stressful to pick out cake/linens/flowers without seeing what they would all look like together, I loved it:
Entrance
Pretty Friends!
Cake!
Along with dinner and dancing, my favorite part of my reception was that we had a photobooth! It was the 1 thing that I always wanted at my wedding and I'm thrilled that we had one. Guests not only took pictures, but the machine printed doubles which they placed on a page that they decorated and wrote notes on and was then placed in a book which we used as our guest book. Photobooth + open bar = ridiculousness. I love my friends. Here are some of my favorites:
The Girls
College Roomies!
Groomsmen
Law School Girls!
Me and the Boy
At the end of the night we waited for everyone to leave and then we took off for the Four Seasons where we had the coolest hotel room I've ever been in which included a TV in the bathroom. Love it. I'm so, so happy with how the entire day went, but more importantly I'm unbelievably excited that I'm this boy's wife. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
I'm proud to say that I remained pretty calm throughout the wedding planning process. I guess after going to law school and studying/taking the bar exam, nothing can be more stressful. Plus it helped that Tiffany, aka, the BEST maid of honor ever, flew out a few days early to help with last minute details. Since we had a long engagement, I was able to space out details pretty well and fortunately we only had 1 unexpected thing go wrong (candle holder drama) so I didn't have to deal with too much before the big day. The rehearsal (which went smoothly after everyone finally got there due to ridiculous SF traffic) was fast and the dinner was lovely. We all ate too much and happy. Here's Tiff and I right before dessert. I was in LOVE with my vintage 1950's dress that I got at Shangri-La Vintage in Chicago. I love it there!
After the rehearsal Tiff and I went back to my house where we painted our nails and I watched Tivoed talk shows until I finally fell asleep. I woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and watched an episode of "Clean House" before taking my shower - typical Bianca.
My bridesmaids and I all went out to breakfast before heading to the venue where we were all getting our hair and makeup done. We were greeted with champagne and juice which we drank while getting pampered for 4 hours. Lovely. Time flew by super fast and before I knew it I had to put my dress on and go outside for pics. When we walked outside, we were shocked. It was 90 degrees outside which is hot for the Bay Area and even worse considering it was late September. My dress fit perfectly, but that also meant there was little breathing room and I was pretty sure I was going to faint. Fortunately that didn't happen. Here are some pics of me and my bridesmaids:
The girls helping me with my dress
Group portrait for the photographer
The photos didn't take too long and after relaxing for 20 minutes and having a group dance party to "Party in the U.S.A." by Miley Cyrus (don't judge us) it was time to walk down the aisle. The ceremony was quick (15 minutes or so) but it was beautiful and everything I wanted it to be:
Walking down the aisle to a string version of "Pictures of You" by the Cure
Saying our vows
Yay, we're married! Walking back to "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes
The reception was fabulous. My colors were pink and champagne and while it was stressful to pick out cake/linens/flowers without seeing what they would all look like together, I loved it:
Entrance
Pretty Friends!
Cake!
Along with dinner and dancing, my favorite part of my reception was that we had a photobooth! It was the 1 thing that I always wanted at my wedding and I'm thrilled that we had one. Guests not only took pictures, but the machine printed doubles which they placed on a page that they decorated and wrote notes on and was then placed in a book which we used as our guest book. Photobooth + open bar = ridiculousness. I love my friends. Here are some of my favorites:
The Girls
College Roomies!
Groomsmen
Law School Girls!
Me and the Boy
At the end of the night we waited for everyone to leave and then we took off for the Four Seasons where we had the coolest hotel room I've ever been in which included a TV in the bathroom. Love it. I'm so, so happy with how the entire day went, but more importantly I'm unbelievably excited that I'm this boy's wife. I'm a lucky, lucky girl.
Monday, September 28, 2009
officially a mrs.
Sorry I've been absent. I've been pretty busy. Nothing special really...
Ok, that's a lie. I've been busy getting MARRIED!!!
Things are super crazy as we're running around saying goodbye to the family that flew into town as well as preparing for our honeymoon, but I promise to write all about it when I get back!
But to summarize - I'm a happy gal.
Ok, that's a lie. I've been busy getting MARRIED!!!
Things are super crazy as we're running around saying goodbye to the family that flew into town as well as preparing for our honeymoon, but I promise to write all about it when I get back!
But to summarize - I'm a happy gal.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
back in chicago
Tuesday night I flew back to Chicago. In the past month, I've been on a plane 3 times and as a girl who really hates to fly, it's been a little bit rough. I'm terrified of flying. I used to love it and then suddenly about 6 years ago, it started to scare the crap out of me. I still have trouble wrapping my head around how something so big can fly. I know it's physics and it's not that complicated and that it's the safest way to travel. The boy constantly tells me that I have no problem with driving and that it's much more dangerous than being on a plane. I think it has something to do with giving up control. I get so nervous that I'm super alert for the day or so before the flight and I'm really jumpy during the flight so I'm exhausted by the time I get home. I also haven't been sleeping well the last few nights, so I'm a sleepy gal. Anyone with advice on how to cope with flight nerves, please pass them my way.
I've spent the last 2 days running a ridiculous amount of errands. I'm absolutely thrilled to be back home. Since I was here 3 weeks ago, I feel like I never left. I don't get home very often so my mom totally pampers me when I'm here and I have to admit, it's lovely. I'm a lucky gal. Plus, I absolutely love waking up to this view every morning:
Yesterday the bestie and I went to our spot for some much needed BLTs and pie and were thrilled that it was free pie day. We ate far too much and she suddenly pulled out plastic vampire teeth, put them on and asked if she sparkled (if you're in the know, you get this). We proceeded to spend about 30 minutes quoting twilight and laughing about how ridiculous we are. I swear I'm 26 years old...and that this behavior is totally normal. I adore that girl.
Oh, and I'm getting married in 3 1/2 weeks. I was really calm but I slowly feel like freaking out. There are a bunch of little details to take care of and I'm worried about it getting done and looking fabulous. I keep reminding myself that the day is really about the act of getting married and everything else will fall into place but the girl in me wants it to be perfect. Yesterday I had my final dress fitting and it's amazing, so at least I was able to avoid the cookies and sweets and zip the dress up :)
Chicago Peeps, let me know if there's anything fun going on in the city this week/weekend that I should be aware of!
I've spent the last 2 days running a ridiculous amount of errands. I'm absolutely thrilled to be back home. Since I was here 3 weeks ago, I feel like I never left. I don't get home very often so my mom totally pampers me when I'm here and I have to admit, it's lovely. I'm a lucky gal. Plus, I absolutely love waking up to this view every morning:
Yesterday the bestie and I went to our spot for some much needed BLTs and pie and were thrilled that it was free pie day. We ate far too much and she suddenly pulled out plastic vampire teeth, put them on and asked if she sparkled (if you're in the know, you get this). We proceeded to spend about 30 minutes quoting twilight and laughing about how ridiculous we are. I swear I'm 26 years old...and that this behavior is totally normal. I adore that girl.
Oh, and I'm getting married in 3 1/2 weeks. I was really calm but I slowly feel like freaking out. There are a bunch of little details to take care of and I'm worried about it getting done and looking fabulous. I keep reminding myself that the day is really about the act of getting married and everything else will fall into place but the girl in me wants it to be perfect. Yesterday I had my final dress fitting and it's amazing, so at least I was able to avoid the cookies and sweets and zip the dress up :)
Chicago Peeps, let me know if there's anything fun going on in the city this week/weekend that I should be aware of!
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