Sheila and Frank's Wedding (6.02.12)

Beautiful wedding at Tivoli Terrace in Laguna Beach, CA

Sheila's Wedding Rehearsal

Chicken with Parmesan Risotto

Yesterday was Sheila's wedding rehearsal and dinner. I unfortunately only have this picture to show for our day. I realize that I should maybe start taking more pictures. I was actually a little wary that I would somehow get on that website, "Asians taking pictures of food". But in any case, this was a very tasty dinner. The risotto was creamy and had a wonderful infusion of parmesan without it tasting too greasy. The chicken was moist and crispy at the same time. It was all very good. Sheila is to be married in Laguna beach at a place called Tivoli Terrace. It's a show theater that is used on the side as a wedding venue. I will definitely post pictures of that day and post them for you to see.


The interesting thing about this wedding will be that although I am a part of the wedding party, I am actually going to be standing on the groom's side. With the pregnancy and my body getting bigger, I could not even zip up my dress halfway. Something had to be done, and Sheila decided quickly that I would instead be on the groom's side. She fortunately already had a girl on the groom's side so it was an easy switch. But it will definitely be weird standing with the groomsmen instead of the bridesmaids during the wedding ceremony. I also will be getting a boutonniere instead of a bouquet. I'd been practicing my standing with a bouquet so I am not sure what I will do with my hands.


I also realized yesterday that Laguna Beach is a really nice place to spend the day. Highway 1 was absolutely full of wonderful and cute little shops that I would LOVE to take a day to just stroll along. It would be a great place to have a first date. I will definitely try and go one of these days with Brian...hopefully before the baby comes. I saw a place where we could make our own t-shirt prints that I want to try out. But one thing I didn't like about that place was the traffic. So many people come here that massive traffic jams are bound to happen. It took me 35-40 minutes to travel 9 miles on that road! But still...I think it's worth it. 

Birthday Cake for Brian

It's become a tradition in our little, but soon to be growing family that I make a strawberry and whipped cream french vanilla cake for Brian's birthday every year. This year was no different. I particularly like this cake because it's not as sweet as the vast majority of cakes we eat these days. Brian and I love it.

So we've decided to name our baby "Stompie" while it is in the womb. During our ultrasound a couple weeks ago, we saw our baby stomping around and decided that was a good name to call it since we won't know if it's a girl or a boy until the little bugger comes out.

I definitely feel the baby more and more as the days go by. Its kicks right now feel like little taps at various places in my abdomen...but more towards the bottom. I feel Stompie the most when I am laying on my side, watching tv. Brian is definitely more excited about our baby. He likes it when I point out to him exactly where I can feel it kicking me. He also enjoys telling our baby that he is the father in a very low and sometimes creepy voice. Seeing Eric and Yoojin's Baby lat week made this pregnancy way more real to me and Brian both. As I held the little newborn in my arms, I say to Brian, "We are gonna have one of these soon!" Quite surreal, but very exciting to know that we created something together!

I am counting my blessing so far that I have not gotten any stretch marks. I am diligently applying Bella B Tummy Honey Butter on my belly every night. I get grease stains on my clothes, but I don't care. I'd rather get grease stains on my clothes than red stretch stains on my belly.

Poached Eggs!!

Made poached eggs for a late breakfast today. Ate it with smoked turkey on a sourdough english muffin.

Second day of Vacation

Today is Tuesday, also my second official day of vacation. I have a long break, but I can't stop feeling like I may end up wasting it all away already. Crazy as it may sound, I have been waking up around 7:30 am for the last two days. I've done a little bit of cleaning up here and there. Well, a lotta bit. We have a new roommate who is to live with us for about half a year until our other friend's room is available. Yesterday I moved most of my stuff and organized our bedroom to act as both sleeping quarters and a study room. I went to Ross and Target to look for storage supplies and came back with two cute baskets and several closet drawers. I also took a whirl at decorating our living room. All I really did was add an end table between our couches...really?...Is that all I did? Hmmmm...seems like I did more. Oh yes, I put my new couch pillows on our couches. Looks nice! Now the big task is filling up our empty walls with some form of decor. I've been looking at a website that lets you print huge versions of your jpegs onto regular letter-sized paper. I printed one and am currently flattening them out. I bought foam board to see if I can paste them on there. We have a HUGE wall in our living room that is quite bare. I've decided on a few of Degas' ballet paintings for our wall. Let's hope this comes out okay.

Today was shopping day. Around noon, I went to the mall to buy christmas gifts for the family. I didn't even realize that I hadn't had anything to eat until 11. I decided that I'd go to Panera at the mall and pick something up. There were a LOT of people at the mall. Very hectic. So I took my Tomato Mozarella Panini with Black Bean soup in a brown paper bag and headed out to my car. I briefly thought about scarfing down my sandwich while I was in my car before I left the mall, but there was already someone who wanted my spot, so I decided to wait. Braving the rough and wet weather, I made it to Joann's in Poway. I turned off my car, brought out my ipod, turned on Julie and Julia and enjoyed a nice 15 minute lunch break in my car. The rain did a nice job of blurring the outside, so it felt like I was in my own little private space.

Later in the afternoon. I tried to do yoga. I put the DVD in. But just thinking about doing all the exercises made me tired even before I started. So I took a nap instead.

Made Chicken and Penne Alfredo with peas and mushrooms for dinner. Fed the hubby and the roomies. They liked it. I may bake tomorrow. But we shall see.

Relaxing finals week

Studying for finals has actually allowed me to rest, oddly enough. Usually finals week is pretty hectic and stressful, but for me, I find it a time to cram while having time to relax. No clinicals to go to, no patients to pick out and spend hours writing up a care map for them, no care plans, papers, projects to work on. I would Love to do nothing but study.

Anyways, my glorious five weeks of free time is not too far away. I've already booked our trip to Tahoe and am very excited to board in some good snow! I alreay have a list of books that I am going to read. I've received several books as gifts, but just never had the time to read. I will finally finish the twilight books and the harry potter books and watch all the movies. I'm gonna be a good wife and cook a lot more for Brian. I love cooking so that will be very relaxing and fun.

I've started on a diet about 2 weeks or so ago. I've lost about 2 pounds I believe. Starving sucks by the way. Well I wouldn't call it starving. For example, Brian and I went to go eat Soon Doo Boo and I only mixed a spoonful of rice into my bowl and passed on the egg. It "looked" like I was eating quite voraciously, but it's just tasty soup and tofu.

Hmmm...blogger just deleted half my post....grrrr....

My life in Pictures

Huge Pizza from the pizza place down the street, Fountain at Pala, Carol sleeping with Taco,
Hair-do by Ashley, Yilei's Birthday cake, Yilei staring into his b-day cake!