The Beach and a Birthday

Tonight Michelle, Sonia and I celebrated Sonia’s 30^th birthday at a place we like to go to in Sunset Beach.  It’s actually one of my favorite restaurants and I don’t get to go very often, so it definitely was a treat!

Let’s start with the beach.  Before getting engaged and married, I spent the last 8ish years in a small town called Seal Beach.  Sunset Beach, where we had dinner tonight, is a few miles down from Seal Beach, and driving through my old neighborhood was nostalgic.  The way I feel and talk about it, you’d think I lived there 20 years ago.  It’s so odd how in reality, I just moved out about a year ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago...before a crazy wedding planning year, before turning 30, before getting married,  before my new life began.  I guess a lot can happen in 12 months. 

I miss Seal Beach.  I miss the smell of salty air.  I miss the supermarket that I used to shop at.  I miss running along the beach.  I miss the small boutiques.  I miss my favorite flower shop.  BUT, as much as I miss it, I don’t want to move back.  I love the small duplex that Sherwin and I now call home.  I love being close to my parents.  I love being close to church.  The San Gabriel Valley (for a quick overview view this J), fobby and all, is definitely where we belong. 

So enough with the heartfelt story, onto the birthday partay!  Well, our dinner tonight was more of a birthday party, versus a partay.  The partay was at Club Nokia a few weeks back.  J  The three of us all met at our previous workplace, but since then have formed lifelong friendships.  Michelle was my roommate for a few years, and Sonia grew to be one of my closet girlfriends.  Dinner was delicious, and although we’ve seen each other quite often lately, we haven’t had the chance to catch up, so having a few hours to just chat was nice. 

Sonia is near and dear to my heart.  She is loyal, giving, patient, loving, reliable, and honest.  She is gorgeous and intelligent.  Of my close girlfriends, she’s been a wife the longest and the only one who is a mommy, and I admire her in both those roles.  She is the one girlfriend that I also work with, and that’s a whole other blessing to me!  She is the only bridesmaid that bought a book on how to be the best bridesmaid, when I asked her to be in our wedding.  Sonia is truly a blessing from the Lord!

Sonia – Thank you for being an amazing friend!  I pray that this year brings many blessings, as well as rest and reminders to take care of yourself!   You mean so much, to so many, and I hope you know just how loved and celebrated you are.  Happy 30^th, Sonia!  With all my heart…XOXO J

HP + HK!!!

Speaking of Hongie…she tweeted this the other day and I almost fell out of my chair.  NO WAY – two of my FAVORITE things are joining forces!! 

*Before reading any further, I just want to warn you that this post is for the more mature folks…please read at your discretion.

OK, so back to what I was saying…two of my FAVORITE things are joining forces!!  Yes, I just repeated myself – that is how excited I am about this. 

I LOVE Hanky Panky, as should you, if you’re a girl.  J  Their products are AMAZING.  I actually wore a pair on my wedding day (see photo below…super cute, right?!?!) and when I first tried them on awhile ago, I did go a little overboard and totally like redid my whole drawer with new HP stuff.  They are truly extraordinary I tell ya.  Comfy and one size fits all…what more could you love about ‘em?  It’s crazy…sometimes I don’t believe in those one size things, but trust me…they have shrunk and expanded right along with me.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

AND WHAT?!  WITH HELLO KITTY?!?!  For those of you who don't know me, I am a hello kitty enthusiast.  I’m not even sure enthusiast is the right word.  What does one call someone who is completely obsessed?  Crazed or maybe a fanatic?  That’s me.  J 

So HP + HK?!  When, where and how can I get some?!  Apparently the line is being released on May 25^th, so we have a little bit of a wait, but I’m sure it will be totally worth it.

If you’re interested, here’s the article from MSN, with a little sample of what’s to come. 

58 days and counting!  Yayayaay!!! J

Hanky Panky and Hello Kitty Partner forPanty Line

By Kim Anne Thu 3:30 PM

Your underwear is getting a makeover this spring—and it’ll take you back to your youth. Sanrio’s Hello Kitty brand has partnered with undergarment brand Hanky Panky to launch a collection of panties.

The line will include various styles of thongs, boyshorts, bras and even lacy camis, all stamped with that nostalgic cat logo. The collection will be launched in smaller boutiques in addition to large department stores like Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and others on June 30.

But if you think this line is just for the kids, think again. Sanrio senior brand marketing director David Marchi told Women’s Wear Daily that “A lot of people think this is just a brand for kids and teens, but many women 18 years and older have grown up with Hello Kitty and can relate to the brand in a more adult way.”

Yet another excuse to never grow up.

Photo courtesy Hanky Panky

Happy 30th, Hongie!

Hongie and I have been friends since high school.  We have gone thru boyfriends, jobs, graduations, apartments, diets, and work-out streaks together.  She also endured my engagement year (and sacrificially, generously helped with the prep – dieting and working out with me even though she’s a skinny mini already, lasering me, etc.) with me and stood by my side on one of the biggest days of my life. 

Hongie is a blessing in my life.  She’s an amazing friend, a gorgeous gal (inside and out), a talented beauty RN, and just an incredible woman.  She celebrated my 30^th with me in Vegas and has been there for me in so many ways over the past 15 years.  There is not enough space in this post, nor words in the English language, to convey my gratitude for Hongie in my life. 

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.  It’s the life in your years.” -
Abraham Lincoln

Hongie – I wish you another year full of life.  I love you and can’t wait to share many more memories together!  Happy 30^th, girlie!  XOXO

Christmas Year Round

I know it seems odd, a Christmas post in March, but I have to admit, I celebrate Christmas year round.  In no way do I mean to minimize December 25th and the celebration of Jesus' birth, but Christmas is my favorite holiday (for a number of reasons) and I do celebrate it year round.  
 

There are three major ways that I celebrate:

 

1.    Thanking the Lord for His son, His sacrifice and for His grace thru which I am redeemed and am a child of God.

2.    Listening to Christmas music!  In the beginning, my co-workers were a little taken aback by my  Christmas playlist being played in the off-season, but now it’s the norm. J

3.    Gifting – one of my love languages is gifts, so why wait for Christmas when you can gift year round!  

 

That being said, I realized that my blog and I were on vaca during the Christmas season…*sigh*…so I’ve decided to share one of my favorite Christmas music videos (and my love for JB!) with you today, yes in the last week of March. J 

 

It’s raining today, and I’m sickie, but under the awesome care of the best hubby ever, I’m recovering.   Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and wishing you a blessed week ahead! 

 

Oh, BTW – wedding was so sweet!  K+R post coming up…amongst other things, I feel totally behind!  Yikes! :P  Until then, “and I was like Baby, Baby, Baby, ooohhh,” oppsie, wrong song… J …I meant, “it’s the most beautiful time of the year…” alalalalala J
 

Kristin + Randy - one more day!

Happy Friday, everyone!

We are especially excited about this Friday, because it is the Friday before Kristin and Randy's wedding.  Sherwin has been asked to be an usher, I have been asked to be a greeter, and we are both so honored and excited to be a part of their big day!

As we head into the wedding weekend, I pray for God's peace and presence to be known, and for all those who are involved, to see to see God's amazing love and goodness through Kristin and Randy. 

EeEKKkK - one more day - can't wait! :)

Nuptial Notes #5 - Wedding album ordered!

After hours of viewing, sorting, organizing, etc., we have finally chosen the pictures for our wedding album.  The deadline to get them to our photographer is today, so I guess we didn't have much choice...thank goodness for that dealine though, otherwise we could have taken forever!  I'll share my favorite pic's once we get the disc with our photos.  Here's a little sample, picture quality isn't great, but I still love this photo!  Happy Thursday! :)

Weekend Recap

Thank God for Fridays.  It’s only Tuesday and I’m already looking forward to Friday.  Friday is like the party night to kick off the weekend.  AWESOME. J 

Since my parents were flying back from Israel this past Friday, I told BG that we couldn’t do our Serrano/Gee night because I figured that we might be spending time with them.  As it turns out, Kristin and Randy needed some help with wedding stuff (4 more days! J) and we also celebrated Thomas’ birthday.  We got home at 6am and by the time we went to bed, it was almost 7. 

my first instagram pic! :)  wedding project with K+R.

Saturday morning, cell phone rings at 9am.  It’s our landlord telling me that she wanted to install our new toilet, on Saturday, instead of Sunday.  I explained to her that we had gotten in kinda late the night before (or should I say early morning), but that we would be ready whenever she wanted to come.  I went back to sleep for a bit, Sherwin headed to the gym and our toilet installing commenced at 12pm.  I can’t complain, I do love our new Toto!

Sherwin packed up and left at 3:30 for Randy’s bachelor party and my parents came over at about 5.  We played some MD, ate snackies, then I packed up to spend the night at my parents.  It was my first night without Sherwin, and I definitely didn’t want to be alone, so back to 777 Laurel Circle it was.  The three of us (Mommy, Daddy, me) went to eat dinner, then Daddy made a fire for us when we got home.  Daddy and I took a nap by the fireplace and woke up again about the time Mommy was going to bed.  Daddy went off to bed and I tried to go to sleep but couldn’t.  I never have problems falling asleep, so I figured it had to be one of two things, or maybe a little of both.  One, my sleep pattern was all messed up with the late night, odd naps, etc.  Two, I was without Sherwin and the world didn’t seem right.  It’s weird…I had all this anxiety days before the wedding, about how I would never sleep in my own bed, by myself, ever again.  Now, less than 2 months after, I can’t sleep without him.  Crazy how that works, but I’m starting to realize that marriage is really two becoming one…anyways, back to the weekend recap. J  I stayed up reading my hand-me-down nook from Daddy and finally fell asleep at 4am.  Oof.

Sunday, 8:30am, Mommy is making breakfast before church and Daddy woke me up to eat.  Late as usual, Mommy and Daddy waited in the car for me and we finally got to church about 10 minutes late (I guess not too much has changed J).  After church, we got a quick bite to eat then I waited for Sherwin to pick me up for Keilani’s 4^th birthday party.  I can’t get into the story now because steam might start coming out of my ears, but we showed up to the party like 2½ hours late.  It was all good though – we ate, sang happy birthday, spent time with friends, then went back to Mommy and Daddy’s for dinner.  Nafan-chan and Diana (with Lolli Oli and Bubbas) were at the party too, and met us at Mommy/Daddy’s for dinner and to get the kids bathed and ready to fall asleep in the car on the way home.

Whew, back home at 10pm on Sunday, the Mr. and I unpacked bags, showered, caught up with one another, then climbed into bed around 1:30am.  Another weekend full of family, friends, fun, love, and laughter; God is good, life is good, we’re blessed.  Now, if I could just get some sleep…J

Sickie

A little broken today.  :( Praying for a speedy recovery!  Until then...

Happy Monday!

Monday's are crazy.  I wish I could do as J said, but alas, the world of work didn't get the memo.

Just a little something to brighten your day as she always brightens mine.  Sorry for the low audio, she's usually crazy loud, but maybe she was trying to feel the sad song...hee hee.  Love my Lolli Oli! 

Happy Monday!

Two of my best friends

Let me begin by saying that I am blessed, and I mean that with all my heart.  God is SO good.  Part of His abundant blessings, come in the form of those He has placed in my life.  I don’t have the words to share the depth of appreciation and love that I feel for those close to my heart.  My plan is to introduce you to them, one by one, at some point along my blogging journey.  J

In the past seven months, I turned 30 and got married, and both those life events have been game changers for me.  It is during those recent life events, mostly the latter, that I’ve realized who two of my best friends are - my Mommy and Daddy.

One of my new life mottos is, “show up for the ones you love.”  Actually, I don’t know that it’s a new belief for me, because I think I’ve always believed that to be true.  Maybe it’s just that I’ve been more aware of how much I believe in that statement, and let me tell ya, Mommy and Daddy have ALWAYS shown up for me.  They are my parents, so I understand that they have parental responsibilities.  However, they have continually shown up for me, far beyond what duty calls for. 

Although I said I’ve recently realized that they are two of my best friends, doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have realized it earlier.  As far as parenting goes, they haven’t been perfect, but who is?  All I know is that all my life, they have been amazing.  They recently took a two-week trip to Israel and by day two, I was counting down the days until their return. 

Here’s a handful of reasons why they are two of my best friends (not in order of importance or impact J):

§  Went with us to the crazy leap day event at Dland

§  Stood in line with me or for me, on multiple occasions (hello kitty’s birthday party, Jordan’s for Sherwin, black Friday, movie releases, the list goes on…)

§  Our greatest supporters (emotionally and financially), for our wedding (both of them went to wedding shows with me…one time, it was just Daddy, Sherwin and I! J)

§  Went with me to every dress fitting

§  Raised me in the Lord, taught me what unconditional love is and have been an example of God’s faithfulness

§  Accepting of me, Sherwin, and our friends, always welcoming those we love, with open arms

§  They give, and give, and then give some more…they are two of the most generous people I know

§  I can call them anytime, any hour, just to see what they’re up to, ask for advice, or to share my day with them

§  I love to be with them; to run errands, break bread (not because they always pick up the tab! J), play games, hang out 

I praise and thank the Lord for them both, often.  Thank you Mommy and Daddy, for being awesome parents, but even better, best friends.  I love you with all my heart. J

Nuptial Notes #4 – Ruth Wang, Behind the Scene

To all those who have planned a wedding, or are in the process of planning a wedding, you know that there is a story behind everything.  As I reflect on the whole planning process, I’ve realized that a wedding is yes, a celebration of marriage, two lives joining and becoming one.  It is a joyous occasion where family and friends gather, where the ones you love the most, are under one roof.  It is also a magical event, where you search endlessly to find the “best of the best” (or the best that fits within your budget J) in various professions, in hopes that they come together to create your perfect day.   Here’s our story of finding Ruth Wang with Behind the Scene, the most AMAZING wedding extraordinaire!

After we had hired a number of our vendors (10thLM being our first! J), I figured it was time to decide on a coordinator.  The Langham requires you to hire a paid professional for the day of and provided us with a list of their preferred vendors.  It’s hard to know who to call when all you see is a list in alphabetical order, so I started to do some research.  Yelp was kinda disappointing so I Googled.  Who knew there were so many wedding coordinators in the local area? 

Long story short, I put together a list of about 10 coordinators.  For those of you that don’t know, I work in the recruitment industry, which means I interview people for a living.   My mad interviewing skills (not really), coupled with my crazy (really), made it tough on the vendor hire process, but at the end of the day, it was all totally worth it.  OK, back to my list of 10 coordinators. 

§  Round 1 - I emailed all 10 coordinators and scheduled a time to speak with each of them. 

§  Round 2 – Narrowed my list down to the top 5 and scheduled in person meetings with them.  I asked for references from 4 of them, along with quotes.

§  Round 3 – After completing references and reviewing quotes, determined the top 2 and scheduled  2^nd meetings with them (my gut had always told me Ruth would be the one, even from our first correspondence J).

§  Round 4 – Decided that our coordinator HAD to be Ruth.  I only had a glimpse, at that time, of how awesome she really is.

I could write pages galore about Ruth, but I’ll try my best to capture the essence of her in this short post.  Half of what makes Ruth phenomenal is simply her awesome wedding planning skills; organized, detail-oriented, good communicator, responsive, knowledgeable, etc.  The other half is what truly sets Ruth in a class above the rest.  She is warm, excitable, caring, loving, intuitive, kind, and makes you feel like your crazy is totally normal and acceptable. J  Our wedding was just as I envisioned it and we couldn’t have done it without Ruth.  Throughout the process Ruth became like family.  Of all the professionals we worked with during our wedding, I really only grew to really love two – Ruth Wang and Addy Gilliam (and the fam). 

Tonight was a treat for us as we got to have dinner with Ruth.   As Sherwin prayed over our dinner, we thanked God for Ruth and the blessing she has been to us.  Sherwin says he misses the wedding planning…I don’t at all, but I have to thank the Lord for bringing Ruth and the Gilliams into our life during the process!

 I should have taken a picture when the whole table was set, but was too excited to wait for everything else to be placed on the table!  Looks a little bare, but we also had some side dishes.  Special thank you to the Mr. for getting everything ready for tonight.  I love you!

Thank you, Ruth, for the super tasty cupcakes!

Check out my Pa's! Hee hee...:)

There are few trends that are able to take me away from my standard french manis.   In fact, I can count them on one hand, the amount of times I have strayed from my regular.

1.    When dark nails were the craze, I did go black for about a week (but it had a fine glitter in it...very pretty, actually!).

2.    When multi-colorednails started poppin’ up on celebs, I rocked some nail art.

3.    Last but not least, I couldn’t help but give hello kitty some love on the nails (and that was semi because I did have the french underneath…the white tip was her face)! J

I now have a 4^th.  Y’all know how I’m a sucker for the dazzle, so it’s no surprise that I’ve fallen in love with these big confetti/glitter-type of nail polishes.  Hongie got me hooked on these Lynnderella nail polishes, but it turns out that you can only buy them if you give up your first born (literally, it’s like a crazy secret society).  Hooray for Pa Nail Polish!  I’ve had a few Pa polishes before, but found recently, their glitter/confetti collection.  I really suck at polishing my own nails, so sorry for the poor quality in the picture (as Wendy would say…good from far, but far from good J).  I also do not have a fancy camera, so that doesn’t help either.

Anyhow, wishing you a wonderful, colorful Thursday filled with all things glittery!  J

Weekend Recap!

This past weekend was packed as usual, and BIG FUN! 
 

Before I go into the weekend festivities, I have to tell you about a game that J&J introduced to us.  Monopoly Deal.  It’s AWESOME.  Sherwin and I decided to try the game out, so we figured we’d stop by our local Target.  To be honest, we knew J was coming the next weekend, which was this past weekend…and we knew we were going to play MD.  We knew we had to practice so we could be prepared to win when she came over.  I know, we’re serious gamers. J  OK, back to our story.  Went to Target - sold out.  Called 2 more Targets the next day – in stock in their computer, no available stock to be found.  Called Walmart – in stock in their computer, no available stock to be found.  It was crazy!  We still don’t know what the issue is with this game, but after all else failed, we defaulted to the internet.  Praise God for Amazon! J 

We started of the weekend with our usual Serrano/Gee Friday night.  BG had no babysitter for Jakey, so we went to his place to hang out (after we unpacked like 10 boxes…making progress people, making progress…J).  We ate all the snackies BG put out for us, and the katsu leftovers from the night before, and it was all yummy (thanks BG for being such a good host!).  Then, we taught BG, MD!  More hours of MD fun!  I tell ya, that game is amazing! 

Saturday was kinda hectic.  The Mr. and I both had errands to run in the morning, mixed in with housekeeping duties, a stop at the salon with Chels, all while preparing food for our dinner guests.  J and I finally got our schedules to jive and I haven’t seen her since he wedding, so I was totally excited for her to come over.  Aim and Blane were also coming, which was an added bonus!  I’ve been wanting to see Aim and Blane too, and with the little one on the way, there was much to catch up on!  Saturday night was such a blessing – a night of food, good friends, yummy dessert, and of course, some MD action. 
 

Sunday, church as usual and lunch with the young adult group.  Then we picked up Wendy and headed to the valley.  We spend every Sunday with my brother, his family and my parents.  Mommy and Daddy are in Israel, so it was just the 5 of us, my niece Olivia (Lolli Oli) and my nephew Eli (Bubbas).  The girls went to see the Lorax (so good! J) while the boys went to Lowe’s.  We rode bikes, facetimed with the rentals, and ordered in yummy thai food for dinner.

 
All in all, a weekend full of love, laughter, friends, family, and some awesome MD gaming! 

Nuptial Notes #3 - 10th Letter Media!

In this nuptial notes #3, I would like to introduce you to 10th Letter Media! If you were around during any of the wedding planning, you know how much I love them! OK, to set the stage…we met 10th Letter Media (Addy and Julian) in Hawaii, in 2010, when we went to Hawaii for Mike and Angie’s wedding. They did a same day edit for Mike and Angie and I fell in love. I couldn’t stop watching their video and when I came home, I couldn’t stop showing it to people. Their work is so unique and amazing, and what I didn’t know then, is how awesome they are as individuals. In true Leah fashion, I became obsessed. I started following their blog and watching every video that was posted. I didn’t even know these couples, yet I couldn’t stop watching!

Seven months later, Sherwin and I were engaged and the first vendor I contacted was 10th Letter Media. I knew that it would be a long shot – they were in Hawaii and our wedding was in California. I wasn’t sure how much it was going to cost us, but I had to ask. I sent off my email and prayed. The next day I receive this response from Addy (excerpt below)…

“We would love to cover your event as well! Julian who is my husband and our main videographer is a California native (Orange county too!) so we are somewhat familiar with the area. We do charge a travel fee for weddings out of Hawaii though. I can give you a better estimate once we return to Honolulu on Monday, but to give you a general idea, our travel costs usually cover flight, hotel, transportation, and other minor incidentals.”

My first reaction – Julian’s from California! There was something in me that felt that we had a connection since he used to be a local. :) As I read on, I started to wonder how much the rest was going to cost, so I waited in anticipation to hear back from Addy with the details…

Addy follows up a few days later and although the travel costs weren’t crazy, it put us out of our budget. My heart sank. This is horrible of me, but I couldn’t even write Addy back at the moment. I needed time to figure out a plan, to come up with a solution. I had to see where we could cut back so that I could justify the increase. I had to talk to Sherwin (who loved them as much as I did) and to my parents. I was determined to somehow, someway, make it work. We prayed.

Two weeks passed. The first week, we tried to work with our budget. Once we realized there was no way to cut back in other areas in order to offset the spend for 10th Letter, we came to the bitter realization that we just wouldn’t be able to have them. The second week, Sherwin and I must have visited 50 websites, watched numerous videos, and were disappointed after every video. Finally, after the two weeks passed, I wrote Addy. I explained our situation and asked her if Julian could recommend us anyone out here in CA.

Then, God answered our prayers. Addy responded…

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They were coming!!!!!!!!! We wrote our first wedding check out to 10th LM and the rest is history. Through the process, Julian, Addy and their beautiful daughter Izzy, have become like family. Addy and I keep in touch, I am an avid follower of her blog and I still follow the 10th LM blog. I am always in awe of their videos, but above all, I have become a fan of the Gilliam family. Their talent and work is definitely something to be admired, but I have come to care for them as friends.

And finally…here it is! Our highlight reel…I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Thank you Addy, Julian (and Jon!)!! XOXO

Leah and Sherwin | 01.21.12 | Highlights from 10th Letter Media, LLC on Vimeo.

Round 2 - 2012, Mrs. L.Kiyomi Serrano :)

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry that I've been away for awhile...OK, not awhile...a LONG TIME...but I am trying to give this another go, so here we go folks - round 2, it's 2012 and I am now L. Kiyomi Serrano.  :) 

True to form, and my way to ease back into the world of blogging, I'd like to share my song of the moment with you.  Just makes you feel like dancing, right?!

Happy Friday and a HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY to my girl, Hongie.  Love you and wishing you another year full of blessings and good health! 

Until next time (which I promise will be soon!)...Call Me Maybe? :)