Back!

I’m baaack!!!  Well at least for a few days before we depart for a mini vaca to Cabo!

So life has been crazy.  I’m sure it’s been crazy for y’all as well since we each have our own chaos, but the days have just flown by.  I find myself barely getting home in time to shower, do some house chores or maybe read a bit, get to bed past midnight, only to wake up the next day and do it all over again…BUT, as always, God is faithful and has been taking good care of us.

There is one thing, other than time, that has truly put a damper on my blogging.  About 7 weeks ago, my camera broke (I won’t go into details, but for once, it isn’t my fault :P).  Since I don’t have my camera, it’s been hard to capture moments to share on the blog, and let’s be real…no one just wants to read text…booooring, right?!!?  Anyhow, we are on the hunt for a new camera, or we may just get ours fixed, but until then, I’m cameraless and have been totally bummed and unmotivated to blog.  OK – enough with the excuses, camera or not, I gotta get caught up.  I’ve missed you!

So much to tell, so little time, and again, all with no camera.  I’m going to do my best to recap the past couple weeks with “borrowed” pictures, so just bear with me in case the photo doesn’t exactly match the event.  Here we go!

Day trip to Laguna Beach – attended Saddleback church in the morning, then headed down to the beachside for brunch.  Went to Art-a-Fair, Sawdust Festival, Festival of the Arts, and finished the day with Pageant of the Masters!

 

  

 

Celebrated three special birthdays (more to come…)!! 

 

Our wedding DVD – HOORAY for Addy and Julian at 10^th Letter!!!

 

 Had a special visit from Rocky!

  

Much needed QT with Wendy <3 

Celebrating God’s new gift to my Cousin Stacy!

 

“…because that’s what you do with gifts…you give them away.”

 

Sleepover in the OC, early entry to DCA (Cars Land is AWESOME!), then Disneyland. 

After 10 hours of Disney fun, enjoyed a yummie Tonkatsu dinner

and tasty shaved ice with the fam and Ethan.

 

  

And on Friday, headed to Cabo for some much needed R&R…

Have a blessed Tuesday…I know I will as J is visiting!! 

Enchanted!

While I’ve been dukin’ it out with this cold of mine, my hubby, as always, has been taking exceptional care of me.  Tonight, he made sinigang (Filipino soup with veggies and meat, yummie!), then propped me up in bed and turned on one of my fave movies…Enchanted (what's not to love about a modern-day fairytale in New York?!?!?!)!

I love most things Disney – Disney radio, Disney Channel (even though I have no time to watch it L), and of course, Disneyland!  I’m not one of those crazed Disney fanatics, but I do enjoy the wonderment of the Disney world.  I’m not sure how accurate of a statement it is, but some people have even described me as whimsical.  I guess the fact that I wore a Disney princess ballroom wedding gown, with a glitter tulle skirt, lends to the whole whimsical label.

My Cinderella dress and my dapper prince!

I haven’t watched Enchanted in forever, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!  If you haven’t seen it, you are truly missing out.  I have always believed in (and practiced) the importance of childlike “sillies”…to dance crazy, sing out loud, love wholeheartedly, and of course…share in true love’s kiss. 

Wishing you a magical weekend! XOXO!

Thankful Thursday - with some wedding pics ;)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  On this Thankful Thursday, I am praising my Heavenly Father for…

§  Awesome girl time with Hongie – thank you for sharing your vaca pics and for the nail TLC!  You are near and dear to my heart girlie…love you lots! XOXO

§  Wedding pictures!  We received all our pictures on discs today…we haven’t gone through all of them yet but I'm sure I'll be sharing in days to come!  So excited for our album to arrive!

§  Yummy somen salad – I don’t mean to brag, but I think I made a pretty tasty SS this week…twice!

§  J’s back!  Omigosh folks, the girl is driving again, AND it’s manual!!!  Whoop whoop! 

§  My love’s back is better (he had a little spasm) and had a major win at his basketball game!

§  Our special team at work – they truly are the best ever – family, friends, co-workers…all wrapped up in one!

§  Healing loved ones that are sickie!  Mommy, Daddy, Tin, Addy – glad you’re on the mend!

§  A weekend home with the hubby…seemingly rare these days. :P

What blessings are you counting today?

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

I always thought my wedding day would be bittersweet because although I’d be overflowing with joy to  marry the love of my life, it would also symbolize the separation from my parents…specifically my Daddy.  Much to my surprise, as Daddy walked me down the aisle and gave me away to my Mister, it was all sweet and no bitter.  Looking back on my 30 years of life thus far, I realize that Daddy has made my life always sweet and never bitter.  That’s not to say he is perfect, but it is to say that he has been and will always be my hero, my best friend, my Daddy and nothing, not even changing my last name, could ever change any of that.

The video below, put together by my hubby, was played at our wedding.  The video footage began and then transitioned into the song my Daddy and I danced to.

Daddy – on this Father’s Day, I hope you know how much I love you…how much I treasure the moments spent together, and how much you mean to me.  It’s no wonder why I married such a great man, because much of what I love about Sherwin, I learned from you.  God could not have blessed me with a better Daddy.  With all my love, Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!

I Loved Her First

Heartland

Look at the two of you dancing that way

Lost in the moment and each others face

So much in love your alone in this place

Like there's nobody else in the world

I was enough for her not long ago

I was her number one

She told me so

And she still means the world to me

Just so you know

So be careful when you hold my girl

Time changes everything

Life must go on

And I'm not gonna stand in your way

  
But I loved her first and I held her first

And a place in my heart will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

And I prayed that she'd find you someday

But it still hard to give her away

I loved her first

How could that beautiful woman with you

Be the same freckle face kid that I knew

The one that I read all those fairy tales to

And tucked into bed all those nights

And I knew the first time I saw you with her

It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first

And a place in my heart will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

And I prayed that she'd find you someday

But its still hard to give her away

I loved her first

From the first breath she breathed

When she first smiled at me

I knew the love of a father runs deep

Someday you might know what I'm going through

When a miracle smiles up at you

I loved her first

Mr. and Mrs. Randall Yoshima!

Last Saturday, Sherwin and I were honored to be guests at Randall and Kristin’s wedding.  As I had mentioned before, Sherwin had the privilege of being an usher, and I was a greeter/welcome table attendant, and we enjoyed every minute of the event!

I personally believe that weddings are a reflection of the bride – their personality, their style, their loves…it is truly representative of who they are. It’s also reflective of the couple, and since each bride and groom are different, so are the weddings, and that’s what makes each one unique, almost like a fingerprint of some sort.  Awesome, wonderful, heartwarming and beautiful…OMG, I have become such a sucker for weddings!  I can almost totally understand why people crash weddings…almost. J 

Kristin and Randy’s wedding was completely them.  The flowers were dainty, gorgeous, and everywhere!  The ceremony was spiritual (we even had a ring blessing time where their rings were passed amongst the guests and we all had a time to pray a blessing over their marriage) and their love for the Lord was evident.  The entire event was also sprinkled with handmade details; the napkin rings, escort cards, dessert bags, and even the cake topper!  The food was yummy, the dessert bar was awesome and Dar’s (Sugar Plum Pastry) cupcakes were adorable.  As usual, we danced the night away and closed the place down at midnight with the newlyweds.  J 

Kristin and Randy – you both have been great friends to Sherwin and I, and we are so blessed to have you in our lives.  We wish you all the best as you begin your new life together as husband and wife, learning how to love and serve one another and growing together as you also grow in the Lord.  We are excited to have more friends that are married and looking forward to many adventures together.  Vegas (and bananas foster J), here we come!!  Congratulations and best wishes – we love you guys!       

     

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! :)

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!

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.

Nuptial Notes #2

Maid of Honor – Wendy J

I was curious about the origin of the term, “Maid of Honor,” so like everything else for the wedding, I googled.  This is one of the better explanations I found:

“Back in Roman times, the bride traditionally traveled to the groom's home village for the wedding ceremony. The original purpose of the maid of honor and her fellow bridesmaids was to dress exactly like the bride in order to protect her. Any men jealous of the bride and groom would be confused as to which was the real bride. The matching bridesmaids and maid of honor were also there to confuse any malevolent spirits. The groomsmen and ushers in turn dressed like the groom for the same purpose.

The maid of honor was also supposed to help the bride dress and prepare for the wedding (as she does now), as well as aiding her to make the bridal wreath. This wreath of aromatic herbs and flowers was another protection designed to keep away evil spirits.

The title, "maid of honor," may have come from the United Kingdom. It used to be the term for a female attendant of the queen. And perhaps now we know where the bridezilla complex may have come from! I suppose the bride is more or less the queen for a day.”

"The History of Maids of Honor." A Site for Maids and Matrons of Honor! http://www.maid-of-honor.net/index.php?url=history-maid-honor&category=MaidAdvice

Wendy is my Maid of Honor.  She is like family to me, to us.  We have lived life together – loved, laughed, cried, celebrated, and have shared everything in between.  She is smart, witty, funny, driven, gorgeous, caring, loving, and more…she’s my bestie.   I’ll save my speeches about her and the BM’s for the engagement party or rehearsal dinner, but had to share an amazing experience we had the other night.  The dress.  No, not mine, hers.

In the beginning, I was adamant about Wendy having a different dress from the BMs.  As I started to look for dresses, I realized that it’s hard to find a MOH dress that matches the BM dresses, but different at the same time.  I wanted to find a MOH dress that was the same (or pretty close) in material, same color (preferably from the same dye lot), with a similar cut and neckline.  I then found a few dresses at Nordstrom that I liked.  Sizing was limited, so that narrowed down my choices.  I came to the realization that maybe, everyone would just wear the same dress.  Monday night – ordered the dresses (see Nuptial Notes #1).

Tuesday morning – I’m at work and my BBM starts blowing up!  I read messages from Wendy, then I receive an email with a link.  I click on it.  One of the dresses I LOVED, but had only larger sizes, is now showing other sizes available!  Wendy and I scurry to order the dress.  She tries and is having some technical difficulties so I scramble to order it in the size we need.  My order goes thru and thank goodness because about 10 minutes later, the size we need is no longer available.  Praise the Lord! 

I’m not sure that words do it justice from this point, so I’ll just share the pictures. 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!  Love the fact that it’s made by the same designer as the other dresses, love that it’s also black, long and formal, love the bow in the back and love the train.  Most of all, I LOVE the beautiful woman wearing the dress, who no matter how amazing she looks on the outside, pales in comparison to the beauty on the inside.

Nuptial Notes (column coined by Daddy :))

Since part of the reason I decided to start my blog now is due to my upcoming nuptials, I’m hoping to document some of the journey.  That being said, welcome to my Nuptial Notes column!  I have to thank Daddy for the creative column title and thank God for a creative Daddy (with wonderful handwriting for all the calligraphy he will be doing for the invitations :))!

I always thought Nordstrom was synonymous with great customer service, client appreciation and quality clothing.  The cherry on top is their awesome return policy, so naturally, as I began to search for bridesmaid (BM) dresses, nordstrom.com was at the top of my list. 

Without fail, I found a few dresses that I loved.  I narrowed it down to just one dress in particular and emailed the BM’s for their feedback.  After looking at the dress multiple times and receiving approval from the BM’s, I realized how much I liked the dress!   It met most of my criteria (long, black and formal), so I called Nordstrom first thing this morning.  As expected, a friendly voice answers the phone.  I get transferred to the dress department and speak to Jennifer (I think that was her name J) who looks the dress up in their system and informs me that they have a limited number of dresses and sizes company wide.  She suggests that I come into the store and order the dresses as soon as possible.  She explains that she leaves at 5PM, but will leave a note at the register.  So excited!!  I double check with Wendy, my MOH, and we plan to go to Nordie’s tonight.

We arrive at Nordstrom and get distracted in the lingerie department.  YAYAYAY for Vanessa!  She measures Wendy and me, and proceeds to bring us a parade of undergarments.  Vanessa is exactly what you expect to find at Nordstrom.  She is knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and patient.  We hear the announcement of the store closing in 30 minutes, so we take our items (yay for the half-yearly sale for women and kids!) to the register and check out.  Thank you, Vanessa! 

We finally make our way to the dress department.  I explain that I called earlier about ordering dresses, gave her my name, and just as Jennifer said, a note was there with all the details!  Easy, right?  Wrong.  The salesperson, who shall remain nameless, was the opposite of Vanessa and Jennifer.  She was impatient, seemed annoyed, dry and asked me why I hadn’t just ordered the dresses online if I knew they weren’t in the store.  WOW, not what I expect from Nordstrom.  In her defense, it was late and everyone was trying to close the store and maybe she had a long day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her. :)

All this to say that we have now officially ordered the BM dresses!  They should arrive in about 5 business days and we’ll go try them on to see if they make the cut.  If not, we’ll continue the hunt.  Thanks Wendy, for going with me tonight and for being the best MOH a girl could ever dream of…and to the five most beautiful BMs-Hongie, JJ, Sharlene, Stacy, and Sonia-thank you for being the best BMs a girl could have.  You all are stunning, no matter what dress you’re wearing.  XOXO