i have a new friend!!!

John ordered a 42" LCD from his friend last week. We've been talking about getting a new TV ever since his TV died 2 months ago. We moved the TV from the room to the living room. We had no TV in the bedroom for months. It took some time to get used to it since we've always have TV the room. I used to have a habit of sleeping with the TV on and setting the timer so the TV will turn off when I dozed off. I don't know why, I just dozed off faster with the TV on. I guess that's why I always fall asleep when I go to the cinema. On the other hand, John is a light sleeper. Any slight noise will wake him up. We compromised, some nights I get to have the TV on and some nights I don't. So I kind of getting used to not have the TV on when I sleep. Now, it's more like "go to bed", "yes", lights off. But with no TV in the room for the past few months, I realized that I can go to sleep independently, without relying on the TV. :) That didn't diminish my hope of getting a TV in the room. Finally, last week when we were hanging out at Tim's, John ordered the new TV from him. Tim works in the TV distributor company, so he gets very good deal. John said he might have been drunk when he confirmed with Tim that he wants that 42" Hitachi LCD (when Tim showed him a few choices). Anyhow, we've been talking about getting one, we have one now.

So the TV arrived last night. Since it's a big TV, we had to put this in the living room instead of the bedroom and move the TV in the living room into our bedroom. Unfortunately, the new TV is too big to fit in the entertainment center. The plan is to move the whole entertainment center and the 27" TV into our bedroom. It's alot of moving around to do, so we quickly get to work. It's going to be a long night. While hooking up the LCD, John realized that we need a HD cable. So we went out to Bestbuy to get cable and grab a quick bite for dinner. He got his cable and when we were about to leave, he surprised me with:

him: you want a wii?

me: (looked at him surprised, nodding frantically, smiling from ear to ear)

So we walked over to the game section. He grabbed the wii and an extra joystick for a second player since the box didn't come with it. He asked the sales assistant for any popular games, and he recommended zelda for single player and couple other games for multi players. Mario Brothers caught my attention. When I was a kid, I love to play mario brothers with my sister. But I didn't get it. I figured the 5 sports games that included will keep me occupied for a while. We walked over to the counter and the usual me ...

me: do you think there will be sales during thanksgiving?

him: probably

me: maybe we should wait till thanksgiving (this is something I would say, even though i don't really want to, I guess that's why I can never buy anything)

him: i've got it in my hand, let's go!

me: (smiling giddily, running up to catch him)

Later in the car,

him: I've heard with all those recalls with the lead toys, there might be shortages of toys during Christmas. they said it's best to start shopping for Christmas gifts early this year. I just thought they might not have wii during thanksgiving sale

me: but this is not toys

him: with not much toys available, people opt for other things

me: ok. so is this my Christmas present?

him: no, this is a "just because" gift. this will keep you busy when I'm in school and work at least until December, so you won't go cheating on me. (lol... okay, I made the last sentence up, but hey, it does seems that way! ;p)

I heart this man! :))) I've been a good wife he said. Well, I've been neglected ever since his fall semester starts and his new job has very demanding hours. I don't get to spend as much as time as I want to with him anymore and he keeps assuring me that everything will be back to normal after December (hence the post earlier). Talking about good wife, I came across a very interesting article last week when I googled "how to be a good wife". Yes, I googled that. Hey, it's my 1st time being somebody's wife, I need to know how to be a good wife. And seriously, I think sometimes I am too nice to him ;). I need to know what's the limit and vice versa... so I googled it. Here's what I found:

1) Have dinner ready: plan ahead even the night before, to have a delicious meal - on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and a prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.
2) Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with alot of work-weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.
3) During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
4) Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours. 5) Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner or even if he stays out all night.
6) Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice. (I burst out laughing at this one!)
7) Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity.
Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
9) A good wife always knows her place.

And the list goes on and on. The article is from a 1950's economics textbook. Ha-ha, I am so glad I wasn't born 30 years ago! Come to think of it, I may have done a few of the things mentioned! Like I said, I am very very extremely nice to him and he is so lucky to have me! heehee....

Okay, enough about that. Here's some pictures

the box of the LCD, Chris helped John haul this to our apartment (3rd floor!)

wii!!!!

look at all the crazy wires!!! after moving out the entertainment center, the living area is so bare now... you can see all the messy wires

he got his hands on the wii... playing golf!

his fingers are all red and sore because of all the moving

the end result..... so empty now. Compare to before....here's what it used to be. that's Eng Jo and Janet at our house warming party by the way :D

dj booked!

Yep yep. I am proud. We have our dj booked finally. Didn't take us that long. I searched the internet for vendor reviews and made couple phone calls. The first few that I called were all booked on our wedding day... seems like a popular date to get married ;P. I started to panic. One of the Dj's that I contacted referred me to Dean Henderson since he is not available for us. So I contacted Dean Henderson, with some back and forth conversations, we decided to go with Dean Henderson. He has more than 20 years experience in the industry and most importantly he met our expectations. John likes him right away from the first meeting. Two main reasons we chose him. First, he is English. Second, he is affordable (plays a big role here ;P). John and I had joked about getting an English man with English accent to marry us. An English Dj? That will work too.....

We met with another Dj at Pasadena last Sunday before we made the decision actually. I was a little reluctant to use Dean before meeting with another DJ for comparison. I made an appointment with Henry at Paseo Colorado, Pasadena. No harm checking it out, right? We went early because the plan was to go Macy's to get my handbag which I've been eyeing for since 2 weeks ago. And of course, the Macy's there doesn't carry Lucky brand handbags. That doesn't stop me from shopping in Macy's. We were there and the appointment was not until 7pm, so why not? We walked around and at 15 minutes to 7, I left Macy's store empty handed (again!) and John with 2 brand new shirts and one pair of slacks. Yes, even he bought something. -_- Seriously, I feel like I haven't been able to buy anything lately. Just my luck I guess.

We met Henry right outside of the The Yard House, bad choice. At 7 it was starting to get dark and it is a busy spot right there. There was loud background music which made it hard to talk. Anyway, we managed to go over some details and timeline of the wedding. I didn't know it was because of the environment of the meeting or we already have our mind made up, he just doesn't seem to be the right guy. So the end decision, is still to go with Dean. John had actually suggested to meet a few other djs but I think there is no need for that anymore. It is very time consuming, plus I don't think we can find another dj that can top Dean's price.

We were planning on having our dinner at the Yard House after meeting him and then movies later. We didn't realize that our meeting lasted for an hour and a half. It was a Sunday night, we didn't want to be home late. So we decided to cancel the movie and just have dinner instead.

it was a nice night, we sat at the patio

he is so happy.....

because his porcini crusted halibut was delicious!!!! i love it so much.... i told him i'm going to look for the recipe and try to make this one day. lol... what's left was just the mashed potatoes and a few bok choy... i know, it doesn't look very appetizing here but trust me, it's delish!!!

and this is my left over grilled pastrami. their take out box is literally a box.... nice. save the environment... instead of using a Styrofoam box. I left the box at the restaurant, didn't realized it until we were in the parking garage. Oh well.... I didn't really like it anyway. It will probably just sit in the fridge for a couple of weeks and it get thrown out. Talking about this, I think I still have my last week leftover pasta in the fridge. hmmm...

it's the football season

so all the tv had on was football......

the server took a picture for us

his camera doesn't take very good night picture...

time machine

I wish I could fast forward time.... to dec '07 at least . I know it's strange, people usually want to go back in time.

nice sunset, nothing... just out of random... taken frm my cell phone sony ericson w850i, it's laguna beach by the way

that's what this blog is for ..... for something silly.

a sweet meeting.....

On Sept 8th, we went to Saugus 12th Annual Car Show. Ok, so it's not actually my kind of thing... to go to a car show?! But we went for 3 main reasons:

• Mike Springer will be there
• Jimmy is participating this year with his green mini
• it's in Saugus!

So why not, right? Earlier that week:

Janet: Hey! You want to see Mike Springer?

Me: Of course? But how? I can't meet him up for lunch. I need to work.

Janet: No, not lunch. This Saturday!

Me: (still confused) The concert at the park?

Janet: No! Car show! He said he will come to the car show this Saturday.

Me: Really? (very excited at this point) Yea! I'll come. What time?

So that's basically how I end up going to the car show. Of course also to support our friend, Jimmy! First thing when we get in is to look for Jimmy's green mini.

We saw him chatting with some onlookers explaining how he build this. In case you don't know, Jimmy build his car from scratch! Look at the pictures of how the mini 1st looked like when he bought it. Yep, he is a smart man.... that's why we are friends. The smart mingles with the smart people. :P

I still remember he took us for a ride when the car is 3/4 done. No windshield, no window and no upholstery yet. He took us for a ride in the neighborhood.... man that thing is sure loud! And now the final work... a masterpiece. Right now, he is working on another mini. He is a crazy mini-mania! hehe.....

We did finally meet Springer and chatted with him and his wife for awhile. Haven't seen him for a long time, but we still often chat on the phone. He is so funny. He always managed to make me and Janet laugh each time without fail. We are a huge fan of his. Too bad, we didn't get to take a picture with him. Maybe we were all too excited to see each other that we forgot. So it was a sweet meeting.....

Here are some pictures of the cars for your eye candy that John managed to took before it gets dark....Don't ask me what they are. For all I know they are special cars.

cute road sign







there John is.... buying his cup of beer.... without fail

after circling around, we decided to get something to munch on so we bought nachos! Here's my chili nachos.... I ordered the wrong thing :( I wanted nachos with jalapenos and silly me, I thought it's called chili nachos. I blamed it on John for not letting me know before ordering it... oh well, it's still delicious!

I had Jimmy take a picture with his proud mini. This is actually a second take. Apparently, the 1st one didn't pass Janet's approval..... tee- hee

ok, by now you can gues who's standing behind Janet with the peace sign on her head.....

We left at about 9pm and since TJ Maxx is not too far away, I wanted to stop by to look for bags. They have designers handbags at a very good deal. John reluctantly drove me there. I didn't see anything I like, we left empty handed. We then went to Fridays for dinner.That's my apple martini, alot better than what I originally ordered, Friday's martini. I took a sip and it was too awful. So the John had the waitress changed it to an apple martini for me instead. We were very dissapointed with the food. Thsi is the second time the food has disssapoint us. We vow never to have dinner at Fridays again.... at least not the one in Santa Clarita.

Tim & Jen's Wedding 8.25.07

2 weeks ago we attended Tim & Jen's wedding at Hartley Botanical, Somis. Somis is located on the northern outskirts of Camarillo and just east of Moorpark and Simi Valley, about 40 minutes away from our house. With no doubt, they managed to pull a nice wedding together. The weather was perfect for their outdoor ceremony and reception. The green and coral color weddings.... one couldn't have asked for more. I just wish our wedding will be half as smooth as theirs. Enjoy the pictures below...

The place cards. They combined both programs and place cards in one nicely printed cards with green and coral ribbons tied on the side. When guests arrived, they took a picture of their guests, which will later put in their albums for memories. A very good idea.

the aisle that Jen will walk down in a minute, very pretty

the outdoor reception.....

table arrangement

Cake centerpiece. Each table has their own cake. Unique idea...

the program.....

their grand entrance, can't remember what song they were walking in with

their cake cutting

their first dance.... can't remember the song. They look very lovely

garter toss time......

bouquet toss time

that's me and John taking our own picture. Friends took some of our pictures but we still haven't see them yet

the girls.....

At the end of the night, Tim took over the the turntable from the dj and showed off some of his skills

the party didn't stop right there. We then went to a club in the hotel where most of us will be spending the night. So everyone gets to party & drink like crazy

Robin went up to the cage and show off her sexy moves

the bride..... pooped at the end of the night!