a dinner treat from the folks

John's parents had promised to take us to dinner for John's graduation. With John's hectic schedule, we finally got together for this long owed dinner. They had decided to take us to Le Chene a french cuisine at Agua Dulce. Food was great. So this post is all about food...

a blurry picture of my black bean soup

john had house salad... so we could trade
they love the warm and toasty bread... me? not so..

dad treated us to a bottle of wine too. the server recommended this.... local made merlot
that's my plate.... filet mignon something... it has a fancy name which i don't remember and can't pronounce

john had filet mignon too... same here, don't remember the name

our yummy dessert... peach vanilla ice cream

So i have a confession. I was pretty uncomfortable the whole time during dinner. First the room was a little too warm for me. I don't know it's the wine that's making me warm or they didn't crank their ac up. i was sweating while eating. Second... ok, this is embarrassing to tell... it was... it was... gulp. my bra almost fell off. yep. i said it. i was wearing a bare back top that night so i wore a backless self adhesive bra, they call it the NU bra? probably wore a couple times before and had been washed, that's why it didn't stick as well as it should be. well, the ad said you could wear it for 10 times before the stickiness is worn off. should have known! so being sweaty that night, didn't help the situation. i had to hold the bra from falling a few times during dinner. glad no one noticed it. phewww...

sitting around waiting ...
see....?? can you tell my bra is falling off. all night i had to kept holding my bra from falling

the post-wedding chop

I finally took the plunge .... i had the courage to chop my hair off. I've been talking about it forever but never had the courage to do it. I am pretty happy with it so far although I still feel a little naked without it. I pretty much have had long hair since 2002 so it's for time for a new change!

so what do y'all think? yay or nay? so far I have all yays!!! :)))))

products i refuse to use ever again...

Per Denise's request from my previous post, i thought i needed to share this piece of information with you. However, although my skin has shown reaction to these products there are still many people who didn't seem to have any problem with it. So I can only speak for myself. Some of my friends who use these products didn't seem to have a bad reaction like me... in fact they have fairer and smoother skin. so don't take my word for it.

a roller coaster picnic in september

This is the 1st year I participated in my company's picnic. We went to Magic Mountain this year. I heard they had it at Magic Mountain last year too. I haven't been to Magic Mountain this year so it was a good opportunity! Plus... it's free... so why not. The picnic hours were from 3:30 - 7:30 i think? We went there early so we can get on some rides. Then we met with the gang at the picnic area for some food & games.

the entrance

we went on tatsu, ninja and scream. The 3rd ride got me. After scream, I felt nauseous and dizzy. I am not sure it was the weather or the crazy ride. We stopped taking rides after that although John really wanted to go to the new ride X2 find me?? second from the left... my hands are holding my sunglasses from falling. =)

we then played some carnival games to pass time since the picnic is still 1/2 hour away

standing by the cooling fan for some cool breeze

we made it to the picnic area...

the picnic had a great turn out.... there were a lot of people! i only know 1/4 of the people there....

food was not the greatest...

here's Kyla and her S.O.

we had bingo, raffle tickets, scavenger hunt... i didn't win anything! so dissapointed.... :(

a passerby took a blurry picture of us before we bid farewell

Yamato for Shane's Birthday!

We went to Yamato for Shane's birthday last week. Boy... was that a lot of drama caused by this small birthday dinner... (with Robin I mean... who else ;-)). Sure glad I didn't organize this... Good luck Dustin! :P

Here are some pictures...

I guess they can't fit all of us. We were separated into 2 groups... a picture of the other side of the table...and of course a picture of Shane the birthday boy... with Donna and his Dad in the background. we patiently waited for our chef to cook us dinner... he did pretty good at showing us tricks... the same ol' same ol' kind of tricks... it gets old. at least to me.... but it doesn't seem to bother Shane or the rest. Shane loves coming to Yamato! Actually I think his parents were pretty awed by the tricks this guy performed. It was their 1st time to a teppan restaurant. well at least someone appreciates it. after dinner, the servers came out, sang and cheered the birthday boy. why these people are wearing strange masks... I don't know. so that the environment is merrier??? actually it's pretty disturbing... =|
look at how excited shane was... he sure is a good actor! we know how shane is when he is excited... definitely not with 2 hands up in the air. give him a chair and some music, he will show u how he acts when he is excited.... hohohoho...

the fruit platter courtesy of Yamato and staff

finally a group picture.... Happy Birthday Shane!!!

unflaterring photos of myself

Warning: Below pictures are not the most flattering pictures of me, in fact it's disturbing. haha.. not so serious. Read it at your own risk!

I bought some whitening facial products from a lady who did my facial. My face turned out like this!!!

trust me... with me looking up like that... not as scary. I have pictures of me looking straight into the camera.... eerie...

red, itchy & break outs....

a really close-up of the breakouts and rashes on my cheeks...

Thanks hubby for taking these photos of me.

the wedding story - part IV (the bride)

Where did I leave off the wedding story last time? Oh... guys getting ready. Part IV is about the bride. We took pictures in the room before me and John see each other. I have pictures of me getting into my white dress on my previous post, girls getting ready. Okay, so I lied. The timeline is not exactly that way. I wasn't quite ready in my white dress yet on my previous post. After I get my hair and make up done, I got into my red dress ready for the tea ceremony. After the tea ceremony, the guys left the room and I? Changed again..... finally into my white dress. Here I am taking pictures in the room.

i seriously do not know why the photographer told me to pose like this... it looked like i am being sucked into the wall or something.... awkward pose.

and then i was told to smile sexy.... that's the best i came up with.

and need i say more? this picture here i was told to play with my ear.

After the red dress photo session, we had a tea ceremony in the room, which I will post in my next wedding story- part V. Right after tea ceremony, the guys left, and we girls were back to business again. My bridesmaids helped me into my red dress. Then Grace, my hairstylist helped me put on my veil. And once again, I am ready for another photo session in the room with my white dress.

more pictures at the window.... :P

this picture was taken by Meih & friends. She edited the photos... I really liked what she did to it. By the way, she was helping take pictures on my wedding day. She will be starting her own photography business in the future and thought my wedding will be a good opportunity for her to start .. somehow... somewhere. She is really talented and I believe she will make it big one day.

After pictures in the room, off we went to meet my groom. Sir arranged to make it our "first meeting" special. John hadn't seen me in my wedding dress before... so they want to capture the special moment. So we went and waited in the salon (next to the lobby). This is when no one could locate the groom (our cell phones had bad reception). While waiting, Rosie thought it would be nice for me to stand by the window and look outside longingly waiting for my groom to show up. hehheeall pictures credit: sir harrison photography