Rubber Duckie, you're the one...

Do you remember that song? That's the only line of the song I know. But, it reminds me of the baby shower that my friend and I are throwing for another friend at work. We are having a rubber duckie theme for her baby shower. The theme came from the invitations I ordered at Tiny Prints which is a divsion of Wedding Paper Divas.

While I was perusing their Tiny Prints invitations, I couldn't help but notice their thank you cards. They are soooooooooooooooooo {sing it with me!} cute! I want! I want! I want! They have an assortment of thank you cards that are "supposed" to be accompanied with the shower invitations. Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, I think they can be totally used for anything. Anything!!!

For favors, I have this idea in my head to make duckie shaped sugar cookies. I found this recipe on the Williams Sonoma website. So, hopefully, I can recreate them and have them look so flawless. I'm more nervous about decorating them with royal icing as I have never done this before. Let's hope that it isn't a major disaster!

What a fantabulous weekend.

Had a fun-filled weekend that was packed with nothing but laughs, beer, rieslings, and great friends. It's been awhile since I had quite the weekend like this and it reminds me of what great friends the hubs and I are blessed to have in our lives. No really. This is a subject him and I talk about whole lot.

What started off as a "date night" with the hubs and I, turned into a double date night with none other than PharmD and wingwoman! Yay! We love wining and dining with this couple as we are able to engage in very intellectual conversations. But, I can't help but bring in my own conversations such as what's going on The Hills show or my newly discovered favorite show, The Rachel Zoe project. Luckily, for me, I don't receive any ill judgment from any of them. Phew!

We brought them to one of our favorite restaurants in Berkeley called, A-Cote. It's a small plates type of restaurants and if you haven't gone yet, I suggest that you do. I love the ambiance and intimate setting the restaurant offers which is dark lighting with candles everywhere.

The next day we celebrated my cousins 15th birthday at a local ice creamery. I just can't get over how fast she's grown and now she's a freshmen in highschool! It's an awful strange feeling to see someone newly born and watch them grow up and before you know it, they are full fledged adults such as my other cousin, pictured to the right.

That same night, we headed over to San Jose to watch Cheap Trick:: Heart:: Journey perform at the Shoreline. Great concert and I have to say that this is my first concert that I've ever been to that the singers sounded so fantastically good. They sounded just as if you were listening to their albums. Sick.

Answer to the designer jeans.

Remember when having a pair of designer jeans was THE item of clothing to have? It still is, but it seems as though the hype has died down a bit. Having designer jeans that is. Phew. Thank goodness because my wallet was starting to break. But, jeans in general, designer or no designer have become a big fashion commodity to have. There are all kinds of jeans available for all sorts of occasions.

Glamour magazine recently came out with the most flattering jean styles. One of them was the " Flirt" jeans from Old Navy. Now, I've never really been a fan of Old Navy jeans. Particularly because they would fit {me} just okay. But, I never gave up on them. Never. I'm sure glad that I didn't because their "Flirt" jeans are awesome. I love the way they fit as the waist isn't low and I can sit without worrying about my derrier crack showing. I also love that they have a stretch material so that I can eat and not feel like a fatty afterwads. Most of all, I like how they slim my your legs. Right now, they are on sale for $25, regularly $29.

It's too hot to cook

When the temperatures are hot, it's so hard for me to go into the kitchen and cook a meal. It's already hot, why would I want to be surrounded by more heat?

I think I've found a resolution. Make lukewarm-cold noodle dishes. {this is where you start clapping} Specifically, a lemongrass shrimp over rice vermicelli and vegetables, aka, bun tom nuong xa. Doesn't that sound delicious?

I really enjoy Vietnamese food. They seem to have the perfect dishes for the seasons. They have Pho for the winter months and Bun dishes for the summer months. I swear, the Vietnamese are geniuses!

What are you making for dinner tonight?

It's Coming in Strong

Our wedding venue, that is. Currently, our wedding venue, Malibou Lake is leading as the best spot to get married in Los Angeles on My Fox Los Angeles. I couldn't agree anymore. It's a great venue for couples who are wanting an outdoor wedding at a very reasonable price.

When we first visited the site, we instantly fell in love with its lush green surroundings. It's secluded in the Santa Monica hills with a lake just across the way making it a serene and calm place. Private residences surround the area and in fact, own the Malibou Lake venue as it is their country club.

The indoor venue has that vintage vibe that will make any bride squeal with excitment. There is a fireplace {a real fireplace, nonetheless!} in which they light up at night that makes your wedding even more cozier. The chandeliers, which was my favorite part of the venue are just as charming and add to the vintage vibe even more.

Why yah gotta be a tease?

All images are from Scott Robert Photography. If you are going to use them, please give him credit.

Photography was one thing that we wanted to splurge on. If there was any advice given while planning for our wedding, it was, " spend money on the photography because it's the only thing that you will be able to take away from the wedding." We couldn't agree more and so we searched and searched and searched....until one day I had a conversation with one of my sorority sisters, fozziegrrl.

She told me to check out one of her favorite photographer's website. That happen to be Scott Robert. I have to tell you, I was utterly blown away with the images on his site. The hubs was blown away and it takes alot for him to be blown away, too! Each time we considered another photographer, we kept comparing and going back to Scott Robert. It was sorta like how us brides shop for our wedding dresses.

When we finally booked him, I gotta say that I was ecstatic to have him as our photographer. Cloud Nine. Skippy Happy. I couldn't believe that he was going to be a part of our wedding. I kept having to pinch myself just to make sure that, Scott Robert, was going to be OUR photographer.

He certainly blew us away with our engagement photos. It was through other engagement photos that we knew what to expect. But no one prepared us of how we would react to our photos. Words cannot express how amazed we were. We were and still are in pure awe.

Now, Scott is teasin' us with our wedding pictures. We were amazed with the source files received and couldn't wait to see how they were going to turn out when processed. It's such an interesting emotion when you see yourself processed in certain ways you would never think to be processed as. Initially, I didn't recognize myself. Is that me? Is that my husband?

What I wanted for our wedding was a bit of vintage and chic flair. Scott seemed to nail both of these with his photography. He certainly does have a knack in creating an aura about an image. With mine's in particular, it feels as though our wedding took place in circa 1930 and I absolutely love it!

One of my favorite images so far is of our ceremony. Its an image that doesn't scream wedding all the way which I love. You don't immediately think, wedding because what you see initially is the landscaping and that is why I love it.

You can view more of the pictures at his blog.

Tis' the Seasons....

This week is very exciting for many as it's the season premiere's of their favorite shows. On Monday, I made a deal with the hubby to watch the Season Premiere of Heroes with him not knowing that it was 2 {freakin'}hours long. {Oh My!}I tried really hard to get into it, especially during the last hour, but just couldn't. I blame it on not knowing the history of each character and especially not seeing previous episodes---like the first episode to know what the hell is going on. I've concluded it's way too geeky for me. Reminded me of a comic book series kind a show. Oh wells, I tried, right?

Now, it's my turn for my Season Premiere--Grey's Anatomy. I'm so uberly excited, I really can't contain myself. So glad that I inadvertently agreed to work this past Sunday night in order to be charge and have Thursday off. The angels from above must have known that I would have sorely regretted to have been working on a Season Premiere of Grey's Anatomy. Thank the Lord.

I'm so scared and anticipating to see and hear what is going to happen tween' RN Rose and McDreamy. Shoot, did you guys hear the line she throws at him in the sneak preview? " I'm pregnant!" Holy Moly Mother of Cow. I hope to God that she's not preggers because yes, I'm a McDreamy + Meredith fan. Have been and always will.

In other news, I'm so over being the owner of my Mini. As adorable as it is, this year has been so expensive for me and that car. Just when I think I've fixed one item, another thing sparks up. It's so frustrating. Two days ago, my " Check Engine Soon," light came on. So out of nowwhere. So, I'm having to bring it to the dealer {again} and probably gonna have to pay an arm + leg in order for them to probably just tighten some bolts somewhere. Freakin' A.

A Charming Find.

It's because of Creature Comforts, that I was able to find an alternate shop to void my Anthropologie addiction. My pocket will thank me later. It started off with this cute little grey ruffled blouse that was featured on Creature Comfort's Chic for Cheap post. It's a God send that they posted the link of where they found this cute little hot number because oh my beezies... this site is very affordable for those style minded conscious people.

The site is called Angie Hearts and they have the most adorable + cutest clothing! It's sort of a mix between Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters which I think is a fantastic mix. Agree?

Here are some of my favorite items. There were so many that I absolutely hearted so much, it was just so hard to pick and choose.
I hope you like this site as I do. Happy shopping!

Don't Stop Believing....

This Saturday a bunch of my friends, along with our lovely spouses are going to see Journey in concert sans the 80's gear. The opening act is Heart and Cheap Trick. So, this should be a fun and interesting concert to see.

I have to admit that one of the reasons why I {personally} decided to go is because of Journey's new singer, Arnel Pineda. Being a Filipino American, I'm always proud when it comes to Filipino's making it big in the mainstream circuit.

He was found by the band while perusing You Tube. How crazy is that? To some incredibly faithful Journey fans, he may not sound like Steve Perry, but gosh darnet, he sounds pretty dam close to him, that's for sure! Click here to view the you tube snippet of him and the band performing one of the most wonderful songs, Faithfully, on the Ellen show.

The Basics.

The hubs and I are about to move into our new home within the next month and we are having to basically start from scratch. This is our first time living together after dating for 10 years and so between the both of us, we don't have any furniture. Nada. Zip. Zero. Its kinda funny and it's kinda not.

Over the weekend, we went to look at various furniture stores such as RC Willey, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, West Elm and this cool ass store that houses Costco's overstocked items, Stupid Prices.

We had no intentions of purchasing anything really. Just to look and see what's out there. But, rather spontaneously, we bought two big ticket items for our house. Hence, the title, " The Basics." We basically purchased two items that we are in dire need of: a couch and a mattress/bed frame.

I can't wait to receive our new mattress and be whisked away into a dreamy sleep. Right now, I wake up with the feeling of soreness from our current mattress. I absolutely hate it! But, I'm going to have bare with it for another month or so.

We purchased the Four Seasons Spring Air Opera Plush mattress in a Cal King, no less. Hecka big, man. But, since the sale price was as much as the King size, we said, the heck with it and got a Cal King. Not sure if I can handle such a big bed. Hah! We knew that we wanted a "hotel" bed as we absolutely love how comfortable hotel beds are. Initially, we were just going to spring for either the Westin or one of the Marriott hotel beds, but unfortunately, you aren't able to actually see them in person as they soley sell them online. I'm a see in person kind of gal.


We also purchased our bed frame at West Elm. Haven't decided on a headboard yet as we really didn't find anything that we absolutely loved and would like to have for the next 100 years, so, we just settled on buying the frame for now. Love how West Elm offers an additional 10% for first time home buyers! Here's my review on Yelp. Since I'm on the subject of West Elm, I'm kinda diggin' these animal print shower curtains. What do you guys think? Yay or Nay?

We also got to buy our couch, too! We got a sectional couch for our great room and I'm very pleased with it. I can't believe how much we got it for at Stupid Prices. It was such a steal of a price that it's blasphemy! As much as we wanted it in the brown color, we decided on the Latte because the brown would have been too dark.

Now, after all this shopping over the weekend, we are officially broke. Hahahah. Will be eating ramen for some time now.

Anthropologie Hatin'

I'm a huge fan of the store, Anthrolopologie--HUGE. I mean, come on, it's a glorified modern thrift store in my opinion. Would you agree? How perfect is that? But, man sometimes, I just can't believe the prices they charge for some of their reproductions, products. Oops,sorry did I say the R word?

Take for example, these chairs. One can probably find them at a thrift store and get it upholstered? But, you can easily purchase it for a cool price of $1,498 at Anthropologie. Oh, but it's on sale for $1,123! What a deal!!! Hah, not! I really can't seem to justify why one should spend over $1,000 on a chair at this store? Is it the quality? Is it the uniqueness? What is it? I'm just hatin' because I can't buy any of their furniture items even at the sale prices. Grrr!!!

Although, I do want to point out that some of their sale kitchen items are down right adorable and are at a pretty cool {no really!} shabby price. Like this adorable tea cup.

I can be calme now with this sign posted.

I finally gave in to my urge and purchased one of these prints, Keep Calm and Carry On. It's a reprint of a sign that was published during the World World II in England. The poster was held in reserve for use only in times of extreme crisis. Although thousands were produced, only a handful ever saw the light of day. Well, now it seems like they are seeing tons of light for the past years as it has become quite the popular print in households.

I scoffed when I saw that it was selling for $22.50 {in pounds!} which breaks down to roughly $44 in US currency at Keep Calm and Carry On website. Serious? So, I search and search which really didn't take me that long and found that they sell reprints of them {in better colors, nonetheless} on Etsy. Yay, etsy saves the day--again!

I purchased mine's through SFGIRLBYBAY etsy page. There are other sellers on Etsy that sells the print. I decided to go with her because she sells the print in a chocolate brown. Surprised on the color?

I plan on hanging this in our guest bathroom downstairs. So when they pee, they can keep calm and just carry on. Heh. Cheesy, I know, but that's how I roll.

Seriously?

Been watching the rollled up jeans that Katie Holmes has been sporting these past couple of months and canNOT believe that it's slowly, but surely becoming a trend. Seriously? It just baffles me how much one person can have so much influence even when the trend is so not hot. Sorta reminds me of the MC Hammer pants people would sport back in the day. What do you guys think of this style that Mrs. KM is sporting?

I've been super busy these past couple of weeks, hence the dip in the blogging. I have a very important date coming up that has been making me super duper uber anxious that when I wake up, it's the first thing I think about and when I go to sleep, it's the last thing I think about it. Ugh. Sucks. Dont' really want to say what it is as I don't want to jinx it just yet! No, I'm not going into the clinic for a pregger's test. Hah!

Onto a different subject, Autumn Wedding's wedding was fantastic! I loved every single detail of her wedding. I knew from the beginning that it was going to be one lavish, beautiful wedding. Knew it and I was right on point, too!

The moment you walked into the reception area, you felt as though you were walking into some kind of enchanted whimsical room. She had pink lighting everywhere, different types of centerpieces on each table that were either flowered pink branches or submerged flowers in cylindrical vases. The food was not a disappoint either. I was in love with my sea bass.

The wishing tree was one of my favorite details of her wedding. It was so adorable. I loved how she incorporated pink flowers, which I think were carnations at the bottom.

It truly was a beautiful wedding. Congrats, again Mr. + Mrs. Autumn Wedding. Thank you for allowing us to share you special day with you.

Feet Greeters.

I've been eyeing a couple of outdoor rugs for our front door step. I just can't seem to decide on which rug I should purchase though. Can you guys help me?

{1}

{2}

Sprinkle Me, Sprinkle Me.

Sprinkle's newest flavor, Key Lime is making my salivation glands go into high gear! I'm a huge of Key Lime Pie and having this flavor in a cupcake is quite exciting!

It's going to be at Sprinkles for a limited time. From September 5th-14th. Can someone mail me one?

My contribution to the Earth.

So, after reading KimberlyMichelle's blog on Danny Seo's Simply Green bags, I just had to get one, or two, or maybe three.... I've been on the hunt for a descent sized, canvas fabric, reasonably priced, and most importantly cute + chic recyclable bag for my groceries and other knick knacks.

You can purchase these bags at JcPenney's for a cool bean price of $1.99. If that's not a deal, I don't know what is.

Danny Seo is the designer behind the Linden Street collection at JcPenney's. This collection is a true, right on the spot, look alike of the couches you see at Crate and Barrel and even Pottery Barns. What's even better is that their prices aren't skyrocketing high as Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn.

They are comfy too as I was able to test them out. I was hoping that they would have a sectional couch, but unfortunately, they don't. Danny Seo, if you hear me, please come out with a large sectional couch. I just love your designing style and what I need for our first home is a large sectional couch at a reasonable price just like your other couches!