The Legend of the Lost Cell Phone

Since I spent several days writing and rewriting the story of how we met, I thought I post it here before it goes live on our website. Sorry it's sooo long, but fate seriously intervened for us to be together. :o)

Here it is!

On the eve of moving to DC for a three month work assignment, my girlfriends and I decided to spend a fun night on the town and celebrate my last night out. That chilly January night took us to one of favorite places on Newport Peninsula, Woody's Wharf. We stood in line huddled together but Melissa could see inside from our pack, she spotted a cute guy and said, "Ooo, I'm going to talk to that guy!" I strained my neck to see who she was talking about, after a quick inspection I quipped, "Not if I talk to him first!"

After enduring the Southern California cold (I mean it was 55 degrees out!) we were inside, laughing and carrying on to the music. Melissa and I noticed the same cute guy from before with a group of friends on the edge of the dance floor. I then decided I was incredibly thirsty and abruptly walked over to the bar and stood right next to him. This is the moment I was going to meet cute guy, or so I thought. I casually turned toward him and opened my mouth to say hello just as he spun around and walked away.

I returned to my girls and eventually we ventured out to the screened patio lined with heat lamps, remember it was cold! An hour later I was chatting with a new friend when out of nowhere I was nearly knocked over. My drink went flying as the hockey hip check hurled me 3 feet forward. I regained my composure and spun around to see the cute guy from earlier. With a half smile on my face I looked at him and said, "Hey buddy, there's enough room under the heat lamp for everyone." He flashed his gorgeous smile and smartly replied, "So sorry, I just get a little territorial sometimes." That witty remark was all I needed to introduce myself and start a conversation with Dan that lasted the rest of the night.

At some point he asked for my phone number. I warned him that I would be on the East Coast for the next three months. At this he only said, "Well, you still get cell service there, right?" As he put my number in his phone they were ushering us out for closing time. I noticed that Dan's friends had abandoned him and as the designated driver I offered to drive him home. This was the ride that almost kept us apart forever.

The next day I finished packing and rushed off to LAX. After dropping my car off at the long term lot, I swooped into the terminal to find that my flight had been cancelled. I spoke with an agent and I was rebooked, but my new flight didn't leave for 8 more hours. Rather then wait it out in LAX, I trekked back to my car, jumped on the freeway when then I heard a strange ringing emanating from my little car. I pulled over and after some searching found a phone under the passenger's seat, a phone that belonged to one cute guy I drove home last night.

I returned the number who kept calling the phone and reached Dan. I agreed to drop deliver it to him in person since my original travel plans were bust. We spent the next 6 hours watching TV, laughing and getting to know each other. By the time I had to return to the airport, I was sad to leave California. During the three months I was DC, Dan and I talked nearly every night and he patiently awaited my return to California in May.

So, thank you United for cancelling that flight to DC in late January of 2007, otherwise I may have never found Dan's phone in my car and just have missed out on the love of my life.

Wedding Tartar(e)?

I am one of those brides. I swore I wouldn't fall into the wedding industry swirl because I try my hardest to not be trendy (but still swoon over the latest fashions), try to love only the bestest indie music (but give me Old School Britney anyday) and try to be the biggest space loving nerd ever (but secretly wish I were a writer or baker).

But nonetheless....I bought a toothbrush yesterday.

"Toothbrush? you say?" I know everyone is doing it nowadays, you know, taking care of their teeth.

No silly! I bought a specific toothbrush, not because of it's plaque busting prowess but rather...instead because it was the same hot pink and dark blue as my wedding colors. Sigh. I am wedding obsessed.

I know, I went missing again! But this time I had good cause....

Have you ever had a bad toothache? How about a root canal? How about an old root canal that "goes bad" and need to be redone...or retreated? Yeah, ouch! That was me. My lovely root canal on a molar from two years ago got reinfected which meant extreme pain, sleepless nights and a swollen jaw! Friday I went to the peridontist and started the first step in retreatment. After several antiboitics and pain killers later I'm on my way to recovery.

Don't worry this wont be a total post in vain...I am going to leave you with a couple teases for the week ahead....
Lovely Engagement Photos from the talented Travis Hohene

And our Save The Dates Project...including Gocco...

Let me introduce ourselves

I have been so rude, I've been talking about my fiance (whom I'll refer to as Mr PK from here on out) and our upcoming nuptials but I haven't properly introduced us! I'm sorry blogsphere, it's like your standing at a party talking to someone and they haven't introduced their date/friend/partner.

So meet Miss Pretty Kitty and Mr PK (he doesn't dig being called Mr Pretty Kitty)....

Mr PK and I 4 months after we met

Mr PK is an amazing man and I am so lucky that I met him. He is my half Chinese half Irish hunk of man meat! He considers himself being from Dallas, TX although he was born in New Jersey and lived in Australia and Sweden growing up. He is my own personal David Beckham or Christian Ronaldo (minus the pervy tendencies) as he loves and excels at soccer. He loves soccer so much that we are considering going to a European soccer game on our honeymoon. He is a super proud Aggie with a Marketing degree from Texas A&M. He now works as a Zone Manager for a large car manufacturer-meaning he does consulting for corporate in the Orange County area. Mr PK is a master griller and wishes that every meal involved grilled meat and veggies. He is so sweet and loves me so much that he lives with my kitty even though he is allergic, he now calls Meeko our kitty. I had to date a lot of duds to get such a wonderful man, but it was all worth it, cause now I have the best one out there.

What about me? Well I'm Mr PK's sidekick and wish I could be with him at all times. I'm a sassy gal who was born and raised in the Boston area. I bleed Nittany Lion Blue and White and got a degree in Aerospace Engineering and am a self-proclaimed space nerd. I work for a software company doing consulting and business development. I LOVE kitty cats and wish I was one. I'm a novice crafter and wish I was a little more creative (I can't draw for peanuts). I adore baking and cooking and secretly wish I had my own little business.

Mr PK and I live in Orange County, CA with the crazy Meeko the Cat. Our wedding will take place in upper Cape Cod, MA. Therefore we are planning a long distance affair with my parents living only 45 mins from the venue and PK's parents are in Virginia.

In upcoming installments: How Mr PK and I met, Ceremony/Reception details, The engagement story and lots of other fun...stayed tuned!

Hello Lover!

Usually while planning for our wedding, I have tried to avoid a lot of the trends that are all the rage. However, lately I find myself being more and more consumed with all things popular and of the moment. Hello cupcakes anyone? sigh. I guess I'm just not as original as I thought I was.

There is one new trend that I'm excited about participating in, which is wearing brightly colored shoes under your dress!

Picture from Studio Nouveau*

This bride wore the cutest marigold flats under her gorgeous lace dress. I'm sure she was comfy as she danced the night away. Since learning about this trend and seeing more and more fabu ladies rock colored tooties, I fell into the technicolor dreaminess. Thus began my search through Zappos and Endless.com and Bluefly for the perfect bright accent to wear under my dress. There were several false starts and (free) returns and then I saw these:

Source

SWOON! They are the PERFECT mix of sassy, flirty fun and HOT PINK! I found these beauties on Zappos and immediately started lusting over their hotness. I even showed them to Mr PK and even though I knew he couldn't understand their complex wonderfulness he looked at them and said, "Those are nice, get them." Like a giddy schoolgirl who just tricked her Dad into borrowing the car, I should have hauled off and ordered them, but rather the nagging financial bride in my head said, "Check the price, check the budget!" Ugh! Price: $299, Total Bridal Accessories Budget: $300. NOOOOOOO!

So in good conscience I couldn't order them, I couldn't blow my ENTIRE accessories budget on a pair of shoes. But they aren't just a pair of shoes! They are Stuarts! They are the perfect height! They are named LOVER! And for now, they are my secret lover. I visit them daily at their cyber home. I stop in with my lunch and chat, ask if they are comfortable, if they could guarantee I wouldn't trip on wedding day, if they would fit my foot just so. At the end of the visit, I close the window and sigh and try to move on and look at inferior shoes at lower price points. However, there is no way I could forgo a cute purse, lovely art deco earrings and necklace or bracelet for wedding day and just get a pair of shoes. Maybe, just maybe they will go on sale in the next few months and still have my size. Sigh. For now, it's just Hello Lover and then Goodbye.

Guess who's back?

Jamie's Back!

Man, that song totally reminds me of my young (23ish) outlandish ways when my girlfriends and I would go to Chester's Drawers, request Eminem and then dance the night away on "the box." Still to this day whenever I hear the first few beats of that song, I automatically look for a girlfriend and an elevated platform to shake it. Sigh...my young and wild ways.

So, I started in the world of blogging and then I abruptly left. I left without word, without a goodbye, without a note of where I was going. And now I stand on the blogging doorstep soaking wet looking sullen and asking if I can come back. Where did I go you ask? Geez, I guess I need an explanation, but I have to say, that I have none. The problem was that I still like my wedding was SOOOO far away, and I felt like I was starting to obssess, and...we'll here's the embarrassing part, I didn't feel like I was good enough. I mean, who wanted to read about me and my wedding? Who would give a hooter about the homemade things I made or planned on making? But after a few months and some wedding soul searching I realized two things, I need to do this for me and if I can help one girl lost on the Internet searching for wedding ideas, well gosh darn, that was good enough. So I'm sorry I left, but I'm glad I'm back.

So I have some catching up to do....and that means I get to post on all the fun and not so fun I've been having. That also means that I will have to start taking more pictures! I know, even though my cutie fiance is half Asian, we are not picture taking peeps.

To start things off here are some deets:

We finally, finally, finally picked colors! YAY! I know it sounds insignificant, but we went through several rounds of colors including: blue, green and tan, blue, yellow and white, and on and on and on. At the very beginning Dan had one request, Absolutely NO pink. Ok, I thought, I'm not a huge pink (or girly girl) person so that should be easy. But then as I thought about it and our colors got set on Dark Blue and Grey well, I needed to inject some sort of girly fun into the mix. And well what did I pick? HOT PINK of course! It took a little convincing, but after a trip to our local Lowes to show him paint chip ideas and once I found an amazing room in Domino magazine, well, he was sold. YAY!

Navy Blue, Steel Grey and HOT PINK!

It makes me giddy every time I think about it, and I am not a giddy-gidderson! Just a goofball extraordinaire. Anyone else end up with a wedding color that was once forbidden?

According to Martha Stewart our wedding is only 320 days away. When I see the convenient little countdown it makes my heart go pitter patter with excitement and fear. Fear that I have to plan one of the biggest days of my life in less then a year. Excitement cause I LOVE parties and I LOVE my fiance whom I will join in marriage during this really fabulous party. Often times I think that I need to calm down because my wedding is actually over 10 months away. How can I possibly think about wedding details every day ALL day for the next 320 days?!

*Sigh* I have managed to think constantly about wedding stuff and uhm, procrastinate while working and daydream by looking at Style Me Pretty, Weddingbee and other blogs non stop for wedding inspiration. You see, I am challenged when it comes to picking wedding colors and/or a wedding theme. Not only cannot I not pick something but I am creatively and artistically challenged as well. My engineering degree has served me well but it certainly is not helping when it comes to planning all the fun graphic, designy parts of the biggest party of my life.

I pose another challenge upon myself in the fact that I hate anything overdone and cliche. I like to think of myself as a cool, original, punky, only slightly traditional bride. My ceremony and reception will be at this amazing Beach Club with a permanent tent (complete with cabana stripes) on the beach. On the beach as in the backdrop for everything will be the Amazing Atlantic Ocean and New England beach complete with the imperfect beach fence. The venue is very Miss PrettyKitty and Mr HandsomeCat, we live near the beach in California and exude that laid back vibe. However, whenever I express that I cannot find the perfect colors or perfect theme for the wedding it always elicits the same reactions from people, "How about Starfish?" Or "How about flip flops?", "Beach Chairs?" Which elicits the same reaction from me...retching. *Sigh* I fear that time will eventually elapse and I will either have to select one of the overdone cliche options or I will freak out and pick something so not us, like a formal chandelier or something.

I know that I have no readers yet, but maybe someone will come along soon with a cute, kitchy, slightly different ideas for color scheme and a theme.

I must admit, I am officially obsessed. I mean, I knew I was wedding obsessed weeks ago. Actually, I knew I was wedding obsessed before I was even engaged, like 10 years ago. At the tender age of 18 I was a freshman in college (Go Nittany Lions) and new to my first serious relationship which ignited the wedded bliss desire in me. Not to mention my roommate and budding best friend was in a serious relationship and we loved to late night gab about when and how we would wed.

This is when I discovered TLC's "The Wedding Story." This lovely hour long show became my must watch tv, years before TiVo in times when I would actually skip class just to watch a really great episode. Oh, how that show shaped my life, how it prepared me to obsess about weddings for years and years to come.

Fast forward, 10 years and many boyfriends, always a bridesmaid/wedding guest later and here I am newly engaged and finally getting to oogle bridal magazines for an actual planned wedding. And is it me or have the channels added and stepped up their wedding programming? I mean now there is "Whose Wedding is it Anyway?" (love, love, love), "Platinum Weddings", "Married Away", "I Do", "Rock the Reception" ect, ect, ect. I could just spend hours and days watching these programs, thankfully I haven't. But I did realize that today I spent several hours of my time today reading and obsessing over one single website: www.weddingbee.com Future brides out there, if you have not gone here, it is an amazing community and forum for all sorts of inspiration and ideas. I just warn you, do not go there if you have something important to do...like work.

Really $599?

Ok, so as I set out in engaged happiness I started to think about all the amazing DIY projects I could do for the wedding. I've always been a bit of a crafter (thanks Nana!) and even though our budget isn't small, well it's not unlimited either, so the projects can help save us money too.

For full disclosure, I am an engineer therefore it somewhat makes me graphically and artistically challenged. Therefore, I cannot draw/paint/sculpt my way out of anything. However, I did think that I should be able to design and make our Save the Dates (STD) and Invitations. So, like any good engineer, I started with research, lots and lots of research on how others have and advise the DIY Invites. I have seen many fabulous and creative designs, designs I would die for, things I wish my left brained brain would think up, but overwhelming I have noticed one thing, these talented brides and grooms have use more often then not Adobe Illustrator to develop their designs. After a quick google search I found out the this genius little piece of software costs $599???? Seriously, $599??? Am I missing something here? Are people really paying $599 for this software to design their wedding paper goods? Or do these people already have the software from other careers and adventures? Cause shelling out that much for software alone is just too much for me to bear without a guarantee that I will even create something splendidly wonderful for my invitations.

Maybe someone out in cyberspace is hearing me and can answer my question. For now, I'll just go sulk around Michael's and try to get the creative (damn right brain) going.

Hmmm, first off hello. Take it easy on me, I'm new. And even though most of my close friends and family know that I'm loud, outgoing and a tad wild; I'm shy when I first meet new people. Especially large groups of people, and well, the internet, yeah, thats a pretty intensely large group.

The reason for this blog, that's easy, recently I have become wedding obsessed...ok, well maybe not recently, I'll get into that later. I should say recently I have become engaged, as in 4 weeks ago, diamond on finger with a bright, shiny new fiance. That word is still crazily awkward. So this blog will be my attempt to direct all my wedding energies in one direction and hopefully get some helpful advice from strangers who care about what I'm doing.

Hopefully, this blog will help and hopefully I will be able to keep it going. I'm one of those Leos who can never keep a diary/blog/journal no matter how hard I try. I'm thinking it might work this time as the internet has been my best friend lately, while researching all about wedding planning, and distracting me from work.

My wedding is less then 11 months away which is freaking me out, but the good news is that I have a date, ceremony/reception site. But I still feel SOOO behind. And to make matters worse, I'm planning from afar, like the complete opposite side of the country. I live in lovely Southern California and I'm planning my June 2009 nuptials on Cape Cod. Yes, this complicates matters, a lot, and freaks me out a lot. So I am sure that there will be lots of ranting, crazed and funny posts to come. Stay tuned....

Hugs!