California Trip & 1st Wedding Meeting.

Yubo and I went down to California, June 17-22, specifically to find a church and to meet with our parents to talk about wedding stuff. Since we had some time, we hung out at Disneyland and DCA a few times as well. ^_^ Yubo's mom also helped me with a dance thing for church.

Overall, it was a good trip. The frustrating parts for me were just scheduling and having to deal with my parents continuously encouraging me to lose weight. It was almost as if they didn't realize that they already said something about it the day before. My mom mentioned Nutrisystem at least once every day. And my dad kept wondering why I didn't want to spend time with him. (Reason is cuz all we know how to do with each other is eat, and then he comments on how much I'm eating.) I felt horrible because I do miss my parents, but I wish they would let the weight go once in a while and let me be their daughter instead of a number on a scale.

Thursday was spent at the dance studio working on my little project, and watching Ei-chan's coaching. We went to dinner at a Mediterranean place called The Olive Pit. The food was pretty good. I learned that I actually don't like hummus as much as I thought I did.

On Friday, Yubo's mom signed Yubo and me in to Disneyland. The point was because we haven't been in so long, and I've never been to California Adventure. Unfortunately, we didn't know that it was grad night. We had time enough to walk all around DCA and ride Jungle Cruise and Pirates before everything closed. Had a nice dinner at Jazz Kitchen, then went home.

I had been trying to schedule a dinner meeting with everyone (both sets of parents and my sister) to discuss wedding stuff. It started off on Thursday night, but then Mr. Crumly said he wanted to watch Ei-chan's coaching. Friday didn't work for my sister (Thursday was perfect for her). So we pushed it to Saturday at 7:00p. Then, since it was Saturday, my sister needed it to be earlier to give her enough time to prepare for things on Sunday. So it moved to 6:00p, and finally settled on 5:00p.

That also moved around when we were going to look at churches. I wanted to keep the church shopping and dinner on the same day so there wasn't so much driving back and forth for the Crumlys.

On Saturday morning the Crumlys, Akemi and I visited the three churches I had looked up: Evergreen Baptist L.A., Chinese Evangelical Free Church, and Mission Valley Free Methodist. I wanted a church that is easy to get to, and is close to my parents' house and/or the reception restaurant. Had dim sum breakfast at Capital Seafood (a.k.a. 828 on Atlantic and Garvey, where the reception is going to be) between the first and second churches.

Evergreen was really nice. It was the only church of the three that I was able to talk to a person. This was the one that Pastor Wayne suggested. I especially like it because it's only about 5 minutes away from my parents house (so in case my parents are moved to start attending church someday, they will be familiar with one close by...... muahahaha). Anyway, the people were really friendly and helpful. The sanctuary was really pretty. There is a really neat water fountain thing in front, and bamboo grows right outside the entrance to the sanctuary. There's a neat little grassy area at the end of the building that would be good for pictures. It had its own parking lot, and borrows from Don Bosco Tech for overflow. The actual church is set back away from the street, so it's nice and quiet.

I really liked the architecture of the Chinese Evangelical. Really modern, sleek, and artsy. It was also really pretty inside. The trouble was difficult parking, lots of stairs, and awkward access to the sanctuary. It was also right on Atlantic, so there was a lot of street noise.

I already knew I wouldn't be up for the Mission Valley church, but we went to look anyway since we had so much time left over. It's the sister church to Anaheim Free Methodist, which is where the Crumlys go. The main reason why I didn't go for it even before seeing it was that it was a little farther than the other two I had found, and I didn't want Spanish/Mexican architecture. The whole theme to the wedding is combining our cultures, and that kind of architecture just doesn't fit. Actually seeing the place confirmed that I didn't want it. The doors to the sanctuary had carvings of a weird looking person with lambs. Pretty easy to hide by just keeping the doors open. But the sanctuary was very small compared to the others, and very cramped. The color scheme didn't help to open up the room. All the pews were a dark red.... the whole room was dark and made the room seem even smaller. The only thing it really had going for it was the sun shining through glass with a dove design at the top of the wall facing the entrance. With the lights out, it was really beautiful.

By this time, it was only about 2:00p. With 3 hours to kill, we decided to just drive around a look for anything else just to see other options. Nothing fabulous to report here except for Lake St Church in Pasadena. Super huge and gorgeous, but they only marry members of the church. We also stopped by Westminster Presbyterian, or whatever, in Pasadena. It was this huge gothic church. We went to feed Mrs. Crumly's curiosity, even though we obviously weren't going to consider it. We were able to look inside because they were preparing for a wedding that day. We stayed long enough to start getting weird looks from one of the mothers, wondering who we belonged to.

We finally got to my parents' house for dinner. My dad got some fillet mignon that my mom made lok lak out of. Super yummy. My dad also went out and got salmon sashimi. Apparently, that was really good as well. Dinner was fun and enjoyed by all.

Then we got to the discussion. We were able to talk about a lot of things. Figured out in what order things need to happen, and who would be in charge of what. I took notes and kept the discussion moving, trying to keep us from too many tangents (as the Crumlys are very prone to birdwalking). My dad kind of ruined my night by asking Yubo to make sure I lose weight. I almost started crying at the table, but managed to keep myself composed for the most part. I redirected the conversation to talking about invitations and what other paper things we'd need to get printed. Thankfully, everyone else at the table understood my situation, so they happily supported my segue.

We finally got to a point where there was nothing else we could talk about before getting other things finalized. After all the church shopping, we had decided on Evergreen Baptist, so Akemi and I were going to stop by on Sunday to see if we could set up the reservation. Unfortunately, both wedding coordinators were unavailable, but the lady I had been e-mailing said she'd let me know by the end of this week if it'll work. I really pray it does.

The rest of Sunday, Akemi and I went to Anaheim Free Methodist to meet up with the Crumlys. Even though lunch was great, it took forever. There was some miscommunication, but once we got past that, we had a good time. We were able to ask Yubo's little cousins if they could draw our manga for us, so now we just need to get them some sort of script. The food was good. The company was good. But Akemi and I were anxious to get going to Disneyland again to make up for the sad visit on Friday.

After lunch Yubo, Akemi and I finally got to Disneyland. We started off in DCA so I could actually experience some of the rides there. Hopped over to Disneyland for a few more rides before seeing the Electrical Parade and riding Soaring Over California, or whatever it's called. I had a really great time, even though my feet were absolutely killing me. Turned out I got blisters from all the walking. Ended the night with dinner at Rainforest Cafe, where I finally found food that I like there. Yay!

I made a decision that night that I was determined to eat every horribly unhealthy favorite food that I could before starting Nutrisystem. So I really wanted Weinerschnitzel before we left. I arranged to have Yubo's parents take us to the airport because my mom wouldn't've let me eat what I wanted. Besides, I needed to pack some stuff in the suitcase anyhow, so it worked out better in the end. Enjoyed Weinerschitzel with the Crumlys. Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It was a great way to end the trip.