Update: Dresses, Flowers, Cake, Diet.

Dresses

The original plan was to get dresses made from scratch -- my white gown and evening dress. However, I'm thinking it might be just as possible to buy dresses for cheap and take them to a really good tailor. That way I don't have to go through the fuss of finding material, like we had to do for my high school first dance and prom dresses. Those dresses didn't turn out great at all.

So now I need to figure out just when I want to start dress shopping, and start looking for a good tailor. And if I do choose to buy dresses that I'll be trying on, that means Yubo can't come with me like I originally wanted. So I need to coordinate with Eric and Alex, since they're the only ones from my wedding party that are up here, and see when we can do this whole dress thing. Then I'll take pictures and send them to Akemi and Archie.

Flowers

Dropped the plum blossoms but sticking to cherry blossoms (sakura), especially since sakura is Yubo's family flower.

I found pictures of bouquets that use Stephanotis, I thought they were really pretty. So I sent them off to my sister to show my mom so my mom's best friend could use them as a template.

So I think the bridesmaids bouquets may turn out looking something like this, using Stephanotis and sakura. I just like how simple and clean it looks. The sakura will add a nice pink color so that it's not all one boring color. And I think it's small enough to not take away from whatever dresses they'll be wearing, but big enough that it won't be entirely pointless to carry them.

To bulk up my bouquet, my sister asked what flower I might want to add to the sakura. Since I tend to like smaller flowers (like sakura, plum blossoms, hydrangea) I had to find something bigger that would create a more prominent bouquet. Since I still want to stick to flowers that have significance in our cultures, I decided to go with peonies. Peonies were once the national flower in China back in the... Qing dynasty (thank you, Wikipedia). Also, apparently in Japan, they are considered the "King of Flowers."

Flowers for the church and reception have yet to be determined. I have some people I need to talk to about those.

Cake

Still a struggle over the cake, but I have my mom and sister working on my dad to see if he'll give in and let me have my cupcakes. My sister found this picture that's pretty much exactly what I wanted, with some modification to the actual decorations.

Diet

Haven't been doing too good. Didn't do Nutrisystem at all the whole trip of Hawaii, and when I got home we went to the Bite of Seattle (yum! alligator!). Then it was still a lot of cheating throughout the week. When I weighed myself after the trip, I gained about 2lbs. So I'm 152 instead of the 150 that I left with. Yubo thinks that's just muscle that I gained from the ridiculous amounts of walking that we did. Hmm... I'm not sure. But we'll see if I continue to get any smaller. I should start taking my measurements along with my weight each week. After another week of Nutrisystem since getting back, and I'm still 152.

I'm really interested in getting leg and arm weights (yes, kinda like Rock Lee from Naruto). Well, we'll see if that ever happens. =P

Custom dresses.

The plan was to get my gown and cocktail dress custommade to fit my body well. My mom had a person in mind, but I was concerned that the person might not know how to make a dress for someone with scoliosis. That was kind of the problem with all the other dresses I had made for school dances and such. Nothing ever fit right because those seamstresses kept trying to make things straight for my twisted body.

So my mom said that I can get it done myself, that way I don't have to worry about flying down for fittings and whatever.

Malia (a friend of ours from church that's getting married next summer) and Mrs.Crumly both suggested that I try on dresses just to see the general style that I like. Mrs.Crumly actually couldn't find a wedding dress that didn't make her look like a cake, so she just got a white evening gown that fit well and beaded it herself.

I'm actually really excited that I have control over my dresses now. And I may need to ask Sylvia, a lady that works with Mrs.Crumly at the dance studio, to alter my red dress. Probably do that in December.

I'm really sad that Archie and Akemi won't really be able to be with me to try on dresses, but I'll probably take lots of pictures and send it to them. I'll wait until I lose another 10-15lbs before I start trying on dresses though.

I think my dad missed the memo.

Everyone keeps telling me, "It's your day. It's whatever you want." My dad has no problem disagreeing. It's a little frustrating. I'm kinda torn on how to take it.

Before, I wouldn't have cared if I got married in jeans and a T-shirt in the park to save as much money as possible. Then watching all those darn bride shows on TV finally got me imagining my dream wedding. Suddenly I found myself thinking about what gown I want to wear, how to decorate things, what kind of cake I want, etc etc. All that weird stuff that most women started dreaming up as little girls. As a little girl, I just dreamt of getting married... that someone would love me enough to marry me. And I figured I would have a completely Chinese wedding anyway, so nothing for me to worry about. Now that we're having a church wedding, that's all changed. However, my dad didn't hop on the wagon with us. Actually, he stayed on the platform and waved as it left.

I'm probably being overdramatic. I mean, nothing big has happened for me to complain like this. But enough has happened that I can imagine how the rest is going to happen with him.

First thing, I did not want any bottle of alcohol already available on the tables. I am strongly against having anyone drunk at the reception, and I don't want to risk any adult giving any child a sip to taste. My dad tried to tell me that it doesn't happen with Chinese people. Well... I've seen some of my own aunts and uncles let the family kids taste alcohol, and my grandma is an alcoholic. Really, dad? Chinese people aren't like that?

Second thing, I really wanted cupcakes instead of a big regular wedding cake. For one, I really don't want some boring traditional cake that you see in most Chinese bakeries. Definitely don't want the flowers made with that gross creamy frosting that nobody eats. If there are flowers, I want sugar flowers. Also, it's easier to pawn off cupcakes for the guests to take home than messy slices of cake.

Then, I want a mix of live performances and DJ at the reception. My dad is kinda going along with it, but made it very clear in his tone that he didn't approve of something so "complicated," is how he probably sees it. He's more concerned about people that haven't seen each other in a long time to be able to talk to each other, which I do understand, but just his reactions to my ideas irritate me.

He thinks there's complete separation between our Chinese stuff in the morning and night, and the church thing is off on it's own. Even my mom thought that the reception was going to be strictly Chinese customs.

::sigh:: We have time. I don't like being frustrated so soon. I know that in the end nothing else will matter other than the fact that Yubo and I will finally be married and that the people we love will be there celebrating with us.

Church is secure!

After feeling horrible about harrassing my contact person from Evergreen Baptist L.A. (although she assures me I wasn't bugging), I finally got an e-mail back from her that she feels confident that we will have a wedding coordinator for that date and that I can tell my dad to go ahead and finalize the restaurant. Yay!!! God is so good.

*whew* I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about that (very much) anymore.

I actually finally received a call from the Chinese Evangelical Free, which was our second choice, but I never called her back because I really just wanted to wait for Evergreen. Ah... such relief.

Healthier Living: Week 1

Mochi's Nutrisystem - Week 1
Starting weight = 155lbs

Day 1
Breakfast was NS Blueberry Muffins, Yoplait Pineapple Upside-down Cake yogurt, and a nectarine. The muffins were surprisingly good. A little dense, and not as moist as I would have liked, but overall pretty good. Lucky, cuz I ordered 7 of them. Had to drink water with the muffins to compensate for the lack of moisture. The yogurt wasn't as good as I'd hoped. Didn't have enough pineapple flavor. And the nectarine was about a week old, so it lacked a lot of flavor as well.

Lunch was NS Chicken Noodle Soup. Again, surprisingly good. Decent amount of flavor. Kinda skimped on the chicken, but oh well. If I really want to, I'd be allowed to add another ounce of chicken to it. I didn't pick out the celery and carrots like I normally would have, so I actually finished the entire thing. The noodles were a weird texture, but not horrible. I also planned to have carrots and cucumber along with it, but my cucumber had already spoiled (a week old, and I didn't wrap it properly). So I just had carrots. I already screwed up by have 2T of peanut butter with my carrots when I'm only allowed 1t. And then I had Chocolate Silk.

I missed my afternoon snack, so I just added it into dinner.

Dinner was NS Lemon Butter Chicken with Noodles. I had to pick out the mushrooms, which Yubo ate for me, but after that it was really good. Yubo and I both had Caesar salad (with light dressing)... which I actually shouldn't have had since I already used up my fat serving with the peanut butter. But now I know how not to screw up. =P Also had Crystal Light Peach Mango Green Tea to drink. Sure hope that's ok. I'll have to ask about that too. My sister just adds lemon to her water.

Dessert was NS Chocolate Cake, paired with the strawberry yogurt and strawberries I planned for afternoon snack. The choco cake was really quite yummy. Like the muffins, it was dense and a little dry, but the strawberries and yogurt really helped.

Was able to play Wii Fit for about 15 minutes instead of my usual 30. Didn't plan ahead well enough. But I'm glad I was able to do some.

It was a little weird because I spread out all of those meals, which had me eating something ever hour or so (except when I missed my snack, so I was super hungry by the time I was able to eat dinner). Also, I read that this food can make you really bloated and gassy. Yikes! Tell me about it. It happened as soon as I ate the muffins in the morning.

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Day 2
Breakfast was NS Cinnamon Swirl Granola Bar. Not very flavorful, and very very dry. First thing I've eaten that I would say tastes like cardboard. Drank Choco Silk with it, so that helped a bit. I'll wait a bit, and finish off breakfast with the rest of the strawberries from last night.

Switching up my menu today. Had a dinner entree for lunch, and I'll have a lunch bar for dinner. So for "lunch" I had the NS Thick Crust Pizza. Thank you, Lord, it was super yummy. Tasted like a pizza bagel. Had some mixed berries Crystal Light, which was also good. Tried the NS Sour Cream & Onion Soy Chips.... very boo. Tasted like really really bland rice crackers. But I am ridiculously happy that the pizza was good.

I totally cheated on dinner today. Someone bought Jack in the Box and McDonald's for us at The Well tonight. So I had about 5 fries, a bite of a hamburger, and half a chicken sandwich. I did eat whatever lettuce and tomato was on it though, which I never do. I was really hungry though, and was sad that my Soy Chips were yucky because they were supposed to help tie me over. After The Well, I had the NS Chocolate Raspberry Bar. Not bad at all. Didn't love it, but I'd have no problem eating it again. Stopped by the store on the way home and bought a chicken Caesar salad to cover my veggie servings for the day. Yubo got himself a salad too.

Yubo's really proud of me for eating so many salads without putting up much of a fuss. He almost let me cheat more today because he was craving fries (seriously... after 11:00p he gets pregnant) instead of his usual pineapple cravings, but the McDonald's he went to was already closed. Lord, thank you for keeping us healthy.

Didn't get too much exercise today except for what little dancing I did at The Well. Still gotta plan better. Maybe work out in the morning or afternoon instead of trying to wait 'til evening.

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Day 3
Cheating all day, mostly because I was very concerned about my eating schedule today. We were on worship today, which meant we were up at 6:30a. I would have only had a breakfast bar... no yogurt or fruit because I forgot to put the ice pack in the freezer. That would have left me with nothing to eat until 2:30p, which is when I got out of my massage appointment. Eight hours on just one breakfast bar? I think not. So Yubo allowed me to have a cheat day. I'll start back on my Nutrisystem food tomorrow.

I'm giving myself 2 cheat days a month, especially since the food supply only lasts 28 days anyway. But I'm going to try to make those cheat days as healthy as possible. Hopefully I'll still be able to keep it up in Hawaii.

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Day 4
Had the NS Chocolate Chip Granola Bar for breakfast. Thankfully, it was pretty good. Doesn't compare to the Quaker Oats one I usually eat, but it's good enough that I don't regret ordering 7 of them. Also had a yogurt... I think it was the Yoplait Light Blueberry Harvest. Pretty good.

Lunch was a very inedible NS Noodles with Chicken and Vegetables. Even Yubo couldn't eat it. So after a bite of that, I had a chicken Caesar salad and 1/2 c of Egg Beaters. I really wanted a boiled egg, but it would've taken me too long to make and I had to get to work.

Dinner was NS Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, and it was actually rather good. The sauce was a touch too tangy for my tastes, but overall it was good to eat. Finished dinner with a peach, a salad and light Caesar dressing, and two plums.

Dessert was the NS Fudge Brownie. I don't think there was much difference between it and the Chocolate Cake. Dense, a little dry, but ok to eat.

Overall, I just missed lunch and a fruit serving for the day. Haven't been exercising though. =/

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Day 5
I'm sick! I was already having issues with my throat last night. This morning I was coughing like crazy. Didn't get up until noon. I had the NS Nutrifrost Crunch cereal with vanilla Silk for breakfast. It was yummy. Would probably want to add my fruit serving to make it a bit more interesting and filling in the future.

NS Chicken Noodle Soup for lunch, hoping it might have the same benefits as regular chicken noodle soup for a sad sick person like me. Putting off my dairy/protein, fruit and veggie servings because the cough and sore throat make me not want to eat anything I have.

Dinner was NS Flatbread Pizza. Very yummy, although I think I like the Thick Crust Pizza better since it tastes like a pizza bagel. Yubo brought me some V8 that I used to fill up all my fruit and veggie servings. Also munched on some cucumbers with a little bit of light ranch dressing.

Had a very delicious NS Blueberry Lemon Bar for dessert. Yubo agreed that it was really really good. (I let him have a tiny bite.)

I still had three dairy/protein servings to fill, so I decided to cook up some beef. Yubo went out and bought some flank, and I cooked us cubed beef with a little bit of oyster sauce and lemon juice. I had 3 oz, and Yubo got to eat the rest.

No exercise again, especially due to being sick. ::sigh:: I miss playing Wii Fit.

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Day 6
Ridiculously sick. Threw up a little bit, coughing hurts like crazy (but I managed not to cough most of the time), fever, and super dizzy. No Nutrisystem today. Had a couple spoons of condensed chicken noodle soup that I couldn't even taste. Slept a whole lot. Yubo bought me some bread. I had a slice and cucumber water (which I also couldn't taste). Slept a little more. Then Yubo made me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of V8. I only had appetite enough to eat half of it. Took some Tylenol Cold and Oscillococcinum.

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Day 7
Weighed myself today even though I'm actually supposed to weigh tomorrow. Oh well. I'll do it again tomorrow. Anyhow....

Weight = 150lbs!!

I already lost 5 pounds in one week. Could easily be due to not eating much yesterday, but I'm still surprised after cheating as much as I did. We'll see if this goes up tomorrow on my actual weigh day.

I haven't eaten anything yet today. Probably gonna stick to bread and water again since I'm still sick. No fever, but I'm still coughing and a bit dizzy. I'll probably eat the other half of my PB&J sandwich that Yubo lovingly made for me.

I wonder what I'll eat during my 9 days in Hawaii with Alex. She can probably help me stay healthy even if I don't bring my Nutrisystem stuff. I wanna be able to eat out with her. Then when we get home, I plan to have alligator on a stick at Bite of Seattle. So I'll start my Nutrisystem again after that.

Introducing the diet, and just trying to be healthier.

After an exorbitant amount of "loving and concerned" comments about my weight from my parents, and thinking that my mom should be a direct seller for Nutrisystem, I caved in and started a Nutrisystem diet. I've also requested that Yubo start being healthier alongside me so I don't feel so bad about not being able to eat real food.

I ordered my first month the Tuesday we got back from Cali. My food arrived Thursday afternoon (which threw my sister and mom into an outrage because they didn't receive their food until a week after they ordered), and I started Friday.

After this post, I'll talk about the food I'm eating and exercise, and how well Yubo's doing in supporting me and living his own healthier lifestyle. Probably do it by week, so one entry will be updated several times that week.

Well... here we go.

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.