We're Getting Married!

So much has happened since the last post! Eric proposed when we went to The City (SF), well actually in Oakland at the Temple! Since then it's been a whirlwind of dates, meetings, online ideas, invitations, planning, preparing and craziness. 27 days to go and certaintly counting!!

The wedding is less than a month away (August 8th!) and we couldn't be happier. Yesterday was my bridal shower and a beautiful one I might add. I am so grateful for my wonderful friends and family; they really did "shower" me with gifts! My bridesmaids were amazing and made everything so beautiful. I especially loved my cake!

Lots of family and friends attended; we received so many gifts, it's such a blessing. Our first home may be little but it will be ours. I'm really excited in decorating! Mom and dad got us our front load washer and dryer! Super excited to have those in full swing. We are truly blessed.

We're almost done finalizing things...we got all the big things done, just now the zillion little ones. Hopefully things go according to plan and at the end of the day what matters most is that Eric and I will be sealed for time and all eternity! I cannot be happier than to marry this boy, I've already invested in waterproof makeup for the sealing. I practically bawled my eyes out when he proposed so I'm praying that I am sentimental come sealing time, but not a waterfall lol.

I started a website for our wedding, just some info for guests who have lost their invite, have forgotten to RSVP and needs reminding, etc. I hope everyone can come celebrate our love!

http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleId=9492304883891093

Memorial Day Fun

Even though I am not currently working, it was nice to observe a holiday :)

We ended up having a day full of fatty foods and swimming. Although I didn't get any pics of us in the pool...we're not exactly 5 years old anymore with such wonderful bodies, I was still able to get the sun I needed. LOL. The day consisted of turkey burgers (yum), a taco bar, homemade rootbeer (yes, a first for me) and homemade cinnamon rolls (told you it was a fatty foods day. Thanks, Rebecca).

All in all it was a wonderful day spent. Today I'm packing and planning for our trip to San Francisco. I am super excited for it, heard it was super cold. Time to bundle up in May. My 25th Birthday is this Saturday and I'm not too excited for it; I just want presents :D We're going to visit the Oakland Temple and hopefully do 2 of my family names!

I had a job interview last Friday after the week in Utah (I did a turnaround coming from Utah that Thursday night to Downey, CA around midnight...SUPER FUN.) The interview was in Newport Beach for the City of Newport as a HR Specialist. Why did I interview for an out of town job? Well, I simply can't find anything in town for HR. No one is hiring ironically for a HR Specialist in Recruiting. *sigh*. There are a lot of factors in play if I accept the job. I basically have to pray a lot for my answer on what step to take next in this chapter. Wish me luck...and pray! :)

It's hot as Hades

So last week, and into this week I've been ill. Wednesday night at 11:30 pm is when it actually started. My stomach hurt so bad and I was throwing up every 15 minutes until 3 am-ish. This continued each day; I was so nauseous and could not hold down even a sip of water. What did/do I have? Some crazy stomach flu that has adapted to my body apparently.

Today is not so bad, but I'm extremely sensitve to everything I eat and very tired. Eric's grandma, Nina Jorgensen passed away last week and tomorrow is her viewing and service at 9 am at the A Street Building. We were fortunate to see her a lot the past couple of weeks with Cory's homecoming and such. Eric and I visited her at the hospital twice and dropped by some yellow roses. I am happy that she is finally without pain and can be with Grandpa Jorgensen. She was a wonderful woman and fun to talk with; she'll be missed but we'll meet again :) We're going to Utah on Tuesday for the actual burial and I'm hoping I can make the car ride since we are no longer flying. I hope my stomach will be ok by then; been on a light solid/liquid diet the passed few days. Cannot tell you how much I crave burgers, pizza, sweets!

Speaking of sweets, yesterday (and today but it's the Sabbath) was Dewar's 100th anniversary. They celebrated with an all day event of games, prizes and free samples of their 8 new flavors of chews just for the event; they are peanut butter & jelly, pistachio, carmel pistachio, vanilla, roasted pecan, hot chili, george's special and grape. Of course we ended up getting pistachio (the best flavor in the world).
It was SUPER hot and I'm used to the heat (hey I've been in Arizona when it was 114 degrees at 11 pm!). But the air was more than humid, it felt like we were in an oven. I couldn't breathe!! Luckily Rebecca and her family were kind enough for me and eric to take a dip in the pool afterwards :)





I made these cute little candy bags for the YW today with my lesson on Reaching Out to Others. It says " A little spoonful of patience helps every friendship grow".

Utah...again!

Last weekend Rebecca and I (oh and plus Mateo, too) went to Spanish Fork, Utah to do some "special" shopping. The drive there is something I've never experienced and I can say it wasn't that bad! I luckily had a great driver and a little entertainer in the back seat to keep me busy and not go insane.

Driving through the canyon was fun and passing Las Vegas made me want to stop for some amazing buffet food (next time around). We stopped in St. George to see the temple since I remind you once again I have not driven to Utah before. The St. George temple is SO beautiful. I love the style of architecture and the presence it gives; very different from many of the newer temples.

After St. George we jumped right back in the car to continue our way to Spanish Fork. When we arrived in town, the moutains still had lots of snow! It was such a beautiful place; I can see why people decide to live there. It's only about 20 minutes to Provo and Orem; I could live there :) hah.

Anyway, we had a great time shopping: Rebecca is super woman and such a great friend. We had wonderful taco soup from her Aunt (so good!) and they were gracious enough for us to stay there for the weekend.

As all good vacations come to an end we headed home. The drive back was going pretty fast and we were making good time until we saw a sign that informed us of Hwy 58 being closed. Apparently there was a problem with the high winds and a windmill had wonderfully been projected off into the road. So instead of bearing some shards of metal into the car we were forced to take a detour. As going against my good judgement I didn't listen to the GPS (hey sometimes those little buggers are incorrect!) and listened to a certain someone instead *cough* not anyone in the car. We ended up going through Santa Clarita and headed back down the grapevine (I swear no trip of mine is ever without the grapevine!). This made our trip over 1 1/2 longer than expected.









All in all it was a super fun trip and I'm glad we went. Next time, if anyone has to take a detour from the 58, remember to take the 138 Avenue D...that will cut you across into Gorman and skipping the 5 North COMPLETELY. :)

Baptism

Today is the 4th year anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I cannot believe it has been 4 years since that day! Time has flown by. I am grateful for the gospel and the blessings I receive each day.

My faith is strong and steadfast, but I still have more progress to reach. I thank my Heavenly Father each day for my testimony and for the power of the Holy Ghost. Amazing how the spirit talks to us when we are prepared and listening. I have been going through a rollercoaster lately this year and I believe because of my faith it has kept me not only afloat, but able to bounce back.

I have happy it is Easter weekend; reflecting more of the our Savior, Jesus Christ has been extremely rewarding. I am eternally grateful for his precious gift, his atonement. Because of him, I know things are going to be great.

New Calling

So yesterday I was called to the Miamaid Advisor in Young Women's. I am very excited for this calling; I can only recalling once ever going to YW when I was 16 with a friend. I converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when I was 20 (4 years this April!). I never got to experience mutual or girls' camp.
I remember when Eric used to go to mutual or when Jessica went to girls' camp; I wished I could be part of it. Now I will live vicariously through these YM lol. I am really happy to be in First Ward and all the blessings that it has brought me. The support from my ward family is amazing and I really feel confident in myself with the gospel.
I have so many ideas to bring to YM; I want to make our own little blog for the girls. They have Mormal *lol such a funny name* coming up and we're going to do make-up day and all that fun girl stuff. It makes me happy since I never had any sisters; again, living vicariously through them.
I had a hard time falling asleep last night, went to be past midnight. I'm only praying that today will be a good day considering the odds are against me: it's Monday, I had less than 8 hours of sleep, it's new employee orientation. I better get going if I want to get to work early and start on some stuff before 8.

Anniversary

Saturday, the 21st was our 10th year anniversary; insanity. We have yet to be married but have been together for 10 years; to me that is an accomplishment. We've exercised our faith in the gospel and in each other that I am comforted to know the next 10 years will be a new adventure of wonder and fun.
We celebrated by have Dim Sum in Chinatown with my mom and my Aunt Jennie; I absolutely love Dim Sum. We went to my favorite place, The Empress Pavillion in downtown Chinatown. Dim Sum is a Chinese traditonal breakfast which is literally translated as "touch the heart". It is usually served from early morning to early afternoon. The dishes are in small portions and are served by waitresses pushing carts. Once a waitress approaches your table and you see something you like, you order the dish by them stamping a card. Dim Sum is super yummy and all I wanted for course was my Shu Mai :) D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Just looking at the pictures my mouth is watering :D
Afterwards of an amazing lunch, we went to Chinatown for a bit since my mom and Aunt have never been there together. It was nice to walk around and enjoy the day together. I like to do many things with the both of them considering they hardly get to see each other because of the distance; making new memories with my family is what I am trying to do more frequently. It makes me feel good and I love experiencing new things and showing them what I've discovered.
Eric and I later went to the Diamond District in downtown L.A.; yay :D Later we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at one of my favorite spots in Sherman Oaks, Pomodoro. We had tickets to go see Lisa Hannigan in West Hollywood and we were both super excited. With the prominent gay atmosphere in West Hollywood, the show was at the Troubadour, which is right in between West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The show ended up not starting until 9 p.m.; which wasn't what we had orginally thought. The opener was Lisa's guitarist, Gavin Glass. He was such a wonderful singer and I really enjoyed his music. Lisa herself was amazing and Eric and I are now bonafide fans. The show ended after midnight and we were both exhausted; we still had to go back to Downey and get my mom who was at my Aunt's. We didn't get home until almost 3; I practically zoned out during Stake Conference, which I'm not too proud of. We had a fun time though!

Valentine's Day

So this Valentine's we (me and eric) were really busy with work and school that we didn't plan anything super special. Our anniversary (don't ask how long lol) is next week and we usually do something during then rather on Valentine's because of how crazy people are in Bakersfield with restaurants.

Eric surprised me with an amazing bouquet of roses and stargazing lilies at work and then took me to lunch on Friday to the Guild House. On actual Valentine's we got together to make dinner at my apartment and just have a nice, quiet night in.

Eric made me a wonderful card (as long as I have a card I am happy) that included a poem from my favorite poet, Pablo Neruda. I made him a card as well; it was a "love story" book of our lives and it included pictures.

We made Fettucine with cream sauce (anything that has pasta and cream I'll eat!). The cream was comprised of bacon (yes!), green onions, fresh basil, and cream (duh). DELICIOUS!! We poured Cherry 7Up in wine glasses and toasted (well we forgot that) to us. I also made for dessert his favorite, Snickerdoodles, but I was so busy cleaning that I forgot to check on them; needless to say some were more browned than others :D They were still good! I'm glad I still had my milk/white chocolate covered strawberries as a back up. All in all it was a very romantic and lovely evening; and I wouldn't have asked for anything more!

Sonnet LXXXI:

Rest with your dream inside my dream

Pablo Neruda

Already, you are mine.

Rest with your dream inside my dream.
Love, grief, labour, must sleep now.

Night revolves on invisible wheels and joined to me

you are pure as sleeping amber.
No one else will sleep with my dream, love.
You will go we will go joined by the waters of time.
No other one will travel the shadows with me,
only you, eternal nature, eternal sun, eternal moon.

Family

Today Eric and I went down to LA to see parts of my family. It was Christopher's 1st Birthday and my what a day he had! Christopher is my cousin Laura's son from my mom's side of the family. I am happy that I was able to share some time with family considering we're all not too far away from one another. Coralynne (daughter of my other cousin, Lisa) has gotten more and more beautiful each time I see her. She has a baby brother, Kai on the way (due April 12th) and has a lot to learn about sharing; she took it hard when everyone wanted to place their attention on Christopher when she wanted him all to herself.


Christopher has been walking since the end of the October of last year, so he has a huge running start from all his other friends! It was a beautiful day in LA; 85 degrees! So nice to get away from the cold in Bakersfield (who knew?!). Chris had a great time playing/eating his birthday cake. I'm sure glad he liked what his Auntie Kimi bought him, a T-REX from Build-A-Bear!

The drive there and back wasn't bad at all; too bad Eric always falls asleep on the car ride home...

UTAH!

So I finally went to Utah! The pictures I took (all 246 of them) cannot grasp how beautiful Salt Lake City is. I had an amazing time and Eric and I ate such great food! It was so amazing to finally be in that wonderful city. We ended up seeing Elder Hales off the street and we were too amazed to say hi ):

I was really happy to finally see the temple up close, see the Visitor's center, Conference Center, etc. We got to see the Tabernacle choir practice and I enjoyed watching the films on Joseph Smith and The Testaments. We walked around SO much and used the Trax system every day.

I found a great breakfast spot from the internet called The Park Cafe. SUPER amazing breakfast. I'm still drooling over it. We visited Brigham Young's house and the restaurant called The Lion House. The sassparilla was super good and the rolls there were so fluffy :D

As you can tell, we like to eat. I made my very first snow angel in front of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and we had a snowball fight together on one of the last nights there. That Saturday we flew back home but before that we walked around Temple Square one last time; I counted about 11 brides that day. LOL. Maybe I'll refrain from dreaming our temple wedding there...haha. I cannot wait to go back though; the city is very peaceful and I bet conference will be an even more amazing adventure!

Salt Lake City Pix

kitties

So while everyone else is popping out babies, I am finding cats. Now after adopting Rick & Rebecca's cat, Pickles, a few weeks later Meiko came up to me outside. He's an adorable siamese mix, a breed I've always wanted. He's such a funny character, hence the name from the raccoon from Pochahontas (thanks, Jenna!). This week his new thing is playing fetch. Yes, playing fetch. I'll throw him a stick toy and he brings it back. No matter where I throw it, the kitchen, up the stairs, he always seems to bring it back. He thinks he's a puppy.

Below are pictures of Pickles and Meiko.

SLC

So for Christmas Eric surprised me with plane tickets to Salt Lake City! I'm super excited. I've never been and have always wanted to go. Sure beats the forever road trip (even though it would have been cool to experience that). We're going December 17th-20th (doesn't seem like many days but we didn't want to travel on Sunday and I didn't want to take all my PTO).

We got a cool hotel across the street from Temple Square. I cannot want to see all the wonderful things: SLC Temple, Tabernacle, Brigham Young's home, etc. We really wanted to visit BYU, but that's about 45 minutes away. I don't want to rent a car, even though I get a pretty good discount from work. I'd rather save our money on food and Christmas presents. I will probably mail all the stuff I buy back to Bakersfield because of the lame charges on extra baggage now with airlines.

We really wanted to wait for this trip AFTER we were married, but Eric had planned it for this year. Hopefully within the next year I can finally same I'm engaged. Practically everyone I know is getting engaged, it's that time now. We're all growing up! I can't wait for that day for us to come.

Back to Utah...I have no idea what to pack. I get cold here in California when it's 68 degrees outside. lol I have some pretty good jackets, but I do need new boots. I hope it snows; Temple Square is going to be so beautiful!

twilight

So starting this thing up again; the summer ran by me pretty quickly. Been all over Southern California the past few months. I've come accquainted very well with Hilton hotels lol.

Enough about work. Rebecca got me addicted to Twilight. Now I know I'm way behind in the trend of this series, so bear with me. I ended up finishing all 4 books in under 2 weeks (was pretty easy considering I had down time from office to office in the hotel room).

It's honestly one of my favorite books. Thanks, Rebecca :) It's so addicting, that I've given Mayra a copy of it for her birthday, it's all I talk about (yeah I even mentioned to Eric that it would be a cool anime), and I am going bizerk waiting for the movie to come in December. It's hard to picture the actors chosen in the movie though. I totally thought Edward a different way; however Robert Pattinson I would think would do a good job. I totally would have casted Bella differently. Ellen Page. Hands down. Who knows. The book is a total chick book, complete with romance and suspense intertwined. Enough about the book, I'm driving myself crazy just thinking about it. I'll talk more of it later.

Lakers game tomorrow. Can't believe it's already October. Can't believe it's already 1 year since I went to the last game. Time flies. I still get older lol.

Being MOH

This was my first time being Maid of Honor; I've been a bridesmaid before but my how MOH is so important in the bride's intrical part of a successful wedding!
Jessica surprised me by asking me to be her MOH which I happily accepted. Her and William's ceremony was off the Shell Beach cliffs at the Margo Dodd park. What a beautiful destination wedding! Not too far away from all us So. Cal'ers but just enough to enjoy the beautiful beach weather :D
Jessica looked so beautiful; her and her charming prince I know will be very happy with each other. I'm very happy that they have found one another and are so much in love.