Quick and easy

Here's a few more updates I thought I'd share with you to keep me consistent in trying to blog more lately :)

In July, we went to a concert called Jack's Fifth Concert held by a local radio station.  It was AH-MAZING!  The bands were:
Night Ranger
Skid Row
Modern English
The Fixx
The Cult
Steve Miller Band
Young MC
Vanilla Ice
and a couple more I don't remember. 

Me, Mr Fix It and my sis and bro-in-law spent a good 6 to 7 hours there taking in all the amazing acts.  Vanilla Ice and Young MC were the two that totally got the entire crowd up and dancing.  Here's a fun shot of my sis being silly dancing behind some chicks shakin' it in the aisle at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater in Irvine:

FUN WEDDING FACT:  If you ever watch WE TV's My Fair Wedding With David Tutera, this past Sunday's episode featured our wedding venue, Rancho Las Lomas!!!  Check your local listings to see when it reruns and look for the episode with the Zebra bride who wanted a Passport to Africa wedding :)

Did your wedding have some vendor, venue, or other aspect that made it 'famous' somehow?

Should I stay or should I go?

Considering it has been over two months since my last blog post, I am struggling with the inevitable question of whether or not I should just give up blogging all together?  Deep down, I know that I do not want to do that.  But with our wedding now over and moving on into a new year, I have decided that it would be good for me to journal about what's been going on in my life on at least a weekly basis.  So for now, I am going to try to start again by committing to weekly posts...regardless of whether anyone reads them or not.

In the past years, I have often loved going back and reading journals I wrote out to see what was going on and how I felt at that point of my life.  It is really encouraging and causes you to re-evaluate yourself internally.

Anyway, for now, here's a recap of what's been going on with us Beevers during the last several months...some good, some bad...but life nonetheless.

OCTOBER

We travelled up north to Redding, CA to visit Mr Fix It's brother and his in-laws for the celebration of a family member's 60th birthday party.  It was a quick, pop in/pop out weekend trip but it was super fun to see Mr Fix It's parents and the other family members that live up in Northern Cali.  The party was a costume event and so being the weekend before Halloween, it was the perfect opportunity for us to test out our costumes:

(I apologize for the quality as most of these photos were taken on my cell phone camera)
Oh and did I mention that Mr Fix It won best costume?!?

We finished out October at a Halloween party at a neighbor's house.  This was the first time for me to really hang out and get to know all the neighbors on our cul de sac since I had just moved into Mr Fix It's home 5 months earlier.  Needless to say, I was a bit concerned when I was served the following Deviled eggs:

After that, I took a tour of their house since Mr Fix It had done a lot of work on it for them.  I really flipped out when I walked into the bathroom to find this waiting for me:



In their defense, our neighbors are HUGE holiday freaks.  They love to decorate and go all out in their yard and their house.  It was actually quite fun to see all that they did around the entire place.

NOVEMBER

Of course November ushered in the holidays.  And as you may remember from one of my last posts, I had my first Thanksgiving ever (without my hubby with me) in our home.  We had about 20 family members there and I mostly did everything myself.  I forgot to take pictures when everything was first set out so here are a few I snapped after people had started chowing down.  The lighting's not great cuz I took them on my cell phone:

I was so excited to use all of our brand new serving platters and casserole dishes.

All of these items were wedding gifts!!!

My brother-in-law did a fabulous job of carving up the 20 lb bird!

Again, I got to use a new wedding gift:  a 3 pot crock pot/slow cooker!  This thing was so cool!

DECEMBER

December of course meant Christmas.  Christmas was a little hard for me since I was usually really into it the day after Thanksgiving.  I would put all of my decorations out and get so excited to decorate my fake tree.  Had to be fake because I liked to leave it up from the day after Thanksgiving until the day after New Year's and we all know real trees don't last that long. 

But Mr Fix It is all about a real tree so I opted to wait until about 2 weeks before Christmas to put out all the decorations.  Especially because with our new puppy in the house I was petrified he was going to destroy everything!  Surprisingly, he did well and didn't really go after anything at all...not even the stockings that I hung from our fireplace mantle. 

In early December, I got together with the six girls I had led in a bible study for almost 5 years.  We don't meet regularly anymore since I got married because almost all of us are now married and we don't live as close anymore.  So we make it a point to get together once a month instead.  In December, one of the girls hosted a fabulous tea party and she was excited to use all of her brand new tea set.  I absolutely loved this mad hatter style table setting but with a Christmas feel to it.  She went so far as to put pictures of us girls at each place setting!  I loved it.

One of our favorite memories of our first Christmas together was driving to my sister's house on Christmas morning.  We decided to get up early to go see my niece and nephew open all of their gifts.  On our way down to South County we happened to come across this guy driving in a station wagon full of gifts on the 405 freeway!

I mean, come on!  Does it get any better than seeing Santa on Christmas day driving with a car full of presents?!?  We honked at him and he waved and gave us the peace sign with a big smile on his face.

JANUARY

January meant a new year.  As much as I was so thrilled with all of the exciting things that went on in 2010 (like oh, our wedding and honeymoon), I was really excited to say hello to 2011 and begin what will hopefully be a great start to our lives together.  But in January, Mr Fix It left me yet again for about 2 weeks to go up north to his parent's house to work on a rental property for them.  This picture of our puppy, Brody sums up how I felt during that time: 

We missed the man of the house and Brody is looking out our front window waiting for him to come home like me!  Thankfully, I had my daughter, Little Miss with me to keep me and Brody occupied.

We finished up January with me, Little Miss and my mom taking a quick flight up to Seattle for the last weekend to see my cousin star in a little musical play he wrote.  He attends college at Cornish school for the performing arts and I know he'll make it big some day.  It was so fun to see him act.

While we were there, we took in some of the sights...like the very first Starbucks ever!

My mom, Little Miss, my cousin (the future star), my aunt and me

We checked out this silly wall of grafiti near Pike's Market (a popular outdoor market).  While we were there, we went and had lunch at the restaurant where Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner filmed a scene for the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

We walked on the waterfront



They made us check out this stupid wall of gum. 

A dumb tourist site in my opinion where people stick their chewed gum. 

And of course we saw the Space Needle (as well as Qwest & Safeco Fields)

FEBRUARY

Of course, I don't have photos for February yet since today is the first day.  But this will be a super fun month.  And here's why:

Sunday is Super Bowl day.  Though I am not thrilled with the teams that are playing at all :( I do love me some good football!

The following Wednesday is my daughter's actual birthday and then that Friday Mr Fix It is taking me to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day.

The weekend after that, an old friend from high school (who just happens to be the President of the World Poker Tour) got us tickets to a celebrity invitation reception and event that they are holding near our house.  Mr Fix It is a huge poker fan so we are super excited about that.

The last Friday of February, I am throwing yet ANOTHER surprise party for Mr Fix It's birthday!  His brother is flying in from Sacramento to surprise him along with 20 other friends who will be waiting for him at our local Lucky Strike Bowling Alley and Lounge.

Oh and Little Miss is taking her driving test in the middle of the month as well.  We bought her a car from a family member and she is dying to be able to have her own car and drive herself to and from school finally.  Scary stuff to see my little one growing up but I am excited about all the new changes coming.

Thus I am so thankful for February and all the celebration it is going to bring.  On the downside, Mr Fix It and I lost a very dear close friend of ours about a week and a half ago.  She went to Hawaii after our wedding (in July) and came back with a nasty cough that wouldn't go away.  The doctors soon found out it was lung cancer and once treatment began, it soon spread to her brain.  We were devastated when we found out they only gave her a month to live when it was determined that the treatment was not working whatsoever.  She lost her battle on Wednesday January 26th.  Mr Fix It and I cried and are trying to make sense of why someone so loving and genuine and beautiful was taken so soon.  But her boyfriend (our dear friend) summed it up best when he said "I guess God just wanted her back sooner than we had all hoped."

Audrey, you will be dearly missed and we love you so much!  Rest in peace lovely lady.

All by myself...at Thanksgiving!

Well, not really.  Sort of. 

As you may remember, this past July, my wonderful 95 year old grandmother went home to be with our Lord.  Thanksgiving has *ALWAYS* been a tradition that took place with our entire extended family at my grandma's house in Hemet every year for as many decades as I can remember.  We have anywhere from 20 to 40 people each year and it has been a solid family get together forever.

But with Grandma now gone and most of the family traveling about 90 minutes to get to Hemet where my Aunt (who took care of her) still lives, we decided there's no need for all of us to make that drive each Turkey Day.  So we are starting a new tradition...and it's at *MY* house!

Yep, I will be making my first Thanksgiving Day feast this week for 20 people at the Beever household.  It is bitter sweet for several reasons:

1)  The cooking:  I love to cook - especially for parties - but I've never done a Thanksgiving feast for this many people so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.  I have already finished all the shopping last night and even made my first appetizer yesterday:  Citrus Marinated Green Olives that sit in the fridge for 3 days.

2)  The traveling:  We won't have to drive far...almost all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, mom and sister live in Orange County so most of them will only have to drive about 30 minutes to get to my place.  But it is going to be super tough this year being without Grandma and in a house other than hers where I grew up.  And it may be a bit chaotic with our new puppy jumping all over the place.

3)  The cost!  Oh my gosh, I never realized how expensive it is to feed this many people!  We are going to have each family pitch in $5 for kids and $10 per adult to help me pay for the expenses but even after that contribution, I am still paying about $100 - $150 out of my own pocket.  If I do this again next year, I may need to up the ante by either having people bring a dish or pay more like $15 each :)

4)  The preparation...oh wow.  I started shopping for non-perishables two weeks ago then bought cold items on Saturday and the produce and turkey yesterday.  I cleaned the house all weekend and tonight I am making pumpkin banana mousse tarts and the cranberry sauce/relish.  Tomorrow and Thursday will be busy days for sure but I am actually excited (and a bit nervous) to see how it will all come out.

But the unfortunate thing about all of this is that Mr Fix It will not be with me this year on our first Turkey Day as a married couple.  We have always spent Turkey Day apart each year since he goes up to his parents house in Northern California and I have always been at Grandma's house.  So after we got married, his family assumed we would go up there together.  But Mr Fix It understood how important it was to me to have this year with my family since we just lost our grandmother. 

He asked if I wanted him to stay here with me so I wouldn't have to be alone but I told him to go ahead and go up to his family's house and next year we will start the alternating of holidays between the two families.  A lot of people think it's weird that we won't be together, but honestly, as much as I love him, I know that he would probably stress me out pretty bad while I am cooking all day Thursday.  Mr Fix It tends to be one of those guys who sits over your shoulder in the kitchen thinking he knows everything better than you do.  So silly...he always talks about what a good cook I am but when we have people over to our place, he just has to have his hands in everything. 

So I told him that I loved him and I would miss him and I would make a plate of leftovers for him to try when he gets back, but to go enjoy his thanksgiving with his family and not to worry about me.

So, ladies.  What are your big holiday plans this week?  Any of you having to deal with changes for your holidays now that you are married?

A loveless marriage vs. an unloved child

Today a 'sort of' co-worker asked me how I liked married life.  I told him it was great (neglecting to tell him about the little argument Mr Fix It and I got into this morning before I left for work).  Now don't get me wrong, what is great about *my* marriage is that within 15 minutes of that little spat, Mr Fix It had humbled himself to see my side of the story and why I was frustrated and we had calmed down and lovingly kissed each other goodbye.

But what made me sad was the next thing this co-worker said after he asked me the question.  He said "Yeah, you know."  So I knew there was hesitation there and I asked him what he meant. 

He responded by saying this: "Well, it's just hard to keep the love alive in a marriage when you have kids to take care of and work and you're tired at the end of the day.  My wife and I have been married for almost 20 years now and it's just...I don't know."

The way he said it made me so sad.  It made me feel like he found no joy or pleasure or happiness in his marriage...at least not today.  I answered back by saying, "Yes, I know what you mean.  Mr Fix It and I have only been married for 7 months now and I already feel like we have a lot of mundane days.  When you work all day and are trying to keep up a house, a pet and kids, it's just really important that you work hard to keep romance in your relationship.  You have to be very 'intentional' about each other and trying to surprise one another."

I went on to tell him how different married life is from dating someone because when you're dating, you put everything else out of your mind when you are out with the other person because you know that is *your* time together.  But married life is seeing each other day in and day out...paying bills and cleaning and all that unromantic stuff.  He said that's exactly what it is.

Ladies, many of you are either newly married or soon to be married.  And at 38 years old after having spent 6 years with Mr Fix It before we married and moved in, I can tell you that marriage is WORK.  Relationships are work.  There's no getting around it.  Whether it's with your boss, your mom, your sibling or your husband/wife...you have to work to be respectful of each other, to please each other, to comfort one another and to keep the spice in your life. 

What truly makes me mad though is how easy it is for people to just walk away from marriages nowadays.  We take divorce so casually or we decide to just live with someone without 'putting a ring on it.'  That way, we always have an 'out' if we need it*.

Well, guess what?  I don't have an out when it comes to my daughter, Little Miss anymore than I have an out with Mr Fix It in our marriage.  We would *NEVER* talk about our children the way we talk about our spouses.  We would never say it's hard to 'keep the love alive' for our son or daughter.  We make just as much of a choice (if you want to even call it that) to love our child as we do to love our spouse.  Could you imagine a mother telling her daughter "You know, I just feel like there is nothing between us anymore.  I mean I'll always love you, but I'm just not *IN* love with you anymore.  I think it's best we just part ways"?

We would think all sorts of unpleasant thoughts about that mother.  Unfortunately, parents do indeed abandon their child.  Our world is full of unloved children.  But a loveless marriage is just as ridiculous as an unloved child for those of us who profess to be somewhat healthy and responsible.  As much as Little Miss frustrates the holy heck out of me sometimes, I would absolutely NEVER imagine waking up one day and not feeling pure, unconditional love for her even if she felt like she couldn't stand me. 

So why do we think it's okay to let ourselves 'feel' like we don't have the marriage we once did or want anymore?  I'm telling you now, ladies and gents, if you want a romantic, passionate, loving relationship filled with all the joy and happiness that you felt on your wedding day or in your courting days, then you better be prepared to have mundane, boring, frustrating days with that person that you will not be able to get away from.  Because marriage is indeed work.  I have to forcibly remind myself to walk into the house and go give Mr Fix It a kiss before I pick up all the crap he and Little Miss left all over the place.  And even then, after a day at work, I'd much prefer to just grab a bag of Cheetos and plop down in front of the tv than have a conversation with Mr Fix It.

But last week, as it was a super chilly night, while Little Miss was away at her father's house, Mr Fix It and I started a fire, made some root beer floats, turned the soft rock radio channel on our television and just snuggled up with our new puppy on our sofa sitting in the dimly lit living room.  We didn't make love that night and we didn't watch tv.  We just sat and listened to the music and talked about whatever came to our minds. 

And in the morning when we woke up, Mr Fix It hugged me and said "I had so much fun with you last night just doing nothing.  We need to do that more often."  And it reminded me all over again that while our lives may sometimes be boring or busy, our marriage will always have love as long as we remember to value each other as a family member that we cannot get away from. 

An infant who cannot offer you anything in the way of reciprocated affection, entertainment or conversation and is quite possibly just demanding of your time as their parent would never be unloved any more than your spouse/significant other should be once you have chosen to commit to them as their one and only. 

*Let me clarify that I do believe there are times when divorce is unavoidable (abuse, etc).  I am referring to those who simply say they 'have lost that lovin' feeling' without any rhyme or reason or real effort.
Blessings to you all and I hope you are excited about the upcoming holiday season.

The Beevers are not dead

Hi, everyone!

I noticed a few of you have left some comments lately wondering where I am.  Yes, I am still around and yes I am still married...very happily!

I feel horrible that I have not been blogging for the past couple of months.  I even have about 4 more posts that I never finished up from wedding recaps I'd still like to complete and blog for you soon.  And eventually, I'd like to start blogging more about our married life...the ups and downs and adjustment phases we've been encountering.

But all is, indeed, very well.  We are happy and living together for almost 7 months now just feels 'normal.' 

I asked Mr. Beever if it was weird for him to suddenly be leaving with a wife and a teenage daughter and he said "No, it just feels normal....like we've lived together forever."  I just adore him.  He has been saying some really sweet things lately...waking me up in the middle of the night to let me know that he loves me and is really happy.  He has told me several times this past month what a 'good woman' I am.  And he is just as good to me.

We just had my birthday last month and we're hoping to hit Vegas soon to celebrate a post b-day getaway.  I am also planning and hosting my very first family Thanksgiving this year at our place.  There will be about 20 to 25 of us and I am so nervous but really excited.

And of course, we just got a puppy about 2 months ago and so when I am home I try to focus on him and the family since we're at work all day away from each other. 

Work is slowing down a bit again so hopefully I will get back to all of your blogs.  I know some of you have recently married and I have lots of recaps to catch up on.

For now, I will leave you with the two Christmas cards we just ordered today.  We couldn't choose one of the two so we opted to get two and send out half and half to the 100 family and friends on our card list.

Hope you are all well!!!  Take care and I will most definitely be around.  :)

My baby sister designed both of these cards for us.  And of course we included the new puppy, Brody in our family photo card this year. 

The Video: A mashed up montage

I feel horrible because I only have about 10 or so recaps left and then I will finally be finished with all the sweet details of our wonderful wedding event. 

Unfortunately, I have not been able to sit at a computer for personal recreation (like to write my blog posts) for a week or so now.  And I obviously haven't been able to get over to your blogs either :(

Work has been crazy.  We also got a new puppy that we have been trying to train and has been consuming our time.  I want to write much and I want to read about all that is going on with you ladies but I just don't have the time.  On top of that, my wrist and arm have been totally acting up from carpal tunnel syndrome. 

Needless to say, this was evidenced by the fact that I began to write out notes for a post yesterday and then forgot to actually write the post...so forgetting about it, it automatically scheduled and posted live with just my notes instead of my thoughts :)  Silly girl...I am losing my mind!

To share at least something, I'm going to share this little montage video from our full wedding video which is a little recap of some of our photo session shoot and such.

Enjoy!

Wed Recap: The planner and the wing-it guy

I'm still following up with ceremony recaps - but there's only a few more to go.  However, today is again, one that is sort of a favorite...because it is the only time during our ceremony that I actually got choked up (though briefly). 

In my post last week about our pastor talking about both me and Mr Fix It and why he 'likes us,' he mentioned that I am a planner and that Mr Fix It is a surfer.  Well, in today's post, I am sharing with you our personally written messages to each other. 

And as you'll see in the video, Mr Fix It just 'wings it' and didn't have anything specific prepared or written down.  This is exactly why I didn't involve him in the writing of the traditional vows I shared last week, because he really just waits until he is in the moment to make decisions and share thoughts.  :)

The funny thing is, me being the planner, I knew one day Mr Fix It and I would get married.  And so early on in our six year relationship, I started keeping a journal that every once in a very great while, I would write a note or reminder about something he did or said or something I thought about him.  Basically, as soon as we got engaged, I went back through those old journal entries to gain inspiration and then wrote out this letter to Mr Fix It.  It was written probably a good 9 to 12 months before our wedding and I didn't look at it again until it was time to print it out when we were going over the ceremony with our pastor.  So yes, it was well planned in advance - at least mine was.

So here it is, the video of our messages to each other.

I just absolutely love how our pastor knew how to put us at ease and lighten a mood with a simple statement like when he tells Mr Fix It 'he's not going to top' my message. :)

Share Time:  Did/Will you include a personally written note or message to each other in addition to the vows you recite?  Or will you maybe write your vows as the written notes to one another?  How much time did you put into writing them out?  Did you wait until the last minute or have them prepared very early on?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  If you are reciting traditional vows, consider whether or not you'd like to incorporate a personal message to one another before you actually recite your vows. 

Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills
Unless otherwise indicated, photos by Robert Mullins

Sad news yesterday...

Yesterday was the day that I have been dreading and expecting since a few months before our wedding.  I have mentioned a few times about how disappointed I was that my grandmother (due to failing health) became unable to travel just 2 months before our wedding.  She has had heart, lung and many other health issues for years now and we never expected her to live this long.  But she is a fighter and stubborn :)

I was praying she would just make it til after our honeymoon and now here we are 2 1/2 months after our wedding and yesterday she finally left our world to pass over into the arms of our God. 

My daughter with Grandma a few halloweens ago

It has been especially difficult these last few months...she lives about 90 minutes from us and my mother has been spending every weekend at her home to spend time with her and assist her older sister (my aunt) with her health.  Just a month before our wedding I was visiting her and the hospice care nurses decided to bring in a hospital bed and from that day on, she would never walk again.  She is so frail and fragile that even the slightest touch or bump would deeply bruise her or even worse, tear open her skin :( 

Me and my sister with Grandma when I was about 2 or 3 years old

We celebrated her 95th birthday with her at the end of May and just last weekend my sister and I spent 2 days with her.  Each time I have seen her over the last few months she gets progressively worse.  I have watched her body deteriorate...though until the last week or two, her mind was completely there. 

These last few days were the hardest on our family.  Last Saturday I cooked her the very last meal she would ever eat - spaghetti and garlic bread - a favorite of hers.  She never ate this past week and could not even drink - not even water.  Her body had filled with so much fluid from the heart and lung disease that she was totally bloated.  My mother could barely hold her hand because the touch would hurt her or open her skin. 

Me and my Grandma and Grandpa

She would really only sleep but she couldn't even do that well because she was struggling to breathe from coughing and gurgling the fluid in her lungs. 

We have been praying for weeks for God to just take her home...we would say that we can't understand why she just won't let go and be at peace.  And Friday night was the worst for me.  My mother took this past week off of work as they knew the end was very close and she wanted to be there with her sister.   My mom called me Friday and updated me on her condition...I came home and sobbed and told Mr Fix It that I just didn't want her to suffer anymore.

Yesterday morning, my mother called to tell me she slipped away and stopped breathing with my mother there in the room.  I have been in tears and laughter throughout this past day.  And there are many more tears to come...she was the matriarch of a large family...5 children, 10 grandchildren (and their spouses) and many great grandchildren.  She even had a great great granddaughter (you'll see her pic in a future recap).  She lived a full life...she loved and cared for her family and we loved her like no other.  She was like a second mother to me...helped my parents raise me...babysat me. 

I was so blessed to know her and love her and be loved by her.  I cannot wait to see her again one day and I am so grateful that she is at rest and no longer in pain and an ailing body.  This whole process has made me ponder life, death and the frailty of our bodies...to watch life go from birth through death in old age is not really a beautiful thing to me as some say.  I personally believe it is a sad thing, but it makes me so grateful for health and for life and for relationships.  An aging frail body going through the dying process only reminds me that this life is not all we were intended for...there is something more beautiful, peaceful, healthy and whole waiting for us.  And the life I will live with my grandmother there reminds me to be hopeful and to fondly cherish the memories and love she leaves with us all.

Love you Grandma!

A country wedding in Cayucos (Mercedes)

This past weekend, Mr Fix It and I traveled about 4+ hours up the coast line to a little town called Cayucos.  The central Californian coastline is some of the prettiest shoreline I've ever seen.  So beautiful.  My girlfriend, Mercedes wanted to have a destination wedding, but at only 25 years old, she also wanted lots of her friends to be able to make the journey with her and her now hubby.  So they opted for a rustic, country style wedding in Cayucos.  It was right near the beach but the wedding was held in a barn.

Here are some lovely photos recapping the event:

Ceremony Area

The reception tables...she used burlap linen cloths with doiley table runners and simple vintage/old mason jars, candlestick holders, and votive candles with a few bright field type flowers throughout.

Their sweetheart table with photos of them as children on it

The adorable guest book table which included photos of the bride and groom as children, their parents and grandparents wedding photos and a guestbook of their engagement pictures to be signed.  I thought it was so adorable to use an old table with the drawers open to display this.  They did something similar for the gift table but I didn't get a shot of that.

Another view of the reception tables.

The bride and her maids...they wore different dresses which were adorable with flat shoes.

The groom.  The groomsmen all wore similar pants with white shirts

and bow ties but only suspenders...no vest or jacket.

The adorable flower girl

MARRIED!

The barn where the dancing took place...and of course where the bar was. 

Dinner tables sat outside just by this door way

After dinner, their amazing photographer took them just up this hillside right next to the barn for some gorgeous shots with the sun setting on them.  I can't wait to see them!

They had a makeshift faux-to-booth.  I let them borrow our props from our photobooth and they hung a sheet up on a fence.  Guests just used their own cameras to snap shots of themselves goofing off :)

This is me and Mr Fix It

Mercedes is one of six girls who is in a bible study I lead for 20 something ladies.  This is us.

Mercedes asked all the girls attending the wedding to please wear brightly colored floral patterns.

And this is all of us girls (without Mercedes) in the faux-to-booth!

This wedding was totally not my style at all.  I am not the country, rustic girl at all.  But it was definitely totally Mercedes through and through.  It was beautiful, simple, outdoorsy and so much FUN!  The guests danced and partied all night long and the bride and groom had a wonderful time!

Reflections on Marriage: Protection

So we're walking across the street in a sidewalk on Main St in Seal Beach on Friday night on our way to dinner at Whalt's Wharf.  Mr Fix It says to me "You know when we're crossing the street like this, you always need to walk on the inside left side of me."  I looked at him and he said "You know why?"  I responded, "So I don't get hit by a car?"  He answered "So if a car is going to hit one of us, I can be the one to get hit and hopefully prevent you from getting injured."

Nothing makes a woman feel more loved than a man who wants to protect her.  (swooning)

Afterthought:  At dinner, two ladies at the table next to us kept staring and smiling at Mr Fix It.  As they got up to leave, one of them walked by him and said "You were great in your last movie."  Mr Fix It just smiled and nodded.  I laughed and said "Why didn't you ask her who she thinks you are?!?"  He said he didn't want to disappoint her.  :)  If you remember, Mr Fix It is sometimes told he looks like Matt Damon or Kevin Bacon.  :) 

Photos courtesy of Yan Freedline (VideoKeepsakes of Beverly Hills)

We interrupt the wed/h-moon recaps for...

...a little fun from our family life on Thursday night...stick it out til the end for a funny joke :)

Get ready for this...Little Miss's uncle's partner (whew!) is trying to break into photography as an art form and so he had his first official exhibit in a small gallery in their building in Los Angeles Thursday night.  Since we are pretty close with Little Miss's family on her father's side and all attend each other's events (sports games, birthday parties, weddings, etc), my mom, sister, Little Miss and I all decided to brave the traffic from the OC into LA.

They live right near Staples Center and so we were thrilled when we remembered that the playoff Lakers game was being held in Boston that night (bummed though that the Lakers lost) :(  So we really didn't hit any traffic at all on the 405.

We got to the exhibit about 6:30 pm and browsed around our friend's photos and got to hear the stories behind the shots...like the beautiful photo he snapped of the steps at Mansanar (a Japanese internment camp that is now pretty much torn down due to embarassment I am sure).  And then there was the photo titled Cabin Fever which was of a broken-down-busted-out-window-falling apart cabin in the middle of Joshua Tree desert.  Little Miss's grandmother proceeded to tell us how it belongs to her relatives and they used to go there 25 years ago for little weekend trips.  Very interesting.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics of the photos out of respect for our friend's artform and not wanting to 'plagiarize' his stuff, though he probably wouldn't have minded.  However, I did snap this little pic of my sister:

Yeah, that's Brad Wollack and Ross Matthews (comedians from the Chelsea Lately show).  We got to chat with them for a bit since Little Miss's uncle and aunt are friends with Chelsea and several of her staff attended the event.  It was pretty cool.  Very down to earth fun guys.  Since I was following the Laker game on my cell, they asked me about my new Droid phone and if I liked it?  Then they told me that even though they both have the iPhone, they don't like the service AT&T provides.  Which then led to a fun little joke they wrote up for a future comedy act about how they 'forgive' AT&T because even though it's not great, they get service that 'goes down on them about 6 or 7 times.'  Silly boys!

the LOST finale (side note)

Since the finale of like my all-time favorite show EVER - LOST was on a week ago today, I figured I'd throw out my two cents on what the finale was all about and how it 'ended.'  I have followed this show faithfully for all six years...even created bible studies around it's themes and characters for my group of college girls this past year.  So here's my thoughts:

LOST - my take: They all died (most on the Island) at some point. The alternate reality of the 'flash sideways' (that showed what would have happened had they landed safely and never crashed and how their lives would have still interconnected) was the 'fake reality' they created for themselves to figure out how to realize they are dead and get back to one another. I don't like the idea of 'purgatory' for that so I'm not calling it that.


I think it was summed up perfectly in what Jack's dad said "You all needed this place to find one another. The time you spent with these people was the most important time in your life." So once they all were brought together (by Desmond) and realized that they were dead and remembered the time (and death) they all had on the island, they were able to all reconnect and live together in eternity.

Basically, they were living lonely sad depressing lives before the crash and thought they could do it on their own. But the crash (and the island) brought them together to learn to love someone else and ask for help and be a family. So they didn't have to end up alone in the end. The show was mainly about relationships with the underlying aspects being faith vs. science, reality vs. alternate-realities, truth vs. myths, good vs. evil, etc. So the Dharma initiative was just a side story to keep you interested with strange happenings that dealt with the powers of the island. It wasn't meant to be a 'Must be answered' part of the show - as much as we wanted that. :)

My guess is that Jack thought that Kate, Sawyer, etc got off the island on the plane but I believe that the plane never actually made it and they crashed (which is how they all ended up dead). I also believe you didn't see people like Miles, Charlotte, Daniel Farraday, Frank (the pilot), etc in the church because they were not the main characters of the show that were on the original plane crash and formed the ties with the 'main' characters. That's why people like Libby and Shannon came back. Michael and Walt were probably not there because they didn't die (on the island or at all). The only one I truly questioned was Penny...she was never on the island and didn't really die (that we know of)...so it was a little out of sorts for her to be in the church.

I know I rambled, but I think that's a good take on it from what I have seen and interpreted. And I have been a faithful follower for SIX years now! :)

A post from a long, long time ago...

I was gonna start the recaps today, but I came up with this instead.  I promise the recaps will start on Monday!  :)  But just to give you a little something to peak your interest, here are a few pics I have gotten from friend's and family's cameras from our wedding day:

All my lovely ladies hangin' on the patio just before I walked out to see Mr Fix It for the first time

From left to right:  Cousin E, Bestie L, Daughter Little Miss, 2nd Cousin T (Flower girl), Sister and MOH J, good friend and mentor D, Cousin A.

Me walking out of the bridal cottage onto the patio to see Mr Fix It for the first time.  I love this photo because it shows how gorgeous the venue is with all the landscaping, trees and how the weather was with beautiful shade and sun throughout the day.

Me and my mom, L in the bridal cottage

Getting ready to start all the picture taking.  I had quite the entourage with me with 2 photographers and a 3rd photographer who came with the videographer.  Plus there were 2 or 3 videographers with us as well.  Notice the red shoes!  So fun!

My second cousin, B.  Here she is modeling off the bib favors I gave the little guests who sat in high chairs as well as performing a fun card trick with the magician who was at her table at this time!  :)

That's all for now...more to come, now on to today's post:

I started this blog about 7 or so months ago to track all my wedding progress and planning and to follow along with fellow brides to be and such...but I had started a personal blog about 2 years ago as well.  Though I only posted like 5 times on that one.  It has sat alone with no posts for about 17 months now.  But I recently sent out the link to it to all of my family and friends so that I can share 'censored' wedding and honeymoon recaps on it there for those who attended the wedding or weren't able to make it.  (I still want to keep some things somewhat anonymous over here).

Anyway, when I revisited that blog to send out the link to friends/family, I re-read the last thing I posted on it which was January, 2009 just a week after I had gotten engaged. Thought I would share that post with all of you just because it was one that I really felt good about when I looked at my thoughts and feelings in it.  So here it is:

I guess since it's the beginning of 2009 I should write something. Well, I could start off by saying that I am officially engaged! I get to start off the new year by finally knowing that I will actually be married in this life. That's something I honestly was beginning to wonder about.

It's so funny, I lead a group of girls that are in their early 20's. Girls have come and gone from the group since I first started several years ago, but there is still a core number of 5 girls. One is recently married and the other 4 are all currently single, but men have come and gone. I listen to them sometimes talk about how they want to be married or find the right guy or how the guys they meet end up not being who they hoped they would be...and I remember feeling that so much throughout my own life. And as much as I try to tell them to be patient and trust in God's timing and not their own, I know how hard it is to wonder about what the Lord has in store for those of us yearning for romance and love.

But I also know that God taught that Adam needed a helper...and so came Eve. It was 'not good' for Adam to be alone. God knows it's not good for us to be alone, no man should be an island unto himself. But that doesn't mean you have to have a 'significant other' or spouse in order to have help or feel loved. There are so many family and friends that God brings into our lives for the purpose of relationship. I hope that every young lady (or man) out there who wonders if and when God is going to bring them that special someone will remember that sometimes the most special someones of all are the few people that you know have been in your life at the key moments when you needed someone most.

These girls (and my own daughter) are the reason I try to transform into Christ's likeness every day...because that is what will make them feel whole and complete - experiencing the love of Christ - from ANYONE.

John (the fiance) and I will be having a long engagement for many different reasons. So I still won't officially be a wife for over a year; but my cousin said something to me that really made me think about my own relationships. She told me that she knew I had been waiting for a very long time to find the right man and so she was happy that I was finally engaged. I don't think I was actually waiting a long time to find the right man...because there were other men that I hoped would be my husband or the last relationship in my life. I think that I finally have grown and matured to realize what a real Godly relationship looks like and I just trusted that God would work it out in His time. If it had been up to me, I would have been married years ago and probably divorced by now (or miserable). But instead, because I didn't force the issue, I know that at 36 years old, I have found the one person that truly respects me, communicates with me, loves me as only he can and will be in heaven with me as we will soon become a man and woman united in Christ with His blessing and leading. I will take that at 36 years old any day over being 22 and feeling like I am watching an hour glass counting down to when I will no longer be marketable as wife material.

Update:  Since writing this post about 16 months ago, my group of girls now has 6 members.  3 of us got married this year, 2 were married in the past two and a half years, one is dating a guy and discussing marriage and the other is single.  Funny how we went from a group of mostly single ladies to now being a group of almost all married ladies :)