i favor favors

some people probably think party favors are useless, but i for one, really like receiving them, even though they are....useless. most of the time they are anyway.

i've isolated my warm feelings about favors to the fact that i like walking away from the gathering with something. and when you are handed one, or find one at your assigned spot, it feels like an itty bitty present. for me??? really for me??? i gush, i gush. then i open the little box and think, dude, they are jelly beans, meh. but i still appreciate it :)

so when we had our wedding, no matter how overblown the budget got, i INSISTED on having wedding favors! i was told to skip it by various friends to stay within budget, but i just couldn't. after noticing my obsession with having a wedding trinket (whoops, was i THAT obvious?? *cough*), my SIL was gracious enough to gift us our wedding favors.

the boxes were absolutely beautiful. there was a choice between the red and gold and although the red was pretty, the gold boxes were actually a lot sturdier.

we ended up going with the gold boxes because they were sturdy AND they matched my obsession with gold.

each box was filled with a chinese couple kissing keychain (that was a mouthful!) their lips are automatically drawn to each other when they get close. it was too, too cute!

and of course, they were assembled with love for our 180ish guest list. the wedding day went by so fast. it's pretty sweet to dig up these little details again for blogging purposes. *sigh*

blue boxes for my sistas

even before i asked my "sistas" to be my bridesmaids, i already had their presents in mind. seriously, that's what a jewelry whore-centric bride would do. and nothing will do for my gals unless it's wrapped up in a pretty robin blue box a la tiffany & co. so my younger sister, my SIL, and my old friend from high school who i call my "soul sista" became my trinity of gals. they were perfect for our wedding gala, so amazingly helpful and thoughtful. a little silver tiffany necklace was just a small token of our appreciation because they did so, so much for us!

each sista received a silver tiffany notes letter pendant to wear for the wedding. it was the perfect accent piece for their dark purple bridesmaid dresses. i also thought it would become a super wearable necklace on the daily. to this day, almost 2 years later, my soul sista still wears her pendant every single day. the other two, not so much. *sigh*

i definitely need to get one for myself though!! it is so dang cute!

married. soooo married.

i posted this a while back on my food blog, theroamingbelly.blogspot.com i'm going to pull a lazy move and repost it here so i can "move on" with my blogging.

dudes, i got married :0

on august 27, 2011 as a matter of fact. here's the top layer of my then day old wedding cake. the flowers were freakin' awwwwwesome on top don't you think? thanks to fleuretica for the beautiful burst of blooms...i wish they can fill my world with flowers EVERY DAY.

i also went on a horrible diet. i mean, it kinda worked and all...but a diet for a food blogger! that's like fucked up! but it was worth it not to souffle from the back of my white dress even though i still rippled in all the wrong places.

immediately afterwards, i went on an edible rampage...trying to fetch back the coat i was determined to shed for my wedding and what better way to do so than en route to vegas for our mini-moon (more posts to come on that one).

aria treated us well. we were upgraded to a mini-suite when they learned *cough* when i told them we were newlyweds. SCORE!

we were even greeted with a bit of sweetness. "yumz!" said my sugar depraved body as i INHALED and i mean INHALED most of it. no joke.

the mini-suite was spacious and awesome and let's not forget, an upgrade. wheeee!

the night view was uh-mazing.

so what does it feel like to be married? well, it feels just like living together except now everybody wants to know when i'm gonna get pregnant.

i can't sleep at night, i toss and turn....

there is something dangerous about waking up randomly in the middle of the night, then not being able to fall back asleep, then just thinking too much. it doesn't help that everybody in my wee house is snoring away, even my 3 dogs. *sigh* so off i go with the company of my overactive brain which should probably be engaging in some REM action rather than reminiscing and regretting....

tonight's random thought ran the theme of "picking up where i left off." i thought about a few things that i've left off kind of high and dry; friends, blogs, and travel plans. unfortunately, these thoughts made me feel a little unhappy maybe because in my heart, i probably wished the outcome was a little different.

i have a friend who i knew since high school. we were pretty close and i always pictured her in my wedding. about 10ish years ago, we had a falling out over some "you-are-not-being-supportive-to-me" kind of shit and we ended up never ever calling each other ever again and it's been like 10 years. i still think of her a lot. i think my nature is rather pit-bullish and once i hang on, it's hard to shake it off so thinking about her is hard to shake off. i'm sure i can try to contact her again and see how it goes from there, but i know i don't really want to because I JUST DON'T. i miss her.

i run two blogs, one food related and this one, my one and only shallow love. goodness. once in a while, i would click on old posts i've written and it will literally transport me back to the exact time and the exact feelings i had when i wrote it. not to mention that i crack myself up because i think i'm so funny, haha. through the years, i felt i neglected my bagnatic blog more and more because of life, because of the economy (and feeling paranoid about who knows what's in my closet and who's reading it), and because i have this really weird fixation about posting my life in order. like, ok, so i wrote about the first part of my pre-moon (but didn't finish part 2), then naturally i should post about my wedding after that, etc...and since i didn't do those, it was hard for me to write about other things. isn't that odd? i am odd. i am truly to the core, a blogger. i compose posts in my head all the time, but lately i've failed to execute them. i really need to carve out more time to be who i am on a platform like this. after all, for a very long time, blogging was my first love or maybe it was my bags....ok both.

i wish my husband and i traveled a little more, together i mean. i traveled internationally a whole hecka a lot in my 20s but with him, not so much. i blame it on our collection of dogs which we gathered quite early on in our relationship. they are the little loves of my life and need to be fed and taken care of and it's hard to do that and be in france at the same time. sure, we can board them somewhere and then go, etc....but that takes a lot of time, money, and planning. regardless, we will need to go to france though whether now or a few years from now. and maybe back to hong kong too. the travel bug was dormant, but sometimes it still bites and when i look at my husband i think he would love to travel somewhere internationally, too.

life is kinda short to be feeling these regrets. and i still can't sleep damnit.

loving your skin, part 1 of 7: clean it real good

(you can catch the start of my skincare regimen rant here).

i was pretty acneic when i was a teenager with those pimples lingering into my early 20s. i wasn't always like that. no baby is born with a face full of pimples right??? so when your mom tells you "when you were a baby, you had such beautiful soft pale skin like an egg shell (trust me, sounds better in chinese)" you feel the sting. ugh. but of course puberty had to happen and bless my parent's hearts for taking me to the dermatologist and the herbal doctor when puberty REALLY HAPPENED. holy shit that was no fun. nothing i did seemed to work and that kind of constant defeat just made me not care about my skin.

 
up until my wedding i held this same attitude. i cleanse with whatevers, i put whatever lotion on, and sometimes i used sunblock. SOMETIMES. my skin must have been a mess cuz my MIL actually purchased a facial package for me to use before my wedding, OK, I GET IT. dang.

so after becoming inspired by my wedding make up artist and also after acknowledging that science has advanced so much that there are many quality products out there that can make your skin become the best it can be (giving a nod to your gene pool of course), i went to search out the best for me and my combo asian skin.

cleansers: i've tried all natural jurlique ($23), shiseido purifying cleansing foam ($30.50), shiseido extra gentle cleansing foam ($30.50), and murad essential-c cleanser ($35).

jurlique is a good natural alternative. takes off your make up, but can leave your skin feeling tight. i use this in conjunction with my clarisonic. after finishing this tube, i'm not sure i will repurchase because of the tightness i feel in my skin after using it. however, i do appreciate the natural aspect of it.

shiseido is a great brand that's been around for a long time. i love their foaming cleansers but do not love that it's chocked full of parabens and artificial crap. their purifying cleansing foam has tiny exfoliation beads. their extra gentle cleansing foam is great if you have skin conditions that require a little tlc. my husband started developing a rash near his eyes and now uses this cleanser which has worked wonders for him. this is a good line to "fall back on" when my search for more natural alternatives takes a hiatus.

murad is paraben free and full of vitamin c. the cleanser has a nice orangey scent and works well as a morning cleanser. if you use it to wash off make up, you will find that it still leaves a trace of your bad behavior from last night. it also does NADA for eye make up removal. i will repurchase this cleanser to use as part of my morning cleansing routine.

Nailed

i think i went slightly nuts with the nail lacquer acquisition. got some sephora, OPI, and deborah lippman nail polishes to occupy my finger tips and toesies all within the espanse of....a week. i also have a deep fascination for gold and glittery nail polish so i picked up a gorgeous shimmery set by deborah lippman and "it's real" real 18k gold top coat from sephora by OPI. can't wait to try them out!

happy new years!

happy new years!! 2013 will be fabulous!