... and all i got was this lousy -

Post-wedding dim sum for Jeanne and Russ: the food leftover AFTER we ate!  (and Chris Carter's elbows).  The food was delicious, perfect, and obviously, plentiful!

Since the last post, I finished law school, started both BarBri and Chapman supplemental bar prep courses, graduated, saw my husband for 3 days, got my brother married, AND attended the slew of festivities for Jeanne and Russ' wedding.  Whew!  It's been a crazy few weeks!


With everything that's been going on, I was so super excited for this three-day Memorial Day weekend.  Honestly, with bar prep starting, I've never felt dumber.  I mean, am I supposed to remember that when you're walking by an apartment building and something falls on your head, you can only sue the landlord if the unit from which the thing fell out is not occupied by a tenant?  And the burden is on you, the injured person, to figure out which unit the thing fell out of to see if the unit was tenant occupied??  Really?!  What if you're walking by a 100-unit apartment?  Multiply this type of question by 300 and you only have one part of the bar exam!!  *sigh*


Stay tuned for future postings, as I have not had a chance to download pictures or get pictures from other people.  Seriously, with the 5 or so events I've had in the past 10 days, all I've got to show for them are these 2 lousy pictures!  I definitely need to be better about taking pics of important events.  Until then, congrats to the marrieds!!

Jeanne and Russ' first dance!

Sending Off My Bro: Wedding Preparations

My brother is getting married in 5 days.  I volunteered to help my bro and C with wedding preparations and coordinate their wedding, not just because it's my only brother (*sniff sniff*) but because I myself had just gone through my own wedding, and I really wanted to do something great for them.  In addition, I offered to do their flowers (did I mention I've never made a bouquet before in my life??) and make their ring pillow ( I made my own for my wedding).  Despite all my very nice insistence that I help, I've realized that (a) I'm really no fun to work with because I yell and tantrum and be hypercritical all the time, (b) I forget that this is my bro and C's wedding, not an event where I'm showing off what an awesome planner I am (that is being said very tongue-in-cheek), (c)  my inner Nazi, who is super bossy, HATES people whose opinions differ from mine, and (d) I really need a nap.  Did I mention that I finished school 3 days ago and I'm graduating on Friday??  (Yes, it really is all about me).

All kidding aside (and most of that above was not kidding), I do really want the best wedding for my brother and C, and any bouts of anger and crazy demands are really out of that desire for them to have the best.  Every morning, I pray for forgiveness, patience and a smaller ego.  I really do.  *sigh*

Yesterday, I dragged my cousin S to the flower market in downtown LA to buy flowers to do a test run of the bridal bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquet, centerpiece and boutonnieres.  I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a test run, so I got about $50 worth of various flowers and spend about 3 hours doing it all.  I'm so glad I did a test run because now I have such a better sense of what I need to do, how much flowers to buy, and how long it will take.

Keeping in mind that their colors are orange and grey, here are some pictures of my test run:

So the bridal bouquet is made up of orange/yellow roses, red/yellow tulips and some baby's breath to brighten it up.  The actual bouquet will be composed of pink roses, pink ranunculas, calla lilies and maybe some orchids.  The bridesmaid's bouquet is made of baby's breath only, although today C added some freesia into the mix and it was absolutely gorgeous!  So the final product will include some freesia as well.  The boutonniere was so much easier to make than I thought!  I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to make a boutonniere, and it definitely helped!  The boutonnieres for the wedding will be calla lilies for the women, and orchids for the men.

I also dragged S to Diamond Fabrics in mid-city in LA, and found a gorgeous fabric to make the ring pillow.  Since I don't have a sewing machine, I'm making it by hand.  I'm also trying to make it really clean, so I've had to use a ruler to measure everything out.  This is probably why I can never go to fashion school.  I'm just not that precise in these things!

The finished product!  I used my wedding band to show sizing.

Tomorrow, I will be playing around with some more centerpiece ideas.  Oh, did I mention I started bar prep??  I can't wait to memorize everything in these books!

C's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday afternoon, we threw a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law C!  With the cooperation of her bridesmaid Karianne, we planned a tea party with a few games and presents.  I was kind of worried because I didn't really know anyone, few guests cancelled last minute, and we had different groups of friends coming.  Luckily, everyone got along famously and it ended up being so much fun!  I hope everyone had fun and can't wait to see everyone at the wedding!

The blushing bride, C:

Bridesmaid Karianne, and friends Ngozi and Adrienne:

The spread, including cauliflower-carmelized onion tart, salad, grape salsa on crostini, cucumber and smoked salmon tea sandwiches, apple tart and strawberries with fresh whipped cream.  Also, various teas and drinks.  Thanks to my cousin S who helped me chop, chop, chop!

Cutest idea I got from a wedding blog.  Aren't the mugs cute?  (They may mysteriously reappear at the wedding!)

Playing "how old is C in this picture?" (thanks Christina for the idea!)  My favorite comment while playing this game was, "hey, C's not even in this picture!"  hehe...pretty funny...

Playing the celebrity spouse game: We had to match up celebrities with their spouses.  It was harder than I thought it would be!  Great job, Karianne!

C got lots of pretty (and pretty scandalous) gifts!  Thanks, everyone!

I was so happy that everyone came and C had a great time.  =)  Even the little nazi in me was happy.  After almost everyone left, I realized that I forgot to give them their favors!  Sorry!!  Not sure what actually happened to the favors as I passed out and by the time I woke up, the kitchen was sparkling clean and everyone was gone!  Either I have really nice mice a la Cinderella, or C and her friends left me a clean kitchen!  Anyways, glad C had fun and it's over!  See you all at the wedding!

Last Finals EVER!!!

hi everyone.  i've been MIA for awhile but guess what?  i'm almost done with law school!!  Woo!!!  this essentially means that i've got loads and loads of work to do, but absolutely no motivation to do it!  ugh.  i have a paper due today, one final each tomorrow and wednesday, then 2 more papers.  and i'll be done forever!!!!*

on a side note, one of my papers that is due next week is actually a re-write from last semester.  why, you ask?  because my professor thought that with a re-write, i can submit it for publishing.  i thought that was a HUGE compliment, right?  but then he gave me a stupid B on the paper!!!  what is that?!  anyways...

because there are so many more fun things to do than studying, i threw a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law C this past saturday.  it was so much fun!!  the nazi in me does love throwing parties!  ;)  i'll post the pictures from that soon.  not to mention, i have a i'm-in-denial-about-my-age day coming up, plus mother's day (must ship gift to china!  and order flowers for my mom in seattle!) and my brother's wedding to coordinate.  plus, my husband's coming back!  for a couple days, but still.  SO SO excited!

speaking of the hubs, i just got a package today.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STUDY NOW?!?!?!  I have to go shopping for a new case!!!  I want to set it up NOW!!!  I'M SO EXCITED!!!  EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

okay, i need to go to school now.  concentration levels are home suck.  =)  thank you, baby meow!  this is AWESOME!!

* by forever, i meant law school.  doesn't refer to bar prep that starts before graduation and will continue until late july.  ugh.  but still, happy to be finally done with law school!