february's last weekend

It's MARCH.  Is it just me or is 2010 seem to be flying by?  The schedule has been jam-packed so far, and I'm anticipating the rest of the year is going to zoom by.

My aunt (mom's sister) is leaving for the Philippines tonight, after staying with my parents since October.  Bummed for my mom since my aunt is the only one on my mom's side (other than my mom, of course) to have crossed the Pacific and walked on American soil.  So back to PI she will go and regroup with the rest of the Mercado clan.  I think she might be really happy to be going back...she's the elder sister, so it must be disheartening to be so dependent on your baby sister for five months.  Haha, I'd be bummed if I was! (No offense to my little doppelganger) So to say good-bye, Francis treated our families out for lunch at Seafood Village.  Lesson learned.  No more dim sum.  Going straight for the crab...and only crab.  So delicious!

Saturday evening I had my 10-year high school reunion.  Yup...10 years have passed since I graduated from St. Lucy's Priory High School.  Well almost 10 years...we had graduated in May 2000.  It's crazy how everyone looks the same, albeit with better clothes and more knowledge on how to fix hair and makeup.  Oh, and of course, marriage and kids.  Everyone is so grown up!  But we all still know how to party, and everyone got "jiggy with it" on the dance floor.  Good times ladies!  See you all again in another 10 years for the 20th!

Since I'm on the topic of high school, it was truly an interesting time.  High school for me wasn't about partying and living it up, it was about getting through school to get to college.  That's how I was brought up and taught to think.  So it's funny when you hear the question, "Don't you wish you could go back and relive the high school years?" My answer would be a resounding "NO".  We were awkward teenage girls just trying to fit in and please our parents with good grades.  We were also disturbingly well-behaved, with our curfews and permission-asking.  But what I did take from high school are the best friends EVER.  Life would truly suck with out these women in my life, and I have St. Lucy's to thank for bringing them into my life.  ;-)

Super Bowl Weekend

Wow. I really stink at keeping this thing up to date. Well, that's the awesome procrastinator in me.  Super Bowl weekend has come and gone...and it was definitely one of the busier ones.  I got a double dose of my favorite people, so I'm not complaining.  We got a taste of "Fat Princess" (thanks Kelly!) and the Monopoly card game (intensely frightening sometimes...you people are crazy).  We got the Saints taking out the Colts with a side of Bang!  Francis played his role as Renegade far too well.  I got to sit on a bean bag with Sophie tucked under my arm as I read to her.  She read to me by pointing out the different animals in the books.  SO CUUUUUUUTE!

Seriously, we need to do this at least once a month.  Even if it's just us sitting around playing games. I'm so down for that!

INSTALLING A HUSBAND

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and
Personal Attention 6.5,
and then installed undesirable programs
such as

NBA 5.0,
NFL 3.0 and
Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and

Housecleaning 2.6
simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running
Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems,
but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate.



DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind,
Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while
Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html try to download Tears 6.2
and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If those applications work as designed,
Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to

* Grumpy Silence 2.5
* Happy Hour 7.0
* or Beer 6.1

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. This is an unsupported application and will crash Husband 1.0

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly...
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend
Cooking 3.0 and
Hot Lingerie 7.7

Good Luck!

Tech Support

thank you cards...

FINALLY got the thank you prints from the photographer. i should be sending them out by the end of this week. sooooo sorry for the delay!!

Wedding Slideshow!

Here's a slideshow of about 500 pictures from the wedding. I tried to keep it short, so I picked a fourth of the pictures we got back. Enjoy!

photos!

Just received the DVD from Harvard Photography of all our pictures.  1899 pictures to look through!  I'll post my faves soon...but here's one as a little teaser!

1st month!

one month has passed since that amazing day.  but as much fun as that day was (i'm still waiting on pictures!), it pales in comparison to all the interesting things that happens when in the actual marriage. oh the little things we can pick at. little but wonderful things! although we bought a house before we got married, we didn't live together until after, so it's been an experience to finally settle in together and learn to share...space, the garage, the kitchen, the closets, and the chores.  if you follow my twitter, there was much fun with yard work and baking the sun.  guess that's what you get when you buy a house! :)

but it's been an experience, and both of us are learning more about each other each day.  and learning to compromise.  mucho importante!! we would have strangled each other already if we didn't learn that very important word.

i'll keep posting entries every once in a while.  gotta keep you entertained with all our fun (mis)adventures.

3 days later

The day flew by so quickly as everyone said it would.  But what a day it was.  Steph slept over the night before to keep me company (and because she was booted out of her room at our parents' house).  Her being there helped a lot.  Everything started feeling surreal and I had major butterflies in my stomach.  But I got to bed around midnight in anticipation for the following day...

Rise and shine!  Woke up around 6:40am.  My bridesmaids were coming over at 7:30am since our hair and makeup would start around 8.  Took a shower and waited for the people to start coming in.  We were waiting...waiting...waiting...at 8:40 I was getting a little worried as to why none of the Sexy Graffiti team had shown up.  Jeannie had sent me an email that morning that she would be unable to style us as the hospital would not discharge her until the afternoon (she had her baby boy on Thursday! CONGRATS!) but the team would be there to take care of us.  So Cris called her husband, and they were going against the original schedule of starting at 9:30 instead of 8:30.  Eeks!  We're supposed to be done by 1...I'm supposed to be done by noon.  Was that enough time?  So the SG team booked it and they were at the house within 20 minutes of our call.  And wow, did they do an awesome job.  All the girls and my momma looked FIERCE!  April from Robles Video came over and started filming, as did Robert from Harvard Photography, and we were well on our way to getting this day recorded.  My voluminous gown was removed from its plastic bag and draped over me.  My accessories and shoes were set.  Limo came at 1, and we were out of there by 1:15.  On to the church!

The butterflies I felt the night before were totally gone.  Me and the bridesmaids were photographed at the church for half an hour or so before Robert and his assistant moved on to the guys.  No peeking allowed!  So we hid ourselves in the bride's room and waited.  Quite a few people passed by...I saw Kuya Joey, Ate Clarisse, Ate Viv, Armi, and Tita Gertrude as they were entering the church.  My bridesmaids left me to go line up and I was left to my thoughts before it was my time to head up.  Andrea (the church wedding coordinator) came to the room and instructed me to wait by the closed doors.  My dad showed up behind me as he had already walked my mumsy down the aisle.  I told my dad not to say anything to me...I didn't want to cry! But he told me I was beautiful and asked me if I was ready.  And I was.  Andrea opened the doors and we made our ways to the doors to the center aisle of the church.  Thank you to Ernesto and Kelly for being our door ushers!  The music was cued, the doors were opened, and me and my dad started our walk down the aisle.  All I could see was Francis' huge smile at the end of the aisle.  I did take a quick glance at the attendees, but my eyes immediately went back to my future hubby.  At the end of the aisle, Francis and my dad shook hands and I was passed off and we made our way up the steps to the altar.  Fr. Dennis gave us a nice introduction and some really nice compliments.  And the ceremony began.  Thanks to our readers, Tita Malou, Kuya Joey, and Ate Clarisse, and to our lovely vocalist for the Ave Maria, Ate Viv.  An hour later, we were declared man and wife, and we turned to our guests and made our way down the aisle.

We waited outside in the courtyard for everyone to file out, and we were inundated with smiles and congratulations.  I was AMAZED at all the people who were able to attend the ceremony!  Family, friends, coworkers...almost everyone was there! I was elated!  Then came picture time, and, boy, did my face start to hurt with all the smiling.  But you can't help but smile on a day like that.  So we did our pictures with family, sponsors, and our wedding party. 

Then everyone took off for the reception, while me and Francis hung around the courtyard to take our "romantic" couple pictures.  Around 6 we were done and we hopped in the limo to head to the hotel.

We got to the hotel, checked in to our room, and prepared to be bustled my sister and Christina, our wedding coordinator.  With my train tucked in and makeup touched up, we headed down to the ballroom to check out the scene before the guests were allowed in.  The photo booth was being set up, Donald and Donnell from Bino Entertainment Group were already playing some jams...and the room, it was beautifully set-up.  The flowers, the colors, the layout.  I loved it! 

Christina had warned us that the dance floor might be a little slippery, so we wanted to practice our dance a bit.  During one of the turns, Francis stepped on my dress and I saw my train unfurl.  He broke one of my bustle ties!  Thank goodness we had Christina.  She managed to find the broken tie and pinned by train back into place.  If my train was extended, there's no way we could do the turns in our dance...Francis would step all over me if that were the case!  But we had our wonderful coord and she saved us!

Grand entrance time!  First our grandmothers, then our sponsors (wonderful wonderful people!), and our parents...all set to the smooth stylings of Kenny G.  Then it came time for the bridal party.  Donnell bumped some jams as Donald introduced each pair as they walked into the ballroom.  Finally it was our turn, coming in to my fave song of all time, "Only You (Bad Boy Remix)" by 112.  Once we reached the dance floor, I handed my bouquet to my sis, Donnell turned on "The Way You Look Tonight" by Michael Buble and we danced our first dance.  I think we did good.  Then we went to our seats and my father-in-law welcomed our guests.  Then the maid of honor and best man stood up for their toasts.  Oh sisterly...what a toast.  You made me cry you weirdo!  She had such good things to say...I love my sissy!  Ron...was funny.  Enough said.  Then Henry came in and did our prayer (thank you!) and dinner was served. 

Francis and I took a couple bites of the salad, then stood up to take pictures with each table.  We got through them all!  Yippee!  The great thing about that is that we were able to chat, though brief, with each of our guests.  Once we completed our pictures, it was time for me and my dad to do our dance.  Once "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder started playing, we did our walk to the center of the floor and started to dance.  My dad is so cute!  He did so well too!  We took our bows, and "Sway" by the Pussycat Dolls started playing, and Francis and my new mother-in-law took the floor with a cha-cha.  About a minute into the song, Donald announced my father-in-law and my mother to take the stage, and soon after, me and my pops joined the two couples already dancing.  After some choreographed switches of partners, my mom and dad were paired, my in-laws were paired, and me and Francis were paired in the center.  Then we started our synchronized steps and finished with our "gangsta" pose.  Then we moonwalked off the dance floor.  Haha I hope people enjoyed that.

While people continued with dinner, the slideshow was shown.  It was the first time Francis saw it, I hope he enjoyed it. I tried to pick funny but decent pictures.  People were also lining up for the photo booth.  I think that was a big hit with the crowd.  Good job Francis!

We did the cake cutting.  Francis was good...he picked a small piece for me to eat.  I, on the other hand, took a humongous piece and stuffed it in his mouth.  Hey, it was good cake!  I don't think he was complaining.  Mmmmm red velvet.  Following the cake cutting, we did the bouquet and garter toss.  Stacie caught the bouquet!  As for the garter, it fell to the floor and Ron stepped on it.  Geeps!

My dad did the thank you.  My daddy is so sweet.  Thanks pop!  And following the thank yous, we had our money dance.  That was also a good opportunity to talk to people and thank them for coming to our celebration.

Program done.  Time to DANCE!  I must say, Donald is an awesome emcee.  He got everyone of all ages to get their behinds on the dance floor.  He was amazing! Seriously, the dj/emcee can make or break your reception, and he definitely kept the party going...all the way to the end.  Can anyone say "Thriller"? 

We had such a wonderful time.  Of course that day will always be special to me because it was our wedding day, but everyone who attended and shared that day with us made it 100x more special. 

THANK YOU!  WE LOVE YOU!

1 day 16 hours to go!

i'm sooooo sleepy. so that means i should go to bed! we had the rehearsal tonight. i was so happy...almost everyone was able to make it :-) so hopefully everything runs smoothly and we're all good to go for saturday. aaaagghhhh it's so close! it didn't hit me until everyone started lining up. i got all shaky and nervous all of a sudden. eeps! this is a HUGE event!

what am i going to do with myself after saturday? nothing to plan anymore. after 4pm on saturday, "i [won't] be a bride anymore, i [will] just be a wife". my idol...monica bing (nee: gellar). LOL!

10 days!

you guys were right. once you get in the 2-month period, time goes by super fast. we're down to 10 days! so we're having our final meetings with our vendors to ensure that they'll be there next saturday and finalizing the itinerary with our coordinator. the devil is in the details, right? with that said, i'm extremely sleep-deprived. if i had known i was going to be this exhausted, i would have taken this week off too! but i don't want to use up all my vacay days...got a 7-day cruise coming up at the end of november, and possibly a trip to the philippines early next year, so gotta save up! on a side note, my mom's sister got approved for a visa! so she'll be able to attend my wedding! my mom is super excited, since her sis would be her only blood relative to have crossed over stateside. but that also means she's moving into my old room, and i still have stuff in there. and i so don't have time to pack up that stuff before the wedding. so my mom will employ my maid-of-honor to do it for me! hahahahahaha good luck steph! love ya sis!

two more!

2 weeks or 14 days or 336 hours or 20160 minutes or 1209600 seconds...

...until OUR WEDDING!

it's cram time! i haven't been getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night...i wonder if it's all the anxiety? ya think? :-)

weekend...

talk about busy weekend! took a vacation day last friday to do more wedding stuff and help mom prepare for saturday's bridal shower. we also met with the photographer to select the photo for our engagement portrait.

saturday was my bridal shower. i had sooooo much fun. the party was planned by my lovely bridesmaids, who did a phenomenal job with setup and the games. when i walked into my parents' house, they were putting up the pink and white streamers, i could see the food prepared on the table (thanks mom!), and the glorious cupcakes waiting for people to start devouring them (woohoo yazzie!). the games were hilarious...haha, the "how well do you know michelle?" stumped everyone. yes, people, i am a closed book. i think my mom got two answers right out of 14 questions. GEEPIS! second game was a scavenger hunt. there were some random items in there...but thanks to the efforts of the pitogohin clan, judy walked away with the prize by having 19 out of 20 items! final game was the "dress the bride". OMG. my girls were awesome. they allowed themselves to be the guinea pigs and get all dolled up with toilet paper and makeup. yes makeup. wow. we had some interesting looks. oh, and of course there was the battle of the clothespins. it looked like cristalle would take the prize, but ate viv caught her off-guard and she dominated all competition. and have i mentioned the food? especially yazzie's cupcakes and cake? soooooo good. she totally needs to start taking catering orders. yaz, do you have business cards?

so a BIG thank you to everyone who helped plan the shower, and another BIG thank you to everyone who attended. the party wouldn't have been as fun if you all didn't attend, and i thank you for taking the time to come celebrate with me. :-)

sunday was quieter. francis and i met with our wedding coordinator and we worked out kinks in the itinerary and timeline. hopefully our vendors can accommodate this newer schedule, as we have to tack on an extra hour each for photographer and limo. but we're still in flux right now...so we'll refine it as we get confirmation from everyone.

19 days people....19! we're in the teens now!

stupid fedex

FedEx "misplaced" the shawls for my bridesmaids! DUDE! I was provided with a tracking number, but the shipment never left the facility. I ordered these in JUNE, and I was supposed to get them in August, and I kept pestering the company where I purchased them with emails on status updates on the order. Thank goodness for Anthony who is being diligent in finding out what went wrong with the shipment and made the decision to reorder the shawls from Alfred Angelo just in case they don't find the original shipment. So whichever they find first will be sent to me by September 20-something. GEEZ!

Day 25

i'm so determined to be productive. francis and i worked on our timeline this past weekend. we started practicing for our first dance. it's SO difficult to keep a straight face. we're fine if we're not looking at each other, but when we're dancing and make eye contact, we start cracking up. yeah. that bad. we got our engagement photos back from harvard photography...and we couldn't stop laughing. *sigh* we can't be serious about anything apparently. we're set for the wedding rehearsal and the music for the ceremony. thanks to ms. christine do (i owe you!), additional flowers have been ordered for our cake *yum*yum*. bridal shower this saturday at mom's house. we have a parents' meeting tomorrow night to discuss stuff. oh man...that means i need to figure out how to feed them. darn my inability to cook! must think of good takeout. :-)

one month!

One more month folks! Time is zipping by obnoxiously fast. Only one more month...to have the house all to myself. Hahahahaha.

We're wrapping things up and finalizing all the plans. I have to give a BIG thank you to Francis and my favorite ladies for letting me have my "freaking out/frustrated/I'm-so-stressed" episode last weekend. Venting sessions are awesomely good...even if they don't make much sense when you're having them.

Tonight we're meeting with the coordinator at St. Denis, as well as the music director. So we're going to get the plans for the ceremony in order, and then I can finally work on the programs. YAY!

Oh yeah, I need to work on the slideshow too. DOH!

yay!

Happy 29th birthday Francis! Love you!

msg to wedding party and sponsors

Formal invites will be sent to our sponsors and entourage, but here's the information for the rehearsal:

Rehearsal for Gregorio-Oreta Wedding
Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 5:00pm
St. Denis Catholic Church
2151 S. Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Dinner following Rehearsal
Chino Buffet
2911 Chino Avenue #F1
Chino Hills, CA 91709

For the actual wedding day, we're requesting (for our primary sponsors) that the women wear beige/champagne-colored attire, while the men wear a standard suit with a maroon/burgundy tie. I think we told most of you, but we may have missed a couple (especially those we told early on).

one month and nine days...

so what else do we still need to do?

• Follow up with the people who have not sent in their RSVPs (~30 people)
• Start working on the table seating
  
• Work on the program
• Draft up the time line for the day
• Buy the candy for the giveaways so we can start assembly
• Call florist to request additional flowers to place on the cake
• Finalize the rehearsal time and inform the wedding party and sponsors
• ??

those are things at the top of my list, but i know i'm missing stuff. i'm distracted because francis conveniently came by to the house a few minutes ago and is playing wii sports resort as i'm typing this out. GEEPIS! i wanna play too!

i'm loving the ears!

disneyland rocks. we went with francis' aunt a week ago.

after the wedding, we're soooo gonna get some passes.

i tried to convince francis to wear the groom's version, but his head is too big. i should have known. HAHA.

awwww

what a sweetie! when i came home yesterday, i was welcomed by a bouquet of flowers and a lovely anniversary card. it's our three-year anniversary today! with all the wedding planning and preparation, our ever-important date crept up quickly. but it was definitely a nice surprise to come home to yesterday! :-D