Happy Leap Year Day!
February 29th... only happens every 4 years. I enjoyed my February 29th this year. Did you?

Bridal Expo at Hillsdale Mall
Alan and I met up at Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo for their annual Bridal Expo. There were lots of booths of different vendors, and also a fashion show! It's really fun being engaged, going to these faires, talking to different people, and getting free stuff. This was our second one... the first one we went to was at the Decathlon Club in Santa Clara last Thursday. I'm getting a better idea of how much things cost.

To top it off today, I won a raffle for this unity candle set from the Candle House! I entered lots of raffles, and I got a call saying I won. So I went to the store and picked it up. It's pretty nice, and we're going to use it during our ceremony at the Mission!

Pho Night (or for me .... Pizza Night!)
Loan hosted a Pho Night at her house in San Jose on Friday night. It smelled really good, but since it was Friday and Lent, I couldn't eat it. But she had cheese pizzas for us, so that was good! We had good food, drinks, and played games like Catch Phrase, Texas Hold 'Em, and Twister!! It was so funny! Can't wait to have BBQs at her house, since she has a really nice grill in her backyard.

The Passion
On Saturday, we met up with Lisa, Dale, Rowena, and Jay to see The Passion of the Christ at the Century Theaters in Milpitas. I thought it was a great movie, depicting the last hours of our Lord Jesus. Some scenes were really graphic, but it made me appreciate more what Jesus went through for us. It was very emotional for me, but overall I thought it was a good movie. I learned a few things that I didn't know before, and it made me curious, so I might go back and read the Scriptures over to refresh my memory. I particularly liked how the movie ended, on a good and uplifting note.

Happy March!
Here's to a new month of planning for the wedding! I only have 10 more months! =)

For my fellow UNIX geeks
I thought this was so funny when I read this. I actually understood it! =)

better !pout !cry
better watchout
lpr why
santa claus < north pole > town

cat /etc/passwd > list
ncheck list
ncheck list
cat list | grep naughty > nogiftlist
cat list | grep nice > giftlist
santa claus < north pole > town

w | grep sleeping
w | grep awake
w | grep bad || good
for (goodness sake) {
be good
}

Happy Friday!

We found it!!
We finally found our reception place and we love it!! Alan and I had more appointments this past weekend, and our second one on Saturday turned out to be THE ONE! We are really excited about it, since it's so close to the Mission, it's really nice inside, the lady was really helpful, and even the ballroom is called the Santa Clara Ballroom. And even the rooms that it breaks down to for smaller events are named after familiar street names near SCU, like Lafayette, San Tomas, Lawrence, Stevens Creek, and Winchester... I think it was meant to be.

Now that that's chosen, now it's time to start thinking about other things.... like the dress! I can't wait to try some more on.

Crate & Barrel Sunday Morning Engagements
On Sunday morning, Alan and I went to the Crate & Barrel in SF Union Square for a special event for engaged couples. They talked to us about registries, showed us some of their stuff, and gave us a scanning gun to scan stuff we wanted on our registry! So we walked around the whole store for 2 hours, scanning stuff! It was really fun...

I know it's a bit early for creating our registry, but I think they only have these in February, so we wanted to get our's in. We got free champagne flutes and they had lots of free food around the store, like waffles, chocolate fondue with strawberries and bread, freshly squeezed orange juice, and my favorite - mimosas (champagne w/ OJ) ... all made with things you can buy in the store. We saw Bev & Gary at the store too!

Sex and the City Finale
Sunday night, all the girls went over to Jane's place and we watched the last episode ever of Sex and the City. Even though I haven't really been too into it since I don't have cable, I do have the Season 2 DVD set which I got for a gift, so I kinda new the characters. Jane and Johanna gave me the rundown of what was happening, so I was eventually caught up. We had food, and we even made cosmopolitans! A fun girly event! :)

Happy Hour & Cat Club!
Last night, I went to the PAAC Happy Hour at Jillian's, ate some free food, talked to alum, and watched the Cal basketball game. There weren't too many people I knew there - they were either older or younger people who I didn't know. But Johanna, Jane, Oscar, Alan, were there - also Paul, Eric, Bern, Ryan, Bim, and Lizelle.

Afterwards, the crew went to the Cat Club! Amazing how everyone made it out last night! It was really fun... all 80s music all night long. It's fun dancing to 80s cuz you can sing along and dance crazy!

TGIF!
Wasn't I just saying this? This week went by so quickly, maybe because Monday was a holiday and it was really busy at work this week.

Still reception hunting...
We thought we were pretty much done looking at places, but it turns out that this weekend we have 4 appointments! It's amazing what hotels will do to cut the prices once you tell them their packages don't fit your budget. So now, we have appointments with hotels that I didn't even think to even make an appointment with after I saw the initial prices. It's great! And they're closer to the Mission too!

Training for the Mud Run
Tomorrow, Alan and I are gonna go running to train for the Mud Run in June! This year, there are 4 teams going, 2 all girls and 2 all guys. It should be fun! My team - Johanna, Jane, Eileen, Rowena, and me picked the clever name of 'Drrty Girls' =)

Blue Nile!
Forgot to blog about Kitchie's bday!! Last weekend, we went to Blue Nile Ethiopian Restaurant in Berkeley. Good food! You eat with your hands, so it was fun with everyone - about 23 people were there to celebrate! I bought her a little cupcake from the bakery next door about a minute after they closed. I just stood at the door and begged them to sell me one thing, and they opened up! hehe. Happy Birthday Kitchie!!!

Blood Donor
I'm going to donate blood right now... I've never done it before, but I hope my blood is donate-able! Wish me luck!

"Kara-okay" on Alice
I've been listening to Alice 97.3 in the morning on my way to work and I have to say that Sarah and No Name are really funny! Today, the whole morning, they were all singing karaoke songs... so so funny! I was laughing outloud! I finally joined Alice Everyday Rewards and I get up at 7am to hear the word of the day. That show takes my mind off of the long commute everyday.

Happy Valentine's Day!
...tomorrow. And Happy Birthday to my sister Kitchie! (tomorrow too)

TGIF!

What's on the tube tonight?
Alan always asks me this question every night, to see what's on TV. Since I know pretty much all the shows he watches (since I watch the same ones), and I know if they're new episodes or not, I tell him.

The shows have been really good this month! I guess cuz it's February sweeps? So here's what I watch. You decide if it's too much:
Monday - NOTHING!
Tuesday - I'm With Her, One Tree Hill
Wednesday - Smallville
Thursday - Friends
Friday - Joan of Arcadia, Boston Public

I don't think that's too many, do you? One Tree Hill was really good last night! A major cliffhanger at the end. Joan of Arcadia was so good last Friday that it made me cry. I'm With Her is fun, since I secretly dream of meeting famous people. (Well, I guess not 'secretly') Smallville is cool, cuz it's Superman!! (and esp. since it's Tom Welling). I've watched Boston Public from the start, but I think it's getting the ax soon. And Friends is awesome... just because it's Friends.

Pulling me back in...
I've been watching my favorite soap opera, General Hospital, for years and years now, and just recently, I haven't been too into it. I had 3 taped episodes from last week that I wasn't gonna watch, since I was trying to wean off it until I stopped completely... But of course, it pulled me back in, since there's a huge fire at the Port Charles Hotel and everyone and their mom is stuck in it. I can't stop watching now! I have to see what happens!! So I guess my plan isn't working. Oh well. Sonny and Jason are hot =)

Wake up!
It's so nice and sunny outside, but I've been feeling sleepy all day! This weahter is kinda reminding me of New York, since the last time that I've seen 'summery' weather like this was last summer in NY. Plus listening to the old Norah Jones CD also reminds me of listening to it right before I fell asleep over there. But seriously, I need to wake up.

new Norah Jones CD
I'm so excited for the new Norah Jones CD. Thanks Joey for telling me you got it! =P

Going to the hukilau
Saturday night, we went to our friend Christina's birthday dinner at a Hawaiian restaurant in the Sunset district of SF called E Komo Mai. It was really good food... reminded me of luau food in Hawaii. There was a live band all night, playing songs and there were hula dancers too. Christina even got up there and danced a little with them too.

Wedding stuff!
Alan and I hung out with Bev & Gary last night. While Gary was showing Alan some of his wedding DVDs, slideshows, and everything else on his Mac, Bev showed me all her wedding stuff!! It was fun to see everything she had! I think I need to start a wedding binder too... =)

VEGAS!
Vegas was so fun this past weekend... If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging lately, I've just been so tired, and it's probably b/c of this weekend... But I had a blast!

Friday
We got there early on Friday morning, got to check into the Monte Carlo early (since one of our three rooms was ready), dropped off all our luggage and went to Carrow's next door for some breakfast. Afterwards, Michele and I went to go gamble at Paris while the other girls went shopping at Aladdin. We played Pai Gow poker for about 2 hours and ended up being $20 up!

While walking back to the hotel, we decided to stop by the Boardwalk to see what kind of tables we'd find, and we ended up play at $5 blackjack and then $5 craps!! Craps was awesome!! I had a hot streak as a shooter and ended up winning around $75!! Awesome :)

For dinner we went to the Paris cafe restaurant where we made up fake names for all of us when we went clubbing... Let's see.. there was Crystal Bubbles, Jackie O. Foto, Trista Field, Celine Dinhon, Bianca Manolo, Justice Timberlake, Ling Belding, Mia Randy, Niki Mounts, Tina Proteina, and Ivana ____....help me out Jackie O!...I know you're reading...

We waited for 'Ling' and 'Mia' to get to the hotel and we left for Drai's (the after hours club at Barbary Coast.) We all started off with an apple martini, got more drinks throughout the night, and danced the night away!! Very fun.

Saturday
We woke up really late (~noon) and I had a really bad headache and felt really sick. Let's just say that I was 'praying to the porcelain god' for hours, before I actually felt better. For lunch, some of us went back to the Paris cafe, and then afterwards went gambling again... Pai Gow poker, of course! I lost $30 in that round, but I was still up.

For dinner, we went to the food court at the bottom of Monte Carlo. We got ready to go out again, and went to two clubs that night. It was quite an interesting night...

We got to the Palms hotel to go to the club RAIN, and there was a really long line!! But we figured a way to get into the VIP line and got in within 30 minutes... And it ended up being the same price as the regular line! Awesome.

The club inside was really cool, with a raised dancefloor in the middle, with fire flaming above it every once in a while. We got some drinks and pretty much dance the whole night away until we were dead tired.

There was a really long line of people waiting for taxis in front of the Palms, so we decided to walk on the street and try to hail a cab on our town... but no luck... So we walked some more, in our high heels with our feet aching, to this small casino a couple blocks down and got cabs from there... We went to the McDonald's at the Monte Carlo food court when we got back, since we were hungry, and then went to sleep....

Sunday, the last day
Sunday we got up early and went to eat at the Noodle House in the Monte Carlo. It was a good lunch, with everyone around a red-tablecloth-covered table chatting and talking about people (who weren't there)... hehe. Jackie O & I shared the lettuce wraps and the beef chow fun.... yummmy..

Ruby's parents came to pick us up at 2pm and went to their house! We had some food there, watched part of the SuperBowl, went to see model homes, and then headed off to the airport to go home!

What a great weekend! I had Vegas-withdrawal the next day and could hardly stay awake at work, but it was worth it!