Unexplainably excited

Now that the engagement is over, I can't wait to begin with the wedding preps.

So far, we have only booked four suppliers -- the photographer, the make-up artist, the church and the reception area. The list has not improved since May. :) Admittedly, it's because I'm so lazy and busy with other stuff. Sometimes, I wonder if maybe I'm just a teeny weeny bit abnormal. I know other brides are planning their weddings down to what color bowties the food servers should be wearing. I, on the other hand, would love to just sit with someone and have them decide on all the aspects of the wedding for me.

But after the engagement, my feelings on wedding preps changed. Now, I'm excited to begin planning the itsy bitsy details. Can you believe we haven't even decided on a color yet? Mike left the color decision to me. I can't decide whether to have varying shades of pink, or lime green and aqua, or red, or silver and tiffany blue, or tiffany blue lang, or champagne pink. Hmmmmm..... This may take a while.

We went to "Weddings, Get Set, Go," the bridal fair held in Rockwell Tent last October 15 coz Audrey was there and I went to give her some moral support. Not that she needed it. Their booth did pretty well I think. Am not too keen on going to bridal fairs, as most of the exhibitors offer photo/video services, and we have one already. So while walking around the tent, I was elated to see that Manila Philharmonic Orchestra is now offering their services for weddings!!! So will visit them and check out their performances. The nice thing about MPO is that their rates are comparable with other popular string ensembles. :0

For the ballroom set up, Mike and I are considering Dangwa for our guest tables's centerpieces, since they tend to go unnoticed for Chinese lauriats anyway. Only the presidential table will be adorned with lots of tall vases with colored water, and lots of pristine white calla lillies. Eeeeeh! Then there's the standard ceiling treatment. The flowers for the entourage, well, I'm not too concerned about them since, really, nobody notices them anyways, unless they're really ugly. :) We're considering Lala of Interplay to do the ballroom set up for us. We also met with Jun Hen, but the price he gave us is just a bit higher than our budget. But, and this is a big BUT, he's not out of the question yet. Diba Mike? :)

Audrey will be emceeing for the reception, and she has volunteered to make our AVP -- FREE!!!!! Hihihihihi!! And Val will be making our cakes too, and she's really very detailed when it comes to the cake design. :) Fyi, she made our cakes for the engagement, and everybody raved about the moist and flavorful carrot cake. Yummmmm! Delici Pastries and Sweets will be supplying the wedding favors, so you now have an idea what the favor is. Mike and I get to choose our favorite cookies and share them with our guests. Mine is white chocolate. Mike's is anything chocolate. Hehehe.

Hay.... I always, always dreamt that my wedding... errr... OUR wedding suppliers will be mostly friends, coz I feel that the wedding is extra special that way. And I'm really happy that things are turning out just as I thought they would.

So that leaves the following: sound system, couturier... Wala na ba? That's it? Does this mean I'm almost done with wedding preps?

After the engagement...

First off, I want to thank the people who attended. It really meant a lot to me.
Liza said that Audrey said that I cried during the engagement. Admittedly, I'm a super sentimental person. I cry at weddings of people I don't know, and I cry at PLDT and Jollibee commercials. My brother tells people that I'm super sociable and close to a lot of people, coz it just takes a sad story to get those tear ducts working. However, for my engagement, I honestly did not shed a single tear. I did feel like crying while walking backwards, coz all eyes were on me and I kept tripping on my dang gown. Oh, and the fact that it seemed so final and formal. But that was it. I texted Audrey to clarify, and she said she saw me sniffing. Oh... that was because I had a runny nose during the whole ceremony. :sheepish grin:

Eniweys, after the reception, Mike and I went to Ariel J.'s studio, where we posed for pictures for our album. There's just something about photographers no, that make you feel like you're a popular, international model posing for magazine shoots? Or am I the only one who feels that way when I have my picture taken by a professional photographer? "Ma'am, konting left pa... AYAN!!!!" "Ma'am, lean forward, smile,.. AYAAAAAN!" "Ma'am, tingin kayo sa mata ni sir... AYAN!!! GALING! GANDA!" After hearing comments like these, I suddenly felt like a professional model. Hehehehe. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?)

The first thing I did when I got home was.... eat. Nyarharharharhar! Takot ka na ba , Mike? :) The wedding is seven months away, still have a lot of time to diet and exercise. For days now, I have not allowed myself to have sweets and other junk foods. But yesterday, after I got home, all I really wanted to do was eat cake and sleep. And we had so many cakes! Courtesy of my very forgetful self. We had two big heart shaped cakes from DEC, and one big fondant cake from Val. Aside from that, we have a carton full of Mrs. Field's cookies!!! Eeeeeeh! They're in my room, all 5 boxes of them. I must really keep them out of sight.

Pictures to follow soon :)

Martha vs. The Donald

Am a fan of Donald Trump's The Apprentice. It used to be shown on ABC 5 every Monday night at 7pm. They moved it to a later timeslot -- Monday nights at 10pm. Yay! I used to miss a lot of episodes because of meetings and other stuff. But now, I can be home by 10 and still get to watch it. Martha's version is shown on Tuesday evenings. And while watching Martha's version, I couldn't help but compare it with The Donald's.

The Boardroom
Donald Trump's boardroom is dark and intimidating, with heavy interiors and a lot of wooden pieces of furniture. Martha's boardroom has that light, airy feeling that almost makes you want to spend a lot of time in it, which, in this case, is not good.

The Firing
Donald Trump has become famous for his line -- "You're fired!" Martha, on the other hand, is almost apologetic when she fires the booted out candidate. She puts it in another way --"One of you will have to... go... home." After she fired Jeff (the first candidate to be fired), she even wrote him an inspirational note. :)

The Personality
Donald exudes an aura of confidence. I feel it even if he's inside the television. Martha seems unsure of herself. Maybe because she knows this is the first time the whole world will see her management style?!?

Anyways, I'm just happy that there are now two tv shows to look forward to. Also, Raymond downloaded the first three episodes of the O.C.'s season 3!!! I can't wait for Lost and Desperate Housewives!

Our engagement is just a few days away...

Four days from now, to be exact.

I've often pestered Mike with this question, "Are you excited? Are you nervous? Are you having doubts?"

These past few days, I have asked myself those same questions.

Am I excited?
Of course! I can't wait to walk backwards hehehe. I can't wait to see what will happen. How will our two families interact? What booboos will be committed? This is an event where the focus will be on us and us alone. My brother actually wanted to steal the limelight by wearing colored barong, which I vehemently protested against. "You can wear it for YOUR wedding, but not for MY tinghun!" :) Ooops... our tinghun pala. Hehehehe.

Am I nervous?
Very. For the same reasons that I am excited.

Am I having doubts?
I've never been more sure about anything in my life. I felt it as I was staring at Mike while he was driving me home. We've been together for two years now, and we've known each other for three. I thought that the kilig feeling would somehow lessen a bit by this time. It hasn't. :) I'm not saying that that's a surefire way to tell if we'll still be together ten years from now. But I'm hoping that it's a good sign though.

Right now, I'm just hoping for the following:
-- that I won't trip on my gown
-- that my feet won't kill me (if I don't die of embarassment first, assuming gown incident happens)
-- that my make up artist shows up on time
-- that my make up artist shows up at all
-- that we won't leave any of the tinghun requirements at home

I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just reading this post.

The unexpected

I was already sitting in Mike's car for a few minutes before I noticed this stuffed toy dangling in front of me.

KT: Is Cathy pregnant? (Cathy is Mike's sis who just got married January)
Mike: (smiles) Bakit mo natanung?
KT: BECAUSE! You're not the type to buy stuffed toys like this. So baka you bought it to give to your future pamangkin.
Mike: No, I bought it for you.
KT: Harharharharhahr.... that can't be. You know how I don't like stuffed toys.
Mike: Hindi nga! Tutoo, it's for you.
KT: (still thinking Mike's joking) Sige sige. I'll just buy it from you. Wala pa akong gift for my pamangkin.
Mike: (frowns a little) Ah ganon, my gift to you and ibibigay mo lang sa iba.
KT: Ano ka ba?!? Di ako naniniwalang gift mo yan no. Alam mong ayaw ko ng stuffed toy eh.

We spent around five minutes discussing the role of Mickey Mouse that afternoon. Mike insisting that it's his gift to me, and me not believing him.

Exasperated, Mike asked me, "Didn't you notice the pink box?!?!?"

Wha? Where? Oh there. There!! A pink box. A pink jewelry box. Could it be? I didn't dare imagine it could be. What if it's not?

I looked at him to see what his reaction was, as I gingerly reached over and took the box from Mickey Mouse's pouch. He was smiling from ear to ear as I did so. I slowly opened the box, and inside was the ring, lying on the velvet case in all its brilliant beauty.

I didn't know how to react. So I laughed and laughed, until tears started to well up in my eyes.

"O, isuot mo naman sa akin no," I said.

So he did. And then he asked, "So, what's the answer?"

"Ha? What's the question?!?" I countered.

Hehehehehe.

Yes honey, I like the ring. :)