BIRTHDAY YEAR REVIEW (2012-2013)

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes via emails, texts, and phone calls at midnight! So much has happened this past year and this blog has been a saving grace in keeping all my memories intact.  
Best Moments this year:

Girls trip to Hawaii//surprised engagement 

1st class//family//tea//pig

"Crossed off traveling to Maldives from my list of places to visit before I die." LA//Vegas//Chicago

NY/Philly/RI 

performance//Habitat for Humanity -another off my checklist!

wedding planning//GOT MARRIED

And to the new moments of my year...

Last night's surprise party/Friends' inspired trivia night was a bittersweet ending.  After 3 years together we were still able to learn new things about one another and tying 24-24 even after the THUNDER ROUND!  If last night was any indication of how my year will be, then I can't wait! 
This quote expresses our night very well and I hope I can live up to it everyday. 

-Marc and Angel

*** After reflecting back, I realize how lucky I've been. I feel so honored for the family I have (old and new!) and for the friends I've made. I am especially thankful to my Mister- the Hubby :*) who pushes me everyday to be the best and believes in me even when I don't.  Look how far we've come. 
<3

Cheers to the New (Birthday) Year.

Our Wedding: Photobooth Props DIY

This is something I really wanted to post about because EVERYONE loves the photobooth! Renting photobooths can be pricey but there are so many alternatives to the regular booth box. It can be as simple as using bed sheets as a backdrop or leftover tinsel from the holidays or even streamers.  
For more fun, you can add props! We made some superhero masks because the hubby LOVES Marvel. 

To add a girly touch I made Hello Kitty bows, lips, and mustaches.

Making your own props saves money from renting/buying them and it was convenient for us because we were able to personalized it into our 'Superhero theme'.  This project was about 2 days worth of time but all you need is:  Foam Sheets 6x9 (we bought a pack of various colors) 2.99 Wood Dowels (15pc/pack)  ~$2-3 Dry Eraser 2 Sheets 5.99 for speech bubbles Exacto Knife Hot glue gun + glue sticks Total spent: ~$10.00

Tips: 1. I found shapes of masks online so I was able to use it as a frame for making sure I cut out the placement of the eyes correctly (I always mess up on that part! Links below).  2. To save time, print out the masks on regular paper using color ink and then paste it on the foam using it as support. (ex: Hello Kitty and Batman masks) 3. It can also be counted as a party favor because guests get to bring home a memento.  Photo booths can be incorporated into any event from birthdays to holiday parties to weddings. This is an interactive treat for ALL guests, young and old. I seriously cracked up when I saw photos of my grandma having a ball with the bright red boa and batman mask!

I love my guests. They were hilarious!  Here are the sites I used. Each have downloadable links to use as a template: TiffanyKelley DIY Mustaches Photobooth Prop First Palette Superhero Masks Oh Happy Day Photobooth Props
Tip #5 If you wanted to use words as props instead of masks, another suggestion is to make speech bubbles so friends can write special messages or whatever to EXPRESS THEMSELVES! And if you can read their bubbles...our friends expressed themselves VERY clearly! 

P.S.  We ain't making babies anytime soon!!!

Macaron what!??!?!

Ok- quick post because I have a final on Friday (50% of the grade!!!!!) and WHOAAA haven't started studying. So don't mind the grammatic mistakes or the misspellings, no time to double or triple checking them! I have never really been a macaron ( am i even spelling it right?!?! ) fan when the fad first came out. I try to be a rebel with fads and say whateverrrr its a cookie. A miniature 3 dollar expensive cookie. I can have a boba with that price tag! 

One of my good friends had a baby shower that had macaron party favors made by a friend. So the Mister was able to grab one for me but I was not able to eat it until 2 days later.  When I ate that macaron ....OMG MY MOUTH WAS EXPLODING. IT WAS THE TASTIEST THING EVER.  
Now I am a believer.  Even AFTER 2 DAYS- it was delicious. 

At that point my mind was racing..  WHO MADE THIS.  HOW.  RECIPE PLEASE!  and guess what!!!!  She has a lifestyle blog called Little Random Happiness with recipes and pretty photos.  It is a great read, it's always colorful and makes my day!  Go visit her!!!!
She also had a giveaway recently and I was literally the LAST PERSON to enter it on the LAST DAY and I WON! Thank you so much for your giveaway. It doesn't make sense but I wanted a macaron trinket when I saw it on a blog of a bride gifting it to her bridesmaids. And because I don't have a cool camera, I will use her images.

Images by Little Random Happiness
THANK YOU AGAIN! I can't wait to use it and wrote love notes and place it around my house! And in case you were wondering this is the macaron recipe that changed my life!

Cultural Fusion Show: The Awakening

A few weekends ago..(4/6)... was our college's cultural show 'The Awakening'.  Over the years we had so many diverse dances from African, Indian, and American style dancing which I felt lucky to have watched but no Asian cultural ones. So I was super excited when one of my peers offered to choreograph an Asian Fan Dance if I volunteered myself to be a dancer.   At rehearsal,  we were not in sync and off. I was regretting it. I don't really have the mind or body of a dancer but after hours of practice and confidence we made it through. We looked amazing and I am very happy that we all decided to stick with it. It will probably be one of the last times I ever perform in front of people...THANK GOODNESS.

Here is the dance if your interested in watching. 

The Hubby also volunteered to escort me for the cultural fashion show. He is so handsome in his new suit (a gift from my parents as part of the our culture's wedding tradition).

We tried to be super cool and do a turn and dip but that failed. Never again. 

Our Wedding: DIY Bathroom Basket

Since we had some time I thought it would be a nice thing to make for the guests in case they needed to pamper themselves in the restroom. We made a sign for each basket so the guests would know it was made for them.  Women's Basket: "Stay Sexy!" I bought the black basket at Goodwill for $5 and still use it in our home.  Men's Basket: "Stay Classy!" I use a leftover box I had at home, wrapped it with purple paper and done. 

Baskets had: - Pads/Tampons (Women's only) - Hair pins and hair bands ( Women's only) - Qtips - First Aid Kit - Hairspray  - Body Lotion  - Bathroom Spray - Lint Roller - Altoids (fresh breath) - Ibuprofen ( if the music was too loud) I found this project to be pretty quick and very affordable especially since many of the items you have in your bathroom.  Just a warning:  DO NOT put anything in the basket or out at your wedding you are NOT prepared to lose.  Some more ideas:

MALDIVES

This is the boardwalk we walked everyday from our hut (the VERY LAST one on the left!) to the main lobby of  the hotel. They offered buggy rides for guests but we enjoyed our time just walking and enjoying the view and sunshine.  We stayed at the  W Retreat & Spa Ocean Oasis Lagoon View. It was AHMAZINGGGG!

1. Hotel bedroom/living room has a see through hole where you can see the fishes. It also opens up to the patio and has views of the ocean.
2. Bathroom
3. Outdoor Patio where you can just dive right into the ocean. Also comes with the jet streamed infinity pool!

After traveling/flying for over 60 hours total for a spring break honeymoon, we don't EVER want to fly again. Though it was a long trip, it was a perfect, romantic, private honeymoon spot. After experiencing a life of relaxation and not having a care in the world, we will definitely be back again. The service there was phenomenal, we felt like Millionaires. Oh one day.... :) We are almost there.

The Seaplane from the airport to our island resort

The hole in our living room where you can see fishes ....or just us :)

Our activities consisted of snorkeling, receiving some love and care at the spa, and lounging out on our patio to get some sun. Mostly we were looking out to the big open waters thoughtfully contemplating about life. 

My favorite moment was after being stuffed from dinner, we went outside and laid put on the patio couch and stared up to the stars, trying to googlesky what the constellations were; eventually just falling asleep under the night sky.

We felt like kings and queens, laying out on our patio we dreamt of a private island of our own and having a life like this forever.  I just wanna thank a very good friend of ours that was able to help us with a big part of the costs for our dream honeymoon so Thank You. And a shout out to SK for helping us with our car and picking and dropping us off :) and for your bag of rice! Now its back to reality. The first day back was the hardest and still a bit jet lag but on a positive note: almost closer to the end of classes forever!

<3

I Baked a Cake....

  

from scratch! 

It was difficult and long and most likely won't ever do this again because it was hard :(

Can you guess who it is?

My friends were guessing a dinosaur or a lizard. And they were right!

It was suppose to look like this ( the bottom right green one)....

......... I just told people that it was abstract yoshi
*** OPPS- The above was written September of Last year! I was so busy planning last semester that I forgot about this blog post. 
Here are the photos if your curious of what it eventually looked like. This was the recipe I used (HERE) Obviously it's not as amazing but at least I tried!

Us trying to make Yoshi's scales. We used chopsticks to make the small details when the ziplock bag trick did not work.

 

It's a little cute right????


There was a Colleges Against Cancer Bake Sale so I also made another cake roll for that. The pink ribbon was definitely easier to make. 

If you do try making this, let me know what you drew out and if you have any extra tips!