HAPPY HALLOWEEN: Black Widow outfit DIY

Since Halloween is on a Thursday this year we celebrated early this past weekend. The theme was Superheros. I have to admit it was pretty damn cool. While we were all waiting in the dining room for the rest of the group, it looked like a crossover episode with all the heroes;  discussing how to save the world over dinner.

THE HEROES

THE AVENGERS minus Hulk

Our friend's IRON MAN outfit is also a DIY! Isn't it super cool???

I chose to be Black Widow this year because I thought all black leather would be kicka$$! That and my husband is Captain America and if you are a Marvel nerd you know that Black Widow and Captain America will have a somewhat complex relationship.

Here are my inspirational photos

 It was very simple to do. All you need is:

Black Jumpsuit: Could use black leather pants/leggings with leather jacket.
Bullets: For bracelets and belt. Spray paint this black.
Leather Biker gloves
S.H.I.E.L.D patches: made out of foam and felt. Taped them onto suit.
Black Belt : Use old one and taped foam cutout onto belt.

 This took the longest time because I had to make sure it was cut correctly and looked equal.

Using foam I cut out the black widow symbol and taped it onto an old belt. 

These were my bullets- post black spray paint and used as part of my bracelet. 

Not sure if you can even see it but I even dyed my hair red for Halloween. I wish it came out more red! This is how intense I can be with Halloween. LOVE IT!

I just wish I was young enough to get some free candy!!!! 

TRICK OR TREAT!

Pumpkin lovin'

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and this year is our FIRST as a couple celebrating it together! OF COURSE we have to have matching outfits which I am in the process of making but that is for another future post.
In the past AKA Before Marley, the Mister has made our house into a non-doorbell ringing home which probably marked us to the neighborhood kids as a NO CANDY ZONE.
Last year NO ONE rang our doorbell!!!!  So this year our goal was to make our front yard as halloweenieeee as possible. We set up some decorations and motion activated monsters ( which scared the heck out of me so we left it on the OFF button until Halloween day!). 
We also made our very first pumpkins. 

Can you guess which is his and which is mine???

The idea of picking pumpkins and carving them is fun but when you're actually carving, it's REALLY HARD and sortof annoying. So much to clean up and it was pretty ugly when we started out so it was a bit discouraging but after seeing our artwork come together- we both ended up with great pumpkins!
Have a happy Pumpkin picking! 

9-21-13 The Day I CONQUERED the Road

9-21-13 Is the day I GOT OVER MY FEAR of driving.
223 miles, 3 hrs and 10 minutes
It wasn't so bad. 
***
You may go, really that's nothing, I've driven 123456789 miles before. Well honey, if you know me the furthest I've EVER driven is down the street and back! 
OK- maybe not that bad but I am the typical ASIAN FEMALE DRIVER. I do not like to go on highways and if I possible I would take the LONGESTTTTT local route just to avoid it. 
The furthest I've ever driven in my whole life non-stop is 20 miles and even then, I get sleepy. 
Even my BEST FRIEND did not believe me.
Bestie: Yea right, I don't believe you. Me: I am SO SERIOUS! I am at home and I drove by myself. Bestie: TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR CAR RIGHT NOW and text it to me. Me: -_______- 
I ain't going to lie, when I made it within 100 miles of being away from home, I breathe a sign of relief because if anything happens AAA will tow your car within 100 miles for free!

So HOW  after 4 years of being in VT did I FINALLY get the nerve to go the distance NON-STOP to home? 
Because I miss my Mister :( 
I guess LOVE does Conquer All. Especially the fear of driving. 

Thanks babe. P.S. It did backfire. Now he won't have to pick me up to help drive my car back home....  I have to do it by myself. >.<

Proposal Video

As I am typing this, my hands are literally shaking. My whole body is shaking. I just remember that day so vividly and having this video totally reminded me how nervous I was, confused, excited, and most importantly how much I love this man. I love him so much. 
CLICK HERE to watch.
Click Here for Proposal Post.

Thank you to one of our dear friends Pete for making the video. For more of his work: Here is his youtube channel. WARNING: Sorry for the many OMG..My brain was not processing clearly. My mind was going everywhere, it felt like I wasn't in my body. I was too overjoyed to cry....but did so- 3 days later when it hit me... hahah

Location, Location, Location: Tips on choosing a wedding venue.

FACT When you mention the word 'wedding' versus a retirement or birthday party, the price automatically jumps up.
1. Take the time to think outside the box and find locations that are atypical to weddings which is a cost saver if you are not too picky about what the place looks like.  
2. Make a list will help break down what you really want versus what you don't really need. 
3. For us, we wanted the Chinese food but not the Chinese banquet hall. If it wasn't for that, we would just do a Chinatown wedding. 
Our List of non-negotiable: Ability to have Open Bar/outside liquor ( always a hit for the guests) Amount of guests it could fit (150-200) Outside catering Close to Boston (within 20 miles) Have parking or garages available
With this list, it came down to 6 locations. I will share my list with you so that if you are interested you can find them in your local area. Every location is different but you can see the price differences in each one. 
Community Center such as ELKS/American Legion Post

Pros:
- Full kitchen where the cater can do everything.
- Super affordable rental- Only $550 for 5 hours and included all the chairs/tables.

Cons:
- Too tight of a space and the ceilings were not high enough for our entrance
- Open Bar was only possible if we use their bartender ( $40) plus cost of drinks, which there was no way to really track it and could overcharge us.
- Total privacy would not be possible because they can't close the bar to the community veterans which would make for some awkwardness or party crashers.

Elks Lodge

American Legion Post

Nightclub

Room Rental: 5000-7500/4 hours. 1000/additional hour. Pros: - They have a stage so if you want some separation for the bride/groom and dinner guests or if you want performances at your wedding.  - Full DJ Booth, full sound and lighting system, and sound system available.  Cons: - Since it is a nightclub, they will definitely kick your party out by 10/11pm since they have to prepare for the clubbers. In all honestly I felt that if we did get married at a nightclub, our friends would NOT be surprised. Especially since that is how we first met. 

Royale

Hotel
Hotels can be pricey! But not only are you paying for atmosphere but also the service. Most all of these places includes a day of coordinator or some sort of event planner that helps you with your day so you don't have to worry.  For Boston Park Plaza Hotel, it's expensive, it's beautiful and it best represents Boston- Sophisticated, Elegant, Luxurious. Floor to ceiling windows, ballrooms, crystal chandeliers, and white glove service! Room for up to 250+ guests Cost can be anywhere between $15,000- 30,000.
We said no because the costs of bartenders and guests were around $13,000.   Boston Park Plaza Hotel

I put the library because my friends recently got married here and it's a really beautiful venue! The pricing is similar to hotel prices especially since you have to go through a specific catering company. 
Library

Image by henryandmac

Image by shangchenphoto

Function Space
(e.g. Spring Step, Cyclorama, Art Studio)  These are the types of places that you wouldn't think to get married in but are actually quite popular due to price and just out of the box locations. Rentals for the location is not too bad, can range about $500-1,000/hr. Keep in mind the location may not have items such as chairs, tables, plates, etc which can increase your budget especially if you have to rent items.  For some function spaces, there is an anything goes policy so you could get away with some things that a hotel may not let you get away with ( AS LONG AS ITS LEGAL!).  Cyclorama

Image by kellydillonphoto

Spring Step

Good luck in finding your location :) 

Last night at home... again.

Going back and forth and traveling every which way is a bit exhausting.    Long distance is hard and it's something I thought I could get use to but in reality - I can't. Even though our whole relationship was long distance, I feel that marriage has made a change in me. It is all about priorities, not just mines, but ours now. 
Sometimes I am TOO SELFISH and the Mister is always SELFLESS. He is always encouraging me to do what I want/need to do for my future career goals, even if he knows he will get the short end of the stick. 
I have to remind myself that this isn't just my life, its OURS.  Whatever I chose to decide, you are my forethought. 
*** Onto happy thoughts...  While traveling from rotation to rotation, driving and making stops between 3 different states, in a span of a weekend - I was able to have some fun. 
+ I got to see my hubby!!!!
+ I had dinner with the fam! My mom finally let Hubby pay for dinner and not go berserk on him. Usually she is a ninja and tries to jump on the bill before we can.  

+Mom and Dad's first time at Mixx ( a local froyo location). So it was cute when my dad was trying out the different favors because he's NEVER ever had self serve before. 

My head is twice the size of my baby sisters >.< I know I have a big head but it looks HUMONGOUS here!

+ Went to a BBQ and said goodbye to a friend (also going away to Pharm school!)
+ Pool Party! My first and probably last pool party of the summer. My Superman was not super when he got a splinter on his toe. 

I was his SuperWoman for the day!  :)

End of July Update

Long Distance Sucks. Luckily I got to see the Mister last weekend. It was his birthday so  Happy BELATED Love!
He and one of our best friends traveled 5-6 hours to visit and it was nice to see familiar faces and have social interactions with people my own age. We got to go to NYC to party it up with good friends at a studio loft. It was quite fancy and very impressive. There were party favors and so much food, hors d'oeuvre, and drinks.

ALOT OF GUYS! 
One guy cornered me in the bathroom and kept trying to touch my arms. I physically but gently (he was a bit inebriated and I felt that even though he was bigger than me, he would faint at any second) moved him away. It's annoying to hear the same lines they give you if you won't give them your number. 
Inebriated: Why can't I have your number, are you married? Me: Hmm... actually .. motioning FLIPPING OFF THE FINGER, not THAT one, the RING ONE!  Inebriated:  !!!!! WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE!!!!
Everytime, that's the line they get. And when I tell them yes-> its why are you even out. Really??? I don't really care but I find it amusing because people always hating on married people for being boring and staying in and when you go out, its why are you here? Make up your minds people! 
Another funny aside, while this was all happening, the Mister was also in the bathroom (COED bathroom) and heard the whole conversation. So after doing his thing, he popped his head out the door and said 'Yea..she's married to me!' in his HULK fashion.
Oh the things we get ourselves into. 

Our Wedding: Style Me Pretty

A few years ago before I even thought about getting married and before I even met the Mister, my auntie emailed my sister and I wedding websites to check out. 

I never really took any of those websites seriously until I got engaged. At that point of my life I would read blogs and look for DIY inspiration but never thought I would be one of those lucky beautiful brides that you see on there.
BUT thanks to my husband and the talented team we had, especially Kelly Dillon Photography , Brighter Lights Media, Lemon Drop Team, and others that supported us, WE GOT FEATURED.
For the full story click HERE

I highly recommend the talented people we hired! If you want them here's a list: HERE
P.S. MY AUNT'S GOING TO FREAK OUT WHEN SHE SEES THIS! 

Date Night with Ghosts

After moving to a new state for my rotation (First day today!), I wanted to reminisce of my time at home. 

Usually when I'm home with Hubby, I like to go on Groupon for some date ideas. 

In case you didn't know,  I LOVEEEEEE going on tours and no lie but I am fascinated by ghost stories so with the best of both worlds, I bought a Groupon Deal for The Haunted Boston Ghost Tour.

It is a hour and a half walking tour ( about less than a mile) through Boston Common. I know Boston has a lot of rich history and though I am from here, everything I learned was new. The tour is a  combination of a history lesson and the ghostly encounters that has been documented in the news and researched/confirmed. 

We were so into it that RIGHT after the tour, we both wiki/googled more background information about the things we just learned.  

Now whenever I walk by Boston Common, it doesn't look the same to me anymore. 

Happy July 4th!

Hello :) Sorry for the lack of updates. I think once I got into rotation mode, I just didn't have time for blogging  Personally I really wanted to capture all the memories because this is like a diary for me. I have the memory of Dory (blue tang) and so the only way I remember things best is from photos. A lot has been going on and I have so many things I want to post but since it is Fourth of July,  i'll leave that for another day.  We decided to start a new tradition of celebrating July 4th on the 3rd because of a few reasons.  1) Everyone has family/friend commitments on the 4th.  2) Some people have work the day after July 4th. So it's exhausting. 3) Since no one has work on the 4th, we can last longer on the 3rd.   I really don't know why we didn't think of that earlier. I thought it was an awesome plan! Usually my family goes all out for these things and we have skewers of meat, clams, steak...basically lots of meat and seafood. 
I love holiday related parties because our guests color coordinate their outfits!

Isn't it cute- I wish I thought of this! 

If you look closely at the pant pocket, you can see that his sunglasses has the imprint of the american flag too.  Hopefully I will get to do a May/June update later on. Hope you had a happy 4th!

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.