halloween

happy halloween, everyone! we had a good sunday even though we didn't do anything halloweeny. we just hung out at home, went to church, hung out at his mom's office, and then hung out at my parents' house. that's about it! most exciting halloween evarrrrrrr!!!

anthony's unsurprising bowling party

for the past month or so, i've been planning a big surprise party for anthony's 30th birthday. i invited all of his relatives and a few of our friends to palos verdes bowl. the plan was that two of his buddies would take him out in the afternoon and then meet us all at the bowling alley at 5:00pm. i THOUGHT i was doing a good job, but it was really killing me to have to keep it a secret. in fact, i've been having nightmares the past two nights about having to lie to him. i was really anxious for the party to happen already. but then starting last night, anthony started grilling me and asking me all kinds of questions about my plans for today. i was doing a real good job dodging his questions, but the interrogation continued today at a much higher level. he would ask me very specific questions and then stare into my eyes while i thought of what to say in response. then he started saying things like, "you're going to be at the bowling alley, right?" i already had a feeling that he somehow found out about the surprise.. so when he asked me if i was going to be at the bowling alley i just SNAPPED. i was furioussss!!!! hahaha. i started yelling at him, accusing him of reading my email, asking him who told him, etc. he had a look on his face like, "what have i done?!" he realized that he was so mean for spoiling all my efforts, and apologized for not just playing along. i was seriously pissed. haha. looking back, though, he was just being typical anthony. i was just annoyed 'cause it was so close to being over with.

so anyway, we came up with a new plan that he would arrive at the bowling alley early to hide in the room where everyone else was supposed to hide in. and then before everyone was ready to yell "surprise" he would come out from his hiding place to scare them. but then when i followed up with him a few minutes before the time i asked him to arrive, he told me that he was still at the driving range with his two buddies.. and he still had not told them that the surprise was cancelled. ugh!!!! crazy guy!!!!!! i got to the bowling alley and most of the guests were arriving on time. meanwhile, anthony was blowing up my cellphone texting and calling to ask me what he should do. i told him to just go with the original plan and act surprised when he walked into the room. but then i told everyone else that he already knew of the surprise, and so we went to a new hiding place, let him walk into an empty room, and then rushed him from behind. and after that i was over it. hahah jk.

anyway, the night still ended up being a lot of fun. i'm thankful for everyone who came out and glad that the-most-difficult-husband-ever still had a good time. i couldn't decide which group picture to use for today's post, so here's all of them. (=

late anniversary dinner

not that we have any complaints about spending our anniversary in paris, but anthony and i still wanted to go out on an official DATE to celebrate 3/13 years together. we decided on el pollo inka 'cause it's anthony's favorite. it was super delicious tonight, too. yes!!!

disney

my disney annual pass expired today and so i wanted to visit the magic kingdom one last time. unfortunately, the parks closed super early today, but we were still able to ride toy story mania and watch world of color from behind. thanks for all the good times, disney!! i miss you already!

target

it's been a while (okay maybe a few weeks) since we've been to target. anthony and i love going there, but we always argue over who is going to pay. haha! usually the first person who says, "not it," does not have to pay. the past few times, we've tried to come up with a better rule. our current rule is that the last person to put something into the cart has to pay. tonight i did not say, "not it," nor did i refrain from dropping the last item into the cart, yet somehow i was still able to convince anthony to pay. sucker! (=

wahoo's

for once in my life (not really), i let anthony pick where we would have dinner tonight. he picked wahoo's. while we were eating, anthony's cousin, adrian, walked in and pretended to steal my purse. i did not even budge. adrian chatted with us for a bit and then after he left, anthony said, "i like that guy." haha. yahoo for wahoo's!

date night

tonight i had a dinner date with gennie at olive garden! woohoo! OG is always good and catching up with gennie is even better. what more could i ask for?!

after party

we spent the afternoon at christine and jimmy's present opening/after party. while we were there, serena kept wanting to take pictures with me and anthony, but she would pose like this every single time! hahaha. it looks like she is so miserable (actually, she looks quite miserable in a lot of her pictures) but she would smile and laugh afterward as she looked at the pictures on the camera. what a weirdo!!

christine & jimmy's wedding

today was the big day!!! i was busy from the moment i woke up, but in the end it was all worth it because the wedding was such a fun and joyous event. it was nice to see all my relatives, and i'm happy that christine got to spend her special day with so many loved ones. congratulations to mr. & mrs. vovos!

sleepyheads

anthony has been jetlagged ever since coming back from france on wednesday. he was sooo sad when i got home last night because he realized that he slept through the time that he was supposed to visit serena (and silla and jenn, too). today he was sleepy again, but this time he took his nap at my parents' house instead of our own house! we woke him up when serena got home and he was smiling so big while he was hugging her even though he was too sleepy to open his eyes. hahaha. serena was quite sleepy, too, as you can probably tell from this picture. wake up, sleepyheads!!!

rehearsal dinner

today we had the rehearsal dinner for christine and jimmy. i had no idea i was going to be in charge of the rehearsal, but as soon as i arrived at the venue christine came up to me and told me to get started. haha. wow! we practiced the march-in twice and then had a yummy dinner at a chinese restaurant up the street. two more days!

wedding stuff

i went to sebastian's house today to help his mommy with last minute wedding stuff. we picked up her dress, bought sebastian's ringbearer pillow, and finished the favors/placecards. and then after all that, i got to cuddle with the baby.

cuties

i left work a little bit early today because i was excited to pick up the minnesota girls from the airport. woohoo!!! they are in town for this weekend's wedding. we also got to see priscilla's baby brother, james, when they came to pick her up. cutie cutie cutie cuties rockin' everywhere!

bubble gum breath

there always seems to be a big reality check when i get home from a vacation. today after work, i was planning on heading over to christine's house to see if she needed help with anything, but i had to change my plans because i found out that something was wrong with meli. it's a little gross to say, but my auntie fely noticed that she was pooping blood. i got really sad so i rushed over to carson to see her. she has been on this new medication for a bladder infection (how sad, huh!) for about a week now, and so i didn't really know what to think. when i arrived, though, she was acting normal and happy.. and didn't appear to be in pain when i picked her up or rubbed her. she even let me give her her medicine without complaining. i was relieved after seeing her and am hoping that the bloody poopoo was just a one-time fluke. we'll be keeping an eye on her. and in the meantime, we'll just keep giving her her meds, which in turn give her bubble gum breath. haha. how cute!

home again

while i was on the trip, i kept thinking, "it feels like i've been gone forever!" but now that i'm home i'm like, "where the heck did the time go!?" i left bordeaux really early this morning and headed home solo. the rest of the group is coming home later this week, but i wanted to be back earlier so i can be available if christine needs my help with any wedding stuff. i am happy to be home. meli appears to be happy that i'm home, too. (=

bordeaux

once again, the majority of the day was spent on the road. we had another long journey.. this time from avranches to saint-laurent-sur-mer to cognac to bordeaux. although it was tiring to sit in a van the whole day, it was also cool because we got to drive through places we wouldn't normally get to see. we saw a lot of green countryside during this trip. everything is so clean and pretty out here! when we finally checked into our hotel, we had dinner and then walked around the city for a little while. bordeaux is beautiful and i'm a little sad that i don't have more time to spend here. next time i'm in france, i'm coming back!

mont saint michel

another long day. after renting a van, we left paris this morning and then headed west toward the less populated area of the country. we first stopped in pontmain where we visited our lady of hope which is the mother church of fr. efren's parish in philadelphia. then after driving some more we finally made it to mont saint michel, which is a beautiful castle built on top of a rock island. we walked around the castle and took lots of pics. i even have a jumping picture with my mom in it, too, but it's on anthony's camera and i don't have access to it right now. oh well. this should give you a good enough idea about how much fun we were having. haha. even fr. efren joined in on the jumping pics!

anniversary in paris

well looky here! here i am with my favorite person in my favorite city!!! today was a verrrry long day. we woke up really early in the morning to take a flight from dusseldorf to paris. after landing in paris, anthony, his mom, grace, fr. efren and i said goodbye to the group we had been travelling with for the past few days and waited for my parents and anthony's buddy, steve, to arrive! it will just be the eight of us for the rest of the trip. the public transportation system is on strike here in paris, and so it took us a little longer than planned to finally get to our hotel. we only had half an hour to bring our stuff up to our rooms, change, and then meet back in the lobby before our journey to st. ambroise church for our convalidation ceremony (catholic wedding). i bought a new hair curler and everything, but i didn't even have time to BRUSH my hair!!! hahaha what a mess!!!! i wish i had more time, but in the end i know it doesn't really matter. it took us longer than expected to walk to the church, but when we finally got there it was quite beautiful to see. our wedding ceremony was very nice and intimate. grace thought i was going to cry, but i didn't feel like it at all. i just felt overjoyed. i also received my first communion and had my first confession today as well. talk about a holy day! after the ceremony, we had dinner at a cute restaurant near sacre coeur and then the four youngins took on the town while the four oldies (jk!) went back to the hotel to sleep. we had a lot of fun riding the metro, taking jumping pictures at the arc de triomphe, admiring the eiffel tower, and eating delicious banana/nutella crepes. i love this city!

what a great way to celebrate 3/13 years for me and anthony! we are so blessed! (=

cologne

the majority of today was spent in germany! we visited the cities of goch and cologne. while we were in cologne, i saw the biggest freaking church i have ever seen in my entire life!!! it is huuuuuuuge!!!! i had just woken up from a nap when our bus driver parked the bus about a block away from the cathedral, and when i saw it outside the window i could not believe my eyes. this is the crazy kind of stuff that i only see in my dreams! haha. i know this picture does not do it justice, so look here for some aerial views. glorious!

SVD missionary house

today was a pretty relaxing day. we did a lot and saw a lot, but we had lots of time to rest, too. we started the morning off learning about how this missionary house was started. we had a tour of the main building of the compounds and then celebrated mass in the main chapel. and THEN, after a delicious lunch they sent everyone to their rooms to take an afternoon nap! isn't that nice?! haha. they said that the point of visiting this place is to relax and reflect.. so that's what we did! after our siesta, we continued our tour by visiting the cemeteries, gardens, old buildings, and two separate convents of the two separate sisterhoods of the SVD. there are two types of nuns here.. the blue sisters and the pink sisters. the pink sisters, also known as the adoration sisters, have dedicated their lives to contemplation. they are "cloistered" from the rest of the world which means they have very little contact with people outside of their sisterhood. they spend the majority of their days praying. it was very interesting to learn about, and also very cool that we actually got to meet one of them (even though she was behind bars while we were listening to her)! i love traveling 'cause i get to learn about things/cultures that i wouldn't otherwise know. this place is neat and i thank God (and my MIL) for the opportunity. (=

touchdown in steyl

after a long flight, a layover in paris, and a bus ride from germany to holland, we FINALLY made it! we will be spending the next couple nights in the dutch village of steyl. we are not staying in a hotel, but instead at a retreat house which is headquarters for a huge missionary congregation. since we arrived here in the evening, everyone pretty much just went up to their rooms after dinner. i am super sleepy anyway, so i don't mind at all!

flying across the atlantic

10/10/10 is finally here and we are on our way to europe! i was supposed to sit by myself on this flight, but anthony switched seats with me and so i get to sit with grace and mother-in-law instead. phew! we all have our own tvs on this plane so i watched twilight: eclipse, sex and the city 2, and wall-e. do you like my movie selections? all three are movies that anthony would never watch with me. haha.

anyway, europe here we come!

mani/pedi

rianne and i went to get our nails done today. it was our second time going to this particular salon, but somehow it was not as impressive this time around. haha. it's probably just because they were a lot busier than the last time we went. oh well! our fingers and toes still look cuter than they did beforehand.

electronica

since our annual passes are expiring soon, anthony and i wanted to go to disneyland before our trip to europe in a couple days. unfortunately, disneyland closed really early, but we knew that california adventure was going to stay open for a few extra hours. it ended up being super cool because it was opening night for ElecTRONica. they changed the whole hollywood backlot area to look like the set of the upcoming movie tron. there was an arcade, a theater playing a 3D sneak-peek of the movie, and an outdoor dance club with a DJ and professional dancers! haha. it was funny because we totally weren't expecting to be at a dance party tonight, but it ended up being a lot of fun.

oh disney, you never cease to amaze me.

happy meal

i saw the workers at mc donalds laughing at me today because i ordered a happy meal for lunch. haha. why do they have to make fun? don't they know what a mature woman i am?

boba loca

well hello there, boba. we meet again. so nice to see you.

pink sky

i've been seeing some really pretty skies the past few evenings. i know it didn't really show up in this photo, but the sky was pink on my drive home from work. so pretty!

vintage dress

here is more news for you lovelies. next week, anthony and i are going on vacation to europe. on our anniversary (10/14), we are going to have the paris wedding i've always dreamed of!! okay okay, well not quite. we already had a wonderful wedding three years ago with our friends and family, and i wouldn't change it. but this time we will have a private church wedding with just a handful of people. i have NO idea what i should wear, and so just for fun i went over to the carson house to try on some old dresses. while i was digging through my wedding dress and jennifer's wedding dress, i came across her old cream gown from her high school prom! hahahah. my mom and i were laughing as we texted this picture to her. what do you think?

p.s. please ignore my lumpy stomach. i was wearing jeans underneath. haha.

team toni

toni was in town this weekend for the LA triathlon. melissa and i got up early and headed over to venice beach to watch the swimming part of her race. the waves were huge this morning, and so all the triathletes really had to fight to get through them! crazy, tina!! the rest of her supporters and i met up at anna's place later in the evening to eat dinner and hang out. yay, toni!

reading terminal market

our trip to philly was really short (less than 24 hours), but we tried to squeeze in as much as possible. we got to see the liberty bell and independence hall (where our country's founding fathers wrote the constitution and the declaration of independence). but the place where we spent a good amount of time was "reading terminal market." after doing some research on yelp ahead of time, i found out about this super cool indoor market which is full of all kinds of eateries. being that it was a saturday afternoon, the market was super busy. but the crowds of people had a lot to do with what made the experience so awesome. it's just such a diverse and lively place. we had lunch with anthony's mom's friends, and so between the seven of us we got to sample quite a few places. anthony and i decided on dinics for their famous roast pork sandwiches and then shared a strawberry/banana/nutella crepe for dessert. it was the best freaking crepe i've ever had! haha.

outward sign of inner grace

sooooo, after arriving in philadelphia at 6am, we met up with anthony's mom and headed straight over to our lady of hope to meet father efren. fr. efren is one of my mother-in-law's closest priest friends, and so the reason we flew all the way to pennsylvania to meet him is because today he baptized me into the church. so as of today, i am officially catholic!!! yeeeee! the baptism was super private, but it was oh so special. in fact, i cried pretty much the entire time! haha. but you probably already guessed that by seeing my red face in the picture. afterward, anthony told me that i acted no different than a baby being baptized. crybaby or what! but yeah, i was just so overwhelmed with joy. i wish my family could've been there, but i know you were all with me in spirit. (=

getting ready to fly

anthony and i are currently sitting at the airport waiting to board our flight to philadelphia! i'm very excited, but you'll have to wait 'til tomorrow to find out why! (=