Our Collaborative Wedding Guest Book

I FINALLY got around to making our wedding guest book! Well, let me clarify, more like finally got around to compiling and creating covers for my wedding guest book. Our guests luckily created all of the content, and I had the pleasure of putting it altogether and getting weepy over their messages and photos! 

{The guest book, like most things in our wedding, prompted a lot of debate and discussion. You can read all about the other options we considered here.}

I'm really happy about how it turned out. Here it is, the completed book, each page made by a guest at our wedding: 

I designed the cover to mirror our invitations. You can see our invitations here. 

And here are some of the pages designed by our guests: 

Our collaborative mini book was very easy to organize. You can make one too!

I planned to have two types of paper to the wedding, pink scalloped note cards and plain white note cards left over from when I was studying for the GRE. (Glad those came in handy later in life!) The cards are about the same size at 4 x 6. Prior to the wedding, I punched three holes in one notecard that I used as my template. And then I gave the boy the hole puncher and had him punch holes in the notecards. :) 

Next, I gathered stickers, special scissors, pens, colored pencils, and anything else I thought people would like to decorate their page.

We used the Polaroid camera so people could add photos to their pages (bring lots of film!), and because Polaroid cameras are retro fun. I bought photo corners so they didn't have to tape the polaroids and so I could take them off the page if needed. 

Our kind cousin took people's photos, and then put all the completed cards in a box. 

You can see the whole set-up here:

 

 [Set-up photos from Jessamyn Harris and Sheri Tennison Berg for Jessamyn Harris Photography]

Finally, to put the whole book together, I used 2" binder rings and a Crop-A-Dile to punch holes through the thicker cardboard I used for the cover.  This mini book was inspired from one of my favorite blogs for inspiration, enJOY it.

If you had a wedding, what was your "guest book"?

Bath Hearts

 These were just a sweet touch during our stay in Santa Fe. I forgot to include the photo in my last post and it's one of my favorites from the trip. The green makes me happy and calm. :) 

xoxo

Being Happy With My Body

[Mo today vs. Mo 8 weeks ago]

I reached my goal weight just before vacation (woohoo!) and now would really like to stay here, no more, no less. Yes, I did eat a lot on our vacation (but didn't the food look good??). No, I didn't really exercise in the past week because of said vacation. I know, I'm already off to a bad start. But really, I'm tired of getting to the point of my clothes not fitting anymore and then exercising more and eating less. I've grown up eating a lot of whatever I want. It's hard to break that habit. I'm going to try to make more of an effort this time post-diet to keep exercising and eating less sugar and fat.

I also find dieting really exhausting and would love to never want to go on another one. When I'm on a diet (which to me is 1200-1400 calories a day) I am constantly thinking about food. What I can eat, what I can't eat, how my body looks from day to day. It's all consuming and altogether very tiring. In the midst of my calorie obsession, I found two websites with Asian perspectives on body image and food. They've helped me stay grounded:
Lynn Chen's personal food blog, The Actor's Diet, and her collaborative blog with Lisa Lee, Thick Dumpling Skin.

I'm so glad they exist. Reading other people's stories makes me realize I'm not alone, and helps put my own issues with weight into perspective. Yes, my mother's wedding cheongsams are a size 0 and do not fit me. Yes, I had a boyfriend tell me to lose 10 lbs when I thought I was thin (not the boy, thank goodness.) Yes, I'm told at family meals to eat and eat and eat but then am criticized for gaining weight.

No, I do not want other people's disparaging comments about my weight to get me down.

Yes, I am happy with my body.

And since I'm on a roll declaring things, I'd like to eat cake and not feel bad about it. Like this one.

[Inside-out Neapolitan Cake from Sweetapolita]

Wish me luck.

For more eloquent writing about Asians and body image, visit Thick Dumpling Skin.
To peak inside Lynn Chen's food world, visit her personal blog.

Meet My Nephews!

My two sisters gave birth recently to two baby boys. They are adorable, small, and just starting to realize that they have the coolest auntie ever.

Say hello to Jonah and Parker!

The First Year of Marriage

[Frozen cupcakes and cookies, one year old from our wedding last year--they are still thawing in the fridge, we cheated and ate a new cupcake from Sprinkles!]

Yesterday marked our one year wedding anniversary (*trumpets! fireworks!*). Unfortunately, I was too tired to do a blog post. BUT I am tired out of happiness, because it's been a really fun weekend so far. I feel super spoiled after having gone on vacation, and then having all of this fourth of July weekend merriment. I got to meet my newborn nephews, celebrate my cousin's wedding, and after our flight back home, we spent the day in Point Loma at Cabrillo National Monument and Sunset Cliffs.

[View of sailboats from Cabrillo National Monument]

After a good walk along the cliffs, we ate dinner on the patio of Pomodoro, and then split this lemon blueberry cupcake from Sprinkles. We might be adventurous today and eat the frozen ones from our wedding. (Or not, haha)

[Lemon blueberry cupcake from Sprinkles]

In honor of the "paper anniversary" we bought these papel picado hot air balloons on our New Mexico trip. We're hanging them in our office so we can be reminded of happy times as we toil away at our work.  I'm also now enamored by papel picado. I've always loved Chinese paper cuts. As a kid, I used to cut out templates my mom would buy for me in Chinatown. It didn't occur to me how much I love papel picado too until we saw so many of them in Santa Fe. I totally want to try making a (very simple) banner now.

[The boy modeling three of the colors in the 12-piece banner]

Finally, because this post is titled "The First Year of Marriage", I'm concluding this wrap-up of fun stuff with some contemplative thoughts about the changes in our relationship after the wedding.

Like our relationship at any time, there were highs and lows. I recall our lowest low being an argument in which we actually debated who inflicted more stress on the other. I also wasn't myself for a few months, which probably contributed to the "I stress you out?! YOU stress me out!" fights. I think the "being married" distinction also messed with me head--I didn't know "how to be married". In my fog of what I perceived as instability, I wanted a foolproof marriage plan--where was this magical solution to prevent divorce? Where could I get it? How could I do it? What did we need to do to ensure we are happy? When my mind was racing and my anxiety was high, I didn't have the sense to realize that "being married" isn't derived from a list of requirements. It's what we want it to be.

After a year of being married, I'm even more thankful I have the boy in my life. Out of the haze of my anxiety, I came to the realization that the boy truly accepts me for who I am. He never bothers me for not liking what he likes, or wanting to stay home on a Friday night instead of go out with him, or getting way too excited at craft stores and bakeries. He gives me space to be myself instead of molding me to be an "ideal" partner. And that makes me very happy.

What lessons did you learn in your first year of marriage? Did you eat year-old wedding cake??

Congratulations Daisy+David!

[Photo by Blueberry Photography]

Congratulations to my sweet cousin Daisy and my new cousin-in-law David. They are getting married today in the rotunda at San Francisco City Hall. It's going to be lovely, and I am so happy we get to celebrate with them and our gigantic family!

For more of their adorableness by Blueberry Photography, click here.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful July 4th weekend!

[Photo by Blueberry Photography]

One Year Anniversary/Birthday Trip: New Mexico

[After my birthday dinner at Cafe Pasqual's in Santa Fe (loved it here)--we were both very tired but full and happy!]

I had a lot of confused looks from people preceding the trip: "New Mexico? How random." And even on the trip, people kept asking why we chose New Mexico. But I'm so glad we went. It was a beautiful, more affordable (compared to Hawaii) getaway destination that allowed us some time to reconnect. 

Here's a breakdown of our 3 nights in the Southwest.

What We Did: 

+ We floated down the Rio Grande Gorge in a hot air balloon ride in Taos, a town about an hour and a half north of Santa Fe. The ride was gorgeous, and most definitely the highlight of our entire trip. I'm not sure either one of us has woken up so early (3:45 AM!) but we did. And we loved it. We took the tour through Pueblo Balloon Company. They drove us to the site, let us watch our balloon be blown up, and then took us down the gorge. To top it off, we had a champagne brunch at the end of the flight.

+ In Santa Fe, we wandered around The Plaza and checked out some local art, including these incredible wooden flowers from The Rainbow Man.

 

+ In Albuquerque, we took the Sandia Tramway and caught this amazing sight of a rainbow in the clouds. 

Where We Stayed: 

In Santa Fe, we stayed two nights at Terrain Santa Fe, a boutique bed and breakfast about 20 minutes outside The Plaza. It was one of the nicest places we have ever stayed in, and definitely the quietest! Not only were there ample spots outside to lounge/relax/meditate, but inside we had our own jacuzzi tub, plus a hot tub outside that we could soak in under a bed of stars. Looking to book your honeymoon/second honeymoon/'get away from it all' couples trip? This place fits the bill. We stayed in the Shoji Suite and had everything we could ever want at our fingertips.

 [The outside patio, which looks out onto a beautiful landscape and is surrounded by wind chimes and fountains.]

[The amazing bath tub! The room also had all of these candles which made the whole place magical.]

On our last night, we stayed at the Chocolate Turtle Bed and Breakfast in Corrales, a village outside of Albuquerque. The Chocolate Turtle was lovely, with beautiful views and cute bunnies, road runners, and quails scurrying around the yard. It was very different from Terrain in that it had more of a family-oriented/homey feel to it rather than a chic/urban oasis vibe. It was quite comforting to stay there--we ended up playing cards on the porch with another couple and then watched a movie with snacks and popcorn. Man we sound old.

 [The view from the backyard at the Chocolate Turtle--you can see the Sandia Mountains in the distance.]

[We stayed in the very colorful Road Runner Room.]

What We Ate:

 I saved the best for last! Since we stayed at b&bs, we ate a lot of our meals at the inns. No complaints here, all the food was delicious. Behold, the breakfast we were served at Terrain Santa Fe:

[Stacked New Mexico blue corn enchiladas, sunnyside egg, ginger granola parfait with mixed berries, strawberry lemonade, scones, raspberry streusel--are you full yet?]

I also had my first fritatta at the Chocolate Turtle, which was SO GOOD. It had feta, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. Mmmm...

And because I can't leave any post about food without mentioning sweets, we visited two chocolate shops part of "The Santa Fe Chocolate Trail": Kakawa Chocolate House (really, really cute space--I bought some peanut butter bites here for my niece) and C.G. Higgins (super nice owner who helped us picked out gifts and gave us free chocolate-covered strawberries,) which we had a Groupon for and bought lots of yummy treats like chile caramel corn and raspberry chocolate fudge. 

[Truffles from C.G. Higgins]

Hope you've enjoyed my New Mexico recap!

We're already brainstorming our next getaway.

How about you, what's your favorite destination to reconnect and unwind?