Archive for the ‘wedding’ Category

My Precious

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Image Credit: GIA

I absolutely LOVE my engagement and wedding rings.  Hubby figured it would be best if I helped him pick out the rings.  He knows me so well!  I know that the whole engagement ring concept may be a ploy by the diamond industry to increase sales.  Regardless, I love my rings.

After the wedding, many people told me that the correct order is to wear the wedding ring below the e-ring.  That way, the wedding ring is closer to your heart.  Great sentimental meaning or  just another ploy by the diamond industry?  I mean, the e-ring is usually more expensive than the wedding band, so if it were to fall off, then the more expensive stone would need to be replaced.

To avoid the risk, I wear my e-ring below my wedding band.  I feel more secure knowing that there is a potential buffer.  I rarely see people wear their e-ring closer to their heart.  But, when I do, I get a little excited.  It is good to know that I am not the only one breaking from tradition.

What order do you wear your rings?  Why?

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Wedding Photo Books

Friday, January 8th, 2010

I am really happy with the results of our wedding photo books from Shutterfly, despite the bad delivery I wrote about here.  I made the 8.5″ x 11″ hard cover photo books with 20 pages.  The template is user friendly and provides a lot of different layout options for photos and text.  The print quality was what I expected, and everything was the same as it appeared on the screen.  I also liked the fact that we had the option to write text on the spine of the book.

Unfortunately, some of the layouts do not have the flip view, so I was not able to have them on side-by-side pages.  Also, the 1st page starts on the right (left is blank) and the 20th page ends on the left (right is blank if you do not pay for additional pages).  I figured that the two blank pages would be the same type of material; however, the blank 21st page is the same texture as the 20th page because the 22nd page has the Shutterfly logo printed on it.  After the 22nd page, the next blank page is the same texture as the blank page before the 1st page.  So basically, there was a random blank 21st page.  Had I paid for the additional page 21, I wonder if the Shutterfly logo would still be on page 22.

full photo hard cover


layout


back cover

At the time, the specials were buy 1, get additional at 50% off and free shipping.  Cost breakdown:
1 x $34.99 = $34.99
8 x $34.99 x 50% = $139.96
Tax = $14.34
Shipping = $0
Total = $189.33 (approx $21/book)

I think they turned out fantastic, and we hope our relatives enjoy them!

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Honeymoon: Highlights

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

As the last post in the Honeymoon series, I am going to briefly recap the highlights of each city that we visited.  These are mainly things that we enjoyed or that we recommend to do.

Barcelona, Spain

If you only have a short amount of time, we highly recommend taking the double decker sightseeing bus.  We saw the majority of Barcelona and all the major attractions in one day via the bus.  H10 Catalunya Plaza, our hotel, was centrally located and very convenient.  My favorite part of Barcelona was the tiramisu from Qu Qu.

 

Valletta, Malta

Valletta is a very small port, which primarily seemed to have cruise tourists.  The city bus for 1 euro round trip was definitely worth it.  The views from the city and of the city were memorable.

Naples, Italy

Despite the rain, I really enjoyed exploring Naples on our own.  We saw three different castles, rode the funicular and subway, and walked a lot.  We also ate at Sobrillo, a local recommendation, with yummy pizza.

Rome, Italy

The best part of Rome is the Colosseum with all of its historical beauty.  I think it may have been my favorite sight the entire trip.  It was amazing being on the inside and imagining what it would have been like back in the day with the gladiators, lions, crowds, and the deafening noise.

Pisa, Italy

The best part of Pisa is the Leaning Tower with its unique architecture.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa is probably tied with the Colosseum as my other favorite monument of the trip.  It is just so amazing how it “stands”.

Cannes, France

I was excited to see the location of the famous Cannes Film Festival.  The city is beautiful, but very small.  It was a fun experience riding in the tender boat to get to shore.

We had a fabulous time on our honeymoon!  We will cherish the memories.  The end.

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Honeymoon: Day 9 Airports

Monday, December 14th, 2009

On the last day of our honeymoon, we woke up at 5:30am and it was still pitch dark.  We quickly packed our bags and waved good-bye to the ship around 6:45am.  We cabbed it from Terminal A to the Barcelona airport for about 40 euros including all of the luggage and port fees.  Our flight from Barcelona to New York was not until 9:40am, but we had no idea how long it would take us to get to the airport, if there would be a line for the cab, how long it would take to clear customs and security, etcetc.  Too many unknown factors, so we made sure there was plenty of time.

At the airport, we converted our euros back to dollars, had some breakfast, and had some fun with Domo.


on the people mover


with the airplane


at the gate

From Barcelona, we flew to New York JFK with a four hour layover before heading back to Los Angeles LAX.  We slept most of the way to JFK.  To LAX, we watched several movies like The Time Traveler’s Wife, G.I. Joe, and The Proposal.  Crossing over several time zones, we gained back the day we originally lost traveling to Barcelona.  We were sad that our honeymoon was over, but glad to be back home.  My dad and brother came to pick us up from the airport and we treated them to dinner at Curry House on Sawtelle.

Stay tuned…the last post in the Honeymoon series will display highlights from our trip.

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Honeymoon: Day 8 Cannes, France

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

By day 8, I could not believe how fast our honeymoon was coming to a close.  Cannes, France was the last port of the cruise and the last full day aboard the ship.  The water in Cannes was very shallow, so we had to be tendered to shore.  The tender boats are the ones that would be used in the case of an emergency.

Cannes is a small, beautiful city in the French Riviera.  It is famous for its luxury shops, restaurants, and hotels.  We followed along the Tourist Information map that detailed out a 2-hour walking tour.  Some of the highlights included: Musee de La Castre, Eglise Notre Dame Esperance, Marche Aux Fleurs, Marche Forville, Hotel Martinez, Hotel Carlton, Notre Dame de Bon Voyage, and Palais des Festivals et des Congres (not all are pictured below).

view from the terminal

Eglise Notre Dame Esperance


view from Eglise Notre Dame Esperance

Marche Forville (Forville Market) – traditional French open market


taken from the waterfront with cruise ship in the background

As the ship departed Cannes for Barcelona, the captain informed everyone that due to weather the already choppy Bay of Lions would be even choppier.  We were to expect 14′ swells from about 6pm to midnight.  That was not good news for me and my motion sickness.  To me, instead of rocking side-to-side, it felt like the ship was rolling in circles over the waves.  I made it through the Close Up Magic Show: Basilio Tabacchi, but had to call it a night afterwards.  That is why there are no more pictures for this day.  I felt really bad for Hubby because he spent the last night of our honeymoon by himself.  He watched the last theater performance “Lost Locos” Ole! and said that it was good.  After the show, he came to check on me, but I was not well enough to move around.  While I kept sleeping, he grabbed a steak dinner without me.  Bummer!  I had also planned to pack that night so that there would be less to do in the morning, but so much for that plan.  Packing had to wait till 5am when the wake up call rang.  Next up: Day 9 Airports.

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