The Proposal

As you guys may or may not have heard, last weekend I got engaged!!!  WHAT?!  I KNOW.  It was a complete surprise to me (but apparently a lot of my friends and family were in on it).

Short version here:


Long story here:
It was a normal Sunday day; I had just gone through the Rite of Acceptance (the next major step in becoming a confirmed Catholic) with my sponsor, Rhona, and we took her out to lunch.  NORMAL.

Then we went back to Ryan's, where played Assassin's Creed for 2 hours.  NORMAL.

Then he took a nap while I answered Ask Phivy questions.  NORMAL.

Around 4pm, we got ready to go to dinner:

Ryan: I'm craving Benihana's.
Steph: But we only go there for special occasions.
Ryan: I know, but it's been awhile.
Steph: We just went there 2 months ago for our anniversary...but okay.

NORMAL.


When we go to Santa Monica, Ryan suggests that we take a walk alongside the beach to take photos by the sunset.  I WOULD say that this isn't normal, but come on, YOU KNOW I love taking pictures of myself, so this is "normal" (for me).  After fidgeting a few times with the camera, I start getting impatient and say, "This is why you don't take my blog photos and why I use a tripod...you take too long!"  Ryan smiles and keeps setting up the camera.  He walks towards me, but this time, it's weird because he's kind of shaking . WHY ARE YOU SHAKING?  And, by the way, it looks like forgot to set the timer for the camera!  Man, THIS GUY.

He holds my hand and says "I love you," I LOVE YOU TOO.  OK WHY ARE YOU SHAKING?

Ryan kneels, asks me to marry him and I have no idea what's going on.  I'm pretty sure I blacked out.  Of course I say yes, jumped up and down a few times and stared at my hands for what seemed like 2 years.  I immediately call both of our families, who all KNEW!  They were all anxiously waiting by the phone waiting for the good news and they all kept it hidden from me.  Those sneaky snakes.

I call my close friends who of course, started screaming.  After calling immediate friends and family, we walk around the 3rd Street Promenade for an hour to kill before our dinner reservations.  Ryan's totally normal at this point.  He's browsing, he bought a pair of slacks and a pair of sunglasses.  WTF.  I was a crazy woman.  I was staring at my ring in all sorts of different lighting, I kept looking in the mirror and playing with my ring, I was bursting into tears at random moments.  It was all so emotional.

When dinner time finally arrives, we head over to Benihana (our tradition for special occasions) and surprise!  My friends are there waiting for me with big hugs and congratulations!  They had known the whole time and had kept it from me.  Those sneaky snakes.  Tears and hugs all the way around.

It was an amazing proposal.  The actual proposal was intimate on the beach, but the immediate celebration was with my close friends so I could share my moments with them.

The wedding won't be until Fall, 2013 so I have lots of time to plan, but OF COURSE I'm already looking.  Hell, I started looking a year ago, just don't tell Ryan that.

Just an Orange County Girl

A great inside joke that I have with my mentor (and director) was when she had just gotten back from a client meeting and our conversation went like this:

Her: I just got back from the ARM PIT of California.
Me: Where?
Her: Orange County.  THE WERST.
Me: Where in OC?
Her: Some God-forsaken city, called Tustin.  It was the werst!!  We literally went from the client meeting and took a tram to a place called the Irvine Spectrum and went to Dave n Busters.  I wanted to die.
Me: Uhh...lol.  I'm FROM Orange County.  Specifically, from Tustin.
Her: WAT?  I mean, no, Tustin is cool.  Yeah.

Haterz gonna hate...but I honestly couldn't stop laughing.  I love Orange County and luckily because of work, I'll be down here for the next few weeks!  My best friend lives in Tustin so I'm bunking with her to avoid the dreaded 50-mile trek back and forth.

zara blouse (cooler version found here)
lululemon leggings
jessica simpson slouched boots (similar version found here)
uniqlo linen blend cardigan (similar version found here)

 

I'm working on the top-bun hair style, since it always looks so demure; unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) my hair is so layered that it tends to have the "messy" bun look, versus a perfect ballerina bun.  I'll keep trying!

Feeling Refined

I was on a mad hunt for more pencil skirts, but not any pencil skirts, HIGH-WAISTED pencil skirts.  Because of my long torso, high-waisted skirts help even out my proportions, and also makes me look a lot slimmer/longer than normal slacks.  It's usually my go-to outfit when I have a work meeting or something fancier to attend.

This blouse was a great find in Ryan's parents' garage; one morning Ryan decided to get rid of unnecessary things in his parents' garage (you know how things can easily accumulate) and while sorting through a "keep/trash" pile of clothes, I found this blouse.  I love it!  Love the bow, the color and fit...and love the price - ZERO DOLLARS.

vintage red top (similar ones found here and here)
zara high-waisted pencil skirt (similar one here)
LAMB pumps (similar ones found here)

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One Last Summer

Have you ever found pictures (or money) and was like, "OH SWEET!  I totally forgot about you!"?  That's what just happened with this outfit post.  WHY DID I NEVER POST IT?  It's been like 6-8 weeks!  But it's one of my recent purchases that has quickly turned into a favorite. 

I bought this dress from a local LA store called MayMe that I did a "modeling" gig for.  And I use the term "modeling" VERY loosely.  They just needed some help showing off their clothes...in return, I got a discount off this dress...that I stole from a mannequin. Shaisty.

MayMe dress, Jessica Simpson Dany platforms

 

I'm wearing Relvon's Orange Flip since it was summer, but it looks more coral on my skin.   I'm surprised I liked it as much as I did.

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Seattle: Where Friendships Take on a Whole New Level

This past weekend was full of tomfoolery.  Tramanh and Tu definitely showed Ryan and me a good time and what Seattle has to offer.  Here is a play by play...with pictures because really, who cares about me writing stuff.

We land in Seattle and go straight to a bar (80s new wave night)...we were worried no one was there.  And we were right.  We were half of the bar's occupancy.

ryan waiting for tramanh and tu

just the beginning of the night

laughing because we did not like ANY of the pictures we originally took. TAKE ANOTHER ONE.

fixing our hair capes.

neither of us remember this picture, but i think it's our new favorite.

waiting for our stupid photobooth pictures to come out...worth it:

if you follow us on twitter, you've probably already seen this picture

what is happening

You guys, that was our first night - STRAIGHT FROM THE AIRPORT.  The next day, we went to Pike Place Market, since that was the thing to do.  We also went to the Aquarium because Tu and I really wanted to go, lol.

walking from the parking structure

never seen someone so happy to be wearing something

kyoot sea otter

pretty great picture of me

That night was good food, meeting new friends (May & Calvin, whom we love) and again, more drinking.  What did you think this weekend would encompass of?

shots of grey goose...why do Asians only drink top shelf? (an ask phivy question...true story)

das yo man

the explanation for this picture is slightly NSFW

so much ecstasy on tu's face

a pretty damn good LMFAO costume...and tramanh's husband.

Next day was the Seattle blogger meet-up.  I'm not going to even go into it, here are the pictures:

just getting to our seats, so excited

what we feared...

what actually happened (we just switched sides)

So...what we feared the most came true.  Alas, it was just Tramanh and me staring at each other commenting on our skin, hair, and lipstick colors.  It's okay though, maybe next time?  NO THERE WILL NOT BE A NEXT TIME, OK?!  To make ourselves feel better, we decided to go to F21 and wear slutty club clothes for a laugh.  It worked.

look at our muscular legs, looks good

It also happened to be a beautiful day in Seattle (a rarity, I hear) so we went to an awesome viewpoint where we took a few quick photos:

what happens when i wear 5 1/2" heels and tramanh doesn't. i am a GIANT.

this is the 2nd and only other picture i have with ryan the entire trip!

That night, we went to our new friend's house and chilled...played Apples to Apples (I won...no one cared).  It was a PJ party and I was happy to not have to wear my 5 1/2" heels that night.  Everyone cooked while Ryan and I happily ate it all.

so relaxed

everyone cooking away

Next day, after lunch, Tramanh, May and I took our friendship to the next level by going to the piercing parlor.  Tramanh's piercing is the only one I can show:

tramanh got her septum pierced!

And finally, it was one last night in Seattle so Ryan and I treated May, Calvin, Tramanh and Tu to dinner:

new friends!

Where they forced us to take a Seattle-staple shot: Yeahhh buddies:

taste like lemon drops

An amazing trip...no awkward moments, just a lot of laughing, inside jokes, and tomfoolery.  I can't wait to go back!

Spruce it up, Make it pretty

Am I the only one TOTALLY EXCITED for the return of Portlandia in January?  I don't even have IFC and have to order the season through my Zune account on my Xbox.  One of my favorite skits is "Put a bird on it" where they go around putting birds on random things...but isn't it true?  When you see a blank tote bag, you don't even care about it, but the moment you see a bird on it, it's ethereal and "organic-looking."

Anyway, this Autumn, while everyone is into animal print in the traditional sense, I'm taking a different stance on it.  Instead of typical giraffe prints, leopard prints, and tiger prints, I'm about prints with ANIMALS ON THEM.  I love it!  I'm on the hunt.  (Pun intended).

ark & co bird print dress, zara pumps,black tights, martin + osa belt

Btw, this past weekend was Ryan's & my 4-year anniversary!  Yay us.  How did we celebrate?  Lunch a Benihana's, pizza dinner and a bottle of wine at home.  And Disneyland (of course).  We'll also be celebrating our anniversary in Seattle with Tramanh and Tu next week, so if you're in the SEA area, please let us know so we can meet up!