Life's Celebrations: My New Year of Life [part 1]

(In a singsong voice) "It's my birthday...and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to!"

...and I did, but they were tears of JOY!!! With everything else that's going on this month, I decided to celebrate my birthday without the fuss...and it was just perfect. This past weekend, I was showered with hugs and kisses from my parents and grandparents & they filled my pockets with a bit of birthday money. Thanks Mom, Dad, Mamang & Daddylo! I had my birthday dinner with my fave gals- my friend Joann, my cousin Alee and my sister Charlene (minus one fave who lives in San Francisco, Kristine- but we'll be seeing her soon for the wedding). It was all so simple... and I had a WONDERFUL time.

{Location: Buca di Beppo in Mira Mesa}
Dinner at Buca was a combined celebration for my birthday and my sister's birthday (our birthdays are only 8 days apart from each other).

Our feast? Caesar salad, garlic bread, fettucine alfredo and chicken saltimbocca (I loooove artichoke).

[photo courtesy of Charlene]

...Happy & stuffed! Goodnight!

Blue Velvet Surprise

While I was teaching cotillion dance practice today for Renee's debutante...Renee surprised me with an early birthday present! She baked blue velvet cupcakes! The whole group sang me my happy birthday song (and really, they didn't have to) but it was all very sweet! Thank you Renee for the sweet surprise and thanks to everyone for singing along! I was a happy camper ;)

Life's Celebrations: A Sweet Engagement

Happy engagement to my dear cousin Ryan and his soon to be bride Kellie!!! Sigh...weddings galore this year and the next :)

Enjoying ourselves out in their patio with some BBQ and hammock time :)

Life's Celebrations: Keeping It Low Key

Happy new year of life to my dear sister Charlene!!! She wanted to keep her special day very low key this year...and so we did. Of course, we had all the essentials of a great birthday as well- cake, ice cream, presents, family and friends. It was all she needed :)

[Oreo ice cream cake from Coldstone...YUMS!]

Presents! I gave Charlene the Andy Warhol limited edition NARS 5 color lip gloss set from Sephora and a ring that you definitely can't miss...lol. Joann spoiled her with some Victoria's Secret and a tiramisu cake :)

We decided to head out for some dinner at one of Charlene's favorite places...still keeping that low key vibe in mind :)

{Location: Islands Restaurant}

Quarter of a century plus one....DONE! ;)

Wedding Notes: Cordially Invited

The wedding invitations are done and have been sent out! All together now....SIGH. My sister's wedding invites are oh so pretty if I say so myself. Charlene designed all of the elements of the invite- with a little help from me of course. I was able to put in my two cents, here and there ;) These invitations were definitely 100% DIY! Ohhhh the labor of love we put into each one of these...very tedious work indeed :)

End product? A lovely, tranquil prettiness....just the right amount of simplicity with minimal frills, yet it still kinda takes my breath away.

[The Invite]
All designed and envisioned by Charlene herself. Since the overall motif of their wedding falls under the quaint and rustic....she felt that using natural brown card stock and envelopes with a simple font would be just the thing. Organic detailing tied it all together nicely.

[The RSVP's and Details]
With the  RSVPs, Charlene decided to create it as a postcard, with one of their engagement photos printed on the back. We used a scallop pattern punch tool for the detailing above. For the directions and gift info, we hand cut vintage looking design paper into small luggage tags, and held them together with simple beige twine.

Their RSVPs have already started coming in! Some of their guests decided to hold on to the RSVP photo postcard and just email/facebook in their responses. I'm glad their guests are appreciating the "labor of love" that was put into the invites! The process was exhausting....but, of course completely worth it. Plus, I love doing this kind of stuff anyway :)

Moving onward with the decor! SO. ECSTATIC.

Oh and one more thing! I didn't get the chance to post Charlene & Enrique's save the dates back when they were sent in late June. So here they are....in all their DIY glory! Each owl was hand made with patient love :)

{photo courtesy of Josell M. ~my cousin}

Debutante Notes: Sent From My Heart to Yours

The debutante invitations are finally done and have been sent out! We (my cousin Regina & I) finished designing Renee's invitations back in late August. We got everything printed out, DIY'd and assembled. I have to say...I am darn proud of what we accomplished.

[The Invite]
We decided to design and create the invitation as a telegram...reflecting the 1940's naval/pearl harbor theme of the debutante. I wanted it to look and feel like it was sent from the 40's era. I tried searching for paper that would give me such an authenticity, but couldn't really find one that satisfied me! So, my sister Charlene brilliantly suggested to soak regular cream colored card stock paper in coffee and let it hang dry- to give it a worn in, vintage look and feel (also it totally smelled like coffee so that was a plus!). The end product? Success!

[The Court of Honour & Postcard RSVP's]
We designed the following inserts with the help of Wil (Regina's boyfriend) and had these printed out on thicker card stock at a printing company. Again, the look and feel of these reflected the theme- vintage aircraft and naval emblems.

[The Final Touch]
On the back of the postcard, we decided to include a vintage photo of an airplane with the recurring phrase "From My Heart to Yours" to give it that polished final touch.

Also, we assembled the invitations inside vintage looking airmail envelopes to complete the look. Initally, I wanted to print out the envelopes with the chevron design on the edges- but that didn't quite work out to my liking. So, we found some ready made envelopes at Fry's Electronics (I know, right? Who would've thought?!?).

...and now, I can finally move on with the rest of the decor for the debutante! SO. EXCITED.

My Disney Weekly: A Hankerin' For Honey

Back in January of 2011, I bought Disney annual passes for myself and my sister (it was her Christmas/early graduation gift from me). At the time, I didn't have a blog. So now that I do, I've decided to incorporate my Disney year as an annual pass holder. I'll include it as weekly postings. There'll be two weekly postings: My Disney Weekly and My DCA Weekly (for Disney California Adventure). As you'll see, I'm a HUGE Disney buff! With that being said, here we go!

{Character Highlight: Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore & Tigger too}

A little behind the scenes action here -->

 

{Main Attraction: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh}

A whimsical journey through the Hundred Acre Woods- inside a giant bee hive nonetheless. Heffalumps & Woozles. All of the lovable Pooh characters. Need I say more? 

I love these "Make your own penny" contraptions!

My favorite store in all of Disneyland...Pooh's Corner.

...and of course....I was pressured into planking in front of the HUNNY pots. I wouldn't have done it anywhere else!

Debutante Notes: A Bit of DIY Flair

I've been slowly working on Renee's centerpieces for her debutante. I have all the materials I need to make the centerpiece- it's just such tedious work to finish one. I'm hand painting all the pillars dark brown, then coating it in crackle medium and then painting it over again with white paint. Afterwards, using old books, I cut out circles, sponge stamp the edges in red ink and then gather them into small florettes (one centerpiece requires 36 florettes to cover the styrofoam ball- with each florette containing 6 circles each). I found that doing this part of the process was TOO time consuming for just one person to do....so I needed to request some help from cousins (which they were happy to help with)!

As a final touch, I added in the Hawaiian flower. 

...8 more to go! Hahaha, it's okay....I got this ;)

Miss M.I.A

Okay...okay...I guess I've been neglecting my blog a bit lately. Everything has just been SO CRAZY BUSY and I haven't found time to sit and actually blog it all! A lot has been happening this past month- with my sister's wedding, my goddaughter's debutante, work, etc. I'm trying to filter through everything and blog it all in sequential order (yes, I am OCD a bit). In addition to that, I'm also going to try and do some of my Revival posts and Disney Weekly posts. So, with that being said, please be patient and I will try to get these up as soon as I can.

{Side Note}
I want to say, "So much to do, so little time," but maybe I should really say, "I can only do so much with these two hands." SIGH.