winter wonderland.

i've been in boston, massachusetts the past few days with one of my girlfriends. we flew in on the 16th (praise the Lord - after missing our flight, we were able to catch the very next one out) and we're headed back home on the 22nd. we've been staying with my sister & her hub at their place in brookline.

this trip was spurred on by a series of not-so random events. i think it was a combo of

• missing hang-out time with my best girls
• the wedding bamboozle paloozle madness
  
• feeling the travel bug
• the sib living in a place that actually gets wintery (that's right. coats & boots required!)
  
• a 5-minute brain fart and a spur-of-the-moment email to diane

this trip was a "one-last hurrah" type of deal, definitely a great attempt to get my mind off of wedding planning & just have fun. the only down-side was having to leave my hubby-to-be behind in sunny san diego (i miss me my tim!)

so far, the trip's been a blast =) i've even been enjoying the frigid weather & the snow storm that hit today! (supposedly the biggest snow storm since '03! oh me oh my....pray that diane and i will be able to fly back home per schedule!....btw, something new i learned on this trip: it actually gets WARMER when it snows. the part that people dread is the slush and ice that form afterwards).

a few things we've done & plan to do:

• experience snow in boston (check)
• go ice skating (check)
• tour some universities (check)
• hang out with terence and stephan (check)
• museum of science (for the harry potter exhibit!! - pending)
• go to little italy and eat a cannoli (pending)
• go to newbury (check)
• go christmas shopping at prudential (check)
• quality time with the fam (check)
• watch avatar....?? (check)
• dance party like good ol' times with the roomie (check)
• walk through boston common (check)

i appreciate that getting out of san diego helps me clear my heart of all the white noise. being in an unfamiliar place makes it easier to look at life back at home through a quasi-objective lens.

and so, the amazing revelation i've had here in brookline, mass. is this: scootch aside all the wedding planning for now, to the back of the closet in my mind. i will be wed to timothy yu in 48 days and counting. does every bride-to-be experience this? i've done makeup for around 10-12 weddings now. every bride says something different: "it hasn't hit me yet. it'll hit when i walk down the aisle." other brides have ants in their pants one month out. some brides cry once they slip on their dress. others have radiantly large smiles on their faces. some are delirious. some are chilled out, rain or shine. others are anxious + are checking after details until the last moment. unfortunately, its looking like i'm a one-month-outer.

am i ready for this? what will day-to-day life feel like? how long will God keep us in San Diego? will our friendships change once we get married? when does this all start feeling real?

well anywho, at the end of it all, i am wonderfully, superly looking forward to it all. am i being a broken record? oopsies..well, i hope you at least enjoyed the pictures!

WWWW.

"World Wide Wedding Website"....mahaha.

i haven't given too many teasers for the wedding planning palooza. truth be told, i'm just excited for it all to be over, for the "limbo" stage to be done and over with so that i can start my life with timothy as a family. but don't get me wrong. who wouldn't want a good reason to look at beautiful things?

that's the only picture i can post up right now of the planning process. multiply those by about 3 and you'll get an idea of what the reception ambiance will be =). i love it - the hodge podge of lanterns collected together with no rhyme or reason. i've been terrible about snapping photos and documenting this process, which i really wanted to do in the beginning. all's i can say is: juicy colors, delicious flowers, whimsical flower girl outfits, hawt bridesmaids' shoes.

we've finally also started premarital with pastor patrick cho + his wife christine. i'm taking it as a good thing that there's only been one meet up and i've already had a cry fest. at least with me, that's a good thing. so thankful for the older men + women + friends who've gone before us. especially with patrick + christine. i know tim and i can trust them with our fears, struggles, anxieties and questions without fear of humiliation or judgment. we rest assured they will show us love by leading us to the truth and not using worldly wisdom to shepherd us into marriage.

well. umMmm. maybe i have one more photo to share:

hurray! we are home owners!

haha. how surreal, still. somehow it is in His will that we use our Backer Road home to extend His kingdom. may we be above-excellent stewards of our cozy abode! =) praise the Lord for His provision (read the post previous to this one). surprise, surprise, i did not have my camera for this momentous occasion...but our wonderful real estate agent Katie Holmes (lol - 100% unrelated to Tom Cruise or Suri Cruise) snapped a quick one for us. note: the teeny SOLD marker on top of the For Sale sign - because i didn't notice it until they pointed it out! haha sigh. clueless me.

the title to this blog wasn't completely random (and it wasn't implying that my blog has become a wedding website..although....it does seem that way from the past few posts). =D we finally sent out our invitations and are now waiting on the RSVP's (please do by January 16th!) to start the placecards/table seating/whatever else. for all our friends who may join us on the day, as well as the ones that can't, you can see more photos/read our relationship story/read our bridal party shoutouts/RSVP via:

www.timlovessteph.com

hurray!

p.s.: my talented husband-to-be designed the entire website! praise the Lord for his engineering brain =) i must humbly use my blogspot template until i can convince him to use his html skills to one day spruce this up (that day may never come. i like the homey feel of this one).

p.p.s.: some special features to look for: a) the photo mosaic in the front are links to different pages on the site, b) a personal message for you upon RSVP'ing using your super-secret code! BTW, if you lost your RSVP code, just shoot me an email and i'll send it to you again. it's so sneezy easy peasy.

thanksgiving.

one of those random posts, like the ones i used to write when i had a xanga. :) those rambling, train of thought, nonsensical posts. i may delete this when i come to my senses.

this season of life is definitely busy - in large part, that's why i haven't updated this blog in forever long. as lame as it might sound, i actually tuck away thoughts and ideas i have throughout the days to write in here. will i ever get to them? dun, dun Dun...maybe, maybe not. i'm sitting on the edge of my seat to figure it out. well no, i lie. i'm in bed. hahaha.

tucked in bed in fullerton while the fiance is camped outside sears in santa monica to attempt at a washer&dryer for our backer rd home.

(p.s.: we have a home!! we kept it under wraps for a while until escrow closed, but now i can shout it loud and proud: thank you God for Your provision! thank You for giving this young, soon-to-be married couple a place to start our lives together. we have a home! i have a key!! the fact that i'm getting married in two months is sinking in - every time i walk in my future home. it's strange and almost as if this isn't really my life that i'm going to live. it's just a life that i'm pretending i'll live one day. don't know if that makes sense to anybody else. : "this is where i'll cook dinner. this is where we'll watch tv at night. this is where our room is. this is the closet. i'll put the toilet paper in this cabinet."

it's absolutely empty and echo-y right now, minus two beach chairs and a papasan that's already experiencing some wear-and-tear. but i love it to pieces.)

that was a really long parenthe-seesed chunk of text. will keep it in because it fits.

last thanksgiving as a single woman - so thankful for God and His good and perfect will, for all that He's orchestrated so far in 2009. everything unfolded in such a way that has made the knowledge of the gospel more beautiful to me. what am i thankful for? always for the grace of God and His patience in dealing with this forgetful sinner.

the wedding day is coming close - so close, so close, so close.

photogeniosity.

i'm not feeling the creative juices today, but i wanted to blog some photos my friends took for tim and me.

hannah + janice both have a knack for composition + beauty behind the lens. honestly speaking? tim + i were both uber nervous because we're not used to posing our love for each other in front of a camera. it's just unnatural. neither of us are fans of having our picture taken either. but! the girls used their photogeniosity (photographic genius) to make the day a truly sweet one!

anywho wave of blue, we began the day during a beautiful late afternoon in Fullerton, CA. while tim and i were dating, we spent most of our time in fullerton - it's a testament to his sacrificial love + patience that he willingly drove up every week, sometimes multiple times so we could hang out. thankful for this man =). SO, it was a no-brainer when trying to decide where to do this photo session.

natural smiles = best smiles, no question! i had so much fun this day with tim + near and dear girl friends.

here's a sneak peek at a few - hannah michelle in particular has been swamped with editing photos from a recent wedding she shot, but both hannah and janice delivered a few very sweet images from the day. these were my faves:

holy guacamole =) this wasn't even our professional pictures. dreamy, soft, woodsy. i'm gonna stand on my soapbox here + applaud my uber talented friends! these girls truly captured some special moments on film (or...SD card). God's love has sustained us thus far. that my girlfrotographers were able to snap some photos of His sustaining grace in our care for each other is a testament of their photogeniosity...NOT of our ability to take photos well, believe you me.

Check their blogs out!:

• Hannah Michelle: http://coffeeandparchment.blogspot.com
• Janice Cho (photography): http://sweetbwconfessions.blogspot.com
• Janice Cho (wedding hair): http://charmyourcurls.blogspot.com

mMMhM! OH YAH - congrats mike hase + jen shin! praise God for your recent engagement!

family.

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown
(the women in this family are definitely the nuts)

muses.

hello recent brides to be! my heartfelt congratulations go out to all of you =].

something i learned about Stephanie Yu-to-be, wedding planner extraordinare, is that i am NOT a magazine flipper. i was handed a case full of wedding magazines [the legacy of many brides past] and was immediately overwhelmed. i attempted to read through a few. some were awesome - full of creative ideas, inspirations, ceremony+reception sites, dresses. others were so full of advertisements + "Must-Do's" that it turned me off.

i found great inspiration through a few wedding websites + found these to be sympathetic, artistic, personal, and definitely more beautiful =). hope this helps (colored words are linked):

• the bride's cafe: she features many wedding vendors and artists who "drop by" her cafe.
  
• stylemepretty: one of my bridesmaids told me about this site - the first time i went on it, i stayed there for hours looking at all their inspiration boards! i'm no artist, but i love love love pretty color combos.
• tenthousandonly: for the bride on a budget. the lady began this blog before she even got engaged! now she's married + you can reap from her wisdom. =)
• theritzybee: creative wedding planner - i love her ideas and how she creates events from a single vision. she plans like i write!
  
• etsy wedding: just cuz.
• martha stewart wedding: all the best from her magazines on a website =)
• weddingbee: updated by 20 or so real brides across the world
  

i heard of most of these from other brides and the occasional friend who simply enjoys looking at pretty things....but also from this awesome article on bridetide.blogspot.com: Top 100 Wedding Blogs!

Encouragement from Colossians 3 and 4:

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

And above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony....

Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh with them...

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ....

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ..."

the truth is - wedding planning & engagement often become about the bride and not the husband and wife before the Lord. it's easy to see why - the bride's dress, her hair, her grand entrance on the special day become the focus of the day. those things are important + should be beautiful, but it shouldn't overshadow the proclamation of the gospel and the love between the husband + wife.

the struggle in my heart as a woman is to believe the world's lies - in my bridezillamon moments, i don't exhibit the qualities of God's holy ones. no way i'm ready to be a wife that behaves in a way that is fitting to the Lord. but by God's grace, i still strive!

people have said that engagement is a sanctifying process - they weren't joking, it truly is! from the bottom of my heart i am thankful for it. much of my sinfulness has been revealed through this time. my hope is that the day tim and i get married, it will be a formal declaration of what we've already been practicing - putting on Christ's love which binds everything together in perfect harmony, declaring Christ as preeminent.

the life look

O God,

I bless thee for the happy moment
when I first saw Thy law fulfilled in Christ,
wrath appeased, death destroyed, sin forgiven,
my soul was saved.

Ever since, Thou hast been faithful to me:
daily have I proved the power of Jesus' blood,
daily have I known the strength of the Spirit,
my teacher, director, sanctifier.

I want no other rock to build upon that that I have,
desire no other hope than that of gospel truth,
need no other look than that which gazes
on the cross.

Forgive me if I have tried to add anything to the one foundation,
if I have unconsciously relied upon my knowledge,
experience, deeds, and not seen them as filthy rags,
if I have attempted to complete what is perfect in Christ;

May my cry be always, Only Jesus! only Jesus!

In Him is freedom from condemnation,
fullness in His righteousness,
eternal vitality in His given life,
indissoluble union in fellowship with Him;

In Him I have all that I can hold;
enlarge me to take in more.

If I backslide,
let me like Peter weep bitterly and return to Him;

If I am tempted, and have no wit,
give me strength enough to trust in Him;

If I am weak,
may I faint upon His bosom of eternal love;

If in extremity,
let me feel that He can deliver me;

If driven to the verge of hope and to the pit
of despair,
grant me grace to fall into His arms.

O God, hear me, do for me more
than I ask, think or dream.

Taken from: The Valley of Vision