Last weekend, Vince and I were in Chicago for his monthly haircut. (Yes, he's that crazy about his hairstylist.) We wanted to spend time in our old neighborhood and relive our Chicago days for the weekend. We had plans of walking to the nearby mall and bookstore, eat at our favorite crepe cafe in the neighborhood and pretend we're still locals. . So we decided to stay at the Inn of Lincoln Park which was two blocks from where we used to live. The room we were given was tiny but that didn't matter to me because all I wanted was a place to sleep and shower. The room itself was clean but the whole building and the hallways smelled musty. There were noise problems, too, since this small inn was nestled on Diversey Parkway amidst the hustle and bustle of the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Our first day, after Vince got his haircut, we checked in, parked the car and left our luggages in our room. Then we went out to walk in the old neighborhood. I was able to get my eyebrows waxed at this asian salon on Broadway and Diversey that I used to frequent. I love how the girls here do my eyebrows, not too skinny, but just enough to make them look clean and polished. Vince went to Borders bookstore while I was at the salon. I met with him after. We stayed at the bookstore reading until we both got tired and hungry. For dinner, we went to Chinatown to get our favorite noodle soup from Seven Treasures.

The next day, we woke up early to go to this Turkish crepe place. I love the ambiance in this tiny breakfast place. And their crepes are light and yummy. The mint tea I ordered kept me warm. During summer days, I like to order their green tea ice-cream, as well. After breakfast, we headed back to Indianapolis. Our weekend of pretending to be local Chicago residents was over.

Bridezilla Strikes Again

Although Vince may think otherwise, I believe that I am not exactly a bridezilla. I just like to call myself that from time to time, because I admit I do have some moments. But I am probably more the opposite because I procrastinate too much. But now that the holidays are over, I no longer have any excuse to procrastinate on my wedding preparations.

**The other day I finally got started on doing my save the date cards, and they will soon be ready for mailing once I finish printing the addresses on the envelopes. I am not computer savvy so this process took me longer than I wanted. I ordered magnets from vistaprint.com which is not a wedding website but a business website so the magnets cost me a lot less than if I had ordered them at a wedding site. The magnets cost me only about $0.27. They are not great magnets; they won't be able to hold a piece of paper, but they're just 'reminder' magnets. If it were up to Vince we'd have a plain postcard or none at all. Maybe our guests won't even care for the magnets. But I guess I wanted to take a shot in creativity. Anyway, I attached the magnets to notecards, printed our wedding website info on vellum paper that I ordered from an online paper factory at a very cheap price. I embossed our names and date on the flap of the envelopes. Voila, save the date cards for less than $0.80 each. Before I decided to make my own, I went to one of the invitations/stationery store to ask how much one costs. The very simple one that I liked was about $3.00/piece. So, being cheap that I am, I decided to do it on my own. Vince seemed to like the finished product.

**Last night, I was able to drag Vince to Bed, Bath and Beyond to register. We should really have sat down first and think about what we really need and want. It took us 2 hours to register for 20 items. It was mostly my fault because I couldn't decide on what I wanted. We really need a nice set of pots and pans because the ones we have are hand-me-downs. I didn't really care much for cooking utensils when I got my own place because up until that time, I never really cooked. When I moved to Chicago, my sister-in-law gave me her old set which worked fine for me. But I am now taking more interest in learning how to cook and bake. However, I still don't know what kind of pots and pans are good. I guess I could ask my sister-in-law who is a great cook but she swears by those surgical steel cooking utensils that cost thousands for a set. Uhmm, I don't think I am ready for those. So Vince and I were at the cooking section, and we were going back and forth whether to get the Emeril pots or the ones advertised by Rachel Ray. ( I like her, so I was more inclined on getting those pots) But we finally decided on Calphalon. Vince was getting tired, and I understand because he would rather be studying for his oral board than to decide on pots. And he's right, half of these stuff we register for, we won't probably get anyway. He became more enthusiastic when we got to picking table settings and bed linens. The store was ready to close so we stopped when we got to the linen section. Oh well.

**Yesterday, one of my bridesmaids called me to tell me that she can't be a bridesmaid anymore. She's due on the 22nd of July, that is if the baby comes on time. She only found out about two weeks ago. She's irregular so she didn't have any inkling that she could be pregnant. Of course I am happy for her, but now I have only two bridesmaids left. That should be ok since I really wanted a small wedding party but Vince has 4 attendants, and I didn't want the party to look uneven. (I am obsessive, that way) I don't know if I will ask another friend or just leave it as that. One of the groomsmen won't have a girl to walk with but I'd feel bad to ask another friend to take over when I didn't ask her in the first place. I don't want her to think she's second choice. Oh well.

** I received the veil and headpiece that I got made from the Philippines. Vince and my friends K and N went to the Philippines to take care of their own wedding preps. N got the veil specially made from a designer. The beadings were great, but the veil was not made exactly as I liked. It's not N nor the designer's fault though, because the pictures and instructions I gave were probably not clear enough. I am not freaking out about it, because it can probably be fixed if I could only find a seamstress to stitch the edges the way I like. Oh well.

Remembering

Today's my dad's birthday. It's been 9 years since he passed away. 11 since mom did.Maybe time has healed my grief. I don't think of them as often as I used to. Sometimes I worry that I will forget details about them. What am I going to tell my future children? Will I remember to tell them that I loved watching Jeopardy with dad? That I always looked forward to his coming home from work? That I got my wide forehead from him? That he loved to read? That he was a hardworking man? That he was a patient man and slow to anger, but that you'd never want to see him angry? Will I remember my mom's small hands that used to braid my hair? Will I remember how she helped me with my homework even if she didn't understand it herself? Will I remember that she taught me how to pray and to have faith? Will I be able to pass on what she taught me? As much as it hurts sometimes, I'd rather think of them so I can remember the way they laughed or spoke. Their smell. Their hair. Any detail. So I may remember.

Dreamblog

Is this a sign that I've been reading too many blogs?

The other night I had the funniest dream. Vince took me out to a show. It was supposed to be a surprise for me. (I don't usually like surprises.) In my dream, I thought it was a musical but it turned out to be one of those Filipino variety/singing/dancing shows. The show was celebrating the birthday of one of the brightest stars in Philippine showbusiness. I was cheerfully clapping in my seat when Tin(the birthday celebrant) appeared on the stage and started singing. I proudly told Vince that Tin and I knew each other. I admired her cotton candy pink ballgown. :) Then, just like in That's Entertainment, her friends- who are also supposed to be big stars- started coming out of the backstage and began singing with her. Marie and Paz came out. Now in real life, I find these two ladies very stylish. But in my dream Marie was wearing ripped jeans and tie-dyed t-shirt while Paz was in sweat pants. No offense to those who like ripped jeans, tie-dyed shirts and sweat pants. (I myself live in jeans and sweatpants on days when I don't work) but Tin was in a gown, and it seemed inappropriate to wear these when the guest of honor is wearing a ballgown. But still in my dream, I was dying to get their outfits. Hehehe....I was starstruck!!!.

Then my dream shifted to my high school reunion. In real life, my former classmates here in the US are planning a mini reunion in March in Vegas; I won't be able to go because I will be going to San Diego that month. In December, the official reunion will be held in the Philippines which I won't be able to attend again because I plan on going there in January when my friend N gets married. So back to the dream, I was sipping martini(I don't drink) at the bar with Star and Chey(one of my former classmates in real life) while we updated one another on our lives. Hehehe, Star was my classmate? Then Tess came over to take pictures of us. And I told Tess, "Aren't you from the other school?"

Then back again to the That's Entertainment-like show, where this time, Len was hosting and she was introducing Marj as the winner of some contest for brides. Marj came out in her wedding dress and walked like a beauty queen, waving, smiling widely with tears running down her face.

Then I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock. I've never met these blog friends in person, but their faces were so vivid in my dreams. And Chey my former classmate looked the same as she did in our highschool daysl. It gave me something to smile about during my ten-minute drive to work that morning.