This weekend???  Where to begin.....I have a GREAT time!  Wow...

Okay, this weekend was Jenn & Jeff's wedding at Four Seasons Hotel up in Santa Barbara on Saturday.  Weyland and I stayed at the Old Yacht Club Bed & Breakfast, where Kristine, Cherrie, Caren, & Minh also stayed at.  Well, Friday my boss let me off earlier than expected at 1:30pm and I raced home so that Weyland and I could get up to Santa Barbara at a decent time.  Believe it or not.....it took us over 4 hours!!!   We finally made it up to our place and checked in.  Then we headed off to State Street, where we walked around and decided to eat at Sharkeez, a bar/pub version of Wahoo's.  We waited for Kristine and Cherrie to get out of the rehearsal dinner and then we headed back to our place and all of us watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.  The one thing I would have to say about this B&B is that the place definitely exceeded all my expectations.  I loved the fact that we stayed in "The Cottage" because it was a separate house in itself and we had alot of privacy without hearing others creeping around upstairs or next door to us along the old planked floors. 

Okay, the next morning, we all got together at our cozy B&B and had breakfast (why there?  cause it was FREE....now how often do you see Asians not taking things that are free.....almost NEVER!)  So, afterwards, Caren and Minh decide to drive up to the vineyards and do a bit of wine tasting.  Kristine, Cherrie, and I dragged Weyland and Paul out to State St. where we shopped and had lunch. 

So afterwards, on the way to the wedding, we get into the 2nd car (damn that cab driver ) and what happens????  He doesn't know where the heck the entrance to the Four Seasons is.....remember, this is Santa Barbara and NOT New York City.....there aren't that many places to get lost...duh huh!!!!  So, we get into a slight accident because the cab driver smacks into the Suburban in front of us...poor Kristine....I think she was more freaked out because she was sitting in the front. 

The wedding ceremony was beautiful.  Jenn looked like the lovely bride we all knew she would and Jeff looked very handsome in his suit (and  yes, I did appreciate that he didn't have any shoes on...)  Kat cried like a baby and yes, we did make fun of  you during the entire ceremony

Okay, I cannot lie.  Most all of us were already pretty "happy" aka "buzzed heavily" at the Cocktail reception.  By the time we were actually inside the ballroom, we were in loud and abnoxious!!  We all had the best time ever!  The lobster & sweet corn bisque was delicious and also my filet mignon.  It was cooked to perfection.  I honestly couldn't eat anything more (hey, wait a minute.....take that back...I had a slice of Domino's pizza later on the evening...well, early next morning...that doesn't count!!)  I have to say that the floral arrangements was the BEST I've seen at a wedding...this should be a compliment especially from me because I'm taking design and this is part of my normally paid opinions...hehe

But really, this was the funnest wedding I've go to so far and I'm glad that we all made it up to Santa Barbara to spend the weekend.  I'm grateful for my beloved pledge sisters (and yes, the damn adopted charter class girls too...hehe).  But I'm glad that we've grown together whether we see eachother every weekend, or just a few days in the year, we have the best memories of our times and looking back at them, makes my heart beam with happiness.  I'm very happy that Jenn has found her partner in life to share each day. 

 These last couple of days were pretty fun.  I went riding again and got some excercise (but darn...not losing any weight...Weyland says it's because I eat crappy foods....oops!)  Yesterday a bunch of us went to Universal Studios to celebrate Kat's birthday.  Kat, Paul, Jen, Jeff, Cherrie, Jung, Tony, Weyland and I enjoyed a beautiful day at the park.  We met up at 9am (geez...very early....Weyland and I had to down our Starbucks on the drive up there to wake up..hehe) and rode on Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, The Mummy's Revenge (which was horribly short of a ride), watched the Animal Planet Live show and took the tram tour of the Studios (which half of us were doozing in and out of because we had a full lunch prior).  We walked out of the park to eat lunch at Karl Strauss at City Walk.  Paul was very generous in paying for all of our lunches! 

We stayed at the park until about 4pm (we were all soo very tired from walking around and stuff).  Weyland and I headed to Korea Town Plaza in LA to eat Bibim Nangmyun (which was extra spicy yesterday) and went grocery shopping on the basement floor of the plaza.  In Korea, most all of the shopping high-rises, have a basement floor that is the grocery store, specialty food shops, and eateries.

On the way home, I passed out in the car (don't know if it's from my eventful day at Universal's or the MSG-filled soup..hehe).  I didn't do much after that.  Just came home and slept the night away. 

So today I went to IKEA and although I have really started to ween myself off the things that are cheap, I really like IKEA.  I mean, I LOVE all the stuff that I see at all the design showrooms (but honestly, no matter how much money I save nowadays, there is NO WAY I could drop a few grand on simple furniture).  I'd love to decorate my house with Baker, Donghia, Italamp, and other names (not that I would combine these lines though), but my budget limits me to any of these pieces.  So, IKEA was fun and it was great to see that the prices of the goods are super duper cheap.  The only thing is though, that their stuff looks pretty decent (esp. their storage stuff) up close, but not that great up close.  I know I may sound a bit snobby, but once you are surrounded by great design pieces that are many showrooms, everything else looks pretty darn crappy.  One place I absolutely thinks is way overpriced for their stuff is Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel.  I really think their stuff is only a bit better than IKEA however it's like 10 times more expensive.  Well, I guess that goes for the other high end lines.  Name sells!!!!  For example, I ran across a $25,000 table at the Design Center in LA.  Who the hell spends THAT much money on a table?  What rare tree was cut down to make this table?  How much was the minimum wage at the country this table was made in ($500/hour?) ? 

Like always, I run off in tangents...hehe  Anyways, IKEA was pretty fun.  The only thing I realized was that the lines go really, really slow when it's almost closing time.  Also, big hint: Line up in the (ATM/Credit Card) line if not using your checkbook because they actually verified the check number and bank account info by phone.  This took soooo long.  And I didn't want to change lines because I kept on thinking "we're almost there....we've stayed in this line already for so long......what if we change lines, and this line goes faster than the new line we're in".

So I realized this Xanga (or any other online journal) is pretty popular because it's a stress relief of some sort.  I feel that the time I put into this journal makes me take a few minutes out of my day to reflect on the day.  I've become a person where time is crucial.  Every moment in the day needs to be filled with something, or I feel like I've become a lazy person.  No wonder I have bags under my eyes on a constant basis.  I've been used to worrying about what I need to do ahead and stressed when I can't do it in a timely manner.  I have to admit though, I do break down and take time out, but I really need to do it more often. 

This summer is very different from last summer.  I really have had great memories from last summer.  But then again, I was unemployed and of course my days were probably more relaxing and I had alot of energy to go out and do things when everyone got off of work.  Nowadays, I work and I only have Sundays where I can hang out and play with everyone else. 

I wonder what songs would remind me of this time period?  Last summer I remember listening to "We are Alive" by Paul Van Dyk.  This song really puts a huge smile on my face because it relives what summer was like for me last year. 

Okay, going back to the things that I've done this past weekend.  oops...have to run now...will catch up in a bit