Commercial: The evolution of my social life

Pre-teen - paper, pen/pencil, stamps

Teens - paper, pen/pencil, stamps, pagers, telephone, AOL/Yahoo chat rooms

Early 20's - paper, pen/pencil, stamps, pagers, telephone, AOL/Yahoo chat rooms, cell phone, email, MySpace
Mid 20's - cell phone, email, MySpace, Facebook, txt msgs
Late 20's - email, Facebook, txt msgs, Twitter
30's - ???

Episode 15: Alliance Gym - Month 1

It's been over a month since I started taking Intro to Striking classes at Alliance Gym. I take this class twice a week and their strengthening class once a week. Between these classes and eating healthier, I feel so much better and in shape!

Numbers on the scale don't look much different than before I started working out but I can tell I'm losing some fat as I gain muscle because the gut is getting smaller.

Either way, the intro class will be a good way to get caught up so that I can advance to the Muay Thai class someday. I have my strengths and weaknesses, but I think I'm improving overall. Each class I take, I go home with some new tips on how to improve my technique. Keep the hand open when throwing elbows. Don't point your toes when kicking. Chop downwards when kicking the thighs. Keep the leg compact when kneeing the body up close. Point the knee out when doing jump kicks...

There's been lots of different suggestions by different people at the gym, so hopefully I eventually remember them all and they become second nature. I love that everyone at the gym is really supportive, especially because I've been going on my own. It's still a little intimidating even though I've been going regularly for over a month now though.

I was asked last night by some random guy watching if I planned to fight professionally :)  The answer is no, but even though it's no, I still want to be great at it. And that's why I push myself through the classes and practice at least another 30 minutes on the bags after classes. I've never really been great at anything, and I think I have enough passion for this that I'm willing to work that much harder to get there. 

Sigh... to be great at something. Can't wait for the day!

Episode 14: Honeymoon fun... 2 months late.

Kauai, Hawaii

We spent 4 nights in Kauai and managed to do a bunch of stuff. First and last days were pretty much reserved for traveling, so really, we only did 3 days worth of things.

The view from our window at the Marriott Resort and mandatory chicken pictures:

Adventure Day 1

We drove around the island and ended up going northwest towards Princeville. 

I forget the name of the waterfall, something like Opaeke:

Kilauea Lighthouse:

Hike to Queen's Bath:

 

 

Adventure Day 2

Day 2 consisted of horseback riding and more exploring. Never thought Ro would get on a horse hehe

 

Another waterfall. I think this one is called Wailua Falls:

Spouting Horn:

Adventure Day 3

Day 3 was pretty packed. Ziplining in the morning and a helicopter ride in the afternoon.

Getting ready for the ziplines:

 

Helicopter:

 

 

Day 4 was a massage in the morning and then getting ready to island hop to Oahu.

Oahu, Hawaii

Didn't do too much in Oahu except eat, sleep and hang out with family.

Ice Garden shave ice. Didn't think I'd have to know Taiwanese to get it! But we got it in the end:

Some other turtle viewing place Kim took us to had tons of seaweed. Unfortunately, it was high tide so there weren't that many turtles near the rocky shore:

And that's it for our honeymoon adventures!

Episode 13: The Wedding - You Thought You Knew...

Finally getting around to posting wedding pictures up, but this is with a twist. Most of you have seen the nice pictures that our photographer Kristine took (as well as our other friends), but some of you don't know the stories behind them. Think of this as a behind the scenes narrative :)

We started getting our hair and makeup done around 10:30am on Saturday March 27, 2010. The flower girls came by around 12 or 1 to get their hair done too. While the bridesmaids were getting done up, the girls and I played hide and seek, horsey and a bunch of other stuff that would tire any 28 year old out when playing with lil ones.

What you don't know is that while playing horsey, I gave Ava a bloody nose :o Brooklyn was lying down on top of me, and Ava on top of Brooklyn, so when I got up to give them a ride, Ava fell off. SORRY Ava! I love you!

After giving Ava a bloody nose, we all settled down and had lunch (left overs from rehearsal dinner) and continued to get all the hair and makeup done. The plan was to finish by 3, go to Admiral Kidd Club and start taking pictures. I was last to get done up, and I started panicking because it was past 3. I was actually running 2 hours behind before they even started on me. All of a sudden it's about 5:30 (and the wedding was supposed to start at 5pm mind you), and I'm just barely getting finished up. I'm not even in my gown yet. I'm worried that Romeo is gonna bail thinking I left him at the altar and that everyone has been waiting outside in the heat and is all sweaty...

This is me running into Admiral Kidd Club trying to make sure my veil stays put. I found out later there was a big sink hole in one of the main streets that leads to Admiral Kidd Club so everyone was stuck in traffic, so my being late and there being a sink hole actually worked out perfect.

Another little known fact (only 2 people have noticed this so far) is that the song I walked down to wasn't your traditional wedding march or Canon in D.  You know me, I have to be different...

So I walked down the aisle to the piano version of Melodies of Life from the video game series Final Fantasy. Hey, it really is a beautiful song, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGXURdrmb0

Then, during the ceremony when we went over to do the sand pouring, there was a little bug tanning himself on top of my sand vase, so when I saw it, I tried to blow on it inconspicuously to make it fly away. Of course that didn't work, and Romeo had already started pouring his sand, so I slowly started to pour too, hoping the sand movement would make it fly away. Of course that also didn't work. So this beautiful picture here is actually a tombstone for a poor ol' bug:

We took our pictures after the ceremony and the usual.

(This one is actually pre-ceremony in the bridal room)

Or I should say, usual for us:

When our photographer Kristine was doing her job, she had a little flip chart with poses of pictures to help couples visualize what the photographer wants to do.

So of course, Brian says, "I want to pick one!" and Kristine being the nice girl she is, hands it over laughing. And Brian being Brian, he picks this pose:

But because Brian is now family, I get to abuse him if I want. After we were done with pictures and waiting for our grand entrance into the Skyline reception room, my feet were hurting real bad. Yours would too if you were wearing these bad boys :

4.5" heels. Gotta love the height, but not the pain. So thank you Brian, for your assistance!

Here are some miscellaneous pictures of the reception:

  

There were forks, but he opted not to use them. Men...

It's kind of hard to do the toast when you're different heights. Not sure how Ro managed to get any champagne in his mouth here.

Did anyone see the hidden mickey we put on the cake table?

The favors were Chinese take out boxes. We bought the boxes, fortune cookies and almond cookies from the same restaurant supplier that our rehearsal dinner restaurant (Mandarin House) uses. Thanks Peggy and Peggy's dad (she's my hookup!)

And that is it for now. Thank you everyone for making it such a special day! I love you all :)   (Honeymoon blog will come soon-ish)

- The new Mrs. Gain