Products I love: Oh Tory, that Lovely Lady

I awoke Christmas morning to find a beautiful silver Nordstrom box containing the contents of one of my most desired items of 2013 – the Tory Burch Black Reva flats. I had my eyes on these beauties for months, but with most of my funds funneling into wedding expenses I had to put this item on the back burner. 

The week leading up to Christmas my husband excitedly teased at this gift that was sure to surprise me! Which it did, I remember mentioning it to him once or twice, but not with intentions of getting him to buy it for me or anything like that. I was happier at the thought that he zeroed in on my silly conversation from months ago, and was thoughtful about it! Best husband award!

The plan is to upgrade my wardrobe in the New Year. I want to buy more quality items that will last me longer and that will be staples in my wardrobe.

I have been through countless pairs of flats and if there is one thing I have learned; if you spend money on cheap flats, only expect a few good uses out of it. I had one pair of Coach flats, most money ever spent on flats, but they lasted me YEARS! When I tried on the Reva flats I felt the quality on my feet instantly, so I’m hoping to have these for the next few years.

Tweet

Wedding Dress Restoration and Preservation

After it’s all said and done, what the heck do you do with the dress? Do you sell it? Do you preserve it? One thing is for sure, you have to at least get it cleaned!

We flew out for our honeymoon the morning after the wedding so I didn’t have time to inspect the wedding day damage on the dress until we got back. A week later when we returned, I looked over the dress and was surprised at how dirty it was. The dress was hemmed to my height with my wedding heels, of course, I took them off for a short period after the ceremony so my dress did drag lower than it was supposed. As a result, the train and trim was filthy! There was a few makeup stains on my collar/shoulder area, either mine or from a lady guest when we exchanged hugs and overall the dress just looked worn.

My goal is to try to sell my dress especially since the dress is still current. I looked into some consignment shops but most want the dress cleaned before they help you sell your dress. My other option was to sell it on eBay, but then again I would still want the dress cleaned before I try to sell it. If at the end, I can’t sell my dress at least I have it cleaned to set it up for storage.

The dress shop where I bought my dress has an alteration center where they can ship your dress out to a third party for preservation and restoration, when I inquired it was way over $275 – yikes! I then visited a mom and pop dry-cleaners that had rave reviews on Yelp for being inexpensive and great with wedding dress cleaning and preservation, so I made my way down and asked for a quote which ended up being $250 – seriously? No thanks. Finally, I remembered that David’s Bridal sold a preservation “kit.” At first, I thought it meant like a kit where I would have to clean it myself. Either way I decided to check it out. I actually used to work at David’s Bridal about eight years ago, but I couldn’t recall how the kit worked. When I got there the manager was nice to explain the kit, a box which includes tape, prepaid shipping and paperwork. You simply bag your dress, fill out a short slip with your information and dress information, put the dress in the box, attach the prepaid postage, and drop it off at your local UPS store, Staples, or other convenient drop-off locations. According to the manager, she had never heard of any complaints. Seemed easy enough, the best part was the price, it was only $143! I guess there are three price ranges, if you bought your wedding dress at David’s Bridal its only $99, if you are one of their registered brides and in my case my bridesmaids bought their dresses there, it was only $143, lastly if you didn’t do either you pay the regular price of $189. Regardless this has to be the best deal out there!

I bought the box, went home, set it up, packed it, filled out the slip, and dropped it off at UPS and boom, about three to four weeks later my dress arrives on my doorstep and it was BEAUTIFUL! It comes in a beautifully sealed white box, with a window front, so you can see the dress. The dress looked nicely placed and so clean! It had a lovely touch of a thin ivory ribbon with silver lettering place around the waist of the dress stating “Preserving Memories for a Lifetime.” The box came in an air-tight plastic seal which protects the dress from mildew, mold and oxidation. On the back of the box, sealed inside was the paperwork for the dress: the receipt, the certification of the 30 year warranty, the inspection checklist, and a sheet with details of the dress like fabric, color, etc. Genius, that way you never have to worry about losing the paperwork.

Additionally, you could request add on’s to the preservation kit like special monogramming on the front cover of the box with your wedding date and name for a small fee of $15. I decided against it since I’m planning on selling my dress. You can also add on other pieces like your veil, shoes, and other accessories and have it preserved and displayed for another small fee.

I love admiring my dress in the box, it’s so nice! What’s great is if I’m not successful in selling my dress then at least it’s cleaned and preserved and ready for storage.

Tweet

Makeup As I Go

Let me admit this now, I’m not a pro at makeup. I feel like there is a lot to learn; I didn’t practice new looks/trends on a regular basis and there’s a lot that I missed out on. When I think about updating my makeup routine, I get a bit overwhelmed, there is just so much out there! I love going into Sephora, but half the time I don’t know what the heck I’m looking for. For the most part my makeup style has always been very natural: foundation, mascara, blush, and a soft lipstick. When I was younger I used to wear glasses, and I never wore eye makeup because I felt it made my eye area too dark – I have really dark under eye circles, so it was a real insecurity for me at that time and I didn’t want to attract any more attention to my eyes. So, now, when I do an eye makeup look it’s the same one over and over, which is a soft smoky eye.  I kid you not, but I have been using the same eye colors for this smoky look for years… I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that. Every time I try a new look with my eyes, I either mess it up or I’m not pleased with the end result. So I keep going back to my ‘old’ look which has me bored! Although the eyes may be bust, I do have fun with lipsticks! My lips aren’t too small nor too large so I always felt comfortable applying it. Other than that I get tons of compliments on my eyebrows, which always amazes me and throws me off guard (like it’s a bad thing?), so I plan on sharing how I create my eyebrow look. I’m setting a challenge for myself this new year to one) update my makeup routine and two) practice new looks that I’m not familiar with to become more comfortable. I want to try new products, makeup pallets, and start using some of the things I have bought but have never used. I have thus named this series “Makeup as I go.” I hope to share my trials and hopefully learn some new things from you too!

Tweet

Save the Date!!

There are so many reasons why couples should invest a bit of money and have save the dates sent out. Apart from the impersonal I’m “engaged” status on my Facebook (considering not everyone I know has a Facebook), it was a pleasant way to announce the engagement and upcoming wedding to friends and family. We sent our save the dates about seven to six months prior to the wedding. I felt it helped build anticipation for guests and it allowed guests to arrange this event into their calendar. Let’s face it, as a bride, you tend to live in this wedding bubble and you have to realize that everyone has lives outside of your wedding and some need plenty of notice. People like to travel and some make their plans months sometimes a year in advance. I have families that always go on yearly family trips. So it was important for me to give them plenty of notice because I wanted them present to celebrate with me on my wedding day.

I looked at plenty of invitation websites for inspiration and would have ordered through them but Jabi’s best man is an experienced graphic designer and he was able to create a beautiful layout for our save the date postcard. It was also a great way to save some money since he refused to take any payment for his work. (If you have skilled friends - ask them for help, you'll find most will be honored that you asked, but never ask for a free service, always offer to pay!) 

The front of the card has some of our engagement photos, the date of our wedding along with the city and state of where the wedding will be held. We signed up for a free wedding website through weddingchannel.com and added our URL at the bottom of the postcard. That way if people wanted more information they have an easy resource to check out. The back of the card, had a bilingual message in English and Spanish, just a heartfelt message announcing the wedding date and that we hoped they could join us as well as to look for a formal invitation in the upcoming months. 

At the end, our confirmed guest count was at 98%! (then we ended up with wedding crashers, but that's a whole other story.) 

Front

Back

Tweet

Garden of Proposals

Was I expecting it to happen? Yes. Did I expect it to happen that particular day? No.

That Saturday morning, Jabi and I were cleaning up after breakfast. I was on my “cleaning mode” totally distracted with household things I needed to do. Jabi yells out from another room if I wanted to have dinner at Barney’s that night. (Barney’s = Barney’s Gourmet Burgers not the big purple dinosaur.) I agree and respond absentmindedly.

Later that afternoon, as we are driving on Solano Avenue heading towards the restaurant he suggests that maybe we should try a new place to eat. So we begin pointing out all the other restaurants. We reached the end of Solano Avenue without deciding on a place and then he asks if we should just have dinner in San Francisco. At this point I’m up for anything, he starts to think but instead of settling on a plan he just continues to drive into the residential area. The houses in Berkeley are amazing and we often love to just drive around and look at the architecture of the homes. I figured he just wanted to drive around a bit before we went to dinner. So, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride, looking at the houses, not stressing about time. Then I see it – a sign - “Berkeley Rose Garden ->” and the thought of him proposing flashes through my mind. Of course, I don’t say anything, I just act as if nothing life-changing is about to happen.

We arrive at the garden and he suggests we get off and walk around. It had been raining earlier that day so everything was still wet and the air was fresh. In this time of year not all the roses are in bloom, but nonetheless it was still a beautiful place to be in. We walked the entire garden, hand in hand, talking about random things just enjoying each other’s company. 

Finally, we’re standing on a wooden bridge with the sound of the river flowing underneath us. We had the whole place to ourselves. Jabi pops out his phone and plays a song by Marco Antonio Solis called “La Venia Bendita” which translates to “The permission, God’s approval.” It’s a romantic song about the love a couple has. There isn’t enough time in this life or enough blood flowing through their veins to support the love they have for one another. The beautiful love they share has the holy approval from God Almighty. After the song is over and a moment in his embrace, he knelt down on one knee and opened a little red box revealing a gorgeous ring. “Will you marry me?” and I said, “Oh my God...Yes!”

These pictures are from our engagement shoot in the early spring, he proposed in late December.

Tweet

One Day in Senior Year

Were we high school sweethearts? Sort of, maybe. Although we attended the same high school for the full four years, we didn’t meet until our senior year. A week into the new school year, I transferred into the morning theater class. I walked in and scanned the class for familiar faces and to my luck I spotted an empty chair at a table where a couple of friends sat. I took my seat and started to notice the guy (Jabi) who sat across from me, he was doing his best to not look my way. (Jabi later confessed that he was nervous because he thought I was pretty.) The more he refused to look at me, the more compelled I became to look at him. I studied him for a minute and he finally gave in and looked at me, before he diverted his attention again I shot him a quick smile. I grinned to myself and thought “He’s going to be my boyfriend one day.” A very matter of fact statement, but I believed myself to have premonitions back in the day.

As the school year progressed we got to know each other a lot better, we even played opposite love roles for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” I was Titania Queen of the Fairies and he was Nick Bottom “The Ass,” respectively.

Almost ten years later, after the normal trials couples face, we have discovered a way to stay connected. We have fun and joke around; we also have respect for each other and support one another through everything life throws our way. Most importantly we are still very much in love.

Tweet