NFP #1

Monday afternoon, we arrived at the Diocesan Pastoral Center for our first out of four Natural Family Planning classes.  There were 6 other couples, some were already married, while most were engaged.  Our instructors are two elderly individuals who has been married for over 40 years, one a retired scientist and the other a retired math teacher.  With 4 adult children, they spent their time teaching NFP and Marriage prep classes as well as traveling.  They just came back from two weeks vacation in Hawaii... man... that's the life! 

 

The whole process was pretty interesting, it started with a review of anatomy and then we went into learning about the sympto-thermal method.  Overall, it's quite a commitment on the woman's part, she has to take body temperature every morning as well as chart observations daily.  The men are only there for moral and emotional support... Our next class is in two weeks!

For being so good, Dave and I rewarded ourselves with macha green tea and popcorn chicken after wards... nom-nom-nom!

 

Church - BOOKED!

The last few weeks has been pretty busy for both Dave and I.

I had IEP meetings up the wazzoo the whole month of March.   

Dave was sick a couple of weeks ago, as well as started on his 2nd part time job.  He did a huge data transfer (I dunno if this is the actual IT term) but regardless he's been working basically two 40 hours jobs.

Ever since our meeting with Father Michael who told us the church we were considering was EHH.  We haven't had any time to go look at any other locations.  Due to the Otay Shooting this morning, Dave's school was closed since it was only a few blocks away.  Luckily no one else was injured but it gave us some time to run much needed errands.

In the afternoon, we decided to continue our search for a church.  Dave had emailed me weeks earlier with a few church possibilities, I checked out their websites but nothing jumped out so I just pushed it aside.  Since we haven't found the a church for our wedding ceremony, we decided to take a look at these possibilities in person.  To my surprise, the first church we stopped at was like love at first sight for both Dave and I.  The view from the church parking lot is beautiful! you can see the entire west side of San Diego.  Inside was a perfect balance of wood ceiling (thumbs up from Dave) and beautiful stained glass windows (two thumbs up from Marilyn).    

I felt like we were reading the scripts from Goldilocks and the 3 bears: "it wasn't too big, it wasn't too small, it was just right, everything was just right"  Dave said this is IT within 10 seconds of walking through the doors.   We decided to go to the parish office and get for more info on how to reserve the date.  Since we are non-parishioners, Diane the secretary said our priest need to have a conversation with Father Steve before she can give us the paperwork.  We called Father Michael immediately and left him a voicemail, saying we found THE church and if he can get in touch with Father Steve so we can put down our deposit to save the date.  A few minutes later, Father Michael called us back saying he spoke with Diane and everything is good.  We asked him how he felt about our choices and he said it's perfect, not because he was bias or anything but he was the assistant pastor there 15 years ago.  How funny is that?  Everything seems to just fall into place, it's as though all the puzzle pieces is already there and we just have to put it in the right spot.      

We called Diane back and she wrote us into her book, we'll put a deposit down and get the paperwork in the next couple of days.  YAY! we just booked our church. 

  

I confirm I was Confirmized...

I went to Good Shepherd this afternoon to request a copy of our Confirmation Certificate.  Ms Patty was very helpful as always.  I couldn't remember the year I was confirmed but after some fuzzy math I managed to narrow down the years.  We looked in the books, we looked in the database, even under my parent's registry and couldn't find it the first couple of times, mainly because of my confusing name.  We did end up finding it and Patty printed me a copy.  She was also nice enough to print Dave's paper work too.  
 
Dave still have to get his Baptism paperwork at Holy Family and my mom made a call to Vietnam to request my Baptism paperwork.  

YAY... Two more things to check off the list :)  

It's a "Hard Rock" Life...

 

Happy Birthday DAD!  

The family drove up to Irvine to pray for my grandparents.  It was nice to hang with some of the cousins, haven't seen them since our Vegas trip over the summer.  We definitely have to plan something again this year.  

Maria and I left Irvine and decided to drop by 85 degrees to pick up some taro rolls but the line was more ridiculous than normal so we decided to just head home.  Gotta meet Angela and Dave to carpool down to Hard Rock.  

Found sweet parking just a block away for only $1 per hour.  

First stop was straight for the bar ahahah gotta put it on the roof huh? well stairs are definitely going to stop me from sangria...  drinks all around!  we checked out some appetizers and sweets and I think there was a table top competition between the vendors.  I was too occupied with showing Dave the ropes of Bridal events that I didn't take as many pictures as I should have.  This is Dave's first bridal event and he was definitely not interested before during or after HAHAH

Well we checked out everything, I got my hair did.  Watched the fashion show which was hilarious, my favorite was the flower dress? hahaha not really that was pretty ..um... unique.  Checked out some bouquets, I didn't realize how heavy they are.. man gotta think of how to carry this sucker around.  
We did get a lot of pictures from all the photo booths so that was pretty fun.  
Thanks Ang, Maria and Dave for spending a wonderful day doing all the girly things with me :)

First Date

Friday after work we headed to Barona to have our first meeting with Father Michael to start the Marriage Preparation Program.  According to San Diego's Diocese, preparation must start at least 9 months before the wedding.   For more info check out http://www.diocese-sdiego.org/2009MFLMain.html 

Some general requirements include: 

-Pre Cana Prep Program (one Saturday)

Option 1: Evening for the Engage (meet once a week for 6 weeks)

Option 2: Engaged Encounter Weekend (Friday thru Sunday)

 -Natural Family Planning Course

-Copy of your Baptism 

-Copy of Confirmation

Just a little advice if you're planning to get married in a Catholic Church ANY time in the future.  Start looking at parishes you're interested in and become members immediately because the majority of the parishes requires a minimum of at least 1 year of membership prior to even starting Preparation requirements (that means at least 2 years prior to your wedding date).  

This will save you a lot of $$$ when you reserve a church for your ceremony.  Sad to say that the price difference to reserve a church for members and non members can be a difference of on average of ~$500.  Also start saving at least another ~$500 for all the preparation program requirements. 

I guess this is only if you don't intend to get married at a parish your parents are already members at because you can get the reduced price that way.  

So far, this blog has only mentioned costs but in actually I'm really looking forward to all the preparation courses and requirements.  I think it'll be really nice to spend time with Dave and get to know each other as we travel towards preparing not only for our wedding but rather for our marriage.  

Remember what's important during this whole process, it's just practice for the real thing, right?  I mean come on, how to balance and manage a budget, how to compromise, how to resolve conflict and the most important lesson of all is accept all the flaws, appreciate all qualities and unconditionally love "the one" you choose to be with for the rest of your life. 

I choose you pookie :)

 

Happy Birthday Cha Xuan

 

Background: Cha Xuan (Father Michael) is a great family friend of both sides of our family.  He does house blessings, baptisms and wedding renewals for many of our family members.  Dave is also the Godfather for Fr. Michael's nephew in Vietnam.  Father Michael is currently at the Barona Indian reservation parish - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

Today is Cha Xuan's birthday, it's also an excuse to invite both sides of the family together for a nice family dinner.  After work, I went to pick up a cake and ran a few errands for Dave's mom before coming over to help.  

Dave's family prepared so much food, thai hotpot, tuna sashimi, fried tofu, and steamed asparagus.   Mom brought over seafood fried rice and fried bananas.   It was really nice to just hang out, even Jessica was home because of spring break.  We all caught up and shared stories through the night.

After the birthday cake, Cha Xuan had to head home since he had the farthest drive back to the reservation.  Dave took the opportunity to thank him for coming and asked him to share our journey and be our presiding priest for our wedding ceremony.  He happily accepted and we are all excited for what lies ahead.    

Since San Diego Diocese requires 9 months of preparation prior to the wedding I guess we'll be visiting Barona quite often, Dave will probably enjoy this more than I will but I'm sure Cha Xuan will remind us to make a "right" before the "left".  (The church is a right at the light and the casino is a left at the same light)

   

Launch Party

 

The Launch Party took place at Rancho Bernardo Inn, I attended this event with mom and my sister. This is the first time I've been here and my first impression in the parking lot was wow this would be horrific if we had a wedding here!  The parking spaces were ridiculously small and the spaces weren't even slanted.. it was just really hard to get in and out.  On the way here I was cut off by some chick trying to get to this same event.. geez relax! 

We went through the lobby and no one was really around, there was a map to all the events that were going on that night so we followed the signs to the boonies of the Inn.  It's probably the farthest corner you can go away from the parking lot.  I understand it's a great idea for potential clients to see the landscape but I was definitely not prepare to hike half a mile down hills and stairs to get to this event.  

We finally made it and at the door,  each bride got a cute tote bag filled with goodies from spa treatments to Red Velvet Cupcake from Sprinkles *probably one of the few best things of the night*  Sucks that not all the guests got totes because when we were leaving, we saw so many extra bags left over. 

Through the doors, there was a cash bar to the right...a complete turn off since you even had to pay for water ($4.00 for a little bottle), we did manage to hunt down a server with complimentary champagne.  To the left was a line to the appetizers... chicken skewers and a few other choices like cold salads.  The food was mediocre. 

 There were also a few desserts choices on the back wall, this one was chocolate mousse in a chocolate tulip cup. 

After all the tasting we started to visit the vendors, some girl holding a plate of food and her glass of champagne, trying to eat, walk and drink all at the same time... walked by and spilled half of her drink on my purse and didn't even say sorry.  ARGH!  what the heck!   

The event was overall pretty nice, there were 4 girls modeling wedding dresses, and changed quite a few times.  The vendors were ok but nothing extravagant.. 

I did however got a chance to see a potential vendor I had emailed a few days earlier and was quite impress with their work so fingers crossed that I'll be able to incorporate them into our wedding.  After making the rounds and staying through the raffle, we were ready to leave and hoping to skip the madness in the parking lot.   

There were a few BLAH moments tonight, I guess these things are hit or miss, but who can really complain when attending a complimentary event.  Thank you Maria and mom for coming with me, I love spending time with you guys.