Wedding Planning

We have our venue picked.  We’ll be getting married at the beautiful Loulu Palm Estates in Haleiwa, Hawaii.  That was by far the easiest decision we could make!

When Joe and I first started wedding planning, we listed our top 3 must haves. Although we weren’t too far off, I was willing to find another venue due to pricing. I have to say that as beautiful as Loulu Palm Estates was, it also came with a nice price tag. However Joe reminded me it was important to him so we signed the contract! Now, it was my turn for my top 3. I wanted amazing photography/videography. (Some would argue that photography and videography are separate things. Normally I would agree but for the sake of my sanity, I considered it a couple)

“Photography is the way of feeling, of touching and of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…it remembers little things longer after you’ve forgotten everything.”

-Aaron Siskind

I am inspired by shots that captures a moment that no one saw.  I love the little glances, the smiles or the tender kisses that photography can capture. With that said, I’ve been going to so may websites to pick a photographer and videographer! Either I love someone and they are extremely expensive or they are priced right and I’m not a fan of their work. I also am completely spoiled when it comes to GREAT photography. I have so many friends/family in the industry that it made it difficult for Joe and me to agree on a budget and of course, who to hire. However THIS was important to me. What’s the point in planning a beautiful day if there’s no one amazing to capture it!

Well the hunt is over. I reach out to a friend who is now based in San Francisco to photograph my wedding. He was available and excited to be shooting in Hawaii. Thankfully he also came with referrals for me for a videographer that he works with.

Meet our photographer: David Kim

http://davidkim-photography.com

Meet our videographer: Chriz

http://chrizphotography.blogspot.com

 

Woohoo!! Done and done!

 

On to the next project 🙂

Wedding Venue Hunting

We’re engaged!!  So I’m going to apologize in advance because these next few months will be filled with posts about my adventure with wedding planning! So hello and welcome to wedding talk!!

So we’ve got a pretty cool wedding date. It’s 12.13.14. Everyone always asks how did we come up with that date. We both responded with “my mom.” My mama likes numbers. She associates it with good luck and fortune. I can’t argue with that! Joe also claims that he’ll never forget our wedding date. We’ll see about that!

Since the wedding date has been decided, the next big thing on our list was where to get married! One of our must haves is that the venue needs to be on the North Shore. After all, Joe was born and raised on the North Shore, so it absolutely made sense for us to tie the knot here. Our options were definitely more limited because we only wanted a wedding up here. However the fewer the options actually made it easier to pick. The choices were: Turtle Bay, Loulou Palm Estates and Sunset Ranch. Sunset Ranch is such a beautiful venue. It’s a very large venue. They give you the entire grounds for your day!  So what’s the downside?  Our wedding date wasn’t available! Bummer. So that one was out. Turtle Bay was also another gorgeous venue. I would love to get married on a golf course overlooking the ocean. It’s best of both worlds! They had many places you could select to have your wedding at. Our favorite was the stables and the 18th hole. It would have felt rustic versus having the hotel/resort feel. The only downside was that the wedding planner at Turtle Bay never got back to us. Grr! One month after our meeting, she had the nerve to leave me a voicemail saying she was suppose to give me a quote but wanted to know if I was still interested. Ha! No thanks. Terrible customer service! Which was a bummer because we were pretty open minded to the venue. Oh well! It wasn’t meant to be. Last but not least, Loulu Palms Estate. She is a beauty. We truly fell in love with this venue. It was everything we could possibly want. It was a beach front home on two acres. It had the space to host your venue and your ceremony all in one convenient place. Needless to say, we gave them our deposit. Venue booked!! What’s next on our list, photography and videography!

Big Bear

While planning our Christmas trip to California, Joe made it very clear to me that he wanted an actual vacation. Which sounded odd at first because I thought we were going on vacation. So I had to get a better picture of what he meant. I find out that all he wanted was to make sure we balance everyone else and us time. My heart melted. Who would say no to that! I asked him if he could pick one thing he wanted to do, what would he be. He smiled and said “Big Bear.” Well, what baby wants baby gets so Big Bear, here we come!

 

Oh snowboarding, I love and hate you. I love you more but do you really enjoy seeing me land on my ass! Joe says I’m getting better. I know I am but I can’t wait for the day when carving becomes second nature versus a calculated move. At least this trip will prep me for our trip in Tahoe!

It was a short trip to big bear however we had so much fun getting some time to board. Our little cabin was sweet and cozy.  Most importantly it had a fireplace and a jacuzzi. Let’s just say we put it to great use! We also love to cook versus going out for dinner. We headed to a grocery store to grab food and came back to grill our steaks. Being in a cabin always brings such great memories because it’s a place where we fell I love. Can’t wait to go back to Tahoe to celebrate Valentine’s Day and our anniversary.

 

 

 

Let’s Go Niners!

Football. So let’s get one thing straight. I wasn’t a 49ers fan. Honesty, I’m a RAMS fan. haha. I am truly laughing while writing that last sentence. BUT here’s a quick story on WHY I am a Rams fan. I moved from Louisiana to California when I was 8 years old. My mom took me to McDonalds and of course, I got my Happy Meal. They ran out of girls’ toys (Barbie) and only had boys’ toys left. My options were black or blue. I’m 8 years old… and black isn’t a color. Blue it is!!! What I was picked was the LA RAMS over the LA Raiders. Hello? I made the right choice with the options given to me. Fast forward, they freaken move to St. Louis…. Default team to cheer for in south California ? SD Chargers….. however I really can’t stand Rivers. So let’s just say when my finance is a big fan of the niners, I had no problem supporting my man and his team. 🙂

So the niners game….. Back in June, I decided that I would surprise Joe with the BEST Christmas gift ever. Tickets to a niners game!! So I did just that. I searched http://www.stubhub.com and found awesome tickets. On ‘our’ Christmas celebration, I said ‘our’ because we have had 3 celebrations, I let him opened up his presents.  He finally gets to find out what he’ll be doing!

We are sitting on the 3rd row by the 15 yard line on the Niners’s side! Woo hoo! I personally have been to many sports games however I have yet to go to a NFL game.  On game day we flew to Arizona thanks to his lovely cousin Britt. We were total tourist. We checked out stadium, had beers and hot dog. The fun part was bonding with all the 49ers fan that were there. There was a lot of love and definitely a lot of hate. Regardless, it was good fun.

This was when the 49ers entered on the field for the first time!  Yeah Niners!! I love going to see games. I’m a seat snob. I loveeee sitting really close to the players! It’s so much more intense, you are watching every play closely. It makes you feel like your part of the action!

It was great seeing Dawson practice his kicks! Thank goodness considering this game was won by field goals.

He’s a happy camper! We both had a blast on this quick trip. I love spending time with Joe. Nothing is more gratifying then spending time together with the one you love. I can’t wait to next year. We really want to see the new Levi stadium next year! Also we were so thankful the Niners won…. I did not want to drive back home with him if we didn’t!!! lol As always, go Niners!!!!

Base on that Cardinal’s facial reaction…. 49ers won!!!! yeahhhh!! 🙂

The Proposal

It’s the night before our departure to California. It’s late and I can’t sleep. Next to me lies the man of my dreams. His soft snores are comforting and his breathe against my skin feels so warm. I am lying here reflecting on my decisions this year. I can’t believe this year is almost gone. About a year ago, I took my trip with Cat to Hawaii….and it seems as though I’ve never left. As crazy as this year has been. I do not live with any regrets. I love every decision I’ve made this year.

Hours later, what seems more like minutes to me, our alarm rang and we needed to get up.  Joe’s brother in law Barry picked us up and we headed to the airport. Joe and I travel great together. He carries all the luggage!  We check in, go through security and  head to our gate. We know how to travel to California well. It’s usually 4 hours and 30 minutes going to California and about 5 hours and 30 minutes going back to Hawaii. If we watch two movies, we land! That’s exact what we did.

Dad picks us up and I’m so excited to see him! I think he was more excited to see Joe. Apparently dad has a week pack of golfing for Joe! It was late but before we could head home, we had to pick up  my little girl, Aiko. When I picked her up I hid behind the door so I could surprise her. The moment I popped my head out, she went nuts! Just exactly how I wanted to be greeted. I miss her terribly!

Morning arrives and the girls start the festivities, we go shopping! Don’t worry, the boys have their fun too. They went golfing.

After shopping, Christmas dinner this year was a bit different. I have been craving Alaskan crab legs forever so my mom got a dozen pounds worth for appetizers! Needless to say, while wearing my pretty red dress, I ate like I’ve been starving for weeks.  After dinner, tradition continues. We compete for the best gingerbread house. Truthfully, it’s more a self declaration.  However when you’ve got a cute  4 year old in the competition, you can put together santa’s village yet the 4 year old trumps you.

See what I mean? The 4 year old wins. The next part is best part. After we cleaned up, we headed over to the living room. Christmas is so much more fun with kids around. Watching Ariel  get so excited as she opens each gift is heartwarming. She’s so girly! Each disney dress she opens, there’s screaming, laughing, kisses and dancing. She only had like a dozen gifts! lol

My mom’s tree is always beautiful. It’s always silver and gold, so fancy! This is a picture before all the gifts were open. Apparently one gift in particular was extra special. Joe manage to be sneaky and brought  a gift with him from Hawaii. I was on the assumption that we opened all of our gifts already in Hawaii so I thought it was extra sweet that he brought a gift over. It also made me feel bad that I didn’t think of doing the same!

Well, it was definitely a special gift.

Joe proposed on Christmas Eve!!!!! Ah!!! As I was opening the gift, I saw it was a box of soap dispenser. In my head, I thought, gosh, I really have to lug this back to Hawaii???? He told me to open it.  There was a teddy bear inside At that moment I thought it was sweet. However what made me smile and turned to look at him wide eyed…. was that the bear had a zipper on it. At that moment, I knew what was next!!!! He took my hand, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Needless to say, I said yes and launched at him with excitement!!! We’re getting married!!!

Definitely the best Christmas Eve ever!!!

The Inspiration

I have two favorite holidays. I love Halloween! It’s the only time of the year I can play dress up!  So don’t judge me. My other favorite holiday is Christmas. Its the time of the year where you reflect about your life and thank all the blessings that came. Its also an opportunity to think about your decisions, choices in life. In case you recently started reading my blog let me give you a quick recap. In December 2012, two girls decided to say “fuck the holidays lets go to Hawaii!”. Cat and I went to Hawaii and had an amazing time. We ate, drank, swam, hiked, and shark dived. Yes you read right! We went on a shark dive tour! It also happens to be where I met the love of my life, Joe Pavsek. We went out for drinks, cooked for each other and saw the sunset. After I left Hawaii, we talked and texted. He invited me to Tahoe for 2 weeks of bliss and I went! We fell in love, he asked me to be his girlfriend and to move to Hawaii. My response? … love you too, yes and yes!! After Tahoe, I had a month to pack up, leave my job, said “see ya later” to family and friends and headed to Hawaii! So fast forward from March 15 to now, I had a lot to reflect and be thankful for. I am not a risk taker. The only risk I ever took was investing heavily in the stock market. Other than that, I’m pretty routined. But when I think back from December 2012, I’m so thankful for taking the leap of faith.

So here I am in December celebrating one of my favorite holidays around Joe and his family. They have a few traditions and this one is yet my favorite. In the picture above, Joe and I are standing behind the Antonucci-Cunningham-Craycroft-Pavsek tree! I love their tradition! Every year they would come together on Jaime’s birthday. They would cook, drink and decorate their tree! Each ornament brings them a memory of their past.

Mama Antonucci gave me my first ornament to put on the tree! I was so thrilled and excited. Isn’t it a beauty!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Joe and his niece Iliana. Every year Joe puts the tree up as well as light the tree. This year he had a little helper.This experience has totally transform my thoughts on what I want from my trees in the future with Joe! Most people collect stamps, mugs, guns or scrapbook. We’ll just collect ornaments!

First Xmas Tree

Isn’t this 3 ft tree a beauty!?!?! I love holiday traditions.  Joe and I wanted to create some of our own. Even though we knew we weren’t going to be in Hawaii for Xmas, we decided that we must always have a tree. After Thanksgiving, we went to grab one.  Through the years we plan to have more meaningful ornaments. My mom has always had beautiful trees. It was always white and gold. A real beauty I tell you however I have always wanted ornaments that took you back to memory lane. Usually that means a tree with chaos and crazy colors!  Joe and I want to get ornaments from places we visit. I can’t wait for our tree next year!

My First Thanksgiving Dinner

I have never been responsible for Thanksgiving dinner. I have always had a meal made by my mom, aunt, grandma and even by my sister Michelle! This was the first year that I was responsible for the turkey and I was excited! I was so excited to prep for it. I read countless recipes and asked friends for tips! I have heard so many horror stories and was thankful to get those tips! Some of my favors were: make sure you remove the bag stuffed inside the turkey and to make sure the turkey isn’t still frozen when I cooked it.

When the big day came, I decided to take it head on. I was ready and confident. This turkey has nothing on me! My friend Elise showed me a really good Martha Steward recipe. I did my own spin on it. I got an organic 12 pound turkey from Wholefoods. I will forever ALWAYS order my non-frozen turkey through Wholefoods. I was truly impress on their efficiency and customer service.

Here’s me standing proud with my turkey! Next year, I’m definitely going bigger! There was barely any leftovers to go around!

My love and me posing for a quick picture until our famlia arrives!

Here’s a few of the goodies I made!

Here’s my familia.  It was a perfect 1st Thanksgiving in Hawaii!

Halloween

I looooove Halloween! For the pass 5 years, I’ve spent Halloween with the same group of gals. With the exception of one year we have always celebrated in San Diego! San Diego is the best! We book our hotel at Indigo (my favorite hotel in gaslamp!) and always go to Stingaree. I guess you can say we were creatures of habit however we just love the simplicity of our tradition! We leave or take off work for the day, head to SD. We check into our rooms and go shopping or have lunch. We get ready, preparty and then head out for an awesome night!

I will always cherish the amazing memories I’ve created with my friends!! It’s so crazy how all of our lives have changed. Everyone has their little families now. I suppose its another sign of another chapter closing.

Speaking of another chapter….. let me tell you about my first Halloween in Hawaii!! Thankfully, Joe’s a fan of Halloween too! I’d share some rock star pictures of his previous costumes but unfortunately I don’t have any! I promise to upload some when I find them. He was totally willing to do something couple related! Can you imagine…. I didn’t even have to twist his arm or negotiate favors…. nada! So here’s our Halloween story!!!

Brianne hosted a Halloween pumping carving contest at her home! I was so excited because here I thought I was going to carve some simple happy goofy looking face and call it a day. However Joe and I got to plan something to make. I really love how well we work together. No screaming, yelling, bickering…. it’s just all so easy with him. We talk through a couple ideas, narrow it down to one and we both just know what we need to do! Thursday night came and off to Brianne’s house we went. Joe already traced our sketches so we had a little head start! We needed it considering we had two pumpkins to do. I had so much fun. I tackled Daryl from the Walking Dead and Joe carved the zombie. We saw many ideas around stacking themes and since we LOVE the Walking Dead, we thought it would be fitting.

Even though there was no actual vote, Joe declared that we won. I couldn’t disagree!

One of the things I love about Hawaii is that people don’t go to lounges, clubs or bars for the weekend. Everyone hosts get togethers at their home! I love it. I love heading over to a friends house to spend an evening. Halloween was no different! Elise hosted a party at her beautiful home. She’s an amazing chef so whatever she puts out, you know it’ll be spectacular! So what did Joe and I picked for our VERY FIRST couple costume? Check it out!

No we’re not Mexicans!!! We’re TEQUILA chico y chica! lol Lets just say the shots were definitely on Joe and me that night! We wouldn’t stop pouring! Actually we did have to! We had work the next day and Joe was working early too! Overall it was a great night. Can’t wait for next year!!

SUP

My first experience stand up paddle boarding was in Laguna Beach. I had a client that always told me to stop by however being as busy as I was, I simply couldn’t find the time. One day they came into my branch and wouldn’t take no for an answered. They gave my team members and me a business card with a couple free hours of board rental.  I figured why not. I work by the beach and the only time I step anywhere near the beach would be to meet a client or to go prospecting for business.

It was a bright blue and sunny day. The ocean was as calm as a lake and I decided to go stand up paddle boarding!  Laguna Beach is a hidden gem. It has some of the most beautiful homes in Orange County, great little boutiques and amazing restaurants.  I never realize how heavy the paddle board is. I think that was half the battle. I had to carry it down a flight of stairs onto the beach. When the water is calm and crystal clear, you can see so many things. One of the things I don’t like about California water is the seaweed. I do have a slight fear being stuck in it but ever since that adventure I loved it!

Our first adventure out together was a few weeks ago. I’ve gone several times on my own. Joe works many of the weekends and isn’t always available. Finally we got to go play in the sun. Joe took out his short board and I took out my sup board. We headed out to Joe’s favorite surf spot. I have to admit, I love being out in the water with Joe. I paddle around in the water while I cheer Joe on when he catches a wave. He’s really good! He makes surfing look so easy! I’ll get there one day.