Saturday, August 29, 2009

Flower Pretties

I have been searching for a rather long time on the type of bouquet I wanted for myself. At first I really wanted peonies, but then was told that they were out of season and the bouquet itself would start out at around $175.

I love how fluffy and chic and girly they look, yet, it looks like they may be an arm and a leg. Aren't they just gorgeous? I was then told that maybe I should pick a bloom in season, or available year round. Boo. So then I turned to hydrangeas. I love how round and full they are, but still, they didn't seem to hit the spot.

Since then, I've been looking and looking to find a bouquet I like. As I may have mentioned before, I really like the whole, "simple, but not" look. That is when I came across these lovelies!

I absolutely love how different they are! And they look so simple, like one large bloom, but they aren't! They are many little petals put together to look like one large bloom.. LOVE! I'm really liking how fragile they look, and they totally have the "simple, but not" thing going on. The Hawaii florist that is linked to the lovely creations is Flower Girls Hawaii.

You better trust and believe that I already emailed them, girl! I am really loving these two designs. If they could do a white version of the one on the right for myself, and a version of the one on the left, only with yellow instead of purple, and a tad bit smaller for the bridesmaids, then hunny, we're in! Or maybe even, the one on the right in all yellow for the girls and the one on the right with yellow for me. What do you think? Who should have which arrangement?

Love, love, love! Ohh, I'm so excited to hear back from them with a quote!!

True Story


I wish this kind of love upon everyone.












Hawaii Things

Hello there Hawaii brides! Looking to support our economy by buying local? Well lucky for you, I stumbled across an online store (Shop Toast), that sells cute little hand made favors such as the one below.

This is their special edition "Love Fruit". It is a "white apple" filled with assorted Godiva chocolate squares and each one comes individually packaged as seen below.
Happy Planning!


Monday, August 24, 2009

Here's To...

Love in all the right places.
You never know where you'll find it.


Saturday, August 22, 2009

Yummy.. Goma Tei!!

Please pardon the shoddy quality of my blackberry camera : )

So I finally made it to one of my favorite places to eat Ramen, Goma Tei. Goma Tei's first restaurant was located at Ward Center, but can now also be conveniently found at Ala Moana, right between the ABC store and GNC on the Makai side of the mall.

When we arrived it was actually right in the middle of lunch, and we were lucky enough to find the last spot at the counter. Most people who came in after us had to wait a little bit for a place to clear out, but they eventually got to enjoy the goodness of Goma Tei.

We sat down and the server handed us menus, which we quickly gave back, telling him we already knew what we wanted. As usual, I ordered the Shoyu Ramen completely plain (because I'm very picky), so that means pretty much only noodles and broth. The picture is actually of my friend's Shoyu Ramen with the large portion of char siu and there usually is a generous portion of choy sum in there as well, but she ordered it without.


As a side dish, Miss Nihon-jin ordered their Chicken Tastukaage, which is just ono! It's like Karaage chicken, only so much better. The pieces are large, and juicy, and the sauce adds an interesting taste to it as well.


F
or my side dish I ordered a small curry and rice, but sorry there is no picture! I was so excited to eat it when it came that I completely forgot to take a picture until it was too late and the only thing left was a few pieces of rice and curry sauce. Nonetheless, it was yummmmy.


Yep, that's it! I completely finished my bowl of delish ramen. I always leave there satisfied and don't have to eat for quite a few hours, haha.

Also, if you still aren't convinced, my friend from Japan, Miss Nihon-jin, swears that this is the best ramen on Oahu that she has been able to find after her 7 years of being here. Yes, yes, there is Tenkaipin on Kapahulu to eat at, but we went there and really weren't impressed. The broth was oily and the service was terrible. They even reminded Miss Nihon-jin that the tip was separate.. RUDE! Let's just say they didn't get very much of a tip. Actually, Miss Nihon-jin comes from the area in Japan where the original Tenkaipin Ramen was started and says the one here is disgusting compared to the one in Japan.

Lesson learned.. if you want ramen, visit Goma Tei!! You won't be disappointed! And if you do go, leave me a comment and let me know what you had and how it was. Enjoy!










P.S. I promise my post about Kanpai is coming up soon. I was actually there for a good 7 hours on Thursday night, but I'll save that for later ; )

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Yummy..

So, although this has nothing to do with my wedding, I thought I might start adding in some of my favorite places to frequent for some good food.

I'm heading out in a few minutes for lunch with one of my besties, and we'll most likely end up at Goma Tei. Goma Tei is one of my absolute favorite places to go for ramen, and Ms. Nihon and I usually end up there when we're hungry. I'll also be scampering over to Kanpai tonight for some dinner, drinks, and good company.

Stay tuned for some pictaposts on both these restaurants, as well as my personal raves (& hopefully not rants) about their food, service, ambiance, etc.

Here's to good food and good friends!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Manzanita Madness

Really though, why must this be so difficult?? That deal I found on Blooms and Branches was great! ...And then they told me how much shipping would be. So, the branches would be $129, and the shipping? Drum roll please... a whopping $150!! There is no way that I can bring myself to pay more for shipping than the actual branches. Ughhh..!


I think I may have found another site that may be a tad bit more helpful, but I'm not holding my breath. Damn you, shipping to Hawaii! Why must you be so expensive and cumbersome!

Does anyone know of where I could get manzanita branches in Hawaii to create my centerpieces? Or how about a mainland distributor that wouldn't ask me to pay an arm and a leg for shipping? I need 18-22 branches, I'm hoping for a rather large width of about 24"-36" and the height.. well.. I'm not too sure, but maybe 3 feet tall?

I'm just a twenty something year old gal, trying to throw a dream wedding on a budget. Help!!








Like Fergie

Yes, I said it, like Fergie. In what way, you may ask? I need to be "up in the gym, workin on my fitness". Like, fer realll. And, I wouldn't mind her killer abs while I'm there either..

If I'm really trying to lose close to 40 pounds in 3-4 months, I better get on it, and fast! I haven't been very motivated to go the gym lately, but I stumbled upon the blog of a woman who is trying her best to lose weight as well. It really motivated me, and actually pointed me toward a great fitness website, FitDay.com. It is a FREE website, and allows you to track what you eat, how much of it you eat, and then breaks it down by caloric intake and what percentage of your diet is carbs, protein, etc. It also is helpful because it tells you an estimate of how many calories you burn in a day, how many you should restrict yourself from eating if trying to reach your certain goal, and then how many calories you're "allowed" to eat to assist in that goal.

That said, I'm allowed roughly 1,200 calories a day if I want to sit around and do nothing. BUT the good thing about this website is that is makes you feel a tad guilty when the pie chart shows that you're eating more that 50% carbs. Thanks for the visual guilt, but it's working!

So.. that said. Since I discovered this blog and FitDay.com, I have been motivated to actually work out tonight. Yes, I do plan on eating a large hefty bowl of ramen tonight, but maybe I'll be able to abstain from eating the curry and rice. Oooohh but it's SO good. I need too! I have a friend in need and that is her comfort food, and of course I need to accompany her, so, I will. But, we'll see how the no curry thing goes, I'll let you know.

I actually haven't worked out in a few weeks due to some unnecessary stress. However, knowing that I plan on working out tonight has a little part inside of me excited. Good thing we're going to dinner early. That way, if she wants to go back to her house and sit around, we can. Then I will pull myself away around 11 at the latest, go home, and pop in my Turbo Sculpt DVD and get going.

Ugh.. it's so hard to be motivated. But I will do it, I need to. I am fully aware of the need to look hot on my wedding day, but where has my motivation gone?




Saturday, August 15, 2009

Rice, Rice Baby

In an earlier post I mentioned that I would let you know what I've been doing to lose weight. I haven't really had a large bump in the scale, but have been maintaining my 175, down from 180 weight. I weigh myself every morning (after using the bathroom) as that is your "true weight" because you don't have anything extra in your body at that time. Every morning I am consistently stepping on the scale at 175 (sometimes 174 or 173), and my goal is to end the day at 177, 180 on a really bad day.

So, since you probably don't know, I love rice. I eat it with every meal; yes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. A hard concept unless you're from Hawaii, and if you are, you know what I'm talking about.

Breakfast - Rice w/ furikake on top and a side of bacon.
Lunch - Perhaps some chicken katsu and rice.
Dinner - Chicken, vegetable curry and rice.
Yummm.

That is honestly how my days used to go. I love, love, love rice. My freshman year of highschool I would eat a bowl of rice with Aloha shoyu for lunch almost everyday. Horrible, I know, but so fricken good!

That said, for the past two weeks I have not had one bite of white rice, which is a serious accomplishment. If anything, I would eat brown rice, and since I don't like brown rice, I didn't eat very much of it. I've pretty much been sticking to proteins, fruit and the few veggies that I do like.

For example, one of my most favorite meals to eat now is a salad of romaine lettuce topped with Safeway brand chicken tenders and some Kraft Ceasar Vinegarette dressing (70 calories per tbsp). Yummm. I know chicken tenders don't sound that great, but it's protein, and it's better that I eat that, than rice.

Although you may think my logic is a little off, the way I see it, I'm eating a lot better now than I used to, which is a step in the right direction. I've also been eating a lot of grilled or baked chicken. So, if you know of any good recipes for baked, please let me know!

Too-da-loo!




Cake. Yummm..


Yes, ladies and gentleman, that is our cake design! Mr. and I looked high and low for a cake design that we both agreed on, and we finally came to this one. We like how different it is. We didn't want just a plain cake, and didn't want a very busy cake either, so this meets us very nicely in the middle. I also really wanted flowers on my cake, but knew I didn't want the cascading down the cake because I think that is cheezy (not sure why though).
Of course we wanted to tweek the cake just a tad smidge. Instead of the pink ribbon, we are asking for chocolate brown to go with our theme, and for the flowers, yellow cybidium ordchids. One thing that we found amazing about our baker is, the flowers and ribbon will be edible! The ribbon made of fondant, and the flowers made of sugar! Coooool!

Once we found our cake, we had a tasting with our baker, Vikki of Sunshine Cake Creations. Oh Vikki, she is really one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She has a wonderful passion for her craft, and I love it. I even jokingly said that I wanted to come help her bake things and she, non-jokingly, said come on down! Ahh! I may take her up on that offer, how fun!

Well, it was a rather large tasting - Mr., Miss. Nebraska, Miss. Vegas & her bf, and our friend Miss. UH. Regardless, everyone present got to tast Vikki's yummy-yum-yum flavors and we were not disappointed! We tasted (let's hope I can remember them all) guava, strawberry guava, chocolate w/ coconut filling, chocolate hazel crunch, and red velvet. Don't they all sound delish! Well, of all of those, Mr. and I chose the strawberry guava and chocolate hazel crunch. We still have to decide on two more flavors for the top tier and the sheet cake. We have another tasting coming up, and can't wait! One of the flavors up for the next tasting.. chocolate guiness, how exciting!!

Like I mentioned a little earlier, Vikki is amazing! She is going to make us sugar flowers, and we may even ask her to make us a cake topper! Shall it be a mini bride and groom or our initial? We aren't sure yet, but whatever we get, we know it will be amazing (and one less DIY project for me).

Oahu Brides! I strongly suggest that if you are looking for a high quality cake, with great pricing, and amazing customer service, you turn to Vikki of Sunshine Cake Creations. Check out the gallery on her webpage, and take a peek at her flavors, you won't be dissapointed!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

And the Changes Continue

Bwahahaha! The changes keep on coming! It really is getting a little funny now. What is the change this time? Well.. 1) Our shade of yellow 2) No sunflowers anywhere! 3) Centerpieces

As for the shade of yellow, it has changed to a pale yellow. One reason was that the company we are ordering the invitations from doesn't have sunflower yellow, and I also didn't really love the sunflower yellow color. It was too.. bright for us.

So, that brings me to the flowers.. no sunflowers, anywhere! Yep, that entire idea has been nixed. After thinking about it a little more, sunflowers were too cute, and we really want a sultry, shmexy feeling wedding and reception. More of a cozy, intimate feeling, rather than a bouncy, sunshine, hip-hip-hoorah wedding. Make sense? Geez.. I hope. Not that we don't want it to feel happy, just not so... perky. There. That describes it!

So, that brings us to the centerpieces! After deciding on no sunflowers, I panicked a little as to what we were now going to use as our centerpieces. I don't really like fluffy centerpieces, but still wanted the yellow. That's when I came across this bad boy. As soon as I saw it, I was in la-la-la-loveee. It's shmexy, and whimsy, and beautiful, yet fun. Perfect.



And so the search began for branches. Manzanita branches to be exact. Being that I live on a chain of rocks in the middle of the Pacific, we don't have much. I've looked around at our 5 or so craft stores (It's so sad. No Michaels, A.C. Moore, Jo Ann's. Boo.) and haven't been able to find these types of branches. Soo.. I turned to the internet, and came across an extremely helpfull and pretty cheap website, Blooms and Branches. They have 18 manzanita branches, ranging from 18" - 24" for only $129.00 with shipping included!! That comes out to $7.17 per branch, including shipping! Most branches are around that price just for the branch! I have yet to order them, but hopefully their "shipping included" bit applies to Hawaii. *fingers crossed* Nope. It doesn't.. just checked. Dammit! Why does nobody like our state?

Stay tuned to find out where I eventually get these lovely branches.

As for the flowers, yellow cymbidium orchids, my cousin's friend's friend is a wholesaler of tropical flowers, so I'm hoping we'll get those cheap. We're still waiting to hear back about those though. I really can't wait to start making these! However, I'm not too sure how to get the branch to stay. Some people use cement, but I think that's a bit extreme, plus, I want to have those little flowers filling the vase. Any ideas??