05/04/03 -- 2 weeks left!!

   I can't believe it is only two weeks away from the wedding. The planning is going smoothly, including my plans on making the party favors. Rachel will be coming back in town today, and from here on, there will be much celebrating! We are expecting right around 150 guests to the wedding, including 9 people from Japan! Other friends are coming from France, DC, Boston, California, and Seattle! Of course there will be a heavy turn-out from my medical school. I think I will begin to cry the moment I see everyone together for us. It will be such a special day!!

04/28/03 -- Makeover blooper

   What women do for beauty... I had tried on some makeup at the mall, where I got a complete makeover to see what will be good for the wedding. The makeup lady put all sorts of stuff on my face even before any makeup was put on -- the next day, I woke up and found myself aghast in the mirror, with a swollen, red, puffy, itchy face!!! It turns out that the moisturizer they used was way too harsh for my skin, so my poor face totally rebelled. Fortunately, my face has returned to normal over the past few days -- but I definitely don't want that to happen again!! This is after my eyebrow-waxing incident as well... After all this trouble, I just hope Christopher will shave before the wedding!!

03/04/03 -- Registry

   We have finally registered, and you can find the info on our Registry page. The process has been more stressful than I thought it would be! We will be going with Bed Bath and Beyond for our basic kitchenware and bedding, but I may have to register at another place. We definitely will try to get a range of things so that everyone can find something.

01/29/03 -- Invitations ordered!

   We finally ordered our invitations for the wedding. After much debate, we decided to forgo the fancy ribbons and vellum, and went for a classic, simple, yet elegant look. I think they look very nice, and can't wait to have the shipment come in. Now it's time to really compile all the addresses! (from Japan to Boston...) I'm finally done with interviewing and travelling, so now I can focus on the wedding plans in full force!!

12/17/02 -- Bridesmaid

   My bridesmaid's dresses are now officially ordered today! Rachel and Yvonne each tried on about 15 dresses last week to find a good one. I had a great time seeing all the dresses worn by them! It was quite a fashion show. We all agreed that we liked two dresses, and I made a final decision based on how well it went with my dress. The one we chose is beautiful, perfect for a spring wedding (see it here). I can't wait to see my bridesmaids all lined up in them! Now I can really see this wedding coming together!

11/04/02 -- Wedding Dress Surprise

   I really never thought I'd find the perfect wedding dress (I thought I used up all my luck to find the perfect guy!) but my mom and I found it! We returned to Mimi's Bridal to look over the dresses I had tried on before, when we saw a dress on the mannequin in the window. They had just put it up an hour before we came! I asked to try it on just for fun, and when I did, I was so surprised!! It was "the one" (Okay, I'm being cheesy here)! After that dress, the others just didn't look as nice on me, so we bought it right away. I've never been that impulsive before (although my mom has). So, now I can see myself in that dress walking down to meet Christopher on my wedding day! I hope it will be a (pleasant) surprise for him at the wedding!

11/01/02 -- Engagement Photos

   After three years of being engaged, we finally got official engagement photos taken today! The photographers (A Pair of Photographers) will also take our wedding photos. We had them taken outside, in the beautiful U of M law quad. Hopefully the fall colors and leaves will make up for the freezing temperature (snow flurries were falling while we were taking photos with no coats on!!). We also had pictures taken in their studio. The idea is to have one of these photographs framed for our wedding day.

10/15/02 -- In search of stacked shoes...

   While I was in Japan, I was searching all over for the (in)famous stacked shoes that were such the rage on the Japanese fashion scene a year ago. I was hoping to find very high stacked wedding shoes so I could boost up my stature for the wedding (since I am a whole foot shorter than Christopher!!). I looked all over with no success! I guess I'll have to look around in the U.S.!!

08/22/02 -- More wedding ideas

   These last two months have been so busy with my sub-I's (being cooped up in the hospital), I haven't had a chance to do any more work on our wedding! But, I did manage to go to a wedding for one of Christopher's former coworkers, Chris Heathcock. We were only able to make it to the reception, actually, since it was in Lansing and the wedding was four hours earlier. The reception was held in one of MSU's buildings. They had a big reception hall that seated at least 200 people, with a good sized dance floor in the middle. I guess our wedding will be quite different from this one, since our dance floor will be a quarter of what they had! We only knew one other couple at the wedding (another coworker of Christopher's). I thought it was a nice touch when all the guests were invited to dance with the couple to give them luck in their marriage (which also made me realize I need really high heels to dance with Christopher!).

05/15/02 -- Wedding dresses!!!

   Today I went to two local dress shops with my mom and Bobbie Levine, to try some wedding dresses. We went to Darling Bride's Showcase first, where we tried on about ten different dresses. Some revelations, like strapless dresses actually look very nice, and that I look best in ivory, not stark white. Lots of sequins in that shop, so we headed over to Mimi's Bridal, where they had more embroidered dresses. They had so many dresses to try on, but I could only choose five (must go back to try on more!!). I can't say too much about which styles I liked the best (Christopher may be reading this), but I can say that the veils really make a stunning difference to the overall effect. It was really fun trying on so many dresses (they are really heavy!!), and I must take Rachel and Yvonne with me next time, to get their input too!

05/02/02 -- Bridesmaids

   We went out to a Thai restaurant with Rachel and Yvonne, where I asked if they would be my bridesmaids (Rachel to be my Maid of Honor). They both were very excited. Hopefully we'll have a page on this website for the bridal party. I also called up Shannon, Christopher's younger sister, to ask if she would like to be a bridesmaid. So now we have 3 bridesmaids!!

05/02/02 -- Last day ever!

   Today was my last day of medical school ever!! It was truly unbelievable to be done. I made a cake to celebrate this momentous occasion and brought it into the bone radiologists (who I was working with this last month) and that made them very happy. They said in the history of bone rads, they have never recieved a cake from a student! Graduation is still a month away, but it is just nice to have this time now to focus on the wedding. It will certainly be an unforgettable month!!

04/25/02 -- Our new home in Seattle

   We went to Seattle for the weekend to try and find a place to live! We are moving in early June, so we were hoping to decide soon. After much exploring, we found a cute rental house to the north of the University district. It is a three-level house (which includes basement, a much needed space for Shima, our cat!) complete with fireplace and hardwood floors throughout. The top level is a master bedroom with sloping ceilings--such a cute place!! We immediately fell in love with the place and were lucky enough to be able to rent it. It will be a very nice place to live until we find a house to buy. And since it has a guest bedroom, it will be perfect for people to come visit!!!

04/03/02 -- One ring to rule them all...

   When in Rome, I found an amazing ring that could be a very beautiful wedding ring at Cartier. It is made up of three thin bands that intertwine with each other (with or without diamonds). The three bands are made out of white gold, yellow gold, and red gold. Very unusual but very pretty! I'll try to get Christopher to go to the nearest Cartier's to check it out!