practice makes perfect

So if you have been diligently reading the blog, you know that I had a pretty special wedding to attend this past weekend.  It was also a wedding where I was actually standing and not coordinating.  So it felt very weird for me.  Usually I am in the back somewhere running around making sure things are perfect.  Walking down the aisle, my heart was pounding and I tried to look as serene as possible and stared straight ahead.  I hope I didn't look like a robot.  Hahaha...  But I will get into all that in the actual wedding day post.  As with all weddings, first must come the rehearsal.  And of course this particular rehearsal had to coincide with my big federal tax return deadline at work.  I spend hours the day and night before pushing through the filing so I wouldn't be so crazed on the 15th.  That's how much I love these two!!  Hehehe...  This is a super long post so I hope you all enjoy.  Lots of pictures for those too lazy to read.  That's right.  I said LAZY!  I can say that because they won't know I said it, since they are NOT READING!

I left the office at about noon and ran to the nail salon for a much needed pedicure.  Can't have crusty toes when I am wearing strappy stilettos.  Then I fled to Nordstrom to pick up some false lashes since I had no time to do my extensions.  Blog Nazi picked me up and it was off to the burbs to pick up a projector from my pops to use for the wedding slideshow.  Thanks Pappy!  But first we had to stop by the oasis to grab food since we were both starving.  See all the trucks in the picture above?  Yep, oasis stop for the win!  I had Panda Express and it was amazeballs.  So we trucked it from the city, all the way to Gurnee, then off to Arlington Heights for the rehearsal at First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights in time for the rehearsal at 5.  Luckily with no traffic, we got there at 4:30.  Oh but wait, the rehearsal is at 6?!?!?!  Yep, Blog Nazi and I had a whole hour and a half to ourselves at the church.

And here is what we did...

Dress - All Saints  |  Long Drape Vest (which you can't really see) - Winter Kate  |  Blazer - Wilfred  |  Bodycon Tank Dress worn as slip - t.babaton  |  Belt - Aritzia  |  Boots - Ash  |  Sunglasses - Oliver Peoples Apollonia  |  Scarf (which I ended up losing over the weekend... omg I just got so sad again) - Aritzia  |  Bangles and Bracelets - Urban Outfitters, LOFT, F21, David Yurman  |  Necklaces - Tiffanys, F21  |  Watch - Michael Kors

Can we all please give a round of applause to Blog Nazi?!  CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!  He took some really amazing pictures this time.  I guess he really wasn't THAT drunk at the photography class.  And of course he had some coaching from yours truly.  I think it is the most amazing thing that he has gotten into photography a little.  At least enough to want to get a little more creative with his shots.  Good job hunny bunny!  Which ones were your favorite?  Of course I had to jazz these up with some cool edits since I now have Lightroom!  Woohoo!  Lightroom is so fun.  But now I also spend three times as long with my posts.  There goes my sleep.

These next ones are taken by yours truly.  =)

 

Drippy said he was hungry so he decided to bring Italian ice.  Not sure how ice can help with hunger but okay, sure.  So the guys were freezing outside and eating Italian ice at the same time.  They about finished their frozen treat when they realized they probably should have eaten them inside.  Ray was literally shaking while he was slurping down his watermelon Italian ice.

And here is the beautiful bride.  Gosh Sanghee, you are so beautiful.  Could you stop that?  I hope you like the pictures babe.  I did the best I could from where I was standing.  Hehehe... 

Daniel definitely knows how to pose for a candid shot.  Poor Drippy is all the way at the end.  Damn height order.  Don't worry Drippy, I feel your pain.  But one good thing about being at the end, we got to walk down together.  I thoroughly enjoyed my J-Suh/DOS/Drippy sandwich.

Such beautiful mommies.

Sanghee's appa is so adorable.  I swear that man has the sweetest face.  He looked so proud and happy.  =)

Pretty shoes alert!  And pretty toes.  Dang Sanghee, you got nice feet.

Ummmmm... hello model shot.  I sense that this will become his profile picture soon.  Hehehe...  Best man indeed.

Joe has some really interesting flirting techniques.

Beautiful Ashley!  You are soon to be part of the club.  Congratulations to you and Petah!  Your ring is fabu!  I wish I got a much better shot of it.  Next time!!  Hooray for getting married in Chicago!!  YAY!!!!  I can't wait for you guys to move back!  Please move back!!!!  Peter is one lucky fella.

Whew!  What a long post.  I hope this helped you feel like you were there and I hope all these pictures didn't freeze up your computer/phone.  Hehehe... next up will be the wedding post.  I don't have very many pictures since I was standing.  But I will share the ones I love.  And I'll end the post with my absolute favorite shots taken by the hubs that day.

-DOS

eskeelo's 27th

Happy happy birthday Eskeelo!  Saturday night, a bunch of the best people I know got together to celebrate an oober special birthday for one of the hottest new mommies in Chicago land.  We went to Sun Wah BBQ, which hands down has the best peking duck I have ever had!  It was Eskee's first time and I think she'll be going back again and again.  We had too many people with us so we got split into two tables.  But it was still a good time.  Lots of good food, birthday presents, and cake.  And let's not forget to mention, play time with the happiest, bounciest, most dead-on David look alike ever.  I kept sneaking little Joshie noodles to munch on.  In return, he takes one of his little cookies and starts to feed it to me.  But once it hit my lip, he would quickly retract it and eat it himself.  Hmmmm... I wonder where he learned that from?

These two are probably the happiest little family I have ever met.  Joshie was the perfect addition.  I love the Shins!

Maaaaan, look at this baby!!  Don't you just want to chew on his cheeks?  and arms?  and fingers?

Joshie reaching for beer.  Dad looks proud.

I hope you like my gift Eskee!  I saw it and thought, "Omg, this is so Eskeelo!"

Not quite sure where Youns is looking.

Esther doing the total mom "look at the camera" move to Josh.  LoL!

Some of my favorite blog readers =)  I love you ladies!  Nice job taking the pic Jimmy.  Why are you pointing Meows?

Cutie couples alert!  I gotta say, these are some lucky guys.

Youner's kept looking away.  Boooooooo.  Sorry Eric, you get a solo shot.

Tek likes to brag and say that Joshie loves him.  Uuummmmm... I dunno about all of that.

I totally forgot to take pictures of the food.  Here's one from the internet.

If you decide to go, definitely get the Peking duck dinner.  But also try the Singapore style curry noodles, salt and pepper shrimp (best I've ever had and I've tried many places), baby bok choy tips, roast pork, and fish with onion and scallions.  I actually don't think you could go wrong with anything on the menu.  Be careful ordering too much food.  It's easy to forget that the Peking duck dinner comes with soup and fried rice/noodles.  Oh and always order more buns right from the beginning.  One duck dinner comes with six but I swear to you, you will need at least twelve.  Hehehe... happy eating!  Sun Wah BBQ is also BYOB (though they do have a bottle charge).

Also, no clear outfit picture.  Woops.  Spent too much time behind the camera this time.  Es, maybe you can comment and let the world know what you are wearing.  =)  Loved your blazer!

Top - Anthropologie  |  Bodycon tank dress - Aritzia

Again a big happy birthday to the lovely Eskeelo!  <3

-DOS

another one bites the dust

Hahaha.. JK!  This coming Friday, someone very dear and special to me is going to get married!  I can't wait!  Omg I have to practice my speech.  Oof...  I've been too busy to think about how nervous I'm going to be.  It's starting to sink in now.  YIKES!!!  Must... drink... lots... at... cocktail... hour.  Can't wait to show you guys some pics from this wedding.  I will try to take some really awesome ones.  I lub you KK!  It's finally here!

Safe to say, I will have no further posts until next week.  Wish me luck on my speech and send out happy thoughts to one of my besties so that her day will come out amazeballs!

-DOS

wake up, work, sleep, repeat

I have to last one more month through my tax season before I can breathe a little.  Even though this is nothing compared to what I dealt with in public accounting, it's still rough.  So because I have had very minimal time to blog, it's back to using the handy dandy iPhone camera and various glimpses and weird shots to show you my outfit because I am limited to what I can do.  =)  On a completely random note, I totally dropped my banana somewhere between my train stop and the office.  How can no one tell me my banana fell out of my bag?  C'mon now people!  I was so looking forward to eating it in the morning.

So I have reached over 10,000 page views in two months!  Ohmigosh!  I'd like to think that is good news.  I really wasn't sure how much people would enjoy reading my rants.  I want to thank all my friends for their support and especially the ones that comment and spread the blog around.  You guys are the absolute bestest!  BIG BIG thanks to everyone for stopping by and perusing through my little blog.  I hope you have enjoyed my random thoughts and musings as well as the pictures.  And most of all I hope it has made you laugh in some way or brought a smile to your face.  In celebration, and as a thank you, I am planning to do a giveaway (once I figure out what to give away... lol).  The winner will be  selected from my list of followers.  Get a head start and click the "Join this Site" button on the upper right side of the blog.  And STAY TUNED!

Here is a shot of today's shoesies.  Designed by L.A.M.B.  They look spacey!  Or in the words of my coworker, "trippy".

Oh well, back to my tax returns.  Thank goodness Blog Nazi made me a wicked awesome mix of old school R&B songs.  (Thanks honey!)  And yes, I know what is old school to me may not be old school to everyone.  My older co-workers always laugh at me when I say something is so old school but it's totally from their generation.  Woops!  Insert foot in mouth.  LOL.  It works both ways though.  I had a harsh dose of reality when 17 year old sister had no idea what "Gangster's Paradise by Coolio" was.

We were sitting there watching Green Hornet, the one with Seth Rogen and Jay Chou as Kato.  Well for those that don't know, Jay Chou is also a Chinese popstar.  I told this to my sister before the movie started.  So the scene comes up where they get into the Green Hornet's car for the first time and Seth Rogen (as the Green Hornet) pops in a CD and Gangster's Paradise comes on.  You know that intro beat is so sick and is instantly recognizable.  I proceed to laugh hysterically and I'm nudging my sister and she's laughing too.  Then Jay Chou proceeds to sing the part that goes "tell me why are weeeeeee so blind to seeeeee" and my sister looks at me, us both still laughing, and says "So is this one of his songs?"  She actually thought Gangster's Paradise was a song by the Chinese popstar.  Instantly my laughing stops.  Realization washes over me that there is a huge age gap between me and my sister.  We have so much fun together that I forget she's 10 years younger than me.  But here's the kicker!!!!  My DAD pops his head out and goes, "Debs, you don't know this song?!"  Oy vey.

Sweater/Cardigan - Coop by Barneys New York  |  Tank - t.babaton  |  Skirt - Talula  |  Shoes - L.A.M.B.

Here are some jams I am jamming to whilst working away on state returns.

I'm Still In Love with you - New Edition  |  All Cried Out - Allure  |  Anything - 3T  |  Sukiyaki - PM  |  Cupid - 112  |  Twisted - Keith Sweat  |  No One Else Comes Close - Joe  |  I Gotta Be - Jagged Edge  |  I Don't Want to be Lonely - Az Yet  |  So Much In Love - All 4 One  |  All or Nothing - O-Town  |  Without You - Mariah Carey

And many many more.  It's getting real emotional up in my desk.  And yes, I am lip syncing as I work.  Once, my manager caught me snapping along to the beat and making hand gestures to a song.  She came over specifically to laugh at me.  Sigh.  Busy season makes me look insane.  I went over and let my manager listen to my playlist today and she was definitely diggin' the jams as much as I was.  We were singing for a little bit at her desk.  Hahahahaha.. she kept saying "This is that 'make ya feeeeeeel good' music."  And when she said it she did a little body roll.  LOL!  Gawd, I love her.

What other songs should I add to my R&B list?

-DOS

lightroom hoorah!

Lightroom for the WIN!  Now someone tell me how to use it.  This was as far as I got and it was a preset feature.  LOL.

-DOS

couples photography class

I had a totally woopsie in posting this morning.  I didn't realize Blogger didn't save everything I wrote so please excuse the do-over!

Hello everyone!  I hope your weekend went well.  I have had very little time to blog lately since tax busy season is well under-way.  This past weekend, however, I did get a chance to have a little mini-date night with the hubby-bubby (aka Blog Nazi).  On Saturday night, he surprised me with a couples photography date night class because he knew I have really been enjoying photography lately and he said he wants to get better for my blog since I always complain that 90% of his pictures are crazy blurry.  Isn't he a sweet potato pie?  It was definitely a super nice surprise and a nice break to having to work on tax returns.  

Please click here for information on the Saturday Date Night Photo Class.  Hosted and taught by Richard Stromberg.  I highly recommend it to any couple that wants to know the basics of how to operate a DSLR.  There is wine and appetizers and lots of jokes all night.

     

Top - Winter Kate  |  Tank - t.babaton  |  Jeans - Genetic Denim  |  Belt - F21  |  Shoes - Gucci  |  Bag - Louis Vuitton Eden Speedy  |  Bangles & Bracelets - Anne Taylor LOFT, CRAM, Intermix  |  Watch - Marc Jacobs  |  Earrings - Top Shop  |  Necklace - Tiffanys and one random

One day I will have to show you guys what makes this particular speedy friggin' awesome.  It has a thick cross body strap attachment.  I've always wanted a speedy but knew that I would never use it if I didn't have the option to throw it over my shoulder or something.  I think all their classic speedy bags should definitely start coming with a shoulder strap.

     

The gallery hall.  Richard said that he could get you gallery ready in 9 months with his classes.  Pretty awesome!

Doesn't blog nazi look like a legit photog?

This is me playing with the focus on my bangles.

Richard is a Nikon guy.  Crap!  Should I have gotten a Nikon?  He said Canon is dainty so it works for me because I am dainty.

     

Our awesome teacher, Richard Stromberg - photo journalist, teacher, hippie.  He's been in the photography business since the 60s.  He's really hilarious and he called me "Miss Accountant Fashionista" all night.  Hehehehe...

My picture is still clearer than the hubby's.  I guess the 4 glasses of wine he had did not help with his focus.

     

Thanks again boo!

-DOS