Wedding Websites for Me and You

whereabouts: mi casa es not your casa so why did you even assume that?

food craving: delicious brisket tacos from downtown restaurant called Mia’s(naturally i desire this craving for lunch and not now!)

song suggestion: “The Heart of Life” by John Mayer

okay guys and gals(mostly gals…i’m not oblivious…although hopeful), i know that some of you might come here(to our blog) for certain reasons such as:

the funny: hoping to read something amusing and potentially goofy considering our two personalities

the love: to get the scoop on our relationship as the engagement progresses and the wedding nears

the “i want to show my support to jon&viv but vivien’s blog entries are entirely too long and her sentences are too awkwardly worded similar to this category she’s writing out so i’ll simply skim and catch up where i can”: to which i would say…i COMPLETELY understand because if i were in your position i don’t think i’d finish reading 80% of my own entries…seriously! haha

but i know what you really want! don’t worry babies, mama viv is here to provide for you , not to burden you(you’re thinking…”who has ever called vivien ‘mama viv’?”) so here is a list of some websites i’ve been checking out that i want you to….CHECK OUT, if you’d like to that is.

Our Photographer: jason & andrew are launching their site in a couple of weeks, but for now go to their blog which you can find a link to at the bottom of the page. i highly recommend viewing their previous blog posts and finding the series entitled “Jen and James’s Engagement.” it was this engagement shoot that pushed me over the edge to book them. i’ll be sure to tell y’all more about them in a later entry.

table4photography.com

 

here’s a list of some other great photography websites:

kellymoorephotography.com laurenclarkphotography.com fredegan.com

thestoryteller.com http://www.jcsphoto.com/newsite/index.html

 

Wedding Blogs:

stylemepretty.com

http://kenziekate.blogspot.com/

 

Wedding Overload:

theknot.com

brides.com

 

Well….I know there’s a lot more than that to offer to y’all but those’re some websites that have been helping me out. There are actually a lot more but I was so excited at the idea of this entry that I didn’t really organize my thoughts and instead just began writing! i hope this provides some sort of visual candy for you all to enjoy

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learning to listen

whereabouts: my apartment. i originally thought that i would be writing entries at various places with wireless internet but, alas, i have found myself blogging only in my apartment so i might consider changing this tidbit of info to something else more interesting. any suggestions?

food craving: tiramisu from eatzi’s!

song suggestion: a very sad guilty pleasure….Hanna Montana’s “See You Again”….please don’t befriend me

so this scripture has really been on my heart lately for the past couple of days and i’ve been reading it and praying over it.

“The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue,

to know the word that sustains the weary.

He wakens me morning by morning,

wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.” Isaiah 50:4-5

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness

and who seek the Lord” Isaiah 51:1

 

dictionary.com says that sustenance means:

sus·tain      /səˈsteɪn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[suh-steyn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –verb (used with object)

1.	to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure.

2.	to bear (a burden, charge, etc.).

3.	to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.

4.	to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.

5.	to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.

6.	to supply with food, drink, and other necessities of life.

it’s so neat to me that just knowing God’s Word is more than enough to pull us out of any and every difficult situation in our lives! the definition of “sustain” just shows the many facets that God’s word provides for us by: supporting us, bearing OUR burdens, experiencing with us, encouraging us, and supplying us with the basic necessities of life. also in both scriptures God calls us to listen to Him with “opened ears,” speaking directly to those who “pursue righteousness.” so…i’ve been reading this scripture and praying each morning to better listen to what He has to communicate to me. one way i know that He’s really been working in my life as far as the week goes is that i’ve realized the gifts of friendship God has provided me with. some of you know me really, but for those who do not then you should know that i struggle greatly with feeling insecure with my friendships. most people wouldn’t assume this about me because i appear social and outgoing BUT i often times feel as if i’m the outcast of the party. anyhow, i say this simply because this week i felt like i was finally listening to God as He assured me that He would take care of me and that He would provide closeness in friendships according to His perfect and holy timing, which He did and has always done. most importantly, i’m so thankful for my friendship with my jon jon and how blessed we are to have that together! anyhow, i feel less and less eloquent as i continue to write this entry but i just wanted to share with y’all what i’ve been thinking about lately.

 

on another note, i wrote in an earlier entry about my beautiful flower girl, Maya Joy Martin, and her fight against a rare cell disease for the past year. well…i have so much JOY to share with you that she has been completely cleared of her  illness and that chapter in the crazy Martin’s family life has been closed. Praise God for the world’ most adorable flower-girl-to-be!

jon and i LOVE her. how can you not?

alright! it’s 3am….what am i thinking? i don’t understand myself sometimes.  thanks for reading! it’s so encouraging and fun to hear about friends who have visited the site. thanks also for all the support!

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i’m SUCH a slacker!

whereabouts: my comfy bed

food craving: SWEETS…but i gave them up for lent

song choice: can i suggest “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane again? i just REALLY love that song

i am FINALLY at the point where i am asking my bridesmaids to be in my wedding! i’ve asked five out of the seven and it’s SO-OOO much fun! i thought of this cute idea that i wanted to do for each of them that i can’t share quite yet because there’re still two “unknowing” girls i have to ask but so far they all love it! i’m going to have two maids of honor, Emily Hoffman and Julie Pham, and i finally asked them this weekend. thankfully they were ecstatic! ^_^ i just wanted to give a quick update of where we’re at thus far. jon has asked two out of his seven and i kind of spoiled the good news for one eager lad but of course jon has forgiven me and hugged and kissed me with his unconditional love. he’s going to be SUCH a great husband! i can’t wait! we’re on a roll now and we ain’t stoppin’ fo’ nuttin’. yahmean? haha, that was purely for david jones.

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going well

whereabouts: the 4306 apt (aka, my apartment)

food craving: bistro b egg rolls with the special sauce - a craving that was satisfied at approximately 10:45pm earlier tonight

song suggestion: lemon tree - a very popular english song in the asian community!

i just wanted to give a quick update to inform everyone that things are just…..going really well! plans are falling into place and i feel comfortable with where jon and i are at in our wedding planning even though we’ve only slightly officially each asked 2 out of our 7 bridesmaids and groomsmen! what’s been especially fun is catching my mom up with all the wedding details. she wants to be apart of the planning but from a more distant view and i’ve really appreciated the room and understanding she’s given me to plan my wedding but still offering her input and not to mention financial help! currently jon and i are working on finding or developing our design for the wedding that we’ll ultimately be putting on the invitation, placement cards, response cards, and basically everything! once we figure out that we’ll be able to use it as a template for all our wedding paper needs. here’re a couple of designs i whipped up to get a general idea. these are two VERY ROUGH drafts including the writing! please offer your grace and forgiveness for the incorrect grammar, sloppiness, and careless design mistakes.

i’ll resize this at some point & i’ll fill y’all in with more wedding details later! i gotta go to bed and pray to get to church on time! viv

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eventful week

whereabouts: my wonderful apartment

food craving: orange juice, vitamin c (my nose has been running for over a week now…yes, it is in better shape than i am)

song suggest: the soundtrack from the movie…”Dan In Real Life” which i highly recommend

this past week has been great overall. jon have actually had a good share of arguments this week but it’s been so neat because we’re growing more in our ability to empathize with one another, and we’re learning how to resolve our disagreements in more loving manner. at this point in time, i’m looking back at last week and i’m so thankful for how God is shaping our relationship. another reason this week has been so good is fully attributed to the fact that we’ve also been making more intentional strides as a couple to truly focus our relationship together on God. we had our first pre-marital counseling dinner with laura and kyle and as fun as it was to hang out with two of our favorite people, the meeting also opened a lot of doors for me and jon to discuss some major things that aren’t exactly simple to bring up with one another. so, with all that said, jon and i have decided to pray together every evening (admittedly, we’ve forgotten a couple already) but soon enough we will definitely get into routine and we’re already enjoying that time together and looking forward to praying as couple more regularly in general. Praise Jesus! it’s wonderful to have someone to pray with, moreover, with the most adorable man i know! 2nd Paragraph: WEDDING RELATED UPDATES: jon and i recetly booked dallas bible church to have our church ceremony. it was a decision that i….sort of fought….perhaps in a kicking and screaming manner, but ultimately i felt God tugging my leg and pushing me towards the place that 1)is far and away the most affordable sanctuary 2)is the most meaningful church to me and jon because it’s our home church of course! 3)is more attractive with some subtle touches and decoration than i originally gave it credit for! anyhow, a couple of weeks ago i had spoken with a woman at church who had had her wedding at DBC a couple years back and i asked her for pictures of wedding because at the time i was still juggling between DBC and some other churches. well, this woman, Whitney, was nice enough to mail me photographs of her wedding,** but since Whitney didn’t have the most current church directory she accidentally mailed the pictures to my old address which was my last UTDallas apartment . WELL, thankfully one of my friends from UTD lives in the same apartment i used to reside in and although i haven’t been on campus to see her specifically in the past…um…4 months maybe, it just so happened that a group of friends and i were going to meet at her apartment for dinner on thursday night! so low and behold i had the pictures and letter in my hand the evening after i had booked officially DBC and the photos of the sanctuary were AWESOME. laura pointed out how perfect the Lord’s timing was in all of this was and it’s so evident! on top of that i spoke with Whitney today at church and she said she hadn’t really began looking for her wedding photographs and then, BAM, there they were right before her. God is so awesome! For the second wedding magic trick(story), i called a fashion designer in dallas who had made a wedding dress for a co-teacher of jon’s and had recommended i have him make my wedding dress as well. in the back of my mind i’ve seriously, seriously considered designing my own dress but i didn’t know, financially, how plausible it was, but i figured i’d at least attempt the offer! anyhow, i made an appointment for friday early evening at 5:30pm to meet at his house and i brought along my good friend, Christine, who has a an art background as well. she also happens to be unemployed at the moment so her schedule is more flexible than some of my other friends! anyhow, the evening before i decided i needed to try to actually draw what i envision for my wedding dress and of course within no time at all i found a dress in my roommate’s Lucky magazine that had some detailing that i really liked! so i cut it out, pasted it on my wedding sketch book and drew a quick front and back sketch of what i hoped my dress might look like. of course i didn’t really know at that point of what an experienced designer would think of my lil’ol sketch but…i thought it best to draw a sketch anyhow! it’s what i usually do when i get haircuts, i draw out what i’m envisioning and i leave the rest to the professional. so, getting back on track, christine and i arrived at Ramon’s house at 5:30…quick sidetrack, when i first received his name i kind of felt like “oh yeah! your name WOULD be ramon!” i love it! okay, i wasn’t really sure what to think of him at first because he lived in a pretty average neighborhood and at the time i had no idea what his background experience or how extensive his portfolio was. when we pulled up to his house i noticed he had a fairly ordinary house, but a nice new black door. sure enough when we entered his house was amazing! artistic, clean, and modern, i wouldn’t expect anything less from a fashion designer ^_^. so after christine and i “ooohhhhed” and “ahhhhed” over his fabulous house we sat down and began to talk to him about the dress. i showed him my sketch and he said he loved my idea! he proceeded to get paper out and make his own super neat of my drawing and christine and i both feel like it kind of came to life a bit! we disagreed on which fabric to choose but i loved that he could be so honest with me not to mention it felt cool that a fashion designer even had a remote appreciation for my humble drawing! after being easily impressed by his home decor and ability to draw i knew i had to ask for a portfolio to see his true credentials. sure enough…he had a lot to show. he was originally from mexico and studied some in paris! he had been in Mexico’s Bazaar and Vogue magazine with full interviews and pictures of his work. he’s had fashion shows and things of that sort and when i asked him how long he’d been making dresses he simply replied “oh… about 26 years now.” i was blown away at how he responded to my question with a sense of quiet humility. he has been doing this for so long that he told us he simply wants to continue what he’s doing, make money and renovate his house. he doesn’t desire to do fashion shows or to be featured in magazines at this point in his career. most of his portfolio, he told us, was from 5 years ago. he realized he needed to update it. after showing us his impressive portfolio he showed us a wedding dress that he had recently finished for a client. the client wanted an exquisite Vera Wang gown remade for less and Ramon had replicated it perfectly for half the cost! christine was especially funny at this point in the night because the dress is basically what she wants one day for her gown and the detail was truly exquisite. at this point in the evening, i had a small knot in my stomach because i realized that Ramon would most likely be out of my price range. when i initially called Ramon to set up an appointment it was because jon’s co-teacher mentioned the affordable price she had paid for her custom tailored dress, but i wondered if, similar to inflation, his rates had increased since he had created jon’s co-teacher’s dress several years ago. we finally began to discuss the financial aspect of my dress and ramon asked me what my budget was. i told him an answer a little more than what i was really able or willing to pay but i figured that was his MINIMUM. he thought for a second, then looked at me and offered a very reasonable price! the price i had been hoping for but didn’t think i could manage finding in dallas! christine and i could NOT believe our ears at first. we both quickly shot back at him saying “EXCUSE ME? what did you say?” almost to the point of rudeness simply because we were both in disbelief! after he escorted us out his house i couldn’t help but SCREAM in utter excitement. it was just another blessing God has poured on our wedding and of course, i could not be happier! i mean…obviously, i don’t deserve a lick of any of this, but He still keeps giving and loving and blessing us! Praise God for all the small things in life that make people excited like a wedding dress ^_^.

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a delightful evening

yes…that’s right, i chose delightful as my adjective to describe tonight! i’m currently at my apartment.

my current food craving- chocolate chip pancakes! but i’ll be having them in the morning with my roommates since none of us have school tomorrow!

song suggestion: instrumental acoustic version of “And I Love Her” by the Beatles.

i just have to write about my night because it was just a good time of sincere fellowship and rich conversations with friends of different groups. my evening began with a sky ranch counselor reunion at McAlisters in Addison. my roommate and one of my closest friends from high school, Katie*, was there as well as three spectacular girls who i had met four years ago this summer. wow….it’s incredible to think that it’s been nearly four years since the summer after my freshman year in college. it was so neat to sit there and realize that our common thread was serving in a camp ministry together just a few summers ago and now to intentionally spend time together in a different phase of life was just too fun. the five us all live in dallas and what’s especially exciting is that there are several other sky ranch counselors in the area to connect with. hopefully katie, emily and i will host another sky ranch reunion at our apartment to further encourage everyone to stay in touch. the second part of the night consisted of my weekly discipleship meeting with laura and ingrid. we normally meet on thursday morning at 6:30am at a nearby starbucks but a conflict arose so we simply met up for a late coffee at 9:30pm, which of course i was ecstatic about since i’m a night owl but Ingie(Ingrid) has slowly evolved into an early worm so her bed time is much earlier than the time we ended up finishing! anyhow, it was just a good time of accountability and talking about how we want our time and relationship with another to deepen further and ultimately to grow in our relationship with the Lord through His scripture and our relationship with each other. It can be an intense time of conversation but at the same time we just enjoy being around one another and just laughing as well. It’s a great balance! Lastly on my nightly agenda I didn’t really have anything set to do and I didn’t have to go to bed “early” for work since we had the day off the next day so I called two friends with whom i adore, david and stephanie from UTD, and just met at my old college’s student union and had a blessed, candid and great time full of conversation and laughter. don’t get me wrong, this night IS not my regular agenda BY ANY MEANS but every so often it’s really a blessing to have a night full of quality conversations and people you love. it’s neat to think about my evening and consider how God has intricately placed each group of friends in my life: how i met them, our common bond, our compatibility, and how they’re influencing, and contributing to my life now. it’s times like this that i simply bask in gratefulness to God for the life He’s given me. the night owl, viv*Katie had actually grown up going to Sky Ranch most of her life and had highly encouraged a lot of our high school friends & jon to become counselors the summer after our freshman year)

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The First Post

in every post i think i’ll open with three things: my current whereabouts, food craving, and a random song suggestion 1) i’m at buzz brew’s off of fitzhugh & 75. it’s a wonderful little restaurant that most people would never know was here but the incredible karilyn mullenix recommended it to me…and we all know that any karilyn recommendation is a good one! 2)i’m currently craving…..iced water 3) Keane: Somwhere Only We Know i met jon here at buzz brews about 45 minutes ago and now i’m sitting alone b/c he’s left for a school meeting. it’s so cozy just sitting here on my lab top, sipping iced water and simply loving life. today it was quite dismal outside. it was overcast most of the day and it gradually became chillier but i really enjoyed it for some odd reason. i ran a few errands after work today and listened to classical music…there was something wonderful and calming about it all. and now i’m sitting in a restaurant just relaxing and writing on the blog that jon just introduced to me! i’m so excited to have this! also while i’ve been sitting i had a chance to read my good friend laura’s most recent blog post about her unbelievably precious two year old daughter, Maya Joy, who was diagnosed with Langerhans’ Cell histiocytocis (LCH) over a year ago. This is Maya Joy at Christmas!

Maya was recently considered healed from her illness but the past hospital visit showed that Maya may have signs of a reoccurring case of LCH. I share this with y’all because 1)Laura and her husband Kyle Martin are two of our dearest friends and they are both also individually mentoring both Jon and me. Laura and I meet with a good friend named Ingrid on Thursday mornings and Jon meets with Kyle and a lovely man named Roy on Tuesday afternoons.2)The Martin daughters are so adorable it’s ridiculous and we I love them to no end. 3)To ask for your prayers! I know if we just continue to have faith in God’s healing power that Maya Joy will be completely healed and free from LCH. This verse comes to mind:

I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. -Matthew 17:20

Nothing is impossible if we have faith in God’s will. If you’d like to read Laura’s blog simply click HERE. She’s a great writer so I know you’ll enjoy reading how a faithful family endures and perseveres through a life changing and growing experience. OKAY! I’ve got to go! I’m so excited to complete my first post though! I’ll be sure to give y’all the down low about the “goods,” or rather the details of the wedding. Be sure to check every…uh….two weeks to see what updates have been made on the website. Jon and I are having so much fun with almost everything!God is great, life rocks, i’ve been eating way too much candy lately! viv

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the ring

about a month before i began to seriously look for a ring, i came across this article on National Geographic’s website about conflict or “blood” diamonds. reading this article made me do some more research to find out more about how i can avoid inadvertently supporting African war-lords who use the diamond trade to fund their destruction.

after running this idea by vivien, she was more than on-board and was excited that she would one day wear a beautiful, conflict-free diamond ring! i started to look at a few different jewelers in Dallas and i soon realized that these diamonds are more difficult to come by than i first thought. i eventually realized that i would have to buy the ring online if i wanted to make sure it was conflict free.

the two best websites i came across were:

bluenile.com (canadian diamonds and kimberly process diamonds)
and

brilliantearth.com (canadian diamonds only)

the only real ways to know if your diamond is conflict-free is by tracking it all the way from the mine to you. the kimberly process, started by a coalition of diamond traders in africa, forces participating nations to track all of their diamonds from the mine to the re-seller. this process has a weakness that you can read more about here if you would like. the other (best) way to ensure that you have a conflict-free ring is by buying diamonds from canada (eh). these diamonds are all tracked from the mine to the re-seller as well. and let’s face it, there are no war-lords in canada. they’re all too busy staying healthy and living productive lives with their universal healthcare.

all that to say, i had a blast picking out the ring. i went with one of the canadian diamonds at bluenile.com and spent a lot of time mixing and matching diamonds and bands and finally came out with one that i (and vivien) loved!

i would highly reccommend ordering from either of these websites. i had phone and email conversations with both of them and they are extremely helpful!

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