My First Bloxham Family Vacation

I'm gonna make an effort and write a few key things about the trip. I'm having issues with the Facebook uploader thing, so hopefully Picasa won't let me down, the slideshow is below!

-I had never been to Hawaii before. Being an island girl myself, I was excited to see a new one. It was weird having coconut trees in the backyard of the house and something we call calachuchi trees in the front yard of someone else's house in the same way it was back in the Philippines. There was also some sleeping grass, which we got video of in action (it closes up when you touch it). There were also a lot of hibiscus bushes around which we call gumamela, the flowers of which you can make bubbles from (that's right, bubbles). There were also these little lizards that used to scare the hell out of me when we lived in the projects, except these ones wouldn't make this ominous clicking sound. It was just so weirdly nostalgic having all that familiar flora and fauna. I didn't expect to be so taken by the smells and sights of it.

-Coming into a new family that's very different than mine is awkward and it will continue to be. BUT this was a lot like a retreat in that the more time you spend with people, the more you just get to know them. I found my eclectic tastes to be of service in connecting with each person. I felt very grateful to be welcomed into the Bloxham family.

-I am back to my normal color. As in I haven't been this tan since...since probably when I was 9 years old before moving to America. I have no idea how long it will take to wear off, but I'm sure gonna enjoy it while it lasts.

-I finally felt comfortable in the ocean again. I think in NY it was really hard to feel safe in the ocean because of the rockiness and the huge waves, but the Pacific is just awesomely familiar and warm, even with the scary waves. Being exposed to it so many times helped me reunite with it.

-It was nice to feel like I was ready to go home by the end of it. Sign of a good vacation is that you love it, but you're also itching to leave by the end.

-I just generally do very well in tropical heat.

-I unexpectedly got to watch "Wanted" finally. And it oddly made me think of work and how useless I feel at work. Not that I want to be an assassin or anything, but I was comforted by the fact that I'm not alone in this feeling, even if it was such a juvenile (but enjoyable!) movie.

-I skyped with my parents while we were there and got to show them around the house. They even said hello to Ben's parents!



SIDE NOTE: We won the lottery and saw Shrek before we left! It was super cute. Check the soundtrack to the right.

Wedding, wedding, wedding

Somebody suggested (perhaps Dan T) that I get new business cards saying "Bride / Wedding Planner". It does have a ring to it.

I ordered my wedding dress last Saturday and am very happy that that's over with. I had a rather specific idea in mind, and I was really worried that I wouldn't find it. I'm excited for the fittings that will slowly make this dress mine.

I've been looking at assorted wedding things today. I've been giving some serious thought on centerpieces.

This one is from the Knot. I like how these are both things I can get from Ikea: river rocks, rectangular vase. Check!

But I think I still really love this look (that I got from Blooms By the Box ), seeing the flowers through the glass. I guess it depends on how clear the glass is and pricing for the florist. I don't know if I want to use Blooms By the Box just because I don't wanna stress out about ordering something so close to the wedding. The caterer has some tea lights we could use too.

So I've learned a couple things so far while planning this thing. I was never the type of person to have her wedding all planned out already and all you need is the groom (oddly enough from someone like me, but it's true). So it's interesting what pops up. There are certain things I really don't care about. Somethings that I'm even surprised at how much it's just not important to me. Like the bridesmaids dresses aren't important to me (hey, they're all pretty hot, I'm not really worried about them looking absolutely beautiful). Ceremony decorations, my bouqet, bridesmaids' bouqet, food, alcohol. What are important to me are sentimental, meaningful, and unique musical choices and beauty. Beauty is a big one. I think the colors are really important and the design of the save-the-dates to the floral arrangements should somehow tie in together.

This makes it really hard to look through all the ideas out there. At least with my dress, I had an idea, but because I'm kind of open to other designs, it's a bit of a crapshoot. Also, you start feeling like having a beautiful wedding is impossible, because you can never do all these things they're suggesting. It's absolutely not true, but it's the lie I must contend with. I think it's very similar to reading Seventeen magazine and feeling really ugly and/or abnormal. I never did read those much.

There's a lot to stand up to the world to and say "NO!". Everyone has an opinion about weddings and marriage, and it's interesting the people that just freely give me advice, even when I didn't ask for it. Some of it is good of course, but it's annoyingly bad mostly, especially when they don't know me or me in a relationship with Ben that well. I think what's weird about it is that they left me alone about every other important decision I've made thus far, and all of the sudden they've got something to say about what date my Wedding should be. I'm realizing that I'm just not used to that. My parents were very hands off with me (as they continue to be now, except of course are more than ready to serve and help) and I'm just not used to people telling me something I've decided is wrong, especially when it was my decision to make. Deal with it! I don't care if you can come or not.

Obviously, I'm a little angry and stressed about it. Point is, all the random opinions from people who have no idea who I am is not helpful.

Listing

I think Twitter has really changed the way I think about blogging, and it's making it really difficult to write out a complete blog post, since all my thoughts are compact and held in 140 characters. Thus, list-like posts have become a really attractive, though unoriginal, way to write. Also, I haven't been pushing myself to write everyday, so it's hard to know which inanities of life is really worth writing about.

-I am now a believer of Zicam. I had a 3 day cold instead of the usual 1 week. It's great!

-Ben met some more family over the weekend when we went to DC...and he's not done yet (I think he's got one more family set to go...and a few bachelor uncles). I counted it and I think I have about 57 people in my family which includes grandparents, their children, their grandchildren, and significant others. There was a bit of a Pascual reunion on Easter with other parts of the clan (as in second cousins...including my 21-year-old uncle). Honestly, as far as reunions go, it wasn't that large (though the size of an average Nav Nite!), and there were a lot of missing pieces, I mean, people. Of course though, there were tons of people there who knew who I was and probably carried me as a baby, but haven't seen me in 20 years or whenever it was they moved to America. The basic questions were asked, "Where did you go to school?" "What are you doing now?" "Where do you live?" "How's your brother?" (my brother was a bit of a superstar when we were growing up, being the first child of our generation...ever, on both the Pascual and Nakar side). Also, I didn't realize there were so many people in my family who went to Columbia and/or lived in NYC at some point in their lives. And Ben was a trooper as he had to endure similar questions from total strangers. I don't think I'm grateful enough because honestly in his place I'd probably freak out a little bit meeting and being with so much family for about 24 hours. I tell ya, he is THE boy you wanna bring home to yo momma. He also drove all 10 hours of the trip, so more props to him!

-Getting a haircut this Saturday from my Janet. Very excited about it.

-I love, LOVE Jewish holidays because Alternate Side Parking is suspended on those days, saving me about 20 minutes of time and heartache. Happy Yom Hashah!

-It makes me glad that the skin tone on my hands is noticeably darker than the color of my desk, making me think I might have gotten a tan at some point.

-I still don't really like DC (...classic moment in the car with my uncle. I say, "Kind of reminds me of Boston..." *awkward look toward Ben), as in I don't think I'd be way excited to move there from NYC. I always go there to visit people, and not the city itself. Meanwhile, people are always going to NYC and sleeping over, while not necessarily visiting me. It's very telling of a city.

-I've been feeling really grateful today for the silliest things in my life. Which is more than I can say about yesterday, or even the entirety of last week. Amazing what a difference a day makes. Here's hoping I keep depending on Jesus tomorrow. Ephesians 3:20