art-ificial ramblings...

Let the planning begin

2010-02-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I put the deposit down on the wedding location, location fee and paid the coordinator fee. The wedding will be held at a private estate in Summerland. None of these are refundable so there is no turning back now.

Snowboarding in Snow Valley

2010-02-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

Microsoft 70-562

2010-02-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

I thought I would have several months to study for this test, but I needed to take this test to become a Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (MCTS) and I needed to take it before the end of the month for work reasons. So this month, again, was devoted to late night and early morning studying. Fortunately, when I took the practice exams that accompanied the book, I was already scoring in the 70's w/o having read the book. I needed to identify my weaknesses since I only had a month to study. My weaknesses were apparently in mobile computing, templated controls and healthmonitoring. After having read the book, doing the lab exercises, and taking more practice exams, I took the test and ........ PASSED!!!

The questions were longwinded and so were the answers and I was dozing off (from lack of sleep). I had a hard time focusing. But, I believe having a solid development background in ASP.net programming along with the book (and their lab exercises) helped me past this test.

Now if I take one more exam (70-564), I could get my Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) certificate. Fortunately, my company does not require me to get this certification anytime soon, so I will hold off. Now I can sleep..............

----> I am kind of on a roll, so I am going to start studying for the 70-564. What's one more exam....? Unfortunately, I can't find a book for this exam, so I am unsure how I am going to prepare for this exam. I did find this blog which may give me some direction.

Bridal Bouquets

2010-02-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

I had no idea there were so many types of bridal bouquet.
Nose Gay

Posy

Beidermeier

Cascading

Crescent

Arm

Pomander

etc..etc..

I find that I prefer small and simplistic arrangements. Something like the nosegay bouquet with lots of greenery.

Happy Valentines

2010-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

courtesy of Rusty's Pizza

2010-02-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

Went to an art exhibition by Carlos Mascherin. I aboslutely love these pieces and am feeling inspired again...

A night at Chef Karim

2010-02-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

We heard that Chef Karim of a little Morrocan restaurant in town was going out of business, so a few friends and us went to bid farewell. Here are the boys belly dancing it up.

Microsoft 70-536

2010-02-05T15:40:00.000-08:00

I took some time off from wedding planning to study for the Microsoft exam: 70-536 .Net Framework Application Foundation. C# was my preferred language. I spent the 2nd week of January reading the entire book. The following week, I re-read the book again and took notes. Last week, I re-read the book once again and typed up notes as I went along. I also started the practice exams that came with the book. This week, I stepped it up a bit and bought a practice exam from Transcender. I was averaging about 90% on the book's practice exam and 80% on Transcender's. In addition, the last three days, I started pulling all nighters because I was planning to take the test today. What a day, it rained like cats and dogs and I got lost trying to find the test center. I barely made it on time. Don't even get me started on Prometric phone operators.

I've been so focused on the exam and am completely exhausted now. The exam was incredibly hard. I read the book three times and felt pretty confident but was immediately brought to my knees. There were questions on the exam that was not covered in the book. I was able to eliminate 1-2 of the answers in most cases, but still was not confident. Thank goodness there were no regex questions.

But all the hard work paid off.... I PASSED!!!!!!. This test counts as credit towards the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications. I just have to take one more test: Exam 70–528 : Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Web-based Client Development. I think I will hold off for another month or two. It's been exhausting....

edit: 2/6- I decided to study for the 70-562 : Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development exam instead since I am developing in 3.5 and not 2.0. 70-528 seems to cover more fundamental asp.net programming where 70-562 will extend to that client side scripting and AJAX. I read that Microsoft intend to retire the MCTS, MCPD and MCITP when mainstream product support ends. That means support for the product or technology. . Visual Studio 2010 (.Net 4.0)is set to be released around April 12.

ARRRGH.. all this tech talk to putting me to sleep..

Now back to wedding planning :)

Bridesmaid / Colors

2010-01-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

I think I've narrowed my colors down to eggplant, pewter and olive. The color of the bridesmaid dresses will be pewter. I am going to be providing my three bridesmaid and matron of honor with this style card. The idea came from Ashley Brooke. Bigger pewter swatches will need to be attached to the card.

Wedding Dress

2010-01-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

I got my wedding gown!! I am soo excited!! I must have tried on a dozen gowns, but kept going back to this one. I didn't want a ball gown and I wanted something strapless. So my friend, Deena, found this one while perusing through their bridal magazine. I am so thankful she did because I overlooked it on the internet. Since I wasn't endowed with a big chest, this dress gave me the illusion of a larger chest. It is a taffeta draped A-line gown with beaded lace appliques on bodice and skirt with buttons running on the back. I chose it in Ivory/Champagne instead of solid white because it looked better against my skin tone. I have it on Lay-away in a size -0-!!! (the diet is working..)

I also bought the MAKENZIE heel - with sparkling rhinestone brooch. It will also be dyed to an Ivory/Champagne color. I also don't want a long veil and may opt for a birdcage veil.

Woe is me...

2010-01-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Three weeks into the wedding planning and still have not locked down a venue. I am waiting on contracts from the private estate in Summerland. I may not get that until early next week. I fear the fees will be too high and then I would have to resort to Plan B (private estate near the Mission). However, Plan B, could be booked up, too. And I don't have a Plan C. To make matters worse, the photographer and caterer that I was interested in are not returning my emails or phone calls. I keep telling myself I have ten months; I should not stress.

On a positive note - wedding dress. Registered at David's Bridal for tomorrow and really like these simple ones:

More planning....

2010-01-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

My best friend got married almost two years ago and they sent out Save The Date magnets. I thought this was a great idea since a good place to keep anything in our household is on the fridge. I probably will need to ask him where he got them but in the interim, MagnetStreet appears to be pretty reasonable. The date is set for Saturday,October 16. So I will probably start getting these sent off around May or June.

I've also spent the last two weeks perusing several bridal sites: theknot, perfectwedding.com, weddingchannel.com... the list goes on. Each one of these have similiar wedding planning tools. I really like the planning tool at PerfectWedding because it gives a day to day guide. The only drawback is that the site is really slow.

The next item on the list -- wedding dress!! David's Bridal has extended their $99 Sale to this weekend, so my friend and I are heading to Oxnard on Saturday. In Santa barbara, we have appointments at two bridal boutiques. Neither of them allow photos to be taken while trying on dresses. Bummer!

Marylinn's Couture Bridal & Tuxedo
Ana Maria Bridal Boutique

Went on a tour with Alison of EventsUnlimited to the private estate in Summerland today in the pouring rain. I absolutely love it. It will be the perfect backdrop for a romantic rustic (but not country) wedding. Hopefully I can book this venue within the next couple days. Although the site fee is in my budget, the fee for the wedding coordinator may not be.

On a down note, Kevin and I had an disagreement tonight about.................God. I consider myself a Christian although I haven't set foot in a church in over 5 years. But I believe in God and want to raise our children in a Christian environment -- possibly going back to church. Kevin is an atheist and he pointed out with great asperity that he would not go to church and vehemently forbade me from taking our (future) children to church. We left our disagreement without surcease.

Wedding Color

2010-01-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

So I have started looking at colors and am entertaining the colors of eggplant and olive. Deep eggplant-colored calla lilies and olive-colored bridesmaid dresses.

Santa Barbara Venues

2010-01-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

Because I envisioned a rustic like wedding, my first inclination was a ranch or farmhouse like venue. One of the spots I liked was Orella Ranch in Goleta (however it looks like they are booked through 2011)

Jules Bianchi

El Capital Ranch in Goleta was nice

and so is the Figueroa Farm House

AV Photo

But because I was limiting my guest list, I wanted something smaller and more intimate (and affordable). I went to a local bridal show and came back with some other venue ideas:

Santa Barbara Musuem of Natural History

Attasalina Photography

Santa Barbara Historical Museum

Halberg Photographers

I began to peruse other websites for more local venue ideas:
Santa Barbara Weddings
Kelly Oshiro
Pure Joy Catering
SB Beach Front Facilities: Cabrillo Pavillion Arts Center, Chase Palm Park, Casas Las Palmas

In the end, I decided that I wanted to rent a private estate. The homes ranged in price (some depending on the size, others a flat rate) and some required over night stay. These were more in my budget:

Hope Ranch: Casas Das Palmas
SB: Cuatro Vientos Estate

One of the places I viewed was Las Tapias located near the SB Mission. They only hold six weddings a year in their garden, so it makes it more special. An upstairs apartment is included in the rental (2 nights).

Next week I will be visiting another private estate in Summerland.

Grey & Eggplant

2010-01-10T21:01:00.000-08:00

My sister, my Matron of Honor, loves the color purple. I like a deeper eggplant color purple:

Grey & Chartreuse

2010-01-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

I love the color of chartreuse and am contemplating taupe colored bridesmaid dresses with it.

Inspiration

2010-01-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

Kevin and I got engaged on NYE! I was estatic. Since then I have been on a non-stop 24 hour Wedding train. I've been googling and hoarding pictures and saving links for inspiration when I decided I needed to create an inspiration board. With the help from dessy.com, I created the following.

Since the wedding will be held in Oct, I decided that I wanted a rustic kind of wedding. I like handmade goods (mason jar candles) and anything related to nature and water. I figured I would stick with two flowers that were in season during this time - sunflower, cala lilies (maybe a burnt-orange rose here and there).

I also love these long tables. It will be a small wedding and I think these long tables will create a more intimate setting:

My ideal wedding - beach! I simply love this rustic beach wedding and I absolutely love this wedding ceremony:

Tianna in DR

2009-12-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

Tianna is spending the Christmas break in the Dominican Republic. Her dad sent me these pics.

Tianna's 2009 Winter Recital

2009-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

Men Wear Pants

2009-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

"Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone. Men took charge because that’s what they did. But somewhere along the way, the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khaki’s and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny. But today, there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by and cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes. We need grown-ups. We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It’s time to get your hands dirty. It’s time to answer the call of manhood. It’s time to wear the pants.”

I love this ad from Dockers. I don't see why critics think it is sexist. I went to Nordstrom the other day and a guy cut right in front of me, opened the door and let it close right behind him. ARRGH!! I'm still old fashioned, I like my man to open the door for me, say "Bless you" when I sneeze, pick up the check, and carry me over the threshold.

Company Holiday Party

2009-12-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

Friday was our company holiday party at Stella Mares

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Last year I prepared a Thanksgiving meal for the first time. For the turkey, I turned to Alton Brown's recipe. Last year I brined the turkey for about 8 hours (since it was just an 11 lb turkey), but I noticed it still wasn't as soft as I would have liked it. This year, I brined it for 15 hours and it was a lot softer. Maybe next year, I should let it brine for 20 hours?

I also made a ham -- fortunately it was already pre-cooked. So, 15 minutes in the oven to heat was all it took. Sides included: Green beans with shallots, brussel sprouts with pancella, mashed potatoes with crispy shallots, candied cranberry sauce, apple and sausage stuffing, Thai coconut pumpkin soup, and for desert, a pre-cooked Ralph's pumpkin pie. We drank it all down with a 2005 Villa Mt. Eden Pinot Noir.

There was only 3 of us, so lot's of leftovers. I am very thankful for my family, job, friends and my health. Although, it was a great Thanksgiving, it was also a sad one. I learned today that my cousin died. She was not yet 40 and leaves behind several kids and a husband. Though, we haven't talked in years, I will miss her. Rest in peace, Kao.

Star Trek

2009-11-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

Bought the dvd this weekend and have watched it three times already. I loved the original Star Trek (Shatner and Nimoy) but this new one was exhilerating. I am eager to find out who would play Khan as "The Wrath of Khan" was one of my favorite. Who can possibly replace Ricardo Montalban?? I've read that worthy successors could be Javier Bardem, Kirk Acevedo, Nestor Carbonell, Antonio Banderas...

I wish it would be played by an unknown.

House

2009-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

I love this house on the corner of Islay and Santa Barbara. It's been in construction for almost a year.

Keb Mo

2009-11-12T14:04:00.001-08:00

I keep missing Keb Mo when he comes to SB, this time I am committed. He will be playing at the Lobrero Theatre in January

Here's a listen: Dangerous Mood

Yikes... one of the deterrants is the daunting ticket price!! Need to start my Christmas wish list.