Life Update

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I haven't had much motivation to write. Life has been pretty mundane lately. Not in a bad way, just nothing really exciting has been going on. Here are some things that have been going on recently.

Wedding invitations have officially been sent out. Now that, that is out of the way I really need to get focused and start getting shit done for this wedding. I have never been the girl who has planned her wedding since she was 5. This really isn't my thing at all. It's very overwhelming and stressful. There is so much to be done still. We are getting married in Preston's Best Man's parents house in the backyard. Hopefully things will start falling into place soon. The main things that need to get done still are getting everyone in the party there outfits, finding and purchasing wedding rings, center pieces, bouquets all that mumbo jumbo that I wish I could just pay someone to take care of all of it but we just don't have the money and are having to do all of this stuff on our own. Thankfully I have girls who are crafty and can help me with the DIY stuff. Here are a couple of photos from our Save the Date photo shoot. Photo credit goes to my very good friend Allyson Boyd.

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I'm still practicing on the drums every once in a while. Surprisingly I didn't loose it and am able to jump right into the beat. I also got down the double on the kick drum. That was a good feeling. Now to try to learn how to do a triplet. As of right now, that seems impossible but that's also what I thought before I had the single down on the kick drum. Practice makes perfect I guess! Preston tried teaching me the first part of the Violent Femmes song "Blister in the Sun". Supposedly it's one of the easiest songs to learn how to play. Pssh, I call bull shit. I tried to get down the first 5 notes but it is extremely hard and you can't even tell I'm playing a real song cuz I'm playing it slower than slow. But it's still kind of fun. 

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My work gets involved in this thing called Corporate Challenge. It's a 2 month long sports event kind of thing where companies from all over the valley participate. Every sport you can think of is most likely to be an event. From Flag Football, Track and Field, Archery, 3D Dodge ball,  Shooting, Cart Racing, Kick Ball, Tug a War and many many more. We used to participate every year but when the economy took a shit we stopped for 3 years in a row due to lack of funds. This is the first year we got back into. I participated in Tug a War and Flag Football. Flag Football is usually the only event I like to do because back when we were doing this every year we won the Gold Medal 3 years in a row. This year we ended up only getting a Silver Medal so we were a little bummed but we all had a good time. We played 3 games in a row. Now it's coed so we have to have 4 girls on the field at all times and we only had 4 girls total so we were playing offense and defense back to back with only 10 minute breaks in between games. Now I do not exercise in the least bit and am a heavy smoker so by the third game my body was giving up on me. The next two days was hell. I was the sorest I think I have ever been. I really need to figure out someway of exercising. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures from football but here is a couple from Tug a War. We placed third. 

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 What's new with your folks?!?

New Tattoo

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!! Mine was pretty good. I finally got my ass back in the chair to get tattooed. It has been a while. I originally got the portrait done 2 years ago. Shitty photo but here is the original navy photo and the portrait.

 I have always known what I wanted to add to it. I just needed to get some money before I could continue. As soon as I got my tax return, I made my appointment. This drawing War and Peace has always been in my Uncle's room since I can remember. I have always been really attached to it. The morning glory with barbwire symbolizes all of the really good times and all of the really bad times that I have had with my family.

Now the barbwire is a little outrageous for me. I didn't want my tattoo to look like it came out of the 90's. I just wanted the barbwire to be in there but not be the main point. After discussing this with Brett and a couple erased sharpie drawings, we finally figured out exactly how I wanted it.

We still have to add the lettering "Mr. Belvedere" to the banner and he wants to touch up the rest of his face so it all blends and looks new. My arm was really swollen and getting lumpy and he didn't want to aggravate it more by sharpying on me so we stopped for the night. Going back in a couple of weeks to finish. I am extremely happy with the outcome. I love how it flows around my arm and it doesn't take away from the portrait at all.

Brett who is my longtime friend and tattoo artist is really amazing. I watched him do his first tattoo back when I was 17 and living with him. He progressed extremely fast and is now an outstanding and known artist in Las Vegas. He has been at Pussykat Tattoo Parlor for a couple of years now. I found out during my appointment that he will be moving to Heritage Tattoo in the next couple of weeks. It's a good move for him. But he did tell me that he won't have his own room there. I really love the fact that he has a room right now. It stops random people from interrupting your session and being nosy and annoying. The new shop is just a wide open space I guess. But from what he says, it is a very professional and classy shop and a place where you don't have to deal with the other annoying customers trying to figure out what your tattoo means and all that bullshit you don't feel entitled to talk to them about because you don't know them and will never see them again. Here is a view of part of his room. I love all of the random stuff he has in there. The taxidermy is a little weird and came out of nowhere. I guess he recently got into that stuff. I thought it was kind of funny. I should have took more pictures but I was full of nerves before we started.

A Day To Myself

Happy Hump Day

Source

Unfortunately we did not get to make it to Santa Monica for my birthday this past weekend. Plans fell through. Hopefully we can plan to go again in the near future. 

I did take a day to myself on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and even though my mood was down, I wanted to take advantage of the weather and have some Roxanne time. I usually am not one to do things alone. I don't enjoy my own company like I should. Something I am working on. I did have a nice day to myself though. I had lunch at Panera Bread on the patio, soaking in the sun. It was delish. I really love their sandwiches and their Acai Berry Tea. I don't so much like how pricey it is though, but I wanted to treat myself. After lunch I walked to American Apparel to spend my gift card. I ended up buying 3 track shirts, a tube top bra thingy, track shorts and a sweater, these two items being my favorite. American Apparel clothing is just so damn comfy. 

I am almost done with reading "Memoirs of a Geisha" so I went to the book store to find some new reads. As soon as I walked in I saw "Lords of Salem" by Rob Zombie. I have been dying for this movie to come out and I didn't even know that there was a book. I had to have it. A friend recommended "Divergent". I always read the first chapter of a book before buying to make sure I will be somewhat interested in it. From what I got it kind of reminds me of the Hunger Games. I'll give it a chance. Then I came across "Churchill's Secret Agent". A true story of a Secret Agent working for Winston Churchill to be trained as a spy behind enemy lines during WW2. I love reading anything that has to do with the Holocaust and WW2 so this should be a good read. All three books are completely different genres. I like to mix it up or else I get bored. 

So all in all, I had a pretty good day treating myself. 

I Love Presents

Preston wanted to give me my birthday presents early, of course i obliged. I fucking love presents. Who doesn't right? He got me this really amazing antique phone. It's so beautiful and I love the sound it makes when you turn the dial. He also got me a $100 gift card for American Apparel. One of my favorite stores. I never get to shop for myself so I'm pretty ecstatic about my soon to be shopping spree. 

Appreciation: The Small, The Big and Everything In Between

This year hasn't been the best for us. We are still in the house hunting process which started back in August. Its a never ending shitty cycle of submitting offers and getting denied because of cash buyers. January hit 6 months until our wedding. We went through a big rough move in February. Our lives haven't been exactly how we would have wanted it and we haven't been the happiest couple because of all these changes. Things were a bit awry for a while. 

Now Spring has officially sprung and things are starting to look up again. The wedding planning is well on it's way. I've been meaning to make a wedding post. That will come soon. 

This blog has helped me a lot. Being able to write about things whether they are important things or not has been keeping me in good spirits. Preston and I are reconnecting more and more every day. So that being said, I wanted to make an appreciation post about everything little to big that I have appreciated lately. 

- The weather turning nice earlier than usual

- Drinking beer and smoking cigarettes on our patio with Preston having small talk. 

- On my commute to work I get a whiff of pine trees in the same spot. 

- When day turns into twilight. The sky is the color of clear deep ocean. 

- Desert sunsets

- Our neighborhood bar and walking to and from. 

- When Preston calls me Darlin.

- Cooking dinner again. 

- Taking pictures

- Having a job that somewhat allows me to blog, tumble and print my wedding invites. 

- Preston, Preston, Preston

- Cuddles

- Birds chirping in the morning.

- My birthday is this Saturday and we get to beach it up and camp!

- Getting comments on my blog posts. Thanks 

- The rain we got a few weeks back. It's very seldom here in the desert. 

- Netflix. Before we moved we had no internet or cable so this has been a blessing. 

- Thanks to the IRS for giving me back a little more money than I was expecting. Tattoo Shop I will see you soon. 

- My mom for helping out with house hunting and paying for some of our wedding. 

- My group of girls that are trying their hardest to make this wedding planning as easy as possible for me cuz this just aint my thang. 

- Matching bracelets I got for Preston and I. 

- Letting go of things 

- Getting hugs from behind while in the kitchen. 

- Getting away from the dark cloud. 

- Being able to walk around in my underwear. 

- Getting back to reading on a regular basis. 

- This blog. 

What are you guys appreciating these days??

Closer to 30

I am turning 26 this coming Saturday.  Now shower me with presents and love please. :) . I have always been one that is obsessed with my birthday. That girl whose birthday lasts a week and everyone must oblige to that! But that all ended last year. When I turned 25 I had a minor quarter life crisis. I was freaking out. I realized that I have been alive for a quarter of a century. I know that sounds really ridiculous but until then I always still felt like a kid. I was always the baby in my group. I was battling the fact that I had nothing to show for those last 25 years. I was feeling like a failure. Life had caught up to me real quick. I had never had these thoughts before. I really didn't want to be 25. Staying at the age of 24 would have been suffice. And now i find myself at the age of 26. I am officially closer to 30.. Waaahhhhh....But life must go on and we all age right? Let me present to you a little timeline of my life.

Toddler

Teenager

Adult

Not much has changed huh? I still feel I look the same now as I did when I was in my teen years. It's that Asian blood in me, keeping my look pristine!!

Anyway, I have had a themed birthday party for the last 4 years. They have all been a major success and extremely fun. But this year I decided not too. So I decided instead of throwing a huge party I want to step away from the chaos in my life. Preston and I decided to take a short trip to Santa Monica. The plan is that Saturday we will leave around midnight and arrive at the beach just before sunrise. On the beach watching the sunrise with my favorite person, best friend and fiancee.  Romantic right??  Hopefully our plans work out and we play on the pier all day and maybe find a place to camp for the night then head home Monday. I'll let you know how it goes!! I am really excited to get away with Preston. Our lives have been really hectic and this will be a nice way to reconnect.