Go Ahead, Have a Good Laugh...

I am the total opposite of my mom, I hate keeping stuff, I constantly throwing away things. With stocking up inventory for my business, I am constantly running out of space in my room. I can't use other areas of the house because I don't want to pile up more stuff, especially when my mom has literally 100s of boxes full of, what I think is, 'garage'. So I'm on another mission to throw away stuff I don't need. I have been throwing away some pretty nice/new stuff, maybe I should just have a garage sale instead.

But while I'm cleaning out my closet (for like the 5th time so far this year), I found these... I was part of the HK Ronald McD's club LOL! I don't think I ever joined any of their events though, maybe just once or twice. Anybody else a member of the McD's Club?

I found other stuff like my Hellokitty jewelry box and mirror, not that I like Hellokitty at all, but it's a waste throwing those away. Maybe I'll get around to EBaying them one of these days.

Speaking of throwing things out, this has been sitting on my desk for a few years now... given to me by Micah. It's a solid 198g Hershey Kiss... there's no expiry date on it, so I guess it's still edible...

Negotiation101

God has been good, so good! I FINALLY booked the reception hall and He gave me more than I imagined possible. I was at the hall for a total of 59 minutes yesterday literally negotiating down to the very last penny that I can save. For all those who have never negotiated in your life, you HAVE to try it! Not only with wedding vendors, but any vendors you deal with.

You do NOT have to pay the prices wedding vendors advertise (even non-wedding vendors - example below). You CAN negotiate you know? I've been doing a lot of research for my wedding planning career and at the same time for my own wedding. Here are some tips you can use when you negotiate with your vendors. Do NOT ever sign a contract without trying some of these negotiating techniques. You will be surprised how much you can get your vendors to go down on their prices. If I can do it, you can do it or I will do it for you!

Never show too much interest or emotion.
When I saw my reception hall, it was unbelievable! I was able to control my excitment even though I knew THAT was IT and I don't care, I will do whatever I can to book that hall! Do not ever show any signs that you will not be able to live without having your reception there. When you do, you force them to come after you and they know they've got you and you'll pay premium prices. As long as they believe you're not totally interested and are prepared to walk away, you put yourself in control. Also, speak with confident, show them you know what you're talking about and let them know THAT is what you want. Always look them in the eyes, do not look down or look else where because you are scared.

Inform them of your small budget
Let them know that you do not have a big budget but you are interested in their service or products. Be careful, letting them know you're (slightly) interested is not the same things as showing excitment and letting them think you cannot live without their service or products. Telling them that you like their service or products makes them feel good. This will not always work with all vendors, so forget about those you cannot work with and focus on the vendors you can work with. During the first appointment with the reception hall, the lady asked me what my budget is. Don't be afraid to tell your vendors your budget. When they do ask, that means they are willing to compromise to get your business. After my first appointment, I waited a few days and emailed her back saying that I really like their hall, however, with the deal she gave me, I had forgotten to take into consideration the taxes and the service charge, with everything totalled up, we are still over budget (I didn't lie, I did forget about the taxes and tips haha, but thought I'd give it another shot at negotiating, even though I was willing to settling, but never let them think you're willing to settle!). The lady emailed me back and said "I am willing to renegotiate, make another appointment with me." I was thinking, oh... that was easy...

What can the vendors gain from this?
You know what you want, but do you have something that they want? Do you have friends who will be getting married and can recommend them to the vendor? Do you or your other half have your own business that you can exchange? During my last negotiation session yesterday, I said to the lady "oh I have to tell you this! I'm so excited, I will be certified as a wedding planner in a couple of weeks!" She was totally interested because it was a hint from me that if I am pleased with their services, I will bring them customers in the future. Show them that this relationship will be of value to them. Another thing I was up front with them about is that my in-laws want Chinese food but I don't. But, if they are willing to budge with the price, my in-laws will save money, I will get my 6-course Western food and they will make more money because they are catering the food instead of Kam Fung. So try to make it a win-win situation. This doesn't only apply to wedding vendors, I used this technique with a salesman who was trying to get my mom and I to buy these darn expensive Bergnoff cookware made from Germany, it worked, we bought the cookware and got two other sets of wok at 80% off!

Befriend the vendors
Make an effort to befriend them and get to know them beyond a business/client relationship. I've made quite a few trips to the reception hall to see the lady many times before I finally booked them today. During those appointments I used them to build a relationship. Whenever I had the chance, I slipped in some personal information about myself, my fiancee or my wedding in general, let them get to know me more than just another client (just like how when I told her I will be a certified wedding planner, I was telling her like she was a friend). During one of the appointments, I was frustrated because our wedding date was still not set and everything was still up in the air. I kinda did a little venting with the lady so that she knows what I'm going through. Because I have had so many little chats with the lady, she had invested a lot of time on me and will probably be more inclined to make a deal with me. Otherwise, she'd feel that she had wasted time on me. At the end, I showed that I really appreciate all the time and effort she put in me and gave her a big huge (girls, only do that to women, that's why I like negotiating with women, the are less stubborn and probably more willing to help you out haha, very bad assumption. BTW, at first I dealt with the other guy from the reception hall and he quoted me a price that is like... wth? I don't even know why I ended up asking the lady for another quote, God is good! They have had no idea I spoke with both of them)!

Do your research
I am SOOO an internet bride. I've been doing a lot of my planning through the internet. Do your research properly, google the vendor's name, there might be some reviews from other clients. Get in touch with those clients and ask them what the vendor charged them, it's good to know these things when it comes time to deal with the vendors. Even if you don't do online research, ask around, perhaps some of your friends can recommend you a vendor or have used one of your vendors before. If not, ASK ME! I will try my best to help you and would make my day if I can help you save money. It also makes you feel good when you know you got a great deal. I know this other couple who also has a 2008 wedding at the same reception hall. Even though they got a little more in their package than we did, their price is way up there! Makes me super thankful for what God had given us, it also helps to pray before the negotiation haha!

That's about all the tips I can give you for now. Try some of them the next time you make a major purchase! And please don't ask how much it will cost for our wedding, it will remain confidential for a few reasons, one being this will be my job later on, I can't give you all the details and secrets to it =D

CHEERS!

Blessed or Spoiled?

It just occurred to me how blessed I am, perhaps some would say that I am just spoiled. Here I was at my office, freezing my butt off (yes, even though it is 5 degrees outside, if you know me, you'd know I'm always the first to get cold even in the summer months) and I was starving. Yes, I worked hard this morning (I actually got into work before noon!) so I just finished eating at 2pm.

When I finally had the chance to eat, I opened my thermos lunch box (one of those big ugly red or yellow ones from HK that says "SUPER RICE BOX" on the lid) and it is still nice and warm. You have no idea how good it feels to have a nice warm lunch when you're freezing, hungry and lonely in the office. Of course I didn't pack my lunch, I never pack my lunch. My mommy packs my lunch for me everyday 'cause she knows if she does, I won't and I'm going to end up buying fast food that's full of grease and fat which would probably take 5 years off my life.

So a nice warm lunch with rice (of course), veggies and pork. She knows I hate sandwiches and since I started having to come into the office everyday, I've only had maybe 3 sandwiches all together. If she doesn't have time to make my lunch in the morning, she'd come bring me lunch at around noon or whenever I call her to come. When she does drop off my lunch, she also brings me a cup of hot tea or coffee. Knowing how picky I am about food, she doesn't just pack whatever, every morning she'd come into my room to me two choices, "do you want 'this' or 'that' for lunch?"

On top of my NICE WARM LUNCH, she'd peel an orange for me or cut up a pear or papaya, sometimes pineapples and lichee/leechee/lychee (however you want to spell it) so I can enjoy some fruits after lunch. She always makes sure she puts a toothpick with the fruits. AND also a croissant or an assortment of chinese cookies/waffers for snacks in the afternoon.

What will I do when I move away from home?!! LP will definitely not pack my lunch for me, nor will I pack his... although I will probably have a home office in the future, I can't imagine myself cooking everyday. Sometimes when I'm home alone, I'd just skip lunch because I'd be too lazy to cook. Yea, surprisingly my laziness beats food. So I CAN go without food you know.

MY MOMMY IS THE BEST!

How's your Wedding Planning Coming?

We have finally decided to have our wedding a week earlier than planned, June 22 instead of June 29. We would like to go back to HK to see LP's parents (hope to travel with them a bit) and possibly go to Malaysia for a few days before LP starts his 12 month intern.

Other than the change of date, we haven't really done anything else. Still haven't put down the deposit for the Reception Hall. It was a good thing we didn't because we would not have been able to change the date, or we'd loose our deposit. Hopefully next week I will be able to go see the lady at the recpetion hall and do further negotiation. I know... so greedy, I am not satisfied with the $$ amount we've already saved and still want more discount. Hey if I wanna be a wedding planner, I better practice my negotiation skills! But I think the lady will be willing to budge with the price and there's no way I am paying full price for kids under 12. How does that make sense?! They said that they have to charge full price because the table set up for the kids will be no different from the adults, still take as much work. That make sense, alright, but c'mon, they do not eat anywhere as much as adults do (not unless you're Caleb). I will try to get them to throw in some other freebies too while I'm at it. You should never be afraid to ask. If you don't ask, you will never get what you want. The chances are, if it's something small, they will give it to you because they WANT your business. So it doesn't hurt to ask.

Wish me luck!

Wedding Thriller Dance

HAHAHA! At our wedding, the bridal party will have to do this (minus the bride and the groom, of course) or the macarena!

Are you REALLY Moving Away?!!

I realized many people don't know I'm moving away after our wedding. Where should I start? Me, as most of you know, I am not a complicated person, I hate complicated things. So the easiest way (and the shortest without typing all that much) is to do the following...

May 2007 - LP Finishes 1st Year
May 2007 - LP in HK
July 2007 - LP in Mtl
Aug 2007 - LP Starts 2nd Year
June 2008 - LP Finishes 2nd Year
June 2008 - Wedding
July 2008 - To HK
Aug 2008 - To Mtl
Aug 2008 - To 12 month Internship in the West
Aug 2009 - Back to Edmonton for 4th/Final Year
Aug 2010 - To a Church Somewhere in Canada for Full Time Ministry

So, what does a good wife have to do? Follow her husband... My parents are in Montreal, Montreal is my home, MCAC is my family, I've grown up here. I am unwilling to move away, but what can I do? At least we can all pray that after LP graduates, we will be assigned to a church that's in or near Quebec (The internship will for sure be somewhere out West). Please do pray for us!

A while ago I started reading this book called "Being a Girl Who Serves - How to find your life by giving it away". After the first chapter, I stopped. Yesterday, for some reason, I picked up the book and flipped to the beginning of the 1st chapter titled "Moving Out." Here are little excerpts from different parts of the chapter (ok maybe more than a little, but it's an easy read):


There are many times in our lives when God calls us to go somewhere or do something. He wants us to step out in faith in a situation that seems extremely ridiculous so He can amaze us with what He does. Most of the time we miss out on these exciting opportunities because we are unwilling to move -- or let Him move through us. When He asks us to move, He never asks us to go alone. He asks us to move because He wants to go somewhere and He wants us to move with Him!

We think God needs big people to do big things -- famous people like Billy Graham and Elisabeth Elliot. After all, why would He use us when He could use them, right? Wrong. God wants to move among the nations and across this country, and He also wants to move among the people in your sphere of influence. But many times we simply do not let Him -- not because we are strong enough to stop Him, but because He patiently waits for us to grant Him permission to work through us. A lot of times He works in us without our consent, but it is not very often that He uses us to do something incredible until we have agreed to obey, no matter the costs.

"No matter the costs," THAT scares me!

Sometimes the call to go is preceded by the call to pray. If you have absolutely no clue about how God might want to use you, then ask Him for direction. After all, He does promise countless times in Scripture to guide us and direct us. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you." That means God will not only tell us where He would have us go, but He will also keep His watchful and protective eye on us as we boldly move forward in faith. What a comfort that can be when the places He asks us to venture into seem scary and intimidating!

We need to learn to faithfully listen to God if we want to become faithful servants of Him. In each of our lives there will come a time -- and most likely many times -- when the Lord will come to us and simply say, "Go." There are specific places God wants us to be at certain times so that He can use us -- and even bless us -- in ways that are specific to that particular location.

But there is no reason to freak out over every little detail of life. It is simply a reminder that we need to listen. [...] And the truth is, fulfilling that calling to its fullest might require that we go and serve God in many different places throughout our lifetime. We gain more experience in every place we go and in very way we serve. Sometime God calls us to certain places to educate and prepare us for the place He wants us to ultimately end up.

Sometimes He tells His children to go out into the mission field. Perhaps that is a calling you believe God has on your life. Other times, God tells His children to go home from the mission field because their time of service there is done. At times God's call to go, or come home, isn't followed by a clear reason for why the call came. But the biblical accounts of God telling His children to go are countless.

In Joshua 1:2 He tells Joshua: "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel."

The practice of listening to the voice of the Lord created an intimacy and trust that made the difficult parts of their moves easier than they would have been had they ventured out without hearing God's voice. When we know God is calling us to go somewhere, we never feel like we are going alone.

True service to the Lord is a combination of two things: FAITH and SUBMISSION. And they work together. If we don't have enough of one, we often don't have enough of the other either. It takes an incredible amount of faith to serve the Lord because most of the time when He says to go, we have no idea what will happen along the way.

Faith is risking what is for what is yet to be. It's taking small steps, knowing they lead to bigger ones." The author says "What is could be a lot of things. It could be popularity, security, stability, friendships, or a relationship with a certain guy. What is God asking you to risk? Even the most adventurous of us don't really like risk. We'd rather be comfortable. We'd rather play it safe. We'd rather by protected. But someone wise recently told me, 'God likes risk because risk involves faith, and faith is God's business.'

Sometimes it is extremely hard to risk what is for what is yet to be because we don't know what the yet to be is exactly. We like guarantees and bottom lines. We like familiar things, secure things, and definite things.

Not knowing what will happen along the way is one of the things I'm afraid of. One thing is for sure, I do not want to step out of my comfort zone at all. I am lazy. I am scared. I am comfortable right now.

My familiar things = Montreal, MCAC
My secure things = parents

I NEED TO STEP OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE! Okay... well maybe I'm not prepared to step out to AFRICA full time and honestly do not ever want to have to prepare for that... At least right now, I know that we will still be in Canada 3 years from now. Even if it means that it's going to be a 6 hour trip on the plane every time I want to come back to Montreal, Canada is good.

I hope these excerpts from the book is also encouraging to those who are a little lost right now, don't know what program to go into or where to go for university, dating problems, feel like changing jobs, debating whether to go on a missions trip...

When I grow up I wanna be YOU

Miss K: when i grow up i wanan be YOU!
Me: ay?!
Miss K: ur website is really good!!!
Me: when you grow up?! hahaha you're a gown up miss k
Miss K: okay........... i wanna be you... NOW!
Me: omg i'm not sure if that's a good thing... that's actually pretty scary hahaha
Miss K: fine! i'll stick to being me... w/some of ur skills!!! i feel like it's such a big step to me becoming... caryn! hahaha

Oh boy... while I was flattered somebody wants to be "me"... I was wondering what it would be like to have to deal with "me"! It is definitely NOT a good thing, I am actually pretty evil. I am sure Billy will agree with me on this one.

Can you guys imagine another "you"??

Although, one thing is for sure, I am very thankful that God has given me so many gifts and talents. I am told that in other's eyes, they often see me as a "very capable" & "skilled" person. Thanks guys!!! Although a lot of times I always wonder who am I that God would bless me with these things, I have learned to contanstly be thankful for the things God gives me, especially my talents. LP only told me recently that he admires my skills. Awwww. I never knew that!

GOD IS GOOD, INDEED HE IS!

How did you know he's the "ONE"?

Alright, that is my first question... good question! Haha! I think this will be a very short answer.

After the first few days we started dating, I knew for certain LP was the one. How? I DON'T KNOW! I guess with all the relationships I've been through, I always had doubts in my mind. But it was different with LP. God was (and still is) good to me and He made sure I knew from the beginning that LP was the one He had provided for me and I think we even talked about marriage less than a month into our relationship.

When our small group did a series on "dating", I shared this with them. Everybody was amazed at how I was so certain LP was "the one". It was then that I realized how blessed I was to know right away because most people in our small group (yes, even though they're all younger than me) are still searching or wondering if the guy/girl they are dating is "the one". I guess it was also then that I felt SUPER old! What am I still doing in Amos' small group?!

Where to Begin?!

I realized I have too many stories to tell of how good God has been to us, but I just don't know where to start! Maybe you guys should ask me questions... Ask me anything! Any topic! Whether it be wedding related, non-wedding related, one of those tough spiritual questions (well LP will probably answer these questions), anything about relationships/dating?? ANYTHING!

"Be diligent... handling accurately the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2:15

SO! I can't just blab about my wedding and post bridezilla youtube videos on my blog... Afterall, I will be a C-moe (I don't really like the sound of that). In Small Group these past two weeks, we talked about addictions. When we hear the word "addictions" we immediately think that it is something bad. During Addictions Part 1, we talked about the bad habits that we want to change (although when we split into guys/girls group, the guys only talked about women, that is a horrible addiction!). Addictions Part 2, we want to encourage everybody to develop a good habit of reading the Bible everyday. We concluded that those "Bible in a year" plans are stupid and will just make us not want to read, as 3-4 chapters a day is extremely overwhelming, especially when we start from the OT and do not understand what is going on because we're so concerned about getting through those 3-4 chapters each day.

Then of course, we talked about what is more important: the quality and not the quantity. What is the point of reading the entire Bible in a year if we don't even understand most of it? Making an effort to understand what we read is very important. Especially for us today in 2007. Why do I say that? This short article talks about how there's no such thing as "being too careful" as we "take the popular [or secular] understanding of key words in the Bible and compare them with what God himself says these words mean." There's a good example of that in the article. Give it a read, it's very short.

Bride Has Massive Hair Wig Out

I just happened to come across this video and I just had to share it with ya! I'd just fastforward to 1m30s, that's when the good stuff starts. If I were the groom, I'd have second thoughts... if this was real, I feel bad for the bride too, she must be so stressed out.

I will NOT be like this crazy Bridezilla!!

The Evolution of our Monogram

From my mega long list of DIY projects, this was the first I tackled. Basically the monogram sets the tone for our wedding and I wanted to get that done first. Be prepared you will see it on all our wedding related things. Here it goes!




Stage #1









Stage #2 - Played with the Chinese character a bit (It is LP's last name for those of you who can't read Chinese).









Stage #3 - Not satisfied with the sheepies.









Stage #4a - Added the black outlines to the sheepies.










Stage #4b - Love the sheepies, but thought I'd try other sheepies.









Stage #5 - Nah, both LP and I like #4 sheepies better.







Monogram - used at the back of all cards and invitations.



SO?! What do you think? Even though we've decided on sheepies #4, do let us know which one you prefer. You might probably think that all the sheeps are the same! But yea, that's how picky I am.

Oh and by the way, in case you're wondering, we changed the date to June 29 because we are no longer having a Saturday wedding (June 28). Sunday wedding rocks! But looks like we will be changing the date again within the next couplea weeks. Keep you guys posted.

WHY?!

I could have sworn I would never start a blog in my life, or even put up a website for our wedding (which is currently under construction, so you will not be able to access it from the sidebar link just yet). WHYYY? I can't believe I did this. What am I doing?! I guess this is only because people keep asking me how my wedding planning is come along. So instead of typing the same story and messages over and over again on MSN, or keep sending people a photo of my reception hall... thought I'd just post here and if anybody asks, I'd just give them the link to my blog. I already know this will be like facebook, another one of those time-wasting thing I do every week (I do NOT go on facebook everyday and do not plan to blog everyday!).

And of course, I want to show off all my DIY projects! For those of you who don't know, DIY means "do-it-yourself". I have a mega huge list of DIY projects that I plan to tackle. The list definitely scared LP!

For all those who aren't married yet, i.e. IVAN & ANITA, JOELLE & Mr. EYE dude, you guys should like subscribe to my blog LOL! You never know when I will drop a huge wedding money saving tip! Right Joelle?!!

I am amazed at myself, and very thankful of course. I have never negotiated in my life and I hated doing that even in HK. I managed to negotiate a great price with our reception hall. ALL wedding vendors are money sucking monsters. Yup, that's right, that would be me included for I will soon be a wedding vendor and a certified wedding planner!

I have really only dealt with our reception hall and tried on my wedding gown. I already saved $31,726.99! Definitely more savings to come! I think with all the money we save from all the money sucking vendors, we can get a very decent car! Although... driving in Edmonton, AB will definitely be a pain (their highways have traffice lights and the speed limit is 70km/h, O-H M-Y G-O-S-H!).

And of course, I have so much to tell of how God has blessed us in this relationship and all the surprises He gives us! Hope you will enjoy this blog and also be touched by our testimonies.