Picture of the Week

My cutie brother's drawing was published in the West Island Suburban yesterday as their favourite picture of the week. Congrats Caleb!

My Daddy

As most of you know, my dad is out of the country a lot. During each business trip, he's always traveling between China, HK and Malaysia, his schedule is very hectic and stressful. Even though he's always half way across the globe, he continues to care for the family no matter where he is. Even though we each have our own lives when he's in Montreal, we don't really talk a lot about what's happening in each of our lives, I'm always out, he's always out, he'd be asleep when I get home... you can say we're not close at all, unlike the CHAN family (guys, you do NOT have to tell your parents everything that's going on in other people's lives haha!!). When I was young, every time we say goodbye to him at the airport, I'd cry. Even till this day... well I tear, I don't "cry" anymore. Last time I teared at the airport was back in January.

Throughout the past year or two, my dad and I have grown to be very close. Because of my wedding and mostly because of our businesses, we started sharing with each other more. I constantly thank God for that. It's amazing what God has done. Whoever thought the business aspect in our lives would bring us closer together? Because we're both in business, he understands the stress I go through everyday even though I have never once told him (or other people for that matter) how stressful I am, yet somehow, he knew. He started emailing me everyday with Bible verses and his thoughts and how God comes through for him every time he faces a huge obstacle or business failure. He knows I am lazy to open my Bible to do my devotions, so every morning, when I check my email, he will have an email waiting for me with devotions so I have no excuse not to read it.

Here's part of what he sent me this morning:

WALKING WITH GOD

"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." -- Genesis 5:24

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go through life without giving God a thought? How lonely and frightening it would be to live without Him.

We who are children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ not only have a wonderful future, but we can experience a deep, settled peace even now as we enjoy daily communion with Him. From our first waking moment in the morning to our last conscious breadth at night, we fellowship with God.

An unknown poet has described what it means to walk with God:

Begin the day with God, kneel down to Him in prayer;

Lift up your heart to His abode and seek His love to share.

Open the Book of God and read a portion there,

That it may hallow all your thoughts and sweeten all your care.

Go through the day with God, e'en though you may not see,

Where'er you are, at home, abroad, He still is near to thee.

Converse in mind with God, your spirit heavenward raise;

Acknowledge every good bestowed and offer grateful praise.

Conclude your day with God, your sins to Him confess;

Trust in the Lord's atoning blood and plead His righteousness.

Lie down at night with God, who gives His servants sleep;

And when you tread the vale of death, He'll safely guard and keep.

May we all have that kind of fellowship with God. Then we will know its blessed benefits. -- RWD

Following the short devotion, he wrote to me in details how he goes through each and everyday drawing strength from God. My dad really does reflect our Heavenly Father. He is such a great example to me.

My Inspiration Decors

I fell in love with three websites and they became my inspiration for wedding decorations. I hope to one day be able to put together a wedding with a big enough budget for me to let my creativity go wild.

The first website I absolutely love is by Preston Bailey. He has done weddings and events for people like Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Uma Thurman, Joan Rivers, Donna Karan, Liza Minnelli, Matt Lauer, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Laurence Fishburne, Emmitt Smith, and Bill Cosby. Too bad I can't show you any of his works on my blog, you absolutely have to check out all the different sections of Preston Bailey's portfolio!

The second website I go to for inspiration is David Tutera's. He also has an impressive clients' list that includes Star Jone's wedding, J.Lo's Still perfume launch, Post Grammy Parties, Matthew Mc Conaughey, VP Gore, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Susan Lucci, Elton John, Barbara Walters, the Rolling Stones and the list just goes on.

Preston Bailey and David Tutera appear in episodes of Get Married giving tips on bridal bouquets and decors for elaborate events.

The third company website that inspires me is Designing Trendz Inc. Please do take a couple of minutes to browse through their photo gallery as well. I love these designs and they will be my inspiration and my goal to work towards! Pretty big dreams, but wish me all the best =D

Remember: Discharge Yourself!

Advice from Justin...

yuprules@hotmail.com says (1:20 PM):
did you know you are suppose to DISCHARGE yourself before opening your gas tank or touching the pump?

A Woman Try Parking Her Car

GLORIA! This is dedicated to you and I! We're really not that bad! You should tell us all about your car stories hahahaha!

Oh why not, I'll start with myself =D I have quite a few car stories, but I only remember two right now, you can remind me Gloria. So once I parked and got out of the car. I tired to lock the doors with the remote... didn't know where the remote was... then I realized I didn't even turn off the engine, so obviously I didn't have them in my hands! I hope nobody else was sitting in their car in the parking lot watching all of that.

And the other time I was meeting someone at Pho Bang for lunch, I tried to park right in front of La Belle Province next to Pho Bang. It took me QUITE A FEW tries to get in, actually I am usually pretty okay with parallel parking, sometimes I can be a bit off though haha. If you know where Pho Bang and La Belle Province is, you'd know... people were inside eating hot dogs and was really entertained by my parking skills, I realized that and I didn't really want to get out of the car. Gosh, I hope they didn't get any of that on their camera phone.

I've a Billy Bob story too, not about parking though. "Recently" (if you know me, you know my "recently" and my "the other day" can mean a year ago) on our way home, we went to the drive through for some midnight snacks at McD's. He ordered a soft ice cream and I wanted an apple pie, but they sold out. As the guy passed the ice cream cone to Billy, my bro had it in his hand for literally less than 1 second and it went on the floor. The guy at the drive through looked at him weird and gave him another one. It was just TOO funny, you had to be there, the SPLAT was pretty loud and it happened so quickly, we couldn't stop laughing all the way home. Very embarrassing 'cause he only ordered one cone and there were a lot of cars waiting behind us.

David Ting

Here are photos of my cutie cousin, don't you just want to pinch him all over?!!

Have you Paid for your Rings?

Remember to pay in full what you bought!

Wedding Rings Repossesed During Ceremony
2006-03-27

Mbabane - A wedding in Swaziland was interrupted by a private investigator seizing the wedding rings for non-payment, reported The Times of Swaziland on Sunday.

The PI, Hunter Shongwe, said: "My intention was not to spoil the wedding, but my instructions were clear - that I had to get money or the rings back."

He had stormed into the wedding venue as the groom was about to exchange vows with his new wife.

"I politely asked for the groom who handed them over to me without any hassle," Shongwe told the newspaper.

The rings, worth 2 100 emalangeni (about R2 100), had been bought with a cheque that bounced.

The ceremony was delayed for two hours as the couple scrambled to get new rings.

Eventually they managed to borrow a pair from officials attending the ceremony.

Original Article

Wedding Proposal - OUCH!

National Women's Show

I am exhausted! The National Women's Show was a great success. Women are crazy when it comes to shopping and entering into all the contests there is. We gave out too many flyers to be counted.

Once again, when I thought I was not going to be able to pull through with it, God did the work. First off, we rented a 10x10 feet booth to display our oil portraits. The van we rented on Wednesday to go to Ottawa with killed two birds in one shot, I used it to transport everything to the Women's Show on Thursday. I thought I might as well set up a table with some CLP Invitations products. After dropping everything off, I quickly went to my wholesaler and ordered some more cute little nick-nacks to be picked up on Friday morning, just in time for the show.

I had everything all planned out, Friday morning was going to be a "rest" morning since I've been running around and was getting really tired, I wanted to take it easy before I've to stand the entire weekend at the show. I got a call Friday morning from the Women's Show saying that it is mandatory to have a carpet or some sort of coverings for our 10x10 feet of space. Sheesh! Last time I spoke with them, they said it's not mandatory... where in the world am I going to get cheap carpet?! Renting a 10x10 carpet from the show would cost $159 + tax???? But there was good news, the other reason for their call was that the company who paid for their booth next door canceled at the last minute, so we had the chance to expand to a 10x20 feet space.

I was very thankful when she told me on the phone, but once I got off the phone, I realized it might not be a good thing after all, it'd make my life more difficult! $269 to rent a 10x20 feet carpet for 3 days???? I also had to rush to my office to grab some more easels and paintings to display and to fill up the extra space we had. Rushed to Palais des Congres to drop off everything. The loading dock closed earlier than they said it would, I had to carry everything from my car into Palais des Congres and up to the 2nd floor all the way into the exhibition hall. I must have made 10 trips back and forth, what a waste of time and energy. Then I rushed to Reno Depot to pick up some sort of floor covering, drove super fast to the wholesaler in Laval to pick up the products and on my way back to the Palais des Congres, I made a wrong turn and ended up taking the long way to Chinatown from Laval. I was about to cry while driving 'cause I was all by myself thinking I would never be able to set up in time for 4pm. Kept praying and praying for God to give me peace and not to worry too much.

Finally got to Palais des Congres at 2pm and thought I'd set up whatever I can before 4pm and whatever else I can't set up, then that's it, can't do anything about it. God was good, I was able to set up most of the things I wanted to set up. Just left a couple of boxes in the car, that didn't really matter, as long as the over all look of the booth was good. I wouldn't want to be still setting up after the show starts, our company would look pretty bad. This is what it looked like 2 minutes before 4pm Friday.

What did I say? God is good! Everything worked out to our advantage. The 10x20 feet of space provided us with more visibility and exposure. Some people of course weren't interested in oil paintings and they didnt' realize we specialize in oil portraits from photos, CLP Invitations nick-nacks also made people stop at our booth, while they were checking out, Gloria (my little labourer for the weekend) and I bombarded them with our flyers and information. We also had a raffle for a beautiful 24"x36" oil painting. At times our booth would be flooded with people who wanted to fill out the ballot for the draw, you know when a crowd gathers on the street, that attracts even more people! That was really good, also our chance to give out flyers and info. When they realize when we can do with their photos, they were amazed. The booth next door, Restylane, gave free Botox demonstrations throughout the day (DISGUSTING!), people crowded around their booth to see what was going on and that was also our chance to give out flyers since the crowd spilled into our "territory".


For some samples of oil portraits and how amazing they are, you can check out our website. Honestly, the photos on the website does not do the portrait any justice. You should see the real thing! People continued to be amazed at how talented our artists are, I am amazed too! Ask Gloria!

Speaking of Gloria, this time, instead of stealing pens from the booth next door (like she did at the Wedding Show back in January), she kept stealing BAGS from Restylane!

Today is finally my slack off day, YAY!!!

Interesting...

Here are some interesting wedding stories...

Indian Groom Too Drunk to Wed, so Brother Steps In
Woman to Marry Ex-Husband's Father: Wedding with the In-Laws
Lost Wedding Ring Found Two Years Later in Stomach

Pretty Cool...
Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses
Cashmere Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses

I Don't Understand...

I don't understand how people can be addicted to Facebook?? Especially bureaucrats, political staffers and MPPs...

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/210014

CLP Invitations Growing Across Canada & US!

For the past month, I have been working on a project and putting a business plan into place. I have turn my entire house into a factory! I set up "stations" in my house for different purposes. First, my living room coffee table turned into a Cutting Station where I have a cutting mat, paper trimmer, exacto, scissors and a ruler to cut any large or small pieces of papers needed.

Second, there's the dinning room table where I worked on these little guys...
They are cute little key chains that come in 7 different colours made with satin rattail cords with different combinations of coloured beads. My mommy also turned into my "worker" for the past month and this is what she was mass producing...

Caleb was also helping me price tag the products. He loved helping (cheap labour... more like free child labour)!

Two stations in my room. My computer desk was used to make these magnets packaged in a clear cover tin container. These are popular wedding favours.

I even used my bed as a station to make greeting cards, of course I have to move the stuff to the floor at the end of every night.

I had all these "stations" because since I was mass producing, I can do a little bit of this and a little bit of that and switch back and forth so I don't get bored doing just 1 thing over and over again for 72 hours straight. My house ended up looking like this by the end of last week...

I went on my first official "business trip"
yesterday. It was only a short trip to Nepean, Ottawa but hey, it was still a business trip. I rented a Ford minivan, loaded the entire truck with boxes and off I drove to Ottawa with my mom and Caleb. But before we took off, we kinda encountered a little problem... the Ford minivan had no key hole for the trunk and no lever in the front to pop the trunk with. I am embarrassed to say that I spent almost half an hour trying to figure out how to pop the darn trunk! Looking all over for the trunk lever and reading (omg) the manual I still couldn't figure it out. Guess what? All 4 doors had to be unlocked before the trunk can be opened... even if I had the driver's door unlocked, it wouldn't work. I felt like an idiot for the first time in a very long time.

After a 1.5 hours drive (too long), we arrived in Ottawa. Of course I got honked for not turning right on a right light and gas is only 105.5 (compare to 118.4)!

Finally, we arrived at a store called Amaze (a.k.a The The General Store), it has stores across Canada (of course, except in Quebec! We're always left out. But apparently they are hunting for a store location in Quebec and will open up in the near future). Then I set up my little 4 feet x 8 feet of space on the wall. Other than the Merivale Mall in Nepean, Ottawa, my products will also be selling in Niagara Falls and Canada's largest West Edmonton Mall. This summer, CLP Invitations will be expanding to other Canadian locations as well. But these are three to start with.


Amaze offers free shuttle services from store to store. All I had to do was drop everything off at their Nepean store and they will ship the goods to Niagara and West Ed. When the goods arrive, the staff at the store will set up everything for me. The products retailing in West Ed is pretty much the same as those in Nepean. The products at the Niaraga location is completely different. I have a floor display/spinner right next to the cashier. I was lucky to get that prime location in the store.
From the photo above, the products might seem ordinary, wait till you see the products close up! They are super cute, if I do say so myself. Here are just a few samples...

Jacket Journals (I'm in love with these)


Specialty Bookmarks

Foot Notes










We also carry some books in these retail stores as well as these innovative Smiles Made Easy.

photo taken from www.smilesmadeeasy.com

And finally, thank you Caroline & Lizzy for these beautiful and creative handmade beaded greeting cards! They will be selling at West Edmonton Mall beginning May 15th!
What about the US? I've been making these Wedding Program Fans for some customers from the US. I originally made these for Tanya & Jun's wedding last September. Thanks guys!
I think that's about it... for now!
Congratulations, you've made it through my longest post up-to-date! Thanks for reading!