Blog Koogether

Day to remember...

2010-07-01T10:16:00.001-07:00

It's a day to remember and celebrate. After 3 years of being alone in LA, I finally have a date to move back to SF and reunion with my husband. Still can't believe it is happening. Looking forward to end of August. A lot to do now while i am still in town. Packing of course. Visit all people, places and restaurants that I'll miss in LA. I always had a wish that if one day I can really leave LA, I'd wish to go to Disneyland with all my dear friends in LA. Wish this dream will come true.

Whole new life to start on September. Thanks a lot De, I am extremely grateful to you.

Koogether 2

2010-06-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Haven't typed a word here for long time. The last couple of months had been very difficult to me. I was unmotivated to do anything. Felt like a dark cloud was over my head. Now I see the rainbow. Will I see the sun soon?

Today is the 2nd year of our wedding anniversary. Just want to leave a few words for this special day.

Nothing to celebrate cause there are too many problems to solve.

Queen of the Month

2009-11-08T09:32:00.001-08:00

It's MY birthday today!

Honeymoon Koogether

2009-09-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

We're flying to Berlin in 3 hours!

Our 18 days Europe trip will start from Berlin, then down south to Prague, Vienna and Salzburg where we'll rent a car to drive north along Rhine River back to Berlin.

Can't write too much here cause we're leaving home soon. Wish us a fun and safe trip. Will blog about it with lots of picts when we're back on Sept 30!

We are going to honeymoon finally. Yeah!

090909

2009-09-09T21:09:00.001-07:00

It's a special date - 09.09.09. Want to write something on our blog @ 9:09pm on the Ninth day of the Ninth month in 2009. The number 9 in Chinese sounds alike to the word "longevity" in the language. So it's an auspicious number. Wish longlasting love, friendship, good health and good luck...

Tonight, I'm very sleepy as I'm still having jet lag after coming back from Hong Kong. So I'm going to nite nite early on 09.09.09...ZZZzzzzzz

We are on the MAGAZINE!

2009-07-18T23:38:00.001-07:00

Sometimes in July. Something to disclose.

It's time to tell the little secret we've been keeping. WE ARE ON A MAGAZINE - the Knot!

*We are ONLY on Northern California, issue 182. There's a Southern California 181 with same cover but we are NOT on it.

Not baby. Not moving to SF. Not winning Lotto. Good guess but too boring. We were hoping someone would come up with something more creative n' interesting. But what could we expect others to think of a newlywed besides baby and baby. No one cares us except when will I get pregnant. Sorry to disappoint you... but not yet.

I supposed no one would guess it right anyway. Even Hadi and I would never expect things like that. Can't believe it had come true. We are excited but mostly feel very rewarded cause Hadi and I did all the design for the wedding ourselves. Now we feel like our hard work is recognized and paid off. Our ribbon idea and cake design are Knot picks!

My ribbon idea on Knot homepage!

We still aren't too sure how it happened. Was it because I submitted the photos or our photographer Ingrid turned in her portfolio? It was a year ago when we received an email from the Knot. They informed us that our wedding had been picked and asked us to fill in a very long questionnaire from how we met to the every single details of our wedding. Then I learned that it took a year of work for a magazine to publish (at least it is how the Knot does it).

We waited a year patiently. Said nothing to no one cause we weren't sure if this would really going to happen. It was too surreal. Our wedding on a US wedding magazine? Why us?

We got three complimentary magazines from the Knot before the issue was on the shelf. We still didn't say a word to anyone. Now it's on sale everywhere and we're sure it's really happening. So delighted to share the honor with you, especially our guests who experienced the big day with us. You're part of our beautiful memories and definitely part of the magazine feature. We are not trying to show off here. It's truly all about rewarding, also assuring I am one small step closer to my wedding design dream one day. Hey, email us if you know anyone who needs design for wedding!

Diving Koogther

2009-07-08T22:30:00.001-07:00

No, "something to disclose" isn't about diving. Not yet time to announce the "something". Scuba diving is another thing. Our website homepage has everything we could think of doing together like "Eat Koogether. Travel Koogether. Play Koogether....".But we didn't know we would dive koogether. Right, Mr Koo loves challenges. He just wants to try everything. And I, a person who would freak out on roller coasters, went sky diving and snowboarding at black diamond with him. After flying up the sky (actually diving down), now down to ocean. What's next, husband?

3 hours pool class on Saturday morning

It is a 4 classes course that we're doing. 2 classes in pool and 2 in the ocean. Finish in two weekends. We have a book to study, a dvd to watch and exam to take. After finishing all these we will get certified and then we can go diving on our own everywhere on earth without any guidance.

Open water class - practice in the ocean on Sunday 1pm to 11pm

I scuba dived at Great Reef Barrier, Australia a few years ago. It was a tourist activity. So everything was much easier cause it was all set up and I wasn't required any knowledge at all. In this diving course however, I need to learn be my own and take care of all the equipments and my own life. That wasn't the hardest part. The hardest part, many students agree, is to put on the tightest suit on earth.

O, there's another difficult part which is to stand the one and a half hour boat ride from Long Beach to Catalina island. I already gave up the class and got my refund back because of this. I don't want to go back and take the boat ride again. It's a dive boat with oxygen tanks along both sides. Seats are hard and not comfy cause it's not a luxurious cruise trip. You can't sit back, relax and enjoy with the tanks at your back when the boat goes up and down, up and down for 90 mins. It's tough for me. One time is enough.

I didn't know you can barbecue on a boat. The captain is cooking hamburger and chicken for our dinner.

There isn't really much to see in Catalina ocean except some fishes and lots kelp. No coral at all. Very different picture from what I experienced in Australia. That's another reason I ain't so motivated to be back to Catalina again. Scuba diving is a heavy duty to me. It took us lots of energy and we were both exhausted at the end of the class when we returned to land at around 11 at night.

Mr Koo in full gear. Special thanks to Michael and Yvonne for generously lending us.

My conclustion is I didn't feel I was enjoying myself. Mr Koo isn't as vulnerable as I am though. He will finish the rest of the course and try to be certified. I don't mind him taking a "longer" break, may be something else will keep him busy before he will come up with another idea and put me into another challenge again.

Something to Disclose

2009-07-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

printing K!

2009-06-30T23:28:00.001-07:00

I have to print all the K! That's the reason I'm taking a letterpress printing class at Art Center right now. It's a summer night class. Meet once every week from May to August. 80% female students. My professor is like a Santa Claus to me - a nice old guy with white beard and big tummy.

When I told people I was going to take class for printing. They were like - huh? What for? Sounded like I was wasting money to learn do a cheap dirty job. I always had to explain - "see those nice cards in one or two colors with cool impression of the printed image on the paper? You can feel the texture. Right, printed by some kind of old traditional machines...real cool"! Still, my parents wouldn't understand how amazing it was. I have to really print and bring it with me next time I go to Hong Kong and show them the products.

It was wedding that brought me to letterpress printing. Right, wedding again. Always about "Wedding". Sorry, this is what this blog for. I realized many wedding invitation cards were letterpress printed when we were looking for one. Actually many greeting cards and stationery are now printed by letterpress. It just becomes more and more popular. May be people are tired of flat digital printing. I just love its uniqueness and the personal touch cause it's a manual process. So I decided to find out how to do it and do it myself this summer.

Tonight, I printed my first K on the letterpress machine. How exciting! My mom might think it wasn't a big deal at all. But I'm sure she would appreciate more if she knew it was actually quite complicated and required lots of practice and experience to achieve the perfect print. It's quite expensive too as I had to pay for the film, plate and paper. But I would rather spend my money to do this cause I'm creating the cards to my loved ones. I hope they'll like the handmade gift with exceptional beauty and authenticity.

The BIG K is the front. I have to print the back next class. I'm thinking to continue taking the class next season cause I have many ideas that I want to print on paper. Most importantly, I have LOTS more Ks I want to print!

Fresh Sour

2009-06-18T11:18:00.001-07:00

When I blogged on February, I posted a picture of the tree in the front yard of our house in Foster City. There were only branches with some buds.

Time steals on. Buds burst into flowers and were blooming in the past few months. We are not sure what kind of tree it is. Looks like cherry blossoms in white. They were beautiful. But I missed lots of the pretty scenes cause I wasn't there often to see the growing process.

As summer was approaching, flowers turned into fruits. These little home grown produces look like cherries but taste like plums, just a lot more sour cause they aren't ripe yet. They are still green. Only a few had turned red but they were usually eaten by animals before we picked them. I hope they were birds or squirrels but not mice. Hadi was especially excited. He couldn't wait for the sweetness. He just ate the green ones but then complained the sour afterward.

I just thought we were very fortunate to have such a productive tree to enjoy throughout the seasons. These pictures were taken on a very nice day before sunset. The shots were quite beautiful I think. The green leaves and yellow light were soft and warm (didn't look like from the last hour of daylight though. More like morning time to me), yet together they were full of live and energy.

Next time I go home in Foster City, I have to be fast before any little creatures get my first red fruit...

P.S. 618 - Today is our "Dating" Anniversary. Celebrating 11 years and 5 months being koogether!

The Never Melt Chocolate Cake

2009-06-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

After our wedding rehearsal last year, everyone in our wedding party who came to practice the ceremony received a Godiva wedding cake chocolate as a little gift from us. Hadi and I got one of each favor too - the white and dark chocolate.

The thing is we didn't open the boxes until our wedding anniversary last week. Surprisingly they were both in perfect condition after a year. I think they wouldn't melt if we leave them for another year or even longer cause they were made with solid chocolate. It was very hard when we tried to cut it in half.

My comment about these chocolates, (I think you already got it right), they look better than they taste. They do look nice. That's why I took lots of pictures of them. The taste wasn't bad. Only that if you're thinking of buying it one day, expect that it is the appearance and packaging most of your money goes to.

1st Wedding Anniversary

2009-06-08T00:28:00.001-07:00

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we went hiking! Would anyone guess it right? We didn't even know we would do such a healthy activity!

"Fairy house" behind Old Mill Park

We didn't plan anything particular. Just wanted to relax and enjoy the day. The hiking idea came up when we were going to El Paseo for dinner and drove by a place in Mill Valley called Old Mill Park. Yet it was kind of late by the time we discovered it. We just quickly drove through the neighborhood and were amused it was actually a natural beauty. Houses were like in fairy tales. A little river ran by the houses which were built in a forest among all sorts of vegetation. Gee, people living there were really lucky. So nice we decided to come back again the next day even we knew we had to give another 6 bucks to pass through the Golden Gate bridge.

Redwood forest in Mill Valley

So we did come back on the 8th. We walked throught the park this time. It was actually small and surrounded by lots of tall redwood trees that drop huge shadows over the place. Kids playing and swinging at the little children playground. Some people were doing yoga while others walking dogs. A guy was playing a unique woodwind instrument in the woods. The whole picture was beautiful and peaceful. There was a trail started from this Old Mill park that led all the way to the top of the hill. Before we hit the slope, I needed to find a restroom and that made me find out another nice place which was the Mill Valley public library. It was built so nicely with the nature that you didn't realize it unless you paid more attention.

So we began the long steep stairs of the trail called "Dipsea". It was then I realized I forgot my camera. I was so angry to myself. How could I not have it on such an important day? I tried to calm myself down by thinking it might be God's will whom wanted us to totally enjoy ourselves but not to bother about pictures. Put them all in mind not computer....I ended up using my cell phone to take pictures.

So we walked for 3 hours in total. From about 10:30am to 1:30pm and we enjoyed it cause we love woods and nature. We went hiking before and liked doing it once in awhile. We didn't talk much this time during hiking cause we saw two signs that made me very nervous. One warned about mountain lions. Another said trail closed due to mudslide and was illegal to pass through. But Hadi was excited. He was obviously a LOT more adventurous than I was. He didn't care about the mudslide at all and would be very happy to "meet" the mountain lion. I totally ignored his enthusiasm but just kept walking and refused to talk until we returned to the ground.

Dipsea trail is very long. We just covered little part of it. The entire distance is 7 miles from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. A lady told us an annual trail race was coming up this month. It was one of the two oldest trail race in the country. Number of runners is limited and all these racers are carefully selected. We did see people practicing for the race. It was really a challenge with all those stairs and slopes.

Mill Valley is a little old town. We discovered something new everytime we went there. I feel there's still a lot waiting for us to explore. I'm glad that we both love this place and were so fortunate to have our wedding there. Of course I want to revisit this place every anniversary. But I believe I can't wait another year before I pay the 6 bucks again.

Anniversary Eve

2009-06-07T11:09:00.001-07:00

We celebrated our anniversary eve evening at a restaurant called El Paseo which is just right across the street of our wedding reception site Outdoor Art Club in Mill Valley.

This restaurant was very mysterious to us when we first discovered it. Hidden in a small alley, this historic brick restaurant was always closed when we walked by during the day. We later found out it just opened for dinner. It looked very elegant, private yet mystical. It made us feel we had to go there one day and find out what it is all about. Was it exclusively for vampires?

Tonight we finally experienced this decent French restaurant. Found out it's actually run by a Japanese restaurant group. Chefs and servers were mainly Japanese. You know how Japanese comics always create stories based on French background but portrayed in Japanese. We felt like we were dining in a real comics world...

El Paseo is a "lots of stars" restaurant on Michelin list. We don't always necessarily agree with the Michelin guide. We're conservative before going to El Paseo. But after tasting it, we gave thumbs up. They really offered quality french cuisine with Japanese culinary inspiration. All dishes were beautifully presented and delicious. Everything was carefully prepared and served to their customers.

I love this heart shaped butter!

I don't want to give too much details here. I'll say, worth to go and experience yourself.

BTW, El Paseo means a leisurely walk. I think we got more than that...

Cake Again

2009-06-06T21:03:00.001-07:00

We, the two cake lovers, asked Kay (our wedding cake baker from Beaux Gateaux) to bake for us again for our anniversary.

Same cake again - three cake layers of chocolate chiffon cake, whipped cream filling with hazelnut daquoise and peach mousse with fresh raspberries. Sounds yummy to you?

It's just a plain white square cake. No decoration and no toppings but same fillings. The shape is just right to be cut into four small cubes. Split it and enjoy it in four days. In four mornings, I wake up and know that there's a little piece of sweet waiting for us to make the day full of life!

Delighted to be able to taste it again. Still love it. Wish we can have the same indulgence every anniversary.

Preface to June

2009-06-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

A year goes by in a flash. It's June! We've been married for almost a year now. Just a few days away from our first wedding anniversary.

Hadi and I will be taking the 8th and half day of 9th off. I don't think I can concentrate if I have to stay in LA alone and go to work on those days anyway. To celebrate this special day, we'll revisit our church and reception site during the long weekend vacation. We've reordered the same wedding cake but in mini size this time of course. We didn't really taste it on the wedding day. I just remember it tasted good and lots of guests told me so. So having it again will allow us to really enjoy the favor of it.

Just writing a short note here like a preface to welcome June that we've missed and loved so much.

Golden 30!

2009-05-06T08:39:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to my dear husband! This is your first birthday as a married guy. You're turning to your 30! A big milestone in your life. 30s is the golden time when you're still young but now more mature and responsible, know yourself better and have a clear direction in your life. I'm sure when you look back, it's the age that you'll miss a lot.

To celebrate Hadi's BIG birthday, I gave him a little more surprises on top of the cards I made and birthday presents I bought. I flew to San Francisco unexpectedly on his birthday to have dinner and cut cake with him and the family. Then before the clock struck the last few minutes of his birthday, I gave him birthday cards sent by his friends from Hong Kong and Macau. I knew Hadi always misses his friends. So I asked them to write him cards, sent them to me first and then I gave them all to Hadi on his birthday. Hadi was really surprised and delighted by his friends' cards. They even took some videos which were not expected. Thank you all guys. I have to special thank to Mo Leung who was the coordinator of all these. Really appreciate your BIG help!

We made Hadi's birthday a long weekend vacation cause we both took the following Monday off. We improvised a weekend getaway to CalPoly San Luis Obispo where we both studied at. It happened that the annual show of Architecture graduation students took place over that weekend. It was worth a drive cause Hadi ran into his classmates whom had not seen since his graduation day. And now he is in touch with them again. We spent the night at Santa Barbara and went biking the next day....it was really a fun and relaxing birthday weekend.

Mr Koo, you still have the supreme authority to enjoy in the rest of the month cause you're the King of this Month! But after the last day of May, I will be back to my throne and be the Queen of the entire year. Haha!

Welcome to the 30. Happy Birthday!

New BFF

2009-05-05T22:42:00.001-07:00

One word - Lazy.

What have I done? What have I been doing all these months and being so lazy to update our blog.

Well, I just don't feel like blogging. Have been just being with myself a lot. Hm... may be too much. Yes, being with myself but no one else (of course except my husband. We still try to keep our schedule to meet every other weekend. Either I fly or he comes). I didn't see any friends or relatives. Just wanna go home straight after work or stay home alone on weekend. O, but I found a new friend...

Now I found out when a person HAD to BE alone, with nothing particular to be busy with (another word - no goal to pursue. Unlike when I was immersed in our wedding planning. Woke up every morning with only one word "wedding" in my mind), one would discover something new that he/she had never realized such thing could be so interesting before. In the past few months, I had finished the Twilight saga (yes, all four books in the series. And yes, I am now a fan of Robert Pattison. Oh, should I claim myself fan of Edward Cullen instead? Will that sound less crazy?). I had also read Wuthering Heights as well as Revolutionary Road. These two books were both finished in one weekend respectively. I kept reading and reading. Suddenly realized there were too many books I could read. Too much to finish in one's life.

I never like reading. Before the last few months, reading was like a task to me. Basically I read because I had to. Usually for school or exam. When I was still a student, I didn't find reading a hobby like lots of other people did. School had already given me too much to study. I rarely picked up a book unrelated to school. Time didn't give me a chance to taste the fun of reading.

Now I found it an enlightenment. Besides pets which are the general options, I think books are another dependable form of companions to humans. There's a lot of time in a person's life when he/she has to be alone. When it comes to a point that loneliness hits the bottom, and there's no power to turn on your computer/TV/video game......books may be your true friends.

No, I'm not pregnant. Not Yet.

2009-03-31T16:48:00.001-07:00

Recently when I called up my friends or family (People whom I do not buzz often. May be once a month or every two months), their first question was the same, "You pregnant"? When I told them "NO", they had the same response too, "Why are you calling then?".

Well, my dear friends and family, I don't even want to try thinking if anyone would care about me when one day I really have a baby. You're now already so concerned about baby when it doesn't even exist yet. When I really have one in the future, I guess every call of yours will be asking about the baby not me. All my birthday gifts will all be baby clothes and baby toys!

Elizabeth Gilbert in her book "Eat, Pray, Love" said that to surely have a baby is like you are determined to have a tattoo on your face. Your FACE. Not other parts of your body where you can hide when you regret about it and don't wanna show. A baby is a big and serious decision. Hadi and I are both not ready yet. We are still enjoying the freedom which we will never have again if a new member joins in.

A friend of mine was even funnier. Since I haven't emailed her any of my latest pictures for awhile, she thought I got pregnant and kept the secret from everyone until I visited Hong Kong in the Fall holding my new born baby to reveal the big surprise. How imaginative she was! Alright, to prove that I'm not pregnant, I'm posting my very latest picture on this blog. (Looking fat doesn't mean I'm pregnant!)

The next time I call you, please don't wonder about the reason behind. It can be very simple - I miss you and just want to say hello.

Month of Valentine

2009-02-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't realize it's the last day of February if dad didn't remind me. Didn't blog for the whole month. I didn't mean to but this 28-day-month, even though is short, wasn't easy for me.

I was very sick for a couple of days. Couldn't go to work. Couldn't move. I was like paralyzed. Left side of my neck n' back hurt. Muscles were stiff. I was in lots of pain
staying at home alone. Went to chiropractor. Felt like I was repeating the nightmare I had ten years ago when my body was hit by a van. Sandy and Hadi were by my side back then. But this time wasn't that lucky. I was on my own. This put me into deep depression. Didn't want to call any friends. Only a few close family knew. I found myself not wanting to talk when I'm upset. I used to share before. But now I believe one has to suffer his own physical or emotional pain. No one can actually help.

I sounded very negative. But don't worry it's over now. Otherwise I won't be typing all this. I'm cheerful again. It was just a dark cloud passing through. Recently, I keep myself very busy. I'm obsessed with a vampire love story created by Stephanie Meyer. Never found reading so wonderful. I'm not a reading person. But this "Twilight" wave has hit me strongly. It is making me finish dinner quickly once get home from work, and go to bed like 8:30pm so i can read the books for 3 hours in bed before I go to sleep. Hadi is getting jealous of the book cause I have been so concentrated n' ignoring him when he tries to talk to me. Um.. the series comes in four. So I have three more books to read. Sorry, my whole March is fully booked.

Feburary is the month of Valentine. Didn't do anything particular on the Valentine's Day even though I felt it quite special as this is our first V-Day after married. But I was grateful enough to have Hadi with me in LA on the day. I was going to blog about it. But the rest of the month didn't give me the mood.

Don't know what picture I should put to go along with this blog. We only took a few daily life pictures which I don't think are interesting enough to share. Well, the cherry blossom tree at the entrance of our house in SF is in full bloom now. It's beauuuutiful and delighting our family. Beautiful cherry blossoms in full bloom don't last long, nor does the dark cloud stay forever... :)

Koo Hei Fat Choi!

2009-01-21T20:11:00.001-08:00

We'll soon be ringing in the Year of the Ox. New Year starts out fresh. Hadi and I, now Mr and Mrs Koo, are giving out red packets for the very first time in this upcoming Chinese New Year!

This BIG day used to provide me a significant chunk of my annual revenue, haha! Unfortunately it will only be expenses but not income any more which is one downside being married. O, but we're belt-tightening after the two weddings. Can we come up with some innovative things instead of cash? How about a coupon for a free dinner at the Koo house? Or may be a slip of greeting notes. Promise to be as fun n' surprising as fortune cookies.

Well, just kidding. Indeed, we're excited to hand out red packets to the youngers. We're gearing up. Got brand new dollar bills from the bank already. And looking for the nicest envelopes for our first Lai See. Actually there aren't many recipients. Hadi's only niece. I have a few cousins that count on one hand. Isn't a problem. Just that from now on, don't expect us to show up in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year. Cause we'll be broke... :P

Since the new year falls on a Monday, I'm going to take the day off n' stay in bay area with the Koo family. Hadi's parents arrived on the same day of Obama inauguration but was just coincidence. They will stay a few months with us. I guess parents now become our only source of Lai See. Sigh....

This festive weekend, we'll visit friends n' family. Go "Yum Cha". Cook lots traditional celebratory dishes at home together. Probably make Shanghai wonton n' may be spring rolls which resemble gold bars. O, yeah, gold bars! Feasting with family makes the lunar spirit warm and merry.

Kung Hei Fat Choi! We're always looking forward to the new year with eager anticipation. Wishing everyone boundless cheer and prosperity in the year of the Golden Ox!

Celebrating 11th Anniversary

2009-01-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

118 is not only my birthday but is also my anniversary with Hadi. November n' January are both the months that mean to my life. This coming Saturday will be our 11th anniversary. Yes, we've been together for eleven years now. It's really a day to celebrate. I'm thankful to the love from my husband.

My best friend Sandy gave a speech at our Hong Kong Disney wedding. She probably wanted to go with the theme of Disney. She introduced us the prince and princess of the fairy tale. My heart disagreed with her at the moment. I didn't protest that night. But it's kept in me. And I feel like I have to clarify somewhere sometimes to express my thoughts.

I never thought of myself the one in a fairy tale. We had our wedding in Disney simply because I am a fan of it. It has been giving me very nice feeling since my first visit there where I felt warmth n' bliss. Neither I am a princess nor Hadi's a prince. That's too flattering. Indeed, our story hasn't been easy. We were always apart. And we're still apart even after marriage. We have had lots difficulties in the past eleven years. Luckily they were usually things other than the love between us. I had a very difficult time when I just started my career alone in LA. Hadi n' I always have problems about our status in the country. We're always not sure if we'll get a visa. Don't know if we'll find a sponsor. We question about our root n' not know where we can stay stably n' permanently.

I love the recent Disney commercial "What will you celebrate". Hadi n' I had dealed with hard times together. But it is these obstacles that make us value each other more n' stay together stronger. I always feel blessed. My parents are divorced n' I basically grew up in a single parent family. But I'm thankful that I have a great mom. And get lots of love from my family n' friends. My story is made up of lots happiness n' unhappiness. But I'll define my life a happy one cause I see more laughters than tears when I look back.

I don't know who will visit my blog n' read my words. I keep writing on our wedding blog even after getting married because I am telling myself my own story. Like a record or memoir when my memory won't be good one day. Then I'll still be able to see how I was once feeling n' thinking. I wish to read it after many other 11th anniversary. OOOooo, thanks for reading. Having you come across my words today, good enough to celebrate cause I have you listen n' share with me. BIG hug there! So...what will you celebrate today?

Frozen in Boston

2009-01-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

A few days before we set off to Boston for our new year vacation, a winter storm there almost made me change my mind to go to Hawaii instead. Surprisingly, it turned out a fun trip. Just a "little" chilly...

It was like below zero everyday. Snow everywhere. The sun came out but didn't warm us up. We had to wrap all over ourselves except the eyes. Water left in our rental car over the night turned into ice in the next day morning. Clothes pulled from the luggage was like just fresh from the freezer. We were the little shivering things in the big freezer. We talked with steam which went through the scarf that covered my mouth. I wore my warmest hat plus the down jacket's hoodie, still my head wasn't warm enough. Thick clothes made us stiff n' could hardly walk. Yet all these didn't stop us from getting around.

Probably the SUPER cold weather was something new to us that made us excited. We had never been in such a cold weather. We go snowboarding. But believe me, it's totally different. Glad that I didn't choose to study in the east coast. It's a right n' happier choice staying in California where sun rises n' shines everyday :)

One of the targets of this trip was of course Boston lobster. So lucky to have lobsters four times during the trip. Main target though was to visit the prestigious campus including Harvard, MIT, Yale, Brown n' Rhode Island School of Design(RISD). They are gorgeous. Felt like I was in Europe.

Went to lots museums. Harvard Art museum was free cause the coat check guy was so nice to us. Harvard museum of Natural History, well-known for its glass flowers, also carries a huge collection of all kinds of animal specimen. I think they possess all creatures on the earth. MIT museum was a bonus on our last day. We just drove by n' didn't know there's such a place. It was fun but too scientific n' I don't have a brain for that. RISD museum was very interesting. Like it. ICA was insanely crowded. Was like people in the town had nowhere else to go. But actually there wasn't much to see except the building itself is stunning - the "must go" to Hadi. Worth to mention, their highlight art show by Tara Donovan was very inspiring. She uses stuff from daily life to create beautiful form of art piece.

My "must go" is Isabella Steward Gardner museum. The name is so beautiful already. The treasure inside was even more attractive. But one won't be able to tell until you go in cause the building outside is plain. No photo to share herer cause they were very strict about photographing. I hope you'll get a chance to go in person to see the beauty of it.

We counted down our new year in Boston. It was the coldest day of our trip n' had a snow storm. Didn't go to special place/restaurant but just stayed in our hotel. Bought some salad, dessert n' champagne from whole food. Had a pizza to go from a local store. Stayed warm in our room, bye bye to our amazing 08 n' cheered to 09!

We all learn something from the trip we take. This one was especially educational as we went to schools, museums n' historic places. Lots to share but can't include all here. I saw n' learned. Traveling in cold was a different experience. I'll probably pick a warmer place to go next time. But I'm sure I'll miss the white vacation sometimes in the near future.

Bye 08! Hi 09!

2009-01-06T07:24:00.001-08:00

2008, the year we just said good bye for a few days was a memorable year to Hadi n' me. Too much had happened in this year. All started back in last March when Hadi moved back to San Francisco. Life then changed. It was very hard to me being alone in Los Angeles after being together in LA for almost 4 years. Phone and webcam became our survival kit. I looked forward to every weekend when I could fly to San Francisco to meet my fiance and take care our wedding stuff together there.

On June, we got married in San Francisco. Few days after, we had our "Familymoon" with 6 members of our family in Caribbean for a week. After our parents left n' back to California, Hadi n' I had our "Disneymoon" at Florida Disney World.

Been quiet for a few months from July to October. Then it was our second wedding in Hong Kong Disneyland on November 29. A week before that, my beloved cousin Connie got married in Macau. Two weeks after, her brother my cousin Nam Nam tied the knot too. His first baby girl was also born this year. There were lots happy events in our family in 08.

Hadi n' I went to Shanghai for a week after our Hong Kong wedding... and then it was our one week "white" new year vacation in chilly Boston...

I'm very thankful for all the happiness n' blessings last year. It was a very important year in our lives. 2009 just began. I hope the new year will be fun n' magical... we'll have our "real" honeymoon, Hadi will finish more archi exams, I'll lose some weights... hm... may our dreams come true...

Ho! Ho! Ho! Xmas Koogether!

2008-12-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! It's our first Christmas as Mr and Mrs Koo. Hadi and I are enjoying our happy holidays in Los Angeles. With the heater on at home, we're just relaxing, doing laundry, surfing web, watching TV/movies, writing blog.... there was a shower but then the sun came out. Pretty nice Christmas day!

We're flying to Boston tomorrow the 26th. Will spend a week n' count down the new year there. Hadi's been there but I didn't. People asked why to Boston on this cold season. Originally I wanted to have a white Christmas. Visit the prestigious campus n' historic towns. OOOoo, and the famous Boston lobsters! But then it may been too "white" now cause it's chilly with snow storm earlier. We may just stay in hotel watching dvds on laptop for the entire trip. Cross fingers, it'll be warmer n' a fun trip.

Happy Koo'mas! BIG X'mas hug! See you all in the new year!

Disney Koogether

2008-12-12T06:25:00.000-08:00

Our second wedding celebration in Hong Kong Disney had come to a sweet close on November 29. Hadi n' I thought it would be more relaxing since the official one already happened on June. Indeed time was even tighter this time. I didn't even have a minute to change to my evening gown as planned for march in. We didn't expect photographing with guests would take such long time. We originally thought this second chance would let us make up things that we missed on June like taking more pictures with parents. It didn't happen unfortunately. The only few pictures with our parents become more precious.

Busy yet happy. Disneyland is always the place I love. Meeting family n' friends there is one of the happiest things to me. I hope all guests enjoyed the night as we did. We didn't think of the dishes would be delicious cause we thought Disney was just more about appearance. But the feedback about the food was good. I didn't have appetite that evening but the morning breakfast in room was WOW n' yummy. Disney's satisfying services let our wedding come to perfection.

Never dream of a wedding in Disneyland cause I never imagine a Disneyland in HK. I feel so blessed to have our wedding there. Thank to my husband Mr Koo n' his parents - my parents-in-law now for giving me such a magical night.

Our Disney Wedding

2008-11-25T05:42:00.001-08:00

There're only a few days from our wedding in Hong Kong. Can't believe I haven't had time to update our wedding blog for two months. Have been very busy prepping my own as well as my cousin's wedding lately.

I am physically not ready for the wedding. Gained lots of weights n' my right eye has been swollen since I came back to Hong Kong. Yet, I won't care much as this is our second wedding celebration. Hadi n' I take this party causally n' wanna feel relaxed. We just wanna have a happy dinner with our friends n' family in Hong Kong. We expect the atmosphere n' feeling will be different from our US wedding. But it gonna be fun. Don't expect to see Mickey n' Minnie though - cause Hadi n' I are gonna be Mickey n' Minnie that night!

For those of you whom are coming to our Disney wedding, come early n' be sure to have your camera fully charged. They just put on Xmas decoration. It's beauuuuuuuuuutiful!

Kiki vs Light

2008-08-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Our photographer Ingrid Nelson wrote about a portrait of me on her blog. Glad she likes some of the shots that she did for us.

Ingrid uses film instead of digital. So she has to develop the films, scan the prints into computer, organize them before showing us n' making the slideshow. Now all the pictures are finally done. The last thing will be putting an album together. It's our end now to pick from lots of photos for the album. It's actually a fun part to make us work koogether.

Winner of Our Wedding Photo Competition

2008-08-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Time to announce the winner of our wedding photo competition on 08.08.08!
Drum rolling......Congratulations, Mary Lee!

Thanks for taking such a beautiful picture for us, Mary. I originally typed a whole paragraph to explain the reasons we like the picture so much. But then I think, a picture is worth a thousand words. Audience will understand why this is the one.

So Mary, please send us the high rez of your winning picture. You will be awarded the Special Grand Prize in November! Congrats!

It's our two months anniversary! And also the Opening Ceremony of Beijing Olympics. My emotion is so high today. I still think I should be in Beijing now to feel the joy n' witness this historic moment. Why am I still here in L.A. alone? I'm so glad to know that the Ceremony went very well by the time I wrote this blog. I'm so proud of my country.

Koogether Slideshow

2008-08-06T12:45:00.001-07:00

Our wedding slideshow is finally here! Yeah!

Our photographer Ingrid had just posted the quicktime movie on her blog. Please visit her blog. See the BIG and BOLD "Kiki and Hadi Enter HERE"? Click it to see the slideshow. You might need to load the entire movie before viewing it. Turn on the volume! Music comes with it!

Sneak Peek - Fresh n' Hot!

2008-07-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Just got notice from our photographer Ingrid that some of our wedding pictures are done n' posted on her blog. Can't wait to share the sneak peek with you!

More pictures as well as a slideshow will be ready probably in August. Stay tuned!

Find inspirations and beautiful pictures at Ingrid's website:
http://myrtleandmarjoram.com
Her two blogs:
http://myrtleandmarjoram.bigfolioblog.com
http://myrtleandmarjoram.blogspot.com

I was going to update our blog with familymoon pictures this weekend. Surprisingly, Ingrid's picts now jumped in. I have to do it next time...

Beautiful Words

2008-07-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our wedding poster is covered with all your autographs and blessings. It started blank. Got half filled on our wedding day. The rest was done afterwards cause some family members were too busy to sign on our wedding day.

We're so glad that the white space is filled up with beautiful poems n' words. Wanna share with you here. Look for the one you signed for us!

By Hadi's Parents

By Kiki's Mom

By Hadi's DoPapa & DoMama (Big uncle & Big Aunt)

By Hadi's Sister n' Brother-in-Law

By Kiki's Fifth Aunt n' Uncle

By Kiki's Best Friends Sandy Wong & David Tang

By our dearest guests...

Call for Entries - Wedding Photos Competition

2008-07-16T21:29:00.001-07:00

We should have announced this before our wedding. But not too late. We're still newlyweds of less than two months. Besides, our photographer Ingrid is still working on our photos. Let's have our little fun game before seeing her work!

We're calling all friends and family who had taken pictures at our wedding to submit their photos for competition. Good chance for those haven't yet given us the photos. Photos can be taken either at church or reception. As long as it's our wedding related. Not necessary to be "Hadi" or "Kiki". It can be anything or even yourself!

Mr & Mrs Koo are the jurors. We will carefully go through all the submission n' look at the overall composition, colors, moments captured, etc. And pick ONE we like the best.

The only ONE winner will be awarded a "Truly Special Grand Prize"! The winning entry will be posted on our blog on August 8 - our 2 months anniversary.

Deadline: August 1, 2008
What to Enter: Any picture taken at our wedding is eligible. Submit as many as you want. Send all you got!
How to Enter: 1. Post on online photo album and share with us.
2. Submit your photos to us at owl@happykoogether.com. Let our owl deliver your work overnight!

Note: People who had already given us pictures are automatically entered to the competition.

Koogether on Magazine!

2008-07-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Whoa! Our wedding picture on a Hong Kong wedding magazine! We didn't know until Charlotte, the sister of Hadi's brother-in-law told us. She bought the magazine in Hong Kong on May n' recognized our pict after seeing our albums at our wedding!

The photog company didn't inform us. Should we ask for commission? Anyway, Hadi n' I are very happy with our pre-wedding portraits taken in Macau last November. If you are interested, Impression Production in Hong Kong did it for us.

To be honest, the picture they picked for the ad isn't one of our favorites. But being chosen on a magazine, we feel honored n' excited!

1 Month Anniversary

2008-07-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Last month of today was our wedding day. Wow, it's been a month already? I feel like a lot had happened in the past 30 days!

Our wedding day was the fastest day in my life. I was busy every single minute. Couldn't actually see things clearly. My mind was only the planned schedule n' told myself to finish each step on time. There wasn't even a second for me to stop n' really look around. Didn't see the decoration of the church n' the reception. Didn't hear the specific music we asked our harpist to play for us...

I had missed lots of things. We need your pictures to tell us the details of our wedding - the wedding Hadi n' I had put lots of thoughts n' planned for a year. Ahh, I did hear Hadi's vow n' what our pastor Jim told us. Especially his last few words. Something like "Enjoy your Magic Kingdom...". I like that particularly.

Too many things to do in a day. There were things not being done or happened unexpectedly. Whew....it went too fast. Yet I will remember every moment of that day.

Now everything back to normal. Back to L.A. alone. Back to work. It's a new life. A different married life. Hmm.... may be on our 10th anniversary, I'll say the same "Whew...it went too fast!"

Wedding Koogether Pictures _The Evening

2008-07-05T16:18:00.001-07:00

This is the third album - The Evening. Have you looked at all other two: The Morning & The Afternnoon? These three albums tell you the complete story of our wedding day.

It took us lots of time to caption the pictures. We tried to have some notes for each picture for those who couldn't attend our wedding. Hope you'll find them informative n' can get better ideas what happened on our day.

Now we're looking forward to the photos by our photographer Ingrid. Let see how she'll tell our little story. We'll post it on our blog as soon as we get it.

Wedding Koogether Pictures _The Afternoon

2008-07-01T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here's the second album - The Afternoon.

This "afternoon" we exchanged vows n' rings in a warm n' intimate wood church that we both love. The true meaning of the whole celebration is in that two minutes when we committed to each other. And this "afternoon", we became Mr & Mrs Koo...

Ooooo, it's July! We finally took off the "Just Married" sign from my car. I don't really want to... I miss it.

Wedding Koogether Pictures_The Morning

2008-06-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

We're back! After 2 weeks of "Familymoon" & "Disneymoon" in Caribbean Sea n' Orlando, we're now back in San Francisco.

Photos by our photographer will be available in July. Can't wait for hers. We got tons of pictures to share right now. Organizing pictures is really time consuming. No wonder Ingrid, our photog, needs a month. Hadi n' I spent a whole afternoon just to do the first album. We want to organize n' put them into 3 sections: Morning. Afternoon. Evening. These 3 online albums are the picture collections of my digicam, friends n' family.

Here comes the Morning first. The other two are being worked on. Click the "slideshow" button to let it play for you. You can increase or decrease the time in between pictures by clicking the minus or plus sign right next to the seconds button. We have included captions with some of the pictures. Remember to read the words. Enjoy!

P.S. Thanks a lot for those who had sent us your pictures. You might recognize your shots in these 3 albums. Anyone who has still not emailed us yours, please send ASAP. We want to see!

Familymoon 8 Koogether!

2008-06-11T23:16:00.001-07:00

We're going to "Family Honeymoon" tomorrow! 6am flight. ZZzzzzzz... From San Francisco to Miami. Will take the cruise to Caribbean for a week with our parents, Big uncle n' Big auntie. We're 8 koogether.

Hadi n' I thought we'd be able to rest after the wedding. Indeed we're still that busy. Haven't had time to open your gifts. No time to read emails, nor to watch our wedding video....

Sorry friends n' family, you'll have to hear from us when we're back end of the month. In the mean time, email us the picts that you took on our day. Will be great to see lots of them like opening xmas gifts when we're back from vacation. Photos by our photographer will be done in a month. We NEED your photos now when waiting for hers. We were too busy to really see how the wedding that we planned really looked on the day. Your photos are our memories. We want them all from you!

We Tied the Knot

2008-06-10T10:22:00.001-07:00

We exchanged the rings. We tied the knot!

Did you enjoy our day? We had tons of fun!It was like a dream. Too fast to us...

We're so sorry for not being able to spend more time with each of you. We were so busy every minute. But we knew you're there sharing these important moments with us. Thank you soooooooooo much for being there!

Mr and Mrs Koo

2008-06-09T23:53:00.001-07:00

We got married yesterday! I love our day!

060808 Get Koogether!

2008-06-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

Here comes the date - our June 8th. Let's celebrate koogether!

Miss Bride

2008-06-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Things are pretty much ready! Hadi n' I have been very busy the entire week. Stressful but fun. We're doing ceremony rehearsal at 5pm today n' rehearsal dinner right after.

I'll be Miss Bride tomorrow!

A Hundred Wishes

2008-06-06T23:20:00.001-07:00

I love this little wish ticket thing - cute n' sweet...

"If I had a hundred wishes I would give them all to you..."

If we have one wish ticket out of a hundred, we hope our guests will be home happily n' safely after coming to our wedding. Hope you'll all enjoy our day with us.

See you all soon...

Notes for Our Guests

2008-06-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hello Guests!

Clock is ticking! There're only a few days to our wedding. We'd like to give some friendly reminders here:

1. Maps n' driving directions of both our church n' reception site can be found on our wedding website. You can print out pdf here.

2. Please save some time to look for parking. Limited street parking is available around the church neighborhood. You might also consider Sausalito downtown parking lots which are walkable to our church. Our reception site - Outdoor Art Club is in Mill Valley downtown but there will ONLY be street parking.

3. Please keep in mind parking regulations on Sunday is different. Street parking should be free but is limited to 2 hours before 4pm. Please read the notes on meters when you park. We don't want our guests to get any tickets on our day!

4. You might want to have a light lunch before coming to our church ceremony as cocktail hour starts at 5pm.

5. There might be a little free time in between our ceremony n' reception. You might want to have a little walk in Sausalito downtown or Mill Valley downtown. But allow enough time to find parking in Mill Valley for our reception at 5pm.

6. It might be cold in Sausalito. Please bring a jacket with you.

We feel very sorry for the parking inconvenience. Please excuse us cause Hadi n' I love both sites n' want to have our wedding with you all there!

It's June!

2008-06-01T02:12:00.001-07:00

Heart beating!
Roll drumming!
Clock ticking!
I am sweating!
(Can you add the list for us?)

The Last Week before Wedding

2008-05-31T23:30:00.000-07:00

Our blog has been quiet for an entire week. What have we done in this critical time - the last week before wedding? Very busy. Stay up late every night doing wedding stuff. But glad that still able to spend some quality time with friends n' family.

Our first family guests arrived from Hong Kong last week. They are Hadi's big uncle n' big auntie. We call them "DoPapa" & "DoMama". Haven't seen them for half a year since the two families first met in Macau last November.

We had very nice time with DoPapa n' DoMama over the memorial day weekend. We made Shanghainese wonton together. That was the first time just the four of us ate together. A memorable dinner...

My coworkers had a bachelorette lunch for me at my favorite Aroma cafe in North Hollywood last Wednesday (May 28). My boss De gave me a big gift box of spa kit. Fragrance smells so good.

Lunch was nice too. We mainly talked about my other boss Concetta's wedding. Cause she just married on the Memorial Day weekend - May 24th! Tried to hear what a wedding gonna be like.

We didn't expect would be able to meet our friends as we're so packed before leaving LA. But we did find some time to play wii game n' have dinner together. Yvonne n' Michael were so nice to get to-go food for us to our house cause we were too busy to go out. They even went to several places so we had various Asian cuisines tonite including Thai, Indian n' dessert from Japanese bakery!

Oooo, the next time we see them will be our wedding day!

Noel Made My Dress!

2008-05-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

Save the best for last. All of our wedding vendors have been talked about in our previous blogs. This last one is a special one. All others are local. Noel is the only one from Hong Kong. Not sure if vendor is the right term for her though. But she's part of our wedding - a significant part. She made my wedding dress - the most important dress in a girl's life.

(Oooo, I like her also because her shop uses my favorite color!)

No one told me about Noel before. I didn't read any Hong Kong wedding magazines when I was researching my dress. I just saw an image from the web the other day showing a boutique with very special interior decorations n' a very small business sign far in the corner of the image. That's how I knew about her name.

The first time I met Noel, I felt something very special about her. She's just different. Very nice person speaks in a soft tone. She is the one put on my first wedding dress in my life. That moment I really felt her like a big sister to me.

Noel is definitely a designer. She has her own unique style. Her simple outfit on the day we first met - white shirt with jeans gave me a very good n' comfortable first impression. Making me like her even more.

This pict is my favorite! Unfortunately I just have it low rez!

I was always happy going to her shop. Her employees there are very fun n' helpful providing warm services . I enjoyed being there a lot. It's sad there's no reason to go there after wedding... But I'll drop by n' visit!

Noel gave me a wedding gift the last time I went to her shop for final fitting. (That was a surprise!) She also included the feather pen that I liked so much n' had asked her before to buy one for me. Instead she gave it to me as part of the gift. There was a card as well but I haven't read it yet. Will save it before or on my wedding day. Those are the words from her - I'll save the most valuable for last...

Being a designer myself, I feel very happy n' excited for her to have her own design business. I think she’s doing a great job. Best wises to her success. I also hope she won't stress herself too much cause I heard her being sick most of the time I went to her shop. Take good care laaaaa...

I feel so blessed to have Noel made my wedding dress. My mom, Hadi n’ his mom had all been with me to Noel’s shop. The whole process of my dress making was downright amazing. I’m so thankful I had such a happy experience.

(Mr Koo, don't look so stressed. Thanks for your patience. I'll be right with you...)

Why the 8th?!

2008-05-21T20:44:00.001-07:00

Why our wedding date is June 8? A Sunday?

Sorry guests! We didn't mean to give you a hard time. I know the following day is a working day. Some of you have to fly back home right after dinner or even in n' out San Francisco airport the same day.... it's absolutely not because a Sunday wedding is cheaper (some places do give a discount for Sunday). We don't want hassles to our guests for a lower cost. Our savings probably won't even cover all your flight tickets...

Ok ok, before u get mad, please - let us explain. I'll give you 2 main reasons here :)

1. My uncles n' aunts go to a business show in Las Vegas in June every year. I want them to be able to attend my wedding cause I don't really have any family here. So that's the best time to catch them in the U.S. One of my uncles married on June 7 . It's also because he wanted to take this advantage so more family can participate.

2. We like the number "8". Not because it sounds "wealthy" in Chinese. But my birthday is on the 8th. Our Anniversary day on the 18th.... We were considering June 7 which is a Saturday this year. And Saturday is always good for events cause people can still be able to relax the day after. But 6.7 doesn't sound good in Chinese. Sorry, we sometimes are kind of superstitious. We don't want our wedding anniversary to be "6.7" (try to say it in Cantonese).

Alright, that's how June 8, 2008 becomes the most important date in our lives. Are the 2 reasons strong enough to calm you down now? Um.......

We REALLY REALLY appreciate you all take your valuable time n' travel all the way to our wedding. Especially those from overseas n' out of town. Some of you have to leave early to the airport in the evening. We can't really have a long crazy night. I'm upset about that too :(

But then I tell myself to think of it as a kids' party. Kids can't go to bed too late. Their parties have to finish early even though they don't wanna say good bye to their little friends. You are our little friends help creating a blissful memory for us. So just come to this kids' party - A BIG party for two BIG kids...

Arlene - our Florist!

2008-05-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

We have very good experience with all of our vendors so far (That's why we picked them)! Cross my fingers. Hopefully things will keep going smoothly. The experience with our floral designer Arlene Boyle was very nice too.

Searching florists was the most difficult among all vendors. Reason is most of them are charging too high which doesn't make sense to us. Fortunately our wedding planner Lani helped us find Arlene who was very reasonable. At least she is not taking advantage of the poor flowers that can't even get a penny in their lives!

We understand that florists charge labor more than the flowers themselves. We totally agree they deserve it cause they really have to go get flowers in very early morning. And taking care of these fragile things aren't easy too. It's a hard job. But can't be too ridiculous. Especially knowing how cheap flowers can be after going to a wholesale market....

We were considering to do flowers ourselves for the wedding. But after really thinking about it, we decided to have a professional take care for us cause we don't want to put too much work to our family. They should be relaxing like us n' enjoy the coming of the day.

So here comes Arlene. Her white hair makes you think she's old but actually not. She's like a mom or aunt doing flowers for us. But she's a STYLISH mom/aunt. Cause we got a chance to visit her home. Her place told us her chic taste that not only apply to her flowers.

Arlene doesn't have a store but a working studio in South San Francisco. Kind of like a warehouse. We met her there once but we needed to meet her again. It was the second time we went to her house.

Her home is near the Japan town in San Francisco. A typical San Francisco house - a historic Victorian style building. The interior had been remodeled recently so looking very new n' neat. The interior design is very simple, natural n' contemporary. She walked us her entire house even showed her bedroom but asked us to excuse her mess. We spent almost 2 hours there!

Isn't polite to post the pictures of her nice house here without asking her permission (even though I took lots). But I'll post one of her backyard. A HUGE cherry blossom tree. How beautiful it is. Totally what I n' my mom dream of..... Arlene, u know how lucky u r? U r always around beautiful flowers!

Kay Bakes our Wedding Cake!

2008-05-19T10:04:00.001-07:00

Yum Yum! I can finally talk about our wedding cake stylist - Kay Dillon!

I'm crazy about cakes. No doubt that wedding cake is VERY important to me. I'm sorry to say but wedding cake comes first even before my dress or ring..... To me, wedding cake is a piece of art. Bakers are real artists. I respect them cause they create artworks that I can EAT!

Our wedding planner Lani helped us find n' make appointments for cake tasting. We put lots of time researching together. We tried 5 bakeries in total. Only one of them was totally NOT qualified to us. The other four were good n' was difficult to choose. I'm very picky- I see into many things before paying so much for a cake. I care about personality too. Is the vendor easy to work with? Does he care more about money or really would help create a nice wedding..... even better if he has passion in his job....

Wedding cakes usually either look good or taste good. These two qualities are hard to coexist. We're greedy hoping to have both. We finally decided on Kay cause we believe she is capable of doing both to create the wedding cake of our dream.

Hadi n' I are too bossy about all the design for our wedding. Our cake is no exception. We gave Kay our design n' discussed with her over n' over about applying the design to real ingredients n' making to a real cake. I'm very much looking forward to how it will come out...

Kay's kitchen is located not at a bakery but a restaurant on Van Ness Blvd in San Francisco. Our first meeting with Kay was very close to Chinese New Year. Hadi's parents were visiting so we took them with us. We always want parents to participate in our wedding planning to share the moments n' see the progress. It's fun to go cake tasting with them. Hadi's mom especially likes Kay's hazelnut cake. So we gave a checkmark next to her on the list.

We changed our mind of the cake flavor after signing the contract. Kay did us a little cake to take home for 2^nd tasting but we weren’t crazy about it. So the final taste gonna be a little surprise cause we've never tried it. Hopefully will be good. The day you enjoy our cake, taste it carefully cause we put lots time n’ effort in it. Really hope will turn out nicely.

I'm sorry Kay, we didn't take a good picture with you. We paid too much attention on your cakes that day!

Our 18th

2008-05-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

A weekend break wasn't a rest to me. I was busy busy busy up in the bay area. Didn't update my blog for 3 days proves how crazy my time was up there....

Well, it's the 18th! Every 18th of the month is our little anniversary. Cause our little story started on the 18th sometime somewhere years ago..... Wow, same date next month.... something will be different....

Wanna share a picture here on this special date to us.....

He will Marry us

2008-05-15T14:13:00.001-07:00

Jim! How can we not write about you. You are the man who will marry us on the day!

Mr Jim Burklo was the pastor at Sausalito Presbyterian Church when we booked the place. But he is no longer there any more. Yet he will still be performing our wedding.

Hadi n' I are not committed to any particular religion . Neither of us are baptized. But I grew up in a Catholic school where bible was taught. This learning environment made me like going to churches or praying to God whenever I want someone to talk to. Hadi n' I both love visiting churches. To us, getting married in a church is sacred yet very comfortable.

Sorry, pictures are blurry.....

Most churches don't do wedding for non religious people. It's hard to find one that welcomes anyone n' at the same time we like it. Choices are limited. We first planned to marry in Los Angeles. So we began researching in the LA area. BTW, there's a church we both like a lot (we almost marry there!) - Wayfarers Chapel down in Rancho Palos Verdes along the coast. We call it "Glass Church". With a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The chapel itself is built by large glasses designed by Lloyd Wright . It's very green, taking lots sunlight....anyway, highly recommend checking it out.

So....after going around the circle, we finally found our church in Sausalito. I'm sure fate brought us to Jim. We only met him twice. But we really enjoyed meeting with him. Feel like we've known him awhile cause it's comfortable talking to him. He's very friendly n' inspirational. We didn't only talk about ourselves but chatted about life n' future too. He just guides you to think....appreciate that.

Wow, Jim now knows lots of our secrets cause we needed to tell him all our love story so he can do us a personalized wedding. He knows all of our important incidents in our 10 years relationship: how we met, what we'd been through...blah blah blah.....

Jim, we have every blessing to you. You play a very significant role not only on that one day, but in our live. We love to have you marry us!

Our Chef - Michael!

2008-05-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Michael! Our chef who will feed us on the day. He is referred by our wedding planner, Lani cause she hired him for her wedding too.

We actually had our tasting back in December last year. It was very close to Xmas when everyone was busy for the holidays. Michael cooked us some samples at Lani’s home. The samples weren’t sample size at all but full dishes that included 1 soup, 1 appetizer n’ 3 main courses. Hadi n’ I didn’t expect to go home with full stomach cause it was just a trial!

Michael isn't only a caterer but also a coordinator. He takes care all of our rental like linens, napkins, tablewares..... Through him, we picked n' rented forks, spoons, dishes, glasses...... each item on the dinner table are thoughtfully selected. Just hope our guests will have a nice meal. Most things have to be rented cause we just happened to like a venue where nothing is provided except a nice empty place with some chairs n' tables.

Catering is the biggest expense for wedding. That means....most of our savings go to Michael!

OOooo, Michael is driving my dream car! Heheee...... But I really think caterers got lots responsibilities n' lots to do before n' on the event day. They should be driving a nice car :) Michael! Hope you'll create a memorable day for us!

Our Photographer - Ingrid!

2008-05-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

In the next upcoming posts, I wanna blog 'bout our wedding vendors cause they are all important people to our wedding. They are all carefully selected from many candidates out in the market . Every one of them plays an important n' unique role helping us create a memorable day.

Ingrid! You closed your eyes. But the picture is cute!

First comes our photographer Ingrid. Indeed, she's the first vendor we found. Cause Hadi n' I both think photograph is VERY important as it's the only thing left after the day. So we picked our photographer soon after we engaged to make sure we found our favorite person to tell our story in picture.

We like Ingrid's work. She is very sweet cause she laughs a lot! Her words in her emails are always fun to read. We'll have fun taking pictures by her!

Oooo Ingrid just gave birth to her first baby Eli in January. It's a cute little boy! She just had her first Happy Mother's Day! Congrats!

Bache-lor-&-ette GetKoogether Party!

2008-05-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

Never work so hard on our blog. It was updated almost everyday last week. I'll keep working on it. Please visit often!

Too much to share last week. Haven't got a chance to finish writing our party. Let's continue...

Crazy Bachelor Party continued from Saturday (May 3) to Sunday night (May 4). We planned a SURPRISED dinner to WOW Hadi. We brought him to Asia SF - a restaurant in San Francisco downtown served by transvestites!

The food was average. It was the woMEN n' the entertainment we were going for. There were shows going on all night occasionally while we enjoyed our food. The transgender servers were also the performers the night. They danced on the countertops in sexy outfits. Compare to the trannies in Thailand, the ones here are of course not as hot n' pretty. But good enough to have this kind of entertainment in SF.

One nice thing is, they got information about your party in advance and incorperated it into the show. They announced your names n' your special occasion on stage. They even gave you a personalized menu with the name of your event. It really customized your experience.

There is a dance floor downstairs but we didn't go cause we were all very tired n' couldn't wait to home Zzzzzzz.

We had a blast! Just feel like guys gotta do something naughty for a bachelor party!

Introducing our Wedding Planner - Lani!

2008-05-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Our wedding planner Lani is getting married tomorrow! Hearty congrats!

Wanna talk about Lani in our blog for long time. It's the day to do it!

How Lani became our wedding planner is a little story. It's all about coincidence. Lani n' us both hired the same photographer n' picked the same venue for reception. I'm sure there must be something very common between us.

The first time meeting our photog Ingrid, she told us she would be meeting another bride afterwards whom has her reception the same place as ours. Lani arrived early which allowed us to meet with her. She told us she wanted to be a wedding planner n' asked if she could take our case as a practice to train herself as a wedding planner! That was SO Nice! So we went home n' started emailing n' working with her.

Hadi n' I never thought of hiring any wedding planner. Indeed we had already started planning by ourselves a few months before we met Lani. But this free gift is of course very welcome. In fact, I now think we do need a coordinator cause that really helps especially in researching n' contacting vendors. There will be lots discussion n' negotiation. Tons of back n' forth emails killing you. So I recommend hiring a wedding planner to share your workload.

Lani will be a real n' professional wedding planner after doing her n' our wedding. Anyone looking for help - I highly recommend her. She is very easy to work with. A very nice n' sweet person. She listens to us with patience. But she'll also give her opinion. You don't have to worry cause she's thoughtful n' well organized. I'm sure whoever meets her will like her!

Lani, you know, we are thankful to you. It's your BIG day tomorrow! Gonna be a beautiful n' memorable day. Wish you all the best!

Only a Month Ahead...

2008-05-08T14:43:00.001-07:00

It's May 8! Exactly a month from our wedding day.

Can't believe things have come this far. My feeling is contradicting. I am very much looking forward to the day. Yet I also don't want it to come so fast.

I really enjoy the process of wedding planning in the past 10 months since we engaged last June. The day after a silly guy proposed to me, I was totally obsessed by our wedding. My mind is 24/7 occupied by it. Always thinking wedding, wedding and wedding. I don't feel stressed at all. I actually didn't know I would enjoy it so much. I found myself very very happy doing every single work for it. I just hope to plan a nicely organized wedding that reflects both of us for our beloved family n' friends. Doesn't have to be perfect. I don't anticipate a perfect one. I'm prepared something will go wrong. But at least in my control, I gotta try do things right n' on time. I can't have myself rush things in the last minute. So I just keep working n' working every night after work. Don't worry, it's my happiest time in the day.

There's still lots of things to do. Little worried. But I'm sure I can make it. I'm not a night person. I never stay up late at night for anything cause physically I can't. In school, I always studied or finished projects early by the due date. But our wedding is exceptional. Sorry, I know it's not fair....but I think I can work as late as necessary. Heheeee....

I'm sure I'll miss the days planning our wedding. It's really fun going here n' there with Hadi. Checking out venues, free tasting cakes, meeting different vendors, picking forks n' spoons, designing invitation, taking wedding portraits..... Never again I'll need to do these after June 8. Wedding magazines will be none of my business. To me, anticipation is always happier than when the day really comes n' happens. So I really enjoy the moments right now. Sadly, there's only a month left for me to have this joyful feeling.

Counting down..... Only a month to go!

X-Rated Birthday!

2008-05-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Bachelor party was too healthy in the day. Guys gotta do something crazy. Let's have a Happy Fxxxing Birthday Party!

The X Rated Bachelor + Birthday party was at Aaron's apartment. Thanks for the cake, Eric n' Aaron! They had to pick it up from the bakery in the early morning before we met at 9am departing to Stockton. I love the words on the cake....you guys are thoughtful.

Yummy Chocolate Mousse Cake = $30
X-Rated Party Kit from Urban Outfitters = $14
X-Rated Party with Friends = Priceless...

WARNING: The picture below strongly requires parental guardian.....

WARNING: The picture below is G rated - General Audiences: All Ages Admitted.

Cheese!!!

Bachelor Party All Day!

2008-05-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday! It's Hadi's birthday today!

Our friend Aaron n' two groomsmen Eric n' Brian held a whole day bachelor party for Hadi last Saturday (May 3). Also to celebrate his birthday the same time.

Sorry, men! No Vegas. No gentleman's club or strippers. (Cause there's a girl in the bachelor party!) We stayed healthy n' close to nature. Drove 2 hours north for some outdoor activities. O, FUN! So memorable! We went hiking.... actually mainly see-saw time. You can't believe how hard it is to google a see-saw that's strong enough to hold us all. Eric helped search lots of time n' finally located one in Lodi, Stockton. We all wanted see-saw competition so badly cause we all love it. Reminding us happy childhood. So we spent hours playing n' playing....until we're tired n' hungry for tea time.

Tea Time at McDonald! The four guys had 40 pcs of McNuggets. Crazy! None of us had ever ordered so many in one time! No more McNuggets before wedding. Watch out pimples!

Oooo, the four guys formed a boy band. That's the coolest thing they did on the day....or kooest?

Thai dinner....Party afterwards. I'll blog more about it in the next post.

That's the bachelor party in day time. It's basically all about see-saw....

We Registered Today!

2008-05-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

We registered our marriage license today! Can't believe it took less than 10 mins! Quick n' simple. Marriage is actually so easy!

We went there alone (San Mateo County in Redwood City). Glad that didn't ask anyone to come for us. It was too fast that we'd feel very sorry to have anyone drive all the way for just a less than 10 mins process. I was even thinking to have my makeup trial today for such a significant moment. Fortunately I didn't do that. People in the government department would think me crazy!

See, the office is very boring...

In Hong Kong, registration is a one step process. Once it's done, the couple is married by law. People there take this as an important event inviting friends n' family to witness. We still aren't husband n' wife yet because we're basically turning in a form today. We got a document in return that has to be signed by the priest on our wedding day. Then the entire marriage license will be completed......

It was fun though. Finally got to know how it works. Ooooo, we're thankful that it was a sunny nice day today. We're half way done now. The other half will be completed in a month....

Oooo, he's signing! Note: With a BIG Smile!

We're done! The big white envelope I'm holding is the VERY important paper!

Ooooo, less than hour, Hadi will turn 29! Happy Birthday my dear fiance!!!

King of the Month

2008-05-05T08:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Hadi! May 6th is your BIG day! The whole May is yours! You are the King of the Month!

I won't be able to be with Hadi on the day cause I'll be back in Los Angeles. But I was in San Francisco the weekend before his birthday n' will stay till today May 5. Actually, today is another significant day to us cause we're going to register our marriage license!

Here's our King of the Month in one of his wedding portraits! It was a very fun n' memorable celebration for him with his friends over the weekend. I'll blog more about it in the coming post. Super Happy Birthday, our Groom-To-Be!

Sausalito....u'll come here to see us marry

2008-04-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Sausalito - the place we are getting married at. It's a charming little town that Hadi n' I both love.

There are family n' friends from out of town n' overseas. Some of them might not be familiar with Sausalito. We want to talk about it a little here to give you some ideas. We highly recommend our guests to arrive early on the day to soak up the ambiance of this beautiful city.

Take a relaxing walk in downtown, get a nice light lunch n' then walk to our church. OOOooo.... also arrive early to find parking. Sorry for the inconvenience. There is only street parking in the church neighborhood. Our church is very close to Sausalito downtown where you'll find several parking lots. It's a Sunday so meter should be free. Yet parking is still tight n' challenging. You can print out the map n' driving directions on our site.

Sausalito is the first destination across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Beautiful n' breathtaking views! This little community is reminiscent of a Mediterranean Village with a rich n' historical past. Receiving streams of visitors via the bridge everyday, it's known worldwide for its boutiques, street side cafés, and sophistication. You'll find elegant hotels n' decent restaurants there.

We hope coming to our wedding will also give you a nice getaway in Sausalito!

About Sausalito

Sausalito Hotels - I recommend three here. They all have easy access to downtown Sausalito
• Gable Inns Sausalito - a cute little bed n' breakfast inn.
• Casa Madrona Hotel - larger hotel with enchanting view of San Francisco Bay.
• Hotel Sausalito - Historic French Style hotel.

Things to do in Sausalito - Biking n' hiking are very popular in the area. Water activities are nice too cause it's a waterfront city!

Ask Hadi or me if you need more info or suggestion regarding your visit to Sausalito. We're happy to help!

Xi = Double Happiness

2008-04-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

There's a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong called Xi Yan. It's a very unique restaurant. The Chinese character "Xi" is everywhere. The logo, dishes, napkins, books.... The restaurant isn't big but a good size to make you feel cozy there. Red is definitely the theme color cause that's the traditional color indicates happiness in our Chinese culture.

The menu is a mixture of Chinese n' Singaporean. I thought it was brought in from Singapore. Surprisingly it was actually established in Hong Kong. The food quality isn't very exciting. But the creative n' innovative menu makes you wanna try lots of their food. The presentation of the dishes is very nice n' neat.

I was first attracted to it by its red bold logo of the word "Xi"( double happiness). And of course I like it because we're doing "Xi" event, planning "Xi Yan" ourselves.

Learn more about this contemporary Chinese fusion cuisine www.xiyan.com.hk. We just ran into this restaurant when we went to the G.O.D. store at Causeway Bay the other day. Xi Yan is just located on the 2nd floor right next to G.O.D. OOoooo, did I mention it was last November when I was with Hadi n' his mom in Hong Kong?

First thing back from Hong Kong

2008-04-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back to LA from Hong Kong! Can't believe I slept from 1am till 5:30 the next day in the afternoon! It's 16 hours in total!

The very first thing on the first day after arrival is to update our Koogether Blog. Cause I heard too many compliant during my HK trip. Sorry guys......... I'll post more pictures of this trip in the following days.

OOOOOOOooo CAKES!!!

2008-04-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

I'm soooooooo tired right now. Finishing up packing my luggages at 12:30pm cause I'm flying to HK tomorrow noon. But I gotta post something here as I promised. What can wake me up at this ZZZzzzzzzzzzz moment?

How about CAKE?

Can't really type too much cuz I'm ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzing. Let me post some picts of our cake tasting. I'll do the notes later when I come back to LA. Wow, lots to say n' share about our wedding cake tasting experience.

Dream of Cake

Monclair Baking

Beaux Gateaux

Koogether x 10

2008-01-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

It's our 10th anniversary today. Wow! Incredible! We've been koogether for 10 years!!!
We want to do something special on such an important day - to post one of our favorite wedding portraits for the very first time. It's a "Po Tart" sneak peek!

Behind-the-Scenes

2008-01-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

Friends n' family have been very concern or I should say "curious" about our wedding portraits. Well, the photos aren't ready yet. But for your "curiosity", we'll now show you the "behind-the-scenes".

Friendly reminder: Please prepare yourself to see a different Hadi n' Kiki. We might not look like the normal "Us" to you.....

Date:Nov 15, 2007.
Location: Macau

Our first wedding portrait took place here: Coloane, Macau. A quiet back street with some old big trees n' historic buildings. A little retro feeling...

Doll: My hair/make-up artist. People said she did a good job for me. That - I'll leave it for you to determine when you see our pictures later.

I think Doll is nice, very professional n' detail oriented. I recommend anyone who is looking for a make-up artist. She is located in HK of course.

Ka Chun: Photographer assistant. Actually his main job was to make us laugh. He's a fun guy. The whole team was game players. It was a day to remember as wedding portraits are very important. We're so glad to have spent such moments with this fun team.

We're so lucky to have some portraits taken at such beautiful view at the dusk. There're flowers along the coast line with a guy rowing his little boat. Sunset behind the mountains....

Feel like a teaser?

Real ones coming soon. Please come back n' check our blog later.

Hello 08!

2008-01-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!! All friends n' family! Whoever the first to visit our blog in the new year will get a BIG prize. Contact us immediately! Our number is 1.800. BIG. PRIZE. Hahahaaa...

Hello there! It's the first day of 08! As I promised, I'll update our blog more often. See, I'm writing again in 2 days. You'll see more pictures n' words from us in the new year. We're counting down to our wedding date too. Exciting!

Wish you all a happy, fun n' healthy new year!

Picture taken on the last day of 07 at Cal Poly when we drove by our loving school town San Luis Obispo. I think it's a fun picture!

Bye 07! Hi 08!

2007-12-30T20:28:00.000-08:00

Wow! Can't believe the last post was September. We had been so busy prepping our wedding stuff. Our trip to Hong Kong, Macau n' Shanghai on November was super crazy too. Oooo...also busy going to "our" favorite Disneyland. Well... just an excuse for being lazy not updating our koogether blog =P

Alight! Less than.... 36 hrs will be another year. 08 will be so exciting for us!! Our resolution in the New Year is to "update our blog" at least once every two weeks. To keep you posted the process of our wedding planning. Please come n' visit our blog more often!

Picture taken at California Adventure Park of LA Disneyland during our last visit on Dec 22.

Let's count down to the NEW YEAR!

Who's in our Bridal Party

2007-09-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hello! Our Dear Bridesmaids n' Groomsmen!

How do you like our group picture? Fun huh? Heheee.... Very much looking forward to the real one. We carefully searched all our albums n' picked the BEST shots of you to be included here. Oooo, we own the copyrights.

Let us emphasize again - You are all important to us. In order to make sure no fighting, your names are in alphabetical order.

Avis Chan - Did we meet in the Japanese class? Ooo, how can I forget? But I'm sure we met cause we both went to City College of San Francisco. She's my first friend I knew when I first came to the US. She had helped me a lot n' be very supportive when I was so new to the country. Always like a cute little sister to me.

Length of Friendship: 10 years

Important Friendship Period: When I first came to study in the US.

Currently: Banker in SF.

Brian Tong - Basically, he's the male version of Sandy Wong (If you don't mind me putting it this way) - My male best friend. Hadi's good friend. Both guys like architecture so they have something to talk about besides video games. Brian n' I studied the same major Art & Design in the same school! Three of us all went to CalPoly SLO. We hanged out together in this small town. We even lived in the same complex just different units. He just got married on May - best wedding consultant n' art director for our wedding design.

Length of Friendship: Shortest among all - approx 6 yrs

Important Friendship Period: In school at San Luis Obispo

Currently: Just moved to LA from Bay area on July. Back to Art School in LA. Live very close to us.

David Tang - Our Matchmaker! VERY VERY IMPORTANT. I wouldn't be writing this blog today without him. He should be getting a BIG red packet from us. But since he knew his girlfriend - my Best friend Sandy Wong through me, the packet thing is even out..... Hahahaa...

Length of Friendship: 10 years

Important Friendship Period: One day - the day he took Hadi with him to date Sandy Wong.

Currently: Super businessman in Shanghai

Eric Chez - Like a Big Bro to us - always caring people around him. Like Avis, he's the first guy friend I knew when I came to SF. Helped me a lot - Especially important when I had no car. My savior when I needed to buy a HUGE watermelon! To us, he's an outgoing guy. Will take us to all kinds of fun activities like skiing, shooting, river rafting....Traveling expert especially about cruise.

Length of Friendship: 10 years

Important Friendship Period: When I first came to US.

Currently: Working at SF Water Department. Our water quality depends on him!

Tiffany Cheung - My little cousin. We all call her "Siu B" in our family. The only representative from Kiki's family in the bridal party. Siu B is really the "Little B" to me, I didn't expect her be one of my bridesmaids when I was still dreaming my wedding at my younger age. But fate brought us all to the US n' she is now my closest cousin. Oooo, of course, she is the youngest in the bridal party. Don't make her drink cause she isn't 21 yet.

Length of Friendship: Less than 21 yrs I'm sure

Important Friendship Period: When I always went to HK n' stayed in her family's home for vacation.

Currently: Just came to study in the US for a year. She's going to Foothill College n' living in Mountain View.

Most important saved for the last... actually, just because her name starts with "S"

Sandy Wong - who doesn't know her name? Right - she's my friend for over 20 more years...since kindergarten - we were already talking about being each other's bridesmaid back then. She has been very important in all stages of my life. So she isn't only "a" friend, but my "Best" friend. Undoubtedly, she will be the Maid of Honor. I'm sure there won't be any objection.

Length of Friendship: O, my God! More than 25 years!

Important Friendship Period: Throughout my life.

Currently: Super businesswoman in Macau.

Alright. Now you all get a better idea of each other. Hope that helps to make us a fun team!