Five More Days!

Only five more days until the wedding!! This will probably be the last post I make before I go into total beast planning mode (Lists! Sticky notes! Planners!).

Last night, Russ and I had an awesome dinner with my family. Despite all chaos that leads up to the wedding day, we try to spend as much quality time as we can with the people we love. I really wanted a dinner with my family 'cause I know I'll miss them lots so Russell took them out to one of my favorite restaurants.

At The Balcony

Yum. We were all pretty stuffed afterwards. Nothing beats good food with good people.

Half Empty

Childhood memories.

I've slowly been packing up my room and every movement is an obstacle. Packing up my books, emptying my drawers, tearing out posters, stripping down my closet—I feel like there's a breakdown waiting for me at every corner. It doesn't help that I only have a week left in this house. I hate count downs but I can't help it. I'm counting down the nights I have left in my bedroom, and with my family. To be honest, it sucks. I'm going to miss them so so much.

I know I'm still excited to move in with Russell after we get back from the honeymoon. I'm thrilled to see how it'll be like to live with my best friend/husband. Don't think I regret any of it. It's just...what I do regret is not appreciating my parents and family more when I could have. I wish I had never complained about curfew but instead saw it as a way to spend more time with my family. I wish I hadn't lost my patience with my parents as much as I did. I wish I had been smarter and wiser.

Cleaning up my room is catapulting me to nostalgia lane. Most of the furniture I have in my room I've had for more than a decade. I know I've outgrown many of the things (drawers that are breaking, hot pink chairs, etc.) but I kind of wish I didn't. I'm attached to them the way I'm attached to my childhood. Seeing my room now half empty makes me want to wake up my parents and crawl into their bed. A part of me—3 year old me who cried whenever my older brother dropped me off at preschool because I hated the thought of not seeing him for hours; 11 year old me teaching my little brother how to write; teenager me learning how to drive from my dad; college me sitting on my parents' bed and having girl talk with my mom —will always miss this.

Now it's just a half empty room becoming emptier by the second. I'm going to miss these sky blue walls and when dad and mom went with me to Home Depot to pick out the exact shade of blue I wanted. I'm going to miss the Harry Potter collage I made in high school that my mom does not have the heart to take down. Man, I'm even going to miss mom hiding all my finished puzzles under the mattress and underneath the rugs. It's not fair. I wish I had known to appreciate all the moments when they were happening.

Sneak Peak

Sorry for the lack of updates. Can you believe that I will be getting married in about two weeks?! I am so excited. Russell and I have been putting finishing touches on all our decorations and plans. I have to say, I'm pretty stoked that we were able to actually pull everything together. Sometimes I step back and think, "Wow, we planned a wedding."
Anyways, we have been putting together song playlists. If you guys don't know yet, Russell has some pretty wack weird taste in music (haha, sorry Russ). This will lead to a very...interesting reception music playlist. I love a lot of the songs we have already but somehow I can't stop listening to You and I by Ingrid Michaelson. 

Oh let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France Let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance
It makes me want to dance and pick flowers. There you go! A little sneak peak into our wedding reception playlist ;)

Bridal Shower

I had the best bridal shower with the best people this past weekend. It was thrown by my two wonderful maids-of-honor and it was so much fun. The wedding is less than a month away (!!!), and everyday I am amazed by all the great people I am surrounded by.

The women invited to my bridal shower have all influenced and shaped me in some way. It's touching and yes, somewhat emotional to see all these great people in a room together. It fills my heart with so much gladness and I'm overcome by it. It's truly amazing.

Jessica and Bernadette even had a station where the girls had to write a memory they have had with me. Then, I had to read them aloud and guess whose they were. Many of them were funny, a couple were slightly embarrassing, and all were touching. It reminded me of all the adventures and laughs I've had the privilege to share with them. Gah, this wasn't meant to be sappy but I guess it is. But no matter, my heart is overflowing and I wanted to share.

I also had a box of advice that the guests wrote for me. One lady also gave an encouraging speech of her personal advice. People were hugging and stopping me throughout the party to offer advice or help with the wedding. Did I mention how awesome these people were? It's one thing to know cool people but another thing to be surrounded by so much love.

P.S. Here's a video my older brother made of some pictures from the bridal shower: Katrina's Bridal Shower

A Joyful Heart

So many good things have happened! A few of which are:

• Russell and I finding an apartment for us to live in once we're married. Russell will start "nesting" mid-April.

• Russell also found a great suit that fits him nicely. The worker at the store was very nice and even gave us the tailor charge for free! While Russell was changing, I found out that the man helping us was from Jordan. I got excited and told him that the best man in our wedding/Russell's best friend moved to Amman, Jordan. He then responded that Amman was his home city. I also found out his wife is Filipino and that he gets to visit my home country this July. Once Russell came back out, we talked a bit more about Arabic food and tea before he told us that he'll tailor the suit for free. 

• My maids-of-honor are so cool and I'm excited for my "tea party" bridal shower.

• Our pastor who is doing our premarital counseling told us that if we really want him to marry us in Oroville, he'll travel up there for our wedding. How awesome is this? Totally awesome.

• Speaking of people traveling to our wedding, we have a lot of people traveling to Oroville in April. Relatives from Philippines, Toronto, Chicago, and Texas are making the effort to come. My cousins from Texas have a test the following Monday but they're flying in Friday and leaving Sunday just to see me marry Russell. Also, Russell's best friend is flying from Jordan! YOU GUYS ARE SO CRAZY AND AMAZING. And of course, we mustn't forget all the Southern Californians road tripping it up to norcal. Russell joked that it has become a destination wedding, haha.

• Last but not least, so many things have fallen apart but better things have been put together. I've reached a point now where if I get bad news, I shrug and don't worry much about it. Because in the end, I still get to marry the love of my life. Not only that, but I will also get to see so many people I love all in the same place on one of the best days of my life. It seems so surreal that it needs to just happen already.