OOTD - Wisconsin Wedding

Doing a little backtracking on my Brother's Wedding in Wisconsin.  It was back on October first and their colors were Creme, Orange and Grey.

Anthropologie creme cotton dress that has slate blue/grey geometric shapes

Navy Anthropologie Drape cardigan

Coach Black and Grey Flats

Peach silk flower hair clip from AGACI in Chicago

Swatch baby blue watch

Emerald and gold Necklace from my Mother as a Birthday present

The shoes and pattern design of the dress up close.  The shoes had these coach logo silk rosettes for decoration that I hadn't seen on any of their typical store items.  I think It was a runway item since I got them from Filene's Basement. 
Speaking of which for those readers living in Columbus the Filene's Basment on Sawmill road is closing it's doors this Sunday (boo).  You can read the Article here.

My Dad and Me

A somewhat rare picture of us together and dressed decently.  Usually when I see him one of us is wearing sweats and hanging out at the house sick or being a couch potato so we hardly have a good reason to dress up together.

All the Men together Dressed up.

From Left to right my oldest brother Ed, my Husband Andy, my Dad and my middle Brother David who was getting ready to marry.

My Mom and Dad waiting for their turn at pictures with the couple and family.  I love that my mom wore her Hanbok for all three of our weddings.  It just seemed appropriate.  It's so pretty also how could you not want to be in the swathes of that pale green organza with delicate flower embroideries.

My Nephew got to wear the male version Hanbok as the ring bearer.  You can see it was a quite stressful for him.

Lastly I just had to throw in this picture of me and Niece.  She's really growing up quickly and such a pretty little girl.  I'll have great fun with her when she's a teen and we can go shopping together.

I know when I go to Weddings I always pay special attention to what other people are wearing do you?  If not maybe it's something fun to think about next time you are at one.
Cheers!

Influential People

This week I read the Time 100 most Influential people and sadly I really didn't know that many of them.  That is just kind of my life though.  It maybe terrible but I'm simple, I can't comprehend or follow all of what is going on in the entire world or daily news.  Unfortunately if it just doesn't interest or directly concern me I find it hard to focus on and pay attention to.  Doesn't mean that I don't think they are important I just didn't know about them.

This rightly got me to thinking about last year and who were the influential people in my life.  I know I won't have a list of 100 I couldn't even think of 100 people who were influential in my entire life.  Let's make it simple and start with just 5.

1. My Niece Hera.  Yes I am starting off with my 6 year old niece because she is intelligent beyond her years and watching that little nugget growing up and learning has impacted my life greatly.  It's made me wonder about that large questions in my upcoming soon to be married life such as, "How will I raise my kids?"  She has also been testing my limits of love and remember the most classic thing my Dad would say to me growing up, "I love you but that doesn't mean I have to like you".

2. Andy. My fiancee.  Well how could he not be such a big influence on me?  We live together and do most all our activities together.  We've been together for over 7 years and now with all the wedding planning we are still learning and growing with each other through this process.  I feel like planning this wedding is going to be similar to how we react and plan for things as a family unit eventually.  He's a trooper in patience and compassion towards my insane and negligent tendencies of things that aren't fun.  He's also pushed me to be a bit more domestic so that our house doesn't resemble my college dorm room.

3. Kilala. That's right I am naming my deceased cat.  In the last of her days she showed me the same unquestionable love that she always did.  She was in pain but even more she was trying to comfort me from feeling bad or sad about her pain.  This little creature had more love in her then most humans that I know.  It was never possible to sit, rest or sleep without her by my side.  She was unquestionably the best cat I've ever had hells best pet and companion ever.  To be chosen and loved by such a creature is an amazing gift.

4. My Dad.  He is a Grumpy old Korean man but a fighter.  He's a survivor of some serious colon cancer and currently battles diabetes and a wonky thyroid gland that has him on all sorts of meds.  He manages to still give me shit about everything with a smile and be as supportive of my upcoming marriage and life choices.  He is an old school in Korean traditional values but isn't embarrassed to tell me how proud he is of where I am in my life.  Through all the hardship in the past few years he has come out a better person and more understanding.  Even in his near 70's he's learning and adapting to the world around him.

5. My Mom. I'm extremely lucky to have two parents both heavily vested into my life.  Some people might think it is a pain but I am thankful.  My mom as always in my life is a wonder woman.  She deals with my Dad's grump daily as well as his whines and new strange dietary requests.  She is also not afraid to continue to be an adventurer and learn new things as well.  She started to happily join this Humana Senoir center and take classes in Card making, Scrapbooking, Zumba, Tai Chi, Square Dancing, among many more things.  On top of all this she is still super mom to me when I am sick or in need of an errand I have no time for myself and The world's Best Grandma to my Niece. 

There are a few other people I can think of that are not related to me but I need to ponder this a little more and make a new post just for them.

Resolutions and Nonsense

I don't make all that many or try to do anything super exciting.
My only resolutions this year are:

1. To spend more time with my parent's, especially with my Dad since his health isn't so good
2. Take better care of my skin, not just my face but ALL my skin.  Let's face it I'm not getting any younger and it is my biggest organ.
3. Buy less crap. seriously. I have a bad habit of collecting things and this is not the year to do that or continue that.


So Far I have been pretty good about it.  Andy and I went to Las Vegas Recently and I barely bought a thing.  I got one tiny Hello Kitty Las Vegas Charm and a Lion from MGM Grand.  Otherwise I got souvenirs for my Niece and Nephew in the form of Fuzzy Dice.

For the skin I am trying to get back into the habit of using a face mask 1-2 times a week and washing my face every night before bed with moisturizer.  In the mornings I am either using a moisturizing body oil spray or slathering on some lotion.

For #1 I think I am doing a pretty good job seeing my parent's more.  It helps a ton that they moved back down closer to me and my brother's family.  I try to encourage my Dad to have lunch with me every week and do errands with my mom if we are in the same area.

My dad is sort of Hilarious.  I wish someone would make a comic strip about him because he really does say the darndest things.

This is him at Christmas, my middle brother Dave got him this hat for Christmas and it was pretty priceless.

His comments about the hat were:

"I look like a God Damn Communist"

"God Damn if I go out people will think I am North Korean"

My Dad kind of likes to say "God Damn" a lot

Just a personal Note and "Billy Would"

Nothing serious just very excited for my trip to Toronto this weekend to visit Cousins.  I have a lot of cousins I think I counted around 21 first cousins on my Dad's side alone.  I am probably only going to be seeing 8 or 9 this weekend not to mention their kids and spouses.  It always seem to be a mix of extremes between families, where you either love your cousins or you just don't care very much or loathe them.  Even i feel this.  I love love love to death my Cousins on my Dad's side but on my Mom's side it get's very hairy.  Some of them I enjoy while others just make me wonder how in the world we are related whatsoever.

This is going to be a very happy trip though!  For the first time in a long while I am going up to visit without my parents or brothers and driving up with my cousin from Columbus Christina whom I never get to spend time with even though we live in the same city.  It is also for once not a Wedding nor Funeral so we can relax and be ourselves and not worry about what our parents, aunts and Uncles are thinking of us and what we are wearing.  There was a bit of controvesy at my Grandma's funeral.  My make up was too bright, I should of worn something more conservative instead of a maxi dress and my Uncle from Vancouver had no suitable dress clothes according to his sister in law my Aunt in Niagra.  It was sort of silly to watch hime get re-dressed and sighs of disapproval even though it was his twin brother's clothes.

Up till my Grandma's Funeral I had no inkling of what my Cousins in Vancouver were up to.  They were always the mystical Chung's that were off in that far far away land.  Then we I finally got to re-meet my cousin Adea I found that Art does run in the family more then I had expected.  Her father, my Uncle Tom is a woodcarver in the Yukon and I've always known this.  I met them once before that I can remember.  He was on this ridicuolus road trip from Vancouver to Mexico to Ohio then I think they went to Toronto and back to Mexico before going back to Vancouver.  At that time I only had two cousins by him Adea and Ian.  I remember them bringing us the most random awesome presents, Mexican woven wall hangings, bear skin rug and various other trinkets.  My cousins were learning Violin and had to sleep in this weird semi lifted space that my Uncle made in the back of the van but the only way in was a trap door unless the back doors were open.  It was a bit terrifying, not for the claustrophobic at all.  But those were my only memories of them until Grandma's funeral.  We were over 150 Chung's strong in representation at the Funeral.  That alone was amazing almost like a family reunion. 

Whilst there I find out that my Cousin Adea has her own reclaimed wood jewelry company called Billy Would and like me she is very into the craft scene and her sister's and other brother whom I never met also have a bit of the Art bug.  AMAZING to get to know them this way.  I look forward to getting to know them more in the years to come and making a trip to Vancouver in the next two years.

 Selections from Adea's Website "Billy Would"