Happy Birthday, Kimbee!
This has been a rough week for my family, so Kim’s birthday gave us the opportunity to cheer up. Yesterday, we celebrated by doing a bunch of Kim’s favorite things.
We began the day with the customary manicure and pedicure. Every year, we use our birthdays as an excuse to pamper ourselves. Kim, Melody, Winnie, and Tommy got their fingers and toes properly maintained at Betty Nail in Bensonhurst while ST and I picked up a box of Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes – our ultimate favorite for years. In my pre-prediabetic days, I could tuck away a dozen of these bad boys all by myself.
The cupcakes came with a temporary tattoo so of course, Kim got a birthday tramp stamp!
SHAZAM!
She may have protested… 
Then, it was off to dinner at Qi in Union Square. Winnie, Mel, and I shared a large veggie dosa, duck and mango salad, and tuna teriyaki. The food was pretty yummy and the service was good. They have happy hour everyday after 5 pm and beer is BOGO. No complaints here. I’d suggest skipping the appetizers as the entree portions are quite large. Even the salads are huge – we couldn’t finish the duck salad among the three of us.
Honey barbecue short ribs. I ate a few small pieces – it wasn’t that sweet. 
I got these pictures from Mel’s iPhone – not sure why there are only pictures of me and Kim. I assure you, there were other people there.
After that, we headed back to the West Side highway for a round of mini golf at Pier 25. I’d never been, so I didn’t know what to expect. It was so much fun! Definitely a great way to end the day. The eighteen-hole course is located in Hudson River Park, right by the water. It only costs $5 per person for eighteen holes. The course is really cute. There’s a cavern, hills, waterfalls, and a bridge. Having played copious amounts of mini golf on vacation in the Dominican Republic, Kim and Tommy are very competitive mini-golfers. We split our group into two teams of four. We won by seven points, despite my poor putting. I even got a hole-in-one! Huzzah! 
I highly recommend going here for a date or with a group of friends.
And because we’re oldies, we were home by 10:30.
What a super fun day.
“Kimbee” is my mom’s nickname for Kim. ST calls her “Middle” because, obviously, she’s the middle child and we call Melody “Baby” because she’s the youngest. In case you’re wondering, I’m simply Carol.
Nomads No More
School has begun. It seems the summer flew by in an instant – it always does, doesn’t it? For the past six years, I’ve been completely exhausted during the school year and have often neglected my own needs – eating right, exercising, and even simple grooming. Every year, I think it will get better. Every year, it does not.
This year will be no different. I’m teaching an extra class, writing for another blog, and am determined to be a good prediabetic by eating well and staying fit.
Needless to say, posting will slow down for a while and Costa Rica recaps will take me a bit longer to churn out. For those of you on the edge of your seats, I apologize.
Anyway. I last updated about our church situation last March.
Last January, ST and I had made the difficult decision to leave my home church of thirteen years in search of a place where we both belonged. We’d spent several months at a church in the West Village, but it just didn’t work out. People were nice, but they didn’t seem too interested in getting to know us and the feeling was mutual. As I found myself zoning out more during sermons, I knew it was time to move on. ST agreed, so it was back to the drawing board.
We’d visited this church in Gramercy once. Our first impression was that it wasn’t our style but something made us go back. It was like a nagging suspicion that we were missing out. I’m glad we gave it a second chance. After a few visits and some encouragement from a friend, I signed us up for small group. It was time for us to take the plunge and join a new community.
So far, we really like it. People are friendly and seem genuinely happy that we’ve joined their church. The pastors are gifted speakers – they’re very engaging and open about their own life experiences. There’s lots of diversity, which includes students, singles, and married couples with children.
For the first time, ST and I feel like we belong. Am I busting out my guitar and singing This is Home? Nope – not yet. We’ve been burned before so we’re extra cautious. But I have a good feeling about this place. We even had dinner with the pastor and his wife. We stayed past midnight! That’s quite an accomplishment for a lazy, antisocial pair like us. It was actually a blast. We discussed everything from accepting oneself, God’s love, babies, prostate glands, DIY extermination, and poop. It has been a long time since we connected like this with church leaders.
I’m hopeful and thankful that our little nomadic tribe might be done wandering.
Have you switched churches? I’d love to read about your experience.
Our Chinese Fiesta – Chinese Banquet Details
I’m a detail-oriented person. I love details. I remember details. This isn’t always advantageous for a teacher because it makes it easy for me to miss the big picture. For our wedding though, I delved into the glorious details and lost myself.
When I last left off (before I discussed our budget) we had just finished taking our bridal portraits at Grand Central Station. Then, we headed back to S. Dynasty for our Chinese banquet reception.
Once we got to the hotel, I peeked into the restaurant and I was delighted and very grateful to see that our friends and family had set everything up perfectly. Thanks, guys! The whole room was filled with a warm glow and each table was prettily decorated with candles and favors.
When guests entered, there was a small table set up with escort cards – mini maracas with little table tags attached. Tip: Alphabetize everything and put them in labeled bags. Your helpers will have a much easier time of setting things up.
The original plan for the guestbook was to have people sign a book of engagement pictures. However, my cousin Jerry bought us this red book from China and my mom insisted on using it. I didn’t care for it, but at that point, I was too tired to argue. In retrospect, it didn’t look that tacky.
Here’s my dear friend Kay signing. Don’t you love her outfit? I loved that she and my other girlfriends brought their A-game to our wedding. I take that as a token of their affection.
I actually had to get the following pictures from Facebook. Our photographer didn’t take any pictures of the favors, centerpieces, or menus – items that I spent months working on. 
Fortunately, our sweet friend Winnie was our unofficial photographer and captured our details. Thank you, Winnie!
I bought a huge case of votive candles. I had so many left over we used them for Kim’s wedding also. I still have a ton left! Ordering extras are good, but try not to go overboard like me.
Our non-floral centerpieces were perfect; they added to the ambiance but didn’t get in the way of the food, served family-style. I purchased pillar candles from IKEA and placed them in cylinder vases from Dollar Tree. Tip: If you can’t find what you’re looking for in the store, buy it online and have it shipped to the store for free. I printed table numbers on gold vellum and wrapped them around each vase with double-sided tape. Double-sided tape is your wedding craft buddy.
Then, my cousin Joanie (I LOVE YOU, JO!) painstakingly wrapped each vase with double-faced red satin ribbon and trimmed the tops. Unfortunately, I don’t have a clear picture of our hard work, but you get the idea:
There’s Winnie in the backgound, snapping away like we paid her, and our mariachi band.
The main table number/pillar candle was surrounded by 3-4 votive candles.
Each guest (except children) received a custom shot glass and a mini bottle of Patrón tequila (a nod to ST’s culture). They were packaged in gold takeout boxes from Paper Mart and tied up with a ribbon and label. We have three extra favors and a bunch of menus that my mom saved for us. Sweet! Thanks, mom!
Here they are, two years later.
The shot glasses were from Discount Mugs and were, obviously, very affordable. I created the graphic and uploaded it to their website and shipping was quick and safe; nothing was broken. ST and my family washed and dried each shot glass so they were ready to go. Each mini Patrón was enough for one very full shot. People loved these favors – whether to drink or as a keepsake, there wasn’t even one left behind. Moral of the story: When in doubt, give liquor or food! You can never go wrong.
I love that I can look at the menu and remember all the food that we didn’t eat. Good times. Our red wine was Cabernet Casillero and the wine was Pinot Grigio. Our friend Peter stuck a mustache on his glass and aptly named it Mr. Grigio. Yeah… I think people enjoyed the wine.
At one point during the middle of the lobster course, I went back to our table to find that Kim had helped herself to our portions. I think she looked apologetic between mouthfuls of succulent lobster. Little sisters. We did manage to eat some Peking Duck though – it’s ST’s favorite. I think I had some shark’s fin soup also. I hope it was imitation shark… 
We had LOTS of kids at our reception. I believe the final number was 25. As a thaasophobe, I wanted all our guests, old and young, to have fun at all times. So, with all those kids, I knew it would be impossible for parents to enjoy themselves without some kind of kiddie activities.
I decided to make activity bags for each child. On a family trip to Target, my mom bought a whole mess of glossy red gift bags that were on sale for 50 cents each. I designed a label and personalized it for each child. It said “A Bag of Fun for _________.” Inside were the following items:
- Candy: Ring Pops, Dum Dums… not sure what else. These were purchased from Dollar Tree.
- Activity book with coloring pages and stickers from Oriental Trading.
- Crayons for the activity book from Dollar Tree. I bought a few boxes and gave each child a bundle of crayons tied by gold curling ribbon.
- Glow sticks and a bunch of small toys (cars, little dolls, bouncy balls, etc.), all from Dollar Tree.
- Older kids got Sudoku puzzle books and other age-appropriate activities, from Dollar Tree.
The bags took an afternoon to prepare – our friends and family stuck put candy in bags and tied them with gold curling ribbon. Crayons were divided and tied up cutely. We left out boring colors like beige and black. I don’t remember exactly how much each bag cost – it couldn’t have been more than $8 each – but the payoff was priceless. ST’s best man’s wife, Gloria, cried happy tears. She hugged me multiple times, kissed me, and thanked me for thinking of the kids. Similarly, my cousin Cathy’s kids had so much fun at our wedding that she had to “mentally prepare them” for subsequent weddings because they will not be as fun as ours was. Money and time well spent!
If you’re in a similar situation, definitely spend a few dollars at Dollar Tree for the kids. It was so cute – each one had a lollipop in their mouth, a mustache under their nose, and a toy in their hand. They didn’t leave their tables except to dance!
Our photobooth was also a big hit. As I mentioned previously, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a photobooth rental, ST and I purchased a photo printer and David Cline’s script. We purchased several packs of photo paper and ink cartridges (they were cheaper when we bought them though) and a photo printer. I don’t remember how much the printer was, but it was pretty cheap.
I spent $50 on eBay for 200 stick-on mustaches, two feather boas, and a ton of red clown noses. I love that there was not one face, old or young, without a mustache, side burns, or uni-brow. Who would have thought stick-on mustaches would be such a hit? Our other props included randomness from Dollar Tree: sombrero, parrot hat, Groucho Marx disguises, sequined masks, and different types of big sunglasses. The containers were either from Dollar Tree or Michael’s.
I set up a memory board in hopes that people would take photos and leave us some. This is how I knew people loved their photos – we only got about 10 photo strips and you could tell most were rejects (blurry, bad lighting, etc.). Gee, thanks guys.
S. Dynasty provided an elegant traditional double happiness tapestry that we used as a back drop. I think the only downside to the DIY photobooth option is that lighting was insufficient. This could have been remedied if I’d asked a photographer-friend about setting up some lights, but I think we did okay without them.
My friend Livia scanned her photos. So cute! I love these two ladies.
David Cline’s script conveniently saves every photo strip as a .pdf file. Unfortunately, they were saved on my MacBook from work and I forgot about them and switched it for a MacBook Pro. Remember to back up your stuff!
And finally… I loved our cake topper. They were custom painted figures from Etsy. True to life, ST’s mini me is taller than mine. The fondant flowers on our cake were also from Etsy. They were supposed to be cream/ivory but they were orange on that day.
Whew… I think I’ve covered everything.
Are you a detail-oriented person? What details have made an impression on you?
Up next, how the banquet went down!