IN PROGRESS...
So with both of us being employed full time this year, Eric and I’ve been dreaming about what we are going to do with all this money (not much but a lot more than being a student and unemployed) ^_^. Eric’s dream is to get that massage chair… he’s been dreaming about that one for a long time. Mine was to get that 50-60” plazma TV ^_^ and cable for the new apartment. I am done with the rabbit ears.
Dreaming is good but we still have to come back to planet Earth. ^_^ After careful calculation and setting our priorities… we realized we really don’t have that much extra money if we want to save up for a house next year…
So, the first thing I said to Eric was… “ well I guess we will have to wait on that massage chair” ^_^ ( of course I am not giving up my TV)… but then the next day we realized we really don’t have the extra money for the plazma TV either… so much for walking around Costco and picking out the TV I wanted -_-
However… we can always look on the brighter side ^_^ Our new apartment’s living room is much smaller than the old apartment and the couch will be much closer to the TV, it’s as if we are getting a larger TV ^_^
Poor man’s big screen TV = SIT CLOSER!!!!
O… and to save money... we didn’t buy a new couch… We went to the fashion/fabric district in downtown LA and bought scrap fabric for $2/lb and made a new couch cover for our old couch ^_^ not that great but it will do for now ^_^
星期一, 七月 24, 2006
Visa Anyone??
IN PROGRESS...
If you are a US citizen then you probably have never experience this before. Let me tell you this really stinks -_-
For our honeymoon, we are going literally around the world. From LA to Germany, to Spain, to France, to UK, to India, to Thailand, to Taiwan, and finally back to LA. This means for every country that does not do on-site visas for Taiwanese passport, I will need to get a visa prior to getting there. Thus begins my visa hunting adventure.
India Visa: (SF consulate)
This was easy. They took a look at all our documents “stamp, stamp, come back in 3 hours to pick up your passport.” Very nice people.
European Visa: I didn’t know that most of these consulates are only open from 9-12… (is this how all the government offices work in Europe)
German SF consulate:
I should have known not to go up to the window after the consulate lady just yelled at the man in front of me… a bazaar conversation but it goes like this ( not that I was listening in on their conversation)
Officer: here is your passport
Man: where is my wife’s passport?
Officer: when you return and turn in your passport then I will give you your wife’s passport
Man: but why would I want to go to Europe without my wife? And she is the one that wants to travel more.
Officer: then give me your passport and I will give you your wife’s passport.
(at this point the man was about the cry). I am very busy so please step aside.
Man: but…
Officer: that is your business…
(my heart is racing at this point… can another nicer officer come out like… NOW!!!)
Batter up…
Officer: what are you here for?
Me: I am applying for S. visa. And here are all my documents.
Officer: did you take a number?
Me: Number? (looking over my shoulder… yap there is that little number paper machine)
Officer: take a number and take a seat (she turned around and started talking to her friends in the office)
Eric and I took a number and sat down…
Officer: Who is next?? (looking around the room, there is us and the other man she just yelled at earlier… I guess we are next)
Offiver: (took our number) so where are you going?
Me: on our honeymoon around the world (gave her our itenarary).
Officer: Where is your final destination?
Me: Taiwan? LA?
Officer: NO! Where is your final destination in Europe?
Me: UM…. None… We are just transiting through.Officer: (I can see the steam coming out of her ears) where in Europe are you going exactly ( I repeated my intenarary again), No where are you staying the longest?
Me: Ummm… Ummm… I guess Spain (5days vs. 4 days in Paris)
Officer: ( red in the face) you are in the wrong place, you need to get it from the Spanish consulate.
*** 1.5 hours later nothing was accomplished in the German consulate****
Spanish SF consulate:
This time we got smarter. We called ahead of time.
Eric: when are your office hours?
Officer: 9:00-12pm
Eric: When do you stop processing visa applications?
Officer: 9:00 am
Eric: When is your office hours again?
Officer: 9:00-12pm
Eric: and when do we have to drop the application off by?
Officer: 9:00am
(hum… that is weird… So we decided to get there just a hair before 9:00 to make sure we get our application in)
When we got to the Spanish consulate, there were already 20+ people waiting outside of the consulate. Some of them had blankets and some had fold out chairs…kind of like when people line up the street to wait for Rose parade on new years day.
A sign in list has already started and the earliest person that was there arrived at the consulate 2:00am that day…. Craziness. It turned out that the Spanish SF consulate’s jurisdiction expands all the way up to Alaska. Some people are flying in from Seattle to get this done… -_-
9:00am the office door opened. The consulate officer stepped out, took the sign in list and said all the people who are on this list will be processed today… and if you are not on the list then you can go home.
Poor girl walked in at 9:02… too bad.
Finally the application in processed, the officer said,”come back in one month to pick up your passport or we can mail it to you in 6 weeks.”
Me: but we are leaving in 4 weeks.
Officer: well come back in 3 weeks, same day 2pm. Step aside now.
* 4 hours… at least we turned in our application and are at the right consulate*
3 weeks later:
I was a little worried about this whole pick up at 2 pm thing because their office hours ARE 9-12pm… I didn’t want to show up after 12pm and have the office closed already. So I got there at 11:30.
Me: I am here to pick up my passport.
Officer: do you have an appointment?
Me: Yes, it’s today.
Officer: When?
Me: at 2pm
Officer: Is it 2pm right now? Come back later.
Me: but I thought your office hour is 9-12… I didn’t want the office to be closed, besides I am just picking up my passport.
Officer: come back at 2pm
@ 1:45pm
Me: I am here to pick up my passport.
Officer: When is your appointment.
Me: at 2pm
Officer: is it 2 pm yet? Go have a seat.
@ 1:58pm
Me: can I pick up my passport now?
Officer: you have 2 more minutes.
@ 2:02pm
Me: Can I pick up my passport now?
Officer: Is it 2 pm… o I guess it is… Hold on…
Finally…
I guess I will not belabor you on my visa experience in the British consulate… but lets just say it was an experience pretty similar to the Spanish consulate…
Good Luck to all you out there getting visas ^_^
If you are a US citizen then you probably have never experience this before. Let me tell you this really stinks -_-
For our honeymoon, we are going literally around the world. From LA to Germany, to Spain, to France, to UK, to India, to Thailand, to Taiwan, and finally back to LA. This means for every country that does not do on-site visas for Taiwanese passport, I will need to get a visa prior to getting there. Thus begins my visa hunting adventure.
India Visa: (SF consulate)
This was easy. They took a look at all our documents “stamp, stamp, come back in 3 hours to pick up your passport.” Very nice people.
European Visa: I didn’t know that most of these consulates are only open from 9-12… (is this how all the government offices work in Europe)
German SF consulate:
I should have known not to go up to the window after the consulate lady just yelled at the man in front of me… a bazaar conversation but it goes like this ( not that I was listening in on their conversation)
Officer: here is your passport
Man: where is my wife’s passport?
Officer: when you return and turn in your passport then I will give you your wife’s passport
Man: but why would I want to go to Europe without my wife? And she is the one that wants to travel more.
Officer: then give me your passport and I will give you your wife’s passport.
(at this point the man was about the cry). I am very busy so please step aside.
Man: but…
Officer: that is your business…
(my heart is racing at this point… can another nicer officer come out like… NOW!!!)
Batter up…
Officer: what are you here for?
Me: I am applying for S. visa. And here are all my documents.
Officer: did you take a number?
Me: Number? (looking over my shoulder… yap there is that little number paper machine)
Officer: take a number and take a seat (she turned around and started talking to her friends in the office)
Eric and I took a number and sat down…
Officer: Who is next?? (looking around the room, there is us and the other man she just yelled at earlier… I guess we are next)
Offiver: (took our number) so where are you going?
Me: on our honeymoon around the world (gave her our itenarary).
Officer: Where is your final destination?
Me: Taiwan? LA?
Officer: NO! Where is your final destination in Europe?
Me: UM…. None… We are just transiting through.Officer: (I can see the steam coming out of her ears) where in Europe are you going exactly ( I repeated my intenarary again), No where are you staying the longest?
Me: Ummm… Ummm… I guess Spain (5days vs. 4 days in Paris)
Officer: ( red in the face) you are in the wrong place, you need to get it from the Spanish consulate.
*** 1.5 hours later nothing was accomplished in the German consulate****
Spanish SF consulate:
This time we got smarter. We called ahead of time.
Eric: when are your office hours?
Officer: 9:00-12pm
Eric: When do you stop processing visa applications?
Officer: 9:00 am
Eric: When is your office hours again?
Officer: 9:00-12pm
Eric: and when do we have to drop the application off by?
Officer: 9:00am
(hum… that is weird… So we decided to get there just a hair before 9:00 to make sure we get our application in)
When we got to the Spanish consulate, there were already 20+ people waiting outside of the consulate. Some of them had blankets and some had fold out chairs…kind of like when people line up the street to wait for Rose parade on new years day.
A sign in list has already started and the earliest person that was there arrived at the consulate 2:00am that day…. Craziness. It turned out that the Spanish SF consulate’s jurisdiction expands all the way up to Alaska. Some people are flying in from Seattle to get this done… -_-
9:00am the office door opened. The consulate officer stepped out, took the sign in list and said all the people who are on this list will be processed today… and if you are not on the list then you can go home.
Poor girl walked in at 9:02… too bad.
Finally the application in processed, the officer said,”come back in one month to pick up your passport or we can mail it to you in 6 weeks.”
Me: but we are leaving in 4 weeks.
Officer: well come back in 3 weeks, same day 2pm. Step aside now.
* 4 hours… at least we turned in our application and are at the right consulate*
3 weeks later:
I was a little worried about this whole pick up at 2 pm thing because their office hours ARE 9-12pm… I didn’t want to show up after 12pm and have the office closed already. So I got there at 11:30.
Me: I am here to pick up my passport.
Officer: do you have an appointment?
Me: Yes, it’s today.
Officer: When?
Me: at 2pm
Officer: Is it 2pm right now? Come back later.
Me: but I thought your office hour is 9-12… I didn’t want the office to be closed, besides I am just picking up my passport.
Officer: come back at 2pm
@ 1:45pm
Me: I am here to pick up my passport.
Officer: When is your appointment.
Me: at 2pm
Officer: is it 2 pm yet? Go have a seat.
@ 1:58pm
Me: can I pick up my passport now?
Officer: you have 2 more minutes.
@ 2:02pm
Me: Can I pick up my passport now?
Officer: Is it 2 pm… o I guess it is… Hold on…
Finally…
I guess I will not belabor you on my visa experience in the British consulate… but lets just say it was an experience pretty similar to the Spanish consulate…
Good Luck to all you out there getting visas ^_^
Wedding preparation for LA and tips for making crafts for your own wedding:
IN PROGRESS:
Alright… I was going to write about this earlier but I didn’t want to let the secret out and ruin the surprise when our guests receive their invitation ^_^. (or maybe I am just lazy)
So lets start from the beginning…
Ceremony Location: The Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes, CA
I first lay my eyes on this church back in high school when I went there for some church function. It is a historical building right on a cliff. This Spanish adobe style building has windows in the sanctuary that over looks the ocean (makes great photos). Although there was a 3 hour time frame for each wedding party, it was enough for us to get everything done. They had a beautiful room for the bride to change in… so lots of pretty pictures there too ^_^. The pastor was welling to work with us to incorporate both Chinese and English vows during our ceremony, which made it very special for Eric and me.
Tips for program booklet at the church:
Try to include some of the family members in the ceremony (i.e. scripture reading). If there is a gap between your wedding ceremony and reception, you may want to include local attractions in your program so your guest can have something to do while they wait for the reception. You can include some puzzles or brain teasers about yourself…it was a big hit at ours. Sample:XXXXXXXXX
Invitation: Message in a bottle
Since I am very into arts and crafts, I thought making my own invitation would be very cool and I can also save money. Well… It was very cool but it certainly did not save me any money. First thing first, my wedding invitation was in the style of message in a bottle. I got the idea online for beach theme weddings.
You can either get the whole thing made, printed, and mailed for you from www.mypersonalartist.com for XXX per invitation … or you can try to be crazy like me and do it separately. (At Mypersonalartist.com they can also personalize a watercolor on all of your wedding stationeries… but you will need to talk to them in advance).
DIY tips for message in a bottle:
Bottles and the boxes can be ordered from www.sanblastarts.com for $0.68 per bottle
Sand from Michael’s for $3.50/bag (enough for 70+ bottles)… don’t go to the beach to get the sand… we tried it and it smells bad.-_-
Shells and starts: from www.orientaltrading.com ( cheap… one bag of each is enough)
Invitation with original watercolor printed from www.mypersonalartist.com for XXXX
Color printer from Costco (I went through 2 sets of cartridge for 70 invitations)… if you don’t mind that the letters are not raised then the best quality print on the color printer looks just like the flat printing they do at the invitation stores.
Ribbons: I got them in downtown LA’s fashion district… (Take 110 N to 10E exit Mapleturn left onto Maple and keep going for about 5-7 blocks and you will be in the fashion/fabric district) You can find all the supplies you need for your craft stuff (i.e. ribbons, candles, veil beads…) for a lot cheaper then Michael’s or Jo-Annes.
Postage: you can do a personalized stamp from www.stamp.com or you can use the automated machine at the post office.
Wedding dress and bridesmaids’ dresses:
I don’t really have any tip for the wedding dress besides… if you like it… just get it… it will cost you a lot doesn’t matter how you cut it… so just buy the one you want so you can be happy ^_^
Bridesmaids’ dresses, however, you can get them in downtown LA fashion district for a really good price. Go down Santee street (one block west of Maple) and go you will see lots of prom/wedding party dress stores… they run about $45-55 for short dresses and $55 and up for long dresses (the place I went is called Christies). All the stuff you see at David’s bridal or Jessica McClintock stuff, you will see the exact same style for 1/3-1/2 the price.
Wedding Hair and make-up:
Up-do is definitely the way to go for Asians… unless you have naturally curly hair. Since I already had a wedding in Taiwan, I knew my hair gets flat towards the end of the day… so I got an up-do this time… less things to worry about.
I had little white orchids in my hair while the bridesmaids all had a mid-size pink rose in theirs (matched their dress perfectly).
Do do a test make-up session with the make-up artist. Make sure you take pictures of how it looks like and have it in hand the day of so you can remind the make-up artist how it was.
My make-up artist name was Alicia in Newport beach. E-mail me if you need more info…. I liked the make up.
Reception location:
To follow our beach theme, we picked The Portofino Yatch club in Redondo Beach (15 min drive from the church). It has a great view of King Harbor and it also has a beautiful view of the lights from Palos Verdes at night.
The Pacific ballroom was perfect for the 110 guests that we had. It came with a terrace that allows guests to enjoy the view before our reception.
Tips for hosting alcohol:
Eric and I wanted to serve alcohol but didn’t have a big budget for it… the hotel wanted to charge us $5/glass if it is something their distributor carries (yaks!). After we found out that the distributor does not carry Taiwan Beer, my brother was able to buy 4 cases of it from Ranch (48 big glass bottles = less than $50) and bring it in ourselves. They did charge us $6/bottle corkage fee… but it was still cheaper than $5/glass (cuz each bottle serves 3 glasses). It was as if we had an open bar ^_^
Reception decoration:
I bought a lot of shells and sea stars from www.orientaltrading.com , which makes good decoration on the table of the reception. They are really cheap… you only need one bag of baby shells and one box of mini sugar stars and that will be enough to cover 12 -15 tables. I also glued sea stars and sand dollars on the menu… it turned our really nice.
Wedding Favor: Do what will reflect you the most. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do for the party favor. I saw these butter spreader with sea shells on it for $3/pair that says “spread the love” which was super cute… but it was out of my price range… then I realize why look further… I have over 100 CD’s most of them are songs that Eric and I enjoy. So we put together 2 music CD’s with romantic songs that we like and also fun songs that we like… put on CD label with our pictures on it and… DONE!!! ^_^
DJ: I like our DJ a lot because he know how to read the crowd. Also he was able to use all the songs we like from our wedding favor. I guess if you already have a list of songs that you like you can easily do the IPOD thing but don’t stress yourself over it. If you have friends who are good with IPOD and computer music stuff then great… if not then just hire a DJ. Here is our DJ’s websiteXXXXXXXX
Flowers: I can’t say much about this because my bestfriend’s mom and her friend did the whole thing for us for a price much cheaper then what the flower stores were quoting me ^_^ Recycle the flowers… whatever you have at the church… move it over to the reception.
Cake: From my impression… nobody really care about the cake as long as it looks nice for the pictures. We just ordered what the hotel well cover in the package and had Carol’s mom decorate the cake with lots of flowers… it looks awesome. I also wanted to have a very personalized cake topper… so I took Eric and my picture and gave it to a claymation store in Taiwan and had a topper made that way ^_^
Photographer:
So I did a lot of research on the photographer. Do go in a talk to the photographer. Take a look at their portfolio but at the same time take a look at their work in progress. I really like my photographer’s work in progress so we booked him. Also, doing an engagement photo session with the photographer is a good idea just because you can get used to the photographer and know their strengths and weaknesses and be able to tell the photographer what you like changed for your wedding pictures.
My photographer’s name is Teak and this e-mail is:XXXXXXX
Honeymoon:
If you are not going on your honeymoon right away, make sure you do take a short trip somewhere. The wedding is exhausting you need to take a break and spend sometime just for the two of you.
Alright… I was going to write about this earlier but I didn’t want to let the secret out and ruin the surprise when our guests receive their invitation ^_^. (or maybe I am just lazy)
So lets start from the beginning…
Ceremony Location: The Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes, CA
I first lay my eyes on this church back in high school when I went there for some church function. It is a historical building right on a cliff. This Spanish adobe style building has windows in the sanctuary that over looks the ocean (makes great photos). Although there was a 3 hour time frame for each wedding party, it was enough for us to get everything done. They had a beautiful room for the bride to change in… so lots of pretty pictures there too ^_^. The pastor was welling to work with us to incorporate both Chinese and English vows during our ceremony, which made it very special for Eric and me.
Tips for program booklet at the church:
Try to include some of the family members in the ceremony (i.e. scripture reading). If there is a gap between your wedding ceremony and reception, you may want to include local attractions in your program so your guest can have something to do while they wait for the reception. You can include some puzzles or brain teasers about yourself…it was a big hit at ours. Sample:XXXXXXXXX
Invitation: Message in a bottle
Since I am very into arts and crafts, I thought making my own invitation would be very cool and I can also save money. Well… It was very cool but it certainly did not save me any money. First thing first, my wedding invitation was in the style of message in a bottle. I got the idea online for beach theme weddings.
You can either get the whole thing made, printed, and mailed for you from www.mypersonalartist.com for XXX per invitation … or you can try to be crazy like me and do it separately. (At Mypersonalartist.com they can also personalize a watercolor on all of your wedding stationeries… but you will need to talk to them in advance).
DIY tips for message in a bottle:
Bottles and the boxes can be ordered from www.sanblastarts.com for $0.68 per bottle
Sand from Michael’s for $3.50/bag (enough for 70+ bottles)… don’t go to the beach to get the sand… we tried it and it smells bad.-_-
Shells and starts: from www.orientaltrading.com ( cheap… one bag of each is enough)
Invitation with original watercolor printed from www.mypersonalartist.com for XXXX
Color printer from Costco (I went through 2 sets of cartridge for 70 invitations)… if you don’t mind that the letters are not raised then the best quality print on the color printer looks just like the flat printing they do at the invitation stores.
Ribbons: I got them in downtown LA’s fashion district… (Take 110 N to 10E exit Mapleturn left onto Maple and keep going for about 5-7 blocks and you will be in the fashion/fabric district) You can find all the supplies you need for your craft stuff (i.e. ribbons, candles, veil beads…) for a lot cheaper then Michael’s or Jo-Annes.
Postage: you can do a personalized stamp from www.stamp.com or you can use the automated machine at the post office.
Wedding dress and bridesmaids’ dresses:
I don’t really have any tip for the wedding dress besides… if you like it… just get it… it will cost you a lot doesn’t matter how you cut it… so just buy the one you want so you can be happy ^_^
Bridesmaids’ dresses, however, you can get them in downtown LA fashion district for a really good price. Go down Santee street (one block west of Maple) and go you will see lots of prom/wedding party dress stores… they run about $45-55 for short dresses and $55 and up for long dresses (the place I went is called Christies). All the stuff you see at David’s bridal or Jessica McClintock stuff, you will see the exact same style for 1/3-1/2 the price.
Wedding Hair and make-up:
Up-do is definitely the way to go for Asians… unless you have naturally curly hair. Since I already had a wedding in Taiwan, I knew my hair gets flat towards the end of the day… so I got an up-do this time… less things to worry about.
I had little white orchids in my hair while the bridesmaids all had a mid-size pink rose in theirs (matched their dress perfectly).
Do do a test make-up session with the make-up artist. Make sure you take pictures of how it looks like and have it in hand the day of so you can remind the make-up artist how it was.
My make-up artist name was Alicia in Newport beach. E-mail me if you need more info…. I liked the make up.
Reception location:
To follow our beach theme, we picked The Portofino Yatch club in Redondo Beach (15 min drive from the church). It has a great view of King Harbor and it also has a beautiful view of the lights from Palos Verdes at night.
The Pacific ballroom was perfect for the 110 guests that we had. It came with a terrace that allows guests to enjoy the view before our reception.
Tips for hosting alcohol:
Eric and I wanted to serve alcohol but didn’t have a big budget for it… the hotel wanted to charge us $5/glass if it is something their distributor carries (yaks!). After we found out that the distributor does not carry Taiwan Beer, my brother was able to buy 4 cases of it from Ranch (48 big glass bottles = less than $50) and bring it in ourselves. They did charge us $6/bottle corkage fee… but it was still cheaper than $5/glass (cuz each bottle serves 3 glasses). It was as if we had an open bar ^_^
Reception decoration:
I bought a lot of shells and sea stars from www.orientaltrading.com , which makes good decoration on the table of the reception. They are really cheap… you only need one bag of baby shells and one box of mini sugar stars and that will be enough to cover 12 -15 tables. I also glued sea stars and sand dollars on the menu… it turned our really nice.
Wedding Favor: Do what will reflect you the most. It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do for the party favor. I saw these butter spreader with sea shells on it for $3/pair that says “spread the love” which was super cute… but it was out of my price range… then I realize why look further… I have over 100 CD’s most of them are songs that Eric and I enjoy. So we put together 2 music CD’s with romantic songs that we like and also fun songs that we like… put on CD label with our pictures on it and… DONE!!! ^_^
DJ: I like our DJ a lot because he know how to read the crowd. Also he was able to use all the songs we like from our wedding favor. I guess if you already have a list of songs that you like you can easily do the IPOD thing but don’t stress yourself over it. If you have friends who are good with IPOD and computer music stuff then great… if not then just hire a DJ. Here is our DJ’s websiteXXXXXXXX
Flowers: I can’t say much about this because my bestfriend’s mom and her friend did the whole thing for us for a price much cheaper then what the flower stores were quoting me ^_^ Recycle the flowers… whatever you have at the church… move it over to the reception.
Cake: From my impression… nobody really care about the cake as long as it looks nice for the pictures. We just ordered what the hotel well cover in the package and had Carol’s mom decorate the cake with lots of flowers… it looks awesome. I also wanted to have a very personalized cake topper… so I took Eric and my picture and gave it to a claymation store in Taiwan and had a topper made that way ^_^
Photographer:
So I did a lot of research on the photographer. Do go in a talk to the photographer. Take a look at their portfolio but at the same time take a look at their work in progress. I really like my photographer’s work in progress so we booked him. Also, doing an engagement photo session with the photographer is a good idea just because you can get used to the photographer and know their strengths and weaknesses and be able to tell the photographer what you like changed for your wedding pictures.
My photographer’s name is Teak and this e-mail is:XXXXXXX
Honeymoon:
If you are not going on your honeymoon right away, make sure you do take a short trip somewhere. The wedding is exhausting you need to take a break and spend sometime just for the two of you.
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