Honeymoon Part 1: Lombok

I've never been to Lombok before even though I travel to Bali a lot.. Lombok was more raw and undeveloped than Bali.. but what Lombok lacks in its isolation and undeveloped places, it wins exactly at that same note too. We stayed in a nice ocean front villa called Qunci villa. It's actually rainy season but we got lucky since the 3 days we were in Lombok, it didn't rain. Lombok's Kuta Beach (not to be confused to Bali's world famous Kuta Beach) is gorgeous!!! See picture for case in point. Our tour guide took us to a more secluded area where there aren't as many people. There were a total of six people including us (not counting the store owners) when we were there. For those white sands and no waves, it's like having a natural pool but on the ocean.. The waves stop breaking probably 50 meters out because of some rocks formation there. It's insanely gorgeous. I didn't find any beach as pretty as Kuta Beach Lombok in Bali (ok partly also because it was raining so much in Bali we couldn't go to the beaches). Next time if I go to Lombok, I'd prefer to stay around Lombok's Kuta Beach, but not in the touristy area. In Lombok, we also went to a village that still lives traditionally. The women made scarves/ clothing and they are ornately designed, they're called sasak clothing , i believe. See picture below of me trying to do it, it's hard work because one big cloth is made out of lines and lines of thread... It takes one month to make one finished piece. Pictures paint a thousand words.. so here goes..

A side note also on food in Lombok. Our first meal Lombok was some old dingy dirty restaurant, with no air conditioning and flies around. Lets just say the place will fail LA's restaurant inspection and we were nervous about whether we'll get stomachache eating there.. The food, however, was delicious! It's grilled chicken and grilled fish with a side of chili sauce. and I love how surprised Arthur was to experience Indonesian's tolerance to chili. Our tour guide said the chili served in this restaurant is not too spicy and it's sweet, when Arthur tried it... he said it has some heat, he hates to know what spicy would be like for our tour guide. Unfortunately, other than the food below, the rest of our meal in Lombok is less than spectacular, bordering taste like frozen food.. Potentially because our tour guide keep on bringing us to some fanci-er looking restaurant that serves western food.. UGH! I want my indo food darn it.. not some failed attempt to create western food.. I'm in Lombok afterall...

Our wedding featured on Style Me Pretty

Please click here for more pictures and on the feature, or link below: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/12/05/long-beach-wedding-by-jac-photography-just-chic-events/
I know I am supposed to update on the bits and pieces of the wedding before throwing it on your face.. but since it is up on style me pretty.. Oh well I figure I will show you, answer any question and start backtracking my steps to the wedding... Enjoy!!

Monique Lhuillier Sample Sale Los Angeles December 4th 2011

YIKES!! Why does Vera Wang and Monique Lhuillier sample sale happen on the same day in LA? This just doesn't seem right.. I think one of them should switch date... Just saying!! Anyway if I were going to go to this thing.. which I am not.. :( I would go in to the Vera and Monique stores first, see which dress you like more and then concentrate on going to just that one store you like first. This is the first time Vera has a sample sale and it starts at 11am.. mm.. I am pretty sure last sample sale at Monique starts at 10am and people are lining up in the wee hour.. it will get tough to wait in line twice in a day.. but it can be done :P if you want too.. See this post on my tips about going to sample sale. Good luck!! Are you going to one of these two events?

Flower Arranging: New found hobby

After my wedding, the thing I missed the most is ..... the flowers.. learning about various types of flowers, looking through various flower arrangement. So in the end I sign up for a Flower Arrangement workshop by Celadon & Celery. They are based in New York but they had flower arrangement classes back in November in LA. I immediately signed up and a friend also joined me yay...

Here is a picture of the LA Flower market:

And pictures of some of my arrangements:

Love me some David Austin Juliet

The red flowers (the not long and slender one) is called straw flowers and it feels like straw and feels fake.. very strange!

The dahlias are yellow in the center but pink on the outsides (But it is dying after 4 days) no like!

Vera Wang Sample Sale Dec 4th 2011Los Angeles

Because I'm nice, I'd like to give you first scoop that there will be a Vera Wang Sample Sale in LA... mm... I believe this is the first time ever they do this.. and I am tempted to actually go myself to buy a dress.. :P Even though I have a dress already

Flower decoration in Indonesian wedding

speechless......

Wedding dresses we said no to...........

You guys might or might not remember , but I had gone to 13 individual stores to check out wedding dresses and have probably tried on 50+ dresses before finally buying the one.. It's not that these dresses are not beautiful... but it was just not the one... so what do you guys think of these dresses? how many dresses did you try before buying the one? I took a picture of most of the dresses I have tried so there are more to come!