Let The Wedding Planning Begin!

Next summer will be a super busy wedding season for me. There will be three very special weddings that will take place from May to June. So from now until then, there will be bridal showers, bachelorette parties, bridal expos, dress shopping and a whole lot of wedding planning fun!

Last weekend, Jaime and Mike invited us over to their house to officially invite us to be a part of the bridal party. Candace and I will be brides maids and Alexis will get to be one of the flower girls!

Here's Jaime's bridal party + cutie pie flower girls

I've been lucky enough to have already participated in some wedding planning fun. I went with Mike and Jaime to a Bridal Expo in Downtown and then we did a little dress shopping.

Jaime & Mike at the Bridal Expo in Downtown LA - their wedding will be in May

Then we have my bestest cuzzie Amy's wedding in mid June.
Here's Amy checking out dresses

The week after, I will be hopping on a plane to attend Lisa and Luke's wedding.

Lisa, Em and I went to a bridal expo in Long Beach this past weekend and Lucky Lisa won herself a honeymoon!

Lisa & Luke at their engagement dinner

I'm very excited about the upcoming events and am looking forward to the beautiful weddings that I get to be a part of.

David Quach

I thought I'd take a moment to blog about my dad because he's pretty awesome. This past Friday, he and my brother Mike, who I'm also grateful for, helped me move out of yet another apartment. Since I was a freshman in college, my dad has broke his back to help me move all my furniture. For the two years at Davis, he has driven 6 hours to and from to move me in and move me out. Then two more years at UCLA, and he thought we were done. Little did he know, I would go to business school and have to move AGAIN! And moving me out hasn't been easy. We have to rent or borrow a van, carry heavy beds, unscrewing and reassembling furniture, etc. At times, I don't do a great job packing and he'll have to repack my things. Then of course, he does most of the unpacking and cleaning afterward.

My sister can attest to how great and helpful my dad is. He's been retired and has come over to my sister's house in Encino every week day to help her watch Alexis since the day she was born. That's a 30 mile drive, in traffic, to and from Monterey Park.


He is an awesome grandpa to Alexis and she LOVES him! They play together, he gives her baths, changes her poopy diapers and they talk in this weird language that only the two of them can understand.

It's funny, my dad and I do bump heads sometimes, probably because we are a lot a like. My sister says we are twins (we even have the same hands and feet, which he is very proud of). We sometimes get into fights because we're both so stubborn (but my dad is way more stubborn than I am). I also get my sense of urgency from him. We both do things really quickly and are always in a hurry. It's funny because my mom and brother are SUPER slow and SUPER careful. Candace is somewhere in the middle. We also mumble a lot and sometimes let our tempers get the best of us. But I think I have also inherited a lot of his good qualities.

Here's a list of some of the many reasons I love my dad:

• He's thoughtful and considerate
• He's very selfless - he will only eat the leftovers and won't have the "new" food until everyone has had enough
• He cooks and cleans and takes awesome care of me and my family - he cooks dinner for my mom every night and waits for her to get home so they can eat together
• He's such a dorky big kid, especially when he's playing with Alexis

Here's a video of us singing to Alexis where you can see how funny my dad is:

Smash Fat Diet

Since I'll be going to Hawaii in a month, I decided to start the Smash Fat Diet on Sunday. This gives me a little over a month to get into bikini shape. I had done this a while back, before I started Pepperdine and lost about 7 lbs, so I know it works. It's just a matter of sticking to it and resist junk food when I go out.

So the diet basically consists of three one week cycles. There are four specific meals that you eat, that are high in fiber, to make you full longer. These meals are fairly small, and it trains you to shrink your stomach essentially. So one day, you would have some plain yogurt with fruit, a protein shake, some brown rice and veggies or a salad. In addition to the food, the diet requires you to workout for 55 minutes per day, which I already do and then some.

The first day was a bit tough cause I was really hungry. But now, I'm getting used to the portion sizes. Yesterday was a bit tough cause I went to happy hour with some old coworkers from Universal. They ordered sweet potato fries and chicken wings, but I resisted. I ate the celery and carrots that came with it (cause those are unlimited) and I busted out my old carrots, ghetto style. I had only one glass of wine, which counted as one of my 100 calories snack for the day. I'm doing good so far, its been three days and I've already lost 2lbs. Woo Hoo!! Wish me luck, I will update my progress.

The Ugly Truth

I just watched the Ugly Truth and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. It was a funny and entertaining chick flick. Like the other "dating do's and don'ts" kind of movies like "He's Just Not That Into You" or "Two Can Play It That Game," this movie got me thinking. As I previously mentioned in an older post, I have never been good at the dating game. Obviously, I don't really know how to play the game because I'm single and I'm usually oblivious when somene's interested or pine after a guy who is either a douche bag or out of my league. And my friends will attest to this - I don't really know how to flirt unless I'm drunk. With that said, the movie made me think about what was true about guys and girls and dating.

In the movie, Mike played by the hot Scotsman Gerald Butler (I have a theory that the hottest men are from Scotland, but I'll save that for another entry) has this TV show called "The Ugly Truth" where he tells women what men wants and how simple they are and says that women who read these self help books like Men are From Mars are waisting their time. He ends up coaching Abby (Katherine Heigel) on how to get her hot neighbor/doctor to be her boyfriend. Abby is a nice, attractive girl, but for some reason has a hard time finding a nice guy (sound familiar?)

A few things stuck out to me in the movie and I have to admit, I kinda felt like I was learning a little bit! HAHA

He tells her, "You have to be two people - the saint and the sinner, the librarian and the stripper." Guys want a sweet, innocent looking girl who is also a sex pot in the bedroom.

He also says that you have to make the guy suffer. He needs to see that you're disinterested first in order for him to get interested.

He also comments on her wardrobe and says she looks inaccessible. Her outfit says comfort and efficiency instead of saying I am dateable, etc. As someone who dresses comfortably, this comment concerned me a bit.

So I wonder, are guys that simple? Is it true that if a guy is not asking you out, he's simply not that into you? Can a girl get your attention by ignoring you and leaving you hanging or vice versa? If a girl looks comfortable or is too aggresive, is that a turnoff? I've heard guys say that they like the girl to make the first move, but I've also heard that the guy wants to do the pursuing, which is true? Girls, have you found not being yourself has gotten you the guy? Is this what the dating game is and if so, how do you survive? Sigh...Both guys and girls, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.

Chef Quach R'Dee

So every Sunday I've been cooking dinner for my family, trying new recipes and brushing up on my cooking skills. And when I'm at Candace & Bryan's, I'll try out a couple of recipes there as well. I think I'm getting pretty good at this. I mean, my dishes haven't been perfect - there's always room for improvement, but overall they've been pretty tasty and well received. Cooking for my parents, however, is a little difficult, since they are used to eating Asian food.

I did a "Thai Food" themed dinner one night, made pineapple fried rice.

and Shrimp Pad Thai

Another night, I stuck with the Thai theme and I made drunken noodles, basil eggplant and a Thai Beef Salad. (Didn't take any pictures). Those dishes turned out pretty good. Thai food is basically a lot of fish sauce and basil. I also made a pretty good Seafood Jambalaya and most recently made a Seafood/Mushroom Risotto. The risotto was probably the best received. It's amazing how much money you can save at the Asian Grocery Stores, btw. Frozen scallops and shrimp for $3.99 each.

I have also perfected my chicken enchildas and my butternut squash/sweet potato mac and cheese. I generally find all my recipes online, my favorite is the food network. The jamabalya was Emeril's recipe and the mac and cheese belongs to Rachael Ray. If you want any of the recipes, just give me a shout. Or if you have any good ones, let me know. I will update with pictures of my future creations.