Wedding Nightmares

photo from www.keithpanel.com

Last Friday, I was able to cross one thing off my wedding to-do list: book venue! The picture above is where we will be having both our ceremony and our reception. The ceremony will be held right on the dock and the reception will be held upstairs in a large hall with floor to ceiling windows which will give us nice views of the water, mountains, and of course - the sunset! 

I must be in denial about how overwhelming all this planning is b/c i had my first wedding nightmare last night. I dreamt that I did such a horrible job planning my wedding that I ended up with weeds as my wedding bouquet!!! I had uninvited guests who showed up and they were all wearing matching bedazzled neon green disco outfits. Worst of all, I saw my groom for the first time and he didn't look amused. hahaha!

Did you have any nightmares this weekend?

Kym the Kymeleon

so i'm not exactly changing colors, but i'm changing faces. hehe ;D 
Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbouring country!Have lots of potatoes for me!

My Night Job... Inspiration for a Giveaway!

For those who have been following my blog since last year, you'll already know all about this so you're welcome to skip ahead :)

Last April 2009, i took a walk during my lunch break and reflected on life (sounds so cheesy, but it's true. haha!) I had a great full-time job and was enjoying life but something was missing. I didn't feel fulfilled. I knew that hands-on creativity was more of my forte instead of working a regular "9-5" office job so I decided to do something about it. At first I thought that making handmade cards would be a great business so I ventured off to the arts & crafts store that weekend to stock up on supplies. While I was looking around in the paper goods section, my bf spotted a t-shirt printing machine and said "why don't you just make t-shirts? you're a t-shirt kind of girl." I brushed the idea off and proceeded to look for paper goods. Weeks later, something brought me back to the t-shirt machine and I ended up getting it, completely scrapping my idea of making cards.

I have a machine, i have some supplies, but what would I call my business? My brother, bf and I brainstormed together and started out with really cheesy, "try hard" names and after awhile we just got tired and started fooling around by throwing out silly names. My brother, in his best asian accent, said "'herro?' you should just name it that! Herro Kishi! Kishi because your name starts with a K!" We eventually decided that it sounded too much like Hello Kitty and that might create legal problems for me down the road. We kept the "Herro?" part and I decided on "Hachi" for the second part as it means Bumblebee in Japanese which has a personal meaning to me. That same week, I marched to City Hall to apply for my business license, set-up an Etsy shop online and began blogging. I've come a long way since, thanks to many of you!

I started out with just ONE item on Etsy! My first ever design was "Fluent in Engrish"   Since then, i've also been able to release an official website: 
www.herrohachi.com
thanks to one of my fave people/bloggers - Nikolett for helping me code/design everything!
Now for the GIVEAWAY part of the title.

Anne from LOLANNE was one of my first few customers back when I started and when I created a "Boy Neenja" she requested that Boy Neeenja have a girlfriend so "Girl Neeenja" was born. She's now hosting a giveaway inspired by the two + many many more! Thank you Anne for thinking of me for this giveaway :)

Enter her giveaway here!

tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces

...But I Didn't Ask to Look Like a Geisha.

Make up gurus (or anyone reading this), i hope you're sitting down as i'm about to reveal some cringe worthy make-up. In my last post, I mentioned that I went to a small, small town up north as I was a bridesmaid for my best friends wedding. I don't really wear make-up very often so I thought that since this is a special occasion, I would get a "professional" to do my make-up.

When I was introduced to the woman who'd be doing my make-up, I was slightly worried as she was much older, she didn't really look put together and her make-up was nothing to write home about. I made small talk with her and asked "how long have you been doing make-up?" she beamed and said "17 years, i absolutely love doing this". The whole time I was getting make-up done, my back was facing the mirror so I couldn't see what was going on. As she was finishing up, she kept saying "oh, i better get others opinion on what i've done". Now i'm not a make-up expert, but that automatically raised a red flag to me b/c it showed that she wasn't confident in her work.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT: a caked on face that was at least 2 shades lighter than my natural skin tone and if you study my face close enough, you'll notice that my forehead has brown spots on it from poor blending. *sigh* The funny thing was that one of the other make-up artists kept asking me several times if i was happy with it and i just said yes b/c i didn't want to make anymore suggestions (i'd already made a few at this point)...but she insisted and said that i was really white under my eyes. hahaha! Even after she 'fixed' it - one of the other bridesmaids still had to bronze the heck out of my face to make the brown spots disappear and make me a little less white. Maybe it was a 'small town' thing and they weren't used to putting make-up on an Asian person (the make up artist was Caucasian)???

If it was any other occasion, it'd be fine but i paid money for this AND it was for my best friends wedding where we'd be taking lots of photos!!! Grrrrr! Oh well, at least it wasn't my wedding - otherwise, i probably would've cried. haha!


 I wore the bear paws to distract you from my white and brown spotted face. haha!
Do you have any make-up horror stories?


tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces

A Winter Wonderland Wedding

Last Friday, I traveled to a small town 7 hours north from Vancouver to attend my best friends wedding. Her now-husband grew up in Williams Lake, BC which is one of the reasons they opted to have their wedding in what I consider to be "the middle of nowhere" haha!

I've been a city girl all my life so going to a small town was a very interesting experience for me. While others opted to drive 7-9 hours up the mountains to get there, I decided to take a 50-minute plane ride instead (although it costed me tons more $$$). The plane was TINY. I mean.... TINY!!! I am 5'1 and I couldn't even stand up inside the plane. It was a small 9-seater plane so you can just imagine what the ride was like - hot, stuffy, turbulent, and for the whole 50 minutes, all you could hear was the loud motor. Needless to say, I was relieved when I got off the plane.


This is what -21 degrees looks like. Beautiful but incredibly cold. . . as in, the moment I stepped out of each building, my snot would freeze. hahaha!
Can you guess which bridesmaid dress belonged to me? ;P
Heading to the photo shoot site - the bride wanted us all in our dresses (with no jackets on) and high heels for the photos. We love her and all but I think i speak for everyone when I say that we weren't very happy campers. hahaha! This is definitely not short dress & high heel weather!
 One of my fave photos - Williams Lake sunset.
How was your weekend?


tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces

Gentle Hands Auction!

Since we were on the topic of GIVING on my last post, I wanted to let you know about an opportunity for you to give to a cause that's close to my heart. It's close to my heart b/c:

1) It benefits the needy children of Manila, Philippines (my home)

2) One of my fave people & fave photographer, Tracey Heppner, is involved in this cause. (in fact, this is one of the reasons why her family is moving to the Philippines!)

Here's how you can get involved:

GENTLE HANDS (more about what they're about here)

WHAT: Gentle Hands Art Auction
WHERE: On this blog
WHEN: Preview artwork by various photographers until November 27, Auction officially takes place from November 28-30.

Here is one of the pieces that Tracey herself is donating from her Venice Collection (one of my faves.... look at all those colors!)

Which piece is your favourite?

view them all here :)

tweet, tweet // i design clothing: www.herrohachi.com // book of faces

Giving for the Holidays!

I've always had a heart for children and for those less fortunate... i've been dreaming about giving back but have been slow in taking action. I finally decided that this year, I would give back by packing shoe boxes with little goodies for children in 3rd world countries through Operation Christmas Child. I wish I could see the look on those kids faces when they open their boxes on Christmas Day!!!
I dedicated the boxes to you guys, my blog friends from around the world! I couldn't name each and every one of you (hence the "kym and friends" signature) but i told each child that they were loved by someone from all over the world. :)
How will you give back this Christmas?
P.S - from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone for your kind and encouraging words on my last blog post. it's comforting to know that people from around the world are offering to pray for someone they don't even know. Thank you. :)

Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones, and....

"When you hurt, i hurt" - I remember my parents telling me that when i was much younger and i never really understood it until now. Not that i have kids of my own now (or do i...? ;P) but i've experienced this with my fiancee. Especially lately. 
He recently developed tendonitis on both of his wrists due to the nature of his job (at first we thought it was from working out and playing too much video games, haha) and he's feeling pretty helpless. He's  lost a lot of weight because he can't eat properly, he can't sleep properly, he can't do anything as easily anymore. 
I feel lost. 
How am I supposed to help him? Sometimes I wish I was a physiotherapist so I could just take care of him. Instead all I can say is "it will get better, i promise" or "i understand" but do i? I've never experienced not being able to do basic tasks due to losing the function of my hands. It breaks my heart at the end of every work day when i ask him how his day was. Since I can't be of any medical help to him... I guess I can just be there to listen and provide comfort as a friend and as a wife-to-be. 
"For better or for worse, in sickness and in health... " right?
Have you ever been in a situation where someone close to you was hurt and you couldn't do much about it?

Snuggilicious Weekend

Long weekends are never long enough. My highlights:

(1) & (2) - Spent time with my best girls watching cheesy Filipino movies, eating, talking, speeding up our friends love life by signing her up on E-Harmony (let's see if it works!!!), eating, eating, and more eating. Like my sexy snuggie pic? ;P I used to laugh at their info-mercials (actually i still do), but it's surprisingly pretty comfortable.

(3) - Bought lots of pretty paper to start making Christmas cards for friends and family! You may just be getting one in your mailbox soon! :D

(4) - My parents and my fiancees parents met last night to discuss wedding stuff. It's slowly sinking in... i'm getting married in 7 months!!!

... and of course, i wouldn't be a true Filipino if i didn't make mention of the awesome victory by our "national hero" MANNY PACQUIAO!!! I am so glad Margarito got beat up the way he did, especially after my brother showed me a YouTube video of him making fun of Freddie Roach (Pacquiao's coach) because he has Parkinson's Disease (watch video here). This is what you get for being a heartless man and for messing with Team Pacman!

photo from this article.

Tell Me...

LESS THAN 2 MONTHS LEFT IN 2010!42 days (1013 hours) left until Christmas! Yes, i totally just googled "Countdown to Christmas" haha!
Looking forward to many things, mainly Christmas of course! I love this season - the sights, the smells, the new flavours at Starbucks, the gatherings, the food, wrapping presents, the reason for the season... i love it all! (but i must say that my least fave thing about the season is the lack of parking at the malls. grrrr!) 
In the meantime, i'm working hard in preparation for four holiday shows i'll be taking part in this season! (this explains the lack of blog posts lately) If you're local, i hope to see you come out to one of the shows! [view list of shows here] If I have enough time, I may even initiate a Christmas Card Exchange here in the blogworld - what do you think? :)
P.S - Find a "shop early for the holidays" discount code in my fortune cookie here! :D (For those of you who are new readers - i have a clothing line called herro hachi.)
What do you love the most about this season?

I Was a Cow...

  I made a home made photobooth for the bridal shower i hosted for my best friend last Friday. Her mom supplied us with many different costumes to use - this one was my fave. Not sure why i look so serious. ;P
I was a cow this weekend, what were you?

DIY UFC "Ring Girl" Outfit

2 weeks from today, my best friend will be walking down the aisle in Williams Lake, BC. I had the honor of hosting her Bridal Shower last night and one of the games I planned was the good ol' "How Well Do You Know the Bride?" game. I had her answer the questions in advance for my answer key and on one of the questions, she joked that her husband-to-be would love to see her in a UFC Octagon Girl outfit since he is a huge fan of UFC.

*lightbulb!*

Since there were only a few days left before her shower, I didn't have time to order it online so I had to do it myself! I was able to find a two piece bathing suit that was black and white, just like the real thing. *phewf* All i did was cut out the letters "UFC" from felt and used double sided tape to stick it on the bathing suit. I originally planned on sewing the letters on but i figured it would be better if she could easily remove the letters and use it as a bathing suit. I just wanted the initial shock factor when she opened her gift ;P



Alfred Sung "PURE" bathing suit - pretty close to the real thing right? 
Got all my supplies ready.... I just eyeballed the letters from a picture online so it might be uneven. haha!

TADA! Not bad right? :P 
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! Do something creative!

Blogging Pet Peeves

We've all got at least one. This one is on top of my list.

THE COPY & PASTE COMMENTER. You know who i'm talking about... the ones who comment with really generic one word (or sometimes two if you're lucky) comments, the ones pretending they read your post but they really didn't, the ones commenting in hopes that you comment back so that their blog post on their cats new costume will get 86 comments. It's the one where you are writing about how your grandmother is really sick, she is in the hospital and your family is broken and begging for prayers. Everyone comments with their well wishes, thoughts, and offers their prayers and you get that ONE person who comments with:

What is/are your blogging pet peeves?

"Felipe" on Love...

After reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert... I continued on to start reading her follow up book "Committed" to find out what happened to the author after she met and fell in love with "Felipe" in Indonesia.

Call me corny or cliche, but I really enjoyed this analogy by Felipe about what it means to love someone. Enjoy!

this beautiful picture was taken by a beautiful friend and fellow blogger, Tessa! thank you for letting me use your photo! check out her blog here!

"When I used to go down to Brazil to buy gemstones, I would often buy something they call 'a parcel'. A parcel is this random collection of gems that the miner or the wholesaler or whoever is bullshitting you puts together. A typical parcel would contain, I don't know, maybe twenty or thirty aquamarines at once. Supposedly, you get a better deal that way -- buying them all in a bunch --but you have to be careful, because of course the guy is trying to rip you off. He's trying to unload his bad gemstones on you by packaging them together with a few really good ones.

"So when I first started in the jewelry business," Felipe went on, "I used to get in trouble because i'd get too excited about the one or two perfect aquamarines in the parcel, and i wouldn't pay as much attention to the junk they threw in there. After I got burned enough times, I finally got wise and learned this: You have to ignore the perfect gemstones. Don't even look at them twice because they're blinding. Just put them away and have a careful look at the really bad stones. Look at them for a long time, and then ask yourself honestly, 'Can I work with these? Can I make something out of this?' Otherwise, you've just spent a whole lot of money on one or two gorgeous aquamarines buried inside a big heap of worthless crap.

"It's the same with relationships, I think. People always fall in love with the most perfect aspects of each other's personalities. Who wouldn't? Anybody can love the most wonderful parts of another person. But that's not the clever trick. The really clever trick is this: Can you accept the flaws? Can you look at your partner's faults honestly and say, 'I can work around that. I can make something out of that.' ? Because the good stuff is always going to be there, and it's always going to be pretty and sparkly, but the crap underneath can ruin you."

Thoughts?

Day Something - Somewhere You Have Lived...

I totally defeated the purpose of following a 30 Day Blog Challenge... so i've decided to just freestyle it and write about the topics listed when I have time. :P

these pictures are not my own - just found 'em through google image search. :)
I spent 10 years of my life in Hong Kong and attended kindergarten up to grade 6 there. Surprisingly, I cannot speak cantonese - except for simple phrases like "how are you?" "how much is that?" "i'm bored." haha! It was definitely culture shock for me when my family moved from Hong Kong to Canada. When we got here, it was like "what do you mean the mall closes at 6PM? what is this!!!" hahaha!Which countries have you lived in?