married young, died old.

here's one of the hundreds pictures my friend melissa took for our wedding. will pose more when i get them. hahaha.

living in utah is certainly different. being a big city girl, it took me some time to adjust and get used to the dim quiet lifestyle. there are many different pros and cons that bring home-sickness, but being w/ chris made it all worth it and calming. =)

it's official.

our wedding was amazing. there are tons of pictures but i don't have all of them right now.

here's a good one when we 'punched' it. =D


we're in the process of waiting to hear back from the house offer. *fingers & toes crossed*

30 days!!! ... madness (noun.) : frenzy; range, intense excitement or enthusiasm.

Chris' point of view:

At this point, I am exhausted. After months and months of planning and organizing, we are nearing a finish of the "endless day". Finally, we have reached the climactic event, and life will be complete.

From the beginning, Natalie and I decided that we wanted to have a small wedding. This would allow for us to share our joy with our closest friends and relatives. What we didn't realize is that our friends and relatives would be so interested in sharing in the preparation as well. We are truly fortunate to have such wonderful people around us with a vested interest in our immediate and long term happiness.

This afternoon I have been working on the immigration side of our marital union. It is a cumbersome and frustrating process. But as I have been filling out forms and participating in never ending wait, I got to thinking - this work is small and insignificant compared to the great happiness my beautiful Natalie and I will have once it is complete.

I am just so appreciative of everything Natalie has done to prepare for our wedding. I love her more than anything and am increasingly excited as the day approaches to say "I do". I have become exhausted, and can't wait to hold Natalie in my arms and look back on the day and see how far we have come.

T-minus 30 days!!!


nats point of view:

okay, the count down begins!

how interesting that chris and i were engaged a year and some ago, jokingly this will come in snail pace, and now we're down to the home stretch. =)

i'm really thankful for the help from my amazing friends and family. all the supports and greetings truly make the process of planning and being fraustrated, alot less difficult.

so, we've pretty much got everything done. from date, venue, invitation, wedding dress, groom's tux, bouquèts, boutonnières, wedding cakes, wedding bands ... etc.

this is our venue,

shelley is making my bouquet and we're thinking to use peony,

my best friend helen is making our wedding cake/cupcake, this is the cake topper,

i just hope that we're going to have the good weather and all. =) i'll wrestle anyone if you're in my way. haha.

a girl can never have enough shoes ...

oy! just a quick update. =)

my shoes for my wedding dress has arrived last wk. super excited and can't wait to have the matching sash made.

here, have a peek!

it's okay, i drooled a little when i opened the box. =D

will have my 3rd dress fitting on the 26th of this month. ohhh it's finally coming together! oh boy!

invitations - ta da! ...

here's the invitation that chris has designed; we decided to use something that's most significant to us - the yin yang. =) if you look closely, you'll see that.




if you can't see what's written, here is the wording :

together

natalie jane wong
and
christopher william van wagoner

invite you to share their joy
as they celebrate their wedding,
with a

"tying the knot,
getting hitched,
growing old together",
ceremony and luncheon,

on saturday, the twenty-fifth of july
two thousand and nine
at eleven o'clock.

fish house, stanley park
vancouver, british columbia
canada

it is going to be printed on a hard piece and a translucent piece of paper, and pin it together w/ a brad. yay! *clap clap clap*

mon anniversaire ...

nat's point of view :

well, another year young, another day to look forward to. =)

last minutes wednesday, i decided to take the day off from work. therefore, i met up w/ my best friend - helen, go downtown and just catch up. i didn't plan on doing much this year, as every year i had something planned and spent it w/ my friends. this year i just want to have a nice quiet one w/ ppl that's most important in my life.

11th of march, marked chris and i's 1 yr engagement. personally, i wished chris was here and surprise me w/ an ice cream cone, but as i spoke to him the morning of, very much sounds like he was in utah, that didn't happen. =\
so the day went on, went downtown, had cheesecake and tea w/ helen. then went home, had dinner, sat and watched CSI w/ a bag of chips in my pj.
best. ever. highly recommended! =)


right now, i'm just trying to get the last decision made and things ready for the wedding. we have approximately 60 ppl attending, it's going to be in stanley park, we have purchased our wedding bands, and i've 1st part of my dress. =D
i couldn't have done it w/o shelley, my big sister (not blood related). she's the most wonderful person that a friend can ask for. =) (*cough* chris - invitation!!!)

there are still allot of knick-knacks that needed to be done, but i think i'll worry about it later. =P

10 things about yourself ...

i usually don't do this kind of chain survey thingy, but it has been going around, and i think i can bear w/ 10. =)

list 10 honest and INTERESTING things about yourself.

nat's point of view :

1. i don't eat duck, rabbit nor lamb. as my best friend and i made a promise we don't chew or cook the cute animals that we love.

2. i was born in hong kong, moved to vancouver when i was 12, and will be moving to salt lake city at age 24. =P (every 12 years, i move. j/k)

3. i'm trilingual in cantonese, mandarin and english; both written and read.

4. i am a certified volleyball referee in canada; regional, level 3 at the moment, and 2 more levels to get my international.

5. i was a scout from gr. 10 to gr. 11, no, not girls guide, it's a co-ed scout group; i learned to do knots and start a fire out of sticks, i was a venture.

6. i'm obsessed w/ bunny, lionhead breed bunny to be exact.

7. i'm known as the girl w/ driving-tourettes; i've some certain driving personal bugbear, just make damn sure you make your turn signal when you cut me off.

8. i prefer stick shift when it comes to car.

9. i love bread. you just have no idea. i LOVE bread.

10. i've been doing bikram hot yoga for 3 yrs, as my daily routine, and will get my certification eventually. =)

i can proudly say, WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A VENUE FOR OUR WEDDING! <3

Chris' point of view :

1. Before my mission I came in contact with an Agent for some of the Utah Jazz players. He had seen some of my basketball skills and wanted me to come workout/play with Deshawn Stevenson and a few others so that he could see how I played against stiffer competition. Unfortunately, I was reporting to the MTC 2 weeks later and was too busy to call him back and set something up. (I guess I essentially turned down a life of luxury as an NBA star for a mission) :)

2. I also love bread, even more so than Natalie. After my mission my friend Cameron and I had a bread feast where we balled up an entire loaf of bread into the shape of a turkey, filled it with stuffing and...well, we feasted.

3. I have been engaged once before. When I was 4, I rode my bike over to Chelsea Holly's house and popped the question. I don't know where I got that kind of courage.

4. While in New York I was shot at. I could hear the projectiles whizzing past my ear.

5. When I was a younger, I vowed to not get married until I was 30. This was probably due to the failed engagement at age 4 (See #3). It looks like I have broken that vow and will beat that age by four years.

6. Second to Natalie, video games are one of my greatest passions. The first game I ever conquered on my own was Street Fighter II for Super Nintendo(1991); the most recent game I have conquered is Street Fighter 4(2009) - some things just never change. :)

7. I won the geography bee in 5th grade.

8. I have never had a cavity in my permanent teeth. (knock on wood)

9. I had been to 15 different states but never out of the U.S. before I met Natalie.

10. I love authentic New York Pizza and buffalo wings. I think I ate my weight in them while I lived in NY.

miami revisited ...

Chris' point of view:

I had an interesting thought this morning on true love and universality. The thought was a result of a seemingly insignificant event that occurred while Natalie and I were in Miami this past January: We had returned to Natalie's mom's house for the evening following a long day of shopping and sun. While dinner was being made, Natalie and I took the opportunity to relax and watch a movie. The movie was Forbidden Kingdom, a kung fu action film staring Jet Li and Jackie Chan. I had watched and moderately enjoyed the English version just days early, and was now watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles. In thinking about the event, it is interesting because while the audio had changed, the subject matter, the feeling, the music, had all remained the same.

Over the past year, Natalie and I have had wonderful opportunities to travel. Most recently, during our trip to Miami, we were able to spend time with her Mom and brother, enjoying food, warm weather, and most importantly, company. We were even privileged enough to join her family on a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas.

Throughout the trip, I was over stimulated with my incredible surroundings. We had great Spanish food, we enjoyed delicious sushi, and we had amazing steaks prepared by Natalie's wonderful cook of a mother. We watched movies, we watched the New Year roll in, and sadly, we watched another great trip end, a return home.

Our surroundings change from trip to trip; even the language audio track is different depending on where we are. Nevertheless, the subject matter, the feeling, and the music that is our lives together, is always the same. It has been so much fun to have Natalie in my life. Our love is universal, timeless, and will be no matter the change in our surroundings.

nat's point of view :

sry, have been busy w/ wedding planning and all sorts of errands collided one after another.

our trip to visit mom before the new year was significance, not only we were going back the 2nd time, but for mom to know chris a little better, after chris has proposed.

i very much dislike the flights in b/w, either i cannot get enough sleep or my neck dread the painful plane seat. i'm only a little better if i travel w/ chris, as i can use his shoulder for support.

not sure if you guys have already notice, but our height's difference is sometimes an attention grabber. chris is 6 foot 3, and i'm 5 foot 3; he's exactly a foot taller. when i called my brother after i've landed in ft. lauderdale, there's no way that i can find him w/ the amount of ppl traffic in the airport. luckily he mentioned, "chris has already arrived, i'm w/ him". mathematically, i adjusted my search to my personal landmark. =D

this trip was more about relaxing and catching up w/ past holiday and planning for the up coming year. w/o a doubt, we always have delicious food involve ... dim sum, banana rolls, spanish food, hot pot, all you can eat, mom's special steak etc.

there are only 5 more months until our wedding, and chris is making a trip next month to organise the venue and invitation. when it comes to planning and organising, i get OCD on EVERYTHING little things. i'm so graceful that chris has not called off the wedding due to the amount of my unreasonable rant daily. ... ha ha.

talkin' to the songbird yesterday
flew me to a place not far away
he's a little pilot in my mind
singin' songs of love to pass the time

he's not anyone
he's not anyone
he's not anyone

a man can never dream these kind of things
especially when he came and spread his wings
whisper in my ear the things i'd like
then he flew away into the night
gonna write a song so he can see
give him all the love he gives to me
talk of better days that have yet to come
never felt this love from anyone