Ready for my close up...

... or not...

Again with the taking of pictures and sucking at it... I really should find a stand in to do my pictures for me. Not only am I shy... but I feel like I have a not-so-cute smile, I have more gums than I know what to do with.

As some of you know, we took our engagement photos on Monday. We took them over in the Newport Back Bay. We didn't want to do the typical beach pics that everybody else does. Walking in the waves, your jeans all wet, sand up in your unmentionables because you had to sit in it for what feels like forever and a day. Cory wanted to do something "outdoorsy", something that reminded him of back home... so this was the closest we could come up with. And it ended up being a gorgeous location... filled with trails that went through tall brush, flowers, a couple of wooden bridges over some tiny creeks, very rustic! Of course, I was scared as all hell. I'm not good at being the center of attention. So, I made Cory stop at a liquor store on the way out to pick me up a little liquid courage. Since we left from work, we had to change in the car... that was fun. Imagine trying to go from jeans and a sweater to a dress, with bikers and people passing by. Anyhoo, it was great! We had to do the whole stare into each other's eyes, walk while holding hands, he had to pick me up and twirl me around, we even had to kiss (go ahead and gag). I have to admit, Cory is extremely handsome, and unbelievably photogenic... I'm a lucky lass. Me? It takes some work, but thanks to the brilliant make up stylings of Cat and Jax (aka - our lils), I looked pretty darn cute, if I don't say so myself. And that RARELY happens, SO THANKS CAT AND JAX! I also have to thank Trista, our photographer... she told me beforehand that she would make this a comfy photo shoot and that she would take care of us... and she did. She tried her darndest to make me look sexxay in some pics (god bless her), but I'm pretty sure my akwardness took over.

When all is said and done, we are very excited to see the pics. Trista is awesome and said she will have the pics posted in only a couple of days! Stay tuned...

Tonight, we are meeting with the officiant, Reverend Christopher, to go over the ceremony and his ideas. Should be fun... although, it doesn't help that I am battling a horrible case of sinus congestion and an ear infection... an ear infection - what am I, 5? Cory was trying to get me to stay home from work today and work from home, but there is too much to do, and of course, we have a submission today... so what am I doing... I'm blogging! Hahaha!

We got our invitations about a week ago. They are PERFECT! We are going to work on addressing them and putting them together these next couple of weeks, and they will be delivered to a mail box near you shortly after!

Other than that, things are moving along fabulously! Still on the look out for a hair/makeup stylist for me and all the ladies... got any suggestions?

We're back...

Happy 2009!!!


Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for their well wishes on my dad's speedy recovery. We are all praying and thinking good thoughts for a full recovery and to return home soon...


We are back from our whirlwind tour back east. It was a CRAZY trip to start off, but Cory & I feel truly truly blessed to have spent the holidays with both of our families, and look forward to spending many many more...

So, with our almost 8 hour lay over in Vegas on the way out, we got into DC around 3:00am. After getting some sleep, we were able to enjoy some time with my family in Virginia... we ate a TON of filipino food, Cory sang every song imagineable on the Magic Mic. We also met up with Mike & Christine for dinner and drinks, had a blast, and can't wait to see them again...



We spent Christmas with the Smith's in PA. We got to meet Kassidy (Cory's niece) for the first time... Kassidy and I share the SAME BIRTHDAY! LIBRAS ROCK!





I got to meet a bunch of Cory's high school friends at a lil holiday party. We had a blast... and I beat Cory at flip cup. HA! Next, we drove to NY to do the "meeting of the parents". That went splendidly! We met up in Rockefeller Plaza and took them over to our jeweler ("LC") in the city to pick out our wedding bands. Then we went to Virgil's for lunch. It really was a great time! I'm so happy that our families are so down to earth and get along fabulously.



We had our engagement party at Shirley's house in Garden City (Long Island).



Cory saw his first lechon. YUMMY! We all got to listen to the Meghan's and Mrs. Smith's wonderful singing talents... and my mom and her sisters danced to "Dancing Queen"... good times!



I also revisited my fear of being the center of attention while we were cutting the engagement cake. I SWEAR, I have NO CLUE how I am going to be the bride... I'll need a xanax or something. Everyone looking at us, taking pictures, hitting the utensils on the champagne glasses expecting us to smooch... I'm sweating profusely just thinking about it...


After that, we drove down to Philly to spend the night at Mark & Erin's. I finally got to try a real philly cheesesteak... we had Geno's - that's the one with the lights out in front! It was pretty good... although, I think Erin and I enjoyed the cheese fries much more! Hahaha!
(There are some adorable pics of my family and the Meet the Parents are on my mom's camera, and I will add some as soon as she sends them!!!)


After that, you know the rest. We were able to celebrate NYE with my dad in the hospital before he went to sleep. I'm so thankful for that! We got home New Years Day, and are exhausted...


So, now we are back in wedding mode. This month is already packing a punch! We have to schedule a meeting with Sweet Layers in Temecula (our cake people), the officiant, we also have our engagement photo session later this month. Rumor has it that the bridesmaids dresses are here, so I can't wait to see those! I'm still watching Say Yes To The Dress (still), and all the horror stories of the dresses not fitting right, wrong dresses, wrong colors... and I'm starting to panick (again) about my dress. Cory really wishes that I would stop watching these shows... yeah right! I probably shouldn't tell him that I have to see Bride Wars! We are still debating on where to go for our honeymoon... Tahiti, St. Lucia... something totally different? I DUNNO! We're going to look up more destinations. Anyhoo, this weekend, we are ordering the invitations (and everything that goes along with that), hopefully booking the rehearsal dinner location... and loads of other errands that we have fallen behind on since we were on vacation.

Until next time...
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AnnalizaVictoria&CorySmith

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Last night, my fantabulous MOH, my BFF, Jenn came over. We had a little holiday celebration of our own with some champagne, Snowtinis, and yummy-licious pupus. We had jalapeno popper spread, cocktail meatballs, sangria skrimps (heehee), and fresh mozarella and avocado stuffed mushrooms... oh dear god, those were heaven. Little does Jenn know, she has to make those for the wedding... hahaha j/k! But they really were delicious and I can't wait to get the recipe. Jenn also gave us a few Christmas gifts, and much to our pleasant surprise, one of the gifts was something off of our wedding registry. WE GOT OUR FIRST WEDDING GIFT! I was so excited, that I actually looked up the registry today to see "fulfilled" next to the item. Cuh-ray-zee, I know, but HEY, it's our first registry gift, SO THERE! But, we just want to send an extremely heartfelt THANK YOU HUG to Jenn. Gifts aside, she has been a phenomenal Maid of Honor... I love you Jenn - now hurry up and buy a ticket out to NY and hang with us! =)

So, before flying off to the frozen tundra, we just want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays and a FABULOUS 2009! I don't know about you, but we certainly cannot wait for 2009. After the new year, it's only four short months til the big day, and we are both so excited... we really can't stop talking about it. I have to say that I am the luckiest bride-to-be to have a groom-to-be who is as much into the wedding, the planning, the details as much as I am... maybe even more! Haha! No new updates as of yet. We have to meet with the cake people and we are scheduled to take our engagement photos next month, so we are stoked on that. We didn't want to do the typical beach pictures that most engaged couples do. We have a few ideas... mostly revolving around the Newport Back Bay area... should be fun! After that, my dress should come in, then the bridesmaids dresses, then all the chaos begins. Really, I'm not freaking out at all...

Anyhoo, again... wish you all WARMTH and happiness this holiday season and into the new year. We love you all!

Cya in 2009!

A little message from Cory:
I am very excited to spend this first of many wonderful holidays with my beautiful fiancee. And I can't wait to spend the holidays with my new and old families!

My Brown-Eyed Girl...

I kinda sorta had an idea when I started dating Cory, that there was this whole other side to him. A side that is a complete 180 from the serious, business minded, all-about-the-company Cory Smith that we've all grown to know and love at Endologix. The day that I dared him to sing the Endologix Fight Song over the company PA system was all too telling about the man that I'm about to marry...



We had our company Holiday Party last Friday. It was in Newport Beach again, on another one of those harbor cruises. We all had a blast. We, of course, found some way to bypass the two ticket drink MAXIMUM that they were TRYING to put on us... and yes, they finally had CHAMPAGNE! This time around, we had a DJ, so they were playing some fun songs for us to shake our money makers to. Some time over the course of the party, my gorgeous fiance was able to show off his skillz as a white boy, which impressed everyone from the VP of Sales to... well... everyone. (Mind you, he was not even drunk) But even better... our CEO, found out that Cory LOVES to sing. How, I have NO IDEA, but that information some how made its way to public knowledge. And just as I thought that Cory couldn't show off his willingness to be a HAM any more... the DJ coerced him into singing "Brown-Eyed Girl"... to me... in front of the entire company. Needless to say, if I wasn't filipino, you'd be able to see some shade of red creep up my neck and onto my face. You know me, I HATE being the center of attention... I have no idea how I'm going to do this wedding thing! But in the end, it was the sweetest thing... and I'm glad that we have proof of it. (Rumor has it - there's a video running around here somewhere) Yet now he seems to think that he can headline the wedding... hm.



Afterwards, when the boat docked, we hit up the Shamrock... AGAIN. Had a BLAST!







Anyhoo... so we've slowed down a little on the wedding plans since it's the holidays. And we pretty much got everything done over the past two months. The only major things we have left are the rehearsal dinner location, the invitations, and we have to book the honeymoon. We are debating on St. Lucia or Tahiti... any suggestions? We just booked the officiant. We were pretty lucky to like the first one we met with. His name is Reverend Christopher Torres... he's got a great personality that will fit the type of upbeat, yet romantic ceremony that we want. And he also gave us some cool ideas of different things to do in the ceremony.

We are heading back east for the holidays! Supa excited! We are doing the big meet of the parents... meaning, our parents are meeting each other for the first time! We're still trying to figure out where, but it will most likely be somewhere in Little Italy. We're flying into DC/Virginia to spend time with my family, then we'll head to Elmhurst and have Christmas with the Smith's, then head to NY for the Meet The Parents... then my aunt is throwing us an engagement party! YAY! Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, we are going to a Christmas party back in PA so I can meet all of Cory's friends! It'll be a busy trip, but fun and well worth it.

We look forward to seeing all of you this holiday season. However if we don't, have a wonderful Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmukah, Festivus, Holiday Season... and a prosperous, healthy, and Happy New Year... YEAH 2009! We love you all!

PS - only 4 1/2 more months to go... HOLY CRAPBALLS! =)

Keep checking our wedding page for updates on the big day!
We've added information on hotels... so definitely check that out. Temecula is a small area with limited hotels, so please make your arrangements as soon as you can!
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AnnalizaVictoria&CorySmith

Gobble Gobble...

Greetings everybody!

We just wanted to tell everyone to have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Eat lots... drink lots... have a wonderful 4-day weekend!

We love you all and can't wait to see some of you over the holidays!

BIG HUGS!

Registering for wedding gifts...

Registered for gifts last weekend... Fun, but tiring as all hell, man! It took over three hours just to go through Macy's Home Store at South Coast Plaza, and we still didn't get everything! (But damn, those scanners are fun!)
First we were debating on where to register. I mean, since we've both lived on our own, we have pretty much everything. We still want to register for the new cookware, new bed stuff, your typical fine china, blah blah blah... but really, we don't need much more around the house. So, what do we register for? We were stoked when we found out that you can register at Lowes! We have plans to fix up the ole condo after the wedding... new floors, new paint, new tile in the bathroom, new bath tub, all of that fun stuff! But is that tacky? To register for hard wood floors, paint, bathroom stuff, etc? We even started to debate over registering for the honeymoon, since apparently, that's the thing to do these days. Right?

So... of course, we settled (for now), on the ever popular Macy's, Crate & Barrel, and Target... we've registered for a little here and there at each store. We are still debating on Lowes... what do you guys think?

As far as the rest of the planning... we are doing pretty good! We picked out the bridesmaids dresses a couple of weeks ago. And might I say, MY bridesmaids are going to be undeniably HOT! I know all brides say that about their girls, but no, sorry. Mine take the cake. The dress they picked is INSANE and just brings out the SEXXAY-NESS. Again, DAMN STOKED to have those ladies by my side! I wish I could have a few more to stand by me, and you know who you are, but it would look hilarious with EIGHT girls on one side, to four boys... or would it? =) Also, since the photographer and florist, we have booked the acoustical guitarist (to play while guests walk in, during the ceremony and cocktail hour), the DJ (YEAH DJ KINGSLEY!!!!!), and the baker for the wedding cake. It's all coming together, yet I still find sh*t to stress about. How about that?

Next, the rehearsal dinner, the tuxedos, THE HONEYMOON, and the invitations (place cards, too). Oh yeah, and the officiant... Cory has been the bestest fiance EVER and taken on that task! Have we forgotten anything?

Thanks to all of you who continue to send us your congrats and well wishes! We are both so excited to share this day with you... of course, for our family & friends here in sunny/never-ending-summer/fall-and-winter-will-never-get-here Southern California, but especially those coming from far away!

Before I go, just a quick CONGRATS again to my cousin BJ and my new cousin-in-law Davis! Their wedding was absolutely wonderful, and BJ looked breath taking!


Keep checking our wedding page for updates on the big day!
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/AnnalizaVictoria&CorySmith

Miss you Jax!

Our lil one is leaving the nest...

She's leaving us to party it up in north county and become a big girl. I'm sad, but happy for my babygirl, Jax, to live in her first bomb a** apt. Now we have somewhere to crash when we party up there!

But anyhoo, give it up to our lil one... Girl, we still need to do a good-bye/housewarming BBQ!

MUAH!