A Tocci Christmas

As you know, Nick got his Wii yesterday and couldn't wait to set it up and play with it. As I mentioned, the Wii was intended as Nick's Christmas present but even as I teasingly threatened to make him wait, until Decemeber 25th, I could not do it.

After the Wii was set up and ready to go we each created a Mii (avatar) for ourselves, mine sorta looks like this.

I found a site that emulates the Mii creator, it's not exact but pretty darn close.

Being that we sorta had an early Christmas at the Tocci house with Nick getting his Wii, Nick gave me the red iPod he had bought for me. Between the Wii Sports competitions with Nick I set up my iPod and have about 2.5 hours of music on it and will definitely add more later when I get my iTunes and mp3 library better organized .

The Wii is truely amazing and so much better than all the other systems (old school Nintendo and new PS3 or Xbox) due mainly to the wireless, super-interactive controllers. While playing Wii sports I kicked butt in boxing (knocked Nick out twice), did a pretty good job bowling and golfing, whooped Nick (Agassi style) at tennis and even beat him at the fitness program (by a point but I still won). I highly recommend the Wii and it's definitely worth the $250 price tag.

It's Here ...

UPDATE: We got the controllers too! It's going to be a wiidiculus Wednesday!

Christmas has come early in the Tocci House!!!

Wii are Still Waiting

It's been an entire week since I ordered Nick's Wii and it is still not at our house. We've been checking the status on USPS and each day it has said that the post office has been notified (on 11/22) to pick it up. I hate to say it but the 22nd was 6 whole days ago, I know Thanksgiving happened the next day but they had Friday, Saturday and Monday to get over to the Amazon warehouse and pick it up. Seriously!

Zelda for the Wii arrived yesterday (Nick pre-ordered from Best Buy) causing some excitement over the Wii and, that one day soon, he'd be able to play Zelda on the Wii.

As we wait for the Wii, we are also waiting for the 2nd set of controllers. When I ordered the system I had planned to get extra controllers after we knew we definitely had the system and would just place a separate order. Apparently there was a run on the accessories as well because within 5 minutes of getting the system Amazon was sold out of the remote and nunchuk controllers. After some internet scouring for the controllers, and hopefully a free shipping and/or discount deal, I had to suck it up and pay for shipping and tax to get controllers before they were sold out everywhere. I got them from Nintendo's online store. After tracking the controllers, for a week, on UPS' site they will arrive at our humble abode tomorrow.

So tomorrow I will go home and just mimic playing the Wii with everything but the system.

Yi & Brenda are AWESOME

Who are Yi & Brenda? Yi is my mom's youngest brother and Brenda, his wife. They are cool for so many reasons. One of the top reasons being that they are the parents of the coolest little girls in the world, my cousins, Catherine and Victoria. Another reason, givers of our very first wedding gift! Drum roll please ... may I present to you the Calphalon Contemporary Non-Stick Cookware 10 Piece set ...I am pleased as punch over the set and so appreciative of such a generous and wonderful gift.

On a side note ... since I've registered for bridal shower/wedding gifts I've been "needing" some of the stuff I registered for. For example, the other day I bought 2 packs of chicken breasts and was prepping it for a meal and freezing the rest when I realized that I could easily weigh how much chicken was in each freezer bag if I only had the scale that's on my registry list. I was half tempted to run out to Bed Bath and Beyond with my 20% coupon and get it. If I start buying stuff for myself off the registry I'll be in big trouble because (1) I'll be out of wedding money and (2) I'll have pretty empty registry come bridal shower/wedding time.

It's Been a Week ...

I just realized it's been an entire week since I last posted. I must have been one busy bee!

My Week in Review

• went to work (3 out of 5 days)
• cleaned house (vacuumed, mopped, dusted, etc.)
• grocery shopping (3 times? because I forgot stuff)
• Thanksgiving
• Black Friday (stayed home like a smart girl)
• went to the bank
• went to the gym (twice)
• cooked & prepared food (both for Thanksgiving and the party mentioned below)
• went into Manhattan with my amiga, Michell, to visit a friend in physical rehab
• had a party at my house for former co-workers (Michell, Dita, & Josanne)
• cleaned up after the party (many thanks to Nick for his help)

At least it looks like I was busy for 4 days.

Wedding Update

It's set, we're getting married in 184 days on Thursday May 24, 2007 in Kauai! We confirmed with the planner and sent her our deposit of $200. Now I have to worry about everything else ... the marriage license, the beach, the musicians, the photographer, flowers, etc.

Also set is the venue for the Chinese banquet. Nick and I went to see it and really loved the banquet room. The next step would be to set the date, I think my dad will be choosing an auspicious date for this since we didn't go with one for our Hawaii ceremony.

The wedding planning is moving along!

Wii Got A Wii!

The hype for the new Nintendo system has been ongoing for quite sometime now and the wait, seemingly, longer. But finally, today, Nintendo Wii Release Day (also known as November 19, 2006) has arrived. Earlier this week Sony's Playstation 3 debuted to limited quantities, overnight lines, violence, and insanely overpriced ebay sales - all of which worried me about the Wii release.

Nick has been so excited about the Wii that I said I'd get it for him for his birthday and/or Christmas. Since his birthday has since passed it has become a Christmas gift, but what if I couldn't get it? I've never really dealt with toys or game releases like this and the only thing that came close was last year on Black Friday when Nick and I tried to wait outside of Circuit City for some bargain electronics and that was a somewhat failed and definitely ridiculous excursion.

So rewind to yesterday, the eve of the Wii release ... Nick and I had a game plan to be up and pound the main electronics websites for a midnight release. We had a received emails from Amazon.com about their plans for the Wii release, but it was somewhat cryptic about the time. They basically said it would be released on the 19th but based on Pacific Standard Time. So we figured that'd be 3am EST. So we figured we'd try at midnight EST, but unfortunately we didn't find anyone that had it available then. The next attempt was at 3am on Amazon and any other sites possibly working on PST (I had gone to bed by then). I awoke around 8-8:30am and poor Nick was delirious from exhaustion, frustration and of course no Wii. So he went to bed and I began my day. I saw that a local Target had the Wii listed as available but limited. I decided to take a ride over on the off chance they had one. It was definitely wishful thinking because the Target Team Member I asked just about laughed at me.

I returned home (a little sad) and arrived just before 11am EST (8am PST) and decided to try Amazon (and other sites) with the hopes that they were thinking like a business and the earliest they could get people in to launch on a weekend would be 8am, 9am the latest. After about 5 minutes of constant refreshing I thought it'd be a 9am PST release, but I decided to keep trying a little longer. Suddenly I was no longer seeing the blue box that said it was unavailable, I was seeing the magical add to my cart button. Adding didn't take right away but after a couple of tries I finally had the Wii in my cart and was able to complete the check out process. I was still in disbelief and didn't believe it until I saw the confirmation email.And as one should always do when victorious, I woke Nick with shouts of, "We Got A Wii!"

Tagless Clothing

In the past couple of years clothing makers have gotten into the whole tagless clothing thing. I love that my underwear or shirt doesn't make me itch at the nape of my neck or my lower back but I realized yesterday that tagless does make getting dressed in darkness (or in my case, semi-darkness) pretty darn difficult.

Lately I've been obsessed with Target's Mossimo shirts and they happen to be of the tagless variety. Yesterday I was dressing pretty much in the dark (as to not wake the sleeping Fiance) and couldn't, for the life of me, figure if my shirt was inside out or if I was going to put it on backwards. Normally, I would feel for the tag and figure out it's orientation but yesterday's lighting and tag situation made it pretty darn difficult. You'd think I could try and feel for the printed tag, like trying to read Braille, but that's pretty darn difficult too because the printing is like a tattoo.

Nittaya, Thai Restaurant

Last night Nick and I went into Hoboken to visit a friend in the hospital (get well soon, 2.0!) and on our way home we were very hungry. We were bouncing dinner ideas back and forth when I spotted a hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant near the Lincoln Tunnel. We found parking and braved the wind and rain to try out Nittaya located in Weehawken, NJ.

We ordered our favorite dishes (me-pad see ew, Nick-pad thai) as a control to measure this newly found dining establishment. In addition, we got our favorite appetizer of fried tofu (you can't go wrong with it) and tried the curry puffs. The appetizers were fantastic. Nick decided he could live on the curry puffs for the rest of his life and I had to agree. As for the main entrees, Nick liked the pad thai, I tried it and thought it tasted like all pad thai so, yes, it was good (I'm not a big fan of pad thai). The pad see ew was average for me because I prefer it not to be spicy and it was a bit sweeter than I am used to. My favorite pad see ew (not too sweet nor spicy) can be found in Edgewater at Thai Tanee (or Thai Kitchen), which continues to be my favorite Thai restaurant.

So Nittaya gets a B on this visit (the curry puffs brought it up from a C+).

Wedding Card

I made a wedding card for our friends' wedding ... but I forgot to take a picture of it. What the hell is wrong with me? Anyhow, I can assure you it was pretty (Nick even admired it). I'll try to describe it for you ...

• It was 5.5" x 8.5" in size
• Burgundy cardstock
• Vertical orientation
• Cream mulberry paper (4.5" x 7.5") centered on the cardstock
• Gold mesh ribbon across the bottom with "love" rubber stamped on it
• 2 wire "wedding rings" tied together with a trimmed piece of the gold mesh ribbon

Do you get the picture? Maybe not ... so here's a little sketch ...

I swear it looked way better in person.

Chinese Banquet

Last Thursday (Nov 9), Nick and I met up with my parents in Chinatown on our first Chinese Banquet excursion. The main goal was to eat at Ming Dynasty in Chinatown and decide if a banquet in New York City was worth it.

We arrived around 2pm for dim sum and some extra dishes that my parents hooked us up with. The food we had was excellent. The venue not so excellent. When we arrived we walked up a double flight of stairs (flanked with lighted advertisements - totally tacky) and then when we walked into the restaurant and it was just *BAM* dining area. There was no mini lobby/reception area just a large expanse of room and tons of tables and chairs. The room was huge and actually had divider walls that could be moved to make it bigger or smaller (they can accommodate up to 2 parties at once). The decor and setup was just total cheese factor and no attention to detail. The thorough and seasoned wedding venue inspector that I am, I checked out the bathrooms with my mom, and they were plain. I couldn't imagine people all dressed up going to NYC and seeing this blah venue and then the blah bathrooms. A bit of a disappointment and relief at the same time (parking would've been an issue). I rate Ming Dynasty a C+, and only because it was huge and the food good.

My parents had checked out Sunny Palace, in East Brunswick NJ, the week before and really liked the banquet room. They did encounter some issues with things they discussed with the owner but later got a call back and he basically said he'd work it out with them if we booked a Sunday date. Not too bad, especially since we're aiming to book a Sunday. Here are pictures of the banquet room from their website:

Based on these pictures I am really thrilled with the banquet room's decor. It is such a HUGE difference from Ming Dynasty and other Chinese restaurant banquets I've been to. I love red but not the super-bright-almost-tacky-Chinese-red that is thrown your face at banquets. Another bonus, parking is no problem at all here! Nick and I are going on Saturday to have dim sum and check it out for ourselves. As long as we like it my daddy will take care of the rest of the details.

The wedding planning is finally taking shape!

Hersheys ... What's the idea behind seasonal Twizzlers?

I had one of these snack size Twizzlers Twists on Halloween and have become addicted to them. I began to crave more so I found a bag at CVS after Halloween (what was I think just buying one bag?) and in about a week and half's time ate the entire bag. To Nick's dismay, I am now frantically searching for any bags leftover from Halloween to feed my addiction. Why don't I just get regular Twizzlers? I would if I could but I can't because these Twizzlers are different. The flavor is better, the texture softer, the size smaller and oh so freakin good. I just found out, after some extensive googling, that it's a seasonal item (meaning Hallo-freakin-ween only).

I am actually sad, very sad that I cannot indulge in my snack size Twizzler addiction until ... next September when the Halloween candy comes out. I don't think I can wait that long. I am seriously going to check out ebay when I get home from work, this is bad, really really bad.

If anyone can find them for me I will pay you for them, I must have them.

A Member of Twizzlers Anonymous

Target does it again

I placed a Target order online last week and got most of my stuff yesterday. In the box was this headband by Behnaz Sarafpour:For only $7.99, this is one gorgeous headband. The lace is beautiful and over a white ribbed material. I wore it out last night and to work today. I feel fancy with my black and white headband and wish I could wear it everyday.

In addition to my online shopping, I paid 2 visits to Target this weekend for various reasons. But on my first trip I was scouring the clearance racks for marked down exercise gear since I joined that darned gym and now need exercise outfits. What's a girl to do? Anyhow, the best find was a cocoa brown blazer with light blue (great with jeans) and cream accents, in my size, and on clearance for $19.98! It gets better, I went to check out and the blazer rang up $13!

Also in Target news, the Dollar Spot section has a lovely selection of Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty stocking stuff type items (pads, pens, magnets, zipper pouches, key chains, hair ties, etc.) All the stuff is of great quality and was almost cleared out when I first spotted it this past weekend.

The Best Italian Place Outside of Little Italy NYC

Today I had leftovers. Penne alla vodka from dinner last night (our 5th dating anniversary) at La Vecchia Napoli, a little Italian place in Edgewater, New Jersey. The penne was still to-die-for left over and sadly I wish I had more to eat. I don't usually like penne alla vodka but this place has the best ever.

In addition to the fabulous penne my favorites from La Vecchia Napoli are:

Carciofi Rosto (appetizer) - roasted artichokes in garlic and oil

Tiramisu (my favorite dessert item) - last night we tried a twist on the tiramisu from the dessert specials menu, strawberry tiramisu. Not as rich as the regular but also very good.

Now I'm hungry again just thinking about last night's dinner ...

Excited Mother-of-the-Bride

I was talking to my mom the other night about plans/ideas for the Chinese wedding banquet and whenever I started to give my input my mom would basically sush me so she could go on about all the ideas she had for the banquet. It was pretty amusing listening to how excited she got over the ideas she had for centerpieces, placecards, invitiations, favors, food, etc.

One of my suggestions for favors or just a big bowl on the table, was chocolate fortune cookies (I absolutely LOVE these), yes ... chocolate! I found Fancy Fortune Cookies online that have chocolate fortune cookies as well as other flavors and colors. They can also customize the fortune that's inside. I don't know if that's worth the money but my parents (having been in the Chinese restaurant business in the past) can totally hook me up with the chocolate fortune cookies from Chinatown NYC. I think it's a good idea because it's not too Chinese-take-out-restaurant hokey but more unique. I will definitely stay away from chopsticks (other than as a eating utensil) and take-out box type decor/favors. That would just be too much tackiness.

I'm still confused about actual favors, my dad suggested (and is rooting for) those mini-bottles of wine/champagne. Here's a mini-Moet and a shoe to show just how cute they minis are:

I am Doubly Happy

Since our Chinese wedding banquet will include both my distant relatives (most of whom I do not know) as well as relatives from his side of the family the event needs to have some Westernization. Since there are some people who have to travel we'd like to send out save-the-date cards. I am considering making my own but I found these pretty things online at Magic Wand Weddings ...

I am all for simplicity and beauty and the above save-the-date seems to fit. My only problem is the actual english transalation of the character ... I 'm not sure if it's just slightly tacky enough to

find one without the words or I'm just being super picky.

Also from Magic Wand are the matching table numbers, menus, thank you cards, etc.

The Countdown

I've been thinking... and realized that it's been over 6 months since we got engaged. Naturally thinking about the engagement I next thought about the wedding. So far our date is set for Thursday May 24, 2007. According to the countdown site I discovered via weddingbee, we have ...
... until our wedding day!!!

The excitement will really begin when I have to start packing for our trip then I'll be super excited and will be too giddy to function properly. This is going to be great!

Invitations for the Chinese Wedding Banquet

Growing up a Chinese American I've seen, in movies and on television as well as attended, my share of Chinese wedding banquets. Every banquet, except for one, took place in Chinatown, New York in a Chinese restaurant with gaudy red and gold decor. It is now my turn and my family's obligation to have a Chinese wedding banquet for me and my future husband.

A significant memory I have of Chinese wedding banquets are the bright red and gold invitations. Not only are they, or can be, pretty gaudy they also have a smell. I cannot really describe it ... it's not a bad scent but certainly unique, almost incense-like. Oh another thing ... the pink insert paper, it's so tacky with the red and gold invitation. So my main project is to find a Chinese banquet invitation that pleases my parents and of course can stay below the tacky factor.

These are my favorites, all from icatchingcards...

Who doesn't LOVE Target?

How many of you are in love, deeply with Target? This store never ceases to amaze me with their selection and bargains.

My most recent discovery at Target is the Mossimo Red: Long Sleeve Crew Neck Tee for only $8.99! I bought 2 (1 black and 1 white) about 2 weeks ago when they were on super sale for only $7.99 each and loved them so much I forked up $2 more to get another black and one in bing cherry red. I normally buy my long sleeve tees from Old Navy and Gap because of the quality but I have to say that Target (or rather Mossimo) is giving them a run for their money. I love how the tee is so soft, fitted and not too thick. Also a bonus it runs as a longer length tee, not super long but long enough that my XS tee lays quite nicely over my lowrise slacks/jeans. So for $8.99 these Mossimo tees are one heck of a bargain.

I think the Go International idea is brilliant. Unfortunately I haven't fallen in love with any of the clothing from any of the designers that have been featured. I always see something way cute but wish it wasn't wallpapered in cherries or was in a different color. Although this isn't part of the Go International line it's still a featured designer, Rafe.

It's not a bad deal considering it is a designer bag but my issue with it is that it's not leather. I've had my bad experiences with pleather and cannot get myself to spend $50 on a bag that I will absolutely destroy because it's made of ... plastic. I'd rather put down the few hundred for a bag I love and one that will last. Call me snobby but I just can't spend money on a bag that I just know I'll use it to death and the sad day will come when a bag I love will no longer be able to be used.

Birthday Success

On Friday, the eve of Nick's birthday, we went to Blue Moon Mexican Cafe in Englewood for dinner and then, as I mentioned, to Cirque du Soleil. Definitely an eventful night.

We arrived at Cirque just in time, took our seats (I got 4th row floor seats) and marveled at the set up of the arena for the show. At the time we had no clue, but the show began with a mini-concert which caused me to almost panic because I didn't know Delirium was that musical but after 2 songs the singer, Nitza, said it was just a preshow and the real show would begin after the 15 minute intermission ... whew.

Once the real show began, Nick and I were in awe. The costumes, the lighting, the props, the talent, etc. were all absolutely amazing. I've never seen a show like this before. I think I may have fallen in love with Cirque du Soleil.

Here's a taste of Delirium from the Cirque website: I highly recommend at least seeing one Cirque du Soleil show and maybe a second for comparision. I myself am doing some searching to find the next Cirque show in my area or some place that's not too far away.

Red Obsessed

I admit it ... I AM A RED ADDICT.


I've always admired the color red but recently I've come to LOVE it. I think it began 2 years ago when I bought my first car. It's a 2002 Mazda Protege5 in what else but red. Then I was in the market for a new coat and chose a red quilted Burberry coat. Recently I bought a red padlock for the gym and realized my bookbag from college is a red Jansport.

My red loves:

• a red trimmed Dooney & Bourke bag
• a red Mazda CX-7
• red Jaguars
• the red ipod nano
• red luggage

I think it's an illness but after thinking about it, I could like other "girlie" colors like pink (sorry to those pink lovers out there) but red is a good strong color and it stands out. Just think how easy it would be to find my red luggage at the airport amongst all the other lugguge (usually black).

Don't get me wrong I like other colors too (particularly black) but red has become a theme or a natural choice for me.

Update

4 words ... it was a success!

The fiance and I went to the gym last night and did about 40 minutes of cardio (treadmill and elliptical) and today I feel pretty darn good. I really thought I'd be an old and crabby lady today with sore legs but alas I am not. I made it out the front door this morning and even up the stairs to get to my office.

I have to take a break from the gym today because Nick's birthday is Saturday and I have quite a few errands to run that are birthday related. I had a surprise planned for him (for his birthday) since July and he was asking all sorts of questions about it the other night so I decided to let him in on the surprise. I got him Cirque du Soleil: Delirium tickets for Friday night. He's totally stoked and I really hope he enjoys it. It seems that I tend to get him tickets to something for his birthday ... last year was Blue Man Group and another year (either 2002 or 2003) we went to Niagara Falls and saw the Barnum & Bailey Circus. So ... happy early birthday Nick.

A major commitment

We did it ... we signed our lives away and joined a gym.










Nick and I have done a lot of talking about joining a gym and getting our heart rates up, etc. Up until Monday we were a lot of talk and no action. We spent Monday evening checking out all of our local gyms and then yesterday we decided to join New York Sports Club. We had intentions to start working out last night but learned that our NYSC didn't have towel service and we needed towels to shower or use the sauna so we had to call it a night.

Today will be workout attempt #2, we'll have towels so I do not anticipate a problem.