I think after going through so much back in public school... I just have a mental block when it comes to doing assignments. Seriously, I could sit on my bed with only my textbook and notebook in front of me for 3 hours and not get anything done. LOL

Anyways, before I completely disappear for a bit, I just wanted to share this weekend.

Saturday was the 40th pastorial anniversary dinner for the bishop of my church, at Russo's on the Bay. It was a very pretty venue, serving mainly Italian food and whatnot. I actually was only able to get a shot of the desserts, because no one at my table was able to really touch it after all the food we ate... they basically served us a 5-course meal! It was ridiculous! I've never eaten so much food at an event before.

The area where the smorgasbord took place-- there was so much food, and I was only on -one- side of the area... I didn't even get a chance to see the food on the other side lol. The waiting area was also really pretty, nice and dim and romantic with outside light flowing through the glass doors.

As soon as we were let into the dining hall, the youth did a bit of praise-singing.

Diamond and Zoe~

Jona, Crystal and Scott!

While we were waiting for food to be served, me and Avian went back out to take outfit shots and whatnot.

I really need to stop looking at Greek/Roman art. I really do.

There was an area for the professional photos that were being shot and printed on the spot~ I kind of wanted one, but they didn't have the little card cube thing, and me being me, I didn't carry extra cash. ah well. Some of the other youth people took some that came out really nice.

Here is my pastor, as MC for the event, with his wife next to him. I should've thought to take outfit shots before everything started :c

The main courses was so good. First place was a fruit platter, with slices of peach, strawberry, pears, raisins, and other fruits and figs. My God, I couldn't get enough of the figs. After that was ziti with some kind of sauce.. I forget. That was good as well. For the main course, I chose this plate of chicken, shrimp, croquette and I think rice. the chicken and shrimp were covered and cooked with what reminded me of tempura batter, it was sooo good. And for dessert (that we barely touched) was a plate of cake with I think was raspberry filling, vanilla gelato in a chocolate cup, and then tiers of assorted sweets like macaron, cannolis, eclairs, chocolate covered cashews and just so much. So much stuff. I wish I had more room for the sweets, it was such a waste to not eat them ; w;

Never to be touched, ahbloobloo

The music was good, the presentations, and of course seeing Bishop for the first time in a long while. He was extremely weak for the past two months, haven't been to church like that, apparently barely ate or walked without help... seeing him that day gave all of us joy, for him to be doing so much better and well enough to attend the event.

Here was my outfit for the day~

I got the dress from one of the wholesale shops near 34th street, for about 100 dollars. I really wanted a quality dress and a specific pleated design similar to this one that Satomin wore for Sugar/Jewels. I didn't bother getting new shoes, just got an old pair of black t-strap shoes that gave me height without making my feet uncomfortable, and then got a black shawl from H&M.

Hopefully by my next post or so, I'll be done with my assignments and my courses~ Wish me luck!

I found these books at Book-Off not too long ago, when I was trying to look for the Feb Ageha. (I was pretty lucky, apparently that was the very last copy of the issue in both Book-Off and Kinokuniya. It came with a free gift so I'm assuming that's why it sold out so fast e_e)

First one is The Wedding Album by Alice Harris. When I flipped through it I had to buy it, it's basically a picture book with different wedding dress fashion photography, from magazine shoots to runway snaps, from celebs to everyday people, from simple timeless moments to unforgettable, daring ceremonies to movie screencaps. Even though most of the dresses are white, it's still very rich in culture and shows examples from different times and in different parts of the world.

Some of my favorite examples:

Wedding photo of a newlywed couple, 1910.

Japanese wedding in Kyoto, 1961

This seems to be a regular couple, and the photo was taken in Denmark apparently, but holyyy crap at all the people! I thought it was a whole village in Africa or something @___@ that crowd looks freaking huge.

A wedding party in Harlem, 1983. I laughed to myself with this one, even before I read the credits I had a feeling. Not even with the background (Lenox Ave or something, I bet), but the attitude on that one bridesmaid's face. Harlemites have this certain swag and you can just tell lol.

An Indian wedding in London, 1992. Indian weddings will always be the most vibrant and extravagant celebrations of them all. In my opinion, anyways.

especially the eerie look of the ghostly child by the fireplace.

Grace Kelly in 1956

There are even more photos of Muhammad Ali when he got married, Nelson Mandela guiding her daughter down the aisle.. past presidents, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, it goes on and on and on...

Soon though, I'll be doing a lot of things and experimenting with weight-loss.

1- When I get my tax return I'm going to finally make an appointment colonic hydrotherapy for the first time and see how that works. I'm definitely doing it. No more delays! I'm going to get it done, haha.

2- I'm going to try and do a green juice fast, within the next 2-3 weeks. My bff Laura had introduced green juice fasting to me a couple of weeks ago. Then another friend of ours tried it for a week last week and lost at least 5 pounds or so. So I'm definitely going to try it out! I'm not sure if I'm going to try it out this coming week (Valentine's day week) or the week after, but definitely before the end of February. I can't wait to see the results from that. I'll probably do it on and off, maybe for a week, once or twice a month all the way into the summer. I'll be using mainly these "mean green juice recipes" that my friends used.

3-Vitamins. Feb 2012 Ageha had this little part that caught my attention with what looked like dietary supplements, and I've been thinking about it as well. I'm not going to start taking pills (anyone who knows me knows that I hate taking any sort of pill, doesn't matter if it's antibiotics or whatever), but I was thinking of taking track a bit about the things I eat each week. Everyone knows I don't do calorie counts or anything like that, but I'm gonna try and put more yellow/orange vegetables and stuff in my normal food for Vitamin A, and then concentrate a bit on Vitamin D. Skin-wise I'm going to get a bottle of Vitamin E to put on my face to help my skin. Lately my skin's been breaking out and I want it to be clear again ; ___; so I'm gonna focus on it more often.

4- Waterrr. I need to get back to drinking water x___x This is probably the main reason why my skin's been acting up. I was getting pretty dehydrated over my fast as well. So, definitely more water in my system. Also aloe juice! Because it's tasty lol.

5- Morning routines & Yoga. By morning routines, I do not mean running xD At all. I don't do running.

My friend way back last year had showed me some exercise routines that I ended up doing once a day for a good month or so, and my legs started getting toned. It was amazing xD I really want to get back into it again because it really helped with my stamina for every day activities. Mainly were hip abductions and leg kicks, but they did pretty well xD Also! crunches as well.

I probably won't be able to do yoga as much as I want to, but I'm going to try to go at least twice or three times a month, AT LEAST. Until I build up strength in my arms and stuff again, and then I'll try to go more frequently. I was thinking of doing the belly-dancing exercises again but eh... after a while it got repetitive. I'd have to get into it again lol. And maybe do it less compared to last year so I don't grow bored of it.

Eventually I hope to probably try jump-roping, and trying to get a new bike so I can bike around once it gets warmer and stuff :3

So once again, good luck to me xD I'm going to really need it, especially if I'm trying to be fit in time for beach season, Otakon, and Comic Con.

Some video routines and stuff for inspiration: