Honeymoon location set!

Ming and I have finally decided where we're going for our honeymoon: Nuevo Vallarta. It's right outside of Puerto Vallarta and it's nicer and newer than Puerto Vallarta. We're going to stay at Grand Velas. It's an all-inclusive resort that offers beverages and food around the clock. They even have a pillow menu!!! O.o

Oy vey

Trust me to have the most expensive tastes .. I went dress shopping over the weekend and I happened to fall in love with the dress that is 4x more than what I was hoping to spend. The dress that I like is below:

The picture doesn't do the gown justice. The gown totally sparkles all over the place and, the most important part, I look so pretty in it. *sigh* Unfortunately, the dress is way out of the budget and I've got to find something else that doesn't break the piggy bank. x_x

Brothers

I don't think I know a single person who doesn't have a gripe about their brother. Seriously, what in it does a guy (as opposted to a sister) have in him that makes him act like a total idiot? I don't have a clue but I know that I'd definitely say that my own brother isn't the sharpest and makes really stupid decisions. I know that it isn't just sisters who complain about their brothers; guys also complain about their brothers too. These idiot brothers really need to be taken aside and beaten on the head with a very big stick until they start shaping up.

Camper Shoes

This weekend I went shopping and Ming bought me my first pair of campers. They make my feet look so small and they are ultra comfortable to walk in. *woo hoo* I'm going to take these shoes to Taiwan (my December trip) and walk in them forever. ^_^ My Campers are a dark brown (as compared to the light brown ones below) and match my new Diesel jeans nicely. ^_^

One Stop Shopping

Yesterday was a complete whirlwind for me. Ming and I went to meet with a potential vendor and it turned out to be one stop shopping. Originally we went to meet with him because I wanted to check out his prices on wedding favor stuff. Not only did he have fantastic prices on that but his prices for other services were great too. 2.5 hours later we purchased wedding favors, tuxedos, flowers, and chair covers. He told me I can have *any* flowers I want in my bouquets for the same price. yay!! I can even get the peonies that I've been eyeing but gotta convince Ming that they're nice enough for the bouquet first.

Mandatory Tipping at Restaurants

There is a restaurant in NYC that is going to add a mandatory 20% to all bills in lieu of tips. I'm totally against that. When there is a mandatory tip you will ultimately get inferior service. The waiter no longer needs to care about whether you had a good dining experience or not since he gets paid the same way. If the restaurant wants to add 20% why not add it to all the entrees instead? That would at least make it seem more fair and makes more sense to the diner. Whenever I go to NYC again I will be sure to boycott this restaurant (and French Laundry too) b/c I think that mandatory tipping at an already elite restaurant is completely absurd.

article link

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The last thing you want when dropping $450 on dinner is a catfight to break out between the chef and the server.

But at many high-end restaurants, there's economic tension between the front of the house and the back.

Even if a literal fist fight is unlikely, the disparity is huge between what the kitchen staff earns and what waiters make.

Now, one New York eatery is taking steps in an attempt to close that gap, and it will take the discretionary tip out of the hands of the diner.

Effective September first, Per Se, one of the most highly rated Manhattan restaurants, is instituting a 20 percent service charge to all checks in lieu of a tip. The service charge will then be used by the restaurant to help pay all hourly employees -- kitchen staff, waiters, and busboys -- a flat hourly wage.

"Historically in restaurants, the service staff is awarded significantly higher wages than cooks and other staff who prepare the food on which a restaurant's reputation is based," said Per Se chef/owner Thomas Keller in a statement. "The gap in pay is so great that it is becoming increasingly difficult for young cooks to pursue their passion at the rate of pay restaurants are able to afford."

But the move by Per Se -- which those in the business say will be watched closely by other restaurants across the country -- could mean less money for waiters and waitresses.

Certainly, it will mean less control for those doing the eating, at least if you're the sort who uses the tip to reward or punish waiters for their service.
In the weeds

While Per Se would only say the new system is expected to boost the salaries of those not currently working for tips, some say servers are bound to take a hit.

"We were working with stupid amounts of money," said Bill Guilfoyle, an assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of America and a former wine steward at the Quilted Giraffe, a now-closed upscale Manhattan restaurant.

Guilfoyle said servers and other floor people at the Quilted Giraffe would make upward of $100,000 a year, while those in the kitchen might have taken home $30,000.

He said he saw no way around Per Se tinkering with its compensation without that top figure coming down. "The waiters are going to have to take a pay cut," he said.

With a cut in pay, or even the tip incentive removed from the equation, service could suffer.

"It's kind of like working for the government," said Paul Paz, an Oregon-based career waiter of 25 years and author of the book "Serving at Its Best." "If I know it's automatic, then there is no incentive to work harder."
Stiffing the diner?

Customers may also grumble as the power to tip is removed from their hands.

"They will lose the sense of control that they can reward or punish the server based on the service they receive," said James Oliver Cury, a food writer at the the entertainment magazine Time Out.

A poll by the entertainment guide Zagat Survey backed up Cury's claim. It showed that 70 percent of restaurant patrons surveyed in 2004 would rather determine the tip themselves than have the gratuity included in the bill.

Yet Cury cautioned against reading too much into the impact on the diner or the service. He said people tend to leave the same tip, which nationally averages 18.6 percent, no matter what type of service they receive.
Leave the tipping to us

Management at Per Se doesn't seem particularly troubled by these concerns.

Chef Keller has said he instituted a service charge at one of his other restaurants, The French Laundry in Napa Valley, and it has gone well.

A spokesman for Per Se said the stable salary -- which also comes with benefits like vacation and health insurance -- would create a more professional environment and increase motivation. He also said the customers might find it convenient not having to contemplate a tip.

Eric Lilavois, director of Per Se operations, said profit margins in restaurants are slim and the service charge is really what supports the staff.

But others questioned how slim margins really are at high-end places and the need to restructure the wait staff's pay.

"The owners of those restaurants are making huge profits," said Guilfoyle. "If you have these huge checks and these huge tips, why can't Keller afford to pay his staff more?"

Wedding Website

I finally got my butt in gear and started creating a wedding website. It's here: http://cindyandming.weddings.com There isn't much on it yet but I will slowly start adding to it.

Wedding Plans Update

I've been doing nothing but trying to plan for the wedding in the last few weeks. I have the ceremony location, reception location, and photographer set and booked. After the wedding is all said and done, I can definitely say that I am not looking forward to doing this again. It's a lot of work, planning, and research. I think the hardest part was finding a ceremony location since I know nothing about churches and want a ceremony in the church. O.o A picture of the church is below. I like it for its stained glass windows and lots of lighting.

Virtual Weight

I just discovered this site that shows you models of what you'd look like given a certain weight. Virtual Model It's a pretty cool site. I compared myself with my current weight and what I'd look like 10 lbs lighter. I didnt' seem to change all that much. Looks pretty much the same ... Good for me I guess. ^_^ I can gain weight and no one but my scale would know it.

Wedding Planner

I've been busy planning the wedding ever since I got back from vacation. I never imagined how hard it would be. Not only are there tons of details to oversee but, being the Bay Area, you need to move fast or you won't get your top choices for vendors. I *think* I've figured out the ceremony (church) location, reception location, and photographer. After god knows how many hours already, I did the biggest steps and now it's off to the fun stuff: dress shopping! ^_^

No longer a girlfriend

Just got back from Playa del Carmen and I had an absolutely wonderful time. I got engaged! Ming proposed over dinner our second night in Playa. He bought a rose and got down on one knee. I'm totally ecstatic!! =)

As for the rest of the vacation I spent it getting lots of R&R. I spent 3-5 hours a day on the beach and/or pool. It was so relaxing and the food was totally awesome. I had an amazing time and highly recommend it to anyone.

Playa del Carmen here I come

Getting ready to leave the office soon for Playa del Carmen. *woohoo* Vacation time again. Gotta love it. ^_^ I hope hurricane Emily didn't completely mess up the beaches. I need a break from work. It's a perfect time to get away from it all and sip on margaritas all day. >_< Even though I just came back from Boston 2 weeks ago (less actually) I'm ready for vacation again. Boston was a different type of vacation. Boston was a city-metro area type of vacation. While there we also went to Cape Cod which is more relaxing but not very beachy. I am in the need for beach weather and Playa should do the trick. Cape Cod is more about a New England feel, in my mind, and that area has a charm of its own. Playa is a beach resort that parties at night. Hope to come back feeling refreshed and having done my fair share of partying since its been something I haven't really done in awhile.

Must be nice to be Young

Since I've started working I've become mature and responsible. Instead of squandering very paycheck I have to think ahead (retirement, savings, etc.) I have to budget and plan carefully otherwise I'll end up without anything when I retire. My sister, on the other hand, is still in college and has the mentality of a college student: spend whatever you want now and never think about what you've got to pay for in the future. She recently acquired $600 worth of Tiffany jewelry. O.o Dear god. I can't remember the last time I was willing to spend that much on myself for an out-of-the-blue purchase. *sigh* Sometimes I wish I was still young again =(

A Vacation Nightmare

The b/f and I are going on vacation to Mexico later this month, approximately 3 weeks from today. We bought our airline tickets months ago because we wanted to get it all out of the way and have one less thing to worry about. Out of the blue b/f asked me for our itinerary. I gave it to him and he wasnt' sure if we had an e-ticket or not. He called up the travel agent we went through only to find out that our tickets were cancelled and we currently did not have any tickets to Mexico. *argh* Both of us were absolutley livid! The travel agent, www.onetravel.com, had even called us to confirm that we had our tickets. Ah!! After much frustration and ranting we managed to get some tickets that weren't insanely expensive, although still more than we originally thought we were paying. Long story short, never buy tickets through one travel.

Sports on TV at the Gym

Whenever I go to the gym to get a bit of cardio in I try to grab a machine that is near a TV that does not have sports on it. I find watching "the game" on TV extremely boring. Watching that is the equivalent of watching nothing at all to me. I don't like running for an hour and it makes the time go by so much faster if I have some type of distraction. Unfortunately, most of the TVs, if not all of them, always have some type of baseball game or something on them. Boring! The gym is filled by an equal number of men and women on the cardio machines and I don't know many women who enjoy watching sports. In fact, I think that most cannot tolerate it. So why are the TVs normally turned to sports channels? Beats me. If I had my way, I'd ban it except for one solitary TV that can have sports just so that I can appease those guys who must watch their sports games. Hell, many guys I know don't even like watching sports. I think that a mere 1% (of not less) of the people on cardio machines at any point in time actually care about sports. The rest of the 99% of people would be happier if it was some sitcom re-run or CNN that was on the TV

Scarves

I bought bf's mom a scarf for her birthday. I never thought much about scarves until I started looking for scarves suitable for her. I never realized how cute scarves are and how cute and chic they make an outfit. ^_^ I'm going to start looking for scarves for myself next. Unfortunately, all the ones I like happen to be in the range of 100+ dollars for a little square of silk. *sigh*

Pet Peeve with Kids

One of my biggest pet peeves is adults who think their kids are oh-so-precious that you want to see them when the kid is sick. eww. No way do I want to be near a contagious child. It's bad enough being near a kid when the kid is being 'fussy' so why on earthy do I want to be near this kid when the kid is sick? Ugh. I will definitley not impose my sick child on anyone else and if my kid starts making a scene in a public place, I'll spare everyone the embarrassment and take the misbehaving kid away.

Women on Cars

CNN had an article on cars that women want to buy versus what men want to buy. I am so not the typical female compared to these women. All the cars the women chose are, imo, heinous and I'd never even consider getting behind the wheel of any of them. I think I lean decidedly male for this study.

Top cars: men vs. women

When it comes to cars, it's easy to figure out what men are after. It's women who are complicated

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A look at marketing data showing which cars men prefer and which ones women like revealed something I'd long suspected.

While men may, indeed, be from Mars, women are from someplace much more complex and difficult to figure out. Maybe Boston.

The figures, supplied by NOP World, a market research firm, show specific car models and an index number representing how many men -- or women -- intend to buy that car and no other compared to the percentage of their gender-mates who intend to buy the average car.

In other words, these are cars that seem to sell most disproportionately to just one sex or the other.

The most striking thing about NOP's data is how easy it is to figure out what guys want.

The Porsche 911 -- the most overwhelmingly male passenger car -- has an "Index Male to Total" of 214.3, for example. That's more than double the average. The car's "Index Female to Total," on the other hand, is just 14.3.

It's surprising the 911 doesn't grow hair on its hood and eat Krispy Kreme for breakfast.

Other cars at the top of the masculinity dial include the exotic Ford GT supercar, Maserati Spyder, Jaguar XK8 sports car and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

You get the idea: If it's very fast, awfully fast, terribly fast or way, way too fast, guys like it. Also, they tend to be expensive.

The one common trait among cars that women like is that they are not expensive.

The most womanly car, with a "Female" index of 200, is the yet-unreleased Pontiac G6 convertible. (You go, Oprah! Plus, it's a convertible.)

Actually, the G6 has a wide lead in the "girl car" category. The closest other passenger cars are the Suzuki Forenza with an index of 150 and the Volkswagen New Beetle with an index of 147.6.

How do women decide which cars to buy?

"If you picture a fraction with cost as the numerator then, as the denominator, you have things like reliability, performance..." said Doug Scott, NOP World's automotive analyst.

He went on with a long list of factors.

To sum it up, women add up the good things, subtract the bad things, then compare the result with the cost of the car. Then they think carefully about the result.

Men, it seems, just add stuff up then wonder if they can afford it without having to switch to domestic beer.

If a typical male mind -- take mine, since I'm evidently not doing much with it -- were expanded to the size of the United States of America, that portion of the mind dedicated to responding to the word "enough" would be the size of a bumper pool table in a New Jersey bar.

That portion of the brain dedicated to responding to the word "more," on the other hand, would occupy everything west of the Rockies, including Hawaii and the territories of American Samoa and Guam.

That is why the Mustang GT has four headlights. Not because men want more headlights, but because those two extra headlights -- Ford calls them "fog lights" but, really, they're headlights -- are only available on the V8-powered Mustang GT.

The male driver of a V6-powered Mustang, with its 210-horsepower engine, clearly has "enough" power. Probably more than enough.

But when stopped at a red light next to a four-lighted 300-horsepower Mustang GT it is immediately obvious to everyone that the other driver has "more."

This is the same reason that Dodge has greatly increased the size of the "Hemi" badge on its cars for the 2006 model year. The larger badge makes it very easy to see, at some distance, who has "more."

Dodge has stated outright that it designs and markets cars for men. So it has given us the Dodge Magnum, a muscle-car station wagon. It has also given us the new Dodge Charger, a muscle-car family sedan with four doors, roomy back seats and a nice trunk.

Clever, those Dodge boys. Clearly, they understand that, even though they are marketing cars to men, most men don't just go out and buy cars on their own. They still have to get the thumbs-up from someone else. Someone who knows what a "numerator" is and how to use it.

Women. Always making stuff complicated.

Hamburger Buns Lead to America's Obesity

Bf and I wanted to have hamburgers for dinner tonight. Given that it is only two of us we didn't want to buy too many hamburger buns. We plan to only make 2 burgers, one for each of us. I have searched high and low and have not been able to find a grocery store which will sell the hamburger buns by the piece; buns are only sold in packs of 4, 6, or 8. O.o There is no way we could finish that many buns between the two of us. *sigh* My search had to end with me settling on a sourdough round where we'll have to cut our own slices off of it to serve as our hamburger buns. What does everyone else do? I can't be the only one who's had this dilemma. I know there are tons of couples out there who must grapple with this problem. What's the solution? I am sure most people end up buying the 4 (6, 8) pack of buns and reconciling it to themselves with "oh, we'll just have a few extra meals of hamburgers to finish up these buns." What does that lead to? Fat Americans. Let's face it: hamburgers aren't exactly the healthiest thing in the world for you. An occassional one is ok and your body can tolerate it without exploding on you. Many servings of hamburgers, however, will cause you to grow love handles. The extra buns we were forced to buy caused us to eat the unplanned hamburgers, thereby causing my little, now large, love handles to sprout up .. er, out. What's the solution? Find a local baker (aka Mom or some nice neighbor) to make you 2 homemade buns at a time so that you don't overindulge on hamburger buns.

Getting Old and Settling Down

I know that bf and I are definitely in a comfortable relationship because all I feel like doing when we go on vacation is sitting and relaxing. Any idea of going to check out the clubs and bars is not that appealing to me. I'd much rather see the sights of the town and spend the evening relaxing and soaking in the city's culture. Prior to meeting the bf I'd always be ready to check out the night scene and stay up late looking for various local "watering holes." Now I'm content to spend time with bf and not do anything except stay put.