I had an interesting weekend. A friend of mine is married to a Japanese man, and she is very interested in Japanese culture, so we went to a big warehouse kimono sale in downtown L.A. It was pretty cool. The fabrics they use for those kimono are absolutely gorgeous! The most elaborate ones cost thousands and thousands of dollars, and they are absolutely stunning. There was a white, vintage wedding kimono that just took my breath away. It was embroidered white on white in a pattern of cranes (good luck) and lotus flowers and clouds. It was so amazingly beautiful. They also had a very large selection of less fancy, every day type kimonos, which were equally lovely. They do amazing things with patterns in fabric, and while kimonos are all cut pretty much the same, each one is unique and different. I couldn't afford to buy one myself, but Shelly bought three, and I bought some vintage fabric scraps which I think I'm going to use for book covers. I took a book making class in college and learned to make these lovely Japanese bound books...

Anywho, then we went to the fashion district and this place called Santee Alley where they sell knock-off EVERYTHING! Gucci sunglasses for five dollars! Prada purses, two for ten! Hee hee. Just because the G is backwards on the Gucci and Prada is spelled Padra... =) But it was fun. I bought a five dollar purse and Shelly got some sweaters. Then we wandered into the fabric district and I found a shop called BRIDAL WORLD and I bought a veil for $22!! I figure, if I find one I like better somewhere else, I'll sell this one on ebay or something, but $22 was too good a deal to pass up!! They also had all kinds of tiaras. I am very much a tiara kind of gal, but I think it might be too fancy for my dress. OOOOO! The bridal shop called last week and my dress came in EARLY! So I get to go pick it up this week. Lucky for me, Shelly said she would keep it at her house so that Brandon won't even have the opportunity to think about peeking at it. I already had to hide the photos from him! =D

Then we went over to Little Tokoyo because Shelly wanted to buy some Obi (those are the sashes they wear as belts around the kimono). So we wandered around down there for a bit, but by then Shelly's feet were about to fall off -- because she rather stupidly decided to wear high heeled boots! -- so we called it a day. Nice!

Then Brandon took me out for dinner and a movie, and we saw "Shall We Dance" with J.Lo and Richard Gere -- his choice! I was shocked. =) It was kind of cute, and I hope it will inspire him not to complain too much when I insist on dancing lessons before our wedding. Hee hee.

Actually, when Emily was here, we were talking about whether they wanted to do the whole formal dance thing where the groom dances with all the bridesmaids, and Emily asked him what they would dance to, and without missing a beat he replied, "Pretty Fly for a White Guy." Hahahahahaha! So now she has her heart set on it and he's regretting that he ever opened his mouth, and at the same time wondering where he can get a copy of the music video for choreography inspiration. Ha! I can't wait.

Wow! How did this turn into a wedding update?? Oh well. I guess that's what happens when it's on my mind. We went to Santee Alley hoping I could find some wedding shoes, but they were all too hoochie for me. =) Just have to keep looking.