Bridal shower for my beautiful friend

Christmas was relaxing and the long weekend was much needed. I was able to see lots of friends and families who mean the most to me, and this included a loved bridal shower for one of my dearest friends Melissa who is getting married in May. My mom joined me in celebrating along with Melissa's close family and some of her friends. We played fun bridal shower games, drank champagne and ate yummy snacks throughout the day. And after the party, I was able to spend some quality time with the bride and groom to be. It was a beautiful day celebrating the beautiful bride!

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday and are looking ahead to an amazing 2015! 

Halloween weekend 2014

I have always loved getting to know the families of my friends. I enjoy hearing stories, watching them interact and experiencing the inner workings of the unit itself. I think that I enjoy this so much because I was the kid who invited friends over and then we would hang out in the kitchen with my mom. This is why it is so special for me when my friends invite me to spend time with their families and their loved ones.

My great friend Melissa is getting married next May. I actually have two weddings to attend within two weeks of each other, and I am in both of them! Yikes! I am going to be one tired gal come June from all of the bridal showers and bachelorette parties. All will be great fun and I am over the moon excited and honored to be part of these lovelys special days! 

So back to Melissa, she was in California with her fiance so they could check out a wedding venue - the one they actually decided on - and of course I jumped on the opportunity to make the drive out to her parents house to see them and I am sure glad that I did. I pick up Melissa and her fiance from the airport on Saturday morning and then we headed to Melissa’s hometown for lunch, some catching up and a trip out to the new Folsom Dam in hopes to see Mormon Island - an island that used to be submerged under water but because of this crazy drought California is experiencing it was exposed earlier this year. Fortunately for the Dam and unfortunately for us, there has been some mountain run off and the island is now submerged again. We then headed over to a lake that Melissa went to as a kid and, sadly, the lake is completely dry, so we walked down into it to view a now exposed bridge. 

After our excursion, we headed back to the house, played games, told jokes, ate dinner and laughed - a lot - and Melissa asked me to be a bridesmaid! I am soo honored! After dinner, Melissa, her fiance and I decided to head to old town Folsom to celebrate Halloween. We went to this fun bar that had a cover band playing awesome, singable tunes. We danced the night away. Oh, and we may have had one or two too many...ooops!

It was a super fun 24 hours spent with amazing people, laughing and loving each other! It was wonderful! And no trip to Melissa’s parents house can end without her moms famous Aebleskivers. Talk about a food coma! 

Thank you, Melissa and family, for sharing your weekend with me! I had a blast, as always! Love you all!

Wedding Season

Happy October to everyone! I am so glad that the weather is cooling down a bit, and we are diving right into fall, which is my favorite season, by far. I absolutely love the smells, the crisp air and all of the pumpkin and squashes I can eat!

Boy oh boy, did I go to a ton of weddings this summer or what?! 3 to be exact, in the span of five weeks! They were all beautiful and I was able to be apart of the special day for three very special ladies in my life. 

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The first wedding of my season of weddings was for none other than my best friend. She was a stunning bride. The wedding was small and intimate and absolutely perfect for the couple.  It was in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral and the reception was at the Marine's Memorial Club.

The second wedding I attended was for a dear Alpha Gamma Delta sister who happened to be one of my residents when I was an RA in the dorms at SF State! Small world! The bride was glowing and constantly had a twinkle in her eye and her one-of-a-kind big, beautiful smile on her face! We enjoyed the beautiful golf course while we danced the night away under sweet twinkle lights! This wedding was at Callippe Preserve Golf Course i
n Pleasanton.

The third, and final, wedding of my wedding tour this summer was for one of my dearest Alpha Gamma Delta sisters. This was definitely one of the most beautiful weddings my mom and I had been to. From the green Napa golf course setting to the officiant to the music on the dance floor under the stars. This wedding was at the Silverado Resort and Spa and it was magical.

Now....I am all wedding'd out. Going to three weddings when you are in the process of going through a divorce is one of the last things, on the planet, that you want to do; however, I wouldn't have missed a single one of these special days for these very special women.

I love you all and cheers to a million years of nothing but happiness, joy and love! 

A bridal weekend - Bridal Shower

As mentioned yesterday, we celebrated my sweet friend this past weekend: hosting a bridal shower and bachelorette party! It was an awesome weekend filled with so much love, it's just contagious!

I worked remotely on Friday so I was available to help my mom set up the house for the shower. We prepped the food and set the table and then were whisked away by the lovely bride-to-be for a quick mani/pedi complete with margartias....yes we know how to mani/pedi.

Let's chat about the Bridal Shower now.

I worked with Paige from Paige's Paper on etsy to custom design the invitations and they turned out amazing! I would definitely recommend her and order from her in the future!

Saturday morning we woke bright and early to put all of the food out, pop the champagne and play fun shower games! The shower was a total hit and was absolutely beautifully decorated by my sweet momma.

Theme:

High Tea

Party Favor:

Tea cups and saucers

Food:

Chicken salad (with grapes) heart-shaped sandwiches

Cucumber and watercress sandwiches

Salmon and cream cheese open faces sandwiches

Mini quiches

Susie cakes celebration cake

Susie cakes mini cupcakes

Susie cakes sugar cookies

Susie cakes lemon bars

Champagne & three types of tea

Games:

Bridal mad libs

Bridal pictionary

Toilet paper wedding dress

Clothes pin hot words- not allowed to say "wedding," "bride," or "groom"

Why do we do that? - common wedding superstitions and traditions and why we do them

Game prizes:

Dish towels

Cocktail napkins

Tea pot, sugar and creamer

Bride's take away:

A little book with words of wisdom and keys to a successful marriage notes (we also included the mad libs)

The shower was a huge hit, lots of champagne and tea, delicious food, laughter, reminiscing, a small fire, games, friends and family, and of course a ton of love!

As an added sweet surprise I had asked the groom to answer a few questions to help everyone at the shower get to know the bride and groom as a couple. I also asked the groom to record a short video, which was a total surprise that everyone loved! 

The bride was showered with lots of love, rain and fun treats! I can't wait to celebrate in August for the big event!

Wordless Wednesday - Bachelorette Party edition

A few words before I go wordless...My best friend is getting hitched in August, so it was only suitable to host a girl bridal shower high tea and naughty little bachelorette party for the lovely bride-to-be. My mom and I hosted the shower while her sorority sisters / besties from college hosted the bachelorette. Let me tell you, it was a weekend we won't remember with some friends we will never forget....yes, you read that right :-)

We got ready and celebrated at the Palace Hotel, with lots of things pretty, penis and pink, and then off for dinner and a show at Asia SF.

Without further ado, in true bachelorette party fashion, Wordless Wednesday! (I will do my best to keep the photos pg-13...that is why there are so few...)

Happy Hump Day!

5 on Friday

1. I am looking to order one of my very best friend's bridal shower invitations. I want to go with a local spot or with a shop on Etsy. Does anyone out there recommend a card maker?? Please help a girl out! ;-)

2. I am loving the 90s pop Pandora station. Like, seriously. // Who doesn't love wine?! This is awesome! My company is its own country!

3. Superbowl Sunday was my littlest brother's 13th birthday. The little guy is finally a teenager and I am pretty sure my parents are elated sad to not have any kids in the house anymore. #heartbreakersince2001

 4. Honestly, I haven't been much in the mood for blogging this week. Sadly, my family experienced a great loss last week and we are still recovering and celebrating the long life that was lived. Likely, there will be more to come sometime in the future. Always with death comes celebrations of life. I have been able to spend a little bit of time with my family, which has been a blessing.

5.Rich's classmate and fellow Marine has worked so hard to help his interpreter from Afghanistan get an American Visa and it finally happened! Read the article here. Mohammad has an incredible story and he is a kind and gentle man. Just a few days after he arrived in the US, I had the privileged of meeting him, sharing a glass of wine and listening to him speak. His story is one of perseverance and I know that his loved ones will join him here some day very soon!

*5 on Friday Link Up 

Weddings On My Mind!

I was able to go to a wedding fair with my best friend and her mom this weekend! We had such a blast! Walking around, tasting cakes, sipping champagne and wine and looking at all of the pretty jewelry and wedding dresses! p.s. Photo booths are so much fun!

And I would also like to direct your attention to one of my other best friends: she is recently engaged and her thoughtful fiance recorded the entire proposal! Watch this video....it is so sweet and totally perfect! 
Weddings are so much fun and I am so grateful to have some of the most amazing people in my life falling in love and getting hitched! I am over the moon excited for the lifetimes of love, adventure and fun that will come and I can't wait to share in these special moments! 

Day 31: Anniversary Celebrations

In keeping with this blogger challenge, which I have done thus far, and with our anniversary week in full swing, I thought I would share the vivid memory of our 2nd Anniversary celebration, that was on Wednesday.

Rich and I have been married 2 whole years, as of last Wednesday! What a bummer treat that our anniversary landed smack in the middle of the week, and a short one at that!

We are celebrating our anniversary this summer with a fun trip to Peru (we are so excited!) but the day before and the day of, May 29th, we celebrated with friends, drinks, some cake from our wedding day (not our cake, cake we gave to the guests, but we figured we would try something else this year), work and school for myself and Rich, and a sushi dinner date.

Tuesday night, we went out for drinks for a friends birthday. We went to the Bungalows in Santa Monica and enjoyed good company, fun ambiance and tasty drinks.

On Wednesday, I woke up to many love and sweet notes. I had breakfast, went to work, and came home to beautiful roses. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and then headed to Sugarfish in Santa Monica for dinner. This place has been recommended to us for a while, so we finally decided to try it out. We got there around 7:30 and the wait for 45 minutes. We were starving and a little cranky and were glad to be seated when we were! We looked over the menu for 1.5 seconds and ordered beer and sake (cold, first time drinking it cold), the Trust Me plate and 2 other rolls to share. O.M.G. The sushi was so fresh and delicious. Totally worth the wait!

We headed home and ate some deliciously decadent cake and watched an episode or 2 of Frasier. :-)

The perfect way to bring on our 3rd year of marriage!

Cheers to one hundred more years of happiness!

--- Challenge: A Vivid Memory

Day 17: My favorite Photo of Myself

Every time I see this photo I am overwhelmed with love, support, happiness, joy, and some more love. 

The flowers at our wedding were split between my mom and a family friend, Rachel. Rachel made all of the bouquets and boutonnieres and my mom did the rest. This picture was taken when she brought my bouquet to the hotel room where I was getting ready with my best/favorite girl friends. 

I wanted white flowers and I wanted something simple, as to not distract from my gown. I wanted pretty flowers, but it wasn't at the top of my list of items that had to be a certain way, so I let Rachel and my mom handle the rest. This was the first time I had seen the bouquet. It was gorgeous, perfect for the occasion, and totally me.

I love this photo because it's such a candid shot of me enjoying, savoring, loving every moment, every small detail, of my wedding day where I was surrounded by all of our family and friends. Celebrating each other and the bond that we had built and the journey we were about to embark on.

Words cannot explain how much I love this photo.

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Challenge: Favorite Photo of Myself

Day 8: A Piece of Advice

Challenge: Day 8: A Piece of Advice

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I have a few pieces of advice for all of you out there...
Marriage Advice: Do some sort of pre-wedding counseling.  Whether it be through your religious affiliation or not, it is really important and I can't stress this enough. Yes, you know your future spouse, I mean, you agreed to marry that person! But there are inevitably topics that you have yet to cover. Trust me! Rich and I only had phone calls and skype dates for the majority of our relationship, so we pride ourselves on our communication skills. Even when the marriage counselling came up, there were topics that we hadn't really talked about and this was a great way to get the conversation started.
Wedding Day Advice: Take about 20-40 minutes to spend time alone with each other. This just happened upon us. We hadn't thought about it. No one told us to do it. Between our ceremony and the reception (and all of the pictures and bustling my dress and and and) our caterer/day-of coordinator set up a tray of hors-dourves and champagne for us in a tucked away room. Away from the guests and the cameras, the flowers and the food to just be together. The room we were in was upstairs and had a big window looking down on the entire reception venue so as we basked in this amazing day we watched our guests enjoy the reception venue. It was magical. We were able to sneak away and spend some alone time together in peace and quiet and shrieks of excitement!
Work Advice: Make sure you are ergonomically set for your body type and drink a lot of water. I can.not. stress this enough. With the way technology is advancing these days, I cannot see moving away from sitting at a desk all day, typing away on a computer keyboard and staring at a computer monitor. Make sure that you are in an as ergonomic friendly position as you can be; if you can stand, stand! And make sure to drink a lot of water, for 2 reasons. 1) To stay hydrated! Obviously. And 2) So it forces you to get up from your desk and walk to the bathroom. Take frequent 1-2 minute breaks to stretch and look at something aside from your computer monitor. Break up your tasks with computer and other tasks that you may have that involves other muscles, and limbs! (Need help: check this out)
Life Advice: Your body is a temple, you only have one so take good care of it. Thanks, mom! This cannot be more true in more ways than one. Keep your mind learning, your body active and your heart loving. If you are lacking stimulation in any of the aforementioned categories, change up your routine! Run a new route, eat a new food, read a new article. Keep up with current events so you can engage in intelligent conversations with people aside from your spouse and your parents. Teach yourself a new language, start a new hobby, don't dwell on the things that hurt you in the past, forgive. All of these things keep us young at heart and wrinkle free!
Happy Hump Day everyone!