$500 Million

Bought my ticket(s). Did you buy yours? Cross your fingers!

Engagement Picture Ideas

We set our date for our engagement photos! We decided to do them next month. My thoughts were to get them done next month (April 21st), which gives the photographers four weeks to edit them, which takes us into end of May. We can then pick out which pictures we would like to use for our "Save the Dates" and also pick out where we want to get them printed. It will take another couple weeks to print and ship. We are now into June, so assuming we have some bumps along the way, I will still meet my goal of getting them out in August. YAY

With that said, we still have to figure out what we want to do. Funny pictures? Colorful? Pictures with signs? If so, I have to make them ahead of time.What should we wear? Where to take them? I also thought this photo shoot would be a great opportunity to get our holiday card picture done! (Yes, I plan ahead, but we take our holiday cards very seriously!)

We need to really think about all of this, so we have an flawless game plan! April 21st is going to be here before I know it! So excited! Thank goodness for Pinterest! I have been pinning like crazy.

If you have ideas, let me know!!

Pain in my neck

Like most girls in this world, I sleep on my stomach. (Yes, not the best way to sleep, but definitely the most comfortable!) Ask around I bet 4 out of 5 girls/women will tell you they sleep on their stomachs. Anyway, it has definitely got me into trouble with my neck. Three years ago I woke up and couldn't move it, and only after 3 months of physical therapy was I feeling like myself again. That was quite traumatic. When I start to stress out, it will flare up and I can feel it starting to tighten. Side note: Biggest fear other than being sick on my wedding day is having this problem.

Monday I woke up and couldn't move....Great, here we go! Heating pad in the microwave, and I was off to the doctor. They prescribed me steroids and muscle relaxers. Sounds great, but that doesn't do anything for the PAIN!! It was going all the way down my arm. WTF! No bueno.

Cut to Wednesday. I haven't slept in two days and am in so much pain that the only way to relieve it is to lay on my back. SO here I am, working from home on my back with a heating pad. I go back to the doctor and he (finally) gives me something for the pain. My life is so much better right now. Now only if my dang neck would get  better....

Furminator

Seriously one of the best tools I have ever bought for the kids is called the furminator. I bought it a few years ago after a friend told me about it. I think it was about 30 bucks, but worth every penny! It sheds animals of their under layer of hair that is going to fall out anyway. It comes off in chunks though, so be prepared. There is one for dogs and one for cats. They love it too!

St Patrick's Day

St Patty's day we spent the entire day in Fullerton with some great friends drinking green beer and dancing up a storm...

Thanks goodness my camera's battery died early in the day! ha

Date night

Thomas and I run pretty crazy lives. Every night during the week, we have an activity whether it is softball, soccer, or trying to see friends. This week we had something every night, so when Friday rolled around we decided it was going to be just us. We ended up going to one of our favorite restaurants (also a family franchise) Outback!

I ordered a pomegranate and pear martini. Delish!

Beginning

Middle

END

4.5 Miles!

Part of training for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) walk/run means getting up at 7am on Saturdays, meeting up with a bunch of other people doing the same thing, and running the miles needed to keep on track. Today the mileage for the 10k group was 4.5 miles.

It's (really) hard waking up early on Saturdays, but when you get there and see all the other people with smiles on their faces trying to help kids with cancer, it makes it all worth it. There were about 25 of us there today. Some are training for the half marathon, some for the 10k (ME), and some for the 5k. It's really inspiring.

We also had a guest speaker come. Her name was Callie and is 4 years old. When she was a baby, she was told she had brain cancer. She has beat it though!! Thanks to the doctors and hospitals and people like you that contribute to an PHENOMENAL cause. Now she is just a normal 4 year old with TONS of energy. She was running circles around me.

My goal for this year is $1,250. I have raised $160. I need your help!!! If you donate, you will get a personal thank you card from me that was created by one of the kids....PLUS it's tax deductible :)

To donate click here.

All the runners ready to RUN

Meet Callie

Our wild child

Our cat Nico has definitely made it known that he is a boy who loves to roam around looking for trouble. When I was living in LA, Lo and I would call him trouble and our neighbors started thinking that was his actual name. HA For the most part he is a really good cat. He roams around during the day, comes home at night, and lately loves to snuggle with me.  BUT every once and a while he reminds us that he is a wild child and brings home some treats for us. It has been a year since the last "episode," however this past weekend we came home to our patio filled with feathers. Poor guy didn't have a chance...

It's the little things

To me it's the little things that make me happy! I love grabbing fresh flowers from Trader Joes for a weeks worth of beauty or buying some new fun beauty supply from Walgreens. I really do get excited. Lately I got a new tinted moisturizer that really makes my skin glow with a good complexion (Boots #7 Tinted Moisturizer). Next up will probably be the moisturizer with a gradual tan element to it for my ghostly legs. Yay for summer!

We have a problem...

I am not sure if you are aware but Thomas and I have a slight shopping addiction. I mean I thought I was bad, but nope, he is worse (Sorry honey), and together we are a mess. SO it was only natural when we went out to Palm Springs to stop over at Cabazon outlets!

There is a reason we don't go there often! How can you resist a Nike store, all the designers you can think of, and a foot court?! (Ok maybe not the food court) I definitely know we stimulated the economy, and you can thanks us when all is right in the world....

Whose feet are those?!

Indian Wells in Palm Springs

The past few weekends have been a bit of a whirlwind. We haven't been in town at all, and there was no exception this last weekend. My mom had two extra tickets to the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament in Palm Springs, and who are we to turn down two box seat tickets?! Yes, please. We packed up our bags and headed out to the desert.

I think we sat through about 10 hours of tennis! It was a perfect temperature (82 degrees), but when you are sitting in the direct sun, it feels more like 200.

We got to see the Bryan brothers, who are ranked number 1 in doubles. They are extremely entertaining and definitely play to the crowds. They are easy on the eyes as well! Their signature chest bump when they won was the icing on the cake! I tried to snap a picture, but it's a little blurry. 

Margaritas on a hot day = perfect

 

 

 

Blooper!

Sam Querrey

The fam ---> Dad, you made my blog

Bryan Brothers

Chest bump!

Make-up / Hair

With all of this talk of photographers, I starting thinking about the actual day and what kind of hair and makeup I would like. It's crazy how you start working on one thing, but it ties into so many other aspects. For example, I want to test out my hair and make-up before the actual wedding day to make sure it's what I like, however if I am going to do a test run, then I should do it for my engagement session so I don't have to pay twice, right? Makes sense. Well my engagement session is in (hopefully) in the next few months, so I need to get on top of this!

The girls in the office (recently married or currently engaged) all have an opinion on what I should do (which I love b/c I have no idea what I am doing). They all have their people they go to and backup's just in case. LOVE IT! I started last week emailing a couple of them to get quotes. Again, it's amazing what people can charge to apply make-up! $75 dollars for the test and $150 for the wedding day....Ok I need to sleep on all of this.

We got em!

Last weekend we met with Chris and his wife Mary from Chris Bence Photography. We met half way at a Starbucks, since they live in Riverside. They were really cool to chat with. It wasn't like an interview, but more like two couples hanging out. You can tell they love what they do, because they were giving us all these suggestions on things we should or shouldn't do on our wedding day (for example hold the first kiss for a couple seconds to make sure they get a few shots). There was one comment that really resonated with me; they said, "make sure you like your photographer, because they will be following you around all day." Good point! Didn't really think about that...

After looking through all their portfolios and sample albums, we left feeling really good (dare I say excited?). Thomas and I spoke in the car afterwards and realized all our questions were answered, which never happens. I usually leave, start thinking about the conversation, and then come up with more questions. However, I did ask them, while we were there, if there was a question I had missed that they are usually asked. They said they usually get the "what happens if we get sick or die" question.  I think both of us were taken back by that response. After thinking about it, I realized that is a darn good question. The answer is they have good friends that will back them up in a bind, but that has only happened once because Mary had to go to the hospital. Ok, I will let that one slide! 

Fast forward a couple days.....I emailed them to say we would feel honored if they would capture our wedding on May 18th. They gracefully accepted (Yippee). 

Photographer - CHECK!

Next Up - SMILE

Venue – CHECK

So what’s the next important thing you have to plan in advance to make sure you get them for the day of your wedding….the Photographer! These are the people who are going to help you remember the entire day/night (which will probably be one big blur), make you look fabulous, and show you things that you didn’t even know were going on.  In other words, MUY IMPORTANTE! (English translation = Get a darn good photographer or you will be sorry and upset)

Things I know:

-        I want two people to be there taking photos. One to be with me and one to be with Thomas

-        They have to have good referrals

-        They have to be reasonably priced

-        Want my engagement pictures to be included in the package as a test run for the wedding

Just like the venue situation, I had NO IDEA how much photographers cost. I mean, come on, I know they are important, but thousands of dollars seems nuts to me! I started on my favorite website yelp to find the most and best reviews in town. I found a couple people, checked out their websites, and emailed a few for pricing. All of them came back with packages starting at 5k. Really people?!

A little later a thought occurred to me; my biggest resource were the people I worked with, since so many people are getting married or have recently tied the knot. I started asking around and making a list of who they used. One of my friends suggested Chris Bence Photography. I looked around their site and found out they are really affordable and since I have a solid reference I would look further into them.

Chris and I started emailing back and forth. I came to find out they are a husband and wife duo, which I loved! Chris was really easy to work with and was up for customizing a package for what Thomas and I wanted. The next step would be to meet them to get a feel for who they are and to see their work in person. He had also told me he has done a wedding at Serendipity before, which made me feel at ease.

To be continued....

It's a GOOD LIFE party!

This is the year for the "Dirty thirty" and first up is our own Matt Rodrigues! You may have seen him around Hollywood or even on his own website. He has a movement on the website called "The Good Life Party." Pretty much it's a short video of why you have a good life, so it only seemed fitting to have his 30th go down in similar style. There was a camera set up outside so each may share why they have a "good life!" Happy Birthday Fatty!!

Birthday Boy!

Andy was shooting the "good life" blurbs

yes, that is a rubber chicken..

The cute couple

Look at those faces!

First baby!

The weekend before last I drove down to San Diego to meet up with a few good girlfriends from high school. It's fun being able to go back to the days when life was easy and extremely simple! I was there with Daniela, Alexandra, Kayla and Ali, which made for a "sex and the city" feeling. Ali has moved away and is now in Connecticut, but with one big difference...she has a little boy on the way! This marks the first baby out of all of my friends, and I can't be more excited for her and Adam! By the way, she is 5 months and looks fantastic.

A little wine, great food, and even better company makes for a great night:

Look at that CUTE bump!

The girls.

PCRF - May 6th!

May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th! May 6th!

Besides May 6th being my parents 30 YEAR anniversary (whole different post), it's also the PCRF event! So now is the time to sign up! As all of you know I am on the committee for the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation (PCRF) and we put on a run/walk/bike ride every year in Orange County. It's the one thing a year I completely (and shamelessly) promote.

There are three ways to get involved:

1. Run or walk the 5k, 10k, or half marathon.  Sign up now! 

2. Volunteer! We have such a great event, but it only runs well with great committed volunteers.

3. Donate -  My goal this year is to raise $1200 bucks! Help me!! Please donate HERE.

In order to make this more personal, meet Gaby:

Gabby, was diagnosed with cancer on New Year’s Day a little over a year ago.  Gabby has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and she takes methotrexate at home, orally, via ELEVEN pills, every Thursday night. This drug is one of the most critical drugs in treating Gabby’s form of cancer.  In addition, she receives an intrathecal dose every 12 weeks at the infusion center. It's a low-profit drug for the manufacturers. It's old and it's not doing a lot for their bottom line$$. It's being reported that all 5 pharmaceutical companies that manufacture MTX have either slowed or completely stopped production, citing high demand as one of the reasons for the shortage. PCRF money goes towards making sure this little girls medications don't get discontinued.

Six Taste

This past weekend Thomas and I went up to Los Angeles to help celebrate Andy Getten's 30-something birthday! We took a tour called Six Taste, which has taken off in LA. It's a walking tour in different parts of Los Angeles where you go to 6 different places to eat. We did the Little Tokyo tour in downtown LA. They pick places you might not even know exist or have just passed by. While you are going from place to place (eating AMAZING food) a tour guide is giving you all the history of the area, signs, and restaurants. It was bunch of fun, and I am so glad we got to be a part of it!

Some fun moments:
 - Andy received an "authentic" Japanese hat as a gift, although our tour guide said it might be considered racist.
 - Saki Bombs were shared by all

- We were so full by the end we could POP.

There are a lot of pictures:

Start of the tour with our tour guide in red

First Stop - Tea Room

Smelling all the delicious teas

Enter Little Tokyo

Second Stop

Third Stop

Fourth Stop

Fifth Stop

Saki......

DRINK

Bomb!

Birthday Boy

Blow!!!

Sixth Stop

Uh boys...you have something on your face