My Favorite Picture

This is my favorite picture from our engagement session....

Big thanks to Chris Bence Photography

GO SOUNDERS!

Over the weekend T and I travelled out to Chivas stadium to go watch them play the Seattle Sounders. For those of you who don't know, these are soccer teams (cough, mom). Last Christmas my "to-be" mother and father in-law bought me my first Sounders shirt and the infamous Sounders scarf. I have definitely put them to good use!

We got to the stadium and saw all the red and black shirts (the Chivas colors) all over. We kept looking around and finally saw (in the corner) the visiting team in their lime green shirts. I just giggled because they match the people who sell peanuts at the game. We kept walking towards where our seats were (with the Chivas fans), when we started hearing heckling coming from behind us. We turned around only to see the ENTIRE Sounders section yelling at us to come back. We blushed a little, but kept walking only to look back again (to see if they have calmed down) to them yelling again. T turned to me and asked if we should go sit with them. I said, "ok, let's go." Right when we turn around to walk back towards them, we hear this eruption of cheering. I couldn't believe this was happening to us.

We grab a beer and head down the steps towards the crowd and again they are cheering that we came and sat with them. If only this happened every time I entered a room ;)

Thomas was having fun



THE SCARFS



Score board!

SOUNDERS WON!

OH, I almost forgot.....After the game we decided to have a little late night snack at Denny's. It's not the best neighborhood, but figured a Denny's is a Denny's, right?....how bad could it be? I found out that not only can you rent out a section of Denny's for a party, you can get down and dirty as well! Party at Denny's...um ok. Check!

Our Dear Friend Kenny

Everyone knows, we are big country fans, so when we heard Kenny Chesney was coming to the OC, we jumped at tickets. It's been a couple years since our friend Kenny has been to town, and I couldn't wait to see him "up close." Our tickets were horrible, however we made a day of it. A BBQ, flip-cup, DJ T-Dawg, and lots of friends is always the perfect recipe for a good time.

Have another Beer In Mexico

or not.....



Before

 

After

PS. We WERE just messing around ;)

Mazatlan 2012



In an effort to keep up with the blog and pictures, here is a few pictures from our week in Mazatlan.



"Our everyday spot"

YES, we took the bus!!!



That sunset actually existed

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

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...

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!

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!

We found it!

I really enjoyed Thomas and my time in the car together going to look at venues, because I am able to have him all to myself and just talk. I would ask him questions about what he wants and what he will veto. It's a good time to hash out any disagreements we might have on pretty much anything. As much as I was in a hurry to buckle down a place, I was also really trying to enjoy this process. I knew that the place we choose will dictate a lot of decisions for us, and so it had to be right for both of us.

Which is why I liked that Serendipity was about an hour away...On our first trip up, we thought to ourselves that this is a little too far. It would really become a destination wedding in sorts (without the expensive flights). We drove through the town of Oak Glen and Beaumont (next town over) and was getting really nervous. There was NOTHING here!

We drove up the windy hills and finally pulled into the venue. Tara introduced herself and showed us around. It was PERFECT! It was all outside, but we could plan a wedding during the summer. It had a charm to it that was unlike anything I had seen before. I remember thinking, "how is this place a secret?" We stayed about an hour and asked every question we could think of.

On our way back, we both decided that was the place....

It really was Serendipity (an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.)

Wedding Venues Part 1

If you don't already know, I am engaged to an AM-AZ-ING person, but it order to get married to him (within the next couple years) I needed to find a venue that was perfect but affordable. Once I got that fantastic ring on my finger it was like a baton was handed to me and I was OFF running! (He is probably chuckling right now, because he knows it's so true)

The one thing I knew about this process was how competitive it was to get a venue, since most people book so far in advance, getting engaged in December limited a lot of options. It's also (to me) the most important part of planning the wedding. It sets the vibe and tone of the day. I knew that once this was conquered a lot of pieces would fit together, and I could enjoy being engaged.

Like most to-be brides, I had no idea how crazy this industry is. I mean the minute you mention "wedding" they hike up ANY price by at least 200% (no joke). I started saying family reunion to try and get around the questions. I started by requesting pricing from different places and kept track of them by putting together a spreadsheet which laid out what they offered, pricing, things that would cost extra, etc. I quickly realized hotels would not be an option unless I wanted a minimum food and beverage of 20k. No, thank you :)

Next, I started looking into renting out a mansion and bringing in everything myself. I knew this would require a lot of work on my part and definitely a "day of" wedding planner, so I didn't pull my hair out the day of. After asking a handful of places I found rental fees were around 5k (just for the site, nothing else), so after approximating linens, silverware, plates, tables, chairs, bar, heaters, glasses, caterer, etc etc etc, that wasn't much cheaper AND I would be VERY stressed out. No go.

At this point I called up my fiance and asked to elope. My pitch was we could take the people we love and fly somewhere fun and romantic and still spend less $$ then having a wedding. He brought me back to earth by stating my weakness...he said I couldn't wear a wedding dress if we did that...DARN YOU HAWKSWORTH! I was back at it!

To be continued......