Found it!

THOMAS - Don't worry there are no pictures of the dress in this blog :)

Wedding dress shopping was a HUGE success! My mom came up from San Diego Saturday morning to go to the first appointment together as mother and daughter. We picked out four different dresses to try on, so we could see which ones look great on my body. After trying on the first dress, I knew exactly what I wanted. As I tried on the others, they just didn't compare. We were having so much fun, we didn't realize we had killed four hours already. We were picking out mother of the bride outfits and looking at bridesmaid dresses.  While we were there, we were waiting for Lo (MOH) to show up. You can always count on there being horrible traffic from LA to OC, so she wasn't able to see the dresses at this appointment (sad face).

After grabbing a quick (very quick) bite and Lo, we made our way to our second appointment. I was excited for this one because two more of my bridesmaids were meeting up with us there, Allison (Flash) and Jess. They were so sweet to drive in from LA for this special day! Of course they were the "peanut gallery." I really couldn't stop laughing.

The girls made me "walk down the aisle" in this place, which was probably the most uncomfortable thing I have done yet. You could see it all over my face! They loved it...ha

I tried on a few more, but realized I was comparing every dress to that first one. I told the girls that my dress is back at that other store. They all agreed to drive back to the other store to see it on me. We went back, I put it on, and I knew! Done and done.

While there, I was having fun making the girls try on Bridesmaid dresses! Payback :) hehe (Notice I didn't post the picture ladies)

All in all a great day!

One tip for those of you about to go wedding dress shopping.....make sure you have a drink handy at the end, because it is overwhelming!!

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.

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

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.)

It's ALREADY September

I honestly can’t believe it’s already September! Where has the summer gone? I feel like I am just starting to get the hang of the warm nights, beach days, and white pants. Looking back at the past few months there have been a TON of fun summer nights. The last couple weekends Thomas and I have been going out with friends, celebrating a lot of birthdays, playing house, and reading by the pool. Not too shabby, right?

My favorites are the happy hours after work with the girls or with old friends:



Aaron and I

 Sometimes, however, they do turn into a little more which consists of a tambourine, boa and aviators….

Stacy's birthday

Things to look forward to in September:

Robin and Jason’s wedding in Tahoe and a weekend get-a-way

Brad’s birthday (even if I don’t get to see him on it)

LA weekend with my bestie

Game Night

This weekend was a combo of fun / games and relaxing. After having a cold all week, I needed some down time, nevertheless when one of my best friends from San Diego wanted to get together, how could I say no? I am SO glad I didn’t. I ended up planning a game night with a few people from work, and a couple other fun people. It turned out to be a party of 9 people!

Lots and lots of wine mixed with Cranium and Apples to Apples makes for a memorable night!

Love my games.

Cutest Couple ever!



Laughing



Face time

Since moving down to “the OC” (you have to put it in quotation marks) I haven’t had a ton of quality time with Lo. I mean, I was used to seeing her everyday for almost four years and it went down to zero. That’s hard for a girl! We talk on the phone as often as we can, but that doesn’t make up for face time! SO, I was incredibly pumped to see her this weekend and have her all to myself.

Some fun highlights:

Getting lost on a 2.5 hour hike…..twice

Realizing your friends are your therapists, so choose them wisely

Mozzarella, Tomatoes, and basil are the BEST on a hot summer afternoon

Red wine cures all things

Buyer’s remorse is a real feeling; however I can overcome it too easily or ignore it all together

Notting hill is a great movie!

Apparently I suck at cleaning dishes…..

Horrible bosses made me giggle…a lot

I was horrible about taking pictures this weekend (I think it’s because we were having too much fun), so I am adding some classics from the past.



My favorite! Lo's Birthday



Moving day 2010



Halloween 2009





Laker Girls!





Santa Barbara

Anyone that has been to Santa Barbara knows how beautiful it is up there. The pier, the food, the weather and vibe are all perfect. Thomas and I were so excited to get up there that we woke up at 7am on Saturday to get a head start and to catch the “Summer solstice parade.” Our intensions were good; however on the way up there we felt this urge to stop at the Camarillo Outlet mall. (bad news) We spent a good two hours roaming around all the great shops and stimulating the economy the only way we know how; shopping! We left feeling good about our purchases and the dent we left on our credit cards.

When we finally arrived in SB, we had missed the parade, but not the after party in the park. I am extremely bummed I didn’t bring my camera, since there were things I would never again want to see, but would love to share. Some details; two women in leopard leotards (Jessica), people dressed up as every animal possible, hippies galore, and many more unimaginable outfits. We definitely had a giggle.

After our eyes couldn’t take anymore extreme outfits, we went back to our B&B; The Orchard Inn. It was the cutest place and close to everything. We had a “wine tasting,” which was less tasting and more of them bringing us glasses of wine. (Perfect before dinner!) We walked over to a restaurant called “Brophy Brothers” where we actually played credit card roulette. Thomas won, but only because he cheated and told the server which one to pick.  

The rest of the weekend was us exploring Santa Barbara!



Shopping at the Oultets



Stimulation at it's best!

Hot tub in the room

"Wine Tasting"