Gone Campin'

By the time you read this we'll already be up in Oregon for a 5 day camping trip with the Mr.'s family!



We'll back on Monday with pinecones and pictures!

Is anyone else as excited as me...

For this...


I am SO freakin' excited that one of my favorite books is being turned into a movie. I keep watching the preview. Over. And over. I cannot stop.

I've already set a date with one of my best friends to see it when it comes out. We both have minor "girl-crushes" on Rachel McAdams.

If you have not yet read the book go buy and it read it. You have two and 1/2 weeks to read it before the film comes out. Go.

Almost Famous

My photographer just emailed this to me! So you all get a sneak peak at our Trash the Dress pictures...



She is using a few of them for her latest magazine ad in "Destination, I Do"! We are so (almost) famous! Awesome!!!


(Edited to add: Dear Anonymous commenter who wrote "Did you ever considered (sic) donating your dress instead of trashing it?" - If you read my blog instead of just leaving knee-jerk comments, you'd know that I did not "trash it". I got it dirty, but nothing that cannot be dry-cleaned out. My Mom is currently having it dry-cleaned for potential donation to a neighbor of ours. Thanks for stopping by!)

Please Let Me Wear it ONE More Time!

It was very fitting that I posted about my wedding dress on Friday because on Sunday we went down to Temecula, CA to do my "Trash the Dress"!

I love how life just has a way of working out sometimes...

We had planned on having our photographer come up to Long Beach for the "Trash the Dress" shoot a while ago but she got sick. Then she couldn't make it up to Long Beach for a shoot this weekend but suggested that we come down to Temecula to shoot in the countryside and at the vineyards, which I thought sounded fabulous! AND it turned out my parents were in town this weekend (they live in Boston for some of the year and San Diego for other parts) and they were able to come up to Temecula to join us for a day of wine tasting and the sunset photo shoot!

It was such a fun and perfect day!

We started the day off with brunch and wine tasting at Wilson Creek.


Next we tasted wine at Callaway, Wiens, and Stuart Winery. The Mr. and I picked up a little over a half-case of wine including some great almond champagne, crisp viognier, coastal chardonnay, and cabernet sauvignon. Yum!



Then my Mom then helped me put on my wedding dress one final time. So sentimental. I will say it was bit snugger than it was 11 months ago, but I still got in it!

I did not have the heart to totally "trash" my dress. Instead we just got it dirty in some really amazing rustic and vineyard settings. The lighting in the vineyards at sunset was just amazing!

Our photographer, Kim Irons, is such an artist. I can't wait to see the pictures! I think they are going to be just fantastic! I promise to post them as soon as I get them!

My Wedding Dress!

Kelly from Kelly's Korner is doing a new blog carnival called "Show Us Your Life" and this week is Wedding Dresses!

I'm sure every girl says this... but I really really really love my Wedding dress.

I found it at the first dress shop I went to in San Diego the October before our August Wedding. I loved it, but I had just started trying on dresses, so put it back on the rack thinking that I couldn't choose a dress so early. I shopped around for a few months finding a lot of great dresses, but non that made my heart sing. Then in January before our wedding I went back to that same dress shop to try on more dresses and happened to pick up the same dress, try it on, and knew it as THE ONE. My "Amara Royale."

The front...


The back...


The designer is Maggie Sottero. It's the "Amara Royale" dress in Ivory. It's a corset, strapless gown with sweetheart neckline, dropped waist, flare skirt, and a sweep train. It features swarovski crystals and bead embellishments.

Here are some shots of the details in the dress...




You can read all about our entire wedding here!

And yes, I still am going to do a Trash the Dress.

Happy Friday!


Wedding Photographs by Kim Irons

Lake of the Ozarks Recap

Our trip to the Lake of the Ozarks last week/weekend was a ton of fun!

Despite it being unseasonably cool in Missouri we still got in a bunch of jet skiing, boating, swimming, eating, drinking, and relaxing! I got to see my uncles, aunt, cousin, and parents too!

Here are some photo highlights...

Cruising around "Millionaire's Cove"


Dock Knockers boat-up bar!

The Mr. out on the Boat


My Cousin, Me, and the Mr. at Horney Toads Restaurant and Bar.


Singing along at Peckers Dueling Piano Bar


My parents, uncle, and me outside of Peckers Dueling Piano Bar.

Next on our summer travel schedule is... Oregon!

Also...

Thank you all for your kind words about my ulcer! Hearing from you all makes me feel better already!

I'm loving reading all of your fun facts! You all are hilarious! If you haven't left yours, leave it here.

Diagnosis: Ulcer

For the last two days I've been really sick to my stomach with sharp pains that come and go. Finally this afternoon, I went into my doctor. The diagnosis.... stomach ulcer.

She prescribed nexium and told me to eat a bland, carby diet for the next week (did I mention no wine and no coffee?! Horrible!) and hopefully the ulcer will heel. If not, I have to go back to the doctor for more tests/treatment.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling horrible and finding it hard to get through my work day



Have any of you ever had a stomach ulcer? Was there anything that did or didn't help?

Tell Me About You!

Hey all! I'm back from the lake... pictures will be up later this week. We had a great time!

I just saw that I now have 270 followers! Whoa! I remember back in November being so excited that I had 10! I used to religiously follow the blogs of all of my followers, but now I can't keep up with my Google Reader!

That said, I really want to get to know you all better, especially my newest followers.

So I'm going to do a fun little game... I'm going to tell you one unique/interesting fact about me. Then I want you to post a unique/interesting fact about you in the comments field (and link to your blog if it's there as well).

Here goes...

I still have two baby teeth. I was born without adult teeth for my "lateral incisors" (the teeth on both sides of my two front teeth). The teeth that are now next to both of my front teeth are actually canine teeth (which would normally be the pointy teeth in the third position) that moved over and have been shaved and capped. The canine teeth that I have are still my baby canines. That's why they are not pointy like normal canine teeth. See how tiny there are:


Apparently my baby canine teeth are strong enough to stay with me forever if I want to them to despite being much smaller and rounded than a normal canine tooth. 26 years old and still rockin' some baby teeth!

Still want to know more about me and my quirks? Check out these links:
- 20 Questions with Me
- Fun Facts from various blog tags: here, here, here, and here.

Now tell me about you! Post a unique/fun/interesting fact about you in the comments and if I find some really good ones, I'll post them and link to you tomorrow!

Boats, Bars, BBQ & Booze Tomorrow!

Tomorrow the Mr. and I are flying to the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for a mini-family reunion at my uncle's lake house!

You know what that means...

Boats!

That's me at The Lake of Ozarks in 2006 driving my uncle's boat.

Bars!

The Horny Toad Bar that you can boat up to.

BBQ!

Mmmm... I can almost take the Ozark BBQ.

And booze!

Uh oh... looks like you can't do all of these things in combination!


We'll all be staying here for the next four days!


And I'll be back Monday with lots of pictures! Cheers!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

The older I get the more astonished I am at how the way my parents lived their every-day-lives influences how I currently live mine.

I’m not talking about how my parents displayed honesty, charity, or kindness. No, I’m talking about how they “did things “– such as “mom is in charge of the laundry”, “let the family know if you’re going to cook so that can be included in that meal”, “always hang up wet towels”, “the pile at the top of the stairs means: ‘bring this stuff downstairs’ ”, etc. I’m talking about all of those little quirks, norms, and habits that become ingrained a family and stay with with you.

Today I went to get a plastic cup from one of kitchen cabinets. I stood on my tippy-toes to reach one, thinking to myself, “I hate how high these cups are.” Then I realized that I put them up there.

Why? Because growing up my Mom loathed drinking out of plastic cups. She much preffered glass glasses. So she had my dad put all of the plastic cups up high where he could reach them but would be out of her way. So now that I’m an adult living in my own home, how do my glasses/cups look?

Like this:


My plastic cups are way up high. Not because I don’t like drinking out of them, but because long ago I learned “glass glasses go low on the shelves, plastic cups go up high.” I didn’t even stop to think why my glasses are organized that way. Family norms.

How have your family norms or habits influenced how you live as an adult today?

I’m sure that the newlyweds or new-parents out there have some great examples!

Dive into The Baby Cove!

Are you a mom, pregnant, or just have "baby fever?"

Then dive into The Baby Cove!



What is the Baby Cove?

The Baby Cove is a multi-blogger baby blog updated by real moms-to-be and current moms across the Unites States and Canada that some friends recently started with my help. It features authentic experience and community as bloggers journey through pregnancy and the transitions to mothering a newborn. Currently there are five amazing moms-to-be blogging on The Baby Cove. And I am the The Baby Cove Lifeguard, bringing the site fun updates and information! (nope, I'm not one of the pregnant bloggers yet!)

The emphasis is on baby style, baby décor, baby inspiration, DIY projects, baby products, personal stories, tips, news, and more!

Here are some picture snippets from recent posts ...


To meet the moms-to-be, read about their journeys, and join the fun, head over to The Baby Cove today!

The Big 2 - 6

Today is my 26th Birthday!


The Mr & me on my 23rd Birthday.


I had a great weekend celebrating with Family and Friends! Now I'm off to work. Summer birthdays are just not as fun now that I'm an adult! :-)

Our Home: Yard, Garage, and Outside

This week of "Show Us Where you Live Friday" is Garages and Yards. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that we don't own a home, we own a Condo in a high-rise building. So I'm going to show you the outside of our Condo tower as well as "our" yard and garage.

This is the outside of our Condo Building. We live in the taller of the two towers about 1/2 of the way up.


This is the street level entrance to our building.


Our "front yard" is actually a Long Beach park that was established in 1899!


In fact on the side of our building you can see some pictures of what the land our Condo is on looked like in 1930.

From 1900 to 1933 our land was home to the Virgina Hotel. The hotel was demolished in 1933 and the land sat vacant and as a parking lot until it became our condos in 2006. The Long Beach coast has changed a lot since 1933!


OK, let's check out the "back" yard!

Here is where the Mr. and I grill out all the time.


The Mr. loves these grills and I love that I don't have to clean them! That's what HOA dues are for! Ha!


One of our favorite things to do is to grill out and then dine by the pool.


Speaking of... here is the pool and spa.


I love the spa! I'd say I use it 2-4 times a week depending on the week!


Next to the pool there is also a fireplace and lounge seating.


And to prove what a bad photographer I am, here's a professional photo from our developer of our condo tower and the pool/spa. Ha!


And last but not least, here is our garage. That's my red car.


We actually own these parking spots. They are literally in our condo "deed." Crazy, huh?

Living in a condo definitely has it's advantages and disadvantages -- but the amenities are a definite advantage. And all and all, I love where we live. Our home is the perfect home for us for the stage of life we are in.

Thanks for taking the condo tour!

If you missed any of the previous posts from inside of our condo you can find them here:
Kitchen
Living Room & Dining Room
Office
Master Bedroom and Bathroom

Our Home: Master Bedroom and Bathroom

Welcome to our Master Bedroom! This is what you see when you enter it...


I love our bright blue walls. I know it might be too much for some people, but this color makes me so happy!

Here is our bed. I just love our dark furniture. I posted before about my bedroom inspiration.

I've decided that Judah is a little "photo-whore" because every time I take "house tour" photos he's in them. Good think he's so darn cute!

Here's another shot of our bed, so you can see our wall sconces from Crate & Barrel. Since we both like to read before bed, it's so nice to have our own lights and mounting the lights really helps to unclutter the nightstands.


I love love our bedding. It's the Plaza Bedding from Z Gallerie and it is sooo soft.

I put this mirror above our bed, which is cool because then you can see the reflection of our water view in it.


This is the view when you lie in bed. It's a bit hazy outside today.


This is my dresser. It features our engagement pictures, which were taken about a mile away from our condo on the beach in Long Beach.


Here they are close up. Don't they match the room so well!?


These cute shelves and photo ledges are from Crate & Barrel (wedding present). You can see a wedding picture and starfish from our wedding on them.


The Mr.'s dresser.


Our closets. One of my biggest disappointments when we were buying the condo is that it did not have walk-in closets. But our his/hers closets are actually pretty huge and there is this giant nook behind the wall between them that you can access from both closets that provides a lot of storage space.


The inside of my closet. Color coded of course. :-D


Attached to the bedroom is our master bath. Pretty standard. I love having two sinks in there.


I think the Master Bedroom is my favorite room of our condo, so I hope you enjoyed the tour! Check back tomorrow for "yard" pictures.

One final note:
- All of furniture is from Plummers (a So Cal furniture store) -- it's the "Polo" collection
- The paint on the wall in the bedroom is Behr: Brilliant Sea. Bathroom is Behr: Water Flow
- Bedding is from Z Gallerie
- Most of the frames, shelves, etc. are from Crate & Barrel (my heaven on earth)

You can see more fabulous bedrooms at Kelly's "Show Us Where You Live Friday: Master Bedrooms" and on the Bungalow's "Parade of Bedrooms"