Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

After spending the last five years of my seven year career at Large Consulting Firm at ONE client, and completing over 10 projects at said client... I am FINALLY moving over to a new project at a new client on Monday!

I am so excited!

What this means:
- New and exciting problems to solve
- New clients to meet and build relationships
- New team to work with (although I've worked with many of them before)
- More travel (I'm back to traveling every week)
- More hotel points and airline miles
- More Skyping with the Mr.
- More hours at work (I have so much to learn and do)
- Less blogging for now (new client is SO SO busy -- people are working crazy hours)
- Still traveling to Northern California



Oh, and maybe celebrating my new role with little work wear shopping at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

Wedding at the Grand Del Mar

This past weekend a family friend of ours that I've known my entire life got married at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego.

And WOW! What an amazing wedding.


First The Grand Del Mar was amazing. It's like a luxury, modern, Italian palace in the San Diego hills.

My parents were lucky enough to stay the Grand Del Mar. Here's my Mom and I in the lobby. Yes, the wedding was black tie.


The bride and groom got married in the Chapel on site at the Grand Del Mar. Gorgeous chapel!


Here we are, waiting for the ceremony to begin.


And the reception was ah-mazing.

The centerpieces were these giant "trees."


They had a rockin' band called "Energy." And as soon as the Bride and Groom did their first dance we filled up the dance floor for the night!


We also had like 6 courses of amazing food. There goes my diet.


The bride and groom looked so beautiful and happy. And my whole family had an amazing time!

What's new with us?

This summer is shaping up to be a SUPER busy one for us!

I feel like I hardly a moment free to just chill.

Thanks for all of your sweet birthday wishes. I had a very nice 28th birthday. On my actual birthday the Mr. and I went to Lasher's in Long Beach. It was really good! We had crab cakes, scallops, mushroom soup, and this yummy Hawaiian fish.

Here we before we left...


And before we left I tried to get a picture with Judah. He was NOT havin' it.

Seriously, can you tell how much my cat loves me? Ha!

The Mr. also got me some yummy mini-cakes from Rossmore Pastries as my birthday dessert. So good!


On Friday night I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday with three of my best friends at a new restaurant called MB Post. It was AMAZING. It's tapas style so you get to try so many gourmet dishes. I'm definitely going back.

Also this weekend our USC Alumni Club did a Luau-themed brunch at Panama Joe's in Long Beach. So much fun!

But let me just say I am getting way to old to drink mimosas all day.

This coming weekend my God-Parent's daughter is getting married in San Diego. There are wedding events all weekend long starting Friday and ending Sunday. I am SO excited and happy for her!

I've known the Bride my entire life. Here we are when I was a tiny baby. I'm in the stroller and she's on the right with the curls.


The other girl in the photo is her older sister who just had her OWN baby on 7/7/11. Lucky baby! I'm excited to meet the newest addition to the family.

Besides San Diego the Mr. and I have a TON of travel coming up over the next few months. Seriously insane. More on that later though!

And to add to the craziness, my job is really crazy right now. There may be some big changes happening soon. Nothing I can say for sure yet, but I'll let you know when I know.

What kind of exciting stuff do you have going on this summer?

Another Year Older

Today is my 28th birthday!

Source: hellolucky.com via Allison on Pinterest

I keep joking that maybe I should take the advice of Mad Men's Don Draper that, “you are twenty-something years old. It’s time to get over birthdays.”

But never the less, I'm celebrating with the Mr. tonight by going out to dinner near our home in Long Beach. I've also requested a cupcake or something else delicious from my favorite local bakery, Rossmoor Pastries. Can't wait! Then Friday night I'm doing another fun dinner out with some girlfriends. So fun!

Half-yearly obscure google searches and blog stats

Can you believe 2011 is half over?! I can't.

Given this milestone, I though it would be a good time to look at my 2011 blog stats and most random google searches.

I'll start with the Top 10 most random google searches that lead people to my blog in 2011...

"my entire life is up in the air"
That sounds stressful. I'm unsure about how you thought google could help you with this. Maybe you feel better now that you’ve confessed that to google?

"what do i want for my birthday?"
This proves that google has eliminated the ability of people to think for themselves. Try this… Go on Amazon.com and click around. If you see something you like but don’t have, you can ask for that for your birthday. You’re welcome.

"my dog comes to the bedroom only at night"
Sounds like a question that could be better answered by Caesar Millan. Caesar, any thoughts on this one?

"do we engrave the door knocker with the year we got married?"
Sure! Really the door knocker engraving possibilities are endless. But I’d recommend against just picking a random year to engrave because then people will forever be asking you something like “what happened in 1991?” and that will get annoying quickly.

"where did the hand on hip pose come from?"
I’m not sure if “came” from anywhere. Putting your hand on your hip is rather intuitive and natural. Try it, you’ll see.

"broke both my arms same time."
Jeez louise, how are you even typing? Go the ER already.

"wedding blues support group"
If you’re feeling sad about getting married you don’t need a support group, you need to not get married. Simple.

"I don't like name tessa"
I’m sorry. I kinda like it. I wonder if Tessa was the “mean girl” of your high school? Again, why would you google that? Are you looking for some Tessa-hating chatboard?

"battle star gallactica wedding dresses"
Oh good gracious, I don’t even want to begin to imagine the geekery of a battlestar gallactica themed wedding. I shall probably have nightmares tonight.

"newlywed next store"
It’s newlyweds next DOOR. Not STORE.

Now, the Top 10 blogs that referred people to my blog in 2011...
In This Wonderful Life
Jimmy Choos and Tennis Shoes
First Comes Love
Chapters
Tales of the Tress
Pineapples and Pickles
Brown Girl Blogs
In No Simple Language
Chic Runner
From L.A. to LA

Thanks for the link love, friends!

And here are the top 10 pages with the most hits in 2011...
The Baby Bucket List
Healthier PW Chicken Spaghetti
2011 Reading Plan
10 Ways to Beat Post-Wedding Blues
I Love USC
My Family
The Zeros Decade in Review
Newlywed Survival Kit
Dream Home Wine Rooms
Our Anniversary Shoot/Trash the Dress Pictures

And finally, where are you, my dear readers? These are the top 10 states that visited blog most frequently in 2011...
California
Texas
Illinois
Florida
Virginia
Georgia
Massachusetts
Washington
North Carolina
New York