Our Secret Language

Baby Marv sharing a secret with Baby Harry -- oh, how I love them!

Matthew and I were hanging out in our room, rehashing the day's events, when I imagined what it would be like if some random stranger listened in on our conversation, and couldn't help but chuckle to myself.  About 1/3 of the words we use in our daily conversations with each other are slang words that either we made up, or a close family/friend made up and somehow got mixed into our lingo.

Who knows, maybe one day, we'll both grow up and start using only normal Webster dictionary vocabulary.  For now, here's a little taste of the terms we use when we're with each other:


Awkbod:  adjective. Another word for "awkward". Derived from a friendly joke about someone's pants not fitting correctly due to someone's "awkward body" (I did not come up with this -- blame Mathew and his friends). Commonly used to describe an awkward appearance or situation.  "Those jeans are awkbod" or "Today I cursed in front of a kid and his parents.  Awkbod." 

Hack: adjective. The quality of being huge in amount or size.  Basically another word for the Norcal slang, "hella".  "I'm am hack tired from blogging all day" or "That 4x4 burger from In & Out is hack."

Shmeagle: nick name. A term of endearment that is generally used when no one else is around.  Derived from Smeagol from Lord of the Rings and Captain Hook's boatswain, Smee.

SBIB [prounounced "es-bib"]:  expression. SBIB stands for "Sorry 'bout it, bud" and is used as a sarcastic jab towards someone who complains about or encounters a situation that totally sucks for them.

Friend 1:   You drank the last beer!
Friend 2: SBIB! You should've been here first.

Yagga: interjection. Used the same way as "whoa".  "That car almost hit us.  Yagga."

Bug: adjective.  Originally "bugalug" but was eventually shortened to just "bug". Another word for fat or overweight.    "We've gotten so bug over the last year, but we still love each other!"

L.I.G.: expression. L.I.G. stands for "Let it Go". 

Me: I'm so full but there's one more bite of this delicious burger left.
Matthew: L.I.G, shmeagle.  L.I.G.

24: verb.  Code word for the act of eavesdropping.  Derived from Christmas EVE, which falls on the 24th of December. 

Me:  Matt, I've asked you this question 5 times already? You're obviously not listening to me. Are you 24-ing on the couple sitting at the table next to us?
Matthew:  Yes.

General shortening of words: I have no idea how it started, but we tend to shorten many commonly used words.  Sometimes I forget that other people may not understand what I'm trying to say and have been the recipient to many confused stares by my friends, coworkers and family members.

Irra: Short for either "irritating" or "irresponsible".  "You're being so irra today!"
Ridic: ridiculous
Conch: contribution
Croosh: crucial
Stoop: stupid
... and the list goes on and on and on...

Abbreviating all food joints: SB (Starbucks), C (Chevys), MD (McDonalds), OG (Olive Garden), BR (Baskin Robbins),  etc. It can get a little tricky when abbreviating food places because some have the same abbreviation.  However, it's a lot easier when used in context - i.e. "I'm feeling so tired, I need an SB fix."

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One day I'll record one of our conversations just so you can get an idea of how crazy we can sometimes sounds to the untrained ear.

Do you and your SO have a secret language?

Simple Joys: Movie Night

*Reminder: Today is the last day to enter in the DaVinci Bracelet & Beads giveaway! I'll be picking the lucky winner early tomorrow morning!*

Matthew and I are lucky in that we commute together to and from work.  That means, we get 3+ hours of "us" time in a small, confined space.  During this time we talk about our day at work, plans for the evening, and just about everything else in between.  Our commuter car is very tiny and holds only two people, so it's sort of an intimate space for us.   We take turns driving so that it's fair, but we also have a fun ritual of trying to get the other person to drive for them in exchange for other favors (i.e. choice of dinner location, less driving turns for the following week, etc.)

Last week though, we either had to work late or made plans with friends after work, so we drove home separately several times.  By the time we were both home, we were too tired to do anything else besides go to sleep. 

I know it was just a few days of veering from our standard routine, but I missed him.  Thus, I made sure our schedules were clear on Friday for "movie night".

It was Matthew's turn to pick a movie, since I dragged him to see "Inception" a few weeks back.  I've seen it twice and would pay to see it again if anyone still hasn't seen it.  Seriously.  I liked the movie that much.

Well... he decided that for our "let's reconnect date" we would see,

The Expendables.

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*groan*  I really didn't think a movie about men who were hot 10+ years ago gratuitously killing other guys with machine guns would be something I'd consider an ideal "date movie". 

But boy was I wrong!  There were probably a few too many close-up shots of Mickey Rourke and Sylvester Stallone, and a couple of horribly acted monologues... but I actually enjoyed the film!  I definitely don't see it winning any Academy Awards, but the storyline kept me on the edge of my seat and the action scenes were as over the top as you could hope for. 

My favorite part of it all, however, was turning to see Matthew's reaction throughout the movie.  It's so cute watching his face light up like a little kid on Christmas morning when a building would explode or when someone was stabbed with a knife spilling their guts everywhere.  He loves that sort of stuff and I love watching his happiness.

I've learned that it's very important to make time for your relationship... even if that time is spent doing something you wouldn't normally want to do.  Sometimes you just might discover a new interest or a new appreciation for something you never would have opened your mind to otherwise...

Life is Good: Weekend Recap

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To celebrate our first year of marriage, Matthew and I spent the weekend in Half Moon Bay, which is only about an hour from home.  I have no idea why we never thought of going there before.  The city is right on the coast of California and has some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. 

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and from the moment we pulled up to the gates, it felt like a fairy tale.  The property is so beautiful!!  I guess I don't stay at fancy hotels enough or something, but I was totally floored by their customer service.  Everyone was so pleasant and took great care of us... I don't think we opened any door or lifted a thing on our own during our entire stay! 

Confession:  Before Matthew even proposed, I secretly wanted to get married at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay.  I even made an appointment to view the premises by myself and told all my close girlfriends that I found the perfect place to get married but wouldn't divulge any details lest they "steal" my spot (yeah, I'm crazy)...  Obviously we didn't marry there, but I am more than happy with how our wedding turned out.  Maybe we'll have our wedding renewals there one day....

Our room had a fire pit which was perfect for the cold summer weather on the coast. I think the warmest it was all weekend was 55 degrees!!!

Vino definitely helped in keeping me warm!

We had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Navio, and it was by far the best dinner I've had since our honeymoon! 

Pan-seared scallops over some sort of delicious bread pudding thing... Sorry, I'm not a foodie so I don't really know all the cool foodie terms :)  So sad we only had one each... I probably could eat 20 of them!

I ordered the Crispy Skin Loch Duart Salmon and everything just seemed to melt in my mouth with goodness.  Matthew ordered the New York steak, which I took a picture of... but he was being silly and flipped-off the camera (sometimes he acts like he's 12), so I didn't think I should post the picture here.  He seemed to enjoy his meal, but I was too busy nom-noming away and having taste bud explosions in my mouth to notice what he was doing on the other side of the table.

The best profiteroles ever for dessert with complimentary chocolates.

We had a late dinner and I was pretty tired from the long week, so I took a nice relaxing bubble bath in our room.  I stupidly didn't bring any books, so I was reading off of my iPhone while in the tub... I was SO scared I was going to drop that thing that I gripped my phone with both hands the whole time.  Yeah, not so relaxing...

Matthew surprised me with by booking a segway tour along the coast.  I rode a segway around San Francisco once for a work event and didn't crash, so I was feeling pretty confident about my skills. 

The views were stunning:

(We couldn't get a good shoot, but if you look closely someone had written "Life is Good" in the sand)

Who knew standing on a machine making oh-so-slight shifts with your body weight would make you so tired!?!  We were pooped after riding on the segways, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hotel... but not before munching on the most delectable Crispy Fritto Misto:

The next day, on our actual anniversary, we decided to have lunch at our Rehearsal Dinner location:

They seated us at the exact same table we sat at a year and a day before.  When we first discovered the restaurant in Feb '09, we sat at that same table, too.  Coincidence?  I say it's kismet.

Rehearsal Dinner 8/7/09 - photo by 5footperspective

Sooo... we didn't save the top of our wedding cake because we left for our honeymoon the next day and I didn't really have time to wrap it up so that it was freezer-ready.   However, I love the idea of it, so on the way home we made a pit stop at our wedding cake vendor and bought a cake in one of our wedding cake flavors, Almond Pound Cake with Raspberry something filling:

Mmmm.. still just as good.  A heavenly way to end an equally heavenly weekend.

525,600 Minutes Ago

525,600 minutes ago, I was making my way down the aisle to marry this fantastic man...

The day could not have been more beautiful (or hot!).   All the tears and sweat in the 17 months I spent planning our wedding was well worth it. I got to marry the love of my life in front of all of our dearest friends and family....

And we partied like rock stars until our feet went numb...

It's been an amazing 12 months, Matthew. I think we make a pretty darn good team.  Here's to many more years of growing old together.

*photos by juliet nicole unless otherwise noted

All We Need is Laughter

The other night, the hubs made a mean spirited joke at the worst moment, which resulted in a very upset me giving him the silent treatment. He apologized for said joke, but sometimes I can be a stubborn B-word and that night I was not going to let it go that easily (please tell me I'm not the only one who does this). I'm really good at holding my ground, too. I can stare him down and not even flinch. You do not want me to get upset. It's not cute.

Then, he went and did something like this (Note: This story will only make sense if you've seen Avatar. Otherwise, the story will sound a little stupid and you'll be left thinking "WTHeck?"):

[We were in bed and I had my back turned to him since I was trying to show how upset I was] Hubs: "Are you still mad? I said I was sorry." Me: [silent] [Hubs twisted my hair into a ponytail and touched the ends of my hair to the top of his buzzed head, simulating the Na'vi hair connection. I couldn't see him doing this because my back was turned, but I could feel the top of his head nuzzled against the back of my neck]

And I laughed. Hard. I laughed hard because I thought of how ridiculous I was for trying to be mad at someone who was just so darn cute. Why fight over something as stupid as a joke about my hair (or whatever it is I overreact about on a given day)?

Laughter resolves a lot of our stupid tiffs -- we rarely have arguments that last longer than 5 minutes anymore. Because, in the end, is it really worth it to fight for hours about nothing? From time to time, we still do get mad at each other and that's completely normal, but we try our hardest not to sweat the small stuff. After all, we are spending the rest of our lives together, I think it would be best if we got along :)

Our Avatars were created here

How Far to Heaven?

“How far to heaven? Just open your eyes and look. You are in heaven” -Shankar



Man, I wish I could be back in Hawaii again... This was taken back in 2008 while we were in Oahu for one of my BFF's wedding.  We decided to stay a little longer after the nuptials and visited Kaua'i for a week and a half before going back to Cali...

I can't wait to go back.  My heaven is just a 6-hour flight away....

Letter to Me

Familiar with that Brad Paisley song? If not, you should listen to it... it's some good stuff (if you like Country). The song is about what Mr. Paisley would have said to his 17-year-old self... here's a snippet:

"And oh you got so much going for you going right
But I know at 17 it’s hard to see past Friday night
She wasn’t right for you
And still you feel like there’s a knife sticking out of your back
And you’re wondering if you’ll survive
You’ll make it through this and you’ll see
You’re still around to write this letter to me"

It got me thinking... What would I say if I could write a letter to myself 10 years ago? I probably would tell myself to stop thinking I was fat because I will never fit into the jeans I wore in high school ever again... Or to spend more time with my Lola (grandmother) instead of hanging out with friends at every chance I had.

Though I can't go back in time to change what I would have done differently in the past, I did find this cool site where you can write to yourself in the future - FutureMe.org. It's pretty neat and easy to do! You just go to the site, write a letter, and choose the date you want the letter e-mailed to you.

I learned about the site last year - in the midst of all the wedding planning - and decided to write a letter to the future married me on our 6-month anniversary. I totally forgot about it, so when I saw the email on February 8, 2010, it was a huge surprise. I found it funny looking back at what my biggest worries were. Everything worked out and I didn't really need to stress about them as much as I had:

Dear FutureMe, It is July 16th, 2009 and you are getting ready to marry the love of your life on August 8, 2009. In the past few weeks, these have been your... Biggest Worries: - Berni not having the window decal and having to order new ones - Macy's (concord) giving Matthew's rehearsal suit away - Finishing the wedding programs! - Wrapping all the BM & GM presents in time for the rehearsal dinner Happiest Moments: - My Bridal Shower and all the presents! Woohoo for lingerie. - No-Hitter Giants game on our 8-year anni - we're the Giants' lucky charm! Next on To-Buy List: - Petals & Bubble Bath for Ner’s wedding night - Frame for Giants' game tix Moments looking forward to: - Ner & Marc's rehearsal & wedding! The last 18 months have truly been a whirlwind of events, but I have had sooo much fun doing it and spending every moment with Matthew... I love him. He makes my heart smile. I am so excited to finally be married and spend 13 days in Australia!!! PastMe, Aubrey [Maiden Name]

Haaa. I'm so cheesy sometimes... I even make myself gag a little from the corniness of my writing. Anyway, I enjoyed the exercise so much that I wrote myself another letter for my 30th birthday. You should, too! Here. Do it now :)

Our Google Search Story

This is our Google Search Love Story.  I find it fitting to post this video today since it is the 9th anniversary of the day my hubs and I became a couple - love you, honey.

circa 2001 @ the hub's 18th birthday party

 You can make your own google search story, too! click here.  Thanks, Kim, for sharing the link!

Friday Foto: Raider Nation

RRRRRRRRRaiders!!!!

This picture was taken at a tailgating party of the last Oakland Raider game Matthew and I attended last season. We lost that game, of course. The past few years haven't been kind to our team, but we still support them no matter how many times the Raiders disappoint or how scary the other fans are. Seriously. You should see the parking lot after the games -- totally looks like a scene from Armageddon.

Matthew has been a loyal Raider fan since the day he was born and has literally gone to 100+ games (including Super Bowl XXXVII). You would be hard pressed to find a more dedicated and knowledgeable fan. Our whole downstairs family room/bar area is decked out in Silver and Black paraphernalia -- even the walls are painted with the official Oakland Raider grey. He gifted his groomsmen personalized Raider jerseys at our wedding. He's a super hardcore member of the Raider Nation.

I, too, have always loved the Raiders and can recite the entire roster since 1979 by heart.

OK.

You got me.

I never cared about football until Matthew came along. I had no idea what a "down" meant and was totally baffled by the scoring system - if they kick the ball through the funny looking yellow thing field goal posts it can either equal 3 points or 1?! Too confusing. I used to only watch the Super Bowl with my parents because they had money on a pool and needed the teams to score a certain number to win. That used to be my only exposure to the game.

Not long after we started dating though, Matthew took me to my first sporting event, and I fell in love with the sport. Well, not quite, but I did have a really good time. The energy at the Oakland Coliseum is unmatchable and you can't help but be fully invested in the game. Since then, I became a Raider fan and excitedly await for football Sundays every fall. Sometimes, I'll even turn the TV on to ESPN even though Matthew isn't in the room. One day, I plan to be knowledgeable enough to join their Fantasy Football league... my hubs and his friends are super passionate about that, it makes me a bit envious that I can't get in on the fun!

Did you learn to like something only after your significant other introduced you to it?

Stay-in Sundays

Yesterday was Sunday and it was the only Sunday this month that we got to stay at home and relax...


Wait, no we didn't.


Rewind.

I knew June was going to be a busy month filled with a wedding, father's day, recital, graduations, and birthdays. I love busy months - don't get me wrong. Having something to look forward to on the weekends made for fast work weeks, and who doesn't love the company of great family and friends?

However, having busy weekends, also meant that we didn't have too much free time to enjoy the quiet moments with each other. I savor the Saturday mornings where we wake up at ten, stay in bed for an hour longer mapping out the day's plans, then enjoy a nice homemade brunch in the quiet of our kitchen nook. The rest of those days are usually spent lounging with our babies and catching up on our guilty pleasure shows that have been piling up on the DVR... I love those simple stay-in days... and I was hoping we'd have that yesterday since we finally had a day free of outings.

Then, I opened my mouth and asked my husband what he wanted for his birthday. I thought he was going to answer with the standard, "Oh! I want [insert new collection obsession here]!" or "Let's go on a trip to [insert any of the many places I've been hinting him to take me -- oh wait, it's not my birthday?]!"

Instead, he said this:

"For my birthday, I want a clean house."

For those of you who know me, you know I'm not the tidiest person in the world... yeah, I am not known to clean up after myself very often (I'm the baby of the family, so I guess I was a little spoiled in that department)... but I'm not completely disgusting... right? I do the dishes.... sometimes... and I think I vacuumed the house last week.... OK, fine! I'm kind of a slob. There. I said it.

I'm not perfect and I am the first to admit that, but disclosing that I am too lazy to pick up after myself for all of the interwebs to see, is pretty darn embarrassing. (I'm not 100% a slob... just 85%)

Matthew is no neat freak himself, but he is definitely better at it than I am... I would say 80% of the mess is my doing, so it's only fair that I take responsibility for cleaning it up.

I like being organized and having a neatly kept house... When we know we are having people over, I will definitely make sure that the blinds are dusted, the floors are mopped, dishes are done, books in bookshelf alphabetized, and no dirty undergarments are left out in the open. So, for those of you who come over to our house once or twice a year, you would think I was Mrs. Clean (sorry if I've shattered your illusion of me).

Well, we haven't had a party at the house since... oh, Thanksgiving, I think... so.... you can say we had a lot of catching up to do.

Our main problem area is the master bathroom. The master bath is the last room we clean/organize because no one sees it but us. I told you all about the tub situation, but I also failed to mention that our walk-in closet is the most unorganized it's ever been! 90% of my clothes were all over the floor. Matthew has had to climb over the different piles I created just to get to his side of the closet (poor guy). I only lived off of whatever came out of the dryer, so there were lots of outfit pieces I hadn't seen in months.

OK, back to the present. Matthew wanted a clean house for his birthday present, so that's what I gave him.

I woke up bright and early-ish (hey, 9:30 is early for me on a Sunday!) and got started. I knew the closet was going to take the longest, so I dove into my clothes pile and started organizing. I will spare you the details of how I organized everything, but just know that it took 5 hours to finish... Matthew and I did a million loads of laundry in between the organizing and eventually emptied the tub-o-clothes.

Then, I worked on our grimy shower. Let me tell you... My parents never made me do chores - let alone clean the shower - and I guess I never understood (until now) how hard and gross it really is! YUCK! Since we've never it's been a while since the shower was cleaned, it took for-eh-vah to complete. I have never felt so dirty coming out of a shower in my entire life.

I cleaned the rest of the bathroom, including the tub (which I'm super excited to use now!) and moved on to the kitchen and dining room. I think Matthew saw the sweat rings on my shirt (I never sweat) and the tub grime in my hair, so he gave pity on me and we tag-teamed the kitchen/dining room duties.

It took a really long time, but I am happy to report that we have a very clean house upstairs! Yeah... I didn't really have time to finish the 2nd half of the house - darn closet took forever! However, I will work on finishing the rest of the house sometime this week. Hopefully in time for the weekend, in case we have any last minute 4th of July shindigs at the house.

So, yeah... we had a Stay-in Sunday... but not quite the relaxing one I had in mind.

It would have been waaay easier if he'd just ask for that darn soda dispenser system!!! (His new hobby)

Happy Birthday, love!

My Daddy

Sneak peak of my Father's Day present.

Hope I can find the time tonight and tomorrow to finish -- I waited until the last minute to start working on it (bad daughter).

For now, here are just a few words about how much my dad means to me:

He was my first word.

my first coach.

my first duet.

...my first love.

He is my number one fan.

my source for good advice.

my favorite home cooked meal.

my favorite duet.

I have his eyes and his heart.

His humility and his stubbornness.

His creativity and his wit.

I admire his strength and loyalty.

His patience and spirituality.

His ability to truly forgive and forget so effortlessly.

I miss laying on his lap watching late night shows.
Ballroom dancing in our living room.
Hearing him recount stories of the good ol' days before bed.
And kissing him goodnight.

I love how he always looks at me with proud eyes.
Never judging, always kind.

He'll be "daddy' forever and I will love him until the end of time.

at a gig with my dad sometime in 2005 (please don't judge my "stage" make-up)

Captured Moments

I think this is one of my favorite pictures from last weekend.*

It's definitely not the most flattering picture of me, but I think it captures the dynamic of our relationship really well.

Matthew is the joker. He likes to play pranks on people and will always come back at you with a funny one-liner. Oh, and he likes beer. Lots of it, too (though he can't chug for the life of him). Look at that sneaky smile on his face... gotta love him.

I'm more serious and definitely am not as quick to the draw when it comes to saying something funny -- but check out that sexy pout! I tend to make bitchy faces, but really I'm just shy. You would never know from meeting me that I am a performer.

*Sorry I've written about a lot about the past weekend, but pictures are still trickling in and I had to include this one.

Date Night

As you might remember, last week was one of those weeks where I did not have time to do anything I needed to get done. Thankfully, life has slowed down just a little, and I've been able to slowly check off my tasks.

Last Friday, I wanted to have a nice, romantic evening with the hubs. I was thinking dinner at a fancy-ish restaurant and perhaps a movie and ice cream afterwards. We drive through San Francisco everyday, so it's not uncommon for us to just stop there for a little when we don't want to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic or when we're just in the mood to enjoy the sites of one of biggest tourism capitals in the world.

Things didn't really go as planned.

We were leaving for Forest Hill early Saturday morning and I had NOTHING to wear to the wedding or the rehearsal dinner, PLUS Matthew was in dire need of a haircut.

Please believe me when I tell you that I really had nothing to wear. It was an outdoor, daytime wedding, and all the dresses I had in my closet where either too casual for a wedding, too formal for a day event or in the color white! I know some brides are cool with other people wearing white on their day, but I sure wasn't -- and I didn't want to risk getting any backlash for it. Also, I'd like to note that prior to the last couple of weeks, I had not gone shopping for myself in a very long time. So, I thought I was due a few hours of indulgence.

Anyway, traffic was ridiculous Friday evening, but I did not want to spend $30 on parking in San Francisco only to spend more money shopping for clothes (for some reason I can justify parking fees for food or attractions but not personal shopping), so instead we went to Walnut Creek. Matthew dropped me off so I can shop, while he got his ears lowered.

It was already 6:45 by the time I went into the first store - BCBC Max Azria. Lots of beautiful dresses, but none that fit the bill for the event. I did, however, come across a dress I wish I'd seen last year around this time:

**Swooooon** It's white, so I knew I couldn't wear it to the wedding, but how awesome would this dress have been for OUR rehearsal dinner last year?! For some reason, it was very difficult to find cute white dresses around this time in 2009, but there were lots of ivory options. I ended up going with the dress below (don't judge my cross-eyed, weird face -- the backstory to the picture is pretty funny but most likely inappropriate to share here). I had to get that dress TWICE because I had my seamstress hem it waaaaay too short the first time (it looked like a shirt!). Anyway, we got the length right the second time around and overall I was happy with it.

photo by ccchristineeee

Back to the story, I ended up finding a dress for the wedding ON SALE at Macy's (score!) and already had shoes and accessories to match at home (double score!).

Matthew picked me up after he got his haircut and we went to have dinner at a non-fancy restaurant, but I had never been there before, so it was still fun. We shared lots of laughs reminiscing about our wedding and talking about what we looked forward to that weekend.

We got home at around 10PM*, but still needed to do some laundry (can't go on a trip without clean undies!) and pack! We were feeling a little goofy that night, so we also practiced some of the dance moves we'd show everyone at the wedding and didn't get to the laundry until a little later.

Sleep didn't commence until 2 in the morning but boy did we sleep hard that night!

Though it wasn't the Friday I was looking forward to, I had a really fun night with the hubs. Sometimes it's the unplanned moments that truly are the ones you treasure most.

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Ed note: I came across this pic of America Ferrera at some film premiere and am loving the dress by Alicia & Olivia. Looks similar to the BCBG dress, but I love even it more since it's black! She is so cute!

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*Note: Don't worry, we didn't leave our puppies at home by themselves without dinner like bad parents... SIL M picked them up earlier that day to stay at her house, so they were having lots of fun visiting with their aunts and grandparents

Beautiful Forest Hill Wedding

This past weekend, Matthew and I traveled 100 miles North of our home to Forest Hill, CA to attend our good friends' wedding. Mike - the groom - went to college with Matthew and shared many wild, goofy, and fun memories together throughout those four years. In that time, Mike met and fell in love with Anna - the bride - and she fit along well and very easily with the guys. Mike and Anna are super cute together - always laughing and never a dull moment. Their wedding was perfect and had so many cute personal touches (I need a Cricut and I need it now!). The love was felt throughout the whole weekend and I am so glad to have been there to witness two friends profess their love for each other.

Husband and Wife


Matthew was a groomsmen and quite a dapper one, if I may so myself.

Matthew is third from the Right

Did I mention that Mike and Anna are parents to two adorable French Bulldogs named Daisy and Dillon who were also in the wedding as their flowergirl and ring bearer?!?! Anna made both of their outfits - so cute!






While Matthew was off doing groomsmen stuff, I hung out with other +1s. Jen, Andrea and Amanda were all really sweet and we had some good times that weekend.

(L to R) Jen, Me, Andrea & Amanda

The venue was gorgeous and I couldn't resist taking pictures of all the details:

The ceremony area (sorry for the bad lighting) but thank goodness for all that shade! It was 95 degrees that day!

Close-up of the flowers on the canopy

Unity candle

Guestbook table

Program Fans! I showed Anna the link with instructions on how to make those silhouettes (*toot toot*), and didn't they turn out great?!

Cake Table

For place cards, they used postcards from the area the guests were from, with our names and table numbers on the back.

Anna made these napkin rings herself! Also, I loved the gold chargers!

Oh wait, how'd this picture sneak in here?

We capped off the evening with one final round of In & Out Burger. The restaurant is connected to the hotel we were all staying at, so we literally had In & Out three times that weekend (hence the reason I am wearing stretchy pants today!). If you're not from California, you may not be familiar with these mouth-watering, party-in-your-mouth, burgers -- but trust me when I tell you that they are everything you hear about and more. Most people I know don't think they're the BEST burgers in the world, but I would definitely put In & Out in my Top 3.

The bride and groom enjoying their first burger together as a married couple

It was a beautiful weekend with beautiful people. Congratulations, Mike and Anna!