sleepover

I went to a sleepover party last weekend.

I forgot how little sleep you actually get at a sleepover, especially with six little girl ranging from four to seven years old.

But it was still so much fun.

The party included a trip to a friends' farm, hot tubbing, makeovers, mani's & pedi's, pizza and cupcakes and a movie.  It was exhausting!

I think all of us "adults" (I use this term very loosely to describe me and my friends)
thought we would do the girls makeovers and paint their nails.

But they took it upon themselves to put it on each other.
And it was so sweet to watch them together.

A little heartbreaking too. They just looked so grown-up!

I think we all got a little glimpse into the future.
It definitely looks pretty! :)

LMF

Our St. Helena weekend wedding

We did it!  We're married!  

It's such a cliché, but the day really flew by so fast.  

I'm trying my best to hold on to and remember every detail.

My friend, and our fabulous photographer, left our wedding and immediately sent us a photo from the day.  Seriously, how awesome is that?

What a perfect moment she was able to capture.  I am beyond grateful.

And beyond grateful to that man in the photo above, for marrying me.
I truly don't know how I got so lucky.

Why am I online 2 days after our wedding  Well, due to some commitments at work, I wasn't able to take a ton of time off.  But there was just enough time to get married and have a fabulous week-long honeymoon in Bora Bora, and for that I am grateful.

We leave tomorrow night. 

See you in a week!

LMF

Hostess gifts

My bridal shower is tomorrow.  We've already received a few wedding gifts and honestly, every time I'm handed a gift I can't believe that I'm marrying my favorite person and people are buying me gifts for it.  It just seems crazy!

A close friend of my future mother-in-law is throwing the shower, which is beyond generous.  It's a lot of work to throw a party, especially a shower, I think.  I mean most, if not all, of the guests are people she's never met before.  I am so so grateful.  

I've been trying to come up with a sweet gift to bring her as the hostess.  

Here were a few of my ideas.

{stationary 1 / 2 / 3 | cheese knives | candle | homemade treats}

After our moves this summer, I've sort of been feeling like we have so much "stuff".  So I thought maybe it would be nice to get her something that she could use rather than something that would add to our growing collection of "things".

Last weekend while in Napa, I stopped at my favorite olive oil company (aptly named Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Company) and picked up a large bottle of their amazing olive oil and their pomegranate balsamic vinegar {so delicious on salads especially with strawberries or peaches}.

A friend I used to work with, always wrapped her packages in fabric swatches.  It looked so pretty and so unique.  And with inspiration from this pin, I decided to wrap my gifts in pretty dishtowels from Anthropologie for an added gift.

I wrapped each bottle in a dish towel with raffia and then included a recipe for my favorite meyer lemon olive oil bread.

Hope she likes it!

Happy long weekend!

LMF

Roaring 20's

This is the year of weddings for me.  So many friends are getting engaged and getting married this year.  And I am loving it! The showers, the brunches, the bachelorettes, maybe even more than the weddings themselves.  It's so nice to have so much girl time.

This weekend we had a bachelorette party for my friend Jaliffa.  Her matron of honor, Erin, (and soon-to-be sister-in-law) planned this fabulous Roaring 20's party.

I'm not usually into costume parties. For some reason I just don't really like dressing up as something else. I've never really been a fan of Halloween.  

But Saturday night was so much fun! My "costume" was a black cocktail dress and heels so maybe that's why I was good with it.  It was so much fun to see everyone dressed up.

Erin had feathered headbands and strands of pearls at everyone's place-settings so those of us who had dressed a bit more 21st century still looked the part.  A few fake cigarette holders were floating around too.

LMF

P.S. You were missed, Lo!

That's my best friend

Over the weekend we attended a wedding of a dear friend of mine.  The wedding was beautiful and heart-felt and so so sweet.  My friend's young daughters walked her down the aisle and "helped" marry mommy.  It was too sweet. I absolutely loved every minute of it.

{The best wedding program I've seen.}

A funny thing happened at the wedding.  My best friend was in the wedding party.  

We were chatting during the reception and she told me that one of the groomsmen had asked the bride about me.  I guess he wanted an introduction.  The bride told him that he was too late; that I was getting married in a month.  My best friend told me it made her happy and she wanted to lean in and say, "that's my best friend."

The funny thing is, earlier that evening at the ceremony as I watched all of the bridesmaids walk down the aisle, as soon I saw Amanda, (she looked absolutely radiant!), I smiled and proudly thought the same thing: "that's my best friend." 

{Darin & Amanda - married 10+ years and the first wedding I had the privilege of being a part of}

I got teary-eyed at that moment. Maybe it was because I was picturing Amanda standing next to me in just a few weeks, at my upcoming wedding, or maybe because it was through Amanda that I became such good friends with the bride who looked so beautiful and so extremely happy on her wedding day.  

Either way I am so incredibly thankful for this beautiful girl, inside and out, and being able to call her my best friend.

LMF

Dessert bar

Starting the week off right with dessert!

When Dan and I started planning, we each picked something that was really important to us for us to have at the wedding.  Dan wanted to be married in the catholic church and I wanted a dessert bar. No, seriously. I think it says a lot about us. 

Now that we're not having a traditional sort of wedding day and reception, the dessert bar had to go.  But I decided to incorporate it into the bridal brunch.

I wanted to do some sort of favors for my friends as well, but since I'm currently moving, I've come to discover how much stuff we can accumulate.  I decided edible favors would be much for fun and wouldn't take up any lasting space in anyone's home.  Plus I love to bake.

bags - from shop sweet lulu

The day before the brunch, we made four types of cookies and some candy. 

Peanut butter dreams (a secret family recipe).  It's pretty much peanut butter chocolate heaven - 100 times better than a reese's peanut butter cup.

Cookies

1. Salted toffee chocolate chunk (aka crack cookies)

2. Miette's chocolate sables    3. Miette's graham crackers

4. French macarons - almond with vanilla buttercream 

Cookie recipe from here. We tripled it twice (I don't know how else to say six times.)

Vanilla buttercream from Miette's recipe book.  Can you tell I love the Miette book?

Note - it was hot outside when we were making these so the batter was a bit more runny than usual - which is how we got some pretty large ones there. After refrigerating the batter for a bit, it was much easier to use with the pastry bag.

Amanda was pretty sure we had way to many cookies (she's not a baker).  She thought we had too much champagne too, but my friends proved her wrong on both accounts!

LMF

Brunch for the girls

When Dan and I made the decision to stop planning our large wedding and instead have an intimate 14 person celebration, I knew I wanted to make sure and do something special with my girlfriends to celebrate.

I figured that I wouldn't have a bridal shower since our guest list is so small, but instead decided to throw my own bridal brunch at my house, with the amazing help of my maid of honor (and best friend of 17 years!) and my mom and aunt.  When you want to throw a party, these are the women you call!

The guest list wasn't too large.  I invited 20 of my most favorite people in the world, literally,

from all around the world.

I knew not all would make it, but I wanted them all to know they were wanted there and would be missed (I'm talking to you, Lo!).

We had a lot to celebrate - two friends have babies on the way, five of us are getting married (or got married) this year, and two engagements this year.  There are a few other causes for celebration, but those are still under wraps ;) Plus any day that we can all find a few hours to get together is cause for celebration.

I am not the best hostess.  I get stressed and nervous and want everything to go right and everyone to have fun. I love planning everything and I love having everyone over but the hours just before a party, there's always butterflies in my stomach. 

With the help of my amazing mother and aunt and my best friend, the day was everything I had hoped for.  I've been teary-eyed every time I start thinking about it.  I honestly can't believe that I'm lucky enough to know such wonderful people.

We were so busy eating, drinking and chatting, I never picked up my camera.  I have just a few photos while we were setting up.

  

I feel so blessed to have such amazing women in my life. 

I've known both these girls for 20 years.

 (I can't believe I'm old enough to say that.)

I got the sweetest cards from everyone and even though I told them not to, some people brought gifts.

The sweetest gift:

Two years ago, my friend received these slipper/shoes as kind of a joke gift at her bridal shower.  I loved them! And may have even tried them on right there in the middle of her shower. She thought they were absolutely ridiculous.  Apparently, she boxed them right up and has been saving them for me ever since.  

These may be my wedding shoes. 

(I'm not kidding.)

My perfect weekend: 

Saturday - arranging flowers and baking all day with my mom, aunt and best friend

Sunday - sitting in the sun all afternoon, drinking a mimosa with some of the most amazing women I know.

LMF

Weekend in Tahoe

We're back from an amazing weekend in Tahoe.  I don't know how we got so lucky - there was barely any traffic up and back, the weather was perfect on the mountain, and the company was amazing. Oh, and Tahoe was absolutely gorgeous.

I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends. So much thanks to these two for inviting us up!

It was mine and Dan's first time skiing together, and I managed not to look like a fool. :)  For which I was extremely happy.

Lunch on the mountain.

Snowboarders.

Our snowy street.

Morning walk down to the beach.

Homemade cinnamon rolls for a breakfast appetizer. :)

The Chefs.

Even bears like Tequila :)

Playing in the snow / sand.

Have a great week!

LMF

tahoe bound!

via

Gone to Lake Tahoe for a weekend of skiing, snowboarding, sledding, hot tubbing, hot chocolate, great friends, good food, good wine and any other shenanigans we can get ourselves into!

Hope your weekend's lovely!

LMF

P.S. One of my very first posts was about our weekend in Tahoe. This year there will be snow though! :)

Sonoma Weekend

Apparently working for a public company makes for very busy work days.

I was fortunate enough though not to have to work the weekend.  

I spent it with these lovely ladies scouring Sonoma and Napa Counties for wedding sites.

{The beautiful bride is next to me on the far left}

Karisa and I have known each other since birth.  Literally.  

The day I was born, her mother called mine in the hospital and told her she was pregnant.

We spent summer days on her parents ranch running around barefoot, searching the creek for crawdads and being terrorized by our older brothers {nothing brings two girls closer than fear}.

I was so happy to be there for her engagement in Paris and now onto planning her gorgeous wedding in wine country.

Thank you so much my dear friend for letting me be a part of it!

LMF

P.S. We're welcoming any and all suggestions on wedding venues in Sonoma and Napa Counties! {This wedding planning stuff is harder than it looks!}

Autumn in New York

We just barely made it back from New York last night.  Apparently JFK closed about an hour after we took off (which was 3 hours later than scheduled), due to the storm coming.  

The Giants won the "World" Series while we were in flight.  Big win for San Francisco {yay!} not so big win for those of us trying to sleep on the plane.

We had an amazing time.  I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I'd never been to New York in October and it was the perfect autumn.  

{central park}

It was like something out of a movie scene.  The trees were filled with leaves of gorgeous fall colors that just showered down on us while we walked. 

New York is absolutely one of the best cities in the world.  I realize many people may have different opinions than than mine, but it's definitely one of my favorites.  

I love all the little neighborhoods and all the loads of people on the streets.  I love walking everywhere! Something that I definitely miss now that I've moved back to Northern California.

We stayed with friends in Williamsburg and took the ferry into the city, which made for a great view of the city.

  

We visited the Met {my first time!} and strolled around central park; saw my brother perform in a club in Williamsburg {amazing!} and then pretty much just hung out shopping and eating in the city with friends and family.  My perfect kind of weekend!

 

{interesting art}

As always, we had some amazing food in the city.  I'll post this week with some of my favorites.

Stay safe East Coasters!

LMF