One year later...

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary.  We spent it driving 9 hours home from Oregon where we had spent the last few days at our friends' gorgeous wedding. 

We also announced some exciting news to our family and friends.

LMD

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

wishing your life away

I've had so many things to look forward to these past few weeks: my bridal shower, friends weddings, our wedding in two days, our honeymoon...and many things unrelated to weddings too.

I find myself saying, "I can't wait 'til it's the weekend." Or "I can't wait 'til our honeymoon." 

Like, I just wish it would get here faster.

Whenever a phase like that goes through my head, I hear my mom say, 

"Don't wish your life away, Lauren." 

I don't think I really understood what that meant when she first started saying that to me.

But I do now.  

Today is my first day off work for our wedding this weekend.  My mom and I are having mani / pedi's together, picking out the flowers for the bouquets, and making candy as thank you gifts for the vendors that we're working with on Saturday. And that is all I'm going to think about.

Today, I am wishing that it is today.

LMF 

image via

fall

{image via | words via Jim Bishop}

It's officially fall.

I've always loved this season.  

I loved the start of the new school year - shopping for school supplies and new school clothes. 

Fall was one of my favorite seasons in Paris too. The tree-lined streets were gorgeous.  

And Northern California doesn't disappoint.  I love the colors of the vineyards during this season.  Plus I'm a sweater weather kinda girl.  And this is the month where San Francisco really shines.

But now, even more so, this season, September to be exact, may be my new favorite going forward.  

I marry this guy in five days.

{paris - september 2012}

LMF(D)

tahoe weekend wedding

We drove up to Lake Tahoe this weekend to watch some amazing people become an even more amazing couple.

It was a gorgeous wedding overlooking the beach with a gorgeous mountain backdrop.  Even more gorgeous was how the groom couldn't stop staring at his bride.

This is the one photo I took at the wedding.  I read this a while ago and decided to put my phone away, let the professional photographers document the occasion and just enjoy myself and celebrate.  Congrats E&H!

The morning of the wedding Dan and I walked around the lake.  

I love Tahoe.  It reminds me that I live in such a fantastic place: California. 

Beaches, ocean, mountains, cities, country, vineyards, snow, sun, we've got it all.

Dan skipped rocks.  

I can't.  It's like whistling {another skill I don't possess} the harder I try the worse it looks.

P.S. Did I mention I'm marrying this guy in less than 3 weeks :)

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!

Dream Paris Elopement

I'm not going to lie.  I've had some serious thoughts about eloping.

When we got engaged, knowing me so well, a few friends and family asked if I had plans to elope. I made some promises to people that we would not, that I intended to keep.

Seeing these gorgeous photos and my dream elopement on style me pretty last week had me wishing we were eloping, especially back to one of my favorite cities: Paris.

But this weekend we met with the priest at the sweet little church we'll be married at.

We had a delicious brunch at French Blue Market in St. Helena, where the waiter asked if we were on our honeymoon, because we looked so in love :)

We drove through Napa and visited a few of the wineries we'll have private tastings at after the wedding.

{frank family vineyards}

{ma(i)sonry}

{rutherford hill}

{On the way we may have stopped at Bouchon for some delicious iced coffee and macarons.}

And when we arrived back home, a package had arrived with our invitations.  I'd seen the mock-ups online and held the paper samples in my hands, but seeing it all together was breathtaking.  They are so much better than I imagined.

After this weekend, I could not be more excited for the wedding we have planned.

LMF

paris elopement images via Style Me Pretty from One and Only Paris Photography

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

a couple of days

On Wednesday morning I was going to post about how we had booked our honeymoon and Dan had booked his bachelor party, but we had yet to confirm any other wedding details.  

We really have our priorities straight with this whole wedding thing. :)

But then Wednesday afternoon I got a call from the church, confirming our date and time. And last night I got the proposal from the venue.  

Tomorrow we have our all-day extensive pre-martial counseling class.  

In just a few days, everything fell into place.

Looks like we're really doing this.  

I hope everyone as a wonderful holiday weekend (and a bit more patience than me).

LMF

image via