a big birthday weekend

This was one huge, crazy, long, fun weekend that was all about celebrating Matthew's big birthday! On Friday morning I surprised Matthew by telling him to pack him bags for a mini getaway. We drove up to Cambria, stopping in Santa Barbara for lunch, Los Olivos for cupcakes and Cayucos for cookies and thrift shopping.  It was so nice to get away for a few days and explore these awesome areas. To say we ate a lot this weekend would be a big understatement!

and now for my favorite photo...

He's thirty, flirty and thriving! 

I love my birthday husband!! 

I hope you all had a great weekend!

xox

wedding wednesday: bachelorette weekend

As I mentioned on Monday, this past weekend my best friends and bridesmaids threw me a bachelorette weekend in gorgeous Santa Barbara! Ten of my dearest and closest friend made the journey from all over {New York, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and even Oklahoma City}. I felt so loved and special! We stayed in the beautiful Canary Hotel, which blew me away from a design perspective. I'm officially inspired to recreate something similar in my future apartment with Matthew. There were Spanish, Moroccan, even African influences and the colors and patterns were perfectly matched. love love loved it!

 packing into a stuffed car, joking with Matthew saying "Vegas here we come!"

the most delicious french toast on warm berry preserves with a vanilla cream on top

texting Matthew at the end of the night!

I'm still majorly sleep deprived from the weekend but I have the most amazing memories to last a lifetime. I'm already wanting another trip with all these girls in a couple years. They were the best, most easy going group, and now I miss them all terribly!

{I also miss my Bachelorette crown!}

xox

 

photos by my sweet friend Kimberly Desjardins {minus 1-3 and 6}

a shout out to my bridal party

Mondays are never my favorite day of the week, and this one is no exception. After having the best weekend up in Santa Barbara with my closest friends it's hard to get back to the real world. I was majorly spoiled for my Bachelorette weekend and I felt so incredibly loved- still do. This is just a little post and I'll talk more about it on Wednesday, but I have to give a little shout out to my best friends and bachelorettes. Lizzie, my MOH and best friend, did the BEST job planning this weekend. Every little detail was taken care of and we all had the best time because of it. She seriously needs to go into the professional Maid of Honor business because she's amazing! Hanna and Pauline also were incredible. Hanna compiled a playlist with songs that everyone said reminded them of me. I had to guess who picked each song and I got them all right!! Such a great keepsake, too. Pauline is a great graphic artist and made cute banners to put around the hotel suite as well as an awesome itinerary and map for the weekend. It was amazing! Ok more details on Wednesday. Time to get back to work, find a seamstress for my alterations, oh yeah and unpack! 

I hope you all had a fabulous and special weekend!

xox

look book: santa barbara mission

The Santa Barbara Mission is such a great landmark and while it's definitely a tourist spot I'd say it's a must-see! On our Santa Barbara outing I wore this new dress that I got from Tulle. I love that it's a heavier seersucker fabric but it's still light enough to keep me cool! I also love the drop waist and how the skirt part puffs out a little bit! It's simple but still girly!

dress Tulle, shoes Jeffrey Campbell, sunglasses Persol

It was so fun to read all of your answers to my questions yesterday! You are definitely a diverse and interesting group and it's great to learn more about each one of you. If you were wondering what food I'd eat eat every day it's sushi!! I just think I'd never get sick of it because there are so many possibilities. Matthew says his is pizza. I think we'll test it out one day to see who goes the longest! {put your bets on me}

I'm going to be somewhat offline for the rest of the week. I'm doing some emergency babysitting for my neighbor whose mom is in the hospital in Arizona. She left yesterday and I've been with her two kids playing temporary mom. Also, Ginger got spayed yesterday so she's been a bit of a handful. Everything went well in surgery but she's still in some pain. She's calmly resting on my lap right now {something she hardly ever does!}. Also it's Matthew's birthday week!! So I'm trying to get some special things together for him :) So thanks for understanding if I don't respond to emails and comments right away. I promise I will get to them!!

Have a great day everyone!

xox

a santa barbara field trip

Sorry I've been MIA these past two days! Matthew and I took a day trip yesterday to Santa Barbara and had such a fun day exploring! We were expecting the weather to be a little cooler up north but it was still pretty hot {80 degrees compared to LA's 90s}. We stopped by the beautiful Santa Barbara Mission. It's on the top of a hill and the views are incredible! You can see the ocean and they have such a sweet flower garden.

Matthew and I loved the permanent chalk drawings on the ground. Some of them were so cool!


We stopped by Crushcakes, Santa Barbara's supposed first cupcakery, for a little treat..or 4! I didn't know it until I got home but they were actually featured on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars! {I need to catch up with my DVR!}

On the wall it says, "you'll always remember your first crush."

They're known for the crushcake which is their version of a red velvet. It's a chocolate cake dyed red with a sour cream cheese frosting!

We got a crushcake, a coconut cloud, a cool vanilla bean and a buttermilk crumb cake {buttermilk cinnamon swirl cake with brown sugar cinnamon frosting}.

Definitely an A! I thought the cupcakes were sweet, yet not overpowering, and pretty moist! Matthew and I had SO much fun! We're definitely looking forward to our next visit.
xox

I'm Alive + 3 Generations of Women

Has it really been a week? Would you believe me if I said I haven't been on the computer since my last post? It's true I swear! Luckily I had my iPhone but it's not as conducive to blogging. As I said last week my Grandma was in town so besides lending her my room there was a lot of entertaining going on...{I finally got caught up on the last two weeks of The Bachelor and LOST!} My Grandma lives on the East Coast and so during her visit my mom really wanted to plan a trip for the three of us. 30 years ago my Grandma drove my Mom across the country when she moved to California so it meant a lot to them. And it was so much fun for me to spend quality time with them both. We went to Santa Barbara and had such a great time! The weather couldn't have been nicer and the hotel was right across from the water!

{They just saw a bird fly into the restaurant.. isn't my Grandma's sweater so stylish?}

Ok, so let's get this blog back to normal! And welcome to my new followers..sorry I've been MIA! Look forward to some fun posts this week though! Sigh I'm dying to catch up on everything!
xox