Posted onAugust 11, 2020|Comments Off on Officially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding)
There are so many things that we are doing these days that nobody would have expected to do before the pandemic. Virtual hangouts are so common that many people have Zoom fatigue. Even though I know people have live-streamed weddings before, that’s usually done for people who couldn’t be there (like how my grandparents watched my brother’s wedding on Facetime because they couldn’t fly). But now, if you are getting married almost everyone has to be on Zoom. And that’s exactly what happened with my cousin’s wedding.
My cousin Danny and his partner Alisa have been together for a long time. And from the day I met Alisa, I have felt like she was my family. She and I always call each other cousin, even though it wasn’t official. But it was official enough for both of us. Even though we felt like we were already family, I was so excited when Danny and Alisa announced their engagement and so it would be official!
I don’t know how big of a wedding they had been planning on having, but I do know a lot of things had to change because of the pandemic. They were keeping their original wedding date (August 8th), and they just had to make adjustments to keep things safe. So they had only immediate family in person at the wedding and everyone else watched on Zoom. I was very ok with that because that meant I got to watch it and that’s all that mattered to me!
The wedding was pretty early (since they are on the east coast and it was a morning wedding for them), but I was happy to be up and watching it. And since the Zoom was just for us to watch (and not them to see us), it didn’t matter what we looked like while watching. And it made me so happy to get to be a small part of their big day!
Everyone looked beautiful and I was smiling the entire time while I was watching. The camera running the Zoom stayed in the same spot the entire time, so we didn’t get a lot of close up looks, but soon after the wedding was done some photos were being posted online and I could see more of Alisa’s gorgeous dress!
I’m so happy that Danny and Alisa got married and Alisa is officially my cousin now! And I’ve already told her that when things are safer again that they need to come to CA to visit us so we can have our first official family hangout! I’m looking forward to that!
I’ve seen people joke about having Zoom bingo with checking off how many things you’ve done during the pandemic. I know Zoom wedding or baby shower has been on every bingo chart I’ve seen. So I guess now I can check off Zoom wedding!
Posted onSeptember 26, 2018|Comments Off on A Night Out With Friends (or Emmys and Elopements)
Sometimes, my friends throw amazing parties that end up being so much better than I ever could have expected. And this past weekend, I went to one of those parties.
My friend Dena has been out of the country for a while working and traveling. She is finally back in LA and wanted to have a party at her house to celebrate her being back in town. But she had a second reason to want to throw a party because her boyfriend had been nominated for his first Emmy this year! He didn’t win, but we all know this is the first of many nominations. So Dena invited me to a party that was half welcome home and half Emmy celebration. I obviously said yes to the party, and as an added bonus Dena lives only a few minutes from my house so it was super easy to get to!
I wish I had taken more photos at the party because it really was an amazing party that blew me away when I arrived! It was a cocktail party so it was so much fun seeing everyone dressed up. And they had a ton of food and a gorgeous dessert table with desserts baked by another friend of mine. I didn’t end up eating while I was there because I was still recovering from the Dri-Tri a few hours before and my stomach was a bit off. But everything smelled delicious and all my friends said all the food was incredible.
In the invitation, they mentioned that there would be a special toast at 8pm and to please be at the party by then. I personally thought that maybe Dena and her boyfriend were engaged and this was a surprise engagement party. A few of my friends and I discussed that when we arrived at the party and we all had similar ideas about that. We just had to wait until 8 to hear what was going to happen.
At 8pm, Dena and her boyfriend Greg got up to speak in front of everyone. There was a posterboard behind them that was congratulating Greg on his Emmy nomination.
Then they announced that they recently got engaged and wanted to celebrate that with us all! We were so excited for them but the announcements weren’t done. Dena and Greg said that they wanted to throw this party so they could ask us all to save the date and put another posterboard up with a photo of them and below the photo it said “Save The Date 9-7-18”. There was a moment of confusion before they showed us another posterboard explaining it.
They eloped 2 weeks earlier and were married!
So this party that we thought was a welcome home/Emmy celebration was actually more of a wedding reception for their elopement! Everyone was pretty much in shock and so happy for them. It was such a wonderful celebration already and now it was even better! Everyone was crowding them to congratulate them and I eventually got to Dena to tell her congrats and she could show off her engagement ring and wedding band.
After the announcement, the party continued pretty similarly to how it was going before. They just wanted to have a fun celebration with all of their friends and that’s exactly what they were having. They did have a first dance and a wedding cake that they cut so it made it more of a reception than just a regular party. But it really felt so perfect that this is how they were celebrating their wedding with their friends. It was so casual and everyone was enjoying themselves. All my friends who have gotten married have told me that all they wanted was everyone to have fun. And that’s exactly what Dena got.
I spent most of the party hanging out with my friends who were there and just enjoying the party as an observer. I know I was not my most social because I was tired and my body was sore, but that didn’t stop me from having fun. I really do love just spending time with my friends. And since I rarely see these friends dressed fancy, I think just seeing them in cocktail attire instead of casual clothes was enough to put a huge smile on my face. And I don’t dress up that often so I was enjoying looking fancy too.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to be at the party too late because of all the things I had earlier that day. But I managed to stay there for a couple of hours before heading back to my car to go home. But because a lot of the people at the party have kids or had a longer drive home, it seemed like it was starting to wind down a bit by the time I was making my rounds to say goodbye to everyone. I found Dena again before I left and congratulated her again and we agreed that now that she’s back in LA we will hang out soon and I’m sure I’ll get to hear all about their elopement and how it all came together. I can’t wait to hear the story!
I already knew that this party was going to be awesome because it was celebrating an amazing friend, but it was way beyond what I expected when I got there. It’s not often that I get to be surprised by something, but this really surprised everyone who was there and it was so fun to get to be a part of that!
Posted onJanuary 18, 2018|Comments Off on Making My Friend Try On Wedding Dresses (or I’m So Glad She Found The Perfect Dress!)
I’m sure that most single women don’t love when their friends get engaged and share all the wedding planning details. But that’s not me. I love hearing about plans and details and all of that! So every time a friend of mine gets engaged, I usually am always asking what’s happening, what they have picked out, and what they still need to do.
When my friend Jane got engaged, she shared about how she was a bit anxious about looking for a dress and I immediately told her I wanted to go shopping with her. She started shopping back east with her mom and didn’t find anything. And after that experience, I think she was a bit hesitant about trying it again. But because I can be bossy, I told her that we had to go check out dresses. We went to David’s Bridal a week ago without an appointment just to see if they could take a walk-in, but they couldn’t. But that gave us a chance to look around at dresses that she wanted to try and I think she was feeling a bit better about the options that were out there.
She got an appointment for this week and I think we were both pretty excited to check out the dresses we liked and to find out what she would like. She mentioned not being sure about certain silhouettes or wanting a veil, but she knew my job was to encourage her to try on things that she wouldn’t necessarily pick for herself because you never know what you will like.
When we had been there the other day, we picked a big variety of dresses for her to try on. Some were short dresses, some long, some were very simple, some were so heavily beaded that we wondered if it would feel too heavy, and most other options you could think of. There was one short dress that Jane thought could be the one and it happened to be at that store so we made sure it was on the list. And when we went back this week, we looked around a bit more and found a few other options that I thought could be nice.
When the consultant came out to meet us, she decided that we should do 5 dresses at first for Jane. 2 of them were ones that Jane loved, 2 were ones that I loved, and then the consultant picked one out on her own. Then we went back to the changing rooms where she took all of Jane’s measurements and I hung out in the waiting area super excited to see what Jane was going to like!
The first dress that Jane tried on was a fun dress with a high-low hem. It was a very plain dress, but that meant we got to have fun checking out options on how to customize it. She tried different belts, different sleeves, and mesh overlays. We found a combination that Jane really loved and I thought that maybe she would end up with the first dress that she tried on. She looked super happy about the dress and I could tell that some of the stress she felt going into the appointment was quickly gone.
The next dress that she tried on was one that I loved that Jane wasn’t sure about. It wasn’t right because it was too low-cut and even with making a change to fix that wouldn’t make the dress right for her. But I’m glad she at least tried it on. The third dress was another one that I picked out and it was a gorgeous dress with lace and a longer train. Jane was nervous about a dress with a train, but I told her she needed to just try it. And when she walked out, it was such a magical moment!
She looked incredible in the dress! It fit her perfectly and it was just amazing! It wouldn’t be the dress I would expect her to wear, but it being unexpected made it even more perfect! She also tried a veil on with it and the veil made it complete! I was tearing up a bit because she looked like a bride out of a magazine! I had a good feeling that this would be her dress, but I tried to stay calm because I didn’t want to influence her choice.
The next dress was the short dress that Jane loved. It was a fun dress, but as soon as she had it on she knew it wasn’t right for her wedding. And it wasn’t able to beat the previous dress. And the last dress she tried on was one that the consultant picked that was similar to the dress I loved. And when Jane walked out in that one, I knew she was going to have a tough time picking a dress. It was beautiful and she looked amazing in it. She was so confused on which one to get so she decided to try the one we all loved again to see if she still loved it.
And when she got that dress back on, I knew that it was the dress for her! She was just glowing and couldn’t stop smiling. She looked like a bride and looked like herself which is exactly what you want. She mentioned how it was so funny that I picked her dress and how it wasn’t what she was planning on trying on and how it ended up being exactly what she wanted. I would have been happy with whatever dress she got as long as she loved it, but I feel so special that she got a dress that I picked out!
I don’t want to spoil the surprise of the dress (even though she said I could), so I’m only going to share a little bit of the detail on the train.
I wish I could share more of the dress without giving it away because it is just so amazing! And she looks amazing in it! It was so fun to get to watch her find her perfect dress and she kept saying after she picked it out how painless and easy it all was. I’m glad that that’s the experience she had because I am sure that wedding stuff can be insanely stressful and I wanted this to be fun for her.
I feel so lucky that Jane invited me to go shopping with her and that I got to see what her dress looks like! It was such a fun afternoon with her and I feel so special that I got to be a part of that day!
Right after my 5K, I had to get ready to head up to Santa Barbara. It was time for Rayshell and Paul’s wedding!
I’ve felt so fortunate that I had been invited to celebrate Rayshell (andPaul) leading up to the wedding. So the actual wedding was just another opportunity to celebrate them and I couldn’t wait! I was in Santa Barbara all weekend to spend time with my family (my parents were there to visit my brother and sister-in-law the same time I was up there), but first I want to focus on the main event!
The wedding was on Sunday afternoon on the beach in Santa Barbara. The ceremony was originally supposed to be outside on the beach, but due to the threat of rain it had to move inside to where the reception was going to be. But to be honest, I think it looked beautiful inside!
Also, being inside meant we didn’t have to worry about the wind or cold (or rain except it didn’t end up raining). When I arrived, I saw a bunch of my friends there so we went inside to claim our seats for the ceremony. I think we got some primo seats, so we were pretty happy. We spent the time before the ceremony started catching up and my friends’ husbands entertained us by being silly and deciding which groomsmen looked like which celebrities.
The ceremony itself was short and sweet (the way I think ceremonies should be). There were the traditional elements (Rayshell walking in with her dad, the vows, the ring exchange, and a first kiss before they were introduced as husband and wife), but the ceremony was performed by a friend of theirs so while it was short it was nice and personal.
I had seen Rayshell’s dress before (I was there when she bought it), but it looked even more incredible on her at her wedding. She had sleeves added to the dress and once it was tailored to fit her it made her look like a bride in a magazine! I love that she was able to find the perfect dress and that she looked so gorgeous in it!
As soon as the ceremony was over, the bridal party went outside for photos and the guests stayed inside for cocktail hour. My friends and I were hanging out and enjoying the view from inside while drinks and appetizers were passed around (I didn’t eat much then because I wasn’t hungry yet, but all the food had rave reviews from everyone else!).
We also wandered around the space a bit checking out what was there since we hadn’t done that before we sat down for the ceremony. We checked out the cake before the cake cutting.
There was an amazing photo display of family weddings through the years! We all loved this idea and I had never seen it done at a wedding before but I have a feeling that all the single people who were there will be copying this idea when they get married (I think I will when I get married one day)!
And we signed the guest book which was a drawing of Rayshell and Paul.
Then it was almost time for dinner to start, so we found where all the seating cards were to see what table we were at.
I loved that all the seating cards were in shells! I was seated at table 7 where some of my friends were seated (it seemed like the friends were scattered all around, but that didn’t really matter too much to us because as you’ll read we spent too much time on the dance floor).
After the bridal party and Rayshell and Paul were introduced and seated at their tables, it was time for dinner. Rayshell had told me before that it was going to be a buffet, but I had no idea that a buffet dinner could be this amazing!
This was so yummy and tasted like any plated dinner you could get at a fancy restaurant! During dinner, I was chatting with my friends at my table and enjoying the room we were seated in. Besides the amazing ocean view, the room was really gorgeous with tall ceilings and cool beams. I hadn’t seen a venue like this before and I think Rayshell and Paul picked the perfect place for their wedding.
Rayshell and Paul had their first dance, and before I knew it the party had started! I’m usually not one to dance that much, but the DJ they had was amazing and even I spent most of my evening dancing with all of my friends and just being silly.
I don’t think I’ve ever danced as much as I did that night. The music was amazing and the energy in the room made me want to be as much of a part of it as I could. There weren’t too many slow songs, but during those I just danced with my friends or we kind of did our own thing as a group. And during all the fast songs, we were bouncing around and making sure everyone else got on the dance floor with us. I did have to sit down from time to time because of my hips and my legs still being sore from the race, but I danced so much that the pedicure I got for the wedding got all chipped! I’ve never done that from dancing before so I think that’s a sign that I had a wonderful time.
There was a break in the dancing for the cake cutting and bouquet toss (Rayshell did a toss bouquet that broke into a couple of smaller bouquets so multiple women were able to catch it).
After the end of the traditional reception things, the party on the dance floor continued. I swear I got close to 10,000 steps in on my Fitbit just from dancing alone! I tried to get pictures with as many people as possible (it’s not the norm for us all to be dressed up and fancy so I wanted to document that), but I have to say that my favorite picture of the entire evening is one that I got of Rayshell and Paul.
It’s so clear how much they love each other and how much fun they had at the wedding. They seriously are an amazing couple and I hope that I’m able to find someone who loves me as much as they love each other.
Before we knew it, it was time for the reception to end. Some people went to the hotel across the street to hang out at the bar, but I was pretty tired and my feet were starting to hurt from all the dancing. So I ended up leaving after saying goodbye to everyone there.
I know I say this about all the weddings I go to, but this was the best wedding! It was so perfect for who Rayshell and Paul are and even though I know they throw amazingparties this took things to a new level!
Congratulations to Rayshell and Paul! You guys are so perfect for each other and I know you are going to live your happily ever after now.
And Rayshell, thank you so much for letting me be a part of so many celebrations of yours. I feel so special that you wanted me to be there to celebrate with you and I have loved seeing you put this wedding together (and it ended up better than I ever could have imagined from what you had told me). I love you so much and thank you for being an amazing friend to me!
Posted onApril 7, 2016|Comments Off on Relaxation (or Taking Some Time To Myself)
I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. Between work, workouts, acting, and other stuff I feel like my days are getting filled up really quickly. This is awesome and I’m so happy about it, but sometimes I realize that I need to take a step back and relax for a bit. I’m finally getting better at realizing when my body feels like it’s getting to a breaking point, so when I started to feel like that at the beginning of this week I took some time to myself. I’m glad that I didn’t get to the point where I got exhausted and needed a few days to get back to my usual self. This time, I really only spent 2 afternoons being selfish and doing things for myself and I feel back to normal already.
I ended up canceling plans that I had made this Monday to do some stuff that I needed to do but had been putting off. Even though my plans were more fun, getting stuff crossed off my to-do list is really nice too! None of the things on my to-do list were urgent, so I had been putting them off for a while. I think knowing that I should be doing something but not was causing a bit of stress in my life. So getting those done relived some stress and made the rest of the things I needed to get done not feel as overwhelming.
I’ve also rediscovered my love for the library. I used to use the library all the time. My original e-reader was a Sony because at the time that was the only one that could get library e-books. But then I almost forgot about the library and I let my library card expire (did you know they could do that?). So a few weeks ago, I went down to the local library branch to get a new library card so I could start enjoying library books again. I’ve checked out a bunch of stuff lately. It’s so easy to get library books on my Kindle (much easier than my old e-reader) so I’ve gotten a ton of new books lately.
I feel so silly that I haven’t used the library lately, but now I’m back and obsessed! After running the errands I had to run on Monday, my afternoon and evening were spent reading and that was such a perfect way to spend the day. I still have books that I buy, but I’m so glad that the library is pretty well stocked with e-books so I can curb that spending habit. I know I’ve spent a lot of money on books (I love them so much!) and if I could limit my book spending just to the books I love so much and know I’ll be reading over and over again, that will help me budget better. I still can’t get over how this wasn’t something I thought of sooner, but at least know I’m on the right track to reducing my spending habits without reducing my reading material.
I also spent time getting ready for my upcoming trip for Rayshell’s wedding. I had already gotten a dress to wear and some cute and comfortable shoes. But I realized that if I was wearing open toed shoes at a nice event my feet probably should look nice. So on Tuesday after work, I went to my favorite pedicure place and splurged on a pedicure. My last pedicure was last spring, so I think that I had deserved to get another one. And I found the perfect color to put on my toes for a wedding!
I’ve still got a couple of other things that I need to do before this weekend, but there’s nothing that feels so big that it will be tough to complete. I want to be able to enjoy my weekend (which includes the wedding and a 5K race) and not have to stress about things at home or things that need to be done. Most of the things on my to-do list now are ideas that I’d like to work on (like reorganizing my desk and cleaning out my workout clothes drawer), but they won’t affect me if they don’t happen this week or month. I would like to work on checking things off more often so they don’t build up like they have. That’s just something else I need to work on in my self-improvement so I can maybe start treating these relaxation days and rewards for getting stuff done!
After all the other adventures I had done recently, one of the final adventures for my February was going to my friend Rayshell’s bachelorette party! While I had been super excited about this for a while, I was a bit stressed with all my other scheduling things I had to work with. But the closer we got to the weekend, the more excited and less stressed I got. By the time it was time to go, I couldn’t wait!
The bachelorette party was in San Diego and was from Friday night until Sunday morning. Because of my workout schedule, meeting my sister-in-law for dinner, and rush hour traffic; I made the decision not to drive down on Friday night. I wouldn’t be getting there until after midnight so I figured it would be best to drive down on Saturday morning. But since I was driving down on Saturday instead of Friday, I was able to drive down with another friend also going to the bachelorette party! She had offered to drive (which I was so grateful for!) and I was the navigator. Between some random traffic and a big freeway closure, it took a little longer than expected. But we were still in San Diego at noon on Saturday.
Rayshell’s maid of honor had found an amazing house for us to stay in while we were there. There were a ton of rooms and couches for everyone to crash on. The only downside was that you had to walk up about 2 flights of stairs to get to the front door and then another flight of stairs inside to get to the main part of the house. It was a good workout, but my hips didn’t love it. I limited how many times I walked up and down so it wasn’t too horrible.
After we arrived, there was a bit of time to get some food and relax for a minute before we headed out for our first adventure of the party. Rayshell really wanted to try out an escape room and they found one that wasn’t too far from the house we rented for the weekend. The escape room we had was a zombie theme and we had to unlock various locks to find an antidote and the code to get out of the door in under an hour. With me being claustrophobic and having issues with fainting when things jump out at me (which is ironic since I worked at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios for 3 years), I asked the employees there if I would be fine. They told me that it never gets dark inside the locked room and while there is a zombie inside the room, you always see her and there are no startle scares. So I figured it would be fine for me to be inside and I went in with the rest of the group (we had arranged for the escape room to just be for us, but typically they will add in other groups to fill the room).
In the first part of the escape room, we had to get a code to get into the main room. We had figured out that it had to do with the numbers on the periodic table. So I was leaning over to read the numbers so we could figure out the answer when the sheet on a table right in front of me started moving and making noise (I think it was supposed to be a fake dead body). I honestly freaked out. It was pretty horrible. I didn’t faint (I’m still surprised that I didn’t), but I almost fell to my knees and I burst into tears. It wasn’t my best moment and I’m not proud that it happened, but it was my honest reaction to being scared like that.
Rayshell wanted me to leave after then, but I told her that I could calm down and the employee inside the room saw how freaked out I was and told me that in the other room there wasn’t anything like that to scare me. I wish that the employee that I had asked before going in the room had warned me about that. I asked him afterward why he hadn’t, and he didn’t think it would scare me since it was fake.
After my freak out, I focused on how I could help get us out of the room. I found some locks that needed to be unlocked and focused on opening those. I worked on solving equations and other things and pretty much stayed in one section of the room where nothing scared me and the actress playing the zombie couldn’t get me (if you were tagged you had to stand off to the side in “quarantine” for a couple of minutes before you could join back in).
In the end, we didn’t get out of the room. We opened a lot of the locks we needed to and even had the code to get out of the door. But because we didn’t get one thing unlocked, we couldn’t get to the keys that unlocked the cabinet that had the antidote we needed to win the escape room. But it doesn’t matter that we didn’t win, we all had a really great time (not counting my freak out time).
After the escape room, we headed back to the house to relax before getting ready for dinner. We ended up on the rooftop deck playing Cards Against Humanity. We got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset and had so much fun playing the game.
Next we all got ready to go to dinner and we all gave Rayshell the lingerie gifts that we got her (that was the plan for all of our gifts). And of course, we had to get some pictures with the bachelorette before we went out!
We went to dinner in Little Italy at Trattoria Fantastica and had a table on the patio (they had a heat lamp so it was nice out there).
We got some wine for the table and everyone was able to find something yummy to eat, even with the dietary restrictions people might have (they even had gluten-free pasta!). I got short rib pasta and it was really great (I also ate it all since that was really my first real meal of the day)!
After we all got full on pasta (and for some people, drinks), we headed out to the Altitude Sky Lounge which is on the 22nd floor of a hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter. I’m not a nightclub/lounge person, but even I was in love with the view that we saw up there!
Some of the girls had fun dancing, but a couple of us who aren’t really dancing people found a couch that overlooked the view and had a heat lamp above us (not everyone was dressed totally weather appropriate because we wanted to look cute). We also enjoyed sitting on the couch watching the craziness going on around us. There was one couple that we were mesmerized watching. The best way to describe it was that the guy was pretty much dancing like how we would imagine a monkey would dancing and was hard not to watch. When the bouncers walked over our way and ended up blocking the view, one of the girls asked the bouncers to move because we were watching them dance. Even the bouncers were mesmerized watching them and totally got why we wanted a clear view to enjoy the show.
The next stop for the night was another club for more dancing. But 4 of us were feeling pretty tired and not up to dancing so we split up and some went out and the rest went back to the house. I’m glad I left when I did because when I was going back up the stairs to the house, my hip decided to go out and I couldn’t get it to stop hurting. So after chatting with the other 3 girls who left early with me, we all got ready to go to bed and went to sleep. Even though there were beds downstairs I could sleep in, I couldn’t get down the stairs with my hip so I ended up sleeping on a couch (it wasn’t so bad).
Sunday morning everyone kind of got up around the same time. Most of the girls were going to go out for breakfast, but the friend I drove with and I wanted to leave by 9am because we wanted to beat the traffic and I had the Oscar party to get to! So we said goodbye to everyone and headed back to LA.
It was a crazy quick trip (we left LA at 9am Saturday and got back 11am Sunday), but it was full of so much fun stuff and awesome adventures! I really haven’t been to San Diego outside of family stuff, so it was great to explore the city with some friends and doing things that aren’t usually what I get to do down there.
The bachelorette party was the last event leading up to Rayshell’s wedding. I’m hoping that she and I can hang out for a happy hour before her wedding (we are overdue for one), but I’m really looking forward to the wedding. I know it’s going to be gorgeous and it’s another opportunity for me to celebrate my amazing friend!
When I found out that Rayshell’s bridal shower was going to be in Santa Barbara, the first person I texted was my sister-in-law. The last time I was in Santa Barbara was the week before she and my brother moved there, so I had never seen their apartment. My parents had been there before and told me how cool it was, so I knew I wanted to check it out as soon as I could. So I made plans to meet up and hang out with Krystle after the shower was over.
It was a super quick 5 minute drive from Rayshell’s parent’s house to my brother and sister-in-law’s place, so I had plenty of time to hang out there before I wanted to start driving back to LA. They have a very cute apartment (I didn’t take any pictures, sorry) and it was awesome to see where they had put some of the stuff they had in their San Francisco apartment in their new place. They also had gotten some stuff from my grandparent’s when they downsized, so it was nice to see that stuff too. They also have a really great view from their deck, but it was a bit foggy and cold so we didn’t stay outside too long.
The first thing I did when I saw Krystle was give her the birthday present I got for her. Her birthday isn’t for a few more weeks, but I found the perfect gift for her about a month ago and I wanted her to have it right away. So I brought it with me and gave it to her to open right then.
Krystle runs a wedding and event planning business (if you are in Santa Barbara you totally should use her for your events!) and I wanted her to have a really professional and cute business card holder to keep in her purse. So when I saw this Kate Spade card holder, I knew it was exactly what she should have. I just didn’t have any idea that it would match her business cards perfectly!
I think she loved it and I think that she will look so cool when she hands out cards to prospective customers! I’m just so happy that I got to give her the gift in person and see her expression when she opened it! That’s so much better than shipping the gift when it’s actually her birthday.
After she opened her gift, we headed out to a wine bar. My brother was sleeping (he worked a late shift the day before) and we didn’t want to wake him up. I don’t remember the name of the wine bar we went to, but it was surrounded by a ton of other wine bars that all had unique looks to them. This one looked like a place that my sister-in-law would have decorated herself.
She got some wine and we shared some food, but we really didn’t eat too much. We spent our time there catching up on life and discussing how much we want to do another trip together soon. We are going to do a fun day trip along with my brother and a bunch of my friends in about 2 months, but she and I are hoping to do a weekend in Las Vegas sometime soon. That’s in the works and we have to figure out when we are both free (and when I’ll have money to do it). We are also hoping to get back to New York again in the next year or two because there was so much stuff that we never got to do the last time we were there!
Before we knew it, we had to head back to the apartment because Krystle had a call with one of her clients and I wanted to get back to my car so I could start the drive home. When we got back, my brother was awake so I got to see him for a few minutes. But he had to head out to work so there wasn’t a lot of time to catch up.
Right before Krystle had to get on her call with her client, we said goodbye and I got into my car to drive back to LA. I’m so glad that they live so much closer to me now. It’s not that unreasonable to go up to Santa Barbara for the day (or for her to come down to LA for the day). It’s actually a shorter drive than when I go to San Diego, and I do that drive a lot! So I have a feeling that there will be more Santa Barbara days in my future!
Posted onJanuary 19, 2016|Comments Off on A Bridal Shower Celebration (or My Morning In Santa Barbara)
With my friend Rayshell’s wedding coming up in a few months, there are a couple of different weddingrelated celebrations that I get to attend! This past weekend was her bridal shower, and I was so excited to get to go!
It was held in Santa Barbara so it was a little bit of a drive for me. But fortunately, there wasn’t any traffic so I got there early. I hung out in my car listening to podcasts until it was time for the party to start (I found out later that it would have been fine for me to show up early).
The party had a Paris theme to it and all the decorations were so cute!
Each guest had a champagne glass with their name on it to use for drinks. They had champagne, wine, water, and a couple of different juices. I think most people had a mimosa, but I decided to go with orange juice because I need to limit my alcohol since I am on Vyvanse.
Rayshell’s bridesmaids did an amazing job putting together this party. They had a really nice brunch set up. I had some fruit and veggies and quiche. It was very yummy but casual so we all could enjoy hanging out with each other. I’ve been to other bridal showers where things are over scheduled or a bit too fancy (none of those have been written about on here), but I loved that this shower was relaxing and allowed us all to have a nice time.
There were two games that we played. One was where we all wore a fake diamond ring and if we said Rayshell’s name we had to give our ring to the person who caught us doing that. I was doing ok for a bit, but I said her name and my friend Sarah was the one who got my ring. I’m glad she got it because she ended up winning the ring game!
The other game we played was naming the movie that different movie quotes came from.
We all thought these were pretty tough and I only got 2 of them. The winner got 3, so I didn’t feel too bad.
After games and food, it was time for Rayshell to open her presents. Everyone got her really nice stuff. Some of it was stuff off of her registry, and some of it was just fun stuff that they knew she’d like. I asked Rayshell what on her registry she wanted now instead of waiting until her wedding to get and she said that there was an entry way rug she wanted. I ordered it off of her registry and it arrived right before the shower. So she had sent me a text when she got it showing me how nice it looked in her house.
While it was a super practical gift and not the most fun or silly thing to buy, I’m glad I was able to get her something that she (and her fiancée) really wanted to have for their apartment now.
After gifts, it was time to start wrapping things up. I talked with a bunch of the other girls there about details for Rayshell’s bachelorette party which is coming up in a month. It will be a really fun time and I’m excited to get to have a fun night out with everyone. And in a few more months, it will be Rayshell’s wedding which I know is going to be fabulous! I have seen what the venue looks like (and I was there when she got her dress) so I know that it’s going to be an incredible wedding.
While I know that some of my single friends don’t love going to weddings or participating in wedding related events, I don’t mind it at all. I love getting to celebrate my friends and all the wonderful things happening in their lives right now. Eventually, it will be my turn and I know that they will all be there to celebrate me then. But for now, I’m just so excited for Rayshell to get married so she can have her happily ever after!
When Rayshell and I had dinner recently, one of the topics we talked about was her wedding planning. She’s actually gotten a ton of planning done already. The venue is set and they’ve got the caterer and hotel blocks done. But the one thing she was having trouble with was finding the perfect wedding dress.
She had found a couple of dresses that she liked, but didn’t really love. And one dress that she almost loved, but it was way over her budget.
As we were talking, I remembered how years ago I had gone wedding dress shopping with a friend. She was looking for a very particular dress (she is very religious and needed it to cover from neck to the ground and have long sleeves), so we had gone to a handful of store together. The only one that I really remembered was Alfred Angelo. So while Rayshell and I were at dinner, we pulled up their website and checked out some of their dresses. There were a couple that she liked (and were in her budget), so Rayshell made an appointment and invited me to go dress shopping with her!
We got to the store about 10 minutes before the appointment, so we sat down and looked at some of the dresses in the store and in some of the catalogs they gave us.
Rayshell found several dresses that she wanted to try on while we were waiting for someone to come and help her pull dresses. When the stylists came over, we showed them the ones that Rayshell liked, and then we got the bad news. Most of the dresses that she liked are discontinued and not in the store. But one of the ones that she liked was still there, but there was only one dress left and the stylist wasn’t sure if it was in her size.
So we started wandering through the store together pulling dresses. We found the one that was on the list that Rayshell liked, and luckily it was in Rayshell’s size! So we grabbed that one. Rayshell and the stylist pulled a couple of other dresses and while Rayshell and I were looking we pulled that original dress again two more times!
Finally it was time for Rayshell to go into the dressing room and start trying the dresses on.
The first dress Rayshell tried one was pretty, but it seemed not quite right (and Rayshell seemed to think the same thing). The second dress looked too much like a costume to me.
Finally it was time for the third dress which was the one that we had selected 3 separate times. And when Rayshell came out of the dressing room, I knew instantly that that was her dress!
She was glowing and smiling and it was exactly what she had described to me as her dream dress! It was the only one in the store like that because it was discontinued the day that the sample arrived so nobody else would have that same dress. I felt that it was fate that the only one of that dress was in the size and color she needed!
Of course, Rayshell had to walk around and see how the dress looked in sunlight (versus the store lighting) and I took tons of pictures so she could see how it looked from every angle. I can’t share the pictures of the dress with you (because then her fiancée might see them), but I did get permission from Rayshell to show you one detail from the dress.
That detail doesn’t even do it justice. That dress is so incredible and so perfect for Rayshell! After Rayshell was pretty sure that it was the dress, she Facetimed her mom (I held up the phone) so she could show her mom the dress too. After her mom approved, it was settled that Rayshell had found her dress!
I felt so lucky that Rayshell invited me to go dress shopping with her. It was a really fun and special afternoon. And it was a nice added bonus that I got to be there when she found her dress. I haven’t had that opportunity before so it was really cool for me to do that. For most weddings I’ve gone to, I only get to see the dress at the wedding (or maybe a picture of it from a website). With my sister-in-law, I got to see the dress at the fitting, but that’s different from getting to go shopping for it together.
Rayshell’s wedding is still months away, but I’m even more excited for it now because I can’t wait to see how she looks in the dress when it’s all fitted and accessorized!
Posted onJuly 1, 2015|Comments Off on Santa Barbara Engagement Party (or Sunburn and Rain)
Rayshell had her engagement party over the weekend! It was at her parents’ house again (where her birthday party was) so I knew it would be a great backyard party again. Plus, Rayshell and her mom are both wonderful party planners. I wish I could be as good at doing house parties as they both are!
I took that day off of work, and I’m glad I did. The drive is usually about an hour and a half, but the traffic was so horrible that day that my drive was twice that! I was a bit late for the party, but that was ok.
My first stop when I got there (after saying hello to everyone) was to get some food. Rayshell’s parents hired Gaby’s Tacos to do a taco/burrito/nacho station. They did the catering at her birthday party too and I had been looking forward to the delicious food again.
I decided to get carnitas nachos because it just looked too tempting not to get!
I sat down with a couple of friends and relaxed after my drive and enjoyed the wonderful food.
It was a nice and casual party. I actually pretty much stayed at that table chatting with friends the entire time I was there. There were also some wonderful desserts (I forgot to get a photo of those), but the company was what made the party for me.
The only downsides were the weather. When I got there, it was really sunny and there wasn’t a shady spot left for me to sit in. So I ended up getting a little sunburnt (nothing like my pastburns, but still some redness). Then, just as I was leaving the party, it started to rain! I know it’s supposed to be good luck if it rains on your wedding day. I wonder if it’s good luck to have it rain at an engagement party too?
I know that this probably isn’t the most exciting party recap, but to be honest it was just such a calm event. Sometimes I’m so focused on doing something really awesome that I forget that some of the best times are when you are just sitting around talking to awesome friends. And that’s exactly what I got to do for several hours this past Saturday. It was perfect and I’m so glad that not only I could take the time off of work but that I was invited to be a part of the celebration.
My drive back wasn’t nearly as bad as my drive in, but even if it was it would have been totally worth it! I love getting to celebrate my friends and their special moments like this. And I know that there will be more wedding events to look forward to leading up to their wedding in April. I can’t wait!
Trying To Prevent Zoom Fatigue (or Not Sure If This Is A Pandemic Problem Or Not)
