Tag Archives: wedding

A Happy Hour Celebration (or Looking Forward To Another Wedding)

Posted on June 2, 2015 | 2 comments

A couple of weeks ago, I got a text message from my friend Rayshell that her boyfriend proposed! I was so excited to hear this news from her because she and her boyfriend (now fiancée) had been together for a while and I knew that they had been discussion marriage for a bit.

A little later I got a text with a picture of the ring.

It’s such a gorgeous ring and the photo doesn’t do it justice! Rayshell had shown me this ring in a photo before she got engaged and the moment I saw the picture I knew that this was the perfect ring for her. It’s really classic and unique at the same time. And I love that it’s in rose gold since most people have white gold rings nowadays. Even though I know Rayshell told Paul that this was the ring she loved, I think he did a great job following instructions and getting such a great ring (and I think he did it without any help).

So of course, Rayshell and I had to do a happy hour outing to celebrate her engagement. It took a few weeks to get together because I ordered engagement presents online and it took some time getting it to me. But we were finally able to meet up this past week.

Rayshell got to pick the happy hour place and she chose her favorite, El Torito Grill.

I got there first (I gave myself a ton of time in case there was horrible traffic) but Rayshell got there shortly after me and we got to have some really quality catch-up time.

It was so nice to be able to congratulate her on the engagement in person. And I love giving presents to my friends. I got her a wedding planning notebook and a personalized garter (I get those gifts for all my bride-to-be friends). And I think Rayshell really liked both gifts.

Our happy hour hangout was really fun. Technically, we didn’t order anything off the happy hour menu, but I always have fun with getting a dinner out.

Rayshell shared with me the details for the wedding that they have figured out already. They have a really amazing venue on the beach in Santa Barbara picked out and the wedding will be next year in the spring.

I’m super excited for this wedding. I know it will be fabulous and I’m so excited to celebrate Rayshell and Paul with all their friends and family.

I know that some single people dread weddings (I guess it reminds them that they are still single), but I’m not like that at all. I have so much fun at weddings and all the weddings I’ve been to have been so unique and perfect for the couple that is getting married. So I’m just excited to see how their wedding will reflect them as a couple.

And of course I’m already thinking about what I want to wear to the wedding and hoping I might be able to lose more weight before then. But I don’t want to set a really big weight loss goal again. I feel like when I don’t reach my goal it’s really tough on me and I don’t want to have to deal with that disappointment.

But I’m really going to work hard on my exercise and diet and see where I can be by next spring. No matter what, I’m excited to have another big event to look forward to.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged engagement, happy hour, wedding

More Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week)

Posted on October 22, 2014 | Comments Off

After having my parents here for their long layover, I prepared for another family visit.

My brother and sister-in-law were coming to LA to attend a wedding.

They had plans to go to the USC game on Saturday and I had to work my box office job and babysit that day, so we made plans to get together on Sunday for brunch.

We headed to my favorite brunch place, Rush Street. They have the best tater tots and my brother is a huge Bloody Mary fan and they have a Bloody Mary bar there. We had a nice relaxing brunch and since my brother’s birthday was just a few days ago, I didn’t mail his card and gift so I could give it to him in person.

After brunch, my brother and sister-in-law had a few errands that they needed to get done. And since they didn’t have a rental car for the trip, I drove them around and helped them out. My brother has a couple of interviews with different hospitals this week and needed some more dress shirts (because he didn’t pack enough) and a nice folder for his resume. And since we were going to a clothing store for him, my sister-in-law and I shopped around for dresses because she has another wedding to go to this upcoming weekend.

After the errands, I took them back to their hotel so they could get ready for the wedding. My sister-in-law had to leave early from the wedding to fly back home, but since my brother has his interviews he was staying in LA a little longer.

So on Monday, I picked up my brother and we went to lunch together. It’s been a long time since he and I hung out just the two of us, and it was actually really nice just to catch up without other family being there too.

Then, I dropped him off at a car rental place so he could get a car to drive to Santa Barbara (where his interviews are). He heads back home this afternoon and there’s a chance he might come hang out at my house for a few hours waiting for his flight. I guess my house has turned into an airport lounge for my family.

It was so great to have so many family visits recently. While I did get to see my parents and sister-in-law last month, I hadn’t seen my brother is a while.

It’s always nice to have some family time, even if it’s only a few hours here and there.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, brother, brunch, Los Angeles, visit, wedding

An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

Posted on August 5, 2014 | Comments Off

A friend of mine, Sarah, got married last week. She and her now husband decided that they didn’t want a big wedding and eloped. I think the only people in attendance at the wedding were her parents, the officiant, and the photographer.

Even though they didn’t want a big wedding, they did have a small party celebrating their marriage this past weekend. And I was honored that I got an invite to the party!

I had some fun picking out a present for the bride and groom. I got them a photo farm to use for one of their wedding photos (they already opened the gift so I’m not spoiling the surprise). And I do work hard on wrapping gifts as nicely as possible.

That is all my handiwork. Even the flower which I made from tissue paper. And yes, I’ll do a blog post soon about how to do the flower (I’ve already gotten requests to do that and I just need to get more supplies before doing it).

The party was held in a house in the hills near Silverlake where the bride’s parents were renting a house while on vacation here in LA. Sarah and her husband actually got married in the backyard of the house.

And as soon as I got there, I was blown away by how gorgeous the view was from the backyard.

It was a pretty casual party, so that was really nice. There was Mexican food brought in from a restaurant (whose name is escaping my memory). It was really yummy food and we all ate in the backyard. There were different decks and seating areas to be in, so I was in a small group sitting in this little covered deck area and we all had fun chatting and goofing off while eating.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the view got so much better!

After dinner, we headed back into the house for some dessert. There was vegan and non-vegan ice cream and a gluten-free vegan cake. I’ve had some bad experiences with gluten-free vegan cakes, but I have to say that this one was actually really good. I might not have known it was gluten-free or vegan if people didn’t tell me.

I enjoyed a small scoop of non-vegan Oreo ice cream as well!

Before I knew it, it was getting pretty late and I needed to head home (I had some things I had to do early on Sunday morning). Before I left, Sarah made sure I took a favor from the wedding.

Everyone at the wedding got to take a little pot of flowers home with them. Mine is sitting in my living room until my parents are here to visit me later this month. Since my dad is the one with the green thumb, I’m going to let him tell me what I should do with the flowers.

I’ve been to many different types of wedding over the years, and I have to say that every wedding I’ve attended really fit the people involved so perfectly. While eloping and having a very small reception a few days later might not be for everyone, I think it was so perfect for Sarah and her husband and I had the best time at their party.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged party, vegan, wedding

The Big Event! (or The Reason I’m In Maui)

Posted on September 13, 2013 | 3 comments

On Tuesday the 10th, it was finally the wedding day! (BTW, this is a very photo heavy post, but I think you will all love the photos.)

Since the wedding didn’t start until 4:30, my brother and the rest of my family spent the morning relaxing at our rental house.

My parents and I got ready at the house, but my brother got ready at the hotel he had reserved for that night. We all went to the hotel together and just before we left for the wedding, we got this picture of all of us.

Yes, I wore that dress to Marie and Chris’s wedding last year, but Krystle wanted me to wear it. Her mom, my mom, and I all wore lace dresses so I think she wanted us to match a bit.

We then drove 5 minutes down the road for the wedding. It looked just as beautiful as it did for the rehearsal the day before.

While we waited in the air-conditioned bar, guests started to show up. Ross had a couple of friends from elementary school and college there.

And the guys got him this gift for his wedding.

Finally, it was time for the wedding to start. I walked with my parents down the aisle and took our seats in the first row. Then Ross was there waiting for his bride.

Because the sun was in our eyes, it was tough for me to get photos of the wedding (I’m sure the professional photos will look awesome though). I did get one that turned out nicely.

It was a pretty quick ceremony (they did write their own vows though). And before you knew it, the officiant was announcing the new Dr. and Mrs. Levin!

We all headed back up the aisle to celebrate the wedding.

I got a picture with my new sister.

And of course a picture of the bling.

Then the family headed over to the side for the official pictures. I tried to snap a couple of my own between shots. This one is of me, my brother, and our cousin Adam.

Then Ross and Krystle went off to take their photos alone and the rest of us went to enjoy cocktail hour with an amazing sunset.

Just as cocktail hour was coming to a close, Ross and Krystle joined us again.

And we headed inside for dinner.

I was seated at the head table with the rest of the immediate family. It was nice that we all got some time to chat because I know how tough it can be at some weddings.

Dinner was 4 courses (when you counted cake). And it was seriously delicious!

There wasn’t really a cake cutting (just a photo-op), so I didn’t get any pictures of that.

After the food, it was time for dancing.

There was the traditional first dance.

And then even though I think technically we weren’t supposed to have music out on the deck where the dance floor was, the wedding coordinator plugged her iPhone into a speaker so we could have some good dance music!

I spent a lot of the dancing time just catching up with family. We don’t get to see each other all too often, so I take advantage of any time I get.

I also got this picture with two of Ross’s oldest friends (they’ve all known each other since kindergarten). My dad may or may not have said a pretty dirty word to try to get us to smile (which explains the surprise face on one of Ross’s friends).

Overall, I’d say it was a pretty great wedding. It was very small, but that made it easy to talk to people. And I think Ross and Krystle were beyond happy with how everything turned out.

I still have a few more Hawaii posts ahead with the rest of my activities, so those will be coming next week!

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged brother, family, Hawaii, Maui, wedding

Rehearsal Time (or A Relaxing Day Of Vacation)

Posted on September 12, 2013 | Comments Off

Monday was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. In the morning, my brother had to go and get his marriage license (got to make sure it’s official!), so my parents and I spent that time reading by the pool for a few hours.

Once my brother got back, it was time to change into our nice clothes and head over to Kapalua to Merriman’s for the rehearsal. My parents and I had driven by Merriman’s before but it wasn’t open so we hadn’t gotten a chance to see the venue.

It was pretty gorgeous at the ceremony space.

All my parents and I had to do for the rehearsal was sit in the chairs and watch the rehearsal take place.

This was the first wedding rehearsal I’ve attended, but I’m pretty sure this was just a standard rehearsal. The guy marrying them just went over the order of the ceremony. Easy peasy.

After the rehearsal, we got a sneak peek at the reception room. It was getting set up for another wedding, so the tables weren’t what would be there tomorrow, but it gave us an idea of the room.

After that, the rehearsal was technically over. But we sat at the bar and waited because another wedding was happening at the ceremony site right after that, and we wanted to see how it looked. While we waited, we had some drinks.

I, of course, had a Dirty Shirley (and water because it was so hot out!).

After spying on the other wedding for a bit, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner at Lahaina Grill. We had a semi-private room (it was a private alcove in a small part of the restaurant). We got our waiter to take a picture of the entire group.

The food there was incredible! For a starter, my mom and I split a mozzarella tomato salad (this picture is my half of the salad and it’s still pretty big).

And for my entrée, I got the pork shank. What I didn’t realize was how huge this thing would be!

The whole middle of it was the bone, but it was still a huge meal. I ended up taking over half of it home.

Although we all laughed at my doggy bag because we all thought it said “pork smack” instead of “pork shank” (we might have found that extra funny because of the wine at dinner).

After dinner, Krystle’s family headed back to their condo and my family headed back to the rental house so get a good night sleep before the big day tomorrow!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged dinner, Hawaii, Maui, wedding

Off On An Adventure (or It’s Hawaii Time!)

Posted on September 6, 2013 | Comments Off

Most likely, as you are reading this, I’m on a flight headed to Maui right now. I’ll be there for the next week for my brother’s wedding.

I had a bunch of goals connected to this event. I really wanted to lose a lot of weight, but that didn’t happen. I did lose weight, but nowhere near the amount I wanted to lose.

But you know what? I don’t really care. At this is the first time that I’m not devastated about missing a goal. I’ve done so much good stuff for my body lately that the number on the scale isn’t the be all end all for me anymore (I still weigh myself obsessively, but I don’t focus as much on the number).

I’m excited to spend this next week with a lot of my family. Besides the actual wedding, there will be plenty of other times that I’ll get to hang out with family that I don’t get to see that often.

I’m a little nervous about spending a lot of time in a bathing suit (I wonder if I will ever feel comfortable in one). I’m also nervous about the ocean. I hate swimming in the ocean. I have a fear of any creatures that live in there (even the fish). But I’m hoping to at least try to swim in the ocean, but I’m not going to force myself to do it if I start to get panicky.

But I’m super excited for getting out-of-town and recharging my batteries some more. I got a taste of that during my weekend in Tahoe, but I can’t remember the last time I was away from LA for more than a long weekend. I will be posting on here every day as usual, but besides that I will be trying to stay away from the internet and social media as much as I normally do. It’s so easy to be on vacation and spend the whole time with your face in your phone. I want to focus on the experience of my trip. I don’t get to do things that like that often and I want to fully take advantage of it!

My next post will be from Hawaii!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged Hawaii, Maui, travel, trip, vacation, wedding

Life Updates (or Some Of What’s Going On)

Posted on August 2, 2013 | Comments Off

Today, I’ve decided to update you all on a couple of little things going on in my life.

First of all, the most recent car accident I’ve had. I haven’t gotten my car fixed, or even gotten an estimate. I’m hoping to do that sometime in the next few weeks. I haven’t decided if I’m going to fix it at all. It doesn’t look horrible, and right now I don’t have the money for the deductible (I could get it together in time, I just don’t know if that’s a priority for me right now).

Also, I’ve finally decided what I’m going to wear to my brother’s wedding. I’m nowhere near the weight loss goal I had for myself, but that’s ok. The wedding is in Hawaii, and it’s black tie optional. I don’t want to wear a full length dress, so I’m going to wear the same dress that I wore to my friend Marie’s wedding last year in Texas. The dress is fancy and I think the color is tropical. Here’s a little picture of it.

I still need to figure out what I’m wearing for the rehearsal dinner and need to go out and buy another bathing suit (I only have 1 right now), but I’ve got some time to get those done. At least the most important outfit for the trip is figured out.

I also wrote about how I have a black thumb a while back. I’ve been trying really hard to not kill my plants this time. I think I’ve succeeded in not killing my plants (yet).

I sent this photo to my dad, and he thinks that it looks like the plants are thriving. Hopefully they will still look this good when he comes to visit me in the fall.

And finally, a long overdue update. I said last year that I was thinking of getting rid of cable. I kept my cable but tried to only watch my shows through Hulu, Netflix, and the internet. And while it worked for many of my shows, it just wasn’t a good solution for them all. In order for me to do my research, it would get to be pretty difficult to not have cable and a DVR.

But I am trying to expand my shows to be things that don’t air on traditional TV. I had yesterday off (there was an awards show filming at my work and it wasn’t safe for us to be there), and I watched all 13 episodes of “Orange Is The New Black”, which is a Netflix original series. If you haven’t watched this show yet, start now! It’s amazing! It might be one of the best shows on tv (and it’s pretty much an all female cast which is amazing and pretty much unheard of).

So that’s what has been going on in my life. I’m feeling pretty reflective as I’m coming to the last week of my 20’s. I’ve been looking back at some photos and just thinking about how much I changed over the last decade. And how so much will change again for me in this next decade. I know I’m probably sounding very sappy, but big birthdays will do that to a person. And when I turned 20, I had no idea that I would be in the place that I am now. So my imagination has been going wild thinking of the possibilities that could be when I’m looking back at my 30’s ten years from now.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged accident, birthday, plants, TV, update, wedding

How Long Can I Wait? (or Wanting To Shop At The Last Minute)

Posted on May 30, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday on the phone, a relative of mine asked me if I had gotten a dress to wear to my brother’s wedding yet.

Honestly, I haven’t even really thought about what I want to wear. I have about 3 months until the wedding. That gives me time to shop around.

But also, I still want to see how much weight I can lose. I’m not going to be anywhere near my original goal, and that’s very upsetting to me. Just the other day, it was my 1 year anniversary at my day job. And I just couldn’t believe how quickly the time has gone by.

And while in the last 9 months I have lost weight, it’s not as fast as I wanted. There is a chance that somehow I could lose weight really quickly in 3 months, but I’ve learned from past experiences that that is not the best way for me to try to maintain the weight loss.

I have a size in mind that I’d like to be for the wedding, and it may or may not be doable. But at that size, I still wouldn’t fit into “normal” sized clothing.

Which gives me few options of stores that I can go and try on clothes at (that don’t look like something an old lady should wear). I’ve looked at some of the dresses available at David’s Bridal, and they have some cute things that would come in the size I’m at right now. And hopefully if I went to one of their stores they would have some options in my size to try on.

The other part of me is just wondering what I’ll want to wear for a black tie/formal wedding that is taking place near the beach in Hawaii. For practical reasons, I don’t want to wear heels, I’d want to be in wedges. I also don’t want something floor length because it would get dirty (and possibly be too warm).

Does anyone out there have any ideas for a dress that comes in plus sizes that would work for a formal Hawaii wedding? I’m serious open to suggestions. I might not try on a dress for another month or two, but I really need to get some ideas in my head for when I’m ready to shop.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Shopping, Tough Stuff, Travel

Tagged dress, Hawaii, plus size, shopping, wedding

Renting A Dress (or Testing Out Gwynnie Bee)

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 1 comment

I got a lot of compliments on the dress that I wore to the wedding this past weekend.

The dress was by Kiyonna, a store that I’ve written about before. But this time, it wasn’t a dress that I owned. I borrowed it from a service I’m trying out called Gwynnie Bee.

Basically, Gwynnie Bee is like Netflix for plus sized clothes (sizes 10 and up). You pay a monthly fee for a certain number of items out at a time, and you send back the outfits when you are done with them. I’m currently in a 30 day free trial (you can start your own trial for free at this link).

My trial is for 3 items at a time, so I filled my virtual closet with dresses so I’d have some new things to wear for the wedding. I got 3 dresses to my house this week. One dress didn’t fit so well (but they do include cards that you send back with the items to say any issues you had with fit), and the other one was a little casual for an evening wedding. Inside the box with the dresses were pre-paid UPS bags to send the items back.

This is pretty awesome! Clothes aren’t cheap, and in a way, this is a way to try clothes on that you can sometimes only find online.

On the Gwynnie Bee site, there are a lot of dresses and cute tops. I think that most of the clothes are cute and things that I wear. My only hesitation is that I pretty much live in jeans and t-shirts. I sometimes go out in cute clothes, but when I’m at my day job, there’s no need to dress nice.

I don’t know if I’d want to wear nicer clothes at work because when you are sitting in a chair for 8 hours on the phone pretty much the entire time, you want to be comfortable.

I’m sending back the dresses that I have at my house this week so I can try some other cute clothes. Maybe I’ll decide to wear cuter things at work. But if you are looking for some new clothing options, you should totally sign up for the free trial.

Full disclosure: if you sign up for a free trial from the link I provided and then decide to keep the membership after the trial, I do receive compensation in the form of a free month of my personal membership. If you don’t want me to get a free month from you signing up, please go to their main page and sign up through there. Gwynnie Bee did not give me any compensation for this post. All opinions are of my own.

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged clothes, dress, fashion, plus size, rental, shopping, wedding

Beautiful Wedding For A Beautiful Friend (or I’m Glad I Wore Waterproof Mascara)

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 1 comment

This past Sunday was my friend Jennifer’s wedding. It was held at Shanghai Reds in Marina del Rey. I’ve only attended one other wedding where I could drive from my house, so it was nice that I didn’t have to worry about a hotel or travel this time.

It was seriously the perfect day for a wedding! The ceremony took place outside right on the water.

And Jennifer was such a beautiful bride! The dress she wore was amazing (and similar to what I always imagined myself wearing when I get married one day).

The ceremony was pretty traditionally Jewish. There were a lot of Jewish elements in it (such as the bride circling the groom 7 times and the breaking of the glass), but the ceremony was also very personal to Jennifer and her now husband Rich. The officiant is a friend of theirs and also a life coach, and she was a great officiant. Lots of personal touches without going overboard.

During cocktail hour, I skipped the food (there was a big line) and I got to hang out with my friend Devon. Devon and I have known each other for about 11 years, but we haven’t seen each other in about 5 years. She was living in Sweden with her husband for a while, but now she lives in Florida. It was so great to get to see her and catch up.

The reception was held right inside next to the ceremony space, so we got to watch the marina as the sun went down.

I sat at a table with a lot of the girls that I met at the bridal shower, so it was nice to have familiar faces around me.

Although I will admit that having fun friends around you (as well as an open bar) will make me do silly things like this.

Dinner was very nice. There was a salad and then my entrée was a chicken dish (I believe it was chicken piccata).

The cake was the same type of cake from the bridal shower, but this time it looked much more like a wedding cake from the outside.

I tried it again, but I’ve realized that gluten-free vegan cakes just aren’t my thing.

I had some fun dancing with friends (sorry, no pictures of that), and I participated in the bouquet toss (I didn’t get it, but I did borrow it from my table-mate who did catch it for this quick photo).

Before I knew it, it was almost 10pm and I needed to head home so I could get a good night sleep before my work week started up again.

Jennifer, if you are reading this, I had the most amazing time at your wedding! Thank you for inviting me and letting me be part of your very special day! You and Rich are such a great example of finding your true soul mate. I wish you both so much happiness and love.

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged bride, dinner, friends, gluten-free, vegan, wedding

Tag Archives: wedding

A Happy Hour Celebration (or Looking Forward To Another Wedding)

Like this:

More Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week)

Like this:

An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

Like this:

The Big Event! (or The Reason I’m In Maui)

Like this:

Rehearsal Time (or A Relaxing Day Of Vacation)

Like this:

Off On An Adventure (or It’s Hawaii Time!)

Like this:

Life Updates (or Some Of What’s Going On)

Like this:

How Long Can I Wait? (or Wanting To Shop At The Last Minute)

Like this:

Renting A Dress (or Testing Out Gwynnie Bee)

Like this:

Beautiful Wedding For A Beautiful Friend (or I’m Glad I Wore Waterproof Mascara)

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