Memorial Day 2010

Happy Memorial Day!! We got together with the Bradshaws, Hunts and Fairfields for some brunch at Tupelo Junction Cafe. So glad that we're already all hanging out together after our homegroup has ended. Such a great group of people and I'm so grateful that we were all brought together in our group.

After we stuffed ourselves silly and I'd had almost 3 cups of coffee (what?!?!) we took a quick trip over to the I Madonnari festival at the Mission to walk through the chalk art.

There was one artist that was drawing three kids that were so lifelike. It turns out that they were his kids, and they are watching on.....how neat!

You could tell who the artists were pretty easily.

There were so many great ones, it was hard to pick favorites.

There were so many people out there enjoying the artists and their work.

We then decided to go over to the grassy area and just sit for a while.....well, after smelling the roses that is. It was the most wonderful afternoon. The sun was out. The sky was blue. The conversation and company was awesome.....AND Caitlin made me a little clover necklace. I'd never seen one of those before and it was so pretty.

We sat around for a long time doing a whole lot of nothing this afternoon....mainly I was getting caught up on my blog while watching Grey's Anatomy on hulu. The last two episodes were so crazy intense. Seriously....I have never been that upset about a silly TV show...but man, oh man.

So, after that was over we decided to go on a bike ride. Brett pushes me when we go work out so now I'm even more sore than I was earlier today. :)

Ok.....I'm done. Wonderful weekend!!

Sunday Funday

It's Sunday Funday and it started with church for me and Brett, and then we stopped by Camille's right in time for the judging of the Bread Pudding Contest. Jen, Suzy and Camille all made up some yummy puddings for us to try.

We tasted. We voted.

Camille's chocolate bread pudding won.....which made our hostess very happy. :)

Brett and I headed back and ended up biking over to the AT&T store for some routine phone stuff....or so we thought. Half way through the proceedings, Travis asked us "How attached are you to your phone numbers?", and then explained that I'd have to switch mine if we wanted to combine our accounts. So.....I dropped the 512, and now I have an 805.

I was so excited to meet up with Juliann and her family at Santa Claus Lane beach for some family photos. I really enjoyed meeting the rest of her family - she's one of my favorite people in SB! I hope that her Mom likes what we end up with.....I think I got some pretty sick shots. :)

It was a little later in the evening when we went back over to Camille's house for some more hanging out and dinner.

Great Sunday....but so glad that we have tomorrow off work too!! Woohoo! :)

Love our Friends

What a special Saturday! It started out at breakfast with Jen and Jake at Jeannine's. They are off for 6 weeks for their summer project in Santa Monica, so I was so thankful that we were able to spend some good time with both of them before they're off.

We got to hear more about the beginning of their story, and it's such a great one. We've got two weddings between the four of us and I think we're all equally excited. :)

We then got on the road to LA to pick up Brett's ring and get my band sized to match. I had to leave my ring with them for the day, and it was such a weird feeling to not have it on my finger. I kept feeling for it all afternoon.

We went to meet Dave, Dayna and Hadley for the afternoon. Little Hadley is growing up so quick, she's such a doll. We both had such a good time hanging out with her and wish we got to see her more often. After a quick bite, we took a stroll around IKEA before going back to pick up our rings.

I love spending our time with our friends and I'm so thankful for them being in our life.

Coffee Cat

If we were at Texas A&M, they'd be calling our Friday morning meetings a tradition by now. I loved that we were able to meet up again this Friday, this time somewhere new....at Coffee Cat.

For anyone that isn't already doing this, I'd say you should. I find that there isn't enough time in the day, the week, the month, to spend with the people I love, and so I cherish the mornings, and the fact that I get to go in at 9.

Cafe a la Vanessa

I didn't snap a picture....but I should have. This morning Vanessa and I met for breakfast, but at a new place - her new house!! She cooked us up some yummy eggs, wonderful coffee, and as usual, it was a wonderful time for us to hang out.

Potluckness!

Tonight was a bittersweet night. We got together with our sweet homegroup for our Potluck Dinner. It's been such a wonderful season of getting to know this group of people better. I am sad that we won't be meeting as a big group on Wednesdays for a while, but I'm excited for us to continue building these relationships over the summer.

The Views!

It was so wonderful to attend Reality SF today and see the fruit of the church planting with Dave.

After, Brett took us a different way for our drive home. Instead of taking the 101 we headed towards Monterrey. We stopped for a little seafood lunch on the pier there. It was so windy but it was a gorgeous day!

One of the coolest things is that we stopped into a candy shoppe on the pier and watched them make taffy. I was too enamored watching to catch any pics....but it was pretty cool!

The drive took us through the some of the most beautiful parts of California! I couldn't get over how blue the sky was today!

Oh my gosh....the wind!! So funny! :)

Seriously......isn't this so beautiful?!?!

As we continued our drive towards Cambria, the views were just so amazingly vast. They went on forever. I'm glad that we took the drive going south, I think it's a much prettier side to be driving on.....although, if you get the chance to drive north....go for it! :)

After we passed Bixby Bridge outside of Big Sur, we had to stop and get a picture. It's so crazy that we were right on the corner of the US. One wrong turn and we would have fallen off the side of California!

We got back to SB a little after the sun went down....what a great weekend, drive and a wonderful time spent with my future husband. The countdown is getting less and less by the day....but oh.my.gosh, the big day can't get here soon enough!

Thumbs Up in SF

We made plans a while ago to visit Dave as part of our pre-marital counseling in San Francisco. We decided to make it an early drive on Saturday morning got into town right at lunch. Per a recommendation from Dave, we ended up at The Butler and The Chef - a cute little french restaurant walking distance from his offices.

I think that this is the first time I'd ever ordered an ahi tuna salad, and it was a great choice if I do say so myself. Super neat place and was a great spot for a bite!

We met up with Dave at his office......which I was super enamored with.....and had a great time catching up and talking about our upcoming wedding, how we've prepared, and in the end, he gave us a thumbs up! :)

Afterwards we picked up and met up with Ashley and walked around the Hayes part of downtown San Francisco. We stopped at "the" place to get some hot coffee and enjoyed strolling around the streets.

We parted ways, and we headed over to the mall at Union Square. I'm sure we could have gotten ourselves into all sorts of local fun, but instead we grabbed some super yummy tri-tip in the food court and caught Iron Man 2 at the movies.

La Cumbre with the AppFolio Ladies

Danielle just tied the knot, Vaibhavi is getting married on June 20th, and well....yes, you know about me. So, Karen Anne decided it was only right that the ladies get together and have a little afternoon to celebrate. She treated us to a lovely lunch......sooooo good......and had us all contribute to a fun little takeaway for all the ladies.

I can't share any of the secrets from our book, but it's filled with quips, recipes and pearls of wisdom for all of us! Thanks again Karen Anne for a special afternoon!!

French Press Friday

Yup.....we did it again. Love Friday mornings with the girls at French Press! Thanks for always making my morning so joyful!! xoxo

Catching Up

Almost as soon as I had my feet back on the ground in Santa Barbara, I was off again. I picked up my VP yesterday morning at 545am for our drive down to San Diego. We had a full day of meetings on Monday and Tuesday, and by the time tonight came around, we were pooped, and ready to be doing our own thing.

We Hotwire'd and ended up at different places, so I dropped him off and thought to call my buddy, Eric, who lives in SD. Lucky for me he lived about 5 minutes from where I was staying and didn't have dinner plans. I had him call the spot and we were off to Jimmy Fat's...or something like that.

It was on the water, near the harbor, and had a really nice view of all the boats. We sat on the patio, ate way too much and enjoyed catching up from the last year or so. Last time I saw Eric was for a quick stop when I was traveling through SD for work, with my last job.

Had a nice evening, didn't think too much about work before standing ALL day tomorrow at the show. Fun times. Thanks for coming to meet me even without a week's notice. :)

EDITED TO ADD.....just noticed that Eric is wearing the same shirt that he wore a year and a half ago when I was in SD. Maybe next time instead of dinner, I should take Eric shopping. ;) It's ok....I shouldn't poke fun. I wore the shirt that I had on in that old picture just this week. I need to go shopping too!

Home

I started to enjoy brunch when I lived in Austin....and so I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it again in Austin, and one last meal with friends in TX before heading back home.

We met up at Taverna and stuffed ourselves silly. Despite that I was dreading the hot weather yesterday afternoon, I rather enjoyed being able to wear a sundress in the middle of the morning and not be cold....at all!!

After our goodbyes, it was a dash to the airport.....I almost thought I wasn't going to get my bags to the airline in time for it to make it on the plane. Eek!! I don't like to travel that close to the edge.

I breezed through security, and as I was waiting on the other side to meet Autumn to get the pictures that I'd forgotten to get from her, I heard them calling my name on the loud speaker. Uh oh. I was waiting for them at Gate 12, and my plane was at 21. I hightailed it down the terminal and was the last one on the plane....which was ready to pull away from the gate about 10 minutes early (since when do planes leave early?).

As soon as I'm in my seat, I get a call from Autumn and learn, as she's huffing, that she just made the same run and gave the package to the attendant, who then brought it to me on the plane.

I slept on the plane ride, smiling in my sleep as I recounted what a great weekend I had and how lucky I am with these friends.

I landed in Santa Barbara, and as I was waiting for my bag at the claim, I got a call from Brett asking where I was. I turned around and saw him, with Kyle and Bethany in the truck, holding out a sign from the window saying "Welcome Home A $" and I knew I was.....home.

Brett's Shower :)

The reason for my trip to Austin was for a little shower/party to celebrate my and Brett's upcoming nuptials....except, Brett wasn't invited to this party. Girls only!! :)

Renae and Melissa threw the most amazing shower! They thought of everything, and I couldn't be any luckier to have them in my life and as such amazing friends. As I look back over the last few years, and now as we live in three different states, it's so awesome to know that we've all been together at Renae and Jeff's wedding in March 2008, at Melissa and Chris' wedding in November 2009....and will be at my and Brett's in just a few weeks.

I asked Emily to get a few shots for me, and I would have never expected her to capture every little bit....but she did, and so I get to share the details of the party....well, some details. Most photos will not be shown.....heehee.....but you can check out the girls' thoughtful decor for the party!

Of course I LOVED all the yellow!!! :)

I was super excited that my sisters, Taylor and Erika, drove in from Houston to join the party too. They made the super quick trip and were in Austin for less than 12 hours, but it was so special to me that they came to see me, and meet Betty and Autumn too. I love this picture that Emily got of the 3 of us with my Mom. I think this one is a framer. :)

I will not be sharing any of the pictures from the game we played.....but I thought it was so fun. Emily had asked Brett a few questions and had me give what I thought his answers would be. Surprisingly, I got some of the most random ones correct....but for the ones that I missed, I had to put a piece of bubble gum in my mouth. At the end, I had 7 pieces in there, and let's just say that it wasn't pretty.

I was showered with the most fun gifts.....well, Brett was showered, even though he wasn't present.....these presents were ALL for him. I'm super excited about sharing them with him on our honeymoon. Oooh, la la!!

The evening was filled with stories, laughter, some tears, but most of all a special, wonderful time, with my most favorite Texas women. I miss them so much each day, and wish I could selfishly put them all in my suitcase and take them back home with me.

Thank you ALL for being in my life. I am so blessed to call you all friends and love you all very much!

What a Trooper!

I was fortunate to get to spend the morning with Tara....she busted my wig. For those not as cool as I, I got my hair done. Ha! Kidding about the being cool part, I am anything BUT. I was so glad to be able to spend time chatting and catching up with her, and also have her fix me all up.

I went to meet up with the girls at The Domain in the afternoon for the little food festival they were having in the afternoon. We got ourselves some joint tickets, and had fun walking around trying all the goodies. I also popped into a store or two, but after going in the dressing room at JCrew, decided there and then, that I need to be on some kind of plan to get in better shape for the wedding. Man, those were some bad lights in there. Ugh!!

Our favorite food booth was the last one we managed to find, and we enjoyed the sample wine and chocolates! Corey definitely thought we'd found the jackpot and saved the best for last.

We parted ways to get ready for the party...but that gets a post of its own!!

The Good Stuff all over Austin

We got up early and started our morning off right with breakfast tacos at TacoDeli. It was the only time I would be able to visit with Anna while in town, so I was happy to be there to see her. I was also glad to be consuming two cups of joe since it was really before 6am that we were there California time.

We came back to the house, got ourselves situated for the day, and headed out to explore Austin. It wasn't the greatest weather, it was all rainy and drizzly, so the fun, sunny, parts of Austin were off the list to visit. We ended up getting downtown and walking around Whole Foods for a bit, before deciding that we'd hit up South Congress.

After putting our name in at HomeSlice, we walked over to Justin's Boots. I do love this store, and the smell too. Autumn did find Loralyn the most perfect gift from Texas to bring home to her - pink and brown cowboy boots - yeehaw!!

We then waited, patiently, and hungry-ly, for our table to be ready. The smell of the pizza wasn't helping our grumbling tummies one bit....but, the wait was worth it. The pizzas were super tasty, but even better, Tricia and Hudson came to join us too!!

Afterwards, our car made a quick detour....well, it was a little more than quick since I got turned around a bit, but we found the Austin postcard sign and got a quick shot.

Of course, my trip is a short one, but I wanted to squeeze seeing as many of the ones I love as possible, and that category wouldn't be complete without a visit from Ava and Grace! Kara brought them over and met us at the Arboretum and we hung out with the cows. I love these silly girls and can't believe how much they've grown since the last time I saw them.

We thought it was only right to get them started early....and tried out a group JUMP pic. Love how they are trying to imitate the big girls. So cute!!

Enough time in the rain and walking around....we headed back to Renae's to get ready for our dinner. I wanted to get some good BBQ, and Salt Lick is my favorite, while in Austin, but not before visiting some of my other favorite little ones in ATX.

We dropped in on Laura and her 4 lovely girls before they were getting ready for bed. I think that Autumn, and our Moms had more fun than I did holding the babies. There were almost enough to go around. :) The girls are full fledged little ones already, and Zoe is almost walking!! Geez!! Laura made it all look easy taking care of all of them, as usual. I loved seeing Ava too!! She's such a stinker, but will always be one of my favorites!!

At dinner I didn't go for the all-you-can-eat this time, but I got my fill. Man, that place is good. We did discover that there is a location in Las Vegas too, so maybe I won't have to go too long until I get it again....but was happy to be stuffed on the good stuff!!

Great times today and tonight. Looking forward to more tomorrow!!!

Yeah...made it to Austin!

I have landed in Austin for the weekend. I've been anticipating this weekend for so long...gosh, we picked out the weekend in January I think! I am so excited to see my girls, my Mom and sisters, and Betty and Autumn too....all in the same place!!

Renae, Emily, Betty and Autumn met me at the airport complete with a sparkly crown and boa. I was so happy to see them that I got all teary eyed.

On the way home, I asked for a detour to go through the drive-thru of Whataburger. Yummm.....got my fix. I'm excited for the weekend and what it has in store!! Woohoo!!

My favorite reason

I was glad that Vanessa and I got to reschedule our breakfast date and met up this morning at Jeannine's. Pancakes and coffee are so much better with a good friend.

I'll say it again, because it's true, there's no better reason to get out of bed early than to come meet and spend time with someone special. I'm glad that Vanessa does too. :)

Tuesday at Burger Bus!

Last week, Cheryl and I drove together to our girl's night, and on the way home decided that it would be good for both of us if we hung out more....and ate while we did. So, the plan was born, and today it was executed.

We met at The Burger Bus and really enjoyed our super yummy, tasty, and very messy, burgers. We were able to snag one of the tables in the parking lot, and got to spend some time together. It'll be a while until we get to do it again, as we are both crazy traveling over the next few weeks, but I'm already looking forward to the next one.


On a side note....I realized earlier today that I picked up Molly 8 years ago from the animal shelter in Austin. Now that I'm really looking at the calendar, it was actually May 10th, but who's counting? They thought that she was around 2-3 years old at the time. It's crazy to me that she's that old as she's still as playful as a kitten!

Oh, Molly

She really makes Brett and me laugh. Last night she was chasing around a hair rubber band....she loves those.

Then, she was totally posing for me tonight while I had the camera going.

20 hours and counting...

After church today, we decided that we needed to go ahead and finish up our wedding website. Since we are sending out the invites tomorrow...it needed to be done.

So....Brett started....and then many, many, many, hours....might have been an overnight late night....it was finished. I can't wait for everyone to see it. It was much more of an undertaking than we thought it would be, I think combined we spent easily more than 20 hours on it.....but it was worth it. I think it's one pretty cool looking website, and I love it!! Look for the formal announcement soon!! :)

Oh, Saturday.....

Oh, what a beautiful Santa Barbara day!! We opted to head to the beach for just a little bit this afternoon to take advantage of the sun. I got it from LB, but whenever Santa Barbara is just too beautiful to believe.....I think, "Oh, Santa Barbara". I thought that quite a bit as we were relaxing and enjoying our afternoon.

The afternoon was a pretty lazy one but then we got started putting more things away, cleaning up the place a bit, and hanging mirrors. I was trading texts with my friend, Jennifer, and she reminded me to capture these moments....so I got Brett and Molly and snapped this pic with the phone.

Brett may not admit it to his friends, but he really loves having Molly around. She's so incredibly sweet, and more cuddly than ever before. He's her number one fan for sure.

Oh what a Friday night!!

Oh yes folks....we had ourselves a pretty crazy Friday night. We took a little bike ride around the neighborhood after work. It was such a pretty day, the sun hadn't set yet, and we have the bikes....so we decided to use them. Brett and I had a great time biking around looking at all the homes, pointing out which ones we like and why. I truly love that we can do this. I've always had an interest in houses....and that still is the same here....whether we'll ever be able to afford one or not. Ha!

A quick trip to Ralph's for some food....and we were back to start dinner. A lady I work with mentioned tacos earlier today, and it got me thinking that sounded good. So, we picked up stuff for taco salads, and a couple movies too. Turns out that Brett and I have a few different thoughts on how to make this meal....so we ended up with two separate bowls.

Brett's was a tad larger than mine....but I say that mine tasted better. ;)


We watched Sherlock Holmes...which ended up not being as bad as everyone said it was. I guess I just have lower standards when it comes to mindless entertainment.

Then....around 11, we got started on the real activity for the evening. Stuffing, sealing and stamping our wedding invitations!! Woohoo!! Brett and I designed them ourselves, together, and I gotta say we're pretty proud of the way they turned out. Boone Graphics did a fantastic job of printing them AND the envelopes too!

So...we powered through, and ended up getting the entire task complete in a little less than two hours. Talk about teamwork!! They are going in the mail on Monday to our closest 137 family and friends. I really wish I could have invited every person that has ever crossed my path....but I'm still waiting on that winning lottery ticket to show up at my door.

Could we hang out again please??

Kate sent us an email this week with the subject line: "Could we hang out again please??".

A few quick notes back and forth, and we decided on a day, place and time. I loved how quickly it all came together.

715am. Friday. French Press. Lovely women. Beautiful times.

Happy Friday everyone!

It's been WAY too long....

....since we had a Girl's Night In....and so, after seeing Miss Tara at church on Sunday, the planning began.

It was last minute, but I love how most everyone was able to join!! We met at Camille's, hung out, caught up with everyone, talked about stuff that it's okay to talk about with your girls, ate cheese, chocolate, drank a little wine, and had a great time.

I miss nights like these, wish we could have them more often, and am already looking forward to the next one. Love you all!!!

Merriment for Mr and Mrs Sandoval!!

She's been working on it harder than I've ever seen anyone working on anything for the last few months. Her thoughts and preparations into making the day perfect were applaudable. Danielle married Erik on Saturday and it couldn't have been a prettier or more wonderful day.

The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the estate was grand....the perfect day for a celebration!!

Every detail was thought out....and it was all pulled off without a hitch!! The name cards that Shyla put together, and the wall she built, were so fun!! I loved the flowers that hung from the hooks along the aisle. The two arches....wow....they were superb.

Seeing all of this put together and beautiful....and knowing that only a few days before it was in bins, tubs, and boxes, in the garage at our place....was magic!!

Everyone in the bridal party looked fabulous.....but none more so than Danielle! She was glowing as she walked down the aisle to meet her man. I loved seeing Erik's expression as she strolled down to be with him.

The kiss was quite a spectacle....Erik picked Danielle right off the ground.....or maybe she jumped into him....but it was them. Every bit of the night was totally them.

Cocktail hour was great, we got a chance to meet some of their friends and had a wonderful time chatting it up with Kristen and Ryan. When we came back to the other side of the home, the dinner area was all setup, right as the sun was setting. It was the greatest backdrop for the rest of the night.

After dinner....which was yummy......everyone was given sparklers and asked to circle around the dance floor area. Danielle danced with her Dad, Erik with his Mom, and then the newlyweds danced as everyone surrounded them with sparklers! It was so neat, and one of my favorite parts of the evening!

Everyone was already on the dance floor....and so the party got started. Dancing, merriment, laughter and fun! Some cupcakes, and outfit change and the party went on.

We had a great time, and it was so wonderful to see Danielle and Erik become one!! Can't wait for them to return from their honeymoon and hear all about it!! Happy happy!!! Love love!