fabio-mueller wedding

a wedding adventure...

This past weekend I spent three whole days in Cali with my fabulous traveling partner Clayton. We were visiting for the wedding of a close friend of Clayton's (he was in the wedding!) The ceremony and reception were held at the Houdini Mansion, and it was absolutely stunning. Of course I took photos of the grounds and tried to capture a few of us too.

The forties themed wedding was set perfectly in the Hollywood hills.
I snapped a quick shot of the bride and groom as they were posing for the photographer.

Since it has been raining a ton there the grounds were lush and green.
So pretty!

The bride is Italian so to honor her family two Bocci ball sets were placed in the grass for guests to play before the ceremony started.

I know this one isn't very clear, but I wanted to give you an idea of it anyway.

This switch back stair case served as the background as the couple read their vows beneath a wrought iron arch. It leads to a hiking trail that takes you to the top of the mountain the house is built on.



And the view from the top of the stairs.

The view looking out from the reception area.

Where they made history.

It had rained on my hair twice before the ceremony started, otherwise there would be no excuse for frizzy hair at a wedding.

The tables before the delicious food was served.



One of my favorite things about the wedding was the cake, the bride hand painted their cake topper and the carrot cake cupcakes melted in your mouth.

My prince in his wedding clothes- so very handsome.

How lucky am I?

i hope you count your blessings.

uh oh

adventure before the adventure...

Remember the time Clayton and I were very excited to go on a California adventure to participate in the wedding festivities of great friends? Remember how excited we were that we were staying at a swanky downtown hotel with FREE breakfast? and remember when I told Clayton to double check the hotel confirmation we received, just in case?

All of that made me remember the time Clayton did check the confirmation only to find I booked the hotel for the wrong weekend. And then I remembered that hotels.com has an awful policy that confused, and very apologetic girlfriends do not get refunds on accommodations made by accident.

So.

That was my Monday.

i hope tuesday is better.

i could live in my jean jacket

hello friday!

Friday= casual day at work.
And i heart this.
It means i get to wear my jean jacket and flip flops guilt-free.

it also means that it's my last day of office work for two days.
can i get a napoleon dynamite yesss!?!?

however it does NOT mean i should skip the hair straightening process of getting ready unless i am putting my hair in a pony.


In other really awesome news: Clayton and I are going to California next week for a wedding! Yes folks, a week from now I will be beach side lounging in the sun. Okay, in reality we'll probably be helping set up for the wedding since Clayton is one of the groomsmen.
I'll still be in the sun :)

The count down has officially commenced! We are less than a week out!!!

i hope you get to make fish faces at work.

why, hello 90 degree weather

work place adventures...

Today I got up at an ungodly hour to do my hair and makeup so I could post a non-hideous photo of myself at work. And also because I realized that prancing around with a messy pony and no makeup is only okay after working out and swimming.

this is a test shot, to make sure i'm actually in the frame.
of course i am sending love bbm-notes to Clayton.

Yes people, the sundress is now in full swing. If you live here you already feel summer creeping up with the temperature in the 90's already.

But in case you were wondering, i LOVE the wrap dress.
this one happens to be from the Gap.

Also, i've been working on my use of Velcro rollers. It's coming along. Very slowly, but it's getting there.

Growing up i always recognized the fact that my father has a roman nose, but i always convinced myself that (thankfully) this trait is one of his that was not passed down to me. However after flipping through several photos and taking a serious look at my side profile it has come to my attention that my entire life i've been wrong. hmm... will work on coming to terms with that later.

The card reads "I am willing to let go".
Everyone at my work gets a card on Monday, and that is the thought that stares back at you all week long. The other side expounds on this good thought:

"I release others to experience whatever is meaningful to them, and I am free to create that which is meaningful to me."

These cards always impart some sort of wisdom on me, and like a horoscope, never address the current happenings in my life.

i hope you bust out your favorite sun dress this week.

wearing coffee

caffeine adventures...

I'm going to be honest, I haven't been waking up near as early as I should be in order to take photos of myself. I can barely pull myself out of bed before 6am to get to work on time. So today I decided to take a picture of a very important part of my Wednesday.

I have yet another confession. Despite my love for grande skinny white chocolate mocha's with no whip cream, I really miss Fairtrade Cafe. Normally, I would protest the corporate coffee scene however there is no local coffee shop within a short drive of my office. There isn't even one in driving distance of my house. Okay, I haven't done in depth research on the topic but I will get to the bottom of this. I know the bring-your-own-grocery-bags-to-the-market and downtown-loving part of my soul dies a little bit when I make a purchase from Starbucks, but the functional side of me becomes, well, more functional.




Ah, me sans makeup and a ponytail. It would be awesome if it wasn't the third time this week.
Good thing I sit in the corner.

i hope you support your local coffee shop.

hap-bee birthday

birthday adventures...

Today 20 years ago one of the most amazing women I know was brought into this world.

Not only is my (big) little sister one of my best friends, she's 2/3 of the way to a fashion icon and has the most beautiful smile. This lucky lady is spending her birthday in Disneyland courtesy of Dad (too bad he didn't send us as a pair!). Haleigh is currently in her sophomore year at Arizona State studying social work. Her heart is as kind as her eyes and I thank my lucky stars I get to be part of her world. With her laid back, easy going personality its hard for anyone not to fall completely in love with her.

Happy Birthday Baby Sister!

i hope this year is the best one yet.

the wedding dance

Music is a powerful thing. It can make us jump up and dance, feeling on top of the world or touch our hearts and make us cry. It can reminisce forgotten memories and worn out fads. Living within a predominately female environment for my entire life (until a few months ago) I have found how quickly I learn which melodies breathe life into the ghosts of old boyfriends and which spark tales of the past. Some songs find themselves on the forbidden list, never to be played or listened to for the rest of eternity usually do to its attachment to a painful memory.

Two notable songs that have been outlawed from singing are my parent’s and my Aunt Lani’s wedding songs. More specifically, the song they spent months listening to, weighing it against other options, and memorizing the lyrics to make sure it was the perfect choice to dance to for the very first time of their married lives. While playing each will bring out different reactions in these women, both will sufficiently ruin a good mood.

After learning to use lightening fingers to change the radio station while riding along with the women that so heavily shaped my world, I find myself dumbstruck when one of these dreaded songs works its way into my Pandora station at work. I quickly scan my office and find that I do not have to change the song. Out of curiosity I let the song swirl around me and it quickly envelopes my thoughts.

I cannot help but see photographs flash through my mind. The classic poses come first- mom and dad cutting the cake, momma walking down the aisle with my grandpa, and both my mom and my aunt arranged with various family members. Then there are the photos of the actual first dance in which you see the young innocent faces looking longingly into the eyes of their future.

“…baby you’re all that I want, when you’re lyin here in my arms…”

These young women could only dream what those songs would come to represent and mean to them. Because of that first dance children and dogs and homes ensued. That first song became number one on the soundtrack to the new life they would come to build with the lanky and slightly awkward men leading them around the dance floor.

Suddenly I am in their dyed-to-match shoes and taffeta gowns being twirled across a ballroom floor with the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. Having my hand in his with our eyes locked, both of us brandished with blissful smiles gives me goose bumps.

Quite suddenly my daydream is interrupted by my bleary eyes, for they have seen the aftermath of this dance and the dismantled hopes and dreams that lay in its wake. The image of sharing my life with someone only to be left with the pieces of what used to be my heart makes my chest ache. Suddenly the importance of the forbidden list is clearer than ever.

Next song please.

i hope for healed hearts.

another morning edition

adventures bright and early...

early morning necessity: early grey tea with a splash of milk
p.s. did my mom ever teach me how to stand in a skirt? obviously not...

awkward arm photo....

literally gulping the caffeine down

I have to be honest when I first bought this little black skirt from Forever 21 I was extremely hesitant to debut it, but it has quickly become my favorite thing to wear to the office. It is made out of the same material as leggings, so its slimming (which is always awesome) yet comfy. I can put it beneath short dresses or long tops to make it work appropriate. Plus I've always loved the look of a pencil skirt. This $7.00 piece of clothing is the read deal, baby.

Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me" just came on in my office... I work in paradise.

i hope pandora fills your office.

break time

self portrait adventures...

Since I cannot seem to get myself out of bed an extra five minutes early to have assistance with my outfit posts I am learning to take photos of myself, well, myself. Here are some of the better ones from the 9:00am break.

the owl mug is key to my early mornings

wearing out the last bit of sweater weather while it is still cool enough to in the mornings

(and in my office)

comfy black flats perfect for a busy Tuesday

i hope your morning was wonderful.

the life of a house girlfriend

growing up adventures...

Warning- halfway through this blog post it became an essay.

There are events your Mother sits you down and talks to you about before they happen. These life-altering changes are thus expected, and when able to brace for them they never seem as bad. For instance, my Momma had to explain all the lovelies that come along with becoming a woman and a changing teenage body. Although freaked out about the radical changes I would be encountering during my awkward junior high and high school years, I was prepared. Something has happened to me that my Momma never mentioned. No aunt or grandmother let on to this major event.

I have recently moved into an apartment with my boyfriend Clayton. I couldn't be happier. Along with the amazing things that come from living with your significant other there also come chores- laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming, and paying bills. In addition to playing house girlfriend (you can't be a house wife if you're only dating) I am working at least 40 hours a week. And I (attempt to) cook dinner at least five nights a week.

My girlfriend who recently graduated and started her full time job one day described herself as boring during conversation. I shrugged this comment off because this particular friend is not boring. The exchange I had with her reminded me of a girls night sleepover I had with my cousins before a wedding just a few months prior. The married/engaged ones expressed themselves as boring, that they had hardly any friends and no time for themselves.

How these strong, wonderful women with fulfilling careers and homes could describe their lives as boring was beyond me. I didn't quite understand what they meant, but I was quick to suggest new topics to distract them from their odd thought processes. But now that I am living similar lives to them I am finally understanding the frustration each of them tried to express to me in their own way, all using the same dreaded word.

The last few weeks I have developed a pattern: Monday I grocery shop and cook after work, Tuesday I clean (both bathrooms, sweep and mop, vacuum, and dust) and make dinner, Wednesday is the ONLY night Clayton is not in class until 8:30 so we usually watch a movie or run errands and make dinner, Thursday and Friday always become filled with family dinners and errands. By the time I realize it the weekend is upon me, of which I spend almost all of Sunday doing laundry. I am in bed at night by 10:00pm, but am exhausted no matter how much sleep I seem to get or miss.

I am slowly losing touch with my girlfriends, I do not have the energy to visit the gym. I am thankful I have not yet made the commitment to an animal or a child, as I cannot imagine the never ending list of To Do's. I barely blog as it is. My life has become boring. There is a fine line between happiness in the mundane and losing touch of my self identity and I'm walking it. In college, if I happened upon a stressful/busy/tiring schedule it was easy to get through as the semester would end soon enough and spring break would provide reprieve. Now that I'm a grown up, real life doesn't have summer break.

I want to take this opportunity to assure you that I am not unhappy with the choice I made to share a bathroom with one boy for the rest of time. Thinking about designing our apartment, futures, and lives together makes me giddy. I enjoy cooking and nights spent staying in. Despite the new excitement of weaving our lives together, I can't help but wonder in the back of my mind if this is how it will be forever.

The thing I am most concerned about is not my ability to stay out late partying, but to retain my personality quirks and traits while attempting to fit into my version of the domestic goddess mold. I don't want to forget my dreams in the swirl of saving for a house and continually planning for tomorrow. For if my spontaneity and stubbornness diminish I will no longer be the girl Clayton fell in love with. Could my attempts at keeping a well run home while simultaneously working a full time job compromise one of the best relationships of my life?

While this may be a phase, I look to the women who tried to warn me of this epidemic. Do they still describe themselves as boring after becoming more efficient in the house wife/girlfriend role? It may be a matter of creating a better routine, re-examining my priorities, or just plain acceptance of my present state. I hold hope that the reason my older female generations have not shared this rite of passage with me has nothing to do with their fear of my settling down but is because it is not a lasting feeling. Unfortunately, all I can feel right now are the creases in my brow deepening, sure to spell out my fate across my forehead: boring.

weekend outing

dressing for adventure, take two....

Saturday night Clayton and I went to dinner with my Dad and his wife to celebrate a promotion my Dad received this last week. After a few minutes of debate, Clayton decided that we should take them to Boulders on Broadway (a sports/divish bar and the site of Clayton and I's very first unofficial date) in Tempe.

Not only does Boulders have a TON of beers to choose from on tap, their food is awesome. Since it was a casual atmosphere I went with jeans and dressed it up with a fab necklace gifted to me from my Aunt Lani for graduation last December.

the necklace reads "Love is moonlight in the darkness"
*swoon*



after running late I decided to rock the "beach hair" look

i hope your weekend was wonderful.

following the trend

I've noticed a popular thing to do lately is take pictures of the outfit you sport at least 5x a week and post it on your blog. I want to be totally up front about this: I am NOT a fashion blogger. I in no way claim to be fashionable, I usually strive to match and look semi-put together. Let's be honest, I was raised on the Gap and since then I've been addicted to jeans/khakis and a white tee. However, I did come across one blog in which there was a "daily outfit" post that the blogger did for herself. I wish I would've bookmarked it, cause I would link her right now. Anyway she said the best part of posting outfits on her blog was learning how to dress herself, what looked good on her and what she should donate.

I'm always up for new ideas! In lieu of learning (and possibly actually becoming more fashionable) I have decided I will start photographing my outfits and posting them. I apologize in advance for all the white v-necks you may encounter.

Here goes it.... my first attempt!

I was so nervous someone was going to walk up the window and think, "what the heck"?

And just in case my boss is reading this, I took these photos on my 9am break!

i hope this works.