Happy Mother's Day!

I know I've been bad at blogging this week. I'm sorrrrry! The truth is that I started a new job within Google 2 weeks ago and have been working 60+ hour weeks trying to get up-to-speed, we're in the midst of searching for a new apartment in SF (which is pretty much a full time job), and my parents were here Wednesday through Saturday and I wanted to soak up as much parent time as possible. I'll be much better this week, I promise. :)

Just wanted to take a moment today to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my favorite ladies: my beautiful mother, my sassy grandma, my lovely aunt, and my sweet future mother-in-law. I love you all and wouldn't be the person I am without you. I hope your day is great! xoxo

PS - Google released this Mother's Day video - isn't it sweet? I know it's a marketing video but it still makes me tear up. Here's to the Moms! :)

Wedding Shower

Last weekend I co-hosted a wedding shower for our close friends, Meredith and Andrew. They're getting married on Labor Day weekend in Half Moon Bay, so it was nice to celebrate the couple a few weeks before their big day!

They're using jewel tones (think: deep purple, turquoise, fuchsia, and emerald!) in their wedding, so we decided to run with that theme and focused the decor around purple and green.

 We created a dessert bar complete with purple and green French Macarons (pistachio and black currant - yum!), salted caramel brownies, and grape and lime licorice.

I think my favorite part of the party was the mimosa bar! In addition to champagne (of course!) we had orange juice, pomegranate lime juice, and guava passion fruit juice for mixing.

Andrew and Meredith (who unknowingly dressed in the perfect color palette!) posing with Helen and Phil, the party co-hosts whose lovely house the party was at, myself, and Drea, who cooked an amazing meal.

We served pulled pork, cornbread, strawberry and goat cheese salad, apple and walnut quesadillas, and roasted red pepper soup sips. Cornbread is Andrew's favorite food ever, so we had to put it on the menu.  :)

So many friends and family members came out for the shower. The weather was perfect - sunny and mid-70s. :)

One of my favorite parts of the shower was the "Who Said What?" game that we played. It's hard to find non-cheesy shower games, so we debated whether or not to play one at all. Here's the idea: basically I went through Meredith and Andrew's Facebook pages and chose a few of their status updates. Some of them were fairly tricky and it was really hard to tell who said what. We put a tiebreaker on the end, "How many FB friends do Meredith and Andrew have (combined)?" In the end, we only had 1 perfect score (out of around 30 party guests), and we had a ton of fun reading out all of the answers.  I highly recommend this party game!

It was great fun with great friends. Congratulations Meredith and Andrew - we love you guys! xoxo

Birthday Weekend!

My 24th birthday was on Saturday, so I officially entered my mid-20s! I am truly not a huge birthday person, but I was overwhelmed by the love from my friends and family. On Friday, my coworkers (who are also some of my dearest friends), showered me with gifts, including a limited edition of Domino (RIP!), tiny red velvet cupcakes, and a singing balloon. Lucas sent me a gorgeous bouquet of hydrangeas and ranunculus from Church Street Flowers in SF. 

The thoughtful gifts just kept coming. Lucas got me this tiny J ring and this gorgeous Juliet & Co. necklace. My BFF, Kristina, sent me the sweetest package and these fab Tory Burch earrings.

On Friday night, we went to dinner with a few friends at St. Michaels Alley in Palo Alto, which was amazing. Their special was artichoke crusted halibut with creamy cauliflower, which was so tasty, and they brought out the most amazing Crème Brûlée for me. On Saturday Lucas and I had a date night at Flour + Water in SF. It is now one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco. They're well known for their homemade pastas and pizzas and cozy atmosphere. There was a 2+ hour wait, so we went to a local bar called Trick Dog for a few drinks beforehand.  It was well worth the wait and it was so nice to have a long date night with Lucas. 

Afterwards we met a few friends in the Mission to go out. We ended up going to a dance club called Baobab, where they played funky Caribbean and Afro dance music. 

We capped off the weekend with Easter lunch at our friends' house where I ate my weight in ham and mac-n-cheese. It was an amazing birthday weekend. I had absolutely no plans going into it, but my friends were so thoughtful and really made it such a great birthday. I love you all! xo

Puppy Love

Two important things happened this weekend while I was in Colorado: Lucas got in a surfing accident and had to get 4 stitches and he fostered a sweet dog named Abigail. Our friends, Meredith and Andrew, foster pups on a regular basis and they currently have Abby full-time. When they told us that they would be out of town this weekend and needed a place for Abby to stay, we jumped at the chance. I quickly learned upon my return on Sunday that Lucas and Abby formed a pretty strong bond in their 3 days together. Abby wanted a whole lot of nothing to do with me and the two of them were basically attached at the hip. Sadly, Abby had to rock a t-shirt all weekend because she has a scrape on her belly that she loves to scratch and re-open. I must say that they both look pretty cute with their injuries. :)

Life Lately (at least according to Instagram...)

The month of February has been a whirlwind! Here are a few highlights:

1. Beautiful Valentine's flowers from Lucas.

2. Wedding invitation from our friends, Meredith and Andrew. Can't wait until May!

3. Riding the gondola at NorthStar.

4. Lucas shredding the gnar in Tahoe. :)

5. Sweet friends Tara and Ashley at the Ed Sheeran concert.

6. Spending some quality time with my dear friend Haley and her pup friend Foomsy.

Can't wait for March. I'm kicking it off with a girls trip to Colorado this weekend! I see a blowout, manicure, sushi date, and trip to the ballet in my near future. :) XOXO

Stanford Graduate Interdisciplinary Fellowship

Lucas was one of a handful of Stanford graduate students chosen to be a 2012 Stanford Graduate Interdisciplinary Fellow. We attended the awards ceremony last week and I was beaming with pride!

Lucas's advisor introduced him and gave a brief summary of Lucas's research. He also said that Lucas was not only one of the most brilliant students that he's ever had, but also one of the nicest. I think that describes him in a nutshell. :)

I was blown away with these students' accomplishments - these people are seriously curing cancer and fixing global warming.

I am so proud of your accomplishments, Lucas. You are so deserving of this honor. XO

Countdown: One year!

Yesterday, we hit the one-year mark for our wedding (yippee!), and last weekend I flew home to check out the place where our Georgia nuptials will take place. Vinewood is a historic plantation house with an amazing old barn (where the reception will be) and it sits on a gorgeous piece of land. Here are a few photos of Vinewood that I snapped on my iPhone, if you'd like to see.

Lucas and I want to see each other before the wedding so that we can connect in private and take care of photos before the party begins! :) I think this sweet garden is the perfect setting for our "first look" of the day.
We're planning to start the ceremony around 4:30 pm, so I wanted to plan our visit around that time to see what the light is like. Isn't it lovely?

The ceremony will take place in front of a large tree on the property. I love the mismatched chairs that we'll use - they feel very rustic.

Our goal is to throw a great party for our friends and family, and Vinewood really felt like the perfect venue to accomplish that. and I cannot wait to marry you, Lucas. XO

Happy 5th Anniversary!

Happy 5th anniversary to the best person I know. So happy to have spent half of a decade with you. You make my life so fun. XOXO

Happy Birthday Kristina!

Happy birthday to my BFF since Kindergarten, my college roommate, and my Maid of Honor, Kristina! You are the best friend anyone could ever ask for. XO

Just for fun, here are a few blasts from the past: