why couldn't we have moved to cali?! ....

Two weekends ago we spent a quick weekend in Southern California to attend Eddies' Cousin's wedding. We headed to Seatac after work on Friday set for our 2.5 hour (nothing compared to our usual 6-7 hour flights back East!) flight to LAX.

This was my 2nd time in California. The first time I stayed in San Francisco, which I LOVE and can't wait to venture back there!  This time though, I must say I fell in love with Southern California! I think I would be a 100x happier person if I lived in that sunshine all year round (may be a bit of an exageration but whateves!)!

We got to Camarillo late Friday night and pretty much called it a night. Saturday morning we were up and at em ready for high 70 degree temps! HEAVEN!

We headed straight to Santa Monica Pier with Eddie's family. 

Eddie's mom & I basking in the sun!

We only had a few hours to explore before the rehearsal dinner but we managed to make a stop on the way home in Malibu to join up with some more of Eddie's family!

Particularly new addition Patrick. He is the cutest stinking baby ever. 

Moving on to the rehearsal dinner! It was held at a delish Italian restaurant which I was more than pumped about, Italian happens to be my favorite food everrr. 

It was so nice to spend time with Eddie's family. He comes from a VERY large one. His dad is one of 13 (my dad is also one of 11, YIKES!) 

.. some of my new future cousin-in-laws! :)

I may or may not have had a LITTLE too much wine too drink and spent the majority of Sunday morning laying by the pool recovering.. Hey thats what you get for feeding me endless amounts of wine!

The wedding was held on Sunday the views were gorg everywhere you looked! 

As you can see by the golf bags, the venue was a golf course! 

My second family & I :)

Oh wait you want a close up of the fia and me?! 

The night ended with some drinks by the hotel fire pit. I was a GENIUS and booked our flight for 6:00am on Monday morning so I could go into work. - DEDICATION to Pacific Advisors right there! 

Well that GENIUS idea pretty much left us to get NO sleep on Sunday since we had to leave around 3:30 am to head to  the airport! FAIL. 

At least we enjoyed our quick trip to the FULLEST. 

I'll be California dreamin' until the next time!

My Recent Splurges

2 weekends ago we hit up the Tulalip Outlets, Ed needed some new things.. I allow us to spend money on clothes for him once a year and he was over due ;)

While we were there of course I had to shop around for myself. I quickly found myself in the Joe's Jeans Outlet aka Heaven. Joe's Jeans legit rock my world. I found myself a sweet new DISCOUNT pair of the rocker fit  and made myself on my merry way. 

Next up I happen to see Kate Spade in my peripheral vision, it was like a gravitational pull that drove me towards the SHOES. I had been eying the Kate Spade "Shelby" for my wedding day shoe... you can read about that here. Once I walk into the store I see the shoes! but not MY shoes, the same Shelby but in Fuschia, I try them on they fit amazingly so I knew.. the sister golden Shelby's had to be in my possession. I was in luck because Zappos had them ON SALE as well, although I did have to anxiously wait a few days until they had my size back in stock. 

and now here they are, right where they belong on my feeties! 

I love them and want to sleep in them!!!!!!! But no, they will remain in that hot pink box until June 9th, 2012.

I didn't stop there.. I also happen to have this beauty hanging in my bathroom right now...

Since I began planning my wedding it wasn't even an option, I was 100% wearing this Plum Pretty Sugar robe as I got ready for my big day. It's just so LOVELY. 

and wait there's more loveliness!

I adore Kristin at Love, Lipstick, & Pearls and she recently posted this purdy Etsy find.  I tend to wear jewelry only on nights out and was looking for a simple day time piece, this Tiny Gold Puffy Heart was just perfect for what I was looking for! AND she's from the good ol' state of Washington, LOVE supporting local businesses!

I wore it out to Eddie's cousins' rehearsal dinner this past weekend in Cali along with my Gathering Breeze Anthro dress.

until the next shopping spree.... :)

We've Got STDS!

We dropped our Save the Dates off at the Post Office on Saturday, and they should be making their way to our guests mailboxes as I type!

I was SO excited when we put these in the mail, I can only imagine how excited I am going to feel when the actual INVITES (which will be designed by Mayla Studios - CHECK HER OUT!) head on out to everyone! 

Choosing our Save the Dates was SUCH a hard decision for me. I tried designing them myself at one point but threw in the towel pretty quickly.

I finally came across Etsy seller August Press by the Ad Libs she makes, check these cuties out!

She was so patient with me as we could NOT to decide on which engagement pic we wanted to use. I wanted one and Eddie wanted a different one! I let Eddie win this battle so we went with his choice of picture! (what a nice fiance I am!!)

A Beautiful Wedding in New Hampshire

This past weekend we spent a quick few days on the East Coast to celebrate with these guys...

Our good friends Brendan and Gina had an insanely fun wedding at the Margate in Laconia.

Gina looked absolutely stunning and I could tell they put so much thought into every detail of their wedding day. I wish I took pictures of it all! But instead I danced my toushie off.. until Eddie escorted me off the dance floor.....party pooper!!

But not before I enjoyed a fab night with some of my amazing hometown friends.

And parents!

It feels like a dream this past weekend, it went by farrr too quickly!

We took a red eye to Boston on Friday night. Upon boarding I was told there was no more carry on space. In an instant my bag was whisked away to be checked, at that moment I KNEW my sweet little carry on would not make it on our plane to Boston.

We landed Saturday morning, got to the bag pickup and low in behold my bag was MIA. 

THANKS DELTA FOR GIVING ME A MINI PANIC ATTACK! 

My bag was a few hours behind us on a flight that was DELAYED to Boston. Lucky for me I have an amazing fiance who dropped me off for my scheduled makeup trial 40 mins from the airport and went back to the airport to wait for my sweeeet little bag which contained my DRESS and SHOES. 

My makeup trail went amazingly and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Karla, she is soo sweet! I can't wait to hang with her again when she beautifies me on my wedding day!

Here are some bathroom shots I took while waiting for Eddie to pick me back up!

It was a very rainy humid day on the east coast and the makeup lasted and looked great all evening! Even amongst the rushing of getting ready to make it to the ceremony on time!

Wedding Makeup

So I think I nailed down my makeup artist for the wedding!

I found Karla Patrica via facebook, sent her an email and she responded within a few hours. Good feeling #1 about her. The handful of makeup artists I've reached out to in the past few months have been non responsive- what is up with that?!

this is me..sitting at my computer waiting for responses from said makeup artists ;)

 I have heard a lot of other bride-to-be's complaining about the same thing as well so I know its not just me!

ANYWAY..

Being on the time constraints that I am on, I was even more thrilled when she was available to do my makeup trial in 2 weeks when I head home to the East Coast for our friends wedding. 

It couldn't have worked out better, her studio is actually on the way from the airport to the wedding, which is in New Hampshire. 

Here is some of my wedding makeup look inspiration:

I am by new means talented in the makeup department, but I am a makeup junky. I am pretty conservative money wise when shopping for clothes but this does not apply when I am in Sephora. It's very hard to leave that store without a good chunk of my paycheck wasted away!!

Here are SOME of the things I am loving at the moment!

Pur Minerals 4 in 1 pressed powder.

 I am REALLY loving this stuff. I bought the trial kit at first which comes with a brush, 4 in 1 pressed powder, bronzer and blush. I don't plan on buying the bronzer or blush again but the pressed powder gives SUCH great coverage, and is so quick and easy to apply in the morning!

Urban Decay Naked Eye Palette (I don't think I'm alone in loving this one!)

Tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara. This stuff had me kick my longtime fav Benefit Bad Gal Lash to the curb! Gifted adds some serious length and volume to my lashes!

Benefit's High Beam. This stuff is redic, it makes my cheek bones pop with just a few dabs! Every girl NEEDS this little bottle!

Benefit's CORALista is also another cheeky must have! I haven't purchased the full size yet but plan to as soon as I use up my sample! It gives my cheeks such a pretty peachy pink color.

Benefit's Boi ing is the ULTIMATE concealer. I just restocked and ended up getting 01 light instead of 02 medium, I don't hate it enough to exchange though.

I was hating the way my face looked by lunchtime so I bought this stuff in hopes my makeup would stay fresh. It keeps my makeup in place and makes my face feel so fresh and moisturized, I just love the feel of it on my face!

Bridesmaid Dresses

I've been putting A LOT of thought into bridesmaid dresses. I am legit ALL over the place with my ideas..

At first I was set on JCrew dresses in grey.. then my mind changed to coral...

Then my mind changed..

a few more times.

Here is my new inspiration and soooo budget friendly for my lil maids!

Source

The dress is from LuLu's and it's only 50 bucks!

I may have to purchase this dress and give it a test run!

My Week

My week was filled with words like..

contingent.. beneficiary... medicare.. boring boring boring.

For the past 4 days I sat through 40 hours of insurance babble babble. In WA in order to get your Life & Disability Insurance license they require you to take this class. In Mass you just have to pass the test.. damn it why didn't I get licensed in Mass while I was living there!

Anyway.. The class was long and painfully boring BUT I can't say it was entirely useless!

Because on Sat morning at 8:00 AM after an hour and a half drive to the test center and sweating through 2  and a half hours of test taking.. I PASSED :)

I am now licensed to sell insurance.. any takers?!

Funny though..looking back I NEVER thought I would be in this profession. I majored in Sociology in college but I knew by senior year that wasn't for me, glad it took me 4 years to realize that!

So here I am, very darn proud of myself, not for just passing but for actually taking the initiative to get licensed, since I've been talking about it for about 2 years! My current position doesn't require that I have the license but who knows where it will lead me now that I have it. I'm looking forward to learning more about the WICKED interesting insurance industry (sarcasm..sorta).

Can we take a moment and laugh at horrible picture that was taken of me moments before I began the test... you can just see the excitement in my face!!

Holy murderer!

:) So sad this weekEND is over but SO glad my hell of a week is dunzo!