The Last Days of Summer

Happy Monday, Lovelies! What a weekend we had - Friday I had a good ole' fashioned sleepover with my dear friend Parris because Chris was out of town, Saturday we took a much needed shopping trip for new Fall clothes and Sunday our friends tied the knot. Overall, a delightful few days!

Thought I would share a few pics from the Van Unen's {beautiful} wedding festivities -

{Announcing, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Van Unen}

{So much joy}

{Absolutely adore her hair}

{Friends~we're all married now!}

{First dance}

Hope you enjoyed the last official weekend of Summer!

Wedding Weekend!

This weekend we have the pleasure of seeing our sweet friends Dan and Nicole get married! Their intimate outdoor ceremony will take place Sunday morning, followed by a brunch reception. Doesn't that sound lovely (I'm a complete sucker for brunch!)?! Can't wait to celebrate with the happy couple as they become Mr. and Mrs.!

Have an amazing weekend!

image/April Smith photography
via/Elizabeth Anne Designs

A Lovely Christmas

I opened my eyes this morning to the stark realization that it is once again Tuesday and I am no longer on break from work, normal life, etc. Total bummer, especially after such a lovely, long Christmas weekend! Although I have some comfort in this week being short due to the New Year! I really must get myself back into the groove!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Some of you even had snow (my Texan readers)! I know I really don't need to tell you that our holiday was amazing and lovely and everything good, but it truly was and I hope yours was too!

This past weekend was filled with plenty of relaxation, and by that I mean cleaning, taking our tree and decorations down, learning to maneaver my new SEWING MACHINE and Chris learning the tricks of the trade on his new PS3! To say we had a good weekend would be a huge understatement!

And on the subject of my new, fabulous and amazing Christmas present from my husband, I am in love with my sewing machine! And I have the sweetest family who made sure I was fully equipped with every possible sewing accessory I could ever need or want! I even received patterns, lovely fabric and the most incredible pair of fabric scissors you have ever seen (with cheetah handles!). Look out because my domestic adventures have only begun! Project one: hemming our living room curtains tonight!

But most of all, I loved spending time with our families, having friends and family over to our home and seeing my sweet friend Emily, who I haven't seen since her wedding in May! I am completely grateful for the people in our lives, overwhelmed by joy at all the Lord has done this past year and filled with excitement as I look to the new year with anticipation of what's to come!

A few pictures from Christmas:

The family at Pop's on Christmas Eve


Followed by a delicious crab dinner at my parent's house


The Hansens Christmas morning!


At my parent's on Christamas morning (we then went to Chris' parents, but unfortunately forgot to take pictures!)


Super excited about my new cheetah fabric scissors!!


Inspiration!


Merry Christmas!


Cutest puppy EVER!


All of the family about to have brunch! Cheers!



I hope these last few days of 2009 treat you well!

This Weekend...

Mom and I managed to bake over 30 dozen cookies! You read that right..30! We made Chocolate Gingerbread cookies, Caramel Thumbprint cookies, Mexican Chocolate cookies, Butter cookies (w/ peppermint frosting!), Macaroons, Apricot Almond Doodle Cookies, Peppermint Bark and White Chocolate and Peppermint covered Pretzel Sticks! Yu-mmy!! And today I brought each of my co-workers a cute Christmas box of assorted goodies and they LOVED them, which totally excites me!

I got Abby and Chris' stockings done which means I am completely finished shopping!

I gave my first Christmas present away! I love giving someone a gift you know they will love!

We finally watched It's a Wonderful Life and I cried, like I always do when I watch that movie!

And today I am gearing up for a great week! Starting tomorrow we are having friends/family over every day through Christmas! Ahh, that makes me so giddy! I adore cooking a good meal and playing hostess to wonderful people!


Happy first day of Winter!

Just When You Thought the Apple Fun was Over...

Last night I had a girl's night with two of my friends, Laura and Nicole and it was well overdue! Nothing beats good food, wine and caramel apple making! And to add to the girly merriment, Nicole recently got engaged so I FINALLY got to hear all the fun details from the extremely giddy and adorable bride-to-be!!

After planning to make a crock pot soup and then realizing yesterday afternoon that I forgot to put it in the crock pot, I went to plan B and made Whole Foods' Hearty Minestrone Soup. Thank goodness for my trusty online recipe box!






We even made an apple for each of our boys:)


I had so much fun with you girls!



Happy Thursday! Am I the only one stunned that November 1st is this Sunday?!

One Whole Year

If you were to check out the archives, you would see that one year ago today I entered into this blogging world as a naive little blogger with absolutely no idea what I was doing. So, this post is a dedication to YOU! After all, without your encouragement, I would have given up a long time ago! Thanks to our friends, family and those we only know through the web, for staying tuned into our lives by means of our humble little webspace! We love and appreciate all of you. This blog has been a great way for us to stay connected even though many you live so far away! And let's be honest, the recipes are good too, right? ;)

And I just want you to know, even though my darling husband seldom contributes to these posts, he definitely reads them and all of your comments. What can I say, he's busy with his other sports blogs:)

I truly hope you had a fabulous long weekend! Ours was wonderful and relaxing. Of course a pedicure, some garage sales and a delicious meal with family and friends were thrown in there, but I think the best part was that my friend Lael and her sister Elise got here yesterday afternoon. Our evening was accompanied by gluten free homemade pizza and lots of catching up, but sadly they are leaving this morning and continuing their road trip that gets them closer and closer to New Zealand!! It was a short visit, but a great one!

I am a bit green with envy this morning because Chris took the day off to get some things done (one being the DMV, eww!). I wish I could have taken off too, but at least I can look forward to October 16, when we will be on our way to Indiana for a mini-vacation!!

Wishing you a happy and productive Tuesday!

A GROWING Family

Well my friends, it's Wednesday and the upcoming three day weekend is calling my name! Which means I've gone six weeks since my last day off and it is much needed! Oh, and the best part is, Lael and her sister are coming Monday and staying the night!! They're only stopping through as they head south and leave for New Zealand to live for, well, who knows:) I wish they could stay longer, but these days, I'll take what I can get with my sweet friends who are now scattered all over!

And in other exciting news that I've been holding onto for a few weeks...I am going to have another little sibling this Spring! That's right, my stepmom is pregnant for the fifth and FINAL time:) Sadly, I probably won't get to meet this new addition until next year, but I will see her prego when we go to Indiana (they recently moved from Chicago) to visit them in October! Yay! Can't wait for that trip. I wish it could happen more than once a year, but it's so worth it to see how much my brother and sisters grow each time we see them:)

I LOVE these kids!





And finally, by special request, I will post this crock pot recipe later today:) So come back and you too can try it out!

Happy Wednesday!

PS ~ 20 days 'til Fall!

Sushi, Sewing and Friends

Happy Thursday guys!

I am so excited to tell you about the sushi making class Parris and I went to on Tuesday! I am always up for new, fun things so when I saw this class offered at Newcastle Produce, I immediately signed up and new exactly who to ask to be my sushi making buddy:) Normally Chris and I would do these things together, but Chris doesn't quite love sushi like I do and a good girls' night is always in order;) So Parris accompanied me and we had a blast! The class was great and suprisingly easier than we thought it would be. We ended up making about six rolls each! I've been in heaven eating my rolls for lunch as well as a snack the past two days!! Can't wait to throw a sushi making party:)

I'm looking forward to taking more of these classes! They are such good dates, with friends and my guy! Next I want to tackle the 7 course dinner!!

Some pics of our class and also one of Lael and Me last weekend:)

This my friends, is a green goddess roll:) Just asparugas and herbs, YUM!


Our dinner, made by us!


We rocked sushi making like it was child's play;)


This is why I love Parris! I'm so glad we're friends:)


Nice lady took our picture:)


And after the class we went to my house and had chocolate cake and coffee, because sometimes, girls just need chocolate;)


Cheers! Notice my new dress I bought last weekend;)I'll take any excuse to wear a sundress!


And finally, Lael and Me at Humphrey Slocumbe:) This photo curtousy of Lael.


On a totally different note, my grandma was so excited when she heard about my new found interest in sewing that she sent my Mom home with a ton of vintage fabric:) I went through it with my Mom last night and am quite excited about my new treasures! I am obsesed with aprons, so she also sent a few of my great grandma's aprons to use as a pattern! I'm pretty stoked about it! And BTW, I have asked for a sewing machine for Christmas, but am lost about what I really need. If you've got any suggestions, I would really appreciate them (Parris, Laurie, Aunt Betty??):)

And lastly, I skyped with Rebecca in GERMANY yesterday! Even though it was only for about a minute because apparently, 3G and skype aren't a great match:( Anyway, I'm just feeling so lucky to have spent such quality time with good friends the past few weeks! It has been exactly what I've needed:)

My Aunt C is flying in today to spend a week in California! Can't wait for some family time this weekend! On the agenda: Julie and Julia, Lake Tahoe and being poolside:) This is my aunt who did the flowers for our reception. She is amazing:)

I'm hoping I can make it through this morning...I only got 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night! But sometimes, yogurt with friends is just more important:)

Have a lovely day!

Off to a Great Month!

Merry Monday to you, Lovelies!I hope you had an extraordinary weekend!

Ours was quite event-filled, but absolutely full of wonderful people and fun! As I told you Friday, we had Jeff and Becky over for homemade pizza and Gran Torino. Great night, despite my minor fisaco with the pizza dough:) It is so refreshing to have people over who love our pup as much as we do:) I think she bonded with them while they dogsat her the week we were in Hawaii for our wedding. This picture makes me laugh! All night she was attacking Jeff with kisses! I'm so glad you two are dog people!! We had so much fun!


These Dahlias are like a kiss from summer:)


We spent Saturday morning with my in-laws:) We went to Awful Annie's for breakfast (YUM!) and then did some garage saleing (no surprise there!). And that evening Chris and I had the best date! We had dinner at Sarritella's, one of our favorite restaurants (with much history for us) and enjoyed some delicious pasta, wine and the best bread sticks that come with peanut butter on the side! And for part two of our date night we packed up dessert, champagne and some blankets and headed to "our park" to watch Charade on our portable DVD player:) Talk about a great, romatic night with my husband! We were up on a hill that offers a spectacular view of the sunset as well as the lovely Saramento evening breeze:)

My hubby at Sarritella's:)



Our yummy dinner!


Excited about our dessert and movie in the park!


The lovely hilltop sunset:)


Strawberries, mini cheesecakes and champagne!



And finally, Sunday was spent in San Francisco with my darling friend, Lael. While we hung out, Chris went to the Giants game with some guys:) Basically it was a great day for all parties involved:)!

We started the morning at a wonderfully delightful bakery called Tartine, where Lael and I both ordered the Almond crossaint and a latte! I must say the 30 minute wait in line was so worth the delectible sensation our taste buds received when we took our first bite of this pastry in the park! No lie, the best almond crossaint I've ever had! So worth the "splurge" calories!! With all the walking we did though, I'm sure at least half of it was burned off;)

We spent a good amount of time at Anthropologie, where I FINALLY bought this dress I've been wanting for several months now and it finally went on sale! I'm still giddy about it:)

We ended our day at Golden Gate park with more walking:) Our intention was to rent bikes, but by the time we got there, the Giants game was over and Chris was headed to pick us up...bummer, but I cant say we didn't have a lovely time together.

Oh, but I can't forget the other treat we had! There is an ice cream shop called Humphry Slocombe that serves some really unique flavors like Breakfast surprise (Bourbon and Corn Flakes) and Salt n' Peppa. After trying several, I ended up getting Pineapple 5-spice and Coconut. I know, compared to some other flavors, mine were so boring, but absolutely delicious!

I don't know what's wrong with me, but again, I didn't take ANY pics of my time with Lael. She is sending me some from her camera, so those to come soon:)

I am so lucky to have spent time with two of my closest friends the last few weeks!

And on a semi-random note, my Mom is finally coming home tonight after visiting our family in the Midwest the last 2 weeks!

I hope August has started out wonderfully for you!

The Ugly Truth and Other Random Bits

Hi Friends! Well, I am finally back from, what felt like, a week of misery! Since Monday, I have been in so much pain. Not fun! I was taking my pain meds, but apparently they make me really drowsy and that's not usually a good thing while you're working! So I decided to stop taking them and just deal with the pain. I'm not sure what is worse, falling asleep at your desk or having excrutiating pain through your jaw, ears and every single tooth while having to sound cheery on the phone! You know, everyone said that getting my wisdom teeth out would be easy, which it was, but I got very little insight to the aftermath of it all.

Yesterday morning I was feeling so bad that my boss actually sent me home! I was so grateful because I wasn't going to ask to leave, but he insisted. So for most of the day I rested with my pain meds and for the first time in a week, I feel like myself! I made cinnamon streusel muffins for my co-workers this morning because they were so sweet to take on my load yesterday!

There were few highlights to my week, but here's what I've got...

Monday was suppose to be the sushi making class that Parris and I signed up for, but due to a scheduling conflict, the class got rescheduled to this coming Tuesday. I was so grateful for the delayed class as it will be so much better to go next week now that I'm feeling 100%! So instead, I had dinner with Parris' family and got to congratulate her little sister, Whitney, on her engagement and then Parris and I went to see The Ugly Truth! It was totally cute and I am practically obsessed with Katherine Heigl's wardrobe and adorable hair throughout the movie! And it was filmed in Sacramento:)

How fabulous are all of these dresses?!




Most every other afternoon this week was spent sleeping as I simply could not stay awake to save my life. I have no idea why I'm so tired, but I'm trying to pay attention to my body and take it slow. As an active person though, this is weird for me!

And on an apartment note, Chris cleaned our carpets Wednesday evening and I feel like it's a new place! So basically, the only thing left is switching the old fish tank out for the new one! Can't wait to post pics:)

And because I was finally feeling better last night, I made a yummy dinner for my hubby who has taken such good care of me this last week! We had a delicious stir fry and butterscotch pudding (his favorite thing!!). After dinner we ran some errands and I am absolutely giddy because I splurged on 3 new magazines! This weekend I will be savoring some downtime with, Country Living, Oxygen's Abs special (love their specials!) and Bon Appetit (usually reserved for plane rides)!! I feel so spoiled:)

Tonight we are having some friends over for dinner and Gran Torino! And this weekend I get to spend some time with my lovely friend, Lael, in San Francisco! She is living there temporarily for an internship:) I am so ready to be done with this week and move on to a fun weekend!

Hope you enjoy your weekend and happy Friday!

She Came and Now She's Gone:(

As I knew it would, our weekend with Rebecca totally flew by! But nevertheless, it was wonderful:) She didn't get in until REALLY late Friday night, so my day off was spent running errands and getting ready for her to be here:) I even took Abby to get groomed for her Auntie:) BTW, my makeshift guest room turned out better than I could have imagined!

Not too shabby, huh?!


And almost everything you see is courtesy of my old room:) With the exception of the adorable shams, which I just had to buy for the pop of color!

Some of the highlights of our weekend include (but were not limited to):

~ chocolate chip pancakes on Saturday morning:)

~ In-N-Out

~ seeing the new Harry Potter movie!

~ Friends Scene It (no lie)

~ all day pool fun on Sunday!

Even though I wish Rebecca could have stayed longer, I am so happy she was able to visit us! I can't believe how much I miss my friend! And now she is leaving for Germany in two weeks to teach for at least a year!! Chris and I are definitely going to try and make a visit while she's there!

I must say how disappointed I am in myself for taking hardly any pictures this weekend...very unlike me!

Lame I know, but here's what I've got:

Rebecca, Parris and me (Chris was there too) at In-N-Out..the only burger I LOVE!


At Harry Potter!!


Aren't they the cutest?!


Our little fam after church on Sunday:)


What Rebecca left for us to remember her:) Lovely drawing!!:)


After a lovely 4 day weekend, I literally hit the ground running at work today! Man am I glad I only work 3 days this week!

My wisdom teeth finally come out on Friday...