Amber and Angelo Engagement Session

Last month I got the chance to take my friends Amber and Angelo's engagement photos. They wanted an outdoorsy/woodsy shoot, because that is the theme for their wedding. This was my first time doing any engagement photos, so I totally felt lost for the first 15 minutes. How do I direct them? What do I say? "Um stand here and smile, no look at her, no laugh". Luckily they are my friends and were patient with me. I think I'm getting the hang of it. Here are some shots from the day...











Brennen and I also made her save-the-dates on photoshop and had them printed out through Costco as 6X8 greeting cards. They turned out great and were WAY cheaper than shutterfly.

Feeling Inferior to Mark Zuckerberg

One perk of renting out your spare bedroom to your responsible CPR certified nurse friend? Being able to go on a spontaneous late-night date after Haiden goes to sleep. Brennen and I went to sushi and then the dollar theatre last Thursday night to see the social network. Bren and I later discussed what losers we are for not creating anything cool. I wonder what drama revolved around the creation of the SNUGGIE,Oscar-worthy movie in the making??

Centennial Farm

Last week I took Haiden on a play date to Centennial Farms on the OC fair grounds. It's a pretty cute little place and it's free! Here are some pictures I took that day.


The cow obviously had a sense of humor




Haiden loved this little guy



We got the chance to see them milk a cow...


and then we got to feed the baby her milk!

Dress Shopping

I had the pleasure of going wedding dress shopping with my friend Amber and she has asked me to be one of her bridesmaids. We spent over 2 hours there trying dress after dress, but none seemed to really be what she wanted. Finally, I asked the sales girl to bring a dress that was nothing like she was originally looking for, but I thought we could just try it and see. Well.... it ended being THE dress. It looks great one her and I can't wait to see her in it on her wedding day. Here are a couple of pictures I snapped while we were there.

PS I NEED a better lens for indoor lighting, because flash is my enemy.








These are not THE dress, but I just love these two images of her.

Hot Mess

I've finally finished looking through all the pictures Bren and I took during our weekend in Lake Arrowhead and I am so glad we decided to go. It was so much fun and was great to get to spend so much time with our friends. Parenthood takes up about 99.99% of your life and it can be hard to make time for each other, let alone all our friends. We got to stay up late laughing and playing Uno. We went on hikes and took tons of pictures and I would definitely say the highlight of the trip was when we all sprawled out in the living room, exhausted from the hike and watched an episode of Wife Swap.That is where we got our catch phrase for the weekend and for life..."you look a hot mess".
I was not easy to leave Haiden for 3 days. I am a very clingy mother. I know I will be that mom who doesn't know what to do when her child goes off to college. I knew all this was one-sided though, because he was so excited to get to stay with the grandma he loves so dearly.

Anywho,the huge 4 bedroom/ 4 bath cabin we stayed in was really great. They had big leather recliners, several televisions, 3 porches, and the very popular massage chair. I loved being able to walk out onto the balcony in the morning to smell the fresh, smog-less air.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend.And btw, I hiked through the woods and streams and over mini cliffs with a tripod for some of these pictures!


On the way to the hiking trail we say a yard sale on the side of the road and decided to take a look.

And Fernando bought a snow board for $40.







One of the night we drove into Lake Arrowhead Village to have dinner.



Dinner was delicious

and I bought a new hat

The End

Summer Fun

I have been really enjoying Summer so far. Haiden and I have a lot of fun activities to look forward to. We went to a matinne movie. Popcorn and soda at 10 in the morning isn't what I'm used to, but it was fun and the movie was free! I am also counting down to Yosemite. It is a bit of heaven on earth for me.

Going to the beach.

Disneyland


I've been buying flowers from Trader Joe's and arranging them in vases I have around the house. I LOVE the Peonies. And the Sunflowers are a steal at only $3.99!

Oh and I found these fabulous pair of Michael Kors heels at Nordstrom Rack for 75, yes 75% off!

Perhaps

I put this together as the inspiration for our bedroom. Slowly, but surely we'll get there.
Deal: The bed from Target for $575!
Splurge: The curtains from Anthropologie for about $5oo for the pair. :(