Number 20

Can be crossed off the list. You may recognize these pillows from our guest bedroom tour. I sewed these babies up in five minutes flat on Thanksgiving day right after my mom (the sewing pro) helped me thread my bobbin, and I was SUPER excited....until she flew back to Texas and left me with a bobbin that refuses to be threaded. I've since come to realize my sewing machine hates me, and I suppose I'm ok with that. At least I knocked this off the list and have two super cute pillows to show for it, right?

Number 26

Can be crossed off the list. Since the traditional gift for a one-year anniversary is paper (and since we dropped a WHOLE lot of paper on our trip to Europe), Mason and I decided to write love notes to each other as our anniversary gifts. It was a sweet way to sum up the first year, and something I'm sure we'll look back on many years down the road.

(Expect a whole lot of posts about the birthday list in the coming weeks as I try my best to wrap it up before the big 3-0!)

Home Sweet Home

I'm baaaaack! Did you miss me?? I hope so - because I missed you! I also hope you'll be patient with me as I get myself - and my photos - organized over the next few days, because - WOAH - there's a lot to catch up on (but you know I couldn't leave you completely empty handed!).

The above two shots are from the beginning of our trip in Paris and from the end of our trip in Germany. Suffice it to say we had lots of fun, we ate lots of good food, we felt like we were gone for yeaaaars and we are happy to be home (with that snuggly furball of ours who missed us like craziness).

Number 13

Can be crossed off the list! I can't even believe it's already been one year since we got married. What a crazy, whirlwind year it's been, during which I learned that Mason owns more shoes than a girl, has a strange love of paper towels and likes to put Sriracha on everything he eats (and swears it's not because he hates my cooking). And Mason learned that I take realllllyyy long showers, like getting the mail and obsessively check to make sure the stove is off every time I leave the house. Marriage is a fun - and funny - thing, and twelve months in, I'd say we're doing pret-ty darn fantastic.

Sunday is our actual anniversary (and we'll be celebrating with dinner out in Paris!), but we decided to taste a piece of our year-old, frozen wedding cake last night before the trip. (Thanks again to my amazing parents for overnighting it to us!)

The tasting started out good. Awwww, how romantic. Our cake. From our wedding. Such sweet memories...



And then....BAM. Cake explosion. On my face.



He said he'd been wanting to do that since the wedding. I said it's a good thing he didn't do it at the wedding or we might not be sitting here twelve months later. (I kid.. sort of.)

But seriously, Happy Happy Anniversary to US!

Mason, I love you more now than I did a year ago, and I'm looking so forward to the second year of this crazy adventure. (xoxoxo!)

And now - Paris, here we come!

(I'll be back to regular posting the week of July 25th - Try not to miss me too much!)

Reading Material

When you're embarking on a few reallllyyyy long plane rides (that you're terrified about), it's important to have a few reallllyyy good books and magazines to keep you distracted. I've got Glamour, Lucky, Water for Elephants (loved the movie!) and The History of Love (heard rave reviews on A Cup of Joe), and I have to admit, I'm kind of looking forward to eight uninterrupted hours of reading time (and drinking time - believe me, there's no way I'd make it over all that water without a few glasses of wine).

Weekend Photo Love: 7/9

Highlights from the weekend:

*Pina coladas and enchiladas at the end of the pier (I forget how fun it is to pretend I'm a tourist.)
*Angels vs. Mariners game at Angel's Stadium (Sunshine + hot dogs + cotton candy = perfection.)
*Midnight in Paris (Mason out-laughed the entire theater. I'm pretty sure it's his new favorite movie.)
*Sunday's episode of True Blood (Amnesia, fairy godmothers, werewolves - It's like a bad soap opera, and I'm addicted.)

And now the countdown begins - 2 days until Paris - and 1 million things to do...

Wish me luck!

Summer Weekend

It has been absolutely beautiful in Santa Monica for the past week, and I'm so excited that summer has finally arrived. We've got some fun, summery plans this weekend (in between all of the crazy packing, packing, packing for our trip), and I'm excited to eat dinner on the pier, watch Midnight in Paris (only 5 days before we head there ourselves!), and see some baseball at Angel's Stadium (Go Mariners!).

I hope your weekend plans are full of summer fun, too!

Weekend in Austin, TX

*GASP* What in the world are those things up there?? Real photos?? From a real camera?? Oh yes, they are! Aren't you so happy?? (I knew you would be.)

The photos above are from a weekend trip Mason and I took to Austin a few months ago. Looking at them now makes me smile. Neither one of us had ever been there (How did I grow up in Texas and never visit my state capital? Mom? Dad? Teachers? Anyone?), and we had a blast touring the capital building, bar hopping on Sixth Street, kayaking down Lady Bird Lake, cooling off in the freezing waters of Barton Springs Pool, singing along to dueling pianos with my good friend Stephanie of Steph Cooks and her husband, and so much more.

If you're in need of a little getaway, I highly recommend Austin! It really does have a little something for everyone.

July 4th Fun

If you were to guess - from looking at the photos above - that all we did for the long weekend was drink beer (and pina coladas) and eat really fattening food, you would be completely wrong.

Because we also watched TV - Weeds Season 6, to be exact - and I just didn't capture it on camera. (See - we're not that predictable, now are we?)

But in all seriousness, fireworks and fancy pina coladas aside, those donuts were the highlight of my weekend. High-light, I tell ya. Good thing there was one left over this morning, because it just became the highlight of my week. Yummmmm.