Stefanie + Leigh's Rehearsal Dinner

After all those vacation posts, it's about time to come back to real life in L.A.  Luckily, it's not so bad here!

Last weekend I not only got to celebrate Murica's birthday, I also got to celebrate the marriage of my friends Stefanie and Leigh!  Stefanie and I met at work, and have been close friends ever since I came down to L.A. as a summer intern.  Leigh and Brian are good friends and surf together every week.  Their wedding was wonderful, warm, and happy :)

I offered to help Stefanie out with planning the rehearsal dinner, since I know how hectic wedding planning can get in the last couple weeks, and I had so much fun putting it together!  Stefanie picked an awesome Italian restaurant, Maximiliano, and we got the whole back patio to ourselves.  I got to take a trip to the L.A. flower market to pick out the flowers, and you guys, that place is amAzing!  Bundles and bundles of the most beautiful flowers everywhere!  And for cheap!  MAN.  I loved it.

I didn't take too many photos because I was busy eating and drinking and laughing, but here are just a few of how everything turned out.

{the newlyweds!}

The paper placemats are from Mark & Graham, and so are the chevron treat bags, which I stuffed with candy (conversation hearts and ring pops!), and the placecards (which came in 6 different colors/patterns) are from a free downloadable I found online.

Nothing beats an outside dinner party 

on a perfectly warm evening in L.A.

Hope you get to enjoy the sun today.
Happy Friday everyone!

Oranges for Picking

{at the Arboretum}

Hope you have a happy Easter weekend!

Jasmines in the Morning

It's practically spring here today; tomorrow will be summer.

These gorgeous blooming jasmines on my walk back from yoga made my morning.  (Jasmines are my favorite flower if you didn't know.)  I picked some and brought them home, and I can't wait to get back to my apartment just so I can open the door and let that spring scent wash over me.

Hope you enjoy the weekend!

Purple Flowers + The Apartment

{a few shots of the apartment from the weekend}

 

Nice Stems

I was going to share with you some awesome photos from my weekend, including lol-inducing (I apologize, it just slipped out) shots from the housewarming fiesta we threw on Saturday, and mouth-watering shots of chorizo-stuffed-bacon-wrapped dates from Primitivo (oh the grease! smokey smokey grease!), but then the evil USB stick I put them on sucked my memories into the black hole of dead computer files and lost socks.  I don't want to talk about it.  So you're just going to have to trust me.  They were awesome.

In lieu of my awesome weekend photos, you'll just have to settle for these pretties of the garden scene in my 'hood.

{jasmines = my fave}

Not such a bad substitute, right?  Oh, you really wanted to see the self-pic of Sharz grasping my $-sign imprinted throw pillow with crazy eyes?  Or the one of our rarely used yet essential margarita machine in action?  Yeah, me too.

Feeling Old Timey

And roses hit the vintage spot.

I think I've been watching too much Bewitched.

Wysteria Season

Is here.

{oh heyyy Leslie}

And there.

I wish this post was smellable!

{All photos taken in Berkeley}

Happy Spring!

I braved the ridonk downpour in LA yesterday for just long enough to grab these daffodils at Trader Joe's for $1.29!  The perfect spring accessory, yes?

Don't they look pretty on my new orange (or "persimmon" in retail speak) side table?

(I wish someone would make a laptop with smell-transmission skillz already because these smell too good not to share.)

And now back to my studently duties (and coffee)...

Representin' the maiden name.  Via coffee mug.

P.S. stay tuned for pics from Palm Springs later today!

374 Miles South

Yesterday I did the drive from SF to LA for the first time by myself! I was dreading this drive because (a) anyone who knows me knows that I shouldn't be allowed to be behind the wheel, and (b) all I remembered from previous cross-state trips was the awful smell of the cattle farms on hwy 5. For the record, it still smelled bad. But this time, I was so surprised by how beautiful it was. Yes, I just said hwy 5 is beautiful. But I mean, check out these pics -

(these flowers were up to my shoulders!)

Right?

So if you're thinking about taking a road trip, do it now while everything is blooming! [And get a good book on tape from your local library (I listened to Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen and it was perfectly, though morbidly, amusing)].