Taryn's Bohemian Bridal Shower.

Back in November (yep, throwing it wayyy back) I got to celebrate one of my favorite people - my sister in law, Taryn! Now that I'm married and she's married and life is back to normal, I'm excited to finally share some pictures of her insanely beautiful bohemian bridal shower.

You may recognize this backyard from many previous events (my bridal brunch, our engagement fiesta, my parents vow renewal, our halloween party) and know that this lovely garden belongs to Weston's parents. It sure makes for a perfect backdrop, doesn't it? Guests arrived through the side gate and were directed to choose a flower crown to wear for the remainder of the party.

The entire patio felt like Morocco, with bright colors and big pillows. We ate popcorn and pizza, drank sangria, and played games until the sun went down.

ALMOST all the bridesmaids, together for a pic. :) 

Over the years, Taryn has thrown so many events for other people. She puts so much effort into each one and making every one of her friends and family feel so special. It was really amazing to be able to be part of a perfect evening that was all about her!

And her wedding was just as lovely as you'd imagine, too.

Here's to you, Mrs. Thompson! 

Finding A Dress.

Back in high school, I had always worn hand-me-down gowns to school dances. But when Junior Prom rolled around, my mom agreed to buy me a brand new dress for the occasion! I expected our shopping day to be so fun - I'd finally get to choose the perfect gown for me, rather than settling for one that my cousin had loved. But as we walked through the LA Fashion District for hours, searching countless shops for a flattering dress at an affordable price, I started to get frustrated. It turned out that for me, this was an overwhelming task and surprisingly not fun. Although we left with a gown that I loved, the process of finding it was something I didn't care to go through again and I happily wore hand-me-downs to the remainder of my high school dances.

When it came time to start thinking about wedding dresses, I worried I'd be reliving that prom dress shopping day : disagreeing about what looked good, getting frustrated with what was available in my limited budget, feeling overwhelmed about it instead of enjoying it. But when I casually mentioned to my mom that I'd probably just buy my wedding dress online… she looked at me like I had just run over her puppy. 

So I decided it wouldn't hurt to book an appointment. 

Rather than going into it thinking "I need to find my dress today," it was just a girls afternoon with my mom and my future mother and sister in law. I wasn't going to buy anything, I was just there for fun! I made my appointment at BHLDN since I've long admired their beautiful dress selection, plus since their store is located in Beverly Hills, I knew it would give us plenty of fun places to visit before and after the appointment.

It ended up being a perfect day AND... I bought a dress! Hooray!

We started the afternoon with lunch at Gracias Madre, a vegan Mexican restaurant.

^ sangria with a chocolate covered strawberry inside? yes please!

After lunch, we headed a few blocks over to BHLDN. 

As I chatted with the consultant, my mom, Shelley, and Taryn were all browsing dresses, pulling different styles in my budget that they wanted to see me try on. After we had a few lined up, I headed back into the fitting room and was explaining to the consultant that I probably wouldn't be buying anything today, as she helped me slip into the first dress. She clasped the back and I turned to look in the mirror. 

"Uh oh." I said. It was perfect.

She started laughing and I asked her if people ever actually buy the first dress they try on. She assured me that it does happen. Sometimes it really is that easy! I held my breath as I came around the corner to show the dress to my family and stand in front of the mirror, and when the girls saw it their faces said it all - it was unanimous! :)

I ended up trying on about 5 more dresses just to see different styles, but that first one was the winner. I tried it on a second time at the end and as soon as I had it on I felt totally sure of it once again so we bought it! The consultant brought us cute little cans of champagne (nothing says "laid-back" like champagne in a can, right? ha!) and we took some pictures and celebrated together.

^ one of the lovely contenders, but not the one I chose :)

I'm so glad I decided to put my apprehension aside and make a dress appointment. It was a wonderful experience and I'm thankful that the women I love were able to be there with me for that super easy, super happy, say-yes moment. 

Another great day I'll remember forever.

Engagement Fiesta.

When I was little, I very much wanted to be Mexican. I used to beg my parents to call me "mija" and I'd plead with God to turn my eyes brown while I was sleeping and while he was at it, he might as well tan my skin a little bit too, pretty please?

Now that I'm marrying Weston, his family has informed me that my dreams are coming true and I am finally going to be an (honorary) Mexican. Yay! So to celebrate our engagement, our parents threw us an adorable fiesta in the Amaro's backyard. Our extended families got to meet each other and spend the afternoon enjoying delicious food made by The Taco Man and Weston's Abuela brought the most delicious rice and beans! It was so special to have our loved ones all in the same place. Probably one of my favorite days ever!

Before the party, I made myself a fresh flower crown. Since I'm probably never going to go to Coachella, I figured this was my only chance to wear one and I wasn't going to let it pass me by. ;)

I am loving every second of life these days. 

Even my endo days have so much happiness baked into them now! Last week I missed several days of work but I was able to stay wonderfully busy from my bed working on different odds and ends and Pinterest-ing, of course. :) After he proposed, Weston insisted that we've waited long enough to make this official and we shouldn't take our time with a long engagement, so if you can believe it, we are going to be married this fall!

Yep. We're tackling out-of-state surgery, house hunting, and marriage all in the next 6 months.

Are we a little crazy? Absolutely. But am I having the time of my life? You betcha. 

We're Getting Married!

I always thought that I would know when to expect a proposal.

Not that Weston isn't good at surprises, but because I am so good at figuring things out. ;) I guess I just assumed something would be out of the ordinary - he'd be nervous, or he'd plan something special for us to do that would tip me off, or he'd be extra affectionate that day..

Well, we are engaged! And I was 100% completely blindsided.

Weston picked me up for our favorite kind of Sunday morning - brunch in Downtown Claremont, followed by a stroll through my go-to farmers market. We chatted over champagne cocktails at breakfast and afterward, Weston offered his arm to me and we walked through the market, sampling food from different vendors and purchasing some fruit.. and of course, sunflowers too.

The streets downtown and near the Claremont colleges are notoriously pretty. Gorgeous old houses, little white fences, brick buildings, and big trees that hang over the streets. We were making our way back to the car when I asked Weston if he'd take a picture of me with my flowers. He was strangely compliant and actually suggested that we find a really pretty place to take the photo! So we wandered a few streets over, where nobody else was walking, to take a few pictures before heading home.

I asked if we could take a photo together and was trying to gather the rest of our market loot to display in our picture ("just let me grab the cherries really quick…") when I heard him say from behind me, "I have something a little bit better…"

I turned around to see the small box in his hand.

He shared a few sweet words with me before asking me the big question and my answer, of course, you already know.
I hugged him for a few minutes (lots of shocked "oh my gosh"-es) before he laughingly reminded me, "Don't you want to see the ring?"

While we drove to my house afterward, to celebrate with my family, Weston turned on my favorite song which I always listen to on my happiest and most monumental days and that's when it hit me and I suddenly started crying. And not to totally rat anyone out, buttttt let's just say I wasn't crying alone… ;)

Weston had spoken to my parents about his plans the day before, so when we arrived at the house my brother met us at the door, champagne in hand. My parents were blasting Marry You on our living room stereo and having a family dance party that the Bravermans would be proud of.

A little while later, we headed over to Weston's house, where his family was having a little get-together and we got to share our news with all of them in person. My family joined us shortly after and we spent the rest of the perfect afternoon celebrating with the people we love most.

Thank you so much to everyone who has congratulated us and sent us well wishes these last few days.
We feel very lucky to have so much support and love in our corner as we plan our lives together! xo

The Last Bit of Winter.

After a few rainy weekends got me feeling like maybe it isn't springtime just yet, I convinced my family to spend a Sunday searching for snow in the local mountains with me. It didn't take long before the raindrops turned into snowflakes, sprinkling down onto our windshield and little dusty patches of white made appearances along the sides of the road.

After a quick detour in a neighborhood where my dad used to vacation as a kid, we ended up just pulling off to the side of the main road and finding a calm and quiet spot to explore while the snow fell on us.

I think I've seen snow fall more in the last 6 months than I have in the last 6 years of my life haha.
(…which is only like 2 times, but still.)

I know the idea of wanting to (or let alone, having to) search for snow is ridiculous to most of the U.S., who is more than ready for sunshine and spring, but I'm okay with one or two more chilly, rainy, weekends before the sun comes out to stay around here, Mr. Weather Man. ;)

It's been a pretty long time since I made a little video, but here are some moments we filmed during our cold adventure today. It should probably just be called, "The O'Connell Family Experiences Weather." But maybe you'll think the snow is as pretty as we did. :)

Halloween.

Scary Movie Night has been a long carried-out tradition in our family. As a child, I remember sitting upstairs with Nolan, watching Ghost Busters or Casper, while much more terrifying scenes played out on the living room TV for the grown-ups.

In recent years, we've taken to hosting a small scary movie night around Halloween in our backyard.
Since the holiday fell on a Friday this year, we decided to wear costumes and enjoyed passing out candy to neighborhood trick-or-treaters in between our dinner and festivities.

I dressed as Megan Draper from her Zou Bisou, Bisou scene in Mad Men.
The necklace I wore actually belonged to my grandma back in the 50s! Loved getting to wear it all night.
"Un, deux, trois, quatre!" ;)

We started watching Psycho in our backyard just as some rain started to sprinkle down from the dark, cloudy sky. It actually made the night feel even more cozy and festive! We scrunched together under the patio awning and some umbrellas until the rain finally started falling too hard and we had to get the projector inside. We finished watching the movie in our living room, eating brownies (or in my case, gluten-free pumpkin pizookies, thanks to Weston's mom!) and even though we were warm and toasty inside, I still got chills at the end of that creepy film. Loved it!

Happy Halloween!