One Week Off.

Last Friday, the Pre-K littles graduated which is always the most bittersweet part of the year.
The only bitter part being that I will really miss them. The sweet being everything else.

Although I'll be working through most of the summer, I took this week off. And I am turning it into a mini summer break, with several adventures condensed into the next few days. Yesterday, the kick-off took place in Laguna Beach. Jessica and I relaxed on the sand, explored the tide pools, befriended some little crabs, wandered through rock tunnels and ended our day at The Rooftop Lounge for happy hour.

I brought along my 50mm lens for our day since it's the smallest and most convenient thing to carry…

But in return, you get our giant faces haha. Yikes.

Laguna is just the most beautiful beach. The bluest water and the softest sand.

Thanks for sharing a fabulous day with me, Jess!

PS. Lately, I've been getting the "how are you feeling?" question a lot, so I thought I would answer that here, too. 

These days, my endo pain is less severe, but more constant than it has been in the past. It's inevitable that several times a day, these sharp spasms occur, lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours. They happen so quickly, come out of nowhere, and after they pass, my body often feels like it got run over. I don't know if it's from my muscles tensing up during the pain or what, but it wipes me out! In comparison to bi-monthly hospitalizations and constant pain meds, these weird, daily flare ups are definitely the lesser of two evils. They're much easier to cope with and they hinder my life much less than the flare ups that used to happen every few weeks, confining me to bed for days at a time. In other words, Endo is still throwing punches, but lately, I've been coming out of most rounds on top. ;)

Thank you to everyone who continues to check in and send words of encouragement and prayers! Means the world to me!

The Monster Mashup.

Happy Halloween!

Just For Now.

My friend Sami is one of those rare people that turns all the things she wants to do, into things she's actually doing. 

She's been one of my closest friends since high school and as of two days ago, she's officially moved to San Francisco. :( Wahh.

On Tuesday afternoon, a group of us went to Newport to celebrate our dream-chasing friend with a little cruise around the harbor.

Sami, Talia, Me, and Jess.

After our joyride, we parked ourselves around a firepit in Huntington and for about 5 minutes, enjoyed a teensy tiny bonfire... 

until it went out and we couldn't revive it for our lives. 

But we made the most of the tiny sparks and sat together sharing memories that we have with Sami

as well as some of the ridiculous things that we remember doing all together.

Sad as I am to have my friend leaving us, I know this isn't the end of our time together.

We're saying goodbye, but it's just for now. :) 

Best of luck at grad school, you little smartypants, Sami. 

Can't wait to hear all your stories.

holiday dinner party.

weston's brother, trenton, lives in a really awesome loft above a gallery in the arts colony.

it really is the coolest space with all the exposed brick, high ceilings, and open space downstairs..
so when trenton mentioned that he wanted to host a dinner party, it was really exciting.

taryn and i helped with the decorating and party planning (we've planned a couple events before - always so fun!) and trenton really did an amazing job bringing everything to fruition. his place cleaned up suuuuper nicely and it was great to get everyone together to celebrate with a meal before christmas.

before we ate, trenton stood up and gave a really sweet toast (i'll admit, i almost teared up a little!) reflecting on the year that we've all had and the various struggles that we've had to go through. one of the reasons that i think this is such a great time of year is being able to sit back for a second and see how far we've come. so it was great to recognize that with friends and acquaintances and kind of quietly celebrate the fact that a new year is almost upon us.

after dinner, we sipped coffee and ate dessert, then moved up into the warm loft to play a few rounds of charades. so much laughter that my stomach hurt.

when we left i told trenton i can't wait for his next event... (hint hint, wink wink, trenton!)   :)

thanks for a lovely evening.

thanksgiving turkey trot : my first 5k.

back in august, i started running.
(and by running i mean walking which eventually turned to jogging which eventually became slow running)
i also made a goal (here on the blog) to keep running and complete a 5k.

so excited to say that i did it!

on thanksgiving morning, i woke up bright and early to run in the "turkey trot" with my family, weston's family, sami and jeffrey. i'm so glad i was able to recruit people to join me because it made waking up so early and heading over there a lot easier.

everyone did great! of course weston, mr. half-marathon runner, smoked all of us (and then came back to run the final stretch again with me and sami haha) but everyone in our group was at a different fitness level, which made it really fun and no-pressure.

the important thing is that we finished!
or even that we started!

go us!  :)

  dangit, raptor hands. hahaha.

my body doesn't work correctly in some ways, but it DOES work correctly in so many others.
and that's what i need to focus on. i'm so thankful for that!

yay, turkey trotters!
gobble gobble!

next goal... 10k? 
haaaaaaa.....  ;)

jack-o-lanterns.

tonight, jessica, sami and i went to the pumpkin patch.
we payed $2 each for those little beauties, then brought them home, carved them, and gave them little personalities. stina even surprised us and showed up during our carving for some girl talk!

and even though my pumpkin looks like the pringles guy, i quite like him and his cute mustache.

p.s. points for anyone who accurately guesses what sami's pumpkin is supposed to be (on the right) hahaha
* hint : it is supposedly not a thumb. *

moonrise kingdom birthday party.

i turned twenty-two yesterday.

it's been funny because i keep thinking i'm turning 23, so i've kind of been freaking myself out about how quickly life is moving and then i realize i'm a year ahead of myself somehow. hahaha although, weston did pull a gray hair out of the top of my head the other day. :( just call me grams.

i've been wanting to throw a little party for a while and my birthday gave me a good excuse to plan something cute and have friends over. i decided to go with a moonrise kingdom theme because 1) it's one of my favorite movies, 2) it came out on dvd last week, and 3) it's fun and childlike and will remind me that twenty-two is still stinkin' young and i need to stop complaining about my one gray hair.

all of the decorations were either things i had at home, things i borrowed, things i made, or things i bought from the dollar store. my dad constructed an awesome 'camp ivanhoe' sign out of tree branches that had coincidentally been placed in our yard after a neighbor trimmed one of their trees last week. my dad also made a really cute little tent that toby thought belonged to him, but that actually turned into more of a photo prop.

and thus, the night before my birthday was spent like this.

weston concocted a really delicious sangria that is a mix of a few different recipes he'd read. i was in and out of the kitchen as he was mixing but i'll ask him what the recipe was and share it here because i think it was that delicious. 

 my mom is amazing. every year she asks what i want my cake to be like, i tell her my vision and she makes it a sweet and tasty reality. i think this is my favorite cake yet - so simple and pretty.

my birthday is only a week away from halloween and i've never once utilized that - so after getting positive feedback about possibly having a dress-up party, i decided to finally go for it. everyone dressed in clothing inspired by the movie. there were knee socks, peter-pan collars, and plaid galore. plus a couple 'khaki scouts' and my brother dressed up like bruce willis who plays a cop in the movie. everyone looked so great!

after it got dark enough, we sat around the firepit and roasted marshmallows while the movie played on our outdoor screen. i had been worried that it would either rain (ominous clouds all morning!) or it would be too cold, but with blankets and the fire, everyone was nice and warm. my mom also made one of my favorite meals - her potato cheese soup, adding to the coziness.

after the movie, bryan showed up with a bottle of champagne, made an inappropriate toast (as expected) and we sat around the fire until after midnight, when the group had dwindled down to just my family and weston and it was officially my birthday.

here's to another year.

thanks for celebrating with me, friends.

dapper day @ disneyland.

twice a year, 'dapper day' takes place at disney parks around the world.

"inspired by the original disney park designer's illustrations, which often featured extremely well dressed guests enjoying the park, dapper day events celebrate the tradition of stepping out in style."

most people dress in 50's style clothing to replicate the way disneyland's guests dressed when the park first opened in 1955. once we entered the gates, i kind of felt like i was walking into an episode of mad men... so many amazing dresses!

here are a few clips from my dapper evening with my brother and our friend, joseph.

to be honest, i didn't want to leave. like... maybe not ever.

why can't people always value dressing up like this?

for more info about dapper day you can check out their website here.
i can't wait for the spring event! hopefully i can drag along some more friends to that one too. :)

going-away cupcakes.

my friend, (and weston's brother's girlfriend) diane, is leaving in a few weeks to work for the peace corps in botswana. so on saturday night, lots of her family and friends got together to celebrate together and send her off to africa with love.

my small contribution to the party were some cupcakes that i brought for dessert.

i cut hearts out of some card-stock maps, taped them to the tops of wooden skewers and popped the skewers into the tops of the cupcakes.

they ended up being pretty cute and surprisingly lots of people ate them and had nice things to say!

which doesn't happen often when i bake/cook/etc. so i was pleased. :)

weston's mom and sister had decorated the backyard beautifully too, with lots of globes, map garlands, and african themed art. i wish i had taken more pictures!

it was a lovely way to spend an evening and i can't wait to follow along with diane's upcoming adventure when she starts up her blog... (hint hint, diane!) ;)

a picnic.

i got a sunburn today. 

which is mostly just weird because the only time i spent outside was this afternoon when dalton, robbie, sami and i met at the park for a picnic. and we ate in the shade.

i guess that's how white i am.

i really love picnics. and eating outside in general. and summer in general. 

and great friends. i love them too.

lovely lovely lovely.

even worth a sun-less sunburn.

after our lunch, i cooled down in the house with my brother and introduced him to one of my favorite movies - the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. 

made a quick stop at the hospital for bloodwork (hoping for a higher iron count!) and then got together with lots of my favorite people for a mexican potluck dinner (which was delicious. and made almost entirely by all of the boys. i think most of my girl friends are as hopeless as me in the cooking department) and a few games. 

a great day with great company. 

i love them all.