Becky's Wedding.

How many of you actually enjoy the flying experience? I like that I can fly across the country in one flight and that within (5) hours or so, I should arrive in Chicago from San Diego. However, for me, this is usually not the case.

I had a flight booked from San Diego to LA to Chicago the night before one of my best friends wedding, in August. However, with my flying luck, I landed in LA late which caused me to miss my Chicago bound flight. I thought "No big deal, it was the airlines fault, they will fix it." Well that was a silly thought because they ended up making me feel like it was my fault and then booked me on a red-eye flight to Philadelphia and then on the first flight out to Chicago from there....

After much frustration, they did give me a mean voucher, which I actually demanded because I was going to have to wait (4) hours for my next flight...

Upon arriving in Philadelphia, I was ecstatic to see that they had a Dunkin Donuts cafe so that I could get some coffee! We don't have any in San Diego, which is something I miss from Chicago. I then boarded my flight and arrived in Chicago (ten hours after the fact...) at 9:30 a.m.

But it was all worth it because my mom picked me up and took me directly to the salon where all the girls were getting their nails done. I treated myself since I was so exhausted and over all the travel dilemma.

After getting our nails done, we got ready, went to the rehearsal, and then to the rehearsal dinner, where everyone was waiting for us.

My mom got to be a part of all the wedding festivities...


As well as Joseph and his mom & sister.

Joseph and Becky.

Cute. Doesn't Becky look just like her mom!

That night, we went out with friends and had a great time. I ended up staying with Becky at her parents house. The next morning (after about 3 hours of sleep) her mom played the song, "We going to the chapel..." which is the song that her mom played for her on her wedding day decades ago.

Becky started crying and we call hugged, laughed, cried, and got ready for the day.

The ceremony was beautiful and not to mention emotional for everyone. You could definitely feel all the love and support for the new Mr.. & Mrs. Gavillet.

Cute little favors, chocolate covered Oreos!

After the eating, drinking, and toasts, we started the dance party.

Can you tell how laid back and fun Becky is!

The best part was when her mom pulled out a few sets of hula-hoops out of nowhere and started handing them out for people to hula-hoop on the dance floor!

The dancing seriously did not stop until the very last minute. We even ended up going out after the wedding to continue the dance party. It was truly one the best weddings that I have ever been to. I can say from experience that attending your best friend's wedding definitely puts life into perspective.

Birthdays.

I love birthdays, weddings, and celebrations in general, don't you?? I love the ritual of getting together with people you love and eating, drinking, and just being together. Maybe that explains why I get lost in my work of planning parties!

One of my very good friends, Jessica (on the right) just turned 21 and even though she insisted that she didn't want to go out or get drunk.... that mission was accomplished with the help of her family and friends.

Happy Birthday Jessica, I know you really enjoyed yourself, and so did everyone else celebrating with you!

One week later, was Joseph's 24th Birthday! It was a full house, or bar, at Nunu's with guests even including Chris & Erica on a Tuesday night no less! (For those of you who know Erica, know that her bed time is around 8 p.m.)


Friends far and wide came out to celebrate Joseph's big night.

Obviously he was having a great time. He insisted on taking these balloons with us to Nunu's. He wanted everyone to know it was his birthday!

What sweet faces :)

One of Joseph's co-workers, Satomi, is a baker and made him this toilet birthday cake, with a little chocolate fondant poop to boot!

Jessica was our photographer for the night. Thanks Jess!

Joseph loves to lick people's faces and make out with everyone or anything in sight when he is drunk. He had a great time, and needless to say I had to take him home in a taxi... and yes, the balloons came along for the trip as well!

First Look.

I have so much to catch you up on!

Here is a sneak peek at our place...

(keep in mind that these were taken a little under two months ago, so some things have changed a bit)

The hallway that you walk through before seeing our bedroom to the right and the rest of the place straight ahead. I have BIG plans for this hallway... you'll see!

Welcome to our living room / kitchen / office.

The view into our place from the patio.


A bird's eye view from our bedroom.

Our teeny-tiny bedroom. But isn't it cute?!

Joseph's Office from where check Facebooks, Skypes, and works on SD Chic Guide.

Won't you stop by for a cup of coffee?? Or better yet... a glass of wine :)

Flower of Life.

Being a Visual Merchandiser definitely has it perks!

About (6) months ago, as we were cleaning our visuals props "closet" at work, my fashion retail job was throwing things out or sending them back to New York to make room for more stuff. Hidden away with some other little treasures were various sizes of canvas' for painting. I was able to snag (2) 4'x6' canvas'.

I thought, "I can paint these and hang them in our new place when we move...." So, after about six months, I have finally semi-finished one, after much thought and various opinions on what I should paint.

After much thought, I decided to paint a set of the Flower of Life. To different people, the symbol means different things. To me, it represents how everything in the universe is connected. We need one another to make a whole. It seems a little silly, but I really liked it.

So, here is my drawing on the canvas it self:

I was originally going to get a poll on which (2) sketches to actually pick and paint, but then I resorted to asking people as they came to our apartment. The choices were all over the board, but one common pick was Choice (D), the orange painting. So I started that one....

My personal second choice is.....


Option (G) but in more of a citron color. I am in the process of special ordering the perfect color.

What do you think? What would you choose?

Little Updates.

I had a few things that I wanted to share but none of which are too long to blog about so I decided to make a short (or maybe it's going to end up being a long post after I'm done blabbing) post about a compilation of things...

1.) Last week Joseph I went on a midnight car ride to Harbour Island, right by the SD Airport to get a picture of the cityscape. He is working on this really cool concept of a guide book which he is calling San Diego Chic Guide. He's been hard at work trying to create contracts for advertisers, the mock-up of the guide itself, setting up a website (which you can visit here, even though it's under construction) and now starting to take pictures. Here is my attempt at taking a picture of the cityscape with my iPhone....

2.) We attended the aloft's home owner's association summer "fiesta" at our complex and had a pretty good time because we invited some friends over since there was free food and drink!

3.) We finally settled on couches for our apartment (which I will have to feature on a separate post since some of you have been requesting pictures of our new place...) But in the mean time, we were able to FINALLY get rid of these uncomfortable monsters:

4.) I made these super-yummy crab cakes by the Barefooot Contessa that are always a hit (you can find the recipe here)

5.) We attended a really chic party for Clark Little, a California photographer, at the W Hotel downtown with our friend Shannon while enjoying the beautiful sunset on their rooftop and sipping our way over-priced glasses of wine (to see his work, feel free to click here)

6.) Joseph and I collaboratively made this amazing home-made pizza:

7.) Joseph, Lourdes, and I took off work and attended Opening Day at the Del Mar Races....

(More on the races to follow.... at some point)

8.) Joseph, Caitlin, Lourdes, and I attended the San Diego Pride Parade. It was fun but pretty much the same thing as the year before...

9.) Joseph's mom shipped our bikes here from Iowa, so now we can ride bikes around the city (Joseph just needs to show me how to lock mine up so it doesn't get stolen....)

10.) I am really behind on blogging.... so expect more posts coming up!

Coq Au Vin.

A couple of months ago, Lourdes and I went to Cafe Bleu because it had re-opened in Mission Hills after closing in Hillcrest. I had raved about it for so long and then was sad when it closed. But when it re-opened, I told Lourdes that we had to go.

I had ordered duck and Lourdes had ordered the Coq Au Vin (which literally translates to Cock of the Wine... or better known as Cock cooked in Wine), which to my surprise was terrible! I was so embarrassed because I had nothing but good things to say about Cafe Bleu, until that night.

So to redeem my creditability, I decided to make it myself!

I wasn't sure if it would be easy so I prepared myself and looked through various versions of how to make it. Luckily I had my Essentials of French Cooking Cookbook and my Tools & Techniques book from Williams-Sonoma (which I will feature in a future post).

The gist of the recipe(s) that I read all started with cooking bacon in a pot and once cooked, leaving the fat in the pot and slowly cooking a few pieces of chicken at a time (I forgot to mention that I had to "cut up" a whole chicken, which is why I had my Tools & Techniques book out, because I needed a refresher)

Once the chicken was all cooked, I had to let it sit on a plate for a few minutes to let the juices drain settle.

While the chicken sat, I added carrots and pearl onions to the bacon-chicken fat that was still in the pan. I slowly let them brown...

'

...and then added the chicken and bacon back into the pot, along with a sprinkling of flour, red wine, parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf.

I then had to let the entire mixture simmer on medium heat for about 45-60 minutes.



After being tortured for an hour with the amazing aromas, I had to quickly saute some mushrooms and add them to the pot.... and viola!


I had made some mashed potatoes and corn as well. Everyone loved it, including Lourdes, who said "this is what it is supposed to taste like!"

Etc.

Since I've done a lot of work in the wedding industry, it is always fun for me to get involved in anything and everything that has to do with weddings!

A couple of months ago, I was approached by one of the girls at work about helping her with decorating her ballroom. She said it would be simple and easy, so I agreed to help.

I had forgotten about it until a week before when she reminded me. I asked her the details and she just went over where she wanted some tables placed, how she wanted the flowers to look, and when it needed to be completed by. She also told me she had changed the location to a nearby park.

A few days later, she said she wasn't getting married in a park anymore, and now the ceremony and reception had been moved to a church.... okay.... but now she just wanted me and a couple of our co-workers to decorate the "ballroom". This is what we walked into:

After seeing it and trying to figure out how to make it look presentable with less than a (2) hour time limit, all I wanted to do was:

(this is me sitting & pouting)

BUT, I put my thinking cap on, grabbed the plastic table linens, the balloons, the helium tank, some tulle, and went to work.

We used every minute we had, literally until people were starting to arrive and had completed the challenge....

Not to bad, eh?

Someone else had done the flowers, and they actually didn't look to bad either!

My advice for anyone not wanting to do everything themselves, hire a wedding planner...