Wedding Weekend.

This past weekend, Erica & I flew out to Des Moines for a wedding planning weekend! I stayed with the Wanek's but spent most of my days with Erica and her family.

The first night, I went to 801 Steak & Chophouse to celebrate Lindsey's birthday (Joseph's brothers' girlfriend). What a coincidence that I was in town to have my traditional martini, Surf 'n Turf dinner, and Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert :) Yummy!

The next morning, I met with Katie, who is designing Erica's Save The Dates. We headed to La Mie for breakfast. They kind of changed their restaurant around and everything looked delicious. I picked up some chocolate croissants and enjoyed a nice breakfast with her.

Katie even surprised me with some cool gifts:

1.) Paper Heart DVD, which I think I might watch it tonight!

2.) Madras Driving Cap (I might have to post a picture of myself in it)
3.) Super cute card Letterpress Card

I love Katie, she has great style and knows me well :)

The rest of the day was spent meeting with Erica's dress maker Dornink, Gloria from Glorious Desserts, and stopping into eden for some special things! Erica, the mothers, and I had a late lunch at Biaggi's and talked about all of the details for the wedding. Lastly, we stopped into Joseph's to pick out rings!

The night kind of ended at Erica's house and then restarted as we made our way to Lindsey's birthday celebration downtown. Topher had put together a fun little party with decorations and bottle service to boot at the Liars Club. We had a blast.

They even brought out the bottle for her with a sparking candle!

On Sunday, Erica, her family, and I went up to Dike, Iowa to meet her fiance's parents at the venue, Fox Ridge Golf Club. We got everything pretty figured out from decor to schematics to food. We made our way back to Des Moines for dinner and I watched Coco Before Chanel, soooo good!

The next morning, I had lunch with Carolyn and Bethany at Proof. I started the packing process and got on my flight back to good ol' California!



Next stop: St.Barth's aboard a yacht named El Jefe for Spring Break :) Can't wait.

Birthday: Part Trois.

I think this is the final post on my birthday... sad, I know. Well, in celebration of all things fabulous, Carolyn & Sophie came out for a visit! We had so much planned for such a short trip. They arrived on a Wednesday night (day after my actual birthday) and stopped into my work for some dessert and coffee.

Shortly after, I got off work and met them back at the apartment, where I was surprised with a chilled bottle of bubbly and this crazy cool gift..

Love, love, love! A limited edition Louis Vuitton Keep It bracelet in the Damier Graphite.

Another bracelet to add to my little collection!
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The next morning, we had breakfast at Cafe Chloe (of course I needed to show them my favorite place) I had the poached egg breakfast, sooooo good. I wanted even more beurre-blanc!

How cute is their sign/logo?!

French urban chic... eh?!

My little cuties :)

Afterwards, we got ready to have a beach-y afternoon. We hiked down this to the beach...

It may not seem like a big deal, but wait until you see it in person or have to hike down it. The view is always amazing, but the hike back up is not! We sunbathed, walked down the beach, and played catch (well Joseph and Sophie did anyway)

For before-dinner-cocktails we went to The Ivy Rooftop (needless to say we won't be going back any time soon.. long story!) We made our way over to Morton's Steakhouse to have a fancy dinner for my birthday. I had the filet mignon with crab legs... delicious! We called it a night shortly after dinner.

The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park!

I love this picture!

Doesn't it look just like Joseph?! I'm positive he had that shirt too!

Just hanging around with my new friend!

Inappropriate, I'm sure!

Sophie had never seen a real live elephant before!

Yes, I'm holding a cocktail. We seriously tried to find a drink in ever section of the zoo. I had no idea the zoo could be so fun! Good thing we got a year membership :)

After the zoo, we made our way to Coronado for a little shopping, cocktails, and to watch the sunset.

It was a bit chilly but beautiful.

Awww, isn't this shot to sweet.

As we sat as talked, we thought of dinner plans.... where to go?! I know. Cafe Chloe! Haha. Yes, we went to there twice! We brought our own wine (small corkage fee, but totally worth it) and I had the night's special, which was duck leg, very french. I obviously devoured it and still wanted more!

The next morning, we kind of took it easy and eventually made it over to Fashion Valley. After hours of shopping and having a nice lunch at the Zodiac Room in Neiman Marcus, we came home and got ready for the night.

Erica had spent all day putting together an amazing cocktail party for me! I was totally impressed. We enjoyed all this fabulous as you can see below:

Erica plated some bruschetta, smoked maple salmon, meatballs, and calamari.

Carolyn put together an awesome cheese plates with fresh strawberries and olives (on the side because I detest them!)

We had some Passion Fruit Mini Tarts from Extraordinary Desserts.

As well as some Mini Creme Brulee Tarts... Carolyn also made an Ice Cream Bombe, which I don't have a picture of but can find the recipe here.

For a late night snack (after eating pizza and finishing all the wine & champagne too!) we made our way down to Bencotto. They treated us like royalty because they had shut down the kitchen but provided us with meats, cheeses, bread, and wine! They even brought out a dessert for me!

The next morning, and last day of the girls' trip, we went to George's in La Jolla for a brunch. Caitlin and Michelle met us up there and we had a great time. Shortly after lunch, we took the girls' to the airport and bid them farewell. It was the end to a fabulous 25th birthday!

Birthday: Part Deux.

As I said in the post below, I did have to work on my birthday because know no one would cover my shift! What nice co-workers I have, don't you think?!

But I was in for an unsuspected surprise from my girls in the kitchen...

They surprised me with gifts, food, and dessert!

After they sang Happy Birthday to me, I blew out my candle and made a wish!

They were so excited about the whole thing! It was so sweet of them to do all that for me.

They even made a big dinner! I wasn't really all that hungry but the smell of home made food is always appetizing... I ended up having a second helping!

My manager has a tradition of making "penis cakes" for those workers who work on their birthdays, and since she knew I was working....! (The girls in the kitchen are always grossed out about it, but I find it quite hilarious)

Quarter of a Century.

Sadly, I had to work on my birthday on Fat Tuesday but it was small price to pay for all the things that awaited me throughout the week. The morning of my birthday, I vacuumed the car and got it all washed for Joseph's mom & sister to come into town the following day, after that I got showered and my friend Caitlin took me to Cafe Chloe for a birthday lunch. We both had a little Coupe of Bubbly, and Caitlin ordered the Steak & Frites, while I had the amazing Soup Du Jour that had a poached egg in it. It was amazing, I thought it sounded interesting so I tried it, and absolutely loved it. I want it again, as I am blogging about it :) Sadly, I didn't take any pictures!

After lunch, we visited Joseph at work, had a birthday drink, and the staff at Sushi Deli #1 sang "Happy Birthday" to me and presented me with their Mochi Ice Cream dessert. Caitlin & I left and went over to Urban Mo's to have a birthday shot! :) Needless to say, I needed a little nap after all this. After Joseph got off work, he came home, we cuddled, and he presented me with this...

I was kind of speechless. I was not expecting Hermes for my birthday! I was kind of in awe. I have always gotten really giddy about being presented with a the Little Blue Box, but I almost didn't have a reaction for the striking orange box.

I loved it! I couldn't wait to put it on. I was so excited that I even convinced myself to wear it to work. It was the only day I wore it too because I was so scared I'd mess it all up but I was so happy.

I'm Yours.

What are your thoughts on Valentine's Day? Joseph and I usually don't make too much of a fuss about it and never go out because of all the mayhem but this year we decided to go out the day before.

We went to try a couple of places that we hadn't been to but everything and everywhere was booked for the night. You couldn't even find a seat in the bar. So, we thought we would try this cute new Italian place in Little Italy that our friends had to told us about called Bencotto. I had forgotten that that had just opened a few days earlier but judging from how many people were there, I was surprised! They had one open table, lucky for us!

We shared a bottle of wine and both ordered Gnocchi dishes.

Joseph looked so cute :-)

The Gnocchi was pretty good, neither one of us had ever had gnocchi, so it was a nice change from the norm of always ordering pastas. I'm not sure that I could order it again but it was tasty!

For dessert, I brought a little something from Extraordinary Desserts. Yummy, "Brownie in a Box" :) The server was sweet enough to plate it for us.

The next morning we spent the day at Black's Beach in La Jolla. was the perfect Valentine's Day, especially since everything was not really planned but still fell into place.

It's Official.

As I blogged about last month, I finally made the appointment at the DMV to take my Motorcycle Skills Test as I mentioned here. A little over a week ago, Joseph and I went to the course and he gave me some pointers, showed me the proper way to pass, observed as I tried and nonchalantly told me I was probably going to fail.

Well, of course I try not to believe him. So a couple of Wednesday's ago, I went to my appointment early and waited in line with a few cars in front of me to take the skills test. I didn't really feel nervous until I was at the front.

The lady testing me was very nice. She explained the two test drives that I had to do in detail. She told me she was kind of lenient with allowing my front tire touching the white lines but that I could not go outside of the lines or put my feet on the ground while driving.

Attempt #1

I failed within with the first 20 seconds because I lost my balance and put my feet down. Haha. I was kind of mortified because I had gotten further on my own the day before and the day of! BUT, she was sweet enough to let me try again (probably because it was so pathetic to have failed to fast)

Attempt #2

She told me to take a deep breath, focus, and try again. I passed the first test perfectly! I was so proud of my myself and thankful that she let me take it again. The second test was supposed to be a little easier to I didn't fret too much about it, and she told me if I happen to go out of the white lines, to keep going anyway.

I was just a few feet from finishing when doing my final turn that I blatantly crossed the white line and yelled "Shit!" but as instructed, I kept going to the finish. She told me to park my Vespa. I wasn't sure whether I had passed or failed but to my surprise, she said she would pass me! I was ecstatic, I couldn't believe it. So yes, it's official, I am a licensed driver in the State of California.

Self Gifting.

Is there such as thing as self-gifting? I'm not sure, I may have made it up.

but....

Do you buy yourself a birthday gift?

I can't remember if I do or not. I probably do and if I haven't in the past, I think I just might this year.

What I've really been looking for is a new bag but I think I might have found something that I didn't know I wanted until I saw it.

An Hermes Scarf.

I looked through the catalog and fell in love with this look. So, I went into the store at Fashion Valley and gawked over it. I tried on a few other smaller silk scarves and I can't make up my mind over what works best for me.

What are your thoughts on Hermes scarves? Investment piece or just a silly purchase?

The model on the catwalk has one of their signature silk scarves. I think I should be able to pull this look off for our upcoming spring break trip.

This model is wearing their silk losange scarve. It's being featured in all of the top fashion magazines. Now I feel it's a must-have item :)