june 2013*our first month in socal

Anthony & I have offically been living in California 2 & 1/2 months.  We could not be happier with our decision to sell 90% of everything we own and move out west! It has not been easy.  The last few months have been extremely stressful, yet exciting! We are missing our Lexington friends and family so much!

 Deb's 50th Birthday Party

Weekends at the Beach. We have spent several weekends just hanging out at the beach.  Hermosa Beach is my favorite South Bay Spot  We also ventured to Malibu on weekend, which is really cool.  It's a different vibe, and much less busy.  Most Malibu beaches are difficult to get to because multi-million dollar beach properties line the coast.  Even though most of the beach line is "public", the homeowners (lots of celebrities) put up signs and gates- perceiving the areas to be private.

Redondo Beach

Hermosa Beach

Malibu

I am so behind on all our adventures but I am going to do my best to get caught up!

Wedding Weekend- photographer

The wedding clock is ticking and I'm checking things off my to-do list.

We are decided on our photographer...she actually did my sister's engagement pictures.

Here are a few of my sister and soon to be brother-in-law. Speaking of which Brittany and Travis are getting married this coming weekend!!! So exciting! I can't believe it's actually this coming weekend! Eeeek, I can't wait! 

 

   

engagement celebration

This post was supposed to go up two months ago but somewhere in between all the craziness that our life has been...that did not happen!

On April 6th, we had an engagement celebration during the first Saturday meet at the infamous Keeneland Race Course.

Anthony & I met at Keeneland during the Spring meet in 2009, so it was only fitting that we have an engagement celebration.  I didn't get any pictures of the sit up but we had lots of food, delicious mimosas, and lots of friends & family to celebrate with.

Brittany (my sister), myself, Whitney

Anthony & his two sisters

Whitney & Allison

Kristy

Katherine & Kellie

My sister & I

My favorite people!

Anthony & I (we were so busy mingling with friends we never got a really good picture...so sad!)

Amanda & Brittany

Jen, Brittany, & Amanda

I wanted to wear white to the engagement party because I felt like it was only fitting.  The dress I am wearing above was from a little boutique like store "Altar'd State".  The back of this dress is why I purchased it...it's completely open. (Even though you can't tell in the pictures.) I'm obsessed with open back dresses.  As for Altar'd State...it's a neat store, but I found out they are only location in the southeast part of the country.  You can check out similar looks here....http://www.altardstate.com/

The Keeneland Engagement celebration continued the next day...

Wedding Wednesday!

BIG NEWS!

I found my wedding dress! This past Saturday, my sister and I went to Cincinnati to go dress shopping and found THE one. I am beyond obsessed with my gown.  I obviously can't give details but I will say it's a Maggie Sottero! One of the first dresses I tried on back in December was a Maggie and I absolutely fell in love.  So I did lots of reach online (and looked at EVERY Maggie dress).  I narrowed it down to my top 3 and found a boutique that had them all in stock to try on. I tried on the 3 dresses and as soon was I put "the one" on, I knew! :))) I am smiling just thinking about how much I love it!

Eekk! I am so excited!

Wedding Weekend- colors

As 365 day away mark for my wedding is approaching I have been wanting to settle on wedding colors.
I love checking things off my wedding to do list and this would be a big one!

Right now I am wanting LOTS of white/cream flowers...like entirely all white! I'm obsessed with how elegant and swanky it can make a room look.

 

As for Bridesmaid Dresses...this is still up in the air.

Anthony is doing standard black bow tie tuxedos for him and his groomsmen. So we have to stay formal.
Here are some of my thoughts...
light pink- reallllly light, almost a blush

gold/champagne- can be really gorgeous and should go with most skin tones

black- this probably won't happen because I love color too much, but Anthony brought up the idea of a black/white wedding. I have to say I am still somewhat entertaining the idea, even though I doubt that is what I will go with.

One thing I am probably going to go with is having the girls pick out their own dress style (ie. strapless, halter, one shoulder).  I have 5 (6 counting a junior bridesmaid) girls with really different taste & personalities.  One dress for all of them just would not be right.

Tomorrow I am planning on going  wedding gown shopping in Cincinnati with my sister.  I am so excited!  

brittany's bridal shower

I love love love weddings! I am so excited that my sister is getting married this June! This past Saturday was her Bridal Shower! I got to be a part of a lot of the planning and I must say I think it really turned out to be super cute!

Standard Cupcake Tower :)
-Vanilla with Mini Chocolate Icing
-Lemon Cake with Pink Icing

Adorable pink cups with striped straws

I can't with until June 29th!!! 

we are moving...

Yup, we are moving to sunny Southern California and we couldn't be more excited!  We both had career opportunities on the west coast at the same time, which is extremely unlikely to happen again.  Once 1 becomes 2 (even if we aren't married yet), moving becomes much more tricky!  Our careers are very extremely important to both of us, however, sometimes you just have to LIVE.

 

I have never really lived outside of Kentucky, and I have a great love for warm sunny weather, more importantly Southern California weather.  See, California weather is different than hot summer in the South (Geogia, The Carolinas, Florida).  The Southern States (including Kentucky) are so crazy humid!

 

Our journey to California starts the end of May, we are driving because we doesn't love 32 hours in a car. Well at least my car is extremely comfortable AND we have to get my car out there somehow. 

I will do my best to document our exciting road trip & take many pictures!

 

I love these visit California commericals...so funny!