working together

my save the dates finally arrived!  and by finally i mean they actually came really quickly - but i was just so excited to see them in person that it seemed like a long time :)

my cousin courtney created them just for us - the images are all special and mean something to us, from the little hidden rhody ram to the four-leaf clover...  every detail was thought out - what color/type of envelope, matching with my colors from the inspiration board, and pulling the little heart that i liked so much in to the label.  it's funny, because as i sit here recalling all of this, most people will probably get the save the date and think, wow, that's nice! but not know half of what really went in to it - i guess that's why i'm a "details" person!

so once the package arrived, pat and i set a night aside last week to get to work stuffing the envelopes, sticking the labels, adding the printed return address labels on the back, and hand-writing out each address label (something we thought we were supposed to do but later learned that a printed label would have been just as fine, haha!)  but it was fun working together and nice that he wanted to help too (well, he said he wanted to anyways, that seemed to be the safe answer :))

here are some shots of the collaborative effort:

 

 hopefully the postman will be able to read my handwriting!

ah, the magic of the internet

i'm learning that you can run but you can't hide!  i was recently informed that several colleagues have been following my blog, which is nice :)

welcome everyone - hope you enjoy!  :)

louboutin of the day

something blue?

a great weekend!

it was sunny and in the 70s this presidents day weekend - thank you presidents for giving me monday off!

we had our friends visiting from NJ so of course had to show them around town.  here's a recap of our adventures:

dutch bells (cows) en route to our wine country tour in napa and sonoma:

pretty mustard plants near the grapevine bases in napa:

blooming flowers on a sunny morning in san francisco:

ocean beach in its glory - huuuuge waves too:

later on, a beach barbecue with friends, enjoying the sunny weather:

followed by a group shot at the end of the day:

and lastly, a sunset pic with my love:

counting the days until our next 3-day weekend :)

custom stamps

are a fun way to tie all of your creative elements together for invites and save-the-dates.  my cousin courtney is creating my save-the-dates and i don't want to give them away yet, but they are AMAZING.  she went through pictures of me and pat, and things that are special to us and incorporated them all in to the final product which i can't wait to see in person and get out in the mail!

the original save-the-date design courts' worked on had a tiny little pink heart which i became obsessed with, so courts was able to incorporate the heart in to another aspect of the updated piece, my address labels, below:

 

Image Copyright - Courtney L Talbot

 

i then took this obsession even farther and incorporated the little heart in to my custom stamps too.  if you have a photo or design you want to pull through in to your stamps, you can go to www.zazzle.com and create your own postage stamps!

it's kind of a fun project too :)

check out courtney's etsy shop for more of her work too!

lovely louboutins

the obsession continues.  below is my latest love:

 

seriously how gorgeous are they??  is it normal to have such an obsession with shoes?  i'm trying to find the perfect pair to flash those red heels on my wedding day.  these ones are the closest i've found yet - if only they weren't so TALL!  

the search continues... 

tonight's training session will not be fun

my colleague came in from new jersey today and really wanted In-and-Out Burger.  i was trying to be a good hostess so how could i refuse this request?  so as any good samaritan would do, i drove him down the street to this wonderous burger joint. 

wow.

so i asked the kind woman at the counter if i could have tabasco sauce with the ketchup packets, and here is what she gave me:

needless to say, my trainer is not going to be happy with me tonight.  i can already feel the pain i'm expecting for tomorrow.

but it was SO worth it :)

daaaamn gina

went to LA this weekend for my dear friend's shower.  it was fun, i flew in on saturday morning, rented a car and drove to her apartment in brentwood (famous for the OJ simpson murder scene, sad but true).  on the way, i needed an extra caffeine boost so i stopped by starbucks, feeling like such a cool LA chick in my new little rented jetta and my cute little outfit :).  i got inside starbucks, ordered my skinny cappuccino and moved towards the area where you pick up your drink.  i turned around for a minute before i moved, though, and behind me, saturday morning scruff and all, was bradley cooper - WOW. 
 

now don't get me wrong, ladies.  pat is my man and i think he's the most handsome man in the world and i only have eyes for him.  but running in to bradley cooper is NOT a bad thing.  pat can have his little celebrity crush on the criminal minds girl and i can meet bradley cooper and think he's attractive, right?  :)

leo knows the right team

check out the hat leonardo dicaprio has been sporting lately!

he sure knows which team to represent!  ok fine... the real story is that lamar odom graduated from university of rhode island, my alma mater, and he now plays for the lakers.  leo is a big lakers fan so he was wearing this hat recently to support lamar's alma mater too :)

the time has come

i've been joking about "operation wedding dress" but haven't really gotten too serious about it yet.  but now i finally took a few key steps to get myself jump started. 

1. signed up for the NY marathon 2010 

• what am i NUTS?  don't i remember the pain my body was in from the 2008 marathon?  yes, but i doubt i'll get in the lottery anyways, and it's the best way for me to start running for the chance that i might actually make it in.  besides, i signed up for a 1/2 marathon in july so i need to get going for that anyways. 

2. signed up with a personal trainer 

• this guy actually trains people from the gym downstairs from our apartment and charges only a fraction of the cost the trainers at the gym would charge.  i am going to meet with him 3x week for a month and see if i can notice any difference

that part is tonight - and you could say i am pretty nervous.  i am feeling so beyond being out of shape right now it's not even funny.  i go to the gym and i don't even know where to start anymore - i hate running on the treadmill, i feel like a hamster in a wheel, and i don't know which machines to use on which days, etc.  so i need a kick-start back to the fitness regime i used to be familiar with.

wish me luck!