Welcome to the good life.

Phileo Friendship

Several weeks ago in bible study, we talked about Phileo Love. Phileo is one of four of the ancient Greek words for love and is defined as "a love of the brotherhood because of a shared, common bond". Its the love you feel for your friends! As we were discussing the importance of friendship, I reflected on my friends...the people who have really been there and know me. I'm quite blessed to have good friends and I hope to be a better friend to them every day.

Anyways, I had a Phileo filled weekend with friends that has my heart smiling! Here's a little recap:

Friday, July 29th:

This bestie was here all the way from Virginia to pick out a wedding venue in San Diego for next August. Let me add, San Diego is freakin awesome and I'm certain this wedding will be too. We drove down to San Diego after work Friday to meet up for drinks and catch up time. I love (love, love, love!) the W hotel and the "Beach" bar. We stayed there for my bachelorette party so it brings back such happy memories. And they change out the elevator mats for the time of day:

(Sorry its backwards)

So good catching up with her. Loved hearing about wedding sites, ideas, Virginia, while sipping delicious watermelon martinis. She really understands me and gave me some darn good advice. Man, I miss her already! And as always, the night went by way too fast.

And she asked me to be her matron of honor! Me! I was speechless! I just can't wait. She was my MOH and helped me in so many ways. I feel so honored and blessed to be part of the most important day ever! I'm already browsing ideas here...

Megs even treated me to the perfect beach/book bag and an amazing coconut cream cupcake from Heavenly Cupcakes...meant to take a picture of the cupcake but I devoured it before I could grab the camera. Amazing. She knows how much I love coconut! 

Given my new duties, I had to pick up a little something special for her...to be mailed out soon!

Sunday, July 31:

My good friend from a past job was having a birthday party for her sweet 2 year old. Little Mermaid theme...oh my, I can't wait to have a little girl and have sweet parties like this one. These friends from one of my many last jobs were so good to me. We laughed, we cried, we lunched. They made work fun. I don't get to see them very often, but truly adore them! Here are some pictures from the party:

Delicious cake pops, which I am dieing to learn how to make. These were so adorable and yummy. Of course, I had two. Amazing!

Happy birthday, Princess! Let me tell you, this baby girl is loved. Her parents prayed for her and God delivered, as He always does. She is the happiest, prettiest, sweetest baby.

 

...and our much needed group picture. These friends made me laugh just like the old days. So glad we were able to spend much needed time together. I aspired  to be more like them!

 

Wow, this turned out to be a very long blog post. Overall, I'm so thankful for all my friends.

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Sunday Brunch Idea

This is probably no surprise, but I love a good Sunday brunch. With endless champagne of course! While we enjoy going out here for Sunday brunch, it can get pricey at $30+ per person. So, we decided to do our own brunch at home! On the menu was breakfast burritos, hash browns, and chocolate dipped fruit. I tried to make the menu easy, yet delicious. And of course, we had brut champagne, raspberry champagne, and plenty of orange juice and cranberry juice. We sat outside on our patio and turned on our favorite Pandora station.  

Tomorrow is Sunday...hope you can enjoy a brunch day too!

Wine Wednesday

Happy Wine Wednesday. Oh, how I love blogging about wine on Wednesdays!

This week's tasty wine is a Riesling by Two Princes. Its a crisp and smooth Riesling with lime and peach fruit notes. I love wine with fruity notes. More than fruitiness, I love affordable wine and it meets that criteria as well.

On a side note, I've officially enrolled in the Wines of California UCI extension course. Looking forward to learning more about delicious California wines and sharing my discoveries with you.

Getting Crafty

Yesterday this awesome friend invited me over for some cropping and shopping...two of my favorite activities! We had to grab thai for lunch and went to Pages In Tyme, my new favorite store. Its absolutely adorable. We both have been searching for our one and only adhesive, which seems to be impossible to find at Michael's or pricey at other scrapbooking stores. But yesterday, we found something new...E-Z Dots Mini. And for only $3.99! Love it!

I'm still working on my honeymoon album...I need many (many!) more refill pages. And clearly, I need extension posts too.

On The Grow

grow/grō/Verb

1. (of a living thing) Undergo natural development by increasing in size and changing physically; progress to maturity.

I saw this "Grow" sign at the Fair and had to add it to my camera roll. Grow...progressing and developing. I've been thinking about growth lately- how to grow into a better, happier, healthier person in every sense. Growth is continuous and you should never stopping growing as a person, right?

 

I've been going to this bible study for the last three weeks and am sad its almost over. Its funny because I dreaded going and felt obligated to because I was invited by a family member. But its been really positive and I feel some sort of personal growth. I guess we can grow even when we think we don't want to. Also, started reading this book (switching between it and Gossip Girl...I still need my mindless/pool reads!) and have really enjoyed it.

Grow on.

Wine Wednesday

Happy Wine Wednesday, friends! This week's wine is one of my favorites...I stumbled upon it at Bacchus because of pretty label and name. Botani. That just sounded good!

Botani Moscatel 2009: Delicious. It tasted like wet stones and ripe peaches...a taste unlike most wines I've tried before. It was surprisingly fresh. The label said it has "Mediterranean breezes" from Malaga and is grown in shady soils of the steep mountains. Tasted a little bit grassy, yet limey. My iPhone notes on this wine concluded with "love this wine". Read more about the delicious Botani and maybe even buy a bottle!

Just Dream House Shopping

Last week we finally went to visit the news homes of Laguna Altura. The houses were gorgeous. And very expensive. I took a ton of pictures because I love (LOVE!) the decor. Now I just need to convince Jon to let me re-decorate our apartment!

I really am enjoying this stage in our life. The stage of just renting and having a little extra money to go on vacations and go out on the weekends. We could probably stretch the budget and buy a house. Right now we are just having fun. I think we'll just wait until the next stage in our lives:

Back to my cocounut obsession...I've found a few more coconut loves:

Coconut lime martini from Ra Sushi

Yummy (and healthy!) Kashi chocolate coconut bars.

Enjoy!

Lets Eat!

...that's not only my first thought of the day but the theme of this year's Orange County Fair. And its a very appropriate theme since thats what I enjoy doing at the fair the most. This year's strangest fair food had to either be deep fried kool-aid or deep fried butter...not really sure how either of those can be deep fried items.

Reasons why the fair is always good fun:

Sometimes you gotta play those carnie games. Yes, they are rigged and no I don't need a gigantic monkey stuffed animal. But its worth trying for!

Love the sounds and smells of the fair. It really is summer time!

Always fun with my leading man <3

And I love seeing the animals. Especially the sweet baby cows! Seeing those adoarble faces make me so happy not to eat beef. Shame, shame beef eaters...look at that face!!  (LOL!)

...and because a few cold beers will make Jon stick his face in one of these!

Now let's go eat!

Pretty Little Things

I can't help myself...I love pretty jewelry in pretty bowls.

(photo from Francesca's)

Wine Wednesday

Welcome to the 2nd Wine Wednesday! This is where I review a bottle of wine or two! Of course, the review is based on my tastes...I'm not a wine expert just yet. Just want to share my thoughts on what I'm currently sipping!

This week's review is the Tariquet Ugni Blanc...please don't ask me to pronounce that! I just pick the bottle and point to the one I want! This wine was so-so, not my favorite so far but still good on a warm summer day. It was very light and balanced, without that lingering after taste. The blanc was fruity but a little dry, a bit surprising. I enjoyed reading this description because it says its "refreshing at any time of day"

Cheers!