Twenty-Six

Top, via Poshmark/ Mossimo pants/ Qupid Heels/ Deux Lux Bag/ Sophie Watch

This year's birthday completely crept up on me; it doesn't even feel like I had a birthday! I guess I've been so busy with work and wedding planning that it just didn't seem important this year. Of course my fiance and family still made it extra special even though I wasn't really up for celebrating. Here are a few highlights from my day.



Benihana & Karaoke in Japantown

Amazing gift from the Mister

Bubbles and bites at our favorite winery

Balloons from Mama K

A new scarf from a friend (so my nephew wore my old one!)

Tic Tac Toe with my niece



Just Engaged, in the Vineyards

INC Top/ Forever 21 Pants/ Spike the Punch Necklace/ Qupid Heels/ Michael Kors Watch/ Forever 21 Bracelets/ Bauble Bar Cuff

Ever since the day that I knew Giancarlo was 'The One' I had mentally started planning our wedding. Our perfect wedding would be at Concannon, our favorite winery in Livermore in front of the gorgeous Glen Ellen Victorian Home with a tented reception on their large, lush green lawn. We talked about it every time we went there and even 'practiced' our ceremony. Well once we were actually engaged we went to the vineyard to get information and start planning our day and our dreams were shattered when they told us they were doing construction and wouldn't be booking any weddings for 2013. It's hard to explain how let down we were but it honestly felt a bit like I had been dumped! 

We went on to fall in love with another venue just down the road and of course are over the moon with excitement for our wedding day. But we still knew that we had to incorporate our favorite winery into our wedding somehow. So as we planned our engagement session with our photographer, we decided to use it as our main location. We've celebrated many other occasions at Concannon, (birthdays, holidays, Valentine's day) so it was very meaningful for us to celebrate a bit of our wedding there as well. 

I was soooo nervous the day of our engagement photo shoot! Giancarlo was so completely calm that you'd think he was the one who had his own personal style blog. Thankfully, our photographer Gladys (and a little bit of bubbly) quickly helped me feel at ease as we walked around the vineyard playing games and chatting while she snapped photos of us. I am so happy with how all of the pictures turned out and how Gladys was able to truly capture the happiness and love we were feeling in the moment. 

Here are just a few of our favorites :-)

 

Coming Soon...

David's Bridal Dress/ Pelle Moda Heels/ Forever 21 Bracelets

I can't believe I've gone an entire month without a blog post, and even more so that we received our engagement pictures weeks ago and I still haven't shared them! It's been a busy [but very fun!] month between wedding planning, birthdays, Thanksgiving, and I've been working a lot on our wedding website.

Well my concept for this location & outfit didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. I was really hoping to get a 1950s Chevy Belair in a mint green but we weren't able to find one to rent or borrow so a week before the shoot I gave up on it completely. The morning of our shoot my mom told me that a friend of a friend was letting us use their car. It was much more modern looking than I had hoped but it was so sweet of my mom and her friend's friend to try and make my vision happen. After the shoot we also realized that I completely forgot to wear the 1950s style veil my mom and I had made just that morning!

I guess this was a lesson for me that if things don't go exactly as planned on our wedding day that I just need to brush it off and enjoy the moment. Because even without the mint green car and veil that I had honestly placed A LOT of importance on, the shoot went on and we seriously had a blast! I have our amazing photographer Gladys Jem to thank for that and I am so excited that we have her on board for our wedding day!

So here are a few of our pictures, I hope you love them as much as we do!

Up Next: Just Engaged in the Vineyards

Hitchin' a Ride

Rock & Republic Skirt(shop it)/ Forever 21 Top(shop similar), Sunglasses, & Bracelets/ Madden Girl Heels/ Coach Bag(shop similar)/ NY&Co. Watch

After looking through today's outfit pictures I realize that my roadside location, Angelina leg, and 'OUI!' shirt make it look like I dressed up as a hitchhiker for Halloween. But when we were driving around and I saw this endless row of trees full of red leaves, I had to make my driver fiance pull over. From the Pumpkin Spice Lattes, to the tank top weather, and the SF Giants kicking @$$ in the World Series I couldn't be happier right now!

Golden Chevrons

If you couldn't tell from my last post, I'm definitely loving chevron prints right now. So when I started brainstorming for my engagement photoshoot I decided I wanted to incorporate the fabulous print into our props! I can't want to get back all of our pictures to share with you but for now I give you a sneak peek of the picnic we had :-) That's Gladys above, our seriously amazing photographer, taking some stills of my new favorite picnic blanket!

I was searching the internet for cute picnic blankets and found this blog post by Twig and Thistle. It looked simple enough, so my fiance and I went to Home Depot to pick up a canvas drop cloth, painter's tape, and gold spray paint. It took us 2 or 3 hours to get it all done and discovered afterwards that we forgot to tape off a few small spots, but I love how it turned out! The only thing I would do differently is maybe prime it first so the color really pops. I have a canvas tote that I've been meaning to spray paint with a fun print so now I'm definitely motivated! Here are a few more pics from start to finish.

Create a template. We used cardboard and measured out for 3 inch stripes on our 5X5 blanket.

Trace your template onto your blanket and be sure to tape off all of the areas you don't want painted.

Paint! We used two cans of Rustoleum Gold Spray Paint.

Let dry and remove your tape.

Hello pretty blanket!

Biking in Wedges

Romper, TJ Maxx/ Wedges & Clutch, Target/ Forever 21 Necklace/ InPink Cuff/ NY&Co. Watch/ House of Harlow Sunglasses

Finally, here is my outfit for day 2 of the wine festival! I wanted to wear something cute & cozy, and appropriate for the hot weather. These wedges are so comfortable every time I wear them that I was certain I'd be able to ride my bike from winery to winery with ease. Boy was I wrong! The heat + wedges + bike + the wine still lingering in my system from the day before = me sitting on the side of the road calling my mom to come pick up my bike and me! #EpicFail

But hey, even if it was on the side of the road, I'm glad I was able to show off my new romper to all of the passersby :-)

Pink Hot

Dress, TJ Maxx/ Madden Girl Heels/ Rebecca Minkoff Bag/ H&M Hat/ Michael Kors Watch/ Forever21 Jewelry

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged! The past 2 months have been jam packed with birthdays, vacations, baby showers, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, soccer and on top of that trying to get in time to plan my own wedding. This weekend marks the end of my 'busy season' and I must say, it has been a blast but I can't tell you how excited I am to have a weekend to myself and finally get back to blogging!

These pictures are from a few weeks back at Livermore's Annual Labor Day Weekend Harvest Festival. You've probably never heard of it, but now that you have you should definitely put it on your calendar for next year! It is my favorite wine event hosted by Livermore where 40 wineries participate. There's food, too much wine(if there ever was such a thing), music, art, a bit of shopping, and shuttle buses to safely transport you from winery to winery! It's usually pretty hot this time of the year so I put on a new lightweight sundress, floppy hat to protect me from those UV Rays, and the most comfortable (yet crazy tall) heels I have.

Cheers!

Hey Baby!

The Mama-to-be and me! I borrowed this Rachel by Rachel Roy dress from my sister's closet and paired it with Forever 21 Jewelry for a little pop.

Back in February when I picked up my friend Ashley to go get pedicures she gave me the great news that her and her husband were having a baby! I was so excited for them and of course already thinking about shopping for baby clothes (Lord help me, I am going to be out of control when I have some little ones of my own!) Fast forward a few months, Ash's sister-in-law Megan had a fabulous idea to do a Pampering baby shower with a yellow and grey theme and I was eager to help. Here are just a few pics from the day:

With spray paint, buttons, and scrapbook paper I decorated candles, candelabras, and picture frames to display at the shower. We got baby pictures of the expecting parents for the frames--loved those pics!

I bought fabric quarters at JoAnn's and used iron-on transfer paper to make a onesie banner that we hung over the onesie making station. (Thanks for all of your help mom!)

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Using the invitation as an example, I made a graphic to print on labels for wine bottle game prizes. And my mom decided to use leftover fabric to make a tie & bow tie for the bottles--she's so creative!

My go-to Baby Shower gift, I love making diaper cakes!

Enjoying a glass of wine and a pedicure :-)