Wipeout

I love the show Wipeout. Period. It makes me laugh more than anything. Period. I was watching TV last night and they mentioned a Wipeout special during half-time of the Super Bowl, so I checked out the website...and they're currently casting...so I applied. I just got a call and I'm going in for an on-camera interview next week. HOLY CRAP, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!

Lovely New York

This weekend, Mom, Missie, and I travelled to NYC for Missie's birthday and MLK weekend. We had a WONDERFUL time...with the exception of me getting violent food poisoning the first night we arrived. Therefore, I have fewer pictures than everyone else because I spent the first day puking my guts out.

We arrived on Thursday night, and as we landed we heard about the Miracle on the Hudson...unbelievable! Praise God that all those people survived! We cabbed to the hotel, got checked in, then headed over to Bobby Van's Steakhouse for a DELICIOUS meal! We also had one of my favorite bottles of wine, Ferrari Carrano Chardonnay. If you have the chance to order it sometime, go for it!

Fast forward to two days later when I'm alive and ready to leave the hotel. We went to Rockafeller Plaza, watched the skaters and had breakfast. Then we went down to Battery Park to see the plane, the Statue of Liberty, and a couple of other sites. Look at the ice in the water...it's amazing those people didn't freeze to death.

Missie made a good Lady Liberty, no? We worked on this photo several times and her final complaint was that I didn't tell her to straighten her arm. Too funny.

We walked around Rockafeller Plaza again. Here's Missie in front of the Today Show window. She's such a cutie!

Oh yeah, it was 12 degrees. Not exactly a warm California winter day, huh?!

That night, we got ready to go to the theater. I'd initially made reservations for the pre-fixe dinner at The Rainbow Room, which I'd been to once before...it was incredible and a NY landmark. However, I got a phone call a couple of weeks ago saying it had closed down. Thankfully, my friend Suzanne gave me some other great restaurant recommendations. We went to Sardi's in the theater district.

Then it was off to Wicked! My friend Alli is LITERALLY the star of the show! Girls, you've GOT to get out there to see her perform. Alli, I hope I don't embarrass you when I say I was TRULY proud of you. The moment she came down in her bubble and belted out an incredible song, I was like "that's my friend, that's my friend"...then I started to get engrossed in the show. I saw it two years ago with my family in LA, but we all enjoyed it so much more this time because we were able to focus on the performance, rather than understanding the story! Afterwards, Alli arranged for her dresser to come and get us to take us back stage. We were able to see her cute dressing room, which she's in the process of decorating, then she took us onto the stage and down underneath to see the rigging, etc. I'm sure she thinks it's boring, but to us "office" types, it's just unreal!

On Sunday morning, we met Alli for lunch again and had a nice visit. Alli, I really enjoyed spending time with you and I can't wait to see you again!

Sunday was the day when we did more touristy stuff, including a stop by the Rockettes and Magnolia Bakery. I was trying to explain to my mom that Magnolia started the whole cupcake craze when it was mentioned on Sex and the City. These were really good...but not as good as Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica (just my opinion!).

We had a snack at The Plaza on Sunday, too. What an incredible place that is!!!

Then we ran across the street to the park for a carriage ride!

After a nap, we went back up to Central Park for dinner at Tavern on the Green. We sat in the glass room and watched snow flakes come down and had a nice meal. It was a really picturesque place to be!

Just before we turned in, we took some last photos of Times Square at night. It was so beautiful and I was so glad to go, even though I was so sick. Thankfully, on this vacation, I didn't gain any weight!!! : )

Wedding Gown Shopping with Lisa

Sweet Lisa (from my small group/wine club) invited me to go wedding dress shopping last weekend and while we were heading to the back of the store, she gave me a beautiful gerber daisy and asked me to join her bridal party! Obviously, I was honored and so excited! Lisa and Nate already have their wedding date and just about everything planned for THIS JUNE! It's infectious being around the two of them because they just can't wait to get married!!! I can't wait to see how their engagement progresses and join them in June as they become one.

She didn't know she'd like a dress like this...but knew she was in love when she started sobbing!
When you decide on a dress at David's Bridal, they make you walk down the aisle. : )

Practicing the bouquet toss to Jenn

The bridal party, minus Beks

The beautiful daisy that Lisa gave me lasted a long time. So pretty!

New York, New York

Missie, Mom, and I head to NYC on Thursday morning for the long weekend and for Missie's 24th birthday. It's going to be cold...and I can't find my coat. Yikes! Off to Nordstrom Rack and ROSS I go at lunchtime! I'm really excited because I get to see my friend Suzanne for lunch on Friday (before she heads to CA, ironically) AND I get to see Alli perform in Wicked on Saturday night! Hopefully, we'll get to have brunch on Sunday again, too, like we did the last time I was there!

In other news, I've been learning all sorts of fun things about the new camera, so I hope I have some killer pics when I get home!

Boot Camp

Clare, Matt, Barbie, and I have all started boot camp this week in the mornings and we've committed to doint it MWF mornings for a month. It started on Wednesday and I couldn't lift my arms over my head to wash my hair and had trouble putting on eyeliner because of the shakes. This morning was a lot of lower body, so we'll see if I'm able to stand up from a chair on my own by the end of the day! Surprisingly, getting up in the morning hasn't been too difficult, but I have been waking up all night long to see if I've missed my alarm. I think the lesson here is to not snooze anymore on Tues and Thurs and maybe I'll get better sleep. Maybe not snoozing is a new resolution! : ) A funny biproduct of the boot camp is I'm eating MUCH better because I don't want to blow away all the hard work I've done in the morning. This may be just what the doctor ordered!

PS - when we started, I insisted that the instuctor NOT use her whistle, because I wasn't paying ANYONE to scream at me. I may have scared her a little bit.

What the heck?!

A coworker today told me that my shoes were "weekend shoes". What the heck! These are flats and are neutral!!! Crazy, huh?

Rebekah Got Married! - photos added

My dear friend Rebekah got married on NYE and the day couldn't have been more fun. We started with manis and pedis, then went on to get beautified with hair and makeup, then got dressed, did pictures, got them married, and PAR-TAYed...all while drinking copious amounts of champagne. ; )

I'll post photos tonight, but in the meantime, check out pics from the wedding photographer, the talented Sarah Frenzel. She is a friend of my cousin, Sara-Britt, and I met her at her wedding. I've booked her for my parents anniversary shoot, and referred her to Beks...and I'm so glad I did! She does amazing work! She was down for anything and when I showed Beks some fun photobooth wedding pics (that I'd found while blog-stalking), she loved the idea and Sarah did, too! http://www.sfphoto.wordpress.com/.

Rebekah and Brett, enjoy married life and come back to CA soon! Until then, keep smiling at each other like you did all day on Wednesday! XOXO!

Look at that smile...somebody is enjoying her rehearsal!

Let's get this party started!
Bridal party getting ready

All dressed up for picture time!!!

GORGEOUS

It was coooooold

Grace made the cake and it was so cute how excited she was to see them cut it!

The newlyweds!!!

These two kids got engaged over Christmas, too! I played with this pic in Photoshop...love it!

Amy and Tomas had to meet up for a dance when they heard their wedding song. Also played with this in photoshop...love how smokey it looks.

Josh and Christy shared a smooch during fun with sparklers. Naturally, I staged this shot. : )

First Day of School!

I'm nervous...but excited; tonight is the first night of photography class. Yippee!