sunset celebrations

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we took luke to the beach for the first time for my friend devon's birthday celebrations. she is one of my favorite people in the whole world & it has been so nice to be in the same city as her & start working on some exciting projects together :)  we laid down blankets, watched the sunset, made a small bonfire, ate s'mores, & became one with the sand.

my little bear absolutely loved it & this is now my new favorite picture of the two of us!

tea time.

this morning i took a cruise down 95 to meet up with my lovely friend & fellow blogger Devon at the cutest little spot Lorca for some hot drinks & baked goods. obviously i ordered a chai latte since they are my absolute favorite & never fail to warm my heart & soul. it came in an alice in wonderland sized cup & saucer & i only burned my tongue once.

we chatted about life, the cold ass weather outside, & our big plans for the future. she also surprised me with the sweetest gift for the little guy: a moose printed & footed onesie from Vermont... sigh. i can't wait to bundle him up in it & snuggle him :)

love her.

oh & did i mention she is the founder of Wendy Darling Co. where she designs & makes her own whimsical clothing line... launching this month. you can be sure i'll do a post when the website is up & running! love you devon, can't wait to team up with you & make some creative awesomeness!

cali roots festival

the second weekend we spent in california was one for the books. we loaded up the car & packed it to the roof & cruised down to Monterey, CA for a weekend of camping & music at the Cali Roots Festival. it was half roughing it, half blow up air mattresses + running water & electricity. so it was the perfect combo for us girls to come back to after the long days spent at the concert grounds watching performances by: veragroove, slightly stoopid, the expendables, tribal seeds, pacific dub, matisyahu, collie buddz, & more. 

my sweet shades i stole from my little brother when we left

our fabulous 3 room tent & our super grill

me & chels rocking the smurf hoodies & no makeup looks all weekend long

husband and i so captivated by the legit Mazda racetrack next to our camping site

nice view huh?

baked beans, burgers, dogs, & i consumed more s'mores than i'd like to admit

& you can't go to a reggae festival without seeing some awesome tattoos!

happy girls!

and happy us!

the main stage

& stock piling bracelets from the weekend. 

(the pink one is made by chels here!)

the not too shabby view chelsea & i had of the boys from our side of the table 

at lunch in downtown Monterey!

facepaint & adding to my sticker collection!

(i seriously wanted a hairwrap too, but there was a 2 hour wait... & boy am i glad for that because that baby would have been cut out the second i got back home to reality!)

& sunday night's finale concert. 

thank you Monterey for hosting us & allowing us all to enjoy your beautiful landscapes & gorgeous weather. & thank you cali roots for a kick ass weekend... see ya next year!

over the past week...

we received our gorgeous wedding album,

i did some bargain hunting: Eddie Bauer boots from here, 

mint Lucky flats, & my favorite Burt's Bees products,

along with a Herschel case for husband's macbook (more from here),

striped Lucky flats (BOTH pairs are from TJMaxx, snatch them before they're gone!)

& a Cali top to get me excited for our upcoming move to San Fran this summer!

we went bowling!

 i was god awful....

but we all had the best time :)

and in case you were wondering how many pictures it takes to get FIVE good ones for a wardrobe post... here you go:

i end up editing out about 20 of these stellar poses. 

(my brief stint interning at Elite Model Management taught me everything i know)

so roomie is on the cover of a magazine...

remember the stunning outer banks wedding husband and i went to in October? ya well, my college roommate/best friend is now smack dab on the cover of Outer Banks Bride. how awesome is that?! it was such a surprise to her & her new hubby and i couldn't be more thrilled for them. obviously they are dancing on cloud 9 right now! below is a screen shot of their story...

and to see the whole online magazine click right here for tons more beach cuteness and to see Aric doing back flips! congrats again Mary & Aric!

over the past week

the tree quickly became the permanent cat napping location 

 see what i mean?

 the stockings were hung with care

i FINALLY figured out the perfect way to curl my new haircut:

the trick is to curl one side NOT away from your face

 kairos wanted to get in on the wardrobe post

 rachael & my cousin came over for a marathon baking session

 we had a flour fight while sipping on daiquiris

 we made santa brownies... recipe here

 while using the most random assortment of cookie cutters ever for the sugar cookies

batman? a cross? & lots of animals came out to play

 & cookie pressed the cutest little trees of all.

merry night-before-christmas eve!

xox.

story of a friendship

it all started when two next door neighbors became friends

and grew up together with middle school dances

and high school graduation

and countless holidays together

and then one got engaged

and the other became her maid of honor

and like her speech said, we grew up climbing trees & chasing after boys... and through thick & thin and whatever comes our way, we will remain friends til the end. 

love you.