over the next few weeks...

i am taking a break from blogging due to personal reasons. i hope to be back sooner than later. xo

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!

a father's day card.

happy father's day to the man who taught me the values of life that are so important to me today. thank you for being so present in our childhoods & lives:

 from holidays & playgrounds,

 to every single birthday.

 from growing up at chatfield hollow... 

(that is the most badass state dep jacket i've ever seen... where is that now dad?) 

to feeding my love of ice cream!

 to teaching us how to grow flowers from just seeds. 

which instilled a love of gardening that all four of us will pass on to our kids one day

 and for your endless love. 

happy father's day dad. wish i was there to give you a big punk-a-doo hug. enjoy your day!

the past couple of weeks...

the beautiful bay bridge that lights up at night with a pattern that won't repeat for 20 years!

what i do for every flight: purchase a book in the airport & jot down the mission.

it adds to your book collection & makes you look back on them and smile!

brothers reunited... taking our first stroll in the city

happy & exhausted!

breaking into our patio before the closing date

and sneaking a peak! (father in law & husband)

the view from lombard street! or any street for that matter!

drinks & tacos at Tacolicious!

and my new obsession since coming here: chai lattes. where have they been all my life?!

oh you know... just another amazing view of water & mountains & stuff.

hanging with the coolest corgi there is

and my high school prom date who also lives out here!

and how could we not take a trip to in-n-out...

 it is better than five guys & shake shack combined! ya i said it.

and then we finally were allowed to move into our new condo. cheers!

and what is a moving day without a little splurge from Merrimekko?

(i've had my eye on this mug for years now. it reminds me of spain & i just love it. 

so excited to have it be a part of our ever growing coffee mug collection!)

& then we went to this place for the first time. the only thing they serve is mac + cheese.

(i got the trailer park version: hotdogs & potato chips!)

and this is like a couple blocks away from our condo. good news? or bad news ;)

all photos taken from my iphone. if you hadn't already noticed!

more on the way...

this is about cats.

so if you don't like cats, then get out. 
just kidding. but seriously this is going to be all about cats so if you don't like them, nothing to see here. 

so there are two stories i want to share right quick. one is why our two cats Kairos & Leo didn't move out here with us, and the other ties into how my parents went from having one cat, to six... ya, you read that right... six.

so pete and i rescued Kairos from SPCA in new jersey right when we moved in with each other a couple years ago. he is an Abyssinian and we are the luckiest people in the world to get a cat in that breed from a shelter... and he rocks. he's always been the coolest cat there is. & then we wanted to get him a friend so enter: Leo. the cutest little orange kitten i ever did see. but man, what a little bitch he turned out to be. living in our one bedroom apartment in jersey, he loved to get up on any table, dresser, high place and knock everything over. he kept us up at night, he would eat all the food. he sucked. 

 kai & leo in new jersey

so flash forward to a year ago, right before my surgery & my parents had just one cat. an older cat named Tiger. well, we felt bad for Tiger & thought he needed a friend & it just so happened a girl i used to do gymnastics with was giving away a little calico kitten. so my parents were like "okayyyy..." and she became my little brother's cat, and he named her Lulu. well, what we quickly found out was that this little Lulu was a crazy ball of energy that the older cat Tiger wanted nothing to do with. so one day pete decided to go to an animal shelter to get Lulu a little friend & he saw these two:

as you can see, they were brothers & just so freaking cute & he called and convinced my parents to get them. so with the addition of Hobbes & Stark (named after game of thrones obviously... even though they are dropping like flies on the show.. but that's a whole other story) my parents went from 1 to 4 cats within a week... which is a lot to some people, but not really a big deal to my family. i grew up with four wild cats when i was little. i say wild because we have lots of property & our cats are all outside cats. 

so then things didn't go well with my surgery & i had to move back home, yada yada. and so our two cats had to come as well. SIX CATS. six freaking cats. but six cats that helped me recover. no joke. i spent everyday with these cats & kittens. laying on the couch, sitting with outside. it was a blessing having that many furry little loves around the house.

so when it came time to move to california last month, we visited our vet & with her strong advice we did not take them with us. because they are outdoor cats now & they are the happiest i have ever seen them. our little turd of a cat Leo is now a completely different animal. he runs, he hunts, & eats grass, he cuddles for once, he does flips all the time. our vet said the second we put those two cats back inside they would act out & be awful. so i had to leave my first born children behind. single tear. BUT. now i have the best instagram full of cats thanks to my mom who sends me daily photos of them. i'm probably so annoying to her, but it puts a smile on my face when she sends me pics of all the crazy felines. and i can't thank her enough for taking care of our little babies while we are out here!

Kai taking a power nap + Stark sleeping half & half

Leo in the bookshelf & Kai in the t-rex position

Leo being sweet + Lulu jumping in the suitcase

Hobbes playing through the screen + Lulu wanting to come to cali

& my little Kai + Stark being Stark

so there ya go: your cat overload for the year. as you can tell i miss them more than anything & this post makes me happier than any wardrobe post so thanks for reading!

*this post is dedicated to my fellow reddit friends ;)