Julie's Birthday

I meant to post this last week, but things were so busy and we spent the weekend just recouperating from the weekend before that it didn't happen.

Steven says this is one of the best family photos he's seen of us.
He also took it. :)

Tuesday the 18th we did a dinner with my family- impromptu style. We had a bunch of fun at Manzana and then we got some pasteries at St. Honore bakery. I'm holding an eclair in my hand here :)On my actual birthday our great friends Shelley and Kevin took us out to dinner at Five-0-Three. It was absolutely fabulous and our "girls night out" tradition of champagne was totally upheld! Cheers!A group photo :)Steven prepares for our birthday party by prepping 10 pounds of potatos into French Fries which we fried ourselves. He also did 11 pounds of hamburger into 40 slider burgers in 4 different flavors! He's totally amazing, seriously. He also made three different milkshake bases for us to do- but everyone was so full on food and soda and wine that they didn't get made up.

To cap it all off, he ordered me St. Cupcakes in all my favorite flavors! I made little cute signs for each flavor myself out of left over note cards and my favorite pens and toothpicks. Steven says next time I need more heavy duty tape. I think they still came out totally adorable. I loved every minute of the birthday and the party. Thanks to everyone who came- I hope you had as good a time as we did!

Countdown initiated

I love this time of the year. Summer is winding down, but it is still hot and sunny. We’ve had a few days of cooler weather, which is a welcome change from the 10+ days of 100+ weather we had just a few short weeks ago. This is the perfect time for me to make soup and crunchy bread and lay around all day reading- which I just enjoyed while relaxing on the couch with my favorite person ever :)

Fall is peeking through for a glimpse, seen in the subtle color changes in the leaves. I notice this most this time of the year- ‘oh there’s just a little bit of color there’! This is the time (in my opinion) for taking photos outside.

It’s also the time for my birthday. Which I absolutely love! I try to celebrate birthdays in a whole hearted manner. It’s a day that is really meant for celebration. I am not concerned so much with age as others might be (at least not at this point)- I know some people feel depressed about getting older. I’m not get older- I’m getting better. Plus I am very young at heart- so that helps.

So with less than a week it’s time for me to clean up my house for visitors, put in our cupcake order in and pull something fabulous out of the closet because I’ve got five days and counting!

Summer Reads

I have a MASSIVE pile of books to read this summer. Which, face it, is really the best thing ever!

Read:

• The Fixer Upper- Mary Kay Andrews
This is a funny tongue in chic book about a girl who gets caught up in political scandal and ends up in a backwoods town fixing up a mansion. Hilarity and romance ensue. Could not put it down!
• My Life in France- Julia Child with Alex Prue d’homme
Charming corollary to “Julie and Julia”. Gives new meaning to the movie and Julia Child’s life. Delightful easy reading.
• The Finishing Touches- Hester Brown
Chock full of useful advice and tips for living in a modern world with old fashioned elegance, this is a story about a girl who overcomes the odds and faces down her fears and ends up with what she wanted all along- a family to call her own. Left me wanting to hear more, both tips and story! See “Little Lady Agency” trilogy for more from Hester Brown.
• Pretty in Plaid- Jen Lancaster
Always full of humor and hubris, Jen’s latest of four books spells out who she was “before” Bitter is the new Black. A range of alarming to charming tales of Girl Scout badge tomfoolery and taking 11 years to graduate from College only to find herself peddling insurance plans to doctors offices gives new meaning to biographies and memoirs. Always enjoyable reading! Best for a plan ride or road trip- short chapters and easy to pick up where you left off.

To read:

• Twilight- by Stephanie Meyer
Yeah, I figured that maybe I’d step on that bandwagon, so I bought the book…and now it’s at the bottom of my pile. So we’ll see. I still stand by my assertion that this is a ripped off story of “Roswell” the TV series. Only with vampires instead of aliens.
• Son of a Witch-
Something serious instead of “chick lit”…started…and abandoned… I’ll probably come back to this at Christmas time.
• He’s Just Not That Into You- by
Did not see the movie- but wondered about the book…
• Twenties Girl- by Sophie Kinsella
One of my favorite authors- why wouldn’t I read this? About a girl and her dead aunts/grandmas? Ghost.
• The Wedding Girl- by Madeline Wickham
No clue what this is about- but looks fantastic. I sometimes do actually judge a book by its cover.
• Chasing Harry Winston-by Lauren Weisberger
Mel read this a while ago and recommended it to me. We shall see. I was not a fan of the ending (book ending- movie ending is messed up!) of Devil Wears Prada (by the same author).
• Everyone worth knowing- by Lauren Weisberger
Started and already showing similar Lauren W. writing style. Verdict still out.
• Holly’s Inbox- by Holly Denham
This looks hilarious. It’s a book set up entirely in email format- basically a look into someone else’s (a receptionist) life through their email in-box. Interesting concept- not too far from Meg Cabot’s “Every boy’s got one”. Which I liked.
• Little Bitty Lies- by Mary Kay Andrews
I love this author and have all her stuff. Can’t wait to see what she brings this time. There is always a mystery, romance, suspense and antiques galore! Except Deep Dish- which featured food- a welcome depart from style- for me at least!
• The Time Traveler’s Wife-by Audrey Niffenegger
The movie has piqued my interest.
• Savannah Breeze- by Mary Kay Andrews
See Little Bitty Lies above. I believe this one is a continuation of one of the characters from a book of hers that I’ve already read.
• Queen takes King- by Gigi Levangie
Read an excerpt of this already and sounds similar to Candace Bushnell- Manhattan Socialite/ex-prima ballerina and husband of 25 years get divorce. War of the Roses type battle ensues. Apparently she’s also done “The Starter Wife” and “Maneater”. Sure to be a Lifetime miniseries soon.

Jeff's Wedding

Better late than never- here are some photos from Jeff's Wedding last weekend. We spent it in Newport at the beach and here there and around. Everybody had an amazing time! Some flowers at the ceremony location.
The sun came out at the precise moment of vows. Otherwise, a very cloudy/beach day.
Love it!
Me and my Grammy.
Our card.
Aunt Jan doing her reading.
The "man cave". I love the baby bjorn backpack.
Steven rocks the pool table in the game room that we had at the fabulous house that Mom rented for everyone to crash at. Pool, blackjack and family shenanigans were had.
Sorry- blogspot will NOT let me delete this extra one. Oops.
Shelly and I at the rehearsal dinner. It was so nice at the beach- high 60s and had been over 100 in the valley! Yikes!!

A perfect Sunday.

This is from a while ago- but I have had a few perfect Sunday's here recently.A great book and flowers on my table!
My Paris posters are finally framed!
I do love flowers in my living room.
Handmade body scrubs. Thank you Martha Stewart!

Our First Anniversary!

Steven and I are celebrating our first anniversary today! We have been planning the weekend for a while and it was very busy- but sooooo worth it.

Friday Steven had to work, so my friend Shelley took me out to see Julie and Julia- the movie (if you remember my blog post about that!) and it was amazing. I'd highly recommend it to anyone- even men. It was an absolute joy to watch!

Saturday we spent the day lounging around and finally got ready for a big dinner out at Portland City Grill. That's where we went right after we got engaged, so I thought it was a great place to go back to. I hope we can make a tradition out of it. Today we capped things off with a picnic out at Hug Point. A day trip to the beach was just right to celebrate. We love, love, love Hug Point for picnics too!Steven got me custom printed note cards with a poppy and my married name on them. I LOVE them!! I have already started upping my correspondence. Who doesn't love getting sweet cards in the mail? Beats bills!
I spent a lot of time agonizing over what to get for Steven- traditional gift is paper. So I made him a sweet hand drawn map and a travel book with photos from each city in it. I also put little memos on each city with a date and funny story on it. I also did some cute little drawings next to each city on the map. The pancakes next to the Pig and Pancake did not come out so well- but I am a champ at drawing wine glasses! Steven loved it!
This little guy was our friend at our picnic, he was hoping for some handouts!!
We SOOOO ordered the cookies at PCG. Last time Steven got a photo of me with the cookies- so this time I got one of him!
A close up of the map and photo album I did for Steven.
Ready for a night out on the town!!
The other part of my present for Steven- which is not paper related at all- was this picnic backpack from REI. It is SO cool. It has a cooler part on the bottom, plates and silverware and glasses inside too. I am modeling it pretty good too. However, Steven had such an elaborate picnic planned that we needed an entire extra cooler. I was in charge of dinner last night and he was in charge of the picnic. He did an entire menu dedicated to what we had served at the wedding. For example- we had pork tenderloin and beef and dinner rolls- so he did ham and roast beef sandwhiches on dinner rolls for lunch. Then we had chocolate covered strawberries on the cake- so we had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. He made them himself this morning! I swear- every man should know how to make them! Soooo yummy!
And finally- a photo of us at dinner. Excited and happy to be celebrating one year- It has flown by so fast! Looking forward to celebrating again next year!