26 Adventures While I’m 26

Just over a week ago I welcomed my 26th birthday with open arms. Year 25 was a really rough and challenging year and I learned more about myself than I ever thought I could. I learned to breathe, to listen, and to just BE. One of the most challenging parts about last year was all of the personal growth I set out to gain. And boy, did I gain A LOT of personal growth. I honestly don’t remember much about 25. It was spent in a whirl-wind of family drama, planning and celebrating an AMAZING, MIND-BLOWING WEDDING (mine!), and fabulous travels to new destinations. While I wish I could have accomplished more from my “25 While I’m 25” list, I’m proud of everything that I did accomplish. I knocked off over half of my list and I plan to be even better about it this year, with my new adventure list for my 26th year! Check it out here. You can also follow along on my progress by following the link in the top bar, titled “26 Adventures.” 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I’ll be back this next week with photos from our wedding (finally!) and more about my awesome 26th birthday!

Cheers to you all!

it’s that time of year again…

source.

Here I am - exactly 11 days to my 26th birthday! It’s time to take a look at my awesome list of 25 while i’m 25 and figure out where I want my 26th year to take me. This past year has been an absolute whirlwind and I can’t help but be a little sad about how fast 25 flew by me. While much of 25 was spent in an absolute tornado of change and self-improvement, I’m gearing up for all of the fun and exciting things coming my way for this next year! I’m putting together a new list of adventures for the direction I want this new year to take me. Stay tuned in the next week or two for a “26 while i’m 26” list! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

when fall slips in

Well, I am officially a married woman…and let me tell you…it was the most amazing day of my life {and yes, I know how many people say that…but it really is the truth!} I promise to not go into a bunch of sappy details about our day, but I will share a little photo with you.

I am happy to report that we are loving every minute of married life…it’s wonderful! We were so blessed to have the most incredible day surrounded by so many people that we love, celebrating our love and new journey together; we ate and drank to our hearts content and then we danced the night away beneath the stars {while roasting marshmallows, of course!} I’ll have photos from our AMAZING photographer, Kelli Jane, soon! I promise to share some of them {probably in a few separate posts} once I receive them from her after the honeymoon.

I know I’ve been absent from here for a little while, so I thought I’d share some photos that I took over the last few months. It’s been a crazy year, but I’m so excited for what the future has in store for us in the next coming months. 

We are finally coming into my favorite season, fall. I love the changing colors, crisp morning air, the way fall seems to slip in overnight while you’re dreaming. there’s just no other time of the year quite like this colorful season.

The photos below are from a few minutes {literally minutes} that I was able to shoot some of my brother’s music video being recorded {until I was required to be in the video}, my “other brother’s” birthday party, as well as a short day trip to the city to visit some of my husband’s {whoa - weird to say that} cousins and their kids. It’s been a crazy few months year, but I’m happy to be getting back to normal life! {and I promise, it’s not a TON of photos :P }

{husband, brother, “other brother” x2}

the very talented Darryl of noon30 productions.

the other half of noon30 productions, Fabian.

Fabian and his lovely assistant {girlfriend} Jessica.

{yes, that pizza was as good as it looks}

a 1st birthday

This last weekend flew by way too fast, but then again, every weekend seems to feel that way now-a-days. Saturday was spent driving ALL over Sonoma County visiting estate sales and looking at rentals for the wedding. Sunday, however, was spent having an absolute blast celebrating my cousin Travis’ 1st birthday as well as my mom’s birthday.

Travis’ party was full of the necessary kid supplies. Toys, food, Capri Sun, and blow-up water-slides. Yes, you heard me right. Kids these days don’t just get bounce houses…they get actual blow-up water-slides. This thing was AWESOME. I only wish I had brought my own bathing suit so I could have joined my little cousins in all the fun. Travis had a perfect party and it was such a joy to be able to spend this day with a lot of my wonderful family and friends. Happy birthday Travis and my beautiful mom, Rorie. You are both incredible blessings in my life.

baby Travie.

someone got a face full of water.

cousin Jessica with Travis.

cutie-patootie.

cousin Vanessa couldn’t get enough of the water-slides!

Travis’ bigger sister, Laney. {this sweet little girl looks just like her mom, my mom & myself when we were her age…definitely related.}

Travis’ biggest sister, Aubrey, and Laney climbing up the stairs.

just hangin’ out.

cousin James.

cousin Ryan.

someone was ready for his cake!

my beautiful aunt Janet.

nom nom nom. i don’t think he liked it at all.

Happy Birthday Travie! We love you!

And mom…I don’t have a very recent picture of you, but I just want to say, Happy Birthday to you! You are the most incredible woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am proud to say I am your daughter. Thank you for teaching me how to be a strong and heart-felt person; you are a constant inspiration to follow your heart and to believe in yourself.

25 While I’m 25

Hello world, I’m 25 today! To celebrate my quarter-century existence on this beautiful Earth we call home, I’ve comprised a list of 25 things I want to accomplish while I’m 25. Cheers to a bright future and many more birthdays to come!

1.    Learn to run; even if I don’t enjoy it, at least I want to be able to run a decent distance before feeling like I want to collapse die.

2.   Take a cooking/baking class; I’m already a pretty good baker, but cooking is a totally different story…I want to build confidence with cooking food and what better way to do that then taking a class? Friends, want to join?

3.    Splurge on fancy footwear; though I may be crossing this one off for mine and Chris’ wedding in Sept., it still counts!

4.    Read more; I wanted to put a “#” of books I want to read over the next year, but I feel like putting a number down will “force” me to read…and nobody likes to be forced into anything; I just want to read more often, simple as that.

5.   Get a new tattoo; yes, it’s true…I have 3…but the one on my back needs to be covered up (and yeah I was that 18 yr. old that got her first tattoo and now regrets the way it looks – you told me so Mom).

6.   Take a road-trip; C and I have been talking about doing this for quite some time and even though it may not be our idyllic “road-trip across the country”, we’ll be making the effort to take a road-trip SOMEWHERE, even if it’s in the same state (since we all know how ridiculously priced gas is now-a-days).

7.    Make yoga a part of my weekly routine; I LOVE yoga. I love the way it makes your body, mind, and soul feel, but I haven’t yet been able to fully incorporate it into my life as an exercise/meditation routine.

8.    Plant a small garden; whether it be of flowers or even some veggies, I want to grow a small garden this year.

9.    Make home-made ice-cream; there is nothing as delicious as your very own home-made ice cream…I hope this is a new summer tradition!

10.  Buy myself a Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera; this is one of my most favorite vintage cameras and I NEED one in my life and have wanted one for quite some time now.

11.  Learn Photoshop CS5; I’ve been using CS3 for so long now, but my mom recently purchased CS5 for me…now I just need to learn how to use it. I bought the gigantic book to teach myself, I guess I need to make time to read it.

12.  Teach myself to knit; my best friend Chrissy’s grandmother (who recently passed away) used to knit these amazing slippers for her and she chose to share them with all of her closest friends (meaning, me too!). I LOVE her slippers (and own approx. 7 pairs of them), but I’d really love to teach myself how to knit my own pair.

13.  See a play, musical, or ballet; I love the theater. A lot of people probably don’t know this about me, but I used to be heavily into acting. Now I’m just itching to get back into the theater and see a show. Plus, I’ve been dying to see “The Nutcracker” my entire life…so what better time than this year?

14.  Learn French; C and I will be spending a week in France and a week or so in Italy for our honeymoon this fall, so I want to travel to France with at least the basics of French understood; more would be nice, though.

15.  Volunteer my time; my brother’s vision for combining volunteering with the arts is truly inspiring. In my endeavor to be a part of his vision, I want to volunteer my time more.

16.  Learn how to make sushi; if I could eat sushi everyday for the rest of my life, I would. Instead of going out and spending money, I’d like to learn how to make it for myself and C to eat at home!

17.  Throw a dinner party; who doesn’t love a good dinner party complete with a theme and everything?

18.  Send Thank-You cards; people don’t send thank-you cards anymore…what’s up with that? I’ve been to weddings, baby showers, and birthdays, and still…no thank-you cards. People need to relearn their manners – because honestly, it’s just rude and makes me feel like you don’t even appreciate the gift(s).

19.  Pull and all-nighter and watch the sun rise; I feel that in all my time witnessing the sunset, I haven’t paid nearly enough attention to the sunrise. I want to stay up all night and witness the beauty of what the beginning of each day is and marvel at the sun making its grand entrance to the day.

20.  Go to Jamaica; this one is kind of a gimme, but I’m putting it on here anyways. C and I recently won a 4-night, all-inclusive honeymoon at a Couple’s Resort in Jamaica from theknot.com. We have until next July 2012 to go!

21.  Take the ferry to SF for a Giants game; out of all of the amazing baseball games I’ve been to at AT&T Park, I’ve never ridden the ferry to see the game (or ridden the ferry at all for that matter!)

22.  Re-read The Great Gatsby & To Kill A Mockingbird; in high school I was “forced” to read these books for English, but now I want to re-read them for myself and absorb the entirety of these classics.

23.  Walk the Golden Gate Bridge; I haven’t walked the bridge since I was in 6th grade and I feel as a born-and-raised Bay Area girl, I should partake in this activity more. Now I want to share the experience with C, who has never walked the bridge.

24.  Take more baths; this may seem totally odd to have on this list, but I used to be an avid bath taker. I believe in its ability to soothe and nourish your nerves and calm the mind. Everyone needs a bit of me time every now and then.

25.  Believe in myself; I need to believe in myself and my work. Confidence is something I struggle with, but in this 25th year of my life, I’d like to build my self-confidence about my life and the life I’m building with C.