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and the Berenstain Bears remain



When I found out today that Jan Berenstain passed away over last weekend I couldn't help but feel saddened. The mark that she and her husband, Stan, left on my life personally and on every child who picked up their books will be forever remembered. 

If your childhood was anything like mine, your bookshelf was packed full of Berenstain Bears books by Stan and Jan Berenstain. They were well-written, appropriately illustrated, and written with every intent to teach children life lessons in a way that children could understand perfectly. I remember reading about picking healthy food wisely, being fearless going to the dentist, having a baby sister being born, doing your chores, peer pressure, cleaning your room and many more. Book collections of this volume are hard to come by and the quality is pristine. I know when I have children one day I will utilize the lessons given by Stan and Jan in there ingenious lives. 





a girl can dream: [to the point]

[choices and layout for by way of ney]

With the feeling of spring abounding in Southern California, these two pieces make me long for the brighter, longer, sunnier days to come. 

This necklace by stella & dot has a simple grace and ease but also has some inspiration to it. Of course I love arrows! You should too! They provide direction and clarity and help us to arrive at the destination we've be desiring. 

This top by Remain has the greatest detailing on the collar. The sheer fabric, the length in the back, the blush pink color all remind me of France a bit. I love the contrast down the front buttons!

Spring, where are you!?!?!

leaving on a jet plane...


I'm leaving in an hour to head to the airport and fly north to Seattle where it will be cloudy and rainy and cozy and for the third year in a row I will get to spend a week of the winter with my best friend. Her husband plays soccer on the Seattle Sounders and when they are in the off season he is away traveling and training for long stints of time. So, when better than during that time to go up and spend time with her and do any and all things girlie.

I'm looking forward to...
morning workouts
long drives with nothing to do but chat
(one of these drives will be to the one and only Lululemon outlet!)
daily coffees
mild shopping
yummy meals all over the city
a new glassy baby
quiet afternoons in her home
co-hosting a Stella & Dot party
and SO much more!

Don't you worry...I'll return with a full report!

Have a great weekend!
xo

5 things: travel



1] a good scarf for warmth and to cover your face if/when you sleep
[covering your face will help to you get less dehydrated because it will recycle the moisture of your breath]
(this adorable polka dot scarf from J. Crew is light weight making it perfect to travel with)

2] a couple good magazines for in-flight entertainment
[I like to have a fashion magazine as well as one that I can be inspired by, like Real Simple or Elle Decor]

3] an eye mask is crucial to tune out anything you want (or need) to
(this mask by Liberty London has lavender in it to help relax you even more!)

4] headphones are the perfect travel companion to listen to music or watch in flight entertainment
(these bright happy ones are by Urban Ears)

5] socks to help keep your feet warm and to help keep them from becoming swollen
(striped high socks from ASOS)


our [2009] wedding

I shared our proposal story (it can be found here alongside the story of our first kiss), KC's version, a while back. With today being Valentine's Day I figured I should share some more of our story. Today you get the chapter of our wedding, in pictures...

I got ready with my girls at the Huntley in Santa Monica. The hotel is gorgeous and the staff helpful. The second you walk into the lobby and smell the amazing gardenia & white lily candles you know you are in for a treat. The morning of our wedding my girls and I got up and went for a walk through Santa Monica to have brunch at Jack & Jill's. Then we walked back to the hotel for champagne, hair, and makeup... 

[the garter that my grandmother made and my mother wore as well...my something blue]

[all ready to go...just need to put the dress on]

[mom, me and carly; maid of honor, sister, most importantly...friend]

My grandpa, who I was extremely close to, passed away unexpectedly two weeks before my wedding. It was very important to me that he be incorporated into my wedding in every way possible. 

[my grandpa's wedding ring worn as a bracelet]

In my opinion having family and close friends stand alongside you on your wedding day is almost as important as the vows you make. It has proven beneficial to have had the people in my life who know me, support me and love me as we took  the leap of faith that marriage is. Without these people in my life to share the last few years of extreme joy with my husband, I would not have been as happy as I am. Joy is multiplied when it is shared.  

[my three closest friends from college at UCLA...left to right; deb, christy, christine]

My closest girlfriends from the first stages of life through college...

[left to right; christine, katharine, tawni, christy, ME, carly, deb, dana]

[my HOT husband]

 For multiple reasons we did A LOT of our wedding on our own. One reason was the obvious, that it is more budget friendly. Another is that when you get two highly creative people together that is just what happens. And yet another is that as creative as the two of us are we also have a lot of creative people in our lives who were able to help in ways that made us realize we could not have done it alone. 

[after seeing an adorable pair of little girls flat in J.Crew I made this pair of sparkly flats with vintage buttons and velvet ribbon for my now niece and our flower girl...Luli]

I am beyond blessed to have great men in my life! I am convinced that without the great dad I had I would not have had my heart as set on finding the perfect man for me. My dad is everything I girl wants in a dad and more. He told me stories and had me laughing the whole way down the aisle.


Then there is this adorable man. What can I say...he loves love and I love him!


And the two of them together...


I will never forget this moment and I have told every woman I know whose gotten married after me that this is the moment you should live for. After so much planning, and things that were unplanned as well, this is when everything slips away and you realize that the man standing at the end of the aisle is all that matters. Pure JOY!


There were lots of laughs along the way of our pastor retelling our love story.

[along with all the things that we'd made for our big day were these
floral arches that I made with my parents...manzanita branches, peonies and orchids galore!]

After our vows and the "you may now kiss the bride" we walked away to Stevie Wonder's Signed, Sealed, Delivered...


Me and my grandma (my namesake)! I will never forget going through these weeks with her. Standing with her alongside the hospital bed while we took her husband of almost 60 years of life support and then walking down the aisle two weeks later. As my dad and I got to the front of the aisle there she was, the first person on my left. The moment she saw me she had tears in her eyes and she said to me, "You look so beautiful!" Being able to share that moment with her was priceless to me. 


Me with my perfect man as the sun set. 


We were driven to the reception by my dad in my parents' 1963 Dodge Dart.


When we arrived at the reception site we had a few moments alone to take it all in. We toasted to us in the back seat of the car while we waited to be introduced as man and wife. 



The tables we set ourselves...centerpieces we made and bottles of wine that were also the table numbers that KC designed and we labeled.



Another thing that we were so happy to have as part of our day was the cake topper that my grandparents used on their wedding cake. When my mom was a young adult my grandma gave it to her in hopes that she would use it on her wedding cake one day. She did have it on her cake when she married my dad and we were so happy to have it on our cake too! (Our classic cake from Vanilla in Santa Monica alongside a photo of my grandparents cutting their wedding cake.) 


A great toast from my dad...I love this photo!


My sister and Luli getting down on the dance floor. As soon as we got to the reception site Luli changed into the terry cloth hooded robe I got her...the tulle was driving her nuts. It was too cute have photos of her running around in it. 


After months of KC taunting me that he was going to smash cake in my face and me pleading with him to promise not to he politely gave me a taste of cake, no smashing involved and all he ended up with was a dollop of icing on the tip of his nose. The last thing I wanted was to be in the restroom getting cake out of my hair and off my face after all the time spent getting ready. 


My favorite wedding expense for sure was a classic photo booth.  There was nothing digital about this booth. It was a refurbished, mini-darkroom enclosed, long back and white photos produced, booth of fun for us and our guests. We asked guests to "take one, leave one", a favor for them, and one for us. We now have a triptych on the wall of our living room with all our photos together. The best money we've spent...original, personalized, one-of-a-kind artwork. 


It was the best beginning to the greatest life together!

[love] songs

[artwork by way of ney]

When better than now to share with you a few of my favorite love related songs I'm {LOVING} lately...

1] Christina Perri Arms (this video is pretty cool!)

2] Missy Higgins Where I Stood

3] Colbie Caillat I Won't

4] Jason Mraz (w. Colbie Caillat) Lucky

5] Adele One and Only

6] Lady Antebellum Just a Kiss

7] The Fray Heartbeat

8] Taylor Swift Ours

9] Gavin DeGraw Not Over You (this music video has a pet pig in it...enough said.)

10] Mat Kearney She Got the Honey

Basically I just made you a mixed tape to give to your crush...you're welcome! (You could even use the artwork above for the cover.)

You should listen to these all weekend and love in love with each one! 

thoughts on love...


I figured that it was only appropriate to share some of my favorite quotes about love...

“If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around us.”  
Hugh Grant in Love Actually

“Love is the passionate dance between two hearts. It is to believe in the dream, and together make it real.”  
Sylvana Rossetti

“Love is a force that connects us to every strand of the universe, an unconditional state that characterizes human nature, a form of knowledge that is always there for us if only we can open ourselves to it.”  
Emily H. Sell

“The devotion and love of a friend are feelings to prize and protect.”
Unknown

“I don’t want another pretty face, I don’t want just anyone to hold, I don’t want my love to go to waste, I want you and your beautiful soul.”
Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney

"To love is good, too: love being difficult. For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation. For this reason young people, who are beginners in everything, cannot yet know love: they have to learn it. With their whole being, with all their forces, gathered close about their lonely, timid, upward-beating heart, they must learn to love. But learning-time is always a long, secluded time, and so loving, for a long while ahead and far on into life, is--solitude, intensified and deepened loneness for him who loves. Love is at first not anything that means merging, giving over, and uniting with another (for what would a union be of something unclarified and unfinished, still subordinate--?), it is a high inducement to the individual to ripen, to become something in himself for another's sake, it is a great exacting claim upon him, something that chooses him out and calls him to vast things." 
from The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran


"But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow." 
also from The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran

"He loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us."
     St. Augustine of Hippo

"To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He
has given us -- and He has given us everything.  Every breath we
draw is a gift of His love."
     Thomas Merton

"You know you are in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
Dr. Seuss

"Sometimes your nearness thames my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart."
Robert Sexton

"There is only one happiness in life; to love and be loved."
George Sand

"If a hug represented how much I loved you, I would hold you in my arms forever."
Mandy Hampton

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because that is what love is. Love is not breathless, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned awe, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident."
Louis de Bernieres

"True love begins when nothing is expected in return."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Now take this inspiration and go love the people in your life!
xo



best [love] movie

"The best love is the kind that weakens the soul and makes us reach for more. That plants a fire in our heats and brings peace to our minds." 
[from one of Noah's letters to Allie]

The Notebook is no new movie but it never gets old. Every time I watch it I cry, laugh, and fall in love with love all over again. It blows me away how good Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are in this movie. They are so good that it is easy to forget that they are acting. And, it doesn't hurt that they are hot together. 

Proof: 





All this to say that if you haven't seen it in a while, well, you definitely should. Especially during this month of love!

february inspiration [2012]

[layout for by way of ney]
[cupcakes & balloons via/adorable gift wrap via/heart cutouts via/romance sign via]