fun happenings

This past week was a crazy, busy one. After jetting to Vegas and back on Tuesday for work, on Wednesday, my fiance and I had our engagement photos. After working a half day, I got my hair and makeup done and made it just in time to our 3:30 appointment at the beautiful  Hyatt at Gainey Ranch for our photo session.

As soon as I met my photographer, it was a huge relief. We love her and are so glad we booked her. The entire two hours she spent with us, she gave us photo tips, wedding vendor recommendations and kept us entertained with her stories. We had lots of laughs and then afterwards, Dave and I stayed at the resort for drinks and dinner. What a fun little Wednesday night!

Now we're really anxious to see our professional photos! Here's an iphone pic while we were sipping our pre-dinner drinks.

birthday weekend

I turned the big 2-8 yesterday. But I don't mind getting older when I feel so lucky and blessed to be surrounded by my amazing fiance, friends and family. Friday morning, my coworkers surprised me with my fave Starbucks coffee, cookies, a cupcake and other goodies. Then a few of them took me lunch at Christopher's which was delish. If you haven't been, it's a must try. I had only been for happy hour before, but their food is exceptional. Dave and I topped off the day with a fun dinner at the new Del Frisco's Grille at the Esplande. I love that restaurant week always falls on my bday! The night before, Dave took me to the Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean concert for my early bday present. We had a great time (after we finally got there) and realized it was our very first concert together!

Today, the celebration continued. My family took me to lunch at my favorite Mexican food place - Macayos (because I'm obsessed with their baja sauce). I got the best cards ever and my parents gave me my favorite shade of old fashioned roses, plus a perfect Kate Spade picture frame for Dave and I. Can't wait to have a wedding photo to put in the new frame!

 concert time, d's eyes + iphone flashes = bad combo

am birthday goodies from my awesome pr coworkers

loved my smoked salmon blt at christopher's and topped it off with dessert. 

 del frisco's 

 family lunch

 my fave roses and a beautiful kate spade frame from my parents

love

london

August 11 marked my first trip to Europe and my first two week vaca with my fiance. I was a little unsure of what to expect - but the entire vacation was better than I even imagined!

Our first stop was London. When we got on the plane and were given cocktails, a delish steak dinner with wine, dessert and the waiter kept telling me I was 'grand,' I knew it was going to be a fun trip. Lots of new movies and great tv episodes to watch on the plane, and I had about four books with me and several magazines. The flight there was great, until about the ninth hour. Then I was ready to land already. 

We had a great time - enjoyed our quaint b&b, climbed more than 500 stairs at St. Paul's, toured Westminster Abbey, saw Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, toured the Tower of London, walked across the bridge with the Olympic symbols and walked around the Notting Hill area.

The food was not so great and we weren't fans of the warm beer. It also took us awhile to get used to the time change - one night we were up until 2:30am. And then exhausted the whole next day. Oh and there was a moment on the metro where I had a bit of a panic attack when we were stuffed in like sardines and I couldn't breath. But other than that, we enjoyed London...although the next two countries we loved even more.

let them eat cake

A few days before we left on our European vacation, we celebrated Dave's 34th birthday! We celebrated early with his family with a barbecue and I brought the dessert - Whipped Cream Cake. It was a hit and so easy to make. My mom has been making it for years! The  next day we celebrated on his real birthday, just him and me. We went to dinner at Sidedoor and had our favorite $2 Pastrami Sliders and drinks. A birthday on a budget but still fun!

Here's the Whipped Cream Cake recipe from my mom's Joy of Baking cookbook with a few changes: 

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

*Sift 2 cups of cake flour before measuring

*Resift twice with 2 3/4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon salt

*Whip until stiff 1 cup whipping cream

*Fold 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar into the cream and add 1/2 cup water and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla gradually, stirring gently until smooth

*Whip 3 egg whites until stiff but not dry

*Combine the cream and the egg whites. Fold the sifted ingredients into the cream mixture, about 1/2 at a time. Bake in a bundt pan for 25-30 minutes.

*For the frosting, I just use the basic butter-cream frosting on the back of the powdered sugar bag. You'll have extra frosting which always great for dipping graham crackers in. Yum.

That's it, super simple and delish!

cabin getaway

Usually Memorial Day weekend is filled with poolside fun, bbqs and sun. But my fiance (I completely intend to overuse the word 'fiance' throughout our engagement) and I decided to get out of the heat and head to my parents cabin in Forest Lakes for the long-weekend.


Friday after work, we went grocery shopping, packed a cooler and headed up north. In just a few hours, we were in the pines and away from nearly all technology. It was an unexpectedly cold weekend, but we welcomed it. At night, it was forty degrees and during the day - the low fifties!
Saturday morning, Dave made our fave - cinnamon rolls (even better up north because they get really fluffy!), over-easy eggs and bacon. Then we drove up to some shops in Heber, stopped by a few antique stores on the way and went sight-seeing through a few neighborhoods. We got home, made lunch and relaxed. Next up - foosball and gin. After flipping through some bridal magazines, we sipped on wine while he grilled us some great steaks and corn on the cob. Later that evening, it was cold enough for a fire and the perfect excuse to roast marshmallows and make smores. Mmmmm!


Sunday morning was another great breakfast (love that my fiance cooks so much). Then an afternoon of practicing our shooting skills ensued. We did some more sight-seeing, had some lunch then played Arizona Trivia (you never know what games you'll find lying around in a cabin) and made a draft of our wedding guest list.


A wonderful, yet nontraditional Memorial Day weekend. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

~ It may not look amazing, but it was a delish breakfast ~

 ~ This store had some great finds. We will be returning! ~

~ Bison Ranch in Heber ~ 

~ Grill Master! ~ 

~ His ~

~ And hers ~

~ Yes, it was that cold! Gotta love roasting marshmallows. ~

~ Shooting practice! ~

~ <3 ~