dress shopping

After spending the past few weekends hunting for the perfect wedding dress, I finally found it! It was quite the search. My mom and I, often accompanied by friends and family, went to five difference places and visited one of the places three times! This past Saturday, on my third visit to Lillian Lottie, we got the dress! I had been in the weekend prior with my mom, her friend of 25 years Bernie, my friend Melis, my dad and my brother and we had it narrowed down to three dresses. But I ended up leaving in tears. It's hard when everyone loves different dresses and you're not sure which your favorite is. I showed tons of people the pics that week, trying to get a feel for which looked best on me. Then I came to the realization that I didn't think any of the three dresses were for me.

So, when I came into Lillian Saturday, I showed Becca (the most awesome person ever) pics of some dresses I had pinned early on in my wedding planning that I just loved. She found some that were similar and turns out the very first one I tried on, was the one I loved. I almost didn't want to try on the other 8 or so dresses, but I did. And was still in love with that first one. Everyone else loved it too. And - it's like it was meant to be...they only had the dress in for that weekend. Someone had wanted to try it on, so the shop had called to get in a loaner for that weekend only. Perfect.

Becca even had tears in her eyes when I realized it was my dress. She's never cried for a bride before. :)

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.

a little girl time

I love weekends spent with girls, even the busy ones! This past Saturday, my mom and moh/bff/Sarah came with me to help me find the perfect wedding dress. My mom and I had been to a few places, but finally found a good selection of dresses with exactly what I was look for: lots of beautiful lace at the lovely Lillian Lottie in Old Town Scottsdale! It was so fun and there are about six amazing dresses we found. Lots to be decided but at least it was a productive dress session.

Sunday, I met up with Sarah for coffee and then we made our way over to Anthem for Michelle's surprise birthday party (she was really surprised, yay!). We gabbed and munched on pizza, and took turns holding Miss Camdyn. We've known each other forever (Sarah since freshman year, Michelle since middle school and Megan since our early elementary days) and it's sometimes strange to see how grown up we are. It's just a reminder of how quickly the years go by and the importance of making the most of every moment. 

 

Sarah, me + Cami, Michelle & Megan

Camdyn fell asleep on Megan and then I stole her for some cuddle time :) 

~ Love ~

some weeks...

Thursday happy hours are very necessary. Gotta love the rooftop dining at Del Frisco's (the mac & cheese and cheese fritters are awesome - clearly I enjoy cheese way too much!). 

Some work friends enjoying some wine and tapas.

antwerp

I can't believe we've already been back from Europe for a month. Feels like just the other day it was Dec. 2011 and we were booking out flights! Here's a look back at Antwerp, Belgium, one of our favorite places!

We loved:

• The architecture. Plus the cobblestone, windey roads and old wooden doors
• Our B&B was a-mazing. A big comfy room, with an large attached sitting room and huge bathroom - all to ourselves! The welcome drink really was perfect too.
• Delish breakfasts on the patio
• We arrived on a Catholic holiday so no one was working and everyone was out enjoying the big market
• De Koninck - Antwerp's beer
• Our leisurely lunch
• View from the Mas
• Ice cream there is unbelievably good
• Sunflowers in the middle of town
• Stumbling upon the big food and drink festival

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.