i saw this photo on pinterest a few weeks ago and it totally caught my eye! these photos of death valley by the talented jordan sullivan are pretty incredible. i was going through the photos on my camera roll and was inspired to create my own version with these snaps of palm trees (i also realized that i take A LOT of photos of palm trees – i can’t get enough!). i might even print this out for my office!
way back in november, we celebrated our one year anniversary with a three day getaway to santa barbara. since our wedding day, i had been wanting to celebrate our one year in the town where we met and got married. before we had made any accommodations, my parents surprised us and booked us two nights at the bacara! you guys. that place is insane. it’s definitely the classiest and most luxurious resort we have ever had the pleasure of staying at (and way nicer than any place reis and i would have booked for ourselves, that’s for sure – thanks mom and dad!). we took full advantage of everything the resort had to offer and roamed the beautiful grounds both mornings of our stay. it was the most relaxing trip i think we’ve ever taken because we had no agenda whatsoever. another perk was that our anniversary landed on a weekday so we lucked out with a very uncrowded visit (and had the spa and pool all to ourselves!). we spent a little bit of time downtown, including a quick stop at cantwell’s market. reis took me here as part of our first date (6 years ago!) and i remember being insanely nervous ha! it’s so fun to relive those dating memories.
there’s just something about santa barbara that is so magical. it has endless amounts of charm, but we decided a lot of it has to do with the light. the dreamy gold/pinkish hues are always perfection! i would move back there in a heartbeat.
a few other notable stops on our trip: a delicious italian dinner that took us right back to our honeymoon at via maestra 42, a movie night at the riviera theater (my favorite hidden gem of santa barbara!), coffee at the french press, and of course our usual stop at mcconnell’s ice cream (salted caramel chip is a must, people).
going to disneyland with a one year old is quite possibly the only thing that rivals the feeling you get on christmas morning as a child. we recently had a family outing to this magical theme park to take ryan for her first time! she won’t remember any of it, but we sure will. seeing her eyes light up everywhere we went (especially on the carousel!) was the most adorable thing to witness. by the way, disneyland is FUN. reis and i went totally expecting to have a blast hanging with my family and the little rybear, but little did we know we would have the time of our lives!! we haven’t been in several years and man, i love that place! we even stayed after my whole family left!
disneyland really is the happiest place on earth.
here is a long overdue post of our trip to lake arrowhead for ann-marie’s bachelorette weekend! sidenote: she got married 3 weeks ago and the wedding was amazing (you may have already seen some pics on instagram – #ammlovesjohn – but oh my, it was unreal!)
we (the b-maids) whisked away the bride-to-be a few weeks before the wedding for an awesome and relaxing 2 days in a cabin in the woods! ann-marie was literally knee deep in diy projects for months in preparation for the wedding and we wanted this to be a much needed break from it all! we rented this gorgeous cabin on airbnb and it was perfect. we were actually tempted to steal a few of the rugs and some of the decor from the place because everything was so beautiful! we slept in, walked around the lake, ate delicious food, drank wine and moscow mules, ate some more, did yoga on the deck led by this gal, and had plenty of hilariously entertaining conversations. we had such a good time together and i think mountain/cabin retreats with girlfriends need to become an annual thing. sound good, gals?!
pics of me by janelle
i cannot believe it has been ONE WHOLE YEAR since this magical day! i love him more than i did a year ago, that is for certain (and i loved him a whole lot on our wedding day!).
we got home last night from a week spent in hawaii visiting family + friends and are off today for a few days in santa barbara – where it all began! and of course we are going to watch this (for the thousandth time) to reminisce.
photo by annie mcelwain
we’ve been in our little house for almost 5 months now so i thought i’d share a few photos of our [still in progress] home. it’s quirky and perfect for us and the neighborhood is just the cutest. i love that while i’m working i see joggers, dog walkers, and moms pushing their babies in strollers from my office window. have i mentioned how awesome it is having an office?! we are looking for some artwork for the walls and are currently building a credenza and a bookshelf with my dad. once those things are finished, it should feel pretty settled around here!