Pre-Wedding & Awesome Friends

Whoever started this whole trend of organizing a wedding is absolutely crazy. Now that it's over I'm looking back and almost wished we had eloped like Andrew wanted. The only thing that made this whole thing worthwhile was to hang out with friends and family I hardly get to see!

The biggest highlights were getting to spend time with all my kiwis that I haven't seen in years. However, the most special shining star was my friend Liz, who flew over 2 weeks prior to the wedding and helped us with absolutely everything. 

Liz - She's going to kill me for posting this pic!

She was literally one of the only reasons half the stuff on my to do list actually got done in time! And...she brought over some of my favorite NZ foods!!

V and Vogels...you can't go wrong!

She forced me to workout...

First time doing CrossFit and crushed it!

And scheduled a time for us to get our nails done...

Oh so sexy

Showing off her new tallons

And she helped clean our house - not an easy task! She couldn't have been a more perfect house guest, so thank you, Liz, for being an awesome friend and helping us get through one of the most stressful times of our lives!

Morning Hike

Typically Dooley wakes me up with whining and a swift head butt, but for some weird reason he didn't stir yesterday morning. Because of this I nearly missed my spin class, but was able to get there just after it started. 

After getting my butt kicked, Anne-Marie came to pick me up for our hike. It was the first time either of us had taken this trail, so we weren't sure what to expect. It was actually one of the better trails either of us had been on. The total trail is 6.8 miles, with the first 3.4 miles uphill. At least it made for a nice return trip! 

No hike is complete without a selfie. 

We had spectacular views like this the whole time. It was pretty cool seeing a completely different part of Prescott and it was nice getting outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having. 

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

San Francisco and Auckland will always be my two homes. I am never more comfortable than I am in these cities. Unfortunately Auckland is a little far for a quick weekend trip (at least for now) so instead A and I made a quick dash over to San Francisco for the weekend. 

It was so nice seeing my family again! We hadn't seen them since New Years (when Stanford lost the Rose Bowl those twats) so it was a good time for all. 

In honor of my birthday (or our engagement depending on who you spoke to that evening) my mom threw a little cocktail shindig. Before everyone arrived we had an impromptu photo shoot! Here's my adorable parents.

My mom said she wanted a closer photo...so then this happened.

Like father, like daughter.

I'm pretty sure my dad takes the cake for worst photographer ever...so glad we have already hired our wedding photographer! 

The night was filled with loud chatter, vivacious guests, and wonderful libations! It was such a treat to see family friends. Typically our trips are so short our time is reserved for family and close friends only, so it was nice to finally catch up with old family friends.

Friends Who Move Mountains

I was reminded last week how amazing my friends truly are. I know everyone thinks their friends will do anything for them, but one of mine literally moved mountains for me. You see I stumbled across the most amazing shoes that I just had to have for my wedding. I desperately wanted them, but alas was too slow on HauteLook and so someone else snatched them up!

Of course this would happen to the only shoes that I loved. Oh, did I mention that A liked them too!? So I did what any sane, 21st century girl would do, I scoured the internet to find said shoe. I could not find them anywhere! I searched high and low, on every single website that is even remotely linked to shoes, and yet nothing. I did happen to find them on eBay, but 2 sizes too small. I was doomed.

So last weekend at the cocktail party my parents threw (post to come) I mentioned this tragic story to anyone that would listen. The following Monday (my birthday, it just so happened) my mom, A, and I went shopping to look for wedding shoes. We went to 12 different stores and I hated everything I came across. I just couldn't get these shoes out of my mind, and every shoe paled in comparison. I even tried calling the designer store in San Francisco to ask about the shoe. Apparently it was last year's design and no store had it in stock. Ugh.

We got home around 1pm exhausted and disheartened, when I received a call from one of my besties. She asked if I was sitting near a computer with my credit card handy (of course I was...). "Go to the designer's website" she said, "the shoe, in your size is online, but only for the next hour!"

She managed to do the impossible. Somehow she was able to speak to someone at the designer's home office, convince them to bring the last shoe in my size out of the warehouse and put my shoe on the website so I could buy it! No freaking joke...

Happy birthday! Happy wedding!

P.S. I've asked this friend to do the honor of marrying A and I. Pretty confident she can pull that one off too!

Drinks with Old Friends

Wednesday I got to catch up with two lovely ladies! We're old friends from high school and it's sad how terrible I am at keeping up with people! Regardless it was a wonderful evening filled with laughter, drinks, and good stories!

I've found that friends come and go throughout our life time. Some friendships last longer than others. But for those true, life time friendships, you can spend years apart and when you're back together it's as if no time has gone by. That's what this dinner was for me. Just lovely!

Sorry for the crappy phone pictures. I have a beast of a camera at the moment so it's a bit of a mission to carry it around! Also it doesn't have a flash so inside shots are pretty much a no-go! 

Countdown to LA

Only 4 days left before I leave for Los Angeles!!  I'm going for school, but I'm so excited to spend some time with friends and family!!  Yay!!

View from the Hollywood sign

Typical LA view - Palm Trees!