Horseback Riding - LA style

During the bridal shower Bridget convinced me to go horseback riding with her. We've been trying to go out riding for almost a year, but our schedules never really allowed for enough time. Luckily, this trip I had a whole day to kill, so we made our plans and met at the stables!

Selfie before my hair was ruined horseback riding!

I managed to convince Andrew's brother D to come along, which worked out perfectly because I could borrow one of his horses! We got a late start but once the horses were saddled up we went off for our ride. 

Lola and I took up the rear, but only for a short time. Lola's not happy unless she's leading!

I was riding Lola - the world's most stubborn horse! She didn't like being lead by a three year old horse and threw a couple tantrums because of it! She also wasn't very happy listening to me, but we did alright in the end. 

Beautiful Bridget and her handsome horse!

Bridget has had her horse for 5 years so of course he was perfect the whole time! Luckily too because D had to break in his young horse, Lula. Lula didn't like to do much of anything - trotting, crossing through water...I think she'd much rather just hang around the stables and eat! 

D riding through the tunnel

The ride took us a couple hours, but I had a blast! I can't wait to get back out there again!

LA Bridal Shower

Last weekend some lovely family friends threw me a bridal shower in LA! This one was held for all our family in friends in and around LA (I will be having another one in SF for all our family and friends up there). The shower was stunning and Marion planned the whole event down to the last detail.

Quick pic before heading off to the party!

 That morning I had a trial run for my hair, which I think went really well. We decided to go with a side swept look so the back of my dress can be played up.

Front door

So pretty

This lovely bouquet greeted you as soon as you arrived!

Backyard setup

Lunch was set up outside, and I managed to grab a few photos before everyone arrived. 

The table set up

Marion was so sweet to decorate according to the wedding colors. Also, green just happens to be my favorite color in general!

She even has beautiful silver!

Table bouquets and wine glasses

 Not too long after I took photos, everyone started arriving. 

Helen and Donna 

Me and Kaity

My mom and me

My mom, me, and Donna

Annie and Bridget

Pat, Donna, and Kaity

Caroline, Heidi, and Angie

 We spent time chatting in the living room before heading out to the garden for lunch.

Michelle, me, and Heather

Enjoying lunch

We ate and caught up before we played a few games.

Pencils with 'wedding bells'

Donna got these fun pencils!

Michelle and Heather

Me opening presents

 After a few rousing games we moved back inside to open the presents. Everyone at the shower was given a room to get a gift for and some people were really inventive with their gifts!

Marybeth creating one of my ribbon bouqets

 So while opening gifts, the women told me about a horrible old wives tale that says the number of ribbons you break is how many kids you will have! Some women even went to the lengths of purposely wrapping the ribbons so tightly that I had to break them! Haha! All in good fun though. I ended up only breaking 3, so that's not too bad!

Ribbon bouquet #1

 I did, however, end up with so many ribbons they had to make 2 bouquets! 

Ribbon bouquet #2

My mom, me, and Donna

I was so happy to have both my mom and Donna there for the shower. Not the best photo of Donna, but it was the only one taken at the end of the party.

Marion, me, and Donna

Marion was such an amazing hostess! She really pulled off a beautiful shower. 

My mom and me

The girls

I had such a good time and was so happy to see everyone. Thanks to all you wonderful ladies who came out to help me celebrate my upcoming nuptials!

Los Angeles

A and I drove to LA to surprise his mom for her birthday! The road was pretty quiet the whole way and we managed to make it there in good time. 

She was completely surprised and was quite happy to find out that none of us had forgotten her birthday. She has decided now that she has reached a happy age and will now count backwards! 

After a few hours of getting ourselves together we dressed ourselves up and went out to dinner. 

After dinner we went to a great show at Cal Tech called Capitol Steps. 

We had amazing seats, which was wonderful because the show was an absolute riot! A and I couldn't stop laughing the whole time. Very smart political humor. 

Cal Techs theatre was incredible to look at. This is an image of the ceiling! It was an intense gold that my camera wasn't quite able to capture. 

The following day the whole family went to the shooting range. This was the first time I had ever been to a range and it was quite exciting. Even though we went early morning it was still pretty busy...which means loud. So many guns going off you didn't need a reminder to wear your ear plugs! 

The boys checking on our targets. They were inspecting to see if my bullets actually hit the thing!

The coolest part about the range is that it's nestled into California national park! So even though you're shooting at targets you still have this beautiful view beyond. 

Here's an action shot of me shooting my little birthday present!

And A's mom shooting an awesome rifle called a Keltec Sub 2000 a friend brought along. 

Then on Sunday A and I were able to catch up with my old roomies and bestie! We all met at Gladstones in Malibu and proceeded to order bottomless mimosas. 

Our waiter kept us all very happy by refilling our mimosas before we were finished with them! He definitely knew the way into our hearts! All throughout our brunch this group of pelicans kept flying overhead. I was finally able to get them in a shot but wasn't nearly as cool as in person. 

My two former roomies. 

All the girls in their Sunday best! We make brunch look good! 

It's always a fun time when we get out to LA but this weekend was especially nice. We were both super bummed to have to drive home so soon, but luckily I'll be back out soon for my bridal shower! Can't wait! 

Weekend Getaway

Now that I've started back up at school I have this strange longing for Summer again!  Of course it still feels like summer (hello mid-80s and monsoons), but the spontaneous Summer trips have come to an end.

I am particularly nostalgic for a specific weekend Andrew and I shared with a couple friends.  It was such an incredible weekend!

Arrived at our favorite airport.  Seriously, avoid LAX whenever possible!

A fabulous weekend would be nothing without getting off to a great start on the Friday evening.  Andrew's parents spoiled us kids by inviting us to join them in their box at the Hollywood Bowl to see none other than Willie Nelson!

I took my Nikon in to get some good shots of the gang and the stage, but they stopped me at the gate and said I couldn't bring in my snazzy camera.  Well jokes on them because I have an iPhone 5 that happens to take incredible pictures too!

Being silly at dinner

The whole concert was just incredible.  Lyle Lovett & His Large Band opened and Willie played his entire album Stardust.

Hollywood Bowl

Lyle Lovette

Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

The next morning we got up bright and early (no hangovers in this crowd, but that can't be said for everyone who attended the concert) to drove up to the cabin.

The drive was stunning, as always, although this time the mountains were trapping the smoke that was coming off a huge fire in Southern California.

We then proceeded to spend the rest of the weekend lounging and playing around on the boat.

Friends from New York enjoying the California summer!

Andrew, our fearless captain.

All smiles in the water

Kirsten being her stunning self

Half of the fun of playing around on the lake is perving on all the beautiful homes that surround the water!  This one isn't nearly one of the biggest lake-side homes, but I love those huge windows!

The only picture of Andrew and I.  This is the sad reality of always being behind the camera!

What a handsome devil!

We only had a few hours to play on the boat on Sunday, so water skiing it was!

This is before he realized how cold the water was!

Showing off

Gotta keep that flag up!

You can check out the rest of the photos here.