Mr. & Mrs.

Well, just in case you have been living under a rock...


WE GOT MARRIED!


It was a simply beautiful, wonderful, memorable day. We felt love, joy, and happiness. After the past 2 1/2 years of planning, everything finally came to be. And it was everything I had dreamed of and more.

Thank you to all who made the day so special. We were so glad you all could be there.








And to those of you couldn't make it, we missed you. You missed out on a pretty awesome day...and party!





A big thanks to all the photographers who sent me the pictures used above. I will post pics from our awesome photographer, Kate DiSimone once she's finished processing them. She's sent me a few sneak peeks, and let me tell you...they're breathtaking!

You Know You're A Nerd When...

...you make pie charts of the RSVP responses to your wedding.


Note that you can click on the chart to see it bigger.

Looking forward to all that this wedding week has in store. Hoping for more pleasant surprises, like today when my patient sent me "happy wedding week" flowers. Just what I needed to get super excited about this week.

6 more days!

Shower #1...

At the end of April (umm, where did May go?!) I had my first bridal shower, which was hosted by my co-Maid of Honor, Ashley, and bridesmaid, Jocelyn, at my parents' house. It was an insanely windy day, with gale-force winds, which prevented the shower from being fully decorated. We even had to hang bags of dirt off the table cloths so they would stay on the table. And the flowers stayed inside because the vases didn't stand a chance. Regardless of the lack of cooperation from the weather, it was a wonderful shower.

There were fun games, yummy food, and of course, lots of presents!



There was even a candy bar stocked with some of my favorites!


Jocelyn made adorable cupcakes, with fondant flowers from scratch. People were asking where we ordered them from...way to go Jocelyn! And they were definitely a hit!




I feel so lucky to have such wonderful and loving friends and family. It was a surprise to me that Ashley was actually going to be there. She changed her flights around after coming back from a week-long cruise, and my dad went and picked her up while we were setting up for the shower. What an awesome surprise! Thanks girls (and Mom) for such a wonderful day!

.twenty-six.

Hello twenty-six.

I'm excited for everything that you hold in store. You hold one of the biggest, most important days of my life. You will get to see me marry the person who completes me. You will get to see my life so full of joy and happiness. You'll get to experience our lives as newlyweds and all the ups and downs that come with it.

You hold the possibility of other big milestones as well. Will you be the year that we buy our first house? How will we ever decide on a house...where to buy, how big, how new. How will we agree on how to make it a home? A home that is not all Star Wars and gadgets. Will you bring a puppy into our lives? Or maybe even puppies? A new car, perhaps? Or will we try to make it as long as we can without car payments? Knowing my soon-to-be husband, I know the answer to that.

You'll get to go on adventures with us to new places. Are you excited for Antigua? Because I am. Hopefully we won't experience a hurricane. And another trip to Hawaii??? Sweet. Who knows where else we'll end up. Maybe we'll just discover hidden treasures close to home. The Central Coast is full of so many things we have yet to experience.

Oh, twenty-six. You hold potential to be so amazing, and I know you won't let me down. I hope twenty-five doesn't feel unloved and discarded, because she did a good job herself. She helped me finish out grad school, become a doctor, get my first job as a career woman, and pass my boards. Maybe you could get some pointers from her on filling up the year. She sure didn't let me down. She even took me to Africa! Thanks twenty-five for all the adventures you took me on. It was a fun and fulfilling year.

Alright, twenty-six. It's your turn. Please don't let me down. I'm ready to embrace you and all that you'll bring to my life. And I have a feeling it's going to be a great ride!

Be Our Guest...

April has been full of guests and visitors...

The first weekend of April, my good friend, Ashley, came down to introduce her new boyfriend, Sean, to the central coast. We showed him around Cal Poly, took him to eat his first tri-tip sandwich, and even made it out to Montana de Oro. While I was hoping for more wildflowers, there were still plenty of beautiful flowers to look at. And of course the turquoise water is always nice too!




The next weekend my mom came up to work on the wedding invitations. After looking up how much stinkin' invitations were going to cost, I decided it wasn't worth that much money for a piece of paper that was eventually going to make it to the trash. With the exception of a small handful that will end up in scrapbooks. So my mom and I jumped into what became a labor of love. Thank goodness I had her help or there would have been many more mistakes and many tears. As it was, we both wanted to pull our hair out. But they turned out beautiful. And I love them. Thanks Mom! They should be finding their way to your mailboxes soon...




Just a few days later, we got a mid-week sleepover with none other than our adorable nephew, Grady, and his parents. I'm pretty sure all my patients knew he was coming because I kept telling everyone. And I even got lucky and didn't have a 6:00 patient so I got to come home earlier that night than normal. We missed out on his birthday party, so I baked him a cake which he got super excited about. He was even doing a little happy dance.


We also had lots of presents for him, including a coloring book and giant lollipop (or "big pop" as he was calling it), which were both big hits.



We made a trip to the park by the lake (did you know that Atascadero had a lake?!), where Grady had lots of fun running around and racing us down the slides.


It was so much fun getting to spend some time with the little guy. Thanks so much Melissa and Derek for coming the long way up the coast so we got to spend time with you guys!

The past few weekends we've been doing wedding stuff (of course) and trying to get a little down time. The next few weekends will be pretty packed too. It never stops!

Wedding updates...we met our quota for the hotel rooms. Yay for not paying for unfilled rooms! If you're planning on booking under our group rate, there are only 3 rooms left, so you better hurry up!

Invitations will be sent out soon as I mentioned above. Hopefully they'll find their way to everyone. I heard rumors of some people not getting a Save the Date???

I broke down and hired a day-of coordinator. I didn't want to. I resisted. But eventually I gave in. I had many people offer to help set up and tear down everything at the wedding. And I accepted. But then I realized that no one was from around here, which meant if something went wrong, they'd be calling me or my mom. And I want them to enjoy their time here...they are guests after all. It's actually a husband and wife team, who also have an intern...3 for the price of 1! And they gave us a discount. And they already have done more for me than they are obliged to by contract. Sweet. I feel the stress melting away...

I'm also working on figuring out the favors and rentals. And the ten million other tiny details that no one else will notice but me.

Hope you all had a happy Easter. We spent it alone, and munched on sticky buns, ham, and all sorts of other delicious goodies. And it was nice just being together. Much love to all, and hopefully it won't be another 3 weeks until I update! :)

A Late Valentine's Day...

This past weekend, Jeff and I drove down to my parents' house/LA for a late Valentine's Day celebration. Yep, that's how we roll...Valentine's Day at the end of March. A designated day for celebrating with the rest of society isn't our style, especially with the schedules we've both had lately. We've both been busy with work, and what little free time we have seems to get gobbled up by wedding stuff.


For my V-day present, Jeff got us tickets to Beauty & the Beast at the Pantages Theater. We drove down to T.O. late Friday night, something that will be repeated several times in the next few months, and spent the night at my parents' house. Saturday we went into LA for lunch and the play, which was wonderfully done. There were tons of kids, with little girls dressed up like princesses. Adorable. And one of the highlights was a little girl shouting out during a quiet part..."I have to go pee-pee!" Classic. And the whole audience burst out laughing.

That night we had an early birthday dinner for my grandpa, since Judy, Kirk & Megan were in town for 1 more night. It was great seeing everyone, and there was delicious Nothing Bundt Cake for dessert. Yummy!

Another morning of sleeping in on Sunday, with lunch at The Counter. Delish! And we watched my March Madness bracket fall apart, and Jeff's come together. With the right wins in the remaining games, we could potentially win $375 between our two companies. Sweet! And then the long drive back up after another weekend gone by too quickly.

Wedding updates:

-All the bridesmaid dresses are ordered...good job girls!
-The cake has been ordered after a scare of losing our baker after waiting too long to book...she is booked for 6 weddings that weekend already, but squeezed us in since I talked to her so long ago! PHEW!
-The tuxes have been figured out...info to be sent out soon
-The showers seem to be taken care of...thanks hostesses!
-The rehearsal dinner sounds like its details are falling into place...good job Mike & Becky!

If you have not yet booked your hotel room and are planning to book under our group, there are only 5 rooms left. Not that I'm anticipating them booking quickly, since most of the people I expected to book them have already done so. But I also know a few people who have not yet booked who I want to make sure get the discounted rate.

I feel like I'm in a constant push and pull of checking things off my to-do list and adding more things on. It never stops! And I feel like there are so many things I'm over-looking. What if there's something big I'm forgetting about?! What if people don't like the decisions I make? What if things fall apart at the last minute? Oh wedding woes...I'll get over it, hopefully.

The next few weeks we'll be busy with visitors and working on more wedding stuff. Hope the beginning of spring is treating you well. Enjoy the sunshine!

Griffith Observatory...

So I know this happened a while ago, and I wanted to blog on it back in December when we went but alas, had no time. Now that I have the time, I'll actually write about it...


Way back in December, during the time of gorgeous weather, Jeff and I went with my parents to the Griffith Observatory. While we (my parents and I) had always talked about making this trip, we had never found the time. So now that it's back open again, and the weather was gorgeous, we decided it was time to make the trip.




For those of you who don't know, the Observatory is free, and has some pretty awesome exhibits. You can pay to watch the shows in the planetarium, but it was too crowded and we decided to wander around the free part of it instead.



You can also hike up to near the Hollywood sign, but we decided to just take pictures from the Observatory.



Word of advice...get there early. This is a popular place, even during the daytime, and there is not a ton of parking. As it was, we had to hike up the hill, and we got there probably at least 30 minutes before it even opened. All in all a great experience, and one I highly suggest you do if you live in the area.