* Random Ramblings

Pretty sure I've mentioned before that I'm somewhat of an old soul when it comes to music. I could listen to 60's/70's/80's rock all day, any day and never get sick of it. Currently, I'm on a Bruce Hornsby kick. Not sure what it is about Bruce, but his music has a warm weather feel to me - Biggie, Dre and Snoop are good options too, just a bit different from Bruce. Also hooked on Dire Straits (my father-in-laws favorite) and America (my dad's favorite) and of course I'm always in a Fleetwood/Stevie mood, but that's year-round...duh. Also, slightly obsessed with Katy Perry's new song "Teenage Dream."

Has anyone tried Sun Chips? Stupid question, BUT have any of you ever tried Sun Chips in their new "Compostable Packaging"? I'm all about going green, but Oh.My.Goodness, if you purchase a bag of these, be prepared for possible hearing loss. Consider yourself warned. I realize I have sensitive ears (maybe that's why I talk so loud), but this bag is so loud and obnoxious that I will never buy a bag again, which is probably a good thing because I shouldn't be indulging in chips anyway...speaking of, I bought a new flavor of chips last night at Target - General Tso's...I have zero self control.

Did ya know Blue Moon and Fat Tire can be found in a can?? Apparently, it's the little things that excite me as I was ecstatic to test out both. They're good, but I still prefer beer from a tap. Hopefully, the Coors Brewery will be doing some good samples during our tour tomorrow in Golden, CO.

Steve and I are off on a Colorado adventure tomorrow to explore this gorgeous state and shoot a wedding...SEA → Denver → Golden → Breckenridge → Boulder. We're so excited as this will be the first time to CO for both of us.

3,000 Photos Later...

...And my weekend slowly came to an end...
Since my entire weekend was filled with photos, here is a bit of a photo montage of the past three days. If I were to keep a diary, this would have been my Sunday night entry...with just a few less details that probably need to remain a little less public.

Friday night was spent with these two hooligans (Brooke & Megs) in the town that Megs seems to think is the furthest point west in the state of Washington...a little place you may have heard of - Ballard.

This much anticipated night was a blast - lots of laughs, beers, wine and never once a moment of silence. Already looking forward to our next get together.

Dani - thanks for outing yourself as an official stalker - please stick around!




Steve was in the area with a buddy so he met up with us for a drink

Saturday was spent shooting the wedding of the gorgeous Allison & Bert Vigeland. These two along with their families, friends and 20 person bridal party were so much fun. Steve and I snapped photos for an entire 10 hour period and honestly loved every minute of it. There will be many, many more photos to post from this wedding, but here is one of my favorite shots of the day.

photo by Steve

After wrapping up at the wedding in Bellevue, we headed over to the Tap House and Rock Bottom for Rauh's 30th birthday bash. Despite the exhaustion (the bloodshot eyes show it all), we had a great time hanging out with the birthday girl. Happy 30th RAO Sleepwagon - so happy you were able to stay up for the entire nights festivities!

Sunday - Left the house at 10:30am and didn't return again until 10:30pm. First, I was off to Susy's house in Kirkland for Lauren's baby shower with our college girlfriends to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby boy #2. As always, Lo looked beautiful and it was great catching up with the Pi Phi girls. While at the party, I also took a few photos of Jess' new baby boy, Johnny - love his darling little face and his hair.

Susy's stunning girls - Addy and Eden

baby Johnny

After the shower, I stopped by my parents house to wish P.Coff a happy birthday and give her the rest of her birthday gift. Megs and I are sending P&J on a weekend away to Walla Walla to do some winetasting and check out one of the few WA towns they have yet to visit.

Yep, I really captured my entire weekend - even my parents in the kitchen getting ready for their friends to come over for a BBQ

Next up I was off to Seattle to take family and newborn photos of my friends, the Thielman's. Their baby girl, Saylor, was born on Tuesday and is darling! I knew she'd be beautiful because her older brother, Kaden, is one of the cutest boys I've ever seen. Loved catching up with this wonderful family.

Finally, I was off (just five blocks away) to the Kocher's house, to enjoy a delicious dinner prepared by Mike and to take some maternity photos. These two are expecting their twin girls in the next couple of months and I can not wait to meet them - they're going to be beautiful and spoiled to pieces by all of their friends and family.

One of my favorite things about the past 10 days was having two of my bff's in town, Stacie and Megs - if I had it my way, all my girls would live in Seattle...preferably in the same neighborhood, but that may be a bit far-fetched. However, I don't mind that they both live in wonderful travel destinations...we can't get enough of Stacie and Kevin so we're off to Boston in Sept and I'm sure there will be another trip to Bend sometime in the near future. Loved having you girls in town!

Kevin, Stacie, Peanut & Tucker - please come back to Seattle again soon...we already miss you.

photo from the Mullin family mini-photoshoot last week

Spry is Goin' Back to Cali...

And it makes a lot of us girls in Seattle sad...

We're excited for Spry and her new adventure, but sad that we won't get our Lisa/LSpry/LBS/Spry/LisaBethSpry fix whenever we'd like. Therefore, as with any going away for a dear friend, we have spent many days and nights (without actually moving in with her) reminiscing about our fun times and dreaming about what lies ahead in SoCal for our amazing friend.

SoCal dinners aren't going to be the same without you


BBQ last Sunday


M's game on Tuesday - Grout, Lauren, Spry, Me and Leslie


I was really excited to see Griffey...hadn't been to a game in a while


Drinks at Jimmys after the game








Going away dinner at Rothie's (we normally wouldn't pose around Roth lounging in a chair, but the expecting momma has been put on bedrest)


Hopefully, the babies aren't all grown up by the time you come back to visit next

Spry - as you've shared with all of us, we know you have a spare bedroom in your apt in Santa Monica, and don't think that we won't take FULL advantage of this. We'll miss you so much, but we all know that these four fabulous girls (Christy, Avery, Lori and Lynds) are anxiously awaiting your arrival.

Have You Ever...

Received or given a greeting card that makes you laugh (eons later) everytime you think of it? I have and this is my story.

I love homemade greeting cards, but every now and then I'll find a brand of card in a store that I fall in love with - that happened with me and the Seltzer Goods cards. In December, during Avery's 30th birthday trip to Solvang, CA, I gave her a card, with a banana on it, that was somewhat of an inside joke...random: I eat a banana every.single.day on my way home from the gym and set the peel on the passenger seat, which overtime has just become a joke for friends that know this and ride in my car. Sooooo, on another note, Avery is a proud member of the 'Grammar Police,' - ever heard of them? If not, send Avery an email with spelling and punctuation errors and you'll hear about it. I read, re-read and read again the message on the front of said card and thought "wow! the card I happened to pick out for Avery has a punctuation error"...come to find out, my correction of the error was not a correction at all and actually made the card read COMPLETELY different. Avery opened the card on the bus, during the wine tour, and I immediately told her about this 'error' that I so kindly corrected. She read the card, Jackie read the card and Brooke read the card - they thought I was joking...I thought they were crazy...we laughed until we cried...we nearly wet ourselves.

I 'corrected' this card to read "We'll split me in two and cover me in ice cream." We'll and Well (obviously) have completely different meanings, which made me look like a fool, but gave us a good laugh. I guess you probably had to be there with these girls to really get it, but just reliving this story as I type, is making me smile.

Here are a few of the other cards I enjoy from Seltzer.

Summa Time BBQ

When I realized a couple of weeks ago that we would have multiple friends in town this past weekend, I felt it only necessary to have a BBQ at our house. Megs first stop once she arrived in town, from Oregon, with Ava and Miles was our house and we had a slumber party; Dett, Tara and Jackson came up from LA to spend some time with family and friend; Stacie and Kevin flew out for 11 days from Boston for some much needed Pacific NW bonding. Despite the fact that many of our guests may have needed their passports for the journey south to our house, they still did it - and we had a blast. Sunday was my definition of the perfect summer day - cathing up with friends, sun/warm air, grillin' outside, lemonade, beers, ladder ball, kiddos running around laughing. And this morning, Steve and I awoke to Ava climging into bed with us - love her. Don't let these photos deceive you, I promise I'm not running a daycare out of my house.

All the ladies - Rauh, Michelle, Lynne, Dett, Lexi, Megan, Court, Spry, Cheryl, Misty, Steph, Jamie, Stacie, Krissy, me, Grout and Tara.


The sweet babes - Addi, Ava, Hayden, Jake, Miles, Jackson and Henry


Miss Ava and Miss Addi




Henry, Miles and Jackson


Miles upset because he set his bottle down and Jackson swiped it




Sweet baby Charlotte






Hayden and Ava


These three girls are so sweet and instant friends




Jake and Miles

This was not a girls/kids BBQ only, I just somehow didn't get any photos of the guys. I guess I need to work on capturing more photos of adults