Few Favorites...

I love that Kristi and Todd's wedding was on the 4th of July - with a little red, white and blue theme goin' on, it made for some ideal { colorful } photos. Our group of girlfriends took it a bit further and suggested that everyone where a red or blue dress - the outcome was great { as seen in the photos below }. Thankfully, Kristi did not choose this wedding dress and instead opted for her gorgeous gown by ABS, which had many of us telling her "this dress is so you."

Welcome BBQ in Cannon Beach

Rothie, Jamie, Terry and Me at the welcome BBQ

Raymond and Court (aka Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat) practicing their wedding ceremony duet "Lucky"

Michelle, Court and Laura

Spry and Marge

WSU girls

Oly girls + one

Me and the handsome wedding photog

We { Heart } America, Cabe and the 4th of July - ha!

Gearhart Golf Links - 18th hole at dusk

Like a Prayer...anyone?

Kappa's performing "Hey Pat" or is it "It's Pat"?

Our best attempt at Rosie the Riveter

The Bramble's at the bonfire after the wedding
Check back soon, with Head Over Heels, for more wedding photos

:: Sneak Peek ::

Minus the slight hangover on Sunday morning, the weekend spent in Gearhart and Seaside was a blast. I'll post photos soon, but to tide you over for a bit, here is a sneak peek...

Enjoy!

Oregon Coast or Bust...

Seaside, Oregon :: 07/04/07
via

I've been anxious for this day for quite a while now - in just a couple short hours, we will hit the road and head down to Gearhart, Oregon for Kristi and Todd's wedding weekend festivities. It feels like forever ago that Steve and I went with Kristi and Todd to check out a potential wedding location at McMenimans in Gearhart on New Years day this year. Well, the time has finally arrived and I can not wait to be a part of their wedding. And to top it off, the weather is supposed to be picture perfect which will work out nicely for Steve, as he is the hired wedding photographer for the day. He's been so excited ever since Kristi and Todd asked him to do this and from the books he has read and research that has been done, I know he is taking this task quite serious. I'm hoping that in between doing my duties as a bridesmaid that I'll get to snap a few as well.

Happy 4th of July and a all of my love to Kristi and Todd on their big day!

Loving the Summer Essential Series @

Today, Lyndsy at YBB has feautured a few of my personal summertime favorites - be sure to stop by and check out her Summer Essential Series - I've already made a few purchases based off the recommendations of her readers. Lyndsy's blog always provides excellent fashion, skincare, cosmetic (etc) advice so be sure to check back...frequently

Mission Accomplished with a PR { personal record }

Saturday morning, I ran the best race I have yet to run in my past few years as a "runner." My ultimate goal was to run the Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon in under two hours - I didn't quite make the goal, but came pretty damn close. I completed the most scenic half marathon, I've run to date, in 2:00:47. I ran the entire race with my dear friend Kim (Rothie), but she was able to muster up a little bit of energy at the end and finish ahead of me at 1:59:33. Not only did she beat her goal, but she also did this in two DIFFERENT SHOES! She grabbed two separate shoes Saturday morning and besides for a little pain didn't realize it until Sunday morning - ha! During the last half mile, I ran down the last hill, could see Rothie in the distance in her bright pink shirt and got goosebumps and had a huge smile on my face because I was so excited for her. She is a huge motivator for me and I love that we both share this passion and have a partner to run these races with. The entire race was perfect - excellent course, water stations prepared with water, awesome volunteers, lots and lots of port-o-potties and ideal temperatures. The shuttle service heading from downtown Seattle to start line in Tukwila was a bit rough, but we made it through and got ourselves situated in a good corral.

The two downsides for me was that Steve was unable to make it due to the big move of our house this weekend, which was a perfectly good excuse because it meant for less moving for me AND my shoes. I realized the night before that my shoes are not in any condition for running a mile let alone 13.1 miles. My Asics 2130's have hit the pavement for the last time, but have done me good over the past year.

Rothie and her husband Mike (who finished in an awesome time of 1:42:32)

The scene at the finish line in the north parking lot of Qwest Field
* We spent the entire rest of the weekend with the move - fingers crossed we'll be finished this afternoon - I'll post photos soon *

{ Busy Weekend }

The day has almost arrived for the innagural Seattle Rock N Roll Half and Full Marathon. Tomorrow morning at 7am, while most of you are still sleeping, I will be just starting out on a 13 mile run through Tukwila, Rainier and ending at Qwest Field - with the hopes of finishing just around 9am. The last half marathon I ran last summer, I ended up finishing around 2 hours 18 mins and came in just minutes behind the guy that won the FULL marathon - definitely a crazy way to end a race. I'm looking forward to tomorrow and I'm thinking that from here on out, I'll plan on running at least one half marathon every summer.

After the run, I'll be heading home to finish packing up our place in Bellevue because we are moving! A great opportunity has come up for us to move in to a completely remodeled home on the east hill of Kent - yes, the south end...I think I've mentioned this before, but I didn't even know where Kent was until I started dating Steve. Times have sure changed as I now have a Kent address. Like most cities in this area, there are the nice parts and the not so nice part, where we're moving is in a great location on a half of an acre. My commute to work will go from 6 miles each way to 20 miles each way, but I'll take this sacrifice for a beautiful new home with a huge kitchen that Steve and I can make all our own. I'll post photos next week.

Have a great weekend and best of luck to all of you that will be running tomorrow - please say hi if you see me.

Third Time { A Charm }

This past Friday afternoon, I headed east of the mountains for my third trip to Lake Chelan in the past two months. This particular trip was for Brie's bachelorette party and was an absolute blast. Adrianne's parents own two condos, right next to each other, at Lake Chelan Shores so we had the perfect accomodations and just the right amount of space for the twelve of us. Friday night we drank wine, played games and caught up. Early Saturday afternoon, the stretch limo picked us up and we started off on our five-hour wine tour. First stop, Hard Row to Hoe - love their wines and love their location in Manson up on the hillside. Second stop, Benson Vineyards - hands down the best view from any winery in Chelan in my mind. Just in the past couple of months, they have completely re-done their landscaping - perfect loction for an Eastern WA wedding. Third stop, Vin du Lac - always a favorite of mine because of the cute little patio. Fourth stop, Karma Vineyards - here we enjoyed a cave tour and a delicious dinner. Anyone looking to stop over for a meal should definitely eat at Karma - excellent service and delicous sandwiches.

After the wine tour we were dropped off downtown and hung out at Vogue and J.R.'s Bar & Grill. Considering it was somewhat early in the evening, we decided to head back to the condos, indulge in some frozen pizza and hang out. Three of the friends were actually brave enough to jump in the freezing lake - I opted out on this one.

It's always so hard to leave Chelan at the end of an awesome weekend, but it made for the perfect pre-cursor for Brie and Mass' Leavenworth wedding in August. Congratulations Brie - can't wait for your big day!

Leaving Karma Vineyards - last and favorite stop of the day

Tulalip Bachelorette Party

After Kristi's bridal shower on Saturday, I hopped in my { newly } air conditioned car (I don't know how I survived so long without it) and headed up north to my friend Jaclyn's bachelorette party. We all met up for an evening of celebrating Jac at her family cabin in Tulalip on Possession Sound. After eating dinner, opening gifts and indulging in a few cocktails, we took off for the casino aka "the #1 place for fun." I don't think I'd go as far as agreeing with the Tulalip Casino slogan, but it was such a fun night. It was so nice to catch up with a few girls that I hadn't seen in years. Despite my $40 loss at the roulette table, the evening and following morning was perfect.

Gai, Al, Flo, Caycee and Jac

The bride-to-be insisting that she needed a re-do on her senior pictures

All of the girls

Gorgeous sunset looking west towards Camano Island and Whidbey Island
Congratulations Jac - you're going to be a beautiful bride!

{ Soon-to-Be Mrs. Bramble } Bridal Shower

On Saturday afternoon, Diggy so graciously hosted Kristi's bridal shower at her house in Redmond. Everything from the vast amount of amazing guacamole to the tasty margaritas turned out perfect. I can't believe we're now less than three weeks away from celebrating Kristi and Todds 4th of July wedding in Gearhart, Oregon - we're all so excited!

College girlfriends and family

Kristi with her future sister-in-law Tracy and her future niece Taylor

Michelle, me and Kristi

Gotta have a few cervazas at a Fiesta themed shower

Miss Addy Mae - Also a must have at get togethers with our girlfriends

Welcome to our World..

Jordan Mark Petyo

Jordan made an early arrival at 2:45am today. He weighs 6 lbs 9 oz and measures 19.5" long. According to his mama, he looks just like his big sister Taylor.

Jordan joins Taylor as the newest member of the Petyo Family. Congratulations to Jessica and Steve on your adorable son. Can't wait to meet him! I think this means that I must plan a trip back down to Southern California soon.

It's { Finally } Here

The air conditioning in my car is back up and running!! After SIX years of being out of commission, Yes, my car HAS NOT HAD A/C for SIX YEARS - I have survived and perhaps a little lighter because of it. I'm thinking that with how much sweating occurred in my car, I had to have at least shed a few pounds. My fabulous husband grew so tired of me complaining about sweating to the LEATHER seats in the hot weather last week that he fixed my A/C this weekend! Here is a snapshot of a few of the things I experienced in the Pathfinder without A/C...

* 4 hour drive to Las Vegas from LA where the highest temperature reached was 105 degrees. If I remember right, I think I did this twice. And both times took most of my clothes off along the way.
* 5 hour drive to Scottsdale in the summer.
* Many, many sweltering trips along the 10 and 405 in LA.
* Two day drive back to Seattle in high temps - thank you to Megan for putting up with this no air situation to make the drive back home with me.
* Spent almost every summer sitting on a towel so when I got out of the car it didn't look like I had wet myself.

A HUGE thank you to Steve for getting this fixed for me. I realize, I could have spent the money to have it fixed years ago but never bothered. I must have known that I would one day marry a man that would know everything there is to know about cars and could easily fix it for me - Thank you Steve!

•••

Besides for the air conditioning update, I would also like to introduce all of you to my new photography blog - Head Over Heels Photography. After a lot of work and questions from friends/family about when I would start a site dedicated to my love of children's photography, I've finally got it launched. Enjoy!!

{ Crazy } Beautiful Weather

The weather in Seattle has been anything but normal. Record breaking temperatures in the 90s the first week of June?? Unheard of! And in my world - IDEAL! { fingers crosses this is the sign of a HOT summer }. From reading my posts, you can probably tell that I am a sun-worshiper. I LOVE when the sun comes out and if the sun is not out in my "neck of the woods" (in the words of Al Roker), I will travel towards the sun. This love of mine was definitely passed down to both my sister and I from my mom. I rarely have ever heard my mom complain that the weather is "too hot" even when she was visiting the desert in Dubai a couple months ago she said it was warm but never too hot.

Last night after working out, Steve and I enjoyed a picnic down at Medina Beach. The temperatures were still in the low 80s/high 70s at 7:30pm so it was perfect for dinner outside near the water. Shortly after we finished eating, a random storm from the south started to head north - it was so bizarre to see such a change in the weather system so fast. And of course Steve being the avid sailor/boater that he is, he immediately started explaining to me the ways that sailors know how to read the weather systems and know when to change directions. At this point, the wind was so crazy that my direction was towards the car while he captured a few more photos. These photos are SOOC (straight out of the camera aka zero edits) and are in sequential order. The first is so dark because the sun was still behind the dark high clouds, the second is just as the sun is setting and the third was after sunset and looking to the south towards Leschi Marina.

I loved every bit of last night and look forward to spending A LOT of time outdoors this summer.
• • Happy Friday • •

Sun { Everywhere }

I love the fact that when I left on Friday for Palm Springs/LA the weather in Seattle was beautiful and when I returned back home on Monday morning, the weather was still perfect. I swear that the warmer temps and sunny skies have put people in better moods. I think we were stuck under that huge gray rain/snow cloud for so long that with the warm weather we come out of hiberation and truly enjoy the time that we get to spend outdoors, which in turn makes all of us Seattlelites quite cheerful.

This past weekend spent in LA and Palm Springs with some of my very dear girlfriends was so much fun. We spent all day at the pool on Saturday and then headed out on the town fpr the night. We started off with drinks at The Falls (can't pass up $5 martinis) and then headed next door for dinner at Matchbox. Excellent food and great service. I shared the Spicy ahi tempura rolls and the grilled tuna salad and both were cooked (or undercooked - the way I like it) to perfection. After dinner we walked over to the famous poolside bar at the Viceroy Hotel and it was pretty empty (perhaps it was too early in the night) so we then walked over to the Village Pub which was fun, but way too hot. The room where people were dancing was like dancing in a sauna - a bit difficult, so we spent most of the time at this bar attempting to cool off next to a single fan. After a game of foosball, we hopped in a cab and headed over to the Riveria Resort & Spa. We wish we could have seen the place during the day because from what we could tell at night, it was gorgeous. Perhaps next time I'm in Palm Springs, I'll check out the availability at this new resort and stay there. We spent the rest of the night sitting around the pool by one of the firepits, shooting some fun night photos (sans flash) and enjoying a few drinks. This photo below of Lyndsy is one of my favorites. It's actually two photos that I'm edited together. I love how her face is lit up by the firepit in the left image.


I had such a wonderful weekend with my former SoCal girls, Lori (the birthday girl), Carrie, Lyndsy, Spry, Avery, Christy, and Christa. If the recovery time after a weekend like this wasn't so tough for me, I'd wish we could do weekends like this every month.


Spry, Carrie and Christa with their creamsicle martini's at Matchbox

Christy, me and Lori at Matchbox

Lyndsy and Carrie

All of the girls in the lobby at Riveria

After dinner shots

Carrie attempting to blend in with the mannequins

Avery acting as my model for some lighting shots