It's not goodbye, it's see you later

Today we had a farewell party for my favorite coworker, Trish (the one who has been bringing in lots of goodies lately). We've worked together in a very small office since I started here three years ago and we've become good friends, (see her amazing DIY wedding here) so it was a pretty sad occasion...

But her new job is a extremely exciting entrepreneurial adventure just a few miles down the road. I'm not fooling myself, it won't be the same at work without her, but I'm thrilled as she gets ready to embark on a new journey that I'll be announcing here in about two weeks.
(I'm happy to be a little involved in getting things started and planning an event with her for early December.) :-)

Stay tuned, San Diegans! (particularly if you're in North County)

Graduation celebrations: He/we did it!

To celebrate after E's graduation last weekend we planned a big backyard barbecue. I went with a blue and white theme since those are the colors of his school, and it was the easiest. Here is some of my inspiration gathered on Pinterest.

The main project I worked on was sewing a fabric bunting. It was too windy to use it how I had intended, so we strung it up to the canopy. I used the leftover fabric strips to tie the plasticware together.



Meanwhile my dad and E cleared and set up the backyard




My parents and sister especially did an amazing job helping get things together before the party. It was great to have them in town for a week. My dad attached a surface I made from another cable reel to the big stump in our backyard for a cocktail table - and we loved it so much we left it there!

First, though, was all the graduation festivities. E won an award for academic excellence. :-)

Below is Jeffrey, our 'roommate'. He's one of E's best friends from school and for the past two years we rented out an apartment attached to our garage to him. We have a lot of fun memories, and we're both really going to miss him. (He's the most complimentary dinner guest - always taking 2nd and 3rd helpings!)

Then it was time for the party! For food, we hired a friend of E's who is just a hobby chef and he did an amazing job on the spread. I almost feel like the menu deserves it's own blog post. Completely a relief not having one worry related to the food - although I wish I could have taken credit for it, with all the compliments we got.

I made sangria, and the adorable edible graduation caps with some help.

It was an open house for almost 100 people over six hours. I'm just going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking. I'll do a recap/budget breakdown in another post.

Appetizers: baba ghanoush with pita chips, roquefort dip with honey-marinated pears and crackers, and grilled pineapple salsa

our stump cable spool table in action

The main course was tri tip with chimichurri, and pulled pork with peach barbecue sauce. I cannot even describe to you how good it was. People kept nibbling all night and didn't leave us any leftovers!

The whole party made me appreciate our backyard in a way I don't usually (sometimes it's easy to see the weeds and lawn care instead of the vineyards, hills and greenery). We really have one of the best living situations I could have imagined and I know my heart will be broken when we have to move out of this house! 

It was really wonderful to celebrate with so many friends, family, and church members. Some friends stayed  late and hung out over a bonfire. It was the perfect farewell to E's four years of school.

Blog Friend Meet-up

Sara of Running from the Law has been a long-time blog friend and I was thrilled when she emailed me (months ago!) about a work trip to San Diego. We met up on Tuesday night in Coronado for a dinner of delicious French food, where I sipped wine selfishly in front of her growing baby belly. (which was adorable, by the way!)

Every time I get the chance to meet up in real life with friends I've only known on the internet, it feels a little like a first date. But always I'm amazed by how easy it is to fall into comfortable conversation - after all, we've been reading about each other's lives for years! Sara was no exception and I'm happy to consider her a friend.

Happy weekend!

Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Since we're having a California Christmas and not spending 1-2 weeks in Chicago with my family, I felt more compelled to make our home feel festive over the next few weeks. E and I had several discussions about the purchase of a Christmas tree. We were concerned about storage (we don't have much closet space in our house), and we had a very tiny budget. But I really wanted something. We finally compromised on a little three-foot pre-lit cutie. It is the perfect fit for our current living room, and we'll keep using it as decoration even when we start purchasing larger trees.

I set it up on an end table and covered it with a $5 throw blanket I found at Wal-Mart (FAR cheaper than purchasing or even making my own tree skirt!)





On the mantles: lights leftover from our wedding decor, antique silver bowl full of red and white ornaments. Candle trio, and candle centerpiece, both from Kohl's

A few of our favorite ornaments. A Dachshund for Pookie (E's family dog), and the leaning tower of Pisa - one of the few souvenirs we took home from Italy.




Then, this past weekend we had our annual friends Christmas gathering with gingerbread house decorating. My team did a great job with our house. We used homemade gingerbread and I'm now devouring this house at breakfast...Nom nom!







all finished:

Weekend with Cait

My dear friend Caitlin is out visiting from Michigan, hence the radio silence. But I've also been busy posting daily at my style tumblr: Latte Loves Style through a 21-day clothing challenge hosted by Freckles in April.

Here's day eight's outfit.
Location: a colorfully tiled mural in La Jolla.



Since Cait's heading back to the mitten today, here are some other fun photos of her short visit:















1. Vista Farmer's Market
2 & 3. Old California Coffee House + lattes
4 & 5. Breakfast at Peterson's Donuts
6. Crab Cake sandwiches at The Cottage in La Jolla
7. Cait in front of the rainbow mural

ps. Other Adventures with Cait

fun friday news

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in a fun way last night. Last night our friends T-dizz (yes, we actually call him that) and Ado invited us and their families over for gender reveal party. (I had spilled the idea to A at our wine get-together last week)

A had her 20 week ultra sound that day, but instead of finding out the big news then, they had the technician write down the baby's gender and put it in an envelope.

Adrienne brought the secret (no peeking!) to a local bakery and had them fill the cake with either pink or blue frosting, depending on the answer.

She'd had a dream the night before that it was a boy, so she wore blue.

We all had dinner, voted on our guess and then anxiously awaited the cake cutting....

which revealed the pink underneath!

Here's a video of the exciting moment:

we're thrilled for them (and I'm starting to shop for all things ruffly)

Have a happy weekend!

Girls' Night: wine and cheese, please

Last week I met a few girlfriends in Carlsbad for wine and appetizers to celebrate Carly's engagement. (we went to Relm Wine Bar)

She'll soon be moving up to the LA area, so we need to soak up as much time as possible with this lady. I hope her soon-to-be hubby knows how lucky he's going to have it!

it was a great evening of chit chatting about weddings and babies.

and eating, of course.

stuffed mushrooms, yummy cheese, and bread

Adrienne had to skip out on the wine because she has a tiny marshmallow growing in her belly (and I'm incredibly excited for their gender reveal Cinco de Mayo party on Thursday!)

I'm making it a point to do more mid-week happy hours with the girls. Such a great way to break up the week!