And then there was caramel corn.

No, really - it's the best caramel corn you've ever tasted. Hands down.


This photo doesn't even do it justice, but it is pretty enticing.




I made at least twice this amount for my neighbor's fundraiser for Homeboy Industries. She raised a bunch of money and it was awesome. And we "taste-tested" caramel corn. (It was worth the butter-induced stomach ache.)

Oh, and you should know that it didn't rain on our pretty heads during our engagement photos. Yay! Funny story about that... I mentioned to Chris that some people "prop" their enegagement sessions. He thought that might be odd, so I showed him some photos. All of a sudden he had prop ideas left and right! There were clothing changes and there was shopping to be done! (PS - this photo shoot was only supposed to last an hour!) I talked him down to only one clothing change. We started dressed in our finest - Chris looking dapper in a suit, me in a white top and a grey pinstriped pencil skirt. We were fake reading the Wall Street Journal. No, I can't make this stuff up. He loved every second of it. About half way in we ran to the car to change into our more casual beachy gear. It was then that we realized that I hadn't packed my pants. Or, heck, even my t-shirt. So either the rest of the shoot was going to be all boudoir-ey, or we had to stick with the suits. Needless to say we remained in our formal wear and still had a great time. I can't wait to get a look at the photos from Abbey! I promise to share!

Also, Chris bought me flowers for my dance recital a couple of weekends ago. So pretty. Chris and Serena picked out the the pink roses and one of the students bought me yellow tulips. The combination made for a lovely arrangement.


For those of you who actually read this far, you should know that I have invitations! Printed, even! I can't wait to share them with you once all the pieces come together. Hooray!

Sunday forecast

Sunday is going to be fun! Our amazing photographer, Abbey Hepner, is shooting our engagement photos.

I got my hair cut yesterday by Shaina at La Belle Marie Salon - I highly highly highly highly recommend her. Just throwing that out there.

I have a manicure and a pedicure lined up. I know, that doesn't sound ground breaking, but if you saw my gross toenails you'd realize that this was kind of a big deal. (PS - thank you, Groupon.)

I'm having my makeup trial done on Sunday - how fabulous is that!? I couldn't have made this work out any better.

While I do not yet have my outfit picked out, although I'm now closer - thank you! - I'm mainly focused on crossing my fingers that this is accurate:


That, my friends, is a blurry forecast. With a blurry roundish yellow thing. For those of you in Seattle who have forgotten, that's the sun. It's pretty great when it shows up. But even more importantly, do you see that little thing below the sun? That says there's only a 10% chance of precipitation! On the day when we want to do outdoor photographs! In the middle of a forecast that calls for rain on every other day out of the next ten!

Keep your fingers crossed for us! I can't wait!

California Dreaming

It's been a very, very busy week and a half.

There was the trip to Universal Studios to see this and some other stuff.

It was cold, but the sun graced us with its presence on day two, which was nice after getting soaked on day one. (We hadn't packed for Seattle, after all...) Then we drove to Santa Monica and we hung out here:


And there were pretty views. And children playing in the sand despite the lack of warmness.


Then we ate dinner with this gorgeous view just as the sun set:


And then we headed off to Sea World for animal attractions galore. I found Sea World to be much more interesting than Universal. But, I'm probably biased, given my lack of interest in movies and my almost over-the-top love of animals.

Killer whales seemed to actually enjoy doing this (there were a lot of whole fish treats given out):


The dolphins were very talented!


I was surprised when we were able to pet a real dolphin. Ironically, it felt fake.


We fed this guy. He scares me a little.

Okay, a lot. Can you blame me!? Look at those teeth!

This guy scared me, too. I didn't realize walruses were that B.I.G. This photo just doesn't do it justice.


And speaking of being freaked out:


There were Flamingos and Turtles and Penguins, oh my!




Dang, that snow is slippery!



And beluga whales enjoying what I was told feels to them like a Hawaiian vacation. Relaxing.


I don't know why, but I loved this guy. Not his species, just this one fish.


Plus, polar bears are cute and fuzzy. But, not friendly, I'm told. I wasn't allowed to pet one or take one home.



And they seem to have a fondness for snow.



Sea otters eat shrimp out of Kongs at Sea World, so, you know, that entertained me for quite some time.



I was thinking of teaching Raya to do this next week.



I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

There was a gorgeous sunset over the wing of our plane right before boarding...


and then we landed in the middle of a ridiculous snow storm in Seattle. Awesome.

Also, we booked the date for our engagement photos with Abbey Hepner! I know, we're a little slow on the photos, but we figured we had a better chance for a little warmness if we the shoot closer to summer. So exciting! I can't wait!