Wedding Week- Decorating Day

Wedding week would not be complete without numerous hours of decorating and a couple dozen people helping. At least, that's how the Mormons roll.

Wednesday we went to Lowes to pick up some live greenery for the reception. Fortunately we had a car big enough to haul them home. Unfortunately that vehicle has no AC. I volunteered to sit in the back (since there were no seats) and the plants probably needed a little more support. It was a close call though, because I'm pretty sure I was seconds away to blacking out. So much hotness.

Now that that ... uncomfortable... photo is out of the way, I can populate this post with FLOWERS. So much flowers. 

We are lucky enough to have the most amazing, talented, kind and beautiful woman ever attending our church. She is THE SOURCE for all things floral (she did my amazing bouquet as well!). Jen and I were lucky enough to accompany her down to LA to the flower market to pick up supplies for the bouquet and centerpiece.

Good morning LA!

... and good morning Flower Market! 

Going to the flower market was quite the treat, especially because Jen and I had never been before. Lorna is a seasoned veteran and it was fun to see her process, how she navigates and decides.

I hope I wasn't too annoying,oo-ing and ahhh-ing at the stalls and stalls teeming with beautiful bouquets. 

I want to in this giant, beautiful, fragrant warehouse! 

Jen volunteered to be the flower sherpa. And she is a cute one too!

After our arms were full of flowers we headed back to Palmdale to continue decorating at the church.





We took a break for pizza. Pretty much my new favorite pizza place in all of the Antelope Valley. It was amazing.

Then back to it! The hall looks amazing. The family is really getting good at wedding decorating. 

Thanks for sharing the pictures Riss! 

We are just about ready for the wedding now. And good thing because...

Wedding is in 1 day! 

DTLA

Friday afternoon Ross picked me up from work. Exhausted, I was excited because I knew I had a 4-day weekend upon me! But then the most beautiful thing happened.

ROSS TOLD ME HE HAD MONDAY OFF.

I think I choked. On my own breath. Maybe I zoned off into Lala Land of Impossibility. I don't know how long I was gone. But when I came to, I still didn't have many words. I tried to act cool.

"WANNA DO SOMETHING?!"

So we set some plans, mostly centered around Ross's recent hot dog craving. I personally crave two kinds of hot dogs. 1. LA hot dogs and 2. Jdawgs.

When you need a hot dog. You need a hot dog. So I got that boy a hot dog.

But not before stopping in downtown LA first. I've been to the flower market, and I've been to to classier part of downtown, lots of parts of it. Even the Skid Row part of it. But I never spent time in the fashion/garment district area.

It's all a bit overwhelming. Bloggers love to tell you their tips and tricks for fabric steals. But take it with a grain of salt because I felt like I was being bulldozed by 1,000 huge rolls of fabric on every corner.



How you grab said fabric out of the center of these rows, I do not know. No one is getting through this exit for a while.



But it was fun just walking around amongst it all. I kinda felt like I needed to leave some bread crumbs somewhere but luckily everything in DTLA is a grid and pretty easy to navigate even if it all starts looking the same after awhile.

The area isn't just for fabric though. This one shop (well, more than one) was dedicated to trimmings, ribbons, chains, jewels, rhinestones- almost floor to ceiling.

We also checked out Moskatel's, a huge warehouse style Michaels. They had huge Halloween displays including a haunted swamp shack surrounded by bubbling smoking water.



Craft items as far as the eye can see! Including probably 100 different floral arrangement cards!

Santee Alley ain't what it used to be, but you gotta walk down it just for the experience. $3 leggings and shoes and knock-off Mac make-up galore.



This Yelp review of Santee Alley, "Now I know what it's like to be sober in Tijuana. Guess i can check that off the bucket list of stuff I never wanted to do." Bahaha.



Last minute before we split for some hot dogs, we found a knock-off perfume shop. I always get a kick out of knock-off names (see proof here). So I was having the time of my life browsing.

U-GO BOOS.



I almost had tears rolling down my cheeks. I'm currently obsessed with Juicy Coture's Viva La Juicy. I found a sufficient knock-off and for $5 snatched it right up. This is perfect for me cos then I get to try out the scent without full monetary and day-long-effervescence commitment.

On our way back we cut through the Flower Market which was closing, but still fun to catch a glimpse of the busy-ness from earlier that morning.



Next we rolled over to the aforementioned Pink's hot dogs. An LA necessity.



I once saw it on a list of overrated things in LA. I was personally offended on both moral and emotional levels. Then I promptly lost offensive by drowning myself in a hot dog smothered in all sorts of guacamole and nacho cheese. Pink's hot dogs are my spirit animal. Or maybe the bacon on top of those fries.



I've been wanting to explore Los Angeles's beach communities a little more. For as long as I've been going to beaches here, I don't have much variety. Today seemed the perfect day to visit Manhattan beach.






It's the middle of October but still really hot.



We walked out on the pier but mostly just wanted to jump into the waves.



So we did the next best thing and visited a cute little ice cream and candy shop. They had pretty tasty looking cupcakes but our eyes were on the homemade ice cream sandwiches.



They were divine. Why can't every day be a day off?

Settling In: New Apartment!

The past couple of weeks have felt like a couple years. Like a monsterous marathon that ends in me running full-speed into a brick wall.

I'm now in the post-marathon-smash-into-a-brick-wall phase. Now I just want to lay on my freshly vacuumed (praise the Lord) carpet and tend to my achy joints and drink Gatorade.

Or something like that.

These weeks have been filled with some highs and a lot of lows. I'm currently in a love-hate relationship with my apartment/ apartment complex.

Even looking back a couple weeks to when I wrote this blog post, that was only at the tip of the iceberg!

The good news is that Ross and I found a place, even it is was the only and last one left on our list. We were in a definite crunch time, but we signed for a place and moved in pretty quickly, with no thanks to the awful Complex Manager. I am not trying to complain, but nothing about moving has been particularly easy. It is exhausting, but we made it.

In honor of "making it." I'm going to go ahead and list some of the highs of this whole adventure.

1.) I think I'm getting really old cos, I just dropped $200 on a vacuum and felt amazing about it. Maybe it's all those years of custodial work but I'm a little obsessed over ... My vacuum.

2.) I love exploring new places. And just because I live back in boring old America, in a semi-familiar location, I am not deterred in finding new and fun things to do in the area.

Going up to Big Bear Lake isn't new so much as it is fun. My family came down to see our new place and we grabbed some lunch first at this local place called Nick's Burgers. They had some serious hamburgers and they were delicious!



We wanted to get to some cooler temperatures so we headed up to the mountains.



Apparently everyone else in the world had the same idea because parking was positively horrendous. But once we got parked we had a fun time. They had a huge chili cook-off going on, which we thought would be fun, until we realized how expensive it was.

Saturday August 16th, 2014

That's okay. We are more ice cream people anyways. 

3.) When you move to a new place, you are sure to get at least a few overlapping recommendations from locals. One of those overlappers was the summer concert series at the Redlands Bowl. With moving in and Ross starting rotations, and summer drawing to a close, we weren't sure we would make it.



But we did! We decided to walk instead of braving parking, and I am glad we did because it was a lovely 10 minute walk right at sunset. When we reached the bowl we laughed and wondered if we were really permitted to be there because we could only see a handful of people under the age of 70. But that is what you get when you have a Glen Miller Orchestra playing.

Tuesday August 19, 2014

The concert was, to borrow a word from the older generation, a "hoot." The music was amazing and it was fun to be able to recognize some of the pieces even though it was before our time. The stage was all lit up and Ross got us some snacks. Here in Redlands you get a strong sense of community pride. It's definitely a different concept for me, but a very lovely one at that.

4.) Another "must-see" is the farmer's market here in Redlands. It is every Thursday night. As much as I complain about our apartment, it is in the perfect location. I love taking walks and it is only a short walk from our place to the farmer's market. This farmer's market is a far cry from the dinky one in Lancaster. But when I got thinking about it, it makes sense because we are so much closer to growers and farms in general. Ross and I got some BBQ pulled pork fries.

Thursday August 21, 2014 

They also have a couple flower vendors with bouquets of flowers for only $5! Ross encouraged me to pick one out.



I love how bright and happy it is.

5.) Ross and I are officially moved in to our apartment, but not moved out of boxes just yet. I feel like when it comes to unpacking, it goes quick, then you always have a couple boxes that take forever.



Those pictures were from when we just barely moved in. I'm already shuddering at having to pack it all up and do it again. It makes me never want to buy anything ever again. But moving is the life of a IMG and therefore mine too.



But since this post is about the positives of life lately, I will focus on how wonderful it is to be in possession of all my stuff again. When I opened my kitchen boxes I positively wanted to weep at the beauty. Those colored knives are awesome and I can't wait to use them again. Real dishes and cookie decorating tools, and a slow cooker! I really appreciate the little things. It was also fun to unwrap our stuff and see it wrapped in local Provo, UTAH grocery adds from December 2011. It's now AUGUST 2014 and I haven't seen this stuff since the year we got married. It's fun to have almost brand-new, nice things to start the next chapter with.

BoWA #4

"Life is too short so love the one you got"

Thanks for the reminder Sublime. September is zooming by and it is times like this when I realize that life is made up a million little things that make you happy.

#1 Like when Ross packed my lunch and put this cute little dino in there. So stupid- but it made me smile all day.

#2 Or like any time Ross wears a suit. All of his residency applications are out there now, so we figured we should go get him some new suits. That way he can look super sharp for those interviews. Jos A Bank always has great sales and Ross is a huge fan so we went ahead and hooked it all up. 

#3 Ross's attire lately has been slacks and a button up, or scrubs. In this case, a pair of scrubs about 5 sizes too large. But you take what you can get from the hospital laundry and just hope the drawstring doesn't do ya dirty.



#4 Also picture in scrubs, different day, documentation of Pizza Friday! Throwing caution and budget restrictions out the window we also stopped at our local favorite: Sucre. Their macaroons and cups of cake are so delicious. Our pizza place is in the same shopping plaza. They always have deals and the pizza is so cheap and good. Best Pizza Friday ever!



#5 While we are on the topic of food I will go ahead and share this amazing recipe for salmon I found (link here). Yeah I did that thing where I take a picture of my plate of food. But I just wanted to forever remember this delicious and fresh summer meal in all of it's perfection.



#6 There has been talk for some time now about my parents getting a new TV. This month they finally pulled the trigger and bought a huge TV. It is quite the change from the "small" old one they had before. As you can see, it barely fit in my parent's Durango. Haha.



#7 We had a nice little period where we got some rain this month. I like this flower that I found on my way to work.

#8 The rain is nice because when it eventually (finally!) comes it clears out the sticky air and everything is so fresh- even if still a little warm. One Thursday Ross and walked to the Redlands farmers market and I got this delicious popsicle. I think it was called Watermelon Margarita or something? It had lime and sour orange in it and was perfect for a summer night. I'm embarrassed that I am a dork and constantly forget my husband's watermelon allergy. I was almost force-feeding it to him when I realized it. D'oh! What a dork.