October 2009

Fall is such a beautiful time of year with the leaves falling and the weather getting crisper and it seems like everything smells like pumpkins and spice. This month we celebrated my Grammy's birthday, my mom came to visit, we had our first snow of the season, then we had our first huge snowstorm, and we hosted a fun game night with our wonderful friends.

My Grandma turned 83 on October 9th and Joe, my mom & I celebrated with her by going to dinner at Outback Steakhouse & dessert back at Juniper Village where she lives. She was all dressed up with her boa on and we all had lots of laughs as we celebrated the woman that first taught me how to make tortillas, the woman that taught me the importance of female friends, the woman that pours milk on every dessert, the woman that comforted me with nata and white bread when I was sad, and one of my real life heros and one of my very best friends.

Happy Birthday Grammy!!

Putting on the lipstick we got her for her birthday

With her birthday cakes...a Bonnie Brae ice cream cake and cupcake cake from one of the girls at Juniper Village that loves her almost as much as we all do. She touches so many people's lives with her smile & humor & love.

Being goofy with our scarves on top of our heads

Love her with all my heart

And sometimes I make my dogs pose for pictures. Aw they are so cute.

We love having friends over, we love eating, and we love playing games. So on Oct. 24th, we had a game night with tacos, green chili, margaritas, UFC, Scene It, and a TON of laughs

then the next week, we stayed home on a cold snowy day and watched the snow fall as it accumulated to over 3 feet!!! It was beautful and although the dogs were cold when they went outside, they refused to wear their cute little coats. They apparently are too cool for that. But I did make them pose for one picture before I took them out of their misery.

October 2009

September 2009

I have been a horrible blogger as of late and for that, I am sorry! I am going to try very hard to at least update monthly with what we have been up to.

This summer has been a whirlwind and truly one of the best of my life. Weddings, family reunions, vacations, bbqs, happy hours, birthday parties, dinners in our backyard, continuing to work on our house, and so many other wonderful times & memories made.

This month we started the month out the way I wish we could start every month...with a vacation!! We went to San Fransisco to celebrate Shannon's 30th Birthday and Greg's Masters Degree over Labor Day weekend. And it was such a fun trip!! We did SO much, went on so many adventures, had so much good food, laughed so much our sides hurt, had a wonderful time visiting with my Mom, Steve, Chase & Joe's cousin Jenny. It was an amazing vacation with fantastic friends and lovely hosts. Any vacation that includes wine tasting, seeing fortune cookies being made (by a woman wearing no shoes), fancy food, Red Headed Sluts (the drink, dirties), interpretive dancing with an innertube, Alcatraz, breakfast in the Bay, Sangria, my brother serving me fancy food I can't pronounce, riding bikes in Golden Gate park, singing happy birthday to my best friend, falling asleep in our "going out clothes" at 9pm because 10pm seemed soooo far away, family, best friends, and my amazing husband...that's a fantastic vacation.

And then the rest of the month wasn't quite as exciting (it never is, since it's just "life" not vacation!) but luckily I love the little things too. So I got to visit with my Grammy, we took my Dad & Uncle Roy to the Rockies game to celebrate my Dad's birthday, we put up Uppercase Living expressions in our house that I just love and had an Uppercase Living party, had friends over for a happy hour that ended up lasting till midnight, and have gone for walks hand in hand with my husband holding the leashes of our tiny dogs as the season transitions into Fall. It's been a good month.

Wedding Wednesday

Oh heavenly day, all the clouds blew away

Got no trouble today with anyone
The smile on your face I live only to see

It's enough for me, baby, it's enough for me

Oh, heavenly day,

heavenly day,
heavenly day Tomorrow may rain with sorrow

Here's a little time we can borrow

Forget all our troubles in these moments so few
All we've got right now,

the only thing that All we really have to do

Is have ourselves a heavenly day Lay here and watch the trees sway

Oh, can't see no other way, no way, no way

Heavenly day,
heavenly day,

heavenly day No one at my shoulder bringing me fears Got no clouds up above me bringing me tears

Got nothing to tell you, I've got nothing much to say

Only I'm glad to be here with you On this heavenly, heavenly,
heavenly, heavenly

Heavenly day

6.20.09

a Gina love story...

one of my best friends got married a couple weeks ago and it made me so happy to see her so happy. she looked radiant. we wore dresses with pockets (love). our shoes had 4 inch heels. her groom was a competetive dancer as a child/teen. to get them to kiss, people had to sing love songs. between 6 of us, we finished 3 bottles of champagne and 4 bottles of wine at the reception. her brother-in-law is an amazing singer and brought tears to my eyes every time he sang and looked at his wife. her dad is a riot. i think my unit (aka groomsman) was drunk the entire weekend. i love my friend. i loved her wedding. i love happily ever afters. i loved being with my friends. and i love champagne. it was a fun, wonderful wedding. love.

party in the parlor.
party in the potty.

this was our 3rd Gina wedding in 70 days!!
puttin on the garter.

what love is.

I often think about the people I love and why I love them and how I love them even when they do things that make me angry and how they make my life better by being just who they are. I think about it often and I try to tell these people as often as I can that I love them, that I appreciate them, that my life is better because of them. But sometimes they don't hear, they can't hear-sometimes they are too involved in their own personal trauma, or they've never known how to accept love, or sometimes they lose who they are in old age or disease or just the quickness of life. And sometimes I forget to tell people how much I love them for those same reasons. I saw this online journal today and it made me laugh, cry, and appreciate my life, my family, and brought chills to my spine as this courageous man tells his own beautiful and honest story of loving his father. I am humbled by this story and I promise to hug my Grandma and everyone else I love just a little tighter when I see them. Happy reading. Phillip Toledano

My Wonderful Wine Bridal Shower

Good friends, like wine, get better with age...

My very best friend Shannon threw me the most beautiful, fun, elegant, and yummy wedding shower on June 14th! Although I was originally against the idea of having a shower (at 29, the thought of being wrapped in toilet paper and playing 'bride bingo' gave me the chills) but, I finally warmed to the idea when the ever brilliant Shannon suggested a Wine Tasting Shower! And oh am I glad I did. The theme was executed perfectly, the food made my mouth water as soon as I stepped onto the deck, and the games didn't include one piece of toilet paper, but instead were clever and hysterical. And the guests-well, the guests were fabulous. I am blessed to be surrounded by, supported by, and loved by a myriad of beautiful, strong, smart, funny, and generous women. And on that day, we laughed. We gossiped. We drank wine. We celebrated. And I felt loved. I am so thankful.

So fun. So many memories. So much love. So much wine. Love.