Welcome to Orange County Fall!

My little guy is such a handsome puppy!

Fall has finally arrived here in Irvine and I couldn't be happier!  

Fall makes me think of Northern California and I love celebrating the change of the seasons.  And now that we're into October, Sam and I are anticipating Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

It rained yesterday for the first time this fall and it was magical.  The smell of the wet pavement and dirt.  The way the air has a bite and chill to it.  Maybe this fall is especially magical because I'm celebrating my engagement to the most amazing future-husband in the world.  

And wedding planning is going fantastically.  This week we pulled the trigger on a videographer and a DJ/Emcee who will also handle our lighting.  So now we've got a couple more big things crossed off our list.  The only things that we have left are to decide on an officiant, string trio or quartet for the ceremony, the cake, our menu, a hairdresser, a makeup artist and my wedding dress.

My sister is going to be in NorCal this weekend and she and my mom and I are going to check out a bridal salon that has "the dress".  There's been one dress in all my perusing that I keep coming back to and thinking that it's just perfect.  Yes, I'm nervous about what will happen when I put it on, but I am really excited to share this moment with my mom and sister.

Ryan, DDS

Sophomore year in Isla Vista 

Tomorrow I get to take the day off of work and attend a very special graduation ceremony for Sam's college roommate, Ryan, as he becomes the first DDS (and I think doctor of any kind) in his family.  

Ryan and I became really close during undergrad because he and Sam shared a room Junior and Senior year, and because Ryan and I have very similar families.  From the get-go we meshed really well and I always loved making dinner as a house, hearing how his parents and sisters were doing, and spending free time down at the beach.  As you can see from these photos of us, there was also quite a bit of drinking... but I will say this, I only had to take him to urgent care once (that I remember) for injuries sustained while drunk.  

Junior year in Isla Vista

Ryan is one of those guys who is actually a wonderful person.  It's hard to come by guys like that these days, although I am certainly blessed to know quite a few upstanding dudes.  Ryan was always a great moral compass without judging too much.  He had good advice for me and sought out advice about his life from me.  I would say Ryan is someone I absolutely consider to be a brother from another mother!

Anyway, poor Sam is stuck at work tomorrow, oh the joys of residency and especially 2nd year of residency.  So I will be attending Ryan's graduation solo (and meeting up with lots of the old UCSB crew.  We bought him a gift to commemorate the occasion, something he will be able to have a long time and enjoy.  Or so we hope.

Ryan is definitely one of those friends that I know Sam and I will be close to for the rest of our lives.  Just like some of my parents' friends who they've been tight with since high school and college.  Despite the distance we'll face as Ryan moves back to Northern California to start his career in dentistry, I am sure we'll still keep in touch and visit each other as often as we can.  That's just the kind of guy Ryan is.  Thoughtful, kind, someone who makes the effort to spend your birthday with you- even if it means driving out of his way and changing his plans.

Senior year at the Del Playa house in Isla Vista

Wedding Season 2013

Wedding Season 2013 kicks off this weekend with the Kishmirian-Airoso nuptials.  I am flying up to Oakland tomorrow morning and will get to see Nonna and Papa on the way home from the airport to pick up the MDX to take up to Sacramento for the weekend.

Thursday night will be the rehearsal dinner and I'm so excited to see all my college girlfriends and the ladies from the bachelorette party again.  I think after dinner we're going to head into downtown Sac to do a little celebrating.  Lena, Heidi and I are sharing a hotel room that night so it will be quite the college sleepover!

Friday we'll be spending the day decorating Joe's parents' house and making our bouquets.  I think Jackie has appointments set up for us to have our nails done that evening as well.  She wants to do a bit of a girl's night out (GNO) at the hotel on her last night as Ms. Kishmirian so I think we'll all head back to relax after the mani-pedi experience.  Who knows, we might all need to get to bed earlier than expected after all our setting up!

Thanks to 2nd Year of Residency, Sam flies in late Friday night (he arrives in Sacramento at 11:40 PM) and my guess is I may need to skip some of the festivities that evening so I can take a nap before picking him up.  Hopefully he'll nap on the plane so he is a little bit rested before the big day arrives.

Saturday morning will be interesting.  I think we're going to head over to Joe's parents house around 9:30 or 10 so we can finish setting the tables and putting out the center pieces.  I'm a little nervous about getting all of that done the day of the wedding but that's why Jackie's the bride and not me!  She's so cool, calm and collected about the whole thing!

Anyway, the wedding will be Saturday evening after our hair and makeup team concludes the beautification process.  I was able to see Jackie's dress when I was in town for the bachelorette party and it's absolutely stunning.  She is going to be freaking gorgeous- although that would have been true regardless of the dress she had chosen!

In any case, here is the beginning of the 2013 Wedding Season!

Stumbled Upon This Online Today

A love story that spans decades is made poignant in this short video. In the late 1970s, Marina Abramović and Ulay fell in love and created art together. As they ended their relationship, they created art in that too. With Marina walking from the Yellow Sea and Ulay from the Gobi Desert, they each walked over 1000 miles to meet on the Great Wall of China. They hugged for a final time and left each other. 

"At her 2010 MoMa retrospective Marina performed ‘The Artist Is Present’ as part of the show, where she shared a minute of silence with each stranger who sat in front of her. Ulay arrived without her knowing and this is what happened." (via zen garage)

 

 

 

Supposedly, the actual purpose of their walk towards each other was to celebrate their eternal love, but through the months that it took them to reach the Great Wall, our friend Ulay had managed to impregnate one of the ladies travelling with him. So Ulay and Marina met at the Great Wall and of course the Great Truth was revealed to Marina, who said, with ladylike practicality, that since they have reached their target destination they should tweak the purpose and celebrate their split instead of their union. Hence, this piece of art is called 'Moving On'.

 

 

(Is it morbid that I hope the dramatic version is true?)

Say What?

I woke up to this text this morning... which is possibly the best text I have ever woke up to in my life...

Pinch me, I might still be dreaming!

Bachelorette Party 101

Breaking News: I get to plan Jackie's bachelorette party!  I am so excited!

This is my first ever bachelorette party because I missed Molly's when she got married a few years ago. Jackie and I decided the best thing to do is to have the party in Tahoe so we can use the Santi family condo at Northstar to save everyone money.  Unfortunately, we are having it the weekend of April 20-21 and the resort will be shut down that weekend.  It looks like we may need to go all the way to Jason's for dinner Saturday night... but that's ok.  :-)

I've got the invitations ordered and I am waiting for the proof to approve printing.  Heidi is planning the Bridal Shower for 2 weeks ahead of the Bachelorette and I don't really want to step on her toes and send out my invites before she sends out hers... but I am asking for RSVPs back one month ahead of the Bachelorette so we can get the transportation, goodies, and refreshments figured out ahead of time.  That means I should probably send them out the first weekend of March so that people have between 2-3 weeks until the RSVP deadline.

It's going to be fun to be a bridesmaid again, even if I am a little nervous about the logistics being gone for the Shower, Bachelorette, and Wedding (kicking off my 2013 wedding season) every other weekend starting the first weekend in April.  I hope Sam is off at least one of the weekends I have bridesmaid stuff going on because otherwise Hunter is going to have to spend a lot of time with Dr. Kali and his amazing vet staff.  Not that I have a problem with that, but it does get a bit expensive!

Belated Christmas Update

7 Rib Prime Rib = 15 pounds
(Twice as much food as 5 people need)

The whole family, Christmas Dinner 2012

Aging

Happy

Birthday

Sammy!

Happy Birthday to the greatest boyfriend ever, whom I love dearly and am so lucky to be making a life with.  Growing old beside you isn't so bad!  xoxoxo

SB Boys Reunion- IE

There are some things that will never change... like the love we have for Sam's college roommates.

Nate, Ryan and Kevin have all recently moved, and we are overdue to visit all three of them.  This weekend we drove out to Upland (the Inland Empire) to visit Ryan.  Through the grapevine, Nate and Kevin found out about our trip, and they decided to make a weekend of it. 

So we ended up having a mini college reunion at Ryan's new apartment.  We also got to spend some more time with Ryan's girlfriend and meet Kevin's new girlfriend- both are really, really sweet.  One of the boys' post-college roommates happened to be town as well, and our favorite of Ry's dental school friends came out as well.  We had 6 adults sleeping in Ryan's living room Saturday night and I really wish I had a photo.  Kevin and Jo were on one air mattress, Sam and I shared another with Hunter, and Nate and Backer each had a sofa. 

I really wish we lived closer to those boys.  They are such great friends, truly they are always there for us.  Hunter got to come with us and it was so cute seeing them all interacting with him and realizing that someday they will be like that with our kids.

Ryan was just saying this weekend how lucky we are to have each other as friends, and I couldn't agree with him more.  These boys are more than friends, they are our family.

Hi Mama

I have a extraordinary Mom.  She is a great role model as a wife & mother.  I only hope that someday I can be as great a person as she is.

Happy

Birthday

Mom!

World Series Kick Off

GIANTS WIN WORLD SERIES GAME 1

Our Panda Owns Your Tigers, Detroit!

#OrangeOctober

Blown Away

Weekend Recap: San Diego was amazingly fun!  We actually kicked off the weekend in Irvine at Bacchus, a wine cellar.  They recently got a chef (well recently since I'd last been there) and the flat breads were awesome.  Emily and I kicked things off with some sparkling wine, and Matt enjoyed a beer.  We watched a big of the Giants game while we ate, and it was a really nice evening.  Sam worked late and then grabbed a bite and a drink with the Ortho department, so he met us later.

Saturday, we drove down to San Diego while listening to the Carrie Underwood album Blown Away.  I have to say, I'm not typically a big country music fan, but she is amazingly good.

We checked into the W Hotel downtown, and grabbed a bite to eat at the new Counter in the Gas Lamp.  How cool is this, they actually have Adult Milkshakes with alcohol in them... Sam tried the coffee one which is made with Kaluha.

We took advantage of the tasty bar in the lobby and pregamed the concert a bit.  Then Matt introduced us to this cool Ubber App where you can hail a town car.  We used it on the way to the concert and were pleasantly surprised to see a LIMO pull up.  What?!?  Matt said that he's never had that happen before, but we enjoyed our good fortune and journeyed to the concert in style.

Emily and I definitely were enjoying ourselves at the concert.

I have to say, Carrie puts on a great show.  Her props are unbelievable, and she had great costumes and her voice is as good live as it is on CD.  This was one of my favorite parts of the show- she and the band got into this floating plexiglass thing and floated over the crowd while they jammed.

And she is very humble and sweet, made sure to tell us how much she likes San Diego several times during the performance and even told us to drive home safely.

After the concert we checked out a neat dueling piano bar.  Definitely another high point!  And we capped off the night with a town car home.

Sunday morning we met Matt & Emily in the lobby and took an impromptu detour to Temecula.  We had missed out on Ponte during our Wine Tasting trip with them in January 2009 so Emily and I did a little tasting while Matt and Sam hung out.

I bought a great bottle of Cream Sherry for the holidays when my family is in town.  It will take a LOT of resolve not to drink it before they get here.

Birthday Weekend

This weekend has been a great start to my birthday week...

Friday
Sam and I went to dinner and karaoke with the first couple we made friends with here in Orange County.  These two friends have been through the ups and downs of medical school, residency (so far), and our relationship.  I cannot express how thankful I am to have these friends in my life.

While we were together, I was finally able to open up about the health issues I have been dealing with this month.  It was really good to have the support of friends.  And after a few glasses of wine and cocktails, I hopped up on stage and sang some karaoke.

Saturday
Sam and I met up with another couple, definitely keepers, for drinks and dinner and barhopping.  She had secretly baked cupcakes for my birthday and snuck them into the restaurant we were eating at so that it was a big surprise after dinner when the waitress came out.  So amazingly sweet!  Kevin, our friend and Sam's housemate at UCSB, happened to be in town and joined us for the post-dinner drinking portion of the evening.  It was very fun all-around.

Sunday
We hosted a very low-key dinner and watched the 49ers beat the Lions.  Who could ask for a better birthday week kick-off?