A Shower for Sharie

Last week I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for the lovely Sharie. She is expecting a baby boy next month and we had a fun night celebrating with the mom to be!

Good food and friends, in my opinion the recipe for a great night!

Emily's cupcakes & homemade kettle corn were delicious and I had fun learning to make our little party party favors, marshmallows dipped in chocolate! My favorite were the milk chocolate ones with graham cracker crumbs, but I also did white chocolate with coconut and milk & white with sprinkles. Yum.

Vegas Weekend

Last weekend was just what the doctor ordered! I got to spend the weekend in Vegas with some of my best friends from college. It was a weekend full of sleeping in, watching girlie movies, eating delicious food, mani pedis, talking, laughing, shopping and eating some more.

We also celebrated this fabulous lady's birthday! And I was introduced to a delicious little place called Nothing Bundt Cakes...seriously so yummy! I want some right now!

I don't usually enjoy driving. Living in LA, with traffic and everything I always prefer that someone else takes the wheel, but on road trips I don't mind it. It can be very peaceful and this roadtrip was great.

On the way up I listened to a book on tape by Lee Child who is one of my fave authors right now. And on the way home I just listened to music. I am kind of obsessed with the song Safe & Sound off the Hunger Games Soundtrack, so that got played a lot on the drive home. So pumped for that movie!

The wonderful men in my life

My hubby, my main squeeze, my man, my best friend.

My puppies, my protectors, my shadows, my little snuggle buddies.

If you take time to count your blessings, you can surprise yourself with how many things you have to be grateful for.

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!

Day of Love!

Before I start my Day of Love post, I have to get mushy for a second. I am so grateful for the wonderful man that I am lucky to be married to. We are a perfect match, a great team, and I grow more in love with him everyday. Love you hubby!

Alright, now on to the fun stuff! This year our Valentine's Day was all a surprise, planned by my awesome hubby! All I was told was the general attire I should wear for the evening & what time to be ready....We started with an amazing dinner at Joe's on Abbot Kinney, a favorite of ours from our days in Venice. Seriously their mushroom ravioli is the most delicious thing on the planet!Then we headed to the Santa Monica Pier for....drumroll please....It was such an awesome show! I hadn't heard much about it, so I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very entertaining. I spent the night in complete awe of these acrobats and performers, gasping every time they sent a man flying through the air. Seriously, if you have never been to a Cirque du Soleil show, you have to go!! It was such an amazing night, and a perfect way to spend our Valentine's Day! We had to take the classic shot in from of the the big top : )
Also, a fun side note (Mase was so puzzled at how excited I was) we saw Steve Urkel at the show! He was there on a date so I didn't harass him, but I was so stoked to see him. I live in LA, I have run ins with famous people all the time, but it is really funny to me which ones I get genuinely excited about. I have to say its usually the people from movies & shows that I watched as a kid (ie. Uncle Jesse from Full House & Steve Urkel from Family Matters). Anyways, hope you all had a great Day of Love!

First Fridays, Football & Friends

On the first friday of every month our cute little neighborhood of Bixby Knolls has a fun tradition. First Fridays is a pretty common thing all over, but if you aren't familiar with the concept, basically on the main street in town, the shops stay open late, there restaurants all have special discounts, and there is live music & all sorts of fun stuff happening. The little art gallery always has unique pieces. It is always a fun time, to walk around and enjoy the festivities!
For the second year in a row we hosted a Super Bowl Party. Its pretty basic, lots of food and football, but this year I got crazy and wanted to make a festive cake. It didn't turn out exactly like I was hoping, but not bad for my first attempt!
This last week was full of friends. First my girlfriend who moved up north came down for her birthday. It was super fun! We ate delicious food at Natalee Thai and laughed harder than I had in a long time!
Then, Mason's friend came into town with his family to go to Disneyland (FYI we live only 20mins from Dland for anyone wanting to visit!!). Their little girls were absolutely in LOVE with our dogs, and vice versa. Jax & Gus handed out as many puppy kisses as these girls could handle and it was super fun to get to spend time with them!

Mack Family Photo Shoot

This year for Christmas was the first time in a long time that the whole family would be together, so as a gift to my parents I had a photographer come and take some family photos. Jylare Smith is an amazing photographer and got some great shots. I seriously want to post them all but I won't make you scroll through 80 photos, so here are just a few of my favorites!!

Once again, a big thank you to Jylare Smith Photography for making us look good!