Olvera Street was the perfect location for Humberto and Griselda’s engagement shoot.  They are both proud of their Mexican heritage and want to pull as many cultural elements as possible into their wedding.  So when Griselda told me that she wanted to do their shoot there because of all of the bright colors I was excited!  Then she told me about the shoes she had bought for the shoot. Uuuummmm….. yes please!  I couldn’t wait to see the shoes.  And they did not disappoint!

Griselda and Humberto are technically another eharmony story.  I say “technically” because she had been friends with his cousin (I think it was his cousin.  Griselda, correct me if I’m wrong!) for years.  Anyway, on one of the free communication weekends he saw her profile, but not her photo. But he remembered that a girl with the same name and all the same information was his friend on myspace years ago.  So he looked her up and contacted her.  They started dating and knew right away that they wanted to spend their lives together.  So Humberto can thank eharmony for meeting his sweetheart, even though he never actually joined eharmony, as a paying member.  I think he made out pretty well!

I am super excited for their wedding at the Bower’s Museum next year!

I loved Griselda’s Frida Kahlo necklace.  It was perfect.  And I LOVE this photo.

These cards are from a game called La Loteria, a Mexican game that’s kinda like Bingo.  They are going to be using pieces of the game as a theme throughout their reception.  I can’t wait to see!

This Mariachi band was kind enough to help us out with a little mood music.

Humberto bought some cascarones, hallowed out eggs filled with confetti, to break over Griselda’s head.  Traditionally, you’re supposed to break one over the head of the guy or girl you’re sweet on!

So much fun!  I had a blast with you guys and I can’t wait until your wedding!

When I moved in, I didn’t do anything to my room.  I mean, I didn’t even hang anything on the walls.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it so I focused on the other rooms of the house first.  But recently, I got a vision!  So it was time to paint…… PINK!  I know, everyone I told that to looked at me weird!  But  I promised them it was pretty.

Here’s what my room looked like before.

And here it is now.  I just love the color and the whole feel of it.  It’s a little hard to tell the color here.  I still need to get curtains, but it just makes me smile.  Every. Day.  The bedding is from Target.  Oh, and my sheets…. they are awesome!  They’re organic cotton sheets from the Home collection at Target.  I didn’t buy them because they’re organic, but because they are so stinkin’ soft!  I love them!

I’m just in love with this pillow I ran across at Target just a few weeks ago.

I got these little drawings from Jeanne.  I don’t know the history on them, but since she traveled so much, I’ve decided that she got them in Paris on one of her trips.

And these are just some photos from my various trips.  It’s just some jute twine and curtain clip things.

My roommate showed me a photo of a cool earring hanger that her brother made for his wife.  So I copied the idea.  It’s just an old frame that I spray painted and hot glued some screen in the back.

These all belonged to Jeanne as well.

I mean… could they be any cuter?  I don’t think so.

I can’t tell you what an honor it was to get to photograph Mark & Marissa’s wedding.  First, because they are just wonderful people.  Second, because this was my second wedding in this family.  What a compliment to be trusted to tell the story of not one, but two of the most important days in this family’s life.

But mostly, it was just an honor to be there and witness the love between these two.  The vows, which they wrote themselves, were just beautiful.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when Mark teared up as he said his vows.  My friend Karey, who was shooting with me that day, said, “Seeing how they are with each other makes me even more excited to get married.”  I couldn’t agree more.

I had never been to Liberty Station, but it was really cool.  The North Chapel, built in 1942 by the US Navy, was absolutely charming.  Such a cool place for a wedding.

Mark & Marissa decided to see each other before the ceremony, which gave us plenty of time to get lots of great photos of the two of them.

Right before Mark & Marissa were to recite their vows, which they had written, the pastor said, “Mark, do you remember how I told you that at least one thing would go wrong today?  Well, do you happen to have the copy of your vows on you?”  When Mark said no, the pastor had to run to his bag to get them!  Luckily it wasn’t far and I was in my stealthy sniper position and got a shot of it!

Thank you, you two, for having me.  I think you’re both great and it was such a joy to be a part of your day.

But just to tide you over, here’s one from Humberto & Griselda’s engagement shoot at Olvera Street last Friday.

I had a great time with Betty & Charlie.  They are super cute!

Thanks for being such a blessing to me you two!

So it kinda makes sense why I love to go to New York.  BROADWAY!!!!!  When I’ve gone to New York in the past, people that don’t know me as well as I thought they did will ask me, “Oh!  Did you see any shows?”  Did I see any shows?  I want to look at them like they just asked the dumbest question that could ever be asked and say, “Why else would anyone go to New York?”  But I don’t because, ONE, that would be very rude, and TWO, I do realize there are other reasons to go to New York.  I will, however, politely tell them which shows I saw and will often tell them the story of the time I was there and saw SIX shows in FIVE days.  Or the time I went to Aruba and stopped through NY “one the way”.  We were there for less than 24 hours and I managed to see two shows AND have lunch with a childhood friend.  We mean business, I tell you.

So I thought, since my love of theater is such a huge part of me, I would bring it here and share it with you, my friends!  I’d love to share some of my favorite musicals or musical moments with you.  And maybe if you see one of those shows come to town, whether at a big or a small theater, you might want to go see it.

My first Theater Thursday focuses on my latest obsession, In the Heights.  I saw it at the Pantages about a month ago and loved it!  I almost saw in in February when I was in NY, but I decided to wait since I knew it was coming here.  And I SO glad I did, since the guy who wrote it and starred in it on Broadway did it here!  Not to mention, Corbin Bleu from High School Musical was playing the lead guy and there’s no way he was as good as the original.

In the Heights won the 2008 Tony for Best Musical and is the story of a little community in Washington Heights, an area in northern Manhattan.  I wasn’t sure about the semi-rap elements of the music at first, but now I love it and Lin Manuel Miranda was such a treat.  The music from the show, with its Latin flair, is meant to reflect the culture of that area.  The dancing was awesome and I loved the messages of the importance of community, finding one’s place and ultimately, discovering home.

It’s playing at Orange County Performing Arts Center through this weekend and there are half price tickets available still through Goldstar.com.

Here is their 2008 Tony performance and a cool video the cast did to make one 10 year old fan’s dream come true.  I love it!

……WISCONSIN?!?!?!  Yep.  A couple of months later, Adam flew out to California to visit for a week.  It didn’t even take a day for them both to know, this was the one they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with.  Adam went home and bought a ring!  Soon after that, Megan decided to move to Wisconsin to be near her sweetheart.  Adam came out to help her move and proposed.

A year and a half later, Megan waited in the bride’s room, with the most gorgeous light streaming in.  Her father, who has MS, was determined to be able to walk his daughter down the aisle.  And he did.

It was all sweet and wonderful and emotional….. until it came to the cake cutting.  This was the biggest cake smoosh I’ve ever seen in person!  As Megan went to the restroom to clean up, someone said, “You’d better be down on your knee apologizing when she comes out!”  So that’s what he did.  It was hilarious!

What a fun day!

Church: Glendora United Methodist

Reception: Lindley Scott House

Cake: Some Crust Bakery

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house…. including mine.

The big event!

Megan told me that if people wanted to talk to her, they could find her on the dance floor!  This girl is awesome!

But first….. it’s been a long time since I’ve done an update on my house!  I’ve been doing some little projects over the last little bit and here’s one of them.

Jeanne, who had lived across the street from my parents since before my mom & dad moved in 40 years ago, passed away a few months ago.  She was an intriguing, independent woman with gumption!  She worked for American Airlines from the time that she graduated from USC as a young woman, til she retired.  I used to love to go visit her and hear her talk about her childhood and her many adventures around the world.  And I always loved her house.  And she liked to hear about what I was doing for work and where I was traveling.

When she passed away, I got a few things from her house.  One of them was this little dining set that I found stacked in her garage.  Here’s the before and after.

And here’s what it looks like at night in my magical backyard!  Anyone wanna come over for dinner?

I also found this chandelier at Jeanne’s house.  It’s the perfect final touch!

They survived moves to two different apartments.  I thought I had killed them off many times, but they just kept coming back!

Finally…. they got a permanent home…. in the ground.  And they are thriving.  I cut one of the blooms for my client meeting room the other day and… well… it’s just been making me happy ever since.

Sheel and Neha are getting married in New Jersey this coming weekend!  I hope your weekend is wonderful, guys!

So much beautiful color and exquisite detail.  Oh… and Sheel took care of planning a lot of the details since Neha lives in New Jersey.  Not bad, huh?  Maybe he should think about doing some event planning on the side!

We got a few minutes to get some fun portraits of Sheel and Neha.  Dang……. what a great looking couple!

They did this whole choreographed routine that was AWESOME!!!!  Their whole family rocked it!