Love and other junk

Today is me and the mister's 10 month anniversary. I've never been the pda type, never gave a thought to stupid monthly anniversaries, and definitely never been the type to post this kinda junk on my blog. But hey, they say you know it's meant to be when you break all the rules right?

Our first anniversary was just after Valentines day which is why we tend to remember. And our two month anniversary was a big deal because, when we previously dated, we hardly made it to two months. And our three month anniversary was huge because we not only made it to two months, we surpassed it. I didn't expect it to last even that long. So romantic huh?

As a very independent person, I had a hard time even agreeing to get back together with Trevor.  It's kinda silly but I didn't exactly want to share my time and I wasn't looking to be in a relationship. I had a lot of things going on and felt like a relationship would only take time away from all the things I was trying to do. But that's what's magical about it all. We had built a strong friendship since our previous dating attempt and came to know each other for the good and the bad- and Trevor loved me for that and supported my need for independence.  And, surprisingly, I was the one to sacrifice my independence. Not because he asked or anything but because he made me want to open up and share my life with him. And there you have it. We've been being stupid and having fun together ever since.

Anyways, blah blah. Love you Trev <3

Best of Phoenix

I won a Best of Phoenix award!

Last Thursday I was hanging with Trev when all of a sudden I got a text from my BFF Jasmine. It read, "You got a Best Of in New Times!" I was caught off guard to say the least... and to be honest, I didn't have a clue what she was saying (autocorrect mistake perhaps?). My slow brain finally connected the dots and then exploded out of excitement. MY BRAIN EXPLODED.

Growing up as a young girl attending high school in downtown Phoenix, I was always studying at Lux, eating at That's a Wrap or attending local fashion shows. I was always searching for cool things and totally admired the people working to make our town awesome. Now I'm growin up and feel like I'm becoming one of those people I used to admire so much! Every time I've gotten an award or recognition or, hell, even a blog post written about me I've been so honored, humbled, and blown away. I am totally inspired and hope that I can build my dream and maybe even one day be an inspiration to people, the way people like Angela Johnson or Kimber Lanning were to me.

Off to College...

As I mentioned, my baby sis has headed off to college. She's a big girl now : ) Here's some pics from our trip.

Mt Rainier

 Our flight got in and we had some time to waste so we headed into downtown Seattle. We had some lunch and went to the market.

Smelled like shit. But there were babes working the donut hut so I felt ok about it.

So cute!

We checked in to our little bed and breakfast and grabbed dinner on Puget Sound. Friday we woke up and headed to the school. We got lucky cause Andrea's move-in time was like the first of the day! So it was not to crazy and we had full access to dollies to truck our goods around, free stuff- I got a to-go mug and a bottle opener key chain (which seems like a dumb idea giving 18 year olds bottle openers then forcing them to go to a seminar on drinking), and coffee- which was magical since I was totally freezing.

Hot mama- sittin in her new dorm room.

 I found this gem while walking in the neighborhood. It's perfect.

There was the most incredible produce and flowers there. It was seriously magical. This flower was the size of my head.

Best Friends FOREVERRRRRRR.

I love her and I'm so excited for her.

My Day

My work is filled with super funny people. It's such a good atmosphere where we're all like family. Sometimes I'm super happy to go to work cause I know I'll be laughing my day away. Here's what happened today.

Gettin my iphone on at lunch. This is my boss (she didn't know I was taking her picture : ). Oh and, yeah, she said that. Hahaha. What a gem.

Weekend Recap

 1. Birthday lunch with Stephanie 2. Aren't they so cute? 3. Andrea created a photobooth for a Harry Potter party complete with these awesome props 4. My face.

 1. Me and my bestest pal Nick- covering up his big forhead 2. Pool party! 3. Handstand contest 4. My boys

1. Bffs 2. Hikin the mountain 3. Farmer's market bounty 4. Sister with the pretty flowers I bought myself!

VACATION!

I've been MIA recently, and for good reason. We took our annual family vacation! Each year for almost as long as I can remember, we take a family trip with the whole crew- mom, dad, sister, boy cousin, girl cousin, her hubby and three kiddos, grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncle- that's right, like, a billion people. Unfortunately, boy cousin was unable to embark on our family trip- he had to stay home with his fiance and her lil boy cause silly work got in the way.

 Got my favorite lil lady by my side : )

My cousin's kids. All set to go on the airplane!

This year's adventure took us on a cruise to the Bahama's, St. Thomas, and St. Maartin.

Giant!

Central Park

Our room!!

Our view

We flew out saturday afternoon and arrived in Fort Lauderdale late that evening. Sunday afternoon we were allowed to board the ship. Get this- the folks from the previous cruise get off around 9 in the morning. Then they board the next cruisers around 1. Nuts. Anyways, we sailed on the Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever. This baby held over 6,000 guests and over 2,000 crew. With something like 12 individual restaurants in addition to the main dining room, the ship also holds an ice cream shop, a cupcake shop, and the first ever Starbucks at sea.

Bye bye Florida!

Bahamas

 St Thomas

The lizard situation in St. Thomas was a little outta hand

I love this little church in St. Maartin

There's a casino, ice skating rink, spa, gym, aquatheater, comedy club, theater (where Chicago played), and more. There were tons of activities to keep you busy including two surf simulators, a zip line, two rock climbing walls, basketball courts, a jogging track, mini golf.... I could go on for days. It's seriously nuts.

Goofin on the Boardwalk

 Riley bein silly. It's the only pic the little stinker would let me capture.

 So happy to be eatin her toes!

 My favorite picture ever. I told her to close her eyes and mouth before she jumped into the pool and this is the face she made each time. Love that little girl x 1000.

 We watched the Stanley Cup final in the aquatheater in the rain.

 My mom made me take a picture of her making a silly, I'm hammered face. She pulled it off pretty well.  

We had lots of fun and I got a lot of quality time with the kiddos. Supah fun. Oh, I've got videos too! I'm gonna try and do some fancy things to it and I'll post it in the next few days : )

Summer Songs

Since it's the first official day of summer, I thought I'd share with all you lovely folks out there some of my favorite songs that remind me of summer.




















This one actually doesn't necesarrily remind me of summer- I just found it while searching and love both Owen Pallatt and Joanna Newsome : )

Somebody Graduated [SO MANY PICTURES]

That's right! My super awesome, super hilarious, super attractive sister totally graduated high school. That's right world- WATCH OUT. Baby girl's a legit adult (kinda) and we're going wild. She's so boss.

 Senior pics by Angelina Rose Photography

 Before Graduation, being a dementor.

Graduation was on Friday afternoon and the whole crew showed up for support. My mom pretty much blew it (or so she kept saying... truth is, everything was fine) and forgot batteries for the camera and the flowers.  Luckily I had my rad zoom lens from Photojojo.

The freakin ceremony blew my mind. There was something like 350+ kids and they blew through em so fast- I'm lucky I even caught it when they called Andrea's name. Seriously like, 40 mins max.

We even got a pretty cool performance. (Yeah, that shaking is from me laughing).

Friday night we went to my grandparents for a SUPRISE wedding shower for my favorite cousin and his fiance. It was most of the family's first time meeting Kellie and her little boy Cayden and it was cool we got to bombard her with meeting like a billion people. I spent some time flying Cayden around in circles so I'm pretty sure he likes me, which was my goal for the night. WIN!

 Matt and Kellie

 Cousin-in-law Jason with baby Kaylin, my best friend :) .

Riley was sick. I just love this picture. Poor buddy.

Saturday was the big graduation party. I ran around in the morning grabbing the food and special goodies for the event. We had the best spread- for reals- wraps, salad and pasta salad from That's A Wrap (one of my favorite local restaurants and, coincidentally, the same thing I had for my high school graduation party), my sister's favorite pudding from True Food Kitchen (it's vegan, gluten free and unbelieveable), and 3 gallons of horchata. Not to mention rad folks and a custom playlist! BEST. PARTY. EVER.

Even R.Pats showed up.

Cuteness.

Oh! AAAND! My dear sister got me a graduation party present.

She made this picture I'd been drooling over for ages. She got it framed all pretty for me, so I can always remember her.

Anyways, I was gonna tell you about our sweet Memorial day hangs but I'll tell ya about it later. And come back cause I've got a heart wrenching, tear inducing letter to my sis coming in the next few days! AWWWE.