Congrats, Joe & Nadia

The pictures are a little late, but last weekend we traveled to Canada to watch my cousin, Joe, marry his long-time girlfriend, Nadia. They were a stunning couple — the few blurry pictures here certainly don't do them justice.

We drove up to Crystal Beach on Friday and spent the evening with Marty and his parents. After walking along the water Marty made a fantastic dinner and we settled in for some good conversation with John and Pat, his parents. It was just as this conversation was winding down that I realized I have made the first major packing disaster of our marriage. I'm a very meticulous packer, which is why I usually pack for both Heath and I. As a testament to the fact that I may be losing my mind, I packed heath several shirt and tie options, remembered his belt, shoes, black socks and several changes of clothes. The only thing I forgot? The suit itself!

Marty and John volunteered a couple of suits on hand, but they were either too short (think capris) or too big (think Ronald McDonald)...wasn't happening. I, of course, was mortified. Heath earned major husband brownie points by handling it quite well.

Our solution? We went to The Bay, a popular Canadian department store, and bought him a handsome suit first thing in the morning. We made it to the church just as my dad, aunt, sister and grandmother were parking. Thank goodness!

It was a beautiful ceremony. Afterwards, we headed to the Tolomeo house for some light refreshments and food before heading back to the hotel to change for the reception.

[the ceremony]




[drinks and snacks]








The reception was amazing. A real feat of Italian hospitality. In addition to a generous open bar, six-course dinner and dessert/pizza buffet rolled out around 11, music included both a band and a DJ as well as these fantastic party favors which are hard to describe here, but trust me...they were great.

It was wonderful to see all 310 guests get up to dance and celebrate with Joe and Nadia — even grandma couldn't stop dancing.









For those of you wondering, "What happened with the suit?" ... we returned it the next day after a lovely breakfast at Starbucks with my aunt. It was the perfect rent-a-suit.

On the way home, we stopped in Fremont to meet all of Susan's brothers who were at the lake for a family reunion. It was a wonderful opportunity to fill in some of the family puzzle pieces and enjoy at least a couple relaxing hours at the lake.

It was an awesome weekend! Big thanks go out to Megan for watching Violet while we were gone.

Anniversary Picnic

This year our anniversary celebration is pretty spaced out. Technically, the trip to Paris was an early gift just as seeing John Legend in concert in a couple weeks will be a late gift. What to do in the interim?

A fancy dinner seemed like a little much since 4th of July weekend is always a little busy to begin with. And, while I'm always looking for a reason to get dolled up, after a gorgeous, sunny afternoon spent at the pool, it seemed to both of us that flip flops were the order of the day and our dinner plans should follow suit.

With that in mind, we settled on a picnic. When our first carry-out option, Fogo 2 Go, didn't work out, Heath foraged the wilds of Whole Foods to put together a perfect light dinner. With Violet in tow, we set up our blanket in the park next to beaches at Wilson Ave. and brought out the spread: fresh guacamole and chips, crab & artichoke dip with flatbread, strawberries, pineapple, a cous cous salad and—of course—chocolate chip cookies.









Violet was thrilled with our choice of venue since A) it means she got to come with and B) it's right near the dog beach. After packing up our picnic and dropping things off in the car, we walked her back down to the water and allowed her to do her thing with her fellow canines.

She spent a good amount of time perfecting her doggie paddle and fetching — major improvements for her! By the time she was done we were all wet, sandy and happy.

A perfect end to our anniversary weekend.

[this is really Violet in the water]

4 years...

July 2nd was the official day, but it's never too late to say how glad I am to be married to my very best friend.

Two cutest babies in Chicago

Last night we had a surprise impromptu celebration with Aaron in honor of his ordination this weekend. Congrats, Aaron!

It was also a great excuse to spend quality time with Lina and Elijah. What a treat!

Herb Offender

One of Heath's summer projects is to grow various herbs in shared backyard of our condo meeting. He asked the condo association if he could put some planters out in the common space since our deck doesn't get a ton of light. They agreed.

Things were going very well. Heath was growing oregano, dill, cilantro, basil and chives. Dill and cilantro were doing best, as you can see here:




One recent morning Heath went out to water his precious plants and, much to his dismay, he found them trampled with a cigarette butt in one of the planters. Can you believe it? He had to pull up the plants, which is a bummer since it means starting over.

I'm glad we got to enjoy the cilantro at least once (in this yummy green enchilada recipe) before the garden vandalism.

Reunion Weekend | The Day After

After sleeping in, we spend Sunday spending time with various SoCal friends.

[our very cool, very blue rental car]


First up: Jared. We were able to pick up some coffee and hang out at Jared's place on Lake Mission Viejo. It was a very chill, beautiful morning and great to catch up.

Next: We headed to one of the beaches in Dana Point. As amazing as Lake Michigan is, the Pacific is definitely in a class of its own. We threw on our bathing suits and walked along the beach — very romantic.




Third: We made the short drive over to Bev's to spend time with her, Brandy and Jacen. Heath tutored Brandy way back when and she was the one who created the artwork for teh "guest book" matte at our wedding. Jacen is almost 8 and increasingly cute and ready to climb.





For dinner: We headed to the one-of-a-kind In-n-Out for a burger and fries. Cindy and Barnali met up with us and the Mission Viejo alum debriefed on the good, the bad and the ugly from the night before.



Last, but not least: We headed to, believe it or not, another In-n-Out halfway between Mission Viejo and LA to have shakes with Jenny and Tyler. An hour quickly turned into two before we realized how late it was. Time flies when you're having fun!

The next morning, we headed back to LAX and caught our flight back to Chi-town. Just in time for a few 90° days. :-)

Reunion Weekend | The Event

After a brief stop in DC for family time and a dental hygiene conference, I flew out to meet Heath in sunny Southern California for his 10-year high school reunion. He was already in full hang-out mode with Barnali and Cindy — which meant terrorizing them at all hours of the day and night — when they came to pick me up at the airport and then headed out to lunch over at the Spectrum.

After lunch we dropped our stuff off at the Riggs' place, caught up with John and Robbie, and then got coiffed and costumed for the big event.

The reunion was held in the typical non-descript hotel conference room with so-so food and '90s soundtrack. Regardless of the setting, the class of '99 was in high sprits and the catching up exceeded Heath's expectations. He especially enjoyed spending time with some of the folks he had known since 4th grade.











After the main event we headed over to Malarkey's in Newport Beach, a real meat market of a bar, to see some of the local guys who hadn't made it out to the hotel for the official festivities.