A Palace and a Beach

I have always wanted to do family photos in San Francisco but never seemed to get around to it.  After thinking about it forever, I finally booked one of my favorite bloggers, Melissa from Savvy in San Francisco, who not only is a mother of three and a fabulous blogger, but an incredible photographer as well, to take family photos while we were in the City over the holidays.

It was freezing cold, windy and there are 5 of us.  In all honesty, I thought to myself that if we get one great family photo then it will be a success.  What I did not realize is that Melissa is a miracle worker.  Not only did we walk away with NUMEROUS family photos that I adore, she also captured moments with my children that I will treasure forever.  The best part about it is that the children had a blast the entire time and my Oldest told me these were his favorite family photos yet.

These photos were taken at the Palace of the Fine Arts and Crissy Field.  I apologize in advance for all that I am sharing but there are just too many that I love.

If you are in the Bay Area and interested in doing photos, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Melissa.  She is uber sweet, so great with kids and make the entire process extremely easy.  Check her out over at Savvy in San Francisco.

Thank you again Melissa for everything!!

She said "I Do"

This past weekend the hubby and I were in San Francisco to celebrate my Best Friend's wedding.  I know you remember her because you have seen her engagement party, shower and bachelorette party.  I think the one thing I did not mention was the chaos that arose for this bride and groom only 3 weeks before the wedding.

If you live in San Francisco then you know that there was a major demolition done on Doyle Drive this past weekend.  Unfortunately, my best friend and her fiance had planned their wedding in the Presidio, just 100 ft. from where the demolition was going to take place.  What did this mean?  It meant finding a new church and reception location THREE WEEKS before their wedding.  Can you even imagine?  They handled the entire situation EXTREMELY well (and became famous thanks to a news report on them....people kept saying, "Your here for THAT wedding?!  We saw them on the news!".) and in the end, everything came to together and you would have never known what they had just gone through.  It was AMAZING.

I tried to gather as many pictures as I could from the weekend but I think I spent more time talking, eating, drinking and celebrating to get as many as I would have liked.  The ceremony was held at Calvary Presbyterian Church and the reception was held at The Ferry Building, which was BEYOND and probably my most favorite reception location I have been to.  Every detail was accounted for and the party lasted all night.  It could not have been any better.  Here are a few pictures that I love from the weekend.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. R!  

Best Friends at the rehearsal dinner

Clockwise from top left: Happy Hour with some sorority sisters, Bay Bridge, Macadamia Nut pancakes thanks to room service, our view from the hotel.

Getting ready in the fabulous robes the bride got us

The bridesmaids are ready!

Clockwise from top left: Makeup time!, champs to get the party started, just a few minutes before the ceremony began, the bridesmaid bouquets 

The High School crew

The college crew

me, my mom and my friend S

And where are my hubby and I?

I swear every picture did not come out that we took together!

Figures.  

Here is one that is okay, but I blame the sun for ruining this one.

And yes, I am aware the groom is no where to be found.  I have a TON of photos of the bride but forgot to take a picture of the happy couple after the ceremony.  At that point, I was only thinking about celebrating.  Sorry J!

City By the Bay

Four days. San Francisco. Best Friends. A Wedding.

This is going to be an amazing weekend and I promise to share it all with you next week. For now, I need to go get ready for a little girl time (nails and lunch!). As a teaser, here is a picture of the Ferry Building where the reception is being held. Beautiful, right?

I hope you all have a great weekend too!

12 Hours

This past Saturday I took a VERY QUICK trip up to San Francisco for my Best Friend's Bridal shower (remember the Engagement Party here?).  When I say quick, I mean that my husband dropped me off at the airport and exactly 12 hours later he was picking me up.  I was really sad that I could not stay the night and enjoy a few more cocktails with friends, but with three kids, my sister's shower at my house next week, and a bachelorette at the end of the month, I had to sacrifice fun to help get things done around the house.

The shower was absolutely perfect and the girls hosting did an incredible job of merging class, sophistication and fun into the day.  Plus, San Francisco decided to help out as well and delivered a GORGEOUS day filled with sunshine and warm weather.  I am so excited for the bachelorette in a couple weeks (3 days away with friends...YEA!) and returning to San Francisco in April for the big event (4 days away with friends....YEA AGAIN!).

Congrats E on your first wedding event! 

Adorable Place Settings

Best Friends, minus J.  We missed you! (Bride is on the left)

I am not a fan of games but this was REALLY cute.  "He Says, She Says" game, which I was terrible at.

I had to say no to these due to giving up sweets for Lent.
My biggest issue?  They were filled with chocolate!

My favorite gift the Bride received.
A monogram jewelry box from her mom filled with her grandmother's pearls.

Bride with her Bridesmaids, minus one (again , we missed you J!).

Prom Night with Best Friends, 80's Style!

No, I am not flashing back to my Prom.  For two reasons.  One, my Prom picture is TERRIBLE and I hope to never look that way again.  Two, I was in High School in the 90's and therefore was never able to indulge in all things florescent, big, crimped, and glittery for Prom (though thanks to Molly Ringwald, I thought it would have been awesome!)  Nope, this was the 80's recreated and oh how rad it was! (Yes, rad, don't pretend like you never said it).

This past weekend the two fabulous girls on my left and I surprised the fabulous girl on my right in San Francisco for her 80's inspired engagement party.  We traveled in from Portland, Chicago, and Orange County to dance the night away to some of the best the 80's had to offer while flaunting our fabulous fashion finds from vintage stores and Forever 21 (weird these are in the same sentence.  It almost pains me).  And even though I did not win Prom Queen,  I still had a phenomenal time.   

The best part of the weekend is that we were all able to spend some time together.  With living in four different cities, it just doesn't happen very often.  These three girls are the best BF's a girl could have and we have been through the good, the bad and the ugly together.  Dating, boyfriends, fights, make ups, divorce, engagements, miscarriage, bad haircuts, marriages, death, children.  The list goes on and on.  They truly are a piece of me and have been instrumental in the person I have become.  I love them dearly and think of them as sisters.  Plus, we can totally laugh at ourselves when the lame 12 year olds at the bar make fun of our outfits.  (If I was a bitch, I would say we looked better than they did in their normal clothes but I am not a bitch so I am not going to say it.).  Anyway...

Happy Engagement E &J and congratulations again!