Sports and Sunshine

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Hi! It’s been quite some time—I know! I’ve been such a blogging failure. We recently returned from an extremely fun trip to California, so there were lots of opportunities for photos! Hopefully, you don’t mind getting snapshots of our favorite moments over the next few days. We left after work and went as far as Vegas (our normal pitstop). Although we’ve driven all the way to California in one day, we definitely prefer stopping for a bit of pool time and of course, Grimaldi’s! It makes the arrival in California substantially more exciting when you’re not fighting to stay awake or recovering from stiff legs and tired eyes.

As usual, when our delicious pepperoni and mushroom pizza arrived, the conversation ceased immediately and we got down to business. We definitely didn’t even realize that we stop speaking for about five solid minutes as we get through our first pieces! We sure to love Grimaldi’s! We wanted to get a good night’s sleep in order to leave early the next morning, so we were kind of Vegas losers. We fell asleep around 10. I’m pretty sure that makes us official adults.

We stopped in Baker at The Mad Greek, which is such a fun sight in the middle of the desert. I was completely taken with the colors of the building. So simple and clean (love). It was a marvelous photo subject. The next hour or so of driving was filled with impersonations, karaoke and travel anecdotes. If you want a good laugh, find my husband and request an impersonation of anyone. The man is hilarious.

Our arrival in Orange County couldn’t have come sooner for little B. We drove directly to the nearest dog beach and just let her run! She was such a champ in the car and she deserved the hour of splashing and digging (don’t worry – we refilled the holes as we were leaving!). We were pretty worried about how she’d handle the ocean and sand—her first encounter at 2 months old was filled with whining and diving into my purse. We were so proud! She definitely loved it. Her happy disposition was just a preview of all the fun that was to come! We can’t wait to share. Stay tuned!

If you want to see what we did, check it out on Instagram: @rachealjade.

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Chelsea + Andy Wedding

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My husband’s little sister was married over the weekend and we were so delighted to be there. The ceremony was beautiful and so special. Although there were some pretty threatening clouds overhead, there were only a few droplets here and there throughout the family pictures. Once we were safely inside for the luncheon, it began raining! How’s that for lucky?!
It was a spectacular day and it was fun to reminisce about our own wedding day at the same location. We’re so very happy for you guys! Congratulations—we love you!

Weekend Digest: Christmas Prep

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The past week and weekend have been so wonderful. Everyone still seems to be maintaining their Christmas spirit – I’ve only had one parking spot deliberately stolen! It doesn’t seem like the panic and haste have set in, so we are still enjoying being out in public. We spent the week decorating and planning out the gifts we are going to give. On Thursday evening, we attended my company party, which was quite the experience. The owner of the company I work for is unbelievably hilarious and had a version of Deal of No Deal set up. Everyone selected a bag and he would basically bargain with the person while on stage. I nervously stepped up and refused to sell him my bag for $20 only to discover that it was completely empty! I wasn’t worried because generally, an empty bag means a hidden message inside worth $100 or so dollars. My entire table tore the bag apart trying to find an actual prize. Nope. It was empty. Near the end of the night, he called everyone that had won $20 or less to the stage again. There were a certain number of bags left over and everyone was able to select one. My small bag contained an envelope that I quickly opened to find…nothing. Yup, out of 300+ bags, I selected the only two that were legitimately empty (he confirmed this the next day). My face must have looked horrified because he said “What?! [satisfied laughter] I’ll give you $100!” The entire company was completely amazed that I was “lucky” enough to select both empty bags. Naturally. All in all, it was an entertaining night with my husband and all my fun coworkers. 
On Saturday we spent the entire day shopping and we’re nearly finished! Walking around crowded malls is one of my favorite activities, but poor Jack doesn’t seem to enjoy it nearly as much. Well, at all actually. If you ever want to torture him, subject him to Costco on a Saturday. Which is why I was beyond thrilled that he was amazingly upbeat and enthusiastic about shopping for ten hours.We had a lovely dinner at Chipotle to finish the day. I couldn’t have enjoyed a day more. Laughing and talking with my best friend while shopping is truly the best way to spend a Saturday. Hope you all had a stellar weekend as well!

Weekend Moments: Anniversary Edition

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Happy Monday! Hope it was a wonderful weekend. The third week in June is extremely busy for us: we have birthdays and our anniversary, so it’s essentially super fun! We started out with family birthday festivities, friend celebrations and another family feast. It was fantastic! Our little nephews were participating in the mutton busting portion of a local rodeo, so we went and watched them channel their inner cowboy. Have you ever seen such an event? It’s adorable, hilarious and terrifying all at the same time. You’d think that riding on a small sheep would be essentially pretty safe, right? Well, one little boy left on a stretcher! We were super nervous after that, but our nephews did well and we got some great pictures. The best part of the rodeo? The strawberries & cream. The rodeo is part of a summer event called Strawberry Days, so there are some great treats to be had. Love.
Our anniversary (first one!) was the perfect day. Husband started the day by presenting a massive box and flowers. He wrote a sweet card as an introduction to the most wonderful gift: this Pippa bag! This was what my first bag (Christmas 2011) was supposed to be, but somehow I ended up sending him the wrong picture on my wishlist and I got a different color. Oh well…worked out well in the end for me!
We then left for Park City for a fun evening! We had dinner at Ruth’s Chris, were grateful for a complimentary anniversary cheesecake (it even had a candle) then went back to the Waldorf for swimming. We sort of had two desserts because we had to eat our traditional anniversary cake. We had to, right? All in all, it was a splendid weekend! I’m so grateful for this great guy.