team olsen...

A wedding weekend in pictures....
We start with the rehearsal lunch....

Followed by the pool party at chez Baker...

Then the good stuff happens.... THEY GOT MARRIED!!! Unfortunatly with both of us in it, there's no one to take pictures of that, so for now... we skip to the dancing!!

Overall, a FANTASTIC weekend. They're off in Hawaii soaking up the sun and hopefully enjoying a lovely couples massage... mmmm hmmm!!! Congrats Joey and Lindsey!!

not enough time in the day...

So begins our countdown to the "almost Olsens" wedding day. This Saturday! So this week after work is my "get everything organized" time. You can bet your balls - (figure of speech, people!) - that I've already made my list of things to do... including a day-by-day timeline of how I'm going to get it all achieved... I am my dad's daughter! On the list for the next 3 days:

Pedicure
Manicure (tough life, I know)
Hair cut
Garter pick-up
Rehearsal day outfit? (It's going to be 99 degrees... so no heather grey or light blue...)
Gift purchase
Josh - pants hemmed?? (yeah - we discovered that yesterday...)
Stitch in bra to dress via Joanna's mom?
Reserve hotel
Laundry
Break in shoes... without breaking my ankles...
Figuring out how NOT to sweat in 101 degree Sacramento heat... ideas anyone??
Packing...
Checking my list once... twice... thrice times...
And wedding bells a ringing!!
(And I'm not even getting married! Sheesh.)

All this mixed in with dinner/sleepover tonight with our Aussie friend Meghan, tomorrow being our 3 year wedding anniversary, and Thursday leaving early from work to get up there... it basically has to all get done NOW. AHH!! Top it all off? I'm starting to get a little sick... and I use "sick" lightly because it's more like sore throat, man voice, and throbbing head. But I shall persevere!

So all fun and wonderful things... just a lot of them in a short amount of time. More postings to follow once we have more time to breathe next week.

busy busy busy busy...

Summer has come and it has brought a full calendar! Most recent fun-ness??

We picked up our Kiwi friend Catherine for her American summer at camp!!!

Catherine is wonderful. She's a friend of ours that we met while in New Zealand and she worked at the camp that we did while we were there. She always talked about working at an American camp and we told her - if you come, we'll pick you up at the airport with a sign with your name on it and show you around the bay area... I think the sign sealed the deal.

So she came and we played... ALL weekend. We walked out on the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Fisherman's Wharf to see the sealions, ate at a vegan restaurant in the City (she's vegan... and LOVED it...), we had bagels (definite American thing... kiwi's don't do bagels), we saw a fire hydrant... ?

... we looked for squirrels... ? ... we went to Target (blew her mind!), and then we went to Santa Cruz to introduce her to her new home, and dropped her off at camp. Busy busy busy... but SO fun.

I'm waiting for her to load her SF pictures but she's at camp... so i'll probably get them, oh, in October or so... But I'll post more fun bridge and santa cruz fun photos when I get them.

it's a bloomin...

So our garden like exploded today... exploded with goodness!! Today we picked 7 strawberries, 2 zucchini's, a couple handfuls of lettuce, I ate a tomato (not lying - best tomato EVER!), and there are like a gazillion tomatoes - cherry and romas alike - and a couple bell peppers on the way!! Oh my word. It's going to be a good summer!!

done and done.

Getting ready to leave Sarah's house... butterflies a' flowin...

Putting on the bibs...

Lined up, ready to get this show on the road...


Mid-run photo op...

Taking a running break through the vineyard...

We did it!

So I have officially ran my first 10K! And it couldn't have been prettier or better weather or with better company. It truly was fantastic! I imagined everyone kinda running at their own pace and then meeting up at the end, but it was completely the opposite. We did it together every step of the way! We ran, we walked, we photo-op'd as much as possible, and we had a wonderful time navagating the streets of Sonoma (which is just gorgeous by the way!!). Very very fun and it's spurred me on to do more. In fact, Josh and I are looking into doing the Jungle Run 10K in Los Gatos mid-July. Bring it on! I'm a runner!

the race.

This weekend I shall run. This weekend I will see good friends, eat, drink coffee, relax, unwind, be playful, brunch, have fun, say something silly, and probably much more. But one thing is certain. This weekend I will run. Bring it on, Sonoma!

The final countdown...

Sunday was the much anticipated farmer's market. With AZ being landlocked with not much crop land, their farmer's market consists of homemade tamales, soap, and crafts, crafts, crafts. Not so much fruit and veg. So Campbell's fru-topia was quite the treat for them. We bought our dinner (local cod and potatoes for some good ol' New Zealand fish and chips) at the market and mom and I had pastries while the boys had a crepe. Oui oui! The rest of the day was pretty chillax...

We ended up getting us some chairs for our outdoor table:



I'm thinking of putting fun lights up in the avocado tree to create some ambiance. Mixed with a cute table cloth and fun table toppers/weights to keep it from flying... this has the potential to be super cute! Maybe even THIS cute:

So all and all... it was a really great trip. Got to see the 'rents, got to really utilize that sleeper sofa, had some good times and good laughs, and now have a whole new room - our outdoor "room" !! Happy anniversary to us! (thanks mom and dad!)


Now back to normal...

Day 2 and 3

Friday I was "working from home" and we went and ventured around the areas' foreclosed homes. It's pretty damn depressing what 1/2 a million dollars will get you around here. It's pretty much not a whole lot. Lunch at Whole Foods (a treat for our WF-less Prescottonians), an afternoon movie, and dinner at Opa. Opa definitely sealed the deal. Finished the night with Dick's cake. Dad was "obsessed with dick's"... my favorite quote of the weekend. :)

Saturday was a battle of the sexes. Pedicures vs. a grill. I personally think pedicures won although I suppose the grill will last longer. After bfast at Stacks (not Los Gatos Cafe much to Josh's dismay), we split up and the ladies went and got pedicures and did some shopping while the boys went and found us a grill. Both were successful. Below: Josh's new toy:

The rest of the afternoon was planning our first grilling, grocery shopping, and box-o-wining...

Now. Don't knock it until you try it. Me likey the box-o-wine. I'm not talking the cheap huge white trash kinds... they have some really great options these days. Plus - it's like 4 bottles of wine that's good for one whole month! Which is a god-send for Josh and I who are so sparatic with our wine drinking that we're often dumping some of our bottles out due to openage and not enough drinkage. Tivo'd Jay Leno and more dick's ended the evening.

Very relaxing. Very good.

FYI - if you can't tell... we didn't touch the camera. So I'm sorry to say these will be very wordy posts... not so picture friendly. Sorry!

parental units

This past weekend was a weekend we had anticipated (and cleaned for) for many days... the parental units were rollin through the bay area on their grand road trip. My dad took off a couple weeks ago to be one with nature... drive from Arizona through many national parks up to Yellowstone. Do some camping. Do some hiking. Eat some meat. Dad = man. Josh was obviously jealous of said trip. Dad saw a moose... a bison... and a "bear" (which - in the photo looks like a dead tree stump... but we'll give it to him...).

"bear" shot... yeah. apparently it's by one of those dead logs... I think he just saw dead logs.

Yellowstone...

Moose while hiking...

Bison. It's real too!

He then drove through Idaho to Seattle where my mom flew up and met him. They stayed there a couple days, in Portland with the big bro, detours through Bend and Ashland, Oregon, and then finally, Campbell, California.

They had just gotten in and we wisked them off to Jalisco's for dinner with the "taco nazi" - much like the soup nazi from Seinfeld fame. Josh and I had never been there but heard it's a real hole-in-the-wall gem. The food was good and definitely authentic and I love their bartender who made us our margaritas. This could definitely become a regular spot for Josh and I. Cheap. Good. Margs. I'm there.