Life Lately

I think this is a busy time of the year for everyone - summer plans, friends, work, travel - it's fabulous.

I have been so lucky to spend long nights with the girls... here's a few pictures.

 Enjoying time on our patio with my favorite guy - TL.

 Warm summer nights- perfect for happy hour :)

The Beer Garden with some girlfriends!

 Celebrating Shannon's Birthday with drinks & a night out dancing

Maximus & Zeus turned 4!!  (this is when they were tiny... we had just gotten them a day before!)

And taking good care of the pups - Maximus is still dealing with skin issues... don't worry, he's loved!

My BIL is here visiting now for a couple days- he and TL are out golfing today.

I am off to Leadership Camp with our teens (for work) later this week & doing The Color Run this Saturday!

What have you been up to?  Feeling busy with summer?

Have a great week!

Wine Tasting in El Dorado County

TL and I decided to take a mini trip to 2 El Dorado County wineries on Sunday.  We both have been really busy with work and life... and sometimes a little getaway is the perfect way for us to reconnect.

We visited TooGood Winery and Miller.  Both were cute!

TooGood has some really yummy port.  Their wines were good - but their port is what we surprisingly really enjoyed.  We actually joined their port club :)

Miller Vineyards is a really tiny winery owned by John Miller and his wife.  We stayed for almost 2 hours and chatted with another couple and the owner.  He is very nice and so proud of his wines (in a cute way).  He only makes about 800 cases of wine a year.. but his wine is really yummy - some of the best I have had in a long time.  One of his wines is actually up for the top 20 wines in the world award. He puts so much effort and love into his wine.  He's actually a retired therapist and started late in his life - he said that this is how he always dreamed of retiring.  I definitely recommend stopping in.  His tasting room isn't anything spectacular - but you feel like you're in the living room of his home while you're there.

{these pictures aren't anything special... just snapped a few on my phone at TooGood}

The doors opening up to the wine cave at TooGood.  It was really cool in there - stays at 60 degrees all year round.

 Horrible quality picture - but this is the inside of the wine cave.

El Dorado County is beautiful - driving there, it felt like we were in a forest.

You can see Miller Vineyards just in the distance.

We're so lucky to live close to Amador and El Dorado County wineries... they are a hidden treasure in California!

Hope you're having a beautiful week.

Closet Wishes

I've loved this type of dress that I have seen on so many celebrities... now, if only I could find one in my price range!  Have any outfits you love, but aren't brave enough to try them on?

Dream Dress by tracyzlesh featuring an opaque nail polish


And I love this color yellow... but haven't tried it yet - feel like it could go well with a blonde hair color.

Casual - work or play by tracyzlesh featuring adjustable rings

I love designing new outfits - I really need to get better about doing this in my closet.
Happy Friday!

Patriotic Bunco

Even though we're a few weeks past the July 4th Holiday - we celebrated patriotically this month :)

Nora hosted with delicious sandwiches, potato salad, and a adorable red, white and blue cupcakes and rice crispy treats.

As usual, it was a fun, relaxed, great time.  I am truly lucky to have these ladies in my life <3

{notice trish & shannon in the picture... niiiice chocolate in the teeth girls!}

 Kelly was the big winner... $95!

 A "normal" group shot!

Hope you're having a great week.

Girls Weekend in Los Angeles

I am so fortunate to have several great girls in my life from college.  Each of them are unique, beautiful, and have so much to offer the world.  I have learned so much from them and getting to spend a weekend in Los Angeles catching up, laughing, and just having a good time was truly special.

One of my dearest friends, Adrianna, opened up her home (her amazing bf got a hotel) and let the girls take over.  There was make up, clothes, bedding, etc flooding her home.  It was so much fun.  We spent the first night catching up on each others lives.  It was 16 of us scattered along the couch and floor in her comfy living room talking until 4am.  We also welcomed our first baby {from friend Hailee}, Harper, into the group and took turns holding her.  The rest of the weekend was spent visiting Hailee's adorable abode in Manhattan Beach, at a nightclub in Venice Beach, and then Sunday was spent at brunch in Adrianna's beautiful backyard before our evening flights back to reality.

I feel so lucky and blessed to have all of these amazing ladies in my life.  What an incredible girls weekend - part one of many more reunions to come...

Here are some pictures of our Saturday night out and Sunday Brunch.  Pictures from our day in Manhattan Beach coming soon.

Making food and preparing the brunch

The beautiful backyard decor.  Adrianna's "Bubbly Bar"

 Baby Harper & her mama get serenaded in...

 The beautiful hostess and planner.

Combined on our cameras... we had more than 2,000 pictures.  Not sure who all of these photos belong to (several from Jenn) but we shared them all!

What a beautiful weekend... can't wait for our next one :)

Busy, Busy & the 4th

Holy smokes... life has been busy the past 3 weeks.  I've barely kept my head above water during a few of the days.  We had a big event with the organization I work for and my boss was out of town.  But - life is easing up a little now.  

Our 4th of July was great - we went for a very short camping trip (less than 24 hours) and enjoyed spending time with good friends of ours out on the delta. We saw a fabulous fireworks show and just enjoyed the sunshine and being out on the boat!  I also spent the weekend at a girls reunion with several of my sorority sisters in LA - post on that coming very soon!

I didn't take any pictures while we were camping - forgot my camera and was too busy just relaxing, but I did snap a few on my cell phone :)

 This is our good friend's little girl Lorelei.  Tim adores her!

 Eating breakfast!

 In front of the tents

The Delta - that's Mt. Diablo on the horizon.

I hope you had a happy 4th and a wonderful weekend!

The half way point.

Hey y'all.  {I wish I was a southern belle}

I can't believe it's July already.  We've reached the half way point of 2012 - time is zooming by.

TL and I have had a good first half of the year - it's been busy with work and we've been so lucky to have the chance to go to Hawaii and visit with so many family and friends.  Things have also happened this year that have made us stop and think "isn't it crazy how much your life can change in a year, a day, a moment."

We've just recently decided that we want to to take another trip later this year... when I was doing our  recap of Europe last year many of you were guessing which cities we were going to next.  So... can you guess where we're headed?  I'll give a free ad spot on the sidebar if you are the first person that can name 3 of the 5 cities in the comments.  No hints. ;)

Even though we are several weeks away from taking off, I have already started thinking about what I want to pack.  I just recently heard about a new pair of shoes that are supposidly very comfy for exploring in, and I think I want to buy them.  They're called Superga Sneakers - aka "the people's shoes of Italy".  Do you have a pair?  Recommend them?

I also just recently purchased the "Join the Crew" black necklace from The Red Dress Boutique.  I've ordered a few necklaces from them so far and never had any complaints - but this time the necklace came with a missing bead.  I put it on for a few minutes before noticing, then I felt another one of the beads fall off.  I am not sure if I got a bad one, but it really bummed me out.  I know it's not $200, but it was still $50 and I was hoping it would last me a while.  I contacted them and they are sending me a replacement bead.  {See it?}  What was weird was when I was looking on their website one of the models was wearing this necklace with the bead missing in the same exact spot.

The Tourist by tracyzlesh featuring floral scarves

I love all of the outfit combinations in these few items.  I need to work on bringing less but making more of what I bring along.  Does anyone hate packing as much as me?

I hope the first half of your year was great - and if it wasn't... it's a fresh start to the second half. :)

Happy Monday!