Two Month Stretch

I just can't wait to walk out of the bride's room and into the church in two months and three days, look down the aisle and lock eyes with this hotness:

But mostly I can't wait to walk out of the church after the ceremony married to that hotness!

LA Holidaze

Last weekend my mummy and brother took Jonathon and I out for a night on the town. It was really my kind of day and night. We went shopping, ate a lot and sang carols! J bought his beautiful Allen Edmond split toe shoes for the wedding and a really lovely crisp white button-down for under his suit and Natey got his suit for the wedding (as previously seen here on Becoming Mrs. Ford). I really love shopping for other people with them and letting the opinions fly... I was in shopping heaven.

After all that retail therapy we went out for a yumtastic Italian meal worth writing home about. If you are from LA or just visiting, you really really need to do yourself a solid and go to C&O Trattoria or Cucina (there's two and both are off the hizzy). The killer garlic rolls are meal one, the appetizers are meal two, the Chianti is meal three, and the entrees are next days lunch. SERIOUSLY YUM.

We were a little bit stoked.

I'm not sure if you knew this or not but... We're engaged.

As a daughter, I see it as my duty to really crack my mom up every chance I get. Not because I like to give her something to smile about, but because when she really gets laughing it is the funniest thing anyone has ever seen. She absolutely can not stop. It looks painful, and the harder she laughs the harder she has to laugh... Feast your eyes:

At the KCRW Christmas Sing-A-Long where we got to rock out with several quit good and quit famous celebrities including Christopher Guest, Jane Lynch, and Weird Al! Heck yea!

Oh man we had a great time. This is what happens when you drink Chianti, sing and dance to Christmas carols for hours, and then ask your brother to take a photo of you and your fiance...

Perfect day and perfect night! Merry Christmas!

Jonathon Bought a Suit

It's so exciting! He won't be waiting for me at the end of the aisle in boardshorts... Hoorah.

This is not the suit, his is a lighter charcoal grey, but by the same designer. He is going to look HOT! Oh yea. The suit is supposed to be in to Nordstrom by February... gulp. Here's hoping it is perfect because that is cutting it awfully close. Send good vibes. No boardshorts... no boardshorts... no boardshorts...

PS: My dress and veil are waiting to be tried on and hopefully taken home this Friday. If nothing else, we will both be clothed on our big day! YESSSSSSS.

That's All She Wrote on Autumn

As of this past Saturday night football season is O-V-E-R folks! Not only does that mean I get my fiance back, but it also officially marks the beginning of Christmas season! So long autumn, hello winter.

During the season we had a weekly salute to fall (not marked by our calendars but by The Football Schedule) by sitting on cold stadium benches, wrapped in many blankets, loosing our voices screaming and drinking many-a-soy-chai.

But! We have not yet properly saluted the non-football fall. So here you are. I give you, our non-football fall-wrap-up. (Notice J is wearing his coaching gear in nearly all of the photos. He is such a good fiance making time for dates either on his way to practice or from.)

Confession: We get a little impatient about our seasons. Maybe being from LA will do that to you, but regardless, J and I like to start celebrating early. That's why this year around September 15 we were like, there must be a pumpkin patch or apple orchard we can stroll through somewhere. We were wrong. But we found some goats. And they were hungry.

October gave us an actual excuse to go out and party for our friend Manu's birthday. We went to a fun bar in West Hollywood and caught up with friends. It was magical. Also, there were homemade cupcakes. Mmmmm.

We have a really kick-butt pumpkin patch pretty much smack-dab between our 2 work locations so we met there after work one day to find our perfect pumpkins. Look how big this patch is! There is nothing that feels more like fall (besides football or Thanksgiving, obviously) than drinking a warm beverage and strolling through the patch holding hands. I went for a little mama pumpkin, and J got a big papa one.

Pumpkin pie is fall, right? Well, we live right near the beach, so one LA Autumn night J took me to the beach with our boy Teeny to watch the sunset. It was definitely the highlight of the past few months. The beach is one of our favorite places to be, where J proposed to me, and just beautiful and peaceful anytime of year. It was great to have a relaxing night with just the two of us (or three of us).



This picture of Teeny cracks me up because he is petrified with fear of the water. He is such a good boy. Too adorable...



What's the deal with getting older and all of our best friends moving far far away? We had the good fortune of having two of J's best friends in town a few weeks ago and we had a great time catching up with them. These two are groomsmen and we just don't get to see them enough.



Our friends Dave and Erin were able to come to the last game of the season with J's mom and me and we had such a blast. It was definitely a nail-biting way to end the season with the Bowl game going into double-overtime! We lost by one point... but Jon got free t-shirts and a medal!

Through the fall, we had a lot of good football nights and a lot of non-football fun, too. All in all it seems like this season flew by and now that time in general is flying by! It will be March before I know it.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for you my amazing friends and family. I truly can not wait to spend some quality time with you all in 4 short months!

Ahhh, Men

A few weeks ago Jonathon had a bye, meaning a beautiful oasis in a sea of never-ending Saturdays and Sundays (and Mondays, Tuesdays... you get the idea) consumed with pig skin. Ahem, anyhow, we jumped at the opportunity to go on a suit hunt on his weekend off. We didn't really find what we were looking for, but it did help to narrow the search and to decide what looked best and what should be avoided. Like this:


Not only was that suit enormous to the point of comedy, the grey wasn't really doing much for J. I think we decided he looks best in the deeper charcoals. He really liked this Tallia suit (also not the right size) in a sand color, but a) the company was going out of business so b) they couldn't order a vest to go with the suit... But the man wants a vest!


One thing we did discover, Allen Edmonds. Jon really wanted to try on some wing-tips and he liked these, but I think he is now leaning more towards split-toes, which are much dressier.


Since Tallia wasn't going to be making a vest anytime soon, one options was to choose that tan suit and have a different colored/patterned vest. Neither one of us really loved that idea, but I did come across one groom that really pulled it off.

Remember this farm wedding? Well the groom wore a nice tan and grey suit-vest combo. It's a bit of a more casual look for sure. Maybe it only works for a fall vineyard wedding since its nubby wool. Definitely not desert elegance, but maybe in a different material? What do you think?

I've been thinking a lot about what J will look like on the big day, can you tell? He hasn't had a chance to be as involved in the plans these past few months with it being football 24/7. But now there is only one game left in the season and you better believe I am excited for it to be over! Anyhow, one thing he is rather particular about are boutonnières. We both thought this was simple and clean and a nice use of succulents.

Finally, I just think this is ridiculously precious. I know that my little brother the ring bearer would look beyond cute in anything he wears but especially with an antique toy turned into a bout. How precious is that old school linen suit and orange bow-tie! YES.

How Grey is too Grey?

Took the man on a mini filed trip today to Nordstrom to look at some suits on his way to football practice (It's his last week FINALLY, yes!). I think he is liking the grey a bit more, possibly because that's all we can seem to find during winter. Also, the grey makes his dreamy blue eyes even more dreamy. :) We are kind of trying to figure out how to make him stand out if he does go with the grey. Should the groomsmen do tan then? Or should they all match?

We didn't find much. But I took his picture for posterity. It was this bald suit guys very first day. What fun! Maybe that's why we didn't find much...


But really, how grey is too grey? Because here's the dilemma. My 3 remaining dressless maidens can't seem to find anything in coral. I keep telling them to shop online, but I understand not wanting to order something sight-unseen. I lurve Aimee's coral chiffon Patra dress, and I do think that the color is so Springy and yummy, but I am having serious second thoughts about the coral dresses. Besides the part where the color is hard to find, the color is also a bit hard to match.

So, while shopping today at Nordstrom for Jonathon's suit, we made a detour through the ladies extra-fancy-dress section. Confession: I kind of fell in love.

Not only is the man of my dreams here in this photo, but possibly the two bridesmaids dresses of my dreams? On the left, ABS by Allen Schwartz Illusion Yoke Sequin Shift, and on the right Adrianna Papell Beaded Silk Chiffon Dress. Hello! How cute is the mismatchy grey with loads of bling? I really love. Don't these dresses just scream party-on-Wayne?! Then again, today I also found this and am being a big-time pushed for my Matron of Honor to buy buy buy.


Am I being a stresser? Should I switch the bridesmaids color to grey? Should I keep the coral? Would it look crazy ridiculous if all of the men wore grey suits, the bridesmaids wore grey dresses and some of the moms and grandmas wore grey? Am I even spelling grey right?!