Hello again + Yes, I will be your co-Maid of Honor!

HI FRIENDS! So sorry for disappearing. Life has been hectic as ever lately and keeping up with this ol' blog of mine has been challenging…especially since our main home computer decided to quit on us several weeks ago. Arg! BUT I love documenting life happenings here and have missed having a place for all my photos to land. So be prepared for a picture/post dump folks! I'm determined to get back on track!

This day happened a few months ago and was so unexpected and special. Aly, Kelsey and I had casually planned to go on a lady brunch date, no time or place in mind, and ended up at Luciles, an amazing creole-style eatery here in Denver. There is always a wait, so we ordered bloody marys, sat outside, and chatted in the sun. It was one of those perfect Colorado spring days in late April. I know, so long ago…I'm the worst. Anyways, we were finally sat, food and drinks were ordered, and our waitress quickly showed up with our second round of bloodys. We started to toast, cause duh, lady dates always need a toast, and as I raised my glass I noticed the prettiest little coaster hiding underneath! I immediately just started hugging Aly and saying how sweet she was and she was like…"So...what's your answer??" Hahaha. I guess I hadn't really felt like I needed to say it because I was so flattered and surprised, but of course YES, I accepted! So there it is. I am Aly's very proud co-Maid of Honor with my girl Kelsey as co-maid #2. I'm pretty sure Aly is the most low maintenance bride-to-be of all time, because, of all the things taking up my time this summer, this one has been the most fun and least stressful. We spent the rest of the day together drinking champagne and having a photo shoot ;) Wedding countdown as of today is 39! Crazy business!

party time...

This looks like a very tame version of what I did this weekend. The main event: Aly's birthday party! If you are wondering what the deal is with the random costumes, well, we had a little white elephant costume swap to add a twist to your typical birthday party. It was a huge hit! I'll tell you how it works...

Rules to the White Elephant costume swap...

* Bring an old costume (it's best if it's a full costume not just accessories) in a concealed bag to the party.

* Don't put the costume on, show up in your normal clothes, but give the bag to your host when you arrive.

* If you don't have a costume that's fine. still come.

* If you have extra costumes bring them.

* Once pretty much everyone who is attending has shown up and there is a large pile of bags with costumes in them, you are ready to begin.

* Count the number of people in the room and fold up that many pieces of paper with numbers written on them (25 ppl = 1-25)

* Everyone draw a number.

* One is the best number, two is the worst number ( <-- I was two)

* Whoever picks #1 will start the game. Person #1: picks a bag of their choosing and opens it. This is their costume...for now. Now it's person #2's turn.

* Now is the tricky part-- #2 has a choice-- they can either steal the costume from #1 or open a new costume bag. If #2 decides to steal then #1 must pick a new bag. Now it's #3's turn. and so on. Once a costume has been stolen twice it cannot be stolen again. Get it? When all of the turns are taken and it finally cycles back to #1 they have the whole group of costumes for the picking.

Our game was pretty interesting because there really wasn't a lot of stealing. Everyone was pretty pleased with the costume they ended up with and I think overall curiosity often gets the best of you. You really want to see what is in those bags!

Aly, that crazy girl, planned a lot of the evening, which was fit with a photo booth, snacks and a fancy cocktail garnished with rock candy!  I basically only provided the venue and the ice cream cake. side note: If you ever find yourself in a time crunch, but still want to do something more than cake from a box, an ice cream cake is the way to go! Trust me. Everyone was all about it-- the DQ mint oreo Blizzard one to be exact.

Happy Birthday Aly!

Wandering Wednesday: Pride.

What's my excuse for wearing a crop top all day, drinking before noon, and singing at the top of my lungs from the jukebox at the grimiest bar on Colfax? PRIDE. This was my first ever Denver Pridefest and I am telling you what, I have been missing out! We only got to see the last twenty or so minutes of the parade but the second we arrived we were greeted with hugs from Aly's brother and a beautiful bloody mary/mimosa bar spread. (these guys know how to party!) The people watching in Civic Center Park was magnificent (as you would expect) and I took a lot of not very blog appropriate photos. It was a total blast and I can't wait to do it again next year!

(photos by me & Aly)

D.C. trip + Welcome weekend!

Hello lovelies. Since I haven't shown you any of my D.C. pictures yet I decided to scrap the usual Friday post and give you a little run down of my trip. First of all, we had the most amazing hosts. When Kelsey and I arrived we were both very haggard from waking up at 3:30 a.m. but quickly perked up when Stuart brought us a tray of tea and cookies. Seriously! Also, they had turned Aly's usual art studio into a little twin bedroom for us which was very comfortable and incredibly cute. We stayed in the first night, decorated cupcakes for Aly's birthday and had a yummy home-cooked meal. The rest of the weekend seemed non-stop. We went to some great bars, had some really tasty food and did a few touristy things in between. But by far the best part was spending time with friends. I am so lucky to have such fun, amazing people in my life!

Engagement Session: Aly + Stuart.

In the spirit of love and Valentine's week, I wanted to post some pictures from an engagement session I photographed back in the fall. Ha, except that sounds way too official because these are two of my best friends and it really didn't feel like a job to go to the park and snap some photos of them. I am pretty pleased though with how they turned out considering that this isn't something I do very often. Aren't they a beautiful couple?! Aly suggested we go to the Elk Meadow off-leash dog park which is close to Evergreen, CO and about a 15-20 minute drive from Denver. It doesn't sound very glamorous, but this place is so gorgeous with about 3.5 miles of hiking trails, a small stream, great mountain views, and plenty of those lovely Aspen trees that had just started to turn yellow. It was colder than we expected but we stuck it out and spent a few hours getting more and more comfortable with each other :) Hope you enjoy these as much as I do....it's not everyday that two of your favorite people get engaged and you get to be a part of the process! Hope you are getting lots of love this week. xoxo!