Weekend wrap up : Out on the town.

Even though I felt totally sick all weekend, Stone and I kept ourselves pretty busy with friends and fun meals out! We went to two new restaurants this weekend Union and Fish 101. Both had wonderful food, but Fish 101 is definitely more of our scene. It had a casual outdoor patio with picnic tables, twinkle lights and fish tacos. Nothing beats that right?

To be honest, this is always one of our biggest battles. Stone and I love trying new restaurants and of course hanging out with friends, but we hate to look at our end of the month budget and realize how ridiculously overboard we went in the 'food' department (we have recently started to use Mint, it just gives you a very specific breakdown of where you are spending your money). We are planning on starting a cash system for this, and I am excited to see how it goes. Whether it is spending money at the grocery store or going out to eat, we need to cut back. Have you ever tried using all cash to help you stay on a budget? Any suggestions for how to do it?

Okay... back to our glorious 3 day weekend. Along with the wonderful restaurants and fun time with friends we got to spend time on the beach reading (I just started The Help and definitely recommend it), playing games and taking walks.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT... the biggest news of all we got a new mattress! We have been sleeping on Stone's parents old mattress, which we have predicted is at least 20 years old. You can literally feel each individual spring in the mattress, needless to say we were MORE than ready to get rid of it. Have you ever slept on a pillow top mattress? Life changing. It is like a four-star hotel every night. Now it is just that much harder to get out in the morning. Humphhhh.

So, despite getting a crazy cold, it was a perfect weekend and I hope for many more like it this summer. I hope you had a lovely weekend as well! xo.

Have a great weekend!

Hello all. Stone here. I hope you've had a great week. What is your weekend looking like? Anything fun? This weekend here in beautiful Southern California it looks like we may get to trade in the grey weather we've been having for sunshine and 70 degrees. This weekend is also one of the rare few for us when we don't have any type of work obligations ... so if you need us, we'll probably be out playing some bocce ball or smash ball on the beach. Please come and join. Tonight I am especially pumped as Shel and I are meeting up with some friends at a new restaurant here in Encinitas called "The Union Kitchen + Tap." It seems to be pretty hoppin' every time we walk by it, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Alright, that's all from me. Hope you all are well. Here are a few links to munch on:

I posted it on twitter yesterday. But this song is still playing in my head.

On that note, get yourself some Local Harvest honey.

Make yourself some homemade lemonade this weekend.

Know a coach? Check out my buddies iPad app perfect for coaches.

An old church turned AMAZING house.

No matter where we're traveling, I always do this.

Humbling images from the storms in the mid-west.

How about we take a vacation & stay here.

PATTERN and POP!

Wear this stripy PATTERNED dress and add a POP with a sunshine yellow clutch for the perfect date night combo!

Food to Love : Date Smoothie.

Okay, I know we have all made smoothies, so you are wondering why I am doing a post about this. Nothing new right?

Well, I just wanted to tell you about a new ingredient Stone and I have been using that has taken our smoothies to the next level... DATES!

First of all they are full of antioxidants, dietary fiber, potassium and iron. Who knew? I had never eaten a date in my life until last week when I sent husband to the grocery store and he came back with a ton of random stuff (such as dates) and not much of what we really needed. Needless to say, I had to go back to the store the next day :) (I love him for trying though).

You can also put dates in oatmeal or eat them alone. I really want to chop them up and put them in homemade vanilla ice cream! So yummy.

In our smoothies we put strawberries, banana (just 1), mango, greek yogurt, honey, dates, oj, and ice. We switch it up all the time though. Smoothies make the best lunch on a hot summer day!

Enjoy!

Inspiration board : Gone surfing.

So, really husband is the expert of all things surf... I am mostly pretending (since I STILL have not been surfing since we moved out here). But, I figured in keeping with the theme of our Tuesday Tune I might pull together some inspiring surf-y things. I also think I should come clean about something, I am terrified of sharks. They are up there with mountain lions, you don't find either in Dallas, Texas so up until 3 years ago that is what I was used to.

I literally had a dream just last night that I was in a boat that capsized in the ocean and I had to swim to safety. I was trying my hardest to swim without looking graceful like a seal so the sharks would not think I was dinner. I survived :)

Anyway, I AM going to try surfing. This Summer. So here is some inspiration, if you ever want to visit us out here on the west coast. Enjoy!

1 : I saw these at Patagonia and wanted to get them, just so I could play the part of a surfer girl.

2 : The Beach Boys. Classic tunes for your ride to the beach!

3 : I still have not grown tired of this movie, so cheesy and so good.

4 : Husband has a terrible tan line from the neck up. It is a wetsuit tan, and it is pretty funny, but good sunscreen is a must! Apply and then apply more.

5 : I love my beach mat. After your finish attempting to surf, it is the perfect surface to lay down and take a cat nap.

6 : Encinitas longboard. Fact: (well, it may not be true, but I like to think it is) sharks are not as attracted to longboards because they don't look like seals from below like shorter boards do.

7 : Tickets to Hawaii, because if I am going to try surfing I may as well try in some warm water :)

8 : Havaiana flip flops. For the, sometimes rocky, walk down to the beach!

9 : Underwater housing that Stone is hankering for so he can take some sweet surf photos! One day...

Tuesday Tunes : A Monday surf.

Good morning and happy Tuesday!

Ever since we moved here Stone has been dying for an underwater camera. The problem is that these things usually cost around $4k and with our ever growing work camera collection it just seems like an unnecessary expense at the moment. So, this weekend Stone built a small contraption that included an OtterBox, foam, and his iPhone. Viola! Underwater camera for $0. He took it out yesterday to 'test' it while surfing... knowing full well that if his contraption failed that would be the end of his new iPhone.

Well, it did not fail and he came away with some fun footage of he and our friend Chris hanging in the ocean. Hope you enjoy!

Music is 'Boy Lilikoi' by Jonsi

Look of the Week : Oh, Gwyn!

Gwyn has always been my girl. While most of my friends' favorite actresses are Angie or Jen (or somewhere in between) I have remained faithful to Gwyn. And she has only gotten better and better. With her blog GOOP it is so easy to love someone with a great taste in clothes, traveling and food! Plus, who did not love her in Emma? I mean really...

Anyway, she just posted her top outfits for Spring/Summer and has me buying lotto tickets hoping to be able to afford at least one of these outfits. Truthfully you can find similar looking items at stores such as H&M or Forever 21. While they are not going to last as long, they will help you keep up with the trend of the season :)

For more of her post, go here! Enjoy.

Shop Look One.

Shop Look Two.

Shop Look Three.

Weekend wrap up : May gray.

Good morning!

When we moved out here to California, everyone warned us about the months of May and June. California is supposed to be sunny and 70 all the time, right? Well, there is this little saying here 'May Gray and June Gloom'. Sounds like fun right? It's true, ever since we got back from Colorado, while there are spots of sunshine here and there, it has mostly been completely overcast. The bad news for me is that I am quickly losing any sign of color I had from all of my glorious beach days. The good news is that the light outside when the clouds are hovering is perfection for a photographer. Yes, yes, we do not get the beautiful golden hour, which we also love to shoot in. But, the foggy grey makes for pretty romantic looking photos I think.

Stone and I had such a fun engagement shoot this weekend! It is such a great surprise when a couple hops in front of our camera and is totally natural and comfortable. Plus they came armed with jokes, which is always a positive!

Location scouting for these shoots is always a bit tricky, but Stone has found Google Earth to be quite helpful! That is how we found the location for our shoot this past weekend... we saw open space with a bit of green, a bit of texture and of course the ocean and we thought, perfect! Below are some photos Stone snapped while we were checking out the place beforehand.

Pretty epic (that word is borrowed from husband's vocabulary). Cannot wait to share the photos with you all. Until then, have a great start to your week! xo.

Have a creative weekend.

FINALLY.

I figured out how to do a high bun. High, but not too high. While, I like the look of the huge bun high atop girls' heads, that high is just not for me. So the other day I was playing around and viola! So happy to have learned it because my hair is getting insanely long and I need some new do's.

Hope you all are gearing up for a fun and relaxing weekend. Stone and I finally finished unpacking last night (I threw a small fit to get him to actually put up his clothes) so now I have NO chores to do this weekend. Hooray! Always a good feeling. We are headed it a friends birthday party tonight and considering her event planning talents I am sure it will be perfection. I cannot wait for the day when I can throw a big beautiful dinner party at my house... I suppose I just need the right house (or a tleast one bigger than 500 sq ft) to throw it in :)

Stone and I then have a day of shooting with a bride and groom in La Jolla! Engagement shoots are our all time favorite. The shoots are just totally relaxed and fun, they are more of lifestyle shoots, which we both really love and feel we can be creative with. Hopefully sometime this week we can find time to go see Bridesmaids (I have heard great reviews from friends) and replant some of the plants on our porch that have ALREADY died. Ooops.

Here are some links to love. xo.

I am in the market for some land so I can have a FlatPak of my own (well and maybe I will share with husband too)!

The perfect maxi.

Fun idea for your guest book... later it will be perfect art for your home!

A scarf I can share with husband :)

Great craft for your weekend.

PATTERN and POP!

Instead of a coffee table use this beautiful PATTERNED ottoman and add a POP of color with a photo book by Pinhole Press that you created yourself!

That's a wrap : Sarah and Roberto.

Stone and I felt so fortunate to be asked to shoot Sarah and Roberto's beautiful DC wedding a few weeks ago. Our communication leading up to the wedding weekend was purely through email as Sarah and Roberto both live in India. Our time zones were quite different, but through much correspondence we got to know these two so well and felt like close friends by the time we saw them. This is the type of couple Sarah and Roberto are, they make everyone feel comfortable, included and loved. This feeling filtered into their wedding day on a rainy Saturday morning their friends and family came to see the two of them wed in the most decorated and ornate Catholic church that we have ever been in. It was a fun change of pace for us as we don't often get to shoot in beautifully decorated historic churches.

And the gorgeous decor did not stop with the ceremony, their reception venue was perfect with large farm tables for their family style fajita dinner, rows of colorful wildflowers and a singing mariachi band to top it all off.

We had a wonderful time and YES we are always available to travel :)

Hope you enjoy! See more here.

Inspiration board : FOOD.

For some reason lately I have been in the mood to cook. And not just to cook my 'go to' recipes, but to branch out a bit and try some new (and healthier) options! Perhaps it is because we have been traveling so much that it makes me really desire to be in my own kitchen cooking my own food. You know the feeling. After you have been traveling and you just feel blah. Well, Stone and I have felt really bad about the way we have been eating, so it is time to make a change (plus my skinny jeans are feeling just a little TOO skinny)! So... forget the burgers, burritos and pizza. It is time to have veggies and lots of 'em. Husband better get used to it ;)

My inspiration folder on my desktop has been filling up with amazing looking recipes that I just cannot wait to try and I thought I would share a couple with you. Get in the kitchen and enjoy! xo.

1 : Ribboned asparagus salad with pine nuts, lemon and Parmeson.

2 : Garlic butter roasted mushrooms with lemon and parsley.

3 : Spiced cod with broccoli quinoa pilaf.

4 : Sausage thin crust pizza topped with crispy kale.

5 : Tagliatelle pasta with bacon, pine nuts and fresh corn pesto.

6 : Grilled corn with homemade herb butter.

By the way, have you heard of Gilt group? They sell clothes at a discount... well now they are selling quality, organic foods as well! Check it out here.

Poster found here.

Tuesday Tunes : Honey and rain.

Mmmm... this morning I woke up to rain hitting our windows... the best.

So I thought I would share some rainy day music with you all. One of my favorite shows is Brothers and Sisters and last night I watched the most recent episode and fell in love with one of the songs. Then, of course, I went on a goose chase online to find it. The song is LA River by a group called HoneyHoney, it is sooo good! While for some reason I could not find it in Grooveshark to share with you, I thought I would share some other music by this group. Hope you enjoy, and if you have time search for LA River, you wont be disappointed. Happy rainy day. xo.

Look of the Week : Thinking about it.

One of my favorite style bloggers Kendi, has proposed a 30 for 30 challenge to those in the blog world now for 4 seasons and she is proposing a new outlook on the challenge for this summer. There really are no rules, just simply pick 30 items from your closet and put together 30 outfits from those items throughout the summer. It is just a way to reinvent the things in your closet and look at them perhaps in a different way. Could be fun....

I am considering doing it, and I think you should too! Go here for the info!

Weekend wrap up : More celebrating.

We are back! After 10 wonderful days shooting weddings, seeing friends and catching up with family in Colorado we are home once again to our little treehouse. It feels good to be home, Stone said this morning "I forget how great just the air smells here!" :)

I have been wanting to show you photos from my birthday gathering in Boulder, but Blogger was having some issues so I was unable to post. Sorry for that. But, then again, it was nice to take a little break from the computer! So here they are.

DISCLAIMER : I am wearing the same thing I did at my California birthday dinner... such a fashion faux pas!

Overlooking the beautiful Boulder mountains. Unfortunately the weather was only nice a couple days out of our entire trip :(

If only I look as good as these two when I am a momma!

The delicious dessert my sister-in-law (Kelsey) made for my birthday. She recreated a dessert that we had here at Blue Ribbon Pizza when she was visiting, and it was spot on! No worries, the recipe will be posted soon!

The hostess, Kelsey. She is the best little party planner and she looks great doing it in her Emerson Made dress... ahhh I want it!

Our great friends Skyler and Kristin, always good to catch up with these two.

The entire Crandall fam (minus Papa) :) It was so fun spending time with them.

Happy Monday! xo.

Hmmmm not sure why Blogger is underlining everything I type... but, I don't have time to figure it out!

Hello lovies.

Today I officially turn 25! So, as you can guess I am going to take a break from the computer all day and just hang with husband :)

xo.

Tuesday Tunes : PS22 Chorus / Mumford & Sons

I know I have posted about this incredible choir before... I just had to show you this video.

We all already love Mumford & Sons, but when you hear the lyrics being sung by such a sweet and dynamic choir you will melt. I was in choir through high school (my claim to fame) and I so miss it! Hope you enjoy :) xo.

Look of the Week : The maxi.

This season is all about the lightweight, flowy sundresses!

This is great news for us gals. Such an easy look to throw together and if you have not shaved your legs in a while, don't fret because the maxi is back in full force this season and I am loving it. Throw on a sun hat, strappy sandals and a long beaded necklace and you are good to go! Truthfully at the moment I have zero maxi's in my closet, but this will quickly change (a little bird told me I was getting a couple shopping gift cards for my birthday!). Wooohooo! Hope you find this look inspiring. xo.

Left to right: Calypso St. Barth, Missoni, Calypso St. Barth, Max Azria

Weekend wrap up : To our moms.

Stone and I spent the weekend shooting a wedding as well as a 'day after' shoot and now we are busy playing catch up with work and emails! Oofta!

Last night we headed to Boulder to catch up with family and friends and celebrate both Mother's day and my birthday! One of the things that is is hard for us in California is living away from our families and we only hope that our mom's know how special they are to us. To say thank you for everything seems so insignificant because the older I get the more and more I realize how lucky we are to have been raised by such amazing women.

We love you both.

Have a cozy weekend.

Hello, hello.

Stone took this photo of one of our clients' sweet dog, and I just love it! One day we will be oh so lucky enough to have a backyard and a pup. One day. But, for today we are still making it work in our treehouse. I really need to post photos so you can actually see what I am talking about when I say "treehouse". It is pretty much the only way to describe where we live :) Either way, my dream is to have a goldendoodle.

What is on your agenda for the weekend? Stone and I will be in Colorado for the next few days shooting a couple of weddings and portrait sessions as well as visiting with our family and friends! We feel so fortunate to still have a great client base out here in Colorado so we have been and will be visiting the mountains plenty!

Hope you have a relaxing weekend, if you don't have any plans go by your local humane society and play with the pups... Stone and I always love to do that, but I will say it is dangerous! You might just walk away with a new family member :) xo.

As always, here are some links to love.

I really, really want this rug! Now the question is where to put it in a home with such limited floor space?!

Love this photo. I still really think I could be friends with the royal fam ;)

Etiquette for a Lady. I have a lot to learn!

Grace is good.

Oh man... we left the unicorns behind!

I am always on the hunt for something I can make ahead of time and have for lunches and this recipe looks like the perfect thing. Delish.

She + He = We : Be Hapi!

Two nights ago Stone threw a little surprise get together for my upcoming 25th birthday. Even though he actually ruined the surprise in his efforts to get me to shower, get ready, and go out to dinner on a Tuesday night. I was all ready to throw on my PJs and enjoy leftovers when Stone began this speech about how he feels that he needs to take me out on more dates and how we should start tonight and go to grab sushi. Unfortunately I did not buy into this. The husband that I know, as sweet as he is, is not going to sit and try and convince me to go spend money on a nice dinner out when there is perfectly good food at our home. So we went back and forth a little bit until I realized he was not going to let up and that he must have planned something special so I should just go along. I did and was super happy to share a meal with some of my favorite people at one of my new favorite spots, Hapi Fish! I felt completely loved and celebrated and could not have asked for a better "surprise". So thank you husband, and thank you friends who came and celebrated with me. It meant a lot. xo.

Inspiration board : My birthday wish list.

Hello lovies...

Sorry I am just now posting, it's just that the weather has really been too pretty here to be inside on the computer!

Anyway, like I have mentioned (and probably will mention several more times) my birthday is coming up next week! Hooray. I am one of those people who loves, loves birthdays. I prefer to make them at least a week long celebration. Husband was on top of things this year and already planned a surprise dinner with some of my dear friends out here, which we had last night (pictures to come!). He of course hinted at the surprise so I knew by the time we got to the restaurant that there would be friends waiting to celebrate! It was lovely and super thoughtful.

So, as anybody who loves birthdays as much as I do knows, we always have a gift wish list our heads of things we are coveting. Just in case someone asks of course...

Above are a few things that are currently on my list...

1 : The perfect beach tote, there are actually a lot of totes that I think are pretty perfect out there right now... this just happens to be one of them :)

2 : Could always use some new vases, and I sort of have a thing for owls!

3 : I am into the whole outfit really, pretty much anything this girl throws on is perfection.

4 : Wouldn't you like to wake up to breakfast in bed on your birthday? Preferably with some delicious cinnamon-y thing like this.

5 : Have been drooling over this bag and I saw it in the store last week, it met every expectation...

6 : I hinted to my mom that I was into these watches... so we'll see :)

7 : Thought that this sandal was cute for the Spring, and the color options are pretty great too!

8 : Lately I have had a strong urge to change up our entire bedroom decor... I would want it to look just like this!

9 : I have been on a wild search for a lightweight jacket similar to this one, but one that still will zip up... it is driving me crazy that I cannot find it!

xo.

Tuesday tunes : Old Pine.

Husband showed me this video last week and it is beautiful and awesome and gave me chill bumps. Take some time out today to watch it (all 5 minutes and 27 seconds of it) and let me know what you think. It was filmed by the same person who did 'Dark Side of the Lens', which I posted about a while back. The music is by Ben Howard, and who does not love a good European accent? Enjoy! xo.

Look of the Week : Blog inspired.

Have you noticed the incredible amount of bloggers that are posting photos of themselves each day and talking about what they wore. At first, I have to say, I was completely turned off by this. I thought it just seemed crazy vain (I still think some of them are crazy vain), but I secretly have begun to love a small handful of these blogs and have been finding tons of inspiration from their outfits! It is kind of like the girls of the world got together and decided to be super trendy and post photos of themselves as they are doing it. And, while I was somehow not included on the guest list at that meeting I have definitely benefited from their bright idea.

So, here are my favorites of these style blogs... Atlantic-Pacific, What I Wore and Kendi.

Top (It's called the SHELBY so I had to blog it!!) : Anthropologie

Cardigan : Tory Burch

Bangles : Forever 21

Belt : La Garconne

Bag : Ellington

Jeans : Anthropologie

Sandals : Madewell

Outfit INSPIRED by this Kendi post!

Weekend wrap up : On the go.

I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Big news from our weekend... Stone golfed for the first time in pretty much... ever. And I experienced H&M for my very first time ever. I left with only a sun hat and bobby pins. The two of us have been traveling like crazy and we just mapped out the rest of our Summer/Fall and realized that the traveling really never stops. We almost need to plan a vacation so we can relax after all of these work trips :) Hint hint.

Anyway, we finally uploaded photos from our trip to DC so I wanted to share them with you.

Welcome to May. xo.

Just finished breakfast at Busboys & Poets. Delish!

We loved the neighborhoods and all of the beautiful brownstone's. Why they do not replicate this style over on this coast I have no idea, but I will keep wishing!

And this is pretty much the only photo of the two of us from our entire trip... so sad, but at least we both are smiling :)